Abolineron
From Almeopedia
| Abolineron dynasty | |
| 3302-16 | Mëranac 1e (cont Abolineron) |
| 3316-19 | Icëlana |
| 3319-28 | Ažerey 2e |
| 3328-35 | Icëlana |
| 3335-69 | Ažerey 2e |
| 3369-71 | Mëranac 2e |
| 3371-74 | Miďë |
| 3374 | Ayeša |
The Abolineronî [a bo li nɛ ˈro nɪ] were a dynasty of kings of Verduria. They can be seen as a conservative reaction to the preceding Eleďe dynasty; they started out with the energy and reforms of Mëranac 1e, but devolved into an endless series of dynastic squabbles.
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Mëranac
After the disappearance of Queen Andrea was accepted as permanent, the Esčambra selected Mëranac cont Abolineron as King of Verduria. This represented a revival of Caďinorian paganism after the heady experiment of the Eleďe dynasty; and Mëranac 1e made the most of it, reestablishing paganism as the state religion, favoring the Caďin party (the conservatives), and refocussing Verduria’s attention on the Svetla.
It was intolerable to pagan opinion that Ctésifon had been lost; and yet a destructive war would be disrespectful. Mëranac solved this puzzle by occupying the city and strongly suggesting that the king and legislature accept Verdurian sovereignty (3304); after a suitable interval to make it clear that the Verdurian army wasn't leaving, they did so.
He is best known, however, for his grandiose rearchitecture of the capital; he created the long boulevards that link landmarks in Verduria city, and some of those landmarks as well. He wrote a history of Verduria and proposed a new code of Verdurian law, but died before it could be completed, in 3316.
Struggle for the succession
Mëranac’s son Caloton had died some years before, leaving a daughter, Icëlana. Mëranac had not named an heir, so the succession was decided by the Esčambra, which picked Icëlana. The family itself, led by Mëranac’s brother Bómedrac, had supported Caloton’s son Ažerey, who had the advantages of being male and being an easily guided teenager. In 3319 Bómedrac's faction took power and deposed Icëlana, with the support of the Palace Guard.
A few years later Icëlana plotted a rebellion against her nephew. A strange, minimal sort of civil war ensued. There were no large battles, just skirmishes between gangs of armed supporters, Esčambra politicking, and attempts at kidnapping or assassination. Bómedrac was murdered in 3327, which led to Icëlana regaining the sash the next year.
The maneuvering continued, however, and Ažerey was returned to power in 3335; this time Icëlana was exiled to Šerian, and her son Zerdorot kept hostage in the Palace. When Icëlana died in 3349 the country hoped that the troubles were over.
Parliamentary rule
Ažerey proved a canny leader of his volatile family, but had no great interest in affairs of state. Ironically— since Mëranac had lambasted the Eleďi for their reliance on the Esčambra, and promised to restore strong royal power— policy became the affair of the Esčambra, and day-to-day administration that of the Konselora, the king’s cabinet.
Ažerey had an unusually able minister of the Exchequer in Tihom Berg, duke of Anaseri, leader of the Caďin party. Anaseri expanded Bómedrac’s old coalition; his even-handedness and his renunciation of any role in the royal family itself helped him win over many of Icëlana’s supporters. Under his leadership, the Esčambra undertook a revision of Verdurian law, and Verduria assumed direct rule over Téllinor, in the far west.
He was known as the Sanno Konselore Daluii, the Lord of the King’s Council or Prime Minister; this was an old courtesy title, but became essential when Anaseri gave the ministry of the Exchequer to another Esčambrom. Since his time the position has ordinarily - and now legally - belonged to the leader of the largest party (fako) in the Esčambra.
His one failure was the loss of Ctésifon, and it led to his own fall, in 3360, as his party turned on him for losing Mëranac’s conquest. They had not, however, been willing to pay for the larger army that would have been needed to defeat the rebels, and as Anaseri sardonically commented, referring to the Ctésifoni legislature, “I can rule one Konselora, but not two.”
The final troubles
Anaseri died in 3366, and Ažerey three years later. His son Mëranac 2e inherited the sash, but not his father’s mastery of family politics; one of his first actions was to disown his brother Ževuran for marrying an Eleďe; he also refused his second cousin Miďë, granddaughter of Icëlana, permission to move Icëlana’s remains to Verduria city. Both injured parties now actively began to plot against him. The dynastic violence began anew, culminating in Mëranac’s imprisonment (3371) at the estate of Tihom's son Meglavo. Miďë declared herself Queen; the Esčambra reluctantly agreed, when Mëranac conveniently died of an aneurysm. A few years later an assassin, probably paid by Ževuran, killed her. Ževuran then placed his 19-year-old daughter Ayeša on the throne (3374).
Just four months later, a group of Esčambromî engineered a coup. With the aid of the Army— which had previously stayed out of the conflict— they occupied the Palace, and murdered Ayeša and most of the remaining Abolinerons, then declared Verduria a republic (So verdúry elusigués). It proved necessary to arrest a good many dissenting Esčambromî as well.
The country had been disdainful of the Abolineron conflict, but had tolerated it; the parliamentary revolution was seen as treason. Verduria now fell into a real civil war, which lasted for two years, until Pelerin Vočnor managed to restore order.
In culture
In 3439 the Verdurian playwright Virny Zeirey wrote a tragic play, So tombo Abolineronië (The Fall of the Abolinerons), about the dynasty, focussing on Mëranac 2e, Miďë, and their murders.
The painter Gesom Abolineron (husband of Mŕiʐe Lavretes) was a remote descendant of the dynasty. (The family and title have the same name, which is not usually the case in Verduria.)
There is still an Abolineron cont in Šerian province, a descendant of Miďë.
| Preceded by: Eleďe dynasty | Abolineron d. 3302-74 | Succeeded by: Vočnor d. |
