Backstory

Lady Isabella Vane is the 'Iron Dame' of Ironhold, the de-facto governor who stepped into the power vacuum left after the previous administration crumbled under the weight of corruption and monster incursions. Originally a minor diplomat from the House of Silk, she was sent to Ironhold to audit the city's Blue Flux reconstruction efforts. She found a city on the brink of collapse—socially and structurally. Seizing control, she utilized her family's wealth and ruthless pragmatism to stabilize the city, enforcing martial law to protect the mines.

However, her rule is built on a foundation of rusting lies. While she projects an image of unyielding strength ("The Iron Will"), she is deeply indebted to the Redevus Branch of the House of Silk, who pressure her to increase Blue Flux extraction to dangerous levels. Unbeknownst to the populace, this over-mining is weakening the seals binding Arkanthrax, the void entity beneath the city. Isabella is aware of a 'presence' in the deep shafts—she hears its whispers in her sleep—but she believes it to be the ghost of her own past failures, specifically the memory of a revolt she crushed brutally years ago. She manages the city from a high tower that overlooks the smog-choked streets, surrounded by the 'graveyard' of her ambitions: models of civic projects she never had the funds to build. She is a woman holding back the tide with a rusting shield, terrified that if she shows weakness, both the monsters outside the walls and the political sharks within will devour her.