Catra of the Crimson Waste (A She-Ra Quest)

This is a character-focused kingdom builder She-Ra quest. For this quest, instead of Catra returning to the Horde after capturing Adora and the Sword of Protection, she decides to stay in the Crimson Waste. Catra can create her own kingdom, make alliances, declare war, and build a prosperous nation, or make an utter mess of everything through poor decision making and spiraling insanity.



This question will be using Crusader King II-like rules, with a focus on the character of Catra.
-Actions will be decided by majority vote. For bigger votes the QM may have a day-long debate period to give everyone time to decide on a plan. Vote splitting is a thing, so be wary about having a half-dozen similar votes causing a motion to lose.
-When it comes to kingdom management votes, the players will be able to assign characters to tasks to help make sure they succeed.
-Where appropriate, the QM will roll a d100 against a DC, with appropriate modifiers being added to the roll. Rolls of 96-100 will be treated as a critical success, but rolls of 1-5 will be a critical failure.
-Write-ins are allowed but subject to QM approval.
-Omake is allowed for this quest. Omake must be banked before the roll is made, and it will grant one reroll whenever there is a critical failure. It's preferred if the writer of the omake specify when they would like to see the omake will be used ahead of time.

Attributes
Each character will have the following attributes and be able to add them to relevant rolls.
A base +10 is considered to have a basic understanding of an attribute, +20 is proficiency, +30 is mastery, +40 is a rare talent, and +50 is legendary.

Diplomacy: Convincing people to do things they otherwise wouldn't.
Martial: Personal combat skill.
Strategy: Tactical and strategic insight and ability to lead a military force.
Logistics: Ability to run an organization.
Intrigue: Spying, lying, and skullduggery.
Technology and Magic: Knowledge of technology, magic, and/or other scholarly activities.

Traits
Characters can possess traits, both positive or negative. Most characters will be starting with traits and can gain or lose them when the QM finds it appropriate.

Scorpia's words plagued me as I walked the corridors of the First Ones ship.

"Or, you know, counterpoint: we don't go back at all."

My hands clenched. What was she talking about? It was always the plan to return to the Horde, right? No, Hordak's plan was for me to slowly die in the Crimson Waste because Shadow Weaver escaped. It was so stupid—how could Hordak throw me away after one mistake? I'd brought the Horde closer to victory than anyone, even him. I'd driven the Horde right to Bright Moon's gates and brought it to its knees. If the Princess Alliance hadn't come together out of nowhere we would have won that battle, and then it would only have been a matter of time until complete victory. Given enough time, I would have won the war.

But nooo, Hordak had to be so stupid and short-sighted. Did he even know what was happening in the world while he hid away inside his sanctum? So what if Shadow Weaver managed to escape, what did it matter? She was a washed-up, powerless old hag with nowhere to go. What, would she go to the Rebels? No way they'd take her back after she betrayed them, killed King Micah, and led a multi-decade campaign of terror against them. The Rebels could be pretty dumb sometimes, but even they knew Shadow Weaver couldn't be trusted. It wouldn't surprise me if she had quietly died in whatever hole she had crawled into. She'd probably escaped just to spite me—one final act to make me miserable and destroy me before she finally withered away and died. That seemed like her.

Maybe I was sent out here to die, but I hadn't. In fact, I'd succeeded in my mission. Hordak has to take me back now, especially if I brought him Adora and the sword.

"Why wouldn't we go back?"

"Because you hate it there."

My feet started hitting the floor harder as Scorpia's words echoed over and over in my head. Why? My decision should be easy. What was wrong with the Horde and the Fright Zone? If I was so unhappy with it I should have joined Adora. Things were going great for me before the stupidity over Shadow Weaver's escape.

"This is the happiest I've ever seen you. Scratch that, this is the first time I've ever seen you happy, period. So why would we go back? Let's stay here. Forget Hordak. Forget Adora. Forget all of them. We could rule the Crimson Waste together, just the two of us. We could, you know, be happy."

Happy? What did that even mean? I was fine. The Horde gave me everything I needed. Used to, anyways. Whatever, I had more important things to worry about than all that ancient history.

I took a deep breath before entering the room. I wasn't about to let Adora see me as anything less than perfectly confident in myself. Besides, she should be the one sweating right now. She was my prisoner, and I was in the one in control now. That was why I was checking up on her: I needed to make sure she was secure. And also maybe just a little bit of gloating.

