Nope, that coma is from an “essence induced” seizure, so the essence at least played a role there, meaing we’re very much unaccustomed to even the part of its power that we can access now flowing freely through us, let alone have any understanding of how to harness it even semi effectively.
Well my mc did already graduate highschool, so I don’t really think it is favoritism, the other demigods, or at least Saint, Aeson and Calypso also seem to have various special circumstances on occasion that do get taken into account. If Aeson can be absent from “school” for who knows how long on his silly quests and Saint on his “seeker” missions they could have spared us a few days for some very basic training.
You mean that’s why they put that blocker on us in the first place and waited till the very last moment possible to take it off, which means that we have zero experience or training as an actual demigod.
Yes, they’re rather poor detectives aren’t they, or at least they seem to lack any sort of internal affairs department altogether.
Since we don’t even know our supposed (half)brother going solo is pretty much the only option here.
We you and me should team and play together lol. My character goes for the ruthless lie way. And if Aeson thinks he would be The GREATNESS he could kiss his prideful ass. My character would kill herself before being mistreated again
I vaguely remember gushing over that myth. Also, the Essence was never a soul’ it was a bundle of energy/power that created and destroyed. So, the MC and Aeson were never the same soul; since the Titanomachy you’ve been two separate souls. The only reason you die is because one soul cannot exist in the mortal realm without the other soul–hence the linked lifelines.
The Gods didn’t send the Seekers that tried to kill you. Those were from an outside source, which is why at your Summoning the Gods apologized for “not knowing what was going on”.
The blocker wasn’t there to block the Essence, nothing can block that much power; it blocked the power you got from your Godly father, which is what kept your hidden for so long.
Saint is on Seeker patrol due Zeus, simply to keep him from being on Olympus long enough to cause trouble. Aeson is sent unwillingly on quests to “prove” his allegiance to the Gods, and in the most recent circumstance, keep him and the MC apart. Also, they are none the least “silly”. (What is Calypso’s circumstances anyhow? The Trials of Artemis?)
Also, there is no Cinderella dilemma here. The extend of “help” you get from Aeson isn’t as drastic as you think it is.
It’s not, it blocked the source of their godly parent:
Oh, well, your doctor said that after Saint got the blocker spell off of you–which is totally weird, like who did that to you?–the power of your source was too much for your system. See, Demigods are usually born with the source in them, from their Godly parent, and it becomes more powerful over time. But with you…it just came out full force in a matter of seconds. That’s enough to knock anyone out.
We don’t know who put the blocker on MC, as it stoped them from going to Olympus I doubt it was one of the gods (or at least the half of the council that hopes for MC to be their hero).
Aeson is a straight-a-student and academically Psyche’s rival. He also does those quests for the gods, the same with Saint doing his Seeker work. The gods don’t win much from releasing MC from school, the most would be discord in the council from the one’s that are opposed to MC and would claim that “if they could be a hero of Olympus they wouldn’t need that training”.
I talked about it being one of the strategies the player can choose from. The game mechanics. They also can try to be a team player, a hero or as backstabbing schemer.
An outside source that used their own people though, a major, major blow to the Seeker internal affairs department, if they even have one.
Nonetheless they still seem fully intent on putting the mc on trial for self-defense against those same packs of killers later on.
Still the mc can have already graduated bloody highschool and acknowledging that, or at least not having them repeat the subjects like Math and English they already took is hardly favouritism. Besides the mc has missed out on years of training that the others did get, letting him catch up even a tiny bit is also hardly favouritism.
Also the mc still gets dumped into a body that doesn’t really feel like it’s his and is expected to be totally comfortable with it right away? They could have given him a few days off to adjust at the very least.
I do wish we can scream in that school counselors face that we’re already a highschool graduate and that she can expect zero effort from my mc on all the subjects he already took at least.
So I really wish we could skip most of our classes except maybe mythology and forging.
I guess my mc would tend to eliminate threats as quickly and efficiently as possible, due to his former circumstances.
I wonder what that “help” even is, at this point, if it isn’t training or (unwanted) hero shows on our behalf?
