ELISE

THE SPIDER QUEEN

The Lady Elise was born centuries ago to House Kythera, one of the oldest bloodlines
of Noxus, and swiftly learned the power of beauty to influence the weak.

When she came of age, she entertained the courtship of Berholdt, heir to House
Zaavan. Their union was opposed by many, since it would strengthen Kythera at
Zaavan’s expense—but Elise worked hard to beguile her intended husband, and
manipulated her detractors to secure a betrothal.

Unbeknown to her, this political marriage had been planned for many years by
shadowy forces working behind the scenes throughout the empire, with Berholdt
Zaavan a mere pawn in a much larger game. Even so, it was an unexpected twist that
Elise should dominate him so completely, and while he remained the face of his
house, it was clear who was in charge. As time passed, his resentment grew.

One evening, over a typically frosty dinner, Berholdt revealed he had poisoned her
wine, and demanded Elise withdraw from society and allow him to take up the reins
of power. Knowing he would have the antidote about his person, Elise played the role
of a remorseful wife, weeping and begging her husband’s forgiveness. Just as it
seemed he might be convinced, she snatched up a knife and plunged it into his heart.

Even with the antidote, Elise was bedridden for weeks… and it was then that the Pale
Woman approached her.

The enigmatic mistress of “the Black Rose” spoke of a secret society where hidden
knowledge and sorcery were shared among those who could be trusted, and kept from
those who could not. In truth, the Pale Woman did not care who controlled each of
the noble houses, as long as they were sworn to her. Since Elise had killed the thrall
Berholdt, she would have to prove her own value, or a more suitable replacement
would be found.

Seeing a path to greater power, Elise took to the cabal like few before her. She met
often with the most prominent members, trading influence and thwarting her rivals in
a complex web of tangled schemes. With the wealth of two houses, there were not
many who could oppose her, and she became even more adept at persuading others
to do her bidding.

Eventually, she learned of an object that held great significance for the Black Rose—
the skull of an ancient warlord known as Sahn-Uzal, rumored to have been hidden
long ago in the Shadow Isles. Keen to gain the Pale Woman’s favor, Elise found a
desperate, debt-ridden captain willing to bear her and a handful of devotees to the
cursed city of Helia. They came ashore on a beach of ashen sand, and were tormented
by spiteful wraiths as they searched in vain for the lost vault.

But Elise found something she had not anticipated.

A creature of the long-forgotten past had made its home in the lightless depths
beneath the city. This bloated, chitinous monster was the spider-god Vilemaw, and it
erupted from the darkness to devour the intruders, before sinking its fangs into Elise’s
shoulder. She fell, howling and convulsing as the venom wrought terrible changes
upon her body. Her spine rippled with undulant motion, and arachnoid legs pushed
out from her flesh.

Finally, breathless with the agony of transformation, Elise turned to find her new
master looming above her. An unspoken understanding passed between them in that
moment, and she scuttled back to the beach, untroubled by the Isles’ spirits as she
weaved in and out of the twisted treeline.

Some weeks later, when her ship arrived back at the Noxian capital in the dead of
night, Elise had regained her human form… though she was the only living thing left
aboard.

Though no evidence was ever found of the warlord’s skull, the Pale Woman saw
Elise’s dangerous new gift for what it was—a means to come and go safely between
Noxus and the Shadow Isles. An accord was struck, wherein the Black Rose would
provide Elise with endless unwitting sacrifices to offer up to the spider-god, and in
return she would recover any artifacts of power she could from those benighted,
forbidding shores.
Elise once again took up residence in the neglected halls of House Zaavan, carefully
cultivating a reputation as a seductive yet unreachable recluse. Few have ever
guessed her true nature, yet fanciful rumors abound—wild tales of her ageless beauty,
and a terrifying, voracious creature said to lair in the bowels of her dilapidated, dust-
wreathed palace.

Though centuries have passed, whenever Elise feels the summons of her god, she
returns to the land of the Black Mist with a hapless suitor in tow, or some other easily
swayed soul.

And none who accompany her ever return.