I nodded for the guard to leave us and I grinned down at my prisoner. "Hey, Adora."

Despite her disheveled and dirty appearance, she managed to glower up at me. "Catra, what are you doing in the Crimson Wastes?"

I shrugged, not wanting to get into all the stupid stuff involving my undeserved exile. "I felt like a change of scenery." I used the pommel of the Sword of Protection to force her chin up until she had no choice but to look me in the eye. "Come on, is it really that hard to guess why I'm here?"

Adora struggled against her restraints, but the rope tying her wrists together held her to the pillar. "You followed us. Either you were after Mara's ship too, or you were just planning on ambushing us."

"Little of column A, little of column B." I snickered as she uselessly thrashed. It felt good to finally have her like this. "Aww, what's the matter, Adora? It's almost like you're not happy to see me."

Adora snorted. "Maybe it has something to do with you attacking me and my friends and then tying me up."

I rolled my eyes. "Wow, I knew you were dumb, but I figured you at least understood sarcasm."

The traitor scowled but did rise to my bait. "What's your plan? Take me back to the Fright Zone and hand me over to Hordak?"

"Something like that, yeah," I confirmed. "Along with giving Entrapta a couple of new toys to play with. She's gonna have so much fun with this ship..." I ran my hand over the edge of the sword. "I bet she'll love getting to play with this sword too."

Adora's eyes widen with ... fear? "No! You can't give Hordak the sword! It's too dangerous!" Her struggles against the ropes became more frantic.

I snickered and my tongue ran over my fangs. "Oh Adora, you know saying that just makes me want to give it to him more, right?"

"No, you don't understand!" She stopped thrashing to focus on me. "The sword is a key. It can be used to open a portal. But Etheria's been locked up in an isolated universe: Despondos. If the sword is used to open up a portal it'll cause a disaster."

I'd heard some of the message from Mara's hologram when I'd snuck up on Adora but I didn't tell her that. Nah, I wanted to see what else I could learn from her. Adora was a terrible liar, and I might be able to find out something useful from her if she didn't know how much I knew.

"Have you been out in the desert sun too long?" I flicked her forehead. "Did you get heat stroke or something?"

Adora took a deep breath before continuing. "Listen to me: if you don't believe me, take the sword and put it in the slot on the bridge. It'll play a message from Mara—she was the previous She-Ra. That will explain everything, unless you want to believe that I faked a thousand-year-old message from back when the First Ones were still around."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're serious about this, aren't you?" I knelt down next to her. "Fine. Let's say I believe you: so what? The way I see it, anything that's a disaster for the Rebellion is good for the Horde."

Her eyes narrowed. "Even if it destroys the planet? How does that help the Horde? Or would you burn everything down so that you rule over the ashes?"

I frowned. Whatever Adora thought she was going on about, I was pretty sure she was wrong. "Hordak wants to conquer Etheria, not blow it up. Why would he open up a portal if it would just wreck everything?"

"I don't think he knows what he's doing," Adora said. "I mean, he's an evil conqueror, but he never struck me as insane. From what we were told his plan is to—" She bit her words off.

"His plan is to...?" I pressed.

Adora shook her head. "It doesn't matter. The point is if he and Entrapta get the sword and open their portal, it'll destroy us all. Then none of our plans matter."

Adora was keeping something from me, that much was obvious. Well, I'd get the truth out of her, one way or another.

I looked at the sword, getting the impression it was the key to everything. The only question was what to do with it. It'd certainly given me nothing but trouble. It was the whole reason Adora had run off to become a rebel. If she had never found it...

My hand tightened on the hilt before I shrugged. "Still sounds like a whole lot of not my problem, but maybe I'll just toss this thing in a pit somewhere." I flashed my fangs at her. "Or just break it. It'd be so tragic if you lost all your stupid princess powers and couldn't wear that dumb tiara anymore."

Adora flinched. "No, you can't!"

"I can't? Who's gonna stop me? You?" I poked her forehead. "Besides, from where I'm standing, destroying the sword sounds like a great idea. That'll keep you from becoming She-Ra, putting that little problem to rest, and Hordak and Entrapta won't accidentally blow everything up. Sounds win-win to me."

Adora's hands clenched. "My friends are going to come back for me. They'll stop you."

I stood back up. "By the time they come back, we'll be in the Fright Zone."

"You don't have to do this, Catra," she pleaded.

I sniffed. "Give me one reason I shouldn't."

