Iliana Crete

Iliana Greek is the seventeen year old (really a thousand) Greek Demigod Daughter of Benthesikyme and Idomeneus. She came to camp at seventeen years old

## Basic Stuff

### Age

17 (Biologically) 1,000 (Chronologically)

### Alias

Ily, Liana, Benthesikyme, Daughter of Idomeneus, Princess of Crete

### Residence

Camp Olympia (Currently)The Ocean (Formerly)

## Family

### Biological Family

* Benthesikyme (Mother)
* Idomeneus (Father)
* Orsilochus, Cleisithyra, Iphiclus and Lycus (Paternal half-siblings)
* Theseus, Triton, Polyphemus, Orion, Belus, Bellerophon, Agenor, Neleus, Atlas, Pegasus, Chrysaor, Cymopolea (Maternal uncles and aunts)
* Calix Athenian, Rosabella Lycia, Tristan Quick (Cousins)

## Appearance

### Outfit

WITH BENTHESIKYME* Ancient Greek Dress
* Greek sandals

AT CAMP

* White shirt
* Black shorts
* Jean suspender dress
* Black shoes

## History

### Early Life

Iliana Crete was born to Benthesikyme, The Ethiopian Sea Nymph and minor goddess of the water, and Idomeneus, King of Crete. During the early days of the Trojan war, Benthesikyme noticed some of the other goddesses had taken some of the heroes as favorites and as lovers, and Benthesikyme wanted to do the same thing. Bethesikyme didn't know which hero who would catch her eyes, but one day, Benthesikyme found herself admiring Idomeneus, the King of Crete. The king of Crete was handsome and a berserker when fighting (Actual words from the Idomeneus Wikipedia page). The sea nymph finally found her chance to talk to him while he was walking on the shores of Troy. Benthesikyme struck up a conversation with the king of Crete, making herself very kind and Idomeneus confined her in his stress with the war and his homesickness. Benthesikyme comforted the king and the two ended up falling in love with each other and ended up spending the night with each other. A few days after that night, Benthesikyme realized she was pregnant. Soon, after a few months, their daughter was born. Benthesikyme asked Idomeneus to meet them at the beach where they first met, and when he came to meet her, Benthesikyme presented the King of Crete with their daughter. Idomeneus fell in love with the baby girl in his arms, but Benthesikyme told Idomeneus that she would raise their daughter until the war was other. Before she left with their baby, Idomeneus gave the baby the name Iliana.

### Childhood

Since she was born, Iliana was raised under the ocean, with her mother in Atlantis, well more exactly a mansion under the ocean. Iliana would later realize that this was because her mother felt uncomfortable living in Atlantis, so she asked her father the permission to occupy one of her family's disused mansions. Being a water nymph  had made her prefer soft water to salt water. Poseidon was a protective god, and the palace had been built bright and mighty in the freshwater streams, and Benthesikyme, refusing the guards her father wanted to assign her, had obtained a cohort of Naiads, with whom to talk and pass the time. Benthesikyme taught her daughter all about the ocean and it's life, often taking her for walks (Or swims) around coral reefs. Iliana didn't see many of her uncles and aunts since, no one sought her mother to discuss the affairs of the kingdom, while some in earlier times still sought Rhodes, before Helios married her, and Kymopolea, before their father married her at Briareo causing the rift between them. No one wanted the opinion of a water nymph, albeit a daughter of the rulers of Atlantis, for the simple fact that she spent her time with the Naiads, deemed silly and useless. Iliana's mother rarely told her daughter about Idomeneus (Who would later die in Italy after being exiled from Crete) and Iliana herself rarely asked questions about her father. Benthesikyme was also a bit of a protective goddess, and wanted Iliana to be with her for all of time, so when Iliana was seventeen-

