#I have a hard time choosing a Greek God because they're all so fascinating but I have a soft spot for those who are fire-align

[anotherlongstoryshort]

Things about the Wisdom Saga that have plagued me all damn day

Legendary

Whether intentional or not, Miguel's Telemachus really sounds like a younger version of Jorge's Odysseus. And that hurts.

"If I fight those monsters, is it you I'll find?" The layers. Could he go out and hunt for his father? Could he find his 'legendary' strength within himself? Or will Odysseus be the 'monster' he finds?

"Somebody help me, come and give me the strength" And his call is answered T_T

20 years.

Antinous fully interrupts this bop. Rude.

Ayron sounds legitimately scary and Telemachus taking a stand is so O.O

Little Wolf

I wanna fight this guy. Love that Athena agrees. (The beat of the song and sharp bursts of vocals really emulate blows.)

The quaver on "I don't know how".

Athena is immediately charmed by Telemachus' enthusiasm. She sounds so fond.

The fact she sees heart in him as an advantage when it was Odysseus choosing heart over mind that drove them apart. Guh.

Did she tell him to bite Antinous? XD

"Oh, maybe I pushed you a bit too hard." The change in her perspective is already so apparent - she wouldn't have admitted a mistake or miscalculation to Odysseus.

We'll Be Fine

"I had a friend before..." A FRIEND? FRIEND?!?!

An admission that she didn't fully appreciate what Odysseus was going through, that she feels guilty for having "missed it all".

It's unclear to begin with if she's come to Telemachus for Odysseus, or to try and replace him. Both are equally heart-breaking.

"I don't know who your friend is, I don't know what he's like" UNKNOWINGLY ECHOING HIS OWN THOUGHTS IN 'LEGENDARY'. NO IT'S FINE I'M FINE.

"The best day of my life because I got in a fight and I didn't die! :D" Telemachus, child, please.

"We'll be fine" using the same run as "this is my goodbye" T_T

Him immediately offering up friendship to Athena, like Odysseus once did, must hit her so hard. "You're a good kid." Yes he is - because he's more like his dad than he knows.

Love in Paradise

"Old friend..." FRRRRRIIIIEEEENNNNNDDDDD!!!!!

10 years.

The memory fragments sounding so fraught and chaotic together, hitting harder because they're hitting Athena all at once. She missed a lot.

"She's my wife." "Anyways..." Calypso, girl, please.

Love that they're singing completely different melodies through the first half of this song for two reasons: because Odysseus is revisiting previous motifs, once more trying to hold onto the man he was, and also because it shows Calypso is not willing to compromise on what she wants.

"Last I checked goddesses can't die." We'll come back to this later.

Then Odysseus realises he is truly trapped and he sings along to Calypso's melody in muted horror.

POLITIES OUT HERE STILL HAUNTING THE NARRATIVE.

Just the words "open arms" are enough to confront Odysseus (again) with all he's lost. All he hears are screams.

And the one he screams out for is Athena.

"He needs my help." NO KIDDING GO GET YOUR BOY.

God Games

"Father, God, King..." There's a lot to unpack in that fun family dynamic.

"To untie apprehensions that were placed on that Greek?" Zeus is like, nobody likes that guy, why do you care?

The gods being called out like X Factor finalists is everything.

So there's a great contrast against the previous song - unlike Calypso, Athena is matching each of her singing partners with their tone and beat as she convinces them. She isn't winning by 'imposing her will', she's meeting them where they are.

Rational arguments work until Aphrodite, where Athena says "please" for the first time. She softens to appeal to Aphrodite, which is why Ares has to step in.

The way she says his name XD

Ares' lines sound like as much of a fighting chant as 'Little Wolf' did, which makes it all the better that the mention of Telemachus is what gets her to 'fight back'.

"His son's my friend!" YES HE IS. And Athena of all people declaring "a broken heart can mend" is fascinating. Can't help but wonder if she's talking about herself coming around to forgiving Odysseus.

"Never once has he cheated on his wife." Handwaving the source material is worth it for this line ALONE.

Zeus is so pressed by everyone openly knowing he cheats on Hera. Stop doing it then my dude.

Ares sounding genuinely concerned for Athena is doing things to me. Goddesses can't die, huh?

