Aentsha Pashaxea

Aentsha Pashaxea, more commonly known as the Ice Queen, is the queen regent and mother of the aptly-named Spring Prince, Vilhexa Lodesis. The circumstances of the spring prince's birth are suspect, as his father died the same hour of his birth. Some allege that the Ice Queen, already well-known for her frosty demeanor and harsh attitude, poisoned her husband in order to secure her position of power. However, it cannot be discounted that the old king was indeed old and his death, though unexpected, is reasonable. The old king had been hoping for a son for all of his 30 year reign, with his previous 4 wives having failed to provide one. It is possible he died of being overjoyed at the sight of a healthy child, not that that has silenced the rumors. For those who do not believe the Ice Queen would go so far as to murder her husband for power, another tale is to be found- they claim that the Ice Queen had cheated and was unsure of who exactly the father was, but seeing him led her to believe he was illegitimate. The former king had two of his wives executed for alleged infidelity, so it is also not unreasonable that he accused her of such without actual proof and that she used magic to overpower him in self-defense. While nobody can say what exactly caused the king's death that day, in the five years since, the queen has taken control of the realm and shaped it in her image.   Aentsha is a skilled mage, with a strong affinity for ice magic as well as a primary focus in the school of Enchantment- illusion, glamor, etc. As a Taytaman woman of high birth who possessed magic, Aentsha was originally trained to be a priestess for the Tul Tanzu faith. However, her family fell from grace and could no longer support her studies. Out of obligation for her house she instead became a lady in waiting, after the church helped her find employment. She became attached to the household of Luvitine Maraxea, a duchess of great power within the Aentsha's homeland; the Kingdom of Siuattua. Luvitine was a cruel woman who was not above ruining her servant's lives to fulfill her own ambition. However, despite her clear sins she had the favor of the church. Aentsha became privy to many secrets and learned that Luvitine had paid off the church not only to absolve all of her sins but also to send those who could not become shamans due to economic issues her way. After finding out the corruption of the church, Aentsha decided they could not be trusted. She scorned fire magic for ice and started falling in with dissident groups, who introduced her to The Black Lotus, a shady organization dedicated to black magic. Using this magic, she began to strike at those who she felt had wronged her. A fellow servant she disliked choked to death on a bone in a boneless dish, several priests seemed to have fallen off of cliffs in the area, alongside a string of other deaths. However, throughout this period Aentsha continued to charm and dazzle, avoiding all suspicion and rising in the ranks of the Maraxea household. When Duchess Maraxea unveiled a new plan to Aentsha, she realized it was the perfect time to act. Knowing of Aentsha's skill with glamor and illusions, and thinking she was still a faithful servant, Levitine wished for Aentsha to seduce the king and perhaps gain access to state secrets which she could leverage. Aentsha, while outwardly compliant, made a counter plan of her own. The duchess introduced her to the king as a capable lady in waiting and successfully got her into the queen's service. There she was free to entrap the king, which she did successfully, all while secretly poisoning the queen. The subtle positioning caused damage to the queen's internal organs and with her health failing, the king no longer wanted her. Claiming the woman had become sick on purpose and that she was trying to avoid giving him the son, he had her executed and swiftly chose a new wife. The king remembered the beautiful, talented, and magically adept Aentsha and so he decided to marry her, hoping that her magic would prove more effective at giving him a son than his previous wives. And what a shame that her benefactor had recently fallen down the stairs, too (did Aentsha or the king do this? Or was it just an accident? The few sources disagree). Either way, a marriage offer from the king was an invitation one could not refuse. Knowing the madness of the king and fearing she would be killed, Aentsha's family urged her to flee the country, but she took this as a sign they sought to stop her rise. Following her marriage to the king, her family's already rotten luck would get even worse… but who's to say it wasn't helped along by a spiteful young queen. Whether or not not Aentsha ever really loved the king is unconfirmed, but she certainly did a very good job of fooling the whole court, a feat which would have probably been beyond her abilities at the time. However, it seems time would prove her family right, as the marriage quickly turned sour. Within a year of marriage, she had come to completely despise her husband, and went even deeper with Black Lotus. However, with the king and her having an estranged relationship, Aentsha knew she would have to contrive a plan to pretend she had become enamored of him once more. She then signed a treaty with a devil. In return for helping her infiltrate and overtake Black Lotus, she would give him a child. After consummating the deal, she was quickly able to rise through the ranks of Black Lotus, before executing a coup. She then purposefully allowed herself to be caught, though she completely changed the story. Aentsha claimed to have been spying, not actually participating, and happily told the courts of hundreds of Black Lotus members, all of whom were executed. It is this act which first earned her the moniker "The Ice Queen" for Aentsha was so cold and unmoving at the trials that it was as if she was carved from ice. It should be noted that during this whole time she was concealing the devil pregnancy with illusions, but she soon gave birth to a half-devil child, a girl who brought misfortune everywhere she went. Aentsha would send the girl away while she finished her plans.   Though Aentsha was forgiven for "spying" without permission, as the king no longer trusted her she would thereafter be watched over by two guards and two ladies in waiting at all times. The guards were of the king's choosing, the ladies of hers. This inflamed her hatred of her husband further, though he continued to bed her, still looking for a son. One of the guards was later found in her chambers; she claimed he had been trying to rape her, though he swore he had no memory of this. Either way, he was executed, and she was left with but one guard, who never seemed quite right afterwards. After two years of marriage, she would finally become pregnant, though many claim it was not by the king. This in itself was more than one of the king's wives had managed, so was cause for celebration, but the timing does seem suspect. The king had begun to tire of her lack of pregnancy, and had begun his usual trend of threats and abuse, which Aentsha was forced to endure despite the fact she could have easily killed her husband. The mother-to-be was 22, the supposed father 63. The two "reconciled", but most certainly she did not truly grow attached to the king again, if she had ever really been attracted at all. Her pregnancy was hard and she sucked life from plants, animals, some even say people, in order to keep her strength. By the time Vilhexa was born, the castle gardens were all dead or dying. The first green in months would only be seen following the young prince's birth. As mentioned above, the king died the same hour of his birth, so a regency was quickly declared. Aentsha quickly took control of the royal residence and declared herself that she would rule in her child's stead until he proved fit to rule. Many of Aentsha's assistants and appointments to councils seemed shady, suspect, even wrong, and in a better time this might have been questioned. However, under the old king the court had grown lax and lazy, and with some minor bribes and more than likely more than a little glamor, Aentsha secured the kingdom.   Though not necessarily a cruel and harsh queen regent for the common folk, she dealt harshly with the nobility and anyone in her way. The nobility were quickly stripped of much of their power, in favor of royal appointments. A number of sons and daughters would soon fill the court as "guests" (hostages) and she began teaching the magically adept in her ways. After years under the queen, who can say what these youth will do or who they are loyal to. Plus considering it has only been five years, it seems strange to many how quickly things changed. How exactly did Aentsha neutralize the nobility without killing more than a few of them? And how did those who did speak up die so quickly? Such is the power of magic, and some would say the power of magic abused by evil is even more powerful….   Facts that nobody knows

