Aurora Valane

Aurora Valane was a major political figure in the mid 25th century and the 5th Empress of the Terran Empire.

Early Life
Princess Aurora Valane was born in 2434 in Chicago on Earth. She was raised in Dhaka on Earth and attended an exclusive prep school where she often had issues with fitting in. A sweet and kind young girl, she buckled down in her last year before attending Cydonia College on Mars, studying her BA in political science.

Princess Aurora was known to be very close with her older sister, Princess Charlotte and as teenagers the two were often inseparable. She was also close with her brother, Prince Desper and his constant companion (and later wife) Iylah Collingwood.

Princess Aurora graduated from Cydonia in 2457, joining the staff of her mother on Earth. Aurora was noted to have good court manners, natural charm and charisma and a good eye for court politics.

Princess Aurora is a committed Valtinist, attending seminars in Dhaka and also on Mars in Bradbury city.

Princess Aurora met Colamere Tancredo, heir to House Tancredo, in 2450 on New Corinth. Colamere, a young marine officer and the protege of General Austin Valane, made a good impression on the young princess and the two started to spend their holidays together.

The two were married in a somewhat low key event in 2459.

Aurora & Colamhere had two children:
 * Prince Clay Valane-Tancredo -born 2465
 * Princess Nova Valane-Tancredo -born 2465
 * Princess Indigo Valane-Tancredo - born 2470

Imperial Princess
Princess Aurora was a member of Empress Regina's entourage, often dealing with social appointments but also taking briefings from ministers of state, especially the Minister of Religion

Princess Aurora has had a keen interest in social welfare and projects that benefit the poorer citizens of the Empire,

As is customary, Princess Aurora took part in several Imperial charities but was particularly associated with children's charities based in Dhaka and she worked to make sure that there was money, food and housing for the cities homeless children.

Preferatti
In 2459 Empress Regina announced that she would be stepping down as Empress, calling on a new conclave to elect the next Empress. Princess Charlotte was expected to be named as preferatti and had spent the last five years as a Minister of State

However, Empress Regina and Princess Charlotte announced to the public that Charlotte would not be the preferatti for House Valane and instead Princess Aurora would be the preferatti.

Imperial Conclave of 2459
The Imperial Conclave met in September of 2459. Lord Hayden Tancredo was the primary "manager" of the Valane conclave whilst Lady Teagan Yardley was supported by Lord Elliot Hawthorne as well as Lord Cabbot Brahms. Lord Hayden Tancredo, who had publicly announced his support for the Princess, was assumed to bring his conservative allies with him, though the split with Lord Kotek Grumman may have reduced his influence

Princess Aurora's announcement that she would name Lord Stafford Collingwood, the leader of the liberal faction as her first chancellor surprised many at the conclave. It was whispered by one or two lords that "this is already done".

Indeed the conclave was decided in just three hours on the first ballot.

Princess Aurora had received 15 votes against Lady Yardley's 9 and therefore was to be crowned as Empress. The assumption was that this would be alongside her husband, Colamere, as the Emperor and the two would agree to "co-rule".

Empress
Empress Aurora named Colonel Sedgwick Rains as her equerry, continuing on from carrying out this role for her mother.

Collingwood Ministry
Empress Aurora took the throne alongside her husband, Colamere Tancredo. Lord Stafford Collingwood was named as Lord-Chancellor with a plan for ambitious democratic reform which was narrowly supported by a majority of the Council of Lords

These unprecedented political reforms granted the Parliament the right to veto the Council of Governors (but not executive orders) with a 2/3rds majority and also granted the Imperial Parliament full law-making powers. It was also granted a voted in the Conclave

There were a series of terrorist attacks, largely linked to pro-democratic terrorist groups but in the end, Lord Collingwood was assassinated by a former marine officer who claimed that democracy would destroy the Empire. He had also planned to murder the Empress.

Cappotelli Ministry
Lord-Treasurer Pike Cappotelli was elevated to Chancellor and took over the last two years of Lord Collingwood's term.

There was much debate over the direction of Terran foreign policy.

The Empress granted her equerry a life-peerage, creating him as Lord Rains.

Grumman Ministries
Kotek Grumman became Lord-Chancellor in 2465 and would endure a stormy time as Lord-Chancellor of the Empire.

During his time as Lord-Chancellor the Empire was wracked with repeated terrorist attacks, especially by democratic groups. The worst of these was the major uprising on Mars, the so-called "August Uprising" which saw a radical left-wing militia capture the capital buildings in Cydonia and resist a siege for nearly three week.s

There was also a rare veto for the Chancellor, as his plans to quickly uplift the colony world of Prospero was veto'd by the Council of Governors.

The Empress granted life-peerages to businessman Rafe Kroenen, Valtanist lecturer Dr Rebecca Coghill and to her cousin, Admiral (ret) Flint Valane.

Chancellor Grumman was returned to his office as Lord-Chancellor in 2470 and presided over a tough hewn conservative agenda. He suspended parliament in 2472 until 2475 and also implemented a moratorium on TND, which tanked the share price of the company.

The Empress also confirmed Justice Madeline Connelly to the court of appeals.

During this term, Empress Aurora conferred life-peerages to Merevald Lawton, Orseon Wiess, Dr Atkins Romily and Emily Aravedo.

This period also saw increased tensions on Mars, with the so-called "Mountain Wars". Many marines and police officers were killed by the various terrorist factions and the Empire was forced to deploy 100,000 marines to the planet.

Empress Aurora named Morse Tolliver as her Equerry in 2474, with Lord Sedgwick Rains taking up a role at court.

Assassination
With the "roach" invasion of 2475, Empress Aurora and Emperor Colamere were to be evacuated off-world to New Corinth so they would be safe if the capital fell.

Their shuttles were then destroyed in what was claimed to be a friendly fire incident due to faulty transponders. Chancellor and Regent, in the event of their deaths, Eleutheria Ashpool stated that renegade Lord Kotek Grumman was responsible for their deaths.

She was 42 at the time of her death, killed alongside her equerry Morse Tolliver and Paladin Avner Breedon.