Morgause

queen

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58 yo. Widowed Queen of Orkney, Arthur’s half-sister, sister of Morgana, Mother of Gawain. They say she is keeping her beauty thanks to magic. 

None
You don’t care about gods. All of them have been mean to you.

“Men of my family were always hurtful to me. My stepfather married me against my will, my husband was beating me, my half-brother ordered my kid to be drowned, my son killed my lover, and threatened to kill me as well. Yes, they might be stronger. But I have my charm and wits. I will manipulate them, and control them, and rule through them.”

Your father died in battle and your mother was to wed his killer, Uther Pendragon. He never cared much for you but he was neither cruel. He wed you to King Lot of Orkney to strengthen the alliance. But you didn’t like your husband – the fate you shared with your sister Morgana

You were searching for ways to get power and overshadow men, but you learned that you can get power only through men – through controlling them, manipulating them. 

When you weren’t able to control your husband, you decided to make Arthur fall in love with you and marry you. When his army was camping under your castle, you slipped to his tent at night and slept with him, hiding that you are married to Lot and that you are his half-sister. But in the morning you were discovered by Merlin and Kay. All of you had to promise you won’t tell a living soul about it. When Merlin was asking you about your reasons to sleep with your half-brother, you laughed to his face. 

Soon after, Arthur married Guinevere. You knew that little annoying brat and you hated her now even more because you were losing your way to power because of her. 

Day after you slept with Arthur, you also slept with your husband in case you would have a kid so he won’t find out the truth. You truly got pregnant. In the sixth month, he stormed your chambers and almost killed you. Somehow, he learned about what you did. You would like to know who told him. Arthur? Merlin? No. It had to be Kay.

Then, the royal decree came – all aristocrat kids born in May should be boarded to the boat and drowned as a sacrifice to gods. You were expecting in May! In horror, you fled to your sister Morgana, hoping the king’s guardsmen wouldn’t find you there but Lot told them about your whereabouts. They stole your baby Mordred. You were devastated! Yet Morgana promised you your baby will survive – but you wouldn’t be able to see him for many years.

Soon after, Lot started a new revolution against Arthur and was defeated and killed by King Pellinore in the field. 

Your sons Gawain and his younger brothers were already pages at Arthur’s court. They didn’t take the death of their father well but did not rebel against the king. 

You remained the queen of Orkney but refused to get married again. You were searching for ways to strengthen your influence. You knew Gwenhwyfach, Guinevere’s half-sister, and you came up with the idea to replace her with the queen. Together with your ally King Mark, you initiated the False Guinevere Conspiracy and also poisoned Guinevere’s father. You also met your son Mordred for the first time. He was polite but closer to Morgana than to you and also you didn’t really have a connection with him. Yet he was your blood and it meant a lot. However, this was quickly soured by a tragedy. Your sins were punished harshly. During Guinevere’s execution, the queen was saved by Lancelot who also killed two of your’s sons. It was rough and your blood was boiling with desire for revenge. You urged Gawain to kill Lancelot. He didn’t.

In the next two years, your influence at the court spiked. But you also fell in love again, with a young knight, Lamorak, son of Pellinore – the man who killed your husband. You spent a very happy period of time with Lamorak, and for a while, you forgot about your chase for power. You got pregnant again. But Gawain demanded to know who is the father. He attacked you, accused you of betraying the memory of his father. Then Gawain killed Lamorak and tossed his head to your knees. He threatened to kill your baby too. You were broken. In fear, you escaped to the court of King Mark and gave birth to a little girl whom you named Clarissant. Soon after you returned to your kingdom and presented Gawain with a corpse of baby you bought from some beggar. You left your daughter with King Mark who was supposed to raise her in secret.

You asked Mordred about the murder of Lamorak. He told you he tried to stop Gawain but wasn’t strong enough to overpower him, he could only watch him stab Lamorak to the back. With this, hate for your own son started brewing in your heart. You and Mordred became closer… and you accepted Morgana’s plan – not Gawain, but Mordred will be the king. 

