The Empress (title)

**The Empress**, in the Empire of Natura, is a matriarch leader. They are considered the only 'higher order' above the rest of the Natures, unlike Industrials, who go by leagues. There is only one empress at a time. Empresses are related through the Blossom Family. The Empress title can be passed down from mother to daughter, aunt to niece, grandmother to granddaughter, sister to sister, female cousin to female cousin, and other ways. The Empress resides in the Thorned Palace (see details here.) Once an empress dies, a new one is chosen and appointed immediately. The council can have a say about which empress gets chosen. If a Blossom woman shows tendencies of being unfit to rule, she may be outed.

The Empress is promoted to her status through a ceremony. She stands in the in the center of the Temple of Natura's auditorium, usually surrounded by the Nature council, family, and other officials. She is first confronted by an eldress, who holds her crown. The eldress will recite these exact words:

*“Do you, [first name, middle name, and surname], attain the responsibility and sacrifice of passing into an accredited Empress for the Empire of Natura?”*

The nearly-crowned empress will say something along the lines of 'yes,' or 'I do.' After this, the nearly-crowned empress is blessed by the eldress through a kiss on her forehead known as 'the honey's dapple.' The Empress will then receive a vial of honey blossom originating from the Elysian Hive of the Thorned Palace. The honey's dapple offers the Empress's body protection from the effects of honey blossom that would normally poison them. The Empress would drink this vial, and be officially crowned as 'Empress.' Her septum will pierced shortly after and placed with a ring, as it is tradition for Empresses to receive it. The older and Empress gets, the larger and more elaborate the septum ring becomes. This tradition was set in place by Empress Koimare Blossom.

The Blossom Family is the only Nature family that can drink honey blossom, thus giving the honey their name. The first Empress was Empress Victorla Blossom, who was crowned by Folium. Empress Victorla also received the Prophecy of the Emperor, which remains unfulfilled as of Volume I.

Honey blossom will stay in the Empress' body for her entire life. This makes her able to walk through the prickly barbs to access the Thorned Palace. While other Natures touching the prickly barbs would ultimately end up turning into patches of flowers. Thus, the Thorned Palace only consists of the Empress. However, she may cut a portion of the prickly barbs to allow guards and councilors to pass through hold meetings in the Thorned Palace.

An empress can resign from her position, simply going back to being called by her former name. Resigned empresses are highly protected, but also protected against, due to them still being able to access the Thorned Palace. An infamous example was Rikia Blossom, who resigned to become an eldress. After her resignation in 1933, she went by her birth name and Eldress Rikia formally.

The current Empress, as of Volume I, is Empress Kotia Blossom.

## Known Empresses

### 1100s

Empress Naide Blossom ✝Empress Taryn Blossom ✝Empress Koimare Blossom ✝
### 1500s

Empress Tundra Blossom ✝Empress Losima Blossom ✝Empress Topanga Blossom ✝
### 1600s

Empress Topanga Blossom ✝Empress Binesh Blossom ✝Empress Opheyah Blossom ✝Empress Metanoia Blossom ✝
### 1700s

Empress Metanoia Blossom ✝Empress Wuna Blossom ✝Empress Faeyira Blossom ✝
### 1800s

Empress Maeze Blossom ✝Empress Haren Blossom ✝
### 1900s

Empress Rikia BlossomEmpress Kotia Blossom