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Anyway,
Olympus is also one of those planar pathways. You know, a
feature that exists in several planes simultaneously, and
can be used to access one plane from another. Most people
know that Olympus also connects to Hades, the realm in
the Grey Waste of the grim berk of the same name. It also
hooks up to Aeaea, Hectae's realm in Baator, and at least
at one time it connected to Tarterus, the realm of the
fallen Titans on Carceri. It even is remotely connected
to Strife Unforgiving, Eris' realm in Discordia, and
Nike's realm on K'un Lun (see Planes of Cordance for more
on that). In my explorations of Olympus, I found another
noteworthy discovery.
One
trail on Olympus less travelled led me to Buxenus, the
second layer of Arcadia. Mt. Olympus exists on this plane
as well, all but unknown to most planewalkers. Several
fraudulent powers exist here, too. They match the
alignment of their plane for the most part, being about
as passionate and libertine as a Hardhead clerk. However,
they seem strangely familiar to anyone who has experience
with the petty and self-indulgent Greek pantheon. The
head of this new pantheon, Jupiter or Jove, carries
thunderbolts and is married-but-not-faithful to Juno, a
power of marriage and motherhood. Venus is the most
passionate deity here, being a power of love and beauty.
Her husband, Vulcan, dwells under Mt. Olympus at his
forge. Mars and Minerva, two war "gods," are bitter
rivals. Ceres and Bacchus are the two main agricultural
powers. Neptune rules the nearby seas, and Mercury acts
as a courier to these powers.
It
is too strong a resemblance to the Greek pantheon to
ignore, yet they are different. They claim to be the
"Roman" pantheon, whatever that means. They place a
greater emphasis on maintaining order in society (or, as
they seem to call it, "The Empire") than the Greek
pantheon ever would, but are in every other way the
same.
So
what does this all mean? Are these the same powers? Maybe
their deluded followers have different interpretations of
the same deities, and the same individuals appear
differently and on different planes to match these
conceptions. Maybe they have actually become different
gods altogether to match the belief of their followers.
Anyway, it's a mystery. If you ask me (and even if you
didn't), it's just more proof that the powers are only as
all-powerful as their followers imagine them to
be.
A
Mountful of Fiends
by Rathinayr Crovaxius, Tiefling Shadowmancer of Mask
(by Chet
Reeder)
Alright
berk stop rattling your bone box and listen up. No what I
will be telling you, you might think as blubber, but you
never do know, do ya berk? Anyway, I was with some
fellows doing a job for one of the high up men in Sigil,
and what did I spy on my way to a burg upon Mt.
Olympus.
You
know, that big mountain in Arborea, too pretty for my
tastes. I'm getting off track here... well we were
travelling along, looking at the trees and such, then
without warning we stumbled upon an encampment of
nupperibo, with some berk in standing there talking, I
guess that is what you could call it. What this means I
am not sure but something's fishy upon the Mount if
baatezu are crawling upon it. Filthy baatezu they are...
well, they caught our scent and I was the only one of our
party not having gone barmy or sent to the dead book.
Well I went about my job and with a few extra jink I
found out from some Bleakers here in the Cage that some
more baatezu have been sighted in that very same area, of
course those Bleakers are touched in the head none the
less. For more jink you could always hear the rest of the
story berk....
Alright
so I guess I will rattle my bone box a bit more for
another drink. Well I went back to that accursed Mount,
creeping back where I last saw the baatezu and well let
me just say... they must have found a nice little portal
to the Upper Planes... but of course who ever trusts a
tiefling anyway?
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Mount
Olympus
Being
a collection of several burgs of the Mount, and an
overview of the peaks themselves.
Powers
that Be
Being
a collection of some of the Less-Known powers who make
their kips on Mount Olympus.
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Copyright 1998 by Jon
Winter and respective authors,
artwork by Jeremiah Golden and Jon Winter
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