Application
NOTE: This application was written for fallenpedestals, but all of the information in there is still relevant to Poseidon, even if some of the characters that were in that game aren't in this one. I've also left the Weaknesses section intact because it's pretty much a subset of the Personality section.
.the myth;
» God: Poseidon
» Reference: Theoi and Wikipedia have good summaries; the latter has quotes from the ancient poems and hymns. Also here and here. I relied heavily on The Iliad and The Odyssey to formulate his personality.
» Family: {mother & father} Cronus & Rhea ; {siblings} Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades & Zeus ; {spouse} Amphitrite. ; {children} A frackton, but notably: Triton, Rhode, Benthesicyme, Polyphemus, Arion, Despoina, maybe Theseus. (I will delve more into his lovers/offspring in the history section.)
» Played By: Justin Chambers
» Human Alias: Conway Neptune
» Human Age: 35
» God of...: "The Sea, Storms, Earthquakes and Horses"
» Flair: 1. EARTH-SHAKING When he's angry/provoked, the ground can shake a little. Just a little tremor or two; some people won't even notice it;
2. LIQUID GRASP He has some influence over small volumes of water. And by small, I mean the-water-in-your-cup small. Maybe a fountain, if he's feeling particularly emotive.
» Flair Type: 1. EARTH-SHAKING = continuous; 2. LIQUID GRASP = activated.
» Fitting in: By day... Senior Vice-President of North-American operations at the Delphine Group. This is not very subtly-named conglomerate basically owns a number of nautical-based companies (e.g. those that build boats/ships). Poseidon sits in meetings, conferences calls, and orders people around mostly. By night... Eco-terrorist. Stupid mortals fucking up his sea and eating his dolphins.
» History:
Owing to his position as a BAMF of Greek religious/mythological cults, Poseidon has an extensive history. There are many myths that he is central to (or plays a pivotal part in), and many more besides where he is just mentioned briefly. Some of the written sources of these myths - like Hesiod's Theogony - survive directly, while others we know of only in passing (e.g. the lost Titanomachy). For detailed histories, I would refer readers to Theoi or Wikipedia, but for the purpose of this application I've tried to cover the highlights/important parts that are most pertinent to the game and his character's personality.
Poseidon was one of the children of the Titans Cronus & Rhea. The Theogony notes him as being youngest after Zeus (although curiously, The Iliad has Zeus being the older - oldest, even, but I believe everyone else in the game is following Hesiod, so we shall too!). Along with his siblings (minus Zeus), Poseidon was devoured whole by his father, who feared a prophecy that he would be overthrown by one of his own. Poseidon and the others were later regurgitated, all limbs intact. (There is an alternate version of this myth where Poseidon was, like Zeus, spared the cannibal treatment but we're not following that because it isn't as fun.) Together with some other folk (including the Cyclopes) the children of Cronus waged war against the older generation of Titans, and won. It was during this war that Poseidon received the trident from the aforementioned Cyclopes; this would become his most powerful instrument and a symbol linked inextricably to him.
After the defeat of the Titans, Poseidon and his brothers cast lots to decide their kingdoms. Poseidon received the sea.
At some point, Poseidon married the sea goddess, Amphitrite. They had a few kids together, including Triton, Rhode and Benthiscyme. Poseidon had loads of other one night stands/flings, which in turn resulted in a frackton of off-spring. How many of these took place prior to his marriage to Amphitrite is up for debate. Having weighed out the sources carefully, I've concluded that the first two of following occurred prior:
Interestingly, one source I read seems to think Poseidon settled down after marrying Amphitrite (hey, it's possible! Just look at Warren Beatty!), but where's the fun in that? In any case, his 'role' - or Amphitrite's, really - in the story of Theseus indicates "settling down" didn't quite happen. But ancient vase art often show Poseidon and Amphitrite together, which suggests they showed & ruled with a united front even if the reality was different. To that end, I'd like to reckon that Poseidon might have tried to tone down his philandering ways somewhat... but not enough.
