OLYMPUS The Gods of Olympus are a race of superhumanly powerful humanoid beings who were worshiped by the ancient Greeks and Romans from about 2000 BC to 500 AD. The Olympians dwell in Olympus, a small "pocket" dimension adjacent to Earth; an interdimensional nexus between Olympus and Earth exists somewhere on Mount Olympus in Greece.
      The Olympians' human worshipers in ancient Rome called these gods by different names than those by which the gods were known in ancient Greece: for example, the Greeks called the king of the gods Zeus, whereas the Romans called him Jupiter or Jove. The Olympian gods, except for Neptune, patron deity of the Atlanteans, no longer have or actively seek worshipers on Earth. However, certain gods, notably Hercules and Venus, still take active interest in the welfare of humanity.
      The Olympian gods all possess certain superhuman physical attributes. They are true immortals, who cease to age upon achieving adulthood, and who are unable to die by conventional means. The Olympians are immune to all terrestrial diseases and are resistant to conventional injury. If an Olympian is wounded, his or her godly life force will enable him or her to recover at a superhuman rate. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it incinerates an Olympian or disperses a major portion of his or her bodily molecules to cause him or her to die. Even then, it may be possible for a god of greater or equal power, or several gods acting together, to revive the deceased Olympian before the god's life essence is beyond resurrection. Olympian flesh and bone are about three times denser than regular human tissue, contributing to the gods' superhuman strength and weight. An average male Olympian god can lift about 30 tons; an average Olympian goddess can lift about 25 tons. The metabolism of the gods gives them superhuman endurance in all physical activities. In addition, many Olympian gods possess additional superhuman powers which may be magical in nature.
      The precise origin of the Olympian gods, like that of all of Earth's pantheons of gods, is shrouded in legend. According to ancient myths, the primeval Earth goddess Gaea is the progenitor of the principal Olympian gods. However, it is unclear whether the Olympian race originated on Earth, Olympus, or in another dimension linked to Olympus. According to ancient myths, Gaea gave birth to the sky god Ouranos. Gaea mated with Ouranos and bore him the first generation of the Olympian race, known as the Titans. One of the Titans, Cronus, rose to power when he fatally wounded Ouranos. The dying Ouranos prophesied that Cronus would likewise be overthrown by one of his own children. As a result, upon the birth of each of Cronus's children, Cronus had the infant imprisoned in Tartarus, the most dismal section of the Olympian underworld known as Hades. Appalled at the mistreatment of their children, Cronus's wife, the Titaness Rhea, concealed her sixth pregnancy from him and secretly gave birth to Zeus in the land now called Greece. Zeus grew to adulthood among the human shepherds of Crete. Zeus set his siblings - Neptune, Pluto, Hera, Demeter, and Vesta, now all grown to adulthood - free from Tartarus. Zeus and his allies fought a ten year war with the Titans which ended with Zeus's victory. He imprisoned most of the male Titans in Tartarus and established himself in Olympus as supreme ruler of the Olympian race.
      Zeus married the goddess Hera, but he engaged in many affairs with goddesses and mortal Earthwomen. Some of his children were gods. Zeus Hera, Neptune, Demter, and Vesta, together with Zeus's children Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Venus, comprised the membership of the high council of the Olympian gods, known as the Pantheon. Vesta later resigned her seat in the council if favor of Zeus's son Dionysus. Zeus's brother Pluto was not a member of the Pantheon, preferring to spend virtually all of his time within Hades, which he ruled.
      After the end of the Hyborian Age, the Olympian gods sought worshipers on Earth. Neptune became the patron god of the water-breathing Atlanteans, Zeus sought that the Olympian gods be worshiped by the people of the land now known as Greece. Mount Olympus lay near Olympia, the principal city of the Eternals. Zeus and his daughter Athena met with Zuras, the leader of the Eternals, and his daughter Azura. Noticing the physical resemblance between Zeus and Zuras and between Azura and herself, Athena suggested that the Olympian gods and the Eternals form an alliance in which the Eternals wold act as the gods' representatives on Earth. The other three enthusiastically agreed, and Azura took her current name of Thena to signify the sealing of the pact. However, over the years, many humans came tot think of many Eternals not as the gods' representatives but as the gods themselves. This led to a growing resentment by the gods towards the Eternals, which recently erupted into war, but today they are again at peace.
      Worship of the Olympian gods spread from Greece to Rome, and throughout the Roman Empire. But when Christianity finally replaced the worship of the Olympian gods in the Roman Empire, Zeus decided that the time had come for the Olympians to break most of their ties with Earth. Neptune, however, was still allowed to watch over his Atlantean worshipers. Nevertheless, Zeus still retains an affection for and interest in the people of Earth. Zeus's children Hercules and Venus have spent periods living among Earth mortals in recent years. An alternate future has been depicted in which Zeus and the other Olympians, except for Hercules, leave their plane of existence in the 23rd century so that Hercules may father a new race of gods. Whether the Olympian gods will come to such an end in what becomes the "mainstream" future is yet unknown.




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