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Radiant Queens

In the fall, all Kingdoms were said to have fallen with few exceptions. Some of them reformed in the Dreamlands, only to be ensnared into the Trap set by the Dark Avatars. However, with the Apollo Moon Landings in July 1969, the trapped Queens saw they were not on earth, and proceeded to release themselves from the delusions of the Gales. Though their Kingdoms remain in the Dreamlands, they aid in mentoring their Princesses in how to bring light and hope back to the World of Darkness.

All Radiant Queens

The Radiant Queens are the five Queens who were imprisoned in the Deamlands by the Darkness to prevent them from interfering. They have been trapped there for most of the recent centuries, and only got freed recently thanks to the Apollo landing breaking the illusion. They are now trying to bring light and hope back to the world.

Tropes applying to all Radiant Queens:

The Ageless: Downplayed; Queens have enough power that they can actually stop their aging if they wish, making them this trope. It's not an obligation however, and they typically let themselves die and reincarnate every few centuries to preserve their mental health. The Queen of Clubs prefers to ignore this option and just let herself age normally in each of her incarnations.
Benevolent Mage Ruler: All Radiant Queens are powerful magic beings whose power basically make them Physical Godesses. And they all use their abilities to rule their kingdom fairly and support their people.
Big Good: Or more accurately, Big Good Ensemble. The five Radiant Queens are the most powerful servants of the Light, and a major force of good in the setting. They probably also qualify as this to the Chronicles of Darkness at large, since given the kind of setting this is, they probably are the strongest unambiguously good beings, period.
Divided We Fall: The reason the Darkness was able to defeat their Kingdom and trap them in the Dreamlands; at some point in the backstory, they became self-righteous and started fighting each other over who had the right definition of what was good; this distracted from their usual duties of fighting the Darkness, allowing its Taint and servants to spread until they were numerous and smart enough to carry out an effective plan. Thankfully, in present day, they have learnt from this mistake, and are in good relationships with each others.
Good Is Not Dumb: Unlike the Queen of Tears and the Queen of Storms, the Radiant Queens are unambiguously heroic and good. Unlike the Queen of Mirrors, however, they do realize what kind of world they live in, and are willing to compromise when it's necessary.
Hope Bringer: All Queens and Princesses are supposed to be this, but really, considering how the Twilight Queens have turned out, the Radiants are the only one who do a decent job at it.
Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: A rare heroic version. They were trapped in Dreamlands alongside their Princesses, where its Lotus-Eater Machine effects keept them in check while the Darkness spread in the world. Ever since the release they have been able to leave at any time, but they chose to stay and support them through guidance and Invocations rather than start fresh as Princesses— in fact, this actually makes it harder for the Darkness to kill them and their Courts, since that'd require invading the Dreamlands.
Playing Card Motifs: Though not their actual titles, most Princesses have taken to naming the Queens after various playing card suits, if mostly because the Queen of Diamonds actually has "Queen of Diamonds" as one of her titles. Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades are named after this, while Swords follows Tarot Motifs below.
Physical God: Though the Radiant Queens' powers currently are limited to the Dreamlands, all Queens, including them, are insanely powerful, being capable of feats such as cancelling their aging process, resurrecting people with even more efficiency and ease than the strongest Mender, or creating a Pocket Dimension the size of a kingdom.
Reasonable Authority Figure: All Radiant Queens are benevolent monarchs who lead their kingdoms fairly, offer all the support they can to their Princesses and seek to bring good back to the real world.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Downplayed; each Radiant Queen is heavily active in governing her kingdom, but said kingdoms now only exist in the Dreamlands. When it comes to Earth, they only serve as mentor figures to Princesses. This is because the only way they could leave the Dreamlands is to reincarnate as a Princess (which would considerably weaken them and weaken every Princess who practices their Invocation), so they know they can do more good as a Queen, even if it is indirectly.
- Given that you become a Queen by becoming the beloved ruler of an entire nation, they must have done some very impressive stuff back when they were alive.
Sealed Good in a Can: They were trapped in the Dreamlands, and only recently managed to break free thanks to the Apollo landing breaking their prison. Nowadays, they could technically get out, but they wouldn't be as powerful as they are in the Dreamlands due to their Courts still being here, so they prefer to stick with their Kingdoms and help the Princesses in the real world through guidance and advice.
Tarot Motifs: The Queen of Swords is named after the Tarot version of the Spades Suit.
Trapped on the Astral Plane: How the Darkness trapped them; they trapped them in a part of the Astral Realm which they turned into a Lotus-Eater Machine to keep them here; Nowadays they are staying there of their own volition so their Courts can benefit from Invocations.

The Queen of Clubs

"You can't control the world, but you don't need to."

AKA: The Matron of the Forest, the Mother

Followers' Epithets: Wilds, Turtles

Kingdom: Forest of Wen-Mung

The Queen of Clubs is loosely based on Taoism, with hints of environmentalism. Her Princesses tend to blend the best of modern life with spiritualism. Fittingly the Queen's philosophies emphasize finding a way to express your true self in harmony with the world, accepting and adapting to change, and to avoid committing violence. Club's signature emotion is Harmony and tranquility. The Wilds can choose to allow an action to be taken against them with no resistance and use the same action at a greater effect later for their practical magic. In Dream, the Sworn of Clubs Practical Magic allows them to gain a merit that is fitting to their surroundings up to their dots of Legno. Their Invocation is Legno.

Animorphism: As part of their association with nature, the Legno Charm Skinchanging allows them to shapeshift into animals.
The Beastmaster: Several Legno charms deal specifically with animals, and Legno in general is easily applied to animals. Exaggerated with their Avatar Charm, Peacable Kingdom, which turns its user into a Beast Man whose mere presence presence makes all animals surrounding her sentient, capable of speech and inclined to support her.
Bold Explorer: Seekers of Clubs tend to be a variant of this, delving into jungles to find new kinds of herbs, animals or beautiful vistas.
Druid: They are never explicitly referred as such, but many of the Legno Charms cover abilities usually associated with druids, including talking with and controlling animals, turning into one or manipulating plant life.
Friend to All Living Things: The Court of Clubs tend to be the one to have the most affinity with animals and plants; practically every animal in Wen-Mung is friendly with the inhabitants, and several of the Legno Charms allow their user to communicate and gain assistance from animals. Wen-Mung is also described as a beautiful forest where the human and Noble inhabitants live in harmony with all the animals. They can even befriend spirits with the proper Charms.
Garden Garment: Ivy and leaf motives are a very common choice of clothes for Princesses of Clubs.
Glacier Waif/Stone Wall: They usually don't particularly look much more durable than any Princess. But if a Princess of Clubs doesn't want to move, good luck trying to force her. They have a lot of charms allowing them to enhance their resilience and stamina; there is a reason one of their nicknames is "Turtles".
Granola Girl: Members of the Court of Clubs are typically stereotyped as being very hippie-like, in touch with nature, peaceful and trying to leave in harmony with the world.
Green Thumb: Their signature invocation, Legno, focuses around affecting living plants, wood, or living animals.
Harmony Versus Discipline: The Harmony side. The Queen of Clubs believes in being in harmony with both nature and yourself, and that you should try to move along with natural change rather than force it; she even allows herself to age normally between each of her reincarnations. This Philosophy frequently puts her Court at odds with more Discipline-aligned Princesses like Tears, Diamonds and Hearts, who accuse them of doing nothing of value to improve the world.
In Harmony with Nature: the ideal Clubs try to live up to, along with being in harmony with everything else.
Martial Pacifist: Legno's Ban forbids a Princess of Clubs from initiating violence, but they are eminently capable of finishing fights once they've been started.
Modest Royalty: The Queen of Clubs rejects all finery, instead wearing only spare clothes gifted to her by the working women of her kingdom. She also let herself age like a normal human in each of her incarnations, even though Queens have the ability to be The Ageless.
Nature Hero: The Queen is also called the Matron of the Forests and her followers are sometimes known as Wilds. That about sums it up. Princesses of Clubs also frequently have profession related to nature, like Park Ranger Champions or Environmentalist Graces.
Noble Savage: The people in Wen-Mung have a simple life of living in agriculture and having practically tamed every animal in their forest without even harming them.
Not Quite Dead: The Charm Last Breath can be used to cancel the last damage when their health is filled with lethal or aggravated damages, effectively saving them in emergeancy situations.
Reluctant Warrior: While they can and will fight if needed, Princesses of Clubs prefer to solve a conflict peacefully whenever possible. To illustrate this, starting a fight loses a Princess' access to Legno. Even their Champions usually prefer to favour defensive tactics and gradually wear their opponent down while inflicting them as little damage as possible.

