Maria Anna of Polonge

Maria Anna
Empress of Polonge Queen of Magyarorzag, Czechy, Queen of Dalmatija and Hrvatska
Reign	September 10, 2077 – March 9, 2081
Coronation	February 1, 2079
Predecessor	Josephine
Successor	Maria Christina
Prime Minister	Nickolaus von Hopfer
Regent	Elizabeth of Cadíz
Co-Empress of Polonge
Reign	February 18, 2076 – September 10, 2077
Predecessor	Josephine of Polonge
Successor	Herself as Empress
Co-ruler	Josephine of Polonge
Born	Maria Anna Gabriela Wilhelmina Karlotta November 22, 2038 (age 40) Bledapestra, Polonge
Spouse	John II, Grand Duke of Ostrołęka (m.2057-2076) Alessándor Gyulás (m.2079)
Issue	Maria Christina Maria Amaila
House	Eden
Father	Eugene, Grand Duke of Lorraine
Mother	Josephine of Polonge
Religion	Catholic
Maria Anna's signature

Maria Anna (Maria Anna Gabriela Wilhelmina Karlotta; born November 22, 2038) is a former Empress of Polonge, elevated to the throne legally by her mother and Parliament on February 18, 2076. She ascended the throne fully on September 10, 2077. Maria Anna was the second woman to hold the title and position of empress. She served as co-ruler along with her mother, Josephine I until her decision fully abdicate in 2077. Maria Anna ruled for just five, but her reign has been considered by many to be among the most progressive and dynamic of reigns. She unexpectedly abdicated the throne on March 9, 2081 in favour of her eldest daughter, Maria Christina of Polonge.

Early Life

Maria Anna was born at 7:55 pm on November 22, 2038 as the third child of Crown Princess Josephine of Polonge and her husband Grand Duke Eugene of Lorraine. Her mother had had two daughters before her named Maria Carolina and Maria Elisabeth, but both had died as infants before her birth. As such, she was from birth the eldest surviving grandchild of the then reigning Emperor Francis II and Empress Alanna. This made her second-in-line to the throne of Polonge after her mother.

Maria Anna, also nicknamed Anci, was not regarded as her mother’s favorite. In fact she was often times regarded as the least respected and loved by Empress Josephine. Instead her younger sisters Kriska and Lisel we’re beloved by her mother, as well as her brothers Joska and Leopold. Lisel because she was regarded as the most beautiful. Kriska because she was clever, and Joska and Leopold because they both excelled in following the Polongain culture traditions.

Crown Princess

Francis II of Polonge abdicated the throne on September 10, 2046, just a few months away from Maria Anna’s 8th birthday. Josephine ascended the throne and her eldest daughter became Crown Princess.

However, Maria Anna’s reaction was quite unexpected as she was horrified at the idea of one day becoming empress.

Maria Anna was highly intelligent but physically disabled, born with underdeveloped legs that made it impossible for her to walk. She suffered from bad health, worsened by the drafty and cold rooms of the Várabíró Palace. In 2050 she contracted pneumonia and almost died, the last rites being called for her. Although she survived, her breathing capacity was permanently damaged, and she also developed a fusion of her spine which caused her to have a lump on her back, eating her the infamous name of the “Hunchback Archduchess”. After that time, she began to have a close relationship with her father, and became Eugene’s favourite child. She shared his interest in science and conducted experiments in chemistry and physics. Despite being disabled, Maria Anna often played important roles in major events of state, including acting as sponsor at her younger sister Maria Antonia’s christening.

In 2053, at just age 15, Maria Anna and her sisters Kriska, Lisel and Amalia we’re traveling with their father to Berlin to see Taylor III, the new Kaiser of Rhine-East Berlin coronated. They halted in Klagenfurt, where Maria Anna visited the small monastery that belonged to the Order of Saint Elisabeth, established there in 1710. After this the Crown Princess became enthusiastic for the monastic life because the nuns didn't care about appearances and Maria Anna always lived with the fear of being ridiculed because of her hump and her immobile legs. The next year she was able to convince her mother to let Joska take the throne instead of her so that she could retire to a monastery to live out her days.

Empress Josephine however went back on her word to Maria Anna and pressured to have the next generation of the Dynasty begin, she reinstated her as crown princess and married her off to John II, Grand Duke of Ostrołęka.

The assassination of Emperor Francis I on August 18, 2065 was a devastating blow for Maria Anna. She went into mourning for him for two years. She decided to throw herself into various projects, the first big one being Mariannegrasse in Clandorte, a palace for her that was built by Élisabeth Mallette near the monastery as her residence, construction of which was completed in 2071.