Her time motif flitting in and out like a weak heartbeat.

The soft piano of 'Warrior of the Mind', touching on a whisper of 'Legendary', then rising to a triumphant crescendo as Athena regains herself. I will be forever haunted by visions of Odysseus and Telemachus helping her to her feet.

And then, finally, she faces her own father and begs. Because Odysseus and Telemachus deserve a chance to be father and child.

The parallel, by the way, of Athena entering this saga to help an outnumbered Telemachus, and now closing it with him/Odysseus unknowingly helping her win her own battle too. JORGE HOW DARE YOU T_T

[sorakh28]

HI HELLO CAN YOU BE MY NEW GRANDMA? Her design is *chef's kiss* IMMACULATE.

NEW GRANDMA UNLOCKED

[ohwormwood]

ISAT OCS: character sprites and (quick) introductions!

Part 0 | Introductions | Concept Art Dump | Ornithomancy | Memes | Trivia |

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Meet the party! And our antagonist!

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Celest | The Card-Reader (Celestine) (belongs to me, Paper Type, she/they)

A silent card-reader who has an unusual fascination with stars. Her predictions are unnervingly accurate, even if they don’t always happen as expected.

 A walking Greek tragedy, shameless Islander insert oc, and the most emotionally dysregulated being in the Universe next to Siffrin or Himawari, but is VASTLY worse hiding it. She's honestly one of my most fleshed out characters, and if I'm being honest I've vastly enjoyed writing her interactions with the party. If you were given a nickel for every time she had a mental breakdown and/or cried during the course of the plot you’d be able to retire even in the United States economy because she may say absolutely nothing but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t burst into tears like someone watching Bambi’s mom die on repeat. She makes up for it by probably being the Universe’s second favorite mistake of nature next to the Siffrins and having Universe-powered deus ex machina moments, including:

Predicting people’s deaths! 

Finding a series of long lost gods, which definitely has no consequences at all! (lie)

Solving Zelda dungeons using the power of playing cards!

Unlocking forbidden knowledge! With no consequences at all! (even bigger lie)

Avoiding asking for help because of a misguided sense of independence and a self-imposed obligation to base the worth of her life off of carrying out the Universe’s will and helping people to make up for the crime of predicting people’s deaths!

Resurrecting the dead!

Predicting people’s deaths and resurrecting them!

Gambling!

She uses tarot cards as a conduit for her craft– all her craft skills are named after specific major arcana cards, and each party mamber has a designated card.

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Himawari | The Ghost (belongs to @dasnercaret, Rock Scissors Type, he/they

Mysterious and tall, with a eagle-like lacquer mask and unusually traditional wear. They're really a nice person underneath their ominous exterior, and have plenty of interesting stories— even if they occasionally contradict.

Default party leader, Meta Knight gijinka (as coined by @smokin-salmon), and the local Dark Souls boss who can and will beat you into the ground at a moment’s notice. But don’t worry, he’s got a heart of gold– no, don’t look at the body count. Has a tragic backstory befitting of his edginess that boils down to having his dad instilling in him a martyr complex so strong that we’ve lost track of the amount of times he’s probably been in near death experiences because he feels a personal responsibility to protect the party. He proceeded to spend the next nine years disassociating so hard that even Siffrin would be impressed, before being forcefully adopted by a 12 year old who decided that they’re friends now and are having soft tacos later. He dies, but don't worry, he gets better, just. Not fast. A solid 50% of this story's angst is sourced directly from this idiot's siffrin-level repressed mental issues. His plotline essentially drives this entire story to the point that he is literally the final boss. no, i will not elaborate on that.

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Ori (Orion) | The Wallflower (belongs to @scramblecat, Paper Type, he/him)

A traveler from Vaugarde, able to bring his origami creations to life. His kind and welcoming personality makes him easily likable… but for whatever reason, he has a tendancy to be forgotten.

