Temples rise and fall into rubble, their gods forgotten by time. Touka had never placed faith in them. When her city burned and the heavens remained silent, she understood no higher power would save them—it had to be her.
She lived by that belief without wavering.
But ever since that day, she has felt a presence watching her. Or perhaps watching over her. At first, she pushed the feeling aside, a problem for later. Soon, however, it became something else entirely: a game. And she knew she was playing with something far greater than any god.
(A series following the life of King Touka of Hokuyo)
... and her primordial lover. So, I wanted to talk about this council and their positions. In general, this doesn't match the structure of most governments circa Touka's kingship, and that is because when she took her city, she executed or exiled just about everyone in the government and then had full freedom to do whatever she wanted with the creation of her new government. Initially, temporarily, it was made up of people she knew were competent, then when her reforms started to churn out more qualified people of both sexes, she swapped them out.
Go under the cut for details on each of these women and their positions in this AU!
San was one of the first. Touka saved her father's life during the invasion, and San has looked up to her (read: deified her) ever since. She worked herself to the bone in hopes of being worthy to serve under Touka's direct command, and she's actually one of very few female hoplites (most of the women that entered Hokuyo's armed forces after Touka's reforms went to the special mountain units, ranged units, and skirmishers, there were few qualified to be hoplites). Her title of "polemarch" technically translates to "warlord" but that is an inaccurate word for her station, because of the connotations we give to it. The word "polemarch" is a senior military title in many ancient city states, and in Athens (ugh) for example, it was the title of the commander-in-chief of their armed forces.
Hanna came into her position through the most normal way imaginable, genuinely. By which I mean standardized tests. She, alongside several other men and women, then had to pass Touka's trials to see who wouldn't crack under pressure. What Hanna is translates best to "chief administrator/magistrate" and she handles all the bureaucracy and paperwork. She coordinates with every other department more than anyone, and Touka relies on her when she commits what she would politely refer to as calculated stupidity and gets injured.
Mikoto came from the poorest background, out of everyone on this list, and came into Touka's service in a very unorthodox manner, the same year as Hanna did. The unorthodox manner was that she kept finding ways to slide messages into chambers she shouldn't be able to access, most of them ciphered, and all of them with valuable information Touka's gaggle of unofficial spies had missed due to not paying attention to the right things, among other stuff. Touka stubbornly began a back and forth trying to find this person herself, until eventually, she found Mikoto, plucked her out of the school she was still attending, and gave her the title of spymaster. Mikoto is closest to Touka, in terms of interpersonal relationships.
Yuuna I think is only ever mentioned offhand, because her role is very strictly limited to handling the purse, but her position is interesting in that she is the only one who belonged to the old government. By which I mean she was the daughter of an oligarch in the same populist faction as Touka's father. Initially, Yuuna was exiled alongside her entire family, who were the wealthiest in the entire Chalcidice Peninsula (possibly in all of Greece), but Touka realized she needed someone who was used to large quantities of money and was incorruptible. She remembered Yuuna relatively fondly in comparison to the children of her father's other colleagues, and she judged that Yuuna would be best for the job. So, she sent a messenger, and the two worked together on how to break it to the common people. Yuuna was put through a few trials, visible to the public, and the people reluctantly accepted her return to the city, under her new oath. She has gained a rather warm sentiment from the people of Hokuyo since then and that is her proudest achievement. Yuuna is the one who knows the least about what exactly is going on in this court (in terms of, well, Nemu).
As for Junia, she began working under Hanna, then was transferred to Mikoto's care after Hanna noticed her talent for espionage, and then Touka handpicked her from several aides and other people she had in mind when the time came to choose a successor. Junia is not a princess. Very strictly, her title is "Successor" and it was not revealed to the public until the full handover (Touka had been handing over responsibilities in clusters and phases over the course of years, watching closely and training Junia for rulership). Touka remained king until her death of natural causes, and only then was Junia crowned king, after the mourning period.
Nemu is Nemu and we don't talk about Nemu's role in the court which is basically "Touka's personal stress relief machine" and board game opponent.
