#doloras

The Queens of the Night (or “whore queens” as smug mortals have come to call them...) are an alliance of Lawful Evil deities in Pathfinder’s canon.

-- Eiseth, The Erinyes Queen, She Who Defies Limitation, and Hell's Valkyrie;   former empyreal lord and founder of the Queens of the Night | devil of battle, revenge, and wrath

-- Mahathallah, the Dowager of Illusions; once a psychopomp usher, a handmaiden of the goddess Pharasma, who was granted a double-edged vision of her own death. | devil of death, fate, and vanity.

-- Ardad Lili, The End of Innocence, She of the Forked Tongue, and The Serpent Muse; once an angelic servitor of Shelyn, she became disillusioned by the working of her patron and joined Asmodeus’s Exodus to Avernus. | devil of seduction, snakes, and women.

After gaining the support of Ielle, Feyn was faced with the difficult task of keeping the peace in the rest of Delan. The Benvei cult still has strongholds in the wilderness, and they posed a serious threat to the stability of the Empire. He needed to show the rebels who was really in charge, and the thought grieved him. He did not want to resort to violence, but if he was to be taken seriously, he would have to.

He couldn't sleep one night, so he got out of bed and began to pace. What would Imi and Adan do? he thought. They had done all they could and still barely managed to keep the empire from crumbling. He would have to change tactics.

He remembered Imi's offer to help him gain power over life and death. He knew that it was unwise for him to tap into that magic. He decided to adapt her ruthless philosophy into something that would become uniquely his own.

Feyn was by nature a merciful man. He did not harm unless harmed first, and the nature of his chosen magic would not allow him to take an innocent life. Even when he was crafting weapons, he would never give someone a weapon they could use unjustly. He knew that for a time, this would have to change if he wanted to save the empire.

He thought back to the snakes that had protected him the night he was left to die, and as he went to the snake pit for morning feeding time, he got an idea. He picked the largest snakes in the pit and gave them a new purpose. He gave them humanlike bodies and the ability to speak and think for themselves. If he could not touch life and death, then he would use what he could. "Do what you can with what you have" became his motto and he reunited the Eryan Empire with it.

The snakemen he created that day became more than just his soldiers, they became his friends and advisors, as well.

People already found Feyn odd, but the snakemen were enough to raise alarm. Many of the old royal advisors handed in their resignations or fled the continent without explanation. This did not faze Feyn. Many of them were out of touch with the time and set in old ways. He needed to start fresh if he was to succeed. He chose his new advisors not for rank or status, but for their performance, wisdom, and ability.

He made his second in command none other than String. This was a wise choice, String had a sharp mind and acted decisively on many occasions. String knew Feyn well and they worked well together, another very important detail. String pointed out holes in Feyn's logic and was a calming influence when he needed one.

Another thing that people found odd about their emperor was that he showed no interest in finding a spouse, at least at first. People suspected that Feyn and String were lovers, but that was untrue. Feyn was viewed love as a distraction from his duty, but love soon came to him.

On his first military campaign, there was a group of rebels hiding out in a cave system in the East. Feyn himself pursued the group deep into the caves and was gravely wounded by a warrior wearing a striped mask that was more skilled with the sword than he was. He vowed that if he survived the wound, he would find the warrior again and best him in a duel.

What he didn't know was that the  warrior was a woman. She was the daughter of the former ruler of Tanna, a territory that fiercely resented the Eryan takeover. Her name was Eley, and her father had been killed in battle by Adan herself. Upon hearing the news of his death, she swore revenge against the Eryans, saying that she would kill the Eryan ruler or die in the process. She began her quest by training daily, both with magic and with weaponry.

At the age of twenty-two, she wounded Feyn of Delan, though she did not know who he was at the time. When she heard that she had failed in her mission, she went into hiding for many days.

While Feyn was healing, his head snakeman general, Nicholas, asked to make a final push against the rebels. Feyn agreed on one condition - that if he found a warrior wearing a striped mask, he would bring the warrior to him unharmed. Nicholas agreed.

A few hours later, the rebel force fell and the tall snakeman returned to Feyn carrying Eley, unmasked and unconscious. Eley was not what Feyn was expecting. He asked if Nicholas was sure that he had found the right person, and Nicholas said yes.

Feyn waited patiently for his enemy to wake, and when she did, she just stared at him. No one knows for sure what she thought for sure, but some legends hold that she saw a vision. Others say that she fell in love with Feyn at first sight.