The Queen of Diamonds

"Your heart can show you where you need to go, but only your head can get you there."

AKA: The Crystal-eyed One, Lady of Clear Water, the Philosopher Queen

Followers' Epithets: Crystals, Lights, Hope-Engineers

Kingdom: Danann Archipelago

The Queen of Diamonds embodies Enlightenment values. Her courtiers aren't exclusively scientists, engineers or academics, but every member believes in the power of reason to improve the world. Her chief philosophies are to think through a problem before attempting a solution, to educate others, and to focus on big picture structural changes. Diamond's signature emotions are curiosity and wonder. Depending on which version of corebook owned, their practical magic differs. In the Dream version, the Hope-Engineers can create a plan (she must spend at least an hour planning) for a broad goal and when pulling off the plan, she may spend a wisp up to Acqua times to declare for what cases she's prepared for. In the Vocation Version, the Crystals may spend a wisp to divide their consciousness into two and carry out extended mental tasks. In Dream, the Sworn of Diamonds Practical Magic allows them to add their Acqua to rolls to create equipment. Their Invocation is Aqua.

Awesomeness by Analysis: The Court of Diamonds typically approaches a problem by carefully analysing it until they have a good understanding of it, then try to use the acquired knowledge to cut the problem to the root.
Badass Bookworm: Any Champion of Diamonds is going to be this or Genius Bruiser, as can Diamonds members of the other Callings.
Celibate Eccentric Genius: Downplayed. The Queen of Diamonds isn't interested in romance but she has one night stands.
Cool Teacher: Diamonds have a philosophical belief in the importance of education. Troubadours of Diamonds are usually trying to make learning fun.
Crazy-Prepared: In the Dream version, this is the effect of their Practical Magic; a Princess of Diamonds can spend an hour and making a plan with a particular goal in mind. In later scenes, whenever she ends up facing an obstacle, she can spend a Wisp and declare a number of times equal to her dots in Acqua that she prepared for this.
Crystal Spires and Togas: The Danann Archipelago is described as a subartic civilization covering hundreds of islands, with crystalline towers made of ivory and glass, sleek hydrofoils and aircraft as the main transports, and advanced heat control technology used to maintain a warm climate. Their society is intellectual, with a lot of philosophers and scientists, as well as many artists.
Emperor Scientist: The Queen of Diamonds is one of the few characters to be both an Emperor Scientist and a Sorceress Queen at the same time. She is equally happy studying magic, Magitek or science.
The Dark Arts: Defied. The Queen of Diamonds is in favor of the safe and responsible use of the Twilight invocations (specifically Lacrima and Specchio) for benefits that can't be found in the Light invocations. You're more likely to hear the Lights argue for or against a particular kind of magic because it's dangerous to the user, rather than because it's evil. This doesn't apply to the magic of the Darkness itself, however.
Heel–Face Turn: Acqua is the invocation that's necessary for redeeming the Darkened and healing their souls.
Light Is Good: One of their epithets is "Lights." Though their motif isn't as strongly associated with Light as Mirrors' is and they also lack their solipsistic insanity, the Princesses of Diamonds genuinely work for the good of all.
Magitek: Seeing how their philosophy is based around knowledge and their Seekers tend to learn everything in both science and magic, they are prone for combining the two. Their outfits are described as frequently having a futuristic, science-fiction feel to them, with computer readouts built into sleeves or gloves or gadgets such as scanners.
Making a Splash: The Aqua Invocation's main element.
- An Ice Person: Part of the water association.
Measuring the Marigolds: Averted, curiosity and wonder are their signature emotions. And while the Queen of Diamond might look like The Spock, this is just a facade.
Muggles Do It Better: A core part of the Diamond philosophy, especially in the modern day. A Noble's magic can do great things, but it is still a finite and limited resource. For this reason, the Lady of Clear Water teaches that rather than solve a problem herself, a Crystal should if possible set up a system by which the humans can fix the problem on their own, one that will remain functional after the Noble herself has moved on to other work.
Really Get Around: Downplayed; the Queen of Diamonds is mentioned to have a lot of occasional one-night-stands rather than a consort.
Redemption in the Rain: The symbolism is there: Acqua is the invocation for cleansing and redeeming the Darkened.
Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: The Enlightenment side.
Science Hero: Technology can be mass produced, magic generally cannot. Diamonds base an entire philosophy around this.
The Philosopher King: The Queen of Diamonds is also known as The Philosopher Queen and she believes in the ability to practice pure unclouded thought as a cardinal virtue.
The Smart Guy: Their entire philosophy is based around knowledge, so the large majority of them tend to be scientists, teachers, intellectuals or erudites in some form.
The Strategist: Champions of Diamonds tend to have affinity at leading armies and coming up with strategies, making them skilled generals.
Super-Intelligence: Their Bless Charm allows them to enhance their Intelligence and Wits. Exaggerated with Acqua's Avatar Charm, Books in Running Brooks, which allows a Princess to instantly fill her mind with knowledge equivalent to an entire library.
The Owl-Knowing One: The Queen of Diamonds is always travelling with an owl, which she calls Plato. Everyone wrongly believes the bird to be nothing but a pet to her, but in truth Plato is The Spymaster in the kingdom, as well as a powerful magic practicioner and possibly the second smartest person in the kingdom after the Queen herself.
Tough Leader Façade: The Queen of Diamonds herself, in public she acts like The Spock. In private she reverts into a Genki Girl.
Will Not Tell a Lie: Deception without a good reason bars the speaker from using Aqua. And playing with Exact Words, Metaphorically True statements, or saying You Didn't Ask does not fly. You must hold to the ideal of truth, not simple facts.

The Queen of Hearts

"We're not calling ourselves Princesses because our childhood fantasies came true. Nobility means something."

AKA: The Rose Bride, the Gentle Patroness, the Queen Regnant

Followers' Epithets: Jewels, Flowers (female), Gallants (male), Rocks (often derogatory)

Kingdom: City-State of Andarta

The Queen of Hearts believes in politeness, responsibility trust and duty. Her Princesses believe that building and leading social institutions is key to making a better world. Heart's chief philosophies are to bring people together in community, to honor traditions and that authority must be earned. Heart's signature emotions are trust and duty. Depending on which version of corebook owned, their practical magic differs. In the Dream Version, the Jewels may give others as a bonus to rolls, so long as said rolls are carrying out an order the Jewel gave. In the Vocation Version, the Jewels may gain an exceptional success with lower successes required so long as she is acting on her role in her organization. In Dream, the Sworn of Hearts Practical Magic allows them to add the lower of their Terra or Status to a roll where they're acting for the organization they have status in. Their Invocation is Terra.

Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Twisted. While hearts have no special abilities to prevent their beauty from being tarnished, they can make themselves look as good while covered in blood and mud as they would while sparkling clean. So long as they have a good justification for their appearance it will shine through. After all, nobility is about duty and duty can get messy.
The Chains of Commanding: While all Princesses have to take leadership seriously or risk their Karma Meter the Court of Hearts are the ones who's philosophies put the most emphasis on responsibility and leadership. A side effect of their Avatar Charm also makes them especially vulnerable to the burdens of leadership.
Comes Great Responsibility: One of Hearts' signature emotions is duty, and their entire ideal is about how they must prove worthy of their power by using it responsibly and protecting people with it.
Cultured Badass: As a representation of the ideal nobility, Princesses of Heart are expected to be well-educated, sophisticated and courteous. Which is in no way incompatible with being capable of kicking ass, especially for their Champions.
Dishing Out Dirt: Terra's associated element is Earth.
Divine Right of Kings: Defied. Despite being the most traditionalist court and the ones who take words like "noble" and "princess" seriously, the Court of Hearts believes that authority belongs to people who earn it by working hard to become and to remain good leaders. Nobles of Heart who seek to get in position of power in order to improve the world typically try to do it by the rules, with the proper elections and approbation from people.
Expy: One of the primary inspirations for the Queen of Heart is Princess Celestia; both are benevolent, dignified Reasonable Authority Figures representing the ideal ruler.
Good Is Old-Fashioned: Frequently accused of suffering this trope. According to the stereotypes, many of the Courts feel like Princesses of Hearts attach too much value to outdated traditions that can no longer work today. As noted below, this isn't entirely true.
Good Old Ways: Played with; Princesses of Hearts do believe a lot in traditions and customs, and usually try to preserve them. However, they do believe in improving the world, so when they meet a tradition they cannot condone, they will usually try to replace it with a new, more adapted one.
Guile Hero: A different kind than Spades. Rather than manipulation and trickery, they specialize in politics and charisma, trying to use the system to their advantage to improve the world.
Happily Married / Reincarnation Romance: The Queen of Hearts and her unnamed husband. She is the only Queen to be confirmed as such— the Queen of Swords practices Polyamory, the Queen of Diamonds is single but has occasional one-night-stands, and the other Queens' marital status are unknown.
Harmony Versus Discipline: The Discipline side, of the law and civilization variety; the Queen of Hearts believes society and traditions should be used to ensure everybody does what is best for the whole.
Knight in Shining Armor: Male followers of the Queen of Hearts frequently like to dress in shiny medieval armors in their transformed form. It's mentioned some female ones like this look as well.
Magnetic Hero: To be expected, seeing how charisma is a big part of their ideal. They can use their magic to augment their presence and social attributes as a way to illustrate this.
Man of Kryptonite: The Bless Charm Fists of Jade enchants the hands of an ally with the properties of jade, which burns creatures of the Darkness on contact. It can be upgraded to extend to weapons as well.
Men Use Violence, Women Use Communication: The relationship between the Queen of Hearts and her husband twists this trope into a pretzel. The Queen governs her kingdom and sends her husband to fight duels on her behalf, because she's so powerful that it would be improper for her to fight personally. In reality she's a Master of All aspects of leadership which means she's a fearsome warrior queen when the need arises; while her husband is a diplomat.
Mirroring Factions: From Princesses of Tears; as acknowledged in their respective stereotypes toward each other, both have similar values based on duty, nobility and traditions. Because of this, Alhambrans have somewhat more respect for them than for most Radiant Princesses. Princesses of Hearts on the other hand feel like the Court of Tears is just using these values as a justification, and has forgotten what it truly means.
Power of Trust: They are big believers of this. To them, a society where everyone can trust each other is more likely to work. Terra's Avatar Charm, Wearing a Heavy Crown, allows its user to enhance the efficiency of a group's teamwork if everyone trust her as the leader. Their Invocation can also be applied for free if they use it on a mortal who trust them enough to give them his consent.
Reasonable Authority Figure: While all Radiant Queens technically qualify as this, the Queen of Hearts stands out as a notable mention because it's a major part of the ideal she stands for. To Princesses of Hearts, a crown is a symbol of responsibility, and they must act accordingly by guiding people and proving they deserve their trust.
She Cleans Up Nicely: One of Terra's specialties is making things beautiful.
Silk Hiding Steel: A Princess of Hearts is scrupulously courteous (otherwise Terra stops working for them), and they tend to favour very formal clothes, such as elegant ballgowns and elaborate jewellery. They are still just as dangerous as any other.
- When the need arises the Queen of Hearts leads her army from the front.
The Social Expert: By far the most social-oriented of the Courts. Even their Menders tend to be psychologists and therapists rather than nurses.
Super-Empowering: Hearts' Practical Magic allows a Jewel to add dice to another person's rolls so long as the other person is following her instructions.

The Queen of Spades

"Lighten up! This will be fine, and if not we'll just run for it."

AKA: The Queen of Knaves, the Queen of Thieves

Followers' Epithets: Knaves (affectionately derogatory), Rogues (affectionately derogatory), Scoundrels (affectionately derogatory)

Kingdom: Confederacy of the Four Winds

The Queen of Spades favors good humor and lateral thinking. Her Princesses are jesters, rogues and scoundrels who do their best thinking unfettered by social orthodoxy. Spades' philosophies are to think outside the box, to spread laughter, and to think and run quickly so you don't get caught. Spades signature emotion is Laughter. Depending on which version of corebook owned, their practical magic differs. In the Dream Version, Princesses of Spades may wipe away traces of evidence to their existence, even from other people's memories. In the Vocation Version, Princesses of Spades may help herself or others escape the wrath of authorities. In Dream, the Sworn of Spades Practical Magic allows them to aid in making a false Clue or tampering with one, and to add Aria to rolls for Stealth, Athletics, Streetwise and/or Subterfuge to get out of trouble. Their Invocation is Aria.

Beware the Silly Ones: Because of their inclination toward humor and unorthodox solutions, Princesses of Spades have a reputation as lazy and immature pranksters who- What do you mean they managed to scam True Fae!?
- Higher end Aria charms can manifest not only truly damaging wind, but powerful lightning bolts.
Blow You Away: Aria is strongly associated with wind and speed and the Invocation favoured by the Queen of Spades.
Crazy Enough to Work: The Queen of Spades encourage her Princesses to try solutions like this, as she likes out the box thinking better than obvious solutions.
Expy: Essentially Pinkie Pie, given godlike power and the rule of a kingdom.
Fragile Speedster: Champions of Spades tend to be this compared to their counterparts; they are much faster and more agile, capable of easily dodging both bullets and melee weapons, and some of their Charms even allow them to fly, but their tendency to rely on dodging means they can't take as many blows.
Fashion Dissonance: The Queen of Spades frequently changes her preferred apparel, just to keep her Court on its toes. This has on more than one occasion led to her presiding over a Court full of punks and ravers while herself dressed in ermine robes, or vice-versa.
Flight: One of the Aria Charms, Wings of Air, grants its user the ability to fly.
Fun Personified: Well, Humor is their signature emotion, so this trope is a given.
Guile Hero: Comes with the Trickster side of their ideal; since they favor humor and taking the enemy by surprise, Princesses of Spades are good at manipulating and outsmarting the opponent, especially since their Practical Magic can be used to enhance their Wits and manipulation skills. Most notably, the crossover section of the wiki mentions some of them managed to scam True Fae.
Karmic Trickster: What Spades strives for, sans the selfishness. Spades love to pull pranks on people they feel deserve to be humbled or punished.
King of Thieves: "The Queen of Thieves" is one of the Queen of Spades titles.
Loveable Rogue: The Stereotypical Princess of Spades; their ideal is about freedom, breaking the rules and using their wits, and quite a few of them actually were criminals who Blossomed through a heroic effort to turn their life around. One of the nicknames for them even is "Rogues".
The Cuckoolander Was Right: Spades encourages both humor and out the box solutions, but they also have the ability to enhance their Wits.
Plucky Comic Relief: To be expected, considering humor is a big part of their philosophy; Princesses of Spades tend to crack a lot of jokes and put effort into making people laugh.
Rebellious Spirit: Aria encourages this sort of behavior, and disapproves of imposing on anyone as a whole, to the point trying to do so will make you lose access to the invocation.
Reformed, but Not Tamed: Downplayed; while she never really was evil as far as we know (never Darkened-level of evil, at least), the Queen of Spades used to be a rebel before being made a royalty. It's mentioned she still feels nostalgic of her days as one, and likes to travel disguised as a commoner so she can play pranks and jokes on people. Infamously, she is responsible for about half the graffiti in her kingdom.
Shock and Awe: A secondary element of Aria charms, often seen in the more powerful ones.
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Seems to be perceived that way by Princesses of Tears. The Tears stereotype toward them is almost as violent as the one toward Stormites, but whereas Stormites are actually called "monsters", Spades are criticized as being "insubordinate curs" with "no regard for the burdens of leadership". They don't quite consider Princesses of Spades as monsters, but they do seem to find them really irritating.
Trickster Mentor: A frequent method used by the Queen of Spades to teach her followers is to suggest them solutions as crazy as possible to their problems. When they inevitably protest and point out how this couldn't possibly work, she insists that they try anyway and only then tell her it doesn't work. The purpose of this attitude being to encourage out of the box thinking.
Visual Pun: Many Princesses like to include those in their outfits to be noticed for observant viewers.
Winds of Destiny, Change!: The Aria Avatar Charm, Becoming the Fulcrum, grants them the ability to essentially manipulate probability so that any mundane action they do can have repercussions that will end up helping them.

The Queen of Swords

"I have no regrets. I'm doing this because I love you."

