Herakleia WIP

Name: Herakleia of Naxos

Physical Age: 17 (she looks older, about 19)

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Black, thick and curly

Height: 1m75

Body Type: Tall, strong and muscular

Skin Color: Olive, strong Mediterranean tan

God Parent: Ares, god of war

Legacy of: Hypnos, god of sleep

Mortal Parent: Archippe, daughter of Hypnos. A strong-willed woman who liked to tame horses and drink people under the table, she caught the attention of Ares as she was exercising on the beach. Slight problem: she was already married to the king of Naxos.

Stepfather: Athamas, king of Naxos. A conniving, strategic man who valued strength above anything else. Herakleia spent her life trying to get his approval only to brutally realize she was never going to.

Siblings: 5 brothers, the offspring of Athamas (not always with his wife)

Country of Origin: Island of Naxos, ancient Greece

Date of birth: 500 BCE

Pets: None. (She hunts with wolves and birds of prey like other Hunters of Artemis, but keeps no specific one as a pet)

Talents:
- Fighting
- Games of precision (darts, kottabos, ultimate frisbee)
- Drinking
- Horse-riding

Weapon**:
On top of bows and arrows, she has:
- Twin celestial bronze axes
- An ancient Greek spear. It has a sleep spell chiseled into the blade, if she blows on it a Mist rises up and tires anyone inhaling it. If you're very close to it you might fall asleep. The spear is a parting gift from her mother.

God parent gift/ Magic item: A belt with a gilded bronze head of a snarling boar. It's called Euryphon and can snap out at her enemies during combat. She has to feed it real people food, a bit like the leopard head in the Big House (he really likes spicy chicken wings). It's a gift from Ares for her 17th birthday.

Personality: Herakleia is all about adventure and camaraderie. She's bold, loud and brave, and lifts bronze weights before breakfast. She's the type to act on instinct, and ask questions later.

She is:
- Dynamic, bold and adventurous. Herakleia has a fire in her gut that will just not go out. She jumps headfirst into challenges and has the ambition to follow through to the end. She's assertive and confident, and loves telling jokes.

She comes off as:
- Intimidating. She has a powerful and commanding presence. People who don't like her generally find her boastful and bossy.
- To those who know her, she comes off as brave, opinionated, and independent. She doesn't like taking orders, sometimes even from Artemis herself. This led to some tensions in the past.
- To her friends, she is dependable, loyal, and strong-willed. Herakleia would never leave a loved one in a difficult situation. She's always there to listen to your problems and will guard your secrets with her life.
- Other than that, she's a life-of-the-party kind of person. She's a great story-teller and loves to entertain others with her tales, tricks, and dances.

Flaws:
- Opinionated, she values her ideas above others' and doesn't hesitate to loudly announce it even if it means putting her foot in her mouth
- Intensely competitive. She takes challenges very personally and her self-esteem takes a long time to recover after a defeat
- Trust issues. Herakleia has a very hard time trusting authority figures after her stepfather's betrayal
- Gets attached quickly but refuses to show it

Abilities:
Ares-related abilities:
- She is a natural fighter, like all children of Ares
- She automatically knows how to use a weapon if it's in her hand (she won't be expert-level, just have an understanding of how it works and be pretty good at it)
- She can analyze weapons by looking at them (general state, material, possible magic spell, etc)
- Talking to boars and vultures, Ares' sacred animals.

Hypnos-related abilities:
- Lucid dreaming
- Can navigate dreams and relive them
- Can tell how someone has slept the night before
- Sleeping can help her heal or strengthen her, a bit like how water gives Percy Jackson a boost.

Powers:
Ares:
- Weapon control: Herakleia can control weapons, three at a time. 1 time per post, 2 posts cool-down.
- Zombies: Herakleia can call undead warriors to her help. They're always from ancient Greece. Maximum 5 summoned, 3 posts cool-down.

Hypnos:
- Sleep: she can make someone fall asleep. They can resist it if they have some magic of their own, though they will still be tired. The person will be affected for 1 post, Herakleia will need 2 posts cool-down.
- Dreams: she can affect someone's sleep. Whether that is by giving them specific dreams or nightmares, or striking them with insomnia. 1 time per post, 1 post cool-down.

Life before the Hunt*:

Archippe gave birth to Herakleia shortly before sunrise after a night of blood and screams. At first she pretended the newborn was the king's daughter, but Ares claimed her very soon. It was a big scandal, the king almost killed his wife, but since Ares was the god he respected most he had no choice but to grumpily settle down. But he did not forget. He was a proud man, and he saw his wife's affair as a debt she had to keep paying back for her whole life. Adultery was a big deal in ancient Greece but only when women were doing it - men could go around cheating on their wives every day of the year if they wanted to but if a woman cheated on her husband and - gods forbit - got pregnant, it could be a death sentence.

Athamas eventually warmed up to the little girl but more in a "great, I can use you for my personal gain" way than a "you're an innocent child in the middle of a mess you didn't create and I will take care of you" way. Herakleia was too young to notice the difference and loved Athamas like a father, running after him in the palace and insisting on climbing all over him. Archippe, however, was aware that her husband's attention for the little demigoddess was entirely self-interested and arranged for Herakleia to train with Chiron a few times per year to get her away from the king. Herakleia started her demigod training around age 5, which in my opinion is too young to let toddlers around pointy knives and flame throwers, but I don't make the rules. She ran with nymphs and trained with heroes and defeated her first monster (a young sea snake) at age 7.

But the fun ended soon.

Unlike other kings of Greek city-states, Athamas did not want his succession to go down the usual way. Instead of letting the throne go to his eldest afer his passing, he had sworn that only the strongest one amongst his children would get his crown. When he announced it at a banquet, little Herakleia asked if that included her. The men around the tables laughed, her brothers jeered, but Athamas looked at her with a cold smile and said she was "welcome to try".

All six children started a formal training. It included everything from sword and spear fighting to hoplite racing, weight jumping and wrestling. Herakleia went to bed sore and exhausted every night but she loved the intensity of the training, which was perfectly suited to her demigod nature and reminded her of Chiron. What she didn't love was the change in atmosphere in the palace. The nonchalant camaraderie between the children quickly turned sour. As the youngest of six - and a girl in a particularly misogynistic time - Herakleia had never received much attention from her brothers, who preferred to play amongst themselves or with other boys from the island. But now the were turning downright vicious, with her as well as each other. Diagoras sabotaged Androkles' equipment. Sostratos put bad milk into Alkaios' food to make him vomit. They were not too preoccupied with Herakleia (they still saw her participation in the whole thing as a big joke she hadn't picked up on) but that changed too.

At age 9, the daughter of Ares went to Elis to compete in the Heraean games with other young girls... and won. This was why she got her name - Herakleia, "glory of Hera". Her mother was very proud and helped her chisel her name on the dedicated column. She also decided to add to Herakleia's training. Once the children had trained for the day, Archippe would take her daughter aside and give her lessons. As a demigoddess herself, she had spent time with Chiron, learned to fight and to control her powers. She knew Herakleia had inherited some abilities from Hypnos and helped her hone them.

By age 13, her brothers had stopped treating her as a joke. Herakleia was fast and strong and wielded weapons with an ease none of them ever possessed. They still beat her every now and then but their look changed for good the day she kicked the eldest brother Alkaios into the sand.

Growing up in this household was tough. Their father's challenge divided and bonded them at the same time.



RP Example*:

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