Link to article: The Black Queen.
[[>]] [[module Rate]] [[/>]] > {{I am going to make you cry.}} > > //Subject designate "Black Queen", first documented communication.// ------ Welcome to my tiny corner of myth. So, what we have here is an almost “micro-canon”. That is to say, it's not really a major change to the “standard” Foundation universe...just an addition. The addition comes in the form of The Black Queen. Some old-timers may remember this person from a very long time ago, but other than the name and some basic habits, they share no real relation. What's more, she comes in two different flavors. First, the things that are the same. The universe, The Foundation, and the other groups are all here. The world is more or less the same as it's always been. So the stage itself is not very different than your standard tale, to be tweaked or adjusted in the same way as basically any other. The origins of The Black Queen are also consistent. It is very likely that she is the daughter of Dr. Gears, left behind when he was absorbed into The Foundation. He had apparently been growing estranged from them for a time, but the final break, sudden and total, appears to have unhinged his wife, and left his daughter with the burning question of why. On the Black Queen side of the coin, she snaps. Coupling her father's focus with her own intellect and sociopathic drive, she begins to try and scrape and cut her way into finding out what happened to her family. Once she discovers the edge of the veil the groups and Foundation operate behind, she starts a slow, pinpoint assault. She uses and manipulates with threats, money, seduction, or terror, whatever brings about her goals best. The Black Queen is driven by a desire to get her father back...however it may be that the game itself is becoming the goal. She is implied to be working with MC&D, primarily for funding, but would not be above working with anyone, or wrecking anyone who gets in her way. On the Broken Hearted side, she keeps it together. Rising in the ranks as a brilliant, if somewhat withdrawn researcher, her hobbies are taking care of her slowly degenerating mother, and trying to unravel the mystery of what happened to her father. In so doing, she gets on the radar of both The Foundation, and various other groups. Some see her as a bargaining chip, to use against The Foundation in some way. Others, an annoyance. Others see her as simply another asset, to be taken in or used however is most efficient. She herself is stumbling into this blind... but she has a steel in her spine, and a desire to succeed, to thrive. How she'll develop under these new pressures remains to be seen. The Black Queen is easy to work into other universes, and the time-line established by the “seed” stories is very adjustable. There are plenty of holes for side-stories, prequels, and progression. Her slippery, near-supernatural ability to subvert people and security allows her to deal with major groups on a level of threat they're probably not used to from a single person. Even her non-deadly generation is still remarkably good at not getting swatted. ------ **The Root** [[[Splinters]]] by Dr. Gears **The Black Queen stories** [[[Opening Moves]]] by Dr. Gears [[[Queen To Pawn]]] by Dr. Gears [[[Quiet Game]]] by Dr. Gears [[[Kriegspiel]]] by Dr. Gears **The Broken Hearted stories** [[[Work Journal 2]]] by Dr. Gears [[[Work Journal 2 Cont]]] by Dr. Gears [[[Work Journal 3]]] by Dr. Gears ------ Ideas: What happened before the start of the seed stories? Has the Black Queen knocked on the door of any other groups, for good or ill? On the Broken Hearted side, has her life not been quite as simple as she thinks? Has this final step been building for a while, by other groups hoping to position her to their advantage? What's happening to the things she steals? Is she having a larger impact on the world? She doesn't care about the Veil at all...could she be leaking information out?