Sil'lice Val'Sharen

*Appeared in chapters*  0         9        17  19             32     37      43  45     50     55  57

## In the Ninth Tower

### Trivia

* Affinity - Ice Sorcery
* Nether Summoning
* Knowledge of Flesh Golemcraft
* Torture

* Once known as The Great Blade of the Empress
* Tainted with a demon seed similar to Kiel'ndia's.

## Family

* Diva'ratrika - Mother
* Snadhya'rune - Sister
* Sarv'swati - Sister
* Zala'ess - Sister
* Nishi'kanta - Sister
* Ashu'athama - Brother
* Kadara - Daughter
* Sae'ryne - Daughter
* Shala - Daughter
* Kau'shala - Son
* Kau - Son
* Sil'nua - Son
* Cal'idan - Son
* Kismel - Son
* Feli'cia - Granddaughter
* Kyne - Granddaughter
* One unnamed daughter

Sil'lice is the third daughter of Empress Diva'ratrika. She is working as a Val'Sarghress ally against her traitorous Vel'Sharen sisters.

During the Nidraa'chal War, Sil'lice was framed and exiled for attacking the Vel'Sharen empire form within. She took refuge within the Val'Sarghress clan, where she hid until Vy'chriel Vel'Sharen directly attacked the Sarghress fortress. She and those of her line are now openly known to be members of the Val'Sarghress faction.

## Appearance and Personality

Sil'lice is regal and domineering. Her long white hair is dyed bright blue at the ends, and she is often seen wearing matching blue garments. She has a powerful ice affinity that matches her cold temperament, earning her the nicknames "Queen of Ice" and "The Ice Bitch." She is hardened and cruel when she needs to be, but has a softer side that can be seen when she is interacting with her children.

Sil'lice hates the Nidraa'chal, the Vel'Sharen, and most other tainted drow. She has a talent for torture, and especially enjoys torturing any tainted prisoners Quain'tana offers her. Her loathing of the taint and those who use it as a weapon runs deep enough that she is willing to do whatever it takes to overthrow her treacherous sisters.

Sil'lice was also a rare untainted nether summoner. She used her skills and knowledge as a velnari to effectively fight against against the Nidraa'chal's demon warfare.

## Biography - Background

### The Nidraa'chal War

Main article: The Vel'Sharen Coup d'État
Sil'lice first appears during the events of the Nidraa'chal War, roughly 15 years before the start of the main story. When the Nidraa'chal threat reached its crux, Sil'lice lead her line into battle alongside her sisters Sarv'swati, Nishi'kanta, and Zala'ess. Despite the superiority of the Sharen clan, they suffered heavy losses when the traditional skills of the time proved to be no match for the new nether-based tactics used by the Nidraa'chal. During this war over half of Sillice's bloodline was slain or tainted.

On the battlefield, Sil'lice encountered her niece, Kalki, leading a contingent of Nidraa'chal troops. After a short battle in which Kau'shala was slain, Kalki began taunting her aunt with the revelation that the war was a mere distraction. Realizing that the Nidraa'chal were succeeding through subterfuge rather than brute force alone, Sil'lice raced back to the Val'Sharen towers, fighting her way past the exterior guards to find the bloody corpses of the interior defenders. She soon encountered Nish'kanta, who informed her of their sisters' coup, pleading with her to surrender to spare her line further losses. As Sil'lice struggled to grasp the scale of the treachery, several members of the Imperial Guard arrived, alerted to Sil'lice's apparent betrayal. As Sker'ligr and Mikilu'ligr reacted with shock, Nir'naya boldly accused Sil'lice of attempting to assassinate Diva'ratrika, forcing Sil'lice to flee. It was not long before the real traitors, Snadhya'rune, Sarv'swati, and Zalaess, publicly placed the blame for the massacre within the tower on Sil'lice's head.

Sil'lice led the survivors of her line and any other Sharen who saw through her sisters' lies to the doors of the Val'Sarghress clan. There she begrudgingly asked Quain'tana Val'Sarghress for asylum, who agreed to shelter the exiled Val'Sharen. Though Sil'lice held a large amount of disdain for the Sarghress and Quain'tana loathed the Val'Sharen, the two saw merit in working together and managed to work out an arrangement favorable to both parties. It is around this time that Sil'lice attempted to save Laele'aell by turning her body into a flesh golem capable of sealing demons.

With Sil'lice hidden in the least likely place possible, she disappeared from the public eye, presumed dead by all but a select few within the Sarghress fortress. During this time she had at least two children with Kor'maril Val'Sarghress, Kau and Shala, whom she named after her slain son, Kau'shala.

## Biography - Arc I

### In the Public Eye

Years later, the Val'Sarghress heir, Ariel, kidnapped and imprisioned Chrys'tel Vel'Sharen, daughter of Zala'ess. During her time as a Val'Sarghress prisoner, Sil'lice took delight in shattering Chrys'tel's worldview with the turth behind the Nidraa'chal's treachery. Chrys'tel was shocked to learn of Sil'lice's survival, but refused to believe a word she said. When Chrys'tel later escaped and returned home, she told Zala'ess of Sil'lice's location.

Zala'ess soon sent an attack convoy to the Val'Sarghress fortress that included Yaeminira and Vy'chriel Vel'Sharen. Vy'chriel arrogantly called out Sil'lice directly, challenging her to a duel. Sil'lice accepted, revealing her presence to any who had any doubt. She handily defeated Vy'chriel, but had blown her cover much to Quain'tana chagrin.

