| Ch 7: Greek Mythology |
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| Greek Mythology |
| The New Age · The Greek Pantheon · New Spells · New Magic Items |
| Greek Gods |
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Gaea · Uranus · Cronus · Rhea · Zeus · Hera · Aphrodite · Ares · Artemis · Athena · Demeter · Dionysus · Hephaestus · Hermes · Apollo · Poseidon · Hades · Hecate · Titans · Furies |
| Greek Heroes |
| Heracles · Theseus · Odysseus |
| Greek Monsters |
| Cyclopes · Hecatoncheire · Cerberus · Gigantes |
Titans (greater and lesser gods)[]
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The Titans, sometimes referred to as "the elder gods" were the deities who replaced the primordial gods Gaea and Uranus as rulers of the cosmos.
The first Titans were the children of Gaea and Uranus. Cronus and Rhea, the king and queen of the first Titans, are discussed individually under separate entries. While Cronus sat in the divine throne, he and Rhea produced the Olympian gods. Cronus had been warned that his children might overthrow him, so he swallowed each of his children as they were born. However, Rhea managed to trick Cronus into swallowing a rock instead of her sixth child, Zeus.
After growing to manhood in exile, Zeus returned and tricked Cronus into vomiting up his Olympian siblings. There followed a great war between the Titans and the Olympian gods, eventually resulting in the defeat of the Titans. With the exception of Rhea, the Titans born directly to Gaea and Uranus (Cronus, Oceanus, Tethys, Hyperion, Mnemosyne, Themis, Iapetus, Coeus, Crius, Phebe, and Thea) were locked in Tartarus. They were all greater gods to some extent, and too dangerous for the Olympians to forgive, so they remain locked there to this day.
The children of the original Titans, however, were only lesser gods and not as dangerous as their forebears. Therefore, the Olympians were able to forego binding them in Tartarus, and assigned different fates to them. The most important of these Titans include: Atlas, who led the Titans in their struggle against the Olympians, and was condemned to eternally bear the earth and heavens upon his shoulders. Prometheus, the wise Titan who created man and allied with the Olympians in the war, but who later offended Zeus and was chained to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains, where an eagle feeds on his liver to this day. Epimetheus, the foolish Titan who allowed his wife, Pandora, to unleash all the evils on mankind.
There were, of course, many other children born to the original Titans, and who are (very) rarely encountered wandering about Greece, but they are too numerous to list here.
Generally speaking, Titans which might be encountered in Greece appear to be huge men and women (twenty feet or more in height). They have all the powers of lesser gods, and usually embody one aspect of humanity, such as strength for Atlas, wisdom for Prometheus, foolishness for Epimetheus, etc. They will always have at least one special power connected with this aspect, and the Attribute score most closely associated with it will either be very low (1-3) or high (23-25).
Role-playing Notes: The personalities and goals of Lesser Titans will be as varied as those of humans, but they will have one thing in common: they either bear the Olympian gods tremendous respect or tremendous fear. Under no circumstances will they tolerate open disrespect to the Olympian gods. Those that favor the Olympian gods will see it as blasphemous, and those who do not will fear a trick or test of some kind. Generally speaking, Titans will be unconcerned with matters such as wealth or power in the human realm, but they may very well be searching for enough to eat, an adventure worthy of them, or be consumed by love.
Statistics: AL any; WAL any; AoC special; SY as appropriate.
Lesser Titan[]
(fighter, wizard, thief, bard, priest, etc., at level 20)
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Special Att/Def: As appropriate to the nature of the titan and the aspect it embodies. As a rule, all titans can only be hit by magical weapons.
Titans do not have the ability to use avatars, so the statistics above are those of the Titan itself. Titans who are wizards, priests, and other magic users will always be able to draw their spells from at least two schools or four spheres. They will always resemble a huge human being. Almost always they are of extreme beauty, but on rare occasions titans can be hideously ugly.
Duties of the Priesthood[]
Fearing retribution from the Olympian gods, the Titans do not make a habit of recruiting worshipers. However, if someone independently begins to worship a Titan, chances are that he or she will be flattered and will accept the worship— providing the sect grows no larger than a dozen people or so.
Requirements: AB standard; AL as appropriate; WP as appropriate; AR as appropriate; SP as appropriate; PW none, but at tenth level, Titans usually grant their worshipers the privilege of calling upon them for help once; this privilege is renewed each time the priest goes up an experience level; TU as appropriate.
Sage Advice (Dragon Issue #202)[]
These are unofficial suggestions for using the optional spheres of priest spells from the Tome of Magic with the deities of the Greek pantheon in Legends & Lore:
- Titans: Major: None; Minor: One of the following, as appropriate: Thought, Time, or Wards!