Song of the Cosmos | Voltron

Epilogue #2

     The following is a historical document from the Galran Archives on the reign of Empress Zora, the one they called the Great Uniter. It was collected from one of the many Galran libraries that the Empress established during her reign by Maria Holt, grandaughter of the renowned rebel Matt Holt and delivered to the Altean Archives for Safekeeping.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

       Empress Zora was the first new Galran ruler crowned in the last ten thousand years. Her coronation was a highly celebrated affair, as she had earned the loyalty of the military before her ascension to the throne. The Mighty Empress later won over her people. 

     During her reign, the Empress was able to achieve what the previous Emperor Zarkon was unable to achieve. She brought about complete unification of the Universe. This was not done through conquest however, Empress Zora (though wed to her bodyguard, a renowned soldier) was not a conqueror; she created new trade routes, established connections with even the most remote planets. 

   The Honorable and Wise Empress worked her entire life side by side with the Paladins of Voltron in an effort to erase the stigma that the Universe held against the Galran people for years after Emperor Zarkon's reign. It was through years of work that the Empress earned her title the Great Uniter. That is her most known title, others gifted to her by the people include: The Wise, The Gentle, The Heir that was Promised. 

    Empress Zora passed away only a few days after the death of her partner and long-time bodyguard, leaving behind a legacy of peace, non-violence and unification. Her daughter, Crown Princess Astra was crowned shortly after her mother's death. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 It took me absolutely forever to translate these brief historical descriptions of Empress Zora's reign from Galran to Altean, then to English. This was only a summary, the only bit of an archive I could take from the Galran library. But after all the stories my Grandfather told me about the Great Uniter, about how she had saved his life long before she became Empress- I just had to know more about her. 

  I hope that my small contribution to this Altean Library will help the people who live on this planet that still hold prejudice against the Galra move past it; I want them to understand just how much of this peace we owe to the work between Empress Zora and the Original Paladins. I'd also like to add something I learned from my grandfather's stories, something this account never mentions in an effort to prove that I am who I say I am, that I actually got the chance to meet Empress Zora once when I was very small. The Empress was not an imposing female, she was tiny for a Galra, quite petite, an even smaller Galra than the renowned Keith Kogane. My Father told me it was because her health was so poor. I remember her smiling down at me, her bodyguard glowering behind her. I remember how she took a knee, how the great Empress knelt down to look a small insignificant human child in the eye. It's something I'll never forget. If you need further proof, I'll add something the Galran historian who wrote this particular account I've translated left out-  The Empress's bodyguard's name was Kiba.

     Hopefully I will soon find more histories to translate, histories not only of Zora's reign but of those who came long before her. But for now, I've got too much to do. I'm set to accompany  Queen Allura and her heir to visit Empress Astra and someone has to write things down.

 - Maria Holt 

Official Recordkeeper and Paladin of the Green Lion