The consequences of fusing Isabeau and Odile into a person who is the most functional and average human being on earth, except for the fact that he’s got the transgenderism, runs with a gang of trauma-bonded idiots, and accidentally turned himself into SCP 055 Lite by choosing the name of a constellation for his name before the Island got Nuked™. Now everyone who meets him turns into you when you can never remember the name of that coworker you’ve been sitting next to for two years straight and talk to every day. His power is being annoying to any enemy in his vicinity by giving everyone papercuts and buffing the party with the power of paper crafts until they turn into the fantasy RPG equivalent of the Russians in the 2020 Olympics. If it wasn’t for him being the most emotionally stable member of the party the other three would have probably succumbed to the disaster that is a plot with no levity or character development and serves only as the fuel for an AO3 author’s hurt/no comfort addiction.

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Haruka | The Child (belongs to @aquakirb, Rock Type, she/her)

A cheery runaway kid studying to become a healer. She does her best to help out the party in any way she can, however small. 

Literally the purest thing to grace the Universe. A ray of sunshine that knows no bounds. If you even consider making her sad, you will have half of Ka Bue on your heels ready to kill you, including Himawari, who will probably get to you first. She’s the party’s Bonnie, but do NOT get it twisted that she's a Bonnie clone; she doesn’t have a clue how to cook and doesn’t have nearly as much repressed anger. Actually kind of the opposite. She's strangely mature for her age despite being relatively cheerful and coming off as more childish from an external POV.  Her mom is a mysterious but well-known healer who's been training her since she was six and has essentially turned her into a pint-sized emergency response team.  She has the brand of ADHD that pulls out random information about their interests at the most random times and with zero context.  Also she technically killed a god, but that’s not even worth going on her resume.

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Aega | The Eternal Rest (belongs to @dasnercaret, Scissors/Rock Type, she/it/they)

A broken and corrupted Expression, existence wiped away alongside The Universe and it's guides. She wish is to restore that which has been lost, to be remembered... no matter the cost. Her Craft spreads across the land, warping reality as it attempts to restore her power through the dreams of those who fall under her spell. 

This bitch. THIS BITCH. I have never simultaneously hated and loved a character in my LIFE. To pair down an extremely complex and lore-heavy explanation, Aega is what happens when you make a god that has extreme power and then make all of reality forget she exists. She's the Expression of the Moon, and essentially presided over the night in its entirety, including the massive amount of constellations that make up an entire religious sect of the Universe Religion; it takes every white girls obsession with their horoscope and the absolutely astounding level of syncretic dissemination that buddhism had on the world, stuffs it in a blender, and makes a smoothie that tastes like existential loneliness, mommy issues, and almost a decades worth of stored up power that she can and will use to do whatever the fuck she wants. And what she wants is for people to stop ignoring her! she doesn't care if that involves the dismantling of reality or the destruction of entire human race, because when you're a god, your sense of object permanence is so skewed that you may as well be an Elden Ring character. Her entire motive is pretty much a mimic of the King, except instead of freezing people in time she puts them to sleep and freezes them! But it's less freezing and more turning them into a cocoon because the Lady Ethereal butterfly dream symbolism energy is OFF THE CHARTS. Her color is that electric blue that everyone wanted to dye their hair in the 2010s and also her namesake. Bet you can't guess what animal it is. (It's a butterfly.) (The Aega Morpho.)

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next up! a dump of oc content, misc. notes about the party, and more!

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Part 0 | Introductions | Concept Art Dump | Ornithomancy | Memes | Trivia |

[mistwraiths]

3.5 stars

Every seven years, nine Greek gods become mortal on earth, and the bloodlines of past Greek heroes hunt to kill and take their power for seven days. Lore Perseous escaped that life years ago after the brutal murder of her family and she has no intention of going back to it. However, when this year's hunt begins, Lore's asked for help by two shocking faces. Castor, her friend who she believed to be dead, and Athena, the goddess herself. To defeat a shared enemy and stop evil itself, they'll have to work together.

While I enjoyed Lore, I found myself constantly just being rather disappointed and wanting more. I have a lot of slight dislikes that just build up and really impact me from really enjoying this book. The plot of this book is fascinating and interesting, and unique. There were so many twists I honestly didn't see coming which is very impressive. I'm a huge fan of Greek Mythology and I'm pretty knowledgeable about a lot, but at times it did feel hard to follow. I also have several questions that just don't get answered.

