Museum of the Empire, Eveari, Ananto

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ANANTO-KUNDRATI 3
Empress Mary I Ananto


Empress Mary I Ananto, on Her Coronation Inaugurates the Glittering Empire

Her Imperial Majesty Mary I Ananto took office as one of the least prepared monarchs in Kalistani history. She spend her teenage years avoiding much contact with most people, and avoiding education, including her Imperial Education. She joined National Service specifically to go into forestry, and while in her second year, learned that her Father, Emperor Fredrick III Ananto had died in a plane crash. She was permitted to complete her national service tour and then returned to Kaliburg, to take a crash course in government, with the expectation that she would complete much of her training on the job. She was crowned in November of 5632, immediately sacked the caretaker government that had been appointed under her father and moved her formal residence to Eveari, taking the locus of political power out of the Capital for the first time in generations.

The Second Kundrati War
While Kalistan was a partner in helping Valruzia move beyond their dictatorship, tensions in Artania grew immediately following the Coronation. Empress Mary I Ananto was soon faced with a new flair up in the war in Kundrati, as the liberated island of Etxea came under fire by Legionary Forces. She faced backlash by a National Assembly that was wary of returning to the conflict, and clashed with Deputies over sending aid to Etxea. But like in all things, eventually the Empress got her way, and she used her speech before the National Assembly to attempt to shame nations of the world into taking a more aggressive stance toward containing the Kundrati Legion. When her initial steps were ignored by nations interested in coddling fascism in Kundrati, she too signaled her willingness to end sanctions begun under Pavlina. When she formally agreed to the lifting of sanctions, the world, who had been free riding on Kalistan's sanctions regime, finally discovered a sense of urgency and began mobilizing to address the Kundrati situation. Many nations, including several of Kalistan's so called allies, referred to the Empress as immature, or mercurial, but in fact, the gambit paid off because other nations finally joined the cause against fascism in Kundrati when Kalistan formally agreed to food for a number of conditions, most of which the Legion ultimately violated.

Within a year of Kalistan agreeing to opening a food for peace agreement, KU leaders from Etxea visited Kalistan to discuss a possible new action against the Legion, in an effort that would ultimately be successful in ousting the Legion once and for all. Kalistan began secret talks with several nations in Artania including Luthori and Hutori, who would lead the effort to finally invade Kundrati and take on the Legion directly. By late 5636, the Chancellor of the Empire mobilized the Militia for volunteer auxiliary service in Kundrati, and more than 115,000 Kalistani Partisans shipped out to Etxea to begin preparations for an invasion of the Artanian Continent. The Militia would form two contingents: One, which was about 2/3rds of the force, would serve as light infantry under Kundrati Union Command, while one third would join up with Hutorian Forces and act as advance columns, performing unconventional actions ahead of the advancing Macon forces.

The Kalistani forces under Kundrati's leadership, which included Luthorian troops and a hand full of other nations, were left as holding forces while KU forces advanced, keeping them mostly out of harm's way, but the Forces under Hutorian Leadership bathed themselves in glory and engaged Legion forces throughout the campaign. Once the capital was captured and Legion leadership was for the most part neutralized, Kalistanis withdrew into southern Kundrati and returned home to a hero's welcome. In this, Kalistan's involvement with Kundrati came to an end.

The Glittering Empire
Mary Ananto's reign began with a rise in long standing institutions of fashion and luxury. The period saw the first supermodels come up and a shift for Del Valle fashion away from consumer fashion to couture. This move opened up more options for new Fashion designers and Fashion Houses, the most notable being Casa Cultura. Kalistan took the lead in world fashion during this period as the old fashion centers in Lourenne were eclipsed by rising fashion designers in Sulari and Yoshimi.

Empress Mary I Ananto adorned herself in as many of her precious jewels as she possibly could at any event. Clothes became far more lavishly embroidered, and 24K Gold Thread became widely used. The Jewelry was one thing. But Empress Mary commissioned Reed to create for her a masterpiece that put all the fine individual adornments to shame. Using only those materials found in the Ananto Gem Vault, she had Reed build for her the masterpiece known as the Opium Throne. The Opium Throne, known for its floor made of ruby opium poppy mosaics set into gold and inlaid into the solid silver floor of a solid silver, gem, jade, jasper, and pearl encrusted pavilion, was built into a remodeled Imperial Seat in Kaliburg. The construction, which is said to be priceless, is a 25 foot tall domed gazebo made of solid pure silver that glitters in the direct sunlight. Inside it sat Mary's gem encrusted throne, and from within she heard her formal audiences. She also ordered the National Assembly remodeled, and expanded to meet the modern needs of an Imperial Government.

