Macaria is the only child of Hades and Persephone (“Seph”), King and Queen of the Underworld. Though initially reluctant to have a child, Hades conceded at Seph’s insistence, and Maci was born in the fall, about a century after they had first been married. Arrangements were made with [[Demeter]] to allow a temporary exception to the Pomegranate Agreement that dictated Seph’s seasonal location, permitting her to remain fulltime with baby Maci and Hades in the Underworld until Maci’s 5th birthday. For 5 years, the three of them were a close-knit family, and the little Princess, first of her title in the kingdom's history, was showered with unbridled love and attention from her parents and their subjects. She was a hyperactive and bubbly toddler fast accustomed to having everything she ever wanted, with everyone wrapped around her fingers all the time.

When Maci was 5 and this arrangement ended, she began to travel with her mother each spring/-summer season to stay with her and Demeter during the traditional six-month span. Persephone and Demeter’s springtime cottage was a very different setting than thewhat gothicMaci kingdomwas thatused baby Maci called hometo – for one thing, each of the nymphs, led by the obnoxious crusade of Demeter herself, tried their hardest to convert Maci into the Olympian light. Already upset at having to leave her regular life and her father behind for no reason, Maci did not take kindly to this. The attempts to turn her against her dad and her home combined with Maci's misery at being uprooted turned theThis first year of her spring-summer presence intowas a six-month battle between a loud and moody 5-year-old Underworld Princess and her intensely condescending Olympian-bred grandmother.

For the next five years, Maci continued to travel with her mother seasonally., Herand spring-summereach sessionsseason werewas spent in increasing hostility, a combination of: Demeter’s typical nonsense coming up against Maci’s short-tempered predisposition. Armed with the rage of a spoiled princess and actual literal pyrokinetic superpowers, Maci reacted to her grandmother’s mistreatment and the general judgment of the Olympians around her by acting out a reign of terror: picking fights, fighting back, and setting things on fire. Meanwhile, autumn-winter time back home was enjoyed as a life of luxury, doted upon by her reunited parents, and spending time with her closest and only friends, twins [[Hypnos]] and [[Thanatos]]. When Maci was 10 years old, Seph petitioned Demeter to allow Maci to make an active decision on whether she would prefer to continue travellingtraveling seasonally or stay fulltime in the Underworld. MaciBy chosethen, toDemeter remainhad long since given up on ever taking her in theas Underworldan Olympian, and was beyond relieved to be rid of the little brat when Maci obviously chose to remain home where her perfect Princess life and friends were.

During the first spring that she spent home, Maci was instead confused to suddenly discover that the springtime version of her father was shut down completely, and he had not chosen to invite her in. Rather than bonding to cope with the absence of Persephone from the Underworld together, Hades instead decided to ice Maci out, and retracted himself from her both emotionally and in presence. Daily, Maci found herself mostly alone within the halls of their palace, and her interactions with her father were short and cold. Reeling from this abandonment, Maci found comfort in the arms of [[Hypnos]] and [[Thanatos]], who by this point had been her best friends for the past four years of her life...

With Hades pulling away during this first year, Maci pushed closer to Thanatos and Hypnos, spending even more time than usual with them at the [[House of Nyx]]. Hades grumbled some disapprovalsdisapproval that Maci would interact even tangentially with Nyx’s ridiculous tangle of offspring – but he allowed her to do as she wished without any real interference, perhaps grateful to have her out of the way. His aloofness frustrated Maci to no end, and even more so when Seph returned that autumn like nothing was wrong. Unwilling to “ruin” the somewhat normalcy that had finally come back with her parents reunited, Maci didn’t mention the past six months.

When her mother left again the next year and Hades withdrew once more, Maci’s frustrations skyrocketed within the first few weeks of spring and turned into rage. She quickly realized that Hades noticed her again only when she was acting out, and Thanatos, who had been observing the fracture forming since last spring and sensed an opportunity to make it worse, encouraged Maci to continue picking fights with her father to get the attention she craved. Hades was temperamental to begin with and was growing more irritated with Maci's behavior... personality, and presence, day by day. He fell for the bait she laid each time when she instigated arguments, and by the age of 11, Maci had decided that the best and only way to interact with her father was by provoking him into yelling at her, for otherwise he refused to give her the time of day. Once again, when Persephone returned in the fall, the toxic environment Hades and Maci were constructing together snapped back to the illusion of peace. A silent decision was made to play nicely together in Seph's presence, but still Maci became a little louder, a little cockier, a little meaner, knowing that Hades would never engage while his wife was home. By the time Seph left again and Maci was 12, the situation continued to worsen. Maci made it a point to be as difficult as possible while interacting with her father, and Hades never questioned why, only bickered immaturely back.

