Role

Chapter 5

Finally! There was a bit of loathing when she saw there was a
shadow lord, that there might be another to claim being first
and she merely second, yet again. But soon after she was named
High Priestess, which by itself meant she was first among all
her peers, but then the shadow lord showed his weakness took his
own life, leaving her as the only member of the Council, the
undisputed leader of the Empire. Becoming High Priestss has,
for the first time, made her feel secure in herself. While not
entirely dispelling her insecurity of being the "oh, how nice"
second place, she feels she has achieved something and shown
all, herself and everyone else, that she is in fact at the top.
This of course leaves the last and most important step, to the
throne itself. She craves this of course, and believes it is her
right and destiny. But it is more from the desire for power and
to have all she wants, her greed and lust, than because of her
more youthful self-doubt. She no longer worries - quite so much -
that she is seen as second place. Now she simply wants what she
has become accustomed to, primacy of place and power.

This comes in two areas. The Empire and taking the throne is one.
That is obvious. And she seeks it like the hated jaguar hunts its
prey. Tenacious and never stopping. She has very strong beliefs
on the Empire itself and how those within it should behave. She
often repeats the basic creed, submission or death. And they are
not merely words, she believes them to her core. This is tied in
to her self worth because if she were even for an instant to believe
there to be any other path in life, any other equally viable or
acceptable philosophy, it would call into question all she has done
and all she has said, making her no longer special, no longer the
enlightened one she knows herself to be. Having fully swallowed the
doctrine from soup to nuts she is bound now to follow it, and more,
to make others (by force, not because it is necessary but because it
brings pleasure) accept it as well. It is why she never travels with
those that are not already sworn to the Empire. Her Lord has said he
approves of this, though he might not be quite so rigid, and use some
of them at need, but so far she has resisted this, seeing it as a sign
of hypocrisy and weakness. Indeed, nothing infuriates her more than
hearing someone respond to being offered the oath with "Later, I have
to do this or that" before. They either lie and are likely scions in
hiding, or they are weak, trying to live a life of ease without being
named proudly as sworn to the Empire, free from harrassment perhaps
from some of the Empire's enemies.