Efraika began her life as a series of plot requirements, and slowly grew a personality to make sense of them. I am glad you like her.

I am not sure whether Ban died in the battle or if he was captured. I suspect that even if he lived through the battle, he died within a handful of years thereafter, since he was such a potential rallying point. The Estarin emperors and empresses became very corrupt toward the end of the Imperial era, but at this point they (and their generals) were quite skilled at taking and holding new land, until the conquered people (or their descendants) thought of themselves as Estarins.

But Ban does, in a bitter way, get the last laugh. The emperors and generals he fought against are mostly forgotten -- footnotes to history -- but his story lives on, and an entire modern Estarian nation (Banicia) is named for him.