Judith Deuteros

Judith Deuteros
Alias	The Captain Jody (by Crown)
Biography
Age	22
Place of Birth	Interstellar (Home: Trentham)
House	Second
Title	Captain Deuteros
Necromancy
Cavalier	Marta Dyas
Speciality	Energy Transferral
Affiliation
Allegiance	The Cohort
Status
Status	Alive
Physical Description
Gender	Female
Eye Color	Dark
Race	Tongan
General Build	Dark hair, with a slight necromancer's build

"'[The community] needs someone who can take command, end this, and send everyone back in one piece. Will you consider working with me?"

Judith Deuteros (DEW-ter-oss) is the Heir to the House of the Second and a Captain in the Cohort. Raised in the most military of all houses, she regarded it as her responsibility to maintain the law of the Cohort amongst the Lyctoral candidates.

Biography

Early Life

Judith was born interstellar, and due to her father’s position as the Fleet Admiral of the Cohort, spent some part of her childhood aboard Cohort ships. Because of this, at a young age she overcame the aptitude dyspraxia that some adepts struggle with in deep space, where they can no longer rely on necromantic backup for their actions. Additionally, Judith did not face the physical vitiation that some other necromancers faced, on account of the Second House’s signation thalergy transfer necromancy, which does not strongly affect the necromancer’s tissue. These circumstances allowed Judith to be a relatively robust child, for a necromancer.

At the age of nine, Judith accompanied her father on a visit to the Third House, where the young princess Coronabeth Tridentarius attempted to coax her into playing. Uptight even as a child, Judith mostly refused, but near the end of the visit, Coronabeth fell and pretended to be more hurt than she actually was. Ever the chivalrous soldier, Judith tried to help Corona by holding her hand and promising to stay with her until the end. The two maintained their childhood acquaintanceship over the years—Judith could always expect an invitation to Coronabeth and her sister’s birthday parties and other Third House balls, and she always received a bouquet of flowers from Corona as a celebration of her various military promotions.

Judith’s father took special interest in her military career, once even pulling rank to grant her special access to view an old Cohort ship. Encouraged by her father, Judith joined the Junior Cohort Territorials at eleven years old. By the time she was fourteen, she was commissioned to Second Lieutenant and attached to the shuttle Emperor's Dominion, where she first met Marta Dyas, her future cavalier. Marta’s skill and high ranking impressed the younger trainees, including Judith. Marta largely ignored this near-hero worship, and never gave Judith any preferential treatment on account of her father’s position, which only fanned the flames of her admiration. Their first meeting occurred when they were paired together for a training exercise, after which they discovered that they liked the same books. Judith, being overzealous in her attempt to befriend Marta, slightly exaggerated her interest in the books, then after the conversation rushed to reread them. A few months later, Judith requested Marta as her cavalier, despite her father’s skepticism that such a promising soldier would want to throw away her career on cavaliership. To Judith’s delight, Marta agreed to a trial period of one year, and the two began studying energy-transferal aptitude together.

By the end of the year, Judith had surmised that Marta “was everything a cavalier should have been.” The pair decided to move forward with the partnership, and when Judith was fifteen, Marta officially became her cavalier. Marta excelled as a cavalier, striving to fulfill her oath of “one flesh, one end.” She offered Judith much love, vulnerability, and thoughtful consideration. Judith was overwhelmed by this close relationship, to the point of falling deeply for Marta. At seventeen, she propositioned her cavalier, believing romance was a natural development between them. Marta, twenty-two and five years older than Judith, gently turned her down and offered immediate forgiveness for Judith’s misstep in their relationship. According to Judith, after that conversation she “didn’t err, ever again” in their relationship.  

At twenty, Judith was promoted to First Lieutenant and attached to the Behemoth-class ship Rigor, where she and Lieutenant Dyas headed a tactics unit and saw intergalactic action. Two years later, she was promoted to Captain and returned to Trentham for further training.

Upon receiving a summons from the Emperor, Judith assembled an intelligence report on the various scions and their cavaliers. She noted that she was interested in acquiring the first intelligence from the First House in three hundred years.

Before Judith’s departure to Canaan House, the Fleet Admiral asked her if she was ready to serve. She affirmed that she was.

Gideon the Ninth

Act I

Second House arrives with the others to Canaan House and disembarks without issue. Marta Dyas receives the iron key ring for their House. Judith listens to Teacher explain the task but does not participate in the conversation.

Act II

Judith's movements in the early days of Canaan House are almost entirely unknown. Though neither she nor Marta discovered the Facility and the necromantic puzzles therein, she is seldom seen by other parties around the House—except occasionally at meals.

