Atheus

**Atheus** - previously known as **Hans Athens** - is the self-proclaimed corrupted Deity of mankind.

## Story

### Hans, Enemy of Mankind

Hans Athens was one a scientist searching for ecological ways to better mankind, but his desperation at the state of mankind and the way nature was exploited caused him to become disgusted at his peers. Eventually, while attempting to create a product that would allow him to generate energy without threatening nature, he was horribly disfigured as a result.

Desperate, Hans resorted to more and more desperate measures, poisoning his own wife with the same substance, known as H2/3, then attempting to threaten the world with rising pollution due to his own, contaminating, substance. As his final plan was put into motion - using his son Billy as a living detonator to a massive bomb that would allow him to wipe out mankind from the surface of the earth - he was confronted, and killed, by Ian Woodrow.

### Atheus, God of Mankind

In a Timeline where Ian could not stop him, Athens ascended to godhood as the bomb detonated, becoming the Miasma god **Atheus**, absorbing mankind's desires and ambitions in a cruel twist of fate. As Atheus, he began corrupting Fay Th and turned her into the universe, attempted to stifle Gaea's rise while taking delight in the suffering of mankind.

He was however eventually stopped by Julian Solaar, wielding Buddha's Regalia, allied with Maat and Gaea, despite corrupting the latter for a time; he was forced to show himself, upon which he was exposed and defeated, finally granted rest, disappearing into Miasma and freeing mankind from his influence.

## Appearance

Hans Athens's appearance was never known; he appeared veiled by white robes after being disfigured, refusing to show his face. As Atheus, he appeared like a gigantic abomination with purple skin and emerald hair, his face covered with black veins, smiling a demented smile.

## Personality

Hans Athens's hatred of mankind stemmed from the fact that he genuinely believed that death to humanity would cause the world to become an objectively better place - an obsessive desire that, when combined with his sustained trauma, turned into a genocidal obsession, eventually culminating with either his death or rebirth.

As Atheus, he revels in the pain of others and loves turning mankind against each other and against other Deities, obsessively taunting others and taking pride in embodying the worst of mankind - his obsession and misanthropy turning into the belief that his atrocities are the true face of mankind's wishes.

## Powers

* **Keen Intellect:** As a human, he was intelligent enough to obtain H⅔ from experiments alone and used it to various aims, while using Samantha Damont's affinity for The Nothing to hide the traces of his experiments, and manipulating entire businesses into doing his bidding.
* **Miasma Mastery:** As a God of Miasma, Athens obtained several powers, including conceptual Immortality, manipulation of corrupted creatures, and the ability to corrupt and possess others, up to and including Deities.

## Storylines

* Gaea's Will features him as Athens, the story arc's enemy.
* Gaea's Renewal does the same with his Atheus self.

## Trivia

* Ironically enough, his name as a god is derived from Greek and means "no gods".