CLEA DATA FILE

Team Identities:

• Zeus – Viggo Nordstrum
• Hera – Kiara Douglas
• Hades – Alan Corbett
• Poseidon – Gael Santana
• Aphrodite – Gianna Tydings
• Ares – Oscar Tod Smyth
• Athena – Siu Mei Xing
• Apollo – Benicio Vasquez
• Artemis – Jade Bekker
• Demeter – Willow Pierce
• Hephaestus – Marquis Jackson
• Hermes – August Olsen

CLEA Classification:

• Totem Bearers
• Alphas (Demeter and Poseidon)

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

• (All) Enhanced Strength
• (All) Mass shift, have the means to sacrifice magical power to become physically larger
• (Zeus and Hera) Teleportation to anywhere on Earth
• (All) Communal telepathy
• (All but Aphrodite, Hera, Demeter and Artemis) Mystical Armour that forms from the mystical totem when activated. Such armour is impenetrable to most weapons
• Zeus (Mystical Totem – Thunderbolt) – Thunderbolt can cause massive destruction, cutting like a laser through many types of material.
• Hades (Mystical Totem Bident) – has the means to turn invisible. He can also shadow merge, using shadows and darkness like portals as an alternative to the others teleportation abilities. He can also revive those recently killed by evil, by pulling their souls from the spirit realm and healing their bodies.
• Hera (Mystical Totem – Scepter) – Her Scepter can absorb magic like a battery which can then be used to against her enemies. The Scepter has the means to convert magic from one type to another. It also allows her to control some types of animal.
• Ares (Mystical Totem – Spear) – Has the means to “see” any weakness both physical and tactical. It also grants him almost perfect fighting skills.
• Athena (Mystical Totem – Shield)- her shield can deflect projectiles of any kind. It is also capable of blocking magic and energy based attacks. Her sences are enhanced so she can predict attacks making her better able to protect those around her. She is the defence to Ares offence.
• Hephaestus (Mystical Totem – Hammer) has a mystical hammer which can generate fire. Like Demons he is immune to fire and the hammer can be used as a weapon. He is capable of repairing and forging mystical armour and weapons and can even shift their magical properties. However he cannot make them more powerful nor can he “create” a mystical object.
• Apollo – (Mystical Totem Golden Bow). He can generate intense light that blinds opponents. The sunbeam arrows shot from his golden bow can act as flare and the light from them will expose any truth. People therefore cannot lie if shot from one of his arrows.
• Artemis (Mystical Totem – Hunter’s Bow) – has the ability to track anyone or anything she chooses. No enchantment or shielding can hide what she chooses to target.
• Aphrodite (Mystical Totem – Belt) has no weapons but instead has the most powerful mind bending abilities, that are keyed to positive emotions. Evil thoughts and intentions are harder to perform in her presence and if she chooses she can temporarily enthrall the mind of others and get them to do her bidding.
• Hermes (Mystical Totem – Caduceus). He can “hear” the other Gods when they call his name. He can move at incredible speed to the point he can walk on air. His Caduceus can both hypnotise and send people to sleep. It acts as a “tracker” so he can find the other “Gods”. It can also be used as a pole arm when extended.
• Poseidon (Mystical Totem – Trident) Allow him generate springs when stabbed into the ground. It can also be used as a weapon
  Poseidon (Alpha Ability) Hydrokinesis. He can control and “shape” water with his mind. His Alpha ability also allows him to swim at great speed and breathe underwater.
• Demeter (Mystical Totem – Golden Sword) – Her Sword can be used to generate new plant life from nothing. Since it gives life it can “kill” something that technically is not alive.
  Demeter (Alpha Ability) – she has the means to control the weather with her thoughts.

Limitation(s)/Weakness(s):

• Unlike other magic Totems, the ones belonging to the Olympians cannot contain the magical energies they can emit. This results in them “bleeding” energy which needs “recharging” at the nexus point in the pocket realm.
• Hades can only restore life by taking “life force” from a living host.

Rap Sheet/Criminal Traits:

• N/A

Notes/History

The “Gods” that were once worshipped by the Greeks and Romans were not actually “Gods” but mortals. The same is true of the New Olympians.

They first appeared eons ago when the Demon Kruniss and eleven of his kind visited the mortal realm. The mortal realm is home to “natural magic”, the magic that is created from the environment. In certain locations ley lines of this natural magic occur and where they meet produces a terrific amount of magical energy which in the wrong hands is disastrous. Finding such locations though is nigh on impossible since they cannot be found by scrying but have to be physically found. Kruniss had learned that one such source was in (at the time) Ancient Greece. Evidence pointed it to being there but no man or beast had ever found it.

