Character Note: Emyli Stauberg-Randolph

Emyli is the first female main character introduced in the Triempery Revelations series and she stands solidly atop the female character heap. Outspoken and stubborn, Emyli does a lot of heavy lifting in the storytelling and is probably the character who interacts the most with every other main character—with one significant exception. She never meets Nammuor (nor would she want to).

SPOILERS: Any note about a character this prominent is going to wander near some spoilers. Readers new to the series—i.e. Sordaneon and The Kheld King—will encounter a few spoilers. This note deliberately sidesteps some later discoveries and should not spoil anything for readers of the later books.

Personal Characteristics

Physically, Emyli looks like her parents. Very few elites met her Kheld mother, so most characters in the books think she looks like her father, Marc Frederick: dark hair (his is black, hers a rich dark brown), intense blue eyes (which do look like his), fair skin, even teeth, and the same straight nose and facial features. During the course of the series, Emyli’s resemblance to Marc Frederick makes some characters—like Dorilian—uncomfortable. That resemblance also reminds Essera’s nobles of Emyli’s legitimacy and position.

In personality, Emyli is intelligent and driven. After her turbulent youth (see below) she has devoted her energy and resources toward supporting and defending her two sons. She interceded for Stefan with Marc Frederick on numerous occasions and championed Stefan to Essera’s often disgruntled nobles, on many occasions reminding them of her much-revered father and forming useful relationships with persons whose support Stefan sought. Many of Emyli’s connections later became a base of support for Hans.

Though intensely loyal, Emyli holds back from truly intimate relationships. After being widowed she has refrained from pairing with men. Her friendships with women, while useful—such as her network of Amallaran and Esseran women used to collect or send information—are not close. One person with whom Emyli did become close, and stayed close, was her younger brother Jonthan.

Though Emyli lives initially at Gustan, her father’s great Manor, Stefan’s death changed that situation and for much of the series she resides in Permephedon, where she occupies a floor of the Jewel Tower of the Malyrdeons.

Who is Emyli?

Emyli was born at Gustan Manor in 2/1831 to Marc Frederick Stauberg-Randolph and his first wife, Thora Kaddisda. Thora was conceived “under the Hill” and so Emyli’s maternal grandfather is not known but Thora’s birth was considered fortunate. Kaddis belonged to the Thegnkeld, so Thora stood to inherit significant lands and connections.

Marc Frederick was not yet Endurin Malyrdeon’s Heir when he wed Thora. He was the Esseran King’s great-grandson who had been spirited very much against his will into the Triempery and was even after a few years still struggling to secure his place. Though nominally a prince by birth he possessed neither title nor lands. Essera’s Staubaun aristocracy shunned him. Khelds reluctantly—because Marc Frederick’s half-Kheld mother had been high clan—counted Marc Frederick as one of their own. He glimpsed Thora at a harvest festival and was smitten by her. That night she chose him. They wed several weeks later—without King Endurin’s permission.

As a member of the royal family, Marc not obtaining permission was a grave offense and prompted calls for the marriage to be put aside and declared invalid. Endurin, however, declared that the marriage would stand, and its offspring would be legitimate.

A Matter of Succession

Emyli was only a year old when her mother died suddenly. Her father was by then Prince of Dazunor, having been named Endurin’s Heir just months before. When Endurin died soon after, Marc Frederick’s ascension was hotly contested and challenged—by the Sordaneons, Cienorreons (Mormantalorus’s Highborn rulers), and some branches of the Malyrdeons—in the Archhalia and other arenas. Several of Essera’s Princes pressured Marc Frederick to put aside Thora so he could wed a Highborn Princess to create necessary alliances. They based their support on his doing this. Marc Frederick refused. Thora and Emyli were with him at Trulo when Thora took ill. She died before the coronation day had been set, amid rumors that she had been murdered. Marc Frederick would not let his daughter out of his sight until he could take her personally to Gustan.

Marc Frederick accepted the Esseran kingship and was crowned on 2/1832/10/5. On that day he confronted open rebellion by Labran Sordaneon, Hierarch of Sordan, taking him hostage and ordering the subjugation and occupation of the Sordan Hierarchate. Mormantalorus immediately seceded from the Triempery. Days later Marc Frederick wed Apollonia Halasseonea, daughter of the Prince of Tahlwent.

A Beloved but Ignored Princess

Once Marc Frederick was certain of Emyli’s safety he brought her to his court and took personal charge of his daughter’s welfare. He made certain her household consisted of loyal Gustanites such as made up much of his own staff. Emyli grew up speaking her father’s native tongue alongside Stauba and Khelda. She was raised as a Highborn princess in every way: learning etiquette, reading, poetry, mathematics, history, and science. Additionally, the young princess was instructed in riding, dance, hunting, and archery.

