The Unknown Shahbanu

Last Login:
March 9th, 2024

View All Posts


Gender: Female
Age: 119
Sign: Capricorn
Country: Iran

Signup Date:
June 26, 2011

Subscriptions

07/28/2012 12:58 PM 

Connections 3
Category: Stories


CONNECTIONS


Navaz || Adoptive Mother / Mentor
Profile: Click to View!

At eighteen years of age Maniya was freed from servitude by a wealthy but solitary Persian noblewoman named Navaz, who had long chosen to live away from court. She had isolated herself from her noble heritage and dedicated her life to learning and putting her inherited fortune in the service of common, disadvantage people and the improvement of vital sectors of the empire.

Maniya remained to live with Navaz in one of the most lavishing villas of the rich district of Babylon, not too far from the royal palace. Navaz became her mentor and spiritual guide but also legally adopted her as a daughter so she could inherit all her properties after her passing and carry on her legacy. Maniya stayed with Navaz because she had nothing and no one in the world and also because she had to make sure no one who had known her before would find out she was alive. To the world she was dead and she had to remain that way, especially if she had to understand her new identity and mission in life.

Navaz differed from most women because she had never married and unlike many other women she had dedicated her life to studying history, geography, astronomy, medicine, philosophy, religions and other such domains that helped one understand the world and one's purpose in life. The same as a dedicated scholar, Navaz had accumulated basic knowledge in the various sciences of the time and had gathered many books and manuscripts in her life, thus bringing some of the most important works ever written in one place. As Maniya's mentor and adoptive mother, Navaz began to pass her knowledge onto her, putting her through extensive study sessions from the first day her house became Maniya's as well.

As a free young woman, the only tasks that Maniya now had to accomplish were the ones she set for herself or the ones that her mentor and adoptive mother, Navaz, set for her. In the beginning, these tasks involved only her education and unlike her previous tasks they were not a tiresome burden but a true delight. Later on, other of Maniya's duties included protecting the hidden Temple of the Goddess outside Babylon, helping the needy (often by stealing from some of the very wealthy nobles, mostly the greedy and vile ones) and encouraging people to have an open mind and constantly enrich their knowledge so as to understand more and more of the mysteries of life.

Most knew Navaz to be one of the wealthiest women in Babylon but only few knew that she was not just any noblewoman but a descendant of royal blood, a cousin of the current Queen of the Persian Empire, Amāstrī, the first wife of King Sharaman. Also following a personal calling from a young age, Navaz chose to live a different life dedicated to learning and helping the less fortunate, not just by random charity acts but by trying to make lasting changes in society. With her large inheritance as a financial background, she acquired properties and started various businesses whose revenue she would donate or reinvest. Because of this she became well-known and respected in Babylon and throughout most of the major cities of the empire.

It was not long however before Maniya found out (actually Navaz told her) that not all the wealth and repositories of knowledge had been acquired through law-abiding means. Having been a slave to many selfish, wealthy masters who thought themselves above the rest simply because they had been accidentally born into a noble family, Maniya was not repealed by Navaz's ways. In fact, she approved and embraced them because even though they were breaking the law, they were doing so in favor of the common, suppressed people. Navaz did not believe that the gods simply endowed some people with riches and deemed them superior to the rest and worthy to rule others, who had to obey blindly. A man of power, evidently one possessing great riches, had once told her: 'I have the greatest respect for thieves. Every man born to wealth has a good thief amongst his ancestors somewhere.'

Although kind in spirit, like any dedicated parent or mentor, Navaz knew to be strict when it was required and she made sure to impose enough discipline on Maniya's daily schedule and education so she would not fall prey to idleness once she found herself a free young woman, living in wealth. Her methods proved very useful and Maniya would forever remain grateful to Navaz for shaping her into the strong-spirited, knowledgeable and resourceful woman she gradually became. Whenever in doubt, Maniya would seek Navaz's advice, knowing that she would always receive a practical solution, which was the correct path to take, even if occasionally it was not one that Maniya would have wanted to take. Such was the time when Navaz strongly advised young Maniya to put an end to her secret meetings with Prince Tus, offering solid reasons in favour of it. At first Maniya was too overwhelmed by her passions to accept Navaz's advice but later she understood that the right decision, one favourable for others, is not always one favourable for yourself, unless you learn to detach yourself from impossible desires.

An even more well kept secret than Navaz's noble heritage was that she spoke from experience when advising Maniya to cease her juvenile affair with Tus. The coincidence was most bizarre, because the poor, orphan girl Navaz adopted as her own, just like King Sharaman had adopted Maniya's friend (yet another peculiar coincidence) became enamored with the future King of Kings, the same as Navaz had been when she was of Maniya's age. Yet, her situation had been different. Years before, when they were much younger, having only recently reached adulthood, it was Sharaman who attempted to win Navaz's hand in marriage.

From a political perspective alone, Navaz would have been the best choice to occupy the position of first wife of the future King of Kings since she belonged to one of the oldest and most prominent families of that time, the House Kurush-Hakhāmanish (descendants of Kurush the Great of the Hakhāmanish dynasty, the founder of the First Persian Empire). Their lineage descended from the union of Artastūnā, a daughter of Kurush, and Dārayavahush the Great. Although none of the sons born by Artastūnā to Dārayavahush succeeded their father as King of Kings, the lineage from which Navaz claimed direct descent was perpetuated by the daughter of the two, also named Artastūnā. She married a descendant of Ariyāramna, great-grandfather of Dārayavahush and one of the first kings of Pārsa, the core region of what would later become the Persian Empire. Their descendants also married successors of this lineage and so their family continued to be renowned and respected as descendants of both Kurush and Ariyāramna, an even older descendant of Hakhāmanish, and the purest of the old Persian bloodlines.

