The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Cleric Chih is one of the three protagonists of The Empress of Salt and Fortune. As a cleric, their job is to travel the Empire of Anh and record previously untold histories. In an interview, Vo elaborated on Chih’s role in the book’s thematic exploration of Power Dynamics in the Recording of History: “Chih, my little non-binary cleric who is off to make their career in the brave new world, is written as a kind of beacon for voiceless people silenced under the weight of the history machine” (“Revealing The Empress of Salt and Fortune an Publishing in the Age of Diaspora Fantasy.” Reactor, 7 Aug. 2019). Chih simultaneously combats the exclusionary tendencies of “the history machine” and also embodies that machine, as they work for the Singing Hills Abbey, the established authority for recording and disseminating history in the Salt and Fortune universe. In their simultaneously subversive and esteemed position, Chih offers hope that the established field of history can adjust itself to be more inclusive and expansive in its understanding of the past.

The great social power that Chih wields as a recorder of history is contrasted by their oftentimes passive presence in the story.