Olympus Upended Plot Role Info

[powersthatbe]

If you are not a plot infiltrator or someone with IC reasons to share knowledge available to plot infiltrators, please do not read the comments of this post.

If you ARE a plot infiltrator, please comment under your toplevel to let us know you've read it; please also pop over here to announce your plotroleishness to the game at large. We prefer that you do any confidential plotting with other plot-important folks in the comments here, rather than on plurk, and please comment no later than April 8th, 16th, 24th, & May 2nd, 10th & 18th with a brief (as brief as 1 sentence; as long as you like) summary of your activity during the week & plans for next week. These comments will help the mods shape mingles and plot events to keep the story dynamic and player actions important to the outcome. Likewise, comment at any time with any questions you may have, and a mod will get back to you within 36 hours at the outside.

Comments

Lethian Foundling - Kazuichi

[powersthatbe]

Three weeks ago, you woke in a ditch beside the road northwest of Iolchis, naked and covered in blood and gore, without a memory in your head. The good folk of Iolchis have been hospitable, but wary: you were unwounded, though you limped a little at first, and there’s no sign of whatever left all that blood.

Testing shows that you are very fit, very smart, skilled with a spear and a chariot, knowing the name of beasts and plants. People feel good when they work with you, and projects you assist work very well and very quickly. You cannot seem to keep money or possessions long without mislaying them or giving them away, but you have a generosity of spirit which means you don’t mind this so much. It’s clear to you that the gods intend something of you, and you’re hopeful and eager to discover what it is, and who you are.

You have one secret you have not revealed - when you nicked yourself shaving, your blood was bright-shining silver. You do not know what this means, but instinctively concealed it. You do not wish to be a strange outsider if you do not have to be.
Expected Contribution: 10+ comments/mingle.
Plot Skill: Coming Up Roses. Plants grow more freely around you, animals are friendly to you, small teams you work with find themselves getting along better, and investments you make show steady growth.

[sharkened]

Read and ready to take on duty as a disney princess o7

His name will be Kyros, at least the name he's given by the ones who saved for the lack of remembering his true name.

Re: Lethian Foundling - Kazuichi

[rustyhonesty]

Wrong journal, but is it possible to get a hint of his origins? IC (a resurfacing memory or somethibg) or an OOC clue? It's a bit hard to pick a way to go right now.

Hot-Blooded Archer - Korra

[powersthatbe]

Even before sacking Mycenae, your siblings and cousins used to joke that you must have been blessed by Apollo or Artemis, such is your skill with a bow and arrow - any bow, though of course you prefer your own. If you could but keep your temper when presented with a fight, nothing would stop you from conquering all the known world.

Lately, though, things have been odd. Shots that even you have no business landing on anything fly true to their intended target, and your quiver always seems to have an arrow handy just when you need it, even when you could swear you fired your last hours ago. Perhaps the time for joking about a blessing from the gods is over. Perhaps you actually have that blessing - or even a share of their power, somehow.

Perhaps it’s time to bring the fight to Olympus.
Expected Contribution: 5+ comments/mingle.
Plot Skill: Strongbow. You are skilled with all ranged weapons, and fire them with enough force that anyone you strike is knocked backward by the impact.

[goestoextremes]

HELL YEAH, I'm here and I've read this and I'm so ready for anything!

Let's shoot all the arrows! ...Just to get more in mysterious ways! 8D

Shrewd Magistrate - Minerva

[powersthatbe]

Widely regarded as the wisest of the Thebans (known more for their loyalty and compassion than their wit), some regard you as something of a joke, because you always ask for more time, more delay. The more fool they: your wit is not quick, but your vision is long. It is better to wait for more insight than to speak the first answer that comes to your lips, and patience, you think, is hardly a vice. Your fellow Thebans, at least, know your worth, and have sent you to investigate the troubling omens and the silence of the gods to all the prayer and sacrifice of priests and prophets.

