Arianna steadies herself, her heart thumping in her chest, as she changed out of the white dress of the past year and a half, and back into the all too familar black garb. She knew that this day was coming, there was never any escaping it, but it still stung her deeply. These few moments were taken to be alone and to contemplate before her work begins. That she had to begin working so soon after the death of her wife was the worst part: that there was no time to properly mourn her.

Actually… no, that wasn't the worst part. She thought about what she had to do, planning out each step in her mind so that when the time came she could act without hesistation; still she could not escape the fact that was she was about to do was something Ciara never wanted. In was, in essence a betrayal. The lump that was swelling in Arianna's throat was only pushed down by telling herself that what she was doing was for the common good. And it was – at least she genuinely thought it was. She was putting personal desires aside to ensure that people as a whole do not suffer: she hoped history remembered this way.

The Queen Regent checked her lacing for the fourth time, and realised that she couldn't prevaricate any longer. She drew her breath in, and herself up to her full height, and left the room. The Palace was quiet. Her footsteps rang out through the stone halls, but there was nothing else to hear. Entering the Great Hall she found a vast assembly, also in expectant silence. The Court, and those from all over Esharia were waiting on her to bring news of what the past, and now future holds.

“Honoured Guests, I shall be brief.

“Queen Ciara Assetti Halmid has died this evening, I need not tell you of what. As widow I here, in front of you, announce my child, Lucretio Ciara Halmid, as heir to the Throne of Esharia.”

There is no turning back now.

“The reigns of Queen Regent Arianna Halmid, and her son, King Lucretio Ciara Halmid, are fundamentally interlinked. Any historical analysis which attempts to treat these as two discrete periods is doomed to failure; nonetheless, there is some very useful distinctions that can be made in approach, context, and outcome. While both sought for peace (as many did in the tumultuous post-Breach years), there is an observable swing from measures designed to forge peace to those designed to keep peace. Both sought strong diplomatic ties with the Orrin, Bloom, and later SHADE peoples to attempt to forestall any war, the early period was marked by considerable lessening of hardships on those not favoured by earlier regimes. Most notably the poor, and the heretic.

“While this, in those early years, helped dampen some of the tensions which rose in the time before Arianna's ascention, they fundamentally laid the seeds for future empowerment of the lower classes. Freed from the need to fulfill the base desires of food, shelter, and so on, those who previously did not hold power now had the space to refine their demands in a political direction. Thus we see that much of Lucretio's later reign was spent attempting to find outlets for this new political pressure. It was, however, not until after his death that the full force of this new political class would be brought to bear.”

— An Extract from A Brief Political History of the Royalty of Esharia, by Michelo Daralan