Hades

* Elysium
* Classic

*Stern and dutiful, Hades takes his job seriously but gets very little enjoyment out of it. He feels insulted that ignorant mortals believe him to be something feared, but he is opportunistic enough to capitalize on that myth just the same. The only thing Hades considers more sacred than his duty is his family and would do anything to keep them safe, especially seen in his love for his wife Persephone, his son Dionysus and his four daughters Hecate, Melinoe, Makaria and Achlys.*

## History

### Age of the Titans:

#### ~5,000 Years Before Titanomachy to ~666 YBT

As the Titans' influence and power grew, mortals began to spread their legend across the land. The Titans no longer wished to spend time among the mortals. Instead, they sought to spend their time in the 'Haven,' the impressive residence and research station that Ouranos and Gaia had built for themselves atop Mt. Othrys. So to this end, the Titan Rhea discovered a way to extract the essence of the most powerful Titan, Kronos, and bestow it upon their most loyal mortal followers. Rhea used her essence to stabilize this process, creating the gods.

#### 666 YBT - 645 YBT

Before the Titans chose him, Hades was an Epeian war orphan who had become a highwayman to survive. At twenty-one years old, he was captured by the tribe he had plagued for years. Marked for death, and being tortured to give up his band of thieves (which he would never divulge), he was spared execution by the intervention of Rhea who had need of someone with a combination of his skills and absolute loyalty. Hades became the second mortal given the Titans' essence as a gift and soon met Hestia.

#### 645 YBT - 625 YBT

Throughout the next two decades, Kronos and Rhea would add four other exalted lieutenants to their retinue: Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, and finally, Zeus. In a sense, Hades had become a child of Kronos and Rhea, with the five other exalted lieutenants becoming his new family. Though unrelated in their mortal life, they were spiritual siblings, connected by the essence of their 'father' and 'mother.' While Hestia remained in the Haven to serve the Titans, Hades and the others were deployed into the world on various missions and tasks.

#### 625 YBT - 309 YBT

As the Titans' spymaster, Hades served the Titans faithfully for over three-hundred years. During which time, he found himself often in the Underworld to transport prisoners for the Titans or to conduct interrogations of the prisoners in Tartarus. Hades became a close friend of the chthonic god Charon during this time. He also built good rapport with the nymphs of the Underworld, particularly the chieftesses Minthe and Leuce. Finally, Hades had also spent a good amount of time exploring the remote wastes of the Underworld, making a number of friends among the exiles that lived in the fringes of the Underworld.

When he was not befriending chthonic gods and the nymphs of the Underworld's five rivers, Hades would often find himself the romantic prey of Demeter. However Hades did not reciprocate those feelings due to his preference for long-term relationships and Demeter's preference of sex over romance. Still, she persisted until Hades lost a sparring match to Poseidon in front of Demeter, causing her to shift her focus to the Titan's admiral instead.

Hades began an inquiry into the Titan Mnemosyne's secret plans to seize power from Kronos. When Mnemosyne discovered Hades was investigating her, she manipulated Kronos into believing his lieutenants were conspiring against him. When Hestia overheard Kronos' intent to imprison the exalted lieutenants, Hestia was imprisoned in Tartarus. News of this angered Hades, and he began to plot to free Hestia.

Hades sought to confide in Demeter and Poseidon about his suspicions and his intent to rescue Hestia. It was then he learned Demeter was with child, which itself was an act of treason according to the paranoid Kronos. Unfortunately for them, shortly after the three convened their secret meeting, Kronos and Mnemosyne showed up and captured the three, charging them with conspiracy.

#### 311 YBT - 103 YBT

Hades, Demeter, and Poseidon soon joined Hestia in her imprisonment in Tartarus. Hera would soon also join the four, leaving only their youngest and least capable sibling, Zeus, free. However, after Hades had spent substantial time in Tartarus, Zeus' pregnant wife Metis was also imprisoned, followed shortly by a duplicate of Zeus. When Kronos discovered the false nature of the duplicate and tore him apart, Hades and the others had hope that Zeus may return to rescue them.