Poseidon is credited as as the creator of horses (and zebras, according to some sources; these were apparently one of his early experiments!); they comprise another symbol that he is strongly linked with (fun fact: The Iliad says that Achilles's divine horses - kids of Zephyrus, incidentally - were a wedding gift from Poseidon to Peleus). The story behind this possibly involves a competition with Athena to be the patron God of a particular Greek city (Attica, maybe, or the one that would be later called Athens, by most accounts). Poseidon's gift was either his creation of horses or salty, useless sea water. Athena's entry was... an olive tree. Pfft! But she won. Poseidon got annoyed and sent a flood their way. He contested the patronage of numerous other cities, as well, including Corinth (against Helios) and Argolis (Hera).
The Cretan King Minos prayed to Poseidon for a sign after ascending the throne. Poseidon, nice guy that he is, sent a white bull in response. But Minos didn't sacrifice this glorious bull, sign of virility and power and all that jazz. He kept it to himself! WTF, man? So Poseidon did the natural thing and cursed Minos's wife, Pasiphaë so that she lusted after the bull. Some (or one, even) situations of bestiality later, the Minotaur was born. And so Poseidon had his revenge, cackled appropriately, and went on with his business.
Now, let's talk about Troy. Laomedon - a King of Troy, and father of Priam - convinces Poseidon and Apollo to help him build some walls around the city. These two had been (temporarily) banished from Olympus by Zeus at this point, and since they had nothing else to do, and Laomedon was promising a reward... why not, right? But Laomedon, that little twerp, reneged on his promise. After all that time Apollo and Poseidon spent building the bloody thing! So Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack the stupid place. But Heracles had to go and kill it. Git.
When the Argives came a'calling to Troy, Poseidon hadn't forgotten this act of treachery by its (admittedly dead by this point) King. He sided with the Greeks, along with Hera and Athena Though when Zeus told the Gods to keep out of the fight (something about Thetis's kid being pissed off? IDK man), he obeyed, and he wasn't keen on getting involved even when Hera asked him about it. But, seeing the Greeks slaughtered by the Trojans - thanks mostly to Zeus interfering, despite telling his peers not to do so - Poseidon was moved to pity to help them out... secretly, however. But Zeus discovered this, and sent Iris to tell his brother to stop. Poseidon got annoyed - who was Zeus to tell him to back off? - but despite some tough talking, he complied. Later, when the shit hit the fan and the gods were fighting each other down on the plains, he tried to cajole Apollo into a one-on-one, but the latter backed off. [Cos' Apollo realised Poseidon would kick his butt. (Or that mortals weren't worth fighting another god over. Something)]
Poseidon did help Aeneas (who was Dardanian, mind. DARDANIAN) - he had a destiny other than being killed by Achilles & was god-fearing blah blah blah).
Mr. P also took care of the Greeks in the Trojan Horse, but was not suitably thanked with sacrifcies for it. Thanks A LOT, guys. So when Odysseus goes and blinds his kid, Polyphemus (look, that's all he has going for him! That one bloody eye!) - and moreover but rubs salt in the wound with his taunting - it's the last straw. That is NOT ON, man. So Poseidon caused some trouble for the smarmy mortal, but nothing more than he deserved. [Poseidon's roles in The Iliad and The Odyssey are nicely summarised here.]
Things got quiet after that. Mortals (especially sailors) continued to pray to Poseidon to keep them safe during their sea voyages. But humans've slowly been wrecking his waters these past few centuries, and things are not going well when Cronus plucks him from the present and chucks him straight into the middle of New York city.
» Weakness:
Like the sea he rules over, Poseidon's mood can change swing from one extreme to the next in one second flat. In particular, he's got quite a temper. He is easily provoked and quarrelsome. You could say that in some ways, he is ruled by his heart: helping out the Greeks even when the Big Man specifically said not to, raging against Odysseus after Polyphemus whined about it, etc. Poseidon's hot-headedness can especially cause problems with his brother Zeus - mostly because Zeus is the only one with the power or authority to (figuratively) slap Poseidon on the back of his head. Of course, now that he's a mortal and doesn't have powers of smite at his fingertips, this will be an issue, period.
