EMPRESS OF THE SILKWORMS

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-93562)

Occupation: Would-be conqueror

Group Membership: Kuei Emperor's conspiracy

Affiliations: Captain J. Dorland, Fire-Musician, Kuei Emperor, Snake Fangs;
   formerly Spirit-Boxer

Enemies: Demigods (Fond-of-Humans, others), Monkey King (Li Chang/Sun Wu-K'ung), Pigsy, Sandy, Spirit-Boxer

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Lady of Worms"

Base of Operations: Chinatown, San Francisco, United States of America, Earth-xxx

First Appearance: Dragon Lines#1 (May 1993)

Powers/Abilities: The Empress of Silk Worms wears the cloak of No-Cha, a sentient or semi-sentient living cloak which can extrude prehensile strips able to grasp and bind objects and people. The cloak also contains (or summons or perhaps creates) millions of silk worms under the Empresses' command, enough to prevent a train running along its tracks. 

Height: 5'10" (by guesstimation)
Weight: 135 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Gray
Hair: White 

History:
(Dragon Lines#1 (fb) - BTS) - On Earth-93562 circa 1996 A.D. or even earlier a man who claimed to be the legendary Keui Emperor, the King of Ghosts and Shadow, began plotting to restore China to its former glory by claiming the power of the Dragon Lines, ancient mystic power sources around the world, despite the fact that doing so would destroy the world outside of his new China. Knowing that the lines were protected by the Demi-Gods and their chosen guardians, he began assembling allies.

(Dragon Lines#2 (fb) - BTS) - One of these was the Empress of Silkworms, whom the Emperor gifted with the mystic cloak of No-Cha.

(Dragon Lines#1 (fb) - BTS) - She was promised she would become the Empress of China.

   By 2016 the Emperor and his allies were closing on the final phase of their plane and ready to move openly. The Kuei Emperor entrusted the Empress with retrieving the ancient Hanlin Manuscripts and terracotta statues that were really frozen demon warriors, both of which were to be displayed in San Francisco at the Celestial Culture Show. Aware that the performer playing the role of the Monkey King really was the ancient guardian who had once served the Demi-Gods, the Kuei Emperor also ordered her to test him, to see if his powers had been awakened; if he still thought himself only a mortal, it would mean the Demi-Gods were not yet aware of their plans.

(Dragon Lines#1) - On the eve of the Chinese New Year the Empress, the pyrokinetic Fire-Musician and several of their Snake-Fangs soldiers attended the Culture Show. While her people moved into position the Empress watched the stage performance of Journey to the West, unimpressed with the acrobat playing the Monkey King. Deeming it time, she ordered Fire-Musician to call forth his flames, signalling the Snake-Fangs to burst on to the stage to steal the manuscripts. The actor playing the Monkey King recognized the Fangs as art thieves (presumably they'd stolen other artifacts previously) and attacked them, while the audience fled as the conflagration spread. Dismissing the actor as merely an unimportant mortal the Empress moved onto the stage too and sent tendrils forth to grasp the statues, then went for the manuscripts too, grabbing the Monkey King by the neck with a cloak strand and smashing him into the cabinet holding the parchments. However, as she snatched them up the actor used a piece of broken glass from the cabinet to slice part of her cloak, a cut that the Empress herself felt and vowed to avenge. The actor playing Pigsy tried to jump on her from behind, but her cloak strips caught him and she was about to throw him into the fire when Fire-Guardian reminded her of their orders to only test, not slay, at least for now. He informed her that their men had secured the artifacts, and the group retreated to their getaway vehicle.

   Returning to their base beneath Chinatown the Empress reported their success to the Kuei Emperor, but he angrily told her that the Monkey King had fooled her, revealing the statues were not the frozen demon soldiers but simply clay replicas (which had been substituted in to avoid accidental damage to the real things during the performance). She listened as the Emperor pointed out that he had wanted to tap the Dragon Lines before confronting the Monkey King again, because soon the Demi-Gods would notice their activities and risk making a small change in the Lines to awaken the Monkey King's true identity. The Empress asked if they still had time, and the Emperor said they might, but their recent action might have alerted the Demi-Gods, so they needed to act swiftly. The manuscripts had given him the information he needed to move the Dragon Lines, but he still needed certain ancient keys such as the demon energy stored in the statues.

   Some time later the Empress went to another of their bases, a temple in Napa Valley. There she and Fire-Musician discussed their newest recruit, the Guardian Spirit-Boxer, whom the Kuei Emperor had woken from his frozen slumber and tricked into allying himself with them. Fire-Musician was worried to have a Guardian around, but the Empress dismissed Spirit-Boxer as mere muscle, though she admitted she was curious about his powers. She went to where the Emperor was watching Spirit-Boxer practice fighting moves to warm up after more than a century asleep, and asked to be introduced, stating she had heard many stories about his prowess. Hoping to eventually get him under her spell, she asked him if it was true that he was invulnerable, and when he said he was she kissed him, ostensibly as a welcome and thanks for his coming assistance.

   The Emperor sent Fire-Musician and the Empress to make another attempt at retrieving the states, this time by hijacking the bullet-train transporting them and two of the performers, Monkey King and Sandy, through California. The Empress flooded the tracks with millions of silkworms, enough to stop even the fast moving train, and then the Fire-Musician's flames severed the carriage carrying the statues from the rest of the train and carried it aloft to the desert where the Emperor and Spirit-Boxer were waiting. However they discovered that Monkey King's full powers and true personality had been awoken by the Demi-Gods, and he emerged from the carriage to battle them. While he took on Spirit-Boxer and the Emperor absorbed the power from the four statues on the train, the Empress captured Sandy in her cloak's tendrils, holding her wrapped up as they witnessed the Emperor used his enhanced powers to open up the Earth beneath the Monkey King and sending him plummeting into the resultant crevasse.