Maci never saw her again. He was dating another girl by the next year, [[Hesychia]], “Hess,” the mute Goddess of Silence, and soon took residence with her in one of the cave constructed homes of [[Tartarus]]. Maci resumed anguishing jealously in the background, made all the harder by the fact that she was spending nearly every waking moment with Thanatos and Hypnos (and now Hess, always silent, looking more haunted by the day). Maci, now age 14, could not stand to be in the same room as Hades. The palace shared by just the two of them sat with uncomfortably tense silence, only ever broken by screaming arguments that usually ended in Hades throwing her out of the palace, or Maci storming out of her own accord, either way ending up with the twins in Nyx's house or at [[Thanatos’ cave]].[[File:Hessthanmaci.png||thumb|link=https://64.media.tumblr.com/675d1dfba5e50d7bedaf42041cdc1e13/bd2beba9260775ea-86/s1280x1920/fb63723d25c7a1302a8b88053e816ea12bba5dfd.png|Hess & Thanatos, both age 19, and Maci, age 14.]] She would slink back days later and repeat, even moodier from Thanatos’ continued relationship with Hess. The following year, with Maci now 15, Seph came home and for the first time, the simmering tension between her husband and daughter was too great to hide. ThoughShe was overall disturbed and stunned by this shattered relationship coming out of “nowhere”, though she felt Maci’s outrageous attitude was blatant even to her (and in Seph’s eyes, Hades could do no wrong, despite clearly being in the wrong), she was overall disturbed and stunned by this shattered relationship coming out of nowhere. Trying to mediate between both sides without picking a side, Seph orchestrated an offering of peace on hers and Hades’ behalf, authorizing construction on a palace of Maci’s own in the subsection of the Underworld that belonged to Maci herself, the Elysian Fields, land of the blessed dead. It had been long proven that giving Maci presents usually kept her satisfied.

SomethingBy now, something inside Maci was cracking, or it already had. She was 16 years old and living in active hostility with a father who despised her openly when he wasn't pretending she didn't exist, a mother who was somehow choosing to stay neutral between them – this life now was an echo of the turmoil her grandmother had put her through when she was a younglittle childkid. Part of her yearned to viciously lean into the perception of her created by her own family, and she did this when she traipsed the kingdom of the Underworld clutching her title of Princess like an obnoxious shield. But there was a part of her inside that was beginning to claw in desperation with a frantic, anxious need to be loved, ''really'' loved, and actually ''seen'' by someone, anyone. This feeling continued to simmer under her skin. She could not bring herself to enter the Elysium palace even once the dust settled from hers and Hades’ fight, as the thought of its halls suddenly felt too utterly empty for her to bear being alone inside it. Maci began to fear that Hypnos and Thanatos, particularly Thanatos, who she adored more than anyone, would only ever see her as a child tagging after them. When Thanatos and Hess broke up (a relationship longer than his normally were, though she too disappeared after their split) and Maci’s friendship with him only continued the same as ever, her anxieties increased.

==Ages 17 to 20... Thanatos. ==

Maci was now 17, and was being eaten alive by gnawing desperation, but she’d circled back to reminding herself that at least she was pretty. She realized that thisThis was something thatshe felt she could cash in on while she waited for Thanatos to realize she was available.

SheWithout did not telltelling anyone what she was planning, and that winter, Maci gathered together an insane sort of press conference in the Underworld toand announceannounced to the crowd gathered that she was willing and ready to have sex with anyone who would have her. The crowdaudience of Chthonic entities did not actually seem to mind the thought of taking the virginity of a teenager clearly in the midst of a manic breakdown, but Maci's announcement was at first met with silence and hesitation, for if this was some sort of trap laid by the royal family, surely anyone who touched her would be subject to the wrath of the King and Queen. While they were slowly realizing that Maci was in fact completely serious - though again, clearly, in the middle of some sort of episode - Maci's flirty speech was interrupted by Thanatos.