Mary also began acquiring new homes for her personal use. She acquired Wood House in the Dragon Hills and then in a deal with the Baltusian Government during a brief moment where Baltusia had a functioning government, she acquired 1000 acres of coastal land in Athosia where she built a beautiful modern home inspired by Gaduri architecture that she called Playa de Paz, or Peace Beach. The Athosian home is jealously held by the Ananto family, and the exclave is thought to be a consolation for Kalistan not being able to take the entire duchy.

Following the Empress' convincement to Brethrenism later in her reign and her separation from her husband with her decision to begin her life with Lady Companion Victoria Jensen, the Empress entered into a holding pattern with aggrandizement of the Glittering Empire. But this was only in terms of the rate of new acquisition--Kalistan was now regularly importing diamonds, rubies and other assorted precious stones from Dovani, as well as production of amethyst in Ananto. The first sumptuary laws requiring amethyst to be surrendered to House Ananto were passed, and House Amethyst stocks rose dramatically, leading to its use for creating clothing for the Empress and later for Empress Jennifer, who composed an entire bustier out of Amethyst.

The Restoration of Kalistan's Redwood Forests
Before 2500 CE, Northern Kalistan was covered in dense redwood evergreen forests. But as Kalistan entered the Republican Period, most of those forests had been utterly clearcut, which produced characteristically bare north facing slopes throughout Vrassa and Ananto. It was believed that the forests would never return, and when reforestation efforts began under the Socialists in the fourth Millenium, the focus was on planting trees with an eye for sustainable forestry. The Redwoods, where they continued to exist, did so in very remote reserves far away from large population centers and industrial areas.

More recently, much of Kalistan is reforested. Certainly most of the mountains are forested, where possible, and sustainable logging and forest maintenance is the norm. The Empress learned a love of the forest while spending time in the redwoods in one such reserve near Ananto Estate in Eveari as a kid. She would spend many house wandering through the forest, which was treated as a public park. When she became Empress and reoccupied Eveari Estate, she purchased the Eveari Grove and added it to the Estate's property. She then hired a staff to maintain it and opened it as a park for the city's residents.

But she became bound and determined to replant redwoods across Northern Kalistan. Beginning with her 1 Million Tree initiative, soon after becoming Empress, she soon expanded it to 10 million trees, which became a goal to reach. The 10 Million Tree planting exercise encouraged citizens to take time off in the summer time to plant trees. A person who planted 10 trees would earn a small stipend. A person who planted 100 would earn money and an award. And etc. Over the decades, multiple generations participated in the program to lay the foundation for Kalistan. As Kalistan approaches the Century mark for the beginning of Empress Mary I Ananto's tree Planting Program, the first trees she planted in the Dragon Hills in Odufaray are reaching 150 feet tall. The ones further north in Vrassa can grow to more than 300 feet tall. The trees were planted and tended using organic methods, using seed starts from the Eveari Grove and some of the other groves still in existence in Kalistan, and toward the end, the new trees were producing their own seeds which hikers and participants would comb the forest each year to find, germinate and start for the next season.

It is estimated that more than 1000 square miles of new forest was planted, about 40 percent in Ananto, 50 percent in Vrassa, and 10 percent in Odufaray. It is believes that Mary's forests are now self sustaining, though each years more than 10,000 new trees continue to be planted annually, and it is largely considered one of the defining activites of a young Kalistani's life.

The Late Reign
Empress Mary I Ananto reigned for just over 40 years, covering the middle part of the 57th century. Later in her reign, she is known for laying the foundation for a lasting friendship with Valruzia and deepening relationship with Hutori, while growing more distant from Egelion. She also drew closer to Xsampa. She visited Luthori at least twice, both times unofficially, as well as Hutori several times. She saw the memorial to her Great Grand Mother and Father's vacation home in Etxea, and was the first Kalistani Monarch to step foot in Athosia since the end of the Anantan Empire. She ended up saying good bye to Lodamun, as that nation had always been unhappy in the Empire, while renewing Kalistani investment interest into Gaduridos to make up for it. She also allowed the Empire to flirt with democratic pluralism at the National Level, before democracy got quite out of hand and ended up in violence and destruction, leading her to clamp back down and restrict ballot choices once more.

When she finally abdicated in favor of her son and daughter-in-law forty years after being crowned, she was a Brethrenist--personally living a more austere, less materialistic life--she was much more comfortable in public, and she had accomplished lasting change in Empire which still stands today as a testament to her rocky but overall even handed rule. Kalistan had been beautified, in multiple ways, and the culture had adopted a sense of refinement and elite chic that still define fashion, architecture, and society to this day. Empress Mary I Ananto was a person who reveled in the finer things in life. It was said that she owned a set of pajamas made of polished and smooth rubies that she would sleep in--that alone, if true, tells you all you need to know about Empress Mary I Ananto and the Glittering Empire.