Siegyth

> Blood is the stuff of life. Good, then, that it has chosen me to wield it... though bad for you, I suppose.
>
> - Imperator Krauss to Diedrick before his exile

**The Fleshrender** is a supporting character of Alcaeus. She is the formal **Imperator** of **Marrowcrest**.

## Appearance

Siegyth Melena Krauss is an incubus of average height and muscular physique. She sports bright red eyes and short platinum-pearl hair with one long side lock that fades to red at the tip. Her skin is cobalt blue and has an inner glow only really noticeable in pitch darkness. She has two deep scars that run up either side of her lips stopping just below her cheekbones, and many other scars adorning her torso and arms. She also has bright red makeup in the form of small circles beneath both eyes and one below her mouth, and gold piercings, including big golden earlobe stretchers.

As an incubus, Siegyth was born with wings but had them torn off in her brutal battle with Diedrick. She has two elaborate scars where they would otherwise be. She has extremely sharp claws for fingernails, and rounded, short, pointy ears not unlike a half-elf.

Siegyth does not have one main outfit. She doesn't really like wearing shirts but will cover her chest with bandages in respectful modesty (in the privacy of her own quarters she often doesn't bother) and will usually pair it with some sort of battle-ready pant and worn old boots. Her many advisors advise her to dress up to keep up appearances, but she blames her lack of fashion sense on her tomboyish nature. Otherwise, when she leaves the safety of the Imperium, she dons some sort of armor.

## Personality

Siegyth is your average tomboy with a secret girly side. As the only daughter in a group of eight children, she was always trying to prove her worth compared to her brothers, most of which were larger and stronger than her. When a *false knight* attacked her family, she was the only one to stop and even kill it, something that was largely unheard of at the time. After this, nobody had ever questioned her strength or bravery ever again.

Still, her lack of acceptance in childhood led her to develop an inferiority complex into her adulthood, which she sated with underground fighting and crime rings. Eventually she became fed up with the way Marrowcrest was being run and the daily jabs at her femininity by the city guards, so she snuck into the Imperium and challenged Diedrick to a duel. Despite her extreme combat prowess and physical strength, the Crimson King caught her off guard and managed to grab hold of her wings and tear them off. This only sent her inner flame into a great roaring rage, charging at him and knocking him down. As her anger subsided, she gave him two options: leave the city and give up the crown, or die a coward's death and she would simply find another way to take what should have been hers.

Siegyth is enamored with Osmar's reclusiveness and regularly teases him about secretly being a big softie. She enjoys tagging along when he takes his monthly tour of Ytterhul's capital, as it is her hometown. She finds meaningful company in Dione, taking great appreciation in their knack for the feminine arts (and their willingness to re-teach her that which she forgot during her time as the big bad Imperator.) Venewrynd is a similar story; reclusive and walled-off, but takes interest in her warmongering. She gladly talks his ear off.

## History

Siegyth was born dead last out of eight siblings to her parents, **Siegfried** and **Bjornwyn** **Krauss**. Constantly she would have to prove her strength and her worth to her seven older brothers, as her and her parents were unlucky enough as to where only her middlest brother, **Reiner**, was a succubus. The other six of her brothers (and her, herself,) were all incubi. Though tensions were high, they were a tight-knit family, and both of her parents made sure to raise all of their kids to be capable adults, Siegyth especially.

As she was the last one to leave the nest, Siegfried and Bjornwyn had a hard time letting Siegyth go, so she joined the family mercenary business. This allowed her to meet all sorts of people and gain plenty of experience for her life to come. As a young adult, she was a major heartbreaker but eventually found herself locked in a loveless engagement with another incubus who sought her hard-earned fortune. She ended up piercing him through the chest after she caught him lying with an elf-goliath girl, and moved far, far away from **Urvalt** to the great island of **Marrowcrest**.

The Imperator’s early life in Marrowcrest couldn’t have been more difficult. With a new country to explore, no friends, and most importantly no one to guide her, she once again had to learn about the treacheries of adulthood. But crime pays, and her name had already hit the underground rings… so she became part of them. She fought her way to the top, but hadn’t rightfully earned it because she was a woman (and an incubus, at that.) Siegyth decided she’d played their game for the last time and, to make an epic novel short, challenged the previous Emperor to a battle, beat him despite sustaining massive, permanent blows, and through trial of combat earned the title of Imperator of Marrowcrest.

She is currently 900 years old and has no heir, though it is debatable whether she wants one or not. She needs no successor. As an incubus she has another couple thousand years to decide, but the inner hopeless romantic beneath that beefy frame says that she should probably get a move on that as soon as possible.