Aindranla Athomath

Aindranla Kendra Athomath (12 October 48 BFE – present) was Queen of Alagor from 24 BFE to 18 BFE. Styled the Emerald Queen during her reign and later remembered as the Dark Lady of Alagor, she was the daughter of High King Octavius Athomath and Queen Ninym of Su. Raised in Athomathia under the shadow of her mother’s death, she grew to adulthood as Crown Apparent, supported by her grandfather Chancellor Nolan Putnam and her older brother Alexander.

In 24 BFE, after Octavius failed to return from Avalon, Aindranla declared him dead and seized the throne with the support of the Cult of Atrops. She consolidated the Praetorian Guard and Centurion Legion under her authority, reorganizing them as the White Knights. The five remaining monarchs of Alagor, alongside the provisional governors of Su, refused to recognize her claim, sparking four years of conflict that ended with their submission. Aindranla also bound the four Cardinal Dragons within their mountain halls, preventing them from intervening against her rule.

Though she promoted a vision of Alagorian prosperity and outward expansion, her methods earned her a reputation for bloodshed and tyranny. Her reign came to an end in 18 BFE with the return of Octavius, who led the civil war that culminated in her defeat at the Battle of Athomathia. She was deposed and imprisoned by order of the Council of 75, where she remains.

Historians continue to debate her legacy. Some view her as a brilliant but misguided visionary, whose ambitions outpaced the age in which she lived. Others regard her as one of the most infamous rulers in Alagorian history, as ruthless in her methods as she was gifted in the weave.

Early Life

Aindranla Kendra Athomath was born on 12 October 52 BFE in the royal palace of Athomathia, the second child of High King Octavius Athomath and Queen Ninym of Su. With her elder brother Alexander declining succession, she was acknowledged from childhood as Crown Apparent of Alagor

Her early childhood was remembered as unusually bright given the shadow of her family’s history. Courtiers described her as cheerful and sociable, a child who brought moments of levity to a court still marked by memory of war. Observers often remarked on her close resemblance to her mother, which became a recurring point of comparison as she grew older.

Tragedy struck when Aindranla was four, as Queen Ninym was killed during the Second Suian War. Shortly afterward, Octavius withdrew from public life, leaving Aindranla largely in the care of her elder brother Alexander and her grandfather, Chancellor Nolan Putnam. Nolan oversaw her education personally in governance, rhetoric, and history, while her instruction in the weave was entrusted to Master Teralis Veyrn, a noted instructor of the Ceorlyn Temple of the Realm of Vaylis.

Her tutors described her as exceptionally quick to learn and unusually sharp in conversation, often turning lessons into pointed debates. Though her intelligence was widely admired, her childhood was also marked by moments of volatility, with occasional fits of temper recorded by those close to her. Despite this, she remained well liked within the palace, remembered by attendants as an engaging and confident young girl.

By her adolescence, Aindranla was widely recognized for her intelligence and ambition, and the Senate formally reaffirmed her status as heir to the throne of Alagor.

Heir Apparent

Aindranla was formally recognized as Crown Apparent in 32 BFE, her sixteenth year, during a formal investiture that doubled as her debutante presentation to court. The ceremony was notable for being one of the few occasions in which her father, Octavius, appeared publicly during his long absence from political life. He escorted her before the assembled court, symbolically endorsing her claim.

Even before her investiture, Aindranla had been expected to shoulder responsibilities as heir. At the age of twelve she established her own household, styled the Emerald Court, which bore the sigil of a silver nine-tailed fox on a field of emerald. The court functioned as a training household, where she began hearing minor petitions and issuing rulings on domestic disputes under senatorial supervision. Surviving records describe her as unusually decisive in these matters, often overruling the advice of her attendants in favor of her own judgment.

Her investiture in 32 BFE marked the beginning of her formal role within the Alagorian Senate. She was seated as Crown Apparent and took part in deliberations with a limited speaking role. Several senators later remarked on her willingness to deliver sharp criticisms of the absent king, a stance that drew notice both for its boldness and for the way it foreshadowed her later assertiveness. Though her interventions carried no binding weight, they were widely circulated in senatorial notes and contributed to her reputation as a serious political actor.

Aindranla also undertook a handful of ceremonial duties during this period. She presided over seasonal festivals in Athomathia, represented the High Throne in audiences with local governors, and accompanied Putnam to sessions of the praetorian review. These appearances reinforced her visibility as the heir and cultivated a public image of youthful strength at a time when the monarchy’s continuity was uncertain.