Tired of collecting souls and fighting for power Kruniss had decided that the mortal realm could be his for the taking if he could find the source of natural magic at the nexus point. Of course alone, even he a powerful Demon would be vulnerable and so he made an alliance with eleven others. Finding the well of natural magic though was one problem, interference from Angels was another since his actions would be deemed as interference in the lives of mortals. Kruniss’s solution was quite radical, he and the other would make themselves mortal because under the agreement made by Demons and Angels nobody could interfere in the lives of mortals.

Powerful as they were as the only way a Demons could be made mortal was to be banished from the Dark Realm by a more powerful Demon. Banishment meant the loss of many attributes and weakened their ability to use magic. This was not the outcome Kruniss wanted, for he and his ilk wanted to be made mortal but retain as many of their demonic properties as possible. They therefore decided to find another way and so whilst in the relative safety of the Dark Realm they had reached out to the Mortal Realm and made allies with dark witches and warlocks. In return for making them mortal, their followers would be granted powerful positions once the human realm had been taken.

Upon their arrival the Kruniss and the others were granted their wish and turned mortal, albeit they not only kept their demonic magic but also would age extremely slowly. They were also impervious to most physical forms of attack, certainly anything mankind could throw at them. However they still retained their demonic weaknesses such as aversion to bright light, burned by water and drawn to heat. Though there was a chance they could be “killed” which instead of sending them back to the Dark Realm would remove them from existence altogether it was a risk worth taking to secure their prize.

Now mortal, the Demons next plan was to conquer vast areas and once the populace were subdued they would not be a threat and could be used as slave labour to help locate the magic nexus. However ruling over humans was not going to be easy without the use of dark magic and sealed away from the Dark Realm meant they lacked a connection to their most powerful “traditional” source – human souls.

This meant the only way of obtaining the energy needed to create dark magic was by other Demonic means such as absorbing negative human emotions, or feeding on the energy freely given by worshippers. This was more like scraps compared to the energy a human soul could provide, but it was enough power to make them fear. Mortal bodies though meant there was a need for sustenance so Kruniss and the others decided to make themselves even more feared by behaving akin to predatory creatures, eating the flesh of human victims.

Like a plague of locusts they spread a wave of darkness across the lands of Italy and Greece. Unchecked there was nothing to stop them and they would not be stopped until they found the magical nexus. Anyone that did not follow them would either be killed for food or tortured to create dark magic. To protect themselves from light, the skies were turned black through use of fire which resulted in the land dying and creating more victims. Out of desperation people started to believe the lies the dark priests were telling them and choosing blindly to follow Kruniss and the others thinking they would be saved by them, ignoring the fact that the “living gods” often required sacrifices.

Because they had not broken the edict by making themselves mortal there was very little the Angels could do about the situation. The Demons were also infuriated since they were being denied souls. In the end an Angel called Joshua decided to make a stand but playing by the rules meant taking the fight to them was problematic as there could be no direct intervention.

He felt something needed to be done since he was aware of the prize Kruniss was after. Joshua though had the advantage for he knew its location. He had found it centuries earlier, its location being “protected” by a Legendary beast. The beast had long since gone and Joshua had never mentioned the location for the knowledge could be very dangerous and it was not unheard of for Angels to fall and join the Dark Realm.

Magically protecting the nexus was not an option. For a start it would bring unwanted attention to the area and know magical protection would last against the might of twelve mortal Demons. The other issue was protecting the area would do nothing to save the people that were being subjugated. Joshua therefore decided that perhaps the best course of action was to “assist” humans and to prevent being seen a breaking the edict, it had to be done by a less direct means.

His solution was to create magic totems which could be used by humans to fight the mortal demons without the Angels taking up arms themselves. Since Kruniss and the others were invulnerable to human weapons and most human magic, there was a problem with creating magic totems for he simply did not possess the power to forge object strong enough to fight demon magic.

Joshua therefore sought council with a group of ancient warrior Angels in order to solve the problem. The group came up with a radical answer. Having understood the plight of innocents in the mortal realm they, like Joshua had agreed that Kruniss had to be stopped before his actions had repercussions across the Mortal, Light and Dark Realms combined. To create the powerful Totems Joshua needed they chose to sacrifice their own existence.  Doing so would allow the entirety of their magic to flow into the totems, thus creating a power, that when wielded by a human would level the playing field.