Judith Deuteros attends Abigail Pent and Magnus Quinn's anniversary dinner party and appears to have a conversation about her military history with an unknown party.

Act III

Judith and Marta descend to the Facility for the first time to participate in the attempt to raise Abigail and Magnus, but Gideon does not remark on in what way. At some point, they excuse themselves and fetch Teacher, who quickly demands that everyone return upstairs. It takes nearly an hour for all the people (and bodies) to be hoisted up the Facility ladder, sorted out, and given tea. Once everyone has gathered, Judith is quick to attempt to seize control of the situation. She argues that they must call in the Cohort to handle the murder investigation, a claim that Teacher fiercely opposes (citing the sacred rule forbidding off-planet communication from Canaan House).

Teacher also calls into question Judith's assessment of the incident as a "murder," claiming that "murder is done by the living" and that he has informed everyone with a key that the Facility is "the most dangerous place in the system." Stubbornly, Judith insists on calling the Cohort, so Coronabeth Tridentarius stands up to her, coaxing her to remember that most of the people in the room have grown up together. The issue is dropped, and the Second House remains silent except to accept Palamedes Sextus' invitation to join him as he conducts an investigation of the bodies.

The next day, Judith and Marta are drinking coffee when Coronabeth attempts to secure a hatch key from Teacher. Second stays out of the conversation until Palamedes offers to escort Corona down himself. Judith questions his motives, as he has said the Lyctor puzzle cannot be solved communally, but he claims this offer is harmless. Coronabeth blatantly bribes Palamedes with money, knowledge, or connections if he will help her get the same keys Ianthe has, and insults the Second's wealth when Judith protests. Palamedes reveals there is only one key for each room and only one or two keys left to be claimed.

Coronabeth insists that this means the teams are destined to work together. However, Teacher re-iterates his sermon from the first night in Canaan House-- "What I mean is, there is no law. [...] I have given you your rule, and there are no others. Some things may take you swiftly down the road to Lyctorhood. Some things may make the row harder to plough."  Judith and Marta are horrified and uncomprehending at the fact both Imperial law and natural law hold no ground here. The two head for the cold-larder-turned-mortuary to search the bodies of Abigail and Magnus for any keys they might have earned before their death. As they leave empty handed, they bump into Palamedes and quarrel when he refuses to join them in their attempts to bring order to Canaan House. The quarrel nearly comes to a duel, but Judith calls Marta off and the two leave.

After Dulcinea Septimus is found collapsed on the garden terrace and Protesilaus has gone missing, all of the guests are counted and brought to see the ashes from in the incinerator. Teacher explains he has organized a search of the house, and asks the guests to check their own rooms. Judith suggests that Protesilaus was killed for his laboratory keys, but Silas Octakiseron returns with the Seventh House keys-- confirming that none of the laboratory keys were taken. As she does not trust the keys were given willingly, Judith demands that Silas hand them over to her safekeeping as a representative from the Cohort. Silas refuses, and Judith announces her intent to take on the responsibility of ending this chaos. Surprisingly, she does not challenge Silas, but rather Palamedes and Camilla.

"This is where the tendon meets the bone. This--key hoarding--cannot continue. I told you before that the Second House would take responsibility if nobody else had the stomach for it. That begins now."

Camilla proves to be a much more formidable opponent than anticipated, fighting with a vicious speed and skill. She dislocates Marta's arm, and slams her to the table forcing Judith to call mercy. Camilla wins the duel, although she does not walk away unscathed-- Marta has stabbed her in the forearm. Palamedes demands (and receives) Judith's hatch key for the victory. Naberius, prodded by Ianthe, takes this opportunity to challenge Camilla himself, but Ninth and Fourth come to Camilla's defense and the challenge is withdrawn. Angry and suspicious of each other, Second, Third, and Eighth go their separate ways.

Act IV

The remaining postulants gather in Dulcinea's sick room. With Protesilaus' decapitated head in hand, Palamedes proposes that Protesilaus has been dead since before he arrived on First and has been reanimated by flesh magic called the beguiling corpse-- which Dulcinea confirms. Judith stays quiet until Silas seeks to "mete out the justice of the tome" for "performing a necromantic act of transgression." She points out that Dulcinea is already confined to her room and dying, and thus no danger to them. Judith also prevents Harrow from claiming carrion rights, insisting any inspection of the bones must be done in the morgue, and requests that they are given permission to contact Seventh House and inform them of the state of their scion. She and Marta leave together when they are denied off-planet communication.

