The Scarlet Empress

*"Mezak was a good king, fair and just, a paragon for times of peace and plenty. In this time of war however, our people need a new ruler, one who is willing to do anything to bring glory back to the kingdom"*

Mezinda, more commonly known as the **Scarlet Empress,**lady of Fal'Kaboss, mistress of banners, summoner of blades and wielder of the sword of the first knight, was sole monarch of the kingdom of Yadra from king Mezak 's assassination in 2258, to her deposal at the hands of her sister in 2267. Her reign saw total war between her kingdom and the armies and fleets of the Commonwealth and also closer ties with the Yaanari league.

She was followed by Empress Linassa IV.

## History

Born in the planet of Yadrani, Mezinda was young when the Biluan mind sent hordes of combat drones to overwhelm the kingdom's defences, but still old enough to remember every detail about the constant defeats and impotent feeling the king and his court felt as, one by one, the kingdom lost planet after planet to mindless swarms of warrior drones.

As she grew, Mezak began to resent the peaceful views of king Mezak and his loyalists. Like other Yadrani, he was enraged to see the Commonwealth's armies and fleets taking back the kingdom's worlds and turning all Karthemas  in them into members of their expanding realm. In 2258, with the help of Yaanari agents eager to see the start of a war between the Kingdom and the Commonwealth, Mezinda had king Mezak assasssinated, invoking as she did the right of the royal bloodline to depose those monarchs so weak and dangerous they were putting the safety of the whole kingdom in peril.

Rather than blaming the murder on someone else however, Mezinda admited to her crimes and, in a passionate, honest speech to her dukes, counts and nobls, managed to gain their support to become empress of all Yadrani.

   Almost as a sign of the times which were about to come, the Scarlet Empress took the sword of the First Knight, a famous relic of the Karthemas hero of legend kept in the royal armories. Helding it height before her court and nearly all the nobles in the realm, she declared that the days where the kingdom fell back and allowed others to direct their destiny was over. As thousands of throats cheered her name, the Scarlet Empress called her banners and fleets.

Two days later, the Yaanari league declared war on the Commonwealth. Allied to them, alongside the Zracon Union , the Kingdom of Yadra joined in, thus starting one of the bloodiest wars to be seen on the galactic East.

Sadly for the Kingdom and their Yaanari allies, they had greatly underestimated the resources and military might of the Commonwealth and their allies. Ordered by the empress to fight to their last drop of blood, Yadrani fleets fought against Task Force Manticore without retreating, no matter their losses. Cities and villages all across the kingdom saw rationing more and more as the Scarlet Empress tried to defeat the incoming fleets and armies of the Commonwealth. As they closed in on the new capital of Fal'Kaboss, the queen once more commanded her troops and generals to fight for every mountain and cliff, to make the Commonwealth armies bleed enough for them to give up and flee back to their disgusting republic. Mezinda's younger sister herself, princess Linassa, stood at the head of the royal guard, fighting tirelessly even as Commonwealth artillery began to batter the walls of the royal palace.

By then however, the Scarlet Empress was long gone from the capital. Still unwilling to surrender or be captured and paraded across the streets of Ortus  as a trophy, she retreated to one of the kingdom's few remaining worlds to continue the resistance. Just a few months after the fall of Fal'Kaboss however, news arrived of Commonwealth fleets taking worlds in the Yaanari league with little bloodshed. Soon afterwards, as Mezinda tried to rally new banners with what old and young who remained in her kingdom, ships with news of the Yaanari surrender arrived, with details about what would happen to the Yadrani worlds occupied by the Commonwealth during the war.

Angered by the betrayal of her previous allies, Mezinda was ready to send a delegation to protest and even start a new war to retake Fal'Kaboss when her sister, Linassa, suddenly appeared in the palace, surrounded by a strong bodyguard of grim-faced veterans of the battle of Fal'Kaboss. Rescued by the same Yaanari agents who had helped Mezinda to the throne, the young princess invoked the same right as the Scarlet Empress had during the assassination of king Mezak. Calling Mezinda out for betraying her troops and destroying the honor of the royal house, the new empress sent her older sister to her rooms under heavy guard, with orders not to ever shown her face again in court. After that, all Yaanari agents and diplomats were expulsed from the Kingdom of Yadra for their betrayal.

Nothing is known of what happened to the Scarlet Empress after 2267. Some say she still lives in the halls of the royal palace, a ghost of her former self, tormented by the ghosts of all of those she sent to their deaths. Others whisper that her sister, after having her imprisoned for a few years, order her to be executed for her crimes.

Apart from the millions of dead and loss of territory, the reign of the Scarlet Empress marked a change of relations between the royal house and their counts, as the latter began to scheme more openly and question the right to rule of a family full of back-stabbers and incompetent monarchs.