#euphemia ebenae

[fromtheladiesoflight]

Bonus Bits: What Do The Ladies Sound Like?

Mirita: Has a bit of a drawl an' tends to drop syllables when she can m'nya. Very loud an' boisterous and energetic; she talks real quick an' has a somewhat higher but not squeaky-pitched voice. Somethin' akin' t' a Southern American accent in th' overall, is what'cha might say. She also tends t' make cat sounds when talkin', m'yeah?

Khorijin: Speaks very precisely and with what would be a very slight Mongolian accent. As she learned her common from people who speak it quite formally, her turns of phrase are ofttimes appropriately archaic. She does not use more modern contractions either, and will favor the likes of ne'er, e'er, and so forth, and often invokes Nhaama in some of her minced oaths or similar. Her tone is a little nasal and lower in pitch, and she does not speak very loudly unless she is deeply emotional. (In terms of delivery, but maybe not directly sound, think of Ryan Bartley's Rei Ayanami.)

Rija: Her tone Rolls and Lilts when she speaks most of the time~, and in a general sense, her accent sounds less nasal and a bit closer to Italian than Icelandic like many other Viera are known to, mostly due to her time in Dalmasca, yes? She is also prone to using "yes?" and "no?" at the end of statements, and is especially fond of tree and forestry metaphors; Muscadet is a village grown strong by careful tending of its roots, including verbal traditions. (Rija is one of the few Ladies *with* a direct voice claim: Rose as portrayed by Gina Grad in Street Fighter V.)

Khoride: Being Khorijin's twin, Khorijin and Khoride do sound *almost* alike, favoring the same word choices and sharing the same with one major difference: Khoride's voice is deeper by maybe about a half step and tends to be more openly emotional and sultry, occasionally raspy and throaty or even growly depending on the situation.

Ystride: They sound, generally speaking, as formal and straightlaced as you would expect an Elezen that looks like them to sound--a very soft tone, with just a little bit of raspiness and gravel to it, as much like Khorijin they do not like speaking much more loudly than they need to. Unlike her sisters she is willing to use more common contractions on occasion, but not very often. (For accent, they're a dead ringer for Caitlin Glass's Cammy White from Street Fighter IV, V, and 6.)

Euphemia: Most of the time, she speaks in a warm and lightly Scottish accent. There are, if you listen closely, what would be vague touches of Jamaican English (not Jamaican Patwa, that's separate) in her speech as well; in terms of pitch, her voice trends low, warm, and comforting, very much motherly. When she is more relaxed, both of these things loosen, and she tends to lean more into a more easygoing tone in the overall (at which point she does slip a little bit more into what sounds like Jamaican Patwa, not Jamaican English). She usually does not use contractions.

Helena: A low, rumbling Slavic accent and a marked tendency towards casual speech, though she will occasionally use much more formal diction to make or emphasize a point. Much like Rija, she tends to use "yes" and "no" at the end of statements, but generally speaks in a slow, unhurried way--this is your tired Russian wine auntie who has seen it all, basically. (Cindy Robinson's Kolin from SFV but several pitches lower is fairly accurate.)

(If the descriptions for anyone without voice claims rings a bell, feel free to send ones that you think might be interesting, either through reposts, asks, or if you know me personally, DMs. If you want to get a look at the Ladies proper to make a judgment, check their profiles out. )

[fromtheladiesoflight]

(The short answer: all of the Ladies are, with varying degrees of relationship anarchy in their personal lives depending on who.) (The longer answer:

Mirita and Khorijin are primarily involved with each other, and while they aren't opposed to adding more partners to their relationship, neither is looking especially hard and it'll take some doing to get in there since they've got their hands full with Sadu, or will, eventually.

Rija has several people that she's actually slept with and maintains a close connection with. She wouldn't protest a serious partner or partners if one or more came about.

Khoride has multiple partners and several supplicants to her as Devil Goddess, as well as whoever she casually chooses to sleep with. While she generally limits the circle of the former, the latter swells rather large by comparison.