AKA: The Brightly Burning One, the Faithful Marshal, the Queen Errant

Followers' Epithets: Adventurers, Heroes, Martyrs

Kingdom: Aztallan Alliance

The Queen of Swords believes that you should always follow your heart and your passions. Her Princesses try to become heroes whose example will light the world. Sword's philosophies teach that at heart morality is about not hurting people, the importance of broadening your horizons and of course to embrace your passions. Sword's signature emotion is Love. Depending on which version of corebook owned, their practical magic differs. In the Dream Version, the Heroes may break through any obstacle that stops them from reaching their loved one. The obstacle may be physical, mental or supernatural, and the love can be any of The Four Loves. In the Vocation Version, the Heroes can make any effort they spend a point of Willpower onto easier to fulfill, requiring only 3 successes for an exceptional success. In Dream, the Sworn of Swords may spend a wisp to add a third of the Princess's Transformed Dicepool back into their own roll as a bonus. Their Invocation is Fuoco.

Beware the Nice Ones: Nobles of Swords are borderline Love Freaks obsessed with The Power of Love and whose code of live basically boils down to "hurting people is wrong, so don't do that". However, they also happens to be very Hot-Blooded and passionate, can manipulate fire and won't hesitate to give their life for the people they love, so pissing them off is a bad idea.
Bold Explorer: Because of their passionate nature and research of new horizons, Princesses of Swords frequently are adventurers travelling around the world looking for new experiences. Out of all the Courts, they tend to be the one to travel the most, and their Nobles frequently have connections in multiple countries.
Brutal Honesty: Downplayed, but still present; the Queen of Swords has a reputation of always being honest about her feelings, meaning she won't be afraid to express how bored she feels in her court or criticize a Princess requesting her help if he considers they could do it by themselves. She does usually try to stay polite about it however.
Collector of the Strange: The Queen of Swords is mentioned to like to collect bugs from her jungles as a hobby.
Coitus Uninterruptus: Downplayed. The Queen of Swords is known to have make out sessions on the royal throne while simultaneously running her country. Being a Sorceress Queen she's more than capable of doing both at once.
Did You Just Have Sex?: Downplayed, but the Queen of Swords' way to handle romance is apparently so intense that long time inhabitants of Atzallan can figure out cities away when she is in love anew merely by looking at how her government is running.
Emotions Versus Stoicism: The Emotions end. They believe you should follow your passions and follow what your heart tells you is right.
Flames of Love: A number of Fuoco charms generate flames out of the love the Princess feels for another, with the nature and strength of the love dictating the color and intensity of the flames.
Flaming Sword: Their upgrade for the Kensai Charm allows them to ignite their melee weapon.
Harmony Vs Discipline: The Harmony to Hearts' Discipline. Where Hearts values civilization, structure, and the social order, Swords puts the most emphasis of all the courts on autonomy, self-sufficiency, and following your own passions.
Hot-Blooded: They have a reputation of being this, since they value passion over reason. Princesses of Hearts, in particular, perceive them as fools who take pointless risks. Not that the Princesses of Swords mind; if anything, they are proud of it.
I Work Alone: Downplayed. Like all Princesses, Swords are social and team players. However part of swords' ideals is that you should be able to work alone if you need to. That way you can walk away from an unhealthy relationship.
Jack of All Trades: Part of the Swords code, as the Queen encourages her Princesses to broaden their horizons, try new things and learn new skills. They even use part of the same Heinlein quote as the trope page.
Large Ham: They have a reputation of being quite hammy and overly dramatic in what they do, due to their emphasis on passion.
Let's Just Be Friends: The flip side to being borderline Love Freaks. That kind of passion usually doesn't last, so when the pair's passions fade a Princess of Swords is expected to know how to end a relationship without anyone getting hurt.
Man of Kryptonite: The Fuoco Avatar Charm, I Am Become Light, allows its user to essentially turn into a being of fire and light. While in this form, she can shut down or distrupt any supernatural power not related to the Light around her, becomes a Brown Note for Creatures of the Darkness, and generates sunlight, which is as devastating as you'd expect for vampires.
Mayincatec: Their kingdom, Aztallan, is described as being in the heart of a jungle and resembling a mix of Mayan, Inca and Aztec cultures, with pyramids and obsidian thrones.
Papa Wolf/Mama Bear: If you value your life, do not try to harm a Noble of Swords' friend, relative or any other person they might care about. They will fight to their dying breath to save them, and their power will in fact grow stronger because of it.
Personality Powers: Of the "Fire is Passion" type. Their signature Invocation is Fuoco, and their entire ideology is based around being driven by love and passion. They are often described as "consumed by the fire within".
Playing with Fire: Fuoco is associated with both literal flames and the flames of the heart. Many of their Charms explicitly involve fire in some form, including the obligatory Flaming Sword, the ability to be fireproof, or turning into a humanoid sun.
Polyamory: While the Queen of Swords considers Love as Serious Business (she won't kiss someone unless she is deeply in love with that person), she has no such things as limitations on how many people she allows herself to be in love with, so she ended up with several consorts which she all deeply loves. It's implied they include both men and women.
The Four Loves: Swords' ethos is stated in several places to extend to all forms of love, not just romantic.
The Power of Love: The Queen of Swords considers losing a boyfriend a minor crisis worthy of her personal advice. Several Fuoco Charms also create flames that are literally fueled by how much the user loves someone.
Red Is Heroic: Unsurprisingly considering their association with fire, red is a frequently favored color in their outfits.
Renaissance Man: Part of their ideal. The Queen of Swords prefer her Princesses to have a wide variety of talents rather than specialize in only one area.
Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: The Romantic side, obviously. They are all about embracing love and passions, and do what your heart tells you is right.
Rousseau Was Right: The Court believe it, and generally support societies or life styles that don't have the ability to push people away from their natural moral inclinations.

The Twilight Queens

Not all Queens had died in the Fall. Of the Kingdoms time, only three have survived but through dubious and supposedly terrible costs. These Queens were still active while the Radiant were trapped away, and as such have better infrastructure on the mortal world. Though antagonistic to the Radiant, they are still Princesses and bear the light of hope.

All Twilight Queens

The three Queens who weren't trapped along with the Radiant in the Dreamlands during the Kingdom's fall, but still managed to survive, albeit through questionable methods. Because of this, they tend to be morally ambiguous compared to the Radiant Queens, through they still try to fight the Darkness. Unfortunately, the fact they have remained active even back when the Radiant were trapped means they had much more time to recruit Princesses.

A Lighter Shade of Black: Even at their worst, none of the Twilight Queens are as evil or depraved as the All-Consuming Darkness.
Allegorical Character: In several different ways. The Twilight Queens have are a stronger representation of their signature emotions than the Radiant Queens. They also represent a flaw Princesses are prone to (see the entry for Foil). And fittingly for a genre that is prone to coming of age stories they all represent a failure to achieve maturity:
- Mirrors represents childhood gone wrong: They are immature, unable to see complexities, selfish and all around bratty.
- Storms represents adolescence gone wrong: They Lash out at the world, are self destructive, and rush into the quick solution.
- Tears represents adulthood gone wrong: They are stuck in a rut, and both complicit and unwilling to challenge an unhealthy status quo.
Anti-Villain: Depending on which Queen is looked at, Tears is somewhere between Type 2 and Type 3, Storms is definitely Type 3 and Mirrors is Type 4. Really, they're all still Princesses, it's hard for this trope not to come into play for "antagonist" Courts.
Beware the Superman: All three Twilight Courts are meant to represent how even benevolent supernatural beings like Princesses are very much capable of going wrong.
Broken Bird: How much this trope comes into play depends on the Queen, but all three of them were once Radiant Queens and due to whatever actions they took during the Fall or changing their very philosophies on how to change the world, their Invocations changed to damning the world to save your loved ones, fighting the Darkness in any form even to the death, or trusting only your ability to handle things to save the day and let nobody else get in your way.
Evil Versus Evil: Any Twilight Queen could team up with the Radiant in Teeth-Clenched Teamwork if the situation was dire enough. But the Court of Storms is in all out war with the Court of Tears; and both of them have far less patience for the Court of Mirror's childish antics than the Radiant.
Fallen Hero: From the Radiant Queens' perspective, as all three used to be Radiant Queens who escaped imprisonment in the Dreamlands, but only survived the Kingdom's fall through compromising themselves to huge extent. Of course, the Twilight Queens don't consider themselves as such.
Foil: All three Twilight Queens represent (among other things) a character flaw that all Princesses are predisposed to growing until it's the dominant facet of their personality:
- Tears represents the desire to protect the people closest to you taken to such an extreme that you'll willingly hurt other people to keep your people safe.
- As a personification of evil with no redeeming factors whatsoever, most Princesses justifiably hate the Darkness, but Storms have been consumed by that hatred until they are a danger to themselves and others.
- Princesses are idealists who try and improve the world, but they're also aware of what kind of setting they're in and and accept that victory might have a price. The court of Mirrors denies this reality and see only a brighter more idealistic world where good will always triumph without sacrifice. And while they can lose their way a Princess would never have received their power if they weren't a moral and virtuous person at heart. However, the Radiant try to avoid developing pro-princess prejudices (the Court of Hearts has an entire Philosophy against it), but Court of Mirrors embrace the idea of their own superiority.
Physical God: Like their Radiant counterparts, they are insanely powerful, with the Queen of Tears single-handedly protecting her entire city from being devoured by the Dark World. Unlike the Radiant, they aren't limited to the Dreamlands, not that it helps them- the Queen of Tears can't leave Alhambra due to being the one holding it together, while the Queen of Storms has too little sentience left to actually do anything. Too little is known about the Queen of Mirrors to know for sure if she is similarly limited or not.
Power at a Price: The key difference between Radiant and Twilight magic. Twilight magic is often stronger and can bypass consent where Radiant magic requires it, but eats away at the user's morality, health, and/or sanity.
Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Inverted. The Twilight Courts were active in the mortal world and continuing to gather Princesses and resources while the Radiant Courts were still imprisoned in the Dreamlands. Combined with the natural allure of each Court's Fatal Flaw, the Courts of Tears and Storms are both larger and more powerful than any single Radiant Court. However the Court of Mirrors squandered this opportunity due to their core philosophy.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Both the Queen of Tears and the Queen of Storms are still trying to defeat the Darkness, but use terrible methods. The Queen of Mirrors is a weird variation, as the problem is less that she is an extremist and more that she is too much of an idealist.

