Cirioma Thystamel

**Cirioma Thystamel**, affectionately called **Ciri**, was a female Praeliorian who previously served as a High Elite for the Praeliorian Empire as a member of Empress Esper Aznaré's inner circle. Once just a standard elite officer, Cirioma made her way up the imperial hierarchy to become a High Elite, sharing her position with fellow High Elites Pyrana Nirrót and Kyalonis Amillís.

She was the sister of Uma Thystamel, who fled the empire with her husband Auranti after being sentenced to execution for treason. She was also the aunt of Lemon Thystamel, who defected from the empire to join the Dawns, a group of privateers and freedom fighters that fought against tyranny and corruption within the Cassiopeia Galaxy. Her parents were Citrus and Metrina Thystamel, both of whom were elite officers.

She was the romantic partner of a Dremirian named Petrolos, who by imperial legality was her servant. Along with the young former Elite Jazzula Bornitas, the three of them eventually defected from the Praeliorian Empire to escape the only lives they ever truly knew.

## Biography

### Early Life

In 5920 ASA, Cirioma Thystamel was born on the planet Praelior, a glittering world ruled over by an empire that had since fallen from grace. She was younger than her only sister Uma Thystamel by just a few years. As both of their parents were Elite officers, they were rarely home to see Cirioma and her sister, which created a rather distant relationship between them.

When Cirioma was very young, her father Citrus died during a Dremirian hunt. While she considered this her "first loss", she wasn't sure if it counted as such, since she was so young when the incident occurred. Eventually her mother passed away as well, not too long after her father passed. Considering how young Cirioma was when she lost her parents, her feelings regarding their deaths were complicated and not particularly strong; something she would reconcile with later in life.

Like most other children of the Praeliorian Empire, Cirioma was taught at an imperial academy. When she was old enough to work, she started off small as a minor government worker, before eventually becoming an elite. This was the regular cycle for many elites of the Praeliorian Empire.

### Losing Her Sister

At some point in Cirioma's life, Uma and her husband Auranti were accused of treason by the Praeliorian Empire. To escape execution, Uma and Auranti fled imperial territory to parts unknown, leaving their only daughter Lemon orphaned on the Praeliorian moon of Pluvia. Cirioma would never forget how her sister and her husband grew unhappy with the Empire, and would take years to fully understand the reasons why they were accused of treason.

Lemon was placed under Cirioma's official imperial custody, while Cirioma herself had to mentally process the heartbreak that came with essentially losing her sister. Cirioma's duties as an elite officer made her too busy to care for Lemon frequently, which left her niece in the care of other officials of the empire. In her later years, Cirioma considered her biggest regret to have not been there for Lemon nearly enough.

### High Elite Duties

As Cirioma continued to progress as an elite imperial officer, her experiences and successes eventually won her the position of High Elite. Indeed, her prize for slaughtering and crushing so many Dremirians into dust was a promotion among the highest imperial ranks. Such a title was held only by two other imperial officials during her time: Pyrana Nirrót and Kyalonis Amillís.

#### Meeting Petrolos

At some point during Cirioma's High Elite career, a Dremirian man named Petrolos was captured and taken to the imperial capital of Praelior. To save himself, Petrolos began working for the Empire, selling out other Dremirians and marking them as targets with his tattooing prowess.

Petrolos was later placed under Cirioma's legal servitude. Throughout this time, Cirioma and Petrolos developed feelings toward each other, although they were unable to fully communicate their mutual affection for quite some time. Neither of them tried contemplating too deeply on the imbalanced dynamic of their relationship until much later.

Petrolos would remain by Cirioma's side for at least several years.

### Pursuing the Dawns

In 5950 ASA, High Elite Kyalonis Amillís led a hunt on the moon of Joyu in hopes of capturing three Dremirians: Annesidora, Moon, and Sirius, all three of whom were members of a small band of privateer freedom fighters known as the Dawns. Kyalonis' hunt was only partially successfully, as Ann and Moon managed to put up a fight and survive long enough to escape, leaving their teammate Sirius dead and her crystal body in possession of the Empire.

Kyalonis' failure to kill all three Dawns led to a multi-year rivalry between the imperial Praeliorian forces and the illustrious Dawns. Kyalonis' rivalry would later extend to Cirioma herself as well as to Pyrana in the form of a contest of sorts, in order to see who would manage to kill the Dremirian Dawns first.

