Lady Katam

Lady Katam was a figure of Orion legend, her tale considered a classic story of Orion revenge and cluros.

Before he retired, Lord Benara shared out his lands amongst his three sons. The youngest of these sons was married to Lady Katam, who persuaded her husband that he'd been insulted in the inheritance, that his brothers were mocking him and plotting against him. Outraged by this, he started a bitter war for the succession.

The two other brothers besieged his palace, and he was killed. Then the middle brother seized the youngest's lands and palace, though with the intention of sharing the estates equally with the eldest. He also took Lady Katam herself as his bride. But she told him that the prizes were his by right of conquest, and that if he showed any weakness, his eldest brother would take it all.

Meanwhile, she secretly visited the elder brother and told him of the middle brother's plots to retain control of the lands. Despairing yet determined, the eldest increased his armies and gathered allies to his side, all to delay or prevent any attack from his sibling rival.

For five long years, the two brothers held armed and guarded talks, but could reach no agreement. While the disputed lands were neglected, other powerful families threw their lot in with one or the other, and sometimes both, as they plotted to improve their fortunes and positions in the event of conflict.

At long last, the two feuding brothers agreed to meet and decide an equitable arrangement, at the site of their father's abandoned palace. However, each had secretly brought their own troops and those of their most trusted allies. Then the middle brother was lured out on some ruse, and rode into a trap set by his eldest brother's allies, and he too was killed. His retainers raised the alarm, and both armies took to battle, filling the land from one horizon to the other. Other families seized land from the two brothers, and the palace went up in flames.

Armoured and with weapons drawn, the eldest brother and his retinue went through the palace to confront the Lady Katam. They found her in her chambers, unarmed and kneeling.

It had been twenty years since her father had been murdered by Lord Benara, she told them, and his lands and family parceled out between Benara's family and his retainers, including herself. She had sworn she would not die until she had similarly brought the House of Benara to an end. Still kneeling, she finished "It doesn't matter what you do to me."

With one cut of his sword, the eldest brother beheaded her and left the burning palace to join the battle, and the certain end of the House of Benara.