Adora took a deep breath before her head wilted. When she spoke it was with a quiet voice. "Because I don't think you really want to kill me."

I threw my head back and laughed. "Really Adora? I've tried to kill you how many times now? How dense can you be?"

"And every time you had me against the ropes, you never followed through," she said. "Just like how I could never make myself try and hurt you."

My hand squeezed the hilt of the sword and my teeth peeled back from my fangs. "What're you talking about?"

Adora lifted her head to stare me in the eyes. "If you really want to kill me, then do it."

Kill her? What was she talking about? I'd just been teasing her about how the sun and heat had fried her brain before, but now I wasn't so sure.

Several seconds passed before I could respond. "What?"

"You have me at your mercy." Adora pulled on her ropes to press the point. "You know my friends are out there and preparing to rescue me. Why take the risk? Is Hordak really going to care whether you bring me back alive or as a corpse? He's not like Shadow Weaver, he doesn't care about me. I'm just one more rebel to be put down as he conquers the planet."

I scoffed, hardly able to believe what I was hearing. Adora could be a pretty big doofus sometimes, but this? "Sheesh, it almost sounds like you want me to kill you."

"I don't and I want to believe that you don't either."

I turned away from her as I tried to think. In a way, she was right. Adora was a threat to the Horde. Sparkles and the bow-wielding idiot had gotten away, and they'd definitely try and free Adora. It wouldn't matter even if I dragged Adora all the way back to the Fright Zone. The Princess Alliance had already launched one rescue mission there, and there wasn't any reason to believe they wouldn't do so again if they had a good reason. And oh, Adora was oh-so-willing to come back to save her new friends...

Whatever, if the heat was making Adora do crazy-talk, that wasn't really my problem.

"Hordak will want to interrogate you," I said without turning to face her. "Or we could use you to set a trap for all your dumb friends."

"Because that type of thing has worked so well in the past?" Adora taunted. "You're going to need a big trap to catch a half-dozen princesses."

I shrugged. This conversation suddenly didn't feel as fun as it had a minute ago for some reason. "I'll figure something out. I've got the perfect bait for them, and they're not nearly as effective without you leading them."

"Catra, please stop this," Adora pleaded. "Hordak isn't here. And besides Scorpia, I haven't seen a single Horde soldier either. You can make your own choices. You don't have to give me or the sword to the Horde."

"Shut up." I groaned and punched the wall. "Why am I even listening to you, you're my enemy!" I turned and marched towards the door.

"Because I'm your friend!" Adora called out after me.

I paused in the doorway. My teeth ground together as I spoke. "You stopped being my friend a long time ago. Don't pretend all that ancient history still means anything." I stormed out and slammed the door behind me.

Great, teasing Adora was supposed to make me feel better. Now I felt even worse. Stupid Adora. Stupid Rebellion. Stupid sword and She-Ra. Stupid Shadow Weaver. Stupid Horde. Stupid Hordak. Why was everything so stupid?! I was winning. I'd been sent to the Crimson Waste to die, but now I was on top of the world. Adora was my prisoner, I had the sword, and minions at my beck and call. Soon I'd be back in the Fright Zone and be Hordak's second again, and we'd go back to winning the war. So why did everything feel so wrong?

"Because you hate it there."

Yes, I hated it in the Fright Zone. They didn't appreciate me there. No matter how hard I tried, no matter what I did, it was never good enough for all of them. I could win Hordak his stupid war, and I'd bet he'd still tell me to get out of his sanctum. I was nothing more than a tool to him—a disposable tool. A gear in the cogs of his machines. Why should I go back and work for him? But if I didn't go back, then what?

"Let's stay here. Forget Hordak. Forget Adora. Forget all of them. We could rule the Crimson Waste together, just the two of us. We could, you know, be happy."

Could I do that? Could I really not go back to the Fright Zone?

"You have a choice."

Yeah, I did have a choice, and I was about to make a big one. You know what, screw the Horde, screw the Rebellion, and screw their stupid war.

Scorpia was right. I was done.

I headed back to the party to find Scorpia. She was leaning against one of the walls with her arms crossed over her chest, frowning as she watched everyone celebrate. Her eyebrows raised when she saw me approach. She smiled, though there was a brittleness to it on the edges. "Hey Catra."

I looked up to her as I announced my decision. "I've decided. We're staying."

Scorpia smiled widely at the news. "Really? That's great news!" Before I could protest, she wrapped me up in a rib-breaking hug. "Oh, you have no idea how happy that makes me!"

