Queen Ransomed

The Queen

Formerly know as the Slave Queen, the most exalted and most debased female in the Empire. The granddaughter of the Chatcaavan Emperor prior to Kauvauc.

Physical

The Queen has slender, graceful limbs, with skin a deep pewter that shades to pearly gray over her stomach and throat. Her mane is dark. Unlike four-armed females, she lacks breasts. Prior to her ability to modify her own body, her wings were cut into patterns: scalloped edges and decorative cuts and incisions that rendered her incapable of flying. Her collar is silver set with amber cabochons. Orange eyes, "all fire-reds and outrageous yellows." She is thirty-seven revolutions (years of the Throneworld) old at the time of Lisinthir Nase Galare's tenure as Ambassador.

Known Shapes

• Karaka'An (gray striped with long claws) - obtained from one of her grandsire's slaves
• Human (orange-eyed with dark hair) - obtained from one of her grandsire's slaves
• Eldritch (orange-eyed) - obtained from Lisinthir Nase Galare
  • In her Eldritch form, the Queen bears a strong resemblance to Liolesa Galare's relatives

The Queen and her first shapes, at the time of Even the Wingless

Biography

Prior to the Ambassador's Arrival

As a child, she practiced the Touch and the Change on her grandsire's slaves, obtaining both a human and Karaka'An shape, though at the time she didn't know their names. She told no one about this, but her dam saw her Change once and beat her for it. When her grandsire was defeated by the Emperor, she was captured and brought to the Throneworld Court as a prize, to become his Slave Queen, the most exalted and most debased of all females. She served as Queen for twenty-five years before the arrival of Lisinthir Nase Galare as Alliance Ambassador ad'Chatcaava.

The Queen was aware of Chatcaavan history and customs dating back before the Empire was one of despotism and slavery.

During the Chatcaavan War

Even the Wingless

As of the arrival of Lisinthir, the Queen was in a uniquely rarefied position: the most exalted and most debased female. She had a comparatively private space and a few duties of her own (including bringing slaves to the preparation room to be decorated and collared, and giving permission for females in the harem to attempt to conceive). She had an alien slave who attended to her: Laniis Baker, who she named Khaska after ancient Chatcaavan bellringers, because Laniis was distressed at being called "Slave." She was also protected from the attentions of most other males and from humiliating public use, though not because she was valued as a person, but because she was the Emperor's private possession and he was reluctant to share. For the most part, the only of those given frequent freedom of her tower were the Emperor and Second, and Second was usually gentle with her, requiring little more than bathing and wing-oiling. Nevertheless, her despair was only muted by the fact that she had never imagined freedom or personhood for herself and so did not miss it.

The Queen's first, life-changing encounter with Ambassador Lisinthir was at his introduction to the court, which—due to the machinations of Third and his Baavo, along with the Emperor himself—also included the presence of three new alien slaves: a Malarai and Tam-illee, and, notably, an Eldritch like Lisinthir: Bethsaida Emil Galare, who the Queen did not yet know was the heir of the Eldritch queen. She noted Laniis's dismay as the new ambassador seemed indifferent to her plight and the plight of the new slaves. The Queen and Laniis told the new slaves that they were unable to do anything for them, and thus oversaw the rapid deterioration in Bethsaida, as she suffered from receiving too many violent and lascivious touches, and quickly became first ill and then unresponsive.

Lisinthir's indifference (having never been true) did not last, as Lisinthir quickly requested permission to be able to visit the Queen, and the Emperor, amused, permitted it. Lisinthir used the time to assess Bethsaida's help and slowly begin to convince the Queen of her agency. This led to many additional effects: an increasing sense of restlessness and a desire to learn Laniis's real name and then her language among them. Ultimately the Queen and Laniis felt able to assist with a rescue operation. The plan required the Queen to take an Eldritch pattern to mimic Bethsaida during her 'presentation' and public rape, but Bethsaida, already traumatize from being handled by the Chatcaava, could not bear her touch for long enough for the Touch to succeed. Lisinthir instead provided the Pattern for her, and she stood in Bethsaida's stead, to be publicly raped and tortured by the Emperor while in an Eldritch form, as Bethsaida, Laniis, and the two other slaves escaped, though Laniis expressed sorrow at leaving her behind. In the aftermath, the Queen decided to ask Lisinthir to tell her more of Universal, the language Laniis had begun teaching her, and about his home.

