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Mar. 23rd, 2013 01:24 amPlayer Information:
Contact: pm this journal
Character Information:
Name: Zerika the Fourth, aka "Zivra"
Canon: Vlad Taltos/The Khaavren Romances
Canon Point: Eleven years into her reign as the Empress of Dragaera. After that, the story switches to a different narrator set several centuries later; it's simpler not to need to deal with the gap in time.
Age: About 260 years old.
Reference: Wiki.
Setting:
Long ago, a race of Sufficiently Advanced Extra-Dimensional Beings called the Jenoine got bored and with the setting's gods as their servants, started conducting sorcerous experiments, splicing the DNA of about animals with humans, creating long-lived elves -- "Dragaerans" -- of about seventeen different tribes (the number changed over time but seventeen is the number everyone focuses on for Reasons). Things happened, the Jenoine were overthrown and banished, and certain of the elves, which came to dominate a large portion of the world, formed the Dragaeran Empire, united by Keiron the Conquerer, Zerika the First and the impressive artifact now known as the Imperial Orb. They call themselves human, while the actual humans are now called Easterners and generally looked down upon; most Dragaerans actually go so far as to refuse to acknowledge they share a common ancestry with Easterners. The tribes became Houses, with each House taking a turn ruling according to a divine Cycle. The members of each house are both inclined by the nature of the animal spliced into their genes and taught in childhood to follow particular behavior that determines the purpose they serve. For example, Teckla are mice, so the members of the House of the Teckla tend to be meek; they became the peasant class, making up the majority of the population but generally downtrodden because of a temperament that only rarely leads to them standing up for themselves. Likewise, a Dragon is inclined toward the bloodshed and organization that makes a good soldier or general; an Athyra typically has the analytical mind suited to master sorcery; and so on. But the most noble House of the Phoenix has a dual nature: the dignity and ability to create or recreate a cause or organization that makes them the most respected in the Empire, but also a tendency toward disastrous decadence and self-indulgence.
Dragaeran society is delicate clockwork. The social structure of the Empire is highly dependent on the nature/nurture encouragement of archetypal behavior in those Houses. The Phoenix typically invigorate and/or spark some sort of social revolution or change, and their reign tends to end and move to the succeeding Dragon when an administration with a more militaristic bent is necessary to keep stability, and the conservative Lyorn traditionalist succeeds the Dragon's fatal arrogance and conquests. Or the Dzur take their turn when immediate and unflinching action is required, with the Issola succeeding with their tact and diplomacy to smooth over the problems that are sure to pile up from the rash actions of a Dzur. There is an actual metaphysical representation of the Cycle determining which House rules, but you generally can't see it while you're part of the living world; rather, people end up looking for signs that the Cycle has begun to favor the next House in line.
Sorcery is advancing, and viewed as the centerpiece of the Empire's future; the Empire has been covered in a glowing red haze that is essentially magical smog from some 200,000 years of this reliance. Teleportation and magical tracking is eliminating roadside bandits, and advances in sorcerous healing and revivification changes the culture's views on injury and death. A certain line of Dragon nobles even considered it fashionable to live in levitating castles. In fact, there are three different flavors of magic: Elder Sorcery, which is a dangerous practice that taps the power of chaos and illegal because when a spell goes awry it causes a major disaster; sorcery, which is much safer but requires a link to the Imperial Orb to access and practically requires the sorcerer to rearrange atomic patterns in their head; and witchcraft, which is pretty much psionic magic most commonly practiced by Easterners.
Actually, Dragaeran culture is highly shaped by the race's longevity and abundance of sorcery. Having several thousand years for an average lifespan and 30-hour long days, hyperbole and roundabout approaches to subjects has become the norm. Supplemental material actually jokes that this is engrained in the language and culture of the time period and the historian character that narrates the Khaavren Romances would actually be more long-winded if the canon weren't "translated" into English. Second, the abundance of sorcery means the average Dragaeran tends to treat things with a cavalier manner -- in a land where it's easy to revive a body as long as the brain is intact, killing another becomes less final, more of a message. It becomes perfectly acceptable to attempt to stab someone for cheating at a game or a critic being rude in their discussion of one's attempt at artwork. . . so long as certain legal proprieties are observed. Put it all together, and Dragerans begin to amusingly understate everything, up to and including a polite declaration of intent before attempting a shanking, labeling it with terms like "play," an "argument" or "discussion."
That cavalier attitude does extend to gods. While the original gods were the servants of the Jenoine, it is possible to ascend to godhood if a person is powerful enough. The minimum standard is pretty much the ability to break space/time, existing in multiple places at the same time. Some wizards have managed to ascend; a famous one, Sethra Lavode, was offered godhood after she died, but she was too good for that. She came back, undead, and has been helping keep the Jenoine from getting back into their world. So for the most part, Dragaerans see the gods as extremely powerful beings that should be respected, but they're more likely to treat them as people than as something to worship.
As an empress, Zerika's story plays a large part in how the setting is shaping up as well. Fitting for a Phoenix, it is a story of disaster and rebirth. The decadence of Phoenix Emperor Tortaalik led to a two-fold problem: a revolt by the common man and an attempt to seize the Orb -- and thus, the throne -- by a Dragon named Adron. These problems were compounded by the assassination of the Emperor. Adron was actually next in line for the Orb anyway, so when he cast a spell he'd designed to steal control of the Orb and transfer it to himself, the spell was at odds with itself, resulting in it building up power until it failed and turned the capital city into a sea of amorphia -- chaos incarnate. With many dead and the Imperial Orb missing and believed destroyed (which incidentally eliminated sorcery, further breaking down the functioning of their society), Adron's Disaster destroyed the Empire, plunging Dragaeran society into an anarchic period known as the Interregnum. Without the Orb, plague, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes set in, bandits ruled the roads, and long-standing tradition began to break down. Zerika's father had been warned of danger by an Imperial Guardsman named Khaavren, so had sent Zerika's mother away from the capital city shortly before the Disaster; unfortunately, with the loss of sorcery setting back Dragaeran medical practices, Zerika's mother died while Zerika was a baby (Zerika's not certain what exactly happened to her, even now). Arrangements were made for her to be raised by a noble Dragon couple, but they were never informed of her lineage and thus were never able to explain it to her.
Zerika grew up in this period of anarchy, living in the port city of Adrilankha, where Countess Whitecrest managed to keep a semblance of order. Still, many longstanding traditions began to wear away; the youth in this period began to openly have affairs between Houses, which had always been frowned upon, and where Dragaerans would traditionally set out on careers and live independently sometime after becoming 100 years old, the youth then found themselves more like 200 and still without opportunities to move out for. As a result, several Adrilankha youth became something like close college friends, even formally organizing into the private club called The Society of the Porker Poker -- which has an appropriately dumb college kid story behind it that is irrelevant to Zerika's own history. Needless to say, the society held regular meetings in which the friends drank, gossiped, and proposed solutions to the world's problems in the way pseudo-intellectual drinking buddies tend to do. Over the years, Zerika also met an Easterner named Laszlo, who she engaged in an affair with, even more taboo than an affair between Houses. This was the comfortable routine of Zerika's life until she was 247 years old, when the ancient undead sorceress named Sethra Lavode decided it was time to reveal Zerika's lineage to her and bring her to Dzur Mountain -- Sethra's place of power -- to convince her to take part in a plan to recover the Imperial Orb and restore the Empire. With Zerika's departure from Adrilankha, the Society of the Porker Poker dissolved.