By the end of her investiture year, Aindranla’s position as successor was considered secure. Contemporary reports describe her as physically resembling her late mother Ninym, though tempered by what observers characterized as her father’s severity. While such comparisons were often tinged with unease, they underscored the perception that she embodied both the dynasty’s legacy and its future direction.

Accession and Assumption of Power

Two months after Octavius departed into the reconnected realm of Avalon following his tenth Tournament of the Supreme, Aindranla declared him dead and claimed the High Throne of Alagor. The Senate protested, but she moved quickly to secure Athomathia with the aid of the resurgent Cult of Atrops, proclaiming herself High Queen.

Her brother Alexander attempted to oppose the usurpation but was captured by her newly established White Knights and held as a political prisoner. Putnam met a similar fate. Contemporary reports also indicate that in the weeks before her seizure of the throne, Aindranla traveled across the realm to bind the four cardinal dragons within their mountain fastnesses, ensuring they could not intervene against her.

The other five monarchs of Alagor, together with the provisional governor of Su, refused to recognize her rule, citing the Pact of the Supreme and asserting that Octavius remained alive. In response, Aindranla launched her consolidation wars against the six kingdoms.

Within Athomathia she replaced the royal banners with her own and formally adopted the title of Emerald Queen. Martial law was imposed in the capital, while the outlying kingdoms prepared for war. Her first decree disbanded the Centurion Legion and replaced it with the White Knights, while a new recruitment system drew sorcerers into her service as territorial magistrates of the realm.

Reign

Consolidation Wars

Campaigns

Aindranla assumed personal command and offered each crown a single opportunity to submit; refusal was follow by imediate operations. The sequence of subjugations unfoloded as follows:

• Helfor (Rowlan Helfor) The campaign in Helfor began in the summer of 24 BFE. Aindranla’s forces advanced rapidly across the plains, meeting King Rowlan’s cavalry in open battle near Rathford. Despite their famed maneuver warfare, the brigades were broken within days, overwhelmed by superior numbers and sorcerous support. Rathford Hall was seized shortly afterward, and Rowlan was taken prisoner.
• Seator (Halvar Seator) The Seartoran ranger corps attempted to delay the advance through ambushes and skirmishes, but were unable to prevent the White Knights from severing supply lines to Tetherdeep. Contemporary accounts record the deliberate use of fire at the forest margins, which forced defenders from concealed positions and created shortages within the capital. After several weeks of pressure, King Halvar capitulated and acknowledged Aindranla’s rule.
• Su (Governor Helkin) The advance into Su met little resistance. Provisional Governor Helkin, lacking both the authority and resources to oppose Aindranla, formally yielded the capital of Varnel shortly after her forces entered the kingdom. Contemporary accounts describe the transition as orderly, with Helkin himself participating in the public proclamation of loyalty to the new High Queen. Unlike other campaigns of the consolidation wars, Su was absorbed without significant bloodshed, and its administration was swiftly reorganized under magistrates appointed by Aindranla.
• Dravonell (Sarvra Dravonell) Aindranla’s forces advanced through the Bleeding Dunes by burning oasis towns and poisoning wells, driving civilians into the desert to die of exposure. With supplies destroyed and her army collapsing, Queen Savra Dravonell was captured during the fall of Scorchhold Bastion. She was compelled to kneel in her own throne room before Aindranla, formally submitting the kingdom to Athomathia under duress.
• Valtoria (Meridelle Valtora), The Valtorian Fleet sailed against Athomathia in a bid to choke her capital, but magistrates lined the cliffs, forcing the ships to break or burn. At the same time, her ground forces pushed southwest along the coast, torching villages and salting storehouses to deny the defenders food. When Seaside resisted, she ordered the harbors sealed with land chokes using Ballistae, rockfall, fires, while dead animals were cast into the waters to foul the tide. For weeks the city starved while the fleet, recalled in desperation, found its way barred by Aindranla’s forces. Queen Meridelle was dragged from her hall after her guard finally broke, and Valtoria’s surrender was sealed in public view.
• Loradel (Elena Loradel) Loradel Loradel was the last of the six kingdoms to resist Aindranla’s consolidation, and its fall marked the completion of her rule over Alagor. The campaign opened in mid-21 BFE but was quickly complicated by Aindranla’s sudden illness. By early 20 BFE she withdrew from direct command, leaving the siege in the hands of her magistrates and White Knight commanders. The siege of Thallor Castle continued regardless. Aindranla’s absence did not temper the ferocity of her forces, who pursued a deliberate policy of devastation. Villages surrounding the fortress were razed, their inhabitants either executed or driven south in forced marches. Food stores were salted and wells polluted to accelerate famine within the capital. Captives were displayed along the Therma-routes as warnings, with reports of mass impalements intended to break Loradellian resistance. Despite these measures, Queen Elena Loradel maintained her defense for nearly four months. The turning point came with the death of her consort, Cavlin, during a breach of the outer ward. Facing starvation and dwindling defenders, Elena surrendered. She was spared but stripped of effective authority, while her daughter, Princess Fiona, was seized and removed to Athomathian custody to secure Loradel’s submission. The conquest of Loradel in late 20 BFE was remembered as the most brutal of Aindranla’s consolidation wars.

