#shahbanu

[sofiaflorina2021]

I am happy to know that Her Imperial Majesty, Shahbanu (Empress) Farah Pahlavi is still alive and well today. May she live long and always be blessed. She is the national treasure of Iran.

[crazerk]

When you find yourself among the few women chosen to become a concubine in the Imperial harem, you have a chance to carve your place in court.

The life of a concubine might seem luxurious and idyllic, but behind the silken curtains of the harem, dangerous games are played. Games where the wrong words will cost your life, betrayal, lies and secrets are commonplace and gaining the shah’s attention is paramount to your survival.

Start out as a princess, disgraced noble or captive.

Intrigue, intrigue and more intrigue.

Dramatic events on par with a soap opera

Revenge, backstabbing, forbidden love, plots and more.

Rise the ranks by outsmarting or eliminating your rivals.

Produce and raise heirs to secure your place.

Influence politics through the emperor or seize power for yourself.

Learn fire magic or join a cult of chaos.

Live a life of leisure and the pursuit of higher education or a life of hedonism.

Inspired by the Sassanid dynasty and Persian mythology.

Shah Khazunef

He is calm, perspective and far less ruthless than his father before him but they share the same cunning nature and intimidating aura. Khazunef has deep brown skin, dark hazel eyes and silky mid length black hair that frames his face perfectly.

Fang

A former slave whose fighting prowess earned him freedom. He has since become a close friend of Khazunef and they regard each other as brothers. He serves as an informal advisor and spy to the shah but shirks any formal duties. Fang is charismatic and extroverted with copper red hair, rose skin and blue eyes.

Persa

Her name means dove and fits her gentle demeanor. She was raised a princess in a land of mountains and snow that was conquered by Shah Arzad. Upon the fall of her city and murder of her family, she was brought to the capital to serve in the palace. She has honey blonde hair, dark brown eyes and alabaster skin.

Ignasia

Ignasia is a fire priestess and staunch follower of the faith. Although born a noble, she gave up all claims and titles to serve in the fire temples as a guardian of the eternal flame. Ignasia has dark hair, darker eyes and a regal, reserved bearing.

Valide Zarayan

She is the ruthless and ambitious mother of Khazunef, originally a distrusted foreigner who rose to great power in the court of Shah Arzad. She rules over the harem like her own little kingdom and holds influence over her son.

Shahbanu Yaris

The wife of Khazunef and shahbanu of the realm. Yaris wed the emperor when he was 17 and she 26 in an alliance that strengthened the empire and influences it to this day.

Vizier Rubien

The grand vizier and advisor to the Emperor who Khazunef considers a father figure. Rubien is fiercely intelligent, loyal and wise. He remains dedicated to his work and helping the Emperor rule justly.

Averus

Averus is a high priest and soothsayer of the court. His advice is sought by all and a bad word about you from his lips can sully your reputation and relationships beyond repair.

Consort Iltani

Former consort and favorite of Shah Arzad. Her name is whispered like a curse, and her influence spreads far wide even though the valide has her currently imprisoned within the palace.

This story is for mature audiences, please proceed with discretion! Story will contain violence, drugs, alcohol, death, suicide, infanticide, harm to animals, miscarriages, abuse and sexual themes.

Demo

[royal-confessions]

“Queen Farida and Empress (Shahbanu) Farah seem somewhat similar to me in terms of appearance.” - Submitted by Anonymous

[pynkhues]

Hello, have an excerpt from the very silly misc period arranged mrriage Kendall x Stewy fic.

-

The word of the visit comes not from their father, as they’d always anticipated it might, but Lord Vernon, who delivers the news with characteristically little fanfare.

“The Hosseini’s?” Shiv asks, eyebrow raised as she glances back between her brothers, making no secret of trying to gauge their reactions. Kendall doesn’t look back, doesn’t – can’t – give her that yet, because she’d only see he was as surprised as she was. Not a good look. He rolls his shoulders back, focusing instead on the patient set to his godfather’s face as Shiv adds: “Since when has Dad been interested in the Southern houses anyway?”

“I mean, he married Marcia,” Roman says, and Kendall sends him a sharp look. 

“Marcia is loyal to the North,” he corrects, parroting their father, and Roman rolls his eyes, mutters something that sounds a lot like loyal to dad’s wrinkled dick, which Kendall ignores in favour of turning his attention back to his godfather.

“The borders have been wobbling since the last war, you all know that, and the Hosseini’s are a powerful family,” Lord Vernon says with a shrug. “And one gaining territory. There’s been a lot of talk of their expansion into the East – they’ve got favour through the ancient spice routes and they’ve been consolidating along the seaboard for years. A union gives your father access to all of that.”

