Vethara Shakhovskaya
| Archduchess Vethara Shakhovskaya | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||
|
The youngest of the three children of Grand Duke Mikhail Ist, Vethara is, as of today, the only known survivor of the Ruling Family after the death of her parents, brother (Grand Duke Mikhail II Shakhovskoy) and sister (Archduchess Anastasya) during the Aphyr Conflict. As all members of the Ruling Dynasty, Vethara combines both Russian (human) and Taraskath bloods, however some speculate that the Archduchess, for some reason or an other, may have a share of Elven blood.
Born with a grave mental disease, the Archduchess and her very existence were hidden from the Taraskovyan people for various reasons put forward by the Grand Duke later on. She was only revealed to the public when she was already 22 years old and her disease was miraculously cured. The details have been kept secret by the Winter Palace and nobody really cared about knowing them, either, for the Taraskovyan people rejoiced of having such an unexpected addition to the family of their beloved Grand Duke and Grand Duchess and pardoned their leader for his ‘mistrust’ of his own loyal people.
Due to her kindness and generousity, Vethara quickly became popular with the Taraskovyan people to an extent that she began to drop a shadow on Archduke Mikhail and Archduchess Anastasya, her brother and sister respectively. This provoked a dispute between Anastasya, the eldest of the three, and Vethara, with Mikhail eventually taking Vethara’s side in this ‘child dispute’. As inoffensive as it might have seemed at the time, it was the beginning of the both volountary and forced isolation of Anastasya from the rest of her family and may have contributed to the dramatic events of the Plague(Aphyr Conflict).
The Archduchess was in a very close relationship with Count Nekshas Tenathir, a Leib-Poruchik of the Alexander Guard. Their engagement was announced to the nation in June 1141 A.S. with the date of the wedding to be decided later on. However, Leib-Poruchik Tenathir was killed in Tin-Vilena when he served as part of the escort of Mikhail I when the latter made a last desperate attempt to settle the situation between his children peacefully.
After the arrival of the Ruling Council to power, the Archduchess was forced to flee her country to find shelter in Menelmacar, otherwise running the risk of being used as a political tool by the military junta. Moreover, the capture by the Ruling Council might significantly endanger her physical and/or mental wellbeing.
