Queen

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Queen (女王)
Type	Royal title
Principal Holder	Victoria II, reigning monarch of the Empire 207
Alias(es)	Victoria II is called the Blood Queen and the Iron Queen 331 600 712
Gender	Female 207
Affiliation	The Empire; Imperial Royal Family 207 580
Occupation/Role	Sovereign of the Empire, directing military strategy, political reform, and royal appointments 207 532 600
Lineage	Victoria II identifies the Royal Family as descendants of Emperor Arthur 580
Status	Victoria II remains the reigning Queen after reclaiming the Empire’s lost territories 712
First Appearance	Victoria II first meets Li Wei in person at the New Year’s investiture ceremony 207

Royal Office

Authority and Succession

• Sovereign authority belongs to the reigning monarch alone. A queen’s spouse neither inherits nor shares her royal powers 580.
• The monarch’s spouse becomes prince consort. Anyone marrying the monarch must relinquish their titles, public offices, and commercial interests, although their original noble status is retained 580.
• Princess Louise is the expected successor. Nobles cultivate relations with her in anticipation of her eventual accession 340.
• Royal authorization can confer extraordinary operational powers. Victoria authorizes Li Wei and the Thistle Knight Order to investigate the imperial embassy massacre inside the Sasha Alliance without requiring cooperation with its judicial authorities 600.

Other Uses of “Queen”

Holder	Context
Victoria II	The Empire’s reigning sovereign and the principal figure referred to as “the Queen” 207
Princess Louise	Expected future Queen of the Empire; she has not succeeded Victoria in the supplied events 340 580
Lulana	King Solomon’s queen, encountered during the dream banquet depicting her poisoning. She is distinct from Victoria II 219 221 222
Alustriel	Ruler of Silvermoon City, referred to as the Queen of Silvermoon; her domain is separate from Victoria’s Empire 669 679

In the biotechnology-dominated parallel world, the Empire is ruled by King George V, not Queen Victoria II. Katie’s surprise at this difference becomes part of Li Wei’s explanation that familiar people can have different identities and lives across worlds 479 480.

Background / History

Early Military Career and Accession

Victoria fought foreign enemies at sixteen and repeatedly defeated forces invading the Empire. She inherited a state threatened by conflict between conservative nobles and the emerging bourgeoisie—a conflict that could have produced upheaval comparable to Francis’s revolution 207.

After taking the throne, she first reequipped the imperial army with modern steam-powered weapons. With military power secured, she expanded education, promoted reform-minded officials, and gradually reshaped the bureaucracy until she controlled Parliament at its foundations 207.

The old nobility and the Holy Lord Church eventually joined forces in rebellion. Historical accounts disagree over whether Victoria accidentally exposed her plans or deliberately provoked the revolt; Li Wei favors the latter explanation. Her victory preserved the Empire, but the killings in Casablanca—including deaths among servants and ordinary citizens—left the former capital with a lasting hatred of her 207 302.

Major Campaigns

Campaign / Event	Actions and Outcome
Baskerville disappearance	Takes an interest in the family because its descent from one of Arthur’s Twelve Knights supports the Empire’s historical legitimacy 79.
Merician rebellion	Applies economic pressure before military intervention. Parliament closes ports, removes the governor, and expands military authority; the separatist rebellion is subsequently suppressed 122 186.
Thistle appointments	Knights Li Wei, awards him the rare Thistle Medal, and makes him a life-term count. His position evokes Arthur’s Twelve Knights and becomes a public symbol of imperial revival 207 208.
Casablanca operation	Orders troops moved to Crodo under cover of a defensive exercise, directs Li Wei to find pro-Empire allies, and demands an investigation of the group calling itself the “Royal Court” 303.
Post-raid crackdown	Uses the capture of Casablanca’s criminal leaders to investigate their political protectors and reorganize policing under Fog City headquarters 318.
Tiris alliance	Allies with the neutral duchy rather than directly committing to Francis, forcing Kront to choose between a difficult frontal invasion and a route that risks war with the Empire 330 331.
Delai Port occupation	Withdraws Li Wei’s order and the Third Fleet from frontline combat while leaving other forces to hold and rebuild the port as an imperial military base 407.
Kront conquest	Sets the objective of conquering Kront and demands a head-on destruction of its Deburg defensive line to break enemy morale 532.
Demon and alien threats	Supports preparations against the otherworldly Cront Empire and rejects relying on demons and biological monsters to destroy one another 545 548.
Postwar Francis	Proposes moving Li Wei’s amusement park to the City of Flowers; he selects the White Lily Palace as a tourist attraction asserting imperial authority 593.
Sasha Alliance crisis	Demands unconditional surrender, grants Li Wei sweeping investigative powers after the embassy massacre, and instructs him to take Princess Sophia along 600.
Restoration of lost territory	Reclaims every territory the Empire had lost, raising her prestige to the point that citizens compare her with Emperor Arthur 712.