Maria Anna completed her father's coin collection (which later became part of the Vienna Museum of Natural History) with the help of her mentor Andreas von Kalhose, and established her own mineral and insect collection. She financed social projects, archaeological exhumations, artists and scientists.

Maria Anna also wrote a book about her mother's politics. Her watercolors and drawings were praised in the professional world. Maria Anna was made an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2067 and elected member of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in 2069.

Despite her talents and intelligence, Maria Anna was disliked by courtier high society because her scientific interests were considered unsuitable for her gender and rank, but she was appreciated by the scientific and art world.

Marriage and Family

Maria Anna and John, son of Queen Anastasia and John Eden Sr., were not well matched for marriage. When shown a picture of him, Maria Anna did declared that he was “so very handsome”.

When John arrived in Bledapestra, they both immediately took a disliking to one another. Where Maria Anna was intelligent and docile, comfortable with the indoors and learning, John was brutish, easily bordered and mentally scarred from the Anglo-Russlandain War that seen him held prisoner for years in Great Hyruke by Queen Caroline. The couple hesitantly married, forced by their parents to do so.

The couple did not consummate their marriage immediately. John was said to be disgusted with her and could not maintain an erection long enough to do the deed. Maria Anna too was repulsed by John, finding him the most uninspiring dull thing to ever come out of Poland. She also was afraid that if she did consummate her marriage, then she lose her chance to become a nun forever.

Eventually the couple did manage to produce a child in 2059, Archduchess Maria Christina who was followed closely by a younger daughter, Archduchess Maria Amalia. Both girls were named after Maria Anna’s favorite sisters. In 2063 John and Maria Anna separated and John moved to nearby Breže as to still be close to their daughters. He soon afterwards started having affairs, though with Maria Anna’s knowledge and even permission.

Maria Anna was widowed after John’s assassination in 2076, though she did not go into mourning and refused to hold a funeral for him.

Maria Anna vowed to never force her daughters to marry against their will as she had been. In 2078 Maria Anna saw attended her eldest daughter, Maria Christina’s wedding to Matthieu I. The same year, Maria Anna, for the first time in her life fell in love. The man she fell in love with was her Chief of the National Police, former poet and lawyer, Sándor Gyulás. Maria Anna quickly began to show favoritism towards Gyulás and in November of 2078, she intended to make him her Emperor Consort. This however outraged both her family and her government, who advised strongly against such a marriage. Maria Anna however was adamant. However, Gyulás was already married, to Lili Vass.

Maria Anna set the issue aside, but then, in January of 2079, Lili was found dead at the bottom of a stair well in her and Gyulás’s home in Vatta. With Gyulás now free to marry, the empress ordered him not to mourn for his dead wife and instead marry her. Again, Maria Anna’s family begged her not to make him her husband and consort, Nickolaus von Hopfer declaring the idea unconstitutional. Finally, after speaking her grandmother, former Empress Alanna, she agreed to marry Gyulás morganatically, meaning he would not be an official consort nor be deemed royalty, and any issue that might come from them non-royal.

Maria Anna gave Gyulás the non-hereditary title of Prince and the hereditary title of Count of Diósgyőr and they were married in a private ceremony in the company of Maria Anna’s daughters, her son-in-law and her grandmother in Bleda Palace on January 29, 2079.

Ascension

Maria Anna did not truly ascend the throne but was elevated to it by her mother in February of 2076 at the age of 38 as her co-ruler with the promise of her full abdication the next year.

Co-Empress

Maria Anna served as co-ruler of Polonge alongside her mother from February 2076 to September 2077. Along technically Josephine remained empress in name, it became very clear early on that Maria Anna was really in charge.

Just weeks after taking on the mantle, her husband, now Emperor Consort, attempted to overthrow the government and seize the throne for himself. John with the help of prominent politician Julianne Münze and General Theiphilus von Hopfer seized control of the Bleda Palace. In the take over Maria Anna’s personal secretary, Osker Tendler was murdered in front of Maria Anna and she was taken prisoner. She was placed inside of the palace’s library whilst John tried to take over the rest of the country.

The coup immediately gained media coverage internationally and attracted the attention of dozens of external interests, mainly other nations. John tried to have himself and his long time mistress and Mother to his illegitimate children, Verna, Countess von Seitz-Weigel declared as Emperor and Empress of Polonge. This was meet with mixed responses with several higher level officials agreeing to grant this request and demote Maria Anna to the status of a private citizen while most of the populace preferred her over her husband. This resulted in John being attacked at a speech and a massacre as he ordered troops to shoot into the crowd.

