The Book of Knots - Jags

Overview
On the high plains of Gosnor
(where even the blades of grass
are political) sits The Twisted
Palace, an exterior of columns,
frescos and stairways surrounds
a series of inner-chambers
adorned in the finest blood-red
velvet and gold leaf. It is said
that the ceilings are painted
masterworks colored with
pigments made of the ground
heartstrings of the souls that
have been ground within. The
Twisted Palace is the domain
of the Red Queen and her
vivisectionists who critique the
human condition in the form
of its painstaking and painful
disassembly and analysis.
The Red Queen seeks to fill
her cavernous, ever-growing
library—a collection of
analytical works on The Human
Condition: the largest volume
of literature ever “published.” She and her disciples believe that
humankind itself—each individual—is a book in the language of
its DNA. She seeks to, by tortuous insight into the individuals, find
the touchstone in each person that is their own point of view that
sheds light in The Author’s statement that is the person made flesh.
Massive meat grinders connected to madly chattering linotype
machines stand next to great looms each unspooling a human mind
into component thought threads, each loom positioned above their
owner’s screaming faces. Vivisection tables whose clay surfaces
etch their victim’s thoughts as they run with fresh blood slowly take
the measure of each of their occupants.
Her minions in the world are those whom she has taken and deemed
salvageable: they have been disassembled and reconstructed in an
image that is pleasing to her—an insane image. They are monsters
that exist with only semi-ordinary Shadows at Chessboard Zero.
At Chessboard One or Two they become bloated things: recruiters
for her horror-show. Sometimes they simply take anyone they can
catch—but other times she has certain themes or trends she sends
them after (runaways, television executives, twins, etc.). In these
cases her minions in the real world are built to pass until their time
comes to drag her prey screaming into a mirror.
Name: The Queen of Hearts Caretaker
PHY 14 STR 24 BLD 14 CON 14
REF 10 COR 10 REA 10 AGI 10
INT 17 RES 17 MEM 17 WIL 17
DP 240 Minor Major Critical
Wounds 80 240 480
To Hit 16-
To Be Hit +1
Armor 10/20
Damage varies
Description: The Queen, an entity that takes form as a 12’ grotesque woman in an ornate,
flowing gown sweeps the corridors ceaselessly ordering her chaotic domain. Where she goes
death follows by decree of execution, by consumption for her own ravenous appetite, by
dissection for study, or simply for her amusement.
She wears a massive ball-dress and carries a fan. Everything about her from the smallest
piece of jewelry to the fractally complex designs in her dress is reeks of hearts.
The Queen of Hearts is an imposing, bombastic figure, striding across the landscape and
issuing commands to terrified underlings. Her ugly mouth can unhinge at the jaw stretching
to become massive in size (although she does this rarely) and she has literally bitten the head
off of those who displease her.
In person she performs her court’s duties: presiding over trials, attending games and dinners,
dancing at balls, and so on. She usually travels with a small retinue of sycophants.
Hearts Blade: She carries a royal scepter with a heart-shaped blade atop it (often red with
blood). It can extend up to Long Reach and it cuts for 40 PEN damage, 120pts if it hits by
4+ (and that’s Base Damage). At Medium Range, it costs 5 REA to swing. When extended to
Long Reach, it has a +2 Back Swing (and can only be used once per turn).
The Queen of Hearts
I like the Queen; she’s found
her method of coping with
life – beheadings – and she’s
okay with that. It’s kind of like
creative visualization, really; if
there’s something happening
that she doesn’t dig on, she
creates a world where the
person responsible has died
horribly. And if nobody ever
actually ends up headless,
well, you create your own
reality. I really think there’s
some room here for a new and
potent form of therapy. B+
- Lore Sjöberg,
The Book of Ratings
27
Book of Knots - The Caretakers