Corn Queen

by hughpierre

A titled bestowed on the leader of the Courtiers.

After the establishment of Soonous; its founder, the Corn King, inadvertently vanished and the leadership role was forever since taken up by his wife, the Corn Queen.
— Retelling the tale of the Corn King

Qualifications

Once a queen's daughter is born, she is secreted away to live in a secret room among noble daughters for life to hide under a secret caregiver. In such a time when the Corn Queen has made her choice of successor, that girl will be made aware, while her other sisters will never know.

Impress her queenly mother
Showcase her political acumen to the companions chosen for her

Requirements

A woman sired from courtier noble lineage and the current queen
Once chosen, her brood of female companions become her Leaves as queen
Decide whether she will be a white, red, yellow and black corn queen
Choose her three incarnations to become part of the Queen's Council

Appointment

The future queen is chosen via the private considerations of the current queen from her pool of secret daughters.

Duties

Goddess on earth in the Cintēteo religion
Produce the next queen of her body
Be seen listening to petitioners and giving directives

Benefits

Guaranteed companions
Can chose any man at any time to copulate with
Court Root Protection
Politically blameless
Sit on the Cinteotl

Accoutrements & Equipment

Corn Crown

A brightly decorated headpiece that obscures part of the face behind a mask.

Incarnations

The white, red, yellow and black mummies of the former corn queens represent the other facets of rulership and are typically blamed should something unfortunate happen. The living queen and three other shrunken queens make up the queen's council.

Throne

Cinteotl is as tall as a hill; with several multi-level platforms leading to and from it. Only the courtier elite are allowed into the King's Quarter, much less into Sheien to see the queen. The cinteotl throne absolutely dwarfs the female ruler. She sits at the top third, on a protrusion in cinteotl's surface like a chair with a dugout reclined depression for her back.

Cinteotl

Item | Jan 15, 2024

A Source of Salt, A Throne, A God

Grounds for Removal/Dismissal

Shrunken Mummies

There exists four techniques of preservation reserved exclusively for when a queen dies.

White Mummy Technique

Involves a naturally sped-up mummification process.

Within Salt Place, the acid environmental conditions greatly favor natural mummification.
The hot, dry conditions facilitate rapid desiccation, evaporating all bodily fluids, drying the tissues and shriveling the corpse.
The body is then wrapped in reeds and stored away.

Red Mummy Technique

Involves making many incisions into the body's trunk and shoulders to drain fluids.

The head is severed from the body and the brain removed.
Internal organs are removed and the body cavity is dried.
The head is placed back on the body with a wig made from tassels of human hair.
The body is packed with various materials, sticks used to strengthen it, and the incisions sewn with reed cords.
A clay mask covers over the pasted skin and everything else painted with red ochre.

Yellow Mummy Technique

Involves coating the body in a special mud.

The recipe of the yellow mud coat is kept secret, but clays and alabaster is suspected to be included.
Embalmers mold the malleable clay onto the corpse to create the colorful appearance, which also stymies the foul smell of the desiccating mummy.
A second coat of mud, sand and a binder like egg or fish glue is used to cement the body into a grave box where the material condense and harden around the form.

Black Mummy Technique

Involves taking the body apart, treating it, and reassembling it.

The head, arms, and legs are removed from the trunk; followed by the skin.
The parts are heat-dried, and the flesh and tissue completely stripped from the bone with stone tools.
Bones are dried by hot ashes or coal.
The body is then reassembled and covered with a white ash paste to fill out regular facial features, and fill the gaps with grass, ashes, soil and animal hair.
Skin, including facial skin, is refitted on the body, sometimes in smaller pieces, sometimes in one almost-whole piece. Wherever there is insufficient skin layers, the white ash layer is painted with black manganese extracted from nuts, legumes or seeds.
A wig of short black human hair is attached.

Cultural Significance

Unerring Queen

It is considered heretical at best, and treasonous at worse, to publicly contradict the corn queen. By the queen's grace, her edicts are devotedly followed through; and if the fault in some unforeseen circumstance lies in the queen's plan, blame is shifted to the dead. That being the mummified husks of the past venerable queens whom the living one chose to council her.

Religious Leader

The city's Corn Queen is seen not merely as the Soonounites' leader, but also as a goddess on earth. Her position affords the first and last word in political, financial and moral decisions of her realm. During her coronation, the new queen-to-be chooses one of four incarnations which highlights the intents and temperaments of herself, to her Court, her people and foreigners.

The White Corn
Focus on cultural expansion

The Red Corn
Focus on military necessity

The Yellow Corn
Focus on domestic concerns

The Black Corn
Focus on international trade

For the three other corn siblings not chosen; they're represented by the preserved bodies of prior queens who chose that incarnation, and are given a voice by the queen's Court Leaves. Arranging a system like this leaves open the option for the living queen to change tactics and strategies to ones that would likely hurt the mandate of her coronation without seeming to appear less-than all knowing.

Notable Holders

Notable Corn Queens

Queen Type	Queen Names	Deeds
	Duvva	Started the liberal distribution of gold salt to her neighbours
	Utina	Solidified control of Meize Completed the Sheien during her reign
	Qhurena	Sponsored many lavish construction projects and alterations to the Bridge Forts
	Nart	Expanded into the Jaguar Hills Displaced the Mist Men from the Mist Shores
	Qalla	Approved the conquest of Yates Mandated the creation of a Border Guard First to fortify the bridge feet closest to Catkills: Tenango, Chuaxtalte and Taltepan
	Doli	Funded colonial expansions into Catkills
	Therina	Funded colonial expansions into the rest of Dragonsgrave
	Qak'sol	Established the maize merchants Oversaw completion of the Golden Bridge
	Tookta	Formally recognized the Painted House Invited members of the painted tribes into Highwatch