A Dramatis Personae for a Game

Andrew Carr -- our Hero

African pantheons -- can be seen battling on the ethereal plane. Shango, thunder god with hammer, can wearily speak to visitors for a short while before he must return to battle. Most of the fertility deities have been slain.

Amaterasu -- she hates Andy for murdering her brother. She is shut up in her heavenly cave and won't come out. Login might be able to trick her out. Won't willingly help Andy.

Anguish (Angurboda) and Fenris' kids [Hate (Hati), Skull (Skoll), and Little Garm (Managarm)] -- she's keeping them safe in Jarnid/Ironwood (New York). They eat the dead.

Athena -- (late 20s) hot shot model around town. Andy owes her Twelve Tasks.

Bast -- the same, of course.

Benny (Benito) Paolozzi -- (mid 50s) the quintessential Italian restaurant owner: short, dark, cheery, fat. Highly placed informant for the Mob, gets paid in protection and drugs.

BI -- (Bridging Industries) Very big company. Oil, defense, entertainment, advertising, you name it. See Frederick Lord, Thaddeus Mardi, Marilyn, or Mr. Smith.

Blind Hod, Mary, and Pete -- street people. Pete: always grumpy, always has a bottle. Mary: protective of the other two, and of Andy sometimes. Stoutish, older, sometimes vague. Blind Hod: plays recorder, usually quietly cheerful. Families disowned his parents so long ago he doesn't remember them. Very older.

Chiron -- the last centaur. He is immortal via Athena's power, and serves her. He is also a master musician, healer, warrior, and lover, and Athena's teacher in many things. His goals are not necessarily hers: her impassioned hatred of Andy worries him.

Destiny -- Very hot heavy metal rock band. Jackie Goldmane (Deathbite): lead singer, five other females.

Dr. Charles Peterson -- Fatima's (hopefully) fiancee, working on an archaeological dig in Egypt. Smokes a pipe, an Englishman wannabe. The dig is a town called Chut Husan, and shows strong evidence of a matrilineal culture and goddess worship. The Egyptian government is starting to get cold feet about it. The Upanishads are giving him a grant.

Draconia Fatima Zuleika -- the last lamia. She is a "library" to the gods of Egypt; she has an eidetic memory. She is also a summonable creature, and rather gun-shy of people as a result. She has a crush on Andy. She has several forms: the snake woman is her native form and she can also (so far) become a lioness woman, a scorpion woman, a human woman. She must take life energy from someone to live.

Dragon, the -- the Japanese deity. Stuck in animism, it felt Andy enter Chinatown. A peculiar set of circumstances allowed it to possess Rio. Unless it kills Rio, it is stuck with him as a body to possess. Athena will try to convince it that it is a good idea to "husband" Rio as a resource so that it can stay on this plane.

Father Sea -- can't be summoned, only seen. Covered with trash.

Frederick Lord -- Golden boy, gorgeous and knows it. Running BI for Mr. Smith with his daughter, Marilyn, and Thaddeus Mardi.

Helen (Hel) -- Logan's daughter, once beautiful, now pale and skeletal. She hid in the Greek islands, as Helen of Troy. Balder/Apollo found her, Mr. Smith, her foster grandfather, cursed her and threw her down to Hel. Very neutral, has wearily given up.

Iormungandr -- huge, implacable, mute. Also slime-covered from pollution. His venom comes from toxic waste. He gives off noxious vapors.

Jackie Goldmane (Deathbite) -- lead singer of Destiny. Weapons master. Scary, intense, gorgeous, knows it. She and the other band members are stalking the city and giving the kiss of death to anyone they can catch; the "worthy" they take, the rest are left for Fenris' children.

JFK -- dead. So is the blind puppet responsible for his death. Login still feels responsible.

Johnny (Giancarlo) Della Noche -- (24) has Mob affiliations. Runs an electronics goods store, and runs drugs on the side. Is considering Andy as an unwitting carrier. Feels strongly about family, so will protect sister, even if he wants to strangle her.

Login -- who do you think?

Marilyn -- Frederick Lord's daughter. VP of BI. Very classy: sleek, sensual, expensive, blond. Expensive gold necklace. Two golden cats: very precious to her. Rolf is her chauffeur.

Miki Chou (Chou Kuan-tai) -- (17) Dragon gang member. Dad (Caucasian) abandoned him and mom when he was born. Good-looking kid, kind of shy, mostly raised by Mr. Chou. Trying to fit in, but not happy with the state of his life currently: no girlfriend, maybe no college, just the vegetable stand, killing people and rumbling with the gangs. Thinks Andy's "sister" is cute.

Mr. Chou -- older (50s?) gentle man, oriental, leads the Tai Chi in the early mornings. Approves of Andy. Owns and runs with family a vegetable store close to the Pack/Dragon border. Andy sometimes helps with heavy work, and Mr. Chou sometimes lets him sleep in the back of the store. One granddaughter (mid 30s), first son-in-law (Caucasian) abandoned family, second son-in-law deceased, three great-grandchildren, Kuan-tai (Miki, 17), Meizhu (Suzie, 7) and Toyu (4-5).

Mr. Gates -- important puppet master in the CIA. Dedicated fanatic, "ends justifies the means" type. Very piercing gaze, like he sees all your shameful secrets.

Mr. Smith -- highly trusted presidential advisor. Never seen out during the day. One-eyed. Scarily intense, always seems to be in shadow. Fanatic to his cause: His world, love it or leave it. Blind partner in BI. Very expensive tastes.

Mr. Wang and Mr. Yamamoto -- two gentlemen who work out at the Tai Chi exercises. Yamamoto makes Andy queasy; he's Japanese.

