It was a tragedy. It truly was. The mysterious plague came and went through in less than two months, claiming thousands upon thousands of Nevarrans, and all but erasing the Pentaghast bloodline. It was highly suspect how quickly the next in line to the throne attempted to claim it after the plague had passed. Rumors ceculated that he had caused the plague to usurp the throne, but all attention shifted away from him when another successor was discovered. Vladimir Pentaghast—the ‘usurper’—was one hundred twenty-third in line to the throne, while Cassandra Pentaghast, who was serving the Inquisition at the time of the plague, was seventy-eighth in line.
Cassandra was promptly brought back to Nevarra, and, however begrudgingly, was made queen of the devastated country. Leadership was needed, and no mater her distaste for her countrymen, she was the only one fit to offer it, and she knew it. So she sat on the throne her distant relatives once sat upon and presided over the people through the harsh times of recovery.
She still helped the Inquisiton, offering aid whenever she could, but Cassandra’s main focus was on restoring order in Nevarra, so she could hopefully return one day. However, the people were not making it easy. The simplest caugh would cause mass panic, the people frightful of the plague returning. They were all to caught up in being paranoid to rebuild. Agricultural took a serious hit, with entire fields being burned to eliminate infestations of plague spreading rats. Trade came to screeching halt with merchants to afraid to come and go. The healers and surgeons were too afraid to treat people out of fear the plague still remained. In short, Nevarra was in bad condition and was only getting worse; the country was facing collapse.
The worst part was that the few people who were doing something about the state of living in Nevarra were only trying to restore the way of life for the nobility. While the rich and powerful mostly went back to life as normal, the common folk were dying out due to preventable disease, and famine. The Inquisition returned Cassandra’s favors by lending her some much needed support, but it was up to her on what it would be used on. Her first act as Queen of Nevarra would be to Use the support to resolve one of two issues: relief efforts for the common people, or restoring agriculture and trade.
If the support was used to help the common people, food, medicine, and other essentials would be brought in by the Inquisition, slowing recovery, but very few would die. (Estimated death toll: a few dozen. Popularity: 25/200 Rate of weight gain: average. Nevarra’s stability: 5%.
If the support was used to restore agriculture and trade, the Inquisition would work the fields and do the trading for Nevarra, speeding up recovery, at the cost of many lives. (Estimated death toll: eight thousand. Popularity: 5/200 Rate of weight gain: rapid. Nevarra’s stability: 20%.