Astaria Gillian III: Difference between revisions

[[Appendix A: Major NPCs|[back to Major NPCs]]]

With a just and cunning reputation, Queen Astaria III of House Gillian maintains popular support among most of her citizenry throughout Kendaria. A little over a decade ago, a disagreement between three of her vassals plunged Kendaria into civil war. Queen Astaria decisively ended the conflict, lifting her nation out of turmoil and reestablishing [[order]]. The civil war did not last for a full year, and Queen Astaria’s handling of the situation has earned her a reputation as a tough but fair ruler who makes difficult decisions with the wellbeing of her citizenry in mind. Her handling of the civil war also led to darker rumors that she tapped into some kind of [[occult]] power in order to quickly put an end to the disputes.

Queen Astaria’s approach to governance has become more strict in the wake of the civil war and in light of the challenge posed by the self-styled “Queen” [[Amelia Grace]] of the Old Forest. All Kendarian dukes and duchesses are required to send their children to Dalewright, the capital of Kendaria and the seat of Queen Astaria’s throne, for formal education. This serves dual purposes. The elite boarding schools in Dalewright can offer excellent training for the next generation of [[noble]] rulers while also instilling in them a sense of deep loyalty to the queen. At the same time, dukes and duchesses feel compelled to oblige Queen Astaria’s more forceful requests as they implicitly know that she could invoke the safety and wellbeing of their children as leverage if push comes to shove.

In short order and in uncharacteristically brutal fashion, Queen Astaria executed her three vassals and appointed three of her own trusted advisors as successors. This decisive conclusion to the war caused Queen Astaria to be viewed with disfavor for a short time, but in the aftermath of the war, Kendaria’s economy quickly rebounded. As life became markedly better for folk across the country, Queen Astaria regained favor with the public.

Queen Astaria’s rule is now marked by another crisis: the child queen whose influence is felt throughout the Old Forest. Amelia Grace is a [[halfling]] child who, despite her young age, has made herself a notable political and military figure in the Old Forest, accounting for nearly half of Kendaria’s territory. Amelia claims that she is the Queen of the Old Forest, and the Merry Foresters are a powerful mercenary gang that lend credible power to Amelia’s claims.

This poses a challenge for Queen Astaria, whose popularity would be shattered if she deposed - let alone executed - a popular child ruler, even an illegitimate one. Astaria has offered to legitimize Amelia as the High Duchess of the Old Forest, but Amelia sees this as an insult because it does not acknowledge her as Queen. This is an ongoing thorn in Queen Astaria’s side as her country is otherwise prospering at the beginning of the campaign.

The whispered rumors surrounding Queen Astaria are in fact true. When the three-way civil war broke out in Kendaria twelve years ago, Queen Astaria spent many sleepless nights looking for both a diplomatic and a magical solution to her problems. In her readings, she found various ancient scripts that she used to siphon power from an eldritch spirit that lurked in the Old Forest. This demideity, a twisted Stravon fae spirit embodying hunger and satiation, noticed Queen Astaria’s theft and leveraged her into a sort of symbiotic partnership.

In exchange for receiving significant occult powers, Queen Astaria allowed the spirit to reside inside her. This led to physical changes in the queen, such as her hair turning bleach-white and her face showing greater signs of age. The greatest tell, though, is a secret guarded by her closest advisors. When she eats, Queen Astaria must allow the spirit to take control of her body. Her hands elongate into claws, and her mouth becomes a toothy maw. She devours game animals and elegant baked goods alike with grotesque alacrity. Because of this, she never eats or drinks in public or with other noble company, insisting on taking her meals in private.