Description
In the Grecian underworld, looking from Erebus to Tartarus, a deeper level of Hades.
Despina has inherited the beauty of her mother, Persephone.
Large eyes of a sky blue color
Ivory skin with high blushing cheeks,
Full and defined lips like pink roses.
Hair the color of straw with a slight wave to it.
(Lighter at the bottom than in the picture)
Her scent is the honey-like smell of Asphodel flowers,
those that grow on the plains of the Grecian underworld.
Personality
Although a Godess Despina is Gullible and ingenuous to the point of it being comical.
Despina is an immortal like all Gods, even lesser ones as she,
So she will not age past youth or die
despite this she is still rather young,
only age twenty which is coincidently
the age that she will always appear to be.
She's spent most of her life in Elysium Fields
chatting up the souls of heroes and demigods,
picking ghostly wildflowers, or making lovely music for the dead,
Despina is really quite nymph-like and whimsical.
The young Immortal is virtuous and compassionate
having spent most of her time in the highest plain of the Greco-Roman afterlife,
she's only encountered the best types of people,
and this makes her a little naive when it comes to denizens of the real world.
She has only been exploring the world of the living for a short time
and knows very little about the ways of human beings and other humanoids.
Around humans, especially in Wing City, she is docile and even skittish,
not accustom to the company of corporeal mortals.
Being the biological daughter of Apollo and Persephone she is a godess,albeit a lesser known Godess with little power.
She is generally considered the Godess of Music and Melodies in Elysium,
and Mistress of the Singing Voice outside of her home in the underworld.
She does have some supernatural abilities, as she may sing or play her Lyre
to dying mortals and bring them back to health when they are on their deathbeds
(Only if their soul is bound for the netherworld and not some other form of the afterlife.), but this tends to frustrate her father.
She is also able to boat souls from the Styx river and into the world of the dead if they have not paid their coin to Charon the ferryman,
thus saving them from a life of aimless wandering on the shore of the spectral river, but alas, she is also forbidden by Hades to do this.
Voice - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SLx9kXhwSo
Equipment
Despina often seen with a basket of flowers, or her Lyre.
Lyre -
History
Despinda is the daughter wrought from the Greek Goddess Persephone’s infidelity with The God Apollo.
She is Princess of The Underworld, Non-Biological Daughter of The God of Death
and half-sister to Melinoe (Daughter of Hades and Persephone, Mistress of ghosts)
Despite being a child not his own,
She was raised by Hades and he is for all intents and purposes her father,
as Hades being the God of death is for the most part infertile
(Divine intervention being at work in the birth of his other children.) .
As a young girl she lived mainly with demi gods in Elysium,
where her adoptive father hoped someday she would stay permanently,
as an musician or artist for the dead souls in paradise,
Not wanting her to leave and live on Mt Olympus with the other deitys
Because of this, she was taught by The Three Graces (also known as charities)
and one of The Muses who taught her to sing and play the Lyre.
Having been schooled in the arts of language, music, and dance,
She most excelled in playing instruments and Song (being taught by the muse Aoide)
With an enchanting lyrical voice of the soprano range,
that fluttered through Elysium, Prettier than a nightingales call,
the souls and God who presided over Elysium secondary to her adoptive father Hades,
Took to calling her the godesses of music as she had nothing to formally preside over at that time.
However, before long, she was considered even at Mt Olympus to be the Deity who held sway over the human singing voice and melodies,
Her talent did not come out of the blue or completely from training with the Muse Aoide as her biological father Apollo,
in addition to being God of Light and The Sun, also presides over Musical arts, and healing,
Living in the realm of the dead all her life, she doesn't actually know that her true father is not Hades,
And this is part of the reason he does not wish her to journey to Mt Olympus, As she is also
a well kept secret from The Sun God.
So begins...
Despina swung open the door with a beaming smile and Twirled with jovial grace into the bar, her loose Grecian Tunic-like gown fluttering around her slender legs as she did so.
Long strips of thin leather were wrapped about her ankles, stopping only a few inches below her knees and being connected to her sandals which were reminiscent of shoes that might have been worn in ancient Rome or Greece. She skipped up to a barstool, with a grin on her radiantly happy face; she appeared to be fervently excited about something.
The young lady looked absolutely astounded and amazed when she saw the touchscreen menus and began to hover over them and occasionally, with a timid air, she would reach out a touch one albeit only for a moment.
Despina also seemed dumbfounded by the electric lighting and would simply stare at it with her large ice blue eyes, every so often. With an eagerly curious look she would, on occasion, glance at Pelagia who seemed like she might have been a demon of some sort, how interesting! She’d certainly never met one of those before.
Despina ‘s pale cheeks turned to roses and she looked down at the counter before her, at the sound of words, it seemed that the conversation of modern and tangible beings made her a bit shy, as she was from a world that recreated antiquity in death.