During their imprisonment, Hades took a special interest in the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon. She had been born in the prison and when she was given her own cell, Hades made a deal with their prison's warden to allow the majority of his reprieve to be granted to the girl instead. He also took an interest in another abandoned godling named Hecate, who had also been born in the prison.

When Persephone was older, she sought out Hades in the nightmares of the abyss in order to give him some comfort through companionship and conversation. Overtime, a romance began to bloom in the bleak existence of Tartarus. The two found that their contrasting natures were actually mutual beneficial to surviving the horrors of the abyss and by sticking together they could mitigate the psychological torture inflicted upon them on a daily basis. It was not easy, but proved it could be done.

#### 103 YBT

With the aid of his children Artemis and Apollo, Zeus did brave the Underworld and break into Tartarus. When their freedom was offered, Hades escaped with the others, but also agreed to spare the life of their warden, Charon, if he would free Hecate as well and pledge service to him. Charon agreed if Hades promised him better pay than what the Titans gave him. Hades agreed to these terms and considered it one of the best deals he ever made.

#### 103 - 101 YBT

Zeus' wife Metis did not survive the escape from Tartarus, and he sought to create a rebellion against the Titans. To tighten the bonds between their band of exiles, Zeus married Hera. At the wedding of Zeus and Hera, Hades and Persephone had their first sexual encounter. Shortly after, Hades stumbled upon a drunken Demeter. She once again came on to Hades, but he rejected her. Angrily, Demeter stormed off to find Poseidon instead.

Since the escape, Hades had also taken Hecate in as his daughter. When he discovered she had a gift for dark sorcery, he decided to find her a teacher, so her gift could be used against the Titans. Daring the Underworld, Hades took Hecate to the uncharted wastes where he introduced the girl to a forgotten goddess who agreed to take Hecate on as a pupil in exchange for Hades not revealing the forgotten goddess' existence to the Titans.

#### 101 YBT - 0 Olympian Calendar

Hades used his invisibility to spy on the Titans and sabotage their forces whenever he could. Though Persephone mostly traveled with her mother, spreading goodwill and turning mortals against the Titans, there were occasions when Hades would recruit Persephone to aid him in a mission. The two dedicated themselves to the mission, but always found time to sneak away to renew their mutual love for each other. Hades would also find time to travel to the Underworld to check on the progress of Hecate's magical training.

Hades also made regular treks through the wastes of the Underworld, at great personal peril, to learn of Hecate's progress. Finally, when the final days of the Titanomachy were at hand, Hades brought Hecate with him to the fortress at the center of the Underworld.

To defeat Kronos, Hades needed the weapon of Lord Perses, the Titans' Lord of the Underworld, and Hecate's father. This weapon, the Bident, was widely believed to be one of only three weapons able to measure up against the power of the Pillars of the Earth, the mighty weapons of the Titans. Hecate eagerly strolled into the humble throne room of the Underworld and turned against the god that impregnated her mother. With dark magic, Hecate made short work of the guards, allowing Hades to forcibly dethrone Perses and claim the defeated god's two-pronged bladed scepter. Offering the weapon to Hecate, Hades gave her a chance to kill her sire. Hecate, however, had a better idea. She spared her father and took him prisoner.

When Hera was kidnapped, Zeus called the rebellion's forces to arms. Hades answered the call and joined the assault Othrys. In the melee, a great deal of ichor and blood was shed. There were gods whose names were lost to history that died on that battlefield, but in the end, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades took down Kronos.

#### 0 OC - 386 OC

After this, the Gods imprisoned what Titans had survived and surrendered, placing them in Tartarus, stripping them of their excess essence in the process and divvying those extra powers up among the gods to fill roles that best suited their personalities and existing skills. Most of the gods agreed that Zeus should be their king and Hera, his queen, and so it was. Hades took control over the Underworld, Poseidon took domain of the seas, Demeter roamed Earth, and Hestia kept the Haven secure.

Following the division of power, Hades continued his secret affair with Persephone. Having fallen madly in love with her, Hades decided they should be married. Persephone knew her mother would be upset, and she begged Hades to just run away with her to the Underworld. Not one to anger the goddess he so loved, Hades obliged, whisking Persephone away in his chariot.