Still due to their former lifestyle the mc has hardly had any opportunities to truly experiment with and try to train their essence powers.
A graduation that as it seems isn’t acknowledged by the Institute/the gods. And as they get teached parts of the history that specifically concerns demigods and gods I can see the reasoning. Maybe MC can file a motion to get their graduation acknowledged. In the worst case it only takes some years to process it.
And you forget that the MC even existing as demigod is highly debated by the gods, so yes, even that small help could be looked at as favoritism. It’s something the other part of the council could use to get MC killed right away.
They don’t have that time, because of the trials and the war.
Depends on the kind of MC you play and doesn’t change that we talk about much more power as other demigods have.
Say we are identical twins, or perfect dopplegangers, and we somehow have the exact same physique, musculature strength, stamina, agility, etc.
The only difference is that you have say a decade of martial arts training under your belt, whereas I haven’t (let’s say my exact same seeming body was due to much more walking, biking and manual labour).
I probably wouldn’t be able to beat you in a hand to hand fight, unless I somehow got extremely lucky.
You could then say we have the same potential, sure but it’s still training that would make all the difference.
I just said that those subjects, which seem to be limited to Greek mythology and either forging or hero psychology are open to discussion, but there’s no way my mc is going to put any time and effort into things like Math and English and the rest of the things that were already part of his previous highschool education again.
The “existing” as a demigod is a decision they made long ago when they let “daddy” Hades conceive the mc in the first place all those years ago. Again that doesn’t seem like favouritism as they could presumably just as easily have let us be born to two mortal parents.
Anyway since that body and whatever additional powers it grants come from “daddy” Hades it’s not like my mc wants to have anything to do with it in the first place.
He’d have been fine if they let him keep his blocker appearance but that apparently wasn’t possibly due to the whole Olympus thing. Still since they wanted my mc there that doesn’t quite feel like favouritism to him.
Potentially, yes. The only thing that the mc apparently can do with it at this moment is channel it into a weak shield. Oh, and blow open a lock in a very unsubtle manner. Not exactly fantastically useful feats when going up against highly trained competitors.
In other words fairly useless without better training and understanding. Aeson who is described as just as self-trained as smart mc is can presumably do all those cool things with it because he both started at a much earlier age and had the benefit of calm, methodical training and experimentation.
That comparision doesn’t hold up. The MC can use magic and they know how to do it. The other demigods don’t. They never will be able to do the things the MC already proofed to be able to do.
It’s not like looking at twins as the MC has completely different preconditions that actually make them superior to the other demigods. They didn’t start from the same point, the training only helped the other demigods to catch up with the Bearer.
…Ever tried to get some part of your education acknowledged when the institute/country you are in has no arrangements to easely assure the equivalence of your education to the one you want to get it acknowledge as? Especially somewhere were everybody is set on that your education just can’t be as good? Things like that can take years. Be happy that they didn’t require from MC to start in the year they dropped out.
They couldn’t because in that case they most likely wouldn’t be allowed to take part in the trials, especially as they didn’t grew up on Olympus.
It’s a power struggle between the gods, MC just had the bad luck to be the object of said power struggle. The one don’t want them to fight as hero for Olympus and would prefer to just kill them the others want to give MC the chance to proof themself. But they also just can’t alienate the other gods.
That are only the magical powers of the Essence not the physically enhancing ones. And the other demigods still can’t do even feats close to that.
@Sammysam You see all from a logical pro gods perspective and totally meta. While @idonotlikeusernames and myself are talking from a role-playing perspective. Our character doesn’t know who send the seekers, doesnt know who block us and If our power is x or y . And nobody teaches anything so we feel betrayed and hated
My character does the same just btw. and I know when you are switching to rpging as it’s pretty obvious after some time, but @idonotlikeusernames makes it sometimes pretty difficult to distinguish if what he says is meant as roleplaying or already analysis of the text. And I think it’s somewhat funny to analyze the text that way through discussing, tbh. So that’s also a reason for me to answer. (And that way the ones that wanted to drive the post count of this wip high to…what was it? “Bring it on the same level as the guenevere and guns of infinite threads” get also their will.)
