[Excerpt from a book on the late Empress]
Many of those who lived through her reign will weep until the ends of their lives over the pale beauty with the piercing eyes, and the foul end she met at the hands of her own twisted servant and protector.
In her father's day, the Kaldwins were thrust into the limelight despite their distance to the throne, when the former dynasty provided no heirs. A prosperous age followed the Emperor, but his daughter would have different luck. During her short life, political intrigue and minor conflicts created cracks in the Empire, undermining unity across the Isles.
The Rat Plague, however, was a terror for which neither Empress Kaldwin nor any other living being was prepared.