Ninian

The small demesne of Fenlarch is a realm surrounded on all sides by aggressive, territorial neighbors who would love to assimilate it, and maintains its independence almost entirely by the power of its ruling princess.

Long, long ago in the distant past (maybe a hundred years, give or take a decade), the goddess Hywell imbued a humble woman of Fenlarch with a portion of her power in gratitude for hospitality and succor shown to her. As to why and where the goddess might be traveling incognito through the countryside as a decrepit old woman, nobody can say for certain. Ninian's ancestor received the goddess' blessing and her assurance that it would pass down through the women of her bloodline; when Fenlarch declared independence from the Veremond Federation a generation later, her daughters proved instrumental in securing the battlefield victories that made self-rule possible. The grateful people of Fenlarch acclaimed them as queens, but the eldest daughter did not wish to rule and returned to the farming life. The younger of the two therefore became the suzerain of Fenlarch, yet out of respect for her sister she insisted that she would always be "princess"; only if her sister claimed the throne would she accede to the title of "queen". As that side of the family eventually died out, tradition now dictates that Fenlarch is ruled by a sole princess. (But rather counterintuitively, Fenlarch is still considered a queendom.)

In the present day, Ninian inherited the throne when her mother Dowager Princess Idraeus abdicated to focus on her declining health. The strain of bearing a goddess' immense power is a heavy one, and the women of the Westin line are destined never to be hale. Many die in their middle years, pre-maturely worn thin by their birthright, and at least one of Ninian's ancestors perished to an assassin's knife. Ninian herself has always been a frail and fragile child unable to participate in the athletic sports or equestrian exercises common to young ladies of good breeding. She bruises easily and is often sleepy, requiring a great deal of rest on most days just to be able to function. Unlike some of the heroines in the fairy tales that she loves so much, Ninian is no warrior-princess. Instead she feels like a caged bird for most of her existence, carefully cosseted lest she inadvertently harm herself.

Because the power of Hywell runs only in the women of the family, Fenlarch is ruled solely by a princess. Ninian has three older brothers whom Idraeus first bore, trying for a daughter; after her birth, the privy council and the princess-consort agreed that further children would strain Idraeus too much - indeed, it was possible that four pregnancies already pushed Idraeus to the brink. Wondering if she will bear a daughter of her own before her body terminally weakens is a constant source of anxiety to Ninian. Her brothers, even as subjects, are fiercely overprotective of her.

Hywell's blessing allows Ninian to use summoning magic, calling forth fantastical creatures bound to her command to serve her. The goddess did place some restrictions on the ability lest her servants be tempted to misuse it - a summoner cannot summon another human, nor can she ever summon the same individual twice. To summon a creature requires the summoner to expend mana, but no energy is required to maintain the summoning, since the goddess herself sustains it. Ninian's ancestors used this blessing to protect Fenlarch amidst the turbulent politics of the area. Fenlarch's army being small and ceremonial, it falls to her to assume the primary responsibility of guaranteeing Fenlarch's independence. Unlike some of Fenlarch's past rulers, she has no fellow summoner to share this duty with and Ninian finds this a heavy burden for her frail shoulders to handle. Ninian is also plagued by unwanted suitors from equally unwanted neighbors; this, in addition to the pressure from her own privy council to marry and produce an heir, leaves her feeling perpetually overworked. (She's secretly grateful that she doesn't have it -quite- as bad as poor Princess_Liesel.)

Ninian's primary servant is Sainte Julia, summoned as part of her coronation ceremony. The Saintes of Fenlarch are women who willingly surrendered their existences to the goddess Hywell; adopted as daughters, they become demi-goddesses themselves and as such are subject to Ninian's summoning power, although Lady Hywell was most displeased by this lawyering interpretation of her summoning rules. This divine parentage renders them impervious to harm, and standing at nearly three hundred feet tall the Saintes represent a powerful force for the surrounding nations to reckon with. Julia answers to Ninian alone, but the two share a close friendship and get along quite pleasantly with each other - a stark contrast to Ninian's mother Princess Idraeus, who kept Sainte Michelle on a much tighter leash.

Will you aid the princess, or lead her to her doom?