Circe

### Realationships

Daughter of Helios and Perse, Aunt of Medea and the Minotaur, Mother of Phaunus, Agrius, Latinus, and Telegonus, Consort of Poseidon and Odysseus, Wife of Telemachus

**Circe** (*Κίρκη*) is the goddess-witch of Aeaea, daughter of Helios. Sources call her either a goddess of not a lot in particular or a nymph. In spite of not having any divine purviews, she is an accomplished magician, particularly when it comes to transfigurations. Much of her work is done through potions. By the time she appears in documented myths, she has already been exiled to Aeaea, a mythical island in the Mediterranean. Her epithets in the *Odyssey* paint her as a beautiful woman well-versed in sorcery and drugs.

## Titanomachy

**Circe** is not yet sent away from the mountain. The daughter of the Titan Helios and the Oceanid Perse, she is a precocious young woman with an aptitude for herb magic and potion-making, though she has a habit of using those skills for mischief. She is easily smitten and not good with rejection.

## Enara Iturburua

### Description

Enara Iturburua is a Basque gardener and herbalist.

**Enara Iturburua** is a Basque gardener and herbalist. She is a Basque gardener somewhat notorious among the ladies of the court for producing a variety of desirable concoctions if suitably petitioned. Aphrodisiac perfumes and abortifacient tisanes make up most of her requests but she's been known to stretch for the right petitioner. There are whispers that she could produce poison but few have been so bold to ask her for such a thing.

## Celandine Atwater

### Description

Celandine Atwater is a wealthy-ish widow and artisanal spirit producer with a delightful mastiff.

**Celandine Atwater** is a wealthy-ish widow and artisanal spirit producer with a delightful mastiff. Comfortably wealthy, she has a specific niche in the City's bootlegging underworld. She produces distinctive infused spirits in very small batches reputed to have supernatural properties. Her chamomile and mint whiskies in particular are hot commodities among the city's occult-inclined as a sleep aid and a hallucinogen, respectively.

## Notable Myths

### Jealous Streak

There are two stories of Circe using her magic to transform others in fits of jealousy. The more notable of the two is Scylla; in typical soap opera fashion, Circe liked Glaucus, and Glaucus liked Scylla. When Glaucus not only rebuffed Circe's advances but then asked her how he should approach Scylla, Circe offered to help.

She helped by poisoning Scylla's usual bathing spot and turning her into a monster.

### *The Odyssey* and Odysseus

Odysseus and his crew landed on Aeaea during their long journey back from the Trojan War and there met Circe. Apparently not distressed by the presence of docile predators prowling around the Aeaean woods where she had her palace, almost to a man the crew feasted with her that night and were promptly transfigured into pigs. With a warning from the only crewman to escape being transformed and advice from Hermes, Odysseus persuaded Circe to return his men to their native shapes. The crew remained on the island for a year, during which time Circe and Odysseus evidently became quite close.

Circe bore three sons with Odysseus: Agrius, Latinus, and Telegonus. Telegonus is the most important one here. When Telegonus grew old enough to travel safely on his own, he went to search for his father with Circe's advice and also a poisoned spear. After a misunderstanding about where he had landed, Telegonus killed his father with the poisoned spear. Following a return voyage to Aeaea with Penelope and Telemachus in tow, Circe married Telemachus and Penelope married Telegonus on the advice of Athena.

### Medea

Circe is an ardent supporter of her niece, Medea, no matter what that niece might do. When the *Argo* landed on Aeaea during its own complicated journey home, Circe absolved Medea, Jason, and the Argonauts of the crime of murdering and dismembering her nephew Absyrtus to slow their pursuers. Once the deed was done, she told them to set sail immediately.

It's not stated outright in the Euripidean tragedy but it's a fairly simple leap to make that Medea plans to go to Circe in order to be absolved of murdering her children in the same way that she was absolved of murdering her brother.

## Non-Player Characters

### Roaring 20s NPCs

#### Theodore Atwater

   **Theodore Atwater** was born in Edmonton, London to an industrialist family, their second son. He attended RMC Sandhurst after which he was commissioned as an infantry officer, where he saw battle at Mons, Marne, Aisne, Ypres before being heavily wounded at Passchendaele in an artillery strike. Afterwards, he was discharged and sent home for surgical care. He traveled to the United States as part of family business in 1916 and met his widow at this time. He moved to States postwar to oversee family business interests expanding and married Celandine Atwater in 1918. He "died" in 192-; his cause of death listed as cardiac arrest.

His family hired a detective agency to look into Celandine Atwater née Everett. All they've found:

* Earliest record found as professor of botany at girls' boarding school, Connecticut, 1912; unable to trace connections backward from Miss Porter's School
* Everett surname may be an affectation for social capital; New York office unable to corroborate membership in Boston Everett family
* Began moving into occultist circles following subject's death
* Surveillance indicates that she may be engaged in illicit production and sale of alcohol

The case remains open; the detectives merely awaiting confirmation from client to investigate potential foul play from the widow.

## References

1. ↑ Homer. *The Odyssey* https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1727
2. ↑ Wikipedia - Circe [1]
3. ↑ Theoi - Kirke [2]
4. ↑ Wikipedia - Basques [3]
5. ↑ Discord - Stakeout [4]
6. ↑ Wikipedia - Scylla https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scylla