Euphemios von Helvigson

Early Life
Euphemios is the son of Irulani King Bjorn "Ironhide" Helvigson and Crystal Helvigson, and the younger sibling to his adopted sister, Jade Helvigson. From an early age, Euphemios displayed traits of heightened intelligence, as well as a crippling sense of dread and exisential fear. For the first few years of his life, he would cause mild instances of mischief. A child with an affinity for practicality and situational adaptability, Euphemios was known to handle generally tense situations with grace and efficiency where others failed or could never hope to have succeeded. Excelling in statecraft, military strategy and tactics, history and dabbling in languages, it was clear Euphemios was destined to govern a country rather than follow in his father's footsteps of pirating.

Euphemios was often left to his own devices, as his father was busy with helping stabilize and run the triarchal Kingdom of Irulan. To pass the time, he spent his days reading books from the then newly founded library of Irulan as well as interact with his cousins, Cornelius Godd-Fjell and Victoria Nevaris. The time he spent with the other royal children gave him ample opportunity to bond with the other kings and queens of Irulan, forming a close frienship with his uncle Alphdeim Nevaris. A good deal of time was also spent with Queen Wily Godd-Fjell, helping her and Cornelius rennovate Irulan's capital city of Cascade during the later years of his teens. After some time, he developed a very close, practically sibling-like relationship with Cornelius, Victoria and Jade. Together, they would embark on starting many projects to help Irulan and its functionality as an infant Kingdom.

Introduction to Temel Dizeler and Tutelage under Jade
Despite his successes and talents, Euphemios was an unordinarily depressed child. He confided to his older sister, Jade Helvigson, that he knew that there was nothing waiting for him after he would die, his essence returning to the void to be forgotten and abandoned. This was when Jade opened up to her brother what she had been experiencing; the passage of time itself. While she had stayed the same person, every so often she would receive visions about the various aspects of what makes up the universe. After a while, she told him, she had come to recognize what each part felt like, and how to find them in people. She had felt his presence for years, but could never be sure until he told her. Euphemios was a vessel of the Void, a vessel inhabited by the essence of the god Nihili. To Jade's knowledge, there had never been a vessel that does not contain the essence of the god of Space, Kehadiran. So him worrying about returning to nothing was not an unfounded childish worry; he would return to nothing, his memories and experiences never to join the others with the rest of Kehadiran.

Being told this, Euphemios reacted unusually; he looked up from the floor with a fire in his eyes and a look of determination. And with one sentence, he would seal his fate for the rest of his life: "I may return to nothing when I die, but I will not be dead so long as everyone remembers who I am and what I will do."

With that said, Jade agreed to teach Euphemios the ways of the universe, a religion that would later be titled Temel Dizeler. By this point, Jade had already begun to care for and educate their cousins, Cornelius and Victoria, Cornelius being the chosen vessel of Kehadiran himself. Jade herself was the chosen vessel of the god of Time, Ištrauka, meaning that she possessed a much more vast amount of knowledge and wisdom than any other human could even comprehend.

Life as a Prince of Irulan
With the issue of exisential dread being actively worked on, Euphemios began working on honing his skills to help improve the upkeep of Irulan, a by then newly independent Kingdom free of vassalship from the Uraki Imperium. As his father continued to be bogged down with his royal tasks, Euphemios began to independently work with the other royals on projects to help build up the Kingdom's infastructure and economy. Within the district of Wavegrad, the upper-class housing of Cascade, new buildings were being constrcuted. It was during the late hours of the nights that issues arose, demonic creatures known as phantoms harassing builders and citizens alike. Euphemios acted quickly, arming himself with a bow and arrows, climbing to the top of the finished rooves and shooting down any and all phantoms that attempted to pester the building team. He quickly gained the reputaion as Irulan's "Phantom Boy", and made it a regular habit to protect builders from phantoms during the moonlight hours.

Other projects include personally constructing a new series of roads to connect the northern-most towns to the rest of the Irulani highway. In conjunction with Geremi Hautmont and his sister Jade, the road was finished within a fortnight, all the towns and cities in Irulan entirely connected by established roads. These projects and acts of public service quickly gave Euphemios a reputation as a productive and helpful prince, always eager to assist and interact with both the common people of Irulan and strengthen family bonds between the three royal branches.

This reputation allowed Euphemios to be granted permission to take the old ruins of Strondor, an abandoned town in the north of Irulan, and rebuild it as his own personal holding. As a gesture of good faith and companionship, he grabbed Cornelius and asked him to co-found the town with him. Together, the princes worked on creating a great town for new citizens to settle and start lives. And thus, the Principality of S'Koro would begin construction.

