THE VICTORS
These are the victors of this world. Their rule is unquestioned and absolute, across the entire world. They are the strongest of the strong, able to crush anyone in their path. They are Emperors and princesses, daimyos and samurai. Surely they will destroy all who dare to cross them. Surely they will win the wish Iako promised them with ease.
Well, one among their number knows they won't. And two among their number know that their projected strength and eternity is just a flimsy facade.
Because they are big fish in a small pond, and they're about to be thrown into the ocean.
Individual info below the cut
IAKO
Hello, I'm writing a novel called Unroyal. It's a queer romantasy deconstruction with cosmic horror and furries. It has an all-female love triangle between the Female Protagonist, the Edgy Bad Boy's Jilted Ex-Lover, and the Servant Girl Background Extra, that is quite likely to end in polyamory with the sequel, but they're a bit too busy realizing their feelings and trying not to die in the first book to hash out their relationship. There will be time for slower scenes after the Terrifying Death Game the first book is centered on ends and the Female Protagonist... well. Let's talk about our Female Protagonist.
Chiri Heishi Iako is the daughter of a powerful daimyo (lord-esque title) in the fictional kitsune state of Nihon, modeled after Feudal Japan, but if it was also in The Bad Place. Because the magic each kitsune is given by birth, along with their tails, can be transferred by loving another person... or hating them viciously. So those in power have a vested interest in making sure the people they lord over hate them, usually by killing them randomly (but not without torturing them first). Iako was an anomaly in this system from birth. While most kitsunes are born with only one tail and gain any more they have after age one, Iako had nine tails from the start, as well as various "deformities," such as only one eye. She also had no powers whatsoever, and gained none despite her family's best efforts. Despite this, her parents were eager to pretend that she was the savior of magic, and would save all of Nihon from the curses that appeared after the previous Emperor's mysterious death.
And then, at age eight, she vanished. The entire Nihon empire tore open the country looking for her, and there were sightings, but none confirmed. She had just disappeared, into thin air.
The story opens with her return, eleven years later. And she has a plan to save the world.
KOROSE
Korose is the Edgy Bad Boy. He is Emperor of Nihon, and was born with the tail of immortality, while his father had the power of invulnerability. Together the two seized control of Nihon and went on a rampage, a campaign of violence that lead to the whole world hating Emperor Jakare and Prince Korose. It is very easy to win when you can't be hurt, when you can't be killed. And when your people's hate only fuels your power, treating them poorly benefits you greatly. Jakare and Korose ruled the entire known world in one way or another – some states were absorbed directly into Nihon, and some were allowed to keep their governments or their leaders, as long as they provided massive amounts of tribute and ensured all their subjects knew to hate Jakare. (Most of the tribute, whether it was food or money or precious items, went unused. The point was to make people hate them, not to actually use the things they collected.) They went on like this for centuries, amassing more and more power. Their rule seemed absolute.
And then Jakare died.
It came out of nowhere. No one is sure what happened. No one knows how it could have been possible. Korose was the prime suspect, but since he retained his father's powers as well as his own, no one was about to challenge him for the throne, and he was crowned Emperor. But Jakare's death was not the only tragedy to afflict Nihon. Seemingly on the day of Jakare's death, curses appeared, inflicting horrible punishments on those with many tails – and their power seemed to increase every day that passed. Korose was able to stave off the effects of the curses with his healing tails, but many were not so lucky. But Korose wasn't about to let that stop him. He kept doing what he was doing, and, thanks to his invulnerability tail, he couldn't feel the pain of sickness. He kept going. And a year after Princess Iako disappeared, he found the perfect counter to the curses. But he did not find a perfect counter to his boredom. As Emperor, everyone expected him to stay home and rule, not fight, and he missed being a warrior prince.
When Iako showed up ten years later, offering him a chance to get a wish – to wish for whatever he wanted – that Iako was just handing him, he doesn't see anything suspicious about the opportunity. After all, he's the Immortal Emperor, the invulnerable warrior prince, he can't get hurt. He doesn't have to be careful... Right?
