There was quite a good deal of turmoil in the Dodekatheon around the first century BCE, as the great culture that was Ancient Greece had been in decline for some time, and prior to that decline, worship of the Olympian Gods had begun to wane in favor of the new gods of Reason and Logic. At this point in the history of Greece where precious few heroes rose from the huddled masses - indeed, perhaps this is part of the reason Greece so easily fell to the advances of the Roman Empire. So enamored with their new gods of logic and reason, many of those born of the gods chose to turn away from their parents, disbelieving that such stories were even possible.
In this time of turmoil, when the gods were rather short on champions, a young priestess of Apollo who was dedicated to serving the Oracle at Delphi was found to be pregnant with twins - although the young woman claimed the father of the children was a priest of Apollo, neither of the two young men assigned to the temple matched the description of the young man she claimed to have been with. After giving birth to the twins - one boy, one girl - the young priestess retired into the general society in Corinth, taking advantage of the high status being a priestess of Apollo had given her. She set about quietly raising her children to venerate the old gods of Greece, despite the upheaval that came as the Roman Empire rose to power.
Xanthus and Juliana, as the twins were called, lead a relatively charmed life for the first 15 years or so. The pair was always charming to a fault, well spoken, polite, and respectful. It was quite rare to see one without the other, and they were often referred to as a single entity, rather than individuals. The adults around them were enamoured with the unusual children, and they were often doted on by their elders. The eve of their 16th birthday, the twins were chosen and prepared to be presented at the temple of Apollo, and to begin service as a priest and priestess at the Oracle at Delphi.
Dressed in travel clothes, the pair set out along the winding road to Mount Parnassus, leading a pure white yearling cow behind them, intended as a sacrifice to the Oracle. As their destination loomed before them, an unseasonable fog rolled in from the mountain, obscuring the path and cloaking the twins in an impenetrable curtain of white. From within the mist came a pair voices, whispering the twins names and apparently discussing their fate and what was to become of them. Hushed conversation about a promise, an oath made twenty years prior, and then silence.
From the low cloud cover emerged two radiant figures, speaking to each other in the same hushed tones as before. As they reached the frightened children, the two stopped their bickering, and smiled at Xan and Jul, which was not a very reassuring gesture, to be honest. The older pair revealed themselves to be the twin deities Artemis and Apollo, and that Apollo was the young priest their mortal mother had encountered all those years ago - he was their father. However, he had also promised his sister that the next time he begot a female child, that she would be able to claim the girl as her own child. Which, they explained to the dumbfounded children, was why they were both appearing to them in this way.
Artemis was to take Juliana to her temple on Delos, where she would be trained to serve as a priestess, while Apollo would take Xanthus onward to the Oracle of Delphi, where he would serve as a priest. Standing at the misty crossroads at the base of Mount Parnassus would be the last time Xanthus and Juliana would see each other for nearly a decade. For the first time in their lives, the twins were separated, and on their own.
On the anniversary of that fateful meeting, and tearful parting, both twins received word that there had been an attack on the small village in which their mortal mother had settled. From their respective temples, to which both had risen to positions of power within the organization, Xanthus and Juliana rushed to their childhood home, a small band of companions accompanying each of them. Upon their arrival, the two found the town to be little more than a smoldering ruin, littered with charred bone and scorched marble. Unable to identify the remains, the twins and their companions buried what remained of the city, marking the site with a series of white marble blocks salvaged from the site, engraved with the date. The twins did not return to their duties at their respective temples following the burial of their mother.
It did not take long for the fledgling band to track down those responsible for the slaughter - a growing cult venerating a titan avatar - and mete out harsh, swift revenge. Despite having been separated for a decade, Xanthus and Juliana worked perfectly as a team, often attacking as though they were a singular entity split into two forms. For numerous years, the twins led this small band of heroes, their numbers growing and shrinking as time went on and the others in the group fell in battle or moved on to other regions as their parents commanded.
Time marched on around the twins - bands formed and dissolved, friends were made and lost - they watched the rise of the Roman Empire, saw the decline of belief in their numerous gods, and the rise of belief in a new God. They remained a constant, physically untouched by the progression of time, although as everything changed and shifted, they were forced to adapt in a world that no longer believed in heroes like them. As they had witnessed its rise, so too did the Xanthus and Juliana witness the fall of the Great Roman Empire, watching in silent horror as the known world plunged into the Dark Ages.
In that dark time, many horrible things flourished, and Humanity as a whole fell into a seemingly unending despair. For those who still remembered the old ways, or dared to speak aloud about a time before the rise of Christianity, it was a truly dangerous period - many Scions of the old gods were captured, tortured, and killed. Horrendous plagues wiped out a majority of the population. Although they attempted to remain quietly inactive during this time, people from the surrounding villages sought them out, and word of Juliana’s knowledge of medicine, and Xan’s ability to predict future occurrences, spread throughout the land. Several of the miracles attributed to saints of the era can be linked to Xan and Juli, although they often deny such stories.
For well over 500 years following the last great plague and the death of the emperor Justinian - the twins remained in what was once the heart of Greece, quietly supporting those younger, more brash Scions. Occasionally they would handle a titan-spawned creature, or respond when one of the local towns was being preyed upon by something sinister, but they chose to aid others rather than taking the limelight for themselves. They aided the children of the Ancient Gods when possible, taking fledgling Scions under their wings and offering them training and guidance. Legend spread of a pair of twin archers, unaging and constant, but it was so often dismissed as just that - a legend. Countless heroes passed through their care - indeed, at one time gods directed their young to seek out the aide of the twins, occasionally bestowing trinkets and gifts upon the pair in payment for their services as educators.