### Life as an Immortal

When Iliana turned seventeen, Benthesikyme made her daughter immortal, wanting Iliana to be with her forever. Since becoming immortal (and even as a child), Iliana was a bookish and introverted child, and she struggled to make friends with the other mer-folk and other nymphs. But she found solace in the books she read, and she spent hours lost in fictional worlds that allowed her to escape from her own reality. Despite her shyness, Iliana had a strong sense of justice and a desire to help those in need. She often accompanied her mother to help the local sea life. Since she was a kid, Iliana had always felt a sense of restlessness, a feeling that she didn't quite belong in the world she lived in. After a few thousand years of living in the ocean, Iliana began longing to live on the surface world and in the early 1800, Benthesikyme agreed and allowed Iliana to go onto the surface world, but the only catch was Iliana had to Iris Message her mother at least once a week and keep her powers hidden. Iliana agreed and began her life on the mortal world

### Getting to camp

During her time on the mortal world, Iliana would spend most of her time killing monsters that would either try to hurt her or any other demigod. Iliana spent her time close to the worlds beaches. One day, during her wanderings, she ended up on The Golden Coast, good o'l California. While wandering it's street, she met a group of immortal demigods like herself who had been traveling the US. Iliana became friends with them. They would eventually find Camp Olympia where she was claimed by Benthesikyme but had to stay in the Hermes Cabin until Cabin Mythology was build

