#angqanye of the masks

[ykoriana-imperatrix]

Thinking about Masks succession issues during Uronksur's reign, and I can't understand why he didn't take a wife (or even more than one) from outside the main line of the Masks or the Great early on. (Yes, we don't know for sure that he didn't, but for the purposes of this post assuming that since we can't know either way.)

At the very beginning of his reign, he was in his fifties, and the only other person left in the main Masks line was Angqanye, who had just been born the previous year... Even if he did intend to have children by her when she was old enough (as ended up happening), at the dawn of his reign there was no guarantee Angqanye would survive childhood! (We know for a fact that child mortality is high among the Chosen population!) You'd think that Uronksur would consider the possibility of taking a first wife during Angqanye's childhood if only to make succession more secure... Any kids born to this/these hypothetical wife/wives would have a lower rank than Angqanye's future children, of course, but surely it would be preferable than 12+ years of waiting during which anything could befall Angqanye or Uronksur himself? (Plus, it's likely enough that a blood-rank four son of Angqanye's would win the election against any blood-rank three half-brothers and succeed Uronksur anyway.)

[ykoriana-imperatrix]

SDC Family Tree Musings #1

Neat parallels from the family trees: Angqanye appears to have been the only Masks lady (that we know of) that was Empress to two different God Emperors aside from Ykoriana. Yes, we only know for sure who past Empresses were for the 2 generations before Ykoriana’s (see here and here), but I think this is a safe guess (given a combination of factors such as blood purity, age, order of marriages, etc). Interestingly enough, Angqanye’s first husband was her half-brother (well, and uncle, but Masks family relationships are never simple due to all the inbreeding) and her second husband her son, much like in the case of Ykoriana.

Angqanye is also one of the longest-lived people in the available family trees (and the longest-lived person in the Masks tree, with the possibly exception of Nurpayahras). Her life spanned the reigns of four different God Emperors (and the entire reigns of three of those, two of which lasted several decades!), and she lived (possibly? she died that same year) to see the turmoil Osrakum would have been plunged into during the Qusata succession crisis. This is a character I really wish we knew more about besides the details given in the family tree, she likely led a fascinating life, and there’s just so much she must have been witness to.

[ykoriana-imperatrix]

SDC Four-Sentence Fics, Day 7

Second arc number?

VII. Angqanye

The motherless, fatherless child is left to be raised by her aunts, sisters, nieces and cousins, half-forgotten by the Gods. For the first thirteen years of her life, They are a near-stranger, enforcing the distance between them for reasons she cannot fully understand. When They place the iron rings of an Empress on her fingers, however, she knows this is the most important moment in her life. Change comes now, she thinks, gazing at the carvings, it is time to discover who I truly am.

Notes

Time for another canon character to take the spotlight! I have headcanons about Angqanye being quite formidable later in life, but thought it would be interesting to explore her earlier years. Of note is the fact that she would have been very lonely within the main Masks line. With both of her parents dying on the same year of her birth, her closest relative would be her brother/uncle Uronksur, who I imagine did not have much time to devote to the young Angqanye, due both to his role as God Emperor and the massive age gap between them. I do see their marriage, however, as being a turning point; becoming Empress would become the very first step in Angqanye’s transformation into the influential matriarch of later years.

(Extra note: the Empress rings are a fully fanon creation. I might make a post about them one of these days, but for now, there is a little more information here.)