Hermes

Hermes is an interloper deity of commerce, thieves, and travelers who originates from another plane of existence.

Description

Hermes' avatar form perfectly resembled his true form, that of a handsome youth.

Hermes possessed a a pair of winged sandals that allowed him to fly, an enchanted helmet that had the same effect as a ring of invisibility, and a white caduceus (winged rod with two entwined snakes). This rod was given to him by the god Apollo and it gave him control over all non-magical creatures other than humans, specifically those classified as animals and beasts. This rod would also only function for deities.

Personality

Hermes is the most clever member of the Olympian pantheon, the most carefree among them, eschews the arrogant pride typically embraced by Olympians, and has a keen sense of fairness that is legendary among the Olympians. He has his moments of vanity, but generally gentler than most Olympians.

Hermes values the daring and wit that is necessary to pull off difficult thefts, but frowns upon stealing from those who cannot afford the loss. He abhors being idle, feeling that those who cannot do anything useful ought to go out traveling and gain new experiences. He also despises tedium, but smiles at unexpected occurrences. He is also often amused by the many mortals that attempt to make their way through Olympus.

Divine Realm

Hermes lives in a hidden area within Mount Olympus, on the divine realm of Olympus. This home is a sort of gambling den, welcoming of travelers and guaranteeing them a safe night's sleep. The interior of this cavern home is perpetually shrouded in darkness to all but his worshipers and its entrance can at times lead elsewhere to unexpected places.

Activities

Hermes acts as a messenger between mortals and the members of the Olympian pantheon, a role that the Olympians depend upon him for due to his impressive speed. He also acts as an arbiter among the powers of his pantheon whenever they have disputes, being far more capable than Zeus at bringing the powers together. The Olympians appeal to him for impartial judgement.

Whenever he wants to raise hell without upsetting the Olympians, Hermes travels to Brightwater.

Worshippers

The priests of his faith typically wielded clubs or staves as weapons. They wore a tunic and a winged cap as part of their priestly vestments. They had access to spells from the all, charm, divination, healing, protection, and summoning spheres. They particularly had access to the detect lie spell. Additionally, they always moved as if they were under the effect of haste.

His priests either traveled regularly or kept themselves busy. Taking on a wide variety of professions, including serving as diplomats, judges, moneychangers, surveyors, and translators. But no matter their position in life, all his clerics were required to keep themselves physically fit and capable of running long distances.

Hermes' followers were urged to be both dependable and prompt. He was also known to punish those members of his clergy in positions of arbitration that were caught taking any form of bribe.

Temples

On the worlds that he was worshiped, wayside shrines to Hermes were far more common than temples. In the Outlands, Hermes had a temple in the city of Sigil and a large following among travelers there.

Relationships

Hermes was generally liked by most deities, even Zeus's rival Daghdha had no issues with him.

He was often visited by the halfling deity Brandobaris.[note 1] And he occasionally had conversations with Selûne.

History

Hermes was born to the Olympian god Zeus and a minor goddess by the name of Maia. On his first day of life he committed his first act of thievery, stealing a herd of cattle that his older brother Apollo was watching and hid them within a mountain cave, an act which left the sun god with a distaste for thieves for many years. While Apollo went looking for the lost cattle, Hermes fashioned a lyre for him as a gift of appeasement. He later gifted Apollo pane pipes, for which he received his signature golden caduceus.

Later in life, Hermes had a child with the Olympian goddess Aphrodite and with a dryad. From the latter pairing came the god known as Pan. He also had a child named Autolycus, who acted as one of his proxies.

At some point a group of adventurers on Toril came to the island of Achea and ascended it, bringing them into the plane of Olympus. Noticing the mortals, Hermes decided to have a bit of fun with them and disguised himself as a wizened shepherd. He approached the mortals in this shapechanged form and informed them of the fact that Zeus had a magical barrier around the realm that prohibited any mortals from leaving without his verbal consent, so they had to go and win his favor if they wished to return home. He then offered to tell them a way of earning the Thunderer's sympathy in return for two hundred silver pieces. After receiving his payment, Hermes informed the mortals that he knew of a nymph named Daphne that had caught Zeus's eye and if they could get her to agree to become one of his wives, then surely Zeus would allow them leave. He then gifted the mortals a roughly drawn map showing the location of her village, Amliador, and the location of Zeus's oracle.

Shortly afterwards, Hermes bumped into Apollo outside of the palace of Zeus. He proceeded to boast to him of his scheme to stir up controversy among the Olympians. Intrigued, the Sun God wagered a hundred golden apples on the mortals' success, which Hermes then counter wagered his best lyre that the mortals could never secure the woman's favor. The two deities then began using magic to closely observe the progress of the mortals.

The mortals' quest lead them to undertake three labors for Daphne's father, the wood elf King Hiyawat. The third of these labors took them to the chained Prometheus, who they defended from one of his vulture torturers. For their aid he informed the adventurers of the fate of Hiyawat's people, then for saving him a second night he informed them of how they were pawns in Hermes' elaborate wager with Apollo. Including the exact bets that each of them made. He then warned them that whoever lost the wager would likely hold a grudge against them.

Later on Hermes began a romance with the Faerûnian goddess Tymora, which was known to only a few on Olympus. Some claimed this was solely him trying to learn the fate of the Olympian goddess Tyche. Hermes also sent his avatars out across the cosmos, seeking the truth of demise. Eventually he would resort to sending priests through portals to Toril to uncover the truth.

Hermes

Intermediate deity

Basic Information

Titles

God of Messengers
Messenger of the Gods
The Master Thief

Pantheons

Olympian

Attributes

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Symbol

Caduceus (winged staff with two entwining serpents)

Realm

Olympian Glades of Arborea/Olympus/Mount Olympus/Hermes' Den

Portfolio

Commerce, Gambling, Travel, Thievery, Running

Favored Weapon

Quarterstaff

Following

Worshippers

Athletes
Illusionists
Merchants
Rogues
Travelers

Alignments

NG, CG, CN

Domains

Chaos (Revelry)
Luck (-)
Travel (Exploration, Trade)
Trickery (Greed, Thievery)

Favored Aspects

Animals/Plants

Foxes

Colors

Silver