A young woman of average height, she is of slender build and serene, aloof countenance. Dusky skin, a warm caramel tone, reveals a southern ancestry, although her facial features are elegant and delicate, aristocratic in their perfectly symmetry. Her large hazel eyes could be warmer, as the seriousness of her expression makes her feel distant and calculating. The young woman's hair is dark brown, straight and glossy, cascading behind her almost to the small of her back.

     The woman is wearing a long white linen dress. Loose on her slender frame, it is long-sleeved and covers her from the neck to her feet, the sandaled feet seldom visible. Around her narrow waist a bronze girdle, decorated with amber jewels, helps keeping the dress in place. Other jewelry is wearing include small gold earrings and a gold and white jade necklace around her neck, worn over the dress.

     Ragara Ayesha in a young Dynast Dragon-Blood born in Chiaroscuro, in the southern lands. The heiress of one of Ragara’s greatest fortunes, Ayesha claims to have decided to move away from the Blessed Island after clashing with one too many nearsighted house elder.     Since her arrival to Greyfalls she has been involved in a large scale resettling project bringing colonists from the Blessed Island that has led to the creation of several farming villages north of the city. Like many other Dynasts she fought during the recent barbarian invasion, surprising many when she appeared wearing heavy jade armor and wielding a grand daiklave, and leading a contingent of House Ragara troops few had suspected it was in the city. It is rumored that after the death of the Satrap she has become active in local politics, and is lobbying for the creation of a real metalworking industry in the city.

As for the Season of Water RY 770 Ayesha has a full legion of troops available. Details here.

Public Knowledge

• Ragara Ayesha is a young earth aspect, although she has subtle aspect marks and low breeding.
• She is reputed to be aloof and polite, but also a shrewd businesswoman. She is very wealthy. As a matter of fact she is rumored to be wealthy enough to be able to buy the whole satrapy if the Realm was selling.
• She is a strong supporter of the Immaculate Temple and the local garrison.

Updates:

     Ragara Ayesha arrived to Greyfalls late in the year 766. She quickly become an important figure in the city by purchasing numerous warehouses along the riverfronts, as well as acquiring rights of recently deforested lands north of the satrapy. Soon afterwards, she started bringing large numbers of disfranchised commoners from the Blessed Island, paying them the year-long trip and giving them new lands to live. The barbarian invasion in 767 slowed down this land development, but it soon continued, and by the 769 a dozen new villages with a total population of over 20,000 dot the northern landscape of the satrapy.

     The barbarian invasion also forced Ayesha to enter real combat for the first time in her life, and to the surprise of many (herself included) she did quite well, the Ragara house troops under her command managed to hold the breached southern wall while their lunar commander was defeated by other dragon-blooded.

     After the invasion Ayesha managed to secure the rights of the Red Swan demesne, a former manse the barbarians had destroyed during the invasion. Her dream was to build an Atelier manse from the fire demesne. To achieve it she made a Ceselenine pact with the earth elementals of the Undercity, an earth court a mile under Greyfalls. She also sponsored an expedition to the Icewalker lands to recover the Tepet Singing Staff, which was in the hand of a shaman at the service of the Zenith solar Samea.

     With the Singing Staff and the elementals’ help, Ayesha managed to restore the Red Swan’s demesne, so by the years 769 is was as strong as before the barbarian’s invasion. Meanwhile she negotiated a deal with a mysterious gentleman called Tatamori Ryunosuke. Ryunosuke gave her the specifications for First Age airships, and in exchange she helped him and her protegee, Gilded Rose, to evict the Fair Folk from the Saltwater vale. During the adventure she discovered Ryunosuke wasn’t a dragon-blooded or a mortal sorcerer, as she believed, but an exalted of unknown origins.

     Also around Calibration she was visited by the Second Circle demon Lucien, a dangerous assassin demon sent by Samea to recover the Tepet staff. Ayesha managed to deceive the demon, but he still lurked the area and spied on her, apparently still suspecting she had something to do with the recovery of the Singing Staff.

     Ayesha had to lay low for several months, and had to pay to have the palace warded against demons, which delayed the demesne engineering. Finally, early in Ascending Water of the year 769, and just as she had secured the help of one of Greyfalls most powerful immaculate monks, the demon decided to break in the palace. Despite Lucien’s famous stealth, Ayesha’s elemental guards found him, and a bloody battle started. Ayesha defeated Lucien, who returned to hell, but was seriously injured.

Update Dec 25, 2008

     Ayesha spent a good deal of time working in the skyship designs that would be built at Saltwater Vale, and was there for the maiden's trip of the prototype ship, the Endeavor. Lack of exalted engineers are delaying the production of the keels, though, but several of them are expected to be finished by the Season of Earth RY 770.

     The Red Swans Atelier manse was finally finished in the Season of Fire RY 669, just as the raksha incidents started to hint there was an invasion ongoing, not just minor raids. Ayesha had become involved in the fighting in Stonefort, where a group of Dragon-Blooded managed to slay the powerful noble raksha Heartless Stone (too late to save the town's population). After the incident Ayesha spent several weeks at the forges, producing 6,000 high quality iron spearheads to fight against the raksha, which were distributed among the armies of the satrapy (most of them went to the 23rd legion). She confronted the Fair Folk again when the Dynasts dealt with Queen Malaca during the Midnight Forge incident. When the Guild Bank collapsed, ruining many members of the Guild, Ayesha was quick to expand her business all over Greyfalls and the surrounding kingdoms, consolidating her near absolute control of finances and trade in the Far East. Her next project is imposing the jade standard on the East, displacing silver for good.

