Fifteen years after the ill-fated expedition had led to the discovery of necrosis, King Aten of the Great Sea of Sand and a number of nobles were murdered by one of his guard.

If that were not shocking enough, Aten’s widow, Queen Kebechet, married the Kingslayer, General Serket, and Queen Iola willingly crowned Serket as Queen.  Queen Kebechet revealed to her nation - and the world - that her husband had become corrupt, and had intended to turn the entire nation over to Morgana and Muramasa in the Blighted Wilds.  It was unknown how he had contracted necrosis or how he might have been in contact with the pair…

Worse still, though, was that Queen Kebechet, immediately after their hasty marriage and her new wife’s coronation, locked herself in a far wing of the palace, leaving her four young children solely in the care of the now Queen Serket.  Although Queen Serket told the public her wife was sick from grief over the death of her husband, gossips told plenty of other stories.

King Aten, after all, had not attended a single royal meeting in ten years.  He had rarely been seen to interact with his wife in any way, let alone affectionately.  And she had remarried so quickly - would she really do that if she was destroyed by her grief?

Some believed that Queen Serket must have had her locked away so that she could reign alone, some even whispering that perhaps she had her eyes on conquest.  Others suspected that perhaps, in fact, Queen Kebechet might have unwittingly contracted necrosis from her husband somehow.  Servants had, after all, reported that he had left her rooms the morning he was killed.

Life moved forward in the Great Sea of Sand as Queen Serket did her best to raise her four step-children alone, run a nation (quite heavily aided by Queen Kebechet’s advisors), and manage the political situation that often felt like it was seconds away from souring.

It did not get easier quickly, either.