But for all his raging and bravado, Poseidon can't walk the walk a lot of the time. In some ways this is good - he has a sense of self-preservation that manifests when things are against him... but it still makes him almost weak and submissive, to a point. At least with respect to Zeus (or peoples of authority, since there will inevitably be some bigger fish than him in this new world order) if no one else. But this doesn't mean that Poseidon will roll over whenever asked to - not at all. Poseidon is still very much formidable, and as noted, there will be some cases when his temper gets the better of him. In other situations... he is just likely to make attempts at rebelling or doing things his own way, before realising that 1) he needs to pick his battles and; 2) He is not completely invincible. But this also means that Poseidon has a propensity for saying one thing while doing something else entirely.
Being one of the Terrific Twelve (Olympians) and King of the Sea doesn't exactly wreck a person's ego - in fact, Poseidon thinks very highly of himself. (Cockiness can lead to the making of stupid decisions.)
This, in turn, is related to point #3: Poseidon can't keep it in his pants. Which is related to point #4: Poseidon is kind of a jerk, to put it lightly? He likes chasing women (and the occasional man, maybe) and cannot imagine a scenario in which they don't return the attraction. Thus the history of raping women, ack... but he just sees it as seducing. In some cases, his dalliances may have been consensual, but not so in others (see: Medusa). Overall, he does lack in respect for most women (see how he treated even his own sister, Demeter, though he's fond of her... uh, even if she isn't fond of him :P). If anything, he is at least an equal opportunity misogynist - with a few exceptions, he isn't necessarily going to be more respectful to someone because they're a goddess (as opposed to, say, a pretty looking mortal). Although I guess he's pretty fond of Athena and Hera, his divine allies in the Trojan War. He has not had to pay any severe consequences for such behaviour for a very long time - but of course, things are going to work very differently when he's a human bound by American laws. :|
Poseidon can't let things go. He has to have the last word in everything, and it has to be done to his satisfaction. Being a God and all, this can be taken to extreme proportions! I mean, those Trojans are a bunch of stupid little punks. Don't even get him started on that smart-mouthed son of Laertes. It's highly probable that you don't want to win in an argument against this guy, because he will probably do everything he can to make your life hell for as long as possible. He's just that childish. Of course, as with the temper & sex drive, this won't pan out so well when he hasn't got the leverage of being a powerful God anymore...
Daddy Issues are inevitable when you've spent your formative years in your pop's stomach. You could say the lack of a solid male role model hasn't helped him in being a model father/husband. Poseidon means well, but doesn't completely conform to the "normal" ways of doing things. Like - his idea of a great gift for one of his kid is Three Nasty Curses (as he did for Theseus). In trying to get revenge/justice for one of his kids, he took things to a very extreme level (to the point where in The Odyssey, the other Gods got together for a conference on the situation the moment he left town for a bit!) In truth, very little about this guy is 'normal'... but he isn't much worse than any of his fellow Olympians, really.
» Personality:
While some might say that Poseidon has a temper, others might just say he's passionate about things... compassionate, even. For example, in The Iliad, we see him being moved to pity by the plight of the Greeks. He even goes so far as to quietly try and help them out (as noted previously, it had to be quiet because Zeus had forbidden the Olympians from interfering). He even rescued Aeneas from the claws of Achilles (again, he argues: Daradanian, never mind that this is virtually indistinguishable from being Trojan) because Poseidon respected that he had a fate beyond being killed by Achilles, and moreover was known as a god-fearing individual who ensured the gods were worshipped as they should with generous sacrifices. Gotta reward the good ones, man. Poseidon even begged Hephaestus to cease with the humiliation of Ares & Aphrodite out of love for the latter (presumably). See? He can be a nice guy.
Poseidon took care of a lot of cities, indirectly if not as an official patron - so he's conscious of the fact that he has a responsibility to the lesser beings (after all, he answered Minos's prayer for a sign) and/or those dependant on him (including kids). He will help people out who he think are in need, or if he feels like it. And speaking of kids - if you mess with one of them, and he hears about it, things will not end well for you. Just ask Odysseus. Oh, and Trojans? Annoy the heck out of him. (Except maybe Ganymede, but he doesn't count.)