Sethra had figured out that the Orb was not destroyed in the Disaster, instead ending up in a place known as the Paths of the Dead, where dead Dragaeran souls end up to be judged by the gods for reincarnation. The sorceress reasoned that, as the last known surviving member of the Phoenix House, Zerika could navigate the Paths of the Dead and convince the gods to give her the Orb. The plan wasn't without risk: Zerika could die traveling to Deathgate Falls, the entrance to the Paths, she could get lost in the Paths, or the gods could refuse to grant Zerika the Orb, as it was entirely possible the Cycle had passed on from the Phoenix with Tortaalik's death. Zerika was glad to learn her heritage, and more, she found a friend in Sethra (which was surprising, since the sorceress has a frightening reputation and is essentially the Dragaeran boogeyman to the point that members of the Klingon-like Dzur House consider it the ultimate test of mettle to climb Sethra's mountain and attempt to destroy her -- which clearly has never gone as planned.) Zerika agreed to the plan, and spent weeks doing nothing but memorize instructions to navigate the Paths of the Dead, while Sethra recruited several people to escort her to the entrance. Among them were Piro, Viscount of Adrilankha and close friend of Zerika's; and Tazendra Lavode, a former member of the Phoenix Guard that had been the elite fighting force of the late Emperor. The common element between Piro and Tazendra was Khaavren, who was the former's father and the latter's bosom friend of several centuries (and, again, the man who warned Zerika's father so that Zerika even survived the Disaster); as a result the party was shaping up to be very close-knit. However, while they were preparing, a Dragon named Kana was enacting a plan to attempt forging his own Empire without the Orb, arguing that with the previous Emporer's death the Cycle had turned and it was his House's turn to rule. A war of succession was becoming inevitable.
Sethra remained in her lair to attend other business while the party set out for Deathgate Falls. This meant traveling by horse for several months, which were largely uneventful until the tail end, when they first encountered soldiers employed by Kana, who had heard from spies that Sethra was up to something and dispatched people traveling in that direction. This ended up being Zerika's first command situation, and she promptly told them off, since their goals were obviously incompatible. They fought, but Kana's force escaped to inform the bulk of the army; Zerika ordered a more strenuous pace, since Kana would respond by sending more soldiers to stop them. However, as they reached Deathgate Falls, instead of Kana's forces catching up, they were met by bandits hired by Grita, an enemy of Tazendra's. Zerika exchanged barbs with Grita, then decided accomplishing the mission was more important than trying to win a fight with this new obstacle. . . so she promptly turned her horse around, and charged it off the top of the waterfall, taking what should have been a lethal fall into the Paths of the Dead.
Whether because her horse broke the fall or some other factor, Zerika survived to navigate the Paths of the Dead, which were generally confusing and trippy; after this, she met the gods, who used the pretense of questioning her to determine if she was fit to take the Orb as a means to try intimidating her and make her a tool for them to shape the Empire's future to their will. The strange circumstances initially did intimidate Zerika, but eventually she adapted, regathered her will, and began to talk back to the gods. She figured out what they were trying, and commanded them to give her the Orb, informing them that if they wanted something from the Empire, they would not tell her what to do -- they would submit a request and she would decide whether to grant it.
Zerika re-emerged from the Paths of the Dead and the war for succession officially began with Grita and her bandits attacking as Zerika reunited with her party (Tazendra and Zerika working together very quickly drove Grita to ally with Kana). Immediately after, Khaavren arrived, having set out from Adrilankha some months before to support his son -- which was lucky, because Kana's head spy, Duke Galstan, was another friend of Khaavren's. Seeing his friend again, Galstan defected to fight for Zerika (effectively making Kana's spy network Zerika's). Knowing Khaavren was an excellent soldier in the service of the previous Emperor, Zerika began referring to him as her Captain, without so much as asking if he would accept a position. After Galstan's defection, Kana's soldiers attacked and were repelled. Possessing the Orb immediately gave Zerika an advantage of legitimacy over Kana; those old enough to have lived in the Empire before the Disaster missed the Orb and all it meant, so several survivors of the first two battles pledged themselves to her -- and though Zerika was privately unhappy with any bloodshed in her name, she had the will to easily order the execution of any prisoners that would not defect. They needed to get back to Sethra's place of power before Kana could bring his full forces to bear, so they couldn't carry prisoners and they couldn't leave enemies behind to cause any further trouble.
The party hurried in the direction of Dzur Mountain, but Kana sent his considerably large army in that direction as well. Unfortunately for Kana, this set him at odds with a young Dragon named Morrolan who had recently come to reclaim his ancestor's land; Morrolan had no loyalty to the Empire and saw no need for one, but he had met and liked Sethra, so when Kana's forces showed up in the area and wanted to demand Morrolan swear loyalty to Kana or lose his lands by force, Morrolan took umbrage and set his measly three thousand soldiers against Kana's larger armies. Zerika's party was unable to make it directly to Dzur Mountain, but they were able to make it to Morrolan's fortress, where they were able to win the battle despite the disparity in forces because of the advantage the Orb granted: only citizens of the Empire could draw on the Orb to cast sorcery, and if Kana's forces pledged loyalty to the bearer of the Orb. . .they would no longer be Kana's forces, but Zerika's. Tazendra tapped the Orb to cast a spell lifting Morrolan's castle a mile into the sky, where a number of Easterner witches who were Morrolan's followers kept it aloft with their witchcraft. Tazendra and Sethra devised a method to teleport supplies and then soldiers back and forth. Those pressing needs taken care of, Tazendra turned her attention to periodically raining fire and lightning on Kana's forces, causing considerable destruction and a great deal of desertion from the enemy's ranks -- many of whom Galstan's spies recruited to Zerika's service. Incidentally, Morrolan, who had until then been fighting simply out of personal pride and his friendship to Sethra, finally pledged loyalty to Zerika -- and she found among his Easterner witches her old lover, Laszlo. She named Galstan her official confidant, discussed the problem of having an affair with an Easterner with him, and proceeded to reignite the affair, continuing their trysts in "secret." She promptly engaged in nepotism; Laszlo was named Count Brimford, the first Easterner to receive an Imperial title.
Zerika decided to attack and drive the enemy back, which continued success led to a decision to extend the push into a full-on march back to Adrilankha, which the fledgling Empress decided would be her capital. Lacking an Imperial Palace, she was invited to live in and hold court in the manor of Adrilankha's Countess. For the next two years, Zerika's time was spent mired in paperwork and diplomacy. The Empress had to convince the nobility of the Houses to recognize her legitimacy, begin reorganizing the infrastructure of the Empire, and come up with preliminary drawings for a new Imperial Palace for architects to build upon and begin construction. Controlling a large port meant that Zerika ended up dominating the seas, while Kana initially dominated land, with the various Houses generally deciding who to support based on economic decisions. Zerika made the risky decision to not spend money on increasing the size of her army more than the defections had already increased it, focusing instead on improving the land's road infrastructure in a bid to win the support of the Houses that relied on more land-based economic trade. Two years in, she found herself making little more progress, so began sending envoys to lands outside the Empire's traditional borders in order to garner foreign support. It was about this time the next major clash occurred.
On the courtly front, Kana's agents attempted to cause a falling-out between Zerika and her advisors, Khaavren and Galstan. In both cases, there was initial success; Khaavren resigned over displeasure with a promise Zerika was forced to back out of, but after a year of Khaavren sulking, Sethra arranged to reconcile the Empress and her Captain. The two managed to begin working together again without major injuries to their pride. Galstan was another matter; one of Kana's agents knew of Zerika's affair with Laszlo, and leaked this information to one of the most influential Houses, which withdrew its support, calling Zerika's taboo-breaking amoral. Since, to Zerika's knowledge, the only people aware of the affair had been herself, Laszlo and Galstan, she concluded he had betrayed her trust and dismissed him as her confidant. Khaavren, having been restored as Captain, was able to mend that rift.