The child is not legitimate, and is the child of the executed guard. She fell in love with the noble guard, but being a man of his word and honorable he refused her advances. Not to be rebuffed, she used glamor and mental manipulation to bed him. When the other guard caught them one night, she used very strong mind magic to mess with him (she had already been using lighter doses to leave him blind to the other guard being in her room). The amount of mind magic gave him brain damage, but she doesn't care. Vilhexa will most likely be a good kid as she doesn't care about him and leaves others to tend to him.

She had the guard and father of her child killed because she had grown tired of him and never expected to get pregnant. Though not in her plans, she knew she could use the kid and made her plans, which have been executed well.

The Black Lotus was not destroyed by her. In fact, most of the accused were innocents, padding the numbers to look realistic. The few actual members were her rivals for the group's leadership, allowing her to take control.

The appointments she made are all Black Lotus members, and most of them mentally manipulated the nobility.

She is building an army of child soldiers loyal only to her. The plan is to use the mages as shock troops, while the others serve as guards and escorts for Black Lotus members. Those who reist have already been sacrificed to demons and such.

Many of her powers should derive from a pact with a demon? who she promised her first child to. Yep, that's right. The spring prince is not her first child. Her first child is a girl of 8, and a half devil. When she grows up she will be terrifying…

Aentsha wants to take over all of Taytama, destroy the shamans and all religious structures of the region. In her twisted mind she has come to believe that the shamans are the cause of her downfall. She first believed all her problems stemmed from her family and then the king. If successful, she will likely blame a new, fourth thing, but such is insanity.