Either the gods cannot answer, or they will not answer. If they cannot answer, then Achaians must aid Olympians as Olympus has long aided Achaia. The piety, duty, and loyalty are owed. If the gods will not answer, then the answer must spring from the ingenuity of humankind, and an Achaia spurned and abandoned by the gods must seek its own protection and order from elsewhere. But to believe that any living Greek could truly know the answer to this puzzle - now, that is foolishness. You will wait, investigate, discover: only then will you choose and act, for the good of all Achaia and no matter what others say of you.
Expected Contribution: 5+ comments/mingle.
Plot Skill: The Last Argument. You have no access to prophetic answers. But once per week (during the Jaunt) or month (after the Jaunt), you may ask the powers that be a question and receive, instead of an answer, a better question.

Re: Shrewd Magistrate - Minerva

[haveabiscuit]

DAT PLOT SKILL THO

Final Mingle!

[haveabiscuit]

Minerva's going to be dealing with the human problems. Organizing efforts to do with the earthquakes. Just because the gods are sussing something out doesn't mean the needs on the ground have just gone away, after all. Given that she's been evacuating civilians to THebes, she's going to be making sure they remain safe in the places she's stuck them.

Pythian Oracle - Rosalie

[powersthatbe]

At times like these, the people turn to you for your wisdom and divinations. There’s just one little problem with that at the moment: your wisdom and divinations may as well have kicked off the need for the convocation.

The vapor has been telling you for months now that this shall be the last year of the Heroic Age, and the snakes are in agreement. What comes after that, however, you have not been able to divine by any means; you’d been planning to wait until spring to contact Apollo for guidance, but the troubles with the sun’s daily course have been enough to put you off that idea. And so you have come to Iolchis, with your laurel and your snakes, hoping to guide the people as best as you’re able to. Perhaps it’s time to encourage a more direct approach to talking to the gods.
Expected Contribution: 5+ comments/mingle.
Plot Skill: Tongues of Serpents. Any effect which would poison or confuse you, causing debilitation or hallucination, additionally gives you prophetic insight into one question another asks of you. You may not ask yourself questions in this fashion, and gain no insight if you avoid the negative effects.

[runawaystory]

Read!

Question about the snakes: do they stay at Delphi at all times or could Rosalie, perhaps, carry a couple around with her? How many snakes are kept at Delphi anyway?

[runawaystory]

Question about the plot skill! Aside from the vapors at Delphi, which obviously cannot travel, what are some other ways that the skill could be set off? Like, would smoking or drinking do it? Burning certain herbs? (Wikipedia says oleander might do the trick?? Or did the trick, in RL Pythia?)

Mostly trying to figure out if there's a way for Rosalie to use this skill when away for Delphi, in case the action of the plot keeps her away. o7

Also, when using this skill, what would be the easiest way of pinging mods for insight/info?

Week 2 Plans

[runawaystory]

Nothing much happened in Week 1, aside from Rhoda tentatively meeting an investigator (Kohaku, who wriggled into a position as a scribe at the Temple of Apollo in Iochis).

As for the upcoming week, Rhoda's really more in a reactive mode at the moment, so I have nothing concrete.

I do plan for her to join the IC expedition up Mt. Olympus, but she'll probably try one last attempt to get Apollo's guidance before really going for it, since it is kind of a drastic measure. Would she follow the same procedure as a regular prophecy for that or would a special ritual be required?

Other than that, I'm hoping to also have more open prompts to make it easier for people to interact with her/request prophecies.

Week 5 update

[runawaystory]

Is it Week 5? Anyway, the upcoming week.

I expect Rhoda will be dealing with the fallout of Delphi disasters + her successful rite to Apollo! As far as I'm aware no one's actively helped OR interfered with it so it went off without a hitch.

Necromancer - Beatrice

[powersthatbe]

Until such time as a living ruler of the city-state can be decided upon, you are one of Macaria’s chief voices in governance, making certain her wishes are known and orders carried out. Cushy as the position is, you have no reason to fear the eventual regime change, as you can fall back on your old job - bridging the gap between those in the underworld and their living loved ones, allowing brief reunions, the settling of unfinished business, and the resolution of old quarrels.