As Lisinthir rose in favor, the Queen counseled him on the ways that he would be challenged and tested by other males--most especially the Emperor. He came to her after he had been raped by the Emperor, and she called for the Surgeon to heal the honor wounds. Second also came to her, and shocked her by seeking information from her about Lisinthir; he spoke to her as if she knew things that were useful, which was a foreign and unsettling thing. Lisinthir continued to visit her every morning even as he was assaulted on a regular basis, and while he taught her Universal and told her about his people and how to think as they did, she continued to advise him. He, too, unsettled her by indicating that he was lifting the Veil for her because he trusted her, and that he was incapable of ceasing to see her as a person. She was further unnerved as the Emperor began to seek her without agitation or anger, content with "trivial obeisance," though he did still leave her bound in an uncomfortable pose for a full night.

During the Mother's nearly-disastrous labor, the Queen aided Lisinthir in calling for the Surgeon, who normally did not treat females. After Lisinthir succeeded in convincing him, and the Mother was saved along with her newborn son, the harem warmed to the Queen and invited her to stay, crediting her with the Mother's survival. Later, Second came to her in agitation, and while she oiled his wings, she heard him discussing getting rid of Lisinthir with Third. She feared for Lisinthir, a fear borne out when Lisinthir informed her of Second's attempt at poisoning him. The Queen informed Lisinthir as the potential of using small doses of hekkret to build up immunity, and provided him his first rolls.

The Emperor came to ask her about Lisinthir, and she acknowledged that he came to visit her every day, but only to talk, and the Emperor left without hurting her, puzzling and worrying her, as an "Emperor who could talk to her, consider her and then leave her without marking her... was a stranger."

Amulet Rampant

After the Surgeon amputated her wing vanes, she bled so much that they were forced to put her in a gel tank, and then allow her to convalesce on a bed in the clinic.

Trivia

• Swears by the Living Air.
• As the Slave Queen, was made available by the Emperor to Second and Lisinthir. Second came to her primarily to be bathed and to have his wings oiled, and was normally kind to her. Third did not have general access to her.
• Kept a piece of jewelry from every female who died in the harem, obtained for her by the Mother.
• Found Laniis's formality tiresome, but tolerated it.
• Had a great deal of difficulty reading the facial expressions of alien slaves until she had spent a full year with Laniis and also gained an understanding of alien feelings by touching Lisinthir while using her Eldritch shape.
• The cuts in her wings were sealed with a liquid that sizzled, rendering them tough rather than supple and less prone to tears.
• Preferred to dress herself, except when her presentation jewels were too ungainly to don by herself.
• Two heads shorter than Lisinthir.
• Has never had a name. Before the current Emperor took power, she was titled as her father's daughter, and after, she was the Slave Queen.
• Restored her equanimity by soaking in the hottest of her baths.

Quotes

Even the Wingless

"Tell her I...I am the Slave Queen, the most exalted of all females in the Empire, and the most debased."

"Some things must be known before they can be missed," the Slave Queen said. "I have never known freedom, so how can I miss it?"

"It is what I am for, Ambassador. I am a vessel. It is all I do, suffering."

"As long as you are willing to bow your head to spare the pain of the worthless, you are no Chatcaavan. No matter what you feel when you are defending your life and honor. It is what moves you that makes you who you are."

"Perhaps what you have done here so far, the Alliance could do for the Empire. Perhaps if the Empire finds itself fighting a war it cannot easily win, it will remember its heart and become something greater than it is." -- to the Ambassador

Amulet Rampant

"I, too, am Outside, in a way. Females cannot partake of the world of power and agency of males, Surgeon. Some would say the Chatcaava have been lessened by that division. You, the other males who are Outside... how much more could you do if you did not have to live outside the world of males on the Inside? What could you accomplish freed from the necessity to maintain your neutrality? If you could choose sides, Surgeon... what an ally you would be! What amazing things you might do for the world you would choose to bring forth!"

"I'm afraid the revolution has already begun. I am just trying to keep it from killing everyone I care about."

Major Pieces

“Not every question needs an immediate answer. Not if you want the right one.”

Farmer's Crown

"You are the Gentle Guide, and I was the Slave Queen, and people think we are patient and passive and kind, and perhaps we are. If we were not, our angers and our griefs would turn us into far more terrible people than those who were born to power, and who are comfortable wielding it. To have a master is safer. For everyone else."

Quotes and Observations by Others

"Do not play the fool, Mistress. Not all power is shaped by talon and fang."

—Moon

"You never were an object," he said into her hair. "Even when you thought yourself powerless, you were changing the universe for the better. They tricked you into believing yourself no better than them."

—Lisinthir Nase Galare