Sheila Helman

"Sheila Helman, awakening her inner resolve."

- Even if I'm only a decoration, I am still the Empress of Helman. It is my duty to fight for and protect the people. As an empress, as a citizen of this country, I will fight until the very end.

About
Sheila Helman is a member of the Imperial Family of the Helman Empire, being from the 46th generation of the original Helman Emperor Zanageth Helman. She was born in GI1005 as the daughter of Pamela Helman, the rightful wife of the most recent Emperor. Her birth was the beginning of an inner dispute within the country as her older half-brother, Patton Misnarge, had already been selected as the legitimate heir to the throne. However, Sheila quickly grew to become an extraordinarily charismatic and beloved figure in Helman, and many began seeing Patton as unfit for the role of the Emperor because he was born from a mere concubine and not from the Emperor's wife. By the time Sheila was only 10 years old, many already considered her a far more suitable and promising talent than Patton was, causing him to lose a lot of the previous support he had, while the largely unconscious Sheila gained political stance. This situation was partly influenced by the many schemes and manipulations secretly handled by her mother and the Prime Minister Stessel Romanov, who wished to make Sheila the future Empress, and they used their position to drive away Patton supporters or bribe nobles to support her, slowly gaining the backing from the masses. Eventually, losing his previously undisputed position, Patton lost all his inspiration and became a delinquent, ignoring his responsibilities and focusing on doing whatever he felt like.

By the year LP0002 Patton was considered a complete failure as a Prince and Sheila was pretty much universally accepted as the heir, with only a very small number of people supporting him. Convinced by Dark Lord Noce he formed an alliance with the Dark Lords to invade Leazas, hoping that if he managed to topple Helman's long-lived nemesis, no-one would put his skill into question. This resulted in a series of conflicts recorded as the 7th Helman-Leazas War, which ended in a catastrophic defeat for Helman and the apparent death of Prince Patton. With his defeat and departure, his reputation was utterly ruined and widely seen as a national shame.

One month later, the Emperor, who'd been ill for years, finally passed away on his sickbed and Sheila was officially crowned as the Empress despite being only 11 years old. Due to her young age her title is more symbolic than anything as the political power is actually handled by her mother Pamela, the Dowager Empress, the Prime Minister Stessel, and the members of the Council of Eight. To the public view, Sheila is mostly used as a political figure and her great charisma makes her tremendously loved by the people. Though she rarely appears in public, support for her is still high in the realm and she's mostly just used to talk to the people in populistic speeches. Despite her position, she's absolutely powerless. In reality, she's nothing but a puppet placed by the Prime Minister Stessel to control the Government, who used his influence to remove from power everyone unaffiliated to him and leave at the top only those that support him. Additionally, Sheila is actually not the previous Emperor's daughter, but born from a secret adultery between her mother and the Minister Stessel, making him her real father, and her an illegitimate heir to the throne as she doesn't carry imperial blood. This is the government's darkest secret but it is only shared by her parents themselves.

Sheila made her first canonical appearance during the events of Rance IX: The Helman Revolution. At some point prior to the events of the game, Sheila swapped places with her maid Peruelé Kalette due to certain circumstances through the use of a magic item, hiding her true identity and changing her name to "Russian Kalette". She then abandoned the Imperial Palace before being promptly captured by slave traders, who restrained her and placed her among many other slaves on a disguised caravan destined to leave Helman. However, near its exit, the traders were unfortunate enough to come across the adventurer Rance and his party, who at the time was about to enter the country to assist Helman Revolutionary Army led by Patton Misnarge to overthrow Stessel's regime. Upon "smelling" cute girls on their carriages, the brutish warrior revealed the slavers true colors, engaging in battle and defeating the band. After his victory, he proceeded to free the captured slaves (after having sex with the girls he liked) but was immediately shocked by Sheila's great looks, who was at the time turned into Russian. Oblivious to the situation, she merely begged Rance to release the girls of the caravan but as she'd already striked his fancy, he agreed to do so only on the condition that she would become his personal slave (despite the fact that he was planning to release them anyway). A reluctant Russian agreed to his request and joined his group, officially becoming his servant.

As Russian, Sheila took part in the events of the Helman Revolution assisting Rance and her half-brother Patton, with whom she was able to reunite with after 4 years, though under her false identity. While she was initially depressed and somber, she started to get used to her new life and grew surprisingly fond of doing house chores. Later on, she's eventually revealed as the Empress of Helman. After the Revolution ended and Stessel's regime was overthrown, the Helman Empire changed to the Helman Republic when Patton decided to leave the country with Hunty, leaving Sheila this time to really rule the country as the President of Helman.

She aids in the battle against the Kayblis faction as the leader of the Helman army. She is impregnated by Rance during the game's events.