Thanatos was always discreetly monitoring Maci for his own ulterior motives and he had been in the crowd that had formed. He was alarmed – not over Maci’s visibly waning mental health in this moment, but merely at the thought of the“the ultimate prizeprize” he had spent so much time carefully shaping and grooming giving herself away to anyone who wasn’t him. and quickly decided onOn the spot, Thanatos decided that he couldn’t risk anything or anyone getting in the way of everything he'd planned for years, seizingand seized the opportunity.

Maci and Thanatos began to date, and Thanatos insisted they continue as an open relationship to allow Maci to meet her goal of sleeping with as many people as possible. The sex addiction that would follow Maci for the rest of her eternal life well into the present day (and never resolved) began here, as she was instantly intoxicated by the rush of endorphins and easy attention that came with. Meanwhile, Hypnos acted weirder than he ever had now that Maci and Thanatos were together, perhaps, in Maci's opinion, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She chalked it up to jealousy (at Thanatos’ expert assessment) and paid him no mind.

A few days later, Maci was with Thanatos when out of nowhere his mood turned uncharacteristicallysuddenly cruel, and he began to neg her with sharp barbs and personal insults. Maci was successfully triggered into anger, her emotion-fueled powers setting ablaze again. But this time Thanatos was ready, armed with a theory he had been working his way up to testing: immortal deities did not need oxygen to function – ''but fire did.'' He strangled her until the fire went out, and Maci found herself choking literally beneath him, in a state of shock as Thanatos assumed the upper hand. As he finally dropped all his pretenses, Maci at last met the real Thanatos.

Maci couldn’t process the cruelty that was being inflicted upon her by her best friend, the love of her life, the only fucking person who had ever seemed to care about her. In fact, Thanatos seemed to enjoy reminding her that there ''was'' no one else beyond him. It was springtime by now, and Hades was not about to notice that anything was amiss in Maci's personal life. It was the time of year that Hades hardly noticed she even ''existed.'' When Thanatos began to wield his scythe against her too, Hades did not givespare a second glance at the gory slashes Maci barely hid, proving Thanatos smugly right.

But though she was horrified to admit it, during these early months Maci was still in love with Thanatos, and she also couldn't stomach the thought of solitude. She was crippled by a fear of abandonment that had festered and grown by this time in her life. Thanatos plied her with niceties and the attention she craved, taking pleasure in the way he could easily dictate the rise and fall of Maci’s hopes, and she remained wrapped miserably around his fingers even when his faux kindness turned viciously cruel. She told herself over and over that at least he was better than no one. He also wasn't actually keeping her prisoner in the formal sense, and the terms of their open relationship still stood. Publicly, Thanatos still acted as the Underworld's darling, and they both knew no one would believe her if she tried to tell anyone what was happening. In her spare time, Maci numbly took solace in endless random sexual escapades, grasping after any fleeting moments of pleasure and affection that she could manifest.

This all went on, andthough by the next year, Maci age 18, her adoration for Thanatos had at least finally faded. Maci was far from the docile plaything that he was trying to force her into being, and she found the indignant energy to snap back; verbally, physically. Thanatos could overpower her every time, and iteverything was worse when he was angry, but she felt that it was worth something to piss him off, at least. The gravity of the nightmare she was living in began to sink in whenever Maci was alone with her thoughts, so she did everything she could to avoid ''ever'' being alone. When she was not with him, she distracted herself by seducing anyone across the Underworld, building a new reputation for herself that she felt vaguely proud of. She spent all of her time in random beds or with Thanatos and was rarely at her home palace - and whether or not her parents noticed that she was a touch more withdrawn, a touch angrier, a touch cagier; whether they had heard the rumors about her activities; Maci never knew, as neither of them ever addressed her about it.

