Thanks to the flurry of inspiration given by the Ink-Born Muse, I started to notice things that were usually out of my sight.
For one, Verina was actually the name of a married Eastern Roman empress, and a prominent figure in the political landscape of the Eastern Roman Empire during the 5th century.
Born into a noble family of the Balkans, Verina gained significant influence through her marriage to Leo, supporting his rule and later becoming a power broker in her own right. She was the sister of Basiliscus, who would later become emperor for a brief period, and she played an instrumental role in his rise to power.