The Tide Queen¶
The Tide Queen (real name unknown) was the ruler of the Tidal Dynasty in the Black Jungle for several centuries, overlapping with both the Empire of Avsohm and the Order of Insohm.
History broadly considers her a tyrant today, pointing toward strict repression of her own people, isolationist policies, and extortion of those who passed through Tidal territory. She was also responsible for the erasure of Sahd from the knowledge of the general public, effectively cutting the island off from the rest of civilization centuries before the player awakens from stasis.
History¶
Nothing is known about the Tide Queen's true age or origins, but one thing is known: she was rumored to possess unlimited potentia, likely falling more accurately into the category of "Savants". The Tide Queen's power was unique in that she had a superhuman healing factor, possessing the ability to repair her own damage on a microscopic level. This allowed her to wield the legendary blade Masayoshi, a strong weapon which inflicts damage to its user, without its consequences, and it also granted her functional immortality.
The Tide Queen first seized power in the years following the collapse of the Empire of Vir in Av2 1359. Centering her new monarchy in Firteid, she eventually came to conquer the entire Black Jungle, establishing the Tidal Dynasty.
Early in its existence, the Tidal Dynasty was a peaceful, albeit stern neighbor. They had peaceful relations with Gozak and Espinor to the west, strong trade routes, and well-loved cultural traditions revolving around the Kiln of Virtuo. However, over time, the Tide Queen became more and more paranoid, turning her lands into an isolationist and oppressive state.
The Tide Queen personally met with Drehn Mal'Sohm during his efforts to expand his empire, and showed an intimidating enough military that Avsohm never attempted to annex the Dynasty.
The Tide Queen seems to have held a personal vendetta against the southeastern island of Sahd, reportedly due to their practice of sending prisoners to the Black Jungle. When her forces came into contact with their envoys in Av2 1753, they killed them, and sent one back with the message that they intended to wipe Sahd from history. From that point on, Sahd did not interact with the mainland to any meaningful degree, fearing the Tide Queen's wrath.
Over time, the Tide Queen grew progressively more paranoid and xenophobic, consolidating power and barring foreigners from entering Tidal territory outright in Av3 39. Tensions between the Tidal Dynasty and its neighbors would begin to come to a head in mid-Av3, when Insohm suddenly arose as a major player in Spearhead Forest across the mountains to the north. Beginning as a trade coalition, Insohm greatly disapproved of the Dynasty's extortion of ships in its waters. The Dynasty joined in on the Insohmic Civil War around Av3 605 after an Insohmic airship passed through its airspace, an act the Tide Queen interpreted as a declaration of war.
Insohm, particularly Hovadchear, disapproved of the Dynasty's increasing xenophobia and instability. In Av3 628, a band of mercenaries suspected to be the elite Insohmic Whispers infiltrated the Tide Palace in Firteid and managed to assassinate the Tide Queen, bringing an end to her reign of terror.
Assuming that she was an adult at the time of the Dynasty's founding, the Tide Queen would have been at least 1100 years old at the time of her death, and could have been in control of the Black Jungle for up to 1089 years.