Judith and Marta locate a communication room in the priests wing of Canaan House and attempt to send an SOS when they are intercepted by Teacher. Proving to be much more powerful than he appeared, he blocks their efforts to restrain him. Marta attempts disabling force, and Teacher destroys her eye. Judith and Marta work together to fatally wound Teacher, but Marta dies in the process. Judith sustains grave injuries, but is successful in contacting The Emperor himself. Sixth and Ninth find her there, and she recounts her story. Palamedes informs her that he cannot save her, and she asks to be left where she is with a sword. She is nowhere to be found after the final battle with Cytherea and the arrival of God.

As Yet Unsent

Following the Battle of Canaan House, the insurgent group Blood of Eden (BOE) captures Judith Deuteros, Camilla Hect, and Coronabeth Tridentarius. Taking the body of Gideon Nav with them, they successfully leave the First House without drawing the notice of the Emperor or Cohort. The three captives are pronounced dead to their Houses.

Still gravely wounded from her fight with Teacher, Judith is operated on by the Edenites, who replace her stomach and bowel with nonorganic implants. Under Camilla’s direction, BOE takes them to a thanergetic planet to allow Judith to necromantically assist in her own surgery. Despite these efforts, Judith suffers multiple infections and remains weak.

Initially the three captives are imprisoned together, with BOE providing their meals. Judith surmises that this tactic is an attempt to ingratiate the prisoners to their captors, a tactic which works on Coronabeth. Camilla is largely uncooperative with BOE until Commander We Suffer begins sharing information about BOE’s past dealings with the Sixth House. As Camilla and Corona begin to convert to the Edenite cause, they are removed from confinement, though Camilla is issued an electric security anklet. Judith fiercely resists her fellow captives’ radicalization, taking every opportunity to remind them of their duty to the Houses and the Emperor. She admits that attempting to argue with Camilla is a nonstarter, but she argues often and vigorously with Coronabeth about Blood of Eden’s beliefs and grievances with the Nine Houses.

Around five months into Judith’s captivity, Blood of Eden takes them from spaceflight to a ground encampment on a thalergetic planet. With so little thanergy present, Judith is not able to necromantically heal herself, but she is able to begin covertly keeping a record of her captivity, which she necromantically hides in a subdermal implant. Due to her persistent injuries, Judith is disabled and largely immobile, though she is allowed to venture outside in a wheelchair, so long as she is handcuffed and accompanied by Coronabeth or Camilla. On these outside trips, Judith and the princess continue to bicker.

Blood of Eden takes Judith—sedated and handcuffed—to an outdated Cohort ship that has a stele onboard. They demand to know how to use the stele. Judith initially refuses, but acquiesces when they threaten Camilla’s life and informs the Edenites that the stele requires the blood of at least three necromancers. Unsatisfied with her answer, BOE attempts to power the stele with deoxygenated blood, which fails. Blood of Eden tries to interrogate more information out of Judith, but she refuses to say any more. Judith resolves to die before Blood of Eden can use her to operate the stele, and she asks her fellow captives to kill her, to no avail.

In an attempt to protect Camilla from BOE’s wrath, Judith tries to convince her to stop carrying Palamedes Sextus’s bones. While Camilla is treating her for bed sores, Judith tells her the story of how she met Marta Dyas, how she fell in love with her, and how her cavalier turned down her advances. Judith explains how this taught her that a necromancer-cavalier relationship should be complementary, not codependent. She cautions Camilla against “an obsessive fusion of halves” and tells her that carrying the Warden’s bones is “an empty remembrance.” Camilla leaves.

Soon after, Blood of Eden forbids the treatment of Judith, and only allows Coronabeth as a visitor, who commands Judith to live. In a moment of weak clarity from her feverish delirium, Judith reminisces with Coronabeth about their childhood friendship, and then they argue about Judith wanting to die. To Judith’s dismay, by the time of her next report her life has been saved by an unnamed Lyctor (recognizable to the reader as Mercymorn). The Lyctor regrows Judith’s intestines, instructs BOE to keep Judith weak, and provides the means for the Edenites to operate the stele so long as Judith is at the controls.

Judith’s last entry is in preparation for leaving the planet on the stele-capable ship. On a final walk around the camp, Coronabeth and Judith come upon the corpse of Gideon Nav, which remains unchanged even all these months later. Corona confesses to taking Gideon’s rapier in the aftermath of the battle at Canaan House. Seized by a fit of desperation, Corona offers the sword to Judith, begging to become a cavalier once again. Judith isn’t tempted by the offer, and rejects it. Claiming to have already committed the sin of desire for one cavalier, she has no intentions of committing it again, especially considering the fact that she has already desired Coronabeth Tridentarius for “twelve long, stupid, fruitless years.”