You’re still doing that from time to time even now, in fact, and you’ve noticed some unusual reports. No souls of the dead can recall Hades making a personal appearance of late, and while it’s past time for Persephone to depart for the earthly realm and her six months in her mother’s company, she has chosen to remain, that orderly business may continue in the underworld - and somehow, Demeter hasn’t kicked up a fuss about this arrangement. Even Macaria herself, being close to Persephone in light of her sacrifice, has brought forth interesting information: Hades’ helm seems to have gone missing.

It’s a great puzzle, and you cannot make sense of it without input from the living - but neither, you suspect, can the living make sense of it without input from the dead.
Expected Contribution: 5+ comments/mingle.
Plot Skill: Blood for the Dead. by cutting yourself and draining half a pint of blood into a bowl or other container, you can draw a dead spirit to you and make it solid. This does not make them friendly or obedient to you.

[awitchdidit]

Checking in!

So just to be clear, the person leading Athens is Macaria, daughter of Herculus and not Macaria, goddess of blessed death? Or are we syncretizing that shit because honestly Macaria (Hercules's) daughter's sacrifice sounds like a perfectly cromulent reason for apotheosis into that particular concept to me.

Heir of Iolchis - Jun

[powersthatbe]

You are the child of a king and you have walked among the stars. This gives you immense pride in your station, and though you are not cruel, you never forget that you are marked for a hero’s destiny. While the great minds and bloodlines of Greece debate one another on what these dire omens mean, you know one thing taught to you by Chiron, centaur of the constellations and tutor of Heracles, Achilles, your grandfather Jason, and you: one day, Zeus is destined to be surpassed, and Olympus will no longer be home to the gods. A new pantheon will find a new mountain to call home… and it is those gods you wish to follow and find favor with.

Pythia says the Age of Heroes is ending, and this has thrown all the old men and women into a clamor. Let it end! The greatest adventures of the Age are past, and everyone knows this. Let a new age come on! New glories, new quests, new gods, new life breathed into an old, tired world. This is, to most, blasphemy, and you are too wise to speak it outright. But if Zeus dies, it is no great matter to you. Only, who will next hold the forked thunderbolt, and hold the aegis?

It’s definitely blasphemy to believe it might be you.
Expected Contribution: 5+ comments/mingle.
Plot Skill: Centaur-Trained. You studied under Chiron, wisest of the centaurs, who now lives among the stars, and know the great arts of astronomy, navigation, and herb-lore as well as any living Greek. You are never lost under an open sky, can always discern and avoid poison, and know the precise day with only a glimpse at the night sky.

[icanhearscreams]

This is gonna be interesting.

(I will be away from the 8th to the 12th but will be tagging where and when I can.)

Still working on a name, I'll let you know when I settle on one. His overlay's name will be Kosmas!

[icanhearscreams]

Question! Is the heir supposed to be any specific age? Jun is 13, but his overlay could be older or younger depending on what you need.

... I'm also assuming the overlay actually has some combat skills?

[icanhearscreams]

This comment brought to you by shower thoughts -

This is my first plot role so I'm uncertain as to how much I myself am supposed to push things along and how much I am supposed to let others push things along. I don't know if plotting with others to have Kosmas pushed towards more Titan-y things is okay. He cares about his people but he wants to live and see the new gods and maybe have power, but I'm uncertain as to exactly how to do this without unbalancing things.

Sorry for the newbie questions.

Week 3

[icanhearscreams]

Kosmas is descending from Olympus, ready to hold up his end of the bargain with Hebe. He is not particularly thrilled that a lower-tier immortal was the one who responded, but he'll take it. He is doubtful of Hebe's ability to calm the other Olympians, frankly, but he knows better than to go back on a deal with a god.

He will send his messengers to inquire among the lower-tier noble houses for the needed people, especially those with more than one child. (Travelers who show promise may also be approached, if it's okay to NPC a thread like that. If not, maybe an NPC mod would want to run that?) He's also going to be doing what he can to make a display of power to cut down on the looting - guard patrols are going to be stepped up as much as possible. He doesn't want to heavy-hand this, but people are having a hard enough time.

... On a personal front, he's going to be checking in on his father, doing his best to inform him as to what's going on, and also may slip away to a more private area of the palace grounds (or outside of the city) to ask for Chiron's guidance. ... Even if he doesn't answer, Kosmas will likely feel better for having asked.