Most, if not all sources agree that Feyn fell in love with her as soon as he saw her without her mask. Feyn could not bring himself to duel her, and instead she joined him on his journey.

Eley insisted that they return to Ielle at the end of his first campaign, and he agreed even though Ielle was very far away. She had heard the story of Feyn's large horse and wanted to see if it was true for herself.

They stayed in Ielle for three months and Eley helped establish a cavalry division for Feyn's army. All of this would be needed soon enough.

(A Doloras Story)

After the incident with the snake pit, Feyn Adare became the talk of the palace. Boss George, as the chief palace bully was called, was baffled. That runt was the first one to survive the snake pit. Everyone else they'd tossed in there had died within minutes. How did he survive, of all people? Why did he return to the snake pit every day? The boy must truly be magical, and magic was something that could not be tolerated.

The bullies didn't see Feyn around much anymore now that he was no longer a blacksmith in training. Feyn's new role as chief cupbearer made George angrier - teenagers came from all over Delan to try out for the role and the runt impressed the empress just by surviving a pit of snakes for one night? Impossible. He must have charmed her, too, somehow. George promised himself that he would get to the bottom of this.

In the meantime, the empress Imi was also impressed with Feyn. He was talented with magic, and that was admirable. She saw his potential, especially because he started his training so young, and offered to train him to use life and death to achieve his goals. He politely refused, saying that he should not be trusted with that kind of power. He knew he would not use it wisely.

This was true. He had frequent dreams that he decimated entire armies with the nod of his head, that he could raise a hand to the sky and summon the full power of the heavens. He knew that he could have that kind of power if he wanted it. He knew better than to want it. If he called that power into his life, there would be no getting rid of it.

Once someone chooses magic, his adoptive mother once told him, the magic honors that choice and it is with them for life. Many people in that day and age viewed magic as a plaything, something that they could control, and they paid for it dearly. In his Book of Magic, he wrote -

"Be careful how you use magic. It is never something that is in your control. You are simply a vessel, you can only channel it. It is, has been, and will eternally be bigger than you.

Choose your magic the same way you would choose your dearest friend - wisely and cautiously. What do you hope to accomplish? Who will benefit? Who will suffer? Does one outweigh the other in your mind? Ask yourself why.

Do not shy away from profound questions, for that is the only way you will come to know yourself and know your true power."

Imi respected his decision and praised the boy's wisdom. She knew that someday he would be more powerful than her. She also knew that she was not to be afraid.

While serving as cupbearer, he learned the importance of paying attention. Adan trusted many, and a few of the people she trusted were not worthy of that trust. As he served at meals, he heard many things. Though he was young, he knew more about the world than many of his peers and indeed more than many of the noblemen. He knew who was trustworthy and who was not. In his years in his position, he learned of several plots to take Adan's life. He relayed the information to Imi, and they worked together to eliminate the threats.

A time came where Imi and Adan returned the favor. Feyn went to visit the blacksmith's shop where he used to work one fine spring day. Boss George and his cronies praised him excessively, and Feyn knew that something was wrong. He informed Imi of his concerns, and Imi listened. That night, the pale Empress herself paid the bullies a visit.

The lone survivor of the visit was a small boy known only as String. He had no idea why he had been spared. He later asked Feyn why Imi had passed him over. "She knew your heart," Feyn replied. "You don't have any malice there."

Feyn took String under his wing and helped him heal from his time under Boss George. He even taught String magic.

When the time came to help Imi condense the laws of the land, Feyn helped by researching the things that Imi needed him to. In the process, he learned many things about the world outside the palace walls. All of this helped him in his next stage of life.

Shortly after all of the laws were compiled, both empresses died, leaving behind a power struggle. In order to keep Delan from falling into ruin, he devised a contest to determine the empire's next ruler, one he had no intention of winning.

The city of Ielle in the far west of Delan had a problem with a wild  horse. No one knew how to get him to calm down. The governor of Ielle agreed to support whomever could soothe the horse as ruler. Ielle's support was crucial to the Eryan Empire, for it was the second largest city in Delan. Feyn knew next to nothing about horses, but he suggested that as the contest that would determine the future ruler of the Eryan Empire.

Upon arriving in Ielle, Feyn noticed some important things about the horse in question. First, the horse was enormous. Second, though he was large, he was afraid of his own shadow. Feyn kept that knowledge to himself so that when the time came for the contest, he might have some idea of how to win.

(a Doloras Story)

A map of Doloras, the world in question, is at the bottom of this post. Delan, Adan's continent, is found at the bottom left.

