Lady Mikage

When the tides of battle ran irrevocably against Siroth at the close of the Second Great War, many Demonspawn in Teleria turned their swords on themselves, knowing that slaying their host bodies would see them swiftly returned to Anathraad. Not all did so, however. One Demonspawn prince named Heldire was convinced by his subordinate, a Demonspawn named Mikage Jorogumo, to continue the Shadow God's work in secret. Mikage was an old and cunning being who held a particular affinity for arachnids, whose patience, intelligence, and deadly temperament she honored with her own spider-like form. Cunning, she could weave traps both physical and political, and though rarely seen was often present during the destruction of her enemies, watching from the shadows. Heldire, who had steadily been falling under Mikage's charming sway, consented to her scheme, and his underlings dispersed, beginning a period of more covert action against the peoples of Teleria. Heldire, Mikage, and a number of Demonspawn ventured into the Human-dominated Dawnlands of Yakai, intending to corrupt what they could not directly conquer. Taking on Human forms, they infiltrated positions of power across the region and rapidly began subverting the clans living there. In fact, Mikage had long coveted Yakai. It was distant enough from the Eternal Citadel to ensure the Sacred Order would not meddle in her designs, and gave her a location to one day strike the Arbiter's Tower from. She had also been working to secretly undermine Heldire's standing among his warriors almost since the beginning of the Second Great War. After taking on the role of a trusted advisor within several prominent Dawnlander clans, Mikage exposed Heldire's Demonic form, convincing the Humans to attack the stronghold he had been building at Kumoshiro. Covertly, Mikage mixed the paralyzing venom she could excrete into the garrison's water supply, leaving Heldire and his minions powerless to defend themselves. The Humans slaughtered them. Thus did Mikage further cement the trust she had earned from the witless Dawnlanders. Mikage likewise used Heldire's destruction as an example to other Demonspawn, showing those who resisted her authority that she could expose them to the Humans now in her thrall. She set about weaving more webs among the clans, rapidly subverting them. Nobles were seduced, old pacts broken, and within the space of just a few years swathes of Yakai had sworn themselves to the beautiful woman they knew as Lady Mikage, with Heldire's original servants soon hugely outnumbered by those Mikage had turned. What became known as the Mikage Autocracy quickly held sway in eastern Peltas, beginning a reign of terror that lasted for centuries. Lady Mikage pleased Siroth with a foretaste of what could come for all Teleria, creating a kingdom where Demonspawn ruled and their mortal underlings inflicted all manner of brutalities on any who would not swear obeisance. Kumoshiro became her powerbase, and her capital — she filled its throne room with thick webs and entangled within them the desiccated corpses of those who had displeased their spider queen. But Mikage did not grow indolent in victory. Like the arachnids she loved to mimic and control, she knew it was best if her prey were unaware that she sat at the center of her web, blind to her presence until it was too late. She was rarely present at Kumoshiro, preferring instead to walk abroad, her true and terrible form concealed using the beatific, magical mask she wore. She continued to subvert and corrupt, and her influence scuttled down into even the lowest layers of Yakai society. Besides the many mortals who did her bidding, Mikage also wove dark magics around a great number of spiders, giving some the ability to metamorphosize into human form. In this way these servants could travel abroad and spread her influence further, spinning more traps to catch spies and traitors and lure in the unwary, their true nature only hinted at by the web tattoos found on parts of their bodies, their unblinking stares, and their swift but silent tread. While the Autocracy grew powerful and Lady Mikage all-but omnipotent thanks to her minions and spiderlings, eventually the brutality of Yakai's rulers pushed the common people too far. A rebellion began, spreading like wildfire among the lower classes and eventually receiving support from the likes of the Sylvan of the Mistwood and the Dwarves of the Skyiron Dominion. Armed conflict erupted throughout Yakai, as the forces of the Autocracy fought to suppress what turned into a vicious guerrilla campaign. Lady Mikage turned her talents to the destruction of the rebellion, and almost succeeded. She tricked and seduced many of its leaders, sending their forces into ambushes, or luring them to Kumoshiro's dungeons. But the uprising proved bigger for any one being to contain, even one as fiercely cunning and terrifyingly ruthless as Lady Mikage. As more Autocracy strongholds fell and more people joined the rebellion, Lady Mikage's efforts became ever-more desperate. She withdrew entirely from direct leadership of the Autocracy, leaving her web throne in Kumoshiro unoccupied as she lurked in the shadows elsewhere in Yakai. She became even more of a legend than she had been before, and some denied that she had even existed at all. This suited her well, for when Kumoshiro was finally burned and the last of her great webs were immolated, the rebellion's leaders chose to claim that Mikage had perished in the flames, rather than admit that she had evaded them. Since that defeat, Lady Mikage has haunted Yakai, like a nightmare that refuses to fully dissipate with waking. She carefully conceals her true, arachnid form, taking the guise of a masked noblewoman or poor traveler as need takes her. She knows she cannot return to Anathraad, for her failure to aid Siroth in the Third Great War while failing to control Yakai would see her grievously punished by the Shadow God. So she remains in the shadows, a fallen ruler who, with the slow but diligent patience of a spider, is carefully weaving her broken web anew.