Mrs. Rosinelli -- (mid 50s), knows the Della Noche family well. Owns and runs an Italian deli (Rosinelli's, of course!) close to the Pack/Dragon border. Husband Paulo deceased. Generally approves of Andy - he is a bum, after all.

Rioku (Rio) of Chinatown -- the "hero" Athena gave Andy's belt to. She intends to bond the Dragon with him to create a "super" hero. Her hope is that if enough Japanese deities are pulled out of animism, Amaterasu will come out of her heavenly cave. He wishes to unite all the gangs of Chinatown under his rule. Where he wants to go with them I don't yet know.

Sekhmet -- in Bosnia

Shakti and Prut Upanishad -- (Sexual Love and Spiritual Love) Login's mistresses. He gives them golden apples so they stay young. Very much out of place on the street. Very good at what they do.

Sylvis -- A faun. Very shy, very young, somewhat timid.

Thaddeus Mardi -- BI's lawyer. No right hand. Quiet, intense type, doesn't talk unless he means it, won't break his word. Expensive Italian suits, metal appendage for hand.

Toni (Antonia) Della Noche -- (16) is a gang member of the Pack. Real chip on her shoulder. Has an older brother Johnny (Giancarlo, 24), and mother (late 40s).

Toyu -- (4-5) shy, serious, good at keeping secrets, not going to grow up like his dad. Thinks Great-grandfather is the smartest man in the world. Likes Andy.

Africa

There weren't enough worshippers of any one god, so the different individual families never got very strong. They're desperately fighting each other, trying to survive. "As above, so below."

China

Christian/Jewish/Islamic

The Desert King, the god of Judaism, was slain by his son, the White Christ, who was trying to create a scholarly, friendly kind of religion. When organization hit Christianity and things got bloody, the White Christ tried to start a new religion (Islam) with the same goals, but a different, more firm control on proselytizing. The new and old religions clashed with spectacularly bloody results. He was either killed or left in a huff, believing no-one was paying attention to him. Rather naive fellow.

Egyptian

Deities get old and can die in Egypt. Ra (sun) died of old age. Isis (moon) finally got tired of pulling Osiris (god of dead) back together when Set (evil) periodically killed him, so Osiris is permanently gone. Isis left for the peace of her Moon. Horus (falcon-head, solar), Osiris' and Isis' undead son, slew his uncle Set, and then Ptah (deformed dwarf with huge head and twisted legs, artisanry) and Thoth (ibis-head, messenger) took him to the stars, where he could kill to his heart's content. Ptah was fleeing his "nasty drunk" wife, Sekhmet (sphynx), who's still around. At last check she was in Bosnia. Anubis (jackal-head, conductor of souls) retired to the silent Underworld, and isn't talking to anyone alive. Bast's (pleasure, cat-head) whereabouts are a mystery, but then so is Bast.

Greek

Zeus was an arrogant asshole. Athena (in revenge for her mom's death), Demeter (in revenge for her rape), and Hera (in revenge for his unfaithfulness) persuaded Dionysus (in revenge for his mom's death) to get Zeus drunk, then Athena killed Zeus, and Typhon (Hera's "immaculate conception" son) ate Dionysus. Poseidon, a real berserker, claimed all the earth and the underworld when Zeus was murdered. Hades defied him; they fought in the underworld. It was a Pyrrhic victory for Poseidon, as Ares killed him for the rights to his domain. Hephaestus killed his wife, Aphrodite, in a jealous rage over her infidelities with Ares, who killed Hephaestus in revenge. Artemis challenged Ares to a duel, so he killed her too. When he found out how Zeus died, he killed Demeter, Hera, and Typhon. Athena prudently had him assassinated by someone from another Pantheon (WHO?!). Apollo, a visitor from another Pantheon (Balder the Beautiful), left for his home Pantheon rather than have Ares decide he should die too. He went to Earth and tried to make it a better place (JFK) but died anyways, although there is some question as to his murderer's identity.

Indian

Indra (nature and warriors) tended to get drunk a lot on soma, the prepared herb which grants eternal youth. Siva (destruction) berated him for this, so Indra and he battled (WWI). Both died. Durga (demon-slayer), Siva's wife, flew into a rage and manifested as Kali-Ma (end of the world), swearing none should live since her husband had died. When Kali-Ma destroyed all the soma, the gods started aging at an accelerated rate. But rather than let Kali-Ma continue in her plan to destroy the world, Vishnu slew her (WWII). The gods continue their cycle by being reborn as mortals. The Buddha is also being reborn, although in his case it is voluntary, as a siddhartha.

Japanese

Susanoo (warrior) was slain by Thor in Vietnam. Amaterasu (sun) cursed the slayer of her brother; shut herself up in her heavenly cave and won't come out; thus winter is getting worse. The myriad (800-ish) deities who gathered information on Earth for Amaterasu have remained on Earth, but gone back to their more animist forms.

Norse

Thor (protector of mankind) has a girdle which doubles the strength of his limbs and iron gloves to hold Mjolnir with.

Frey (Mr. Frederick Lord) is running Bridging Industries with Tyr (Mr. Thaddeus Mardi) as his lawyer. Freyja (Marilyn "Monroe" Lord) is Frey's "daughter". Rolf is her chauffeur: he's an elf. Heimdall (Mr. Gates) is an important puppet master in the CIA. Balder (JFK) has been slain. Odin (Mr. Smith) is a blind partner in Bridging Industries, and a presidential advisor. Blind Hod is looking for Thor amongst the street people. Loki (Login) is trying to wake Thor up, because he's worried that the Fimbulwinter's begun and Odin's going to destroy the world to fulfill prophecy. The Valkyr are a rock band called Destiny.

Oceanic

Mother Fire is within the Earth. Father Sea is slowly choking to death.

Roman

The ultimate swipers of mythologies; they worshipped story versions of other people's gods.