Jeshavis


 * It is said we owe much to the Sons of Betrayal. Three brothers were charged with girding against an Imperium in wait.  And in mourning Andraste, we tribes of the crescent willingly bartered diversity for solidarity.  Tevinter would not be defeated in Our Lady's lifetime, but would be balanced against for lifetimes to come.


 * While a Son of Betrayal named the fields "Orlais," it was Jeshavis, his wife, who shaped what we are. Her hatreds were older, bound to tradition.  All our hatreds were abandoned so we would call strangers kin and stand as one against the Imperium.  Greater her spite for how necessary the cost, because she knew we had a choice in that day, or no choice the next.  She brought the marriage that wed tribe within tribe, but promised an untold vengeance of her own: if we stand against outsiders, we stand for ourselves.  She would not suffer the rule of Alamarri, son or no son of Betrayal or Prophet.


 * Jeshavis plied brother against brother in turn, then named both as partners in crimes against faith. With artful turns she invited invasion, then crafted rebellion against the courts she inspired.  Brother would kill brother and be killed in turn, two liberations that she would then own.  Eight generations before the empire, before Drakon, here were the seeds of elegance to come.  Jeshavis, twice married to Sons of Betrayal, twice widowed, our first chieftain born from us, of what would become true Orlais--where we venerate faith and the beauty of sacrifice, with daggers well hidden but well within reach.


 * It is true, we owe much to the Sons of Betrayal, for they were the tools that a master cast down. Let others claim credit for birthing the nation.  Jeshavis claims nothing and gave us the Game.
 * --Collected and excerpted by Philliam,a bard!

Jeshavis was the first female chieftain, or gyoja, of the unified Ciriane tribes of modern-day Orlais. Her region and its people would ultimately coalesce under Emperor Kordilius Drakon's rule as "Orlais." Jeshavis' reign was a time of unification after the death of Andraste, as Maferath and his sons (known as the "Sons of Betrayal" or "Sons of the Prophet") consolidated the disparate and culturally distinct proto-Orlesian tribes to form a buffer against any renewed Tevinter invasions. The effects of this merger and relocation are still visible in contemporary Free Marcher, Nevarran and especially Orlesian traditions.

In revenge for this dilution, or perhaps simply for the satisfaction of practicing what would become the Great Game of modern bards, Jeshavis wed and manipulated two of Maferath's children. This development allowed her to insure the sovereign culture of the Ciriane people in the face of change, as well as to resist the encroachment of Alamarri dominance. Though Jeshavis appeared to have an abundance of faith, she was a nevertheless practical woman who looked out for the welfare of her own people as well. It is arguable that even in its neophyte period, Jeshavis nonetheless played the Game at its highest level.