Ezel

FULL NAME: Ezel Hatun*, daughter of Iskender Reis.

MEANING OF NAME: 'Without beginning’

AGE: 20.

HEIGHT: 5’5”.

WEIGHT: 130 lb.

BODY TYPE: Curvaceous.

FACE TYPE: Heart-shaped.

COMPLEXION: Ivory, with light freckles.

EYES: Hazel-Grey.

HAIR: Midnight black.

CLOTHING STYLE: Elaborate, expensive, and ornamented. Loves wearing grey silk.

SPEAKING STYLE: Speaks in a low, calm voice. Her French is quite good, though her Italian is not excellent.

GENERAL DEMEANOR: Quiet, composed.

CAREER: Wife of Prince Korkut.

PREJUDICES: Hates the French...Belgians even worse.

BEST QUALITIES: Loyal, thorough, quick-witted, not easily fooled.

WORST QUALITIES: Frivolous, fickle, restless and materialistic.

WEAKNESSES: Her emotions can be tender when she lets her guard down.

HOBBIES: Her grooming.

TALENTS: A capable manipulator.

BIOGRAPHY:

The eldest daughter of Iskender Reis, a captain serving in the Ottoman navy, Ezel was born in the Üsküdar, across the Bosphorus Strait from Constantinople. Iskender Pașa was Bulgarian-born; he became a devșirme seaman, and converted to Islam, climbing through the ranks to receive several titles and honours. In Constantinople, he married Hatice Hatun, a woman of some connection to the royal family. His first daughter, Ezel, was born from his concubine. His wife Hatice gave birth to another girl, Evren, in the same year. Iskender had no more children, and more importantly, no more sons.

Sultan Mehmet, the man who had trusted Iskender so implicitly, died in 1481; like many others, Iskender believed his younger son, Cem, the more moderate ruler, over the older but more forceful Beyazit. A civil war ensued, in which Iskender took Cem’s side, but it was quickly lost to the superior forces of Beyazit. Cem and his supporters fled Anatolia, in order to regroup and gather support. Iskender followed him, along with his two young daughters, whom he felt it was no longer safe to leave in the capital.

While in exile, Cem came across his younger brother, Korkut, who had also fled Constantinople in fear of his life. The two princes travelled across the fringes of the empire, firstly to Egypt, where they found no support for a continued fight, until Pierre d'Aubusson, grand master of the Knights of St. John, miraculously offered them an alliance, if he came to the island of Rhodes to meet with his order. It was a trap, laid by Beyazit: the Knights had been paid to capture the princes and keep them prisoner in Rhodes.

So began their life as hostages, and through loyalty, Iskender and his daughters followed them. She married Korkut when she became of age, and had two sons, Orhan, five years old, and Shevket, four.

*Hatun (haa-toon) is an Ottoman Turkish title equivalent to ‘lady’ or ‘Mrs’ and, like all Turkish titles, is placed after the given name.