Children of the Gods (Important poll #12306)

Fair point, now that you mention it he is the only kid Zeus had where she didn’t try to make their life miserable.

To be honest, my MC wouldn’t give a shit if Zeus cared about him but regardless he’d probably screw over Zeus, Hades and Athena seeing how petty he can be.

It WAS an unhealthy relationship! I’m not disputing that! I’ve never tried to pass it off as anything else, and the journals make that abundantly clear. I can’t very well write it out for you without giving entirely too much away but, Priscilla never deluded herself into believing what Zeus felt for her came remotely close to even resembling love. She’s an intensely self aware character. She knew that she was a means to an end.

I think a lot of you, at least from the asks tht I’ve been getting seem to think that their relationship was some sort of forced descent into hell, and it wasn’t that. Wht happens to Priscilla happens because she’s a Prophet, not especially because of Zeus. His culpability can’t be negated, he’s certainly responsible for no small amount of her suffering, but their relationship wasn’t devoid of tenderness. I’m not trying to cloak it! Or justify it! Or claim that the circumstances didn’t make for dubious consent (amongst the distillation and manifestation of EVERY other awful thing that happened to her). If it helps, think of the love Priscilla had for him as being akin to one that one might even have for someone deeply toxic. Do you stop loving the people you resent? The people that hurt you?

Fatalism is one of the game’s principal themes; the idea that certain things are inevitable. Priscilla was a Prophet. Fatalism was literally her nature.

And the idea that this makes you uncomfortable about the Bearer’s origins confuses me. I understand, you’re leery, and that this is interactive fiction, but you can’t dictate the circumstances of your birth. That doesn’t make a great deal of sense. It’s just how it is.

I hope you can withhold further judgment until after you’ve read the journals, and if you have anything to add at that point, I’ll be very open to criticism. I still am, but you haven’t seen anything conclusive yet. Hold out, please :~)

Please don’t send me any more asks abt this ! You’re welcome to ask me about Priscilla, or Zeus, but Priscilla/Zeus.

13 Likes

Yeah, I don’t know why this new light on Zeus and Priscilla’s relationship is ruffling so many feathers. It’s not like we have control over the relationship between our parents, why would the MC have too? Whatever went down between them happened before the bearer was even alive. It’s passed, and whatever fallout stems from it the MC will just have to deal with it.

I’m certainly not Zeus biggest fan (I’m still mourning the loss of tuna dad :cry: ) but if Priscilla loved him then she loved him. Just because someone is toxic or bad for you doesn’t mean what you feel is any less true. It’s stupid and reckless but love nonetheless. From what I understand Zeus never truly loves her, but it’s completely possible to care for someone even if that someone doesn’t care for you back.

I, for one, am excited to further learn about our mother’s history. Whether through her journals or in-game. What made such an intelligent and self-aware woman fall into a trap she could see a mile away? Really interesting to figure that out - couldn’t have been Zeus charm that’s for damn sure.

8 Likes

Can’t claim to know what exactly is the case with why each reader is bothered by the Zeus-as-only-father thing (mainly because I’m not psychic and it’s their own personal reasons over the matter), but I think some of the discomfort might come from the fact that the Bearer is going to be discovering these journal entries of Priscilla. In other words, their Bearers are likely going to be learning the hard truth about their current origins and the questionable nature of Priscilla and Zeus’ relationship from these writings left behind by their mother.

For those who come from cultures that deeply value family connections (especially in regards to blood ties) and their roots, it might be a little uncomfortable to learn that the Bearer comes from such a relationship and may feel that there’s nothing about their origins that their Bearers can be proud of in any way (at the moment). And knowing that a young 17-year-old Demigod is going to be discovering all this doesn’t paint the picture of someone who will always be able to take this sort of news too well.

Of course, this is just a guess on the matter of the discomfort (someone please correct me if I’m completely off base). :thinking: I’ll personally be fine enough with the situation as long as the Bearer has good range of reactions toward Zeus’ future behavior toward them and a good deal of ways to deal with whatever truths that Priscilla’s writings reveals to them.