Ystride is polyam, but is still working through her own anxiety around relationships and of late has managed to work up her nerve to confess to at least two people that she's fallen hard for, both of whom have accepted her feelings and have progressed accordingly. [A recent, and very positive development.]

At the moment Euphemia has only one committed partner, but will occasionally have casual encounters with other people, and would not reject other committed partners.

Helena is dating someone but isn't actively looking for a second--she wouldn't say no to casual encounters either or something else coming along.)

Is your WoL polyamorous or strictly monogamous? Or are they simply uninterested in the whole thing?

[fromtheladiesoflight]

The Ladies At Saints' Wake

The family that scares together, stays together.

[fromtheladiesoflight]

Ladies' Profile: Euphemia Ebenae

(Euphemia's very nature is very much Shadowbringers and Endwalker spoiler territory, so I'm doing the spoiler cut early.)

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Name: Euphemia Ebenae (Euphie to her close friends; the surname is not her original one.)

Pronouns: she/her (cis woman)

Age: 37 (by physical appearance), approximately 37,214 (on strict chronology) (as of Patch 6.55, The Coming Dawn, born December 13/13th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon)

Origin: Ancient (appears as an Ala Mhigan Highlander)

Family members: Andronikos (father, deceased), Sophia (mother, deceased), Venat (adoptive mother), Mirita, Khorijin, Rija, Khoride, Ystride (adopted daughters)

Height: 193.2cm/6’4”

Preferred professions: Yes. (Functionally, whatever professions any of the Ladies learns, she knows as well.)

Aetheric alignment: Astral earth

In a time long ago--something akin to a thousand thousand lifetimes, if not longer--a young Ancient whose parents did research on Elpis were returned to the star by pure happenstance, an accident. But 'twas this happenstance that led a woman by the name of Venat to take the child under her wing some years later, whilst said child was in the middle of what you might call a youthful rebellion. With this direction, Euphemia grew into strength and skill both, falling in with two other young Ancients who would rise to the Convocational seats of Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus and eventually proving herself worthy as Venat's successor as Azem.

After the recruitment of the new Fandaniel following an incident at Elpis, however, things... changed. The Final Days howled and raged across Etheirys, and with it, the ruin of the star followed, along with the desperate summoning of Zodiark. And--even more tellingly--Venat's final gambit to stop the star from being completely destroyed. A gambit that Euphemia could not abide by, no matter how deeply she loved her second mother. So, she walked away, searching for her own answer, but did not find it before Venat assumed the mantle of Hydaelyn and split the star into fourteen.

Through a fluke--or mayhap, simply, the imperfect nature of all things--Euphemia herself was not sundered evenly across all reflections. The Source in particular had three of her, and though they never rejoined in one body, they eventually did as a family of choice--that of Mirita Ebenae, Khorijin Borlaaq, and Rija Muscadet.

Eventually, these three, alongside Khoride and Ystride, stumbled across a memory crystal made by Emet-Selch in memory of Euphemia. Its magic served them well from there on, but it was Hydaelyn's final blessing upon it at the Mothercrystal that awoke Euphemia's shade--their stray thoughts of just *who* they were in the time before gave form to her formlessness, drawing what remained of her from the memory crystal, the lingering memories in their souls, and the aetherial sea around them. Revived in an initially immaterial state, she remained a passive watcher, hidden from sight, until the Ladies arrived at the very edge of the universe, at which point she finally manifested herself in full, gave a final farewell to her dear friends Hythlodaeus and Emet-Selch, and served as final witness to the end of the Endsinger and Zenos before choosing a new journey alongside her "shards"--or, as she would soon come to regard them, her precious and beloved daughters.

