THE CLERICS OF ATHENA

I will now give a description of one deity in greater detail. Specifically, Athena. As she is one of the primary forces of good and law, and one of the most powerful goddesses on Orlantia, she makes an excellent choice.

All clerics of Athena must have a minimum of 14 in wisdom and 12 in intelligence.
All Athena's clerics must become proficient in SPEAR by 7th level or not gain additional experience until they are. They may forget their proficiency in one weapon in order to replace it with proficiency in SPEAR. They must still take the time to learn SPEAR if they choose this option. Though not required, it is suggested that each of her clerics gain their first weapon proficiency in LONG SWORD or other weapon of choice and their second in spear.
Athena's major spheres of influence are: ALL, ANIMAL, ASTRAL, CHARM, COMBAT, CREATION, DIVINATION, GUARDIAN, HEALING, NECROMANTIC, PROTECTION, SUMMONING, SUN, and WEATHER.
Athena's minor spheres of influence are: ELEMENTAL, and PLANT.

(As it turns out I found much later that, unlike my book of Deities and Demi Gods, the later editions of similar books actually did go out of their way to finally define which spheres of control were associated with which deities. Looking over a few examples I came to the conclusion they were awful, so I decided to continue in my earlier fashion. Thus, most major deities have access to all spheres with but a few exceptions. The official way had so many restrictions on spheres of control that it greatly weakened the character class of the cleric, and that was in the opposite direction I wanted to go. Before the sphere rule, the clerics had access to all spheres and this was not powerful enough, in my opinion. I then included seven special spells for each deity, a special power or two, and a few other quirks. This made the cleric much more enjoyable to play, like the druid was more enjoyable and different, so too, now, was every cleric a unique experience in my world. By seriously curtailing the deities with very limited numbers of spheres, the official AD&D system went in the opposite direction, and I would have none of it; so there).

Athena's clerics are aggressive in their attempts to spread her worship. They are contemptuous of all "evil" clerics and generally dislike all non-Greek "chaotic" clerics. They tolerate Greek Pantheon Chaotic Clerics unless they are also Evil. They will not associate with any evil clerics except for Lawful Evil clerics during a lawful war, and even then, only with special permission.

Athena's clerics openly hate the clerics of Ares, and although they won't attack them on sight, they will give the clerics of Ares every opportunity to attack them first so they may retaliate and dispatch the blood lusted clerics of Ares in righteous self defense. This, perhaps questionably unethical behavior, is a small price to pay for the elimination of an evil cleric of Ares. And in due consideration of world logistics, probably the wisest course of action. After all, any cleric of Ares stupid enough and blood lusted enough to attempt to openly kill a cleric of Athena wouldn't think twice about murdering anybody else who got in their way. It's far better to take care of it now, before many innocent people are killed.

Here is a list of the seven special spells available to the clerics of Athena.

ANTI FEAR If cast upon oneself this will make the cleric of Athena immune to magical fear up to one day/level. If cast upon a non-cleric of Athena, the duration is only 1 hour / level. This spell may also be used to remove the preexisting effects of magical fear for up to 1 person / level. They each must be touched. Each round, every person standing next to the cleric may be touched. If the cleric must move, this touching will take more than one round. In any event, the cleric must touch all such individuals within N rounds where N is their current level.
SPIRITUAL SWORD This spell is similar to the Spiritual Hammer spell in the PHB. The differences are: a). It does long sword damage, and b). The material component is a miniature silver long sword that was previously dipped in lawful good holy water, OR a real long sword. These components, either way, cost about 15 GP and are expended.
ATHENIAN PRAYER Similar to the regular Prayer in the PHB. Exceptions are: a). The duration is 1 turn / level b). The area of effect is 100 yards for friendly creatures, but only 100 feet for hostile unfriendly creatures. c). Or, the normal area of effect is used, but friendly creatures get a +2 bonus and unfriendly ones get a -1 penalty.
IMPROVED LIE DETECTION This spell is similar to the Detect Lie spell in the PHB. Exceptions are: a). The duration is one hour / level. b). This spell will reveal deliberate evasions as well as punch through Undetectable Lie spells.
GREATER COMMUNE This is similar to the Commune spell in the PHB. Exceptions are: a). 2 questions / level may be asked. b). The DM gives A little more leeway. This reflects greater wisdom in both question choice and understanding of the answers.
ATHENIAN HEAL This is similar to Heal in the PHB. Exceptions are: a). Two individuals may be healed. b). OR, The cleric must distribute their own remaining hit points to any number of creatures in their sight and in any combination. Upon reaching 0 HPs, if and only if the cleric is holding the hand of a lawful good individual, the cleric will be healed as per regular heal spell. Failure to hold such a hand will result in the collapse of the cleric who will then be in a stable condition at 0 hit points.
ATHENIAN SUCCOR This is similar to Succor in the PHB. The only exception is one person / level of the cleric may be brought to safety. They must each be touching the holder of the item when it is broken. Also, this spell definitely will bring such a group from the ethereal or astral plane to the cleric's temple on the PMP.

