Euphemia

**Euphemia** is the mother of Daphne Philemon and grandmother of Phaedra Philemon. A resident of the Saberfort, she was a member of the Philemon family through her daughter's marriage to King-Admiral Pharos Philemon. After her granddaughter's murder in 5000 AF, Euphemia became suspicious of High Priestess Halea Haumea of the Plume Church, who, unbeknownst to most, had been possessed by a hostile god. Euphemia owned a pair of red glasses which enabled her to see the truth of Halea's situation, even though her daughter Daphne did not believe her suspicions.

## Biography

**Euphemia** was a female human from the Saberfort. She had a daughter, Daphne, who married King-Admiral Pharos Philemon. Pharos and Daphne had a daughter, Princess Phaedra. In the year 4999 AF, Pharos was killed in battle against the Fata Morgana assassins, leaving Phaedra as the last living blood member of the Philemon family.

In 5000 AF, Phaedra left the Saberfort on a secret vacation with her friends Hinalani Leina — Halea's daughter — and Irving Ellery, the chaperone Sir Caladrius Silenus, and Katja, one of Daphne's Samoyed dogs. The group told only Lani's mother, Plume Church High Priestess Halea Haumea, of their destination, but Halea failed to pass on the information as she had promised. Halea became possessed by a god after a summons to an audience with the goddess Cheline, resulting in an abrupt personality change into a much colder and uncaring woman. Euphemia became suspicious of the priestess, but her concerns were dismissed by her daughter, who was a long-time friend of Halea. However, Euphemia was able to learn the truth of what was wrong with Halea thanks to a pair of glasses which enabled her to see what was wrong.

On their vacation, Phaedra and her friends were murdered by the Fata Morgana. However, the princess was believed to have run away, and the Royal Marine Navy was unable to track her ship, causing months to pass with no knowledge of the truth. Phaedra's body was discovered on Fracture Day, two months after her murder, near the western seawall in the Salabay Archipelago. Halea, who happened to be present in the archipelago, collected the corpse from the shrine island Grand Physalia to personally oversee Phaedra's funeral. The High Priestess' subsequent return voyage to the Saberfort on her small ship, the *Pandion*, took only a week instead of the usual fourteen-day travel time.

Upon Halea's arrival at the Saberfort's capital, Telegonus, thousands of spectators lined the canals to watch the *Pandion* as Euphemia waited with Daphne and her dogs on the docks of the Coral Palace to receive the High Priestess. Prior to Halea's arrival, Daphne asked her mother not to make any comments about her "weird" suspicions in front of Halea. When Halea disembarked, Daphne hugged her, and the High Priestess said that she had sailed back as quickly as the goddess would allow. Euphemia archly commented that the winds must have been truly "divine" for Halea's travel time to have been cut in half, causing the grief-stricken Daphne to scold her about not heeding her request. Daphne added that Halea's own daughter was likely dead as well, and asked her mother to give the High Priestess proper respect.

Halea stated that troubled thoughts would lead to troubled conclusions, but that in such dark times things like that were inevitable, plastering an unsettling smile to her face whenever Daphne could not see it. As Phaedra's casket was carried off of the *Pandion*, Halea described herself, Daphne, and Euphemia as three mothers all in mourning. Daphne asked to see her daughter's remains, but Halea advised her against the sight, taking her arm to lead her inside. Remaining at the end of the dock, with three of Daphne's Samoyeds accompanying her, Euphemia pulled her glasses out of her cloak and polished the lenses. Donning them, she looked at Halea and thought to herself that the entity possessing the High Priestess was a bad actress poorly maintaining her "costume", and wondered what it felt for the entity to pretend to be human. "Halea" heard Euphemia's thoughts and answered with an echo of divinity, "VILE".

## Personality and traits

Euphemia was an elderly woman with pale skin and freckles across the bridge of her nose. She had short, white-blonde hair. Euphemia was more observant than her daughter, which made her suspicious of Halea after the High Priestess' possession. She was unafraid of voicing her suspicions, even if she was not believed.

## Belongings

Euphemia wore a black dress on the night of Phaedra's funeral, with a gold-and-red sleeved cloak overtop and a small red hat with a black-and-gold seashell pin. She carried a heavy black cane, and owned a pair of red-lensed glasses which granted enhanced perception.

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 "Chapter 6: The False Prophetess"
2. ↑ 6.7 The Casket transcript
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Prologue"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Chapter 1: King of the Red Tide"
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Chapter 5: The Manta Princess"
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Chapter 3: The Fata Morgana"
7. ↑ Cast page
8. ↑ "Chapter 2: The Horizon Child"