Chapter 1: Genesis

A new story I'm trialling. Completely ripped off from Aegon's Conquest in the Song of Ice and Fire series so rip GRRM. I think that story was based off the Norman Invasion of England anyway so fuck you Martin you hack.

Chapter 1: Genesis

You may wonder why the world is so... Abrahamic nowadays. The biggest religions in history are Christianity and Islam, both of which believe in one great all-powerful God capable of anything. If you know anything about history, you'll know this wasn't always a thing, in fact most of the world before the beginning of Anno Domini was polytheist - "multi-god."

They believed in more than one god, most regions of the world did. Most famously, the Norse, Egyptians and Greeks. While the Hindus still have many polytheistic beliefs, most other religions of the sort died out or were outlawed completely, wiped from the frame by the mono-theistic Abrahamic reformers.

But how could the gods, who control the worlds where these changes occurred, let such a thing happen? How could gods who so infamously punished Blasphemy with tragedy let foolish and weak Emperors sell out their divine forefathers for some Levantine cults?

Well that's easy. They weren't even there to stop it. They could not see Hellas, Italia or any of the world, for their connection was severed. What by? Well while we don't actually know, most agree that it was one singular moment that cast the gods from the mortal realm. The disbanding of the Olympian Council.

In fact, some say that if Olympus was ever reunited again, the connection would be back and the gods could reclaim the Earth in their name.

But that's just a theory, a GA-

When and how did the Olympian council disband, you ask? Well to be perfectly honest with you, it was always inevitable. All it took was Rome's slow decline- itself brought on by the gods' lack of divine intervention or really care for anything. When Rome stopped being glorious and started being... just Rome, the gods kinda went into a funk.

They began to become disillusioned with the whole Glory of Rome thing. The Empire had barely managed to keep Barbarians in check, what was the point of wasting all your time building a mortal civilization if they were gonna go through five Emperors in one year instead of having legendary forty year reigns like that of Augustus. When Commodus was murdered, Rome lost its sparkle to the gods.

And with no Rome to bother caring for, it just gave the gods more time to look at each other and realise how much they hated about each other. It was like when the kids move out and the parents realise the only reason they were still together was because of the kids. Olympus felt that post-nut clarity on a whole new level, and Imperial level.

So, naturally, the whole thing was destined to crack.

It all started when the gods stopped showing up to meetings. Mandatory council meetings would have an attendance rate of 10, then 8, then 5, then 3, and then one day Zeus and Hestia were the only ones to show.

And like high school friends after graduating, the gods began to lose touch with one another. They retreated slowly to their own corners of the godsrealm, Hephaestus shut himself in the mountains for months on end, Artemis would camp and hunt four seasons in a row without returning to civilization, Hera even left Zeus. In all that mess, no one even noticed the connection to the mortalrealm sever.

Then came the Great Snap.

Deep in the caverns of the great Mount Etna, hammer crashed on anvil, sparks flew and forges glowed, steel was melted down and cast. Down in the deep away from immortal eyes the cyclopes worked, forging in their new wealth of knowledge of Iron Age smithing as did the mortal world adjacent to them. Only while mortals smithed shoddy letter-openers to assist in pitiful wars, the cyclopes built something far greater. A God-slayer.

In their forge Ares, War-Blood, smiled. The cyclopes had not wanted to work with the vile god, but debt and lost bets forced their hands. Brontes, the Thunder-Arm, Steropes, the Lightning-Bringer, Arges, the Bright One. All three were bound to Ares in some way, and so all three were forced to comply with his demand.

And after days of forging in and out of night, Arges presented the blade to Ares like a lord presenting to a king. The blade was taller than Dionysus' prize bull, wider than Hephaestus' worked bicep and sharper than Artemis' zealous arrows. On it engraved the words εδώ, βασιλιάς Άρης, κληρονόμος του Ολύμπου, θεός βασιλιάς σε όλους, δύναμη των θεών.

Ares dubbed the blade, first weapon of its kind, as Ichor-Spiller. When he brought it before the council, it was evident that that would be the last council meeting for a long time.

As the mortals evolved into the Bronze Age, so too did the gods unknowingly evolve. Few things had been switched from Celestial Bronze to Othric Steel, but the few that did held a significant advantage over everything else. Ares' blade wasn't just a steel sword, but a weapon of power, the first to be forged in eleven-thousand years.

When he held it out in front of the gods and waved his new toy around proudly the sons of Kronos were enraged. Poseidon was offended the brash god considered himself amongst the greatest of them, Ares was anything but worthy. Hades felt undermined once again- it was bad enough having his younger brothers with more powerful items than him but now his irresponsible nephew was more powerful than him. Zeus was furious that his son had done such a thing outside of his permission, it definitely seemed like Ares was slowly working to overthrow him.