On the military front, Kana attacked Adrilankha on two sides; at this time Zerika and Kana's armies were about equal, with Zerika's generally assumed to have the advantage because of sorcery and Morrolan's follower's witchcraft. So Kana arranged counters to deprive the army of their magical advantages, leveling the playing field. He also had a force of about twenty soldiers infiltrate the city to strike at Zerika herself; these forces waited until Kana's schemes rendered the Orb inert, then attacked, killing the Phoenix Guard; Khaavren and Galstan successfully used a choke point in the manor to defend the Empress, proving how vital the failed schemes to drive them away had been. Elsewhere, Morrolan killed a god to restore the witchcraft of his forces; this allowed Sethra to take Khaavren and Galstan to eliminate agents perpetuating the Orb's suppression. With that done, Zerika's army was able to thrash Kana's, after which Zerika ordered Khaavren to personally see to the arrest of her rival. By the next day, her Captain had arrested the man and his cousin, who had been instrumental to his plans. Zerika had a private discussion with them then ordered the construction of an Imperial execution site, where Kana and his cousin were killed.
A five day celebration followed the end of the war, and on the fifth day Zerika held a ceremony to personally reward those who were most instrumental to her installation as Empress. Galstan became her Prime Minister, but the general public believes the position was never filled because the man thinks the less people notice the Prime Minister, the more effectively the post will operate. Several months later all seventeen Houses officially recognized Zerika as Empress. The Empire was restored; as a respite from the duties of rebuilding the social structure, Zerika revived the Society of the Porker Poker, though it's noted that they wouldn't officially meet for some time -- she promised that they would resume regular meetings when once her reign was complete and the Orb had passed on to the next Empress. In the sixth year of her reign, she unofficially moved out of the Countess' manor and into the Palace, which was complete and "officially" occupied in the eleventh year of her reign. Technically, her history extends much beyond this, but the story moves over to a much less reliable narrator whose stories rarely cross paths with the Empress, so don't provide much of a picture of what she's doing on a daily basis, how she's changed or generally thinks of everything. As a result, it is best to take her from these early years of her time as Empress.
Personality:
Just as the Phoenix represents both death and rebirth, there is a certain duality to Zerika: the Empress is both a benevolent grand thinker willing to sacrifice much for the good of the land, and a self-indulgent youth. Perhaps more importantly, she is both a figure of the old traditions of the Empire's culture and the product of an anarchic time that would bend and break those traditions.
Zerika herself is identified in the violent Dragaeran culture as primarily a dignified young woman with a quiet and warm air about her. She is said to have a retiring nature. The Phoenix falls into the same hyperbolic and wordy conversational patterns as the rest of her people, but she abhors bloodshed. Outside of her role as Empress, Zerika is shown to enjoy watching the antics of rowdier people, usually just getting involved to rein them in when things are getting out of hand (for instance, her enjoyment of her Society friends getting into silly metaphysical arguments). As Empress, Zerika tends to downplay herself and prefers diplomatic or economic solutions over force of arms. She doesn't consider herself a ruler, but an intermediary, as she explains on one occasion that the ruler of the Empire depends on the circumstances -- if there is a famine in the north, the farmers in the south rule, and so on with her merely attempting to maneuver everyone to best facilitate getting what's needed to where it's needed. The citizens of the Empire mostly smile on her as a "reborn" Phoenix, which is built up as someone who can only cause prosperity for the Empire, but Zerika reveals any Phoenix is both decadent and reborn. She will be a reborn Phoenix only as long as she maintains that amiable and benevolent presentation, keeping her indulgences in check. She actively plans to abdicate when it becomes clear she is no longer maintaining that balance (and it has been stated that eventually she does exactly that).
So what about that decadence? First, we know that Zerika has in the past been prone to overindulgence of intoxicants, even commenting once that the closest experience she can identify with the concept of "eternity" is a hangover. We know that these things continue after becoming Empress, simply learning to be discrete to protect the image of poise and dignity -- for instance, reassembling her drinking buddies in the Society of the Porker Poker but not "officially" meeting while she's Empress. At one point, Vlad Taltos suspects that she had been drinking heavily before granting him an audience. When she starts feeling stressed and overworked, her temper might flare and she'll seek out a party with "people, noise and life." And most scandalous, she engages in interspecies affairs. The only consideration she gives to that taking a human lover could damage her reputation and affect her role in politics is that she should not let it become public knowledge (though she is not as discrete as she would like to think, and her affair is public knowledge, such that people gasp and draw conclusions if an Easterner asks her for a moment in private).
Part of why she's willing to engage in reputation-damaging indulgences is the influence of growing up in the anarchy of the Interregnum. Tradition started breaking down, leading to affairs between Houses, and since Zerika grew up not knowing she would be Empress, she saw this and concluded for the most part as long as it wasn't hurting anyone go ahead and behave unconventionally. This shows in more than just her interspecies affair, but also in who she surrounds herself with. On one hand, she will put up with frustrating eccentricities if she sees merit in it, but she most frequently is shown to be amused by unashamed unconventional behavior. Khaavren, for example frequently throws a fit and resigns over this or that, and it's stated that unless there's an immediate need she just leaves the Captain's position open until he comes back, keeping him one of her closest advisors for centuries (though it frustrates her that he will criticize her actions when he gave her predecessor no such trouble; he claims he only gives her trouble because she has the potential to be a better ruler and it will help her grow). She may laugh at impertinence that makes her most traditional servants glare -- amused by Morrolan's impolite but frank statements, or by Vlad Taltos staring at her and admitting to thinking improper thoughts. She also appreciates irony and splitting hairs in wordplay. One example is when an armed enemy says they "regret" they cannot allow her to go about her plans. She informs them they are right to feel that way, knowing full well it was just a polite turn of phrase.
Incidentally, Zerika will have to warm up to any network communication elements in play. The Orb allows any citizen of her Empire to contact her directly, mind-to-mind. Considering the Empire has a very large population, that would get old very fast -- and, it seems, it has, since citizens worry about whether or not the reason for their call will be deemed important enough for them to have interrupted whatever she was doing at the time, or if it will cause her to punish them in one way or another. She views communications devices as important and convenient, but annoying; she'd really rather talk face-to-face, over refreshments. And she's more likely to get frustrated and annoyed than actually work into a rage over anything. We see her temper flare when overworked, and her reaction is to throw a pen at a wall then go find a party to destress at. We also see her annoyed at an official that takes too long even by Dragaeran standards to get to the meat of an issue, but it is only briefly betrayed in her expression while the official isn't paying attention. Any displays of genuine anger are typically the result of becoming overburdened with stress and/or she has had her trust betrayed and someone has just had the guts to present her with an impertinence on top of that. In other words, it is always a combination of frustrating elements piling up. Otherwise, displeasure is usually just expressed with a stiff and cold bearing.