Sniffing the air of Gambits, Despina would find smells she was not accustom to, namely the scent of alcohol that was stronger than Red Wine, now this was a surprise! The smell almost burned her nose, it was almost like the spiced perfume that the Goddess Hera wore, if it were to be strengthened about twenty times. What a funny place this was!
The technologically naïve young ladies brow furrowed when she touched the menu again and its screen flashed to “Order Submitted” She wondered what she had just procured but figured she had enough Drachmae to pay for it, Despina was glad she had studied many modern languages, as if not, she would not have understood he writing on the menu as English was certainly not her native tongue.
One moment later, a shot of clear vodka arrived; The girl thought it must have been water.
“What A lovely little cup…” She mused looking at the shot glass.
Despina was a little thirsty and glad to have the drink, as the air was so much drier in this plane of existence, though she did not yet miss Elysium, There were way to many peculiar things in this realm, it was all so fascinating to her.
One of her dainty hands reached out to gently grasp the shot glass, and Despina proceeded to raise it to her smiling lips, not noticing that it smelled of hairspray and rubbing alcohol, having gotten used to the scent of Gambits quickly.
Upon tasting the clear liquid, a few things happened, first her cheery countenance morphed into a grimace of utter distaste, secondly the tiny sip she had taken promptly dripped from her mouth that was agape with horror, and last the glass slipped from her ivory colored fingers and shattered on the floor, wonderful.
With this the young woman uttered with audible confusion “Eugh! …Oh! Opps! Sygnómi…” She’d said the words sorry in her own Grecian tongue; one could surmise she was more than a bit rattled, not having spoken in English.
Despina collected herself and ordered a glass of water from the bar, drinking half the glass in one large gulp, attempting to get the leftover taste of vodka from her mouth.
“I’ll pay for that…” She said gesturing to the broken glass that sat on the ground and reaching down to the belt that secured the tunic draped about her and took a little silky pouch from it filled with coins that looked like they belonged in a museum, Despina wasn’t sure how much would be expected, so she simply put a gold coin on the counter.
After this embarrassing performance she naturally fled, her cheeks brandished the color of dull rubies, surely no one would want to speak or interact with her after such behavior, perhaps she’d try Gambits some other time or later in the evening when this crowd was gone, it had all been so enchanting at first…Oh well.
With that that thought the otherworldly girl slipped out the back entrance of the only bar in town that she knew of.
The handle on the door to Gambit’s bar would jostle about for a bit as someone on the outside tried to get the hang of the knob. Finally after about a minute, it was opened and in burst a young woman who looked like she’d stepped from the pages of The Iliad or some other work of antiquity, brining with her the honey-like scent of Asphodel flower and Lilies which were woven into her long pale blonde hair.
She twirled inwards with a lithe step that was reminiscent of a dance. Despite it being her second time in the bar, she still gazed up at the electric lighting with some vague amazement in her starry eyes, seemingly at the same time; the girl appeared to glance about furtively at the patrons of Gambit’s bar, and she was trying her best to appear nonchalant, very nearly as if she was trying to look like she was a regular at the bar.
With her entrance she brought the sounds of a Tunic-like Grecian dress that was draped about her willowy figure, making sweeping noises as she moved, and the jingling of a few golden and silver bangles that decorated both of her ivory wrists. She was carrying a 12 string Lyre that looked like it should have been in a museum somewhere in Greece, and strumming it quite tunefully while she glided over to the bar’s counter and sat down on the side of it, observing the denizens of Wing City with great curiosity and excitement.
Despina continued tranquilly, swinging her strappy, leather, sandal clad feet idly to and fro, while gazing about the bar and doing rich finger work on her Lyre, it might have been an idealistic scene if she had not been perched on the dingy bars counter, one which people were probably trying to set drinks and such on.
While gazing about the bar in wonder for about the third time, Despina heard squawking somewhere in the bar, it was coming from a man’s mouth, how peculiar!
“Excuse me, I believe there is a bird in your mouth…?” She inquired at Xim, tilting her head to the side slightly and ceasing the strumming and plucking of her instrument.
Despina giggled lightly, it was almost as if a few tiny silver wind chimes were ringing out in clear air “I can see a bird though, he will…Every so often, pop out of one of your orifices, perhaps you’re dying!” She was still beaming after saying this, what good news she must have been giving him, Mortals wanted to die, right? How else were they to get to the beautiful place where souls dwelled? The world of the living was so terribly peculiar and mixed up.
She was still grinning and spoke in a pleasant tone, even after she had witnessed an animal burst from his body “Oh there he goes!” She laughed as it ripped itself from the man’s stomach, having seen some things of this nature happen when Demi-gods attempted magic. “You shouldn’t keep those things locked up, they’ll never sing you know, just squawk and complain…” At this she trailed off a bit dreamily.