Personality and Appearance
A flawless and incorruptible beauty, Sheila is recognized as one of the world's most attractive females. She holds a refined, beautiful and upper-class appearance, boasting a large waist-length blonde hair, as well as two distinguishable green eyes. She is of average height, and her body is young but fairly developed, being slim and curvaceous, and her light skin is free from imperfections. As the empress, she usually dresses in a regal fashion, portraying elegant and magnificent clothing that showcases her status as a member of the Imperial family with golden jewelry and a long pure white dress. When disguised as Russian through the use of a magic item, her appearance altered but still remained extremely beautiful. Her skin was tanned, her eyes changed to a paler silver and her long beautiful hair turned into a light purple color. Additionally, she changed her attire to that of a regular Helman maid, consisting of simple rags.

Because of her position and nature, she quickly became one of the most famous figures of the current era of The Continent, and at only 16 years old she's already grown into one of Helman's most important figures. She's widely and universally loved by the people due to her kindness, beauty and intelligence, resulting in word of her greatness to be spread throughout the continent like wildfire. She's extremely popular among the commoners, to the point many worship her like a goddess and would willingly throw their lives away for her sake. She's so beloved by the populace that whole armies would be formed by the local population if her life was threatened, rising to make sure to keep her from harm. Her popularity is not limited to the townsfolk however, as even within the Helman Army she represents a highly inspirational figure for many soldiers, with many even joining the military solely to fight for her sake. She's helped inspire even some of the most impressive talents in the country like Rolex Gadras. Among the military, one of the most notable men her impact reached was the General of the 2nd Army Aristoles Calm, who was also one of the closest childhood friends of Prince Patton. At some point despite his deep loyalty towards his friend, Aristoles came to fall in love with Sheila, and supported her right as the heir even before his friend's. However, Aristoles despises Stessel's regime and has been making a subtle effort to expose him as the corrupt politician he is, but can't directly oppose him because of his boundless love towards Sheila.

Despite all the praise and admiration she's experienced from countless individuals since birth, Sheila is a surprisingly humble person capable of living a modest life without many comforts. She's an extremely compassionate and kind soul that is deeply concerned for the well-being of the Helman citizens, making her motivational speeches fueled by her feelings to sound truly legitimate rather than an elaborated discourse. She cares about all the Helmanians equally regardless of their social position, and is surprisingly angered if innocent lives are put at risk, making it the few rare occasions where she's dominated by wrath. She's an intelligent and gentle person that is motivated by a desire to help those in need. She's prudish and very shy about anything related to sex, something that she forcefully grows over during Rance IX due to the demands of her master Rance. She's a fundamentally pure and honest individual, which also turns her into a somewhat naive person as well, partly influenced by the sheltered environment she was raised in, but she's not as gullible as she might seem as she's quite wary of those she doesn't fully trust, and she seems to have great maturity for someone her age. Even as she had a great inner desire to improve the situation of the citizens, she was never allowed to leave the Imperial Palace and no ability to make her own decisions, causing her to have a very unsatisfactory and even boring life prior to the events of the Helman Revolution. She also never had a true friend, as she never directly interacted with anyone beyond the political figures of the country, with her maid Peruelé Kalette being her closest confidant. Sheila thinks of her as her only friend, but even this relationship was mostly one-sided, as Peruelé envied her position and held a grudge against her for it, disliking the purity of her personality. Though after they switched places, Peruelé realized the suffering Sheila went through, particularly, Stessel's treatment of her, Peruelé forgot her grudge against Sheila and actually became her friend.

Her relationship with her mother was not a positive one, as she didn't approve of the restrictive lifestyle that she forced onto her. On the other hand, despite the succession war that took place prior to her enthronement, Sheila still held Patton in a high regard and looked up to him as her big brother, being saddened by his presumed death and the negative rumors spread about him. This affection went both ways, as Patton also greatly cared about her despite her being the main obstacle in his political career, going so far as firmly prohibiting Dark Lord Noce from laying a hand on her when the Dark Lord offered to take her life during the events of Rance 03. His love for her didn't decrease over the years, to the point that he still thinks of her feelings as something very important to him, and would be willing to fight to the death to ensure her protection, going as far as claiming that he would fight even Rance if he harmed her. They have a relationship of mutual respect and admiration, with Sheila still admiring him years later and dearly remembering him as a respectable prince. She was largely hostile against Stessel Romanov, as she was aware of his true nature as a cruel and ambitious man and believed he was behind the death of her brother Patton. She disliked his presence and tried to avoid him as much as possible thinking him to be a mere minister, unaware of her true parentage. Meanwhile, Stessel would try to form a closer relationship between them as he was secretly fancying her. While Stessel is a terribly narcissistic man that hardly lusts over women, as Sheila is actually his daughter, he thinks of her as the only woman worthy of his passion and was eagerly plotting of turning her into his lover when she was old enough.