The Queen of Tears

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse — you are all subjects of Alhambra."

AKA: the Ever-Flowing One, Lady of Alhambra, the Last Empress

Followers' Epithets: Handmaidens, Esquires, Ravens, Witches (derogatory), Crybabies (derogatory)

Kingdom: Alhambra (formerly Calat)

The Queen of Tears survived the fall by using unholy magic to turn her city, Alhambra, into an impregnable fortress. Living deep into the heart of the Darkness she sends her agents out to steal hope itself to keep her city alive. Though she believes in Alhambra's right of rule, the core of Tear's philosophy is protecting the ones you care about, at any cost. Her ability to shelter friends or family in Alhambra, and her unique control over a large mortal infrastructure tempt the Radiant to her cause. The Queen of Tears' signature emotions are depression and resolve. The Witches' Practical Magic allows them to issue commands that mortals will follow, or that help them in carrying out commands through force. In Dream, the Sworn of Tears Practical Magic allows them to use Holy Shield as Princesses can. Their Invocation is Lacrima.

Always Save the Girl: Working to save Alhambra no matter the cost to everyone else. Tears' Invocation of Lacrima is fueled by this attitude and Lacrima users outside the Court of Tears are often willing to go to immoral lengths to protect the ones they love. Sometimes the two combine: Alhambra is a very safe place to put your loved ones.
Anime Hair: Alhambra uses hair styles as a badge of office, and the styles come straight out of Anime. However their hair doesn't grow that way naturally.
Anti-Villain: Somewhere between Type II and III. The reason the Queen of Tears is known as such is because she's constantly crying from her broken Belief which seems to fit in Type II, but then again her Invocation IS about damning everything else if it means keeping your loved ones safe.
Broken Tears: The Queen of Tears herself is eternally crying for all that she has compromised to keep Alhambra alive. She fully breaks down when she's alone with Nobles, begging for their help. It's been noted that this display has sometimes converted some of the Radiant into her Court, as it shows there's still someone worth saving underneath all of her taxation.
Casting a Shadow: Lacrima is the Invocation that has most to do with manipulating shadow, darkness and death. That those sound a lot like the things associated with the monsters Princesses fight is probably best not mentioned to the face of anyone from Alhambra.
Cast from Sanity: A different version than that of Mirrors. Many of the most powerful Lacrima charms are automatic Belief Compromises, eating away at the Princess's Karma Meter.
Creepy Crows: One of the less derogatory nicknames for the Nobility of Tears is "Ravens".
Cult of Personality: All Queens are to some extent adored by their Courts, but in Alhambra's case, it has pretty much degenerated into this trope; they treat the Queen of Tears as the last legitimate Queen, have their entire philosophy and laws based on serving her and everything they accomplished is in her name.
The Dark Arts: Lacrima focuses on simulating and channelling the power of Darkness. Naturally, most Radiant Princesses think it's dangerous and should not be used.
The Dark Side: Using Lacrima is a directly risk to your Karma Meter, meaning that long term users are often have few moral principals left.
Dark Magical Girl: Princesses of Tears are designed to fit the archetype. They wear dark colours (but never black), contrast the protagonists, and are willing to do anything to protect the few people they care about. To make matters worse, their Court's signature emotion is depression.
Don't Fear the Reaper: The Lacrima charms that deal with ghosts tend to be the ones that don't require Belief compromises.
Even Evil Has Standards: Alhambra may survive buy draining hope itself from the world, but they're a very traditional and lawful society, and look down upon anyone who isn't either.
Expy: The listed inspiration is Homura Akemi - willing to do anything to save what they care about, even if it damns everyone else, including herself.
Evil Will Fail: The biggest reason why Alhambra has so far failed to re-conquer Earth is due to how self-destructive they are about; even when they actually manage to seize territory in the "Rebellious Provinces" that do not get immediately get destroyed by the Court of Storms, their constant wisp-harvesting ends up ruining it after a while.
The Empire: The Court of Tears is functionally this. Though they're still a long way from actually taking over the world, "subduing the rebellious provinces" is definitely on their bucket list.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The one positive thing that can be said without any disagreement about the Queen of Tears and her followers is that they are sincere in wanting to protect the ones they love at all cost. Most Princesses join Tears because they are offered to have their friends and relatives moved to Alhambra, thus ensuring their safety from the Darkness and all the other horrible things in the physical world.
Evil Counterpart: Somewhat recognized as one to the Court of Hearts. Whereas Hearts uses tradition as a way to better the world, the Court of Tears uses it as a justification to further damage the world and flaunt their superiority.
Hearts on Tears (Dream): We both talk about nobility and duty. The difference is you use it as a justification, I remember what it actually means.
Tears on Hearts: So close. So very close... and yet so far.
God Save Us from the Queen!: Where to begin... the Queen of Tears is mentioned to have several somewhat arbitrary laws that can have severe punishments like "do not waste the Queen's time" or "do not speak out or rebel against the Queen of Tears or Alhambra". Not to mention her schedule is based entirely around fortifying Alhambra and keeping it safe, which runs on stolen hope from the world outside. Attempts at changing Alhambra's policies is met with FIERCE opposition, and any Noble who's visiting there (because the Queen's city is open to all Nobles) find themselves unable to leave "for their own good" unless they have loyalty to Tears. And may God help the poor Princess if they're found guilty of breaking the second law above, as it can range from being kept from going back for a LONG time up to the penalty of death... and let's not forget Tears can create Ghost Princesses.
Hypocrite: Their stereotype calls out on how Vampires selfishly leech off the world to survive another day... when they're basically doing the exact same thing for their city.
I Did What I Had to Do: Tears focuses on "necessary" actions. How necessary their actions actually are is a contentious debate at best.
Diamonds on Tears: Look, it's obvious — if you didn't live in that dank hole, you wouldn't need to steal the world's hope. Why don't you move out?
I'm Having Soul Pains: Lacrima's Drawback in a nutshell. In Dream Version, most of it's charms come at the cost of Belief Compromises. In Vocation, it comes at the cost of triggering Sensitivity.
Luck Manipulation Mechanic: The signature ability of Tears lets them curse people, which negatively impacts others' dice rolls.
Mama Bear and/or Papa Wolf: Tears' whole ethos is a dark take on this. They will do anything to preserve what they hold dear, including really questionable things.
Mana Drain: Emotions are the fuel behind Noble magic, and Lacrima can be used to steal them from the land and other light attuned beings.
Necromancer: Lacrima offers power over ghosts. This includes raising Princesses as Ghosts — something that should be impossible due to the Nobles' reincarnation cycle. There's also their Protectorate of Amethyst, which helps tend to Ghosts.
Noble Demon: For all their flaws, Alhambrans are very strict about traditions and honoring deals, and they genuinely are trying to do what is best for their city.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: They keep Alhambra alive in the Dark World by draining Light from the real world, which only causes the Darkness to grow further there. The supplement suggests that at the conclusion of the war that destroyed the old kingdom, the Queen of Tears may have also betrayed all the other surviving nations to the Darkness in order to create this arrangement in the first place, using them as Human Sacrifices.
The Power of the Void: One of the elements associated with Lacrima.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: Their stereotype towards vampires:
"We are nothing alike."
Square Race, Round Class: Its stated that Troubadours don't entirely fit in with the Tears, due to Alhambra being a dogmatic City Noir that actively stifles creativity. As a result, Troubadours of Tears are usually regarded as just slightly squishier Champions and discouraged from artistic endeavors, to the Troubadours' dismay.
Stating the Simple Solution: Many a Princess has wondered why the hell the Queen of Tears hasn't just relocated Alhambra back out of the Darkness now that the immediate threat is gone. Nobody who values their lives asks it around the Queen of Tears, since the honest answer is 'the Sunk Cost Fallacy' and she's staked her sanity on the idea that what she did was necessary.
Sunk Cost Fallacy: Alhambra is implied to lie in the heart of Dark World. In order to avoid being devoured by it, Alhambra steals light and hope from the world. This is is completely self-destructive and untenable (they're making it easier for the Darkness to take over the Earth, but they'd be completely hosed if that ever happened), and there are other obvious solutions, but the Queen of Tears never considered these and most likely never will, because if she ever did contemplate doing them in the future, then she'd have to ask herself why she didn't in the past. And if she asked that, she'd realize that she was selfishly making things worse for both Alhambra and the rest of the world. And if that ever happened, she'd certainly lose the final dot of her Karma Meter and likely become Dethroned.
Take Over the World: Officially, one of Alhambra's main goals is to take the world back from the Darkness and re-conquer the "Rebellious Provinces". In practice, this is at best considered a long-term goal, since doing so would waste resources, and the few attempts that have been made over the course of history failed, either due to their failure to realize the scale of such a project, the self-destructive draining of Light from their lands, or just because the Court of Storms usually is waiting for them. In modern days however, this ideal has gone through a revival, and a coalition has started forming in favour of the idea.
The Unfettered: The Court of Tears will sink to any depths to keep the rotting city of Alhambra alive. It is even rumored in some of the Supplement's unconfirmed legends that they somehow betrayed the old Kingdom's last hope against the Darkness to ensure Alhambra's survival.
White Man's Burden: Why they want to take over the world. The Court's dogma says that Alhambra is the last remiment of the Kingdom and thus it's society is objectively superior to all others. Alhambrans have a duty to share their culture, and anyone who isn't immediately won over is clearly brainwashed by leaders in league with the Darkness and must be liberated.

