Lady Kimi

When the Mikage Autocracy was overthrown, the people of Yakai could finally look forward to a new future, one that was no longer ruled by fear and brutality. And while the lot of many of the common people certainly improved, the same could not be said for everyone. The Autocracy’s collapse was far from a clean or simple affair, and the idealistic beliefs that some of the rebels had fought for, that revolved around the absolute destruction of the Mikage and the creation of a freer and more open society, were not fully realized. The new order was not one championed by Lady Kimi. The descendant of an aristocratic Yakai family that had held power before the rise of the Mikage, Kimi had fought alongside the rebellion, and assumed that the lands and authority stolen from her forebears by the Mikage would be returned following the defeat of the servants of Siroth. But that was not to be. While the many Demonspawn who comprised much of the Autocracy’s upper echelons were executed following the rebellion’s victory, not all of the Mikage were marked for death. The more pragmatic faction within the victorious rebellion believed that the administrators and minor commanders who had run the Autocracy were still required if a stable society was to emerge from the ashes of war. Because of this, many of the lesser Mikage bureaucrats were pardoned and allowed to continue certain administrative duties. Among those spared was Lau Shey, a Mikage crony who had been given Kimi’s lands and estates by the previous regime. To her outrage, Kimi found that Yakai’s new leaders were unwilling to return her property to her. Even worse, she found that a number of her allies within the rebellion, many of whom tended to believe none of the Mikage should be spared, were mysteriously disappearing or suffering unexplained ‘accidents’. Kimi quickly became convinced that the triumphant rebellion was murdering former allies who disagreed with the new direction, and that in a sense the emerging regime was now just as bad as the Autocracy. She resolved to strike back, but knew she could not do so alone. Kimi established herself on the borderlands close to the Mistwood, an area populated by many of those now distrustful of the rebellion because of its distance from Yakai's heartlands. Finding allies proved difficult however, until Kimi was visited by several Sylvan Fae. They had somehow become aware of the unrest Kimi was seeking to foment. They offered to assist her, even grant her magical blessings if, when she regained her proper station, she agreed to give certain boons to them, and advance their cause within the Dawnlands. Though the Sylvan had provided invaluable aid to the rebellion, some of their number were maneuvering to take advantage of Yakai's new freedom to further exert their influence. In keeping with their unknowable ways, many of the Fae’s terms were strange and unsettling. They wished for, among other things, Kimi’s left eye, and her second-born child, if ever she had one. The Yakai noblewoman suppressed her distress at their demands, for her determination to right what she saw as the wrongs that were besetting her knew no bounds. Kimi accepted the Fae’s terms. Upon this, they attuned her to the Rhythm and granted her powers that subtly set her apart from the mere mortal she had once been. Her appearance became more youthful, her body filled with fresh vitality. Those she met, especially the common folk, were easily enthralled by her words and beauty. A Fae glamor hung about her, one that she swiftly turned to her advantage. The Fae had also implanted short, magical horns into her scalp, and wove their spells like gossamer into the flower heraldry that decorated her armor and cloak, allowing them to guide her and follow her activities even from afar. Lady Kimi set about recruiting for her cause, working especially to attract those idealists who had survived the rebellion’s apparent cull. She promoted the idea that those who now controlled Yakai were little better than the Autocracy that came before, even giving time to a conspiratorial belief that the former rebellion’s upper echelons had themselves secretly fallen in league with Siroth. In truth Kimi is the one with secret masters, for while Fae rarely journey beyond the Mistwood, her allies use her as their agent. They, and the driving pulse of the Rhythm, drive Kimi to push her power and influence further. The rebellion Kimi has been stirring is not yet open, for she does not intend to strike before she feels victory is assured. Her first effort will surely be to reclaim her old domains, after which she will challenge Yakai’s rulers to try to take her lands back. Until the day she is ready, she travels Peltas and the eastern Lost Isles, seeking more allies and, unwittingly, spreading the Fae’s influence beyond the Dawnlands.