Galeria Claudia

**Galeria Claudia** was the last Galerii of the Claudii branch, and the fourth life of Eden's soul.

## Galeria Claudia

### Relatives

Claudius (father)
 Adonis (brother)
 Herminia (mother)
 Unnamed Sister (half-sister)

### Affiliation

Rome (to an extent)
 Egypt (to an extent)
 gens Galeria (to an extent)

## History

### Early Life

Galeria was born to **Gaius Galerius Claudius Magnus** and **Herminia Galeria** as their second child. Unfortunately, she had been born out of a request—Claudius had asked the gods for the greatest commander the world had ever seen, and the gods had delivered. However, Claudius hated Galeria as soon as he saw her, for women didn't get military leadership positions during the Roman Republic Era and he thought the gods had cursed him, triggering the infamous Galerii madness.

### Claudius' Experiments

Not much is known about Claudius' experiments other than he took advantage of her enhanced healing to discover how much trauma the human body could endure and survive. Although Galeria was not the best subject to test his theories on, as she could heal from anything in just hours provided she didn't die from it first, Claudius furthered more of his sadistic and gruesome research on her—including **morscula**, the infamous poison carefully bred by the members of the Galerii since they took power in the 700s B.C.E. It was mentioned Galeria hated this form of torture so much she burned all the morscula plants the family owned when she became the head of her house.

Besides using her to test different ways of extracting information, Claudius had also taken a special interest in her blood—it is later revealed that he look large quanitites of it throughout her childhood, though Galeria had never understood what it was for until Eden discovered two-thousand years later that he intended to use her blood to bread a whole army.

### Family's Death

As Claudius spiraled deeper into his madness, he began to hate Galeria even more, though he found usefulness in the abilities the gods had blessed her with—it is mentioned that Claudius used her for his experiments as Galeria had had perfect healing; any of the scars he inflicted on her would vanish like it had never been there. One day, Claudius had returned home and, upon seeing Galeria and Herminia, flew into an uncontrollable rage—he attempted to kill Galeria but her mother intervened, sacrificing her life instead. Galeria was forced to watch her father murder her mother in cold blood, and it is mentioned he didn't hold a funeral for her, leaving Galeria, at eight years old, to dig her own mother's grave in their garden.

A few days after her mother's death, Galeria found an infant in the family cellars, and learned from her servants that it was her mother's child—the year before, Herminia had been tricked by a god who had been masquerading as Claudius, and, as a result, had a half-blood child. Eager to save her half-sister as she hadn't been able to save her mother, Galeria promised the servants she would take care of her. However, the next day, she found her sister's body in the cellars, pale and still, having been strangled by Claudius.

## Rise to Power

### Claudius' Execution

When Galeria was sixteen, she had begun her descent into the infamous Galerii madness. Not much is known about what ultimately triggered it, but what is known is that she had executed Claudius in public as a show, to demonstrate her power over whom the Romans had once thought the most powerful man in the world.

### Rise Through the Military

Not much is known about Galeria's struggle, but from what is known about her family name and prestige, it can be deduced she did not have much trouble. At just sixteen, she took control of what Eden recalls her favorite legion: the Thirteeth. She decided to conquer Gaul, either to win back the love of the people who had become terrified of her, or because she had simply wanted to lapse back into familiar territory. It was here where she met Caesar, her future friend and lover.

## Personality

Galeria is stated to have a strange, unpredictable personality.

Her peculiar sense of morals is often confusing; for example, though she would gladly indulge in blackmail and slaughter to get what she wants, she despises slavery, as evidenced by her freeing the slaves of her household when she became the head of the house. However, it is mentioned that Galeria hates morals, as she hates feeling regret, and often distracts herself with the next war or conquest to avoid feeling any guilt.

She began her descent into the Galerii madness at either ten or sixteen years old, when her brother died and she executed her father, respectively. She portayed herself as free from the restraints of emotions, though it is stated that she still feels them—she simply just buries them as soon as she does. This contributes well to her cold nature, as she attempts to free herself from feeling anything and therefore become a ruthless and successful commander.

Galeria is extremely calculating, always weighing her best options. She is not above having a friend suffer for what she wants, as shown when she allowed the senators of Rome to kill Caesar, though it is revealed that she did regret his death and did not want him to die. However, she knew that the Roman public was still wary of her after the execution of her father, and the patrician families were beginning to rebel, and she also knew that she could not stop the senators unless she decided to kill them all, and so she stayed her hand. It would be later said by **Eden**, her later reincarnation, that her decision to simply watch would haunt her forever.

However, Galeria is shown to have a caring side—before her family was killed, she seemed to have loved her mother and her brother greatly. When she meets Cleopatra, she does not understand or feel love anymore, though Galeria still seemed to care about her in her own, twisted way, even going as far to kill the Pharaoh because she believed that killing Cleopatra was the best course of action.

