thefirstempress

[thefirstempress]

Queen Viarra and Handmaid Elissa came out as gay a couple weeks into the writing process. Lochacos Bevren didn't come out as trans until after the first full draft was written. I had a vague ideal that Lochagos Kellor would invent the story-world's first crossbow, but didn't know when or with who. I knew that Viarra would be threatened by barbarian tribes, powerful rival monarchs, and treacherous aristocrats, but I didn't know in what ways or in what order. So, yeah, I get it.

[thefirstempress]

Why I hope to get published

(Art by @9musesandanoldmind​)

In regards to my novel, First Empress, my therapist Louie has been possibly my biggest cheerleader for the going-on two years I’ve been seeing him. During our appointment a couple weeks ago, he was telling me about hosting some friends of the family last week, including one of his childhood friends who is a lesbian. Apparently his copy of my manuscript was lying around, and he got to telling them about my lesbian title protagonist who’s also a strong ruler and a powerful warrior queen.

The rest of his guests were fairly ambivalent, but his gay friend was very curious and asked smart questions about the character and story-world. Louie told me that later she almost teary-eyed asked him to thank me for writing the characters as gay. She apparently was thrilled not only at the lesbian representation from the leading couple, but also at the bi representation from most of the other characters.

Louie’s anecdote was a moving reminder of why I hope to get published. When a gay woman in her late forties gets teary-eyed at the inclusion of a lesbian couple in a period-fantasy novel, it’s a sign that this kind of representation is necessary.

[thefirstempress]

My character Nora from The First Empress was a farmboy-turned-soldier in the first draft. The character seemed kinda cliche at first, so I tried making them a girl. Like, I changed nothing else about her, just instead of a nineteen-year-old boy joining the army after his family is killed by raiders, it's a nineteen-year-old girl.

Similarly, my dude Lochagos Bevren wasn't transgender until way late in the process. Before, Bevren was a respected army officer with a hot wife and two little daughters who ends up becoming the Queen's right-hand-man. Now he's still a respected army officer, still has a hot wife and two little daughters, and still ends up as the Queen's right-hand-man, it just happens that he was born a girl.

what's that one thing where they asked how ripely from alien was so realistic and believable as a female character in scifi for once and they were like "well we just took the dude from the original script and made him a girl and changed nothing else. it works bc men and women are the same?" and people were like "woah no way" and then didn't learn anything from that for 20 years

[thefirstempress]

Tell us who is your favorite God in the pantheon?

Probably Avilee, goddess of protection, followed by her mother Thanusa, goddess of death and mortality. Both are the only members of the Tollesian pantheon whose stories consistently depict them as giving a shit about the plight of mortals. Avilee takes seriously her duties of looking after common soldiers, war-widows, and war-orphans. Thanusa, meanwhile, is in charge of the demigods and spirits who guide souls to the afterlife, and stories often depict her weeping for the souls of those slain unjustly.

Thanks for the ask!

[thefirstempress]

Making Viarra a very quotable character was an important facet of writing her.

“Please, don’t play stupid with me, my dear. There’s little I find more insulting than feigned ignorance.”

— Queen Viarra

[thefirstempress]

"You're an intelligent man, your majesty. Feigning ignorance does not become you."

Viarra doesn't appreciate when people act like they don't know what she's talking about.

“Please, don’t play stupid with me, my dear. There’s little I find more insulting than feigned ignorance.”

— Queen Viarra

[thefirstempress]

If and when people complain that it somehow unrealistic for Queen Viarra to be a 6'6" woman, I'm going to tell them I have a cousin who is 6'4", and his wife is taller than he is.

[thefirstempress]

"That sounds vaguely like a threat?"

"Really? I'll have to work on my rhetoric. It wasn't supposed to be vague at all."

Queen Viarra may be the heroine of my novel, but I like to think she drops some banger villainess lines.

Thanks for the ask!

[thefirstempress]

Happens a lot in my writing. The unnamed handmaid in my first draft of The First Empress ended up becoming my warrior queen's girlfriend and later royal concubine.

Art by @mjbarrosart.

[thefirstempress]

Bit of a secret for my Tumblr readers! My world map for The First Empress is based on Rand's take on the Cassini projection.

The Vestic Sea is the Aegean rotated 90 degrees widdershins.

Maps by @9musesandanoldmind.

What if the Earth rotated 90 degrees?

Writers, if you ever wanted an Alternate Earth affected by weather paterns…give this one a try!

[thefirstempress]

Changing my novel's protagonist from ~6' and athletic and elegant to 6'6" and broad-shouldered and beefy was one of the best decisions I made over the course of my writing.