Things escalated very quickly, soon Ares wasn't the only one people were mad at. Gods turned against Zeus' tyranny, Ares' savagery, Poseidon's cruelty and every other sin every other god committed. The only one spared was Hestia, even the golden boys Apollo and Perseus weren't left from mockery.

By the end of the meeting, most of the gods had left, officially disbanding the council and taking their oaths of fealty to Zeus away. Obviously the gods would not be able to pick a new king amongst themselves, so many declared themself the new king or queen. The first was Ares, who threatened most with his new blade, but then Poseidon took the claim as he was the second oldest god. Hera, as Zeus' wife, claimed it as rightfully hers but Dionysus claimed it through an old myth that Zeus had promised the throne to him at his birth. Athena, the wisest, thought she would be most fitting for it, while Hades as the biologically oldest son said it was rightfully his. Artemis claimed to be the favorite child, thus his rightful heir, and Apollo claimed to be the only one able to be a true leader. Hermes said he was the only one with so short of an ego and Aphrodite tried to charmspeak other gods into backing her up as Queen of Olympus.

All the gods had claims save for a few: Hestia, Hephaestus, Perseus and Demeter. Those four had no interest in ruling, having no power ambitions amongst themselves.

When no new ruler could be decided, all of them claimed to be king or queen and split off, taking those loyal with them. Minor gods, nature spirits, any other living soul in the immortal lands. The council disbanded and every god split to a different area of the world and claimed lands under their rule.

Now the gods didn't live on Earth or in the clouds or underground or anything. They had their own realm, one that could only be accessed by those of the Greek World. While the mortals had their world of great deserts and harsh tundras and whatever the hell Europe was, the gods had the undying valleys to the east, the mountain ranges of the southeast, the isles in the west and the harsh winters and glistening fields of the north. Many other regions did this land hold, and every god took their own share of it and locked themselves in their palaces to sit on golden thrones and act like the other Olympians gave a shit about them or their word.

When the other gods had proclaimed themselves kings Zeus had banished them all from Olympus and kept the lands around the mountain. The ruler of Olympus stayed forever in his mountain keep, ruling from his seat in a room with 14 other empty thrones.

Poseidon made straight for his home of Olympus, nestled under the ocean in the exact centre between four large islands to the east. Those islands were called the Beacons, and from Atlantis Poseidon claimed all the Western Isles as his own, and considering he was backed up by the most powerful navy, no one dared reject.

Hades kept to the east, the Undying Valleys all along the east coast. Within one of these valley lay a hole, and that hole was the Gate to the Underworld where Hades ruled alongside his Queen Persephone.

Ares made the most ambitious moves. While Hades and Zeus had initially claimed all the East divided between the two of them, he had swept in and planted himself in the largest city, declaring all the land between Mount Olympus and Mount Gyges as his. With the war gods army of thugs and brutes now patrolling every little village, none objected outwardly.

Hephaestus immediately locked himself in the southeastern mountains along the Dawn Peninsula along with his children and faithful servants. Few have had contact with the Forge god ever since and some, believing him to have faded, now disputedly claim the Dawn Peninsula as theirs.

Athena took the Western Hydra Heads, three jagged peninsulas that stretched out in the West. They were good for trade and easy to defend, in fact for both she had decided to convert all three heads into islands by making canals, first of their kind. That way if armies were to come knocking on their door she could have the bridges burned and by sea-trade she'd still be able to function.

Demeter had three long strips of land separating Zeus, Ares and Hades from Hephaestus down south. It was almost entirely farmland save for one city and if an army tried to invade they'd have no trouble. As such, the years had not been kind to the daughter of Rhea and she was often a defendant in most of the wars that plagued the Immortal Lands.

Way down south in the humid and dry lands of sand, mud and grass, Hermes drank and feasted in his halls among sons and sons of sons. The Jovial King, some called him, The Weak Heir, said other's. It was true that Hermes had engaged in only one war during his reign, a border dispute with Poseidon over the Island of Dikastes southwest of his fort. He'd held onto it, but barely. Mainly because Poseidon didn't fancy using so much resources for a lonely outpost far east from Atlantis.

Hera had claimed a pretty sizable chunk of land due west of Olympus, rivalling Ares' Empire in area. It was the richest of the kingdoms, with it's twin cities all the way on the Crowned Peninsula, known for being cities of palaces and luxury. Anyone who managed to earn entry to the cities were sure to be treated as royals. A majority of the wealth came from the western mines, rich with the metal that supplied all the kingdoms. People wanted ores and bars, they made sure not to offend the Jewelled Queen. Thanks to this immense wealth, Hera had assembled a host capable of holding back even Ares and Dionysus at once, made up of disillusioned sons of other gods, thugs for hire and lost souls hoping to get a glimpse of the Jewels of Olympus.