According to the Dolorans best informed in history, the Eryans began the quarrel. They came over the Northern mountains in such great numbers that many supposed that they were invaders, but many modern sources suggest that they entered the Wide Plateau virtually unopposed. A few others suggest that the Eryans overtook a technologically advanced civilization and erased them from history by destroying the keys to deciphering their written language and monuments, but those sources are few and far between and I personally do not believe them. 

There is evidence that a civilization existed before the arrival of the Eryans. They had advanced sanitation systems and a written language. Even the most uneducated archeologist will agree with me that this old civilization vanished long before the Eryans arrived, leaving behind only ruins. 

In any case, the Eryans largely ignored this older civilization, bringing their language and culture over the Northern mountains and into the Wide Plateau. This language is no longer in existence today and no living languages are descended from it. All we now know about their culture comes from archeology and translations of translations of their literature, for all of the original documents have been lost for centuries. 

The greatest of the Eryans, Adan of the Berka clan, brought about the Eryan golden age when she conquered all of the neighboring tribes and claimed the continent for her empire. She named the continent Delan after her patron goddess, and it still bears this name today. 

In a bold move, Adan took a wife from Cheli, the chief enemy tribe of the Eryans. She was beautiful, ambitious, and intelligent. Adan saw this from the start and was determined to marry her. At the point where they met, Adan was only beginning her conquest and Imi, as her wife was called, was the most desirable woman on the continent. Men from everywhere came to court Imi, for her father, Astya, was a very wealthy high nobleman and they wished to gain his favor, marry his daughter, and thereby be wealthy for life. Astya was in for the shock of his life when Adan's honor guard found their way to his doorstep in a rainstorm carrying Adan, badly wounded and dying. They asked for his daughter, whom they heard was the best healer in the land. 

He recognized that Adan was his enemy, but he'd also been having dreams that his daughter would marry the conqueror of Cheli and their kingdom would benefit from it. His dreams were never wrong, so he agreed to take her in. Adan was sick with a high fever for many days. Imi took care of her. She worried for seven days and seven nights as her patient slipped in and out of consciousness, doing all she could to heal her. 

On the eighth day, Adan began to feel better. Imi came into Adan's room with breakfast to find Adan trying to sit up. Imi wept from relief. Adan was confused as to where she was and why there was a fair skinned woman weeping in front of her. Adan introduced herself in Eryan, and to her surprise, Imi replied in the same language. Adan quickly learned where she was, who Imi was, and that her loyal honor guard hadn't left the house while she recovered. Adan asked bluntly why they hadn't killed her. Imi explained that her father was a man of visions and that he must have seen something, for not even her many suitors were allowed in the house while Adan healed. Adan would never know what Astya saw. 

Three days later, Adan asked Astya for Imi's hand in marriage, for she knew that that was the only way she'd ever see Imi again. She timidly approached Astya and asked for permission to marry his daughter. His laughed and wept. His reply was "if she agrees, yes." Imi did agree, but Adan had to go to war and finish her campaign again before they could get married. Adan made Imi a promise that she would return in six months with the whole continent under her control. True to her word, she arrived at Imi's doorstep at sunset on the final day of the sixth month of her absence, having finally brought Cheli under her rule peacefully the day before.

One of Imi's suitors, a man named Areus, refused to go quietly. He believed he was entitled to Imi's hand because he was the most handsome man in his tiny fishing village on the northeast coast. He convinced the rest of the suitors to attack Adan the day before their wedding ceremony. Imi learned of the plot and tried to warn Adan, but it was too late. The suitors had already surrounded Adan and she was outnumbered. There were thirteen suitors and only one Adan. As she watched her fiancée fight off the suitors, something inside her snapped and she began to sap the life forces of all of the men attacking Adan. 

They all fell to the floor one by one, leaving Areus as the only suitor left alive. He pleaded for mercy, but Imi was not kind to those who were cruel to her or those she cared about. She snapped her fingers and he fell to the ground, lifeless. Adan respected Imi even more now that she knew about her power. There were many times during her long reign that she could have asked Imi to use her gift, but she never did. Imi decided to do that all on her own, and her army of Immortals became one of the reasons that the Eryan Empire became feared for centuries. 

Over time, Imi came to the conclusion that her gift was useful and helpful. She used it to reanimate fallen soldiers to create an unstoppable, unfeeling force that could crush a city in a matter of hours. Imi became known to most of the Eryan conquered territories as the Pale Horsewoman. She struck terror into the hearts of all who saw her with the exception of Adan, who loved her fiercely.