Kendra's Cabinet

### Goals

Keep Queen Kendra happy (succeeded multiple times over nine years, ultimately failing as her Cabinet had defected, fled, hid, or died)

### Enemies

* The Etheridgeon Rebels
* Strict, uncaring family members
* Teachers that proved incapable of their job
* Students that were either apathetic or went out of their way to hurt them

## Chronological

### Coexisted with

The Etheridgeon Rebels

*"gratia aeterna"* - the Cabinet's and Kingdom's motto, literally translating to, "May She have eternal grace."

**Kendra's Cabinet** was a collective of advisors and protectors to its leader and the Queen of Etheridge, Kendra. The team consisted of approximately nine inner circle members, and nigh countless staff members and soldiers that made up an army.

## History

### Usurping the Throne

Believe it or not, Kendra's ascension to the throne came from pulling a usurp of her own long before her own usurpers were born. After the little girl (at the time) was rescued by two bystanders, Chris and Sapphire as she had nearly succumbed to her injuries when she washed up on a beach. As the two of them dropped her off at a hospital and pretended to be strangers afterward, the medical team did everything they could, and succeeding, to save her life.

Coming back from the brink, Kendra's mind had been stained with the experiences she had in Graelenncia and sought to wipe her memories of her friends and her old home, though historians debate whether this was out of a profound sense of regret or in response to being traumatized by external world experiences. She had also sought control over her own life so that nothing like what happened then could ever happen again.

### Days of Rebellion and Disbandment

During the siege initiated by the Etheridgeon Rebels, the loyalty of Kendra's team would be tested and shown their true colors depending on the individual, whether that meant hiding from the conflict, fleeing the Cabinet, joining the rebellion, or staying by Her Majesty's side. It would all come down to a final battle between her and Kodachi Tsurugi, a battle that came at the cost of the former's life.

## Members

### Christopher/Lumi

Year recruited: 2011

Recruited from Arcturus to be part of Her Cabinet after being rescued, she went out of her way to track down this Etheridgeon penguin and coerce them into joining her side. Since Lumi was owned by the highest authority in the land at the time, they were made to take on a new name and a new identity that they couldn't oppose. In this Cabinet, Lumi functioned as the heart to Zeph's brawn in social situations, as well as reassurance to other Cabinet members and to Her Majesty. Lumi served best for explaining away most things in the external world, but only when people were up front with them and didn't wait a week to say anything. During the rebellion, Lumi fought back and was purportedly killed during the battle, only to be revealed later that they operated as a key player behind the scenes in Arcturus afterward.

### Sapphire/Zeph

Year recruited: 2011

Gathered from Breezewood to be part of Her Cabinet after being rescued, Kendra went out of her way to track down this Etheridgeon macaw and coerce her into joining her side. As Zeph had found herself under the thumb of the highest authority, she was forced to take on a new identity as Sapphire. During her time in the Cabinet, her role was to be defense, no matter how overblown or preemptive it may have been at the time. This led her, and the collective as a whole, to garner a negative reputation among the student body in high school. During the rebellion, Zeph led a jailbreak on the dungeon where Kendra kept those who were meant to be put on death row.

### Christopher/Ledger

Year recruited: 2014-2015

Ledger awakened in Naxera on a fateful day with no memory of his past, or any family or friends before that. It's this explanation that implies that he may have been an NPC before gaining sentience out of the blue. Being the same species as Lumi, Kendra mistook him for Lumi trying on a new getup and voice, as well as new writing ability that She fell in love with. Despite the identity confusion, Ledger was able to crank out stellar school essays and philosophical works for an obscure video game community blog. Ledger was also among the most loyal to Kendra, and stuck up for her even when she wanted to end the world.

### Christine/Phoenix

Year recruited: 2016

Phoenix was another person who was the same race as Lumi and Ledger, only she had cat-like features. Kendra kept her as a court jester, as she always loved how entertaining she was when she was roleplaying as a hero with her friends she met online. Due to her nature, Phoenix was mistaken for Lumi and/or Ledger, and was always called Christine as a result. Phoenix didn't have a lot of use for the external world scene otherwise. During the rebellion, she hid from the conflict, but eventually joined at the behest of Makibishi when the vehicular friend came back for her; in the end, Phoenix laid down her life to take away some of Her Majesty's power, and what was left after revival was a literal shell of herself made from primal instincts - of which was also snuffed out to put her to proper rest.

### Skye Rose

Year recruited: 2017

Skye was recruited to become the protagonist of a story that Kendra had been writing to fulfill her own fantasies, which would have been fine had Skye not been subject to Her decrement abilities, which resulted in her personality and appearance warping to fit the vision Kendra had - a more perfect version of herself, rather than letting Skye be her own person. This was made worse when it turned out it was all for Her Majesty's amour, and that Skye was due to have a romantic subplot to please him, despite actually being unable to feel romantic attraction, much less even want it. During the rebellion, Skye broke free of Her influence, stole plenty of valuables, and escaped from the premises, preferring to live out the end times doing her own thing and being herself.

