A little more information on Nochet. Here is a crude family tree of the queens since 1461. Esrolian queens tend to rule until they: (1) die or are killed; (2) are removed by a coup; (3) their own Grandmother dies and they decide take on Asrelia’s robes and retire to behind the scenes. Such retired queens – the “Revered Grandmother” (RG) – are often the real power in the city.
When Queen Bruvela “retired”, she dominated Esrolia for another 35 years, making her daughters queen, and removing them from power when they became uppity. Her daughter Brengala did the same (and for the same amount of time). However, when Norina was killed by Sartarite assassins, the next queen (Imarjira) was not under her thumb and we had 13 years of struggle between the queen and the Reverend Grandmother.
Brengala ultimately defeated Imarjira, and placed her granddaughter (from a different House) on the throne, but was ultimately assassinated herself in 1565.
Valinyr retired in 1585, appointing her niece (from the same House) as queen. When Valinda was killed by evil magic, Valinyr supported Hendira in becoming queen in 1610. However Valinyr died of old age in 1613 and Hendira was able to rule on her own. She ruled without a Reverend Grandmother until 1622, when she was overthrown by Samastina.
Samastina’s own grandmother, Jolerta (daughter of Imarjira), was caught off guard and side-lined by her own grand-daughter. As a result, Samastina is the first queen since Bruvela not to be under the thumb of a Reverend Grandmother.