She also spent more time with Hypnos. He had always been a part of Maci’s life as her second best friend, but it was only now with the first spot open that Maci really started to noticepay legitimate attention to him. Eventually at Maci’s insistence, Hypnos admitted to her the scale of which Thanatos had been terrorizing him for their entire lives. He also confessed that he’d suspected Thanatos’ plans for her and regretted that he hadn’t tried harder to get her (or anyone prior) away from him before it was too late. Maci was stricken with the realization that Hypnos had been truly at her side while she had taken him for granted. Bonding through their mutual abuse, they began to lean on each other more and more when Thanatos was not looming over their heads. Eventually, Maci pushed their deeply trauma-bonded friendship into something more, and Maci and Hypnos began to date, secretly, behind Thanatos' back.

Gods cannot die, and even what would normally be considered a grievous injury could eventually knit back together in some way over time. In unimaginable pain, barely even able to speak, Maci ''was'' now left as prisoner tossed within Thanatos’ Tartarus cave, though he did not come or go and had whisked Hypnos away with him. Maci’s worst fear was to be alone, after all, and this was a punishment. The wound Thanatos had slashed into her healed tortuously slowly - when it was eventually “healed” enough for Maci to collect herself and leave, she disguised the horrific injury with a scrap of black fabric torn from her own chiton, tied around her throat like a choker. This black choker accessory would become part of her signature look forever, eventhrough longthe aftermodern theday - though today that scar onis heronly necknoticeable hadunder close scrutiny, faded from time.

Hypnos had never stood up to Thanatos before, but he knew that he could not let ''this'' happen. As Thanatos cornered Maci alone to insist that she drink the glass he’d prepared for her, both Maci ''and'' Thanatos were equally shocked when Hypnos burst between them and shattered the poison in the nick of time. While Thanatos was frozen in disbelief, Hypnos breathlessly explained what had almost just happened to her... and Maci's state of disassociation flickered. No deity had ever ''died'' before. The sheer, insane, terrifying gravity of the Fate that Macishe had missed by mere seconds crashed upon her as a weight heavy enough to launch her back into her senses. Then Thanatos snapped back into his senses, too.

He descended into an unhinged frenzy of rage and obscenity and lunged forto hack violently at Hypnos, who was instantly overtaken. ScreamingThe obscenitiesscene asunfolded hebefore summonedher hisin scythewhat fromfelt thelike ether,slow Thanatosmotion. hackedStaring atfrozen himin violently and at firstshock, Maciit was toohere shocked to act, the scene unfolding before her in slow motion. Slowlythat it dawned on herMaci what was happening and had happened; what Thanatos was doing to Hypnos and had done; what Thanatos had just tried to do to her; ''everything that Thanatos HAD done to her'';. againAgain she was snapped back to sudden reality. Maci, shoving down the fear that had consumed her for the past threefew years, forced herself between the twins and exploded.

All ofThough Thanatos' usually careful calculated graces and techniques were out the window. He was in such an uncharacteristic state of wild madness that instead of trying to extinguish her, he only redirectedredirecting his scythe wildly as Hypnos stumbled out of reach. But, Maci was now fueled by morealmost than threefour years of her own stifled fury, and she fended him and his scythe off as a blazing inferno. The feeling of resigned acceptance she'd felt she had no choice but to settle into was gone; the opportunity to escape was here and now, otherwise she and Hypnos would both perish. Successfully forcing Thanatos back, Maci urged Hypnos to flee to the palace and bring back help. He returned with Persephone, who only understood what Hypnos had been trying to frantically explain in the throne room once she saw the scene of violence still unfolding. Infuriated, she peeled Thanatos off her daughter with an endless cascade of vines summoned from the underearth. The veneer of normalcy Thanatos always put on in front of everyone was ''shattered,'' completely gone even in front of the Queen herself, and he howled and fought as he was restrained. Restraining Hypnos too for good measure, Seph rushed to Maci, who now extinguished and collapsed.

Maci had chafed at the fact that her word alone was not enough for her father to unconditionally support her, but by the end of this conference, it was still clear that something needed to be done, and all eyes turned to Lord Hades to announce the punishment that Thanatos should face. But Hades suddenly seemed troubled in a different way, and after a period of terse silence, he unexpectedly requested to speak to Maci alone. He sent everyone out of the throne room and Maci, with some anxiety, faced her father one on one.