The Queen of Storms

"It doesn’t matter if I die, just how many I take with me."

AKA: the Seraphic General, the Lady of the Cleansing Flame, the Dragon-Slayer

Followers' Epithets: Seraphim, Furies, the Sworn Guard, Crazies (derogatory)

Kingdom: none, formerly Gonel

The Queen of Storms transformed herself into a living embodiment of her own ideals and so survived the fall. She remains in the heart of the Darkness, destroying everything within reach, and she grows stronger as her followers die and their souls join the gestalt Queen. Storm's philosophies revolve around killing the darkness, and accept of collateral damage but her powerful battle magic tempts more followers to her suicidal war. Regular mortals will develop some limited magical abilities if their beliefs align with the Queen of Storms, no other Queen has demonstrated this effect. The Queen of Storms' signature emotions are rage and hatred. Her followers, both Sworn and Princesses, gain strength from their injuries. Their Invocation is Tempesta.

Abstract Apotheosis: The Queen of Storms now is all rage and hatred directed against the Darkness (or The Court of Tears). Consequentially simply feeling those emotions strongly enough can turn an ordinary mortal into a Sworn of Storms.
Acid Attack: Tempesta is associated with acid, among other things, and some Tempesta charms grant abilities such as an acidic touch.
Almighty Idiot: For all of her power, the Queen of Storms has fallen into this trope. As an incarnation of rage and hate she lashes out mindlessly against the Darkness, and lacks even the sentience to form a coherent plan of attack.
Anti-Villain: Type III. Despite her mindlessness, the Queen of Storms, her forces and her Invocation DO annihilate the Darkness from the world and they promise one day to destroy it to the point where no traces remain, even if it means destroying the world in the process.
Atomic Superpower: One association of Tempesta is radiation, and its effects tend to cause collateral damage that destroys people, places and things beyond repair.
The Berserker: Most people in The World of Darkness get weaker as they get beaten more to crap. Followers of Storms get stronger. Giving them painkillers would actually weaken them.
Cast from Hit Points: Tempesta charms tend to injure the user. To make it worse, if they lose access to Tempesta by showing mercy to the Darkness or any followers of Tears, the only way they can recover it is by filling their entire health bar with bashing damages.
Church Militant: It doesn't come up much but many followers of Storms see their Queen through a religious lenses. They may have a point.
Critical Status Buff: Storms' Practical Magic lets Furies and Stormwracked reverse wound penalties into bonuses, and Tempesta can be invoked for free as long as the user has taken lethal or aggravated damage.
The Dark Arts: Tempesta requires you to show no mercy to your foes and physically harms the user. Naturally the Radiant Princesses are very nervous around anyone who practices it.
Deader than Dead: A Princess of Storms who dies by Stormite martyrdom is pulled out of the cycle of reincarnation and absorbed into the Queen of Storms. A Princess who uses the Martyr Charm destroys her soul and the soul of the target Dethroned.
Destructive Savior: Storms cares too much about fighting the Darkness to waste any concern on collateral damage.
Godzilla Threshold: The entire debate between Radiants and Storms boils down to where this line lies. Both sides agree that 1) the Darkness is evil and must be defeated, 2) Tempesta's methods are by far the most effective at destroying the Darkness, and 3) That those methods entail horrific levels of collateral damage. The only point of contention is whether (as Radiants believe) the world is still salvageable by gentler methods or whether (as Storms maintains) the world is so far gone that the only hope is to burn the whole thing to ashes and hope that there's still something left which can be rebuilt.
- The book mentions that more than a few Radiants in particularly Dark areas draw on Tempesta (while still remaining loyal to one or another of the Radiant Queens) because they need its level of power to survive.
Hollywood Acid: One of Tempesta's associations.
Holy Is Not Safe: Played with. Their Queen is known as "The Lady of Cleansing Flame" and has some mentions of religious contexts (her screaming winds being "hymns of defiance" and how all hatred is a prayer to her). The Stormites are also known as Furies and Seraphim (greek spirits who punish the wicked and the highest rank of Angel respectively), and their charms outright purge the Darkness and can get Royal Favours (or in other words, divine intervention from the Queen herself). The "Not Safe" parts come in in that their mindset is full on Knight Templar with the belief that anything touched by the Darkness must die or be torched to the ground, that using Tempesta Charms can kill you as well as the Royal Favours too.
It Is Beyond Saving: How some of the most cynical of Storms can view the world, not helped by one of their philosophies advocating that burning the world is more favorable compared to letting it get consumed by the Darkness. Considering the world in which they live, they've got a point.
It's Personal: While they are at worst disdainful toward the Radiant Queens (and Mirrors), who they perceive as Wide Eyed Idealists, the Queen of Storms and her followers absolutely hate Alhambrans, who they see as cowards and traitors. Fighting Princesses of Tears with Tempesta grant the same bonus than if you were using it to fight the Darkness. The supplement implies that this grudge stems from a Deal with the Devil that the Queen of Tears made with the Darkness, permitting her kingdom to flee from the war in return for betraying the kingdom by using all other survivors as Human Sacrifices.
Knight Templar: Part of Storms' creed is "Burn the world to save the world." They mean both parts of that very sincerely.
Martyrdom Culture: Followers of Storms believe that if they die through Tempesta they'll become part of the Queen of Storms, making their Queen stronger until one day she will be strong enough to destroy the Darkness utterly. They're right about the first part, the second part remains to be seen.
Mind Hive: The Queen of Storms is basically a conglomerate of her own soul and those of her martyred followers, assembled into one massive supernatural storm.
The Power of Hate: Stormites literally are powered by their hatred for the Darkness and their desire to see it burn.
Sealed Evil in a Duel: To whatever extent the Queen of Storms can be called evil, she's currently fighting the entire Dark World being mindless she's not going to leave any time soon.
She Who Fights Monsters: The Queen of Storms has become nothing more than rage, hate and destruction in her quest to destroy the Darkness. This also applies to her followers, and indeed the power of Tempesta is incredibly alluring to any Princess who fights the Dark and Alhambra (which is most of them).
Sickly Green Glow: Princesses of Storms tend to dress in green, and Tempesta usually manifests itself as green flames. This is not a healthy green.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: If their various quotes and some of the stereotypes in their section are to be believed, Princesses of Storms can be quite foul-mouthed. Considering two of the inspirations listed for them are The Punisher and Hit-Girl, this probably shouldn't be a surprise.
Super-Empowering: The Queen of Storms has the ability to turn any mortal who has sufficient hate and desire for revenge toward the Darkness into a Stormwracked Sworn. She can also use a power known as Royal Favours to make her followers use a Charm with however many successes she dictates instantly. The downside? The follower also takes that much damage in Lethal, and the Queen of Storms has killed her followers this way many times before.
The Unfettered: Their goal is to destroy the Darkness, no matter what the cost. The Queen has lost the capacity to even think about anything else, as will anyone who uses her ultimate charm.
Universal Poison: The very point of Tempesta is to be destructive, to the enemy, to your allies, to yourself and to everyone and everything around. And not necessarily in that order.
Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Princesses of Storms will kill any creature of the Darkness they can find, even if said creature is a Darkened who became so against her own will and can still be saved. Similarly, they consider Princesses of Tears to be traitors who aren't any better than the Darkness and show just as little mercy toward them. In fact, Tempesta more or less forces them to act like this, since showing mercy toward an opponent make them lose access to it. Showing mercy towards the Darkness makes it stop functioning unless the Princess fills up all of her health boxes with damage.
Villain Has a Point: Tempesta is the most effective possible weapon against the Dark, and none of the Radiant disagree with Storms about how evil the Darkness is. In some versions of the game, this even extends to the Dethroned with the right Charm, allowing a Fury to annihilate the soul of a fallen Princess rather than take on the nigh-impossible task of restoring her to the Light. However, while the Seraphim are right in that Storms is the most effective method for purging the Darkness, the cost of their methods is so high that other Hopeful generally agree that there has to be a better way.
Warrior Heaven: Subverted. The followers of Storms want to spend their afterlife fighting the Darkness as part of their Queen but they aren't doing it for enjoyment.

