Heroes
Themes
Desperation, Nostalgia, Regret
A rare, god-touched mortal, your deeds and mishaps have become the stuff of legend, but legends fade. Unlike the gods, who may regain power through storytelling or worship, you are empowered by story alone. But tales often change as they are told, and so too are those shaped by them. And sometimes, no matter how compelling a story may be, it is forgotten. The true proletariat of the divine community, most of your number lead a desperate, hardscrabble life. But with Zeus dead, there may finally be the chance for real change, and for the common man to finally come out on top.
Playable Characters
Achilles - Achilles’s triumphs are legendary, but the man himself is much diminished. Shot in the heel by Paris near the end of the Trojan war, that famous injury has dogged him ever since. There’s not much use for a half-lame, washed-up hero, so Achilles battles other warriors at Typhon’s underground fighting ring. He loses as many matches as he wins, his body bloodied and broken nearly every night. His lover, Patroclus, has pleaded with him to retire, but Achilles has refused out of a sense of penance, regret, or the fact that he owes some very shady characters a significant amount of money.
Ajax - The greatest hero that ever lived–at least until Achilles came along. Ajax is a little bitter that his legacy was eclipsed, but he’s more forward-thinking than most heroes. As resourceful as he is strong, he’s currently working as Hades’s bodyguard, but is more than willing to jump ship for the right opportunity. That was why he initially approached Asteria; he figured cozying up to the pretty mafia princess might give him an in with the Titans. What he didn’t expect was to genuinely enjoy her company. Now Ajax is stuck between his desire for Asteria and his own ambitions. Eventually, he’ll have to make a choice.
Atalanta - An Arcadian princess who was abandoned in the wilderness by her father, and raised by bears, Atalanta became a priestess of Artemis and, eventually, an Argonaut. What she is probably best known for, however, is challenging every potential suitor to a foot race and winning. At least until Hippomenes showed up with those damned golden apples. Fortunately, Hippomenes has been forgotten to time and Atalanta has found a swifter means of travel. Now a street racer and member of Artemis’s Poison Arrows no one can touch her–or at least that’s what she believed. Atlatana occasionally works for Hermes’s Chariot Transportation Services, transporting documents and packages across the city. Except Hermes forgot to mention that some of the packages she was delivering weren’t entirely legal. Now some very important people are out for blood, but they’ll have to catch her first.
Cassandra - Cassandra is a fortune teller and an accomplished liar. If her prophecies are never believed, why not just tell people what they want to hear? It’s not only safer that way, it’s easier to make a living. As the owner of Sovereign Tea, a shop where Cassandra gives tea-leaf readings, her customers have never been happier. Unfortunately the gift of prophecy is never convenient, so Cassandra has blurted out the occasional uncomfortable truth during a fortune telling session. Fortunately, it happens rarely enough that she only has to deal with the occasional unhappy client. Biting her tongue and swallowing her gift never feels good, but she’s been able to survive, and that’s what’s most important.
Daedalus - Daedalus is perhaps the most accomplished inventor and artist to ever live, yet he has remained surprisingly humble. In truth, all he ever wanted was a simple life, where he could create all of the beautiful things he saw when he closed his eyes, but the demands of gods and kings made that impossible. Now, as a conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daedalus is closer to that dream than ever before. There’s only one thing that would make him throw it all away, and that is his son, Icarus. Daedalus is willing to do almost anything for Icarus, even if it compromises his integrity. Unfortunately, he may have made the wrong decision, and it’s only a matter of time before the choice he made comes back to destroy them both.
Hector - A Brooklyn PD detective, Hector is the junior officer to his partner, Heracles. Technically the more honorable of the two, Hector is still willing to bend the rules here and there. Take Typhon’s underground fighting ring for example; what they do there isn’t strictly legal, but Hector was offered the option of facing Achilles in a cage match, and he jumped at the chance to fight his old enemy. Given how deeply Achilles disrespected him the first time they fought, Hector is more than ready for some payback–and a substantial payout, should he be declared the winner.
Heracles - A Brooklyn PD detective, Heracles has a flexible definition of justice. Known to be a bit of a loose cannon, even among the boys in blue, he was partnered with the much calmer Hector in an attempt to keep him in line. Instead, he’s been slowly corrupting the less-experienced Hector to his way of thinking. Hector even let Heracles crash on his couch after he had a particularly bad argument with his wife, Hebe. Although they’re technically supposed to be working on a different case, Heracles has convinced Hector that they should look into the circumstances surrounding Zeus’s death. A little extracurricular investigation never hurt anyone.
Icarus - Icarus has always been a fuckup. He’s always pushed too hard, gone too far, or refused to back down. For a long time, he saw himself as a victim. Now he realizes that he has a lot of making up to do. Still, Icarus sometimes slips back into old behaviors; makes bad decisions before he can even help himself. Accountability isn’t supposed to be easy, but Icarus wonders if he’ll ever make it to the other side. And now it’s possible that he’s done the one thing he can’t come back from. The worst part is that he doesn’t remember doing it–just little flashes of memory, like something out of a hallucinogenic dream. Icarus knows that he has to uncover the truth, but the truth may be too much for him to bear.