Discussion is funny and gives ideas everyone. So don’t apologize. That’s why even if I know gods and Aeson aren’t so bad or guilty of stuff. My character doesn’t and gods aren’t really transparent. Seekers has been gods hunters since forever so she believes is one of them doing and the block she believes is Athena doing to make her weak and docile so she is angry. She felts nobody wants her really. While Aeson is loved and more powerful. Like life hasn’t been fair to her
The mc can barely use magic and they know, by my count, how to do exactly two, not all that impressive, things with it.
But they have the benefits of years of training and preparation and actually feeling (somewhat) comfortable in their demigod bodies, so that still gives the mc only a slim to mediocre chance at best.
They are also much better informed of what is going on exactly and I’d say that eight times out of ten the guy with superior intel/information actually stands the better chance to win, particularly when the sides are otherwise evenly matched. Right now our mc faces a huge information deficiency and lack of intel.
That’s why we have the EU, and that’s why the EU in turn has a treaty for those kinds of things with the US of A.
Since our high school education was apparently in the US and then completed through accredited online US institutions it shouldn’t take more than a few weeks to get it acknowledged since Olympus seems to be in Greece and Greece is in the EU. Though if we actually want to work in Greece we might be subject to additional language proficiency requirements, but that should really be it.
However even if they do not want to acknowledge it, so what. It’s not like they can make my mc put in the effort on any subject he doesn’t want to and right now the only ones he’s seriously considering are mythology and forging, he doesn’t care about the rest and I don’t see why he can’t skip the rest of them.
Note that I can see from a meta POV why the author might not want to write that in, but I’d like to at least be able to slack off during those classes and put absolutely zero effort into them.
There do seem to be more than a few “normal” humans living on Olympus and they could like have made an exception for those trials since they’re the frigging Gods.
That physically enhance a body the mc isn’t used to and may not even be comfortable with.
Really from a character driven perspective those things may be less formidable then they seem at first glance.
All of that means that my mc would rather fall-back on his far from impressive magical powers than trust in a body he is neither used to nor comfortable with.
I mostly analyze the text, but I try to do so from my mc’s perspective, which may occasionally cause some confusion as I do analyze the text but deliberately neglect to do so from a non-biased perspective.
…It’s the gods and an Institute specifically for demigods, they don’t need to follow the legislation of the mortals. And who knows how they think about online courses.
Yeah, but why should they gamble even more? Having them take part in the trials and giving them a chance to be hero is gamble enough without them being mortal and dying shortly after becoming 18.
That changes after MC wakes up are not the enhancing through the Essence, that are the changes of the godly source. Blame daddy instead. That’s understandable and justified for all the things that did happen.
That’s more as the other demigods can and their magic seems to react stronger when they are in danger so we have that too.
And like I said I think the pophecy and a belief in destiny comes also into play. As far as I understood a demigod can survive being the vessel of the Essence, so it’s not only about MC staying alive after their 18th birthday but moreso to see if they can be the god’s hero in the upcoming war. They test MC if they are worth to be kept alive even when the prophecy says they will end up on Cronus side.
I know that’s the perfect background to play a MC that’s just soaked in angst. All the drama, and that’s just the backstory of MC. We didn’t even get to the real drama in their present if we can believe Rohie.
Well we know that it wasn’t at least half of the council. Not sure yet if they don’t have a traitor within their ranks.
Fair enough but then my mc also feels like he doesn’t have to apply himself to redo things he already did once, years ago.
So his instinct would still be to ditch all his “classes” except mythology and oggle Adonis’ arms forging.
It would be deliciously ironic though, the Gods schemes(partially) frustrated by a bunch of EU bureaucrats.
How it comes to be is of secondary importance compared to the fact that the mc suddenly has to “make do” with a mostly unfamiliar body and isn’t given any time to adjust.