All that aside, how about we all turn this to a interesting discussion:

We’re giving Zeus a good deal of grief for the type of relationship he has with Priscilla…but are ANY of the Twelve capable of loving a mortal (or even their Demigod children) in a healthy way? Which Gods do you guys think might have the most capability (not exactly perfect, but better than the others at it) to love another in a relatively healthy manner?

6 Likes

Some more typo’s or bugs that I’ve found are if you choose the girlfriend route near the beginning of the story, your girlfriends name is sometimes replaced with the code of the boyfriends name, specifically /bfname

2 Likes

[Timing is a funny thing. Just got home from a pottery workshop in the mountains and I’ve spent a few hours mulling over on whether I should reply to this or not, and generally sorting out my feelings on why I’m so against the descriptor of love being used here. So this will probably be the last I’ll talk about this until gia gives us the update but here are my last two cents on the topic]

I can’t speak for everyone here but I’m generally wary of when people call what is clearly something toxic “love”

Because yes, no one is denying that it’s possible to be in the kind of relationship Priscilla has. But being romantically involved/physically involved with someone is not equal to love. Heaven knows how many relationships in current media has skeevy or generally everything that shouldn’t be in a relationship being praised as something relationship worthy, or generally described as “love”

Like I don’t think anyone (forgive me if I missed out on a post here) wants to strike down Zeus/Priscilla’s relationship. If anything, I think the concern is because:

  1. There seems to be a misunderstanding between what actually is being said: What do you mean by Priscilla “loved” Zeus? Is love synonymous with a romantic/sexual relationship? Being in a relationship is not equal to love, staying in one so much more. I mean, there’s a difference between being in a “loving” relationship (something Priscilla obviously is not under) and being “in love” (which is Priscilla being described as) and which the latter is being debated on

    • like in crime there’s a thing called “battered woman syndrome,” and Priscilla can be easily read as someone under this (despite not being physically harmed by Zeus) and god is it heartbreaking when you hear the stories (and again not love)

    • stockholm syndrome has also been listed previously in this thread as something Priscilla might also have, which again makes the relationship not a “love” relationship

    • this pretty much leads to my third point so skip ahead of if you want to know why

  2. We understand that from the get-go that Zeus/Priscilla was never meant to be healthy and no one (again) has any hope of “true love” happening between them given how horrible Priscilla’s situation is. But it seems rather…inconsistent with how smart and determined she is to escape her situation

  3. “If it helps, think of the love Priscilla had for him as being akin to one that one might even have for someone deeply toxic. Do you stop loving the people you resent? The people that hurt you?”

Yes. Yes you absolutely can stop loving these people. Frankly, you should. Love is not and never should be toxic, and in relation to that, love is not a feeling.

It is a consistent choice

Not a feeling. Not an obligation. A choice

Now if Priscilla felt she had “no choice but to love him” because destiny said so, it’s not love either. It’s a relationship but it’s not love

So if Priscilla could not choose — because she was imprisoned, the unequal pairing with Zeus wielding a lot of power over her, generally being unable to give an enthusiastic consent to Zeus — how can you say it was love? She was essentially trapped in a relationship because she felt like there was no other option (which feeds in the fatalistic characteristic which was just confirmed to)

EDIT: I might also add that since love is a core theme of the book (and if ever series), the usage of who/what/when/where/how/why is important – like what is contextualized as love here, how do characters parallel/subvert/invert/play straight whatever the author says about it. If anything my expectation of the importance of Zeus/Priscilla is to show what love is not along with Aphrodite and whoever else

Ares is apparently confirmed to be a good dad by Cal so shrugs

But I’m willing to bet Hades is a front runner since he’s described as the “most mortal” of all the gods

16 Likes

That sounds like a great way to spend the day, especially since it took place in the mountains (this is coming from someone who loves mountain climbing despite being afraid of heights). :grinning:

I really do wonder at times if part of Ares’ hostilities toward the Bearer does stem from the fact that the God of War cares about his children and feels like the Bearer is too much of a dangerous thing have on Olympus near the other Demigods (especially his children).

Yeah.

For all the faults he may have, the care that Hades had for the Bearer was evident in a number of ways. Not having so many children in general probably made it even easier for him value the children involved in his life.

6 Likes

I don’t wanna be a that ‘guy’ BUT…I love being that guy. No one has said anything about the whole “Relationship” in like a 100 post or so because people just don’t care about those two anymore.
Is like someone is trying be the Fire nation, always bringing up stuff from the past and making a commotion.