Zerika's quite young for a Dragaeran in her position, but interestingly, characters take to describing her as physically young, but in some sense very, very old. Presumably this is a sign of the weight being a responsible Empress has on her; Zerika shows in conversation with Vlad that she has been drawing extensively on the Orb's 200,000 years of records, learning how the Empire's culture works and evolved. Where many Dragaerans prefer to forget the origins of their species, preferring not to associate themselves with the "lesser" humans they were made from, Zerika considers it foolish not to be as well-informed as possible. She can draw on the experiences of all the Empire's previous rulers; wouldn't it be irresponsible not to do so? Thanks to the Orb, she can lecture with the best of them on how their social constructs were invented, much less how time has transformed them.
What really ties all these contrary aspects together and makes Zerika work is her strong will. The Empress is a self-described "changeable person," trying to control which of the above aspects are in play to suit the situation. While she does not consider herself a ruler, she believes it is her will that is the lynchpin of the Empire's workings. She believes in her fallibility and seeks the advice of others, but at the end of it, unless she specifically relinquishes control in some way she wants to be the person who makes a decision and she expects that decision to be heeded (as long as it falls within her perceived authority; she has the final say-so in what she does or how her citizens are governed, but wouldn't presume to, say, order a foreign citizen as if he were one of her own). She draws upon the unconventional behavior she learned in the Interregnum when she thinks that allowing someone to act outside the law will solve some political intrigue.
There is a time and place for everything. Zerika supports keeping certain narcotics legal, and while she keeps the dangerous Elder Sorcery outlawed, it's well-known that she doesn't enforce that law -- that she even becomes friends with the daughter of the man who killed Zerika's predecessor with Elder Sorcery. Thanks to the Orb, Zerika recognizes the vital role of each House and the way the Houses predispose their members toward certain behaviors. She understands that the House of the Jhereg, which is essentially the Dragaeran mob, does have a role built into the Empire's workings, and that laws will inevitably be broken for one reason or another. It is better to condone some and keep things from getting out of hand than to attempt cracking down on everything. It's actually explained that she'd rather not crack down on protesters because there are times when it's better to let things run its course -- have the police grab a dissident, and you're just going to justify his or her cause. She at times talks as though she condones law-breaking; but again, only in an acceptable time and place. While Zerika sees the need for the criminal Jhereg, she also considers each of them guilty of something and will gladly take the opportunity to punish one if he or she gets too far out of line.
Though she abhors violence, if someone approaches with drawn weapons, she calls it a courtesy to also prepare to fight; she orders the execution of those she knows will only harm the interests of her Empire if they're allowed to live; and when those eccentric friends of hers take an impertinence too far she surprises them by growing cold and speaking as though her word is law. Or perhaps the best example of how she suits action to what she deems necessary is when she pits her will against her world's gods: when repeatedly insulted by one, she finally challenges him, admitting that she doesn't think she has the resources or ability to harm him but adding "unless I must" -- essentially withdrawing the threat as long as he quits behaving like that. She even has the gall to order them to submit to her will in matters regarding her land and people. She's unlikely to act this way in a game, recognizing that on a foreign world with none of her people her titles mean nothing -- but it's a good example of how strong-willed the woman can be, even daring to command gods when she feels they are dealing in the matters of her jurisdiction. Actually, at the end of the day, being out of her land would mean Zerika will generally just see to the responsibilities of whatever she feels must be done, and from there lean toward relaxation and indulgence -- she does love settling down with coffee or wine, dabbling in art or debating philosophy and metaphysics, or walking and contemplating ideas. She specifically designed part of the new Imperial Palace with that in mind, after all.
Appearance: A Dragearan of the Phoenix House, Zerika is an elf with the DNA of a phoenix spliced into her genes. Seeing as she is the last Phoenix, her appearance is extremely distinctive among her race. Zerika stands at about seven feet, with the slender build and slightly pointed ears of her people, but a less angular face and blue eyes. The Empress keeps a head of long, golden hair, with the hairline dipping down a point called a "noble's peak" at the height of her forehead. Her hair is generally described as "flowing," always left loose. She carries herself with a certain collected poise that is associated with her House and station, but is prone to relaxing to favor people in private with warm smiles. Zerika's wardrobe is almost exclusively colored gold, a symbol of her House.
Her expressions are often warm amusement, cold authority, dry sarcasm, or flashes of emotion that have escaped her self-control.
Abilities: Zerika has a graceful writing and drawing hand, and is noted to be highly skilled in the roasting of coffee beans at a time when the skill was rare. Zerika has been seen working on building designs and has been complimented on the maps she draws up. She is passingly familiar with the handling of a light dueler's sword, but has only employed a blade once onscreen. Dragaerans have life expectancies of several thousand years, and are commonly depicted as being able to drink large quantities of alcohol while remaining eloquent in speech (even if they make the typical dumb decisions once drunk, and may not remember what's been said once they've sobered up). However, any abilities beyond the mundane are only granted by a connection to the Imperial Orb; its qualities are detailed in the Inventory.
Inventory: -Imperial Orb: An ancient relic made of a substance called "trellenstone," the Orb is the symbol of the ruler of the Dragaeran Empire, an invaluable tool for leadership, and a method of defense.
When active, the artifact orbits the head of the Empress, glowing and shifting color to demonstrate her mood at any given moment and slowing its orbit to indicate careful thought. It can provide lie detection (fallible: when employed, the Orb moves to circle the head of the person being questioned, and while it will detect lies can be fooled if the person being questioned is clever enough in their wording, or if the questions posed are sloppy enough to allow loopholes -- or the listener might simply misunderstand what is being said). The Orb keeps a massive database of information -- recording things that occur in its presence for reference, keeping a map of the Dragaeran Empire, and keeping the lineage of all the Empire's citizens in case a background check is needed. Thus, the Empress may consult the Orb to draw on the experience of her predecessors or attempt to make informed decisions based on knowledge of the background of the Dragaeran citizen she is dealing with on a particular occasion. The Orb can also be consulted as an accurate timepiece for the Empire, which runs on a 30-hour day. It can be used to conduct mind-to-mind communication with any citizen of the Empire, which will be entirely useless and redundant in this setting (I would only seeing it being used if someone apped another Dragaeran and they needed to converse privately).
The two greatest functions of the Orb are defense for its bearer and the enabling of sorcery for citizens of the Empire. It has never been demonstrated how the Orb defends its bearer, as the two times we've seen someone attack the Emperor or Empress directly, the attackers had feared its interference and arranged to have the Orb rendered inert for their plans; for our purposes, let us assume it defends the bearer with a sorcerous barrier to ward off physical or magical attack, and retaliates with energy blasts. The Orb can also track and attack citizens at a range; in the Vlad Taltos novels it's noted that one should not cause the Empress' temper to flare up when communicating through the Orb, because of the potential of being attacked even at that long distance.
Finally, the Orb is attuned to the land of the Empire to more literally preserve the foundation of Dragaera: it stabilizes the land and weather. Zerika reveals that the Orb prevents natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tornados.
Contact: pm this journal
Character Information:
Name: Zerika the Fourth, aka "Zivra"
Canon: Vlad Taltos/The Khaavren Romances
Canon Point: Eleven years into her reign as the Empress of Dragaera. After that, the story switches to a different narrator set several centuries later; it's simpler not to need to deal with the gap in time.
Age: About 260 years old.
Reference: Wiki.
Setting:
"(Verra) was there when they began their experiments with the plants and the trees, and then with the animals, and then with the people who came to be called Easterners: changing some of them a little, some of them a great deal, some of them not at all. Improving, in certain cases, upon them: extending their lifespans and the abilities of their minds, and making into them the people who came to be called Human. Yes, Vlad, our beings and even our languages come from your people, and you can take whatever pride in that you care to. Aliera, of course, refuses to believe it, but it is true."