Throughout the campaigns, envoys dispatched by the Council of 75 to intercede were publicly executed; their heads were displayed above Aindranla's standards, a gesture widely interpreted as a deliberate repudiation of external authority.

Methods and Conduct

Aindranla personally commanded forces during the wars, often taking the field herself. Contemporary accounts describe her use of the weave as overwhelming, breaking opposition lines before conventional battle had fully begun. Her approach to resistance was uncompromising. Settlements that refused surrender were burned, supplies destroyed, and leaders executed. Prisoners were displayed as warnings to deter further defiance. The offer to submit was given once; refusal was followed by extermination. Her reputation during the campaigns became one of fear and inevitability. Supporters emphasized her effectiveness in ending resistance quickly, while opponents regarded her as a tyrant whose methods crossed into deliberate terror.

Aftermater and Settlement

Following the wars, Aindranla reorganized Alagor under her sole authority. The traditional monarchs were left in place but stripped of autonomy, subordinated to a new hierarchy of magistrates appointed directly by her. Seven High Magistrates oversaw the realm, each with wide-ranging powers in administration and security. The Praetorian Guard and Centurion Legion were formally dissolved. Their remnants were absorbed into the newly created White Knights, who acted as both military and political enforcers. Resistance quieted after the fall of Loradel, but isolated dissent was suppressed through targeted executions and public trials. Aindranla’s consolidation was considered complete by the end of 20 BFE, with all six kingdoms bound under her command.

Domestic Policy

After her consolidation of the Seven Kingdoms, Aindranla retained the monarchs as symbolic rulers but transferred effective authority to her magistrates, a cadre of sorcerer-governors who oversaw each territory.

The Alagorian Senate was preserved but stripped of legislative power, functioning primarily as a ceremonial body. Royal decrees became the principal mechanism of governance, addressing taxation, conscription, and property disputes.

Military reforms centralized command under the crown. Regional levies were absorbed into her own forces, and resistance was met with executions or disbandment. Sorcerers were compelled to swear fealty; those who refused were executed or coerced into service. In 20 BFE she ordered the systematic purge of the Cult of Atrops.

Economic activity was placed under direct state control. Trade, agriculture, and resource allocation were administered centrally, with efforts made to maintain parity across the kingdoms. Charitable institutions founded under Queen Ninym were formally continued, but operated with limited association to the crown.

Her reign was marked by the use of intimidation and public displays of force. The White Knights were frequently deployed to suppress dissent, and fear became a defining feature of her rule.

Foreign Policy

Aindranla’s foreign policy was defined less by diplomacy than by the threat she posed to the outer realms. Evidence from intercepted correspondence and surviving council records indicates she intended to extend her consolidation of Alagor into neighboring realms. In response, the Council of Seventy-Five ordered the veiling of Alagor, effectively severing the realm from outside contact.

Contemporary sources describe the measure as both defensive and precautionary. The Council feared that Aindranla’s growing power exceeded what they could confront directly, with some suggesting she already rivaled or even surpassed her father in raw strength. Unlike her father, however, she showed little restraint. Advisories were issued to rulers in adjacent realms to maintain their militaries at readiness in case she discovered a means of breaking through the veil, and Alagorian invasion was regarded as a credible threat during her reign.

Suppression of the Dragons

According to testimony later provided by Octavius, Aindranla secured her rule by sealing the Four Cardinal Dragons within their mountain domains. She achieved this by inverting the natural flows of the Weave surrounding each range, creating barriers that prevented the dragons from departing their sanctuaries or intervening in affairs of state.