But who is going to play as Hades and Zeus?

Weird, the stress parameter isn’t shown anymore, yet it is still shown in the ‘review personality’ section, I wonder why the author hides it?

How I imagine it feels to be the bearer right now

images (23)

1 Like

Probably is not going to be part of the game anymore.

@Black_Knight

You know, that picture just really makes me want to hear the opening of Avatar: the last airbender narrated by the Skyrim guard’s voice.:laughing:

@Nightgazer

Not sure about why it is hidden, but @Rohie did mention that being part of a love triangle will put up the stress of a Bearer whose just being indecisive about their feelings rather than being intentionally being promiscuous, so the stress stat likely still exists.

Maybe she wants the effects of the stress levels to be a surprise to the players?

3 Likes

Hades:… Benedict Cumberbatch I think he could pull off a fair hades, if not you could go the Tom Hiddleston route.
Zeus: hmm, Mark Addy… or Sean Connery

1 Like

Glad to know I am not the only one who is willing to give Zeus a chance. I like your theory that he might actually be freaked out by someone looking up to him. @rose-court

1 Like

@lokidemon007

Honestly, all the Gods have something to freak out about with the Bearer’s presence, but it would certainly be funny to see @rose-court’s theory come true and watch Zeus visibly squirm due to a Bearer’s actions.

But something tells me that’s it going to be a Bearer that’s very…human that going to make most of the Twelve uneasy. @Rohie had stated that she not only wanted to tell a story that explores the aspects of love and destiny, but also one about humanity and the lack of it. It feels easy to imagine that one particular group of characters that would have a good amount of disconnection with their humanity side would be most of the Greek Gods themselves (in varying degrees). So imagine them having to interact with a Bearer whose power rivals (or even surpasses) their own yet who also harbors has a stronger connection with their humanity, being something akin to a reflection that shows the Gods their lack of humanity. Really curious to see if that kind of Bearer will make some in the Twelve perturbed for various reasons.

Also want to know why the heck Hestia (a neutral Goddess who is known for keeping out of the whole drama often in Olympus) smirks at the Bearer when they lock their eyes on her. She’s probably even harder to predict than Aphrodite.

9 Likes

Perhaps Hestia is the traitor?

1 Like

Will we ever meet hercules?

1 Like

@lokidemon007

I’m not so sure about that personally; it kind of goes against how she’s often like in the Greek myths. She was one of the Virgin Goddess who had very little interest in flaunting her status as a Goddess like most of the others in Olympus and was perfectly content with her hearth and staying away from all the drama (in some stories, she even gave up her seat to Dionysus since she had no particular attachment to it).

Of course, we know next to nothing about any of the Twelve outside the ones in the Trinity and Athena (and we don’t even know much about them either) and have no idea how @Rohie intends on writing the other Gods, so we can’t really rule out that chance.

@Black_Knight

It was stated that we will meet Hercules at some point in the story.

1 Like

Got bored so I doodled the head of Evander as a kid. :laughing:

4 Likes

I had just started to try it out yesterday … i am not sure whether it was already mention but the opening chapter where our main character was hunt by the hunters , i feel it may not be a good idea when we were given so many “choices” to choose when the main character and his/her partner(s) were capture by the Huntress … and all of these choices lead to the death of our partner, thus far i had tried 2 different choices and they lead to the same outcome, and it may be a bit “disturb” when we need to restart all the way to choose another choice, only to realise we can’t save our partner … and given all those choices , perhaps some readers may actually try them all only to realise their choices won’t matter in the end… this may cause certain upset to the readers ?

and i did feel a bit weird when my main character run away and left my girl friend to die ? there wasn’t even a choice if my character stay and surrender ? Well… if it was meant for my character to escape while my girl friend die, hopefully there can be a bit of re-write to make it less “depressing”… for a guy to run away and let his girl friend die is just too much for me, and the guy was supposed to be a “hero” with power? personally i feel that, this scene had define my character as a coward and a “fake” hero in future, no matter what my character do in future … there is always the taunt from others that my character is just a “fake” or 'hypocritical" person who let his girl friend die while he ran away :frowning: