…After graduating from Twilight’s School of Diplomacy, the first missions Ácelus was sent to were to our correligionaries at <ins>Hrom</ins>, to which <ins>Majarestan</ins> had always been culturally close. This particular image is from the 1995 <span class="caps">BSE</span> mission, and the particular Basilissa depicted here was <ins>Maria XV Laskarina</ins>, then in the 10th year of her reign…

The idea here was to draw some more changeling outfits, and show the Empress of Hrom this time.

And now, story time:

While Hrom’s culture is mainly based on classical Yauna culture, with some western influences, most of Hrom’s territory is in Asiya, most of which has long been assimilated. The borders between both have been largely stable for the last 900 years. During the first ten centuries or so of the country’s existence, the political culture in regards to succession was mostly based on old Hromig practices, which is, a relatively long stable period followed by a interregnum on which all new empresses tried to form a long-lasting succession for their own dynasties.

However, after the general instabilty of the 10th century that led to the loss of the eastern themes to Equestria, the establishment of a stable dynastic succession became increasingly difficult, while at the same time, a tendency towards loss of control of the succession within the themes was also at hand, giving a chance for certain proeminent familes to entrench themselves in certain themes, such as the Bryennes in Krete, the Branas in Strymon or the Palaiologoi in the Peloponnesus.

Under these new circumstances, a principle of elective succession for the empire wound up arising, with the Synkletos, a forum comprised of the strategitissas, the Matriarch of Constantinapolis, the Metropolitans under her jurisdiction, and (after 1714) the archons of the major cities, convening to choose a basilissa from among the strategitissas.