## Appearance

Galeria is stated to be the most beautiful person to have existed, with green eyes and dark brown hair.

Having been created with the idea of perfection in mind, Aphrodite (or Venus) had blessed her with unparalleled beauty. Though the Galerii were known to be unusually beautiful due to their enhanced healing that unconsciously healed every imperfection, Galeria was beautiful even compared to them. It is said that despite everybody's different tastes, Galeria could to captivate anyone's attention.

However, it is also mentioned that there was something wrong with her appearence; Eden Hills described her as thus: "Her eyes were so bright they almost glowed, her skin so smooth it almost looked like wax, and she looked like she had been saturated to the max. Alluring, fascinating, looking almost human but not quite, inviting you to try and take a closer look before all of the beauty disappeared behind a cruel smirk and she pounced before you could even realize what was happening. The exact kind of face a killer often hid behind."

It is said she wears a proud and haughty expression, holding herself like royalty, always looking at everybody like they were beneath them.

It is revealed in *The City of Atlantis* that her power was so great she couldn't contain it, and that there were always traces of magic in the air in her presence, such as her chaos magic showing and the faint smell of ozone.

## Relationships

### Love Interests

* Gaius Julius Caesar
* Cleopatra VII Philopator

Galeria and Caesar presumably met when the two first set off for their conquest of Gaul. It is unknown when they began pursuing a romantic relationship, or whether Caesar ever had feelings for the young commander or if their relationship was purely physical, as Caesar was a quarter century her elder. The two were said to be allies, friends, lovers, and then enemies.

When Galeria turned on Caesar is unknown, but it is known it was after their journey to Egypt. It is stated that she became wary of his ambition, and that she chose to sacrifice him instead of the sixty senators who had decided to betray him, whether to win Rome's love and trust or for an ulterior motive is unknown. Though she did not personally assist in his assassination, she did nothing and simply watched, though it was revealed that she felt guilt at his death and had secretly wanted him to live.

It is stated that allowing Caesar to die was one of Galeria's biggest regrets.

Galeria and Cleopatra presumably met when the former had landed in Egypt chasing Pompey. It is unknown why Galeria had decided to pursue a romantic relationship with the Egyptian Pharaoh or whether she was still in a relationship with Caesar at the time.

It is implied that if Galeria had ever loved anyone romantically, it would've been Cleopatra, though it is stated that she had long forgotten what the word "love" meant. When Galeria discovered that Caesar Octavian (also known as Augustus in later times) defeated Egypt in battle and planned to parade Cleopatra around Rome like a trophy, she, in a twist of misguided pity, killed the Pharaoh.

It is stated that killing Cleopatra was one of Galeria's biggest regrets.

### Family

* Gaius Galerius Claudius Magnus
* Adonis Galerius Claudius

Galerius Claudius, known to Galeria as simply Claudius, was her father.

Before Galeria was born, her father asked the gods for the greatest commander who ever lived, one who could continue the Galerii tradition of military leadership. The gods, believing that Galeria's soul was most suited, delivered, but when she was born, her father hated her the moment he laid eyes on her.

At some point as a child, Galeria began calling him Claudius, despite Claudius being the name of another Roman family. It is revealed that this was because by calling him Claudius, Galeria could pretend he wasn't really her father. He often used her for his morbid experiments, many of which are unknown. He also collected her blood, which was later revealed to have been used to create an army.

Claudius killed Herminia, his wife, after she intervened when he tried to kill Galeria, as well as Galeria's half-sister from where Herminia was tricked by a god into thinking he was Claudius, when she was eight years old. He also killed Adonis, Galeria's brother, when she was ten.

When Galeria was sixteen, she publically executed her own father.

It is revealed that though Galeria pretended to be fearless in the face of fear itself, Claudius had been the only one who actually truly terrified her because he was the only one who could actually hurt her.

Galeria's brother, Adonis was three years older than her and said to be the last thing keeping her from turning into the monster she became.

It is unknown what Adonis' and Galeria's relationship was like, but it is implied to be extremely good, as Adonis later sacrified his life for his sister at just thirteen years old when Claudius attempted to murder her. Adonis, being only half-Galerii due to his mother's blood, was considerably weaker than both Claudius and Galeria in terms of choas magic—it can be inferred that Claudius had seen this, which is why he asked the gods for a better child.

