Empress Poteia Aetrucia
Empress Poteia Aetrucia
She stood in her stirrups, atop a mighty black warhorse, and before a mighty red army. Her golden locks spilled across her back and shoulders perfectly, as if every curve of every tress had been carefully, and methodically arranged. Nestled in the rolling waves of her regal mane, a crown of twisting black wires, woven intricately together, and shaped to a spike in the center. Her mail glittered in the sun, and her shoulders, though slim, were squared with an authority none would challenge. Her eyes blazed red, fierce with unspoken fury and resolve. She was everything an Empress should be. She was glory. She was fire. She was death.
-Letter From an Unknown Soldier[/p[Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Poteia Aetrucia was a considerably tall and regal woman. She was thin, with narrow shoulders and a slim waist, and long shapely legs.
Body Features
Smooth, milky white skin, and long, wavy golden hair
Facial Features
Special abilities
Sor: The Black Flame
Apparel & Accessories
She often wore crimson, high-necked, modest red dresses with long, parted skirts, typically exposing expensive linen breeches and high leather boots. Typically, this was accompanied by a long, flowing black silk cloak, secured with a golden broach, and with the Crown of Aetrucia embroidered in golden thread at the back. She seldom held court without wearing the Crown of Thorns, a circlet of thin, twisting black iron bars that rose to a tall spike at the center of the forehead. A large, ovular ruby was set into a slot in the middle of this spike.
Specialized Equipment
On the battlefield, Poteia wore a hauberk and chausses of intricate chainmail, atop a close-fitting crimson gambeson, and beneath a decorative black and gold brigandine, which sported the Crown of Aetrucia on the center of the chest. She wore a nearly identical cloak to the one purposed for court, only made of leather instead of silk. She never wore a physical weapon on her person.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Born 133 Jinsis, 1070 2C to Anathema and Laurus Aetrucia, Poteia Aetrucia was the heir to Noble House Aetrucia. Her childhood was fairly easy, as she was a pampered young noblewoman. Her mother, however, instructed her relentlessly on matters of the state. Poteia's early involvement in diplomacy between the Houses bore a hidden resentment of House Aetrucia's neighbors, who surpassed it in strength and, as such, often exploited it. Even from an early age, Poteia suffered vivid nightmares that often left her wailing or sobbing. Allegedly, these nightmares always involved the Warlock Leishroth beckoning to her.
At the age of 14, House Montorienterra and Montagaterra sacked Castle Guernica, where Poteia and her family resided. The short, but violent conflict took the lives of Poteia's mother and father and left her with a fierce hatred for the other Noble Houses, a thirst for vengeance, and a smoldering ambition. Left Matriarch of a broken House, Poteia sought power from any source she could find to begin her quest for revenge. Eventually, desperation drove her to seek the occult. She departed Castle Guernica to find Leishroth and ask for his aid.
When at last Leishroth received her, he bestowed to Poteia a dark flame that he had dubbed sor. The warlock warned Poteia that the chaotic magic would carry "drastic consequences." Poteia, however, never faltered, and accepted his offer. Sor infused itself into her soul and became Aetrucia's greatest weapon.
In the years that followed, Poteia Aetrucia forced lords and armies to kneel, united all the Houses of Aetrucia under her banner, and spread her influence across the world, all through the power of sor. But the price the warlock had promised had to be paid.
The effects were slow, at first, but a festering illness began to grow in Poteia's mind. Throughout her conquests, the madness gradually began to overcome her, and her will became less and less of her own. In time, sor had consumed Poteia and left nothing but a shell in her place. Indeed, when the united Noble Houses broke down the doors of Castle Guernica and witnessed mad empress spout the Prophecy of Return, some believed that Poteia Aetrucia had died long before the flames consumed her madly laughing body.
Education
Schooled by her mother in military tactics, political maneuvering, and diplomacy
Accomplishments & Achievements
- United the Noble Houses of Aetrucia and founded the Aetrucian Empire
- Ordered the Invention of the Aetrucian Calendar
- Ordered the first Aetrucian world map created
- Conquered the Pricaean territory of Meridinarus.
Mental Trauma
Chronic degradation of sanity due to sor.
Intellectual Characteristics
Cold, clever, logical, and authoritative
Morality & Philosophy
Believed in the superiority of the Aetrucian people over all others, and religiously followed the voice of sor.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Aspired to exact revenge on the Noble Houses, unify Aetrucia, and eventually all of mankind into a great, single Aetrucian Empire to rival the Oldirsi. In the end, her only motivation was to obey sor.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Virtues & Personality perks
Vices & Personality flaws
Social
Family Ties
Matriarch of House Aetrucia
Religious Views
There is no sovereign God but sor
Social Aptitude
Imposing, authoritative, straightforward, sharp, confident, and commanding.
Mannerisms
Deep, elegant drawl, smooth, minimal hand gestures, hard, emotionless expression.
Hobbies & Pets
She often spent the little free time she allowed herself completely alone, reading through the scriptures of the Oldirsi, or talking to herself
Speech
Originally, she had a slight, elegant lilt, and said exactly what she meant, without mincing her words. During the late days of her reign, as she descended into madness, she stuttered or slurred words often, mixed and toppled over them, and spoke broken phrases of common, Aetrucian, or Elder tongue that made little to no sense.
Wealth & Financial state
Her wealth was unmatched; her treasuries across the empire were often compared to oceans of gold, silver, and bronze. She resided in a tall, intricate, imposing domed castle quite unlike designs found anywhere else in the East.
High Empress of the Aetrucian Empire
Castle Guernica
"I am seated upon a throne; alas, it is my Iron Chair."
- "I am the Cycle. Fate is mine, and I will destroy you with it."
- Aetrucian
- Common Tongue
- The Elder Tongue
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