Queen Aylanur Burakgazi

"'I don't care what you think is right and wrong, whether or not it's moral. I'm trying to stop my country from falling apart. And you can either help me, or you can get out of my way.' -Aylanur to Junzae Rosh, shortly after taking the throne."Ayla Burakgazi, also known as Queen Aylanur, is the leader of Ursisa, the mother of the Obsidian Trio, and the guardian of the Survivor's Pack.

Biography
Ayla was born to an unmarried couple in Laramie, Wyoming. Her mother soon left her and her father, returning to her homeland without her family. Devrim spent the next six years trying to provide for himself and his child, who came out to him very early on as a trans girl, which he accepted after some research into transgender individuals. His easy support of her gender, including buying her more feminine clothing and addressing her as his daughter in public, would help affirm her gender identity and strengthen her self-esteem.

Shortly after Aylanur's sixth birthday a car crash killed Devrim and wounded Aylanur heavily. After recovery, she was placed in foster care. At some point she was forced back into the closet, and only came back out at some point in middle school. Despite years worth of battering and harassment for her gender, including one incident of a foster parent trying to hold her down to shave her head, Aylanur refused to budge on it and eventually wore down her guardians enough that they were forced to accept it.

She was passed around foster homes for most of her childhood, but eventually found her home in Abigail Thompson's household at 15. She was initially wary of the woman, and was put off by the woman's fervent catholicism, but Abigail was respectful of Ayla's atheism and helped her connect with her father's Turkish heritage. She put her faith in Abigail after the woman defended her from transphobic relatives, and even threatened to disown her blood family for their bigotry towards her adoptive daugher. Aylanur spent the rest of her childhood in Abigail's custody and formed a close relationship with her foster mother and siblings, and when she turned eighteen Abigail officially adopted her into the family.

When Ayla was eighteen, she decided to learn about her birth mother, and she traveled to Ursisa for some time. At some point she confronted her birth mother, calling her out on leaving Devrim and Aylanur behind and indirectly blaming her for Devrim's death. After this Aylanur traveled northwards, encountering small farms and villages, and eventually met the beautiful Niru of the Heshto Band. The courtship between the two lasted for a year, and most likely would have lasted longer if Niru hadn't unexpectedly gotten pregnant. The two left and settled in Nmon Lau for a short time, but while participating in a peaceful protest in the streets, Niru was physically assaulted by a police officer and miscarried.

In grief, the two moved to America for a short while, where Niru met and fell in love with Linh Nguyen. While the two didn't start a romantic relationship, it became a source of contention between Ayla and Niru, and a source of anxiety for the latter. The strain, however, quickly faded when Lihn came to them, badly wounded after having escaped an abusive boyfriend. The next day the three women helped Linh officially break things off with him and move out, and when Linh remarked that she had nowhere else to go, Aylanur offered for her to stay in the apartment she shared with Niru. Once Linh was settled in, the three women sat down and had a real talk with each other about boundaries and relationships, and Ayla eventually came to accept Linh as her wife's girlfriend.

At some point during their early relationship, the three women returned to Abigail's home, catching up on things and introducing her family to Linh and Niru. While Abigail was a little skeptical over the relationship at first, she recognized both the love that Ayla had for Niru and the genuine affection she shared with Linh and encouraged her adoptive daughter to close the triangle. When the group returned home, Ayla told Linh how she felt about her, and they went on a date all by themselves.

After some time, Niru expressed a longing for her homeland, and once Ayla and Linh agreed the three moved back to Nmon Lau. They managed to have a good life together, and Ayla took up local civics along with helping to revitalize the social systems that had been neglected by the ruling family. She split her time between working as a waitress in a run-down bar and doing social work, giving away what money she could even while skipping out on her depression meds. It was during this time that she came across a tiny girl scrounging through some garbage for food and offered her a place in her home. Despite not having enough money to take the girl in, the three women did their best to keep the child fed and safe, and within a month they considered Minerva their daughter.