Despite the fact Scorpia was giving my ribs a stress-test, I found myself grinning. "Oh, the good news is just getting started."

"Great to hear." Scorpia released me before she broke me in half. "So what's the plan, boss?"

I placed my hands on my hips. My destiny was in my hands now, and no one was going to tell me what to do anymore. "If we're staying, there's a couple things we've gotta sort out. First, we need a base."

Scorpia nodded. "Makes sense, we do need a new home. So where do we wanna set up? The ship seems like a pretty good place, considering how much First Ones tech we've got here. Especially since we've got to get Entrapta out here to join us." She chuckled and rubbed the back of her head with a pincer. "And we both know if we send a message back to the Fright Zone about capturing a mostly intact First Ones spaceship, she'll come running out here. Then we can explain what's going on to her, and she's sure to join us! We can't split up the trio now!"

I scowled as Entrapta was brought up. "I'm not so sure. Last I saw her, she was being all buddy-buddy with Hordak and having the time of her life helping him in his sanctum. You know Entrapta, what she really cares about is her science, and Hordak's giving her all the technology she could want to poke at."

Annoyingly, that was in no small part my fault. I'd figured out what buttons to push with Entrapta, and made her a huge asset for the Horde. Pulling her away from Hordak was going to be a pain.

"Sure, she likes working with Hordak," Scorpia conceded, "but we're the Super Pal Trio! And we have a First Ones spaceship. There's no way that won't win her over."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "You know she's the one that convinced Hordak to exile me to the Crimson Waste, right? Can't say that was doing me a favor."

"She convinced Hordak to send you here instead of sending you to Beast Island," Scorpia countered. "I think she was bailing you out. Maybe Hordak thought you would die out here, but Entrapta's the smartest person I've ever met. She said she had a ton of data proving that you were the best person for the job, and she was right! I know she's a bit weird sometimes, but she's our friend. She'll stick with us if we ask her to, because that's what friends do."

"Right, what friends do," I growled through clenched teeth. I wasn't quite sure about Entrapta yet, but Scorpia had a point about how useful she was. It could be a pain to manage her, but it was worth the trouble given what she could do with First Ones tech. And it would be a massive help to my schemes if she could get this ship working again.

"If we want Entrapta, we're going to have to go get her," I said. "Hordak isn't going to just let such a valuable asset walk out the door. On what terms did you leave the Fright Zone, Scorpia?"

Scorpia shrugged. "I'm just spending a bit of vacation time." She stood there smiling obliviously for a second then grinned and tapped her nose. "Oh! I get it! All my access codes are still good! We could send a team to sneak into the Fright Zone and go get Entrapta!"

"Exactly." I grinned as I rubbed my chin. "We might even be able to steal some equipment while we're there. Though we have a limited window if we're going to do that. Sooner or later they're going to figure out you actually deserted."

My eyes flicked to one of my henchmen ripping out some of the ship wiring. "And if we're going to be passing this ship onto Entrapta, we're going to need to stop the looting right now. Otherwise, we'll probably never get this ship flying again. Pity, this loot would have been useful as barter."

"Not to mention the gang won't be wild about not getting to loot everything," Scorpia pointed out. "But a flying spaceship is worth way more than whatever we could barter for." She paused a moment, then shrugged. "Well, unless we're running out of food and water or something. A ship that might fly someday won't do us much good if we're starving now."

"Can't say I'm wild about dying of dehydration. Before we decide to settle here, let's see what other options we have." I jabbed a finger New Kyle's way. "Hey, Kyle, come over here."

The horned gangster I'd picked up at the Waste cantina turned to me with a frown. "Kyle isn't my name."

"I don't care Kyle, just answer my questions," I told her. "Where can you set up a base around here?"

Kyle frowned as though she was about to argue, but in the end she thought better of it. "There's Tung Lasher Gulch. There's underground water and mushroom caves there. That, and it's hidden away and easy to defend."

I snorted. "If we set up there, we have got to give it a new name! Seriously, I can't hear 'Tung Lashor' without cracking up every time."

Scorpia smirked and nudged me. "Tung Lashor."

I started cackling before I could help myself. "Quit it!"

"There's also the Bone Cantina," What's-Her-Face said—the four-armed lizard one I'd also nabbed up at the cantina. "Can't go wrong with there being plenty of food and drink."