### Kodachi Tsurugi

Year recruited: 2018

Kodachi was recruited as she was considered to be a hyperfixation for Her Majesty at the time at just sixteen years old. She was considered to be an emotional support with no reciprocation, but listened to Kendra nonetheless. Due to Kodachi's tendency to be a friend, she saw the damage that was being done as a result of her relationship to her boyfriend in the external world. Even after gaining an audience with Her, She sentenced her emotional support and her family to death row, seeing them as a distraction and potential traitors. Kodachi led the rebellion right to the palace and initiated one final battle with the hope to save her and the world, but facing a decision between Kendra and the world, Kodachi chose Synaptum at the cost of the tyrant's life.

### Makibishi Tsurugi

Year recruited: 2018

Recruited at the behest of Kodachi, Makibishi was taken in as a second court jester to accompany Phoenix, to which they would become close friends. She and Phoenix worked together to make Her Majesty laugh, but also show her a brighter side to things when life got her down. They had a way of persuasion, which was thanks to Phoenix's skill as a jester and Makibishi's clairvoyance. After Kodachi made a plea to Kendra about her harmful relationship to her boyfriend, she was sent to the dungeon alongside her siblings. During the rebellion, Makibishi's clairvoyance was a key player in winning many a battle against Kendra's armed forces.

### Chokuto Tsurugi

Year recruited: 2018

Recruited at the behest of Kodachi, Chokuto was taken in as the head chef. His ability to cook filling meals was a point of interest to Kendra, who naturally had a higher appetite compared to most others in her Cabinet, almost to the point of it becoming harmful. This led to the chef trying out different recipes that were reasonable in size, but felt like several servings in one plate - a skill that has translated to the Etheridge Collective and is still used to this day. After Kodachi made a plea to Kendra about her harmful relationship to her boyfriend, he was sent to the dungeon alongside his sisters. During the rebellion, Chokuto greatly aided in the fight by using his culinary skills to boost the abilities of others, and his own ability to fight involved stopping an invasion on his camp by incorporating the invaders into a bowl of ramen. Some say the ramen is *still* in his refrigerator.

### Kodachi/Darla/Kris/Zeph/Nenon

Year Recruited: 2019

This Cabinet Member was a half bird, half human; as another fine example of Kendra mistaking Cabinet members, her right wing bird went until a myriad of names until her real name was revealed to be Nenon, courtesy of Zeph, who gave birth to her. Nenon was used as an object of desire by Her Majesty's boyfriend during roleplay, regardless of any opposition. Once a bubbly personality, it slowly crumbled overtime until Nenon became the vicious guard dog she died as, going so far as to attempt to kill her own mother during the rebellion as an act of self defense, not wanting the world to be saved because she "couldn't go on living in it."

## Framework

Throughout history, every collective has had a technological view of itself, shaped by a collective upbringing around technology in their daily life and in the media consumed since the earliest days. As such, Kendra's Cabinet and current generations refer to the way interacting with the alternate world as a computer framework, as the ethereal bridges were and are considered to be computers in appearance and function.

The Framework for Kendra's Cabinet was represented by a complex hologram console that took up a portion of Kendra's throne room, like something seen out of a science fiction movie of sorts. The set up was suitable for its time, but quickly became outdated, receiving rare "updates" that hardly fixed any of the main problems. Historians as of 2023 cannot experiment with it as the only ethereal bridge that used this framework had been lost in the collapse of Kendra's castle; however, there is a historical emulation undergoing development at the time of writing, allowing future generations to see through a brain full of adolescents.

The earliest Framework was referred to as Earthview, its latest "version" being Earthview v3.0, released in 2018

### Why it was suitable for its time

* Compared to Earthnet, Earthview was updated more often throughout middle and high school, even if it wasn't in a meaningful way that could be felt at the time. These updates were released every time a new person was added to the roster, which was a rare event.
	+ The important thing was that it *could* be updated.
* The ethereal bridge that supported this framework supported passive influence.
* It could support up to two users.
	+ A user could join and not be detected by other users, which was suitable for times when a quick solution using another sequence of thought was needed.
* It handled imposition surprisingly well compared to the previous Framework.
* It became possible to switch users, and was an early example of seamless user switching.

### What held it back

* It did not determine the difference between passive influence and self internal monologue.
* Imposition required immense concentration to pull off, which could lead to becoming distracted.
* Although it supported multiple controlling users at once, identity barriers posed a significant problem.
	+ These barriers made user switching hard to, if not impossible to detect.
* Even though Earthview could be updated, its framework could not support growing with the collective, and thus needed rewriting every time a new person was introduced, especially with the arrival of Ledger, Phoenix, and the Tsurugi Triplets.

## Trivia

* Kendra's Cabinet was the longest lasting collective on record, lasting nine years between July 2011 and July 2020, beating out the Graelenncia Collective's lifespan by five years.
* It was the second collective to end with the deaths of some of their members, *including* Kendra, whom most would call the Original Host.
	+ That being said, this collective would be the final one to include Kendra in its ranks whatsoever.