Wolf Queen

One of the major supporting characters of The Winterbough Saga. She is a wolfess.

When first encountered by Westersloe Winterbough V in the adventure "8100 Years of Solitude," she is the Chief Constable of Artemisiaford, a mysterious underground realm in the South Country ruled by a despotic matriarchy. At that point in time, the Wolf Queen was known by another name (which is not referenced in the story).

In the course of the story, Winterbough defeats the wolfess, and in a rage, the Electress Zenobia, the ruler of Artemisiaford (and not incidentally the wolfess' lover) strips her not only of her rank and her clothing, but her literal name as well. The wolfess reluctantly helps Winterbough ultimately destroy the realm, and she escapes. Since Artemisiaford was engaged is slavery, an outlawed practice in the Mephitist Empire, the wolfess was remanded to the custody of Winterbough.

Soon after that, in the adventure "Apparel Oft Becomes the Wolfess," the wolfess was brought before Prince Roland, Marshal of Faerie, who testily ordered his subordinate Winterbough to ensure that the wolfess wore clothing. The wolfess had been in the habit of going around in the nude, feigning servility to Winterbough and giving the strong impression that she was in his thrall. Winterbough brought her to the barracks of the Household Cavalry, and in the vaults of that regiment, the wolfess selected (or, conceivably, was selected by) the regalia of a noted warrior of the past, the Wolf Queen, a fur that had fought for Justice in the Long Ago.

The Regalia consists of various items of armour, including most notably a tiara, as well as an intensely magickal weapon, called Sun-and-Moon, a double bardiche. The latter is capable of movement on its own and at the command of the Wolf Queen (who assumed the name of the previous owner of the equipment). It's also noteworthy that a ballad of the time, playing off the Battle of Flourford-Mossford, told of Winterbough using magicks to defeat a Wolf Queen by stripping her of her armour; venery quickly followed. The Wolf Queen adopted this history, in part because she knew it would embarrass and annoy Winterbough.

The two have a somewhat contradictory relationship. At times, they act as a team, as in "Apparel Oft Becomes the Wolfess," "Red Sky at Morning," or "Within the Hollow Crown," and yet at other times, the two are shown verbally sniping at one another, and getting on each other's nerves. The Wolf Queen does have a habit of getting to her knees and clinging to Winterbough's ankles in public, to really infuriate him. She is also known for regularly referring to him as a "pissy little roebuck."

A notable power of the Wolf Queen is the ability to conjure up large and beautiful wings; this power was a gift from the Zimbar family, a family of deeply magickal, semi-wild skunks, as related in "The Awkward Squad." This ability to manifest wings has proven useful, not only to reach otherwise inaccessible places, like the Glittering Isle in "Red Sky at Morning," but to overawe other wolves, such as the Wolf Prisoners taken in "Red Sky," who see in the Wolf Queen the manifestation of their goddess, The Great Alpha.

The Wolf Queen has been entrusted with diplomatic missions, such as investigating the mysterious, non-Imperial realm of Eastness in "Within the Hollow Crown," or visiting Frostheim, the home of the dreaded Kringle. (The Wolf Queen, having grown up in her isolated native realm, had no experiences with the Kringle, unlike most other Elves.)

The Wolf Queen is friendly with Anastasia Rosebush-Aspen, Winterbough's mate, who approves of the Wolf Queen posing as Winterbough's thrall, since it obscures the truth of Anastasia's secret marriage to Winterbough. More notably, the wolfess has a passionate relationship with Princess Ooo-er, the primitive (?) native otter-femme rescued from the Glittering Isle. This relationship was threatened by a fling the Wolf Queen had with the Chief Constable of Frostheim, Aurora Borealis, in "Frozen in Fear."