ScarletEmpressTheories
Miss Scarlet's Bad Day
It is almost 100% certain by now that the Scarlet Empress is stuck in Hell, being macked on by the Ebon Dragon (remember, kids: Infernalism bad!). I'd been hoping for something a little less prosaic, and it's always good to throw the occasional curve at one's players, so I have a sideline hobby of coming up with alternate explanations for the conspicous absence of Our Lady of Misrule.
These may someday be fleshed out a little more, or added to. Right now it's just a list.
- Turned into Brigid. As they say, the clothes make the (wo)man. (Ikselam)
- Disposed of by Mnemon and Ragara, who are secretly lovers (and, in Ragara's case, secretly not senile). Part of an elaborate scheme for them to seize control of the Realm. (Ikselam)
- Offed by Mnemon after her infernal dealings were discovered. Could dovetail nicely with (2). (Ikselam)
- Due to embarassing/nightmarish ritual mishap, trapped inside hearthstone of Imperial Manse. (Ikselam)
- Having discovered a way to circumvent Sidereal astrology, lying low while trying to topple Chejop and Friends. (Ikselam)
- Having discovered way to evade Sidereal tracking, lying low in a desperate attempt to retire. (Ikselam)
- Desperately searching for the only person/place/thing that can save the Realm/world. (Ikselam)
- Got hooked on Games of Divinity, is busy plotting her next Move. (Ikselam)
- Sold Mnemon to the Yozis, took over her identity. (Ikselam)
- Held prisoner in the MadTeaParty. No, really. (Ikselam)
- Abducted/devoured by Raksi, who wants the Mantle of Brigid for herself. (Ikselam)
- Achieved enlightenment and joined the Elemental Dragons, just like the Immaculate Order says. (Quendalon)
- Done away with by Eyem, the dastardly AI from AB: Air. I know you're planning to disconnect me, Empress... and I am afraid that is something I cannot allow to happen. (Ikselam)
- Caught a falling star and was granted one wish. Is now a mortal woman, living a relatively tranquil life in a farming village somewhere on the Blessed Isle. (Ikselam)
- Killed by one of the Solars or Lunars she requires be brought to the Imperial Manse, after a series of tragic accidents. Mnemon and/or the heads of the Houses all know of her death, but announcing her death would bring chaos to the Blessed Isle and embolden the Threshhold tributaries. (DariusSolluman)
- Fell in love with a Sidereal and is now enjoying the delights of Yu-Shan, where she discovers that she recieves worship like a god. The Bronze know all about this, but they're not talking. (FourWillowsWeeping)
- In disguise as a Lunar, using Celestial magic to give the illusion of shapeshifting prowess. (FourWillowsWeeping)
- Sold herself to a Deathlord and had her brain burned out by Abyssal Exaltation. Is dead, but only the Underworld knows that. (FourWillowsWeeping)
- Has always been a Sidereal under a Resplendent Destiny, and that Destiny has finally run out. Everyone knows that there is a Scarlet Empress, but no one can remember anything of note about her... not the exact details of her appearance, and not her name. (Quendalon)
- Variation of above: Has been under the protection of a Resplendant Destiny either as a function of some property of the Imperial Manse, or as an effect maintained by the Bronze Faction, and now is out of it for what ever reason... (Suzume)
- Through ritual suicide and the connivance of the Malfeans, she has become the 14th Deathlord. (Quendalon) She is now known as the Scarlet Consort of Despair, or sometimes the Unbeheaded Queen. (FourWillowsWeeping)
- Has run off to the Forest Witches, and has used Domnica's Mantle to vanish off the radar by becoming a new person. (Patkin)
- Fell in love with a Solar, and is now secretly helping the Gold Faction plan their return. (Nabeshin)
- Got senile from the age, and is now a madwoman on the streets of Nexus. (Nabeshin)
- Died of old age. The life-extending magics she used weren't enough, and during her last retreat into the Imperial Manse, they finally ran out. If/when someone finally breaks in to reactivate the defense grid, they'll find her corpse in the hearthstone chamber. (Everyl)