#### 386 OC - 388 OC

Some nymphs had seen this from a distance and wrongfully assumed Hades had kidnapped Persephone. Naturally, Demeter was quite upset over the matter, and she stormed into the Underworld with Poseidon to confront the King of the Underworld. Hades entertained them in his court and showed them that Persephone was unharmed and had come of her own volition.

However, seeing how angry her mother was, Persephone nearly gave up on the whole relationship citing that as a goddess of nature, her place was on Earth. But Hades asked her to take a walk with him. During the walk, he introduced her to his palace's gardens and orchard, which he had prepared for her as a wedding gift. Hades had her taste a Stygian Pomegranate. The sweet taste of the fruit was enough to convince Persephone that there was beauty in the Land of the Dead that needed her care as well.

A deal was struck in which Persephone would spend the spring and summer with Demeter, working as an agent of the Natural Order. During which time, Hades would visit her when he could. However, during the Autumn and Winter, Persephone would travel to the Underworld and be free to live as the Queen of the Underworld. On the next harvest festival, following this arrangement, Persephone and Hades were married. Once again, a very drunk Demeter came on to Hades, testing his dedication to her daughter. Frustrated by the rejection, Demeter left to go find Poseidon again.

Rumors say that Hades and Persephone were overcome with desire that they could not contain themselves and began their honeymoon in Hades' chariot. Evidence to support this rumor is knowing that less than nine months later, they welcomed their first child into the world.

#### 388 OC - 3478 OC

Hades and Persephone's first child was a son they named Zagreus. By all rights of such an esteemed birth, the godling Zagreus should have been afforded all the luxury he could imagine, but his birth was a cursed one, having drawn in the tainted essence of the Underworld due to his mother's passing through an Underworld Gate twice while pregnant with the child. After having had a rather difficult infancy, Zagreus lived to childhood and began to show an aptitude for channeling the essence that plagued him. Hoping that fostering this gift would result in recovery from his frailty, Zagreus’ parents had him shadow Hades.

It was while accompanying his father in Tartarus that Atlas helped five other Titans break from their prison and tore young Zagreus limb from limb before his father's eyes. Hades cast three of the Titans into the oblivion of the abyss in his rage. Two others escaped, but Atlas pinned to the walls of Tartarus and spared oblivion by Hades' bident in his chest. As Atlas begged for mercy, Hades cradled his dying son and used his powers to keep the Thanatosi from claiming his son's spirit, thus unnaturally preventing Zagreus the mercy of death.

The Quorum of Six called an intervention to discuss Hades' abuse of his duty. Though the gods agreed that Hades was in the wrong, Zeus decided that a compromise would be reached, lest they risk earning Hades' eternal ire. Using the dark magic of Hecate, Zagreus' heart was removed and made into a potion. Semele of Nysa was a willing priestess that drank the potion and became pregnant. Just three days later, Semele gave birth to a fully divine child and died in the process. In honor of her sacrifice, Hades renamed his reborn son ‘Dionysus’, meaning ‘the God of Nysa.’

Hades and Persephone were hesitant to have more children, but the two's love for one another and their desire to have more (Well, Hades' desire for five children and Persephone's desire to have four) led them to conceive two more daughters before the Exodus.

#### 0 New Olympian Calendar - 1542 NOC

Since the Olympians' arrival in this new world of Elysium (named by Persephone after her once favorite part of the Underworld which was lost in the transition), Hades has worked harder than any of the Olympians at adjusting his domain to work within the new metaphysical properties of Elysium. When complications developed in the wake of the transition, allowing several Titans to escape from Tartarus via gaps in their prison's walls, Hades took responsibility for the breach and personally led the Wild Hunt in the capture effort.

On the rare occasion Hades takes a holiday from his duties, he will trust his faithful subordinate Charon or adopted daughter Hecate with his Bident and joins Persephone in the mortal realm, often visiting remote villas under one of his auspicious disguises as an undertaker, wealthy prince or a spy from a foreign land.

