Queen Narcissa - TrinianGames/Sapphory GitHub Wiki

Queen Narcissa (July 13th SY 180 - March 15th SY 216) was the eighth Queen of Sapphory. She reigned from SY 213 until her assassination in SY 216. In addition to being the only Queen to have ever perished by an assassin's blade, she was also the shortest-serving Queen in Sapphorian history. She is considered, (among a very tough field,) to be the worst tyrant in Sapphorian history.

Early life

Narcissa Schiede-Rinta was born in SY 180, the first of Queen Scarlett's five daughters. She immediately became first in line to the throne. The young Narcissa showed a cruelty and malice unusual even for a Noblewoman. This was all the more unexpected given the calm and level-headed nature of her mother and sisters. She was a terror of the Royal Palace during her childhood, regularly having slaves and even other staff punished for seemingly no reason. The possibility of her being removed from the line of succession was debated more than once, but it was deemed that she would "come round" as she aged. She didn't.

During her schooling, her teachers (themselves, of course, members of the Nobility and thus immune to her wrath,) reported similarly malevolent behaviour and had a psychological report on the young princess prepared. The report suggested an acute personality disorder, along with an extreme inferiority complex around her looks. Her mother Scarlett was considered one of the most beautiful women in all of Sapphory, and Narcissa seemed not to believe she could live up to this ideal. The report was destroyed after Narcissa took the throne, but its contents remain a matter of historical fact.

Ascension to the Throne

The unexpected and untimely death of Queen Scarlett in SY 213 put Narcissa on the Throne far sooner than anyone expected. Her coronation was unorthodox, with a number of elements of the event removed and others, such as a parade of nude, chained slaves with the population invited to "punish" them. Instead of prayers being offered to Mara as is traditional, Narcissa insisted that they be offered to her instead. An official protest was lodged by the Cult of Mara, though it was ignored by the palace.

Reign of Terror

Death

Queen Narcissa was murdered in her sleep on the 15th March SY 216 after reigning for just short of three years. The assassination plunged Sapphory into crisis, risked the unity of the Nobility and scandalised the Erinyes, with their Captain ultimately being exiled for her failure to protect the monarch. Though Crown Princess Isabella was quickly made the new monarch, it was a fraught time for the Sapphorian Nobility.

In the weeks following the assassination, evidence emerged that a small and obscure illegal slaver group with ties to the Okonrin separatist dissidents had been responsible for the assassination. They were hunted down to a woman and exiled after a series of very public show trials and a long period of humiliation. Fifteen palace slave girls were also convicted of aiding the assassin, and were, following their conviction and public humiliation, also exiled. It is widely agreed by historians that neither they nor the slaver group had anything to do with the assassination and were merely a convenient scapegoat as the true assassins were almost certainly working for the Nobility itself, who were the only ones with the resources and contacts to successfully murder the heavily protected Queen.

In the months following the assassination, the Schiede-Rinta dynasty quietly reassessed several of its alliances with other Noble families. However, this was as far as the recriminations went, and probably offers the best clue as to which families were behind the plot. It is likely that many in Narcissa's family understood the need for her removal from power, even if they may have disagreed with the extreme method chosen.

Legacy

Narcissa did not have any daughters and was succeeded by her younger sister Isabella, who became Queen Isabella II. She repealed the laws passed by Narcissa and pledged to continue the work of her mother.