Greek mythology

The Greek Gods are a race of immortal beings who control the forces of nature and human endeavors. The majority are the descendants and relatives of the Elder Titans, their chief enemies. There are currently twelve major gods, the Olympians, who rule over the universe, all of whom are under the rule of Zeus. There are many other minor gods who serve smaller but necessary purposes in the world.
==History==
The six elder Greek gods and goddesses were Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus, because they were the sons and daughters of the two rulers of the Titans: Cronus and Rhea.
Fearing his children would overthrow him in the same way he had done to his own father like Uranus had predicted, Cronus devoured his first two sons and his three daughters almost immediately after they were born. Hestia first, then Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. He would have devoured Zeus as well, but Rhea, unable to bear the pain of losing another child and seeing her husband now for the monster he was, entered into an alliance with Gaia, who smuggled her son away to safety, and gave her husband a rock instead to devour in which he ate without looking.
After years in hiding, Zeus was finally old enough and strong enough to overthrow his father. He returned to Cronus' palace to free his siblings who, being immortals, remained alive and undigested within their father’s stomach. Disguised as a titan, Zeus tricked Cronus and using a mixture of mustard and nectar, Zeus freed his siblings by smuggling the concoction to Cronus and forcing him to regurgitate his children and used a different potion to knock out the other titans in order to escape without opposition.
Having freed his siblings, as well as the Hekatonkeries and the Cyclopes whom Cronus had re-imprisoned in Tartarus, Zeus led a rebellion against the Titans. Most of the titans remained neutral with the exception of Iapetus, Crius, Coeus, Hyperion and Atlas. In gratitude, the Cyclopes forged the Big Three's symbols of power: the Master Bolt, the Trident, and the Helm of Darkness, while the sheer strength of the Hekatonkeries proved to be a great advantage against the Titan army.
At first, the Titans had an advantage, due to being more experienced, but in time, the gods themselves became experienced and fierce warriors too, and with the help of their new weapons, were able to prevail. During the final battle, the gods gathered on Mount Olympus, the tallest mountain after Mount Othrys, and Zeus used the Master Bolt to sheer off the top of Mount Othrys and topple Cronus' Black Throne. 
The final blow was delivered when Zeus, using his father's own scythe, cut Cronus into a thousand pieces and dropped them in Tartarus where he would never rise again. The other titans were also cast down to Tartarus with the exception of Atlas who was forced to hold up the sky for the rest of eternity. This marked the end of the Titan age and started the Olympian age.
The Olympians have been challenged many times for their control of the world, but they have always managed to stabilize their rule, often with the help of their children, the demigods. This is exemplified when the Giants rebelled against the gods, and Heracles and Dionysus, the sons of Zeus, helped them vanquish the Giants as the giants could be killed easily if they are fought with the help of a demigod.
The gods were also challenged by Typhon the storm giant who was the last and arguably most powerful son of Gaea and Tartarus. The gods, upon seeing the big monstrosity, fled all the way to Egypt except Zeus who tried to fight the monster. He was overwhelmed eventually and had his divine tendons torn off. Zeus eventually managed to get his tendons back with the help of a few other gods and a satyr and then, using trickery, he managed to hurl a mountain on top of the storm giant and imprisoned him this way.
Zeus married his sister Hera, and had subsequent children ― Ares, Hephaestus, Hebe, Eileithyia, and Enyo ― followed. From affairs, the other gods and goddesses were created. However, it was never stated when Aphrodite was born from Uranus' remains in the sea. She may not have formed until Zeus and his siblings were fully grown, harmonizing some myths which say she is a daughter of Zeus.
== Operation ==
Like the Romans, the Greeks have demigod children and a camp to train them. Unlike the Romans they have some involvement in the demigod's lives not being so much a stickler for rules like their Roman counterparts. They can also walk the mortal world without a host.
==Divine Form==
Gods as well as most other immortal beings, in their natural, fully empowered form, are radiant with a divine light so intense that no being less than a god can look upon it without disintegrating to ashes. To interact with mortals and heroes, the gods take on a lesser form which can be safely observed. Gods can instantly call back this power any time they desire, and may even revert involuntarily to their Divine Form if experiencing intense emotions. According to Hephaestus, the only time a god’s full essence and power is ever in one place is when they are in their Divine Form. They have eternal youth and the ability to control their physical age. They are all stunning and beautiful in their own right, though they can sustain irregularities from severe injury (such as Hephaestus).
