A Queen of Sapphire and Gold

A Queen of Sapphire and Gold is a book uncovered through use of Study-related Inquiries by Elinor.

## History

Following a series of discussions, trials and tribulations into her own history, Elinor travelled to Chalimar to visit the Beauview Study, located within the Besculus Canton of the city in search of a tome that details the life of the First Queen of Atralran Refounded, starting with their place in the Sapphire Sovereignty to the restoration of the Goldlor line, finding such a book written shortly after her passing in 13WD.

## Reading

### Completed by Elinor

Hounded by assassins from a malicious order first set up by the so-called Tyrant-King of Rydoon, Lysiphoia's life within the lands of old Atralran would start truly when she came across the city of Chalimar. The Manifestation had ravaged the populace, and so those fine streets, once so filled with all the vibrancy and life of the Golden Realm of Ahlus had fallen quiet, still, empty. Though nonetheless, the mettle of the Realm still burned true, the walls of the Palace atop Orchard Crest a bastion against those that had given chase, so keen to cut down a girl frightened, alone and unarmed. It was within the walls that she found herself imbued and emboldened by the lingering spirit of Atralran, which gave her support and strength alike - and with it the drive to create anew, inspired by the legends past. This spirit, characterised as the Spirit of the Virtues that all Atral Knights pledge themselves to would guide Lysiphoia through the entirety of her life, in time also guiding her to King Eldarion I Goldlor, then known as Sílon, but to that topic we will return later.

In times of toil, it is regrettably often those with the means of initiative and the willingness for violence that seize the first victories. The grace, kindness and thoughtfulness of Chalimar's chosen custodian drew many to her side, and it was them that would declare her a Queen, staged to offer her guidance as fuelled and empowered by the Virtues to guide them through the difficult times. With humility, she deigned not to take the name of Atralran itself, believing - falsely - that she could not live up to the standard set by the Atral royalty before her, and so dubbed her domain the Sapphire Sovereignty. There would indeed be difficult times, for the forces of the Malign, and many other threats besides raged in the lands around them. Greatest amongst these threats were that of the Legion of the Black Hand, and all those factions that would spawn of them. Dedicated to the Bane-of-All, The Black Hand, goblinoid hordes in their tens of thousands roamed the lands north of Chalimar, laying claim to vast stretches of land from the Ironfangs to the Bloodhawk Peninsula wherein the city of Whittengrove would come to be built many decades later.

Furthermore, there were many creatures that had escaped the onslaught of the Cinder Star that looked at the splendour of Chalimar Palace with greed in their hearts and minds for the wealth it held, and was speculated still to do so. Save the Crown Jewels of Atralran, Lysiphoia had used the wealth stored within the city, of little use of value to those since passed, to feed her people, and arm those brave enough to stand in their defence. Protected herself by the Steeldrake, a towering knight of undying allegiance to their Queen, Lysiphoia faced threats on all sides, and so found herself forced into tithing to many a potential foe, including the dragon Irsecrinth, known as the Indigo Prince and Looming Storm. But to the Legion of the Black Hand she never gave quarter, organising and commissioning the construction of dozens of fortifications along the edges of the Sapphire Sovereignty's territory to better guard her people from their villainy, many of which were constructed atop the historical keeps of the lands of old Atralran, the contents of which that had not been destroyed, looted or otherwise lost carried back to Chalimar for safe keeping. While the Queen herself never took to the frontlines, save once - during which an assassin of unknown allegiance, though suspected to be of the very same order that originally hounded her near claimed her life with a poisoned dart fired from afar - she named the greatest amongst her supporters as field-generals, heralding and recognising their talents with logistics, architecture, song and determination as readily as she did their prowess with blade or wand. Therein lay the truest nobility of the Queen of Sapphire, her ability to surround herself with the right people at the right time. To fund the military operations, all residents of the Sovereignty were in time made subject to a tax known as the *Twentoil*, a twenty percent cut of the monetary value of all produce grown and made within its borders, every coin of which was spent wisely, circulating readily to bring about prosperity in all its senses.