As Cirioma worked moreso on the administrative side of her duties, it would take years for her to finally confront the Dawns herself, face-to-face. In the meantime, Cirioma would work from Praelior, dispatching imperial troops and organizing Elites and their soldiers to try and hunt down the Dawns, effectively working as a taskmaster.

#### Skirmish on Vlaktes

Late into the year 5956 ASA, the Dawns arrived on the planet Vlaktes for a delivery job. These three Dawns—Annesidora, Moon, and a Makhaian man named Jet Lignite—had to travel on foot to the Grand City for their delivery. High Elite Cirioma used this as the perfect opportunity to strike.

Cirioma led an imperial hunting party to ambush the Dawns on their way to the Vlaktesian capital. This made the incident Cirioma's first official encounter with the Dawns. The skirmish ended badly, with Moon's legs having been severed from her body and subsequently taken by the Empire for crystal dust production. While the Dawns managed to escape, Moon had to have her legs replaced with a sturdy diamond material called bort. The Praeliorian Empire had partial success as they managed to obtain the chunks of Dremirian crystal that they so desired, and so Cirioma herself considered the mission somewhat of a success.

In spite of this, Kyalonis and Pyrana mocked her for not having been able to completely catch and kill Moon.

## Personality and Traits

### Appearance

Cirioma was a Praeliorian woman and, as such, had white skin, white hair, and white eyes completely devoid of pupils and irises. As a High Elite, Cirioma was allowed to dye parts of her hair black to differentiate herself from other Praeliorians. She wore yellow pentagon-patterned face paint to the match the color of her blood, like all Elites did.

By the time Cirioma defected from the Praeliorian Empire, she would later go on to dye the white parts of her hair yellow, signifying her complete breakaway from the imperial polity she used to serve with unyielding loyalty.

### Personality

For most of her life, Cirioma was fueled by the desire to climb the ladders of the imperial hierarchy. Her parents were Elites, and so it was only natural for her to become an Elite herself. This desire was only furthered when her parents died, leaving the path to joining the upper imperial echelons as the only possible track in life. Like most Praeliorians native to Praelior and its moons, Cirioma was conditioned and raised to hate the Dremirians and to believe that they were the only thing stopping the Empire from achieving absolute greatness. She used to take great pleasure in the Dremirian hunts that she led. Many recognized Cirioma as an observant and clever individual, albeit rather sour in terms of attitude towards incompetence.

All of these hardened traits gradually changed and shifted after the death of Gris Véridémi, which left his two adoptive twin nieces in immense grief. Cirioma was reminded of her own grief from when her parents died and when her sister disappeared after fleeing execution for treason. Seeing the twins Jazzilia and Jazzula manipulated into using their grief to empower their hatred towards the Dremirians and effectiveness for the Empire made Cirioma begin to question why they had to use such painful emotions to accomplish their jobs.

When removed from her position of power after fleeing from the very empire she worked to be a leading part of, Cirioma grew to be a softer and more compassionate person. Slowly but surely, a natural part of herself began to resonate more with others as she felt more comfortable to show her feelings rather than compartmentalizing them and fueling her negative emotions for her imperial duty. But even so, Cirioma naturally wondered whether or not she deserved the chance to live a different life. Early on, she even wondered if she deserved retribution for betraying the Praeliorian Empire, as the ties that bound her to her former allegiance were still deeply ingrained into her spirit.

## Skills and Abilities

As a skilled, high-ranking official of the Praeliorian Empire, Cirioma was highly skilled in battle, having known how to conjure up clever tactics for hunting, although some considered her two High Elite colleagues to be more skilled in this manner. Personally, Cirioma saw herself best when performing administrative work, although she was still confident in her combative capabilities.

## Trivia

* Cirioma was originally named Citrine as a former *Steven Universe* fan character.
	+ Her surname Thystamel is an anagram of amethyst, a purple mineral that when heated can result in the creation of ametrine, a mixture of both amethyst and citrine.
* The *Steven Universe* character of Cirioma was created when Esper Aznaré's *Steven Universe* counterpart, Esperanza Diamond, was made into the Diamond ruler of Praelior. Cirioma was made to complete the trinity of high-ranking officials (the other two being Kyalonis and Pyrana) who were second only to Esper herself.