Victoria

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Human appearance: A short, youthful-looking woman with a delicate face, golden eyes, and exceptionally long golden hair 342 568 874.
• Clothing: Usually wears long dresses. One detailed outfit consists of a black embroidered dress, layered lace collar and cuffs, an ornate hair clip, stockings, and leather shoes 365 505.
• Hair: Spreads across furniture and floors, wraps around her like a blanket or cocoon, and functions as part of her web-based powers 303 341 392.
• After treatment: Her hair turns green when Phoebe’s vitality is transmitted into her through Clara’s hair 859 863.
• Partial spider form: Retains a humanoid upper body above a spider abdomen and eight sharp, jointed legs covered in coarse black bristles 649.
• Awakened form: A towering spider whose apparent human face can split apart to reveal spike-lined mouthparts. She lacks tear glands in this form 878.

Personality

Victoria presents herself as proud, aloof, and easily irritated. She often disguises kindness as a transaction, insisting that Vanessa’s treatment and privileges are payment for future work. In practice, she repeatedly provides Vanessa with books, food, lodging, and help during supernatural crises 334 350 369.

Her possessiveness grows from loneliness and fear of abandonment. Vanessa’s presence briefly relieves her agitation and despair, making companionship something she can no longer comfortably do without. Learning that Vanessa has visited the [Overflowing Garden] leaves her anxious that both she and her Library will be replaced 303 335.

Victoria recognizes that her original Abode project is an escape rather than an attempt to save the world. Vanessa’s refusal to abandon the Hearthfire District frustrates her, but also earns her envy and eventually changes her plans: she begins considering how to shelter other people rather than only herself 367 397.

Her composure is fragile beneath the aristocratic manner. She fears losing people important to her, doubts her usefulness beside stronger beings, and is deeply ashamed of her spider body. After awakening, acceptance from Elliot and her companions helps her begin using that body more naturally 608 863 878 879 884.

Background and History

Imperial past

Victoria helped build the Empire, but her position within the Royal Family is more unusual than the title “Eldest Princess” suggests. Unlike Sidney and Michel, she calls Thorne by name rather than “Father.” Her residence stands in the Crown District beside the Imperial Palace, and her permission is sufficient to exempt Vanessa from normal inspections there 878.

She bears part of Theresia’s curse from the previous era. Her past includes sealing herself inside copper as a statue and putting her self to sleep, allowing her to live as the Eldest Princess without confronting her awakened nature. Some of her memories remain incomplete even after that nature returns 878 885 886.

Vanessa and the Grand Library

Victoria initially conceals her royal identity from Vanessa while arranging an unobstructed route to the Library: guards receive instructions to admit her, and servants are ordered out of sight. Vanessa’s company then becomes a rare source of peace for Victoria 274 303.

After giving Vanessa an Emblem, Victoria asks her to investigate the [Overflowing Garden]. She hopes the Grand Library will eventually become its equal, but Vanessa’s revelation that she has already entered the Garden turns that ambition into a personal insecurity 334 335.

Victoria’s first proposal to make Vanessa her knight is coercive: she binds her with golden threads and demands that she remain in the Library forever. Vanessa refuses to abandon the people outside and challenges Victoria’s belief that the world cannot be saved. Victoria later revises the offer, explicitly allowing Vanessa to continue her work in the Hearthfire District; Vanessa accepts 367 397.

Failed investiture

Victoria personally prepares Vanessa’s investiture, including invitations and an audience with the Emperor. It is her first time investing a knight, and the ceremony is also a degraded Elevation Ritual requiring a substantial expenditure of her own power 410 413 437.

The ceremony fails when Vanessa identifies the rotten flesh upon the Throne, fulfilling an inevitable Historical Node. Victoria does not blame Vanessa; instead, she breaks down over her inability to change history. Vanessa’s new position as a historical fulcrum prevents her ennoblement, undermining the connection on which Victoria had based many of her arrangements 413 414 417.

Building an Abode

Victoria collects [Secret Histories] to help the Grand Library ascend into an Abode capable of escaping the Second Era’s destruction. She supplements its construction with furniture, flooring, and building materials taken from an Abode she initially assumes is ownerless 376 397.

During a later visit, she suppresses a newly formed Tin Flagon relic that is flooding the building. Discovering that the surrounding Abode is an entire living world convinces her that its Great Being has knowingly permitted her activities. She interprets this tolerance as covert support for her escape from the Second Era 406 407.