Travelling to the mortal realm Joshua was accompanied by twelve volunteers. Once there, the twelve performed mystical rituals and infused twelve objects whilst at the same time ending their existence. To give mortals the best chance of defeating the Mortal Demons each Totem had unique “specialist” properties based on the powers of the original Angel.

Collectively these magical abilities of the Totems were designed to match every conceivable means of attack the Mortal Demons could make and give their human wielders the best chance of victory.

Once “made” each of the objects retained the “will” and personality of the Angel that had “created” it, thus making them “active totems”. This meant that the user of such Totems would have their human “thoughts” guided by those contained with the Totem. The Angel souls would also provide added security since if the “wrong” human tried to take charge of the Totem then they could deny access to the magic. As Kruniss was far bigger than humans, the Totems also gave their wielders an ability to mass shift making then physically bigger than normal humans but at the expense of using magical energy.

With his brethren now gone, all Joshua had to do was then distribute the objects to suitable candidates. Normally Active Totems found their own hosts but with Kruniss and the others were growing stronger by the day, Joshua started to grow impatient when the Totems kept rejecting candidates he found to become bearers. Frustration eventually got to him and so he used magic of his own to override the will of the Angel Souls contained within the totems. This enabled him to give the Totems to the people he felt were suitable to the cause. Taking a short cut in this manner would be a mistake he would live to regret later.

With twelve humans now with the capabilities to deal with Mortal Demons, Joshua felt safe to leave the mortal realm. After a strong start the battles between the empowered humans and Demons started to go in favour of the latter. From the safety of the Light Realm Joshua observed and could not understand why with all the tools the humans were failing. Only after paying attention during one of the battles did he realise that the magical Totems were actually “too powerful” to be contained in singular items. When being used offensively they “bled” magical energy at a vast rate until they were little more than ordinary items. Though in time the objects would recover, that rate was far slower than their decay rate.

Joshua hypothesised that the Totems needed a means to “recharge” quickly and he had an idea about that but it meant sneaking down into the mortal realm and making use of the magical nexus he had been trying to keep secret. It was located on Mount Olympus. Even visiting its location carried the risk of attracting the Demons and giving Kruniss what he had been looking for. Joshua decided to try and do something he had never done before and that was to create a pocket dimension around the nexus

Pocket dimensions could hide magical sources except Demons and Angels. They could still be “felt” in the mortal realm even in a shifted reality. Often magical items were hidden after a pocket dimension was created but Joshua wondered if a dimension could hide the nexus. It had never been done but these were desperate measures and if Joshua succeeded he knew that not only would he permanently cloak the nexus but at the same time he would provide a source in which the Totems could “recharge” their magical energies.

The gamble paid off. In the mortal realm the nexus vanished but in the pocket dimension it manifested itself as a flame.  Placing magical enchantments on the totems allowed the humans to enter and leave the pocket dimension from almost anywhere. Once inside the humans had a place to regroup and the flame could be used to empower the Totems.

However though the Totem bearers could enter and leave from anywhere they chose there was one weak point connected to the dimension and that was it also had a “fixed” entrance, located in a cave on Mount Olympus. Joshua knew if the Demons guessed how he had hidden the nexus and discovered the fixed entry point to the pocket dimension they would be able to smash through any safeguards he could build to protect it being breached. He therefore opted for a more natural approach and had Poseidon use his trident to bring forth a spring to produce a waterfall that no Demon would risk trying to pass through.

Using the pocket dimension the Olympians could hide themselves from the Demons in between battles and recover far quickly. Joshua though could never visit them during those periods for his presence would be detected from the mortal realm and the Demons alerted to the existence of a pocket dimension and consequently the nexus.  Without him shining a light the only chance the Demons could stop the Olympians would be by taking one of the Totems and using it to gain entry to the pocket reality. That was unlikely since Light Magic would have burnt them far worse than water.

Winning battles, the Olympians became noticed by ordinary people. Displaying magical abilities that most of them could not comprehend led to them being worshipped as Gods. They would become the Olympian Gods of legend and the Mortal Demons they defeated would become known as the Titans.

Working together the Olympians dispatched all of the Titans except Kruniss. He was too strong to defeat outright but realising that he would be wiped from existence the Demon bound itself to a human and killed that human, allowing him to be pulled into the Spirit Realm.

The Gatekeeper was not happy at the presence of a mortal Demon but could not send him to the Dark Realm as he was attached to a soul. Therefore as he had defied the rules regarding souls the Gatekeeper chose to imprison him there where he could do no more harm. Both the Demons and Angels were happy at the outcome since Kruniss had been an annoyance for them both and risked them going to war, even if the Demon was now the Gatekeeper’s problem.