Centralization and Domestic Opposition

Victoria’s restored borders do not eliminate the independence of regional lords. Her goal is a cohesive state whose subjects answer to Fog City and the Royal Family, rather than a hierarchy of semi-independent territorial rulers 712.

Local nobles obstruct reforms through delays and claims of inadequate staff, unsuitable conditions, or urgent competing demands. Li Wei believes Victoria’s control of the regular army and unprecedented public prestige make a direct confrontation increasingly likely, but he fears that civil war would give recently reconquered regions another opportunity to separate 712 758.

Appearance

• Build: Tall and athletic, with the bearing of a battlefield commander 207.
• Usual dress: Military uniform; at her first meeting with Li Wei, she wears a red cape rather than sumptuous royal robes 207 303.
• Apparent age: In her fifties, but looks to Li Wei like a woman in her thirties or forties, with a healthy complexion 26 207.
• Presence: Projects intimidating authority even while silent. At the investiture ceremony, a faint smile visibly eases the guests’ tension 207 303.

Personality

Victoria is patient in preparation and decisive in execution. Her bureaucratic reforms initially appear harmless to the nobility, while her later financial reforms are prepared well before the crisis used to enact them. She repeatedly turns investigations and political emergencies into opportunities to strengthen central government 207 318 436.

Her ambition is tempered by concern for governability. Although she wants to restore imperial territory, she does not believe conquering the entire continent would produce a durable state. She fears excessive annexation could hasten another imperial collapse after her death 560.

She is also openly skeptical of her own dynasty. Having witnessed corruption within the Royal Family, she tells Louise that noble ancestry is no guarantee of good government and that the monarchy needs independent scrutiny 580.

Her private interests include comics and Betty the Puppy. She asks Li Wei to bring the puppy to the palace and later reads comics with Louise over tea 303 535.

Authority & Governance

Military and Technological Modernization

• Replaces obsolete army equipment with steam-powered weapons as the first step toward securing her reign 207.
• Adopts Dr. Tester’s airship modifications quickly enough to surprise Li Wei 531.
• Asks whether the Eye of the Sky can be mass-produced, accepting that its unusual nature is no obstacle if it serves the Empire 371.
• Welcomes guided missiles as a means of deterring neighboring states without annexing unmanageable amounts of territory 560.
• Sees massed rocket artillery as the overwhelming display of imperial strength she has wanted 560.

Victoria is explicitly described as an ordinary person, rather than a supernatural combatant. Her response to occult danger relies on specialized personnel, protective equipment, and the Empire’s institutions 346.

Economic and Administrative Reform

Area	Measures
Education and bureaucracy	Expands access to schooling and promotes reform-minded officials, weakening aristocratic control through civil administration 207.
Noble status	Allows capitalists into noble circles while retaining the loyalty of royal nobles and militarily powerful Sword Nobles 348.
Police organization	Plans an expanded police force centralized under Fog City headquarters, with outside investigators used against locally protected criminal networks 318.
Labor and taxation	Introduces a minimum wage, progressive income taxes, and worker protections 436.
Banking	Establishes a system separating commercial and investment banking and increases state control over banks 436.
Information and protest	Closes selected newspapers and radio stations during the Rothfield crisis, tightens control over communications, and restricts demonstrations 436.

