“Meddlesome hussy…”–the War King

A former member of the Homeworld, the woman now known as the Mistress started out as many members of the Great Houses: cool, emotionless and bound to the Homeworld. It was only after encountering and, indeed, travelling with a well-known Homeworld exile that she acquired a taste for adventure and inquiry. Her travels with this exile are well-documented, but her life after she left him (in another universe, in fact) are shrouded in mystery. For some time, she was rumoured to be the President of the Homeworld, but these rumours have been discredited. No, once she returned to the “normal” universe (in a Timeship that was either stolen or, depending on which version of the story you believe, that she built herself,) she travelled alone for some time, then took a number of assistants with her. Since then, she has settled down somewhat. Her pattern is this: she chooses some point in the past (mainly on Earth, but sometimes on other exotic worlds,) makes it her base of operations and waits to be contacted, sometimes for several years. She makes herself available to various War and non-War participants, lost time-travellers, aliens who need support and others who simply need her help. The method of contacting her is rather complicated, involving a vast network of radio waves, phone lines, telegraphs and various satellites. Her messages are rather cryptic and arcane, but full of technical information.

Some of her locations have been documented. She is said to have had a hut in the Holy Land during the First Crusade; a strange, seemingly endless “power station” on Tyler’s Folly; a house in the American South in the months leading up to that country’s Civil War (it was here that she became involved, briefly, in the notorious Oubliette Nightmare with an unknown member of Faction Paradox). Her most well-known adventure is documented in a diary belonging to Captain Bradley Tibor, a pilot in the RAF who, after being shot down in occupied France during World War II, encountered the Mistress as a member of the French Resistance. His description of her is perhaps the best description of her known to exist:

The soldier led me through the ruins to an open area. A woman was standing in this clearing, turned away from us. As we came into view, she turned to regard us. She was wearing a rather elaborate riding outfit, with a red frock coat and black, calf-high boots. A cream, embroidered waistcoat accented her long, dirty blonde hair that cascaded in straight wisps about the ensemble. The vest was buttoned over a white shirt and ascot, while tan leggings clung tightly to her shapely legs. A set of red leather gloves pulled snug over long, delicate fingers completed the image perfectly. The outfit spoke of an older time, turn of the century, perhaps, but there was something about it, something modern. I was reminded of royalty. This was a classy dame, all right.

Tibor’s narrative is fascinating, as much for what he does not say as for how much he does. He notes that their small Resistance group was plagued by one particular outfit of SS officers. Tibor mentions that all these SS officers seemed to have the same face. He explains in the diary that it must be that all Nazis look alike to him, but knowing what we now know about the Great House agent Angress and his army of cloned soldiers, this little WWII story is much larger than first thought. Tibor says that the Mistress was separated from the rest of the group for at least two days and that, after they were reunited, the group made it to freedom without further incident. Considering that Angress disappeared while on a scouting mission during this period of history, the implication couldn’t be more clear.

Although she is somewhat difficult to contact, lost time travellers are encouraged to track her down. She is a very helpful, although mysterious and possibly dangerous, individual.