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| - Prince Riyan Ambrai XI, the former ruling prince of Ossetia, held one of the longest reigns of any monarch of Ossetia, lasting fifty-two years. He was born in 703 to Prince Deniv Ambrai X and the Princess-Consort Ianthe, their second child. His childhood was typical for an Ez'rei - at the age of eight, he was sent away to a private school until the age of fifteen, and a year later he joined the Royal Cavalry before moving on again at the age of eighteen, when he joined the prestigious 127th Infantry Unit. At the age of twenty, as per tradition, he left military service and was granted Wentyn Castle by his father to be his main residence. However, Deniv's reign was relatively short, due to the length of his predecessor Elsen's reign before him, which was of a similar length to what Riyan's would be. When Riyan twenty two, Deniv died and he was crowned ruling prince at Feruche. Usually, the Crown Prince will be given the training he needs while staying at Wentyn, and typically they will have at least a decade to prepare, but Riyan had only been living at Wentyn for two years before his father died and he was crowned in his place. His inexperience showed in his dealings with Bfod Nation and Andromeda, two countries with which Ossetia was in the middle of military tensions at the time. A year after he was crowned prince, those of his father's advisors which had not retired or died, he dismissed, and surrounded himself with similar-aged people he'd met while at school or during his years in service. He took advantage of his position to elevate his friends, and according to their advice, he advocated military action against Bfod via a ground assault. Ossetia's military at the time was a little outdated but nevertheless of a high standard, but even so they lost over half of their initial infantry in the first assault. After several vast swathes of Bfod territory had been captured, the two countries came to an accord and peace reigned. Flushed with success, the young prince again held many meetings with his new advisors over how to go about attacking Andromeda, a more formidable foe than Bfod ever could be. Battle plans were drawn up and a midnight assault began on two fronts. The war with Andromeda went well at first, but it's military was much more capable than Bfod's, and turned Ossetia's forces back, and then pushed into Ossetia itself. Andromeda called for aid from fellow members of it's alliance and the war proved to be the biggest mistake the monarchy would ever make. With three more nations attacking, Ossetia was surrounded on all sides, and ill prepared to defend itself in such a fashion. Almost the entire military structure collapsed after the infamous Battle of Lys, when superior enemy numbers, aided by their superior technology, swarmed the Ossetian army's defensive position and routed them completely. General Ti'ahk, a prominent military authority in Riyan's father's time, came out of retirement and rallied what was left of the army together. Another battle was fought but the newly-raised army was ill-equipped and sorely lacked experience, and though they held their own for a time on the field, they had little hope of holding them off for very long. While Ti'ahk fell back and organised the defense of Reiza Palace, the enemy swarmed through Feruche and took control over the city. Although enemy military leaders condemned the actions, the invading troops slaughtered innocent civilians and robbed many historical buildings of their artefacts. Athlante Castle was partially attacked in this way before Andromeda declared that such rioting troops would be severely punished. Ossetian citizens were outraged by their actions, however and began to revolt, using guerilla tactics to attack enemy supply lines and patrols. Despite their brave actions, however, Feruche was very much in the hands of the enemy. Meanwhile, at Reiza, both Riyan and Ti'ahk struggled to come up with solutions, but none seemed forthcoming. Reiza Palace was not a defensible structure and would be taken in hours if the enemy decided there was a need. Riyan opened a dialogue with the Vernatic Zeal Consortium, a small protectorate alliance of Nordreich, and tried to initiate Ossetia's immediate entry into the alliance in return for military and financial aid. Surprisingly, after a few brief communiques, the VZC agreed on all counts, and began to prepare for military action. Caught off-guard, and not desiring a war between their alliance and the VZC and thusly, Nordreich, Andromeda and her allies ceased the war effort, and two days later pulled out entirely. The war was over, but at a huge cost to the country. Both the VZC and Ossetia's nearby ally Kanosia sent financial aid, and new trade agreements were signed that helped to stabilise the economy after a short crisis. Indeed, due to the construction bonus afforded by these agreements, in only five years time Ossetia strongly exceeded it's pre-war status. Riyan, abashed, dismissed his young advisors and began to recruit older, more experienced people. To help the young prince learn the responsibilities of his position, and to help the country recover, even some of those he dismissed returned to their post once more. All was quiet for the next few years as the country began to recover. Riyan married a young woman named Idril, in a small and quiet ceremony at Feruche, though they had no heir until some years later. He donated a significant amount of the family's treasury to the research and development of new fighter plane technology, as the country's craft at the time had been hopelessly swept aside at the time by Andromeda's organised air force. After discussing the complete ineffectiveness of Ossetian bombers during the war, they decided to continue to develop their own fighter planes while buying bomber craft from other countries. Because of this decision, Ossetian technology leapt ahead several generations, and their fighter planes became renowned around the world for their deadliness. After several years of marriage, Idril gave birth to Amir, the new Crown Prince. He was followed two years later by Princess Liana. The royal family lived pretty quietly at Reiza Palace, although there was a growing dissent among the Ossetian population at the time over the relevance of the monarchy. At one point it looked like there were going to be riots, so Riyan formed a democratic organisation to look after the running of the country, though his power remained absolute. At first this was a small party of people chosen by Riyan, but two years after it's foundation he expanded it's role and reinstated the ancient Magisterial Council, a democratically elected organisation that existed at the founding of the country and was dissolved when the monarchy became an absolute one. He chose to give ownership of Radzyn Palace (which had never been occupied by the royal family) to the state, which upon the completion of it's internal fittings, became the new home of the Council. While this did much to placate those who were crying out for a full democratic government, it didn't appease everyone. There were those who still wanted a true government to replace the monarchy. Riyan himself felt he would be giving up everything his ancestors had worked for, and especially did not wish to be looked upon as the prince who finally abolished the ancient monarchy. He finally addressed the nation at one point where he stated outright that he would not replace the monarchy with any kind of government, democratic or not. This, along with many of his policies such as research into nuclear power and weapons an anti-monarchy sentiment in much of the population, which is still present today. Riyan was fiercely protective of his family, and he made sure that Amir and Liana were sheltered from the media. While his extreme conservativeness clashed with Amir's liberal views, they nevertheless enjoyed a close relationship until he died. After Idril died at the age of sixty-five (Riyan was sixty-eight at the time), he dropped the winter/summer residence swap, and chose to live at Reiza Palace. He left the palace very little, with the exception of travelling to Feruche three times a week to meet with the Magisterial Council. His health deteriorated when he passed eighty, and a year later he was unable to leave the palace, meeting with the council via a video link. He died at the age of eighty-one from congestive heart failure.
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