With the exception of these passion-filled excursions and the rare Wild Hunt he partakes in, Hades rarely is found in the mortal realm and thus can often go unnoticed even when he is not utilizing his magical disguises or powers of obfuscation.

Because of this and his unique abilities, Hades is often called upon by his brother Zeus to handle the most sensitive inquires and undergo vital missions of behalf of Olympus. I suspect Zeus has tasked Hades with investigating the recent heretic movement in the Nation of Thebes known as the "Broken Book".

## Abilities

### Ichoric Doctrine

* **Divine Physicality:** Though the exact levels may fluctuate or cease to function due to lack of Nektar and Ambrosia in his system, Hades has the following abilities while properly nourished
	+ **Enhanced Agility:** The deity is more agile, coordinated, and dexterous than physique alone would otherwise suggest.
	+ **Enhanced Awareness:** The divine are more closely attuned to the esoteric, arcane, and mystical than mortals. They can perceive ghosts, unmanifested nymphs, and other passively invisible patterns at work in their environment.
	+ **Enhanced Durability:** The divine are more durable, resilient, and resistant than their physique would otherwise suggest. Mystical weaponry, magic, concentrated essence weaponry, the natural attacks of other gods or divine creatures, and weapons forged of magical metals such as adamantine or orichalcum are the exceptions to this nigh-invulnerability. Most mortal weaponry cannot pierce a deity's skin, though bladed attacks from incredibly strong mortals have left bruises or slight cuts on her and repeated blows can weaken a deity over time as their body burns through its consumed Ambrosia.
	+ **Enhanced Might:** A deity is stronger than their physique would otherwise suggest. They punch harder than a mule can kick. In conjunction with their enhanced durability, a deity can barehandedly punch through a brick and mortar wall without concern for harming their body.
	+ **Enhanced Speed:** A deity is faster, more reflexive, and all-around quicker than their physique would otherwise suggest. They can usually dodge gunfire if they are aware of the attack and prepared to move.

### Inheritance and Birthright

* **Inheritance and Birthright:** Gods of Olympus will inherit three abilities: One Inheritance from their mother (or matron), one Inheritance from their father (or patron), and one unique ability called the Birthright.
	+ **Maternal Endowment: Arete of Scrutiny:** Hades was endowed by Rhea with the ability to be incredibly discerning and perceptive. Few things escape his notice in his vicinity. With little effort, he can usually detect the presence of intended deception, whether the work of magic or spoken in mundane words.
	+ **Paternal Endowment: Entropic Affinity:** Hades was endowed by Kronos with an affinity for death, decay, and the destruction of all things. Using this, Hades has a preternatural ability to intuit what would bring ruin to other's plans or goals; likewise, he can instinctually assess the weaknesses of persons or objects rather quickly.
	+ **Personal Birthright: Obfuscation:** Hades can mask his personal image, including his clothing and held possessions or persons, from the sight of others. The manner of this magical illusion can range from outright invisibility to the adopting of exceptionally convincing disguises made from essence alone that alter his voice and appearance entirely. He also has a heightened affinity for powers related to darkness, secrets, mysteries, investigations, and all manner of other things unseen.

### Doctrine

* **Council of the Twelve (Former):**Hades is a former member of the Council of Twelve. He remains a reserve member of the Twelve, able to return to the Council when called upon by King or Queen to fill a vacancy.
* **Elder God**: The second being endowed with Titanic essence and made immortal, Hades was infused with the powers to obfuscate and discern. Using those powers, Hades served as the spymaster of Kronos before he was locked away. Now, he is the warden of the prison that once held him.
* **Ruler of the Underworld**: Hades was appointed the indisputable Ruler of the Underworld in a sacred oath by the Quorom of the Six. As a result of this decree, his word is law within that domain. While Hades has dominion over the few residents and souls within the Underworld, he also has command over the Thanatosi - Underworld spirits that regularly enter the realm of mortals to recover the souls of the deceased.
* **God of the Dead**: Hades can sense death, temporarily suspend imminent death, cause accelerated rot or decay and control disembodied souls with ease.
* **God of Mysteries**: His first gift (and among his most forgotten), Hades is aware of all acts of deception in his presence. Also, few mysteries can withstand his abilities of discernment. Hades can also turn himself or objects invisible at will. He has been known to lend this ability out to others by endowing it upon his old war helm.
* **God of Wealth**: Hades has divine insight into the ebb and flow of local economies and is able to perfectly assess the monetary worth of a mortal or object in his proximity.
* **Warden of Tartarus**: Hades personally controls the keys to the prison of Tartarus and any wishing access to that plane must do so with Hades' permission or be foolish enough to attempt to steal the keys from his being.
* **Keeper of the Bident**: With this relic, forged by the Titans and enhanced by Hephaestus, Hades' power of the Underworld is magnified. While in the Underworld, Hades can reshape the very essence of reality. Beyond, it serves as one of the Divine Keys for entry into any of the Divine Realms.
* **Quorum of the Six:** Hades is a member of the Quorum of the Six. He is therefore given a say in the most important decisions affecting the Olympians.