In fact, I think it might be the second-best decision after letting her be gay.

Links: https://www.heroforge.com/load_config%3D27369072/ https://www.heroforge.com/load_config%3D26748694/

Look, if you're gonna draw a woman "muscular" you can't just draw her skinny but with abs. You look like a loser. Give her some biceps. Make those thighs taut. Let her have some defined back muscles, for fuck's sake.

Seriously, if you want a buff girl give her some actual BEEF.

[thefirstempress]

My girl! Huge thanks once again for making her look so amazing and powerful!

I recently commissioned @cadhla182 for a portrait of Queen Viarra practicing her boxing. I'm super pleased how my giant warrior queen came out!

Commission for @thefirstempress!

NSFW variant: https://www.patreon.com/posts/queen-viarra-122659785

Commission info: https://cadhla182.tumblr.com/Commissions

[thefirstempress]

“Far too many rulers fail to understand the importance of a citizenry as pieces in the game of war and geopolitics. Foolish rulers neglect or oppress them. Merely competent rulers seek to appease them. Exceptional rulers, however, know how to wield them as tools or weapons of war. A citizenry who loves their ruler may be wielded as a hammer to build bridges or sanctuaries, as a spear or dagger for striking down one’s enemies, or even as a shield to protect against determined attacks.”

— Queen Sita

[thefirstempress]

Viarra's rival

Emperor Orvandius II is a minor character in The First Empress: Book I, but is one who'll come to play a bigger role as Viarra's empire expands. I feel like I'm still fleshing-out his character, but I want it to say something about him that he's willing to take his gay bastard daughter to a strip show.

“Majesty, I have most… distressing news,” an imperial messenger whispered, leaning next to his monarch’s ear. Emperor Orvandius II of Pellastor forced himself to pry his eyes from the dancing slave girls on stage in their translucent silk. Beside him Nista, his bastard daughter, continued to watch the bouncing breasts and swaying hips with rapt attention. His only living child, now sixteen, Nista clearly favored women bedfellows, and these shows were something that the two of them could share together and bond over. “Can it wait?” Orvandius asked, turning to the messenger. They were almost to the part in the music where the girls would step off stage and dance among the audience. As members of the Imperial family, he or Nista had a very good chance of ending up with a lapful of gorgeous, silk-covered ass by the end of the show. Orvandius knew perfectly well the proprietor had them do it on purpose to keep the Imperial entourage coming back. He could respect that kind of tactic.

[thefirstempress]

Something from Book II

Reading back over the current draft of The First Empress: Book II, I feel kinda bad that I'm about to kill this guy. Immediately after this excerpt, he gets assassinated by Queen Viarra's political rivals who're hoping to undermine her by taking out her supporters.

Many of Lochagos Pestiu’s colleagues considered him one of the luckiest bastards they knew. He earned the distinction during the hegemony’s two campaigns against the Gannic tribes in the Vedrian Highlands five and three years ago. Caught out of armor during a night attack on their encampment, Pestiu survived a Gannic sling bullet that should have pulverized his sternum and heart but his lucky brass medallion absorbed enough impact to keep from killing him. Twice he’d narrowly survived ambushes that devastated detachments he’d been part of. He was sent home wounded from the first campaign with a deep neck-wound from a Vedrian spear that miraculously didn’t sever anything vital—though he’d since struggled to swallow large bites and frequently felt pain when trying to tilt or turn his head in certain directions.

But the real kicker for Lochagos Pestiu’s friends was his marital status. Though married, Pestiu had a wartime fling with a Gannic mercenary huntress named Matua during Andivel’s second campaign. In the dead of winter, months after the campaign’s end, Matua arrived in Andivel very pregnant, inquiring about her child’s father. Finding the situation hilarious, some of Pestiu’s subordinates led her directly to his home. His wife Stenia surprised everyone present by embracing Matua and inviting her in to sit and rest after her travels.

Matua was now his second wife in everything but name, and she alternated between serving as a scout in Strategos Ware’s army and helping Stenia raise Pestiu’s four children. Not only did Stenia and Matua get along wonderfully, there were rumors they had a better sex-life than either did with the lochagos.

[thefirstempress]

I swear every time I peruse Bret's blog, I find at least one entry that I either wish I'd had as a resource years ago or that's pertinent to something I'm currently working on.

[thefirstempress]

Since trucks obviously aren't invented yet in my Iron Age story, it took a while to decide on a good hyperbole for how hard Queen Viarra punches. I finally decided on 'hits like a quarry sledge,' though 'like a trireme ram' was also tempting.