The absolute minimal level of care was provided to her; they were unable to take revenge on Zeus directly and retaliated against him by dealing with Melinoe in a cold, neglectful way. It was uncharacteristically cruel of Seph in a way she usually was not, but armed this time with the full wrath of a slightedwronged goddess she couldcouldn’t not bring herselfcare to careless. These actionsHades, however, werewas more inquite linecomfortable with Hades’casual typical way of beingcruelty, and he insisted that Seph withdraw andto allow him to be Melinoe’s primary caretaker (or lack thereof). Hades kept her in the Underworld year-round as Seph resumed her seasonal travels. Meanwhile Maci watched the neglect of her baby half-sister unfolding, but she tooalso did notdidn’t bat an eye. Firstly, Maci, (who was quick to anger anyway,) was holding a grudge against Olympus along with her parents, and, like them, was projecting upon the baby. Second of all, Maci’s memory of her own childhood was of being kept at emotional arms-length anyway ( - her earliest years of normalcy were forgotten and buried under the abuse she’d suffered),. Assessing the situation with judgmental and shebiased felteyes, thatin Maci’s wellopinion, Melinoe was not being ''harmed'' – just not ''loved.''

Hades watched Maci suspiciously, unbeknownst to her. ''He'' knew that how he was choosing to handle Melinoe was wrong – but he didn’t know if Maci would realize it, as she was recovering from the Thanatos debacle and still on edge from being deprived of all socialization. He feared that if Maci decided that she could connect with Melinoe over their shared mistreatment ''by him'' that they could unite against him. He had not shared with Maci the details of Melinoe’s mysterious prophecy, either – the gist of which stated that Melinoe would grow to become either the embodiment of all goodness, or the manifestation of all evil, but just one, and only time would tell which. As Melinoe grew into toddlerhood Hades bit back bile and extended an olive branch to Maci, softening his demeanor to her completely -. Maci by this point was so fragile that she did not think twice, and leapt at the opportunity to finally warmly reunite with her dad.

For Hades’ course of action was to make Maci complicit in Melinoe’s neglectful abuse. Melinoe was a bizarre child. Even as a newborn, she never cried and hardly slept, and as she got older, she never spoke; she just stared all day at her caretakers with her huge blue eyes. Even though Melinoe was inoffensive, Hades encouraged Maci to be cruel to her. Maci did not want to lose her father’s sudden approval, and gleefully participated, at his goading, as her kid sister’s bully. WhenOnce Melinoe learnedbecame how toa walktoddler, she took to following Maci or Hades all around, andtrailing behind them like a ghost, haunting the hallways they walked. theirTheir actions escalated from shooing her away to even locking her out of sight within the palace. Sure, Maci should have known better, and… she kind of did; but she told that voice in the back of her head to shut up. The unhappiness of Zeus’ bastard child came second to Maci finally at long last getting to bond with her father and experience his remorse after all thateverything he had subjected her to. She convinced herself it was a necessary sacrifice to make., particularly since confronting the alternative was too difficult of a thought to entertain the guilt of.

For a total of eight years, Maci and Hades primarily were responsible for “raising” Melinoe – Seph wanted absolutely no part of her life, and refused to even interact with her. Through these eight years, Maci remained isolated from the world outside the palace with her father as her only companion, and through these years, Melinoe was consistently mistreated, but Maci and Hades' relationship seemed great. And then… that prophecy… [[File:origimelmel.png|thumb|left|link=https://64.media.tumblr.com/05e508736bc80d97a817a9d9996614cc/5049951510780ed6-d5/s1280x1920/c57f391dcef3fa8511476a657d682eed0b755ec9.png|Melinoe once the evil half of herself had taken over, the incarnation known colloquially out of universe as "OrigiMel."]]

Melinoe, a whole new person, addressed Maci - oh, shespeaking couldfor talkthe now.first She spoketime with a giggle, the smile ofand a childgiggle. plastered upon her face, and withIn her eight -year -old voice, she informed her big sister that she was now leaving to wreak violence and bloodshed upon the mortal world. She would never forgive Maci, or Hades and Persephone, for what they had done to her. When Maci moved to somehow stop her, the sheer force of the power that Melinoe now wielded sent her nearly flying across the room. She ''left'' and would begin her role as Goddess of Ghosts, Evil Incarnate – for the millennia that followed, she frequently pursued minor revenges upon Maci and the King and Queen, violences and horrors while using helpless mortals as pawns and props. Melinoe would actively re-enter Maci’s life after about 2,000 years had passed, now within the narrative of Elysium’s canon storyline.

