Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and strength of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul. – Homeric Hymn to Ares
Ares, son of Hera and Zeus, has always had anger in his heart. It was no secret that he was the least favorite, the most bloodthirsty of all the gods. Even Hera could not curb his desire for war, or his aggression that seemed to rule his life. Dionysus, the son of princess Semele and Zeus, had garnered Hera’s own hatred due to Zeus – but at what cost? It wasn’t Dionysus’ problem, to say the least. The god of pleasure and madness wasn’t built to ensnare himself with the will of the gods. Ares, despite his tactics, found himself enraged by the happenings on earth. Was it worth all this effort that they were putting out? For Artemis and Circe to become so wrapped up in their creations; for Atropos to intervene – why must there always be a side?
Ares created his own side of the war. Dionysus, following his brother’s lead if only to bother him, also decided this was not worth his time. Being the god of madness, Dionysus wanted to add to the fray – a side that had a choice. He’d never had one, and the punishments carried out by Hera all those centuries ago seemed trivial compared to this. The veil was weakening, it was unstable. If they were going to act, now was the time. The other gods couldn’t control the creatures that they had made so long ago, and if releasing them into Corinth Bay was a disruption? Well, they were going to do it.
With Dionysus at his most powerful during the Carnivale of Corinthia, he released his Kobaloi into the fray. Creatures of madness and trickery, of glamour and magic, they were everything Corinth Bay seemingly wouldn’t need. They had no side, and they had no allegiance, even to Dionysus himself. He wanted the madness and the pleasure, and the freedom, that came without asking his followers to abide by the rules the other gods and goddesses of Olympus had put into place. Ares, deliberately ignoring Hera’s warnings, released his Sphinx into the city. Another creature meant to answer the burning questions that most would have, but not without a price or a wager. Borrowed from an ancient civilization from before them, and a goddess of war, the Sphinx was made anew in recent years, and unleashed back into the world in 1858 after the tear. Now, both the Kobaloi and Sphinx are being summoned to Corinth Bay, to instill madness into the hearts of those who deserve it.
But it didn’t end there. No, it never would. Hidden under the vengeful and petty acts of Dionysus and Ares was someone else. Or perhaps many others. With a combined power, they sought to harm. Tricks would do nothing but hinder them, it was true pain and madness that they were after. With a whisper of curses and combined power, the strangers gathered at the former temple of Aphrodite, now long forgotten after the parade had filed through it, and called upon the hidden power of the veil, the power that was within their veins. A fog settled in over the bay city, though the Carnivale didn’t consider itself finished. The effects of this fog, however, was dependent upon the species it affected. And this was simply the beginning.
OOC Information under the cut:
