Qing ai Da

When the Green Empress was alive, according to the author of The Ebon Shadows, she kept a vast menagerie of creatures of an almost infinite array of descriptions, collected from throughout her empire. Among her favourites was a most ferocious, and terrible fanged beast, which the Green Empress referred to as her “qing ai da,” or "precious darling."

Surprisingly, no actual description of it while it was still alive survives. Most sages, the author excluded, believe that it was a tiger, or cave lion that one of her dukes captured for her.

"Precious Darling" lived for many, many decades, well after the Green Empress' descent into undeath. When it finally expired, the Green Empress wept for her pet, shedding many crimson tears. Then, she reanimated her beloved horror, making it among the very first undead she created herself.

- Stanton Fink, Excerpts from the Register, Undead Sea Scrolls 2003