Emyli was three years old when Queen Apollonia gave Marc Frederick a son, Jonthan (2/1834), who instantly became the focus of the royal household. Gifts and visitors poured in to welcome the new Heir. Marc Frederick did not overlook his daughter. He included her daily, attended her lessons, and made a point of sending her to her mother’s family in Amallar for a few months each year to build a strong bond with Thora’s people.

Queen Apollonia didn’t approve of Emyli. Apollonia considered Kheld blood brutish and inferior (though she would deny being a Purist... deep down she was one) and this attitude prevented her from becoming close to Marc Frederick’s daughter. Instead Emyli was merely tolerated, politely, and seldom included in the Queen’s court or activities. Emyli noticed, of course, and it was little wonder that she found more joy and belonging with her Kheld kin.

Time Among the Khelds

From the time she was seven Emyli would spend months at a time among the Khelds. She would play with her Kheld cousins, run in the fields, and experienced more freedom. Her grandmother Kaddis introduced her to the Ways of the Mother, from which Emyli wished to study the Ways of Knowing and especially the laying of Wheels and reading of runes. Marc Frederick approved of her learning this knowledge and Emyli spent her twelfth and thirteenth years studying with Hrisla Faerbodda, High Mother in charge of the tower at Lanigorn. When Emyli had her first menarche at thirteen Hrisla gave Emyli her set of runes.

Emyli met Erwan Cedrecson in Amallar the summer she turned fourteen. Erwan found her entrancing and she found him attentive and charming. Young love ensued, all power and promise—and without Emyli’s father at hand to put on the brakes. Kheld matriarchs believed it fitting that a young woman should choose a man, the only stipulation being that she should choose wisely. Erwan was of good family, educated, connected to men Marc Frederick had raised to prominence, and he seemed like he would make a promising provider and husband.

Unfortunately for young love, Marc Frederick had other plans for his daughter.

Betrothals and Betrayals

For reasons political and tied to Wall portents, Marc Frederick wanted to heal the breach with the Sordaneons. He was still holding Labran hostage, so he had some leverage. Labran, for his part, had sired two sons—twins—one of whom was sitting as Prince Regent in Sordan. Neither son had wed (the Highborn have long lives and often wed and start families later). Deben, the one serving as Regent, was a prime target for alliance and Marc Frederick had spent much of Labran’s imprisonment warding off prospective brides. Now he hoped to arrange a union.

Fearful of being taken captive like his father, Deben never left Sordan. So it was that Emyli, accompanied by Apollonia, traveled to meet him. Proud and a Purist, Deben let Emyli know he found her body disgusting and her bloodline unacceptable. Apollonia openly agreed, though she also knew that Marc could, if necessary, force the marriage. Emyli knew this too, which is why she arranged as soon as she was safely back in Dazunor-Rannuli to flee across the river to Amallar.

In Amallar she found Erwan again and the young lovers ran off together to hide among Amallar’s matriarchal skirts where no one would ever force a young woman to be with a man she did not want... and especially when she was with a man she did want!

Love and Marriage

Emyli loved Erwan madly, an ardor he matched. Emyli was still very young, just turned 15, when she became pregnant. Wiser heads counselled her to surrender to her father. Marc Frederick hadn’t sent troops into Amallar (he honored Erydon’s Promise), but he was on the verge of doing so.

When Emyli returned to her father in Dazunor-Rannuli, she did so with Erwan at her side. She claimed that she and Erwan had wed, though it had been a Kheld ceremony witnessed only by friends. Marc Frederick wanted none of that. Though Emyli was no longer suitable to be Deben Sordaneon’s bride [she had never been suitable to begin with but being pregnant by Erwan offended more than just the Sordaneons], she was still the King of Essera’s daughter and still in the line of succession. Marc Frederick insisted Emyli and Erwan be properly married under Esseran law and standards.

And so they were, albeit quietly. Five months later Emyli gave birth to a son she named Stefan. Marc Frederick was present at the naming ceremony.

Emyli kept her name and Erwan went off discreetly to perform services, none of much importance, for his father-in-law.

That covers Emyli’s early history. We’ve come to a part of her story that won’t be fully covered in this post because... well, it’s still unfolding in the final books and may even get a book of its own should the author live long enough. Here’s a brief summary of what readers do know:

By the time Stefan was twelve years old and in school, Erwan was antsy for change for his Kheld people. He’d joined the rebellion of a Kheld chieftain named Howyce, and Emyli, though conflicted, sought to support her husband. She stayed with Erwan hoping to protect him and temper Howyce’s actions, which is how she accompanied the rebels to Gignastha, helping them infiltrate a Highborn wedding. The result was disaster.