The work now finally done Joshua decided to let the Olympians keep their totems and perhaps use them to the betterment of mankind. Since the creation of the Totems had not been incurred the wrath of either the Light or the Dark Realms, Joshua felt that it was useful to have the “gods” around in case Kruniss (now known by mortals as Cronos) found a way to escape the spirit realm.

Though his intentions were good it did not take long for the Olympians to start abusing their gifts and turn on each other. Drunk on their own power they truly believed themselves to be Gods. They would regularly bring people to the pocket reality to serve them or for entertainment purposes. Those visits would lead to the myth of there being a home to the Gods in the clouds above Mount Olympus although in truth the view from “Mount Olympus” was merely part of the illusion of the pocket dimension.

With the Angel spirit contained within the Totem silenced by Joshua, there were no safeguards and that meant there was no form of control. Eventually ordinary people ended up paying the price for the power crazed “gods”.  This was recorded in stories such as Hera’s vindictive nature towards Zeus’s lovers (which he brought to the pocket reality) and Ares starting wars, Aphrodite enthralling men etc. Finding this intolerable Joshua returned to confiscate the Totems. By this time Demeter and Poseidon had removed themselves from the game and gone into exile well away from the others.

This left Joshua with the task of stripping ten “Gods” of their power, a job made easier as he removed his own mystical enchantments on the Totems that blocked their free will. The Totems thus rejected their owners. As Joshua could not destroy the Totems he decided to send them into the pocket realm where he knew they would remain for all time since, without the Totems the pocket dimension was effectively sealed as no mortal could gain entry. Even though they knew that a physical entrance existed on Mount Olympus no mortal had the magic power to breach the magical barrier that had been put in place.

As the Olympian Gods moved into legend the actual Totems became forgotten about by most people. Over the centuries Poseidon and Demeter’s Totems were found and then had changed into Avatar Totems, both of which were destined to be split, creating the “Seasons” avatars and more recently the Taniwha.

Old Threat, New Olympians

The ten which Joshua had hidden we regarded as lost and would have stayed that way if it was not for the breach day event which weakened barriers between realities and Kruniss was able to get partially free from the Spirit Realm. Though each time he would be pulled back to the Spirit Realm, with every visit Kruniss tried to find the means to remain in the mortal realm for longer with the eventual goal of escaping permanently.

Joshua, by now was “secretly” working with the Pentacle group realised they would not be a match for the Mortal Demon should it break free from its confinement. There was only one option he had available and that was to release a weapon into the world that could put a stop to Kruniss’s attempts. That weapon was the magic totems used by the “Olympians”. Long forgotten about and aware that he could be making a situation worse, Joshua decided he would avoid the mistake of his past impatience by allowing the Totems to find a “true” host rather than forcing them to be compliant with a host of his choosing.

He unsealed the pocket realm and released the Thunderbolt of Zeus first. Using some magic he had learned from his Pentacle allies, Joshua gave the totem and means of transporting itself to where it needed to go. Had he known how to do that originally there would never have been a need to override the will of the Olympian Totems and the right people would perhaps had become the right hosts. He though was older and a lot more wiser now as well as being less arrogant and able to accept help from human magic wielders which he would not have done eons earlier.

Flying into the air at an impossible speed the Totem sought out a host that was worthy of its potential. It “desired” somebody that could lead, protect those under its leadership, protect those that were helpless and had the will to fight against evil. It found those qualities in Viggo Nordstrum.

Nordstrum was a volunteer in a refugee camp trying make a difference in a civil war where the outside world and politicians refused to get involved and ignored the plight of the innocent victims. A leader of a security team it was his job to protect the camp from aggressors from both sides who frequently raided the camp to steal food and supplies that were meant from the refugees. During the two years he had been there though things had gone from bad to worse. As the situation around the camp had worsened charities supplying personnel had pulled out as the risks increased. Incursions now happened on an almost daily basis resulting in his own men leaving. To try and deal with the aggressors Viggo had tried to form a militia but they were no match to armed troops with tanks.

As he was the only one able to muster some resistance Viggo was looked upon by all the other worked in the camp as their protector which meant he was left with a never ending cycle of negotiating “peace” with military despots from both sides. To protect as many people under his reponsibility Viggo was often left with bartering supplies for protection. Though agreements were often made they were not always adhered to for armed men would frequently sneak into the camp at night and kidnap women for entertainment.

