Dariana

"You become the Mother of the Hiironi because it is what the irstat wants. What you want is not important. What is best for you is not in your hands to decide. You are part of something much greater. We are Tarasin."

- Dariana's mother to Dariana as a child

As the Mother of the Hiironi irstat, the largest irstat on Cularin, Mother Dariana was viewed as the wisest of all Tarasin. Though she dreamed of it as a child, being the Mother of the Hiironi was not a task she wanted, at least not as early as she got it. She desired the role of Irstat-Kes, and she looked forward to taking on the role when her sister Meirana became Mother. But the day after the previous Mother was killed by a kilassin, Meirana died of a strange disease, thrusting Dariana immediately into the position of Mother.

Dariana believed in using offworld technology in certain cases. She carried a blaster and recorded her memoirs on electronic media instead of relying solely on her people's oral tradition. She often worked for her own good as much as for the good of her irstat.

Towards the end of her life, her skin could no longer shift colors, but she still stood tall. She rarely left the irstat, but was present at any important meetings between the Hiironi and offworlders.

Sometime after the Trade Wars, another of Dariana's sisters, Liriana, turned up leading a group of Tarasin dark side witches calling themselves the Wyrd. Dariana had had her own brush with the dark side when, as a child, she used it to kill a young kilassin before it could eat her.