Artemis

Artemis was the Olympian goddess of the Hunt, the Moon, virginity, women and young girls. She was the leader of the Hunters of Artemis and a sworn maiden. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, as well as the twin-sister of Apollo.
Artemis was killed, along with all her Hunters, by Deicidia. She was later reincarnated as Veronia Batracius. Her Dying Wish was to resurrect her Hunters, however, so that they kept the memory of the gods alive.
==History==
===Birth and Travel to Olympus===
Artemis was conceived by Zeus and the Titaness Leto. After her mother got pregnant, Hera got infuriated for her husband's constant cheating and cursed Leto to wander the earth without finding a place with roots to give birth. After traveling for a long time, the floating island of Delos gave sanctuary to Leto as the nature spirits there welcomed her. All the goddesses begged Hera to allow her daughter Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to come to Leto, who finally gave birth to a daughter named Artemis on the seventh day of the seventh month.
Almost immediately, Artemis grew to the size of a six-year-old girl and helped deliver her twin brother, Apollo, nine days later.​​​​​​ Seeing that it took days and nights to help her mother give birth to Apollo, the young Artemis swore to be a virgin and that she didn't like men after that. However, this event also influenced her to become the protector and nurturer of the young.
Four days later, Artemis asked her aunt Hestia to take her to Mount Olympus so she could meet with her father. After Artemis lovingly embraced Zeus with open arms, he swore on the River Styx to grant his daughter anything as a birthday present. Artemis requested to be an eternal maiden, the goddess of the wilderness, and wanted a band of eighty maiden followers who varied from mortals or nymphs, twenty of whom hunted with the goddess personally. The Elder Cyclopes forged Artemis' Silver Bow and arrows, while Pan provided her with hunting dogs. Her followers consisted of about eighty maiden girls who varied from mortals or nymphs,
===Capture of the Golden Deer===
Needing wild animals to pull her chariot, Artemis and her Hunters decided to capture a herd of five golden deer. Britomartis was her most skilled trapper, using set snares and concealed nets. The Hunters made noise to scare off the regular deer, while four of the five golden ones charged straight into the traps and were harnessed for Artemis' chariot. The fifth and smartest golden deer escaped, later becoming known as the Ceryneian Hind. She was given Artemis' blessing and protection from other hunters.
===Gigantomachy===
During the First Giant War, Artemis was notable for fighting against Otis and Ephialtes, known as the Alodai twins. The giants captured Ares and planned on attacking Olympus by stacking their makeshift mountains on top of each other.
After hearing Ephialtes and Otis intended to seize Hera and Artemis as their wives, Artemis charged down the mountain and struck the Alodai twins with arrows. They tried impaling her with their spears, but she was too fast for either of them. She tricked the giants into killing each other by running between them and dodging at the last moment just as they stabbed at her, causing the twins to kill each other instead.
===Calydonian Boar Hunt===
When King Oineus of Calydon forgot to honor Artemis at harvest time, the enraged goddess summoned a monstrous boar which she unleashed upon the fields of Kalydon, killing many animals and people in the process. Oineus consulted his son Meleager, who suggested launching a great hunt to appease Artemis. All the best hunters in Greece were summoned to participate in the Calydonian Boar Hunt, but Artemis sabotaged them.
Mopsos, the strongest spear-thrower in Greece, tried killing the monster by launching his spear at it, but Artemis made it bounce harmlessly off the boar. Another hunter named Ankaios charged at it with a double-bladed ax, but died when the boar rammed his tusk straight into Ankaios' crotch. It was Prince Meleager who finally managed to kill the monster with help from the heroine Atalanta, who paralyzed the boar, but it wasn't enough to please Artemis. She made the other hunters envious and a full-scale civil war erupted when fighting broke out over who really deserved credit for killing the Calydonian Boar.
===Punishing Niobe===
When Queen Niobe of Thebes insulted Leto by saying her own children were more numerous and better overall, an enraged Artemis shot arrows at Niobe's seven daughters, while her brother Apollo shot arrows at Niobe's seven sons. In an act of mercy, the gods only left alive the Queen's youngest daughter and turned Niobe into stone.
===Punishing Actaeon===
One night, a prince named Actaeon hunted with his dogs until he stumbled upon Artemis and her Hunters bathing. At the sight of the naked goddess, he immediately fell in love with Artemis and revealed his presence to her. He declared his desire to marry her, though this incited her rage when Actaeon said "[he] must have [her]". As punishment, Artemis transformed Actaeon into a deer and had him killed by his own hunting dogs when she stirred them from sleep.
