Pheme

Goddess of Gossips, Goddess of Rumors, Personification of Fame, Messenger of Scandals, Herald of Scandals (Titles)
Zeus' Little Spy, Pulitzer Winner (Nicknames)

## Biographical Information

### Religion

**Figure of Worship** (Pagan Goddess)* Ancient Greek Religion
* Ancient Roman Religions

### Employer

Olympian Gods (Zeus)
The New York Times (Human Cover)

### Residence

Apartment 421
Woodlands Building
Manhattan, New York City

## Organizational Information

### Affiliations

Zeus (Father/Liege)
Mount Olympus
Minor Gods
Olympian Gods
Greco-Roman Gods
The New York Times (Human Cover)

### Divine Domains

Gossip, Rumors, Fame, Renown, Scandals, Reputation, Common Talk, Reports, Journalism, News

## Relationships

### Relatives

Khaos (Progenitor)
Ouranos, Khaos (Great-Grandfathers)
Gaia (Great-Grandmother)
Kronos, Tartarus (Grandfathers)
Rhea, Nyx (Grandmothers)
Zeus (Father)
Elpis (Mother)
Hera (Stepmother)
Hephaestus, Apollo, Ares, Hermes, Dionysus, Heracles... (Half-Brothers)
Persephone, Athena, Artemis... (Half-Sisters)

### Marital Status

Single
Exes (William Shakespeare, Boyfriend)

## Powers and Abilities

### Power Source

Divine Energy (Primarily)
Magic, Magical Energy (Secondary)

## Portrayals

### Voice Actor(s)

Michiko Neya (Japanese)
Carli Mosier (English)

**Pheme**, also called **Fama**, is the Goddess of Gossip and Rumors from Greco-Roman mythology. She is a messenger god who directly served under Zeus' commands.

Under the alias of **Henrietta Dresden**, she is a famous reporter of *The New York Times* with several Pulitzer Prizes under her name. She is forbidden from entering Mount Olympus, and as such, she's currently living in the Woodlands Building, Manhattan.

## Summary: **Pheme**

In Greek mythology, **Pheme**, also known as **Ossa**, was the personification of fame and renown, her favour being notability, her wrath being scandalous rumors. She was a daughter either of Gaia or of Elpis, was described as "she who initiates and furthers communication" and had an altar at Athens.

A tremendous gossip, Pheme was said to have pried into the affairs of mortals and gods, then repeated what she learned, starting off at first with just a dull whisper, but repeating it louder each time, until everyone knew. In art, she was usually depicted with wings and a trumpet.

In Roman mythology, **Fama** ("rumor") was described as having multiple tongues, eyes, ears and feathers by Virgil and other authors. Virgil wrote that she "had her feet on the ground, and her head in the clouds, making the small seem great and the great seem greater". By Homer, Pheme is called Rumour the goddess or the messenger of Zeus.

In English Renaissance theatre, Rumour was a stock personification, best known from William Shakespeare's *Henry IV, Part 2*.

## History

### Early Years

Pheme was born the daughter of the Sky Father Zeus with Elpis, the Goddess of Hope. Ever since she was a child, Pheme was already known for her love of gossips of all kind, to the point where even grown goddesses came to see her when they wanted to know about a particular gossip. While this helped spreading Pheme's popularity, Elpis couldn't help but feel disappointed, as the Goddess of Peace knew her daughter's domains would be the cause of many strifes.

### Olympian Goddess

#### Ascending to Mount Olympus

When Pheme was about 2-3 centuries old, she was summoned to Mount Olympus by her father Zeus, who had been informed of her talent of collecting and spreading rumors. As a Trickster God, Zeus himself knew better than anyone else how important these talents were, and wanted a servant nearby who could become his personal gossiper. As such, Pheme the Olympian was born, granted with the title of Goddess of Gossips, Rumors, and Renown.

She was made Zeus' personal messenger, almost on the same level as Hermes and Iris. She would be sent out to collect gossip and rumors from all corners of Olympian territories, from the misty Erebus of Hades, to the darkened Atlantis of Poseidon, to each and every halls on top of the snow-capped Olympus where Zeus ruled. She was also in-charge of spreading rumors that Zeus wanted, ones that would eventually turn into many famous Greek myths and legends.

#### Spreading Rumors

Once, as a favor for Aphrodite, Pheme decided to help the Love Goddess punish the women of Lemnos. She whispered in the Lemnian women's ears that their husbands were going to abandon them for the Thracian women they captured, and that their children would be raised in Thracian traditions that were considered "barbaric" by Grecian standards. This resulted in a rebellion in Lemnos, in which all Lemnian men were viciously killed, and Hypsipyle, daughter of the former king Thoas and direct descendant of Dionysus, became the new queen of Lemnos.

Under Hera's secret request, Pheme spread the rumors about Heracles' affair with Iole, Oechalian princess who the demigod had taken as captive, weaving tales about how he had once tried and failed to take her as his wife before Deïanira. Soon, it reached the Calydonian's ears and jealousy clouded her mind. This resulted in her cloaking her husband's chiton in poisonous blood, which ultimately resulted in Heracles' death, just like what the centaur Nessus had prophesied many years before when he was killed by Heracles.

Through the War at Thebes, Pheme was a constant presence edging the war to higher state. She spreaded rumors between all sides and factions, whispers of victories and losses, and recounted tales to poets and storytellers, who would add their own spins to the war. According to Pheme, this was one of her favorite missions, even considering the times she was almost accidentally maimed by soldiers.