She broke from her little reverie to see another male looking at her, but he wasn’t human, and quite familiar. This was only the young Goddess’s second time visiting the mortal realm and she’d already seen someone who she recognized, what an odd coincidence, Despina mused inwardly. Upon being adressed she brightened considerably “Oh, Yes I’m Persephone and Hade’s daughter; I think you visited Elysium once or twice!” Despina did not look like a child of the God Of Death at all, though she did resemble her mother, this was obviously due to the fact that Hades was more of a surrogate, her true parentage being of a sunnier disposition and living on Mt. Olympus, but of course she knew nothing of this.
Despina arched an eyebrow, had he really ordered Ambrosia in a place where he could taste the traditional fare of humans? But, maybe, since he was part mortal he didn't get much of the food of Olympus, although this still struck Despina as being a little unadventurous, she, for one, was planning on finding out exactly what this 'Iced cream' dish she'd heard so much about was and where exactly one could procure it!
"Oh, I am simply curious to see what the mortal plain is like, and I wondered…If living humans were like dead ones, and you know…They're a bit more tangible, louder, and less pale from what i've seen so far, isn't that something?" She carried on in a dreamy manner and continued to grin in an almost childlike fashion.
Her radiant and yet snow colored cheeks turned to roses when the Demigod mentioned her father, who didn't actually know she'd left Elysium Fields "Oh..He you know…It's…Alright." She stammered a bit and took this as a cue to turn back to Xim.
When he spoke her face changed from a cheery state of calm to that of surprise "You're dead! Oh…My! Then we must get you to the Styx river, do you have your Drachmae coin?! Why has no one come to collect you, oh dear, poor, lost soul?…My father shan't like this at all…" She really felt for Xim at that moment, wondering why he'd been forgotten, not even realizing that there were many forms of the afterlife and quite a few ways one could come back as an undead creature.
Despina let out a "Heh.." with a shaking voice and nervous air, she really did not want to be caught sneaking out and into another realm for goodness sakes! Her dad would not like that at all, and it really wasn't a good time for anyone when the God of Death was angered.
"Really? What do you mean, guards? " Despina wasn't exactly aware of anyone watching her movements, she sort of just…Frolicked, if she wasn't singing and playing her Lyre for the souls of dead demigods who'd been given the privilege to hear her. Then again her guardians were never truly visible to her, being only shadows that she might happen upon occasionally, however they look a bit more corporeal to Demi-Gods and humans, even to the point of being rather frightening.
The goddess tilted her head again, ever so slightly, as she looked at Xim with bewilderment "You…Are…A….Ferryman? But we only have one…Wait.." She thought about the rest of what the reaper had said "There is…Another place?" Despina had in the past, wondered why the Greco-Roman Underworld had never simply burst from an overcrowding of souls, perhaps they were outsourcing…? The young deity was too confused to pay any attention to his inquiry, but would have certainly asked him to stay.
Despina was just about as uninformed as one could get, she had been barred by her father from venturing even to Mt. Olympus, presumably to keep her from being discovered by her biological father Apollo, though of course she had no idea of this and figured it was just too far a journey from The Netherworld. So, she knew little of warriors and guards, perhaps only having a semblance of an suspicion that she was being watched over at times.
She was hurt when he spoke of her father in such a way, why would he force anyone into anything? This was how ignorant she was concerning her family history, she figured her mother, Persephone had just fallen in love with her father and married him, wasn't that how all humans and gods got together? She'd once heard something about her mom being tricked into the union but that was just a nasty rumor, right? Her father was not a bad person. "Force them…? He wouldn't do something, thats just absurd!" Despina had a tentative look about her, was he joking?
Despina then turned her lovely face to Xim, though she simply shook her head after a time, this was all a bit much for her second day outside of Elysium. "Oh…My home has three zones…Though i'm only allowed in the highest plain, Elysium." She said this in a vague tone of bemusement, still pondering what the Demigod had said about Hades.
Despina 's sparkling blue eyes widened a bit at the Demigods abruptness "See you around then…Gavin was it--" He was gone before she could fully finish her farewell.
The goddess almost resembled a doe caught in the headlights, why had he said such things of her dear father? Despina would put it out of her mind for now, she collected her thoughts and smoothed her flowing Grecian gown.
She stared at Xim with even more curiosity as his eye twitched, was that normal for dead humans, she'd certainly never seen a dead Demigod or the soul of a blessed human or Hero do such a funny thing? "We have spoken only rarely, as he is not one of the souls or visitors that comes often listen me perform in the Temple of Elysium fields…Oh, and to answer your other query thats where I am from."
Despina giggled softly at his play on words "You sound like my sister Goddess Melinoe, she handles ghosts and lost souls, always saying things like that." Despina didn't know much of anything about sadness or suffering, save for when she'd heard the sad stories of the souls that lived in Elysium about how they had died.
