Royal ball is coming up!

(Year 235, Spring) Yesterday HRM King Slomar of Sea gave a press conference. The attendees worried it would me another tax claim, but no. The only point on his agenda this time, was the invitation to a royal ball!

The monarch was laughing when he revealed the news, that he was giving a ball to honor his younger son, Prince Weever (35), who is still a single man. It's time to kick him out from the royal palace at Verdemar, and a wife would be nice.

After a bit more giggling, King Salomar admitted that the ball would be open to anyone from aristocracy, also foreign nations, and that he did not expect many royal guests as the crown prince is married already. Prince Weever is not likely to marry a princess, so he might need to search a bit lower in those ranks.

On question whether the King would stop Prince Weever if he wanted to marry some girl from the lower levels of aristocracy, King Salomar laughed again, but did not give a clear answer. - These things are complicated, was all he said, probably with reference to Prince Weever being 2nd in line to the kingdom at the moment, and that a girl from a well respected family would make things easier.

More than one royal ball!

Any girl going unnoticed at the Verdemar ball might get a 2nd chance to show off her waltz moves when King Adekoya of Simerinia throws a engagement party for his only son, Crown Princi Adeye (39). Simerinia kingdom has no tradition of leaving the choice of spouses to random dance partners, so his future partner was already found, the youngest daughter of the Emperor of Snorthia, no less!

This is indeed a risky decission culturally, as CP Adeye and Yokora Kibo (24) has very different skin colors. Simerinia was originally ruled by residents with very pale skin, but when Adekoya dynasty took over, this changed radically. There were a few protests back then, but now, 3 generations later, most residents are very positive. With a pale skinned daughter of the Emperor, the Adekoya dynasty actually invites destiny to pick the future. In the entire Empire, that Simerinia is part of, no woman can give birth to more than one son, meaning they stop reproducing as soon as they get their needed heir. This also means they can not choose the more suitable son for heir later, as there will be only one.

Yokora has no princiss title as she is born outside the Emperor's marriage. He is the only man allowed concubines, and that's why Yakora carry the Kibo family name, desbite being a member of the emperial dynasty. She gets engaged 1 year before reaching Young Adult, meaning she can not yet have a legal romantic relation to CP Adeye. Hopefully they will be seen waltzing together!

Darong dynasty is really in need of a strong first couple. King Adekoya has been a widower since 6 years, and while Adeye's older sister, Princiss Jawara (43), occasionally appears as the dynasty's 1st lady, nobody forgot how she nearly made scandal when marrying a commoner. She was widowed 4 years ago, and raising their 2 children alone is quite off the norm, too. Females traditionally hold no central position in the dynasties. Will Princiss Jawara find a 2nd spouse at the upcoming ball? Marrying a 2nd time gets hard as she can not give birth to any more children - the risk of getting a 2nd son is too high. Neither do princisses pass on a royal title, but hailing from this dynasty will benefit her children later in life.

Well, it's time to dust off those dancing shoes, and maybe some tiaras, as well. These two balls might be the most glamorous you will find this Spring. Late Summer our own Aristocracy's social season closes with the traditional Grand Ball at the royal palace in Del Sol Valley.