Phaedra Philemon

**Phaedra Augusta Philemon**, known as the **Manta Princess**, was the heir to the throne of the Candlelight Sea. She was the daughter of King-Admiral Pharos Philemon and Lady Daphne Philemon, a former actress. She also had a dead brother, Philip. After Pharos' death in battle, Phaedra became the last living member of the Philemon family. However, Phaedra was later herself assassinated by the Fata Morgana, the supposed last living servants of Cheth, the death god whom the Philemons opposed.

Phaedra successfully challenged Cheth to return to life. However, he did not hold up his bargain due to the princess' request that her murdered friends be brought back alongside her, stating that the rules he was held to limited him to bringing back only one soul at a time. Instead, he divided the energy of Phaedra's soul amongst her and her four friends, which left them in a state of undeath as self-aware seaghosts. Cheth sent Phaedra on a quest for a sacred relic hidden somewhere on the sea which could restore the entire crew to life, giving her a deadline of New Year's — four months away — and promised to claim their souls if they failed.

In truth, Cheth had ulterior motives for the quest: if the relic was not found and used by the deadline, he claimed the Candlelight Sea would never be healed from its five-thousand year curse, which Cheth was held responsible for causing in a divine conflict with his sister Cheline. Phaedra, however, disliked negotiation and despised the death god due to having been raised as a loyal worshipper of Cheline's Plume Church and its prophetess, Cheline's supposed daughter Shoshana, and thus did not believe Cheth's claims when he told her the truth. Cheth was in turn despondent over having to use a religious zealot as an agent due to a lack of other options.

## Biography

### Early life

Phaedra Augusta Philemon was born in Telegonus, the capital city of the Saberfort, on June 25, 4981 AF. She was the daughter of King-Admiral Pharos Philemon and the former stage actress Lady Daphne Philemon. Phaedra also had a brother, Philip, who was already dead by 5000 AF.

As a child, Phaedra became best friends with Hinalani "Lani" Leina of the Shieldfort, the daughter of Halea Haumea, High Priestess of the Plume Church. Halea was also Phaedra's godmother, and later took the princess as her beloved protegée. Phaedra also befriended Sir Caladrius Silenus, the Coral Palace's groundskeeper and gardener, and his grandson Silas, who was around her age.

Raised to follow the teachings of the Plume Church, the Candlelight Sea's sole extant religious body, Phaedra became devoted to the goddess Cheline and her daughter, the prophetess Shoshana. The princess wore her hair in the same upside-down trident style, and was frequently told of her resemblance to the demi-goddess. At one point during her childhood, Phaedra, Lani and their mothers visited the Graviary of Shoshana, where the prophetess was buried, in the Saberfort palace's tallest tower. While Daphne and Halea were turned away, Lani dared Phaedra to pick up Bonefeather, Shoshana's sacred trident, from where it lay atop her sarcophagus. Daphne and Halea were both horrified when they turned around and saw what the girls were doing. Phaedra was subsequently grounded for a month, but considered that day the best of her life.

Phaedra, Lani, and Silas attended the Royal Marine Naval Academy at the Saberfort together, where they befriended Irving Ellery of the Spirefort. At some point, Phaedra and her other friends had a falling-out with Silas, the events of which were known to Daphne Philemon. Phaedra also ran away from home on at least one occasion, developing a reputation among naval officers for being emotional.

### Last of her name

As Phaedra approached adulthood, her father Pharos hoped to prepare her for her eventual leadership of the Royal Marine Navy and inheritance of the throne. When she was old enough to lead beside him, Pharos planned to take her on a tour of the Candlelight Sea's various ancient battlefields, ruins, and shrines, where sacred history had been made.

In December of 4999 AF, Pharos took his fleet into battle against the Fata Morgana, supernatural assassins who were believed to be the only living servants of Cheth, the Red Tide King, Cheline's twin brother and ancient enemy whom she had defeated in the Fracture which began the calendar. Pharos was killed in the battle, leaving Phaedra as the last living Philemon. Following her father's tradition, Phaedra folded origami manta rays for every child who had lost a parent in the battle, including herself.

