The oni kingdom of Shinkokuzan is officially ruled by the Shinkokuzan royal family, but it is largely controlled by its two largest noble houses, the Tenmyouya of the South and the Midorizuki of the East. The two noble houses amassed so much power while fueling their rivalry over the generations that they now control over 80% of the country between the two of them. There are a few smaller houses that owe their allegiance only to the royal family, some made up of other demihumans, but those two make up the bulk of the kingdom's population and territory.

To strengthen the bond between the royal family and these houses, crown prince Seijuurou Shinkokuzan took Kin Tenmyouya as his wife, eldest daughter of house Tenmyouya. Not long after, he took Momoyo Midorizuki, eldest daughter of house Midorizuki as his second wife, both less than a decade before ascending to throne. This helped quell the rivalry between the two houses... for the most part.

Princess Kaguya Shinkokuzan, born to Second Queen Momoyo, became fourth in line to the throne following the passing of her half-brother to sickness. She was raised in luxury, but had little expectations of the throne. Instead, she was raised with the expectation of entering a political marriage, much like her parents, be it to one of the lesser houses or a neighboring kingdom. However, things don't always go as planed.

Shinkokuzan had little access to trade, with only one river and a lake suitable for boats to traverse. Much of its travel was done by wagon. It took time for crops to come from their fertile farmlands to the further reaches of the kingdom, as well as importing other foods from their neighbors. Exporting stone also proved expensive. They needed help from the small but influential nation of Blitzeiche, who were quickly establishing a trade network across the continent. Iron rails were being laid to allow large fast transport of people and goods across the land in groups.

Unfortunately, Shinkokuzan was on less than friendly terms with Blitzeiche, having come into conflict with them and their allies a few times in recent decades, and were a bit north of the proposed transcontinental railroad. While the bulk of their battles had been with one of their allies, Blitzeiche had taken part in some of the battles.

They negotiated with the chancellor of Blitzeiche, Lilly Smith. To ensure they respected Blitzeiche's sovereignty over the railroad and the safety of her workers, First Queen Tenmyouya proposed a trade. They would allow Lilly to keep Princess Kaguya Shinkokuzan, the eldest daughter not already betrothed, as a hostage for a period of ten years. Along with the taxes they collect to supplement the costs, this would give Lilly enough time to recover her investment into Shinkokuzan's infrastructure.

Princess Kaguya was less than thrilled to be offered up as a hostage. True, it wasn't far off from being married off for political reasons, but being wed to a duke or prince would at least get her servants. She was even less thrilled to take Lilly's collar. Instead, she chose something of a compromise. She would be added to her statue gallery and left to sleep through the entirety of her term. As she wanted to preserve her modesty, Head Slave Renna conjured a sheet for her and she took her place on the pedestal, knowing when she awoke she would be allowed to return home. Although she seemed to be under the impression the sheet would change with her.

Still, 10 years can be a long time. With Shinkokuzan's economy already improving, Queen Kin suggested extending her step-daughter's stay in exchange for a more detailed railway network. Although Queen Momoyo was quick to suggest Kin's second daughter take on that role now that she came of age. Who can say how this will go?



I've been bouncing around a couple of ideas in my head lately. I started coming up with a story involving a changeling and a princess, which lead me to think of a few other characters and their backstories. It hasn't come up yet, but Lilly has a few princesses in her collection. I started thinking of how some of them ended up there. I might end up using this picture, or some version of it, in another story.

I randomly settled on Princess Kaguya for her name, after which I came up with the idea of her family worshiping the green moon of Trivium. Trivium is a polytheistic world, but people will often worship some gods and goddesses more then others.

In the early stages of commissioning this, the alcove to the right seemed a bit empty, so :iconcaptainharlock-42: got in on it by commissioning one of his new characters to stand in there. The picture was extended a bit, but it seems to have overshot. Midnight is also one of Lilly's slaves in the Getting into Character comic, but she was too annoying so Lilly turned her to stone for a while.
Getting into Character: Midnight's Character Sheet
Name: Midnight
Race: Human/Panther Hybrid
Gender: Female
Age:  18
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Black with white highlights
Height: 7’ 
Weight: 250 pounds
Abilities: Great agility, strength, very smart and can shift to cat form and back
Disadvantages:  Compulsive curiosity and no human life experience
Occupations: To be determined
Midnight was the black panther riding cat of a wizard of decent power that had to flee from people hunting him. After relocating to another town, he couldn't afford to hire any bodyguards, so he decided to modify Midnight. The wizard was forced to leave without much of his research, however but he still managed to change her from a panther into a human like form, at least physically.  Her curiosity got ramped up to the point of compulsion as a side effect of the process. With her almost genius level intellect she learned Trivium Common quickly, but even with her intellect and her ability to shift ba

Proofread by :iconyumekuribayashi: who also came up with most of the character names.
Line art by :icondvega: Colors by me
Midnight belongs to :iconcaptainharlock-42:

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Commission Info

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