Ares
| "The Jealous, The Unfortunate" | |
| Pantheon: | Greek |
| AoC: | War, Killing, Strife |
| Symbol: | Spear |
| Alignment: | CE |
| Worshiper Alignment: | CE, NE |
| Home P/L/R: | Arborea/Olympus/ Olympus |
| Know Proxies: | Deimos and Phobos (Demi-powers) |
Ares, the power of war, is one of the sons of Zeus and Hera. He cares for nothing but his own desires and the carnage of battlefields, and is insanely jealous of any who stand in his path. He kills any sod weaker than he is who gets in the way, ad gives in only grudgingly to those who're tougher.
Ares picked up the nickname "The Unfortunate" because, while he's mighty in battle, he has no foresight and is easily duped by his own passions. His rages've led him into many tight spots, including the ornamental vase he was confined in when the young Olympians fought off their first major challenge.He's no luckier in love, as the story of Hephaestus and the net demonstrates.
'Course, that doesn't stop many mortals from pledging their loyalty to the deity. One of the rites young warriors go through before they enter their first battle is ceremonial shaving. They sacrifice their hair to Ares as a sign of their devotion to war and warlike causes.
Ares's palace on Mount Olympus is a great gloomy affair of dimly gleaming bone, more of a battlement than a castle. It lies near the Portal Defile - that's the chasm that holds the gates to the prime-material worlds where the pantheon's worshipped. Inside the fortress, Ares's evil band of petitioner warriors quaffs the blood of the foes they've slain, making themselves stronger by absorbing the life force of their enemies.
And Ares has quite a few enemies, even among the other powers of war. See, he's jealous of his sphere, and doesn't tolerate the intrusion of any other deities into "his" domain. For this reason, he's incured the wrath of the goblinoid power Maglubiyet, and the orcish gods Bahgtru and Gruumsh. Only Loki, the trickster god of the Norse, could call Ares a friend - and even then, sly Loki enjoys embarassing the doltish Olympian every chance he gets.