Tovelindra I

Tovelindra I
Queen of Trellin
Reign	790-801 and 803-821
Predecessor	Mokhra I
Successor	Kederm I
Empress of Hysera
Reign	811-821
Coronation	June 811
Predecessor	Acauhezin of Ledigar
Successor	Kederm I
Born	September 754 Martheqa, Trellin
Died	16 July 821
Issue	Kederm I
Full name Tovelindra Equ'marë
House	House Equ'marë
Father	Mokhra I

Tovelindra I (September 754 – 16 July 821), called "the Warrior Queen" and "Tovelindra Twice-Queen", was the daughter of Mokhra I. She was Queen of Trellin from 790 to 801 and from 803 to her death and was Empress of Hysera from its annexation in 811 to her death. Her reign in Trellin was interrupted by that of Zilmar the Usurper, who ruled from 801 to 803 before being murdered by his own servants. Eight years later, in 811, the Hyseran Empire declared war on Trellin and was finally annexed by an army under Tovelindra's personal command. On her death in 821, she was succeeded in both Hysera and Trellin by her son Kederm I.

Prior to her succession to the throne, Tovelindra was already a popular figure in the kingdom. As queen, however, she quickly made a number of enemies among the leading nobility because of her populism and disregard for certain traditions. In 801, rebellion broke out in the city of Vedalera under its governor, Zilmar, who bore a personal grudge against her and who was quickly backed by many of these nobles, and Tovelindra was ousted. She and her court fled to friendly Jajich and were gradually joined by many nobles who had become disillusioned with Zilmar's even more tyrannical regime. With much of the fleet still loyal to her, and with Jajexan assistance, she instituted a blockade of Martheqa which Zilmar was powerless to lift, and, in 803, with a mob gathering outside the palace, he was murdered by his servants. Tovelindra soon returned to the capital and was re-crowned. She pledge "ten generations of gratitude" to Jajich, which was honoured by each of her successors, until the Year of Five Kings, with a ritual tribute following their coronation.

In February 811, an earthquake struck the city of Hyser and caused extreme damage, also doing severe damage to Martheqa and nearby towns and with a shockwave felt and noted as far away as Txir, in the Isles of Velar. The Hyserans took it to be an omen that they would soon be invaded by Trellin, and they launched a large raid across the Serëtanz. Tovelindra's retaliation was swift, as she mustered every soldier in the west of the kingdom and the entirety of the fleet. They met the Hyseran army in the Battle of Zefara, where the Trellinese, with half the Hyseran's numbers, won a decisive victory and slaughtered many of their defeated enemies. Tovelindra then marched on Hyser and burned much of the city to the ground, sacking it and putting many of its people to death. Emperor Acauhezin of Ledigar was executed and the high priest of Hyser compelled to crown Tovelindra empress, thus beginning the union of the two thrones under the Sidereal Crown which has endured to this day.