(Dragon Lines#2) - Seeing this Sandy screamed at the Empress to let her go, and deeming the performer unable to save her Monkey King lover the Empress did so. Leaping forward Sandy peered over the edge only to see the Monkey King hanging by one hand from his staff, which he had rammed into the side of the pit to stop his fall. He grabbed Sandy by the wrist and pulled her in too, just before the ground rumbled and the crevasse closed around them, seemingly crushing them both. As the Kuei Emperor declared his foe dead, a victim of the realignment the Empress noticed that the very air around them seemed to be charged with power, which she took as confirmation of her ally's words. While the rest of their forces returned to their transport the Emperor charged the Empress with keeping an eye on Spirit-Boxer, noting that the increasing Dragon Line force might allow him to break the spells used to trick him into working with them, and saying that if he broke free then she would have to kill the Guardian. At this the Empress queried how, given that Spirit-Boxer was invulnerable, but the Emperor reassured her there were ways to get round that (though unhelpfully, he didn't tell her what they were). The Emperor added that as the only Guardian now available to them, the Demi-Gods would have to move through Spirit-Boxer now, so keeping him close and under their power would allow them to quickly neutralize any threat.

   Back at their base the Empress watched the Emperor confirmed their actions had opened one of the Dragon Pools, but they needed more demon energies to open the Dragon Lines beneath the Great Wall of China. The Empress pointed out that the Monkey King had only had four statues, but the Emperor noted there more statues in China, so that would be their next destination. The Empress asked whether they should bring Spirit-Boxer with them, and was told yes, since he would be able to pick out the frozen demons from among the thousands of regular statues. After a quick flight to China the group invaded the Shih Huang Ti Museum, and the Empress watched as Spirit-Boxer picked out the relevant statues. Watching him depart in their ship back to California the Emperor expressed pleasure that his persuasion spells were holding, and the Empress concurred, noting that he would make an excellent servant around her forbidden city when she ruled China.

   The Empress then accompanied Kuei Emperor to the Great Wall, where he began releasing the frozen force within the purloined statues. However Monkey King and Sandy had not died in the crevasse, and they along with Pigsy soon arrived intending to stop them. The Empress snatched up Pigsy and threw him into Monkey King, then entangled the latter in dozens of silk strands. In response the Monkey King began spinning rapidly, rolling up the strands until it ripped the cloak off of her, leaving her unprotected for Pigst to knock her out with a bump on the head. The heroes then went after the Emperor,...

(Dragon Lines#2 - BTS) - and while they were thus distracted the Empress woke and made good her escape back to their ship. Having achieved his objectives the Emperor also evaded his foes and returned to the ship, which then fired missiles at the heroes.

(Dragon Lines#3) - On board the vessel the Empress watched in annoyance as Monkey King turned into a dragon and destroyed the missiles with his fiery breath. Seeing this the Emperor declared their foe had become too powerful to deal with until they could unblock the flow of Dragon Line energy and ordered a retreat, but the Empress protested, wanting revenge for her humiliation and theft of her cloak. Fire-Musician told her to calm down as they had retrieved it, and the conspirators hastily departed.

(Dragon Lines#3 - BTS) - The Monkey King later faced off against the Emperor again, and the latter stole the former's staff, without which he could not access his full powers.

(Dragon Lines#4) - After the Emperor sealed San Francisco, intended to be his New China, inside an energy dome to cut it off from the rest of the world, the Empress, her cloak restored to her, joined the Emperor atop a skyscraper as they watched the Dragon Lines energies transform the city, changing buildings to resemble traditional Chinese designs. To her surprise the Emperor revealed that he had once been a Guardian like Monkey King until the Demi-Gods deemed him unworthy, but his reverie was interrupted by news that both Monkey King and Spirit-Boxer, the latter now free of the Emperor's control, had been spotted within the city. The Emperor transformed the Snake-Fangs into beings of gold, silver and diamond, and sent them with the Empress to stop the interlopers. She soon confronted the two Guardians, and the Monkey King goaded her by reminding her that he had previously stripped her down to her "undies," prompting her to order the Snake-Fangs into battle, but even with their enhanced forms they were rapidly taken down. The Monkey King then threatened to rip her cloak to shreds if the Empress didn't surrender, but she remained defiant, declaring that the Emperor had told her the Monkey King was powerless without his staff. However, when she tried to order her cloak to attack it refused, too scared to risk it, and instead it wrapped her up, enveloping her like a cocoon. Leaving Spirit-Boxer to guard her, Monkey King went off and soon defeated the Kuei Emperor. The Empress remained bound by her own cloak even after the fighting ended, ready to be handed over to the authorities.

Comments: Created by Peter Quinones, Ron Lim and James Sanders III.

   The story was set in the then-future era of 2016 A.D., 23 years ahead of when it was published.

   The Empress of Silkworms may be inspired by Leizu, a.k.a. Xi Ling-shi, a legendary Chinese empress from around 2700 B.C. who reportedly discovered silk and invented the silk-loom.

   This profile was completed on 09/06/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary's celebratory event to represent Dragon Lines.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Empress of Silkworms has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Dragon Lines#1, p22, pan3 (main image)
Dargon Lines#1, p5, pan5 (face)
Dragon Lines#3, p3, pan2 (stripped of cloak)
Dragon Lines#4, p16, pan3 (wrapped)

Appearances:
Dragon Lines#1-4 (May-August 1993) - Peter Quinones (writer), Ron Lim (pencils), James Sanders III (inks), David Wohl (editor)

First Posted: 09/11/2026
Last updated: 09/06/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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