The action is believed to have been carried out in the weeks following Octavius’s departure into Avalon and before Aindranla’s declaration as High Queen. Contemporary sources note only the sudden absence of draconic presence during this period, with no official explanation provided.

The suppression of the dragons removed the primary safeguard against tyranny established under the Draconic Pact. Historians generally identify this measure as the decisive act that enabled Aindranla’s unchallenged consolidation of power.

Civil War and Deposition

The Alagorian Civil War began in 18 BFE with the return of Octavius Athomath from Avalon. His reopening of the western mountain, long sealed by his daughter, freed the Cardinal Dragon Sera’vishar and marked the start of open hostilities. Aindranla largely delegated the war effort to her generals, while focusing her attention on a covert campaign into Avalon.

Though initially successful, the expedition drew resources away from Alagor, where Octavius steadily regained support. The liberation of Loradel and later Valtoria restored naval access to loyalist forces and shifted momentum against her.

The conflict culminated in the Battle of Athomathia. Octavius entered the capital and confronted Aindranla in the Great Hall of the royal palace. She was defeated in combat and rendered unconscious, after which she was taken prisoner.

Brought before the Council of 75, Aindranla’s fate was determined without her father’s direct judgment, as Octavius recused himself. The Council decreed imprisonment, though no details of its nature or location were disclosed. Her deposition was celebrated across Alagor and described in contemporary accounts as the greatest relief since the fall of Kylok.

Imprisonment

Details of Aindranla Athomath’s fate following her defeat are scarce. The Council of Seventy-Five announced only that she was to be imprisoned, but released no account of the method or location.

The secrecy surrounding the proceedings provoked division within the council itself; several members resigned in protest at the decision to spare her life. Since then, no verifiable record of her imprisonment has surfaced.

Legacy

Aindranla remains one of the most infamous figures in the history of Alagor. She continues to influence political and cultural discourse, and her reign is frequently cited in studies of authoritarian power within the realms. Contemporary records described her as a prodigious weave-user and a commanding presence, while later chroniclers emphasized her ruthlessness, ambition, and capacity for control.

Despite the violence of her rule, Aindranla retained a strong following among certain factions within Alagor and sorcerer circles, some of whom referred to her as a visionary rather than a tyrant.

Public memory of Aindranla remains sharply divided. She is often portrayed as a tragic heir shaped by her mother’s early death and her father’s long absence, yet also as the architect of a brutal consolidation that cost thousands of lives. Chroniclers and playwrights have continued to depict her in contrasting lights—as a brilliant reformer undone by her methods, or as a destroyer whose ambition eclipsed any compassion.

Her emblem, the nine-tailed silver fox on a field of emerald, has become permanently associated with her regime. Much like a mark of treason, its use is heavily restricted, and its appearance is widely understood as a gesture of rebellion or dissent. Popular fear of the emblem has also contributed to a decline in the cultural standing of the fox motif, which in earlier eras carried positive associations of wisdom and cunning.

Aindranla’s legacy is also shaped by her descendants. Her daughter, Salena Athomath, later became Empress of the Sapphire Empire, and historians frequently contrast their reigns. While Salena pursued modernization and reform, experts note that the shadow of her mother’s rule often looms over perceptions of her own rule.

Weave Craft and Etherium Combat

Etherium weapon

Aindranla Athomath’s Etherium weapon was a rope dart. While she showcased mastery with ordinary steel arms when necessary, her primary means of combat was via Etherium construct as with most sorcerers. Her last recorded piece featured a black obsidian grip with a Velridian gem set as the pommel cap.

Training and style

• Trained primarily under Kael Veynar (Helfor), a noted weapons master; she refined rope-dart technique through independent practice.
• Fought with aggressive control: established range, constrained movement lanes, then closed for decisive strikes.
• Known to alter effective reach and momentum mid-exchange, using feints, wraps, and sudden retraction to break guard.

Techniques and approach

• Favored speed and pressure; opened with area denial, finished with targeted limb or throat shots.
• Generally relied on physical conditioning; supplemented with measured Weave surges only when tactically necessary.
• Observed to show formal respect to skilled opponents; no clemency once an adversary refused submission.