### Essential Doctrine

* **Cantrips**
	+ **Essence Types:** *Varies by Sourced Environment* - A deity can absorb specific types of essence from his current environment. They can store this essence to engage in minor magical tricks at that time or at a later date. Essence not native to their current environment dissipates over time becoming less potent.
* **Spells**
	+ **Essence Types:** If the deity has a greater affinity for a particular type of essence, they can accomplish more significant effects related to that essence type. Such essence does not dissipate when stored in their ichor.
* **Invocations**
	+ **Essence Types:** If the deity has a mastery over a particular essence, then they can wield that particular type of essence to achieve legendary feats of essence manipulation. Such essence does not need to be sourced from the environment as they have become a source for this essence.

### Weaknesses

* **Adamant:** All gods find adamant to be concerning as injuries caused by such weaponry not only ignore their divine resilience, but also leave injuries that do not easily heal. Such weaponry poisons the god's own ichor. Even baring an adamantine weapon against a god is considered a mortal sin punishable by death.
* **Ambrosia:** Ambrosia is processed by the immortal body to heal injuries and prevent aging.
* **Nektar:** Generally speaking, Nektar is processed by an immortal body and converted into ichor which is required for replenishing ichor and channeling essence.
* **Nourishment:** A deity does require some level of mundane food and drink, though a diet strictly made of Nektar and Ambrosia can sustain them (though they may become increasingly disconnected and 'inhuman' as a result).

## Relationships

* **Persephone:** Hades only significant romantic relationship is with his wife, Persephone. Hades began a secret affair with Persephone, having fallen in love while they were gathering intelligence against the Titans. As a result of the eclectic paradigm of power, Persephone was able to continue their secret affair until the two decided to be married. The two have been committed to one another ever since.
* **Dionysus:** Hades' only son, he was responsible for him being torn apart by Titans while on shadowing him. He used his powers to unnaturally prevent his death (which would later cause his son to self-medicate) and was responsible for his rebirth.

## Trivia

### General

* Like the rest of the Gods, Hades does not have a set sexuality. However, he remains in a monogamous relationship (unlike most Gods).
	+ However he does have two other lovers, Minthe and Leuce but only when shared with Persephone.
* He gave his seat on the Council of the Twelve to Aphrodite as a wedding gift when she married Hephaestus.

### Mythology

* In Greek Mythology, Hades was the biological child of Kronos and Rhea. He grew up to marry his niece, Persephone. In NeOlympus, the incest is avoided by making the Eldest Gods spiritual siblings, so there is no biological relationship.
* In Mythology, Hades kidnapped Persephone and forced her into marriage by trapping her in the Underworld. In NeOlympus, that was just a lie told by Demeter in her rage.
* In Mythology, Dionysus is a nephew of Hades. But, in NeOlympus, Dionysus is one of the three male children of Hades and Persephone.

## Gallery

Hades
(Elysium)Pluto
(Rome)Hades
(Classic)The Unseen
(Champion of the Titans)
### Appears In

NeonomikonHades
CardOlympians
(Classic)Quorum of the Six
(Elysium)Flowers and Funerals
## Links and References

1. ↑ Neonomikon: Hades
2. ↑ NeOlympus Chapter 23