“And them access to our land, our iron stores, our - - our knowledge hubs, the - - the - - the fucking entire North and West,” Kendall interjects, and Frank makes another vague gesture like what can you do?

“The idea would be mutual benefit.”

“Uh-huh,” Shiv says, standing up from the velvet chaise, her deep emerald gown dragging across the stone floor as she moves to pour herself a drink. “And they have only one son?”

Lord Vernon hums in affirmation.

“Sadeq Hosseini. Crown prince, political and military strategist, he served from behind the line during the last war, but has been pretty focused since on his father’s bid to expand the Hosseini house through trade, tactical partnerships, occasional hostile takeovers. He’s…effective. An asset to his father and his house.”

The word lands heavy, and Kendall’s gaze drops, posture tightening before he can stop it, and it’s nothing, really, it’s not, but also - -

A memory, sharp, sudden.

His dad’s hand, grip firm, nails digging into the back of his neck.

Useless fucking boy.  

He swallows.

“So crown prince means - - me, then?” Shiv asks, tone dry, and Kendall looks back up, catches his sister’s pinched look across the cabinet – a room she’d usually be barred from – and his gut loosens. “I’m the one being put forward as match?”

The question isn’t entirely unreasonable. Same-sex marriages aren’t unheard of in any of the kingdoms, particularly in strategic unions, but they’re usually reserved for second or third born children. For the offspring where succession becomes a question merely of personal assets and feelings and doesn’t carry the weight of house, land and title.  

Where political partnership is more important than the continuation of a family line.

“While nothing is agreed to yet, we assume they’ll be after a match who can produce heirs, yes,” Lord Vernon says delicately, and Shiv strides forwards, then back, pacing, which honestly, Kendall thinks is a bit fucking dramatic. They all knew this was her path, and she’s still young, yes, but older than most of the girls of her station who’ve already been married off. Their father’s never exactly made a secret of wanting to keep Shiv in the family house for as long as he could, his favourite child, his only daughter and all that shit, but there’s few decisions he won’t make for strategic advantage.

“Shahbanu Siobhan has a certain ring to it,” Roman says, amusement thick in his voice from his position against the mantle. “We’ll visit. Maybe. If you play good wife.”

“Nothing’s agreed to yet,” Shiv bites, then she turns back to Lord Vernon, who only sighs in her general direction, leaving Shiv re-directing her ire at them. “Right? Maybe Dad means to marry one of you two assholes off. Finally get you out of his hair.”

Which - - okay.

Kendall huffs, shaking his head.  

“Come on, Shiv.”

And yeah, alright, it was the wrong thing to say probably, given any attempt at implying Shiv was being unreasonable was usually seen as enemy fire. She zeroes in on him, mouth a bow, words an arrow. She shoots from the fucking teeth.

“What’s that? Oh, you think you’re safe, huh, Ken? Why? Connor’s the true heir, it’s his job to make the next little princes, you’re a spare just like me and Rome.”

It lands is the thing, breaks skin, hits bone, and he knows she knew it would, and it takes all he can not to let her see him smart. Still, he can’t quite stop himself from shifting his weight or curling his toes, especially when Roman snorts and chimes in.

“More spare, even,” he adds. “Since Shiv’s got some other house’s prince maker between her legs and I’ve got the good looks and charm kingdoms go to war over. Best I stay unattached, for the sake of peace and shit. You though? You’re ripe to be saddled with the enemy.”

[transparentgentlemenmarker]

Mohamed Reza Pahlavi and his wife Farah Pahlavi, upon his coronation as the Shâhanshâh of Imperial (Pahlavi) Iran, and his wife was crowned as the Shahbanu, on October 26th, 1967, in the Imperial State of Iran.

[bluethedream]

I was tagged by @troubadour-malin to share my lockscreen, home screen, most recent music and screenshot.

I think it's obvious that I'm currently obsessed with Genshin smh. My last screenshot is of me pulling Shahbanu Nilou yesterday hehe

Tagging @strawberryextract @bluesuederose @jadzidraws no pressure !

[dd20century]

Maria Pergay: Having Her Way with Steel

"Steel talks to me. If it's ready to obey, it is like a tamed animal. But if it's bad, it's a slap in the face. Fortunately, I haven't received many of those." –Maria Pergay

The French designer Maria Pergay's was best known for her innovative use of stainless steel as a medium for furniture and household objects. (1,2) She preferred to work with stainless steel because of its strength, durability, and availability. The material allowed her to bend and shape it into playful, sculptural forms. (2) She challenged contemporary design trends with thin, layered steel pieces that often incorporated unexpected elements like safety pins or bows. (1)

Designer Maria Pergay. Photographer: Unknown. Image source.