-Sethra Lavode, Vlad Taltos 9: Issola
Long ago, a race of Sufficiently Advanced Extra-Dimensional Beings called the Jenoine got bored and with the setting's gods as their servants, started conducting sorcerous experiments, splicing the DNA of about animals with humans, creating long-lived elves -- "Dragaerans" -- of about seventeen different tribes (the number changed over time but seventeen is the number everyone focuses on for Reasons). Things happened, the Jenoine were overthrown and banished, and certain of the elves, which came to dominate a large portion of the world, formed the Dragaeran Empire, united by Keiron the Conquerer, Zerika the First and the impressive artifact now known as the Imperial Orb. They call themselves human, while the actual humans are now called Easterners and generally looked down upon; most Dragaerans actually go so far as to refuse to acknowledge they share a common ancestry with Easterners. The tribes became Houses, with each House taking a turn ruling according to a divine Cycle. The members of each house are both inclined by the nature of the animal spliced into their genes and taught in childhood to follow particular behavior that determines the purpose they serve. For example, Teckla are mice, so the members of the House of the Teckla tend to be meek; they became the peasant class, making up the majority of the population but generally downtrodden because of a temperament that only rarely leads to them standing up for themselves. Likewise, a Dragon is inclined toward the bloodshed and organization that makes a good soldier or general; an Athyra typically has the analytical mind suited to master sorcery; and so on. But the most noble House of the Phoenix has a dual nature: the dignity and ability to create or recreate a cause or organization that makes them the most respected in the Empire, but also a tendency toward disastrous decadence and self-indulgence.
Dragaeran society is delicate clockwork. The social structure of the Empire is highly dependent on the nature/nurture encouragement of archetypal behavior in those Houses. The Phoenix typically invigorate and/or spark some sort of social revolution or change, and their reign tends to end and move to the succeeding Dragon when an administration with a more militaristic bent is necessary to keep stability, and the conservative Lyorn traditionalist succeeds the Dragon's fatal arrogance and conquests. Or the Dzur take their turn when immediate and unflinching action is required, with the Issola succeeding with their tact and diplomacy to smooth over the problems that are sure to pile up from the rash actions of a Dzur. There is an actual metaphysical representation of the Cycle determining which House rules, but you generally can't see it while you're part of the living world; rather, people end up looking for signs that the Cycle has begun to favor the next House in line.
Sorcery is advancing, and viewed as the centerpiece of the Empire's future; the Empire has been covered in a glowing red haze that is essentially magical smog from some 200,000 years of this reliance. Teleportation and magical tracking is eliminating roadside bandits, and advances in sorcerous healing and revivification changes the culture's views on injury and death. A certain line of Dragon nobles even considered it fashionable to live in levitating castles. In fact, there are three different flavors of magic: Elder Sorcery, which is a dangerous practice that taps the power of chaos and illegal because when a spell goes awry it causes a major disaster; sorcery, which is much safer but requires a link to the Imperial Orb to access and practically requires the sorcerer to rearrange atomic patterns in their head; and witchcraft, which is pretty much psionic magic most commonly practiced by Easterners.
Actually, Dragaeran culture is highly shaped by the race's longevity and abundance of sorcery. Having several thousand years for an average lifespan and 30-hour long days, hyperbole and roundabout approaches to subjects has become the norm. Supplemental material actually jokes that this is engrained in the language and culture of the time period and the historian character that narrates the Khaavren Romances would actually be more long-winded if the canon weren't "translated" into English. Second, the abundance of sorcery means the average Dragaeran tends to treat things with a cavalier manner -- in a land where it's easy to revive a body as long as the brain is intact, killing another becomes less final, more of a message. It becomes perfectly acceptable to attempt to stab someone for cheating at a game or a critic being rude in their discussion of one's attempt at artwork. . . so long as certain legal proprieties are observed. Put it all together, and Dragerans begin to amusingly understate everything, up to and including a polite declaration of intent before attempting a shanking, labeling it with terms like "play," an "argument" or "discussion."
That cavalier attitude does extend to gods. While the original gods were the servants of the Jenoine, it is possible to ascend to godhood if a person is powerful enough. The minimum standard is pretty much the ability to break space/time, existing in multiple places at the same time. Some wizards have managed to ascend; a famous one, Sethra Lavode, was offered godhood after she died, but she was too good for that. She came back, undead, and has been helping keep the Jenoine from getting back into their world. So for the most part, Dragaerans see the gods as extremely powerful beings that should be respected, but they're more likely to treat them as people than as something to worship.
"At the beginning of our history, no one ruled. Later it was each House, through its Heir, which ruled each House. Then it became the nobles of all the Houses. For a brief time, at the end of the last Cycle, the Emperor did, indeed, rule, but that was short-lived, and he was brought down by assassination, conspiracy, and his own foolishness."
-Zerika, Vlad Taltos 4: Phoenix
As an empress, Zerika's story plays a large part in how the setting is shaping up as well. Fitting for a Phoenix, it is a story of disaster and rebirth. The decadence of Phoenix Emperor Tortaalik led to a two-fold problem: a revolt by the common man and an attempt to seize the Orb -- and thus, the throne -- by a Dragon named Adron. These problems were compounded by the assassination of the Emperor. Adron was actually next in line for the Orb anyway, so when he cast a spell he'd designed to steal control of the Orb and transfer it to himself, the spell was at odds with itself, resulting in it building up power until it failed and turned the capital city into a sea of amorphia -- chaos incarnate. With many dead and the Imperial Orb missing and believed destroyed (which incidentally eliminated sorcery, further breaking down the functioning of their society), Adron's Disaster destroyed the Empire, plunging Dragaeran society into an anarchic period known as the Interregnum. Without the Orb, plague, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes set in, bandits ruled the roads, and long-standing tradition began to break down. Zerika's father had been warned of danger by an Imperial Guardsman named Khaavren, so had sent Zerika's mother away from the capital city shortly before the Disaster; unfortunately, with the loss of sorcery setting back Dragaeran medical practices, Zerika's mother died while Zerika was a baby (Zerika's not certain what exactly happened to her, even now). Arrangements were made for her to be raised by a noble Dragon couple, but they were never informed of her lineage and thus were never able to explain it to her.
Zerika grew up in this period of anarchy, living in the port city of Adrilankha, where Countess Whitecrest managed to keep a semblance of order. Still, many longstanding traditions began to wear away; the youth in this period began to openly have affairs between Houses, which had always been frowned upon, and where Dragaerans would traditionally set out on careers and live independently sometime after becoming 100 years old, the youth then found themselves more like 200 and still without opportunities to move out for. As a result, several Adrilankha youth became something like close college friends, even formally organizing into the private club called The Society of the Porker Poker -- which has an appropriately dumb college kid story behind it that is irrelevant to Zerika's own history. Needless to say, the society held regular meetings in which the friends drank, gossiped, and proposed solutions to the world's problems in the way pseudo-intellectual drinking buddies tend to do. Over the years, Zerika also met an Easterner named Laszlo, who she engaged in an affair with, even more taboo than an affair between Houses. This was the comfortable routine of Zerika's life until she was 247 years old, when the ancient undead sorceress named Sethra Lavode decided it was time to reveal Zerika's lineage to her and bring her to Dzur Mountain -- Sethra's place of power -- to convince her to take part in a plan to recover the Imperial Orb and restore the Empire. With Zerika's departure from Adrilankha, the Society of the Porker Poker dissolved.
