Sanaki

Holy Empress
Sanaki
Real Name	Sanaki Kirsh Altina
Species	Beorc
Class	Empress
Affiliation	Begnion
Hair color	Blue
Eye color	Red
Age	13 (as of FE10)
Weaponry	Cymbeline
Base	Begnion
Relatives	Altina (ancestor) Misaha (grandmother) Micaiah (older sister)
Debut	Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Sanaki was the ruling apostle/empress of Begnion, despite her youth, and a supporting character in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, as well as a playable unit in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

Background

Sanaki was born into the pure bloodline of Altina. At the time her grandmother, Misaha was the apostle of Begnion, who doubled as the empress. However, one year after emancipating all laguz slaves in Begnion, Misaha was assassinated. This prompted an angry mob of Begnion citizens to attack the peaceful heron tribe of Serenes Forest and nearly wipe them out in what became known as the Serenes Massacre. Unbenownst to the people of Begnion, as well as Sanaki herself, Sanaki had an elder sister, Micaiah, who went missing around the time of Misasha's assassination. Five years later, despite still being a child, Sanaki was appointed the new apostle of Begnion. However, she was not a true apostle because only the first-born females could hear messages from the goddess and become the apostle. Sanaki was troubled when she could not hear the voice of the goddess, but, not knowing of her older sister, she rationalized that she was too young and would hear the goddess when she came of age.

Even though she was not responsible for the Serenes Massacre, Sanaki still felt a great amount of guilt for the damage her people had caused and sought a way to redeem Begnion. She had a remarkable maturity for her youth, which she needed to engage the Begnion Senate in many political battles. This is because Sanaki sought the wellbeing of her people, while the senate was rife with corruption and senators seeking to help only themselves. Because both the apostle and the senate were both considered to be chosen by the goddess, they both were obligated to respect the other, and Sanaki could not move against the senate without proof. However, she had several trusted advisers such as Sephiran, whom she appointed head of the senate in order to keep the senators in line. He acted like a father figure to her At her command were also the Holy Pegasus Knights of Begnion, headed by Sigrun and Tanith.

Path of Radiance

In Path of Radiance, Sanaki learned that King Ramon's orphaned daughter Elincia was on the run from Daein forces after Daein's sudden takeover of Crimea and was seeking aid from Begnion in resisting Daein. After hearing Sephiran's positive report about them, Sanaki decided to meet with her in person, so she set out with the Holy Guards to meet them while they were traveling to Begnion on a ship.

In "Chapter 13: A Guiding Wind", Sanaki was left on the ship at a seaport while Tanith brought the pegasus knights to meet with Elincia on her ship. But she grew impatient of waiting and had the ship take off without them. They were soon attacked by Daein soldiers posing as pirates. Sanaki took refuge in the ship's cabin until the Greil Mercenaries and pegasus knights were able to fight off the enemies. She was able to slip out during the chaos and spent some time hiding aboard the Crimean ship, posing as a stowaway. Ike and the other mercenaries believed her, but she eventually blew her top and revealed her identity to expose Ike's ignorance.

They returned in Begnion by "Chapter 14: Training", at which point Sanaki held a meeting with Elincia and Ike. From the beginning she tested their worth by interrogating Elincia and harshly criticizing her lack of proof of her birth, which caused Ike to talk off the apostle. Sanaki gave up that charade sand said she had definite proof of Elincia's heritage in the form of Sephiran's testimony. This caused Ike to rant even more at Sanaki for playing games with Elincia's emotions, but Sanaki was able to quiet him down by reminding him that his behavior towards her could result in him being killed for blasphemy, and she also reminded him that Crimea needed to stay in her good graces if they wanted Begnion's help in the war against Daein.

In the following days, Sanaki began employing the Greil Mercenaries in a series of missions which made them aware of the underground laguz slave trade in Begnion. Sanaki could not do anything about it herself without alerting the public of the senate's corruption, so she instead used the Greil Mercenaries as her sword, even though they were not clear of her intent. In "Chapter 15: The Feral Frontier", Ike returned with Tormod, the leader of the Laguz Emancipation Army. She then revealed her intentions of helping to combat the underground laguz slavery and next sent the Greil Mercenaries to investigate the corrupt noble Oliver in "Chapter 16: The Atonement".

Ike then rudely burst in on Sanaki after returning, as Oliver's slave turned out to be a laguz heron, and Ike demanded to know what happened twenty years ago. After he was calmed down, Sanaki, with the help of Nasir, told the story of the Serenes Massacre. She requested that Ike find the heron survivor, Reyson, before Oliver could and to bring Reyson to see her, promising to grant Begnion support to Crimea if he accomplished this. At the end of "Chapter 17: Day Breaks", Sanaki was able to met with both Reyson and Leanne at the edge of Serenes Forest. Despite her position, she sacrificed her dignity by bowing before the herons and begging them for forgiveness. Reyson accepted, after being convinced by Leanne, and under these circumstances the two were then able to sing the galdr of revival which rejuvenated the forest.

True to her word, Sanaki supplied reinforcements to aid the Crimean forces in "Chapter 18: Crimea Marches". There was only one more requirement, which was that Ike would have to receive peerage as she would not allow Begnion troops to work under some commoner mercenary. After Sephiran returned, Sanaki then sent Zelgius over with addition reinforcements. The whole ordeal had taught Sanaki about the importance of the laguz, and inspired her to strive towards eliminating the underground laguz slavery practiced by her nobles. She also told Elincia that she would attempt to work towards a more fully integrated society of beorc and laguz, while admitting that it would be difficult due to the obstacles posed by the senate. She urged Elincia to rebuild Crimea, and then the two of them could work together to change the world for the better.