==Abilities==
The gods are supernatural beings with a variety of magical powers, such as control of the weather and seas. In addition to their immortality, all gods draw most off their power from their sphere of control or domain, but they all share certain powers, and even abilities specific to their individual domains can sometimes overlap. A case in point is the one of Morpheus and Hypnos who both have control over dreams and sleep.
Each of the Big Three, after overthrowing the Titans, took one of the three largest physical domains on Earth (the heavens, the ocean, and the Underworld). This is why the Big Three are the most powerful and influential gods on Olympus.
Gods possess a nearly limitless amount of magical control over their domain, as well as many general powers including levitation, teleportation, telepathy, physical abilities such as strength and stamina which surpasses those of mortals and manipulating the elements among other vast amounts of control over the world. The limits of a god's power in this regard is unknown, as is to what extent they can cross into the domain of another. Since their true, Divine Form is far too powerful to be looked upon by mortals or demigods, all gods can shapeshift into any form that they desire- even animals, as stated by the myths and the series.
However, gods are not all-powerful. They can tire or be overpowered by immortals and even powerful demigods. If they choose to engage in a physical battle they can be injured through the proper weaponry. Because gods can exist in many places at once, only a fraction of their power is used in combat against demigods. If their power is all in the same place at once, their divine form will eradicate all beings lesser than them.
Gods consume a divine food and drink called nectar and ambrosia. It is too powerful for mortals to eat under normal circumstances as they will literally burst into flames, yet in some myths, the gods have used nectar and ambrosia to bestow immortality upon a mortal, though it's more likely that the nectar and ambrosia are specially prepared for a mortal. Demigods, however, can consume small amounts of both in order to regain strength and heal wounds, though too much will make them ill or destroy them in the same way it would a mortal.
Gods also possess the ability to tell whether or not someone is a demigod and who is their divine parent since the gods are able to claim their children.
==Roman Counterpart==
As they follow the flow of Western Civilization, the gods will change slightly to reflect the culture of the country they currently reside in. Normally, this change has only a small effect and is not permanent. Such changes include Zeus wearing designer suits and Apollo's chariot becoming a sports car. However, the gods have resided in Rome almost as long as they ruled from Greece, and therefore each god has a permanent Roman aspect to themselves that they can change into. In this form, the gods became more disciplined, warlike, and militaristic ― the characteristics associated with the ancient Roman Empire.
As Roman gods, they rarely interacted with mortals or had affairs with them. When they did, however, these relationships produced Roman demigods who knew of their godly parent only by their Roman name.
==Aspect Conflicts==
While the gods are normally in harmony with both of their forms, this can change if their Greek and Roman children begin to know about, and consequently, resent, and finally declare war on each other. Because both camps call their godly parents for help, both their Roman and Greek forms are at odds with each other, giving the gods splitting headaches, indecision, and focus problems. They are also slightly schizophrenic. If, for example, a god in his Roman aspect appears before a demigod who thinks about the god in his Greek aspect, the god's form will flicker back and forth from his Roman and Greek forms - apparently causing intense headaches - until the god is able to settle back into one form.
The deity most affected by this conflict is Athena, who was stated to be the most Greek of all gods, and therefore, the one who has the most difficult time being a Roman deity.
While this aspect conflict happens to most of the gods, there are other gods who are unaffected by this split. Such gods are Aphrodite and Nemesis - as both love and revenge are universal for Greeks and Romans - and gods who have only one aspect, such as Bellona, the purely Roman goddess of war. Heracles, on the other hand, is not as affected by this split as the other gods, since his Greek and Roman aspects are more or less the same thing. It should also be noted that some gods, such as Favonius, are only slightly affected by this as the god had stated that he only occasionally had headaches.
It has also been noted that minor gods and goddess are significantly less affected by aspect conflict due to lack of prayers and worship with the only notable effect being minor headaches.
Seemingly exclusive to Artemis and Apollo by returning to their birthplace - Delos - they are protected against this aspect conflict. Although any and all powers they attempt to utilize outside their home is nullified.
