Lady Calliope Aetos

The eyes -- hazel, in this case -- needn't be the windows to this young woman's soul: the expressions that shift across her doll-like oval face are all the reading anyone needs to do to know where and how they stand with her. Temporary furrows and worry lines are constantly traversing across her still youthfully smooth brow and her mouth, pretty as it might be otherwise, is oft beset with a frown. Her honey gold hair is frequently pinned back and, it seems, changes lengths as often as her mood moves.

Calliope was one of the younger members of House Aetos involved in the 629 seizure of power by Melissa Aetos, her second cousin, at just 20. Calliope is a grandchild of the deposed Queen of Dyria, Areti, though she was born seven years after the coup. Her father, Loukis, the second son of Areti, was officially disinherited, only to be quietly readmitted to the house by Phyllis after the coup - he's a gentle, mellow man with little care for the trappings of nobility, a stark contrast to her mother, Maria, a Hanan of fierce temperament. Loukis is pushing 60 and has a game leg, and prefers the quiet of a coastal village near Malthi nowadays, eschewing politics regardless of any claims he may have. Her older brother, Manos, is an architect and engineer, and her younger sister, Arista, an able fighter, though with no interest in command.

Calliope spent much of her formative years undertaking a martial education, in the regrettably haphazard way available through the underfunded military of Malthi and Taras. All the same, out of the nobility of House Aetos, this experience and a modicum of theoretical understanding still placed her head and shoulders above others. In 631, she was named head of the house's military, and has spent some time since attempting to salvage the ramshackle, underfunded army.

Calliope wears her moods openly, and so it is just as well for those around her that she is more often than not an upbeat, lively presence. Still, sometimes some frustration besets her, and the dark temper that follows is expressed as readily as the brighter moods, only to pass again like a summer storm. She is bold, forthright and assertive, most of the time, but moments of self-doubt sneak in here and there.

She holds by the proverb of "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." She knows very well that she is not the best military officer on Elthos. She also knows that Phyllis exiled many of Areti's chosen military officers and the decades of misrule that followed left the army of Malthini and Taras in a tattered shambles, wherein Calliope herself represents the best they are going to get just now. She has committed herself to the work of restoring its strength.

Calliope is an adept warrior and able in single combat, but her position in House Aetos, of commanding soldiers, is one for which she has some natural aptitude but not much true experience.