The Story Behind the Stories   IGMS Authors Share How Their Stories Came to Be

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The Two Kingdoms Woman by James Beamon

I remember playing Destiny of an Emperor and Romance of the Three Kingdoms on my 8-bit NES as a kid, not knowing all the people and lore steeped in these games was real. Then I got older and realized the Three Kindoms Period was authentic, and all the characters I'd played legendary. I began to read about it outside of gaming, but there was practically no mention of Lady Sun, just a fragment here or there. How was this even possible? I mean, this lady is some kind of real life action heroine, a tough, badass warrior princess. This woman really did raise a ruckus, she really did have a hundred sword bearing female servant guards, and she was doing all this circa 200 A.D.

By far, she was the most intriguing and dynamic person from the Three Kingdoms Period to me. I wanted to make her story more than a footnote, and I wanted to resolve some of the inconsistencies between her story and the myths and legends surrounding her. A conventional storytelling format wasn't capturing her story well. Perhaps because she's so unconventional herself. So I decided to play the river role, and just let Lady Sun speak to me. All I can hope is that I translated well.