Maria Pergay’s Early Life

The beginning of Maria Pergay’s life story unfolds like a suspense novel. She was born on October 28, 1930 in Moldavia (now Romania). (2) Her father was both engineer in the military and a Russian spy. When his cover was blown in 1937, he escaped back to Russia and later was imprisoned in a labor camp. Maria’s mother fled with young Maria to Paris where they lived during World War II. (3)

After the war, Maria studied costume and set design at Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématograhiques (4) and studied sculpture with artist Ossip Zadkine. She married business student Marc Pergay and raised four children. The couple divorced 20 years later. (3)

Maria Pergay’s Work Gets Noticed

“In 1954 she began helping a decorator friend dress shop windows in Paris, one of which was next to Hermès’ (4). Her dramatic theatrically inspired designs caught the attention of the Hermès staff and soon she was designing items for Hermès “such as her trademark ribbon and belt-buckle adorned silver boxes” (4). Christian Dior, Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, and Salvador Dali also became clients. Her unique style of working in silver laid the groundwork for her leap to stainless steel.(3)

Maria Pergay, Tassel Bowl in silver, (1957). Image source.

Pergay’s Work in Stainless Steel

In 1960 Ms. Pergay opened a “shop on the Place de Vosges” (4). In 1967 the largest steel maker in France, Ugine-Gueugnon suggested she begin working in stainless steel. The following year proved to be the most prolific for the designer; she created the Flying Carpet Daybed, the Wave Bench, and her most famous design the Ring Chair. (4) In an interview with the New York Times she said that the Ring chair had been “inspired by the spiraling form of an orange peel”(5). Ms. Despite having no formal training in furniture design, she transformed the “face of French decoration in the [1960s] and 1970s”(6), all during a time when the industry was dominated by men.

Maria Pergay, Flying Carpet Daybed in stainless steel, (1968). Image source.

“In 1970 [Maria Pergay] was commissioned, ... to create the luxurious tent bedroom of Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi, wife of the Shah of Iran”(4). From the 1970s, her focus shifted from designing individual items to whole interior spaces. (4)

Pergay often added a note of whimsy to her work by incorporating bow, ribbon, buckle motifs into her designs. In 2013 she designed a set of chairs inspired by Venetian gondolas. Her later work continued to feature stainless steel as the primary material but often combined with wood, brass, or animal skins. (3)

Maria Pergay, Ring Chair in stainless steel, (1968). Image source.

Pergay’s Rediscovery by Demisch & Danant

During the 1990s New York City art gallery owners Suzanne Demisch and Stéphane Danant rediscovered Maria Pergay’s work. Ms. Demisch learned of the Pergay’s work from her “architecture commissions for the Saudi royal family”(3). In 2013 the gallery held a retrospective, “Maria Pergay: Secret Garden.” The same year designer Silvia Venturini Fendi, who had been a great admirer of Pergay’s work commissioned her to design “pieces for her Avenue Montaigne store, as well as commissioning her to create a series of pieces inspired by Fendi's legacy for Design Miami”(3).

Maria Pergay, Frozen Bush Table in nickeled cast bronze and glass, (2008). Image source.

Maria Pergay continued designing until her death on October 31, 2023 at age 93. During the last decade of her life, she executed more than seventy new designs. Using her rich imagination rather than being influenced by the work of her contemporaries (3), she created a collection of furniture and other objects that embodied her unique design sense. Maria Pergay’s designs exemplified her confidence in using non-traditional materials and motifs in unconventional and sometimes humorous ways.

References

Gotthardt, A., (28 October, 2015). On Her 85th Birthday, Maria Pergay Looks Back at her Decades-Long Design Career. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-iconoclast-designer-maria-pergay-looks-back-at-her-decades-long-career

Wikipedia.com, (23 December, 2023). Maria Pergay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Pergay

Bertoli, R., (8 november 2023). In Memoriam: Maria Pergay (1930-2023). https://www.wallpaper.com/design-interiors/maria-pergay-obituary

Mowen, J., (September/October 2018). Seeing Beauty: Maria Pergay. Vogue Style Magazine. http://www.jasonmowen.com/2018/11/30/vogue-living-sep-oct-2018-maria-pergay/

Rawsthorn, A., (18 March, 2012). The Soft and Elegant Side of Stainless Steel. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/arts/design/the-soft-and-elegant-side-of-stainless-steel.html

Demischdanant.com, (n.d.). Maria Pergay 1957-1979. https://www.demischdanant.com/designers/maria-pergay-1957-1979/biography

[formeroklahoman]

Empress-Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi of Iran & Andy Warhol, Iran, Tehran, 1976.