Jason - Jason has fallen a long way from the Argonauts. Once, he assembled one of the greatest teams of heroes the world has ever known. Now he’s a small-time con man looking for his big score. Jason has tried all the tricks, but none of them really paid off. Then he stumbled onto something with the potential to be life-changing; a tip from a reliable source that almost guaranteed a huge payout. So Jason did what he does best and assembled a team. The operation went off without a hitch, and Jason was already counting the money. Then he got a call from his buyer, and everything went sideways.
Minos - Once king of Crete, Minos is most famous for the labyrinth beneath his palace that imprisoned the minotaur. Even after the minotaur was slain, and the labyrinth lay empty, Minos was considered wise and powerful. So much so, that he was one of three formidable kings who Hades entrusted to judge the souls of the dead in the underworld. Now a judge in New York’s criminal justice system, Minos wields a significant amount of power, and still does the occasional favor for his good friend Hades. Minos is largely estranged from his daughter, Ariadne, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. He keeps an eye on her through a network of contacts and informants, and has mostly forgiven her for her betrayal. Her relationship with that old dog, Laelaps, gives him cause for concern, however.
Narcissus - It’s not even surprising that Narcissus is a social media influencer. His whole personality is being attractive, charismatic, and selling a lifestyle far less picture-perfect than it appears. While he spends his days filming himself for content, and his nights out at trendy clubs with his equally beautiful friends, in the back of his mind, Narcissus is waiting for the other shoe to drop. You see, Narcissus is hiding a particularly nasty secret; one that could destroy everything he’s worked for in an instant. And even worse, someone knows about it–maybe even has evidence of it–and Narcissus will do almost anything to make sure it never comes to light.
Odysseus - A silver-tongued state prosecutor, and one half of New York’s most ambitious power couple, Odysseus is as at home in front of a jury as he is on a throne. Clever and charismatic, he’s not adverse to bending the truth when he thinks it will advance his career. Everybody knows that he and his wife, Penelope, are ruthless social climbers, and though he’s tolerated by New York’s elite, he’s not exactly accepted by them. But, if there’s one thing Odysseus knows, it’s how to give the people what they want, even if they don’t know that they want it.
Orion - Orion’s not a bad guy, he’s just had a run of bad luck. A dealer at the Titans’ Cornucopia Casino, Orion’s been barely scraping by, so he can’t be blamed if he needs a little something extra to help him out. It takes a lot to keep up with Artemis and her friends, and while Orion can run with the best of them, he’s still only human. So, he found a supplier of Ambrosia–not the usual crap, the good stuff–and he’s been using it to give himself a pick-me-up. A little here, a little there and suddenly he can tweak luck in his favor. He can’t do too much at the casino, Tyche would notice, so Orion decided to invite some of the regulars to a private poker game. He just didn’t realize how popular his game would be, or just how dangerous the players he attracted.
Patroclus - Achilles has always been the most important person in Patroclus’s life. So important that Patroclus stole Achilles’s armor during the Trojan war in an attempt to fight Hector in his place. While that did not go well for Patroclus, he knows he’d do the same thing again in a heartbeat. Truthfully, Achilles has always been a bit moody, but Patroclus has never seen him quite like this; it’s like his love has given up. Patroclus has pleaded for Achilles to quit Typhon’s fighting ring, but Achilles has been adamant about remaining. Patroclus doesn’t know if it’s because Achilles can’t figure out who he is outside of violence, or something more mundane. Patroclus knows that Achilles has significant gambling debts. Maybe if he could do something to ease that burden, he could finally get Achilles to listen.
Penelope - If there are two things Penelope is known for, it’s her patience and being a consummate host. The ruthless, social-climbing wife of Odysseus, Penelope and her husband have been gaining power and influence hand over fist. While Odysseus gladhands his way into all the old boys clubs, Penelope has set her sights on their wives and mistresses. Fortunately there’s nothing these women love more than a good party, and Penelope’s parties are legendary. Even if they scorn her at Bergdorfs, they’ll show up to any soiree she invites them to, just for the chance to say they were there. It’s the same with the gods, they love the chance to see and be seen. And if some of them get invitations while others do not… the resulting fireworks are spectacular.
Theseus - Theseus is more shocked than anyone that he ended up running a warehouse for Poseidon’s smuggling operation, but he can’t say it hasn’t been profitable. Theseus has always liked to collect things, and now he has the opportunity to do so with both the sea god’s blessing and his impressively deep pockets. Best of all, Poseidon doesn’t really care what sort of goods Theseus deals in, as long as they turn a profit. Aside from the usual arms and drugs, Theseus has an art and artifact collection so extensive it would make the Smithsonian drool. There’s just one problem; someone broke into his warehouse a few nights ago, and some very expensive items have gone missing. Theseus hasn’t told Poseidon just yet, and he won’t have to if he can figure out where they went. (Note: This character is not available for this run, as the player cast as Theseus in the previous run was unable to play, so we rolled their ticket/character forward.)