Silpha

"The king is coming to kill me. There’s nothing I can do to stop him anymore. Take Sanacia and flee."

- Silpha, just before her assassination, to Paramythis

Silpha Veri Brontë (シルファ・ヴェリ・ブロンテ Shirufa Veri Buronte) was the 26th Apostle of Veria in the story of TearRing Saga: Berwick Saga. She was assassinated in the year 604 VAC, fourteen years before the game's events begin.

Profile
Silpha Brontë was born in approximately 577 VAC to the holy family of the Apostle descended from Aramgraz. At some point, she succeeded the previous Apostle, Lily Brontë, after the latter's death. She was married to Denimud, a captain of the Church of Veria's Order of the Shining Knights.

Despite being the Apostle, Silpha was rarely able to hear the voice of the goddess Veria, and so she was largely unable to guide the Kingdom of Veria with her oracles. Her powers only arose significantly after the birth of her and Denimud's daughter, Sanacia Fille Brontë, in the 6th month of 604 VAC. This arising of Silpha's powers coincided with the height of the Berwick Civil War, which had split the Berwick League into two factions after the assassination of the previous Verian king, Harmel VII, in 600 VAC. Crown Prince Arless had been arrested as the culprit, and he had committed suicide after confessing to the murder and leaving the kingdom to his brother Mordias in his suicide note. With the entire Berwick League shaken by these events, the question of succession to Harmel VII was hotly disputed, and two factions arose: one in favor of Mordias, and the other in favor of Arless's son Bernard. The dispute broke out into a full-scale civil war, during which Mordias's faction held the upper hand. By 604 VAC, Mordias had captured Bernard in person and nearly won the war.

However, after her daughter's birth and her powers' awakening, Silpha learned through an oracle that Harmel VII had not been murdered by Arless, but rather that Arless had falsely confessed to the murder in an attempt to prevent civil strife over the crisis of succession. Harmel VII's assassination had instead been a conspiracy by Pope Urbanus IV of the Church of Raze to spark a war in the Berwick League. After revealing this to the public, she sent an ultimatum to Mordias to make peace with Bernard's faction. Mordias agreed that in exchange for laying down his arms and releasing Bernard, Silpha would crown Mordias king. Silpha, having no reason to refuse (as Arless had left the succession to Mordias in his final note), agreed, crowning him Mordias IV, the 33rd King of Veria, in the 8th month of 604 VAC.

Despite this agreement, however, Mordias did not stop the war nor release Bernard, so Silpha threatened him with excommunication if he did not make good on his word. As this would also mean effectively stripping Mordias of his crown, Mordias showed remorse, and he begged at the Apostle's feet for her forgiveness. Silpha granted him a pardon, and their relationship seemed to be on the mend, but it was a ruse by Mordias. He leaked false information to the Shining Knights guarding the Apostle of an uprising in the Highland Duchy, and he had the Apostle assassinated in a manner falsely implicating the Raze Empire.

In her final hours, Silpha received her final oracle—that Mordias had sent assassins to kill her, and that it was too late to stop her own death. She ordered a young page-girl at the temple, Paramythis, to take her daughter Sanacia and flee to safety in the care of her husband Denimud. As Paramythis was the only one to know the truth behind the assassination, few believed her save for Denimud and the Shining Knights, who declared war on Mordias. This conflict, the Shining Rebellion, prolonged the period of civil war for several more years until Denimud's death in 607 VAC.

Etymology
The name Silpha may come from the term sylph, an alchemical term for a wind-spirit or air elemental. It may alternatively be a variation on the name Sylvia.

Veri may be a shortening of the name Veria, the goddess whom Apostle Silpha worshiped.

Silpha's surname, Brontë, is associated with a family of nineteenth-century English authors. The name is of Irish origin, but it is also often associated with the Greek word for "thunder," brontē, through folk etymology.