[europesroyalsjewels]

Coronation Crown of Empress Farah ♕ Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran

[deadland-disciple]

My castle angels--Cynbel, Vigdis, and Shahbanu--were warped by the castle's influence and are now recognizable as dragons only in passing. They're pretty much standard mutated horror creatures, which I'm realizing is not far off from how the aberration species came to be.

... too bad I've spent too much on their accents and outfits to aberrate them! It does pose the question of how long does it take for the castle to mutate its inhabitants, though. I imagine the dragons have some sort of control over whether these mutations are visible or not, but most of them definitely have a sense of "the longer I look at you the weirder you look and if I look at you in a specific light from a specific angle I might have nightmares for the rest of my life."

[europesroyalsweddings]

✵ December 21, 1959 ✵

Farah Diba & Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran

[crazerk]

Can we get some facts about Valide and Shahbanu Yaris? 👀 Seeing that they are the two most powerful women in the dynasty, I'm super intrigued to see how MC interacts with them and how they perceive MC in return. The demo was amazing btw looking forward to more of your writing!!

Valide Zarayan

Daughter of an ambassador who caught the previous Shah’s eye when she accompanied her father on a diplomatic trip.

Originally named Celaena.

Was miserable and mistreated until she learned to “play the game.”

She’s ruthless as a result of her experiences. She really only cares about Kaz, who she is protective of as her only family.

Her rival’s son died under mysterious circumstances. She then imprisoned said rival when own her son took the throne. Coincidence? 🤔

May or may not be responsible for the event that deeply traumatized her son.

She loves cats!

She dislikes her daughter-in-law, though she can respect Yaris’ intelligence. She believes she undermines Kaz.

Shahbanu Yaris

Was married to a man far older than she. When he died (under completely normal circumstances) she ran his estate.

Heavily inspired by Cersei Lannister.

Speaking of which she really loves kids ❤️

She hates being seen as feminine but she’s very particular about her looks, especially her hair which she keeps to her ankles.

She doesn’t hate Kaz but she doesn’t love him either. She’s more possessive of him and the power being his wife grants her.

Kaz had her lover killed so she sleeps with his uncle out of spite. (He can’t kill his uncle lol)

May or may not be associated with a cult. (I wonder how she keeps her skin so youthful? 🤔)

[ofshiraz]

the persians rolling up to portugal like

@shahbanu-ghazala @ibnyaqzan @abuzarbeg @ofshiraz

[royalbloopers]

Photos by Jack Garafalo

[deadlanddisciple]

take ur pick or all out offff sayen shahbanu vesper saevus kuranes serannian no some of these arent biased hush

bless you az ok let’s start

sayen

she’s from an isolated village on the snowsquall tundra.

she was… pretty violently abused in her childhood, and confined to a cage for most of her life.

she made friends with a snowy owl—when her pet was discovered, it was killed immediately.

no one knows how the hell she got to the castle and what happened in-between her time in the village and now.

her spine is all sorts of messed up and pokes out painfully. she won’t let anyone get close enough to figure out what’s wrong.

she’s sort of an all-purpose servant, but her specialty is raising birds. she manages to make herself moderately useful by raising them for eggs and meat, and training them to send messages and scavenge.

she’s survived this long in the hyper-competitive castle culture by keeping her head to the ground and minding her own damn business.

she’s a favourite servant among those with birds. kast and hakan like her.

shahbanu

shahbanu is among the oldest of the castle’s residents.

she tried to show her loyalty to queen decay by cutting out her own eyes, but rumours are that the lightweaver took offence to shahbanu’s betrayal—hence why light spots form all around shahbanu’s body.

they are very sensitive and burn painfully when they sense light, but in total darkness they multiply and grow even more sensitive.

shahbanu gave up on covering them as a result. it just made the pain worse, whereas exposing them desensitizes them slowly.

she wears less clothing than most as a result. oh, and her real eyes ended up regenerating, along with a really big light spot on her forehead.

she stills considers herself loyal to decay and decay alone.

her long time in plague has warped her body into a mutated mess, but not as much as vigdis and cynbel. she has quills growing everywhere, usually hidden under her feathers. when she gets riled up, they stick up. she’s also covered in varicose veins and presumably benign tumours.