The Queen of Mirrors

"Why don't you let me do that for you... you could at least be grateful, commoners!"

AKA: the True Queen, the Child Queen, the Hierophant-Queen, the Crown's Custodian

Followers' Epithets: Lightbearers, Heirs, Brats (derogatory)

Kingdom: none, formerly Crystal Heril

The Queen of Mirrors ran away shortly before The Fall. No one knows what she did afterwards, but she's still around and probably still alive if only because she talks to Princesses outside the Dreamlands. The Queen remains the most distant and unknown of the eight, but her Philosophies are simple: A mixture of vanity and predestination, which attract Princesses who want an life free from constant struggle. The ability to prophecy or remain transformed indefinitely help too. The Queen of Mirrors' signature emotion is selfishness and solipsism. Where most Princesses need to make an effort to transform from mundane to empowered form, followers of Mirrors can remain transformed indefinitely and only need to make an effort to change back. The Sworn of Mirrors Practical Magic allows them to add a single die to the Princess who sworn them in. Mirrors' Invocation is Specchio.

Alpha Bitch: The archetype is explicitly an inspiration. Princesses of Mirrors use a lot of Charms to boost their abilities, make themselves look prettier and cause everyone to admire and idolize them, all at the cost of developing delusions of narcissism and megalomania, so even the ones who aren't this are at risk of devolving into ones to some extent.
A Lighter Shade of Grey: Compared to the other Twilight Queens, the Queen of Mirrors doesn't seem that bad, as she lacks the Well-Intentioned Extremist vibe of her two counterparts, and the worst that can usually be said about her Princesses is that they tend to be narcissistic brats. Because of this, there is an in-universe debate among Radiant about whether the Queen of Mirrors should be considered a Twilight or Radiant Queen. However, the other side of this debate argues that she's simply the most insidious of the Twilight Queens.
Anti-Villain: Type IV. As is noted about the Child Queen, she is looking for the True Heir to resurrect the Kingdom and her Invocation (for all its flaws) is very effective at being the best at things. The major reason she's seen as a Villain is because she's enigmatic and more often than not unhelpful, and her followers are often insane due to Specchio's influence.
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: They have a Charm that repels dirt. This is contrasted to Heart's ability to look good even while dirty.
The Beautiful Elite: Successful Princesses of Mirrors can achieve the trope, but others can have the physical beauty while transparently lacking charm and sophistication.
Break the Cutie: Though common for Princesses the Lightbringers deserve a special mention in this regard, as not being able to live up to their near impossible ideals make them break harder than most Princesses.
Cast from Sanity: The primary drawback to their Invocation of Specchio is that it either drives you mad with each use (Dream) or it makes it easier to go mad once you've compromised (Vocation).
Child Mage: Child Princesses are noted to be disproportionately accepted to the Court of Mirrors. Then again, the other Courts look upon the older courtiers of Mirrors as childish brats.
The Chooser of the One: The Queen of Mirrors chooses her Princesses and tells them that they're the True Heir, destined to heal the world. However she's chosen plenty of True Heirs and none of them have fulfilled their destiny.
The Chosen Many: The Queen of Mirrors believes the whole situation can be fixed by finding the True Heir, who is destined to put the Light back into power. However, since she doesn't know exactly who that True Heir is, she just tells every Princess she recruits that they are the one, and waits for the good one to prove herself. This tend to result in all Princesses of Mirrors being convinced they are the True Heir and hating each other for claiming to the title.
The Dark Arts: Downplayed. Specchio works best if you act like an Alpha Bitch and it can cause bouts of insanity. But unlike the other Twilight Invocations Specchio doesn't draw upon the Darkness or turn innocents into collateral damage, so whether Specchio is a dark art is a matter of some debate among Princesses.
Divine Right of Kings: The Queen of Mirrors' first tenet is this. Princesses are anointed to lead humanity by mandate from the Light, and it is the duty of humanity to follow their lead.
Engagement Challenge: Or kiss challenge, or sex challenge. There's a Specchio Charm that sends someone on a quest to earn the Princess' affections. This is a sign that Princesses of Mirrors have an unhealthy idea of romance, or possibly just a really childish one.
Everyone Has Standards: Played straight and subverted at the same time. The Court of Mirrors actually has very high standards of ethics and behaviour for themselves, as befitting their belief that they are the chosen hero. However they constantly break their own standards out of Spechcio induced madness. For example in the section for Tear's practical magic it say's the Court of Tears believe they have the right to govern without the consent of the governed, and makes special mention that even the most arrogant of Brats think they need consent. Instead Brats justify ruling without consent by convincing themselves they do have consent or simply not thinking about it.
The Friend Nobody Likes: While the Queen of Mirrors usually isn't considered quite as bad as her two Twilight peers, her servants still aren't exactly appreciated by Radiant Princesses, who perceive them as immature brats with too much of an ego. However, since they are still technically on side of the Light, Mirrors still work with Radiants.
Hard Work Hardly Works: Becoming the True Heir is a matter of destiny, not hard work! Besides, why should you work hard when you have Charms that can make you better than others, or even have other people do the work for you?
Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: They have homophobia as a charm, I Like Boys, that they can use on themselves if they feel they're getting too attached to another girl. Every other court thinks this is ridiculous.
Hero with an F in Good: They're firmly on the side of the Light and their court is built on a fundamentally idealistic principle, but Princesses of Mirrors have a nasty tendency to become self-absorbed glory-seekers that operate under Protagonist-Centered Morality.
Hidden Agenda Villain: The Queen of Mirror's stated agenda is pretty simple, name the true heir and step back to let her fulfill her destiny. However fans have debated if this is her real agenda, and what it might be.
Hidden Depths: They may act like immature brats even before their magic drives them into insane levels of selfishness and solipsism, but their magic has powers over space and time that no other Invocation can begin to duplicate. Which makes sense, since The Queen of Mirrors and Specchio are the Twilight forms of The Queen of Pentacles and Vuoto, which specialized in that sort of thing. Compared to the other Twilight Invocations and their Precursors, Specchio and Vuoto are also the only ones that still share the most similarities.
Hypocrite: Princesses of Mirrors think they're a The Chosen One and that it is beneath them to ever compromise their morality in the name of pragmatism. In reality usually they're self obsessed alpha bitches. Most of the hypocrisy comes from insanity inducing effects of their magic allowing them to ignore obvious contradictions between their words and behaviour.
Improbable Aiming Skills: Specchio's upgrade to the Levinbolt regalia, Trickshot, allows a Princess to ignore accuracy penalties up to her level of Speccio mastery. Skilled Princesses of Mirrors can pull off shots from the hip at a hundred or more yards, fire over their shoulders using only a handmirror as a guide, or even ricochet their shots off several surfaces.
It's All About Me: Their attitude in a nutshell; Egomania might be the most common madness caused by Specchio.
I Work Alone: More commonly one of their schticks, as part of their It's All About Me attitude. While a Princess of Mirrors can theorically work in a team, she usually is really bad at it, since she tends to see her teammates as competitors or she wants to be the leader, and will do everything to bring the spotlight back on her.
Light 'em Up: One of the associations with Specchio is light. In a world where Light Is Good this only feeds their arrogance further.