Her experimental prayer reaches Elliot directly. After the failed investiture, she repeatedly enters the Abode to gather more materials, driven by renewed fear of Historical Nodes and the coming danger to the Expedition Army 417.

During the Dream Creature attacks, Victoria helps defend the Courtyard alongside Vanessa and the Communion. Vanessa supplies the overwhelming [Spirituality Pressure] Victoria lacks the endurance to sustain herself, while Maeve’s flesh supports their continued resistance. A vast library is later established for Victoria in the renovated Courtyard 444 445 446 447 504.

Alliance with Lillian

Lillian defeats Victoria inside her prepared web defenses, tearing apart her strongest cocoon with bare hands. Although Lillian restores the damaged Abode and proposes cooperation, she also challenges Victoria’s confidence that building an Abode proves she has escaped history successfully 568.

Their alliance develops around exploring beyond the Abode and interpreting supposed instructions from the Great Being. Victoria identifies a crystal found beneath the sea as a Difference Engine Core, installs it in the Palace Hall’s machine, and starts the engine; its first printed cards are blank 569 608 611.

These investigations expose Victoria to increasingly dangerous truths. Lillian intervenes when she approaches permanent madness, while Victoria remains cautious enough to establish silk escape routes before exploring unfamiliar territory with her 610 620 621 626.

Imperial collapse and rescue

When a new emperor must be chosen, Sidney identifies Victoria as one of three contenders. During the crisis, she mourns the destroyed Grand Library and asks whether Sidney can produce another miracle for the Empire 721 744.

Victoria begs Sidney not to leave her when he chooses to sacrifice his emotions and take the Throne. Later, the Sacred Blood Nobles’ rebellion, Michel’s death, and the fate of her blood relatives drive her into madness 748 859 863.

While she is immobilized in [Amber], Clara and the Dawn crew channel Phoebe’s vitality into her, reducing her madness and turning her hair green. After awakening, Victoria asks for [Honey] to help treat the remaining mental shock and offers Elliot her help, declaring that she never wants to watch important people die again 859 863.

Awakening as the Spider Queen

A later breakdown in the Hearthfire District manifests the Spider Queen’s destructive power. Victoria kills Maeve, and her silk also strikes down Flora and Elsa during the confrontation. Elliot ends the immediate crisis by reinforcing her identity through Hypnosis rather than trying to defeat her head-on 871 872 874.

Once calm, Victoria discovers that Vanessa is the Hollow Cathedral’s cult leader. She binds Vanessa in silk and asks Elliot to lend her the captive, turning her distress over the concealed identity into a familiar display of possessiveness 874.

Her subsequent awakening reveals that the spider is her true self. Theresia tells her that she can no longer return to human form and must bear the curse until the era ends or is destroyed. Victoria expects rejection, but Elliot welcomes her as an Immortal, and Maeve and Vanessa approach her afterward 878 879.

Back in the Library, she begins moving comfortably in her spider body and controlling numerous cleaning tools at once. However, she worries that her increasing desire to spin silk means the curse is progressively making her more spider-like. Elliot’s attempt to advance her through the Difference Engine remains blocked 884 886.

Abilities and Skills

Spider Silk and Web Control

• Restraint: Forms bindings and layered cocoons capable of trapping powerful supernatural targets 392 568.
• Cutting: Uses extremely fine threads to dismember enemies. Her silk can slice through Nightmare flesh, though it cannot scratch Elsa’s [Amber] 717 720.
• Prepared territory: A completed web dramatically improves her mobility and attack coverage. During the Courtyard battle, it extends her reach across the entire battlefield 450.
• Transport: Anchors, hauls, and reels in distant targets. In spider form, she can reclaim previously spun silk through her abdomen 649.
• Construction and craft: Produces floors, clothing, kerchiefs, and knitted garments from her own silk 397 505 701 886.
• Fine control: After awakening, simultaneously operates numerous brooms and cloths to clean the Library 884.

Reconnaissance and Mirrors

• Web perception: In spider form, her awareness extends wherever she has placed silk 793.
• Mirror observation: Conjures mirrors and uses reflected images for discreet, wide-area investigation 342 793.
• Reflective surfaces: Explains that anything capable of reflecting an image can function as a mirror, including an eye 342.
• Investigation: Uses the Library to contain Evan while examining his condition; she considers her investigative abilities superior to those of the Reforging Flame 392.