cynbel, vigdis, and shahbanu form the trio of plaguewarped/plaguetouched skydancers called the castle’s ‘angels’.

vesper

sad girl, too good for this world, too pure.

born shadetouched, the shade was expelled from her body at a young age.

it lasted for a week before coming back, taking the form of a colony of black honeybees.

the bees burrowed into her skin, turning her into a living hive. they make honey. vesper used to sell it for money on purgare’s illegal goods exchange.

trelawney kept her as an experiment. why decay even allowed it… I’m still thinking about it, actually.

she was scorned by the castle and begged the gods that be for a friend. then a strange skydancer from arcane wandered into the castle and sort of stuck around. they had kids a few times, although Vesper always had an off feeling about her new friend.

turns out she still had a weak link to the shade, and it granted her wish by brainwashing a stranger from a different country and convincing them to find her.

oh, then her family died (you know about this!!!), severing the link between her and the shade. the only reason she wasn’t really affected by it up to that point was because of her link to it through her family, so when they died, the chains came loose.

the shade bees abruptly left her body and killed her friend/mate-not-mate—the only reason they didn’t kill anyone else was because of a certain slimy red spiral we all know and love.

vesper knew damn well that the tolerance she was just barely shown in the castle was out the fucking window that moment. she went from second-class citizen to fugitive, and ran as far as she damn could.

she’s still on the run. most of the castle will kill her if they find her.

saevus

saevus followed vesper because dammit, they were friends! and saevus wasn’t really well-liked in the castle either because of it.

saevus isn’t actually shadetouched. she’s very resistant to it. not decayspawn levels of resistance, but still, pretty high.

the shade did attack her as a child, and it did severe damage to her face and neck. she wears the wolf pelt to cover it. removing it is enough to throw her into a violent frenzy.

she’s super friendly and a good leader. very charismatic! vesper and sera, despite being older than saevus, are happy to defer to her. she’s pretty much the leader of the small group.

the markings on her body are tattoos. she got the idea in a dream, visited a sketchy tattoo parlour one day, and the rest is history. vesper chewed out kuranes later because damn it he had something to do with it. still no indication of being shadetouched, thankfully.

she hunts for vesper and sera and herself, but loves to splurge what little spending money she has on good food.

was mostly raised by vesper and serannian.

kuranes

-͡ ̛͜҉y̷̢o̸u͘ ̵͞k̢nǫ̕w̕͠ ͝ev̸e̴ŕy̨̢͜t̷͠҉h̢́i͘n̢̛͟g ̨́t̴͘h̵er̵̶̨e̴҉ ͘͠͞ì̡s̀͢ t̷͏o̵̶ ̡͟͜k̷̕n̸̛̛ow̡ a҉͜b̷̛͢o̸u͡t͡͡ ̛͠͡him͜ ̧́͞y̶o͜͠u’̸̀v́͝͏e͘͢ ̢̕j͘ư҉̧s͝t foŕ͟g̕͢ǫ̡t͟t̵̸é̕͡n̷ iţ ̴ì̸n ̡̢ą͡ ̷c̷͏h͠i͞ļ̴͜d́͠h̴͠o͟o̸d ̸̸̡d͢͞r҉eà͘͠m̀͡

serannian

like vesper, she was kept by trelawney as another experiment.

since expelling the shade didn’t work as intended, trelawney tried to seal it inside serannian.

it mostly worked! she has some funky eyes going down her side now, though.

… if you look through the pupils of the eyes going down her side, you can see into the dreamscape. sometimes a flash of red and purple flies by.

good at sensing leylines.

very nervous. the anxiety to vesper’s depression.

likes pretty, shiny things. saevus gives her jewellery to cheer her up.

actually kuranes’ niece. he’s sort of protective over her. it would be more heartwarming if it wasn’t kuranes.

talks a lot about a dragon named celephais. vesper and saevus think celephais is some sort of imaginary friend serannian made up. kuranes says nothing.

[iridediluce]

Antiche donne persiane: l'ascesa del femminismo nell'antica Persia

Antiche donne persiane: l’ascesa del femminismo nell’antica Persia

Le antiche donne persiane non godevano della stessa libertà degli antichi uomini persiani. Le donne persiane hanno dovuto lottare duramente per la propria vita e per farsi un nome. Le civiltà antiche sono ben note per il loro patriarcato e l’oppressione delle donne ma, anche in tali condizioni, alcune donne sono salite al potere e al di sopra dei patriarchi. Qui ti portiamo un resoconto completo…