Astra Stardust

Astra Stardust was the fourteen year old (really over 2000) daughter of Atlas and Pleione, and former lieutenant of the hunters of Artemis

## Basic Stuff

### Age

About 2,000 (chronologically) 14 (biologically)

### Alias

Daughter of Atlas, Daughter of Pleione, Lieutenant of Artemis (formerly), The Huntress Constellation

### Residence

* Garden of the Hesperides (formerly)
* Constellation (current)
* Elysium (possibly)

### Species

* Hesperid (formerly)
* Nymph
* Titaness

## Family

### Biological Family

* Atlas (father)
* Pleione (mother)
* Hesperides (sisters)
* Hyas (paternal half-brother)
* Pleiades, Calypso, Hyades, Maera (paternal half-sisters)
* Oceanids (maternal aunts)
* Prometheus, Epimetheus, Menoetius, Ankhiale (paternal uncles)

## Appearance

### Outfit

* White shirt
* Silver jacket
* Silvery camo pants
* Black combat boots
* A silver circlet

**(Her story is based on Zoë Nightshade's story)**

## History

### Early Life

Astra Stardust and her sisters were born to the Titan Atlas and the water goddess Pleione; they then became the nymphs of the sunset. In ancient times, Astra tended to the Garden of the Hesperides with her sisters, caring especially for Hera's tree of golden apples and the 100 headed monstrous, dragon like serpent who guarded it; Ladon. Unlike her sisters, Astra had a strong emotional bond with Ladon. Ladon trusted Astra and allowed her to feed him by hand. This is not a relationship that is seen with the other Hesperides.

### Helping Heracles

Later on, Astra helped Heracles complete his quest for the golden apples - giving him tips on how to trick her father Atlas. She then gifted him her hairpin, which turns into the sword ρεύμα σχισμής, which is currently in the possession of Caspian Portal, and offered to watch his son Amilios while he did his task. When her sisters discovered this, they exiled her, and blotted her out as if she never existed. This likely caused a lot of pain for Astra as the Hesperides were her family, and they now hated her. Heracles ultimately gave Astra no credit for her help and abandoned her to her painful fate. As a result, she came to hold a grudge against male heroes, especially ones that reminded her of Heracles. She then joined the Hunters of Artemis, a group of eternal maidens who swear off men for semi-immortality and hunting with Artemis until they fall in battle. Eventually, Astra rose to become the loyal lieutenant of Artemis for over 2000 years. She would also meet hunters such as Holly, Andromeda, and Cressida, but did not like Elias and Theodosius

### Hunting Orion

Astra would spend centuries trying unsuccessfully to track down and kill the giant Orion, who harbored a strong hatred for both the Hunters and the Amazons, due to his tragic past with Artemis. However, she never succeeded in catching the Gigantes who always made sure to avoid the Hunters whenever Artemis herself was present.

### Quarrel with Zamaya

Astra and the Hunters once ran into Zamaya Reynoso, Andrew James, and Melody Potvin when the three were running around the country. Astra almost managed to convince Zamaya to join the Hunters. However, Zamaya did not want to leave Andrew. Astra felt offended, and got into a heated argument with Zamaya. Astra told Zaya she was being "stupid," and that "she would regret it", stating Andrew would let her down in some way just like Heracles had once let her down. This gave Zamaya a deep sense of hatred to the Hunters, especially Astra herself

### Later in Life

Soon, in the third story, Astra would go on a quest with Zamaya, Helen, and Clover to rescue Artemis, but Caspian followed them secretly on Blackjack, wanting to make sure that Melody was found safe and sound, while having also half-promised Evan to try and keep Helen safe. During the quest, they lost Helen who was killed by Talos. The other quest members soon find Artemis and Melody being forced to hold up the sky and Astra soon begins to battle her father, however, she received a devastating blow and ended up dying, being made in to a constellation by Artemis after she died.

