Purphoros

Purphoros is the god of the forge, the restless earth, and fire. He rules the raw creative force that infuses sapient minds. Purphoros is also the god of artisans, obsession, and the cycle of creation and destruction.

As a forge radiates heat in the area around it, Purphoros’s influence provides inspiration to mortals. He makes exquisitely crafted objects almost constantly, sometimes absentmindedly working while he holds conversations with the other gods, only to destroy the finished product and begin again. Impulsive and mercurial, Purphoros is prone to bouts of either joyous productivity or frustrated anger. He often feels constrained by the limits of imagination, yearning to realize ideas that seem just out of reach.

Purphoros’s preferred form is that of a muscular man whose coal-hued skin is mostly covered in mutable organic bronze. He might also appear in the form of a fiery phoenix or a bull made of cooling lava, and for that reason, both of those creatures are associated with him. When angered, he might appear as an enormous mass of lava, a blazing fire, or a volcanic eruption. Mortals who see Purphoros in one of those forms seldom live to tell about it.