Cassilda

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Cassilda

(Person)

Titles

Queen of Carcosa

Alignment

Chaotic neutral

Ancestry/Species

Unique humanoid

Gender

Female

Homeland

Formerly Yhtill;
now Carcosa

Images of Cassilda

Source: Black Stars Beckon, pg(s). 60

Cassilda is the former queen of the city of Yhtill, the sole survivor of the city after it was absorbed by Carcosa, and the strongest rebel to stand against Hastur in the city.

Appearance

Cassilda is a regal, beautiful woman transformed into a life-sized hollow porcelain doll. Her skin is a lustrous alabaster, and a fine lattice of cracks runs like a spiderweb across her face and body. Rows of black and gold symbols run the length of her arms. Cassilda's face is disturbingly expressionless. Inside her eyes and mouth is nothing but a yellow light, and her long blonde hair floats about her face.

History

Cassilda's city of Yhtill was once locked in a tense political stalemate with the nearby city Alar, forcing Cassilda to name a successor in case she was assassinated. Her daughter Camilla refused to be named the heir, for fear of a prophecy: the Yellow Sign would be found by a successor to Cassilda's dynasty.

During this upheaval, the Pallid Mask, a servant of Hastur disguised as a stranger wearing a robe emblazoned with the Yellow Sign, sought an audience with Cassilda, introduced himself as a creation of Hastur's enemies, and claimed that his mask rendered him invisible to the King in Yellow, using his robe as evidence. He offered Cassilda a method to name Camilla her successor without drawing Hastur's attention, explaining that, 'It is the shadow cast by the truth'.

This was little more than a ruse to lure the nobility of Yhtill to attend a masquerade held to commemorate the event. Everyone looked upon the Yellow Sign and thought themselves immune to it. When the hour struck, the attendants removed their own masks, and the Pallid Mask was revealed to be Hastur's emissary. Hastur called upon the Yellow Sign, causing a wave of madness to sweep the city, allowing Carcosa to consume it. Cassilda looked away, sparing herself of being driven mad and enslaved, and absorbed a portion of the tortured souls all around her into herself, preserving their essence so that Yhtill and its people might one day be restored. She became the first denizen of the new Carcosa and acquired a lesser form of immortality: until Hastur is permanently destroyed, she will continue to reform after her own deaths.

Possessions

Cassilda's Imperial Diadem is a magic item which contains the memories and personalities of Yhtill's population. If both Cassilda and Hastur are destroyed within 24 hours of each other (a price she is willing to pay), the Imperial Diadem is destroyed, and the souls stored within are either resurrected in a restored Yhtill or allowed to proceed to the Boneyard to receive Pharasma's judgement.