That following New Year's, Halea undertook the annual ritual of seeing an omen for the coming year in a dream. Instead of one of Cheline's birds, which had been the omens for many years by that point, Halea saw the bonefish symbol of the banished Cheth, which she took as a bad omen. Halea shared the omen with Phaedra, and the two agreed to keep it secret and stay vigilant for any tricks the death god might play since it would be a lucky year for him. Halea drew the omen on the coral altar at the Crucible Hill monastery, but publicly claimed that the year's omen was the Twin Ravens of healing and hurting, a symbol of Cheline.

### Deadly vacation

That summer, Irving, Lani, and Cal decided to take Phaedra on the vacation trip her late father had planned as a surprise, springing her away from her duties. They decided to take the *Mantaluna*, a "party boat" schooner belonging to Lady Daphne, her favourite. However, as Phaedra considered her mother "panicky" and wanted to keep the trip low-profile, the group chose to depart the Saberfort in secrecy, entrusting only Halea with the details of their journey, including a map. Halea promised to tell Daphne where Phaedra had gone once the *Mantaluna* was far enough away from the Saberfort. Katja, one of Daphne's Samoyed dogs who was close to Phaedra, stowed away on the *Mantaluna* and joined the trip. The *Mantaluna* had its beacon activated so it could be tracked by the navy.

Halea, however, never fulfilled her promise. At some point, the High Priestess was summoned to an audience with Cheline herself, during which the goddess attempted to take over Halea's body. Halea resisted, and was killed by decapitation, which did not stop Cheline from seizing her body. The new inhabitant's drastically colder personality was noted, but only a few co-conspirators — including Silas Silenus and Irving's father Amos Ellery — knew the truth about what had happened to Halea. The public believed that Phaedra had once again run away from home, and the navy found itself unable to locate her ship, mounting a search.

The *Mantaluna* was sailing in the southwestern sea, near the Salabay Archipelago, one late summer's night when the seaghosts became agitated in the early morning hours. With everyone awakened by the noise, Phaedra came out onto the top deck with Katja to join the rest of her crew. Although they could see no signs of Cheth's presence, or that of the Fata Morgana, the group decided to leave the ghostwater and make port at Grand Physalia. Both the death god *and* the assassins were interested in the schooner, however, although the former was surprised by the latter.

A Fata Morgana archer shot Phaedra in the back with one of their signature black-feathered bone arrows as she leaned against the railing, having just been quipping about how her mother would "murder" her for damaging the ship. As the princess' friends stared in shock, more assassins leapt onto the *Mantaluna* and swiftly dispatched everyone else on board. The ship's ghost-warding lights were shot out as Phaedra fell over the railing and towards the water, silently lamenting that she had not been finished serving Cheline and Shoshana. Several seaghosts bit Phaedra in multiple places before she hit the water, but she bled out and died shortly thereafter.

## Personality and traits

Phaedra was exceedingly devoted to the teachings of the Plume Church and Shoshana, to a degree that verged on zealotry. She believed Cheth was completely evil and refused to brook any challenge to her beliefs, even in the face of evidence that things were not as she had been taught.

## Appearances

* "Prologue"
* "Chapter 1: King of the Red Tide"
* "Chapter 2: The Horizon Child" (Mentioned only)
* "Chapter 3: The Fata Morgana" (Mentioned only)
* "Chapter 4: Schooner of the Moon"
* "Chapter 5: The Manta Princess"
* "Chapter 6: The False Prophetess" (Corpse only)

## Sources

* *The Pineapple Notes*
* *Ask Phantomarine*

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "Chapter 1: King of the Red Tide"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Chapter 6: The False Prophetess"
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Chapter 4: Schooner of the Moon"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 Phaedra character sheet
5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 "Prologue"
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Phantomarine* is set in 5000 AF. "Chapter 1: King of the Red Tide" states that **Phaedra Philemon** and her friends were murdered four months before New Year's, which corresponds to approximately the end of August or beginning of September.
7. ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 "Chapter 5: The Manta Princess"
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Cast page
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Ask Phantomarine*: Page 16
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Chapter 2: The Horizon Child"
11. ↑ The comic is set in 5000 AF, as dated by the Prologue. In Chapter 1, Pharos Philemon is said to have died the previous December, dating his death to 4999 AF.
12. ↑ "Notes on the Candlelight Sea: The Fata Morgana"
13. ↑ "Notes on the Candlelight Sea: The Fracture"
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Chapter 3: The Fata Morgana"