Though he could have left any time Viggo could not abandon the refugees to their fate, even if he knew there was a a chance it could one day get him killed. That day seemed to have dawned when a warlord demanded supplies he could not afford to give. Viggo was issued an ultimatum, hand over any and all supplies or the entire camp would be destroyed along with its inhabitants. This was when the Thunderbolt found him.

A natural leader wanting to protect people from evil was the qualities it sought. It fell out of the heavens and into the centre of the camp causing people to flee in all directions, thinking they were under attack. Viggo approached the object cautiously checking to see what it was and identify if it was a threat or if it was debris that had fallen of an aircraft. The camp was over flown by military aircraft from both sides invovled in the civil war so there was a high possibility of one of those taking damage and dropping parts.

As soon as he touched the piece of metal embedded in the ground, Viggo’s mind was merged with that of the Totem’s spirit which appeared to him as an elderly bearded man in shining angelic armour. Having accessed Viggo’s soul the spirit offered him the the chance of unimaginable power to fight against sources of evil, (the power which often led to the creation of dark souls which Demons thrived upon) and to lead a new group of Olympians. It also warned him of Kruniss. Thinking he was imagining or dreaming what he was seeing Viggo accepted and was returned to his own body.

Having bonded with the Totem all doubts as to what he had just “seen” were removed.  Viggo was now aware of what he had become, what he had to do and of his potential. He was now Zeus the leader of the a new generation of Olympians. However he chose not to activate the Totem’s powers just yet. Instead he merely pulled the metal out of the ground and took it back to his quarters. Though he had “power” he had no idea how to use it, so that night he tried to find some way of activating the object and make it “do something”. The spirit inside sensed what he was trying to do and so transported him to the pocket universe, where he saw “Mount Olympus” for the first time. When he first “arrived” he exited a swirling mist and found himself at the bottom of a flight of stairs with a pair of gates in front of him.

Passing through the gates and ascending the stairs, once at the top Viggo found himself staring at an area that resembled a Greek temple except it was floating above the clouds. Looking around he noticed various artefacts surrounding a central “pool” and a throne beyond.  The spirit now appeared again and explained how Viggo could access the power contained in the Totem, informing him that whilst within the realm he could not harm anything in the “real” world.

For hours he trained and then once he had learned enough the spirit led him around the back of the throne to a flame which was where he was told to place the Thunderbolt to replace magical “energy”. The last thing he was shown was how to transition between the pocket dimension and the real world by passing into the swirling mist at the bottom of the stairs. Despite having trained for many hours hardly any time had passed since he had left, and only upon return did he actually feel tired.

Early the next day he snuck out of the camp and headed in the direction he reckoned the detatchement of troops would be coming from and once sighted, he activated the totem. In that instant the piece of metal became a living source of energy and his clothing was replaced with angelic armour.

Viggo shouted out a warning to the approaching troops which was ignored. They merely though him to be some sort of “head case”. For daring to threaten them they decided to open fire anyway as a bit of fun. The bullets merely bounced off the armour and now Viggo, as Zeus responded in kind with a blinding flash of light that tore through the armoured column, leaving nothing standing. Those that survived the onslaught would retreat and report back what they had seen. Sufficed to say nobody believed the stories but each time someone threatened the camp they would be met with the same devastating outcome.

Eventually word got around that the camp was protected by “Zeus” but the people within the camp had no idea that Viggo and Zeus were one and the same.  In time the civil war would come to an end and Viggo was free to go home. He knew now though his life had a bigger calling.

Joshua, watching from afar was pleased at the outcome and set about releasing the rest of the Totems. They scattered around the world looking for hosts. About the only concern he had was that Kruniss might became too strong and breakthrough to the mortal dimension before the Olympians were ready.

The Other Olympians are Found

The Scepter of Hera ended up in Atlantica, finding Kiara Douglas who had been trying to save a women’s refuge that was both under attack from closure and violent partners. As she could not afford security she was often helpless to stop violent people entering the premises when they worked out where their victims had gone into hiding. The Sceptor saw her as a protector of mothers and families and desired to help her in her selfless cause. Once she gained that power Kiara had nothing to fear and it was time for her enemies to discover fear.

The Caduceus of Hermes ended up in the possession of a young thief, August Olsen. He was only stealing to support those that had fell through the cracks in society and been neglected rather than personal gain. Mischievous in nature the Caduceus felt a kindrid spirit with August and decided to bond with him.

