[attr="class","cp_name"]Princess Persephone of Xanthos
The first daughter of King Minas and Queen Lucille of Athenia, Persephone was born into an already colourful legacy. The newest House to be considered as of royal rank within the kingdom, and yet the one currently occupying the throne, the authority and novelty of the House of Xanthos was at a precarious balance even before she was born female. Such events happen, and first born girls have never been a problem in the past, until her sister was born... and then her mother passed on to the netherworld. While Persephone had always known of the genuine love and affection to have grown within her father for her mother, over the years, she had no realised the significance of that loyalty until she breeched the age of ten - a year after her mother's death. From a young age, Persephone had been tutored in the ways of the world and her kingdom as any princess was - be they first born or not. She was educated to understand the political structure, the economic balance sheet and the social and cultural expectations of both herself and her people. She was encouraged to attend public events, be seen by the populace as the beautiful Athenian princess, daughter of the great King, and to impress upon the capital city that she was an important and significant addition to the royal history of their kingdom.
Yet, after the death of her mother Lucille, followed by rumour of a disastrous affair with an unknown noble woman on the part of her father, her tutors were suddenly changed. Unable to convince himself into another romance for the sake of his legacy, King Minas had already set plans in motion to start a change in the law that would allow him to never again feel the weight of his lack of son and heir. He would have his daughter become that heir. The scholars suddenly provided for Persephone's education were masters in their craft. The Masters of Law, War, Coin and Trade were all employed for private sessions, in amongst her already tabled curriculum. Her lessons in dance, music and theatre were suddenly removed from her weekly routine, to be replaced with visits to the Senate alongside her father (an awkward and uncomfortable affair in which every male set of eyes judged her for her presence) and the sudden leadership of the Athenian Court, which she held with the assistance of several more experienced ladies-in-waiting. Her education had become an exercise in grooming. Grooming for a leadership position that all of history and tradition was going to fight her for, tooth and nail.
Now, over ten years on and Persephone is a respected and honoured Princess. She is widely considered to be highly intelligent, world-wise and to have a grasp of political intrigues and procedure that was normally only cultivated in the experiences of women far older than her twenty-two years. She is, however, in the eyes of the men at Senate, still the Princess, and the ailing health of her father has started to force an already awkward question of inheritance to the forefront of everyone's mind. Persephone is unchallenged as the perfect, elegant Princess. But could she ever be a Queen?