Deities of Brass: A Greek Myth-Steampunk RP

Age: 17.

Gender: Female. (Possibly symbiotic hermaphrodite).

Race: Monster.

Main Feature: The Snakes. (Of course).

Personality: Cold hearted, under the circumstances not that surprising. Her first instinct is to avoid being seen, as stealth is her main weapon. Will often taunt or warn followers away instead of actually attacking. Finds vegetarians rather silly, being a big meat eater herself. Has a habit to hiss, although with her mechanical snakes it bears a resemblance to sheet metal ripping. In general, displays many of the characteristics of a sociophobe.

Bio: (To save writing a long story about her life and that, got raped, turned snake by Athena under orders, sent to island to rot, Zeus activated time warp before Perseus beheaded her, Pegasus and Chrysaor popped out enroute, lost in the time vortex to be found as two random things on a favourite show of mine).

Following the arrival of the Greeks in the sooty world of Da’Aphet, Medusa made her snide remark at Zeus before vanishing into the sewers of the town, (see OOC Story). Guessing that she had only days to establish herself before the shock of the waking would fade from the others, she immediately began work as a welder, sealing leaking sewer pipes, and picking money and food from whatever washed down past her daily site.

Making a nifty sum after three weeks of making up for what the previous welder had been too lazy to fix, she sealed off an abandoned section of the sewers and turned it into her domain. With iron snakes to help her perform maintenance and catch rats, things were quickly perking up for her.

Appearance: Grey dress, dark brown jacket with red velvet vest. All a bit too big for her, but given her circumstances it’s hard to blame her. Her long snake body has seemingly remained untouched by the transformation, her human self still pale from her years in the cave. Dark tinted goggles help her do business with her employers without risk, the whole dual eye contact and all. Her contrast between black hair and blue streaks does make her stand out in a crowd, however she gets away with saying that her iron snakes are a trademark, as is her hair.

((Yeah, I ripped off the pic because it’s just so cool.))

Other: May or may not have unusual feelings towards Perseus.

Age: 55.

Gender: Male.

Race: Deity.

Main Feature: His ability to summon lightning bolts has been transformed into a fixed tesla coil that the group have arrived in the area around. For all intents and purposes, this will be the key to future events in the RP.

Personality: Back in Ancient Greece, he used his power wisely, keeping the younger gods under control, making sure that battles were fairly fought, even joining in on duels for entertainment. However, thanks to his recent bungle with the sleep, his pride has taken a serious beating, reducing him to a man who wants nothing more than to correct his mistakes, without turning into an obsessive monster who seeks his former control.

Bio: From his seat of power, he governed the Greeks not unlike a real life equivalent of a game, with the aim of preserving his people, and all life in general, while making sure that his chosen ones achieved glory and praised him for the help he gave. Occasions like the one surrounding his daughter Athena’s birth were long distant memories.

But as the Romans came, he realised that his game was coming to a close. Rather than fall to the admittedly more advanced civilisation, at the cost of losing his people, he manifested a device that would take him and his empire into a deep sleep in the realm of time, to awaken in a thousand years, where he assumed the people would understand his powers much better.

((Mostly OOC Story stuff happens here)).

As his power to summon lightning bolts faded, he found himself forced to remain around the grand device that was now his weapon. Allowing scientists to draw schematics of his device for a rather decent sum, he has restored some of his power through money, however money has much less value in these days.

Appearance: From a towering man dressed in white robes, cherishing his silver beard, he has shrunk down to the size of a middle aged man, wearing thick overalls dirty in oil and brass dust. Doting a trusty cap, which he prefers to a circlet of laurel leaves, he doesn’t look like the sort of man who once commanded entire armies with the twitching of his toe.

Other: Not much to say I guess.

Age: 25

Gender: female

Race: Monster (Sphinx)

Main Feature: iron wings

Personality: To put it simply, Lilith is a vindictive little monster. She has a thin amount of tolerance for fellow monsters due to the fact that many also prey on humans, but if you do happen to be a human… well, just steer clear of her. She has come to love her ‘job’ of proposing riddles to travelers going through mountain passages and then, when they fail to answer correctly, she will tear them to shred and devour their flesh. To her, humans are just like any other prey animal, albeit more fun to torture slowly. After all, animals cannot stutter when they’re nervous or beg for mercy.