The Sapphire Sovereignty would find itself threatened once more in time, caught in between warring factions to the west and east. The Chittering Holt had found quarrel with another of the Sovereignty's neighbours, the Duchy of Rethamia. With the Legion of the Black Hand emboldened by their new warlord Rakrun Roam to the north and west, and countless skirmishes and conflicts leaving vast stretches of grassland and forest ablaze to the south, Lysiphoia once again showed her talent for statecraft, carousing with the newly-established hub of adventurers at the estuary of the Lotus Run to help deal with the legion, while strengthening her ties with the Rethamian forces to bolster her Kingdom's own strength and resolve. The former choice would prove a masterful stroke, and in a few years, the Legion would finally find itself on the backfoot, and despite the dominion of an almighty hobgoblin devastator and then a warlock of the Anorcorian deity of Rage and War fulfilling the role of Warlord, they would be eventually formally eradicated at a grand battle taking place at Fort Zruldralbar - the foundations of which are being considered for a location of further construction in an effort by the Gildhearth Throne to re-establish the original Provinces, though such preparation will no doubt take time. The latter choice would prove less favourable in hindsight, with the Duke Brantharn Fallack, who by all agreeing accounts was a rough, crude and brutish individual, blackmailed his way into a marriage pact with Lysiphoia in exchange for the troops of both his Duchy and the noteworthy mercenary faction known as the Blue Fangs. The marriage, while a grand affair, is generally considered to be the turning point for the Queen, in which a quick succession of trials would deliver grievous wounds to her psyche and resolve. Her new husband would immediately seek to undermine her authority, languishing with the prospect of being merely a King-Consort, and thus moved to all but engage in a military coup of Chalimar itself. Utilising the corrupting ferity of the Wood Weald, later discovered to be a patron of the much-maligned Duke, many of the Queen's most zeal supporters fell in with the aspirant nobleman and so the Queen in name only found herself increasingly isolated.

Lysiphoia found counsel in two of her closest advisors and confidantes of recent years, that of Bazaht and Zakiti, though from there would find only further sorrow. Shortly after seeming to find some semblance of victory and liberation with the disappearance of the Duke into the Feywild and the subsequent mutinies and revolts of the Blue Fangs against their leader Aleksandr Batsk that would send the Duke's support scattered into the wind, the Queen of Sapphire would uncover an insidious plot, in which both Bazaht and Zakiti possessed ties to the Malign force of the Undying Queen, who coveted Lysiphoia's position and power for her own machinations. Unbeknownst to Lysiphoia herself, her counsellors had made foul pacts of malicious intent. It would be around this time that another potential threat - at least on paper - to the Sovereignty would make itself known, the return of the Goldlor line, in the form of the ranger Sílon, having been sequestered into the Feywild after the breaking of the Siege of Iron in 974AG which was followed by the subsequent treachery of the Sanridges, the stewards of Chalimar Palace. Also laying claim to the Gildhearth Throne upon which Lysiphoia sat, the pair found themselves drawn together by destiny, but not as foes, in truth, a now famous opposite occurrence. Rooting out the corruption of the Undying Queen that had started to loom due to the machinations of her former confidantes, in a stroke the Sapphire Sovereignty ceased to be, as two souls with a deep reverence for the histories of the Golden Realm joined as one, shadows of threats past dispelled. But new ones would still muddle the road ahead, but now, they had each other's guidance to share in

The so-called Years of Consolidation, five years of conflict in which Sílon, now Eldarion I Goldlor, and Lysiphoia, and their newfound allies in the first of the Noble Houses of Atralran reclaimed the former lands of Atralran from marauding factions and monstrous creatures alike. While the noble King roamed, the noble Queen ruled, her administrative and bureaucratic prowess unleashed for the betterment of all. With lessons learned throughout her former reign, once more Lysiphoia found herself able to channel the seven virtues into her statecraft. First and foremost were the defining of the Cantons of Chalimar, to which she renewed the Atral tradition of honouring the histories of the Great and the Gold, naming each after a house of particular acclaim and nobility. As new castles and keeps were built, she would, often alongside her husband but frequently independently so, visit them, offering blessings and thanks to the labourers at work, and those guiding, feeding, housing and otherwise supporting them. She would find particular kinship with that of the first Marquises - Aubertus Alcourt, Marcelet Olboudin and Delanir Verninac, visiting them too frequently when the consolidation efforts allowed. Much loved, much treasured, affections only grew when the Goldlor line was secured through the birth of a son, Gilbert, and the promise of another sibling shortly after. Regrettably however, as we all know, struck not a year after Lysiphoia gave birth to the current heir to the Throne. Insidiously at first, then progressing with rapid intensity, the resolve and strength that had first given her the willpower to flee persecution, to survive against threats from all angles, and to find triumph anew fled from her body, as if ageing rapidly. Much to the King's lament, and that of Ealwant Besculus and all those else that her gentle spirit and soul had touched, no spell, whether intending to heal, revive or resurrect found success and so we find ourselves still readily weeping for the loss dealt. Lysiphoia was laid to rest in the vaults beneath Chalimar, watched over by gilded statues of the Principal Sixteen, to which she was dutifully and steadfastly dedicated in life, as now beyond, more than just a Queen of Sapphire, but also of Gold.