Aspects of who Euphemia is, not just in appearance but also in personality, can be seen in Mirita, Khorijin, and Rija in different ways; she appears as an Ala Mhigan Highlander because of Mirita, but has Khorijin's eyes and has Rija's highlights, all physical features she had before reviving. However, other aspects of the traits she shares with all of her daughters becomes apparent the longer one comes to know her--she has Mirita and Rija's respectively cheerful and alluring playfulness, as demonstrated by her tendency to pretend to know less than she does in service of a jest, and shares both Khorijin and Ystride's quiet reserve as well as their cool heads, and while she rarely makes use of it, Khoride's imposing sense of authority and power easily shrouds her even when it seems it shouldn't. She is, however, Ancient, and while she does not share Hades's fixation on the past--she has long accepted that their own pride and hubris is what ended their time as the star's stewards, especially given the role society played in Hermes' isolation--she tends to reminisce from time to time about what she has lost in less cheerful moments, though her daughters always draw her from her funk.

By nature of her existence, Euphemia is connected to the Ladies in the same way that Khoride and Ystride are to Khorijin--as a result, between her own experience as a combatant and her ability to draw upon their experiences in turn, Euphemia is a master of might and magic alike. A Samurai's blade, a Monk's fists, a Warrior's axe, and even the likes of Black, White, and Red Magic or any combat arts beyond her time--none are beyond her reach, if she so chooses. On the battlefield itself, she moves and strikes decisively, maneuvering with Mirita's casual power and speed, Khorijin's unerring precision, and Rija's agility, but to a degree that none of them can match individually, and while she cannot wield creation magic as casually as the likes of an Unsundered Ancient, her well of aether is equally a match to her daughters' collective own, and a little bit more.

[fromtheladiesoflight]

Ladies' Profiles: Mirita Ebenae

Name: Mirita Ebenae (birth name: M'naira Jalla. Answers to Mirita, Miri, or M'naira from strangers, and Naira specifically only from her family members, such as the other Ladies.)

Pronouns: She/her (cis woman)

Age: 30 (as of Patch 6.55, The Coming Dawn, born June 11/12th Sun of the 3rd Umbral Moon)

Origin: Seeker Miqo'te

Clan: M clan

Family members: M’toko Ranh (mother, deceased), M’jalla Nunh (father, deceased), M'aka Lahen (aunt), various aunts and uncles, Euphemia Ebenae (adopted mother)

Height: 186.35 cm/6’1”

Preferred professions: MNK, SAM, DNC, WAR

Aetheric alignment: Astral lightning

Miri is an orphan of Ala Mhigan origin; her parents, M’toko and M’jalla, are both from different extended-by-hunt parts of the M clan in Ala Mhigo. M'jalla was a newly established nunh in the Fringes, and M'naira was his first--and unfortunately, only--child. Living under the Ala Mhigan occupation unfortunately resulted in M'jalla's mistreatment and death when he was wrongfully detained by Garleans for "hunting in the wrong area"; M'toko was forced to flee to Ul'dah with an infant Miri, and she took sick and died as an Ul'dahn refugee, leaving Miri at the doorstep of an orphanage. Miri was then given a Hyuran name by the orphanage, which she disliked and eventually discarded in favor of the name Mirita Ebenae. She became an adventurer some years before the Calamity, wandering Thanalan before assisting people after Dalamud fell and eventually returning to Ul'dah. There, chance encounters would lead her to wander all over Eorzea, meeting with a woman she would come to love and a woman that would become like a sister to her, and coming to walk a path alongside the Scions of the Seventh Dawn with them and becoming known as the Ladies of Light. By the time the fate of the star fell to their hands, Miri would find herself a family of her own choosing, and from there...

Miri is cheerful, energetic, and playful to a fault. She is not a bloodthirsty sort of person, but enjoys fighting as a form of self-improvement and communication with others. She is very compassionate and quick to anger over injustice. For a long time, she was sensitive about her lack of connection to her cultural heritage (mostly by virtue of literally not knowing it) and would frequently deflect questions about it to cover for her ignorance about her origin. Once she discovered her surviving family at the Peering Stones, she became especially eager to learn more of Ala Mhigo and her family, as much as possible.