Bio: Lilith was born of Echidna and Typhos, two of the elder Greek gods. She spent most of her childhood roaming the wilds of Ethiopia, as the legend goes. She was the ‘bogeyman’ of that country and every once and a while men went out with the aim of killing her. All failed. However, Hera wanted to punish the kingdom of Thebes and spirited the sphinx from her homeland and into the mountains surrounding Thebes. She tasked the monster with the task of telling a riddle to all who wished to pass by her and, if they failed to answer correctly, kill and devour them.

Lilith, who already had dislike of humans due to those that had attempted to hunt her in her homeland, came to enjoy her task. After all, she had been chosen out of a multitude of monstrosities to carry out the punishment of Thebes. She spent much of her spare time coming up with new, more challenging riddles with which to torture the humans. Zeus’ time warp came before the point in her myth where Oedipus would approach her and answer one of her riddles correctly, so as such she is still very much alive.

Appearance: If one only saw her face, they might think her a beautiful woman. Her skin is sun-tanned due to living outside on mountainsides. Her eyes have gold and silver irises, with slightly oval pupils. Hardly anyone ever gets close enough to see her eyes and if they do, it’s usually because she’s about to eat them. When closed, her mouth is that of a normal female human’s, but when she opens it, it splits much farther into her cheeks and reveals rows of lioness fangs. Framing her face are tumbling locks of black and silver hair, the silver strands come from the iron that Monsters have received due to Zeus’ error. The only human part of her is her face, her body is that of a lioness and on her back the wings of an eagle (albeit much larger, she is the size of a lioness after all).

The lioness portion of her begins at the base of her neck, the skin slowly becoming more and more covered by burnished golden fur until it was a full pelt-like covering. Muscles ripple beneath her coat whenever she moves. Her paws are tipped with claws sharp as perfectly honed blades. Even when sitting or lounging around on her side, she is never truly still. Her tail or wings, possibly even a paw or two, are constantly moving. Her tail moves like a viper, as if it has a mind of its own.

On to the wings sprouting from her upper back; normally they would have the rusty red, auburn, and pale grey coloration of a golden eagle, but that changed when Zeus used the timepiece for a second time. Now they are dull silver with a thin layer of rest on the wingtips. They shimmer when light hits them and, if she should choose to do so, she could blind her prey by reflecting light into their eyes.

Other: Nothing else to say.

Age: Unknown

Gender: Female

Race: Monster

Main Feature: Six serpentine mouths.

Personality: As a nymph, Scylla was egocentric and quite self-centered. However, these traits vanished along with her beauty - due to her disgust and anger at being transmogrified into a monster, Scylla is prone to attacking anyone who sails too close to her cave and harboring resentment towards the world in general. Where she to venture forth from her cliffside domain, it would be to wreak jealousy-fueled havoc on whomever she crosses paths with – however, this is not likely to happen without provocation, as Scylla is ashamed of her grotesque appearance. She has little morality and is not very intelligent, often blinded by her envious rage.

Bio: She was once a beautiful nymph, a naiad, and was wooed by the sea god Glaucus. Not wanting anything to do with him, Scylla fled onto land where he could not follow, and Glaucus turned to the enchantress Circe for help. Circe quickly fell in love with Glaucus, but as he had eyes for none but Scylla, she jealously poisoned the pool that the sea nymph bathed in. Scylla turned into a monster and, unable to bear the horror of her form, retreated to the cliffside cave where she spent many a year making meals of passing careless sailors (Including several of Odysseus’ crew). Scylla was slain by Heracles during his journey to Sicily, but later was resurrected by her father, the god Phorcys.

Appearance: Scylla’s upper body is humanoid, though she possesses four eyes on her head. Her waist is ringed by the heads of four hellish canines, below which are mounted twelve tentacle-like appendages used for locomotion. Scylla’s most notable features, however, are the six gigantic, snake-like trunks, upon which are mounted draconic maws with three rows of teeth each, easily large enough to snatch up the odd sailor. On the whole, Scylla is a sea monster of leviathan size and sufficient horror to frighten even the most steadfast of seamen. Upon Zeus’ second turn of the timepiece, Scylla’s six serpentine heads, along with their necks, became wrought of corroded iron – fierce, rusty gargoyles that, though a tad slower than their organic predecessors, pack even more power.

Other: Hates Circe with a passion and secretly longs for the opportunity to have her beauty restored.

Age: 20.

