Ulysia

Occupation

Merchant, Pilgrim

Location

Fortuna
Royal Highlands

Group

Human

Gender

Female

Other Affiliations

Ancient Humant Merchant Guild

Relationships

• Telemo † (Brother)
• Unnamed † (Mother)
• Unnamed † (Father)

Ulysia was an Ancient Human merchant in Fortuna, whose unsent letters the Player can find in the north-east of the Royal Highlands.

Relationships

Family

• Telemo (Brother) †
• Unnamed (Mother) †
• Unnamed (Father) †

Other

• Unnamed (Master under whom Ulysia apprenticed)
• Unnamed (Ulysia's Apprentice)

Biography

Ulysia was an Ancient Human from before the cataclysm that led to the disappearance of Humans in Palia. The only sources about her life available are three of her own unsent letters, addressed to her deceased family members. Since there are no external confirmations, all statements about her are based on her on her own, possibly distorted, perspective.

It is unknown when or where Ulysia was born.

Her father had worked as a traveling merchant, taking trips by horse and bringing home gifts from distant lands. Sometime after Ulysia learned how to write, her brother Telemo and both of her parents died of a plague and she left her familiar home as a pilgrim.

Ulysia's First Letter

Ulysia wrote this letter, addressed to her brother, after arriving at the Steps of Renova and described her first impression of Fortuna, the “City of Kings”. Awed by the grandeur and the bustling markets, she resolved to make her parents proud.

Ulysia's Second Letter

This letter, addressed to Ulysia's mother, suggests that she had not completed a vocational education before her family was struck by “the plague”. She wrote that she had started an apprenticeship as a merchant under her father's old colleague.

Ulysia's Third Letter

Ulysia wrote this letter, addressed to her mother, after “long years” had passed and she was “in age”. In the period between her second and third letter Ulysia had found success and established “a mercantile guild that spans(sic) the empire”.

The empire in question is likely to be Valeria, the empire of Mudan, a king in the last era of the Ancient Humans. Another indicator that Ulysia lived during Mudan's reign is her claim that she had become effectively immortal thanks to “taking the serums”. These immortality serums are probably related to Aurus' Flow experiments, particularly Hydroflow Serums and Cosmoflow applications mentioned in tablets in the Temple of the Cosmos.

As founder of the empire's merchant guild, Ulysia had presumably become quite rich and influential in Fortuna and beyond. Despite this, she intended to stop taking the serums and wished to be reunited with her deceased family. In her final letter she estimated that she would die within a few months after “aging beyond Human limit” and had planned to leave everything to her apprentice.

It can be concluded, that she probably died not only before the actual disappearance of the Ancient Humans, but also before the Cosmoflow-related energy crisis and the execution of the Mirror Protocol, mentioned by Aurus.

Beliefs

Her first and third letter show Ulysia as a firm believer of Embra, the phoenix deity, who was worshipped by the Ancient Humans as their creator.

She believed that her deceased brother and parents were in “the Phoenix’s embrace”, and hoped they would look down at her. Ulysia was confident that in death she would join her family and be able to tell them the story of her life.

Personality

I can't help but wonder what everyone is so afraid of.
– Ulysia’s third letter

Ulysia's letters tell of person who never overcame the loss of her beloved family at a young age. However, this tragedy and the evident grief it caused did not completely overwhelm her and there is no indication that she had become embittered. One possible reason for this is her faith in Embra, as Ulysia believed that they were not truly gone but with Embra, and that in death she would see her brother and parents again. Another reason could be that her parents' thoughts and opinions remained important to Ulysia after their death, given that she had resolved in her first letter to make them proud.

During her life Ulysia was determined and brave: after losing her family she did not give up, but left her familiar surroundings, started a new life in Fortuna, a big city, and began an apprenticeship as a merchant. Her second letter indicates that Ulysia previously did not even entertain the idea of becoming a merchant. Despite that, she was so successful that she built a mercantile guild that spanned an empire – a testament of her great persistence.

In her third letter Ulysia wrote about her apprentice as “a youth with stars in her eyes who came to Fortuna to make it big, much like I did.” This means, that even in old age and as essentially an immortal, Ulysia did not lose her empathy, especially given that she planned to pass everything on to this apprentice.

Ulysia had likely amassed considerable fortune and power by this point in her life, but that did not seem to corrupt her. From the outside, she had reached the pinnacle of success as a rich, influent and immortal being, but her mind remained “forever in the past”. For her, immortality seemed “daunting”, because it meant that she would never meet her family again.

Therefore Ulysia decided on a different path than everyone around her: She wanted to stop taking immortality serums and be reunited with her family in death. Another reason for this decision might be that she felt she had made her parents proud with how she had lived her life, just as she had promised in her first letter, showing again her persistency.

She wrote that she had told no one of her decision and implied that the people around her would not understand because, unlike her, they were afraid of dying. All in all, she saw her life as “a good story” that was coming to an end.

Quests

• Fortuna Bound

Trivia

• For some unknown reason all three of Ulysia’s letters are connected to honey and beehives.

Update History

Build 0.202:

• Introduced.