Realistically if I were to wake up with exactly the body I want tomorrow morning I’d probably be ecstatic, but I’d more than likely need a few weeks or even months to really grow into it, so to speak. The mc is given exactly zero time to adjust at all.
Oh, my mc certainly plans to ! Knowing where that “new” body comes from won’t make him particularly happy with it either which, if anything, can only have a negative impact on those trials.
I don’t know, Saint, for example, can probably throw some mean and powerful bolts of lightning around. If they can overpower that fairly weak shield my mc would be toast.
As for our physical abilities, aside from being distinctly uncomfortable with trusting in or relying on his “new” body, I don’t imagine my mc has anything more than desperate “do whatever it takes” “street combat” and survival techniques at his disposal, compared to his opponents who have all trained and prepared for at least a decade.
Still those unpredictable effects are by definition not something that can be used strategically or relied upon and since our intel is already weak to non-existent that would still put us at a severe disadvantage compared to our properly trained, outfitted and informed competitors.
Well, who doesn’t like a good story about an underdog facing deadly challenges and hopefully winning against all odds? (Besides the protagonist of such a story maybe )
That could be because it isn’t really something that’s common to happen, so no one really knows the side effects. On the other side MC may adjust faster for the same reason they had to go through those changes: Because they are a demigod.
Compared to your MC mine is such a teacher’s pet and overarchiever…
Calling all infuriated or plain curious MC’s; I ask you to put yourself in the position of your MC at the summoning; what would you say to the Gods had I given you the choice. I’m rewriting the scene a bit, and I’m straight out of reactions considering my state of mind is in CH8, not Ch3.
These lines of dialogues will be placed directly after:
“What? It is true, and you all know it. If the child is not on our side, why not avoid this silly war altogether and just kill ${him}? If Athena was here–” The Goddess stops herself. A slow smile sets upon her face. “If Athena was here, she would agree with me wholeheartedly.”
She stares at you while she says this, her gaze scorching.
You feel your knees weaken, but anger boils at the surface. They speak of your death as if it’s nothing.
Consider what you’ve learned up until this point and what emotions your MC feels. Anger is a basic one, and more complex ones are welcomed.
Hey, I’m just trying to place myself in my mc’s position here and I sure as hell wouldn’t want to re-take highschool especially after having gone to so much trouble just to graduate while being chased by packs of psychotic little killers.
In effect then being told by some “school counselor” no your education wasn’t “good enough” because you didn’t graduate from an elite school would feel like a giant bitchslap to my mc’s face and wouldn’t really serve to motivate him any.
That being said If this highschool system is like our Dutch one, primarily test and exam driven, unlike some US schools who value effort and things like papers and essays more, I can see smart mc still doing well enough to scrape by. Much like real llife me could probably pass all the highschool exams (save for math, the bane of my existence then) again even now, though obviously with rather less impressive grades for the most part than I got back then.
True, but we don’t know either way and it’s another thing to chalk up in the column of “the gods don’t even pretend to give a rat’s ass about the mc as a person”.
With “daddy” Hades I’d say my mc feels a powerful cocktail of emotions right then, all negative, a combination of rage, loathing and disgust would be the most prominent ones.
As for the dialogue, I think the main point my mc would want to get across is that he will never, ever even pretend to accept Hades as his “father”. So long as that point gets across loud and clear the exact dialogue lines don’t matter all that much to me and I’m terrible at writing dialogue anyway.
If the internal sacrifice really must be to our godly parent (as opposed to trying to kiss, Ares, Apollo or Hermes) I suppose my mc would spit in his smug, arrogant face.
I don’t think that at that moment @Rohie asks about MC already knows who is their father. That comes only two chapters later or so.
Well, my MC is pretty happy about the chance to at least pretend normality. And as they did really enjoy school or at least learning they are rather eager to listen and participate. And that they know some more things as the rest because of the online courses actually somewhat grooms their ego.
Possible. I also think that time just isn’t something neither the gods nor MC have considering what will come.
Knowing where that “new” body comes from won’t make him particularly happy with it either which, if anything, can only have a negative impact on those trials.
)