Gender: Female.

Race: Hero.

Main Feature: A hunting bow.

Personality: Slightly feministic, a quality which no doubt originates from being abandoned by her father for not being male. Atalanta is adventurous and a little bit headstrong, yet not unintelligent. She loves being outdoors, and can be a thrill-seeker, not content with simple, tedious work, and will always step up to a challenge. When it gets down to it, however, Atalanta is loyal to and cares for her family and friends, in addition to having a sense of justice and a natural protectivity of the natural world.

Bio: Atalanta was left in the woods to die by her father, who wished for a son. She was found and raised by a wild boar, and became an exceptional huntress, loving the outdoors. At some point, she was given a prophecy by an oracle that her marriage would end in disaster – this bothered Atalanta not, as she had no compulsion to marry. Atalanta’s noted accomplishments include being the only woman on the Argonauts’ voyage, drawing first blood on the hunt for the Calydonian Boar, a monster sent into the world by an enraged Artemis, and beating the hero Peleus in a wrestling contest. Eventually, her father allowed her to return home, but attempted to marry Atalanta off. Not wanting to reject outright for fear of resentment, Atalanta proposed a task for each of her suitors; if they could beat her in a foot race, they could marry her. If not, she would slay them. Atalanta being quite swift, many a foolish young man lost lost his head.

Appearance: Strong, lean, tall, and athletic. Atalanta has short black hair, blue eyes, lightly tanned skin, and wears a standard hunter’s garb of leather sandals and a cotton tunic. Her bow and arrows, which she carries with her often, are now bronze and of mechanical nature, requiring more strength to pull back the cable drawstring but yielding much, much more impressive results.

Other: Nop.

Age: 29.

Gender: Male.

Race: Hero.

Main Feature: Every part of him, excepting his left heel.

Personality: If he was egocentric, brutish, proud, rash, and stupidly perseverant before, Achilles is even worse after his transformation by the hand of Zeus. Being a permanently clothed in bronze armor, he finds little to do but fight – and fight, and fight, and fight. He loves combat more than anything else, yet at the same time is bored by it, seeking more and more intense thrills and adventures. Achilles is the type of man who’d rather stab than talk, and who would charge through a valley of fearsome monsters rather than take the path around it. He has little need or want for friends, especially now, and mourns more than a little over the trade of his attractive organic body for his current one.

Bio: The son of Peleus and the nymph Thetis, Achilles gained his semi-immortality from being dipped in the river Styx by his mother at a young age – though she held him by his ankle, his one weak spot. Achilles was an important soldier during the Trojan war, slaying many including Hector (and for the sake of story let’s say he survived), and the experience humanized him. However, what humbleness was gained by the long years of combat has since fled now that Achilles has inherited his new bronze body.

Appearance: Before Zeus’ interference, Achilles was tall and muscular, yet not so much as to impede quick movement. He could most often be observed in his armor, composed of iron plates banded together by leather thongs. After said interference, however, Achilles underwent a drastic change. His very skin was transmogrified into bronze armor-plating, rendering Achilles slightly clumsier but ten times as strong and incredibly damage-resistant. Achilles is now a golem-like automaton warrior, helmet-like head decorated with the classic Roman soldier’s red crest and revealing naught but blackness interrupted by two bright red eyes beneath it, and pumping steam into the air with ‘his’ every breath – yet Achilles’ heel remains an organic weak spot concealed within the thin leather of his left sandal. Weapons-wise, Achilles carries a massive roundshield and spear, as well as a sword belted to his waist.

Other: Nop.

Age: (I'll assume that it's one of those forgetful moments, no problem).

Gender: Male

Race: Mortal

Main Feature: Copper work gloves, because he's an inventor. Like a boss.

Personality: Ever since he lost his son Icarus when the wretched boy flew too close to the sun and burned his wings off, Daedalus has been quiet, bitter, and angry. Unfortunately, he also was prideful and jealous, and had shoved his nephew off a cliff, angering his patron Athena However, Daedalus has also been shown to be quite clever and smart with mechanics... just think of what he could do in the new steam-and-clockwork-powered world?

Bio: Daedalus is a fine craftsman, and the creator of the Labyrinth. However, Daedalus doesn't exactly have a clean record...

