Dread Empress Regalia I

"Gaining power’s a lot like scaling a tower, Chancellor. The longer you do, the more likely you are to fall."

―Dread Empress Regalia the First, before ordering her Chancellor thrown out the window

Unknown
General information
Name	Dread Empress Regalia I
Faction	Praes, Villains
Species	Human
Status	Deceased

Regalia the First was a former Dread Empress, ruling Praes sometime between 120 and 490 AD. She was a contemporary of Elizabeth Alban who brought down Regalia’s flying fortress crashing into Laure, when the latter invaded Callow. It’s possible she was the first to attempt such an invasion though ironically her namesake, Regalia II, also used a flying fortress with the same result.

Reign

Little is known about her person or rule.

She invaded Callow two years after the polity invaded its neighbour, the then Kingdom of Daoine. This occurred after Callow occupied three principalities, crushed a rebellion and repelled an invasion from Praes, presumably under a different Tyrant. It’s likely she either believed Callow overextended or was hoping to contain its growing influence.

As a Tyrant, she’s remarked to be better at balancing her abilities and not having a singular focus, unlike Traitorous. It's unknown what kind of legacy she left for the Dread Empire, though Laure has used the remnants of her flying fortress to build a Royal Palace, as well as a custom house near the docks known as the Regalian.

Epigraphs

“Gaining power’s a lot like scaling a tower, Chancellor. The longer you do, the more likely you are to fall.”
– Dread Empress Regalia the First, before ordering her Chancellor thrown out the window

“A villain should make plans with the understanding that everything you can conceive of going wrong will, and then a few others things too.”
– Dread Empress Regalia (not specified further, assumed to be Regalia I)

“There’s a natural hierarchy to the world, Chancellor: there’s me, then my boot, then all of Creation under the boot.”
– Dread Empress Regalia (not specified further, assumed to be Regalia I)

“Your mistake, Queen of Blades, is in thinking that virtue is the province of Good. Every Tyrant who has ever claimed the Tower, every fool and every madman, had the seed of greatness in them. Courage, cleverness, ambition, will. We may lose our way, we may lose ourselves, but every time we get… a little closer. You think I am afraid of death? I am a droplet in the tide that will drown Creation. I take pride in this, even in my hour of failure. Empresses rise, Empresses fall. But the Tower?

Oh, the Tower endures.”

– Last words of Dread Empress Regalia the First