The public prominence of the Order Militant rose dramatically when the Great Schism occurred, a period wherein a faction within Eden Vital splintered from the main body, taking with it some of the Order's assets and resources and making further efforts to seize yet more. The Order thus found itself obliged to fight back, putting further and further strain on its available Militant forces, which despite their high degree of competency were never very numerous. Left with little choice, Eden Vital sought out new blood for their private army and found ample willing recruits from the newest conquest of the Holy Britannian Empire, Japan. New Japanese lay members, many discharged from the Imperial Britannian Armed Forces after completing their term of service, would go on to form entirely new orders of battle within Eden Vital's ranks. The first such would be named the Order of Our Martyred Lady, in honor of Her Imperial Highness Princess Euphemia li Britannia.
-On Humble Origins: The Order of Eden Vital
End Interlude
I've actually had this snippet ready to go for a while now.
I'm actually a bit surprised so many readers apparently were taken by surprise by Euphemia's death. Or it could just be that the surprised ones are the only ones vocalizing their reaction in the reviews. There were at least a few readers that gave the impression in the past they suspected this outcome might happen. Anyway.
With the stories I write, especially ones that hew more towards realism, it is often less a question of whether someone will die but more how many will die. My Calculus readers know just how high of a body count of even named characters I can reach, never mind the statistical deaths happening in the background. As such it is pretty much a certitude that Euphemia won't be the only death in this story, it's really just a matter of when and how for subsequent ones. And no one is immune.
With respect to Euphemia herself, the plan was not originally for her to die. When she was first introduced, I brought her in because I needed another hearts and minds oriented person on the Britannian side aside from Milly and Kallen, someone that could slot into some of the future roles previously speculated for Euphemia in the narrative itself. Kallen and Milly had been written in such a way that neither could become one of Japan's provincial lords despite their political standing, at least not without going through some major gyrations. Also a budding relationship with Suzaku, if structured in a more coherent manner than canon, would have provided further pretext for the role she was to be slotted into.
Unfortunately for Euphemia, a different use case for her arose, one requiring her death. Suffice it to say however, this use case only emerged well after I introduced Euphemia into the story, as an almost organic consequence of the developments she and other characters had already undergone. Those developments converged with one of the specific set-pieces I had been planning from the outset, and Euphemia was ultimately the one best suited to fulfill the resultant need.
This is why I say that no one is immune for the threat of getting killed off in my story, and I do mean no one. If events converge such that it actually makes narrative sense for a character to die, I don't have too much hesitation in pulling the metaphorical trigger and then wringing every lasting utility out of that death as I can.
Incidentally, here is the at present last image I commissioned relating to this series. The image itself was completed a while ago but as would be an obvious spoiler, I withheld it until now. Reconstruct the URL as indicated.
deviantart dot com slash z98 slash art slash Euphemia-the-Martyr-933961807