Light Is Not Good: Or at least "Light Is Not Effectively Good". The Queen of Mirrors is the only one among the Twilight Queens (and even Radiant Queens to an extent) to have a light motif, and Specchio, her signature invocation, is primarily light-based and her philosophies are based on the Wide-Eyed Idealist (as opposed to The Idealist of other queens). However, her ideals can't possibly work in the World of Darkness, and her followers tend to become self-absorbed jerks, or worse.
Loon with a Heart of Gold: Even if the Court of Mirrors tends to be Narcissists, they are still trying to do their best for the world.
Lord Error-Prone: Part of Mirror's problems and one of the many ways their True Heirs break, either by thinking they're stronger than they actually are or things will get taken care of in an unrealistic way, or both.
Mad Oracle: They are the only Princesses with access to prophecy and scrying charms, but thanks to Specchio's drawback it more or less drives them insane.
Magic Mirror: Unsurprisingly, many Specchio charms revolve around using mirrors like this. Specchio is also free if it's used on a mirror constructed for the purpose of Specchio charms.
Mickey Mousing: Some Brats automatically generate their own sound effects.
Morphic Resonance: No matter what appearance she has taken, the Queen of Mirrors always has silver hair.
Never Grew Up: While the Queen of Mirrors usually looks like a silver-haired version of the person she is speaking to, she sometimes looks like a child, which is implied to be her default form.
No Honor Among Thieves: Unlike the other Courts who are unified and almost always work together, the Court of Mirrors tends to be singular Nobles with their only support coming from whatever supporters they can get or attention they draw, and if they meet another Noble of Mirrors they would probably try to outdo each other. The reason for this is that there can be only ONE True Heir; and because the Queen of Mirrors tells everyone that they're the True Heir, this leads to most Brats hating each other. Nowhere is this more apparent than the fact that the Mirrors' have a stereotype towards themselves:
You're not the True Heir! I am!
Not-So-Harmless Villain: Princesses of Mirrors can look more like the antagonist of a Teen Drama than a dark Urban Fantasy. But one of the characters referenced as inspiration is Judge Claude Frollo. A Tautological Templar with magical powers and superhuman charisma can do a lot of damage. It also doesn't help that they're noted to have charms that aid Amanojaku.
No Self-Buffs: Inverted. Specchio-linked buffs can only be cast on the Princess herself.
The Perfectionist: The True Heir has to be perfect, and most Mirrors try to uphold to those standards.
Perfection Is Impossible: No matter how many Princesses of Mirrors rise, not one has become the True Heir. There's also the factor that one possible reason for Specchio's madness is the complete and utter denial of this trope by the Brats themselves.
The Pollyanna: A very good amount of Mirrors are this way, believing the world is better than it actually is. Sadly, this is the World of Darkness and gets played for all the drama it entails.
Power Perversion Potential: Infamous for this; the large majority of the Court of Mirrors are either children or immature, and Specchio Charms focus primarily on making them better, more attractive and adored by everyone around them- all abilities they can very easily abuse for seduction purposes. They also cover abilities related to mirrors, such as allowing to watch someone from afar through their reflection- which is very useful to spy on them. One of the abilities also allows for literally hopping behind the surface of a mirror, in which one can hide things like a secret cache of weapons or "boyfriends you don't want your mother knowing about".
Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: The darker half of "The Mandate of Light" Philosophy. Princesses of Mirrors are encouraged to do whatever they want to, whenever they want to not only because they're superpowered, but divinely endorsed by the Light. At least, as far as the Queen of Mirrors sees it.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Supposedly the Queen of Mirrors fled her Kingdom the night before the Fall came to her doorstep. Nobody knows where she screwed off to.
Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: It's an illusion rather than actual shapeshifting, but one of their charms operates under the same principle, making them look like someone the victim cares for, making them hesitant to strike.
Shapeshifter Mode Lock: A reversal to what the trope normally entails. The Queen of Mirrors' Practical Magic lets her Princesses remain Transformed (aka the awesome state with magical powers and more easily advanced attributes/skills) indefinitely. Instead, it takes an effort to return to normal.
Slap-Slap-Kiss: The Speccio charm Befriending can be upgraded into a stronger variant that instead induces romantic feelings in a defeated enemy. Fittingly enough, the upgrade is named after the trope.
Space Master and Time Master: Aspects of Specchio that intrigue some members of Diamonds are the space and time rather than the self-aggrandizing. Consequently, they're the elements of Vuoto, Mirror's Precursor.
Special Snowflake Syndrome: An in-character example, Specchio madness often causes Princesses to try and prove how unique and special they are. Princesses of Mirrors also hate each other because they're not as special when they're not unique.
Status Buff: Specchio has more than a few charms that qualify for this. Combine the uninvoked Skill Enhancer charms with the factor that Specchio can be used for free if the target is the using Princess, and an Heir has a variety of abilities ready for self-buffing.
Tautological Templar: It can happen if Specchio's insanity gets particularly bad. The Mirror Blindness condition in the Dream Version lets the Brat commit any Belief Compromise and automatically succeed the roll.
They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Played with and inverted. It's noted that almost anyone could be in the Court of Mirrors, from the quiet kid in the back of the classroom to the alpha cheerleader everyone adores. After the Blossoming, they often try to look appealing or beautiful in their own ways, thus becoming unique and special to others.
Vain Sorceress: Being Princesses whose defining trait is selfishness and who want everyone to worship them, this is a given. Unsurprisingly they have Charms to maintain their beauty or to ruin the looks of someone else (in the form of the Enduring Beauty Charm), and the Specchio Invocation is themed after the ubiquitous Magic Mirror associated with these types of sorceresses.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Deconstructed; while unlike the other Twilight Queens, the Queen of Mirrors genuinely is trying to protect mortals and improve the world, her ideal refuses any form of compromise, and insists that you should always find the good option, even when it seems like there isn't any. While not bad in itself, this kind of idealism tends to work poorly in this universe, leading them to cause more harm than good. Many Princesses of Mirrors turn crazy in part because they are unable to live up to this ideal.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Specchio charms tend to drive the user insane.
With Great Power Comes Great Perks: The lighter half of Mirror's "The Mandate of Light" Philosophy. It's noted that the Heirs often try to live in their Transformed State and enjoy using their magic to benefit their lives. It helps that they have loads of charms to make things go their way.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Mirrors know they're living in a Magical Girl setting. However they think they're living in a light and idealistic setting like Sailor Moon rather than a dark Reconstruction set in the World of Darkness. It generally works out poorly for the people they're trying to protect.
- The wiki's section on crossovers points out that Princesses of Mirrors have been known to enter alliances with Leviathans. This is because the True Heir would obviously have the favor of the gods, and some Leviathans have enough riches to shower Mirrors in gifts and stroke their already-inflated egos.
- Their stereotype towards vampires expresses a desire to eradicate all of them except "the hot ones I can save". Unfortunately, the hot ones in question tend to be the sensuous-yet-sociopathic Daeva.

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