## Personality

You are what people perceive you as, which is bad news for Iliana, because the stories range from two extremes. One one end, Iliana. is said to be relaxed, living in the moment and going with the flow without worrying too much about the future. On another hand, Iliana. is considered to be downright lazy, refusing to do any of the tasks that her teachers set for her and lazily jogging at the back of Gymnastics. No matter where a person falls, apathy is a huge part of her persona. Key word being persona. In reality, Iliana is a lot more intense, a lot more passionate than she lets on. She’s just a lot more subtle about the way she puts things forward. The cherub is perfectly content with sitting on the sides and making things happen from there, as long as the project is going in a way that is suitable for her. Iliana. is a doer rather than a dreamer, and she will do whatever it takes to get her idea rolling, not being opposed to blackmail to get things done. All of this is because Iliana. cares more about her own personal concerns than logical information. She deals with information and experiences based upon how she feels about them. Her judgment is often created through a value system that prioritizes how a concept or a situation fits within her own idea. This might seem selfish at first glance, and it is, but Iliana. has never really stopped to consider that. Iliana. thinks of how to please herself first, specifically when it comes to forgoing rules. She is pretty flighty, which is where the idea of her being lazy even comes from. Her go-to response to deadlines and other tasks is to give it a nod and then do it her way. Iliana. enjoys upsetting traditional expectations with experiments in beauty and behavior, amongst other things, and she’s happy to be her, not “any teacher’s puppet.” While all of these qualities do tend to put people off Iliana, she is popular for a reason. She enjoys adventure, while not actively seeking it out like some others. She has the courage to not only scale a wall to save kids from a burning house, but also to push social boundaries and discover and use new things and ideas. Iliana holds strong values that she prefers to uphold whenever she can. Brave, optimistic, and fun, she loves looking at the bright side of things when it gets gloomy. She loves making others smile and laugh. Although with many curiosities and insecurities, she pulls it all together and walks with her head up high. Iliana is described with a chill and easy going personality, not really caring about most things and has a very “go with the flow” type attitude. She is very agreeable, but is also good at advising people, but at the same time she lets people do what they want to do, saying if they get hurt, then that's their fault. To Iliana, the world is absolutely amazing. Although she's physically 17 she has been alive for only a very long amount of time and has spent her prior existence under water. This means that everything about the world feels very new and amazing to her and she holds a very raw joy towards everything she experiences. This has earned her a reputation as a childish and naive person, and in some aspects, they're correct. Iliana is a peculiar mix of century-old wisdom and the childishness of a permanent nursery resident. Illy is a rather soft spoken and usually courteous girl. She's indiscriminately friendly and open to others which makes her very approachable. She rarely pays attention to rumors about other people which means she possesses no preconceptions about them. Illy isn't too bothered with other's opinions of her either. When meeting someone for the first time she tends to find everything about them interesting, every single quality they have whether that be good or bad. She doesn't understand why people don't find the different mixes of qualities that form an identity utterly fascinating. They provide a sharp contrast to the school of identical fish that she's used to. Well not that she's had a school really. Due to literally being made as a nymph, she has taken on some of these traits as a part of her identity. She has an altruistic attitude to others and a nurturing side that's incredibly easy to encounter. Her easygoing nature means she starts liking and caring for people, even after a brief conversation. She's also a pretty good babysitter because of this, ready to play along with any kids. She doesn't mind stepping in to babysit for some of New Athens end's shopkeepers as they work. In fact she's willing to help anyone at any time. Iliana does have a childish streak in her. She may not care about others' opinions of her in general but sometimes she'll get hung up on some random little unpleasantry, something that no one else would notice, such as a passing comment about something being 'useless' or someone wanting to trash something broken and this sours her whole mood. Rather than tell anyone about it, she'll sulk, until emotions build to the point of an angry and unwarranted outburst a few days later. When she's holding any sort of negative feelings, she becomes irritable and short tempered. She refuses to tell anyone because she doesn't want to saddle them with her feelings or because she thinks they can't help. She can also be quite thoughtless at times, particularly when it involves her own safety. Since she approaches life enthusiastically, she can get over excited and caught up in the moment. She's not one for thinking ahead in general, with a 'que será, será' attitude, so she frequently hurts herself in impulsivity. She usually needs an outside force to reign her in. She dislikes the slow and sedentary lifestyle that she should probably adopt to avoid smashing her face in, so settles for a slower pace while doing her various outdoor activities. She doesn't ever seem to get tired, no matter what she does, though. This is due to not being organic. This means she is good at focusing on any task she does, without being inhibited by fatigue or boredom. She tends to sew and mend through the night since she doesn't need sleep and is perceived as quite industrious, what with producing something new every morning. Iliana's worst trait would be that she's a hoarder. She loves giving various objects a second use by mending them, but once they're fixed there is nowhere to put them but back into a charity shop and the idea of returning them to gather dust upsets her. As a consequence, she keeps everything stowed in her room. This, though originally temporary, ended up morphing into a bigger fear of letting go of anything. She is a frequent gift giver, giving people she trusts various trinkets and clothing for anything from thank-yous to a random nice thought. Perceived value may vary, some gifts are quite eccentric. If asked for something, she can be quite generous and give it willingly. This doesn't negate the fact that she is unwilling to admit when something can no longer be used and her room still resembles a junkyard. She refrains from thinking too hard about things being useless because it kind of scares her. I mean her initial purpose was to be a pretty thing that gathers dust. She would have an insecurity, but she has twisted the idea of having a use into a goal to aspire to. She's very optimistic and would rather create a use for something than to ditch it entirely. Illy has quite a romantic soul. The idea of horoscopes and fate, although not something she believes in, still makes her happy solely because she enjoys the thought of them. She is very enthusiastic about couples, giving them gifts as if they were newly weds and gushing about how sweet they are. Mind you if it doesn't work out, she'll optimistically reassure them the next one will work. She also enjoys flirting, finding it fun and is very lighthearted about it. She also laughs a lot in conversation.

### Fatal flaw

Iliana's fatal flaw is loyalty. She would do anything to keep her friends safe, even if it meant she had to get hurt to do so

## Appearance

Iliana is described as a young seventeen year old girl who displays a chill and easy going type aura. Iliana is described with dark brown skin, long and kinky brown hair often tied in braids, and sea green eyes. While living in Ancient Greece, she wore traditional ancient Greek clothing, but now at camp she wears a white shirt and black shorts underneath a jean suspender dress with ocean designs on it, and black shoes

