Eris

From In the Pantheon
Revision as of 14:05, 3 September 2020 by MoxieM (talk | contribs) (Skills / Abilities)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Eris is the goddess of discord and chaos, currently voiced by Dan D.

Eris.jpg

Know Your Goddess

Height: 5’3 (in non-binary form), 5’6 (in female form), 5’10 (in male form)

Weight: 108 lbs (NB), 119 lbs (Female), 150 lbs (male)

Hair Color: Dark brown to black, style, color and length tend to depend on my mental state at the time.

Facial Hair: Usually none, don’t rule it out though.

Eyes: Burning gold when I remember myself, dark brown when…what was I saying again?

Distinguishing Features: My skin is pretty pale, matched with the hair and the clothes people think I’m goth…and little did they know I did help the Visigoths topple Rome so…lucky guess? When at the height of my power, I’m often seen with large black wings or at least the shadow of them.

Family

Parents: Probably Zeus and Hera or maybe Nyx…can’t quite remember.

Siblings: If I’m right about that whole Princess of the Gods thing, then Ares, Hebe, Hephaestus, Eileithyia would be full blood, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Hercules would be half.

Spouse: Unmarried, mostly unloved.

Children: Sometimes I think I had children, but they seem to remember it differently.

Professions

Sometimes I collect recyclables for some quick cash. I train crows and ravens to do tricks, but it mostly just freaks people out, it’s a real gold mine ‘round Halloween though! I got into tagging on and off awhile back, but that didn’t really pay, it was more about community building with those guys that used to hang out by that place.

Residence

The street. Any street. They’re all the same to me. Preferably noisy and full of people, I can’t stand the quiet.

Personal Information

General Overview: Eris is…lost. Has been for years upon years. A long time ago, she resolved herself to the fact that she would never have a relationship with her family, nor relationships period. She let herself drift into the chaos she herself personifies. Walking in a fog, adrift on the sea of humanity. Her entire “identity” of the great goddess Eris drifting away. Only recently have they slowly start to become aware of themselves again. As they remember, they reflect: thinking back on what led them to their self-imposed “exile” and even their regret on their own choices that led them there, not completely blaming the other gods alone. To this end, their motivation is currently to reconnect with their “family” despite how past attempts played out.

Nicknames: Goddess of Discord, Mistress of Chaos, Bringer of Strife, The Infernal Goddess, Discordia, Erida, “This bitch”, “Oh…her.” (not a nickname, but worth noting she considers herself gender non-binary and has no preferred pronouns, answering to she/her, he/him, they/them interchangeably and without offense)

Likes: Chaos, strife, turmoil, confusion, stirring the pot, drama, noise, crowds, blackbirds, humor

Dislikes: The status quo, conformity, restrictions, labels, rejection, silence, being alone, the rule of law

Flaws / Weaknesses

Eris is chaos and that is where her power comes from, but it is also where she can lose herself. Her relationship with discord is as parasitic as it is symbiotic. She can reach a precipice where she can easily slip away from the real world and fall into an endless void of madness.

She’s spent centuries lost in delusion and confusion and it’s frankly a more familiar place to her now than sanity/clarity. She’s not used to “making sense” or even carrying on conversations.

Even before her self-imposed exile her social skills, or lack thereof, was her downfall. Never truly knowing how to connect with others, despite her genuine desire to just that.

This contrast leads to her next flaw: her temper. She is apt to lash out at others when she doesn’t understand how to move forward or is rejected. Exploding with empty vengeance that often hurts her as much as it does anyone else. She acts without thinking, letting the volatile volcano of emotions inside her erupt without any resistance.

Skills / Abilities

Immortality. Technically immortal. Immune to the effects of aging, cannot die by any conventional means, and is immune to all known mortal diseases and infections. As a deity, they are able to teleport, or "pop" anywhere in the mortal plane with a few exceptions, the God Floors of the GC HQ are mystically protected, so no teleporting to or in between them, anything on the non-mortal plane, i.e., the Underworld, Atlantis, and the Void, are non-accessible without a guide.

Mother Tongue. As the bridge between the mortal world and the divine, they speak all languages mortals do, even the long dead ones.

