Noriko

(made by odias)
Clan Matriarch

Took over responsibilities after Lucilla, Haniel and Ludovica stepped down. Supremely patient armed with a biting and dry sense of humor, Noriko is a difficult queen to read. She works tirelessly in her duties, often to the point where she forgets to eat for days at a time and collapses from sickness. This would happen frequently until her assistants were hired. Adores her husband and ensures his happiness in any way she can. Just don't tell him that she's got just the slightest crush on her assistant.

She also coddles her songbirds. Seriously, her office looks like a mix between a library and an aviary.

Her greatest entertainment however is watching her husband and his nurse dance around one another. It's annoying and hilarious at the same time.

Noriko actually started out life as a glorified courtesan bought by my previous matriarch for her prized breeder (Camui) , who was so vain and self-obsessed that he refused to accept anyone who wasn't as pretty as he was. Lucky for her though, her new husband fell in love with her immediately and did everything in his power to gain her trust and affection. Of course it would be some time before he would actually earn it, because for all intents and purposes she had been bought.

Since breeders were treated far better than the rest of the clan members, she was allowed in the archives to read the tomes. She took full advantage of this and spent all of her spare time there along with her husband, who now followed her everywhere. Together they learned medicine, and after many months they took over the abandoned medical wing. Their care was rudimentary but they continued their studies.

It was then that she grew to love her husband, for he had showed just how far down his devotion for her went. When he was in the clinic he was a completely different being than the vapid peacock she had previously known him to be.

Noriko didn't stop studying when their clinic finally took off and they became respectable. She remained ever vigilant in her studies, moving on to history, politics and economics.

Fearing that Noriko was growing too much, Lucilla began to limit her access outside of her chambers. Camui (who was still the favorite due to the sheer amount of treasure he generated) brought her books and supplies. When Lucilla tried to turn on him as well, he had but to threaten leaving the clan to hold her back. The clan could not financially survive without him, and they knew it.

When the old queen grew tired of being made a fool of, she sought to murder the both of them. Of course by then it was too late, for Noriko had garnered the love of the entire clan. This included the assassin (named Ciara) sent to murder her. Instead of killing them, revealed to the two of Lucilla's entire plan. Noriko used this information to her advantage and, now being far more politically savvy than her queen, gathered the clan for a coup.

When faced with the entire clan she had so carefully built, Lucilla was faced with the consequences of her bloody legacy. She surprised everyone then by surrendering, showing a side that nobody had ever seen before. She had failed in her efforts, she explained. If Noriko could peacefully achieve something that she could not, then perhaps the clan was better off.

So she stepped down, and Noriko was named the new Matriarch. She left the clinic to her husband, who has since developed it far beyond what it was ever before. He trained himself a small medical team, and while he's still a vain peacock he's nothing like the pampered prince she met.

Through Noriko's rule, the clan has flourished. They opened trade routes with other clans and territories, and have made strong allies over multiple territories. Her clan has nearly doubled in size, full of a new generation utterly unaware of the dark ages when they would have been held prisoner without a single unique thought among them.

As it should be.