Guo Nüwang 郭女王

Her father gave her the style name Nüwang — Woman King — saying she was the king among his daughters. Orphaned in the wars that broke the Han, she ended up a servant in a marquis's household, and then in the household of Cao Pi, where, the official history says, she advised him through the long contest to be named heir.

You are the planner in the room. She became the first empress of Cao Wei over an official's written objection to her low birth, ran the palace plainly and fairly, interceded to save a condemned man, and raised her rival's son. Her story ends darkly, and the sources disagree on how — but a third-century history recording that a former servant helped decide a state's succession says a great deal about her.