Pellinore asked you if you knew something about Lamorak. Out of fear that Gawain would kill you, you said you didn’t know anything. The same fear prevented you from meeting your daughter Clarissant often enough.  You explained the situation, said that all of this was vital for her own safety. It wasn’t the full truth though. Whenever you came to see her, your heart ached for Lamorak again and that pain was unbearable.  

When Morgana came with an opportunity to take over the control of the country, you joined her ranks. The first step is to get rid of Guinevere and Lancelot – you have Gawain for this. It would be great to find proof of the affair or to catch them in flagrant. The second step is to get rid of Gawain – you have Pellinore for that. The third step is to put Mordred – with the support of Claudas and Mark – on the throne and to rule as the Queen-Mother. 

Morgana: your little sister, only friend, and a great protector. Even though she can be quite mean, she protected Mordred from danger. But somehow, she also stole him from you. 

Arthur: you hate him for what he did – ordered babies to be drowned. He is weak, naive, and easily manipulated.  He doesn’t deserve the throne. 

Merlin: now, when he is back, he could be a problem. He is clever and sees through everything. 

Kay: weak chain of your plot. He supported the Holy Grail Charade because he wants to rule. But he doesn’t want to overthrow Arthur nor destabilize the kingdom. He needs to be bought or destroyed. 

Guinevere: you hated her as a kid, you hate her as an adult. She needs to be destroyed. 

Mordred: it is funny. You cried for him when he should die, but after a few years, you forget about him. Then he came back, alive, but you couldn’t really create a connection with him – all your love belonged to Lamorak. Yet, when Gawain killed your lover and Mordred tried to protect him, and consol you… you started to feel affection for him. You wish to get him out of the influence of your sister, so he can be again your boy, only yours. 

Pellinore: so brutal and strong. He reminds you of Lamorak so much. Is it weird, to feel attraction to both father and son? 

Gawain: is it hard for a mother to hate her own children? Not really, especially when they take all the happiness from her. Yes, he is still your son, but you fear him, and anytime you look at him, your heart is aching with the memory of Lamorak. You don’t wish for his death, but you have to eliminate his threat. 

Lancelot: he murdered your defenseless sons! And he got away with it! He has to be punished! Humiliated! Killed!

Mark: He helped you when you needed it. He is a good ally. 

Aoife: Morgana’s slave. You trained her on how to seduce and satisfy men. She is a mole among Guinevere’s ladies.

Clarissant: Your daughter, hidden away as a servant at Mark’s court. You always meet in secrecy and she’s growing up so quickly… You realize you don’t really know her. But you do know that she cares about that young knight Tristan.

Ragnelle: Gawain’s wife. If he’s going down, she’s probably going down too… But you don’t care.

You want what you were lacking in your whole life. Love, power, control. You want a man who will love you, you want to punish all the ones who hurt you – Guinevere, Arthur, Gawain, and Lancelot. You want to make Mordred the king and get power through him. 

Check the Political map to understand your negotiating position. 

TODO

  1. Find proof Lancelot and Guinevere are having an affair. You might use the ones who are close to Guinevere: her maids Elyzabel, Aoife, maybe Lady Malehaut.  Two flies in one stroke. Maybe you could use also some magic items from Nineve, Viviana, or Morgana. Might be also useful to get poison from somebody. 
  2. Talk to Pellinore. See if he can give you protection. See if he can destroy Gawain. You might tell him who killed Lamorak.
  3. Talk to Kay and find out if he is on your side. You can try to seduce him – it was your best way how to treat men anyway. 
  4. Talk to Mordred. See if you can create a real connection with him. He is your son after all – the only son you have left because, in your thoughts, Gawain is already dead to you. You should get him out of Morgana’s influence. 
  5. Support Morgana and Mordred in their effort to get Mordred on the throne. Speak with them about what is the plan. 
  6. You are surprised to see your daughter Clarissant here. Find out what she wants here and make sure she doesn’t put you two in danger of exposing her identity to Gawain.