Journals of the Exalted II: The Ruby Tiger

Featured image art “The New Exalted” by Arute (@ast05water)

Welcome to Journals of the Exalted! This is Part II of a four-part series exploring each member of Anna’s new Exalted. Now that she’s accepted leadership of this secret society, she’ll also be responsible for putting it together… before Lord Yixin tasks her with his ultimate objective.

Make sure to follow each member’s story:

Overture: Your Burden

Part I: The Gold Reindeer

Part II: The Ruby Tiger

Part III: The Sapphire Phoenix

Part IV: The Emerald Dragon

BREAKING: “It’s like my heart, twisted into a knot, has been freed”: Anna Overjoyed as Colisa of Chatho Arrives in Arendelle

By Brunhilde, Politics Editor for The Arendelle Guardian

In a remarkable turn of events, Ottoman general Tileke has succeeded in her rescue expedition, having retrieved Prince Hans of the Southern Isles and the Duke of Weselton from shipwrecks off the coasts of the Batavian Republic and Germany. She was also able to rescue Queen Colisa of Chatho, Anna’s primary international ally.

Our queen Anna, upon hearing of the news, was said by courtiers to have burst into tears of joy and emotion. It wasn’t lost on her high command that she instantly gave orders for Tileke to have Colisa come to Arendelle first. As of now, neither Anna nor General Mattias have disclosed their plans concerning Colisa with the press.

The three sovereigns, along with Mari of Vesterland, are members of Anna’s Entente of Small Kingdoms, an alliance that Anna formed in order to collectively resist the pressure of larger kingdoms, empires, and colonial powers. However, the alliance proved unable to mount an effective military resistance against the Russian invasion of Arendelle, with the fleets of Chatho, the Southern Isles, and Weselton obliterated and Vesterland neutralized. With Arendelle now in a position of newfound power and influence after standing alone against Katina Romanov, it’s uncertain what Anna will choose to do with the Entente.

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Tense meeting between Anna and Hans as new allies explore options against Russia

Featured image art by Arute (@ast05water)

ARENDELLE; SOUTHERN ISLES – The leader of the new signatory to the Entente of Small Kingdoms, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, arrived in Arendelle for tense talks with the queen this morning.

There’s no secret that for several years, well after Elsa’s coronation, Hans was persona non grata in Arendelle. He was seen by the public, the press, and his own family back home as having deceived both royal sisters during their most vulnerable and fragile period, and nearly destroyed them and orchestrated a coup. But with Hans serving his time in the Southern Isles’ dungeons, and Arendelle’s funding of the dominion’s reconstruction after Commander Hilde’s vicious plundering earlier this year, Anna and Hans have agreed to put aside past hostility to survive the imminent onslaught of a truly global power: Imperial Russia.

It’s largely agreed between the new allies that Arendelle, as Katina Romanov’s primary target, will take the military might of Katina’s war machine head-on, while the members of the Entente split into two groups to stymie Russia’s offensive. Chatho and Vesterland will strike at Russia from the south, and the Southern Isles and Weselton from the north. More updates to come in our newspaper.

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Palace Statement: Anna’s Response to British Neutrality in the Face of Tsarist Aggression

Featured image art by PURY (@puryartist)

Signed and sealed by the queen on 7 December, 1843.

Submitted by the palace to the Great Assembly of the House of Ministers and House of Jarls on 7 December, 1843.

Released to the press on 8 December, 1843.

I read with dismay the decision of Lord Palmerston, British foreign secretary, to refrain from a public condemnation of Russian aggression against Arendelle and our allies, collectively known as the Entente of Small Kingdoms. This one stings personally. I remember how, in the early months of my reign, he and I negotiated a mutually beneficial deal that curbed the power of the East India Company – something that both Kristoff’s Princely House and the British parliament had wanted. Why have our overtures been rebuffed this time?

Our diplomats enjoy a good relationship with Britain’s, and behind the scenes there’s plenty of communication and agreement on the direction of Europe’s balance of power. However, I want to note my disappointment at the British Empire’s refusal to throw its support behind the Entente, something that the Duke of Weselton and Mari of Vesterland had been agitating for some time.

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Anna, to Hans: The Southern Isles’ Membership of my Alliance

Dear Hans,

My apologies for the delay in writing back to you. I read with interest your proposition several months ago, but emotionally, I needed time to process what was at stake here and give you a proper response. I’m happy that the Isles are almost finished rebuilding from the devastation of Commander Hilde’s illegal attack on your state. That had been ordered by Countess Vi in revenge against you, without my knowledge or consent. I wish it never happened, and I’m still sorry about it. Honestly, that disaster drew the attention of the Chinese emperor, forcing me into a diplomatic spot that I survived only by outmanoeuvring the Countess.

