Special Guest Blogger: Phrixus

I was born in the kingdom of Boeotia, son of King Athamas and his lovely wife, the cloud-shaped goddess Nephele who was the dream-girl who could summon clouds on demand while Athamas was a solid, if somewhat gullible, ruler who believed anything that glittered.
Enter Ino, the second wife, who entered my life with all the subtlety of a thunderbolt. She was a firebrand, a political operant and apparently had a very specific talent for turning family gatherings into dramas. When she decided that I (and my sister Helle) were a threat to her own children’s inheritance, she promptly commissioned a wicked scheme involving a cursed grain seed. The idea? Starve us to death, then blame it on a divine punishment.
My mother, who could have turned the whole scene into a fluffy white cloud of denial, was forced to flee the kingdom while Ino was setting up the first recorded instance of step-mother sabotage. From a mother who could conjure clouds to a step-mother who wanted to starve you, Greek families were the original drama queens.
When the kingdom’s wheat fields turned into a landscape of wilted ghosts, I found myself in a very precarious situation. The only way out? A ram that could literally fly and this was a golden ram, not a regular one. The fleece was shimmering and the horns were pure gold.
The ram appeared out of thin air (or maybe the gods—see below) and offered us the ultimate upgrade 'Hop on, folks, I’m headed to Colchis' and Helle, my sweet yet clumsy sister, leapt aboard first, full of excitement but i was more cautious.
The ride, however, was not the usual and a gust of wind threw Helle off the back. She fell into the sea, which was later named the Hellespont in her honor, a kind of ancient dedicated to the memory of.
I, on the other hand, clung to the ram’s fleece like a hamster to a plastic ball. The creature swooped over the Aegean, performed a few unasked for barrel rolls, and eventually dropped me on the shores of Colchis.
Colchis, as you may know, is modern-day Georgia and in my day, it was the hottest destination for heroic tourists with sun, sea, and a king who made sure no one left without a souvenir.
King Aeëtes, ruler of Colchis, greeted me with the same hospitality you’d expect from a host who just learned that a golden fleece has been gift-wrapped by a foreigner.
He was a man of refined tastes, he liked fine robes, solid gold thrones, and most importantly a golden ram as a tribute to his ancestral line. When I showed him the fleece left by the animal, Aeëtes accepted.
Now, I’m told that the Golden Fleece later became the centerpiece of the famous Argonautic Expedition with Jason and his merry band of misfits spending years hunting down the fleece, battling Harpies, and solving riddles that would make even modern escape rooms look like child’s play.
But let’s focus on me. My role in the whole saga? The first Golden Fleece supplier and then i settled down ro work as a Shepherd, Wine Merchant but settled on sitting on a hilltop, sipping fermented grape juice, and offering unsolicited life advice to passing travelers and became a footnote in Jason’s epic later quest.