Agwene ni Gwydion is the second daughter of Corrina ni Gwydion and Immanuel ap Gwydion. For most of her life, she was not viewed as in line for a crown. However, when her older sister, Aiwyn, yielded the throne of the Resurgent Dream to claim the throne of Akaton by marriage, Agwene was granted the high throne of the Resurgent Dream.

In defiance of what was until recently a strong social taboo, Agwene is an open homosexual though political pressures made it necessary for her to agree to take a husband, High King Connor ap Daireann. While this marriage, to an Unseelie lord, and her sexual preference created a good deal of dissent and disagreement at the tradition minded high court, none of her nobles openly resisted.

Agwene's most notable political initiative was an attempt to bring a deeper peace and friendship between races. Agwene did much to bring about genuine equality between Fae and Humans in the Resurgent Dream. This includes the Edict of Racial Equality which makes all persons equal before the law regardless of race and consequently the Resurgent Dream has gone from having a racial cast system to being an active champion of racial equality in the world. Agwene's reign saw the election of the first human prime minister in the last five centuries of Danaan history, Vincenzo Lacau.

Agwene's reign also saw the opening of relations with many nations and the high queen has become something of a diplomat, making frequent personal state visits. The most notable of these state visits have been to Menelmacar, Pantocratoria, and Lavenrunz.

Agwene is the sister of Empress Aiwyn ni Gwydion and Grand Duchess Vicotira ni Gwydion. She is the niece of King Danwyth ap Gwydion (deceased), Grand Duchess Nianki ni Gwydion, and Grand Duchess Beatrice ni Gwydion. Agwene is fluent in English, Italian, Greek, Latin, Solimond, Paroseme, Mannikin, Glome, Quenya, Welsh and Ondine.

Agwene's reign came to a sudden end because of the Shattering, after which she joined the other Fae in the Dreaming.

Early life

Agwene was born a duchess, the second daughter of then Duke Immanuel ap Gwydion and his wife, Corrina. It was over half a century before the Homecoming War and the idea that the family would ever travel to the Resurgent Dream, much less rule there, would have seemed far-fetched in the extreme.

Agwene's grandfather, then Duke Timon ap Gwydion, had an extensive estate in the Dreaming, complete with a company of knights, all of whom adored his infant grandaughter during the first few years of her life. It was widely expected that Agwene would become a leader of knights, involved in the many wars that filled the Dreaming.

It is rumored that Agwene knew her grandmother in those now long forgotten days. However, Timon's wife seemed to be among the many things which faded from the memory of Sidhe on Earth. During the time between the Homecoming War and the Shattering, the name of Agwene's grandmother was wholly unknown in the Waking World. Presumably, the lady died while in the Dreaming.

Nonetheless, it is assumed that Agwene's grandmother was present on the estate at her birth, as were her grandfather, her parents, her aunts, her uncle, and her older sister.

Early reign

Almost from the moment of her coronation on 3 January 1990, Agwene's reign was marked by a commitment to constitutionalism and by a desire to liberalize the laws, democratize politics, and modernize the economy. In the early years of her reign, Agwene was also known for going abroad more frequently than any Danaan monarch before her. In fact, the first year of her coronation saw a personal trip to the Dominion. Based upon the High Queen's apparent state of worry immediately after her return to the Tarana, it is widely believed that something personally traumatic occurred on that trip, although little information on the subject has ever been released.

Agwene's three earliest major reforms were universal suffrage, racial equality, and the adoption of modern technology in the economy. All three changes in Danaan society were introduced in a peremptory manner over the objections of the then existing power structure. While this alienated a great many nobles, it earned Agwene a reputation as the "Commoner's Queen" and widespread support from ordinary Danaans who were now free to express this support in Parliamentary elections.

Marriage

Agwene married Diuc Connor ap Daireann at the instigation of her aunt, Grand Duchess Nianki of Shieldcrest. The marriage was emphatically not a love match and Agwene was linked romantically in the tabloids to a number of other leaders, including Elentari Sirithil of Menelmacar, Imperatrice Nathicana of the Dominion, Emperor Mephet'ran of C'tan, and Emperor Andreus of Pantocratoria.

The main reason for the marriage was that Connor was a representative of the Unseelie Court. It was believed that marriage to him would help prevent another disturbance like that which greeted Agwene's earliest reforms by uniting all parts of the nation.

Agwene granted her husband the title of High King and made him a fellow monarch, although not the ruling one. This act was considered normal under Sidhe etiquette, although it is unlikely that it would be repeated today in the more traditional, predominantly human court of the Cunedda dynasty.

Early Agwenian politics

During Agwene's reign, the Danaan political party system was radically different than it is today. Danaans were far more politically fragmented and politics normally involved much more awkward coalition building.

During this time, there were nine political parties of comparable political strength and vastly differing programs. Two of these nine parties held views radically opposed to the basic mainstream of Danaan society. The Radical Party advocated radical, militant, anti-clerical republicanism similar to that of the First Republic in France or the Second Republic in Spain. The Anarchist Party advocated a radical form of libertarian socialism based upon the teachings of Mikhail Bukhanin and Pyotr Kropotkin.

Agwene's early reign was marked by an uneasy Parliamentary coalition led by the Modernist Party under Vincenzo Lacau. This government pushed through a legislative program of modernizing the nation's economy while staunchly protecting the environment and providing for the national defense. Under Lacau's Prime Ministership, the Resurgent Dream's GDP per capita rose by over 400%. While his free market policies are criticized by many on the left, he is grudgingly credited by all parties with policies which created the Resurgent Dream as a significant economic power.

Federated Menelmacari States of America

Through her close friendship with Elentari Sirithil of Menelmacar, Agwene became a great admirer of the former United States, particularly that part which had become the Federated Menelmacari States, where she travelled many times. She was an eager student of the culture of that part of the world and, at Agwene's command, a great many works of American literature, history, and political theory were added to the Royal Library.

Agwene had two permanent residences in the FMSA. One, which she purchased herself, was a large mansion in North Carolina. Agwene reportedly fell in love with the people there and was in the habit of going on long walks through small North Carolinian towns, during which she would engage in casual conversation with the locals. This residence now belongs to High King Owain.

Her other residence, in Florida, was given to her as a Valentine's Day gift by Lady Sirithil. This residence was more typically used as a retreat and the High Queen had little contact with the local people. This residence now belongs to Prince Constantine and Princess Morgan of Pantocratoria. It was given to Prince Constantine as part of Morgan's dowry by her brother, High King Owain.

Middle years

Around the middle of her short reign, Agwene added eight new reforming edicts to the already existing edicts on suffrage and racial equality, completing the Agwenian Edicts, which would soon become accepted as the Danaan constitution.

It was also during this period that Agwene greatly cut down on her trips overseas, settling in at the Royal Palace at Tarana on a more or less permanent basis. It became increasingly rare for the High Queen to even use the many other royal residences within the nation.

This period of time also saw the greatest attack on the Resurgent Dream in memory: the terrorist bombing of Armonvale Harbor which cost 37,000 lives. Other terrorist operatives attempted to personally attack the royal family during the confusion. Grand Duke Immanuel was killed and Agwene herself wounded in the fighting. This was the attack which provoked the Danaan invasion of Marlund.