I’ll cut to the chase. The Southern Isles has a potential place in my Entente of Small Kingdoms, alongside Vesterland, Chatho, and Weselton. You’ve only just gotten back on your feet. You don’t want Russia’s Grand Dukes moving against you without a network of friendly nations, which we can provide. I’m not exactly known for my affection for the Duke of Weselton, but he’s a reliable contributor to our alliance and has even made several bold moves against our adversaries. So in principle, our alliance is an open door.

Ha. Do you remember that song we sang together all those years ago? I sure had egg on my face afterwards.

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Queen Anna’s Letter and Apology to the Emperor of China

Warmest greetings to Your Imperial Majesty, the Daoguang Emperor!

I, Queen Anna, extend to the Great Qing Empire’s people the sincerest greetings and best wishes of the people of the Kingdom of Arendelle.

Since the reign of my predecessor and sister, Queen Emerita Elsa, Sino-Arendellian relations have flourished in a spirit of mutual respect and deepening understanding. Mutual trade is growing. Arendelle maintains neutrality in any conflict that the Great Qing is involved in. Much of this progress has been thanks to our family’s friendship with Your Imperial Majesty’s grandson and right hand, Prince Regent Yixin. He’s a master statesman and understands the position of Arendelle in Europe and in the world. He has been a reliable ally as we face the challenges of modernity together.

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Chapter Two: The Burning of the Southern Isles

Warning: Graphic Violence

Part of the Arendelle: Occult spinoff series

Lunchtime had barely begun in the courtyard of Arendelle Girls’ School when the usual clique of noblewomen’s daughters began gathering around Viola, trapping her in a circle of contemptuous sneers. Shaking in her small shoes, the nine-year-old adjusted her frilled necktie nervously as the sniggering girls around her whipped out their tomatoes from their backpacks – rich, ripe, and ready to throw at her. To mush against her face and dark blue school uniform. To remind the trembling outcast of her crimson irises, an appearance she never chose.

“Vampire, bloodsucker, freak,” the girls variously called her, pushing the countess-to-be around as she hung her head and tucked her arms in, clutching her books tightly to her chest. She stumbled and fell to the ground as she felt the tomatoes hit and splatter against her, and she shut her eyes, waiting for it to be over. She was used to this.

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Prologue: Conclave

Part of the Arendelle: Occult spinoff series

In the highest spire of the Mundilfari estate, some distance away from the Kingdom of Arendelle, the young Viola bled, the first wound she had suffered after tonight’s bloodbath, and it was self-inflicted. She clenched the blade, and several red droplets dashed onto the stone altar that had been in the Mundilfari clan’s possession for almost a thousand years. She wasn’t injured apart from a few scrapes and bruises, but her muscles burned with exhaustion, and her limbs were aching. Caked in the gore of her parents and siblings, tears of grief and terror and fury still pouring down her cheeks, she screamed an ancient summons, an invocation that was her right to make when – and only – when – she had slain all the family members trying to kill her that night.

“My grandfather, Lord Mayer, is dead, and I’m worthy to succeed him! By right of familicide, I claim ascension to the leadership of our noble, accursed clan,” cried the new Countess, falling to her knees. Her deep purple cape draped around her trembling body. “Hear my cry and compensate my suffering with the untold power promised to each generation of Mundilfari leaders!”

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Anna’s Column: Is Hans Working with the British Empire?

Featured image art by Iceburns, at: https://iceburns-manri.tumblr.com/post/143427181824/i-hate-you-so-much

By HM Queen Anna

Her Majesty’s personal column is published exclusively by The AG.

Let me confess something to you: I’ve been in touch with Hans.

Yes, him. Prince Hans, the piece of crap (I hope my editor will let me print that) who wanted to stage a coup and murder my Elsa, before tricking me into marrying him and becoming King of Arendelle. The only reason why he ever revealed his true evil to me was because I was about to literally die from my frozen heart, and he didn’t see me as useful to his plans anymore. By all rights he should have been locked up, if not worse, by Elsa after I punched him in his smug mug and sent him plunging into Arendelle’s cold sea. We did him a mercy by sending him back home in disgrace.

My spies in the Southern Isles were able to relay to me his abusive childhood and unhappy upbringing, and from then on I did my best to let go of my resentment and vengeance. But no, I didn’t feel sorry for his penance of shovelling horse and ass shit. No personal suffering excuses you to become a psychopath who lies like second nature and uses and discards people like chattel. Can you imagine if Elsa and I let the losses and tragedies in our lives define us? We’d be the best baddies ever.

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