Olympus (Realm)
| Divine Realm | |
|---|---|
| Plane: | Arborea |
| Layer: | Olympus |
| Powers: | Greek Pantheon |
- Olympus isn't a place to hold back anger or tears; rage and grief alike ring from the mountaintops. Celebrate passion, lust, and anger; vent heroic appetites. All or nothing, glory or disgrace, prince or exile. Return with your shield or on it, but don't return in shame, don't fade into the background. Everyone's life is an epic, and even a slave can become a hero. Beware the jealousy of the powers.
Olympus thrives in the midst of plenty, with abundant olive groves, lush hills that resound with bleating sheep and clear shepherd pipes, fertile vineyards, olive groves, and small orchards of oranges and apples. Its towns are pleasant, whitewashed walls reaching above azure seas and great stone temples that reach to the heavens. Its woodland and mountains are filled with the laughter of satyrs, nymphs, and sylphs.
Sites and Cities
The greatest towns of Olympus are Arkenos, Thalassia, and Polykeptolon. Arkenos is the lagrest of the three, located on a peninsula at the mouth of a broad river. It's widely known for Amazonian militia, a body of women warriors who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of martial arts. Arkenian warriors roam the length and breadth of the plane, and many berks are sorry to've crossed them. They are frequently sought out to put down creatures that sometimes plague the seashore towns.
Thalassia is a seaside town of fisherfolk, perched on steep, sunny hills. From time to time it's troubled by monsters from the sea: terrible gigantic octopi, sea serpents, beguiling sirines, many-headed hydra and sorcerous hags. At these times Thalassia calls out for heroes.
Polykeptolon is a town of philosophers and scholars who keep slaves to attend to the crass demands of the body while they ponder the nature of the planes and powers. The Guvners are surprisingly strong here, which is unusual for a plane on the Chaos side of the Great Ring.
The powers themselves dwell in their halls and temples on Mount Olympus, the cloud-wreathed mountain that towers above all other places in Olympus. Zeus' domain is the most magnificent of them all, a great citadel of polished marble and gold that stands at the highest spot of the Olympian realm. Here the father of the Olympian gods rules alongside Hera, his wife.
Aphrodite lives in a nearby palace of mirrorlike quartz and gems, where every surface reflects her own beauty. She shares the pool called Evergold with the other goddesses of beauty: Freya, Sune, and her good friend Hanali Celanil of the Seldarine. To the Greeks, the pool is known as Canathas.
Appolo's temple and stage of beaten gold radiate internal sunlight. The Sensates love this place, and their poets are often found here declaiming versus te honor the god of poetry.
The lair of Ares is a massive battlement near the portal that leads down from Mount Olympus to all the spheres where the pantheon is worshipped, mirroring the hall of Athena, who dwells in a palace of the far side of that portal. Ares's palace is said to be made of bone, Athena's or iron. Berks who rattle about the palaces are probably bobbing a listener.
Dionsyus's palace is overrun with vines, each hanging heavy with grapes. Bacchae keep the hearth burning and the festival going even when the power's away, but few others would dare.
Hermes lives in a den of gambling within the mountain itself. Poseidon makes his abode in the second layer of the plane, though he maintains a seaside shrine near Mount Olympus. The lesser powers such as Artemis, Demeter, Nike, Tyche, and the titan Prometheus make their smaller realms along the huge and dominating temples and estates.