Many wedding guests and three Highborn Princes (all three of Sordaneon lineage) were slain. Howyce forcibly installed Erwan to be Lord of Gignastha and Emyli his Lady. Retribution by local Staubaun Lords was swift and Gignastha was retaken by Ral of Leseons, heir of one of the murdered Princes. Howyce and Erwan were slain. Emyli was taken captive by Ral.

And Emyli’s son Handurin was born a year later.

Exactly how that all went down is still a mystery. [Sorta. Kinda. Mostly. It will make a good book.]

Illustration by C.B. Lansdell

A Royal Mother

Emyli gave birth to Handurin in great secrecy but kept him with her, acknowledging him as her posthumous son by Erwan. A closed tribunal was held wherein Emyli was interrogated by a panel of Malyrdeon princes—Enreddon, Austell, and Regelon—which absolved her of the Highborn murders at Gignastha, though not of the civil rebellion or her part in it. Marc Frederick pardoned Emyli for the latter but her reputation never fully recovered. She took up again being a royal daughter to her father, attending Marc Frederick’s court on formal occasions, and spent the remainder of her time and energy on being mother to her sons. She took up residence at Gustan so she could be with them as much as possible.

Having grown up being snubbed for having Kheld blood, Emyli was fiercely determined that her sons be accepted as royalty. Though she kept young Hans from court during his early years—he happily grew up at Gustan for the most part—Emyli insisted that Stefan be given an aristocratic upbringing. Stefan went to the right schools, learned the right sports—becoming a regular on Prince Jonthan’s pelekys team—and was groomed to make a good marriage and alliance for the family. Emyli was more protective of Hans but there’s no doubt she would have sent him along the same path.

And in some ways she still wants to!

But Emyli has a core of steel. She also sees her sons clearly. She can and she will make difficult decisions, such as the one that sent Hans into hiding against Stefan's wishes. Or one that later defies Stefan to save Dorilian's life.

Relationships with Other Series Characters

Emyli is one of a handful of characters who has at least one POV scene in every book. Readers get to see a lot of her interactions with other characters.

Dorilian. No one has a more fraught presence in Emyli’s life. Because he is Stefan’s primary enemy and nemesis, Dorilian is her enemy also. She resents almost everything about him—and the series (and some of the above aspects of her story) reveal the reasons why, including the whole fiasco with Deben. As far as she’s concerned, Dorilian is everything that’s wrong with the World.

Ionais. Emyli was happy when her beloved brother Jonthan wed Ionais—but she and Ionais were never close and will likely never grow closer. Ionais is a quintessential Highborn Princess who will never quite regard Emyli as her equal. The two women do respect each other, though, and Emyli trusts her sister-in-law as she does few others.

Palimia. Though they were never truly friends, Emyli liked Marc Frederick’s former mistress and Dorilian’s eventual one. The series makes quite clear Emyli knew Apollonia wasn’t sleeping with Marc Frederick so she didn’t blame her father for finding companionship elsewhere. As for Dorilian... he was powerful, and Stefan had put Palimia in an impossible position. Emyli didn’t blame her for making the best of the situation. She even understood the part that went unspoken.

Marenthro. Emily knew Marenthro from girlhood and she thought him amazing. Beautiful, mysterious, powerful—never changing yet always different. It’s probable Emyli picked up on Marc Frederick’s sometimes warm but frequently resentful feelings about Permephedon’s resident wizard and how Endurin and Marenthro had conspired to chain him to the Wall’s grand schemes. It’s even possible she sometimes felt the same.

In Summary

Throughout the series Emyli is consistent. She loves her father, to whom she owes such great debts. She loves her sons, even when they disappoint her. She fears Dorilian nearly as much as Stefan does—but she does it with more grace and more intelligence. Ultimately she loves the World and its people. Emyli is a woman the World has kicked around, hard, but she has learned hard lessons from her life, and she puts those lessons into practice.

Emyli had chosen to wear the crown of sapphires her father had given her in honor of the two sons she had borne—given on the day he had named them his heirs. “Always my Princess,” he had said. In those days, such words had kept her alive, such words and her sons. In her darkest time, she had found her life’s purpose through what they represented to her and this land and to her family’s legacy. The birthright of the Khelds. The continuation of the Highborn Triempery and legitimate rule. For as long as her sons lived, as even one of them lived…. [from The Second Stone, Book 3]

Say what you want about Emyli, she’s a survivor. And she'll see to it others survive too.