One of the first things Maci did was reunite with Hypnos. He was overjoyed to see her, and that she seemed like she was doing okay. She too, waseach relieved to find Hypnosthe other in mostly one piece. HeHypnos shared with her that though Thanatos was unfortunately still around,usually andlurking stillover lurkedhis at Hypnos’ sideshoulder, buthe nowhad withbeen theforced truthto ofdial himback exposed,his heabuse hadsince atthe leasttruth thankfullyhad dialedbeen back the abuserevealed. Maci shared with him that for the past eight years she’d been raising her secret half-sister who had been born [[double-souled]] and was now running rampant within the mortal world as the embodiment of evil that Hades had forced out of her. (Surely Hades hadn’t expected her to ''actually'' keep that a secret). Catching up on all that they had missed since they had been separated, their meeting ended with an assessment of where ''they'' stood, as a couple and as friends.

They mutually agreed that their romantic relationship neededwas tolong over, and could never be endresumed. That romancerelationship had been born from a place of trauma and they both unequivocally felt that even the mere thought of havinggetting sex with the othertogether again would bewas too triggering. to Butconsider. However, they had been through too much together and known each other for so long that neither could bear the thought of losing the other permanently, and especially not because of the cruelties of Thanatos and Hades. Maci and Hypnos agreed to remain bestclose friends, and they did ever after.

Maci, though stifling the litany of trauma deep within herself, and doing so for the next two millennia, now considered herself to be fully freefreed.

Two thousand years of Maci reestablishing her libido and reputation in her kingdom, dating many other random shittyterrible people including the [[Lampad]] [[nymph]] [[Leuke]], and just generally becoming more ''Maci'' with time, would pass. And then... at long last.

AlwaysOn theJuly center31st, ofshortly attentionafter even unintentionallymidnight, Maci went into labor with Neo in the middle of her uncle [[Plutus]]’ wedding to [[Medusa]], givinggave birth to Neo that night shortly after midnight on July 31st. perfect Babybaby Neo, wasand perfect. Macishe and Tory were immediately in love with her. Introducing her to the rest of their palace family (with the advanced notice of Neo’s Touch of Death, they’d apotheosized their now-former-mortal friend Jesse to prevent any accidental untimely deaths), everyone else who met her was in love, too.

Reeling from this tidal wave, grappling already with the concurrent situation going on with Chal's presence, Maci's relationship with Neo suddenly became laced with a tension that had not been there before., Thisand this tension persisted fromover the timecourse Neoof wasthe 10following until she was almost 14 years oldyear. The logical sliver of Maci's brain was no match for the overwhelming cascade of triggered anxiety that consumed her, and against any better judgementsjudgments Maci found herself shut down and hollow, a bitter ghost of herself. Her deep-rooted anger was directed at Chal from a distance - but where Neo was concerned, Maci withdrew from her, hesitant about confronting the reality of her daughter's realm and terrified of lashing out at her. Neo had never been particularly clingy and was now occupying her time with Enya's weapon training, so she happened to remain oblivious of her mom's sudden distance for about six months until she began to pick up on what was aboutgoing 11on yearsbehind oldthe andscenes, realizedbarely allhidden atfrom onceNeo's howeyes. The way badly Maci cowered whenever Neo tried to share the details of how she'd spent her day was unmistakable - the cold numbness that had replaced Maci's normally warm personality was blatant. In an attempt to make her scythe less terrifying, Neo requested that Tory stylize it, bedazzling its handle in rainbow gems to separate it from Thanatos' black-handled scythe of legacy. When the project was complete, Maci would barely look at it. ASome yearmonths later, with Maci still withdrawing deeper into herself, Neo commissioned Loki to turn the scythe's blade bright purple, another attempt to lessen the comparison. Getting Maci to see the transformation was like pulling teeth - and it did not restore her to her former neatly compartmentalized but functioning self.