Seeds of Discontent. Eris exudes chaos. She can see the patterns of “order” and actively disrupt them. This is mostly achieved through small, seemingly inconsequential, acts that then take on an almost Rube Goldberg effect as thesy flower in unpredictable ways. Another way this power manifests is her ability to “bring out the worst” in others, amplify their emotions to sometimes nigh-uncontrollable degrees or even, when fully charged, to create a fog of confusion and alter their perception of reality.

Chaos is Life. Eris is made stronger by discord and strife. She/they can “feed” off of it. In ages past, this power would allow her to grow to gargantuan heights (see ‘limited shapeshifting’ below); in the modern era, it is more often used internally to strengthen their other abilities or for simple raw power.

Limited Shapeshifting. As stated, she had been able to once control her size and mass to rivaling the giants in stature, but hasn’t used this power in eons. Its most common usage these days is to fully explore their relatively recent discovery of their gender non-binary status having three main forms: female, male and gender neutral. As well as the more subtle (and at times involuntary) action of blending in with mortals, they also tend to unconsciously alter their appearance with her moods.

Aether. Eris can become immaterial, used most often to blend in with crowds, but at full power can be used as a pseudo teleport when necessary and has even involuntary transported her from street to street in her delusional state, causing her to become even more confused as cities begin to blend together.

War God. Similar to Ares (but to a lesser extent), Eris is a war deity. She does not boast his sheer muscle, but she is stronger than your average godling. Though strong, her amplified physical prowess is more often shown in skill (both in martial ability and weapons), agility and speed.

As with many gods, Eris has a special connection with animals, for Athena it’s owls; Hera it’s peacocks; Hecate it’s hounds, etc. For Eris, it is blackbirds, ravens and crows specifically. They are often attracted to her, follow her, protect her and she can communicate with them to some degree.

Personal Attire

Normal Daily Wear: Eris favors a darker palate usually with a splash of color to contrast. She/they could be wearing all black with a neon green neckerchief to top it off. They favor no particular style, going from formal to grunge in the span of a day.

Alternative Dress Wear: When in the full glory of Eris, they often are adorned with black feathers, or at least a feather motif. They do favor asymmetry in either guise.

Magical Artifacts/Weapons

Golden Apple Tree – A tree created by Eris and only accessible to her. It was created as the pinnacle of her power and the focus for her abilities, as one who has no focus his/her/themselves, it is capable of bearing fruit “designed” to bring about a specific outcome rather than just random discord.

The Cornfield – A personal “hammerspace” Eris cultivated centuries ago. This is where she keeps her golden apple tree, her clothes, and her weapons. Not having much storage space living on the street, it comes in handy despite the goddess’ delusions clouding it from her, often using it out of habit without conscious thought.

Many, many weapons – Eris has cultivated an extensive stash over the centuries of several weapons, both modern and archaic. She does own firearms but bladed weapons are a personal favorite and the goddess keeps several swords, short-swords, knives and even a spear (or fifty) in her personal hammerspace. Her favorite is an athame that she believes was gifted to her by Ares, but as her memory is shoddy at best, this may be false. Tt may have simply just belonged to him at one point or possibly may just be a complete fabrication on her part.

Historical Synopsis

The origins of the goddess Strife has been much debated (fitting for a deity defined by discord). Hesiod says there was not one kind of Strife, but two. One the progeny of Night and the other born as the twin of Ares by Hera (Zeus was said to have been her father either way). He says the elder, Nyx’s daughter who “dwells above in aether”, would be adored by mortals when they finally came to understand her actions, but the other was pure chaos, vile and monstrous with no redeeming value.

An early tale of Eris is her riding into battle with Typhon against her father Zeus (who rode with Nike as his second). Interestingly, some tales pose Typhon as a son of Hera, which could explain why she might side with her “brother” over a disapproving father figure.

Eris was considered the constant companion of Ares, but even more bloodthirsty. Said to be the last on any battlefield still going strong after others have left. Saying she started out a battle small and insignificant but as the havoc grew, she soon towered overall, “raising her head up to heaven”.

As much as she was often disdained, she also often called upon by other gods to do their “dirty work”, particularly that of her mother Hera. One noticeable example is when a young couple dared to say they loved each other more than Zeus and Hera loved one another. This harmless off the cuff declaration led to Eris not just destroying their lives but, worse, causing them to destroy their own lives up to and including the murder and cannibalism of their children.

