Crown icon By Kelsey Armstrong, US, the Noun Project.
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Queen Cassandra (34)
Project: Fantasy novel (Soluna trilogy Book 1: Dark is Noon)
Known as: Her majesty
Real name: Cassandra Salington
Group affiliation: Salington family
Physical description: Cassandra only looks a little like her younger sister, Beth. She is tall, her hair is more auburn than red, and she has a pale, clear complexion. Their features are similar, however, and there is a family resemblance. Cassandra is very striking, and Beth might be jealous/intimidated if a) Beth valued appearance and b) Beth ever felt those emotions (which for the most part, she doesn’t).
Personality: Cassandra shares her sister’s sense of responsibility to the people and is a good queen. She is however more expressive in her emotions and can even have a bit of a temper when she feels others are being obtuse. She is concerned how history will view her and wants to not only be a good queen but have significant events attached to her reign. This tempts her to perhaps extend her reach beyond her grasp at times. She is also very serious and is somewhat lacking in the humor department.
She loves all her family. However, like Beth they are secondary to her duties. Interestingly, she resented Beth a bit for “shirking” her duties and traveling so much. Cassandra was always heir apparent, and focused on diplomacy, court affairs, and affairs of state. She found Beth to be rather flighty by comparison. Matters weren’t helped by Beth manipulating her way to be Duchess of Greentop. Since then, however, Cassandra’s view on her sister has softened as Beth has been a very competent ruler of Greentop and has increased its value to the throne.
History: Cassandra Salington was born to be queen and seemed to instinctively know it. The people of the court even felt as an infant that her crying was unusually dignified. She was serious and proper at an early age and was dutiful in her lessons and duties. While she loved her siblings, she always felt a bit apart from them. This was only reinforced by the fact that others did not treat them all the same.
She was ambitious and as she grew, she took on more and more responsibility. In early adulthood it was clear that she ran the kingdom as much as anyone. By the time she was 30, her parents abdicated to her despite the fact it was a bit early for them to retire. In her short reign, she has been a great queen and the kingdom is both more financially stable and expanding than it has in centuries. She also has a reputation for being fair in her judgments no matter who is before her for a ruling. She is a very popular queen and people have been known to debate if the beauty of her spirit outshines the beauty of her face.
She has been also restless however. She has gotten pressure to choose a consort and secure an heir. It’s not that she is waiting for love, she simply has not yet found someone to be a good enough match to her goals and ambitions. She also is looking for some moment to secure her place in history. She knows that while she cannot seek out war for the sake of her legacy, little matches a decisive victory in war to secure one’s legacy.
She ends up regretting what she wishes for when the Darkin attack. Nearly invincible at night the Darkins wreak havoc on the kingdom. Even in the daytime when humans have the advantage, so little is known of the Darkins’ abilities, goals, and motivations that they are a very difficult foe with which to deal. Their greatest weakness seems to be that they have trouble invading and holding land where they don’t have good places to hide in the daytime. No one knows why they are attacking now or why they press so strongly against notable limitations.
Cassandra however suspects. The Soluna prophesy speaks of a person being born who can turn day to night and vice versa, who will tip the scales. It seems apparent that the prophesy speaks of these times and finding the Soluna becomes one of her top priorities.
Her adopted nephew, Joshua, seems to fit the bill. Cassandra does not view Joshua as a Salington and even if she did, he would be a small sacrifice to save the kingdom (especially as the prophesy does not necessarily say he needs to die). Her sister Beth has a different view on what would be best for the kingdom but is perhaps biased by her love for Joshua.
How far will the sisters’ disagreement go? Is Cassandra prepared for armed conflict to secure Joshua (at the worst possible time given the Darkin attack)? Will Beth raise arms to defend Joshua and will Greentop rebel to support her? What will Joshua do when he sees this conflict arising?
Role in the narrative: She is ally, then antagonist…and then who knows? She is at her core a good person who loves her family. So is Beth. Yet they are on a collision course, both with the best intensions.
Abilities: Like her sister Beth, Cassandra is a bit of a phenom. However, where Beth explored many places and activities Cassandra focused mostly on things that she felt would serve her as queen. She has a tremendous knowledge of the people who help her rule the kingdom and knows how to motivate them. She is an expert diplomat and is very knowledgeable of all the laws of the kingdom. She is also one of the foremost experts on history in the kingdom. As a result, she knows quite a bit about prophesy.
Inspirations: Maybe a bit of Frozen in the older sister feeling isolated due to the fact she would rule one day (minus, you know, the snow powers). Mostly I started to think of her just as a means to fill out the cast a little but I was pleased when it occurred to me she might end up in conflict with her sister even though both are good people. I wish I could think of way to make the Darkin stand out from so much of what precedes them (be it orcs or white walkers). Perhaps a horde of monsters motivated by evil is just too tempting of a trope for fantasy works. I’ve also recently watched the Dragon Prince on Netflix, where the moonshadow elves are nearly invincible at night.
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