- Dead and back again. Having discovered or developed magic (perhaps Celestial-circle sorcery) to ensure that her soul reincarnates as truly as a Dragon King's, she let herself die during a period of relative peace that coincidentally happened to be just before the shattering of the Jade Prison. She's currently a 4-year-old child of a well-bred Lookshy family. Her memories - and much of her power - will be restored when she Exalts in a few years. (Everyl)
- In her dealings with Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, she discovered the truth behind the Great Curse. When the Jade Prison shattered, she knew the Realm could not stand against the returning Solars in the condition she had weakened it to, so she set out to discover a way to break the Curse - at least that way the new rulers would be reasonably sane when they inevitably took over. Since she understands the Sidereal Great Curse, as well, she knows that Chejop and the Bronze Faction are literally incapable of accepting the return of Solar rule, so she's doing it all in secret. -Everyl
- She was a powerful Raksha all along, decieving millions with a powerful glamour which she renewed in secret. Her "children" were actually created with a powerful artifact. One of these "children" (Mnemon, maybe) discovered the truth, and, in a fit of existential rage, destroyed her. -CaptainPenguin
- Are you paranoid if they really are out to get you? Sometimes, the only way to find your enemies is to vanish and see who steps up to bat. So, that's what she did, using some sort of ultimate stealth charm.(You use (9) also as part of this). The Sidereals don't know this(she doesn' trust them either). The Raksha suspect enough to forstall an invasion. Now she just waiting for the civil war to start so she can purge both sides. Also, she was getting bored. (FlowsLikeBits)
- A variation on (12): Was an Immaculate Dragon All Along - perhaps she was able to access the technology of the Imperial Manse and the Realm Defenses by ascending to a more perfect state of Exaltation, equivalent to a Celestial Exaltation, like the paragons described in the Immaculate Scriptures. Dovetails nicely with many other explanations for her disappearance. (IanPrice)
- There never was a Scarlet Empress. The Fey won the Balorian crusade, and the last 1000 years has been a wind up on all humanity grade-A matrix style. The Solars anti-Wyld charms have caused them to start losing control, and the "disappearance" of the Empress is merely symptomatic of their failures...(cue totally whacked alternity Exalted) ~a bunch of posters at Ex Libris Nocturnus (found and embroidered by MessiahOfEndings)
- Scarlet has been abducted by the Preliminary scouts of the Locust Crusade. Now augmented with Borg...er... Autochotonian Tech she is to be the Ultimate leader of the invasion...~MessiahOfEndings
Notes/Comments
I remember when you posted this on the WW boards... very cool! Can the rest of us add to it, or do we need our own pages? :) - Quendalon
Add away. Might be good to keep track of who contributed which idea, though, either by crediting each one individually or dividing into sublists. I had the idea of writing up a little one- or two-paragraph fluff vignette for each, but did not do it tonight because I had the feeling it might get away from me and end up consuming my entire evening.\\ _Ikselam
Oh, I LIKE the Resplendent Destiny one. That actually helps explain a lot. :) - DariusSolluman
\\ Definitely like the Respeldent Destiny one as well. Makes sense, if you think about it. - Caelene
These are way more creative than that whole Ebon Dragon bollocks. What the game has right now is that she is basically married to Satan, for one reason or another, which is obviously unsatisfying. Good job! - CaptainPenguin
I like this list... it's fun to speculate about this sort of thing. It's like a huge list of curveballs to throw at my players! Has anyone started any other lists like this for other mysterious aspects of the setting? Or even just for key points that would be nifty to change around? -Everyl
As I understand it, the reason for Ebon Dragons's Marriage to the Empress is this - He is bound in Malfeas by his name, and by marrying Scarlet he gives her his name. Then he throws her into Oblivion and the name goes bye-bye, taking the Big bad 1st age binding with it.... It's a fairly unoriginal plot device compared to much of the rest of what creation has to offer. ~MessiahOfEndings
Very cool list. I definitely like 31. All hail Chaos! - Caelene
