Catherine Avadine

Catherine Avadine was the Queen of Estaria from 1588 to 1594 SE, during the rule of King Gaelin III. She married the king after the suicide of her sister, Queen Mary Avadine. Catherine was killed during The Renewist Upheaval , but had an otherwise un-notable reign. Her notoriety came centuries later with her fictionalized character in the play Avadine! Avadine! in 1823 by Lester Calmo, which was based on post-mortem rumors of shapecraft and manipulation of her husband. These rumors are still widely believed, but unproven.

Avadine! Avadine!

The situation surrounding her sister’s death by suicide, the early death of her niece, prince Jonathan Hesphus IV, her husband’s brutal reputation of beheading followers of Renewist Atovism, and her sudden and dramatic death during the Renewist Upheaval, made for fertile ground for narrativization and salacious rumors. Over the centuries following her death, the historical figure of Catherine was mythologized into a Blood Shaperate manipulator and bewitcher of her husband.

She is rumored to have cursed her own sister with the illness that killed her son and the madness that lead to her suicide. She is also rumored to have poisoned the mind of King Gaelin III, either intentionally or unintentionally, leading to his bloody and merciless suppression of Renewists. Certain rumors even put her as the mastermind behind the Renewist Upheaval, or even posit that she was a Renewist herself.

The exact way she is rumored to have achieved these crimes varies by source. Usually, the story goes that she was a blood shaper who used ritualistic magic to manipulate the Hesphus family. This is also the version popularized in the play Avadine! Avadine! A tragedy about the life of King Gaelin written in 1823 SE.