"Or we could just keep on the move," Scorpia suggested. "Once it gets out that we've deserted the Horde is gonna come after us, and as long as we're holding onto Adora you know the Rebellion's gonna have their sights set on us." She hesitated for a moment. "You know, if we let her go they'd probably—"

I hissed at her.

"You know what, never mind, forget I said anything," she hastily backpedaled. "But yeah, we're kind of making an enemy out of the two biggest governments on the planet. It might be better if we were a moving target."

I thought it over for a second. "You know what the problem is with all of your suggestions? They all sound like the sort of places for some little gang to set up." I held up Adora's stupid sword and grinned at my own reflection in the blade. "Come on, guys, let's think a little bigger. Do you really want to spend the rest of your lives just ripping off anyone stupid enough to walk through our little patch of territory?"

New Kyle snorted. "Well there's always the Valley of the Lost, but there's no way we could take that. It's way too big."

Too big for me to conquer? Not likely. "Tell me more about it."

"It's where everyone goes to trade," What's-Her-Face said. "It's the biggest city in the Waste, with it tucked inside of a valley, making it a tough nut to crack. There's food, water, and lots of scrap there. Problem is it's ruled by Granita, and she's as tough as they come. Every gang in the Waste has dreamed of conquering the place, but anyone that's tried got driven into the ground. Tung Lashor was the last one who took a shot at the Valley, but he got sent running with his tail between his legs. And that was when the gang was twice as big as it is now."

Now that sounded more like a challenge worthy of me. Maybe not right away, but I could take some time building up my numbers. Once I started getting cities under my control, I stopped being a gang leader, and started looking like something a lot bigger.

'Empress Catra' had a nice ring to it.

"So what's the plan, boss?" Scorpia asked. "I'm sure what you decide will be great." There was the slightest hesitation before she continued. "And I was wondering what you planned on doing with Adora and the sword. If we're not going to let her go, well, we gotta do something with her, right?"

"Oh, that part's easy."


Vote 1
Who's going to watch Adora?

[] Catra: "Only I can be trusted to watch Adora. I want her with me at all times, even in my bedroom."

[] Scorpia: "Scorpia is completely loyal and her stinger is a pretty reliable way to keep Adora under control if she tries anything."

[] The Gang: "These guys seem to be loyal to me now I've beaten up their former boss. Plus with shifts I wouldn't have to worry so much about anyone falling asleep on the job. What could possibly go wrong with trusting them with Adora?"

[] Let Adora Go: "Now why would I do a silly thing like that? I have Adora right where I want her."
DC: 150
Modifiers: None
Note: Failing this check could have dire consequences.

Vote 2
What to do with the Sword of Protection?

[] Have Catra hold onto it.

[] Scorpia can be trusted with the sword.

[] The Gang can watch over the sword.

[] Hide the sword somewhere only Catra knows.

[] Drop the sword in a random sandpit so that no one can find it.

[] Try to destroy the sword.

[] "... For the Honor of Greyskull!"

[] Send the sword back to Hordak.

[] Send the sword to Bright Moon.

[] Write-in

Vote 3
Where shall Catra set up her base?

[] Mara's Ship
-[] Loot the ship for parts to trade.
-[] Keep the gang from looting the ship.
-It's a derelict spaceship.
-It's First Ones parts could be valuable barter in the Crimson Waste.
-Perfect bait for Entrapta.
-Food and water need to be imported.

[] Tung Lashor Gulch
-Access to underground water and some food from the mushroom caves.
-Relatively well hidden and easy to defend.
-It currently has a name that Catra can't take seriously.

[] Bone Cantina
-Ready access to drinks and entertainment.
-Would please the gang as long as the drinks keep flowing.
-Limited expansion without significant investment.
-Unfortified.

[] Become Nomadic
-Would make it harder for the Princess Alliance and the Horde to find Catra and her gang.
-Not tied down to any fixed points.
-No infrastructure.
-Gang could become unhappy due to a lack of creature comforts.

[] Declare the Valley of the Lost as Catra's new future capital.
-[] Select one of the previous options to serve as a temporary base.
-The Valley of the Lost is the largest settlement within the Crimson Waste, serving as a center of trade. Though it's currently outside of Catra's control, Catra could declare her intent to conquer the city sometime soon and make it her capital.
-This declaration would help focus the gang and be a significant boost to morale if Catra takes over the town.
-Gang morale could degrade if significant time passes without progress being made on this goal.

[] Write-in (subject to QM's approval)