"Do you…Like shadowzones?"
Despina 's cheerful face fell and she crossed her arms in a childish manner, indicating something he'd said had displeased her "Must everyone say such dreadful things of my father…" She let out an exasperated sigh and put her chin in her hands, slumping over and looking quite perturbed.
"W..Whose osiris? Should I know him…? I've met most of the gods who live on Olympus…They always come to visit my mother…"
Despina furrowed her brow for a moment and then relaxed her countenance, still, she wasn’t quite sure how to reconcile there being yet another underworld, the Greco-Roman nether realm was all she had ever known, despite that fact she had wondered why it’s population stayed somewhat level or why when it grew overcrowded souls seemed to disappear from Asphodel and Tartarus (Elysium fields being a permanent home for the spirits of the most honored humans and demigods).
Despina put a cream colored hand on the side of her chin in thought and stayed silent for quite some time before finally speaking. “…Do humans revere those Gods just as much as they do in regards to my kind…?”
Despina looked awe stricken and simply stood there staring a moment and then shook her head as if to gather her thought “My…That is…I..” Despina trailed off, not being able to think on that astounding revelation as she’d just notice a human being addressed by Xim. How peculiar, that they seemed to be acquainted as the woman seemed to want nothing at all to do with him! Perhaps she was simply a dying mortal he was to collect, this made Despina brighten a little, she still thought that humans simply detested life and were waiting to die, as that’s what it looked like, the way they lived and besides, the mortal world was so flawed in comparison to the misty realm of spirits.
“Are you to die? You must be so exited! ….But excuse me reaper,” And with this she turned to Xim “ can you explain to me now, why is it that she goes with you and not down the Styx into Aspohdel?...What makes a human go to one or the other afterlife?”
“Really? But…You get all fuzzy and spectral…How could you not know…?” Despina was once again, perplexed. Notwithstanding the fact that she still didn’t understand humans or why they’d fear death, she did pity the human woman and show this with an apologetic look as she plucked one of the White Lily’s from her hair that was woven in with a few smaller Asphodel flowers that smelled ever so sweetly.
When the goddess touched the bloom its pure color almost seemed to glow and she offered it to Elizabeth “This is from another form of the afterlife, good luck in yours.” She spoke lightly, like the fluttering of a small bird, and wore a pleasant smile.
“Oh…Well that’s not a very pleasant realm…It doesn’t even have flowers…? What about pretty fruit trees? Even the plain of Asphodel has flowers and pomegranate trees.”
She was referencing the middle plain of hades where normal humans who had done no great evils but still no exceptional acts of heroism ended up. Her home, Elysium was a veritable Garden of Eden but The middle plain did have its vegetation’s especially compared to the lowest level, dark and cold Tartarus but Despina had never even glimpsed that pit of wretched souls.
She winced a bit as the dark door opened, this was nothing like the Grecian method of spiritual transport.
The hazy sun shone lightly on the plains of Elysium, covered slightly by a few misty clouds, so it would not be blindingly bright and yet still warm the souls and visitors who inhabited the blessed realm. Pleasant breezes that held the fresh scent of the Ocean would on occasion, pass freely by to cool the residents of the paradise plain, and make the many green blades of grass and multi-colored blooms bend low with its travels.
Among this idealistic and heavenly place there were a few buildings, one being a large palace that floated in the sky on the border between Erebus/Asphodel and The Elysian Fields, though its windows only faced in the direction of Elysium, on the Eden-like grounds of the highest level of the Netherworld there was a smattering of small temples were Souls would lounge and pursue ideal diversions, or spend their evenings. Another notable structure was an amphitheater made of stone, carved from one of the many little mountains that filled the blissful lands, There were many grass covered seats risen out of stone, and a small stage in the middle, this was where Despina stood, on that delightful evening in the Greco-Roman Underworld. In the seats surrounding her, there were intangible spirits of heroes, Demigods, and benevolent humans.
The winsome Princess was performing for the crowd, Doing slow and rich finger work on her Lyre to accompany the beautiful voice she had lifted to sing. Despina’s song flowed from her lips steadily and sweetly, it would have been heard all the way into Asphodel and maybe even the pit of Tartarus if Hades had not had a barrier that kept all pleasant sounds from it. The young ladies voice was a graceful, bright, classical soprano with a lyrical style. Plucking each string on her lyre while she enchanted the crowd with her singing, it looked as if her fingers were dancing across the instrument. It seemed as if the song had just begun as some souls were still meandering over to sit amongst the group watc
It seemed as if the song had just begun as some souls were still meandering over to sit amongst the group who had been watching the goddess with rapture. Despina still did not seem aware of the dark and spectral figures that hovered near her even while she performed, although those sitting in the open air theater did not seem to see Despina's menacing protectors either.
RPG