Sethra had figured out that the Orb was not destroyed in the Disaster, instead ending up in a place known as the Paths of the Dead, where dead Dragaeran souls end up to be judged by the gods for reincarnation. The sorceress reasoned that, as the last known surviving member of the Phoenix House, Zerika could navigate the Paths of the Dead and convince the gods to give her the Orb. The plan wasn't without risk: Zerika could die traveling to Deathgate Falls, the entrance to the Paths, she could get lost in the Paths, or the gods could refuse to grant Zerika the Orb, as it was entirely possible the Cycle had passed on from the Phoenix with Tortaalik's death. Zerika was glad to learn her heritage, and more, she found a friend in Sethra (which was surprising, since the sorceress has a frightening reputation and is essentially the Dragaeran boogeyman to the point that members of the Klingon-like Dzur House consider it the ultimate test of mettle to climb Sethra's mountain and attempt to destroy her -- which clearly has never gone as planned.) Zerika agreed to the plan, and spent weeks doing nothing but memorize instructions to navigate the Paths of the Dead, while Sethra recruited several people to escort her to the entrance. Among them were Piro, Viscount of Adrilankha and close friend of Zerika's; and Tazendra Lavode, a former member of the Phoenix Guard that had been the elite fighting force of the late Emperor. The common element between Piro and Tazendra was Khaavren, who was the former's father and the latter's bosom friend of several centuries (and, again, the man who warned Zerika's father so that Zerika even survived the Disaster); as a result the party was shaping up to be very close-knit. However, while they were preparing, a Dragon named Kana was enacting a plan to attempt forging his own Empire without the Orb, arguing that with the previous Emporer's death the Cycle had turned and it was his House's turn to rule. A war of succession was becoming inevitable.
Sethra remained in her lair to attend other business while the party set out for Deathgate Falls. This meant traveling by horse for several months, which were largely uneventful until the tail end, when they first encountered soldiers employed by Kana, who had heard from spies that Sethra was up to something and dispatched people traveling in that direction. This ended up being Zerika's first command situation, and she promptly told them off, since their goals were obviously incompatible. They fought, but Kana's force escaped to inform the bulk of the army; Zerika ordered a more strenuous pace, since Kana would respond by sending more soldiers to stop them. However, as they reached Deathgate Falls, instead of Kana's forces catching up, they were met by bandits hired by Grita, an enemy of Tazendra's. Zerika exchanged barbs with Grita, then decided accomplishing the mission was more important than trying to win a fight with this new obstacle. . . so she promptly turned her horse around, and charged it off the top of the waterfall, taking what should have been a lethal fall into the Paths of the Dead.
Whether because her horse broke the fall or some other factor, Zerika survived to navigate the Paths of the Dead, which were generally confusing and trippy; after this, she met the gods, who used the pretense of questioning her to determine if she was fit to take the Orb as a means to try intimidating her and make her a tool for them to shape the Empire's future to their will. The strange circumstances initially did intimidate Zerika, but eventually she adapted, regathered her will, and began to talk back to the gods. She figured out what they were trying, and commanded them to give her the Orb, informing them that if they wanted something from the Empire, they would not tell her what to do -- they would submit a request and she would decide whether to grant it.
"Your Majesty must understand that he considers himself to be the Emperor; therefore, he is not, in his own mind, a traitor."
-Duke Galstan, The Khaavren Romances: The Lord of Castle Black
Zerika re-emerged from the Paths of the Dead and the war for succession officially began with Grita and her bandits attacking as Zerika reunited with her party (Tazendra and Zerika working together very quickly drove Grita to ally with Kana). Immediately after, Khaavren arrived, having set out from Adrilankha some months before to support his son -- which was lucky, because Kana's head spy, Duke Galstan, was another friend of Khaavren's. Seeing his friend again, Galstan defected to fight for Zerika (effectively making Kana's spy network Zerika's). Knowing Khaavren was an excellent soldier in the service of the previous Emperor, Zerika began referring to him as her Captain, without so much as asking if he would accept a position. After Galstan's defection, Kana's soldiers attacked and were repelled. Possessing the Orb immediately gave Zerika an advantage of legitimacy over Kana; those old enough to have lived in the Empire before the Disaster missed the Orb and all it meant, so several survivors of the first two battles pledged themselves to her -- and though Zerika was privately unhappy with any bloodshed in her name, she had the will to easily order the execution of any prisoners that would not defect. They needed to get back to Sethra's place of power before Kana could bring his full forces to bear, so they couldn't carry prisoners and they couldn't leave enemies behind to cause any further trouble.
The party hurried in the direction of Dzur Mountain, but Kana sent his considerably large army in that direction as well. Unfortunately for Kana, this set him at odds with a young Dragon named Morrolan who had recently come to reclaim his ancestor's land; Morrolan had no loyalty to the Empire and saw no need for one, but he had met and liked Sethra, so when Kana's forces showed up in the area and wanted to demand Morrolan swear loyalty to Kana or lose his lands by force, Morrolan took umbrage and set his measly three thousand soldiers against Kana's larger armies. Zerika's party was unable to make it directly to Dzur Mountain, but they were able to make it to Morrolan's fortress, where they were able to win the battle despite the disparity in forces because of the advantage the Orb granted: only citizens of the Empire could draw on the Orb to cast sorcery, and if Kana's forces pledged loyalty to the bearer of the Orb. . .they would no longer be Kana's forces, but Zerika's. Tazendra tapped the Orb to cast a spell lifting Morrolan's castle a mile into the sky, where a number of Easterner witches who were Morrolan's followers kept it aloft with their witchcraft. Tazendra and Sethra devised a method to teleport supplies and then soldiers back and forth. Those pressing needs taken care of, Tazendra turned her attention to periodically raining fire and lightning on Kana's forces, causing considerable destruction and a great deal of desertion from the enemy's ranks -- many of whom Galstan's spies recruited to Zerika's service. Incidentally, Morrolan, who had until then been fighting simply out of personal pride and his friendship to Sethra, finally pledged loyalty to Zerika -- and she found among his Easterner witches her old lover, Laszlo. She named Galstan her official confidant, discussed the problem of having an affair with an Easterner with him, and proceeded to reignite the affair, continuing their trysts in "secret." She promptly engaged in nepotism; Laszlo was named Count Brimford, the first Easterner to receive an Imperial title.
Zerika decided to attack and drive the enemy back, which continued success led to a decision to extend the push into a full-on march back to Adrilankha, which the fledgling Empress decided would be her capital. Lacking an Imperial Palace, she was invited to live in and hold court in the manor of Adrilankha's Countess. For the next two years, Zerika's time was spent mired in paperwork and diplomacy. The Empress had to convince the nobility of the Houses to recognize her legitimacy, begin reorganizing the infrastructure of the Empire, and come up with preliminary drawings for a new Imperial Palace for architects to build upon and begin construction. Controlling a large port meant that Zerika ended up dominating the seas, while Kana initially dominated land, with the various Houses generally deciding who to support based on economic decisions. Zerika made the risky decision to not spend money on increasing the size of her army more than the defections had already increased it, focusing instead on improving the land's road infrastructure in a bid to win the support of the Houses that relied on more land-based economic trade. Two years in, she found herself making little more progress, so began sending envoys to lands outside the Empire's traditional borders in order to garner foreign support. It was about this time the next major clash occurred.
"It was a treacherous attack," said Khaavren.
"No, it was an act of war," said the Empress. "With as much -- or as little -- justification as the Pretender has for engaging in this contest."
