Peiara Aderatu Sapna

Peiara Aderatu Sapna (born Pejara Halanilao Sapinasoa) was the seventh monarch of Baranxtu since the overthrowal of the theocracy, and the only one not from the Ŋurīa-Eilarīa dynasty. She was also the last queen of Hantis, which became a Baranxtuan province upon her marriage with Crown Prince Hubri of Baranxtu.
When she seized the throne in 1876, the Baranxtuan Civil War 1876-1879 began, at the end of which she was overthrown.

Biography

Peiara Sapna was born a month before the beginning of the Hantis-Baranxtu War (1830-1832) in the Halani capital Ŋao to King Hoateana and Queen Adera.

Queen Aŋlija ordered her troops to invade Hantis, the Halani country, in October 1830. The Halani troups fought bravely, but were ultimately defeated in the Battle of Ŋao.
Afterwards, King Hoateana was forced to abdicate and Peiara Sapna was crowned Queen of Hantis at the age of only two years. The de facto ruler in her place was the governor installed by Queen Aŋlija. As a matter of fact, Peiara did not become the actual queen regnant of Hantis until 1870 (see below).

The infant along with her mother and siblings was taken hostage. King Hoateana was imprisoned, whereas the Halani royal family enjoyed a relatively comfortable life. The children were raised according to Baranxtuan royal standards, and all the children had to adopt Baranxtuanized names.

Originally, Queen Aŋlija had planned to marry her to her grandson Siñiari on Peiara's 20th birthday, but after the smallpox outbreak of 1849 - which killed five of her greatgrandchildren in total, including three of Siñiari's children - she postponed this for five years.

After Aŋlija's death in 1852, the new queen Melumna cancelled the plans altogether, but when her son Siñiari became king only four months later, he announced that Peiara was to marry his son Hubri, the First Heir to the Throne upon his 15th birthday.

Peiara was not at all agreeing, but there was little she could do, as she had been stripped of all her actual political powers as Queen of Hantis.

So she married Hubri in 1855. Four years later, she gave birth to her son Siñiari and in 1860, to Harma. She willingly gave her children in the care of various nannies, as she herself stated that she sometimes despised her children.

When King Hubri died (possibly of food poisoning) in 1870, her son Siñiari became officially king, but according to the constitution, she was to reign in his name.

From the time she became the de-facto ruler over Baranxtu, she started to implement small, subtle changes, resulting in a steady gain of power. She also founded the Royal Marani Guard, her personal troop of bodyguards that was solely comprised of Halani warriors.

When her son died shortly before his 17th birthday in 1876, Queen Peiara declared a state of emergency, claiming to have overwhelming evidence for a conspiracy to start a coup. Her Royal Guard arrested many MPs, and the government of PM Zinta Aŋlija was deposed to be replaced by a Halani cabinet. It annulled the Baranxtuan Consitution unanimously and declared Peiara the omnipotent queen of Baranxtu. This date, Novemer 4th, marked the official start of the Second Baranxtuan Civil War.

Queen Peiara issued an order to arrest her daughter Harma; however, she was able to escape to Ñiria where she formed a government-in-exile.

The regnancy of Queen Peiara found support in the southern and eastern provinces of Baranxtu, which were still dominated by the Marani cultures back then; however, the north and west heavily resisted. Almost immediately after the official coronation of Queen Peiara, riots broke out in Ān-Baranxiž and she had to flee, herself. She moved to Siraŋe, which was declared the new capital of Baranxtu.

Soon, a full scale civil war broke out. Queen Peiara's troops at first managed to wrest control of the central provinces from the Baranxtuan Army, who fought in the name of Crown Princess/Queen Harma.

By 1879, much of the country had been devastated worse than during the First Baranxtuan Civil War. Finally, in November, Peiara personally surrendered to the forces of Harma. She was unseated on November 12th and detained.

Her daughter Harma became officially Queen of Baranxtu; she restored the Baranxtuan Constitution and scheduled elections for the coming year.

Peiara was tried in 1880 and found guilty of a number of crimes, including treason and attempted regicide. She was sentenced to death and executed on December 1st, 1880 in Ān-Baranxiž.