When fighting, Miri lives by one principle--"lightning offensive". She is fast, strong, and physically quite tough, difficult to stop or otherwise push back. Her attacks have a mix between precision, power, and speed, enough to make closing with her a spectacularly bad idea--this is especially prominent because of her Warrior training giving her even more resilience to back up her immense physical strength and agility.

[fromtheladiesoflight]

(In a general sense, all of the Ladies that are not Helena are known as the Ladies of Light--this is largely because rather than being a sole Warrior of Light, they are collectively known as a group of Warriors of Light, for reasons that will be touched on in Euphemia's solo profile.) (Expect Heavensward and forward spoilers after the line break.)

(As far as individual titles go:

Mirita is, if informally, called the "Godhand", a title awarded in part by her students O'tchakha and D'zentsa due to how thunderously her blows land when she fights. In terms of how she likes to be addressed, though, she has a strong dislike for titles in general, save for Master/Teacher in situations where that's appropriate.

Khorijin is formally recognized as the Azure Dragoon of Ishgard, but also the Azure Khagan of the Azim Steppe, having claimed the title during Stormblood by defying Hien and choosing to fight in the Naadam along her home clan rather than assist the Mol in winning. Even without her force of arms, the Borlaaq have continued to win the Naadams in the years after Stormblood, thus allowing her to retain the title by proxy as her mother Gorbeljin explicitly states that she only recognizes Khorijin as khagan. She also, if somewhat unintentionally, shares a title with Khoride, discussed below. She will only insist on being addressed by title when acting in official capacities thereof, and forgoes them otherwise.

Rija has a few self-styled titles that she doesn't share with anyone unless she's being cheeky--among them are "Gale-Force Shinobi", "Hurricane Bayonet", "Gusty Snakebite", and "Breezy Step". She doesn't particularly care about how she's addressed otherwise but generally prefers to forego formalities.

Khoride is the Void-Blue Dark Knight of Ishgard, as discussed in her own introductory post. She shares this title with Khorijin, if indirectly, because she was controlling Khorijin's body whenever Khorijin was asleep. Only a select few Brumelings have seen their shared face, and even back then Khoride's lipstick, slightly sharpened features, and slightly different [read: Ancient-patterned] eyes did not make them so identical as to make it easy to pick them apart. As also described in Khoride's introductory post, she has self-claimed the title of Devil Goddess, primarily because she declared herself as such to spite Vauthry before brutally destroying him atop Mount Gulg once she and the other Ladies defeated him. She does not insist upon being called Devil Goddess or Goddess in casual conversation, but those who happen to willingly submit to her, or simply ask for permission to address her as such if they are not interested in becoming one of her supplicants, are more than welcome to use it freely.

Ystride has been called the Icewolf of Ishgard by several close friends, particularly after they tried on a certain set of Warg-ish equipment as a Machinist. They don't mind being called by it but she does occasionally express a little bit of shy awkwardness about it, less so from trusted friends. Otherwise, they don't mind a "miss", "ma'am" or "madam" from time to time, even at their most generally apathetic to gendered titles.

Euphemia, once upon a time, was Azem. She isn't now, and rejects being called as such, but does not mind being called miss, ma'am, etc. That pretty much says it all. [How this works will be explained further in her own introductory post.]

Helena, by technicality, is the queen of her lineage, and thus will answer to "Her Majesty" or "Her Grace", but does not insist on it, as technically she does not have any stewards. [Hrothgar culture in the Ladies' worldline has a few foibles of its own which will also be explained in its own post.] More commonly, she has been called "Captain", which was her rank in the Bozjan resistance for the last part of her service with them, and will accept that, "Miss", or "ma'am".)

OC/WoL Question.

Does your OC have any specific titles or honorifics? How do they feel about these? If they don't have any specific titles, how do they respond to being called Lord or Lady (or things such as Sir, Madam or Mistress)?

