The Toadstool Queen

The Archfae, The Eldest Youkai, Duskscape Regent of Trickery, Caprice and Blend Travelers

"At times it's exquisite agony, other times pure joy. To be in her service is to be at the frontiers of the very mind."

The Toadstool Queen has starred in many stories and carried many titles over the millennia, from the Queen of May to the Queen of Ney, Old Mab to Lady Foxglove, and on the Alpha Quadrant continent of Marai she is called Kuzunoha, the Eldest Yōkai. The Archfae is widely considered to be a Duskscape Regent of caprice, spontaneity, trickery and discovery, although she has little political involvement with the other Regents and indeed is rarely seen at all, acting instead through the chaos of her innumerable lesser cousins.

Kuzunoha is also the divine culminex of blend travelers, exemplifying flora & fauna naturally able to cross the Veil or exist on both sides at the same time. This primarily means the diverse and curious fae, but also includes hengeyōkai, spiders, whip-poor-wils, aspid salamanders, mushrooms, foxglove and thistle. It is said that when you pick a mushroom or foxglove on the Waking side of the Veil, its mirror disappears from the Near Umbra.

The Toadstool Queen's alignment is Chaotic Neutral.

Appearance & Heraldry

See also: The Toadstool Queen Image Gallery (External)

While Cenobites may take any form, the Archfae most often appears as an irridescent orchid mantis, a blonde eladrin or altnoréth in minutely-detailed dress or a large white fox with nine tails.

Worshippers

Though rare, the primary worshippers of the Toadstool Queen are called the Queenschosen. Many are faetouched (e.g. gnomes among halflings or gathlain among eladrin) or faeblooded sorcerers from birth, and have a great fondndess for stories, travel and adventure. They often have spotty memories and experience periods of "lost time". Some may not even be aware of the Archfae, but will nonetheless feel driven to do things to her entertainment or benefit, while others are utterly devoted to her and derive no greater pleasure than to live by her scintillating example.

Domains

Kuzunoha's primary Domain is Faekin. Her secondary domains are Trickery, Luck, Passion, Freedom, Delirium and Moon.

Favoured Weapon

The Toadstool Queen's favoured weapon is the sickle. She is said to wield the dual Relic sickles Ashahi and Carnwhennyn.

History

One of the most famous stories on Waking Materia, with cousins across the plane, is the story of the warrior princess Tam-Lynn, who ventures into the shimmering jungles of Jabberwock’s Realm to rescue her true love from the clutches of the Queen of the Fae.

As is often the case with the Archfae, the true story of Tam-Lynn is even stranger, and more tragic. For one, it was not a lover the young warrior sought to rescue, but her younger brother. And while she was successful, it came at great cost: the Queen agreed to release the boy, but only if Tam-Lynn joined the Queen’s Guard as a faerie knight (often known as vilderavn or valravn) for three hundred and thirty three seasons. Completion of the contract granted Tam-Lynn her freedom... but not her original body. Seemingly immortal, she is now known as the Valrav Knight or the Knight of the Foxglove, fighting alongside a team of monstrous knights, known as the Unwelcome Order. They are protectors of those, like them, who are victims of Cenobite whims.