-The Khaavren Romances: Sethra Lavode
On the courtly front, Kana's agents attempted to cause a falling-out between Zerika and her advisors, Khaavren and Galstan. In both cases, there was initial success; Khaavren resigned over displeasure with a promise Zerika was forced to back out of, but after a year of Khaavren sulking, Sethra arranged to reconcile the Empress and her Captain. The two managed to begin working together again without major injuries to their pride. Galstan was another matter; one of Kana's agents knew of Zerika's affair with Laszlo, and leaked this information to one of the most influential Houses, which withdrew its support, calling Zerika's taboo-breaking amoral. Since, to Zerika's knowledge, the only people aware of the affair had been herself, Laszlo and Galstan, she concluded he had betrayed her trust and dismissed him as her confidant. Khaavren, having been restored as Captain, was able to mend that rift.
On the military front, Kana attacked Adrilankha on two sides; at this time Zerika and Kana's armies were about equal, with Zerika's generally assumed to have the advantage because of sorcery and Morrolan's follower's witchcraft. So Kana arranged counters to deprive the army of their magical advantages, leveling the playing field. He also had a force of about twenty soldiers infiltrate the city to strike at Zerika herself; these forces waited until Kana's schemes rendered the Orb inert, then attacked, killing the Phoenix Guard; Khaavren and Galstan successfully used a choke point in the manor to defend the Empress, proving how vital the failed schemes to drive them away had been. Elsewhere, Morrolan killed a god to restore the witchcraft of his forces; this allowed Sethra to take Khaavren and Galstan to eliminate agents perpetuating the Orb's suppression. With that done, Zerika's army was able to thrash Kana's, after which Zerika ordered Khaavren to personally see to the arrest of her rival. By the next day, her Captain had arrested the man and his cousin, who had been instrumental to his plans. Zerika had a private discussion with them then ordered the construction of an Imperial execution site, where Kana and his cousin were killed.
A five day celebration followed the end of the war, and on the fifth day Zerika held a ceremony to personally reward those who were most instrumental to her installation as Empress. Galstan became her Prime Minister, but the general public believes the position was never filled because the man thinks the less people notice the Prime Minister, the more effectively the post will operate. Several months later all seventeen Houses officially recognized Zerika as Empress. The Empire was restored; as a respite from the duties of rebuilding the social structure, Zerika revived the Society of the Porker Poker, though it's noted that they wouldn't officially meet for some time -- she promised that they would resume regular meetings when once her reign was complete and the Orb had passed on to the next Empress. In the sixth year of her reign, she unofficially moved out of the Countess' manor and into the Palace, which was complete and "officially" occupied in the eleventh year of her reign. Technically, her history extends much beyond this, but the story moves over to a much less reliable narrator whose stories rarely cross paths with the Empress, so don't provide much of a picture of what she's doing on a daily basis, how she's changed or generally thinks of everything. As a result, it is best to take her from these early years of her time as Empress.
Personality:
"My dear Morrolan, I ought to glower at you, as the brave captain does, or else give you a glance full of haughty disdain, as you perceive our good Lyorn is doing. But, do you know, I believe I like you."
-Zerika, The Khaavren Romances: Lord of Castle Black
Just as the Phoenix represents both death and rebirth, there is a certain duality to Zerika: the Empress is both a benevolent grand thinker willing to sacrifice much for the good of the land, and a self-indulgent youth. Perhaps more importantly, she is both a figure of the old traditions of the Empire's culture and the product of an anarchic time that would bend and break those traditions.
Zerika herself is identified in the violent Dragaeran culture as primarily a dignified young woman with a quiet and warm air about her. She is said to have a retiring nature. The Phoenix falls into the same hyperbolic and wordy conversational patterns as the rest of her people, but she abhors bloodshed. Outside of her role as Empress, Zerika is shown to enjoy watching the antics of rowdier people, usually just getting involved to rein them in when things are getting out of hand (for instance, her enjoyment of her Society friends getting into silly metaphysical arguments). As Empress, Zerika tends to downplay herself and prefers diplomatic or economic solutions over force of arms. She doesn't consider herself a ruler, but an intermediary, as she explains on one occasion that the ruler of the Empire depends on the circumstances -- if there is a famine in the north, the farmers in the south rule, and so on with her merely attempting to maneuver everyone to best facilitate getting what's needed to where it's needed. The citizens of the Empire mostly smile on her as a "reborn" Phoenix, which is built up as someone who can only cause prosperity for the Empire, but Zerika reveals any Phoenix is both decadent and reborn. She will be a reborn Phoenix only as long as she maintains that amiable and benevolent presentation, keeping her indulgences in check. She actively plans to abdicate when it becomes clear she is no longer maintaining that balance (and it has been stated that eventually she does exactly that).
So what about that decadence? First, we know that Zerika has in the past been prone to overindulgence of intoxicants, even commenting once that the closest experience she can identify with the concept of "eternity" is a hangover. We know that these things continue after becoming Empress, simply learning to be discrete to protect the image of poise and dignity -- for instance, reassembling her drinking buddies in the Society of the Porker Poker but not "officially" meeting while she's Empress. At one point, Vlad Taltos suspects that she had been drinking heavily before granting him an audience. When she starts feeling stressed and overworked, her temper might flare and she'll seek out a party with "people, noise and life." And most scandalous, she engages in interspecies affairs. The only consideration she gives to that taking a human lover could damage her reputation and affect her role in politics is that she should not let it become public knowledge (though she is not as discrete as she would like to think, and her affair is public knowledge, such that people gasp and draw conclusions if an Easterner asks her for a moment in private).
Part of why she's willing to engage in reputation-damaging indulgences is the influence of growing up in the anarchy of the Interregnum. Tradition started breaking down, leading to affairs between Houses, and since Zerika grew up not knowing she would be Empress, she saw this and concluded for the most part as long as it wasn't hurting anyone go ahead and behave unconventionally. This shows in more than just her interspecies affair, but also in who she surrounds herself with. On one hand, she will put up with frustrating eccentricities if she sees merit in it, but she most frequently is shown to be amused by unashamed unconventional behavior. Khaavren, for example frequently throws a fit and resigns over this or that, and it's stated that unless there's an immediate need she just leaves the Captain's position open until he comes back, keeping him one of her closest advisors for centuries (though it frustrates her that he will criticize her actions when he gave her predecessor no such trouble; he claims he only gives her trouble because she has the potential to be a better ruler and it will help her grow). She may laugh at impertinence that makes her most traditional servants glare -- amused by Morrolan's impolite but frank statements, or by Vlad Taltos staring at her and admitting to thinking improper thoughts. She also appreciates irony and splitting hairs in wordplay. One example is when an armed enemy says they "regret" they cannot allow her to go about her plans. She informs them they are right to feel that way, knowing full well it was just a polite turn of phrase.
Incidentally, Zerika will have to warm up to any network communication elements in play. The Orb allows any citizen of her Empire to contact her directly, mind-to-mind. Considering the Empire has a very large population, that would get old very fast -- and, it seems, it has, since citizens worry about whether or not the reason for their call will be deemed important enough for them to have interrupted whatever she was doing at the time, or if it will cause her to punish them in one way or another. She views communications devices as important and convenient, but annoying; she'd really rather talk face-to-face, over refreshments. And she's more likely to get frustrated and annoyed than actually work into a rage over anything. We see her temper flare when overworked, and her reaction is to throw a pen at a wall then go find a party to destress at. We also see her annoyed at an official that takes too long even by Dragaeran standards to get to the meat of an issue, but it is only briefly betrayed in her expression while the official isn't paying attention. Any displays of genuine anger are typically the result of becoming overburdened with stress and/or she has had her trust betrayed and someone has just had the guts to present her with an impertinence on top of that. In other words, it is always a combination of frustrating elements piling up. Otherwise, displeasure is usually just expressed with a stiff and cold bearing.
