The Line of Kings
During the Journey to the East, Glorious Naryne was the Breath of the Three, blessed may their names always be. She was calculating and wise, and seeing things as they were, spoke the truth. Thus she agreed to marry Maal, King of Souls, for she saw the union’s benefits for her family. The marriage united the Sisters with the Lords of Heaven, assuring their place in the world.
Once they were so united, her thoughts went to the mortal races she had observed in their great journey. In their folly, mortals warred with one another, the strongest seizing power from the weakest. This belief had been Iblis’ folly, and she knew it well, for it was an evil she banished from her own heart, to escape the river-lands of her birth. Having married Maal, she would now be queen of these mortals when they died, and she felt no small responsibility to improve them. She resolved to teach mortals law and leadership.
Thus, she walked among the mortal races once more. Maal was lonely in the realm of the dead, but he had his mother’s wisdom, and was not jealous. He knew his wife sought to bring law to the mortals, and that all would be well.
High Naryne had searched the highs and the lows of every lands. She supped with the simplest dwarven craftsman and the mightiest human warlords. She found the wisest, kindest, fairest, cleverest, and sometimes even the strongest mortals, until a hundred of these paragons assembled before her. She offered them one hundred crowns, wrought of gold that had once paid for the passage of souls, and said, “You bear my blessing to be kings and queens of the mortal races, for you are worthy of these crowns. Should anyone question your right, remind them that in the world below, where all your kin go in the end, I am queen, and will not look kindly upon any who would usurp these crowns. They are of my chill gold, given to Death, and whosoever wears them falsely, by usurpation or unworthy rule, must repay me, in my black halls.”
So Naryne, the Lady of Ladies, became the Queen of Queens, for she began lines of nobility that, in some places, survive to this day. Even when mighty lords do not descend from the First Kings and Queens, they invoke Naryne as their protector and advisor. As Queen of Queens she is worshiped by nobles alone, for in that aspect she is their personal goddess, who gives their bloodlines, and thrones Heaven’s protection. When she returned to the land of the dead, Maal was pleased, for he saw that the lady he loved was not only fair, but just and wise. Although their union would never produce offspring, they would rule well together, for all eternity.
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