Daedalus is first mentioned by Homer as the creator of a wide dancing-ground for Ariadne.[12] He also created the Labyrinth on Crete, in which the Minotaur (part man, part bull) was kept. In the story of the labyrinth Hellenes told, the Athenian hero Theseus is challenged to kill the Minotaur, finding his way with the help of Ariadne's thread. Daedalus' appearance in Homer is in an extended simile, "plainly not Homer's invention," Robin Lane Fox observes: "he is a point of comparison and so he belongs in stories which Homer's audience already recognized."[13] In Bronze Age Crete, an inscription da-da-re-jo-de has been read as referring to a place at Knossos,[14] and a place of worship.[15]

In Homer's language, objects which are daidala are finely crafted. They are mostly objects of armour, but fine bowls and furnishings are daidala, and on one occasion so are the "bronze-working" of "clasps, twisted brooches, earrings and necklaces" made by Hephaestus while cared for in secret by the goddesses of the sea.[16]

Ignoring Homer, later writers envisaged the labyrinth as an edifice rather than a single dancing path to the center and out again, and gave it numberless winding passages and turns that opened into one another, seeming to have neither beginning nor end.[17] Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, suggests that Daedalus constructed the Labyrinth so cunningly that he himself could barely escape it after he built it.[18] Daedalus built the labyrinth for King Minos, who needed it to imprison his wife's son the Minotaur. The story is told that Poseidon had given a white bull to Minos so that he might use it as a sacrifice. Instead, Minos kept it for himself; and in revenge, Poseidon made his wife Pasiphaë lust for the bull with the help of Aphrodite.[19] For Pasiphaë, as Greek mythologers interpreted it, Daedalus also built a wooden cow so she could mate with the bull, for the Greeks imagined the Minoan bull of the sun to be an actual, earthly bull, the slaying of which later required a heroic effort by Theseus.

This story thus encourages others to consider the long-term consequences of their own inventions with great care, lest those inventions do more harm than good. As in the tale of Icarus' wings, Daedalus is portrayed assisting in the creation of something that has subsequent negative consequences, in this case with his creation of the monstrous Minotaur's almost impenetrable labyrinth which made slaying the beast an endeavour of legendary difficulty. Additionally, Daedalus' legend evokes the virtue of humility as the Daedalean labyrinth was defeated by a simple ball of thread that its architect had ostensibly failed to consider.

Daedalus was so proud of his achievements that he could not bear the idea of a rival. His sister had placed her son, named variously as Perdix, Talus, or Calos,[20] under his charge to be taught the mechanical arts. He was an apt scholar and showed striking evidence of ingenuity. Walking on the seashore, he picked up the spine of a fish. According to Ovid, imitating it, he took a piece of iron and notched it on the edge, and thus invented the saw. He put two pieces of iron together, connecting them at one end with a rivet, and sharpening the other ends, and made a pair of compasses.[21] Daedalus was so envious of his nephew's accomplishments that he took an opportunity. When they were together one day on the Acropolis of Athens,[22] Perdix was asking Daedalus about his son who had died, Icarus. Daedalus, who cannot stand speaking of the subject, took one of the mechanical bugs he had been tinkering with and threw it off of a cliff. Perdix, who wished to save the toy, not seeing he would fall to his death, fell off the cliff arms outstretched. As he was falling, Athena, who favors ingenuity, saw him falling and arrested his fate by changing him into a bird called after his name, perdix, the partridge. This bird does not build his nest in the trees, nor take lofty flights, but nestles in the hedges, and mindful of his fall, avoids high places. For this crime, Daedalus was tried and banished. To always remind Daedalus of his treachery, Athena branded him with an image of the bird, so that he would never forget the crime he committed. (Excerpts from Wikipedia)

Appearance: Daedalus is a middle-aged man, with a few stress wrinkles on his face, and a hard, angry glare that rarely leaves. His hair is graying out, and the man has a semi-long beard. Daedalus has obtained a vest and some pants, as well as a pair of work boots, such that he looks like a middle-aged construction worker or something. Daedalus's eyes are starting to go, so he wears a pair of glasses with zoom lenses that flip over the larger lenses (an invention of his own creation... genius, is it not?). He often moves stiffly, it may be because of his stress, or because his joints are starting to go.

Other: He'll probably be grumbling a lot about Icarus. Expect that.

Age: Ancient, as these monsters came even

Gender: Depends on which one you're talking about.

