Hi, I was talking with some friends, and wanted some help double checking some 3H shenanigans and figured you'd be the best to ask. Do you know when in the game Ionius's whole wives situation got mentioned and what he did that got all the nobles to depose him? I remember something about concubines, but don't know where exactly in the game it was talked about to check and cite. Thank you very much if you're able to help!
I hope I can help then!
In Hubert and Hanneman's C support, it's more or less explained, by Hanneman that Ionius wanted to concentrate power on himself :
In your father's defense, the emperor was attempting to take power from the Seven Houses.
The emperor's reform was an attempt to concentrate power in the hands of the throne.
While Hubert presents it the other way :
He conspired with the ministers to usurp power from the emperor. And Lady Edelgard...
But both he and Hanneman later agree, in their B support, that Hubert is aware he is not very objective.
The Jp version gives a bit more insight on Hanneman's explanations, that were removed from the localised version for... well, I suppose, some reasons I still can't understand?
当時の陛下は、“七貴族”と呼ばれる 大貴族や外戚の特権を徐々に廃止し…
There's a mention of the consort kin, that is absent in the localised version.
This translation translated it as :
At that time, His Majesty was gradually abolishing the privileges of the consort kin and the ones referred to as “The Seven Aristocrats” – the great noble [families]
Ionius was thus trying to centralise power on himself, remove privileges and powers of the 7 and the consort kin.
Now, unlike some other settings, Ionius having consorts isn't that developped in Fodlan, so we don't have any clues, in canon, about what those privileges are. We can only surmise things here'n'there based on rl, I guess, as long as it doesn't contradict canon.
So, what could have been those consort kin privileges?
Let's take the Arundel example.
Anselma is wooed by Ionius, bears him a daughter, but doesn't become his official/legal/legitimate wife. She becomes his consort wife.
What is she going to do? She cannot marry someone else, Papa Arundel "lost" his daughter and cannot secure a good wedding for her (as is apparently the fate of Adrestian noblewomen?) because she's already one of Ionius's consort. Hell, given how their daughter isn't the next in line for the Imperial succession, Anselma's role is very shaky -
In Fates, we have the background concubine wars, where the goal was to have their kid become the heir (iirc?) so they would have a place by the King's side, or at least not be demoted as "extras" when the kid from another mother will become, well, king.
In Fodlan, from this line, we know the "kin" of the Imperial consorts had some "privileges" - a sort of crass way to say the Emperor gives them "stuff" so they will shut up if he "wooes" a daughter, relegates her as a baby maker and doesn't marry her, thus her "market value" drops and the resulting child is only an extra?
From the Libary, it's confirmed that :
House Arundel
Formerly a minor noble house of the Empire. As head of the house,
when Volkhard's younger sister became betrothed to Emperor Ionius IX,
Volkhard was granted the title of Lord Arundel. Having worked closely
with House Aegir, House Arundel is seen as one of the chief instigators
of the Insurrection of the Seven.
House Arundel became "important" when Anselma was wooed by Ionius and became his wife (consort wife though!).
So when Ionius wants to remove the consort kin privileges, aka giving some importance to the families of the women he "wooes", Arundel isn't super happy and spearheads the insurrection.
Now, why was that system created? Was it a way to prevent the Emperor from, say, having their cake and eating it, aka, seducing women, giving them kids and then throwing them (both?) away without strings attached? Or to make sure consort wife #7 will have a role somewhere, and her family will get a "compensation" for her loss?
Or worse, the "consort kin" privileges maybe also applied to the children of the consorts - they would have a lower rank compared to the children of the legitimate wife - but still be worth something?
The Adrestian Imperial family is sadly under utilised, so we don't a thing about what was the status of the consorts or their children (they just poof away in the game events, we never hear anything about Ionius's surviving consorts or his legitimate wife!) - but we know there used to be some sort of compensation (super dowry?) Ionius/the Emperor had to give to families of the women he screwed -
And from what the JP version of Hubert and Hanneman's support says, Ionius wanted to get rid of that.
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They have one daughter.
This bitch's name is Shenmei.
Her husband is Shishou!
They have one daughter together...
Loulan.
Okay let me tell you want I know.
Shenmei is the former consort that was put into a position of power by the Empress Regnant to keep an eye on the Shi Clan.
Shishou meritorious behavior helped the Empress Regnant cut of slave trading.
During this time her handmaid became impregnated by the former emperor.
A scandal and a shame, which would have the Empress Regnant furious, Shenmei abandoned her maid.
She was betroth back to her original fiance but because he had married Suirei mother after she was throw out and had a wife and daughter, Shenmei killed Suirei mother and abused Suirei.
She plotted to ruin the country for making a fool of her, and chased out the members of the Shi Clan who stood against her, but her plans were foiled by Shishou and Loulan, who pretended to go along with her plans and allowed her to ruin herself by garnering the most foolish of followers.
During the Rii's army attack on the Northern Capital, she attempted to shoot Loulan and Jinshi after learning of Loulan's deception by taking Loulan's hand cannon; however, the cannon was defective and hit Shenmei with its shrapnel instead, causing her to die from blood loss.
Loulan was deemed a traitor regardless of what happened and she faked her death and ran away to the Apothecary Diaries version of Japan.
Shishou
He was highly favored by the Empress Regnant and helped her abolish the slave trade by proposing that she expand the Inner Palace to accommodate those that were to be sold.
He was accused of attempting to rebel against the country and killed; however, his true plan was to go along with Shenmei's plans until the last moment before fooling her by intercepting her plans.
Empress Regnant
This one is the Empress Regnant or The Current Emperor's Grandmother.
She was noted to have done the following in her regime:
placed bans on logging
caused impairment of the paper industry (including the Quack Doctor and his family)
appointed Prime Minister Shishou
Abolished slave trade
hid slaves who were to be sold to foreign countries in the Inner Court as palace ladies and eunuchs
greatly increased the size of the Inner Court
She passed away sometime after Jinshi was born, with her son quickly following behind.
Suirei Mother
Suirei was born from the Former Emperor when he raped Shenmei's palace lady, who was just past ten years of age. In order to hide the illegitimate birth, the crime was pinned on a court physician, and both the baby and the physician were banished from the Inner Palace; meanwhile, her mother the palace lady was shunned by Shenmei but forbidden from leaving the Inner Palace for the rest of her days.
Sound familiar????
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