Challenge #04852-M103: Queen's Gambit

For 60 long years Queen Essarea has held her kingdom together through sheer force of will. But at long last her strength is flagging, old clans once subdued are preparing to open old feuds for power, and her heirs lack the careful combination of ruthlessness, charisma, and measured kindness which Essarea employed during her time on the throne. What will become of six decades of relative peace once her eyes close for the final time…? -- Deathshead419

It's not unprecedented, but there's always some kind of conflict that springs up every time it happens. Noble heads of state can pass their crown and position to someone they deem more worthy of them both. Of course, the genetic heirs kick up a stink, but it's hard to argue with someone who has your parent's army.

The royal princes and princesses of Te'akuria had no idea that their mother the Queen was training up her prentice. She had her own children out soothing the bickering tribes, in teams consisting solely of siblings that got along.

You don't maintain the power of a crown for six decades without a certain amount of social manipulation.

Thus the genetic heirs were in the outskirts of her kingdom when she named and crowned her successor. It was three weeks before they found out. And by then, the new Monarch Murjin had consolidated hir power and secured the loyalty of the larger section of the armed forces.

All the formerly royal children had were the outlying territories that they were sent to calm down. Each as bad at bickering as the children were. Though they were sent out in teams, those teams broke up as soon as each prince or princess spotted their family rival.

Half of them were encouraging the inter-tribal bickering. The other half were trying to forge alliances and claim the crown they lost.

The only flaw in this plan was that each ally was also a rival for the crown they desired. All the while, they were leaking armed forces to Murjin. Who paid better and did not insist on ridiculous new rules, nor did they micromanage everything to their ideal of perfection.

It was only a matter of time before each and every one of them were facing the very rebellious forces who were not interested in their authority, collective or not.

Monarch Murjin did offer them asylum so long as they didn't campaign against hir. And if they tried, they'd end up in hir not-so-spacious dungeons.

Having lived in the reign of their mother, none of them took Murjin up on hir offer. They had better chances with the groups that wanted to kill them.

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