Victoria rejects Louise’s proposal to nationalize every large corporation. She argues that prosperity depends partly on people believing their efforts can produce greater personal benefits 415.

During the Rothfield crisis, she initially refuses to disperse protesters by force. She instead closes banks, later exposes the family’s transmission of military intelligence to Kront, and confiscates its imperial assets. The crackdown expands into investigations of other Ite noble families under an old imperial law, while frozen assets, sealed borders, and controlled media prevent effective resistance 435 436.

Supernatural Policy and Public Confidence

• Permits Ovelia’s supernatural companion to appear publicly. Li Wei interprets this as evidence of selective acceptance rather than blanket suppression 172.
• Publicizes the slain dragon and arranges its dissection by imperial and foreign biologists to demonstrate that modern humanity can defeat ancient monsters 371.
• Appoints Annie Branson to lead the investigative delegation despite resentment from other researchers 373.
• Publicly confirms Joan Dark’s return and announces that the Holy Lord Church imprisoned her 579.

Li Wei suspects that public confidence in machinery could do more than improve morale: because belief can influence reality, it might strengthen the Empire’s technological resistance to supernatural threats. This is his interpretation of Victoria’s dragon publicity campaign, not an explicitly confirmed explanation from the Queen 371.

Checks on Royal Power

• Revives the Thistle Knight Order partly to keep the Royal Family in check, not merely to imitate Arthur 580.
• Recognizes that the Order itself also needs restraints 580.
• Values Li Wei’s independence, reluctance to seek power, and willingness to work through proper channels 580.
• Does not grant the knights hereditary territorial fiefs; their force is funded by the Royal Family 208 580.

Equipment / Items

• Military uniform and red cape — Her attire at the investiture ceremony, emphasizing her military identity 207.
• Ceremonial sword — Used to knight Li Wei and charge him with courage, justice, and protection 207.
• Old royal key — Bears the Royal Family’s emblem and is connected to a longstanding question she revisits after the Holy Maiden’s return 580.
• Discarded coronation gifts — A crown, ring, scepter, and robe sent by the Holy Lord Church. Li Wei discovers that they induce fanatical worship; Victoria had left them unused because she disliked both the Church and lavish adornments 346.

Relationships

• Princess Louise — Daughter and expected successor. Victoria teaches her about economic incentives and the dangers of unchecked royal authority, and proposes marriage between her and Li Wei 339 340 415 435 580.
• Li Wei — Favored investigator and Thistle Knight commander. She rewards him with rank and resources, relies on his intelligence and inventions, and values his independence as a safeguard against dynastic corruption 207 208 303 560 580.
• Katie — A personal concern whose situation Victoria has not yet fully explained in the supplied passages. She prefers that Katie avoid Casablanca and later says she will tell Li Wei about her herself 303 580.
• The Old Butler — Trusted aide who relays intelligence and carries out her operational instructions 303 388.
• Joan Dark / Holy Maiden — Founding knight whom Victoria meets personally and formally recognizes at court. Ceremonial precedence places Joan behind the Queen but ahead of Louise 531 579.
• Princess Sophia — Orders her extraction from the Sasha Alliance and later her return alongside Li Wei. Li Wei interprets Sophia’s royal ancestry as strategically valuable 388 391 600.
• Baskerville Family — Historically significant royal nobles entrusted with the grain-producing region of Delicate. Ovelia nevertheless fears centralization may eventually end their territorial rule 79 348 437.
• Holy Lord Church — Opposed her early reforms, supported aristocratic rebellion, and sent coercive religious regalia at her accession. Victoria later publicly exposes its imprisonment of Joan Dark 207 346 579.
• Rothfield Family — Financial and political opponents whose manipulation of protests and transmission of military intelligence precipitate confiscations and wider reform 435 436.

Notable Quotes

“Humanity now commands an entirely new power. We have left behind the old world, where we relied on swords alone to fight and survive, and entered a new world driven by steam and machinery!” 371

“We need someone to keep watching us, to prevent us from becoming corrupt and depraved and returning to our old ways.” 580