After becoming Russian and reducing herself to a life of servitude during the events of Rance IX, her life wildly changed. Initially she was very gloomy and despondent towards Rance, being frightened of him and despising the times he would call her for sex. She was also forced to attend all the every day chores Rance would usually have Sill or his maids do for him, which she was completely incapable of doing proficiently as she never had to do such things. However, over time and with some help from Kanami, she came to get used to attending these house chores and even began finding them somewhat fun the more she improved with the tasks, growing really fond of the life of servitude. She also came to enjoy her time with Rance, seeing him as much more than the brute she initially thought he was, and even after being exposed to her true appearance she continued to serve him despite being the option to abandon the job. While after becoming the president she's strictly devoted herself to her new position and works tirelessly to improve the nation's current state, her feelings for Rance have already blossomed as he changed her previously static life in a way she never imagined.

Abilities
A fairly talented person, Sheila is gifted with many notable talents for both adventuring and the daily life. With a surprisingly remarkable Level Cap of 39, she's always carried high potential to be a reliable ally. She has a Divine Magic Lv1 skill, making her a dedicated healer capable of erasing the exhaustion of her allies and restore their health, allowing them to improving their condition mid-combat. While her skill as a healer is not nearly on the same level as more experienced individuals like Crook Mofus or even Sel Catchgolf, her natural talent on the field allows her to be a reasonably useful ally on the battlefield. Unlike many healers however, Sheila also carries a Throwing Lv1 skill, making her an inherently skilled marksman.

In battle, she carries a large staff with a slingshot connected to its top, and she employs it both as a channeling tool to employ divine magic, and as a weapon to shoot projectiles at her enemies with reasonably long range, helping her retain a safe distance from her enemies without losing the offensive. Her greatest weakness however is her low physical aptitude, as she never received any formal training and hasn't seen experience in battle due to her sheltered life, and like most mages, she's very fragile and commonly targeted, forcing her to rely on her allies to protect her. After the events of Rance IX and her participation on the Helman Revolution, Sheila has grown to become a very solid combatant, with her performance vastly improving with the experience earned from the events of the revolution.

Outside of the battlefield, Sheila grew very skilled in a routinary life. With an unexpected Housework Lv1 skill, Sheila was able to adapt fairly quickly to the laborious task of serving as Rance's slave, and became extremely effective and competent at the job when given enough time to get used to such environment.

Alternate Appearance in Kichikuou Rance
In Kichikuou Rance, Sheila appeared in the Helman phase as the ruler to inspire her people in the war against Leazas. It is later revealed that she's actually the daughter between Pamela and Stessel and doesn't have royal blood. However, Stessel cares little for Pamela and reserves his passions for Sheila, as he only considers someone sharing his genes to be worthy of him. Both Pamela and Sheila are Stessel's lovers and pawns and he manipulates them to rule Helman as he wants.

Stessel has an obsession over Sheila and gives or withdraws her drugs to make her do whatever he wants, often extorting her to have sex with her. Though she dislikes the incestuous relationship even in her often muddled state of mind, when she spends too long without drugs she loses focus and can't control herself, losing sight of everything around her. Aristoles Karm had a close relationship with her but they have been forcefully distanced by Stessel, since he thought that he would be able to get her away from his control.

When Helman falls in the war against Leazas, Stessel escaped promptly and she was captured by Rance. If Rance has sex with her, he finds out about her addiction to drugs. Depending on the player's choices, and Aristoles's fate, Sheila's fate can vary between falling completely into her addition or being reunited with her old love.

Trivia

 * She was ranked in the 1st place in the Rance IX popularity poll, making her one of the most popular characters in and out of universe.
 * In the Kichikuou Rance poll she was ranked 19th, which is decent for her minor role in the game and ranking with so many characters.
 * In Rance IX there's an alternate non-canon Bad Ending for her where she's caught by Stessel and she's raped and drugged by him, mirroring her fate in Kichikuou Rance.
 * Her fake name "Russian" is a clear reference to Helman resembling the real life country Russia in many aspects.
 * She holds many similarities with Sill Plain, both being members of the nobility that due to coincidental circumstances ended up as Rance's slaves yet ended up adapting and even enjoying the position. Both are gifted in housework and magic and are fated for Rance.
 * Since her father was Stessel, she carries no royal blood so she technically holds no real right for the throne and while it is never said this makes her true name Sheila Romanov. This matters little though due to the shift to republicanism the nation went through after the Helman Revolution at the end of Rance IX.
 * Her character changes quite a bit in the canonical storyline. Sheila remains the powerless ruler of the country while Stessel controls the government as he pleases, though the events that cause her drug addiction and incestuous relationship have yet to occur, as Stessel waits for her to be older. This is due to her age being greatly reduced in canon as well, being 16 in the year LP0006, while in Kichikuou she was 18 in LP0003. (One might very well argue that her escapade and the Helman Revolution arrived just in time to save her from this fate.)