A year into their stay in Ursisa, Niru reconnected with her parents and siblings, introducing them to her partners and daughter. While unused to the relationship, Lokur and Kerila accepted the women with open arms. At some point, Lokur and Aylanur had a conversation about the current state of Ursisa, where he encouraged her to take up leadership, saying that he saw some of himself in the young woman. The family returned home, where Aylanur threw herself into her work and studies.

In January of 2020, a failed assassination attempt on the First Lady of the United States led to a night of bombing on Nmon Lau. When the dust cleared there were over 4000 people dead, with over a thousand people missing, nearly ten thousand people severely injured, and thirty thousand left without homes. Worsening matters was the near-total destruction of the Crown Family, along with several important government buildings. While Aylanur was initially passed up as a candidate for the throne, she decided to rally her cause and press for the position of queen. She nearly lost everything, only being heard out because Veiz testified in front of the High Council of her daughter's heritage, and Aylanur was sworn in as queen on February 3rd.

Under the first year of the Crown, she repaired public infrastructure and established new law codes. While she was loved by the common people for finally providing some structure and stability to their lives, the former nobility whose titles and lands she stripped hated her, and the international community called her a dangerous sociopath on a power trip. She repeatedly blackmailed, coerced, or outright stole the resources of the upper crust, either funneling them to the resources of the people or reinforcing the nation's defenses. On top of this, Niru became pregnant again, with both Niru and Aylanur terrified that she would miscarry again.

The stress of having to juggle multiple interests with enemies at her throat, her country on the edge of collapse, and the possible death of her wife and/or future child, led to Aylanur suffering Cardiac Arrest, with the Aconi attacking upon news of her hospitalization. She awoke a week after her near-death to find that her wife had gone into early labor and given birth to a premature but otherwise healthy son, and that Linh had taken control during the attack in order to protect her people and her family. Aylanur spent the next few weeks in recovery as Linh and Junzae took over her duties, only returning to the mantle of Queen after she had properly healed. Once the country was secured and unlikely to collapse from a slight breeze, Aylanur relaxed most of the power she'd held during the crisis, installing a more just system and welcoming criticism from her people.

At some point between the time skip, Chike was adopted into the family from an abusive father. A few years afterward, the Survivor's Pack was found and placed under Royal protection.

After the twenty-year time skip, the Queen appeared as a supporting character in Taerlyn and Arusa's story, being responsible for the two women meeting each other and encouraging Taerlyn to continue contact with Arusa. Upon the rescue of the young woman, she accepted the resignation and granted her a stipend for the rest of her days.

Personality
As a young girl, Aylanur was extremely withdrawn and quiet, sticking more to herself than her foster family or her agemates. Her skin color, along with her gender identity, made her a common target for bullies, and she learned very early on how to fight and protect herself. It was only after her adoption by Abigail that she began to enjoy more childish things, though she remained studious and reserved for a girl her age. After meeting Niru, she became more compassionate towards those around her, though she retained her distrust of those outside her circles, and she fully accepted the role of leadership when necessary. This carried over to her rule as Queen, where she is loving towards her country and family and ruthless towards anything or anyone who would hurt the ones she loves.

In times of peace the queen is known to be a playful and snarky woman who still cares for her people. She spends a good deal of her free time either working on laws to help improve the infrastructure of the country or walking around the city streets, seeing how her actions affect her people and getting personal feedback from those around her on what could be fixed.

Despite coming into power as an absolute monarch and technically still being an autocrat herself, Ayla seems to show a great deal of disdain for other authoritarian rulers and has on several occasions been known to mock dictators and the like for their insecurity and poor leadership. When a foreign reporter commented on this, she replied that her duty was to the state, not to herself, and "any leader who doesn't understand that should have their head cut off." She has also tried to encourage critical thinking in the population, and when confronted with a problem she can't solve will often consult those around her for ideas and thoughts.

Abigail
Aylanur adores her foster mother and views her as the mother she never had. This was helped by Abigail's genuine attempts to help Ayla with her Turkish heritage, taking her to the local heritage center and doing research on traditional dishes. Though the two don't often get to see each other nowadays, they facetime often.