Admittedly, some of that 'goodwill' might not be so much motivated by compassion as a superiority complex (or even by rifts with the other Gods - everybody has an agenda): hey, when you're one of the Twelve Olympians - and a pretty damn important one at that, as far as he is concerned - you tend to get a bit full of yourself and think the world revolves around you and your generosity.
Poseidon is loud. When he's annoyed, he will go out of his way to make sure that everyone knows this. This can border on petulance, especially when it comes to bowing down to a higher authority. He'll cave, but not without making an attempt to rebel, first. Followed by some grumbling and moaning.
He does respect that Amphitrite is his wife & queen, but he's not very good at showing it. At all. He will, occasionally, speak to her as an equal, but not all of the time. As for romantic gestures? Uh... this is the guy who had to get someone to convince her to marry him, so. Not quite.
Though Poseidon was allocated his kingdom via lots, he is without a doubt the king of it. I mean, sea creatures are like a bunch of rock band groupies whenever he passes by their side of town with his majestic horses and whatnot, you know? He is very used to running his own palace, his own way, and having things done the way he believes is correct. Moreover, having ruled it for so long, he's inextricably linked to it - harm his sea, and he will get pissy. Very pissy. This element of nobility also comes through even when he is away from it, and Poseidon can be a respectable, formidable person when he isn't furious or being irritating. After all, even Zeus agreed that Poseidon had the authority to punish offensive mortals as he deemed fit.
In the very deepest, darkest part of his heart, he might secretly want to be like Zeus. Let's face it, they're very similar... Poseidon is just the weaker sibling, in most ways (e.g. raw power, physicality, etc). This is a source of much irritation (especially since he's technically older), and it hurts his pride a lot to have to stand down when ordered to. But he is fairly open about his respect for his brother (e.g. he listens when Zeus tells him to be more subtle in showing his displeasure towards the Phaeacians for helping Odysseus), though he might have a funny way of showing it sometimes.
Unsurprisingly, he has an affinity for horses. He has also been influenced, to a point, by the mortals who frequent the sea - in the sense that his speech patterns can echo sailor dialect (cursing, more like) or surfer slang.
» Sample Roleplay:
At some point along the line, a new world order came to rule. Guns. Nuclear power. Capitalism. The internet.
Plastic.
In the pacific ocean, there is a great big cluster of plastic spanning the size of the American continent. There is nothing that can degrade each little plastic component, but maybe the span of a thousand over years will get rid of it.
The creatures that live in the sea don't have that long. The sea will survive, even as the earth always does. But would the beauty of the peaceful blue ocean survive the onslaught?
Poseidon knows it won't. Few things frighten him, but the prospect of a dead, defeated ocean - that unnerves him in a way that's extremely discomforting, even as he looks out onto the vast, watery landscape stretched out before his eyes.
There's a problem though. Now that he's had to live for a time as a mortal, he can actually see the usefulness of plastic. It's fucking everywhere. Food packaging, stationery, electronics, fuck, it's even in clothing...
But for all its versatility - and all the ingenuity of humans - no one has apparently figured out how to get rid of the stuff.
(That's why you can't trust mortals to do anything right.)
So they bury it in the Gaia's arms, or toss it into Poseidon's sea, where it floats and chokes and pollutes. Joined by the occasional oil spill. The most recent one of which catastrophic - even in remoteness of his palace in the deepest parts of the ocean, Poseidon had felt the effects. He hadn't been able to do anything about it then. But now that he knows who to target, and has the means of retribution... well. He is not the hesitating type of guy, is he?
But the irony of his own reliance on plastic hasn't gone unnoticed. Plastic is the most promiscuous of powers. It's in his cellphone - that most useful of communicative tools for Gods made mortal - in his credit card, in the sailboat he was lounging in that very moment... even the wrapper of those annoyingly addictive Snickers bars are fucking plastic. (One of which would not be completely remiss right now, he thinks, scowling at the empty foodbox next to him.)
The old Gods are out. There are new Gods in town.