Shikea was the son of Chudakova, the first king of Vysokiy. Shikea inherited a large responsibility. While his father had the issue of building a nation after the fall of The Alammar Empire and The Splintering, he often did it in ways that confused even his closest advisors, building a castle on a mountain steppe, coming into possession of a notable profitable province by the name of Ravenna, which only grew and grew. By the time that Chudakova had to step down due to tuberculosis, which eventually lead to his death, Vysokiy was at a bit of a high point, more developed than other warring states, and being allies with the Kingdom of Falglor, one of the more powerful nations post-Splintering.
However, a tide of bad luck spread across the land almost instantaneously after Shikea came to power, a blight in Ravenna killed most of the crops, causing a famine. Revolts in the mines that made up Vysokiy's economic base caused the economy to crash, the army stopped receiving their pay so they decided to desert in droves, while hostile neighbors such as the Grand Duchy of Tanat and the Kingdom of Valdar continued to probe at Vyoskiy's borders. It was a nightmare, and Shikea was not equipped to deal with any of it. These things were mostly out of his control, and he was helpless to stop it.
The people started to gossip among themselves, telling wild tales about how Shikea was cursed and had doomed Vysokiy by ascending to the throne. Shikea was aware of these rumors, and did his best to stamp them out, which he couldn't because of the unavailability of resources. These attempts only gave credibility to the rumors, and things got worse. When it came time to deal with the Ravennan famine, a critical issue popped up, Shikea was extremely racist when it came to Ravennans. This was a common sentiment when it came to the world in the 80s, but Shikea took it to another level. He prioritized food and resources to native Vysokiyians, which, while understandable, he also simply denied any resource shipping from Vysokiy to Ravenna, further worsening the shortage of food brought about by the blight and the winter, causing a great famine in which thousands died.
Shikea was also incredibly violent, prone to outbursts, taking it out on his staff and guard. Anyone who held differing opinions was purged, most likely executed. The old guard from the days of Chudakova were almost immediately gone, replaced by yesmen who had no idea how to run a nation. Shikea also made a number of very bad economical decisions, further driving the Vysokiyian economy into the ground.
At this point, it couldn't get worse. But it did, the Age of Frost came, and it was a disaster. The amount of deaths caused by the famine were tiny compared to the number dead in the desperate war against the Armies of Dread. The generals appointed by Shikea were inept, sending hundreds to die in pointless meatgrinder assaults that did nothing but give the necromancers new soldiers. Eventually Vysokiy withdrew into the mountains, leaving the Ravennans to their fate, trying to lick their wounds. Shikea would die later, while still in hiding from an aneurysm, dooming the Kingdom of Vysokiy to collapse, leaving them leaderless because he had left behind no heir, broken because they had forsaken all their international influence, poor due to their terrible financial situation, and ultimately defeated by the Ravenna Revolt.