Queen Veronica the Builder

Queen Veronica the Builder of the Libidine Dynasty reigned from 5580 to 5599 (19 years). She was the 33rd and second to last ruler of the dynasty.

Veronica was given the throne a few months after her sister, Queen Jessica the Fool was forced off the throne and locked up in a high tower until she "came to her senses".

Veronica shared many fears that her sister Jessica had, but as the younger sister was not given as much pampered treatment. Instead, she focused on building up the kingdom's defenses against various threats, including a growing mistrust of Emperor Felatitius, elf villages at the fringes of the Giusburg Outskirts region, dwarves with their own advances in gunpowder weapons, angry wildpeople, a growing pirate problem, and more. She had many new forts constructed with more modern defensive designs made to defend against more powerful artillery and magic, including Fort Veronica built to deter piracy on an island not far from Giusburg.

Overall, Queen Veronica was an accepted queen and considered a vast improvement over her sister. However, she made many of her subjects unhappy with the levels of taxation imposed to pay for her projects. Ironically, this increased banditry and piracy much more than it reduced it. Willow Hawkwing (Wallace Hawkwing at the time) was one such pirate captain who found success in this time period, though as her fame grew, so did Veronica's navy increase their attempts to find and sink her.

Veronica died in 5599 when a castle under renovations suffered a partial collapse while she was in it, crushed by a heavy fallen stone. Some claim this was an assassination done by her own son, Harold, who then inherited the throne and became King Harold the Mad. Veronica's council was (understandably) reluctant to promote her heir, Harold, to king, having seen his poor leadership, but in 5600 they relented, fearing Harold would follow through with his threats to burn them all at stake and bathe in their ashes.