### Meeting with Chrys'tel

Sil'lice had planted the seeds of doubt within Chrys'tel's mind, and the young Val began to investigate the Val'Sharess' tower. After finding the tower in ruin, finding horrors in the basement of the Orthorbbae, and finding it impossibly to believe anything her mother said, Chrys'tel ultimately returned to Val'Sarghress fortress to see Sil'lice. Chrys'tel snuck in quietly with her brother, Nau'kheol, and after some rough handling was told by Sil'lice that she could be useful if she remained discreet in the Vel'Sharen ranks. Sil'lice gave the girl a token that marked her as loyal to her faction and told her to simply observe and wait until she was needed. Chrys'tel and Nau left the Val'Sarghress fortress to presumably do as Sil'lice had asked.

It was during this time that Sil'lice also met Diva, a Sarghress servant who claimed to have worked for Diva'ratrika directly. Sil'lice was glad to accept Diva into her ranks, and charged her with tutoring the young twins Kau and Shala.

## Biography - Arc II

### Mimaneid Operation

Some years later, Sil'lice joined with Nishi'kanta in a plan to gain support of Mimaneid and eradicated Vel'Sharen forces in her quest for revenge. First, They set up Nishi'kanta's family as traitors in the First Landing invasion, ruining defenses to allow the Sarghress easy access (and Sil'lice's own forces an open gate to the city). Then, the two travel to Mimaneid with remnants of their bloodlines to treat with Mikilu'ligr Val'Dutan'vir, who introduces them to Illhar Ulvakhi Kavahini who ha pledged her forces in exchange for favors in Chel'el'Sussoloth. At first, Sil'lice expresses her intent on marching in Chel immediately, but Mikilu insists that they strike Snadhya'rune in Felde while the opportunity is open.

With preparations made, the Kavahini forces launch from the World Tree. Sil'lice and Nishi'kanta are seen discussing plans with Mikilu as Diva looks on with great pride.

### Return to Chel

With the Feldian raid ending in failure, Sillice returns to the Sarghress fortress. Only to discover that Zala'ess had allied herself to Quain'tana--effectively pushing out Sillice's forces from the political sphere. She ran into her baby sister and intended to kill Zala'ess right then and there, but Sarghress troops intervened. Most of all, Snadhya'rune had relocated to Chel under Sillice's nose.

Sillice's words of declaring that she had no relations with her tainted family would come back to haunt her: the discovery of Shala's death and Kau being tainted during Ariel's trip to Felde drove her to extremes. She rejected Kau, and Nishi'kanta as well, after the expenditure to Snadhya's tower turned out to be a trap. The last straw occurred when Sillice determined that it was time to remove the Nidraa'chal presence from Orthorbbae in bloody fashion, even so much as turning on her own brother Ashu'athama.

In an ironic twist of fate, Sil'lice becomes tainted with Kiel's demon princes when the Third Daughter kills Sha'sana. At the last moment, the ancient dokkalfar forces the captured demons into Sillice's body. . Sillice is at first unable to deal with the idea of being tainted and tries to commit suicide--the voices of Kiel's demons both confuse and scare her--but Kadara urges her to continue the fight against Snadhya'rune. All the while, she is hearing strange voices echo in her head, a similar effect shared by Kiel'ndia.

Sil'lice was greatly conflicted by the realization of her new condition; when Kau found her gazing up at Orthorbbae's false night sky, at first he is shocked at her tainted state. However, the young man saw how pained his mother was about the failures to avenge the clan, and told Sil'lice that he forgave her.

## Biography - Arc III

In the three years since coming to the Ninth tower, Sil'lice's looks have changed with the passage of time. She grew out her hair to an extraordinary length, and donned a different style of armaments with much darker accents.

### Invaders in the Ninth Tower

When two armed invaders climbed the tower to extract Sharess's corpse, It is Sil'lice and her children who rise to intervene between Diva and the minions of Snadhya'rune. Sil'lice arrived with Kiel's infant in hand--momentarily tossing her into the air--and deftly disarming the painted mask intruder in the process. Kadara finished off the target with a brutal beheading, and Sil'nua yanked out what appeared to be a foci gem from the neck stump--evidence that the intruders were merely flesh golems. It is revealed that Sil'lice had dealt with similar intruders in the past, all aiming for the same goal.

### A Legendary Return

Sil'lice and two of her children stood witness to Sharess emerging from the ancient preservation tank, after a millennium of dormancy. As he helped steady the ancient dokkalfar, Cali'dan muses that this moment is historic, and Kadara sees opportunity in using Sharess' authority to reclaim Sil'lice's honor. Sil'lice herself held doubts about the legitimacy of who inhabited their ancestor's body, and to Cali'dan's shock she demanded they identify themselves with her weapon aimed at Sharess.

The living deity only shook her head and relied that she could not remember, even with Cal'idan's excited questions. What surprised everyone was when the woman called to Sil'lice as a mother would her daughter. In truth, Diva had inhabited the body and was struggling with the surge of memories within her grand aunt's body, and Sil'lice understood immediately that this woman could really be her Empress mother's soul, transposed onto Sharess' flesh. The four of them are then interrupted by her other son Kismel, warning of the Sarghress army marching on the Vel'Sharen council dome. Sil'lice knew that they had little time to act, if this sudden troop movement was because of her assumptions.

## Notable Quotes

"*Oh, and don't think I would mind torturing you. Even if you became a demon yourself.*"

-To Chrys'tel, in her torture chamber.

"*They're all failures that can't even control their own demonic summons.*"

-An opinion about the Sharen

## Character Concept

She wears wooden hair accessories--a rare commodity in the Underworld.Concept art of Sil'lice for Chapter 19.Official Chapter 50 concept for Sil'lice.Concept sketches of Sil'lice, Chapter 55.