[fromtheladiesoflight]

Ladies' Profiles: Ystride Borlain

Name: Ystride (Is-trid) Borlain (just Ysty is acceptable for her close friends) Pronouns: she/they (demiwoman; they do not object to the use of either pronoun but prefer that people do not use only one exclusively.) Age: 30 (as of Patch 6.55, The Coming Dawn, born October 14/14th Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon) Origin: Ambigiously Ishgardian Elezen Family members: Gorbeljin of the Borlaaq (mother-by-adoption of sorts), Berude of the Borlaaq (oldest sister-by-adoption of sorts), Orgelen and Orbei of the Borlaaq (older twin sisters-by-adoption of sorts), Khorijin of the Borlaaq (older sister-by-choice), Khoride of the Borlaaq (older sister-by-choice), Euphemia Ebenae (mother-by-adoption...Again.) Height: 200.15 cm/6’6” Preferred professions: MCH, RDM, GNB (with some interest in SGE) Aetheric alignment: Umbral ice

(Dark Knight questline & MSQ story spoilers from Heavensward forward follow from here. You have been warned.)

================================================ Ystride's origins mirror Khoride's own--but unlike Khoride, fed by and born from Khorijin's rage, fury, and frustration over her own weakness and impotence when it mattered most, Ystride--"Myste", initially--was born of Khorijin's regrets and grief--most prominently, shaped by her budding, unrequited feelings for Ysayle, appearing as an adult Elezen with a strong resemblance toward Ysayle physically (or at least, Ysayle's appearance in the Ladies' worldine, which is not as pale as canon) and Haurchefant's hair color. Under that name, Ystride would attempt to revive the "victims' of what they perceived to be Khorijin's crimes and wrongdoings, cracking Khorijin's Dark Knight crystal in the process, but was ultimately subdued by the strength of Khorijin and Khoride (still "Fray" at that time) working together to stop them. However, in much the same way that Khoride's initial defeat did not stop her from re-emerging to help Khorijin when the Ladies of Light arrived in Norvrandt, the Final Days called forth Ystride to the world again--if penitent and far less sure of herself than Khoride. Forgiven by her two older sisters of sorts, she lent her hand to the cause of averting the end of the star, no longer bearing the name "Myste", but "Ystride" instead--self-chosen in partial honor of both Ysayle, but also in part as a reminder of a path to no longer walk. After the near-disaster of the Final Days, Ystride would find two mothers in turn, and continue to work their way back toward emotional openness, ultimately choosing to become their own person by cutting their hair down from Ysayle's wavy locks and adding highlights the exact shade of Khorijin and Khoride's hair to mark their devotion to them as their youngest sister; even their chosen surname, Borlain, is a tribute to them, a combination of Borlaaq and Ysayle's own surname of Dangoulain. Once upon a time, Ystride's quiet confidence led them to both deceive and work against Khorijin, condemning their older sister for her failures and failings as a reflection of their own guilt. After being chastised by Khorijin and Khoride--and realizing the depths of their own failures and self-righteousness--they became selectively mute for a while, straining to use their voice in most circumstances and necessitating that she--and the others--learn how to use sign language to facilitate communication. The reticent gloom that once marked them has given way to a quiet, reserved shyness beneath a somewhat icy and frosty exterior, punctuated by long stretches of silence more often than not, but in the years since the end of the Final Days, acceptance from Gorbeljin, her other mother, and the unwavering support and love of her friends and family, has helped them to recover their voice and use it again with ever-growing strength.

Being a part of Khorijin, Ystride is equally well-trained and agile, and knows the Red as thoroughly as Khorijin does, often training with her. Additionally, Rija has passed on everything she knows about using a Bozjan gunblade (which has either fortunately or unfortunately brought them under the tutelage of someone who knows the weapon even better that Rija does), but in search of something to fully call their own, Ystride has also picked up Machinistry and shown a knack for it, converting many of her attacks into ice-aspected shots and similarly preferring ice and lightning releases for her gunblade. Their cool head and complete poise on the battlefield meshes with their refined grace, resulting in the nickname "The Icewolf of Ishgard" from a dear and close friend of theirs.