Empress

The **Empress**, sometimes referred to as the **Queen**, is a character in *Magical Girl Policy*. She lived in the Ardent Empire thousands of years ago, but she is present in visions granted to the Spirit Guard and Kunapipi. Her name has not been given beyond her title. She was an extremely powerful empathokinetic and the tyrannical ruler of the Ardent Empire. She was the Empire's final monarch before it collapsed during the Ardentia Civil War, when she is believed to have died along with the Ardentia homeworld.

## Appearance

The Empress had purple hair, which is referred to as violette in Kessia City.

## Personality

The Empress was a tyrant in her rule of the Ardent Empire and had little tolerance for those who disagreed with her. She was also apparently paranoid, as during the Ardentia Civil War she would swiftly crack down on anyone she was even slightly suspicious of being sympathetic to Platicore. She abused her position and readily ignored secular and religious rules, such as her open secret of a lasting affair with the High Archon. She wished to attain immortality, commissioning illegal research on Investiture and the soul in hopes of achieving a way to overwrite one soul with another.

## Abilities

The Empress had an extremely potent aura. It is described as pitch black during her battle with the Princess, but it is implied this was not its default state.

She apparently had a rather sharp empathokinetic perception, as she could empathokinetically search for people in other planes that she might be able contact in visions. She did this via a technique called "empathic slumber projection", implying that dreams were the medium through which the visions were delivered.

The Empress is said to have been the most powerful empathokinetic in the Ardent Empire during the Ardentia Civil War. She is implied to have been skilled in a wide variety of empathokinesis, but also fueled them using strong negative emotions forbidden by the Church of the High Spirits that are said to taint the user with repeated use. Her combat abilities were so powerful that they could be massively destructive to the surrounding area, and she had incredible stamina in that she could fight at this level throughout an entire battle, though she typically did not fight alongside her soldiers.

## Biography

### Background

The Empress was the last monarch to rule the Ardent Empire and was a corrupt, tyrannical woman. She commissioned research on Investiture, hoping the theoretical ability to overwrite one soul with another could be found as a way to achieve immortality. This is in spite of the fact that such experiments had been outlawed in the Empire after Fate demanded that souls not be tampered with. When the Ardentia Civil War broke out, the new threat of internal enemies threw the ruling class into disarray, with the Empress quickly passing judgment on anyone deemed as possibly loyal to the rebellion led by Platicore. After ten years, the weakened sides were at a stalemate when the Other Power was found, a mysterious force that destroys everything it reaches and apparently ignores the universe's normal rules, as even Fate and the High Spirits couldn't stop nor analyze it. This made the war a panicked effort where each side would fight to claim gateways that allowed teleportation to other worlds, warp through, then destroy them so their enemies couldn't follow. With all of the waystones used in these gateways quickly rendered nonfunctional, a plan was made for a new type of gateway that directly connects to the target world, but this would require a gateway on each end. To accomplish this, the Empress communicated in visions with the Atsah tribe on Earth and, posing as their gods, instructed them in the empathokinetics to build their gateway, the Standridge Hill Stone Circle. With the seemingly unstoppable Other Power looking to annihilate the Ardentia homeworld, the Empress planned to relocate the Empire to Earth and conquer its young peoples. She made the Scholar the head of the project, accepting the request of the renowned young researcher.

Unbeknownst to the Empress, however, the Scholar was part of a scheme to sabotage the Ardentia's escape and protect Earth. This was formulated by the Princess, the Empress's daughter who was known to oppose her. When the Standridge Circle neared completion, the time came to defend the gateway to Earth in the war's final battle. With the Empire's armed forces diminished, the Empress was convinced by the Knight to take to the front lines and battle Platicore directly, leaving the gateway in the care of the Knight and Princess's respective teams. The Empress was evenly matched with Platicore in the destructive battle but had superior stamina, and was about to decisively kill him when she was told of the Princess's betrayal, turning back to fight her daughter. The whole battle was wild at this point with the Other Power drawing in, and amidst the chaos a gravely wounded Platicore was the only one to warp to Earth before the Scholar could deactivate the gateway. The Empress had an emotionally charged battle with the Princess, and in the end killed the whole team. Stranded on the doomed Ardentia homeworld, the Empress is assumed to have died along with everyone else either in battle or to the Other Power.

Thousands of years later, after Angela was booted from the SAU Cheerleading Team thanks to drama with captain Cammy, Angela started having visions of the Princess and her dealings with the Empress. As she is reincarnated from the Princess and the interactions she saw between the two royals resembled those of Cammy and herself, Angela began to consider that Cammy might somehow be reincarnated from the Empress. She elected not to tell her friends in the Spirit Guard, fearing they wouldn't believe her due to them not being able to sense Cammy's aura as strongly as Angela.

### Weeks 2-4

Angela notices Cammy approach Robynne during lunch and watches the two from afar as the captain tries and fails to recruit Rob to the cheer team. Angela has Rob tell her about it in private in Rob's room, and upon learning that Rob is the first person that could sense the true power of Cammy's aura like she could, Angela explains her history with Cammy and her Empress theory. Rob finds the other Spirit Guards have been eavesdropping, and together they decide that whether or not Cammy is related to the Empress, she is too dangerous to leave alone. Though Robynne doesn't believe the Empress theory and is loath to do go through with the plan, she agrees that with her superior empathokinetic perception and invitation to join the cheer team, accepting the invitation is the best opportunity to get close enough to Cammy to investigate her aura and the potential threat she imposes.

## Relationships

### Princess's team

The Empress was known to be on bad terms with her daughter, the Princess, who would adamantly challenge her corrupt mother. Because of this, the Empress was distrustful of anything involving the Princess, and was only convinced to let her team defend the gateway to Earth due to the Knight suggesting his own team accompany them. The Empress was apparently unaware of the Scholar's friendship with the Princess when appointing her to lead the Empire's relocation to Earth. When the Empress learned of her daughter's betrayal, she immediately turned to fight her without mercy, killing the Princess's entire team.

### Knight

The Knight was the head of the Imperial Guard and was loyal to the Empress despite morally disagreeing with her actions. He was notable for being on good terms with both the Empress and Princess, and his team accompanying the Princess's is what convinced the Empress to accept the plan to leave the defense of the gateway to Earth to them.

### Platicore

Platicore was responsible for inciting the Ardentia Civil War and led the rebellion, making him the Empress's main enemy in the war. The Empress had no tolerance for anyone suspected of sympathizing with Platicore. The two fought directly in the war's final battle and the Empress very nearly finished him off, but she left him for dead to deal with the betrayal of the Princess's team, inadvertently allowing him to slip through the gateway and be the only one to reach Earth.