I came up with this NPC and accompanying setting about a year ago. They've been floating in the back of my mind ever since, and I've finally decided to put some ideas to text. I've run several one-shots with her presence in the background, but I think she would make a powerful villain to eventually come to the forefront in my setting for Labyrinth Lord I've entitled "The Fallen Lands."
Queen Ilona Seraphina
IX, more customarily known as the Red Queen, has ruled over the dark Empire of Vordalox,
encompassing nearly one-third of the world, for nearly three hundred years. It is said that she was
once mortal, wreaking fear and despair upon her subjects until her very last wilted
breath, only to return from the grave and continue her rancorous reign. This
is, of course, common knowledge to the inhabitants of the Fallen Lands, but
there is more to the story:
From nearly a century
of cruel and malicious commands at her behest, perched aseat a macabre and ostentatious
throne fashioned from the bones and flesh of her foolish adversaries, it was
attested, in hushed whispers, of course, by fearful peasants, that Queen Ilona’s nefarious soul would
one day be transported to the deepest levels of hell, whereupon she would
endure suffering for eternity. After inflicting her subjects to years of anguish and torture, that foretold
day finally arrived, when she was at last slain by a valiant and heroic
champion, whose name has now been lost to the ages—legends and ballads refer to him only as “The Unnamed Hero”— from the final strike of his enchanted blade, sending
her to that infernal abyss …
…The 417th
level, to be exact.
Yet her lust for power
was so great that not even death could bring finality to her reign of terror,
and thus she returned from the grave to tyrannize once more. For you see, the
deepest levels of hell are watched over by demons. And demons are always willing
to bargain. For as venomous and virulent as she was, the Red Queen was just as, if
not more so, cunning and shrewd. And so she was rebound to her grotesque throne,
clutching the demon’s contract in her bony, worm-ridden fingers: a
promise of bounteous mortal souls to this hell-being. This same twisted bargain that helped her
rise from her crypt beneath the foul soil also saw a return of those once in
her service. With their chipped swords and rotting armor, an army of undead was now at her command.
For well over a century,
the Red Queen and her host conquered the surrounding lands and kingdoms, spreading the Empire of Vordalox ever farther. The souls of her newly dead adversaries were then delivered
to this hellion to whom she was indentured, but their now soulless bodies rose again in mindless service to a new queen.
The last three
generations have not born witness to her expansive acquisitions, and some say her
wicked arrangement has come to an end, while others are less assured--but still none
dare venture to the dark lands of Vordalox, for setting foot beyond its borders is agreed to be a death sentence! Some
realms have timidly offered vassalage to the Red Queen, with tenuous confidence she will
show mercy lest she lead an incursion anew. Most merely hope to be avoided by her harrowing gaze.
Recently,
shadows and whispers have been speaking of Vordalox awakening from a decades-long slumber. "The worms have consumed all the flesh," they say. Perhaps these are
just rumors told in dark, candle-lit taverns. Or perhaps the claims of sighting
black and tattered sails upon ghostly ships are true…
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