Dionysus, well his state was not much different to Hera's. Immense wealth, a large force, luxurious cities. The only difference between them was how they ruled. Hera treated herself as a queen, bathing in private lakes, drinking the richest of wine and entertaining the land's finest men in her chambers. Dionysus acted like a rowdy Northman.

Convinced of the oath Zeus made at Dionysus' birth, the god had managed to gain the largest cult following from citizens. Ordinary folk loved the idea of a demigod king, and Dionysus sure treated them well. Hera held banquets and special occasions, Dionysus held feasts and parties. He utilized his immense wealth to keep the public on his side. He would throw gold into crowds, fundraise the community and hold the wildest parties.

When the vaults dried up, well... Apollo never gave them too much trouble.

Yes, the Golden King as they called him was too focused on his image as king to notice the western raiders. Villages were sacked and gold was plundered, all the while King Apollo kept the trade flowing, not getting any richer and yet not noticing how his net worth stayed the same. He was caught up in the lifestyle of a ruler, the women, the food, the freedoms. He was irresponsible to say the least. Apollo, King of the Uplands, the Crown-Haired, Gold-Bather, he who played the lute while his kingdom bled.

Where was there to find peace in this cruel undying world? Why, just east of the Uplands there was shelter. A land of sanctuary, smaller than the total land area of Poseidon's Islands. The sacred gardens, the truce halls. It was the land were wars were settled, treaties were signed. The land of peace everyone knew to leave well enough alone. Hestia's Domain.

The goddess had not proclaimed herself Queen, like Hephaestus and Demeter she had no interest in a throne. But unlike Demeter who snapped and crowned herself, or Hephaestus who took the humble title of Lord, Hestia remained just that. Hestia. Sister to the children of Kronos, Aunt to the children of Zeus, mediator and peacemaker of the Immortal Lands. Her lands, though poor, held refugees who did not want to risk the pain of war just for the chance of a better life. To them a house and a loaf of bread a week was good enough, and so the great goddess provided, taking no profit from the trading.

And so you now know all the kingdoms of the Immortal Lands, you know where all the gods ended up. The Kings, Queen's, Lords and Mistresses of these 12 Kingdoms all had their own stories and you know the gist of them. Everything from the lonely King on the Mountain to the Dread Pirates of the Atlantean Isles.

Except there's one more you don't know about. Well, three, actually. You may have been wondering, where did Perseus, Aphrodite and Artemis end up in all this? They disappeared after the Doom of Olympus, what happened to them?

All these great gods and rulers had their names and their epithets.

Zeus, the Lonely King of Mount Olympus

Hera, the Jewelled Queen of the West

Poseidon, the Dread Pirate of the Isles

Demeter, the Cheated Lady of the Midlands

Ares, the Cruel One of the Scorched Earth

Athena, Wise Owl over the Reaching Fingers

Apollo, the Golden Boy of the Uplands

Hephaestus, the Lord under the Mountains

Hermes, the Meek Ruler of the Southernlands

Dionysus, God King of the Mortalrealms

Hades, Ruler of those misty Undying Lands

Hestia, Mistress of the Promised Land

Aphrodite, the Serpent-Tongue, the Conqueror

Artemis, the Stag-Whisperer, the Conqueror

Perseus, the Wolf-Born, the Conqueror

So there's the intro chap. I'll write the first real chapter before posting this story. Don't worry, not every chapter's gonna be read like a history book. The rest will be more personal with Percy, Artemis and Aphrodite. Also for a lot of gods I'm gonna be writing them based off myth personalities, not Riordan personalities. For example, Apollo is not some funny laid back bro, he's an egotistical whoremongering Nero who likes to flex his wealth. Dionysus is not a middle-aged drunk, he's an arrogant young warlord. Athena is not some booknerd like some of yall write her, she's the most competent military leader in the lands. Poseidon is not nice; he's a rapist, murderous pirate.

The next chapter will focus on how Percy, Aph and Artemis reunited in the North and fell in love. Chapter after that will begin the conquest.

Also like I said earlier, the gods evolved alongside the mortals, so just as theyre all savvy with the modern age in PJO, in this story their society runs like any other Dark Ages Western Europe nation. Only their gods. And to make up their armies imma say they have a lot of kids and legacies and nature spirits.

Word Count: 2829