#skyros

So I came up with a little backstory, keep in mind I’m making up 99% of it lol Buckle up for some angst:

Iphis was exposed as an infant, a common backstory for heroes but instead of being taken in by a loving family like most others, she was found by slavers, who “raise” her to be a servant, as a child she was bought by a wealthy family to do housework. They treat her “as their own daughter” kinda like how Penelope supposedly treated Melantho as a “daughter” but then a young woman in the family married into royalty and Iphis moves again, this time to a royal palace were she now serves Deidamia as well as her mistress.

Working in a massive palace was difficult compared to working at a big house but Iphis manages. It’s a difficult life but she has no point of reference for what life is supposed to be, after all she was a slave all her life so this life seems alright. Then a strange newcomer arrives, it’s Achilles (boooo) so his whole thing with Deidamia happens and Neoptelemus is born. Then Achilles gets exposed and now he has to go to Troy and leave Skyros behind.

Iphis sees all this as an outside observer but doesn’t think much of it. Since it’s none of her business since she’s a slave, but then Deidamia gives Achilles Iphis as a gift, and everything falls apart. Iphis always lived in wealthy homes, she was always provided for and lived relative in comfort and peace, now she’s expected to live in a war zone. That’s terrifying that’s beyond every thing she did in her simple life, but she has no choice but to follow her new master into the unknown. Then things get even more tricky, she’s given to her master’s beloved companion Patroclus.

I imagine Iphis has the opposite of Briseis’s view on Patroclus, after all Briseis wasn’t the one forced to sleep with him. To Briseis Patroclus is her only comfort after her life fell apart, to Iphis Patroclus symbolizes when her life fell apart. Iphis sees the darker, less kinder side of Patroclus that the soldiers and other slaves in the camp don’t see as much, same as Briseis knowing Achilles at his worst.