The Princess Da'tan Pal'durath (Pëlin'a Da'tan Pal'durath Hapës Ënëxilanthiusah) (January 10 3926–August 30 3965) was the firstborn daughter of Inaq Thian Pal'durath, the last Queen-Mother of the Hapes Consortium. In the early years of her life the Princess travelled across much of the Rim Worlds and Rifle Worlds, befriending local nobility and promoting conservative Hapan ideals. She was a notorious advocate of the Hapan feudal system and used her nearly limitless funds to spoil her elite friends. She is mostly remembered for the feud with her own sister over who was to sit on the Hapan throne and also triggering the Hapan Civil War which plunged the Hapes Consortium in to a devastating conflict.
Early Life
The Princess was born in the Royal Hapan Palace on Hapes Prime on January 10 3926 as the firstborn child of Queen-Mother Pal'durath VII and royal consort Prince Vidall. Her younger sister was born some two years later. The Princess had a luxurious and extravagant childhood on Hapes Prime, spending most her time in the capital city Ta'a Chume'Dan or in the Reef Fortress.
In her teenage years the Princess travelled much in the Hapes Cluster, especially in the Rim Worlds region and Rifle Worlds region where the strongest supporters of the Pal'durath dynasty lived. She befriended the daughters (and occasionally sons) of local nobility and liked to spoil her new friends with extravagant and expensive gifts from the capital. It is said that while Da'tan maintained a good relationship with her younger sibling Princess Ta'lan during their childhood, she never thought of her as a friend. Their personalities were vastly different as Da'tan had high materialistic values while Ta'lan seemingly disliked much about the Hapan government. Much of the higher nobility had met Da'tan in official ceremonies in the Royal Hapan Palace and Lorell Hall, but her frequent visits to the outlying worlds of the cluster made her very popular with the elite class of the Hapes Consortium.
In 3942 the Princess visited the worlds Olanji and Charubah, meeting with representatives of House Olanji. Princess Da'tan came back from the meeting with a different outlook on life in the Hapes Cluster, more actively and aggressively getting involved in the politics of Lorell Hall. It is speculated that the Olanji sisters made the Princess aware that even as the firstborn, she was not automatically the heir apparent as the laws relating to the rights of the firstborn had been abolished by Queen-Mother Pal'durath II. Da'tan attended Lorell Hall assemblies more frequently, getting involved in matters relating to the armed forces, culture and governance. The Princess also managed to convince her mother to make her overseer of the Rim Worlds and Rifle Worlds region. The commoner Archons of the two regions protested heavily, but it fell on deaf ears. The nobility of the regions, on the other hand, supported the act and prospered from it through increased funding for the Noble Navy and especially Olanji/Charubah.
Princess Ta'lan countered her sister's behaviour by acting as a representative of the commoners in Lorell Hall, giving wide support to the civillian population (especially in the Interion region and Capital) and having frequent meetings with the Archons. The race for influence and power was on.
Hapan Civil War
The Outbreak
Princess Da'tan's mother fell in a coma in the last months of 3945 with no heir specified. The debate over who was the most suitable heir spread quickly across the Hapes Cluster and especially in Lorell Hall. Most of the Hapes Consortium's nobility made their way to Hapes Prime for the debates and attended twelve hour long sessions in the grand assembly hall every day for months. The Princess made numerous speeches the assembly, often backed by many nobles who held considerable sway with the rest of the elite populace. Princess Ta'lan frequently countered with speeches of her own, insisting that time had come for change in the Hapes Consortium with a more centralised form of government rid of the corruption of the nobility. This did not appeal to the supporters of Da'tan and caused a massive uproar.
As time went by the speeches and debates became more and more intense and Da'tan's aggressive nature, which had previously been hidden under a calm exterior, became more and more apparent:
"Her Highness became increasingly aggressive as Ereneda's condition continued to deteriorate. She knew, as did most of us, that the likelyhood of reaching any form of agreement before the Ta'a Chume passed away was slim at best. In private meetings I had with her in the late hours, Her Highness hinted at the idea of using military might to force a decision in her favour, stating on numerous occasions that she had the full support of House Olanji, among others. The Princess' speeches in Lorell Hall were filled with not-so veiled threats directed at supporters of Her Highness, Princess Ta'lan, in the Interior and Capital regions. While I suspect that Princess Ta'lan may have been aware of Princess Da'tan's so-called desperation, I do not think she thought her sister capable of starting a civil war." Memoirs of Nilij Cal'taru, Royal Advisor and Diplomat, Chapter II, paragraph 5 & 6).