## Abilities

* General Abilities
* Galerii Abilities
* Blessed Abilities

* **Combat:** Galeria is extremely skilled at hand-to-hand combat even without any of her magical abilities. Having remembered three reincarnations, Galeria had four lifetimes to perfect her skill. When wielding her *pilum* Vastator, she is said to be unstoppable on the battlefield, even without using her magical abilities.
* **Language Fluency:** Galeria is said to be fluent in every language known to the Romans at time, though her native language would still be Latin. However, due to her reincarnations, her mother tongue could also be Mycenaean Greek or Attic Greek. It is unknown whether she continued learning languages as she traveled in her conquests.
* **Master Tactician:** Having been born three times previously and retained all those memories, Galeria is a master at battle strategies, having never lost a battle or war she had personally commanded, save for the Battle of Cannae where she had been only a soldier. It has been mentioned that, with her intelligence and observation skills, she could deduce the opposing commander's entire battle plan from a single message or glance. However, it has been shown that her plans only work when she is there to have complete control over her units; Caesar's campaign in Albion ultimately failed because he could not successfully complete her instructions.

* **Chaos Magic:** As a direct descendant of the original Galerii, Galeria was born with the natural ability to manipulate chaos, or another form of reality, the opposite of divine magic. However, due to Galeria's half-Galerii bloodline, her chaos magic would've been considerably weaker compared to her ancestors had it not been for Hera's blessing to enhanced these powers, making her the most powerful of the Galerii when it comes to raw power alone, but because she had never been trained, her skill is considerably inferior to that of her ancestors and Claudius. Galeria can combine her chaos magic along with the other gifts the gods had given her to enhance her own powers, amplifying her ability and far surpassing in power what any of the gods had intended. As a being of chaos and not divine magic, Galeria is far stronger in realms such as Nyx's or Tartarus as compared to Olympus or Gaia's.
* **Superhuman Durability:** As a direct descendant of the original Galerii, Galeria was born with natural superhuman durability, far beyond regular mortals. However, due to her half-Galerii bloodline, her durability is considerably weaker compared to that of her ancestors and Claudius. It is mentioned that this is extremely dangerous, as Galeria's physical body couldn't contain the magic she was gifted with.
* **Superhuman Healing:** As a direct descendant of the original Galerii, Galeria was born with natural superhuman healing, far beyond regular mortals. However, due to her half-Galerii bloodline, her healing factor would've been considerably slower compared to that of her ancestors and Claudius had it not been for Apollo's blessing. It is mentioned that Claudius used this power for his own gain when furthering his experiments.

* **Enhanced Abilities:** Galeria has enhanced speed, strength, cleverness, senses, creativity, and healing (from Hermes, Ares, Athena, Artemis, Dionysus, and Apollo, respectively) that amplified her Galerii-abilities.
* **Emotion Manipulation:** Aphrodite's gift to Galeria, she has some control over the emotions; however, when utilized with her chaos magic, she can enhanced this power.
	+ Apollo states that this is one of the most difficult skills to learn, and that even Aphrodite has trouble using it sometimes.
	+ It is mentioned that while Galeria is extremely good at utilizing this power, she doesn't understand the logic of emotions.
* **Lighting and Wind Manipulation:** Zeus' gift to Galeria, she has some control over the weather; however, when utilized with her chaos magic, she can enhanced this power.
* **Earth and Water Manipulation:** Poseidon's gift to Galeria, she has some control over the physical world; however, when utilized with her chaos magic, she can enhanced this power.
* **Plant Manipulation:** Demeter's gift to Galeria, she has some control over living plants; however, when utilized with her chaos magic, she can enhanced this power.

## Trivia

(Note: Unless specifically stated, all of these are within the series' universe, not from real history.)

* The Galerii, in real life, were a patrician family that only rose to prominence during the Roman Empire, not Republic; the most famous being Emperor Galerius, one of the heirs of Diocletian.
* Galeria's cognomen, Claudia, is the name of another major patrician family in Ancient Rome. In reality, nobody would've had another family's name as their cognomen. However, it was mentioned that the Claudii had married into the Galerii family a few generations back and, because the Claudii were another *gentes maiores* family, they adopted the cognomen Claudii to make their own name more powerful.
* The Galerii were the leader of the *gentes maiores*, the greatest and most noble houses in the Roman Republic.
	+ The other six familes were the Claudii, the Fabii, the Cornelii, the Ameilli, the Valerii, and the Manlii.
* The Galerii were known for their wealth and power, both magically and politically.
	+ It was said calling them wealthy was like calling the Roman treasury a child's piggybank.
	+ Almost all of their wealth comes from conquests, though some of the later generations began dabbling in businesses, which exponentially increased their wealth.
		- Claudius began a real estate business in Rome that almost doubled their wealth.
	+ Although some Galerii members went into politics, most preferred to stay away from it. However, their prestiege and reputation was dark enough that politicians listened to what they wanted, so they controlled Rome's politics anyway.
* It is known that, when Galeria was a child, the Galerii kept slaves, as was common; however, when Galeria killed her father and took over as the head of the house, she freed all the slaves and invited them back on an enormous salary, most of whom accepted the work.
	+ This was highly uncommon, for Romans didn't have a wage like most expect today—most plebeians were paid a coin for a day's of work by patricians.