It is quite possible that they would have remained contentedly in their half-retired state, but as Fate would have it, they were needed elsewhere. In this instance, Fate came in the guise of a very young, rather unfortunately clumsy Scion of Dionysus who had been tasked with rescuing another young Scion who was being held in Brittany, far further than the twins had ever traveled. The young Dionysian carried with him a letter indicating that Dionysus was calling in a favor on Artemis, and that commanding Juliana to safely escort the unfortunate young Scion to the edge of the former Roman Empire was to be considered the fulfillment of that debt. Xanthus, dutiful brother always, accompanied his sister on this journey.
Considering that the two had never left the confines of Greece in the entirety of their incredibly long existence, this trip was quite a change to the archers. For the first time in their lives, Xan and Juli were exposed to the children of gods they’d only heard of in passing. A band formed as they progressed across the land, doing battle where needed and aiding those who needed help. By the time they had reached their destination, the group had left a trail of legends and rumors in their wake.
The group arrived in town, but found the streets empty, and the stench of death heavy in the air. Slowly, they moved towards the town square, where a massive stone altar had been erected, covered in blood, both dried and fresh. Bound to the altar was the girl they had been sent to save, her arms and legs wound with silvery ropes that appeared to meld into the stone of the altar itself. As the group cautiously proceeded into the empty square, they were set upon by what can only be called a small army of robed figures, bearing weapons of nearly every variety imaginable. Wave after wave of the cultists fell before the group, although the Scions were forced back so they stood at the base of the altar as the final cultists dropped in defeat. Before their eyes, the numerous bodies around them simply vanished, and an ominous humming filled the air.
The deaths of the cultists had apparently acted as a beacon into another realm, and something was trying to come through, something very large. Most of the companions were wounded by this point, and they were beginning to falter in their assault on the portal, which proved futile. A long, winding black tendril emerged from the growing portal, reaching for the still helplessly bound Scion of Hermes. Just as the tentacle was about to touch the poor girl, one of their companions, a woman from the northern Celt tribes, hurled herself bodily into the tentacle’s winding grasp. Her selfless sacrifice nullified the ritual, sealing the portal for good, and the leaving the group to tend to their wounds.
As the group exited the forsaken city, victorious, yet feeling as though they had failed at the same time, they were greeted by a group of four individuals of otherworldly beauty. Hermes, Dionysus, Artemis, and Apollo had arrived to address the adventurers, and each of the companions recognized one of the four as their divine parent. Hermes and Dionysus were there, admittedly, to chastise their children for failing so miserably at their given tasks - although, as thanks for their part in rescuing his daughter, Hermes bestowed upon each of the twins a pair of talaria sandals. As the two younger gods took their children on their way, Apollo and Artemis regarded the twins with amusement, as though looking on .
Word of their deeds spanning the past thousand years had reached the ears of the gods on Olympus, and Xanthus and Juliana were to be created as Demigods for their efforts. Each god gifted their child with additional wonders, expounding upon the gifts they had received so long ago. With only the instructions to ‘keep up the good work’ - the godly twins were gone, leaving Xan and Juli to wonder just what to do next.
The twins once more settled into a routine, although they did not return home to Greece, instead making a home for themselves on the outskirts of small town that would ultimately become Leeds. It did not take long before once again, young Scions were seeking them out for aide and guidance, although the twins became increasingly picky about who they would train. Lavish gifts, brought as payment for training, kept the pair more than sustained, and eventually they built up a reasonable amount of wealth. During this time, the twins became friends, and occasional traveling companions of one Robin of Loxley, a man who originated as a local hero, though legend of him spread through the land like wildfire.
Every few years, Juli and Xan were forced to move, as society advanced, it became harder and harder to explain away their unchanging appearances. Between the twelfth and twentieth centuries, the twins became increasingly integrated into society, keeping with current fashions, and participating in the soirees and parties of the times. As they were children of foreign gods, the local legends did take note of them - ultimately the fledgling Gods of this region befriended the twins and entrusting them with the training of young Scions, same as the Greek gods continued to do. At this point in time, the pair had largely retired from active heroics, choosing instead to aid others in seeking such glory and legend.
Several times over the years, Xanthus took a wife, or lover, or, well, just happened to meet a pretty woman in a tavern. Occasionally, he’d even sire children among the mortal population, although it was fairly rare that he’d have part in raising them - a father who doesn’t age gets to be rather difficult to explain away. So instead, he’d make sure the child was well cared for, leaving a trust fund or some such thing for them, and he and Juliana would move on to the next town.
Juliana, in the meanwhile, never took a husband, or even male lovers, over her extended lifetime. She never bore children, although she rather obviously cared for the young Scions who came through her protection, she never had any of her own. Rumors abounded about just why she never married, and her preference for female companionship did nothing to quell those rumors. People generally assumed, and she never tried to deny the stories. She always plays the spinster sister, often being the voice of reason acting counterpoint to her brother’s playboy ways.
It is only recently that the twins have been called out of their retirement and into active duty for their parents. As rumors have begun to circulate of something going down, Xanthus and Juliana have once again been asked to leave their relatively quiet lives on the outskirts of London, and move to what was once New York City, in the United States. Although the reasoning why they have been activated once more has not been made clear, they are ever obedient to their divine parents, and have now set themselves up in a very high-end condominium in Manhattan proper.