Sjur Eido

"And I was dead, I think. Or… trapped? Like in a maze. But pretty close to figuring my way out."

- Sjur recounting her dream to Mara Sov

Sjur Eido was the first Queen's Wrath and Mara Sov's lover. She was killed during the Reef Wars, and succeeded as Queen's Wrath by Petra Venj.

Distributary
"Sjur Eido's fury and grief whetted themselves against Mara's thoughtless grace and ancient beauty, until at last her heart unseamed itself and spilled its hot blood in a shout. "Mara Sov!" she cried, throwing down her maltech matter laser between them. "I cannot live while you live, but I cannot bear to kill you. I challenge you to a duel to the agony. I will fight your most beloved companion to the death and leave you forever maimed or else die in the attempt.""

- Imponent II

Sjur Eido was one of the first-generation Awoken, one of the 891. Politically an Eccaleist, she was originally one of Queen Alis Li's Paladins, but was swayed by the Diasyrm and defected to her during the Theodicy War. During the war, she slew one of the 891. When the Diasyrm vanished at the end of the Theodicy War, Sjur suspected she had been murdered in secret by Mara Sov, and stormed into a court of the Gensym Scribes demanding to avenge her. To avoid a second Theodicy War, the Scribes lent their resources to her mission.

Alis Li abdicated the throne and was replaced by Nguya Pin. When, much later, Queen Pin unexpectedly converted to Eccaleism at the behest of an anonymous masked woman, Sjur entered her court suspecting Mara's involvement. She deduced which of Pin's courtiers was Mara in disguise, but confronting her, found herself entranced by Mara's beauty and could not bring herself to kill her. Therefore, in order to fulfill her vendetta, she challenged Mara to a "duel to the agony" against her most beloved companion. Mara summoned Uldren Sov to fight on her behalf.

Uldren and Sjur agreed to three duels: once with knives, once with guns, and once with fighter aircraft. The first ended in a draw, the second went to Sjur, and the third went to Uldren. With the duel to the agony inconclusive, Sjur submitted her fate to Mara Sov, who bade Sjur to join her Eccaleist quest to the stars.

Over the next decades, Sjur became Mara's closest companion and emissary. When Mara and her faction departed Distributary by wormhole ship, Sjur served as Mara's sensor officer.

The Reef
"For her part, Sjur Eido wandered about in a daze, filled with joy to be alive and grief that she no longer knew the day when she would die. "In you, all things are possible," she told Mara. "I live because of you." When Mara saw her string her mighty bow, the limbs coiled behind her leg and around her opposite arm, she was glad beyond telling that Sjur had survived."

- Telic I

When the Awoken, newly settled in the Reef, learned that humanity still existed on Earth, a schism developed between those who stayed loyal to Mara Sov and those who wanted to bring their resources to help Earth. Sjur reported on the situation to Mara, as well as a premonition of her own death when the Fallen inevitably tracked the Earth-altruists back to the Reef. By then, she had already established herself as Mara's bodyguard. When the schism turned violent, Sjur was separated from Mara and exchanged fire with several of the mutineers. In the end, Mara commanded for the mutineers to be left peacefully alone. As the Earthborn Awoken began assisting the struggling human remnants, Sjur brought an analysis of their efforts to Mara.

Afterwards, Mara was proclaimed Queen. A Fallen Ketch arrived less than an hour later, having tracked the Earthborn Awoken to their source. Though Awoken weaponry destroyed the Ketch instantly, a fleet of Skiffs had already deployed and began raiding. Sjur, fighting in an armored combat shell, killed the commanding Baron and destroyed his Walker with a demolition charge, knowing that she would also die in the resulting explosion. However, the blast threw her clear completely unharmed -- the result of Mara's unconscious and burgeoning paracausal abilities.

Mara and Sjur eventually drifted apart (though they remained on good terms), as a result of both Mara's incipient apotheosis and her desire to see Sjur achieve her own fullest potential.

The Dreaming City
""Sjur," Mara said, falling to her knees, clutching her beloved's face between shaking hands, "Sjur, on the day you worship me, you cannot love me anymore, for to worship is to yield all power, and I cannot love what has no power over me.""

- Telic II

As the Awoken civilization prospered, Sjur became Queen's Wrath. Her skill with a bow was legendary. She was the only Awoken to survive an Aphelion attack and hunted down many traitorous Ahamkara, including Eao, who betrayed the Awoken's secret origins to Warlocks who were also eliminated by the Awoken.

At some point, she introduced a Vandal, Mithrax, to the Dreaming City. She was so renowned even the Fallen respected her, who called her Siyuriks pak Variisis ("Sjur, the Unrelenting").

As part of a quest to understand herself, Mara went to Sjur to make a confession. At the time, Sjur was making a list of incredibly stupid and fatal bounties for Guardians to undertake.

In the privacy of space, Mara confessed to Sjur that she had been the first Awoken, and had denied them the chance to become gods when they first self-created on Distributary, and was therefore responsible for all the mortal suffering the Awoken had ever experienced past that point. Sjur brushed off Mara's concerns, believing that her actions were intended for a greater good, and kissed her before accusing her of confessing only to hide some greater secret. Mara explained that she planned to become a god, but Sjur found her explanation incomprehensible and moved on to other matters.

Sjur died during the Reef Wars, betrayed and assassinated by an unknown party, her bow stolen. A strange coin was left on her corpse as weregild. When Mara and her Techeuns built Eleusinia, Mara carved a statue for Sjur there. Petra Venj succeeded Sjur as Queen's Wrath.

Sjur's identity somehow anchored itself to her statue in Mara's throne world. Through Eleusinia, it is possible she may return to life in the future -- a possibility Sjur herself once dreamed about.

Traits
"I see our path ahead, full of despair and hardship, and I will walk it with joy in my heart."

- Sjur Eido

Sjur was extremely tall, passionate, and straightforward. When she had a problem, she dealt with it aggressively and directly. Historians during the reign of Queen Pin described her as a "terror" who would have had no issue defying the Queen to murder a guest in her own court. She had no fear of death.