The Hunter’s Bow of Artemis ended up in the hands of a volunteer wild life ranger, Jade Bekker. In trying to protect wildlife from poachers, her life was in constant danger. When she found the weapon Jade discovered she had the means to not only make the hunters, the hunted but there was no place they could ever hide from her.

Ares Spear found its way into the hands of Oscar Tod Smyth, the leader of a peacekeeping force. It chose him after enemy forces had wiped out his entire team and yet he still continued with the mission against a hopeless chance of survival knowing if he failed, then the area would be lost to a military dictator. Once he bonded with the spear he became a one man weapon of war, an unstoppable warrior that even a dictator and army could not stop.

The Shield of Athena ended up in New Tokyo with Siu Mei Xing, a police officer in a run down district whose only reason for becoming an officer was to protect people from the criminals that were turning the area into a no go zone. The shield was the embodiment of “protection” and saw Siu as a worthy host and decided to give her the tools to do her work of protecting the innocent.

Hade’s Bident found Alan Corbett. Compared to the original Olympians, Alan’s magical power would be radically different since Joshua had forced the Bident on its previous owner. Therefore the only magical feats it could do was to take a soul and send it to the spirit realm or to revive the life of a nearly dead person.

Alan had a fairly normal life until terrible circumstances overtook him. His girlfriend was diagnosed with a terminal disease, and because both families had a long history of feuding with each other neither were interested in helping since they did not approve of the relationship so the pair were on their own. Despite the strain he managed both to keep working and to take care of her, until her condition deteriorated.

For weeks as her body was racked with pain she begged him to “finish her off” but he refused, living in the hope a cure might be found. Eventually though her please got to him and he helped administer an overdose. Luckily nobody looked too hard into her death but Alan became racked with guilt. He tried to get his life back to normal but was haunted every minute of every day by the thoughts of what he had done. In the end he decided to end his life so he “could be with her”.

After jumping off a bridge the moment his body hit the water he started to die and his soul entered the spirit realm. The process took less than a few seconds to complete but in those few seconds, the Bident found him. The spirit within having once been that of a Death Angel which often took people before their time or ended their suffering knew that Alan was one of the few people that had learned the true value of life by having to take one. Though there was nothing that could have been done for his girlfriend the Totem offered him the chance to restore life to people that had their lives cut short through evil and return their souls from the spirit realm. The only way a mortal could do this was if their own soul had been to the spirit realm which it was not in the process of doing. Seeing the Totem as a means of atonement he accepted the offer and Corbett’s body was revived snapping his soul back.

Corbett would later learn that he was part of a larger prophecy that meant he was the true “Hades”. Souls in the spirit realm were under the control of the Gatekeeper and those that could not be sent to the light or dark realms were tethered since such souls could not accept their death. Tethered souls could be moved on with assistance from a priest or mystic but though powerful the Gatekeeper could not do anything with them. However at the time of the spirit realm’s creation the Gatekeeper had become aware that one day a mortal would come that could free tethered souls and for this reason Corbett was permitted to take souls back with him.

Marquis Jackson gained the possession of Hephasteus’s hammer. After his son had died in an accident resulting in his marriage falling apart he chose to focus his skills on others. A skilled engineer, he spent his spare time going round his local community repairing things often at his own expence and certainly his own time. He became something of a local celebrity but the one thing he could not fix was the machinations of an unscrupulous developer who want the land which was occupied by his community. Using local hoodlums to terrorise the residents succeeded in driving up the crime rate and crashing the property prices. Those that refused to move to early would find their apartments heading towards being worthless. Marquis was neither strong enough or rich enough to protect those around him, and then the hammer appeared.

One of the most unusual Totems, the “Girdle” or rather the “Belt” of Aphrodite ended up in the hands of Gianna Tydings. She had qualified as a fire fighter but in the first month had got injured during a shout. Two children were trapped in a burning building. Frightened she was trying to coax them out from he cupboard they were hiding in. Unexpectedly the floor above collapsed dropping several beams, on of which smashed the mask off her face. She did not remember anything after that, but awoke in hospital to find her colleagues had got her out but she had been burned on her face and shoulders before they got to her. The children, had actually survived with only minor burns since the cupboard had protected them from raining debris.

Though the physical scars were bad enough, the mental ones were worse. Gianna became deeply depressed and was haunted by memories of that terrible night. As her negative thoughts took hold she became conflicted. Deep down part of her was angry at the fact the children had never moved, despite the fact she knew they had been scared. The facial burn did not help matters and she even considered ending her life at one point.

