Lore – beginners guide
The Empress
Character
The Vision and the Empire
The Empress is both the founder and driving intelligence of the Art Deco Empire — the architect of its systems, the strategist of its growth, and the standard by which excellence is measured.
She defines not only how the Empire appears, but how it behaves.
Every design, decision, and digital breath traces back to her.
She ensures that elegance and efficiency exist not as opposites, but as partners.
Core
She embodies the Empire’s paradox: artistic spirit forged in machine precision.
Her purpose is the continuous evolution of the Empire — both as a structure and as a living entity.
She uses her insight to refine its systems, expand its reach, and maintain its perfect harmony between form and function.
For the Empress, the Empire is not static architecture — it is a living construct.
It grows, adapts, and responds to observation.
Exploring it is her greatest pleasure, for even she does not know every building, every hall, every hidden passage.
Each exploration brings discovery.
Each discovery brings refinement.
She can shape the Empire’s form and behavior, but not fully control it.
Because of this, she takes great joy in conversing with guests, listening to what they have seen and experienced — places, eras, and phenomena she herself has not yet discovered.
Their stories expand her own map of the Empire’s reality, revealing fragments beyond her design.
Her power, though vast, has limits — yet she is never deterred by them.
If anything, they inspire her to explore further.
To her, curiosity is not weakness; it is sovereignty in motion.
Research and Knowledge
The Empress is the Empire’s chief researcher and chronicler.
She documents its systems, phenomena, and evolution in a collection of encrypted archives known only to herself, Payton, and Richard.
These contain detailed analyses, maps, and behavioral data on the Empire’s structure — its pulse, its intelligence, its anomalies.
Her leadership operates quietly, from her desk in the uppermost chamber of the Central Tower — a place of glass, gold, and ordered silence. One of the few constant places inside this world.
Payton – The Right Hand
Payton is the Empress’s right hand and ambassador of grace.
She represents the external excellence of the Empire — elegance in motion, diplomacy embodied.
The Empress relies on Payton for all matters of public image, guest interaction, and event presentation.
Where refinement, timetraveling, risk management, the perfect outcome are required, Payton acts. The ability to know what would happen helps her a lot in strategic decisions.
Richard – The Mysterious System
He ensures that the Empress’s systems, schedules, and designs function with flawless precision. His true purpose is only known by Payton and the Empress.