> [!infobox|wikipedia] > # Empress Morganna Eventide > [![[Codex/Assets/Characters/Empress_Morganna_Eventide_small.webp|cover hsmall]]](Codex/Assets/Characters/Empress_Morganna_Eventide.webp) > ###### Basic Information > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Type | Character | > ###### Character Information > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Creature Type | Humanoid | > Species | Human | > Gender | Female > Pronouns | she/her | > Age | 21 (apparent); over 120 | > Languages | Common | > Place | [[Val Luminor]] | > Connections | [[Valtorran Empire\|The Empire]]<br>[[Kharazoth the Crimson Shadow\|Kharazoth]]<br>[[Hand of The Empire\|The Hands]]<br>[[The Red Priests]]<br>[[Dread General Gerard Blackmarsh\|Blackmarsh]] | > Profession | Empress | > ###### Status > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Status | Alive | **Empress Morganna Eventide** is the human ruler of the [[Valtorran Empire]], the unchallenged sovereign of the continent of [[Valtorra]]. A century ago she arrived from the east as a young woman and, city by city, bent an entire continent to her will — a conquest so swift and total that scholars still struggle to explain it. She has not aged a day since. ## Description #### Appearance Morganna is slight and pale, with long crimson hair that falls loosely past her shoulders and eyes the colour of winter ice — piercingly blue, unsettlingly still. She wears white exclusively: formal gowns of immaculate cut, appropriate to an empress at all times, never adorned with armour or weapons. Wherever she goes, a luminous violet orb accompanies her — sometimes resting atop a slender staff, sometimes drifting in the air beside her hand as though caught in a slow orbit. It is the one constant, and the one detail that appears in every account of her regardless of how sparse the rest. Very few have ever been in the same room as her. The accounts that exist describe her voice as measured and unhurried, her presence as somehow larger than her frame would suggest. #### Personality Morganna is a masterful public communicator. When she speaks to crowds — from a balcony, at a ceremony, through a proclamation — those who arrive sceptical tend to leave convinced. The effect is consistent enough that whispers have long circulated it is not entirely natural. In private, she projects a serenity that is difficult to read as either warmth or coldness — simply absolute. No visible anger, no apparent fear, no reaction she has not already chosen to have. ## Biography #### Background A century ago, Morganna arrived on the eastern shores of [[Valtorra]] aboard a modest vessel, accompanied by no visible army. The first city fell within days — not to siege, but to something quieter. Its leaders pledged allegiance. Its people turned. And Morganna moved on. City by city, the pattern repeated. The dwarven fortresses of the mountains buckled. When she reached what had once been elven territory, she found only ruins — the [[The Valtorran Elves|elves]] had already vanished, leaving their ancestral cities empty and silent. From those ruins, the [[Valtorran Empire|Crimson Empire]] was born. Rather than execute the existing kings and risk instability, Morganna offered them a choice: swear fealty and govern their lands as Imperial governors, or be replaced. Most chose survival. The result was a patchwork of loyal local rulers bound beneath unified Imperial authority, each maintaining the trust of their own people while serving the Empress above them. It was an elegant solution to the problem of occupying a continent — and it has held for a hundred years. Today, the [[Valtorran Empire]] is the unchallenged power on [[Valtorra]]. The [[Hand of The Empire]] serve as its elite military enforcers, selected from promising soldiers across the kingdoms and put through rigorous training before becoming the Empress's most loyal instruments. The Voices of the Empire — Imperial mages — maintain an advisory and controlling presence throughout the provinces. The Empress herself rarely leaves her seat of power and is seen in public only at carefully orchestrated moments — always in white, always with the violet orb, always apparently the same age she was the day she arrived. ### [[The Bloody Nails|Campaign: The Bloody Nails]] #### [[Session 01 - The Rusty Nail]] The founding of the [[Valtorran Empire|Crimson Empire]] framed the campaign's opening context — human cities felled, dwarven strongholds extinguished, elven lands found abandoned. The iron rule of Empress Morganna was established as the defining political reality of [[Valtorra]], a century of conquest that had reshaped the entire continent. #### [[Session 24 - Nelfandriss The Banished]] Deep in the flooded ruins of the [[The Ruby Falls Goldmine]], [[The Bloody Nails]] encountered [[Nelfandriss the Banished]], an immense and ancient being who had witnessed the Empire's rise firsthand. She shared what she knew of the Empress — describing her as a young girl who arrived from a distant land and brokered a dark deal a century ago to entrap her own soul and extend her life indefinitely. #### [[Session 34 - Mourning Bells]] During a ritual on the [[Frostway]], [[Kai]] received a visitation from the moon goddess [[Selûne]], who warned of the corrupting influence of her divine sister and declared the Empress beyond redemption. #### [[Session 44 - The Elven Archmage]] Acting on intelligence recovered from a [[The Red Priests|Red Priestess]], [[Ayana Syndrosa]] led the party to a hidden sanctum where *Speak with Dead* was performed on the priestess's severed head. The ritual confirmed that the Red Priests operate out of [[Valfyria]] in direct service to the Empress — and that the Empress herself serves an ancient entity known as [[Kharazoth the Crimson Shadow]]. The name Kharazoth — a lieutenant from the [[Chaos Wars]], thought long dead — was enough to visibly shatter [[Ayana Syndrosa|Ayana]]'s composure. #### [[Session 47 - Confluence of the Seven]] At [[The Confluence of the Seven]] in [[Sumara, The Shining City|Sumara]], [[Ayana Syndrosa|Ayana]] briefed [[Illythia Voss]] on everything the party had uncovered: the Empress, her allegiance to [[Kharazoth the Crimson Shadow|Kharazoth]], and the operations of the [[The Red Priests|Red Priests]] out of [[Valfyria]]. #### [[Session 49 - The Silver Sage]] In the [[Vault of Memories]] beneath [[Sumara, The Shining City|Sumara]], [[The Bloody Nails]] presented everything they knew of Morganna to [[Praetor'Varanous]], the ancient silver dragon known as the Silver Sage. Drawing on centuries of accumulated magical scholarship, Praetor'Varanous reached a definitive conclusion: Morganna is a lich. Her ageless appearance is a glamour masking a far older form beneath. To kill her permanently, her phylactery — the vessel to which her soul is bound — must be destroyed before her body can reform. He warned that her true power may exceed anything the party has yet faced. ## Trivia - Despite ruling for over a century, Morganna has never visibly aged. The Empire's citizens tend not to question this aloud. - The violet orb has accompanied her since the day she landed on Valtorra's shores. It is the one detail that appears in every account of her, however brief.