Her Foster Siblings
Ayla has a friendly relationship with each of her foster siblings, though she's more distant from them than she'd like. She's closer with Kitty than she is with either of her brothers, and the two will meet up every few months or so and just chat with each other. So far, each of her siblings has met her children, though Duc was too young to remember when they came to his Naming.

Niru
Aylanur loves her wife to an almost unhealthy degree and often makes excuses for Niru's behavior that she wouldn't accept from anyone else. However, she doesn't hesitate to call Niru out when the woman has done something she can't forgive. After Linh came into the relationship, Aylanur gave reason after reason for why she wanted to give Linh and Niru their space, and the two women had to physically drag their lover into their bed to prove that she was still loved and valued. Niru is the opposite of her wife's impulse control, bringing fury when others would caution patience, and being ruthless when others would cow to mercy.

Linh
At first, Linh and Ayla had a rather strained relationship. Neither was angry or upset at the other, but they were unsure on how to proceed. As time went on, Linh became Aylanur's confidant and friend, and eventual lover. When Niru spurs on Aylanur into action during tense moments, Linh cautions her against rashness, and the two women help to guide and preserve the country.

Minerva
Minerva and Aylanur have a tight relationship, one built on trust and dependence. Because Aylanur was the first to bring her daughter home, Minerva has always known that she is welcomed and wanted in her home. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that Minerva feels comfortable to ask her mother for help with simple tasks or for material needs, and often went hungry in her early childhood because she didn't want to bother her mother. As such, Aylanur has become adept at understanding when her daughter needs something, and with diffusing possible guilt in her eldest's mind.

Duc
Her precious heir, Aylanur loves and defends her child. As her middle child, he has a strained relationship with his mother, and while he takes to his duties as Crown Prince with a zealousness usually reserved for his garden, he harbors some resentment at having very little life outside of duty to the country. Aylanur, meanwhile, worries fiercely for her son and continuously tries to get him to take interests and act his age. She hopes for him to find a close friend, someone who could bring happiness back in her son's life.

Chike
Her youngest and weakest child, Aylanur dotes on Chike endlessly and worries fiercely for his health. After rescuing him from his abusive birth father, she kept a careful eye on him for the first few months of his adoption. She gives him much more leeway than most and thinks of her as her baby, which nets him some mockery from his peers. He loves his adoptive mother, but he still harbors some fear that she will see him as a burden.

Nadiah
Aylanur adores her daughter-in-law and often invites her and her father to the capital. Nadiah, in turn, turns to Aylanur for help with things that are typically learned between mother and daughter, as Nadiah was another trans woman who had lacked a mother figure in her early life.

Olivia
Chike's odd creation is something of a granddaughter to the Queen. At the very least, she trusts the girl to keep Chike safe. She also indulges the robot's whims, taking her out for whatever food discovery has captured her attention that day or explaining things that may seem obvious to some.

Arusa
The Queen has a deep fondness for the young woman, viewing her as a niece. She invites Arusa for events at the Capital, though she rarely accepts, and she makes sure that Arusa isn't holed up all alone. Aylanur has even offered to officiate the wedding of Taerlyn and Arusa, though the two have yet to discuss marriage.

Trivia

 * She chose her name based on a conversation she had with her father, where he told her that she would have either been named Aylan or Nisanur had she been assigned female at birth, and she decided to mash the two names together.
 * She has nightmares on the regular, to the point where her sleep schedule is "catching what shut-eye when [she] can".
 * Her favorite color is pale violet, her favorite book is Of Fire and Stars, and her favorite food is a garlic rabbit stew.
 * The author has noted that Aylanur differs wildly from real-world dictators, and that in any realistic scenario she would most likely have been usurped or overthrown by someone more radical and dangerous.
 * As a young girl, Ayla was often complimented for her eyes, but they were a source of contention for her, as it was the one part of her that was blatantly not belonging to her father. She often wished for brown or black eyes instead, instead of green like her mother.
 * If Aylanur were a pokemon, she'd be an Absol.