Queen Salisandra, queen of Yisea during the Mushkinek Uprising, rules with a mind as sharp as it is calculating. She is more feared than beloved, a monarch who governs through restraint, timing, and an exact understanding of leverage. In court and council, she speaks carefully, each word selected not for warmth, but for effect. Nothing she says is without purpose, and nothing is offered freely.
Sentiment holds little sway over Salisandra. Ambition guides her more reliably than compassion, and she makes no apology for it. To her, the ideal of equitable rule among the Seven Kingdoms is a convenient fiction, maintained by weaker thrones to disguise their vulnerability. Power, she believes, belongs to those willing to seize it, defend it, and exploit it without hesitation. She does all three with methodical precision.
Loyalty under Salisandra is conditional. Allegiance to allies, councilors, or even family is transactional, granted only when it serves her interests. She does not confuse trust with usefulness, nor does she mistake tradition for obligation. Alliances are temporary by design, bargains struck at her discretion and always at a cost. Those who enter her confidence do so knowing it may be withdrawn without warning.
To underestimate Salisandra is to hand her the one thing she values above all others: leverage. Patient, observant, and unflinching, she is a ruler whose influence extends far beyond Yisea’s borders. Her presence casts long shadows across the Seven Kingdoms, shaping events even when she is not seen, and ensuring that her hand is felt long after her words have faded.