It was also Pheme who was mentioned in the "Aeneid" as the Roman goddess **Fama**. She was responsible for spreading rumors about Aeneas and Dido, the Queen of Carthage, who coupled together while the two were trapped in a storm. This rumor eventually reached the ears of Iarbas, king of Gaetuli, who was Dido's former suitor. Angered and humiliated, upon Dido's death, he invaded Carthage and captured Dido's palace for himself.

#### Pseudo-Banishment

As Pheme's popularity grew, more and more gods came to her temple to commission her. While seeing his daughter's growth pleased Zeus, he became annoyed as her status as his spy among the gods started to become threatened and quickly devised a plan to prevent it. Soon, Zeus handed out a royal decree, proclaiming that Pheme's presence would distras the gods from their responsibilities, and banned her from entering Mount Olympus... or at least, from entering through the official entrances.

## Appearance

Pheme is described to be a beautiful woman who looks straight out of a 1950s commercial. She has fair skin, bright auburn hair styled into a classic chignon, and light-brown eyes filled with an undisclosed curiosity. She possesses a pair of gold-feathered wings located on her back.

### Alternative Forms

As a deity, Pheme is a natural shapeshifter, capable of changing from one shape to another effortlessly. In addition, as her form is largely influenced by humans' perception, beliefs, and ideas about the myths around her, she has taken on many forms through the millennia.

However, due to her status as a minor goddess with a very low number of followers, the influence of humans' collective consciousness over her isn't as strong as the higher-ranked gods. As such, the form she currently possesses is the form she has assumed since the time of Ancient Greece and Rome.

## Personality

Pheme, like many other divine spirits, truly lives and acts based on her purviews. She is a known gossiper, knowing every single rumor, scandal, and gossip within the Greco-Roman Pantheon, as well as ones in other pantheons and in other mythological factions.

She has a special talent to sniff out news and potential scandals like a bloodhound, with her eyes capable of seeing a thousand different things at once while her ears can differentiate hundreds of different noises, no matter how loud or quiet it is, from hundreds of kilometers away. According to Chiron, this is why Pheme is one of the gods who the Olympians "can't live with [Pheme], can't live without [Pheme]."

In ancient times, mortals had compared Pheme's favor being a notability and her wrath being scandalous rumors. She has a tendency to spread chaos everywhere she goes with her gossip, which resulted in her being "banished" from Mount Olympus by Zeus. She also has a horrible trait of mixing half-truth with falsehood, which makes it extremely difficult to know which of her tales have roots in reality without her telling them.

Despite this, when it comes to journalism, Pheme is an extremely fair and diligent worker who strives for nothing but truth and fairness in her reports. Because of this, she can become enraged when someone accuses her of unprofessionalism. According to her, while gossip and rumors *are* her purviews, they would *never* be involved in her line of work.

## Relationships

### Family

* **Progenitor** - Khaos
* **Direct Family**
	+ Zeus - Father
	+ Elpis † - Mother
	+ Hera - Stepmother
	+ Children of Zeus - Paternal Half-Siblings
* **Lineage of Ouranos** - Paternal Family
	+ Khaos - Great-Great- Grandfather
	+ Ouranos † - Great-Grandfather
	+ Gaia † - Great-Grandmother
	+ Kronos † - Grandfather
	+ Rhea - Grandmother
	+ Hades, Poseidon - Uncles
	+ Hestia, Demeter, Hera - Aunts
* **Lineage of Nyx** - Maternal Family
	+ Khaos - Great-Grandfather
	+ Tartarus - Grandfather
	+ Nyx - Grandmother

## Powers & Abilities

### Power-Ranking

* **CDI System**
	+ **Classification**: Class VII (Pagan God)
	+ **Description**: Deity
	+ **Identification**: Corporeal, Free-Roaming, Paranormal, Transdimensional, Telekinetic
* **P.O.W.E.R.S. Assessment**
	+ **Physicality**: 6 - Superb
	+ **Occult**: 3 - Exceptional
	+ **Weaponry**: 3 - Trained
	+ **Expertise**: 4 - Expert
	+ **Range**: 5 - Master
	+ **Strategy**: 3 - Trained
		- **Assessment**: Level 3 "Moderate Threat"

## Equipment

### Weapons

**Golden Sword**: In battle, Pheme wields an Imperial Gold *xiphos*, a double-edged and one-handed straight shortsword used by the ancient Greeks. While she's not a swordsman on the same level of War Gods such as Ares and Athena, due to her divinity, she's a formidable warrior far greater than even the greatest of mundane warriors.

## Trivia

* The name "Pheme" means "Fame, report, or rumor".
	+ The Roman/Latin name "Fama" is related to the Latin *fari* ("to speak"), and is the etymon of the English "fame".
	+ Her human alias, **Henrietta Dresden** (ヘンリエッタ・ドレスデン, *Henrietta Doresuden*), is based on two figures.
		- "Henrietta" originated from William Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part 2", in which Pheme - as "Rumour" - presented as a stock character.
		- "Dresden" came from the Dresden University of Visual Arts, whose roof has a sculpture of Pheme on top.
* As a human reporter, Pheme has won several Pulitzer Prizes.
	+ According to her, it was her who suggested the idea of the Pulitzer Prize to Athena and Hermes, whose children brought it into existence.
* The Roman poet Virgil called Pheme a "winged angel of ruin."
* Pheme had an altar in Athens, a gift from Athena for helping her start a war.
* In Greek mythology, Pheme is called "the last child of Gaia" and the sister of the Gigas Enceladus and the Titan Koios.
* Pheme is said to live with Credulity, Error, Delight, Whispers, Sedition, and Fears, at "the world's centre [...] between the lands and seas and regions of the sky, the limits of the threefold universe."
* In art, Pheme's often depicted with wings and a trumpet.
* In English Renaissance theater, Pheme (as Rumor) was a stock personification.