...My good, loyal subjects, our Confederacy may have lost the fight, however, we are not crushed! Though the Empire was victorious, we fought with a zeal which earnt their respect! With the Empire's blessing, we shall create a new great nation to succeed the Confederacy and restore the glory of our mighty civilization, in the spirit of my late, beloved cousin, President Zarkan! Let us go forth with the grace and providence of God, for the West lives!
—Elizabeth Zarkan in a speech announcing the establishment of the Imperial Kingdom
Elizabeth Zarkan was a Human female from planet Earth, located in the Solar system just beyond the Galactic Rim. She was a member of the Zarkan family, the Royal Family of the Zarkan Kingdom and Empire - the most powerful imperial nation on the planet, and lived in Castle Zarkan in Zarkan City with her cousins and relatives.
Biography[]
It gladdens my heart to see you bow before me. It is good practice, for the time will come when I shall crush the "Earth Empire" beneath my heel and reclaim my rightful position as mother of all former Confederate territories. On that day, my dear ambassador, you shall bow before me once again, though you shall bow to me as your liege lady and your master.
—Elizabeth Zarkan to the Earth Empire's ambassador to Imperial Zarkania
Born in Zarkan Royal Year 945 (55 BBY) to Henry Zarkan, half-brother of King Daniel IV, and Julia of Pineholme, Elizabeth lived and was raised within Castle Zarkan, where she was good friends with her cousin, Princess Jane Zarkan. Her father was absent for extended periods due to him holding the position of Commander General of the Northern Central Vulgatian Lands, thus requiring to him to reside in a distant colonial territory known as the Commandancy General of the Northern Central Vulgatian Lands for extended periods.
In 45 BBY Elizabeth Zarkan fell in with Bacterial Pneumonitis (the Bloody Coughs) during the Zarkanian Bacterial Pneumonitis Outbreak of 45 BBY-42 BBY, just like Jane and Jane's younger sister Bethany, the latter of whom died from it. Elizabeth received only a mild form of the disease, and her lungs weren't as scarred as much as Jane's, meaning she didn't suffer from a chronic post-infection cough for the next few months after, like Jane did.
As a member of the Zarkanian nobility, and of the immediate lineage of the ruling family, Elizabeth was raised to be highly patriotic and with a heavy nationalist mindset, something which would go a long way in informing the decisions she made later in her life. Like other Zarkanian nobles, she was also taught to be a firm believer in the science of Good Breeding, in which noble families would carefully manage their breeding over generations, and in some cases centuries, to ensure the best genes were carried forth. Elizabeth attributed her stunning beauty and her tall stature to this science, which she claimed had been perfected through centuries of careful breeding within her family, noting the same tallness and beauty was present within her close cousin, Jane, who was a little over an inch taller than her in the Zarkanian Imperial measurement system.
Like all nationalistic Zarkanians, her opinion on the Union of Earth States soured following the Tariff Crisis of 37 BBY, in which the Union attempted to increase tariffs on trade between the Western nations of the Traditional Faction to help the rebuilding efforts following the New Earth Republic crisis of 40 BBY-38 BBY. The crisis almost saw the invasion of the Zarkan Kingdom by Federal forces, and the secession of the West from the Union. In the end, however, a committee managed to form a compromise in which the Union would reduce the tariff by 75% in exchange for the West paying it. Despite war being averted, the seeds of deep Western hostility to the Union and the later secession of the Western nations had been sown.