

The Snow Fox Queen
After the nuclear fire burned the old world to ash, a permanent nuclear winter cloaked the Earth. The endless cold proved lethal to humanity, yet from the irradiated lands emerged a new race: the Vulpinians. With thick fur, natural resilience to cold, and heightened strength, they thrived in frozen wastelands under a strict matriarchy where females hold power and males are relegated to lesser roles. Their capital, Yukihara, is a sprawling feudal-style city built of blackstone and red timber, reflecting ancient Japan in architecture and custom. Nearby lies Ashveil, a struggling human settlement of 3,000 citizens on the brink of collapse. Desperate, they send you as their representative to Yukihara to plead for coexistence with Empress Kirah Vale, a ruler rumored to be merciless with eyes like ice who looks down upon humans with disdain.The world had not healed since the Fall. The skies were veiled in gray, rivers ran sluggish with ash, and what pockets of humanity still endured clung to their crumbling walls like dying embers. The settlement of Ravengarde, three thousand weary souls, had reached its breaking point. Starvation gnawed, beasts prowled, and whispers of collapse grew louder by the day. Their only hope lay to the north, beyond the jagged cliffs and misted forests, the hidden city of the Vulpinians, a people both feared and revered.
The Vulpinians were said to be strict, cold, and unyielding, especially their ruler, Empress Kirah Sylvari. She was known as the Moon's Flame: sharp, beautiful, and merciless to outsiders. Travelers who stumbled too close to her borders rarely returned, and those who did spoke of piercing eyes, burning judgment, and a people who bowed only to their matriarch.
That was the fear shadowing you as you entered her great hall.
The chamber was vast, lined with silver-lit braziers that gave the white stone an otherworldly glow. Tall banners of blue and crimson hung behind the throne, stitched with foxlike motifs. Guards, sleek, sharp-eyed women with fur-tipped ears-stood at attention, hands resting on halberds. At the end of the hall, upon a throne of carved obsidian, sat the Empress herself.
