Natalya Arat Corrino: Empress of the Known Universe

Empress Natalya Arat Corrino was a formidable royal of the young Imperium, wife of Emperor Javicco Corrino of House Corrino. Her marriage to Javicco united thousands of worlds beneath the Imperial throne, and unlike most royal matches of her era it was a union she had brokered herself. Natalya was never content to remain a consort. She wished to make her own contribution to the Imperium, and as the reign of her husband weakened she moved from counsel to command, forging a private alliance with the soldier Desmond Hart and turning the machinery of the Imperial court against the Sisterhood that she believed had taken everything from her.

Empress of a young Imperium#

Natalya Arat came to the Golden Lion Throne not as a prize handed between Great Houses but as the author of her own elevation. Her marriage to Javicco Corrino was arranged, as royal marriages were, yet Natalya had been the one to broker the arrangement herself, and the union she negotiated joined thousands of worlds to the Imperial house. That distinction shaped her view of power for the rest of her life. She understood marriage as an instrument of statecraft, but she also believed that the person who wielded the instrument mattered more than the ceremony that sanctified it.

As Empress she was not satisfied with ornamental duty. She wished to make her own contribution to the young Imperium, and she watched with growing impatience as her husband governed by accommodation, trading concessions to the Great Houses for the resources the throne required.

The Richese betrothal#

Natalya's daughter Ynez was betrothed to Pruwet Richese, a boy of nine years, in a match Javicco accepted for the resources House Richese would bring. Natalya did not approve of the union. While helping Ynez dress for her engagement party, she told her daughter that she wanted her to be able to rule how she wanted and to marry how she wanted. Ynez insisted that she was content with the arrangement, since she could live as she pleased during the years before Pruwet came of age.

Natalya carried her objection to her husband. Javicco admitted that he did not feel he had any choice but to proceed with the wedding. Natalya reminded him that their own marriage had been arranged too, and that she had brokered it herself, but she recognised that the circumstances of Ynez and Pruwet were different. Javicco answered that the marriage brought resources the throne needed, and so it would go forward.

At the engagement party the betrothal nearly collapsed into scandal. Pruwet produced a thinking machine toy from his pocket, and when the device got free Natalya was horrified, telling the boy that such technology was forbidden. She was more horrified still when Ynez defended him.

The death of Pruwet Richese#

Pruwet Richese died soon after, and Natalya and her children met with his grieving family. Ferdinand Richese was angry that no explanation for his son's death had been offered, and he rejected the attempt to lay blame on the boy's thinking machine toy. In private, Javicco told Natalya the truth. Desmond Hart had killed Pruwet using a gift he claimed to have received from the sandworm that had devoured him. Where her husband saw danger, Natalya saw opportunity. She recognised at once how such a power could benefit the throne.

When Valya Harkonnen arrived at the palace, Natalya encouraged Javicco to let the Mother Superior interrogate Hart on their behalf. The Imperial couple watched as Hart admitted to killing both Pruwet and Kasha, and as he described the origin of his power. Valya delivered a Truthsayer's verdict: his words were true to him, but his claims were lies. It did not matter. Hart claimed to serve the Imperium, and on that ground Natalya and Javicco sided with the soldier over the Sisterhood. They brought Hart to their meeting with Ferdinand Richese and had him turn his power on the grieving lord to keep House Richese from withdrawing its support. Ferdinand was then ordered to go home, bury his son, and never speak of what had happened.

The rumor and the surveillance files#

A rumor soon spread through the court that Desmond Hart had killed Pruwet Richese. When Ynez brought word of it to the family table, Javicco said he already knew of the rumor and was concerned only with the disrespect being shown to him. Ynez asked leave to travel to Wallach IX to begin her training with the Sisterhood, and Javicco refused, insisting the family show a united front. Ynez answered that no such front was possible while Hart stood at his side.

What the court did not know, Natalya later confessed to Hart himself. She had started the rumor. Her purpose was to shore up Javicco's power by teaching the Imperium to fear his wrath, over thinking machines and over everything else. She went further, handing Hart Imperial surveillance files that had never been reviewed.

The files bore fruit at the High Council. Natalya stood beside her husband as Harrow Harkonnen publicly demanded an investigation into Pruwet's death, a demand Ynez seconded and aimed squarely at her own father. Hart rose and confessed to the killing, calling it an execution, lawful punishment for possession of a thinking machine, and demanded stricter enforcement of the prohibition. Then he had guards bring in conspirators found through the surveillance files, among them the rebels Horace and Duri, and revealed their plot to fly a drone into the chamber and kill Javicco along with everyone in the room. Hart executed the plotters publicly, and Lord Hagal with them.

Natalya stood by Javicco's side when he announced a new unit under Hart's command dedicated to hunting down insurgents. Her satisfaction at the announcement was marred only by the arrival of Francesca, who declared she had come to see Constantine.

Empress and soldier#

The bond between Natalya and Desmond Hart deepened after Javicco announced that Constantine would command his new fleet. Following the dinner, Natalya went to Hart, who had survived an explosion, and told him she knew that the Sisterhood had taken everything from him, just as it had from her. Hart answered that the woman who gave birth to him had been a Sister who abandoned him to survive on scraps. Natalya leaned in and kissed him, and told him that together they could take down the Sisterhood forever.

Her new resolve spared no one, not even her daughter. When Natalya caught Ynez attempting to break the swordmaster Keiran out of his cell, she had the princess arrested despite Ynez's attempt to explain his actions. Javicco came to her in anger, saying she should have consulted him first. Natalya's reply was a declaration of the new order within the palace. Her counsel would no longer be ignored. She had swayed Hart's loyalty to herself, and she would not be following her husband's orders any longer.

The death of the Emperor#

Natalya's final design was aimed at the Sisterhood's destruction. She told Hart that if they could convince the Great Houses that the Sisterhood was behind the plot to assassinate the High Council, the Houses would authorize retaliation and the order would have nowhere to hide. Before the plan could advance, a trooper reported that Valya Harkonnen had been arrested inside the palace, and Hart ordered the palace locked down.

While Hart dealt with the intrusion, Natalya went to her husband's chambers. She found that Javicco had stabbed himself, and that Francesca was holding him as he bled to death. Natalya took a poisoned needle and drove it into Francesca, killing her. Then she stepped over her dying husband and shouted that the Emperor had been killed. In a single stroke the Empress had removed her rival, buried the truth of Javicco's death, and handed the Imperium a murder that could be laid at the feet of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood she had sworn to destroy.