Harrow the Ninth

Two Months Before the Emperor's Murder

Judith, Camilla, and Coronabeth track Harrowhark Nonagesimus to an isolated, uninhabited planet where she is completing a mission for the Emperor. Coronabeth watches over Judith while Camilla seeks out Harrow's assistance to locate the revenant of Palamedes Sextus. Camilla returns a while later with an unconscious Harrow and shares whatever explanation Harrow has offered in her letter about her amnesia with Judith and Coronabeth.

When Harrow wakes, she sees Coronabeth and Judith and, after reading two letters (1, 2) to herself, necromantically seals their jaws shut. Seizing her only opportunity to rebel against the Blood of Eden, Judith attempts to warn Harrow of a traitor amongst the Emperor's inner circle. Curious, Harrow unlocks their jaws, however, Coronabeth covers Judith's mouth and drags her back into the shuttle before she can get out more than a few words. Judith attempts to communicate with Cohort hand signals, but Harrow does not know them.

Appearance and Personality

Gideon describes Judith as thus:

"Now they sat ramrod-straight and resplendent in their Second-styled Cohort uniforms, all scarlet and white. They both affected the same tightly braided hairstyle and abundance of gilt braid, and also the same serious-business expression. They were only distinct because one wore a rapier and the other quite a lot of pips at her collar."

Judith has a rather snobbish personality. Raised in the heart of the Cohort, she believes her rank and credentials afford her a level of respect and command without having to prove herself or gain her peers trust. Her way of thinking is impossibly pragmatic and structured, and she has difficulty accepting any limits to the Cohort's reach or power. She is not intentionally off-putting or rude, but her automatic assumption of her own importance puts off many of the other Houses.

Relationships

Marta Dyas

Judith served with Marta for eight years, with a formal cavaliership relationship for seven. Judith had known of Marta before then, as she was an object of interest among all the trainees. They first partnered on Dominion when Marta's partner was out with an injury. When Judith's father approached her with a list of probable candidates for Cavalier primaries, she suggested Marta Dyas. Her father, taken aback, was surprised and told her Marta would likely reject the offer and that she would likely prefer an extramural career. Dyas, however, agreed to a one-year trial. The trial was successful, and Marta became Judiths cavalier. At the time, Judith was 15 and Marta was 20.

Judith's admiration of Marta grew during this time. In As Yet Unsent, Judith states:

Lieutenant Dyas was everything a cavalier ever should have been, and in her private life thoughtful, considerate, insightful. Everything she did, she did well. Everything she didn’t do well she threw herself against so that she could do it better, or understand her weaknesses... She loved music. She was an excellent dancer. She never took a seat when we were enduring a Fifth or Third ball. And she never let weakness master her.

Eventually, at 17, enamored with Marta, Judith attempted to make their relationship romantic. Marta rejected her. Judith and Marta moved on quickly, and their relationship returned to professional close friendship. Judith quickly arrived at the conclusion it was for the best, and that the codependence that could have come from a romantic union would have been dangerous.

In her Cohort Intelligence Files, Judith describes Marta as:

"The basis of my representation is made upon Lieutenant Dyas' skills as well as my birth, the equation being the sum of our two parts." 

It is clear that the two women have a strong and loyal bond. They are professional and formal, but it is clear they have an implicit trust that goes beyond the bounds of her service.

When Judith believes Marta is dying, she is quick to attempt to redirect help towards Marta. When she is informed Marta is dead, she remains straight faced and calm, but refuses to leave the room and states "I won't leave her now... nobody should ever have to watch their cavalier die."

Coronabeth Tridentarius

Judith grew up seeing Coronabeth and Ianthe regularly, as the Second House frequently attended Third House functions. Coronabeth in particular was fond of Judith, and tells her in As Yet Unsent that every year their parents would only let them invite one person to their birthday parties, and Corona always chose Judith. Judith responds by stating that she thought the parents were the ones who wrote the invitation.

This generally seems to represent their relationship - Corona is, as Nona perceives, in love with Judith, but Judith seems unable to recognize the depth of Corona's feelings.

Corona offers Judith to be her cavalier, but Judith refuses. Although she does not tell Corona why, she had already been through the pain of being with one Cavalier she desired, and she could not accept Corona as a cavalier only to be forced to do it again.

Trivia

• Judith is named for the widow who beheads Holofernes in the Book of Judith. Muir also mentions the Book of Deuteronomy being "a very didactic text."