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"She is... many things, wrapped up together. A broken conduit for crimson instincts. An undercurrent, an idea that refuses to die, the desire to shatter yourself if it means the pieces will cut your enemies. A curse."[1]
The Red-Handed Queen is a powerful being residing in Parabola, associated with ambition and victory at any cost. She is thus the rival of the Beleaguered King.
"You can do anything. Anything except scrub this gore from your hands."[2]
The Red-Handed Queen is associated with the red side of the Moonlit Chessboard.[3] She appreciates and surrounds herself with the ambitious, and those willing to forsake the rules and trespass into the forbidden for their own gain.[4][5][6][7] To those who do not serve her, however, she is a fickle mistress, and she and her champions are widely feared.[8][9]
Though she dwells on the other side of the mirror, she can still influence the affairs of the Neath through her avatars[10][11] and her agents, who are often surgeons.[12] Her charges often appear to have bloody hands in their reflections[13][14] or in Parabola.[15][16] Her cohort of followers is called the Order of the Ones Who Will Not Be Caught Red-Handed;[17] they meet on the occasional Wednesday,[18] to act out games of chess[19] or play the game with a red-gloved figure behind a mirror.[20] The best performers eventually rise to become the leaders of the organization.[21]
The Queen hosts the Tournament of Rubies, in which competitors vie for her patronage; the winner receives a boon, but is bound to her as her champion.[8][22] During the Tournament, her crimson brilliance is on full display as her entire court dresses in red.[3]
The Queen fights on the Chessboard against her rival, the Beleaguered King.[23][24][25] She would like for him to betray his principles and break the rules,[26] but despite their differences, they have managed to communicate amicably at least once.[27] She has at least one daughter with him,[28] the Innocent Princess.[29][30]
The Queen has an odd relationship with the Fingerkings: she is sometimes their prisoner, sometimes their queen, and the Fingerkings claim to be her guards.[10][31]
Inspirations[]
The Red-Handed Queen may be a reference to Shakespeare's play Macbeth. In a famous scene from the play, one of its main characters, Lady Macbeth, has visions of her hands being permanently bloodstained after convincing her husband to commit a murder.
↑The Fair Unknown, Fallen LondonHer voice softens, your mind is almost your own. You could be red. Play by her rules (which are no rules at all) and you might be yet. Ware the King. He will make you dull. Let her take a champion worthy of her collection and you shall be rewarded. That champion might even be you.
↑The Fair Unknown, Fallen LondonIn the highest room of the Queen's castle, there is a full length mirror made of polished ruby. The Queen stands beside you, facing it. "You did well, you know. You fought as we would have."
↑ 8.08.1The Fair Unknown, Fallen London "You speak of the Red-Handed Queen. She hosts the Tournament of Rubies, where champions from across Parabola compete to win a boon." She tucks her gloved hands in her pockets to hide a tremor. "I would not wish for anything from that lady. Any favour she grants is conditional, its effects permanent."
↑The Heretic of Hollow Street, Fallen LondonThe Glassman lowers his spectacles. "The Barber opposes our fellowship. He is a rogue who has pledged himself to a monstrous power that is imprisoned beyond the glass, and he does not understand that with which he meddles. You must stop him."
↑The Heretic of Hollow Street, Fallen London"The Barber has pledged allegiance to a terrible master," says the bespectacled man, putting his sandwich to one side. "Her agents in our world are usually surgeons. A word of advice, by the by: never trust a surgeon. Don't let them put you to sleep. Her agents move in surgeons' circles, and they search with their scalpels."
↑The Heretic of Hollow Street, Fallen LondonWith a half-smile, the Barber removes his maimed hands from his waistcoat and holds them up in mock-surrender. In the real world, they are still fingerless. But in the reflection behind, you see his hands are whole; his fingers twitch; he is soaked to the elbows in blood.
↑Bear witness (Red Leaning), Fallen London ’’ Parabola changes. Where there was an empty field, is now a grand tournament ground. The Appalling Socialite stands in the centre of an arena, applauded by thousands and thousands of watching scarlet-hued pawns.’’
↑The Fair Unknown, Fallen London"I oppose the Queen; she wants the doctor for her champion. Ambition, competence and a surgeon's hands. He would do her work well."
↑The Fair Unknown, Fallen London ‘' Tell her that the King cheated: […] The Queen's joy: The laughter of the Red-Handed Queen is as red lightning. The firmament she has built over Parabola resounds with sickly thunder. The joy of the Queen is not to be withstood.
↑Philosophical discussions , The Silver Tree ’’In my dream, the Innocent Princess was sacrificed to the North Wind in service of her father's ambitions. The priests pushed her from the cliff to be swallowed by the sea, so their god would grant their King victory.‘’
↑The Heretic of Hollow Street, Fallen LondonAs you cut, you entreat the Barber to tell you of his time in Parabola. He tells you about a red queen. The games she plays; the masks she dons; the pageants played for stakes he doesn't understand. Her doubt and fury; her endless need for victory, beginning and ending again. Her child.
↑The Heretic of Hollow Street, Fallen London"She rules in dreams and behind glass," says the Barber dreamily. "The snakes think they are her guards. Sometimes she is their prisoner, sometimes their queen."
