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Mother of Branaric and Meliara Astiar. Before she married Branaric Astiar Snr., she was a Calahanras, of royal blood. She spent a few years in Alsais, Colend learning courtly behavior.[1] She hated court life and retired to Tlanth after she was married. She had a close friendship, carried out mostly through letters, with Elestra Renselaeus. [2] She wanted to learn magic to help her country, but Galdran Merindar felt threatened by this and ordered her killed.
Ranisia was extremely opinionated, moody, smart, and determined. She and Arthal Merindar were worst enemies as court children, and Ranisia inevitably came off the worst in encounters because she couldn't hold her temper. She was built a lot like her daughter, but taller, passionate about history and magic. She was determined to raise Remalna's status on the world stage--but later that goal dwindled to curbing Merindar desire for expanded influence and power.
Her best friend from childhood was Elestra, later princess of Renselaeus. Both ended up marrying older men; unfortunately the Count of Tlanth, who was devoted to his wife, was even more adamantly against the Merindars than Ranisia, and he considered the Renselaeuses traitors for seeming to accept the Merindars' increasingly bad rule. He and Ranisia were very happy together in their mountain fastness, protecting the Hill Folk and the villages. Unfortunately both of them were quite adamant that they would pay no new taxes for purposes with which they disagreed, and they were equally open in their enmity to the Merindars. This led eventually to Ranisia's murder, which caused the Count to dwindle away.
Categories: A Stranger to Command (mentioned) || Crown Duel (mentioned) || Remalna || Calahanras Family || Astiar Family