===Encounter with Sipriotes===
Sipriotes was an unfortunate boy who spotted Artemis bathing. Unlike Actaeon, Sipriotes fell to his knees and begged Artemis for mercy. Having gazed upon her naked form, she would have killed Sipriotes, but she decided to give him the option of becoming female to live due to her position as the protector of young children. Left with no other choice, Sipriotes was changed into a girl by Artemis and joined the Hunters.
===Seduction of Callisto===
Artemis' lieutenant and best friend was Callisto, a beautiful nymph who caught her father's attention. Zeus appeared to Callisto in his daughter's form and tried to seduce her, but a confused Callisto rejected his advances. He decided to reveal his true self and had his way with her, fathering a child in the process.
Many months later, after a long hunt, Artemis and the Hunters decide to go swimming. When Callisto was reluctant to join them, Artemis discovered the pregnancy and demanded to know who took her maidenhood. When Callisto told her it was Zeus disguised as Artemis herself, the goddess was unable to do much because of her father's power. Declaring that she would have allowed Callisto to go peacefully and settle into a new life, a saddened Artemis followed her rules and transformed the sobbing girl into a bear, telling her former best friend to leave or face death. Callisto eventually gave birth to a human son by the name of Arkas. Upon disappearing, Zeus, who possibly felt guilty for his actions, honored Callisto in the stars by making the constellation Ursa Major.
===Death of Orion===
Following the incident with Callisto, Artemis befriended the giant Orion, former royal hunter of the King of Chios. After he had his sight restored by Hephaestus with mechanical eyes, Orion settled on Delos, where Artemis allowed him to join her Hunters as the first ever male due to his impressive hunting abilities and archery. He respected all the Hunters and gave them their space when they were bathing.
However, Apollo drove Orion crazy for being close to his sister, fearing she would break her vows of maidenhood. One day, the giant got carried away with hunting so much that he began killing harmless animals, declaring that "[he] will kill all the animals in the world". This didn't sit well with the Hunters' way of life, nor with the Earth Mother Gaia. His claims stirred the latter from slumber, sending a massive scorpion that killed Orion with its poisonous stinger. Artemis found his body shortly thereafter. Saddened by the death of yet another friend, she made Orion into a constellation with a scorpion to immortalize his story.
===Befriending Hippolytus===
Hippolytus was a charming, handsome prince and legacy who had no interest in romance whatsoever. His passion for hunting made Artemis accept him into the Hunt, though her followers were rather hesitant at the thought of having an attractive male among their ranks. However, Hippolytus never tried anything romantic with the Hunters. His asexuality and aromanticism greatly enraged the love goddess Aphrodite, who manipulated his father Theseus's emotions when he returned home to visit his family. The two got into an argument about Hippolytus marrying and having children, despite the latter insisting to remain at Artemis' Hunt, which resulted in Theseus drawing a sword and striking Hippolytus dead.
Upon hearing of her friend's death, a devastated Artemis promptly rushed to Hippolytus' tomb and carried his deceased body to her nephew Asclepius, the best physician in all of Greece. She requested that Asclepius revive him from the dead, which he did with the Physician's Cure. However, this had immediate repercussions: Aphrodite complained to Zeus about Hippolytus' revival along with Hades, as it could possibly cause chaos in both the mortal world and the Underworld. Zeus appeased his aunt and brother by personally striking down Asclepius with a thunderbolt, but Apollo was angered and devastated by the death of his favorite son and killed one of the younger Cyclopes who forged Zeus' thunderbolts in retaliation. To prevent a feud, Asclepius was resurrected and made into a god, but Hades forbid him from ever resurrecting the dead again. Fortunately, Artemis protected Hippolytus and had him sent off to Italy, where he lived to an old age as a priest to one of her sacred shrines.
==The Olympians Incarnate==
===The Daughter of Persephone===
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===The Olympians Incarnate===
===The Thirteenth Olympian===
===The Helm of Darkness===
===The Titan's Wrath===
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==See also==
*Hunters of Artemis
*Callisto
*Zosime
Category:Female characters
Category:Greek Gods
Category:Olympians
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Category:Hunters of Artemis
Category:Children of Zeus
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Category:The Dungeon Master's Heroes of Greece characters
Category:The Daughter of Persephone characters
Category:The Olympians Incarnate (novel) characters
Category:The Helm of Darkness characters
Category:The Titan's Wrath characters
Category:The Olympians Incarnate characters