Queen Lachryma III

The queen of Sepheris Secundus is an elderly woman who has successfully led Sepheris Secundus through numerous revolts, baronial uprisings and increasingly spectacular tithe demands from the Administratum. Now, however, she is getting old. Though her mind is still sound, her body is infirm and, some of the more ambitious barons say, she is losing the ruthlessness and willpower that once served her so well. Queen Lachryma’s aged, underweight form is swamped by her royal regalia, with its voluminous gown made from thousands of panes of stained glass and its crown of white gold.
Her voice is thin and shaky, and she no longer has the presence that once acted as an anchor for the feudal system of Sepheris Secundus. In her later years, the queen has sunk into the throes of a personal crisis. Why do her serfs have to live such grim lives of toil? Is there another way that Sepheris Secundus could be ruled? She has ordered her barons to investigate what actually goes on in the depths of the planet’s mines, but her barons have resisted this and a few of them have sensed weakness and doubt in their queen. Though she would never admit it to anyone, Queen Lachryma is afraid of how she will be remembered, and knows that she is running out of time before she can get to the root causes of Sepheris Secundus’s misery.