One day, Euphemios was approached by Cornelius, by this point a close and trusted friend. Cornelius confided to Euphemios how he wanted to make his name known, wanting to garner a reputaion as widespread as his father, Dvusi Godd-Fjell. Euphemios, understanding that while all life is descended from Kehadiran's being, it does not mean each individual person granted life is known to the rest. His advice is the same as what he told himself; "Your final fate is sealed no matter what you do; but to be remembered by those still alive and changing the world, you have to make them remember you. Only then will your name carry the weight you desire, and the impact to affect history as it unfolds." Seeming content with the advice, Cornelius thanked Euphemios and set off to establish a reputation of his own.

Political Career
Given his natural skill in political knowledge, once Euphemios was old enough to act on his own, he quickly made attempts at involving himself in local affairs.

Governmental Organization: With his immense knowledge on feudal governments and how one can and should optimally function, Euphemios pitched the concept of divvying Irulan into duchies, something that had not yet been considered. His proposal included dividing the homeland into three duchies; the duchies of Lokstum, Ormsdall and Cascade, each given to one of the kings to better divide and clarify their individual regions of responsibility. Each duchy was to be split into two counties, with a count or countess to govern over the land, and to report to the duke of their respective duchy. This proposal was accepted, and Irulan began to implement duke titles into the governmental structure.

The Homestead Dilemma: After the attempt on King Alphdeim's life by a rogue squatter, the assailant was tracked back to a squatter village on the western coast of Irulan, named Homestead. The assailant had escaped, and the village raided and searched. Shortly after, the village leader was made aware of the situation, and after having expelled the would-be regicidal rogue, arranged an audience with Alphdeim, his daughter Victoria, and Euphemios. Alone, the village leader explained that the rogue had acted independently and had been dealt with. This seemed to ease Alphdeim and Victoria's minds, but Euphemios still remained skeptical. Days later, the royal court convened to discuss the future of this village. The final decision was to allow them into the kingdom to better keep an eye on their actions. When given the offer to Homestead, the agreement was that they were allowed to join if they did not grow any larger than what they already had, which was considerably larger than when first discovered. Homestead agreed to these terms. Naught but a few weeks after, and a passing citizen reported that Homestead's walls had extended farther into the Duchy of Ormsdall than before. Annoyed, the council dispatched King Dvusi and Princess Victoria to convene with them. Euphemios, who still did not trust the township, had been spying on the village since after the first meeting, was actively watching them as the second meeting was beginning. As the representatives of both parties discussed the situation, Euphemios continued to snoop, and discovered old plans for Homestead to join Irulan, amass wealth and influence, then declare independence and knock Irulan off the map and become the new power in the region. Outraged, Euphemios brought the information to the council. Most, while displeased, did not seek immediate need to reprimand Homestead for its plans. In fact, Euphemios's demands for swift and harsh punishment for such treasonous plans were met with scoffs and dismissals, all except for his father, King Bjorn, who agreed they should be dealt with. However, Victoria managed to convince both bloodthirsty Helvigsons to calm down and to consider organizing another meeting, this time with the whole of Homestead. Reluctantly, the two agreed. Before the third meeting even began, Homestead had executed two more acts of dissidence: attempt to make trade deals with another country without consulting the kings (a trade deal which would have been between Irulan and another power, not Homestead and said power), and the unlawful acquisition of two Amarillan islands without discussing the matter with either the kings or Amarillo. Outraged, the council demanded to speak to Homestead right there and then, to which the mayor of Homestead responded by appointing his second in command as mayor of the town and emigrating to another country before he could be met with. By this point, Euphemios was livid, the members of Homestead very nearly sparked a war between Irulan and Amarillo by acting on their own accord, the only saving grace being that Amarillo and Irulan already having a very close relationship. Euphemios suggested razing Homestead to the ground and charging the entire populace with treason for their actions and plots. Yet, despite the now lengthy list of crimes, the kings and court did not seek to punish the dissidents. The final straw against Homestead was their collaboration with the count of newly acquired islands in southern Eldham to gain independence and become a pirate republic. Finally, the remaining members of Homestead and the count of the islands were brought before the council, given a formal trial and were all charged with multiple counts of treason. The count was stripped of his title, his islands repossessed by the government itself until a decision could be made for the islands' future. As for Homestead, it was ordered to be demolished and the remaining citizens to find new homes, be it in Irulan or elsewhere; as long as they did not live in Homestead or collaborate for independence again.

King Bjorn's abdication and retirement: After many years of tirelessly working and governing Irulan, King Bjorn Helvigson made the decision to retire and abdicate his throne. His two children, Euphemios and Jade, were both eligible to inherit his crown due to Irulan's elective-succession laws. But with Jade's admission to never have wanted the throne at all, Euphemios was the only choice for succession, whether the council would have voted for him or not. As such, Euphemios would take his father's place and become the first of the second generation of Irulan's triarchy.