## Personality

Astra was a loyal lieutenant to Artemis, never wavering in over 2000 years. In The Third Story, Astra fought with Zamaya quite often. This was because Zamaya had refused to join the Hunters when Astra offered her the chance. However, she eventually changes her mind, influenced no doubt by Astra and Helen's bravery. Privately, Astra admitted to Caspian that she knew that she could not be Artemis' lieutenant forever and implied that she wanted Zamaya to be her replacement. Astra expressed regret at the end of her life for her fights with Zamaya, wishing that they could've been sisters. Astra had an extreme distrust of male heroes, because of her history with Heracles, but eventually warmed up to Caspian during their quest to save Artemis. It was particularly hard for her as Caspian owned and wielded Rip curent, the sword that Astra had given to Heracles. As a result of her hatred of men, Astra was at first somewhat irrational in her dealings with Caspian, refusing to let him join her quest or even to help against the Nemean Lion at first. After Caspian's strategy allowed them to defeat the Lion, he earned some of Astra's respect with Astra even bantering with Caspian a little bit before accepting him into the quest. As time went on, Astra saw for herself that Caspian was nothing like Heracles and was a good person, even opening up to him a little bit as he began to understand Astra's past and what was driving her hatred of men. With her dying breaths she told Caspian, "you spoke the truth. You are nothing like... like Heracles. I am honored that you carry this sword," referring to the fact that she was the original owner and creator of Rip current. Throughout the book, Astra was shown to speak Early Modern, or Shakespearean English. She was also said to speak in a strange accent, more heavily when she is upset. She also showed a particular interest and love for the stars, she was also offended when Caspian referred to Ursa Major constellation as "the bear thing", and when Caspian talks about the bear simply being a constellation, Astra claimed that "It was a worthy opponent!" She gets especially irritated whenever Zamaya corrected her speech, exclaiming "I hate this language! It changes too often!" referring to the way the English language has changed over the centuries. She herself spoke using "thou, thee, and thy." Astra also had some of her father's traits, but was overall a much kinder person that Caspian had come to respect. In the beginning, Astra seemed aloof and unfriendly, but turned out to have a big heart and endless loyalty to Artemis. When Atlas was about to kill Caspian, she screamed, "NO!" and fired a handful of arrows into his armpit so he would turn on her and give Caspian a chance to recover, Caspian would've died at that moment if it wasn't for Astra. She also gave her life to save Artemis despite knowing that the line in the prophecy saying "One shall perish by a parent's hand" was referring to her. She knew she was going to die, but went on the quest anyways. She has the quality of a true hero, which is why Artemis homered her by putting her up into the stars. Finally, in the end, Astra's legacy remains as her persuasion seemed to come through and Zamaya declares that she will join the Hunt, to forsake men like Andrew and not be the demigod in the Great Prophecy.

### Fatal flaw

Astra's fatal flaw was her ambition. She wanted to be the best hunter and prove herself to be a great hero, and wanted to be nothing like the heroes from her time.

## Appearance

Astra was described by Caspian to be tall, graceful, and gorgeously beautiful: she had brown eyes, a slightly upturned nose, copper-colored skin, and the silver circlet braided into the top of her long, dark hair gave her the impression of a Persian princess. Caspian also stated that he could see the family resemblance between Astra and her father Atlas, with them sharing the same regal expression, the same cold, proud look in their eyes (which Astra got when she was angry), though on him it looked "a thousand times more evil." When with the hunters, she wore a white shirt, a silver jacket, silvery camo pants, and black combat boots.

## Powers and Abilities

### Hunter of Artemis Powers

* She was extremely proficient at archery, even more so than the Apollo kids.
* She was semi-immortal, which means that she did not age or get sick, but she could die in battle, or if she breaks her vow.
* She had a telepathic connection with wolves and falcons.
* She could summon her bows and arrows, and her hunting knives, whenever she needed them, but it was tiresome.
* She had excellent night vision, so much so, that she could see as well at nighttime as she could in the daytime.
* She had enhanced strength, agility, and dexterity.