Rationality and Psychological Treatment

• [Rationality]: Suppresses pain, hesitation, and destabilizing emotions, allowing her to act under severe pressure 569 629.
• Psychoanalysis: Examines and treats Vanessa’s mental condition, including after dangerous supernatural experiences 334 356.
• Side effects: Prolonged use makes her increasingly intolerant of stupidity and unusually receptive to clever people 347.
• Limits: Rationality does not make her immune to mental shock or permanent madness 621 626 863.

Spider Transformation

• Physical weapons: Manifests sharp jointed limbs and additional spider features during combat 568 649.
• Superior battlefield form: Her spider body becomes substantially more effective when supported by a web laid in advance 793.
• Awakened power: The Spider Queen possesses strength equivalent to the Thirteenth Rank despite Victoria’s underlying Twelfth-Rank cultivation 886.
• Persistent identity: Awakening does not erase Victoria’s personality or attachment to her companions, although some memories remain incomplete 880 885 886.

Radiance and [Dawn]

• [Dawn] state: Transforms her body into pure radiance, destroying a Blood Vampire parasite within her 717.
• White flames: Can conjure searing white fire, though it proves ineffective against the supernatural flood inside the Abode 406.
• Source: Her [Justice] abilities derive from Radiance, as do Sidney’s, but their specialties differ 673.

Rituals and Supernatural Knowledge

• Secret Histories: Explains Historical Nodes, the rewriting of history, dream properties, and the transition between eras 376 414 450 679.
• Prayer: Constructs an experimental ritual using a floor tile from the target Abode; the resulting prayer reaches Elliot directly 417.
• Relic suppression: Channels spirituality through her hair to restrain the flooding Tin Flagon 406.
• Technical identification: Recognizes a Difference Engine Core and correctly installs it in the Palace Hall’s engine 611.

Weaknesses and Curse

Relationships

• Vanessa — Her closest Library companion and intended knight. Victoria’s protection develops into possessiveness, but she eventually accepts Vanessa’s freedom to serve the Hearthfire District. Vanessa considers her one of the kindest people she has met 335 369 397.
• Elliot Sterling — An acquaintance with whom she has a history of friction, later one of her closest friends. He stabilizes her madness, welcomes her awakened form, and seeks a way past her curse through the Difference Engine 371 671 874 878 886.
• The Great Being above the Dream — The object of her gratitude, awe, and desire to prove herself useful. She regards the building materials she takes as gifts permitted by His will 407 498 507 608.
• Lillian — A dangerous ally who first defeats her, then recruits her into shared investigations. Their cooperation includes both protection from mental collapse and continued distrust 568 569 610 621.
• Sidney — Her blood relative and a fellow [Justice] practitioner. Their teasing conceals a strong attachment; Victoria begs him not to sacrifice his emotions to the Throne 672 673 748 874.
• Michel — Her blood relative. His murder during the nobles’ rebellion is part of the trauma that drives her into madness 863 874.
• Theresia — A figure from her concealed past whose curse Victoria partly inherited. Victoria resolves to break a promise to her, while Theresia later urges her to seal herself away 863 878.
• Maeve — A battlefield ally whose flesh helps Victoria sustain her strength. Victoria later kills her during a breakdown, but Maeve approaches her again after her awakening 447 874 879.
• Xixi — A dog Victoria mistakenly believes is a transformed Vanessa. She vows to save “Vanessa” before the real Vanessa appears and exposes the mistake 504.

Notable Quotes

“I won't interfere with your freedom. I'll only ask you one thing, Vanessa. … Are you willing to become my knight and pledge your loyalty to me?” 397

“History is made up of countless coincidences. And among those countless coincidences, there is also inevitability. That inevitability is a node.” 413

“Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all. I never, ever want to watch the people important to me die before my eyes again.” 863

Trivia

• Reading and sleeping are her principal pleasures. Before Vanessa’s visits give her a reason to rise early, she can sleep through an entire day 341.
• She has maids maintain an elegant sleeping posture and commissioned a special pool for washing her hair after it nearly strangled her in her sleep 341 342.
• She enjoys swinging from her own hair and later from silk, despite Sidney’s teasing 672 884.
• Her early attempt at silk trousers is conspicuously ugly: she can spin the material, but cannot dye it and is not a skilled tailor 505.