Notable engagements

• Magistrates’ Betrayal (Athomathia): Survived and defeated a coordinated assassination attempt by multiple sorcerer-Magistrates armed with Etherium; three killed, others incapacitated.
• Scorchold, Dravonell (23 BFE): Entered the throne room and forced Queen Savra Dravonell to submit after disarming her in single combat.
• Seaside, Valtoria (21 BFE): Led assaults on harbor fortifications; accounts note repeated clearance of battlements by rope-dart strikes and throws.
• Great Hall, Athomathia (18 BFE): Final recorded duel against Octavius Athomath during the city battle; prolonged engagement ended with Aindranla incapacitated. She has no recorded losses in formal dueling prior to this defeat in open combat.

Assessment

Contemporary sources characterize Aindranla as one of the most feared Etherium duelists alive. Field reports note repeated collapses in enemy morale upon her appearance and an absence of verified defeats in official single combat.

Weave Ability

Weavecraft

Aindranla was widely regarded as one of the most formidable practitioners of the Weave in Alagor’s history. From her early training to her final battle in the Great Hall of Athomathia, she demonstrated an unmatched command of telekinesis, mental domination, spatial manipulation, and battlefield-scale wards. Contemporary accounts describe her as a prodigy who advanced so rapidly that even her instructors expressed unease at her potential. Unlike most practitioners, Aindranla appeared to suffer no lasting effects from fatigue or Weave sickness, and she proved adept at operating in areas devoid of leyline strength.

Early mastery

By her twelfth year, Aindranla could perform advanced telekinetic lifts that most apprentices required years to achieve, reportedly collapsing a training hall balcony during instruction. She demonstrated instinctive facility with short-range displacements, making use of “step-casting” to maneuver within confined interiors. Records from the Emerald Court indicate she could suppress her signature almost entirely, approaching targets unseen before reappearing at close range.

Rise to High Queen

During her investiture period she began developing battlefield applications of the Weave:

• Emerald Net — immobilizing groups of opponents, often employed to disable captains or sorcerers before combat began.
• Glassheart — a compulsion weave directed at officers, inducing hesitation or retreat.
• Chain of Nine — a tethering effect linking clustered targets so that wounds inflicted on one rippled through the rest.

Her ability to operate in ley-poor environments was remarked on by contemporaries, who observed her “pacing” spells off residual flows rather than faltering in null zones.

Consolidation wars

Aindranla’s Weavecraft became inseparable from her reputation as a battlefield commander.

At Scorchhold Bastion (24 BFE) she tore open the outer gates herself, forcing the breach that ended the defense.

During the Valtoria campaign (22–21 BFE) she projected terror across the coastal quarters, breaking militia formations while conventional troops sealed the harbors.

Magistrate records describe the Mark of the Hollow, a sigil she imposed upon her chosen officers. Activation caused extreme pain, ensuring loyalty through fear.

When a cabal of Magistrates attempted to overthrow her in 21 BFE, she absorbed and redirected their weave-lightning, killing several and ending the revolt in a single engagement.

Late reign

The peak of her Weavecraft was defined by four extraordinary feats:

• The Dragon Seals (24 BFE): Aindranla inverted the ley-flows around the four cardinal ranges, binding the dragons within their mountains and eliminating the chief restraint on royal power.
• Ward of Athomathia (23 BFE): She established a barrier around the capital preventing any portal or displacement within its walls, regarded as one of the most complex interdictions ever sustained.
• Fall of Sera’vishar (18 BFE): In the skies above Athomathia, she struck the western dragon with a single projection of Weave energy, killing the creature instantly. Witnesses described the discharge as a storm that split the clouds and scarred the city’s outer wards.
• Duel of the Great Hall (18 BFE): Her final known battle, fought against Octavius during the siege of Athomathia. She employed her full arsenal of displacement, projection, and telekinetic force but was ultimately subdued after stalemate and capture.

Titles and styles

Aindranla was styled as Princess Aindranla Kendra Athomath from birth and formally acknowledged as Crown Apparent of Alagor following her investiture at age sixteen. Upon declaring her father dead and seizing the throne in 24 BFE, she assumed the title of High Queen of Alagor, a style she retained throughout her reign.

During her consolidation wars she came to be widely referred to as the Emerald Queen, a title drawn from her personal banner. Later chroniclers and opponents adopted the epithet “Dark Lady of Alagor”, reflecting the fear and infamy surrounding her rule.

Though widely remembered in both contemporary and later accounts as the Emerald Queen, the style of “High Queen” was the only official title she held during her reign.