Hunters of Artemis

The Hunters of Artemis are maidens (which can be human, god, demigod, or nymph) who have sworn loyalty to the maiden goddess Artemis to join her in the Hunt and reject love for as long as they live. They gain eternal youth and semi-immortality as long as they don't break their vows, or are slain in battle.
==Description==
The Hunters of Artemis immensely enjoy hunting monsters and whatever else they see fit at Artemis's side. They are her maidservants, her companions, and her sisters in arms. Usually, only about twenty of the Hunters accompanied Artemis at a time, while the remaining girls engaged in their own activities at the current location of the Hunt. They are usually accompanied by animals that will help them hunt, such as wolves and hunting birds.
As the protector of maidens, Artemis would punish men who dare to lay eyes on her Hunters. Additionally, because of their oath, many of the Hunters have become so isolated from males that they have come to distrust them, dreading even travelling with them, as seen in The Thirteenth Olympian and The Helm of Darkness, though there have been a few males that were accepted into the Hunt.
==History==
Shortly after her birth, Artemis requests to be taken to Mount Olympus to see her father Zeus. He swears on the River Styx to grant her anything for her birthday. Among others, she asks for a group of all-female followers, marking the beginning of the Hunters. After acquiring a bow and arrows from the Cyclopes and a pack of hunting dogs from Pan, Artemis assembles her group of followers. Many mortal girls and nymphs were delighted at the idea of living freely in the wilderness without being married off or courted by lovesick gods.
===Britomartis===
Desiring a herd of golden deer to pull her chariot, Artemis gathered the Hunters to assist in capturing them. Britomartis, a demigod whom Artemis would later reward as a minor goddess known as the "Lady of Nets", sets snares and concealed nets to capture their prey. The other Hunters make noise to lure out the golden deer, and as expected, four of them charge straight into the traps. The fifth runs off to safety and is given Artemis' blessing.
===Punishments on mortals===
Artemis punished several men who dared to lay eyes on her Hunters. Actaeon was one such man who fell victim to Artemis' wrath. After a hard day of hunting, he stumbles upon Artemis and the Hunters bathing one night. Falling in love at the sight of Artemis, he reveals his presence to the goddess and insists that she marry him. Angered by his words, Artemis transforms Actaeon into a deer and rouses his own fifty hunting dogs from their sleep to tear their master apart.
Another day, a boy named Sipriotes catches Artemis bathing one time. Begging for mercy not to meet a fate similar to that of Actaeon, he is instead changed into a female by Artemis, who offered him the choice of death or gender change. Having accepted the latter, Sipriotes then joins the Hunters.
===Callisto===
Artemis' favorite Hunter was Callisto, who accidentally attracted the attention of Zeus. While she was separated from the other Hunters, Zeus appeared to her in the form of Artemis herself. He attempts to seduce Callisto, but when she rejects his advances, he reveals his true form and has his way with her. Ashamed of what had happened, Callisto attempts to keep the encounter with Zeus a secret. Her pregnancy is exposed, however, when the Hunters go swimming in a lake one day. Angered by her father's actions, but unable to forgive Callisto for lying to her, Artemis sadly transforms her former best friend into a bear, warning Callisto that the next time they meet she will have to kill her.
===Orion===
Following this incident, Artemis befriends the giant Orion on the island of Delos. Impressed by his hunting skills, she allows Orion to join as the first ever male Hunter. Soon, he and Artemis become close friends, so much so that Apollo fears his twin sister would be renouncing her oath of maidenhood. He inflicts insanity upon Orion, who starts hunting all animals he finds. This rouses the mother earth Gaea from her sleep and counters by sending a giant scorpion to kill Orion. When Artemis finally found Orion's corpse, she honored him in the stars as a constellation with the scorpion nearby, thereby immortalizing his story. In some myths, Apollo challenges Artemis to a archery competition with Orion disguised as a rock.
===Hippolytus===
The last male to join the Hunt was Hippolytus, a handsome prince who had no interest in romance whatsoever. For this reason, he incurred the wrath of Aphrodite. When Hippolytus visited his father, King Theseus of Athens, Aphrodite heightened their anger during an argument, resulting in Theseus drawing his sword and striking his son dead. When Artemis received word of this, she immediately rushed to Hippolytus' tomb and took his body to her nephew Asclepius, the best physician in all of Greece. Using the Physician's Cure, Asclepius brings Hippolytus back to life. She then takes Hippolytus to Italy, where he becomes a priest of one of her sacred shrines and lives to old age.
==Known Hunters==
===Leaders and Lieutenants===
*Artemis (former leader, deceased)
*Mayltio (former lieutenant, deceased)
*Veronia Batracius (current leader, reincarnation of Artemis)
===Active members===
*Charophine (reincarnated by Artemis' Dying Wish)
*Iphigenia (reincarnated by Artemis' Dying Wish)
*Sarcophia (reincarnated by Artemis' Dying Wish)
===Former members===
*Hemithea (now mortal)
*Orion (formerly, deceased)
*Hippolytus (formerly, deceased)
*Britomartis (became goddess)
*Polyphonte (before giving birth to Agrius and Oreius, later turned into an owl after giving birth)
*Callisto (formerly, turned into a bear)
*Zosime (formerly, last survivor of the assassination)
===Deceased members===
*Lennaea
*Sorbia
*Naomi
===Unknown fate===
*Sipriotes
*Parthenos
==See also==
*Artemis
*Callisto
*Assassination of Artemis and the Hunters
*Hippolytus
Category:Hunters of Artemis