## Powers and Abilities

### Benthesikyme Kid Powers

* She has Hydrokinesis (ability to manipulate water).
* She can communicate with sea creatures.
* She, and all objects that she touches, stay dry when underwater unless she will herself.
* She can breathe underwater. Iliana, while she is underwater, is resistant to underwater pressure, and cold.
* As long as she falls in water, she can survive falling from really high heights.
* She can sense the difference between fresh and saltwater.
* She can use water to heal wounds, either her own or others. When in contact with water, her strength, speed, stamina, & skill increase.
* She has perfect bearings, as long as she is at sea or in Ethiopia.
* She can see in the dark while underwater.
* She is able to create underwater bubbles so that her friends can breathe underwater.
* She is able to harden water to form shields or solid ground to walk on.
* She has a higher resistance to burning than most people.
* She is usually very powerful in or near water.
* She is immune to poison and venom from sea creatures.
* She can travel through water vapor and mist.
* She can inflict and heal seasickness from people.
* She can shapeshift into dolphins and any sea creature that lives near the Ethiopian coast
* She innately knows all 5 official languages in Ethiopia - Afar, Amharic, Oromo, Somali, and Tigrinya
* She can generate swells up to 50 ft tall and change the direction of waves

### General Abilities

* ADHD: As a demigod, Iliana possesses inborn supernatural battle reflexes and senses that she uses to analyze the fighting style of her opponent.
* Dyslexia: Her brain is "hard-wired" for divine Ancient Greek instead of mortal languages.
* Swordsmanship: Iliana is a skilled sword user
* Greek: Iliana can speak fluent Greek
* Ethiopian Languages: Giving that her mother is The Ethiopian Sea Nymph, Iliana can speak all 5 official languages in Ethiopia - Afar, Amharic, Oromo, Somali, and Tigrinya
* Immortality: When Iliana was seventeen, she gained immortality, which stops her from aging and dying, though she can still get hurt
* Swimming skills: As the daughter of a sea goddess, Iliana is a strong and skilled swimmer
* Fighting skills: Iliana is a skilled fighter
* Superhuman durability: As a demigod, Iliana is more durable than a regular human being
* Superhuman strength: As a demigod, Iliana is much stronger than the average mortal
* Superhuman Reflexes: As a demigod, Iliana reflexes are greater than the average mortal
* Superhuman Agility: As a demigod, Iliana is more agile than the average mortal

## Relationships

### Friends

#### Nyssa Pylos

Iliana's best friend is the daughter of Phoebe and granddaughter of Nestor, Nyssa Pylos. The two girls are almost always hanging out, acting like sisters and having a good time with their friends. Together with Evander, they're like a dynamic trio

#### Evander Salamis

Evander is Iliana's second best friend. Evander Salamis, son of Teucer and Artemis, and he is much more rowdy than the calm and easy going Iliana, but they still get along very well, along with Nyssa, they are like a dynamic trio

### Family

#### Benthesikyme (Mother)

Iliana has a strong and loving relationship with her mother. She could feel the envy her mother felt since many mer-folk didn't find her important. The mother and daughter often talk often to each other

#### Idomeneus (Father)

Iliana doesn't know her father that well, and Iliana's mother rarely told her daughter about Idomeneus (Who would later die in Italy after being exiled from Crete) and Iliana herself rarely asked questions about her father. Iliana has learned of her father's story and admires him a lot

## Etymology

Iliana is a feminine name of Greek origin. This name likely finds its roots in the Greek word “hēlios”, which means **“ray of light”** or **“sun”**

Crete was the name of her father's kingdom

## Trivia

1. Iliana's name means "Sun" since she is a very distant legacy of the titan god Helios
2. Her middle name is Cleopatra after her paternal grandmother and it means **"Glory of the father"**
3. Her favorite color is ocean blue
4. She is pansexual
5. Her favorite food is Wat, or Ethiopian Curry
6. She is distantly related to Calix Athenian, son of Theseus and Ariadne since her father was Ariadne's nephew
7. She has a fear of Drowning/sufercation
8. If she were born in Modern times she would have been born February 26, Pisces, The Adaptable Kind