Philanthropenos

Historically, the head of the dynasty was regularly bestowed with the position of megas doux and thus had firm control over the Graikonian Navy.

With the advent of industrialized shipbuilding and a paradigm-shift towards steam-propelled ironclad warships, the navy became more and more reliant on resources that could no longer be provided by the state, alone. In turn, the megas doux had to negotiate with imperially subsidized industrials to supply the fleet and maintain their projection of force across the Mesogeios and the economically crucial Suez channel in Egypt.

After a devastating defeat against the combined naval forces of Albion and Etruria during the Syrakian conflict in 1856, Gráikos was forced to severely cut down their fleet and also relinquish control over Cyprus.

More importantly for the house of Philanthropenos, the poor performance of the navy led to accusations of misconduct and corruption on the part of the megas doux. As a result, the title was formally abolished and full control over the Graikonian Navy returned to the Basileus himself for the first time in almost four hundred years.

This upheaval shook the entire dynasty of Philanthrepos to their core and effectively condemned the house to an existence on the fringes of Graikonian politics.

Eurydices parents were the first generation to feel the effects of the family's decline. Without imperial grants, they were forced to find another source of revenue to support themselves. Through several decades of arduous negotiations during the family's tenure as the nation's naval authority, they had witnessed the decline of nobility in favor of industrialism firsthand. As a consequence, the family used both their experience and business networks to set foot into a market they believed to be highly prospective.

Even though the usage of naval mines was still highly experimental at that time, the family invested their remaining fortune into exclusive contracts with suppliers of raw materials and several international engineers to develop a working prototype and present it to the Graikonian leadership.

Naturally, the presentation was met with scepticism and regarded as a futile attempt by the house of Philanthrepos to restore their fortune. However, the devastating effect one of the mines could have even on the largest capital ships quickly produced a large demand not only by the Gráikonian government, but also led to other countries trying to adopt what they called "modern Greek Fire". However, the house of Philanthrepos closely guarded the formula behind the explosives. Furthermore, the family had not forgotten past indignations both by competing nobility and the Basileus himself.

Eurydice's father, who had risen to become the new head of the house, was well aware that his family wouldn't be able to keep the priced formula forever. As such, he set several contingency plans in motion and heavily invested into further development of the Suez channel and thus hoped to secure a long-term stream of revenue.

However, tides of war once again put the ambitions of house of Philanthrepos to a test. Rising tensions over control of the Suez channel led to an armed insurgency in Port Thalassa. Even though the Gráikonian Government denied any involvement on their part in this incident, the fact that several sets of Gráikonian-made naval mines were deployed in the channel led to widespread international outcry and clearly painted the nation as the aggressor.

What started out as an incident quickly developed into a full-scale war. In the end almost every country with a access to the Mesogeios became involved, leading to the conflict being coined as Thalassian War and resulting into another devastating military defeat for the Empire of Gráikon.

As a result, the nation was forced to cede all of their colonies, including vital holdings in North Afrike. Furthemore, the Philanthrepos family became shunned domestically. The Gráikonian Government insisted that the mines deployed in the Suez channel were black-market products illegitimately sold by the supplier - the house in question.

An official inquiry was set to investigate this matter of affairs and find out the culprit. The inquiry's members never got to meet, however, as the political foundation of the country was shaken to the core, yet again.

This time, though, the issues were primarily of a domestic, albeit revolutionary nature. In the ensuing civil war, formally know as the Tyrannoktony, the house Philanthrepos was one of the first noble families to condemn the "rampant abuse of power" by the central government. As such, they are rumored to have supplied the revolutionary forces with both raw materials and military equipment.

Regardless of whether this holds true, the entire family was detained by the Gráikonian secret police and questioned for several weeks. The family's head formally confessed to supporting the insurgency through material means and was summarily executed by a firing squad.