### General Abilities

* Leadership: Astra has great leadership skills.
* Tracking: Astra has great tracking skills.
* Battle Prowess: She usually has the upper hand in battle because of her fighting powers.
* Due to her being the daughter of Atlas, it is possible that she had stronger, unseen powers compared to the other Hunters, but she did not demonstrate them.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

#### Artemis (Adopted mother)

Astra was an extremely loyal and devoted lieutenant to Artemis. She loved Artemis over anyone, a love that her mistress reciprocated. When she saw Artemis being forced to hold up the sky, she was in tears and begging Atlas to free her. Atlas challenged her to take it for Artemis, and she would have, if Artemis had not forbidden her to do so. Before Astra died, Artemis assured her that she had served her with great honor, and was the finest of her attendants. She even transformed Astra into a constellation as a way of ensuring that she would be honored by the world. Astra's death was probably one of the hardest deaths for Artemis

#### Zamaya Reynoso

Even before the events of the series, Astra and Zamaya had been at odds. Their feud originated when Zamaya refused Astra's invitation to join the Hunters and her advice that all men would let her down. The two fought over the smallest things, including the proper way to speak current English. However, the two reconciled after the fight with Atlas, with Zamaya admitting that Astra may have been right about men, and the dying Astra admitting that she may have been wrong. Astra even apologized for their arguments and admitted that she would have been happy to have Zamaya as her sister. Following her death, Zamaya succeeded her as the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis (Although Zamaya later dies herself, and is replaced by Astra). During an earlier conversation with Caspian, Astra admitted that she knew that she couldn't be Artemis' lieutenant forever and Astra implied that she wished for Zamaya to be her successor.

#### Heracles (Formerly)

Heracles was given Rip current by Astra. Back then, the sword was a hair clip she owned, but she gave it to Heracles as a gift in order to aid him in his labor, and betrayed her family in order to make sure Heracles succeeded. Heracles eventually betrayed Astra, resulting in her extreme dislike of men, heroes especially, comparing them all to Heracles. Just seeing Caspian with the sword was enough to upset her.

#### Caspian Portal

When Astra and Caspian first met, she disliked him because he was a male and reminded her of Heracles, the hero who betrayed her. This is compounded by Caspian's ownership and use of Rip current, the sword that Astra had given to Heracles before his betrayal of her. At first, her behavior towards Caspian is somewhat irrational, refusing his help on the quest simply because he is a man and becoming annoyed when she finds that he had been following their group the entire time. However, during the fight with the Nemean Lion, Caspian earned some of her respect by coming up with the plan that allowed the Hunters of Artemis to slay the monster. To Caspian's surprise, Astra insisted that Caspian be the one to claim the lion's pelt as a spoil of war and she even joked with him about his strategy. Astra then accepted Caspian as the fifth member of her quest rather than letting him leave with monsters approaching. Although still wary of Caspian, Astra becomes more trusting and friendly towards him, particularly after Caspian begins to understand the source of her hatred of men and to demonstrate that he is not like Heracles. Before she dies, Astra says that Caspian is nothing like Heracles and that she is honored hat he carries t she made. She also says that not all men are bad, and looks at Caspian after saying this to Zamaya, having accepted Caspian as a true friend. In turn, Caspian is shown to be devastated by Astra's death.

## Etymology

The name Astra is girl's name of Latin origin meaning **"stars"**.

The first records of the term stardust come from around the 1830s. It combines the terms star and dust to literally and figuratively mean **“dust made of stars.”**

## Trivia

1. Interestingly, Astra says that her last name is Stardust, although back in Ancient Greece, no one had a last name. Hence, it was possible this is a title of sorts that she had picked up over the years.
	1. This is very similar to characters like Athanasia chose their last names and middle names as well. Many chose their last names to honor their parent's kingdom (ie Ithaca, Argos), others chose the name of their grandparent to honor their family (Peleus, Priam), while others chose words as their last names (Pax (meaning peace), Priestess)
2. Water nymphs tend to be mean to Zoë, as she claimed that they have never forgiven her for betraying her stepmother, Pleione, a water nymph.
3. Astra shares similarities with her half-sister Merope, another mythological daughter of Atlas. Both girls betrayed their sisters - the Hesperides and the Pleiades respectively - for a mortal man; Astra by helping Heracles on his quest and Merope by marrying the mortal king Sisyphus.
4. According to Amilios, he has some vague memories of Astra watching over him while his father got the apple of Ladon
5. She is based on Zoë Nightshade from Percy Jackson
6. Her chosen middle name is Estelle
7. Despite almost always speaking Shakespearean English,  Astra does say 'you' and not 'thee' a few times
8. She is older than many members of the Hero Club, who many are only *one* thousand years old, while Astra herself was *two* thousand