Appendix - Mythology of Olympia

Olympia: The Age of Gods PBEM (Oct 4 2000)

# Appendix B: Appendix - Mythology of Olympia

In the beginning was Sol. And Sol shone in the darkness.

And Sol was unhappy, for he was alone. He wept, and his tears collected into a cool blue ball that became Luna, called the Mother of All Gods.

Luna reflected Sol's light and together the two were happy for many ages. And as will always be when two love one another, children were born.

At first, the children played in the cool blue light of their Mother and the bright yellow radiance of their father. But Sol realized that his children needed a place to grow and learn. So with Luna he created Olympia and placed his children there.

"Here you will learn to be gods, as your Mother and your Father are," said Sol to his children. "Here I command you to compete, to learn and to challenge; the greatest of you I shall call to join me in the Heavens."

And Sol filled Olympia with many creatures and wonders to delight and instruct his children. Foremost amongst all he created Man, and to Man alone he gave the power of speech and reason, that Man might be a companion to his sons and daughters.

For many ages Man lived in harmony with the children of Sol. Many children of Sol became great in wisdom and power and were called forth into the Heavens. The night sky blazed with a thousand of Sol's children. And always Sol and Luna loved one another and sent new children to Olympia to learn to be Gods.

One of these children was named Nereid. Of all of the children of Sol and Luna, Nereid was the most lovely. It is said that when she walked flowers sprung up in her footsteps. She was also wise and kindly, and much loved by Man. The favorite of her father, she was soon called up into the Heavens, where she shone as the brightest star in the night sky.

As the ages passed, Sol loved Nereid more and more deeply. Always she moved closer to her father, so that soon Nereid alone shone in the daylight with her father. Blinded by his daughter's beauty and wisdom, Sol conceived an illicit desire for his daughter. Although he hid his love, Sol's heart was troubled. His visage became cloudy, and Man upon Olympia saw Sol reach out yearningly towards his daughter.

Finally Sol was overcome by his desire and cast himself upon his daughter. The heavens burned a sickly purple at what Sol had done, and the face of Luna became dark and swollen with sadness. Nereid herself was changed. Her visage, once clear and blue like her mother, now became the feeble orange of a guttering candle. She cast herself across the Heavens away from her father, hiding herself in shame, until soon she could be seen only on the darkest of nights.

Luna, too, turned away from Sol. Once Luna had hung low over Olympia, watching her children and protecting them from many dangers. Now she drew herself further away and turned her face away from Sol, so that for weeks at a time Luna could not be seen at all in the night sky.

Of the union of Sol and Nereid a son was born, called Tor. In the nights following Sol's rape of his daughter, Tor could be seen rushing across the sky, tearing open a great wound in the Heavens in his haste to be with his father. But Sol refused to look upon Tor, and cast him down instead upon Olympia, where he landed with a great crash that shook the mountains and caused the seas to rise up in angry protest.

And so Tor came to Olympia. He had all the dazzling beauty of his mother Nereid, and all the great power of his blazing father. He did many great works as he walked upon Olympia, and soon many proclaimed him the greatest of all Sol's children.

Then Tor began to teach those who followed him that Sol was wrong to place them on Olympia, and that all deserved to live in the Heavens as Gods. He whispered to Man that they should be as the sons of Sol, and he taught Men the secrets of magic, which Sol had forbidden. Through all this Sol did nothing. And many of the other sons and daughters of Sol, seeing this, joined with Tor.

At the height of his powers, Tor gathered his followers together and challenged even the power of death, opening gateways upon the face of Olympia into the realm of Hades, where the lost souls of fallen Men were said to wander. But even while Tor and his followers celebrated his great triumph, Sol grew angry at last.

He rose up in the sky and flashed with an angry, unnatural brilliance. The seas of Olympia boiled and the trees on the mountains burst into flame. Tor and his followers turned and fled into the deep recesses beneath Olympia, but many were killed by Sol's anger.

And it seemed as if all would die, for the face of Olympia was aflame. But then Luna interceded to save her children. She drew a veil of cloud across Sol's face and bathed the land in a healing rain. (This is why, in the eastern provinces of the Empire, Luna is called the Lady of the Veil.) When Luna next drew the veil back, Sol had retreated to his rightful place in the sky.

Since the Time of Fire, Sol has turned his back upon Olympia. No longer do the children of Sol come to Olympia; no longer do the learned and wise children of Sol rise up from Olympia to join him in the Heavens. Neither does Luna protect her children, though she still turns her face each month from Sol in shame and anger.

Of the children of Sol, eight survived the Time of Fire. These eight were called Eres, the God of Sea and Wind, Anteus, the God of Fire and Earth, Dol the Beastmaster, Timeid, Lady of Plants, Ham the Jester, Kireus the Smith, Halon Warmaster and Domingo the Hidden. Although they no longer show their visages upon Olympia for fear of angering their father, it is said that they sometimes wander the land in the guise of Man, guiding and helping their followers.

Of Tor and the rebel children of Sol less can be said. Some claim they still live under Olympia, in a kingdom they have created in the dark regions below. It is said that the orcs and other foul creatures who occasionally venture forth unto the face of Olympia from the realms below are the twisted children of the Men who followed Tor. Others claim that Tor and the other Dark Children are still worshipped in secret upon the face of Olympia, but no one has yet found a temple to one of those shamed children.

What is certain is that some men still seek greedily after the powers that Tor shared with Man. Wizards in lonely towers spend endless hours studying the tomes and artifacts from the time before the Rebellion hoping to unlock their secrets. Although some wizards start out as innocent scholars, most soon turn toward the dark side of power. Indeed, orcs and other foul creatures are sometimes seen in the service of the wizards, and other wizards surround themselves with undead and other fell beasts from beyond the grave.