BENGARE
The son of Emperor Korose and Empress Kozume, Minamoto Bengare is a prince in his own right, even if his immortal father refuses to assign anyone to the position of Heir. A scheming social climber, while Bengare isn't Crown Prince like he believes he rightfully deserves, he is the second most powerful and influential daimyo in the Heavenly Court, after Heishi Hene, Iako's father. He is the golden prince, and, in his own opinion, much smarter than his father... though, that's not saying much. He has been his father's bloody left hand for over a century, and was responsible for securing the sacrifice that gave them immunity from the curses. He is competent, and clever, and useful! So why isn't he Crown Prince?
When the adult Iako comes back to announce a possibility to get a wish – to get anything whoever makes the wish wants, free of charge – Bengare can't help but be intrigued, even if he'd never show it. While Iako's proposition is very suspicious and something keeps niggling at the back of his mind, Bengare can't help but want what Iako is offering. He just has to get a leg up on her first.
CHAMA
Chama is the Empress. She is a rarity – a kitsune with pure white fur, something no one has seen in centuries. She is the perfect wife, delicate, beautiful, silent. She is a master of courtly politics, and has lasted nearly a hundred years as Korose's wife. She even has valuable tails to offer Korose – though she would never use them herself, she's far too much of a delicate flower to worry about such things. The tails she gives Korose are the ones passed down in her family line: bloodbending tails – creating blood, moving blood inside and outside the body, crystalizing blood – and her own special tail: seeing the future in dreams. She is very clever, but only for a woman. Not so clever that it makes the menfolk worry or feel stupid.
Or, at least that's what everyone says about her. The real Chama would agree politely, as that is the image she willingly projects.
The real Iako, however, will come to have very different opinions.
USURI
Usuri Iako's youngest brother. He's eight years older than her, and too far down the line of succession to hope about having a chance at inheriting should his father somehow die or, even less likely, retire, so he became a samurai. He wants to serve the Emperor with pride, but... he does think the peasants should get a better deal in life. They don't have to be equal to the Heavenly Court, far from that, but perhaps they could... survive? Have food? Maybe access to clean water? Basic things. Usuri considers himself very heroic when he talks about this to other samurai. What a revolutionary thought, that even poor people should have basic human kitsune rights.
And then Iako comes back, and Usuri tries to catch up, to get to know his little sister again, but Iako is cold and withdrawn. She refuses to say where she's been, she refuses to hear about his exploits as a samurai, she barely even talks to him. She talks to him less than she talks to the sacrifices or even someone like Chama. Usuri is convinced she's deliberately avoiding him.
And the worst thing is: she's not lying. His tail power is reading people's minds when they lie, and he's never once been able to catch this new, older Iako in a lie. That is bizarre. Most kitsunes lie all the time. Either Iako isn't lying ever, or he can't read her mind, ever.
He's not sure which one is scarier.
MONTANE
Montane is a proud samurai. It's rare, in these parts, for a woman to be a samurai, but Montane did it. She's the best of the best, and her powerful tail – freezing people in place – is yet another jewel in the service of the Emperor. She is clever and calculating – she's made friends with all the other samurai, to ensure she has enough tails to defend the Emperor properly. She and Usuri are especially close; Usuri is expected to propose any time soon, but Montane doesn't think she'll accept. She has the Emperor's tails, so she can be a samurai for as long as she likes – she doesn't want to be tied down by her expected wifely duties so early in her long life.
When Iako comes with the promise of a wish, Montane doesn't trust her. The whole thing is fishy, and while the Emperor is all-powerful, what Iako says to her when they get to the island where this game is supposed to take place implies that here... he isn't. But Montane doesn't tell anyone what Iako says to her in time to stop it, believing she can take care of things herself. She doesn't act in time. So she decides that she will never be too late again.
SANDE
The forgotten nephew of Minamoto Bengare, Minamoto Sande is just... average. His tail is pretty boring: controlling the rare and weak gold; he is a samurai instead of a daimyo or lord or a fancy member of the Emperor's court. He knows intellectually that his position as a samurai would be a dream come true for the peasants outside the palace gates, but as the grandson of the Emperor, he worries that he has done nothing to live up to that title.
And he knows he's not a good samurai, either. He is chronically nervous, a terrible speaker, and always the weak link wherever he goes. He is brave, getting over his terrible anxiety to act as a samurai, but Sande doesn't see it that way. He just sees how hard it is for him compared to everyone else, especially Usuri and Montane, and he despairs that he'll never be good enough.
And he won't be good enough, in the end. In the end, he'll be the first to die.