==Divine Laws==
Despite their immense power, gods are bound by laws and oaths sworn upon the River Styx. However, due to their immortal nature, breaking such oaths doesn't have severe consequences to them most of the time, although it may have consequences on people they care or cared about.
*No god can enter the domain of another unless invited by the lord/lady of said domain unless their domain overlaps. The only known gods to freely travel the worlds are Hermes and Iris, both of which are the messenger deities.
*No god can directly steal the symbol of power of another. This applies to both the Titans and Olympians. As mortals and demigods are free from this rule, this is the reason why Zeus knew a hero or mortal had stolen his Master Bolt.
*Gods are limited to how much they can interfere in mortal affairs.
==Weaknesses==
The gods do possess some weaknesses, physical or otherwise. They can be injured by supernatural weapons, but are invulnerable to conventional physical attacks. If a god's domain is attacked, he/she may weaken, age, and take the form to represent their current state of said domain. Gods can also fade from existence — either from a lack of worship or the diminishing of their domain (such gods are Helios, Selene and Pan respectively).
A god can survive a lack of worship or loss of their domain so long as their will to live is strong enough. Otherwise, they will fade. However, even if their will is strong enough they won't be powerful enough to maintain a physical form, as Kronos was able to survive, due to sheer willpower, yet remain powerless in Tartarus. If their thrones (or other sources of power) are destroyed, they will also fade along with it or become so weakened that they can no longer take a physical form, as stated in The Last Olympian by Prometheus.
Gods are, in general lustful — with the exceptions of the Virgin Goddesses and deities of marriage — and often have many illegitimate children, both immortal and demigod. Most gods also tend to be petty or immature and a lot of them are arrogant and underestimate their opponents, for example Ares underestimated Percy and that resulted in him being defeated by the latter. Because the gods are immortal, they feel little reason to change or adapt. And as a result, they often lack maturity or sense of personal growth, often resulting in many broken promises.
In addition, the gods can be very prideful of the things they do or the choices they make. They are often too proud to admit when they need help or when they have committed mistakes, instead believing themselves to be beyond help from regular mortals and demigods. Gods generally believe that they should be feared and respected. Due to their pride, they see admitting they need help as a sign of weakness. Furthermore, the gods will show signs of contempt towards the children of their enemies, sometimes even if those children are the offspring of other gods, most likely since Divine Laws prevent gods from attacking each other directly and thus do fight through their demigod offspring. It is these traits that often cause many beings, both mortal and immortal alike, to hate the gods and the reason why the gods are occasionally viewed as being no better than the Titans.
If a god or goddess is magically bounded or trapped in a magical prison of some kind, his or her power is useless, as the magical bindings act as an anchor keeping them in place, akin to a bear caught in a trap.
The only known way to permanently defeat a god is to scatter their essence. This happened to Uranus. If they are defeated in a way that scatters their essence enough, they will be unable to reform and create a consciousness or a body ever again.
==List of Gods==
===Greek Gods===
====Major Olympian Gods and Goddesses ====
====Minor Gods and Goddesses====
==Trivia==
*According to The Dungeon Master's Theogony, gods are a more advanced race of immortals than the Titans. Due to this, Cronus, knowing that his children would soon become too powerful for him to control, chose to swallow them.
*Even though the Olympians can alter their height at will, they are not usually seen to be taller than 20 feet. However, in The Dungeon Master's Gods of Olympus, when Minthe infuriates Persephone, she grows 50 feet tall; when Erysichthon infuriates Demeter, she grows 100 feet tall, and when Typhon infuriates Zeus, he grows over 1,000 feet tall (until he is half as tall the Storm Giant himself).
*It is unknown apart from the stories of Greek mythology if the gods had any other children with other gods. This might be possible, but those gods may have far smaller roles than the minor gods. These beings have been named "godlings" in the series. This term may also apply to demigods. Godlings appear briefly in the series, and they only appear in Olympus.
*Gods do not have DNA, as they are beings of magic and power. Due to this, romantic relationships between children of 2 different gods aren't ever incestuous.
==See also==
*Family Tree
*Greek/Roman Forms
Category:Gods (TOI)
Category:Goddesses (TOI)
Category:Groups