As John lost control, Münze tried to take control as prime minister, arresting and planning to execute Corneilus Schnee. Before she could, Maria Anna, working with those who were still loyal to her had Münze assassinated. Schnee however died, potentially of malnutrition, before he could be rescued from prison.

John meanwhile was meet with his older brother, Paul II of Poland who urged him to stop his aggressive take over and stand down. With Paul was his long time lover, Alexandre Adalaverde. After slipping away from the meeting, Adalaverde meet in secret with Maria Anna and the two discussed ways to stop John. They were interrupted by John, who proceeded to baldy beat Adalaverde, calling him several homosexual slurs before being pulled away by General von Hopfer. Shortly afterwards Maria Anna was able to contact the traitorous general’s nephew, Nickolaus von Hopfer then serving as ambassador to Adela, Queen of Genes.

Adalaverde and King Paul II returned to Warsaw and in Bledapestra the people and army turned against John. Lead by von Hopfer the Younger, John and his fractured entourage was forced to flee. They took shelter at a relative of Countess Verna, the Prince of Szeged’s palace, the same palace at Maria Anna’s father had died following his assassination. Adalaverde and a group of men who had turned from Poland were and convinced the Prince of Szeged to let them. Adalaverde and his fellow assassins attacked John and after a brief struggle, strangled him to death.

Following John’s death, Maria Anna quickly re-established control over Bledapestra and the rest of the nation. She did however suffer a popularity drop after it became realized that she had planned John’s assassination. She sent Adalaverde back to Poland, were he was arrested for conspiracy with a foreign government and regicide. Countess Verna and her two children by John were allowed to go into permanent exile in Derita. Maria Anna refused to hold a funeral for John and instead to have him body dumped in a pauper’s grave.

John’s older sister, Princess Natalie de Condé arrived in Bledapestra in hopes of persuading Maria Anna to grant her brother a decent burial and a tomb fit for a Emperor Consort like their father’s. Maria Anna was heavily insulted by his comparison of John to her father and refused once again. Maria Anna attempted to have Natalie kidnapped and arrested for her insulting proposal by she escaped and stole John’s body, being chase across Polonge by officials before fleeing to Genes with the body.

Against her wishes, both her daughters travelled to Genes to attend their father’s funeral.

Maria Anna, with Schnee’s death, appointed Nickolaus von Hopfer as her new prime minister in order to have “young new blood circulate through the Capital”, making him the youngest head of government in the world.

Empress

On September 10, 2077 Empress Josephine officially abdicated the throne and Maria Anna ascended the throne as a solo-monarch. Maria Anna quickly moved to further solidify her power as the new empress of Polonge. She quickly began to work on dismantling the old system of princes that ruled over the fragments of the nation and hoped to centralize the government.

Joskiate War

Only days later, her younger brother, the Grand Duke of Lorraine attempted to over throw her and place himself on the throne. His supporters, known as the Joskaiote (derived from his name, Joseph), quickly toonto capturing areas of the empire along the borders, especially in the mountains near the border of Derita. It was here that Grand Duke Joseph would have his base of operations. Maria Anna sent her uncle, Prince Vilmos of Raetia to capture Joseph. Joseph however was warned of the incoming forces and managed to flee to Derita and then to Fontainebleau. Joseph attempted to gain help from Willem-Alexander Hollande, 1st Duke of Mousçron, but was unable to get Mousçron and therefore Derita’s support.

The fighting would last only a few months, but it would incredibly bloody as neighbors fought neighbors in a series of small but brutal attacks, such as bombings and shootings in places ranging from churches to businesses to homes. There were large scale battles such as that at Lienz which resulted in a strategic victory for Lorraine. However, Maria Anna had great support from Atmora following the signing of the Treaty of Jedlovo with Katherine II. This resulted in great funding and training for the Imperial Armed Forces. This would revolutionize the Armed Forces and turn them into a modern army. Joseph in February of 2078 attempted to have a last ditch effort to capture the capital city with a team of special operations officers, but this failed and Joseph was captured and the war effort collapsed.

In the aftermath of the warfare, Maria Anna arranged for her traitorous brother to be exiled to the prison world of Astraeus. There Joseph was given his own estate and staff to serve at his command. There have some to say that Joseph’s exile is too luxurious, but Maria Anna maintained her belief in keeping Royal treated in a certain manner. Joseph’s wife and daughters meanwhile were sent into exile to Gênes.

1st Estovakian War

Only a few days following the end of the Joskiate War, Maria Anna was soon making war once again, though this time on foreign soil.

Titles, honors and arms

Arms

Coat of Arms of the Empress