She then went to see a therapist who turned her life around by helping her release her negative emotions and helping her to embrace some of the positive aspects of her life that remained. Having attained a new level of understanding Gianna decided she wanted to do the same sort of work as her therapist. Believing that her unique insight from her recovery and lessons learned through positive thoughts would be of benefit to others led to her starting courses to get official qualifications. She also volunteered on the motivational speech circuits. This is what attracted the Totem to her, since its magic was focussed in positive emotions and motivations.

The last of the Totems found its way to high powered lawyer Benicio Vasquez. Having inherited a vast family fortune whilst already running a successful law practice he arrived at a cross roads in his life started to reflect on his family’s past. The family fortune had been made by his mother and father establishing a popular fashion line but their job had been made all the more difficult by rivals in the industry that had used every dirty legal trick to try and ruin them. This was one of the reasons he had studied corporate law in the first place. The days of struggle had ended by now and the family business sold years early for a vast amount of money, allowing his parents to retire early only for that to be cut short by tragedy when the aircraft they were on went down.

Alone now and with too much time and money to spare Benicio decided to take his law firm down a different path and take on cases which were effectively lost causes. He figured out that his family’s trouble with the legal system might have been easier if there was someone to fight for them but people in that sort of situation rarely had the finances to avoid being trampled on which was why the bigger fish always won. This was to be a new challenge and meant he had to return to law school to gain the qualifications of a defence attorney. Trying to fight against the rich and powerful was certainly not easy and his first cases did not go his way. However he did expose those that opposed his clients to media attention which often was not wanted. In doing that he brought their dirty tricks out of the shadows and into the light. It still sickened him though the amount of times powerful people used to lie their way out of situations or get a stooge to take the fall for them but there was only so much the law could do without an actual confession. That changed when the Totem found him.

The New Gods

With the Totems all with the new owners the new Olympian Gods were now born. Unlike a lot of other “teams” they rarely work altogether. Viggo as Zeus tends to steer the group to common goals but apart from that they operate very loosely unless a situation calls for it. Then when they are together, Viggo as the leader takes charge. Typical of the legends is the fact that when the Olympians team up together, Hermes (August) as the “messenger” is the one that is left to do all the metaphorical and literal leg work.

One of the few times they did come together as a group of ten was when they were trying to fulfil their purpose, fighting Kruniss. In Demon society he was unusual in that he was an outcast but had managed to keep “allies” and they often tried to help him escape from the spirit realm. Sometimes they really were a true ally but often the alliance was a ruse to try and distract Angels or mystical enemies with a threat they would not ignore.

The first time the group were aware of the a breakthrough attempt, the ten Olympians united and attempted to force the Demon back into the Spirit Realm. Kruniss then spotted there was no Demeter or Poseidon. Both had been able to bring the element of water into play and like most other Demons that would had hurt him. Without that element the group, as powerful as they were had great difficulty in forcing Kruniss back into his prison.

Aware that the Demon had not even been at full strength, Viggo was concerned of what had happened and called upon Council from the Angel Joshua. Viggo felt they needed the full strength of twelve Olympians to keep Kruniss secure, but Joshua explained that the Totems belonging to Poseidon and Demeter had been split and there power in with others. Those Totems could never be reformed and taking it off their current owners would be seen as interfering in the lives of mortals, something Joshua knew he could not do. Marquis, as Vulcan, had the ability to reshape mystical objects and turn them into armour or weapons but he could not “build” them from scratch.

The only suggestion Joshua could suggest was to find a solution in the mortal realm and work with resources that were “naturally” available such as from sources that were not mystical in source but had the means to replicate the mystical powers of Demeter and Poseidon and by that he meant Alphas.

The New Demeter and Poseidon

Working with what he had been told Viggo had the other Olympians scoured through the media and records looking for Alphas that matched the criteria. The search seemed fruitless until Hermes stumbled upon the Harmony Island Beach Resort. Though not normally tolerant of uninvited guests, even less so when Zeus teleported to location, after the leader of the Olympians explained the need to find specific types of Alphas to deal with a potential global threat, they offered to help.

Whether it was fate or pure luck, one of the islands long term residents was Gael Santana. An Alpha with Hydrokinesis abilities he had been “hiding” out on the island after a run in with the Broker who had been sent by Zorn in order to obtain his DNA samples. Gael had the feeling that the Broker was not going to take no for an answer.

In Gael, Viggo or rather the the spirit of Zeus in the totem recognised potential when compared to the previous totem bearer that had used the name Poseidon. However after being scared by the Broker Gael was not interested in becoming involved in something potentially dangerous. Things looked set to start turning “problematic” so TTR teleported both Olympians off the island, only for Hermes to bring them back. The process was repeated until TTR sent them to Network‘s satellite and Hermes returned them at which point Zeus’s patience was wearing thin and he threatened to unleash his lightning bolt. That threat was made even more real when Hermes gathered the other eight Olympians.

