Queen Marika's Throne (Patreon)

Here's an update and a look back on an earlier project I had --at the time-- started but not finished. Now it is finished and I have started posting images of the final product. 

The character is Queen Marika Soong, and she is featured in a Star Wars fan-fiction project I have been a part of since 2004. The story is featured on a board called Spacebattles.com and it is a alt-history collaborative story in the Star Wars universe.

For those really into Star Wars stuff that goes beyond the movies, there was a graphic novel story put out in the 1990's called "Dark Empire", in which the Emperor is reborn into a cloned body and tries to seize control of the galaxy again. In the original story from Dark Horse Comics, he fails and the New Republic prevails. 

In the alt-history version, it was decided that the Clone Emperor's forces and the New Republic forces met in a cataclysmic battle and mutually destroyed each other, as well as killing off all the main characters (Luke, Han, etc). This "wiped the slate clean" and left a power vacuum. Us fan writers picked corners of the Galaxy, starting with a few systems each, and created characters that made new political factions that followed either a Republic path, or an Imperial order, or tried to resurrect the Confederation movement... or find a new, independent way. 

I picked a faction based out of Naboo and it became the "Sovereign Alliance of Systems", with whoever is elected the Monarch of Naboo is the leader of the overall Alliance. The SAS is very pro-Republic but that have a sizeable Imperial minority, and after some political scandals among the pro-Republic party, the Imperial party managed to elect an "Imperial Queen": Marika Soong. 

Here's her finished picture:

The video explains the process and art, but you can read the story here at Spacebattles.com. Remember, it has been going on for several years, so reading the whole thing requires some... well, let's say an abundance of spare time. There's a core group of writers that have been with it for a long time, and others who come and go, and a few who show up, make a handful of posts, and disappear. Most of the writers are pretty good and dedicated, and you can quickly figure out which ones you like and which ones you can skim past. You want to look for the "Story Threads", and we are currently on Story Thread XIV. Thread I is all the way back on Page 6:

https://forums.spacebattles.com/forums/star-wars-rebuilding-of-empires.52/