Their dominion over the region and the city of Pārsa (Greek: Persepolis) prevailed even after most of it was burnt to the ground by the invading Macedonians. The seat of power of the Pārsa satrapy then moved to the nearby city of Estakhr. Navaz's parents used to spend much time in their residence in Babylon, the one she inherited and which is her current dwelling. After marriage, Navaz's younger sister moved to Estakhr with her husband, the satrap of the Pārsa satrapy. Less than two decades later, after both of them passed away, she of illness and he in battle, the governship of Pārsa went to a descendant of Dārayavahush, from the House Dārayavahush-Hakhamanish.

Navaz could have become Queen of Queens instead of Amāstrī, but she could not be swayed to accept, despite her feelings for Prince Sharaman. She was determined to follow her own path in life and giving it up for marriage was not something that appealed to her, even if it meant suppressing the true feelings of love she had for Sharaman. With her father dead and no other living, close male relative to force her into marriage and no financial pressures upon her to do so, Navaz followed her own path and desires, which also corresponded to her family's heritage.

As proud descendants of Kurush, Navaz's family had always sought to continue the legacy of the Kings who ruled throughout the years the first Persian Empire, a legacy that came to an end with the Greek invasion and their subsequent dominance. Not even the Parthians, a north-eastern sister-nation of the Persians (both of Iranian descent) who drove out the Seleucid Greeks and Macedonians and regained control of the territory that had once formed the Persian Empire, managed to reinstall the prosperous form of government sustained by the Hakhāmanish dynasty when they had been in power.

As such, Navaz's family saw it as their duty to continue the legacy of their forefathers and strived to ensure decent standards of living and education for all common people, as much as possible, as well as reduce slavery. They themselves held no slaves and only employed servants who were free men and women, who received payment for their services and could leave the employment if they so desired. Beginning with the reign of Mithradata II, grandfather of Sharaman, a Second Persian Empire began to take form, although it would be consolidated as such only later, during the reign of King Sharaman.

Mithradata founded his own Persian-Parthian dynasty, the House Arshak-Hakhāmanish, to which all Persian families belonged from then on, including Navaz's, even if it had lost the fame it once held. Despite the reforms initiated by Mithradata, there was still much turmoil in the empire and much work to be done until the Second Persian Empire would reach the heights of the First and with the numerous bloody disputes that seemed to be a regular occurrence among noble Parthian families, Navaz's family continued to refuse becoming related to the current ruling family.

Still, despite her choices, those who knew Navaz and her family closely, continued to recognize the importance of her heritage, since with the passing of her younger sister she remained the sole descendant of a very old and noble family, the only living, officially attested, direct descendant of the first King of Kings. This connection to a King that Maniya greatly admired, even if she was only an adopted daughter of Navaz's, together with the fact that she had been born in Pāsārgād, a city built by Kurush to serve as capital of the First Persian Empire, and which still held his eternal resting place, emphasized her belief that it was part of her destiny to help revive the glory of the Persian Empire.

Yet, it was not a destiny born purely out of personal desire and choice, it was also born out of duty. When Navaz chose to dedicate her life to study and the service of the Goddess, she did so thinking the family would live on through her sister and her children. But when the younger sister died without leaving behind any living heirs and Navaz was already passed the age of bearing children, the once great dynasty was faced with the inevitability of living on in name only, though Maniya, an adopted child.



Zoraideh || Employee / Confidant
Profile: Click to View!

In the house of lady Navaz, Zoraideh works both as a housekeeper, a supervisor of all the other servants and an administrator, making sure the house is well supplied with the basic necessities as well as anything else Navaz asks to be acquired. Aside from being in charge of all the purchases and the maintenance of the dwelling, on occasions Zoraideh also helps Navaz with the financial management of the estate. Now a woman in her mid forties, Zoraideh had come to live with Navaz's family since she was a child and served their house ever since, acquiring an education along the way. Zoraideh does not remember much about her family, who unexpectedly found their end as victims of war, only that they were Bedouin desert dwellers of Arabic descent.

She retained their traditions and beliefs which held great meaning to her as sole reminder of her people and family. Zoraideh has a strong tendency of perceiving life from the point of view of her inherited believes and many times she gives Maniya advice accordingly, being able to bring her some comfort and at least some sort of explanation to things happening in Maniya's life that she could not otherwise explain. She helped Maniya find her path in life by leading her to believe that the things happening to her could only be part of her destiny. Whether this was true or not, Zoraideh's explanations proved to be a real support for Maniya and helper her move forward each time she found herself in seemingly impossible situations.

Zoraideh is a gentle and kind-hearted woman who was always sympathetic towards Maniya's emotional pain and offered her comfort each time, unlike Navaz who sometimes adopted a severe attitude, fearing not to spoil Maniya or soften her personality. Aside from being Maniya's confidant and a good listener with whom she shares all her secrets and emotions, especially those which Navaz would disregard as being silly, Zoraideh is also a good adviser and the only person Maniya knows she can go to for help, no matter the problem. They share many secrets, even from Navaz, especially regarding the times Zoraideh helped Maniya in her more reckless escapades that she threw herself in without thinking and later had to bear the consequences, which sometimes extended to her friends as well, so by extension Zoraideh also keeps secrets of Dastan, Bis and a few other of Maniya's friends.


Afari || Unofficial step-sister / Protegee
Profile: Click to View!
Coming Soon ...


0 Comments  

View All Posts

View All Posts



Mobile | Terms Of Use | Privacy | Cookies | Copyright | FAQ | Support

© 2024. RolePlayer.me All Rights Reserved.