Race: Monster

Main Feature: Thanks to Zeus's meddling, Karpoi have mutated from naked babies made of wheat and barley and Cheerios to menacing, combine-harvester-like iron beasts. Their key feature is the grain, which is their basic life force as it runs through their veins, but their bodies have been transformed into iron.

Personality: Nasty. They despise Demeter. These imps just want to bring down agriculture and return domesticated plants to their wild states.

Bio: (I can't find a Wikipedia page on these guys, so bear with me...) Karpoi, or spirits of grain, are wild creatures that don't wish to be contained. They apparently despise any rock that they can't grow upon, such as schist (because of this, "schist" has become a frequently abused cuss word in their language). Each individual represents a type of species of grain plant. However, these aren't the nice little grains that they use to make Wheaties. They've been bad-tempered ever since the dang humans started culturing them and harvesting them to make... GASP! Bread! And LE GASP! CEREAL! AND LE MORE GASP... PASTA! Karpoi have also been known to accompany the Earth Mother, Gaea.

Appearance:[/b] As stated before, Zeus's meddling has caused the Karpoi to transform into part-plant, part-tractor monsters. They have grown substantially, more resembling combine harvesters with human heads than their previous pudgy kindergartener bodies. Grain courses through them as iron pistons pump up and down, acting as their hearts. When they dissipate, they now become tornadoes of sharp metal and long stalks of grain, threatening to shred anything in their way.

Other: Their names would be those of the species they embody (for instance, Wheat, Barley, etc.)

Age: 42.

Gender: Male.

Race: Human.

Main Feature: None.

Personality: Dickens has not been feeling very happy lately. He was unhappy with his marriage, and it reflected in his books, such as Bleak House. Dickens didn't really hold the Americans in high regard. However, nonetheless, Dickens was a philanthropist. On April 3rd, 1852, he wrote an essay in his magazine, Household Words, that helped a hospital to success. Dickens, in his writing, used lots of complex language in many of his books.

Bio: Charles John Huffam Dickens ( /ˈtʃɑrlz ˈdɪkɪnz/; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic who is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period and the creator of some of the world's most memorable fictional characters.[1] During his lifetime Dickens' works enjoyed unprecedented popularity and fame, but it was in the twentieth century that his literary genius was fully recognized by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to enjoy an enduring popularity among the general reading public.[2][3]

Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens left school to work in a factory after his father was thrown into debtors' prison. Though he had little formal education, his early impoverishment drove him to succeed. He edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels and hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.

Dickens rocketed to fame with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, celebrated for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication.[4][5] The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback.[5] For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities, Dickens went on to improve the character with positive lineaments.[6] Fagin in Oliver Twist apparently mirrors the famous fence, Ikey Solomon;[7] His caricature of Leigh Hunt in the figure of Mr Skimpole in Bleak House was likewise toned down on advice from some of his friends, as they read episodes:[8] In the same novel, both Lawrence Boythorne and Mooney the beadle are drawn from real life – Boythorne from Walter Savage Landor) and Mooney from a certain 'Looney', a beadle at Salisbury Square.[9] Though his plots were carefully constructed, Dickens would often weave in elements harvested from topical events into his narratives.[10] Masses of the illiterate poor chipped in ha'pennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.[11]
Dickens was regarded as the 'literary colossus' of his age.[12] His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, is one of the most influential works ever written, and it remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. His creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to G. K. Chesterton and George Orwell—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand Oscar Wilde, Henry James and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism.

Appearance: Something like this.

Other: I can't really imitate his use of complex language, so bear with me.

The physical counterparts of the four Winds have been transported to heavily secured prisons underneath the main city of each country in the UK, (London, Cardiff, Belfast and Glasgow). Predict that peeps will fall for their pantering and try to free them, which will result in the end of the world pretty much.

Throughout the RP, Zeus will be working on repairing his timepiece to correct the mistakes brought about by the incident. Whether he succeeds, or even chooses to go through with the plan will all depend on what happens with the characters themselves.

Bellona, the Roman goddess of war, having being inadvertadly taken with the Greeks into the city of Da'Aphet, is on a rampage to recruit the local people and use them to reforge her empire, at the cost of the lives of all the Greeks that is.

With King Minos in the scene, rather abruptly gaining control of the city's royal estate and forcing Daedalus to build a labyrinth under it, the condemned Minotaur is returned to the maze, as to what he now guards, that remains another unknown secret...