Olympus Has Changed.

Olympus has changed.

The balance of power has shifted.

Zeus still reigns as king, yes, but now no more than a figurehead.

Gone are the days of mortals quaking in fear at every thunderstorm, every drought, every flood. They have grown beyond that, evolved. They have figured ways around his wrath; levees, crops that grow in the desert, iron and steel and cables.

Zeus is no more than a figurehead on Olympus.

Gone are the days of his council, of Demeter and Poseidon and Hera.

The crops are managed by the mortals now, the seas pose little threat when they can see Poseidon’s wrath coming, plot course around it, or dive below the waves. Hera’s base is crumbling- what she protected, her narrow idea of marriage, is changing and broadening to include so much more. Aphrodite is inching in on her power, love taking place where obligation once stood.

Instead, Olympus is ruled by a parliament.

In a world that runs on fossil fuels and crude oils mined from beneath the earth, Hades’ power grows. His kingdom expands with every life lost in pursuit of his materials. The mortals are learning, their eyes are opening at the futility of this effort. They are beginning to turn to other methods- to Apollo and Zephyros and Persephone, but there will always be death. Hades wins either way.

The machines that guzzle the fuel? They belong to Hephaestus. The machines that take lives? They are his realm as well. Anything with a gear, and engine, a circuit board, or a blade belongs to the God of Fire. His crooked throne grows ever higher.

The old ways of thinking are dying. Those in power who have wielded it over the oppressed are falling from their perches, called to justice by the women they wronged. Peoples of all genders are coming out of the woodwork, less and less afraid to be who they are everyday. The social norms that separate the mortals based on a binary are crumbling. Athena waits, and smiles. Her time has come once more.

But above all, one God’s power has risen exponentially. Roads cross-cross the world like the scars on a whipped man’s back. Currency flows like water, more and more essential by the day. Hephaestus’ machines and Hades’ fuels only further his power. Places of commerce spring up like weeds among enclaves of mortals- they will travel miles to go to one market and miles to another with nary a thought. The internet connects them all- relating messages, parcels, commerce, gambling… all his realm.

Zeus may be king of Olympus, but Hermes holds the power.

The establishment of heaven has fallen. The Patriarch is powerless.

The Outcast, the Disabled, the Feminist, and the Clever Criminal have risen up and seized the throne, if not in name, then in deed.

It won’t be long before the mortals do the same.