Zerika's quite young for a Dragaeran in her position, but interestingly, characters take to describing her as physically young, but in some sense very, very old. Presumably this is a sign of the weight being a responsible Empress has on her; Zerika shows in conversation with Vlad that she has been drawing extensively on the Orb's 200,000 years of records, learning how the Empire's culture works and evolved. Where many Dragaerans prefer to forget the origins of their species, preferring not to associate themselves with the "lesser" humans they were made from, Zerika considers it foolish not to be as well-informed as possible. She can draw on the experiences of all the Empire's previous rulers; wouldn't it be irresponsible not to do so? Thanks to the Orb, she can lecture with the best of them on how their social constructs were invented, much less how time has transformed them.
"Words represent thoughts, and I am sharing my thoughts, because they are all I have to hand at present. Give me something stronger than words to wield, and I will gladly do so."
-Zerika, The Khaavren Romances: The Paths of the Dead
What really ties all these contrary aspects together and makes Zerika work is her strong will. The Empress is a self-described "changeable person," trying to control which of the above aspects are in play to suit the situation. While she does not consider herself a ruler, she believes it is her will that is the lynchpin of the Empire's workings. She believes in her fallibility and seeks the advice of others, but at the end of it, unless she specifically relinquishes control in some way she wants to be the person who makes a decision and she expects that decision to be heeded (as long as it falls within her perceived authority; she has the final say-so in what she does or how her citizens are governed, but wouldn't presume to, say, order a foreign citizen as if he were one of her own). She draws upon the unconventional behavior she learned in the Interregnum when she thinks that allowing someone to act outside the law will solve some political intrigue.
There is a time and place for everything. Zerika supports keeping certain narcotics legal, and while she keeps the dangerous Elder Sorcery outlawed, it's well-known that she doesn't enforce that law -- that she even becomes friends with the daughter of the man who killed Zerika's predecessor with Elder Sorcery. Thanks to the Orb, Zerika recognizes the vital role of each House and the way the Houses predispose their members toward certain behaviors. She understands that the House of the Jhereg, which is essentially the Dragaeran mob, does have a role built into the Empire's workings, and that laws will inevitably be broken for one reason or another. It is better to condone some and keep things from getting out of hand than to attempt cracking down on everything. It's actually explained that she'd rather not crack down on protesters because there are times when it's better to let things run its course -- have the police grab a dissident, and you're just going to justify his or her cause. She at times talks as though she condones law-breaking; but again, only in an acceptable time and place. While Zerika sees the need for the criminal Jhereg, she also considers each of them guilty of something and will gladly take the opportunity to punish one if he or she gets too far out of line.
Though she abhors violence, if someone approaches with drawn weapons, she calls it a courtesy to also prepare to fight; she orders the execution of those she knows will only harm the interests of her Empire if they're allowed to live; and when those eccentric friends of hers take an impertinence too far she surprises them by growing cold and speaking as though her word is law. Or perhaps the best example of how she suits action to what she deems necessary is when she pits her will against her world's gods: when repeatedly insulted by one, she finally challenges him, admitting that she doesn't think she has the resources or ability to harm him but adding "unless I must" -- essentially withdrawing the threat as long as he quits behaving like that. She even has the gall to order them to submit to her will in matters regarding her land and people. She's unlikely to act this way in a game, recognizing that on a foreign world with none of her people her titles mean nothing -- but it's a good example of how strong-willed the woman can be, even daring to command gods when she feels they are dealing in the matters of her jurisdiction. Actually, at the end of the day, being out of her land would mean Zerika will generally just see to the responsibilities of whatever she feels must be done, and from there lean toward relaxation and indulgence -- she does love settling down with coffee or wine, dabbling in art or debating philosophy and metaphysics, or walking and contemplating ideas. She specifically designed part of the new Imperial Palace with that in mind, after all.
Appearance: A Dragearan of the Phoenix House, Zerika is an elf with the DNA of a phoenix spliced into her genes. Seeing as she is the last Phoenix, her appearance is extremely distinctive among her race. Zerika stands at about seven feet, with the slender build and slightly pointed ears of her people, but a less angular face and blue eyes. The Empress keeps a head of long, golden hair, with the hairline dipping down a point called a "noble's peak" at the height of her forehead. Her hair is generally described as "flowing," always left loose. She carries herself with a certain collected poise that is associated with her House and station, but is prone to relaxing to favor people in private with warm smiles. Zerika's wardrobe is almost exclusively colored gold, a symbol of her House.
Her expressions are often warm amusement, cold authority, dry sarcasm, or flashes of emotion that have escaped her self-control.
Abilities: Zerika has a graceful writing and drawing hand, and is noted to be highly skilled in the roasting of coffee beans at a time when the skill was rare. Zerika has been seen working on building designs and has been complimented on the maps she draws up. She is passingly familiar with the handling of a light dueler's sword, but has only employed a blade once onscreen. Dragaerans have life expectancies of several thousand years, and are commonly depicted as being able to drink large quantities of alcohol while remaining eloquent in speech (even if they make the typical dumb decisions once drunk, and may not remember what's been said once they've sobered up). However, any abilities beyond the mundane are only granted by a connection to the Imperial Orb; its qualities are detailed in the Inventory.
Inventory: -Imperial Orb: An ancient relic made of a substance called "trellenstone," the Orb is the symbol of the ruler of the Dragaeran Empire, an invaluable tool for leadership, and a method of defense.
When active, the artifact orbits the head of the Empress, glowing and shifting color to demonstrate her mood at any given moment and slowing its orbit to indicate careful thought. It can provide lie detection (fallible: when employed, the Orb moves to circle the head of the person being questioned, and while it will detect lies can be fooled if the person being questioned is clever enough in their wording, or if the questions posed are sloppy enough to allow loopholes -- or the listener might simply misunderstand what is being said). The Orb keeps a massive database of information -- recording things that occur in its presence for reference, keeping a map of the Dragaeran Empire, and keeping the lineage of all the Empire's citizens in case a background check is needed. Thus, the Empress may consult the Orb to draw on the experience of her predecessors or attempt to make informed decisions based on knowledge of the background of the Dragaeran citizen she is dealing with on a particular occasion. The Orb can also be consulted as an accurate timepiece for the Empire, which runs on a 30-hour day. It can be used to conduct mind-to-mind communication with any citizen of the Empire, which will be entirely useless and redundant in this setting (I would only seeing it being used if someone apped another Dragaeran and they needed to converse privately).
The two greatest functions of the Orb are defense for its bearer and the enabling of sorcery for citizens of the Empire. It has never been demonstrated how the Orb defends its bearer, as the two times we've seen someone attack the Emperor or Empress directly, the attackers had feared its interference and arranged to have the Orb rendered inert for their plans; for our purposes, let us assume it defends the bearer with a sorcerous barrier to ward off physical or magical attack, and retaliates with energy blasts. The Orb can also track and attack citizens at a range; in the Vlad Taltos novels it's noted that one should not cause the Empress' temper to flare up when communicating through the Orb, because of the potential of being attacked even at that long distance.
Finally, the Orb is attuned to the land of the Empire to more literally preserve the foundation of Dragaera: it stabilizes the land and weather. Zerika reveals that the Orb prevents natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tornados.