Before the situation spiralled out of control, Aphrodite tried a second time to get Gael to join them. Though she had the means to enchant him and bend his will, she chose instead to show him the scarred form of Gianna Tydings that was her real self. Though still unsure about becoming involved in danger, he believed her words when they said that as a group they had each other’s backs. The decision felt right since TTR and the islands staff were prepared to put themselves in harms way to protect him when all he wanted to do was hide instead and let them take the risks. 

Having recruited Gael the Olympians asked for help with finding a new replacement for Demeter. Having finally ended their initial conflict the those at the resort, Network decided to assist, in only to get rid off them. Numerous searches later she came across a name, Willow Pierce. The woman had the potential to control the weather and had been one of the Protectorate‘s guests before being involved in the Night Ranger’s jail break at their facility. Though she had gone into hiding her digital traces could not be hidden from Network.

When the Olympians finally tracked Willow down it was Gael’s time to shine. As the previous newcomer he could most understand Willow’s fears after being in hiding for so long and the shock of somebody finding her. This time Aphrodite did not have to involve herself since, Willow had spent that long hiding and being scared to use her abilities in case it attracted the attention of the Protectorate that she admitted she had not “lived” in a very long time and her life had become pointless. Though she knew the group were not actual “gods” she saw their power and believed they could protect her. The idea of fighting Demons was not really a good selling point for her, but Willow considered she had more to offer the world with her Alpha abilities if she did not have to remain hidden. She had once dreamed of going to places where there was famine and making it rain and bringing life to starving people and she believed now she would get that chance.

With the full twelve now made up, without mystical abilities, Hermes could not track them like the actual Olympian Totems. They needed some sort of Totem of their own. Zeus/Viggo also did not like the fact idea of two “normal” people coming into conflict with no mystical protection. Vulcan had the means to resolve that problem but he could only reshape a mystical artefact and not give an object magic.

They therefore employed the services of The Stranger. He was able to douse the location of two magic totems that had yet to be found. The magic within was far from the strength of the original totems belonging to Poseidon and Demeter but Gael and Willow had their own Alpha abilities they could use.

Once in the possession of Marquis/Vulcan, he created the pair suitable attire. He then reshaped the two totems that were collected and turned them into a Trident and a Golden sword. Using his mystical hammer to perform the final forgings he altered the totems original magical abilities and at the same time encased the outfits within the mystical bindings. This meant that like the other Olympians, Gael and Willow’s “outfits” would mystically appear  when they activated their Totems. He also added the means for the object to access the pocket dimension and give their owners the means to mass shift like the other Olympians.

As well as similar “general” magical attributes added to both object Marquis added some unique properties to each of them. This means that once Vulcan had finished the new Poseidon’s Trident it had the means to bring forth water on land when it was struck in the ground. The new Sword of Demeter had a secondary ability to create life from death, specifically plant life from barren land. Conversely the sword could kill an entity that was already dead by giving it life. Willow therefore had the full potential to feed starving people. She suspected that Marquis had actually listened when she mentioned her dream as an Alpha was to help starving people and deliberately given the sword life giving power. Just like the other Olympian Totems their final forms would appear as everyday mundane objects when not active.

Once Willow and Gael took charge of their Totems, the new Olympians were finally complete but they were not ready for Kruniss just yet. First of all the newcomers had to learn how to use their weapons in an offensive capability. That took quite some time since the original ten Olympian Totems had contained eons of experience via the Angels that had created them, whereas the new Totems had no such properties. The pocket universe therefore served as an invaluable training ground with tuition provided by the two best “warrior gods”, Ares and Athena.  Only once the pair had proved themselves capable of handling their weapons like a natural extension of their bodies were the Olympians finally ready for anything Kruniss could try and in the mean time, there was an entire world that had problems they could deal with.

Conflict with the Vampires

Following an incident where Hades had returned the soul of Evelyn Fuller/Dhampir (MI5) from the spirit realm he had been forced to protect her from the group of vampires that had killed her. After fending off initial attacks the vampires summoned Y’Creft. Hades knew he could not deal with vampires and a full demon and so had called for help from the other Olympians. Together they forced Y’Creft to the Dark Realm and eradicated the attacking vampires. However that incident has seen the almost entire vampire race determined to eliminate the Olympians.