#thank you again for gracing my inbox with your mad monarch❤

[thescarsilivewith-if]

(I apologize im advance for this since it's going to be long, I also hope you don't mind that I put it directly into your inbox!)

Presenting: Ashyereh the (almost) Mad Monarch

Technically don’t have that much on them yet but bear with me. I’ve decided to combine Ashyereh and the unnamed Monarch who was supposed to have skewed morals and looked to the ROs for moral guidance.

Undecided which RO route, possibly all poly route or Naja/Kaela.

Used to be called Yereh by their siblings

Their father would affectionately call them 'little ashtree' or 'sproutling', which they used to pout at

They used to be more expressive with their face giving most if not all of their emotions away, and had 0 control over it. After slavery, there is very little which shows on their face. Naja coming to save them? A nod of acknowledgement. Ordering Dehjyr’s public execution? Not even a twitch. Having Sahyra placed under house arrest and with guards stationed at the entrance, with their sibling under strict orders not to leave his designated rooms without Ashyereh’s explicit permission? Naja throwing Ashyereh worried glances as they raise the taxes? The servants and employees growing more and more fearful? Rumors about their cruelty? Actually making heartless decisions which will end up making people suffer? Nothing. They don’t even seem to have a conscience anymore, no warmth in their heart, no care. No emotions.

Which they would confirm, if asked, whatever they feel is barred behind a thick fog. Occasionally, some anger slips through or they experience a muted spark of satisfaction. But it’s always fleeting, always weak, it slips through their fingers like sand. 

Unless they are around the ROs. Then there is this weird… spark of elation. Of joy. It’s still muffled but it rings so clear, passes through the fog. And it is oh so addicting. So addicting, in fact, that Ashyereh wants to hide the ROs away. Wants to see them protected and only for the Monarch’s eyes. Whatever emotions the Monarch might have felt, they were snuffed out by what they experienced as a slave. (And they lived through some of humanity's worst depravities. And that’s what they took away from it all: The strong survive. Hurt others before they can hurt you and you control the game. Divest them of their dignity and you hold all the strings. Fear is your greatest ally. No one will ever hurt you again. You needn’t feel anything. Snuff it out.)

But being able to feel something, anything at all? It’s intoxicating. Exhilarating. They would do anything to keep this. 

For the ROs, they would bring other countries to their knees. To see them fed, Ashyereh would see others starve. To have them dressed in the finest clothes, to have them turn to Ashyereh and smile at them while they are handed whatever their hearts desire? Ashyereh would set the world on fire.

Morals are for philosophers. 

At which point, I assume, the ROs would stage the intervention. One last ditch effort to make Ashyereh see reason. To get to the root of it all, to try and see if there is a festering wound in need of care and attention. Or if all is lost.

It wouldn’t be. On the precipice of no return, yes. Impossible to piece back together, the way it was before? Yes.

But still salvageable. 

I kept Ashyereh in my inbox for a while because I love them. Thank you for sending their profile in, learning about your monarchs is one of my absolute favourite thing!

First of all, I applaud your ability to create a simp, sweet and gentle monarch and then a cold and ruthless monarch (also a simp).

Ashyereh is the definition of a possessive monarch, one who wants to keep their ROs out of strangers eyes and exclusively for themselves. They are also the perfect tyrant ruler, a sometimes heartless one, in general someone who was forged by the pain they endured and became... something else.

I love that there is still a small, flickering hope for them, and that the ROs will take it once the occasion arises. They don't want the version of them they were before. They just want the monarch to be at peace.