Update Feb 13, 2009

     Ayehsa managed to fullfil the first step of her plan of economic recovery over the East. Great caravans roam the trade rutes again, although under the banner of House Ragara, and protected by soldiers that look like Imperial legionnaries.

     And meanwhile, the first magical ariships take of from the docks at Saltwater Valley, the Keels crafted by the jadeborn engineer Black Marble. Sadly the first models aren't the traders Ayesha expected, as war against the raksha demands their presence for military operations. But she hopes it will change before the year ends.

Security Notes

     Ayesha employs a team of master thaumaturges, including a couple experts in warding who take care of the security of her holdings and dwellings. Particularly the Ragara palace in Greyfalls and the Red Swan manse.

The wards include alarms, barriers and harmful magics designed to hinder most kinds of supernatural threats. Demons, raksha, the dead, solars and lunars in particular. Gods, elementals and dragon-blooded will find no wards except in her private chambers and some critical areas. Ayesha herself sleeps in a bunker-like an underground champer with no windows. And she uses charms to delay sleep as much as possible. This is as much paranoia as it is a phobia.  

Update May 28, 2009

     With the raksha threat over, it looked as if peace would reign for a while in the East. But peace lasted too little. First the killing of the empreror of Vir Sidus at the hands of Cathak Zuriel, the general of Greyfalls army almost caused a war with the satrapy's eastern neighbor and main trading partner. Then, the Great Houses the Realm themselves started fighting each other openly. Ayesha did what she could to protect her assets, but the in the space of mere weeks an alliance ot three houses managed to defeat all the others and take over most of the Blessed Island and the imperial legions. An army of defeated houses came to Greyfalls by surprise, making insane demands that would unavoidably lead to a brutal massacre. Allying herself with some other like-minded dragon-blooded, forming a Sworn Brotherhood, and a plan was draw to save the threatened people, the 23rd legion and spare Greyfalls of the war. This meant yielding Greyfalls to a vicious dragonblood called Ledaal Kilandros and his bloodthristy cohorts. And as expected, Kilandros was a tyrant that wanted to use Greyfalls and their inhabitants as nothing more than fuel for his vengeance. But the Brotherhood was quickly undermining his rule, and confident Greyfalls would be freed in few weeks. And then Kilandros was murdered and replaced by a lunar...

Update June 21

     Along with her Brotherhood companions and some allies, Ayesha plotted and implemented a coup to get rid of Kilandros and his most brutal collaborators. They freed V’Neef Pasyra (queen Gilded Rose of Saltwater Vale), killed the sinister slave camp director Gorring, and confronted the impostor Kilandros. It was a demon! Perhaps even a  Second Circle, but they chased it off, and Sister Clouds Hands killed the monster.

The city was freed, and Solace, Koal and Ayesha took control of the most important institutions of the region, and now work to integrate the newcomers in the satrapy structure, avoiding more wars, and keeping an eye in some of the corrupt dragon-bloods that they couldn’t eliminate during the coup. 

Resources Notes (note for Kukla)  

     Ayesha is not just wealthy (she has Resources 5), she also has enormous influence among the merchants and bankers in the East: She has Connections 5 in both Finance and Merchants. These connections serve as both Influence and Contacts in the areas, making Ayesha one of the best informed and most influent persons in the East in all regarding commerce and banking. Level 5 means she “knows all of the major power players in her area of influence, and more importantly, they not only know who she is, but listen to her as well”. Influence 5 gives her “an entire nation” of merchants and another of bankers, Contacts 5 gives her 10 major contacts that provide information and trade influence, as well as countless minor ones.

Update September 9, 2009

     After Solace recovered control of Greyfalls, and again finance minister (appointed when she wasn't looking, honestly!) Ayesha restarted her attempts to uplift the battered economy of the East. She convinced the Three of Greatforks to let her build a skyship port in their city, and secured the help of the Catala Ledaal household (their lands being just north of Greatforks). Then, she took a month 'off' to seek (with Sesus Ormi's help) a powerful artifact in the Borderlands, a device she hopes would make her able to face the anathema in combat if they attack Greyfalls, she also completed her training in celestial martial arts, mastering the Temperance Virtue Style. Prideful of her accomplishments, she travelled to Chronopolis, trying to convince the city solar rulers to follow her plans to regenerate the trade of the region. Unfortunately the meeting was a trap, and the eclipse Pleasant Sweet Viper threatned to blackmail her into obedience. Ayesha rejected her threats, and returned to Greyfalls, deciding to avoid Chronopolis and its solars for the time being.

Update October 31st, 2009

     Ayesha spend a good deal of the season traveling up and down the East, trying to forge alliances with nations and factions. At one point her beloved Skyship, the Windforged Jewel, was shot down, and she spent several weeks stranded nowhere before being able to refloat it. She even visited Lookshy, to talk with the General Staff. The consequences of those talks may have led to Lookshy attacking the Red faction of the Realm Dynasty and its tributaries. Or it might have been just a coincidence, but she blames herself for the destruction caused in her native Chiaroscuro, which might have led to her father's demise.

     Returning to Greyfalls rather depressed, she found Satrap Ledaal Solace waiting for her, and after a long conversation, they kissed. Gossip and rumor among the upper classes of Greyfalls indicate the satrap is spending far more time in the Ragara palace he should, including some nights.