This love/hate relationship between her and the other gods came to head at Thetis’ momentous wedding. All the gods were invited…save her. When Eris arrived regardless and was turned away, she tossed one of her golden apples into the crowd, landing at the feet of Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena. It was engraved “to the fairest”. Their envy and vanity led to a quarrel, the most powerful of goddesses fighting led to panic, a contest was formed to quell this and yet its culmination (and the folly of a mortal man) led to the abduction of Helen of Troy, the Trojan War was born and the world was afire with chaos, strife, and conflict.[1][2]

Introduction written by Dan D

How nice of you to come visit with me, no one ever really does…you’ll have to forgive me, my sweet, if I seem a bit off, I’m not quite myself, you see…though to be fair, I get the feeling I was never quite right…I got lost along the way, a long, LONG time ago and darn the luck if I’m not still looking for where I got to.

Any spare change you may have would really be super! Just need to get myself going and I’m sure I’ll find me again, that old scamp.

What? Oh yes, I’m sure you’d like to know more before you make an investment in my self-discovery…

My name? Eris, yes, that’s it…Eris. I’m a planet now, don’t you know? Yeah, I don’t see any revenue from that sadly.

I think once there was more than one of me, more than just one simple little Eris. There was this great and terrible ancient force called Eris once, the daughter of Night, a mad darkness fuming out of the underworld; her terrifying progeny in tow. Then generations later, there was the other me…the wily young godling, daughter of the King and Queen of Olympus. Our stories were always so cyclical, you see…like dear comely Eros, who showed up with the Mother of us all at the dawn of creation and then again later as the progeny of Love and War…or did I just make that up?

War…Ares…was…my brother? I’m fairly sure. If I remember correctly, that is. I certainly remember us being rather close, constant companions…my friend. We fought together countless times, ravaged entire country sides…it was sublime.

So I suppose my family wasn’t all bad.

They came to me when they needed what I had to offer: when they needed a little chaos in their lives.

My mother doting on me when the Queen of the Gods could not see fit to smite others herself. My father laughing at the frenzy all around me, his laugh like thunder: it reminded me of when he was a boy.

But when times were good? I suddenly found myself out of favor.

There was this wedding. A grand affair. Very important to the family, especially dear old dad, he had some kind of fixation on the bride, which was very him. “Everyone who’s anyone is going,” they all said, so of course guess who wasn’t invited?

So rather than sit around and mope, I thought I’d go anyway, “Screw ‘em!” right? Crash, have my own fun, make the best of it. I even brought them a gift.

When I arrived, they were having the time of their endless lives. Doing what they do best: trying to one up each other, preening and prancing around each other in a dance of rarefied vanity. I knew that this was what they saw all the time, the “best” of themselves and me? Well, I just didn’t fit into that pretty picture, and Fates above, I did NOT want to!

So played into the only way they knew how to relate to me: when I was offering them something. I brought forth my gift: an apple, from my tree. Gilded as all of my crop are by design, but this one was special, just for my family, and bore a very special message: “to the fairest”.

Such an apt label for what unfolded, because well, it was a thing of beauty! You should have been there, chaos playing out in just the pattern I had intended. The auric apple rolling right into the crowd landing at the feet of the most noble and admired ladies in the room. Soon they too didn’t seem very fit to be among the greatest their family had to offer. Mother, Hera, sister Athena, and “cousin” Aphrodite all vying for the pert golden fruit and the “honor” it carried like common wenches rioting in a dirty street. I’ve never felt more alive.

From the seeds of that fruit, the Trojan War bloomed. Oh, what a time to be alive, let me tell you. I looked at my work and wept tears of pure joy. One should always be proud of one’s achievements, but I truly felt I had outdone myself on this one. What sport! What grandiose revelry. Holy discord in all its splendor.

Once more, however, my family didn’t seem very happy with me, are you sensing a theme? Not even dear Ares…the great God of War was supposed to be my best friend and here I had started the greatest war our people had ever known! Perhaps he was jealous…how positively delightful.

So…in return for writing the stories they are today best remembered for – The Iliad, The Trojan War, The Odyssey – what gift did I get in return? The same one they always had ready for me….nothing. The same thing…I have now.

Nothing…endless nothing…as true now as it was then…and so I…I then…wait…so sorry, I seem to have lost my train of thought. What was I saying? Oh yes…can you spare a dollar?