Josette
Josette is the national personification of Laeral since the period of the First Allied Provinces, symbolizing the Laeralian national character and the traits of liberty, equality, and justice. A maiden with long dark hair, she is typically portrayed wearing flowing garments and bearing a spear or sword in one hand, to represent the nation's determination to defend itself from its enemies, and the other hand left with an open palm or a bowl of rice with which to nurture its citizenry. Josette has featured in art, propaganda, sculpture, and on Laeralian currency, and remains a distinctive symbol of Laeral alongside the meihua plum blossom.
History[edit | edit source]
The concept of a feminine personification of Laeral has existed for centuries. The pre-Minjian goddess Naishen, the deity of horsemanship, motherhood, and fertility, was the patron goddess of Guang and Jiang dynasty Laeral, and her worship coexisted alongside the Minjian Faith in Laeral through the 15th century, before being syncretically incorporated into depictions of the Minjian Lady. Josette's depiction has also been associated with the Gao Dynasty folk hero Chen Lianqun, a spear-wielding woman warlord.
The character of Josette, however, is likely based on the widely-mythologized story of Josephine Royer, whose husband was a soldier in the Laeralian War of Independence. As the widely-publicized story held it, Royer's husband was killed in battle, leading her to take her husband's place in the battle line and leading a charge which dispersed the Royalist forces. Her name and likeness were widely spread through engravings and the newspaper, leading her to be affectionately nicknamed "Josette". The story of Josephine Royer may also have been conflated with that of Anne Daumier, a nurse tending to wounded Laeralian forces of the time, or the story of Antoinette Le Roux, the "Warrior Woman of Lyrene". The 1870 patriotic poem "The Bravery of Josette," by Lothaire Fabre, further established Josette's role in the Laeralian national pantheon; in 1893, Laeral's federal government declared Josette the national personification. The character of Josette continued through the Republican period and into the present day.
Contemporary Role[edit | edit source]
Josette has appeared as a symbol of Laeral in literature, art, propaganda, and film.