๐ก๐๐๐๐๐๐ง๐จ๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฉ โ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ณ๐๐ฆ .
โง Azemโs true name was HESTIA. Derived from the Greek Goddess of the same name who symbolised the hearth, the home, and family. As Hestia, her hair was a fiery red and her eyes were molten gold. During her time on the First, after consuming Light, Iphenneโs eyes become this colour again and seem to retain its aetherial glow โ however, this is most likely due to the Light consumption.
โง Azem and the mythological Hestia both share an affinity for heat. Where Azemโs symbol is the Sun, Hestiaโs symbol is fire. Iphenneโs orange-red eyes in the present are but a small nod to this symbolism.
โง The tale of Azemโs venture to stop the eruption of an island volcano mirrors the Greek Goddess Hestiaโs function as a goddess of sacrificial fire. In Ancient Greece, it was custom for Hestia to receive the first offering of every sacrifice in the household. In matters of the state, whenever a new colony or settlement was established, a flame from Hestiaโs hearth in the mother city would be carried to the new location. In this same fashion, Azemโs plan to use Lahabreaโs concept โIfritaโ to transfer the volcanoโs aether and destroy it mirrors this concept of โsacrificial fireโ.
โง Though Azemโs role was the Traveler and her duty to seek out other cultures and peoples of Etheirys, to learn and to help them, she was not so much the adventurous type as she was someone deeply empathetic to the plight of others. This empathy she shared with Hermes, and took great joy in his creation magicks, particularly Meteion.
โง As a result of her opposition to the Convocationโs plans to summon Zodiark, and then vacating her seat, Azem came to be viewed in a negative light and, in extreme cases, the instigator of the Final Days. When the heavens began to rain down fire upon Amaurot, it was seen as an act of judgment from Azem herself ( โSome say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what Iโve tasted of desire, I hold with those who favour fire...โ ). Her refusal to join either side in the Final Days only exacerbated this, and marked her as Other, and thus the Convocation decreed that her memories were not worth preserving in the Constellation Crystals. This, of course, was somewhat subverted when Emet-Selch secretly made Azemโs crystal and imbued it with her signature incantation.
โง The origin of the Greek Goddess Hestia states that she was the โfirst to be swallowed upโ by her father, Cronus, followed by the rest of her siblings sans Zeus, and โthe last to be yielded up againโ. During the Final Days, Azem is one of the first to perish, likely due to the already broiling contempt aimed her way. Azem in her role as โthe last to be yielded upโ plays into Iphenneโs role as the Warrior of Light and being, perhaps, the most similar to her Ancient counterpart. Iphenne would also, essentially, be the last of the former Convocation members to remember her life as an Ancient.
โง Hestiaโs familiar is the porxie ( or the Amaurot equivalent ). This is a direct reference to the Greek goddess, whose symbolic animal was the pig. Hestiaโs porxie is just about as mischievous as its owner โ often wandering off to dig its nose in where it doesnโt belong.
โง As โshepherd to the stars in the darkโ, Azem battles with and conjures her creations using a Shepherdโs Hook. Thus, Azemโs main class is Thaumaturge, or the Ancient equivalent of said class.