Headed towards Week 4

[icanhearscreams]

Continued check on his father's health - still shaky, worse than shaky, getting better? I am assuming Kosmas has been doing his best to get the appropriate herbs to his father, but if he's just dying from Old there's not much Kosmas can do.

Kosmas is now emerging into his powers, which I thought I would run past you guys (I noticed Hebe said that the King spot was filled and wasn't certain if that was intended to be Kosmas or not.)

- Increased strength, speed, endurance, etc.
- Can influence (NPC) minds a bit to follow orders
- 'Aura' of 'look at me'. ... Basically Awe from WoD Vampire because I'm fucking predictable
- Ppppossible shapeshifting? Likely a horse or eagle - essentially navigation and 'air'-related abilities. Possibly something more associated with night, due to his tutelage under Chiron.

idk what I'm doing

Heading towards Week 5

[icanhearscreams]

At the moment unsure, since some threads have stalled. Kosmas wants to go after Hebe, people are trying to tell him to sit the hell down. But basically he's ready to head up to Olympus either backdated week 4 or beginning of week 5. He'll be trying to meet up with Kyros if possible.

Disguised Titan - Shinji & Thorne

[powersthatbe]

(You may choose a Titan that is not already on the Familiar Face roster for the jaunt. As there’s a little overlap, you may want to consult with the Diminished Immortal to make sure you don’t both choose the same one.)

Prometheus had the idea, but then, of course he did; even before he was chained to a rock with nothing to do but think, he always did have the best ideas. And once Heracles freed him and he managed to spring a few of your number from Tartarus, well, how could you not go along for the ride? You have a unique chance to restore yourselves to your former glory and see to it that the Olympians learn they’re not the strongest game in town just because they’re younger.

It’s deceptively simple - slip some ambrosia to deserving mortals and see what comes of it. Of course, the Olympians won’t be too thrilled with this subterfuge if they ever notice it, but first they’ll have to notice. That half of the plan isn’t yours, though, so you’re not quite sure what’s keeping them down; no matter, so long as it keeps working. Sure, pretending to be mortal is kind of annoying, but soon enough you’ll be able to drop the charade for good.
Expected Contribution: 10+ comments/mingle.
Plot Skill: Red-Gold Grapes. You have the keeping of a grapevine of ambrosial grapes, and twice every week (during the Jaunt) or month (after the Jaunt), you may use it to grant Immortal Ichor to one mortal, or re-empower a weakened immortal. You yourself never lack for food or drink.

[fruitknife]

HELL YEAH HELL YEAH

Bii and I were thinking 'but what if Helios and Selene tho.' She's very set on Selene for Thorne and I like the symmetry of it.

Diminished Immortal - Allura

[powersthatbe]

(You may choose a minor Olympian who is not already on the Familiar Face roster for the jaunt. As there’s a little overlap, you may want to consult with the Disguised Titan to make sure you don’t both choose the same one.)

Something odd is going on of late. You’ve never been one of the stronger members of the pantheon, but you’ve earned your place in Olympus regardless… but something’s shifted recently. You can’t call on your power like you ought to be able to.

More than that, your regular visits to Olympus have been… odd, to say the least. The stronger gods seem oddly complacent, more interested in sleeping or loafing about the place than pursuing their usual activities. (You’re actually hard-pressed to name the last time Zeus went skirt-chasing, for one thing; it may be a relief to his wife, but it’s a red flag to anyone who knows him at all.) Alongside your own power fluctuations, spending time among the mortals has just been more comfortable of late, but when it comes down to it you’d really rather not join their ranks on a full-time basis. It’s in your best interests, as it is theirs, to get to the bottom of this, if for entirely different reasons.
Expected Contribution: 7+ comments/mingle.
Plot Skill: (To Be Determined. After we know what Olympian you choose, we will grant a slightly more powerful version of Olympian Mantle which you may take without the Immortal Ichor pre-requisite.)

Re: Diminished Immortal - Allura

[reallymean]

Checking in! As noted on plurk, Allura will be Nike, and I'm interested in something that allows her to share strength and/or speed with her favoured as a mantle.