Firstly let me address the worst bit. There's a lot of sexual assault mentioned or hinted at, and even an attempt of rape, and threat of and implied pedophilia. All to women and girls. Look, I don't fucking care if marriage at twelve was something that happened in Greek times, IT DOESN'T EVEN NEED TO BE IMPLIED OR BROUGHT UP THAT IT HAPPENS IN PRESENT TIMES. Just don't write it. This is an urban fantasy involving the Greek gods and mortals killing them to take their power and immortality. And you choose to have this society continue to be misogynistic??? I'm so tired of it.

This book also has a lot of dark material like graphic violence to children described, lots of violence, and gore and blood, etc. There's absolutely more than that too so if you have any trigger warnings, you may want to check first before reading.

Despite the book having lots of action, lots of twists and turns, I found myself feeling like this book was slow. But I actually think most of the time I was bored. I think this was partly because sometimes things just seemed to happen too easily. They're just a little too capable. It just never felt like there was enough of a struggle. Oh, Lore and Castor got wounds, but that's it. I just was never on the edge of my seat like OMG. There would have been one really great shock if it hadn't been reversed so quickly. It just felt like all the characters were Special™️.

But I think that was mostly in part that I didn't really care about any of the characters??? Also all of the characters just never felt consistent?? For example, Lore's pretty kick ass in the beginning, fierce and violent but that gets smacked down hard because a singular character goes "that's not you" or some bullshit even when they haven't seen each other in *checks notes* seven years? Also, if people are actively trying to kill you, I think the MC should be allowed. Lore wants revenge but also doesn't want a part in it. She wants glory so bad but also doesn't. Honestly, Lore's thoughts and feelings sometimes felt like it was too much. Let's not forget the part where for SEVERAL pages she's thinking I MUST LEAVE and proceeds to not leave and tells Castor he's not safe and there's not time. And no he can't come with her. And guess what? They run out of time and they leave together.

Castor was okay I guess?? I can understand that for some people it must be really awesome to have a character who has gone through cancer and survived and was facing remission, and come into power and be a freaking god instead. I actually thought he died during one part and that shocked me but it was quickly reversed and if you hadn't realized yet you know that he was Different Than The Other Godkillers™️. I have some questions about him. We're told that in older people it turns the mortal body to their prime and I believe brings out the strongest parts of them? Or something like that. It's not quite clear how the split of godly self and the godkiller mortal self is. However, Castor was TWELVE. And it's implied he was like an incorporeal form unable to really do anything?? So how did this twelve year old age well?? Or at all?? Mentally is he really 17?? Or 12?? Or older because of Apollo? I did find him a little too preachy and mainly he was the one always like policing Lore the most with not killing or not being violent. And then he's also like I WILL KILL THEM at one point. Consistency who??? I'm all for a character knowing they might have to do something against their beliefs or changing their minds, but write it well don't slap it in there.

Also, I could have just done without the romance of Lore and Castor. Y'ALL HAVEN'T SPOKEN IN SEVEN YEARS??? You barely know each other anymore. It just really didn't bring anything to the table and while it isn't central at all, I was rolling my eyes.

The side characters are okay. The whole "leave" "No I'm helping." "You can't do this" "Yes I will" struggle between Miles and company became a little monotonous. Iro could have been an interesting character but she's barely around. She also KILLS CASTOR on purpose and that's quickly forgotten and forgiven WAY too quickly.

Which also sums up the ending. It kind of just happened so fast and like... it's so bizarre to me to have the person who murdered your entire family give you their godhood? Like are you implying she forgave her? Both Castor and her are gods and they're just like "Please let us go" and... that's it??? Also like I DO HAVE TO SAY IT'S ABSOLUTELY FUCKING WILD TO PUT ZEUS IN THE GOOD CATEGORY??? Or at least the one not being punished because he needs it the MOST.

There's also one thing that took me out of the story, which is that for some reason during a treating the wound scene, instead of simply moving a bra strap or removing the bra, they snap it. And then the main character proceeds to have to fight and run around ALL WITH A SNAPPED BRA STRAP. Excuse me???? If my bra strap snapped, I'd immediately have to fix it. It's just haunted me until she finally changed clothes.

Anyways, this sounded like a LOT but it still is pretty enjoyable. Greek mythology meets The Hunger Games with more death. So much death.