Sephie of Meridian

Sephie of Meridian is a fictional character, the chief protagonist in CrossGen Comics' comic book series Meridian. Her name is a contraction of "Persephone".

• Sigil Location: Forehead

Plot synopsis

Sephie grew up on the floating island city of Meridian. She was the only child of the island's Minister, Turos. She befriended many of the craftsmen of the island, and learned much about building airships and sailing them.

One day, when Sephie was about 15 or 16, a strange raven appeared, granting magical Sigils to her father and uncle, Ilahn of Cadador. The sheer energy/power of the Sigil overwhelms and kills Turos, and it transfers to Sephie.

Ilahn arranges for someone to attack her, so he can stop them and earn her trust. As part of the same staged attack, the Minister's house is set aflame. Ilahn convinces Sephie that it is no longer safe in Meridian and ships her off to Cadador. She quickly escapes, steals aboard an airship, and heads back toward Meridian. However, she is intercepted by Cadadorian ships, and is knocked off, to the surface of the planet.

Miraculously, she survives the drop, and is taken in by Maraya, the Minister of Akasia, one of the surface cities. Once there, she is enslaved, and forced to use her abilities to help the city. Once again she escapes, coming across a logging community and later a mining city headed by Deren Beq. While there, she meets Ghetan, a strange man with orange eyes who very briefly takes on a mentor-like role for Sephie. The Muse of Giatan, another orange-eyed Mentor also appears to her.

Eventually, the loggers and miners (and others) build a skyship for Sephie, bearing her Sigil as its standard. They take off for Meridian, with Cotson the logger and Deren Beq among the crew.

Sephie and her crew take on the name "Pirates of the Wind," and begin to attack Cadadorian vessels, adding them to their small fleet, while slowly destroying Ilahn's trade controlling operations.

Ilahn, with the help of Rho Rhustane then holds an embargo on the city of Torbel, which requires constant import of ore to keep it afloat. It falls out of the sky, crashing into the ocean. He plans to make this city an example of the fate of any who oppose him. During the ensuing battle with Cadadorian forces, Sam Rey, a Sigil-Bearer from another planet entirely, appears in midair; she rescues him and he returns the favor by helping in the fight with Cadador. He vanishes shortly afterwards, but not before inspiring Sephie to think of other inhabited planets, and other Sigil-Bearers.

At the end of the battle, Rho Rhustane finally reveals himself to Sephie as one of The First. Against him, Sephie's Sigil flares red for the first time... and part way through their fight, Rho Rhustane vanishes, presumably returning to Elysia to report to Ingra.

Taking his airship, Sephie returns to Meridian, where she finds that Ilahn and Cadador have all but destroyed the island city. Meeting amongst the ruins of the Minister's house, Sephie and Ilahn clash directly and Ilahn is defeated. While it appears to onlookers as though she killed her uncle, she believes that he survives, having been mystically transported elsewhere.

Sephie then travels to Cadador to secure control of her uncle's island city.

She believes, at this point, that she can effect change from within, to purge Cadador of its corruption. However, in the end, this turns out to be a near-impossibility. Reesha Teramu seizes control of the island city, and exiles Sephie. She, in turn, decides that change must come from outside of Cadador, through uniting the other islands against it.

Some time later, after defeating a number of Sigil-Bearers sent by Ilahn to stop or kill her, she learned from one, Lord Biremma how to create Sigil-powered armor. Armed with this new ability; the knowledge that Jad Takarty (a friend of hers since childhood) is alive; and that Meridian is relatively safe, she flies off to join Danik and the other Sigil-Bearers in their fight against Charon (see Negation War).

References

• CrossGen Chronicles #s 1, 3. CrossGen Publishing, 2000.
• Meridian #s 1-44. CrossGen Publishing, 2000-2004.