SPECIAL ATHENIAN ABILITY

Once / week, while praying in their home temple, or while praying in the High Temple in Alodar, also called The Parthenon, a cleric of Athena may ask Athena's hierarchy which of two proposed courses of action would, in the hierarchy's opinion, be the wisest course of action to take.

This ability helps disseminate Athena's Wisdom to the masses. The question asked needn't be of personal concern for the cleric, but may simply be a question asked of the cleric by any individual. Naturally, the course of action indicated would most certainly be the one in Athena's best interest. Furthermore, Athena is so wise if such a question were asked by a person who didn't care for Athena, and such a person were intending to do just the opposite of what was suggested, Athena would know this and give the opposite answer in order to get what she really wanted.

Athena is the goddess of wisdom and crafts. Particularly war craft, but also weaving, basket making, tailoring, metal smiting, etc., etc. Any craft or industry typically found within a city may be influenced by Athena, for she is the goddess of cities. She particularly encourages many of the little things that promote city life and ease the burdens of the everyday struggle to survive. Of course, most such things manifest themselves as craft items.

Athenian clerics may have one secondary skill for free if it involves the manufacture of a craft item.

Athena is a combat goddess. Her field clerics are adventurers and generals. They know what's what on a battlefield, and they highly prize combat skills and tactics as opposed to brute strength and blood lust. All Athenian clerics play chess as part of their training. Her city clerics are more tranquil and reflective in comparison to her field clerics. They exhume wisdom and careful thought, and they promote city life.

Athenian clerics may having gaming (the secondary skill for free), to reflect their skill with chess or other more strategic games. The DM may or may not let them have gaming in general for free.

Naturally, Athena's field clerics may take up the duties of her city clerics, but they obviously prefer fieldwork. Her city clerics, on the other hand, have a much harder time going into the field. But they will if Athena wishes it and they'll do it without complaint. Most field clerics will eventually retire from fieldwork and probably end up as the high priest or priestess of his or her own temple. But this usually only happens when old age takes its toll and fieldwork becomes too difficult. Otherwise, if not interested or ill suited to run a temple, they will probably simply retire and live in a major temple. There are twenty temples of Athena spread throughout the city of Alodar alone, including The Parthenon, her largest temple on Orlantia.

Athena's worshipers must be LG, NNLG, NGLG, LNLG, or fighters who value brains over brawn. Athena's clerics must be LG. All her followers expect her to be the LG ideal that will be their guiding example. They are usually involved in the crafts of artisans and all are mindful and appreciative of the need for armed forces in a hostile world. It is these beliefs which have helped shape Athena on Orlantia rather than the other way around. This is a consequence of Divine Magic.

On other worlds in the chain where Athena is worshiped there are some noticeable differences. For example, the female clerics of Athena needn't be virgins on Orlantia, but they must be on some other worlds. In fact, on some of these other worlds, losing their virginity through a consenting sexual encounter will strip them of their cleric hood. Other worlds have Athena acting more like Ares on the battlefield, but differently in the cities. On Orlantia she has considerable differences on the battlefield, being the consummate general.

THE HORSES OF POSEIDON

On Orlantia, all Greek clerics must ask permission from the clerics of Poseidon if they wish to ride horses. They need only ask once. When such permission is given, it is assumed that particular cleric has this permission for the rest of their lives unless another cleric of Poseidon takes that right away. Then, they would have to obtain permission again. This is because Poseidon created the horse, and its use without his permission would be an insult. This rule isn't applicable to non-Greek clerics simply because the "insult" isn't there as the acknowledgment of the creation of the horse isn't there. But for those who believe Poseidon did create the horse, it would be insulting not to pay homage to him in some small way.

I mention this bit about the horses because it is a fact Athena's clerics are the only "Greek" exceptions to this rule. All clerics of Athena permanently have permission to ride horses and this can't be taken away by a cleric of Poseidon. The reason for this is historical. As it turns out, Athena made the horse much more useful to man by inventing the bridle. Since it was now more useful, many men could use it and give thanks to Poseidon for the horse. This tended to keep Poseidon in the minds of the land dwelling people, as opposed to just the sea faring people, more often than before. As thanks, Poseidon himself granted special favor to all clerics of Athena so they could always ride his horses.

THE STORIES OF ARACHNE

Finally, as an example of the differences between versions of Athena I offer the story of Arachne. Actually, two stories.

In both stories a beautiful young peasant girl named Arachne was a fantastic weaver of beautiful cloth. Many admired her work and thought it worthy of the gods. Soon, Arachne commented her weaving was indeed as beautiful as Athena's weaving - perhaps even better. (You can see where this is going). Now, it is a dangerous thing to compare yourself to the gods in that way. Athena - a Greek goddess and by no means perfect - lost her temper when she found out what Arachne had said. Instead of ignoring the comment as something quite beneath her, Athena's avatar went down to Orlantia and challenged Arachne to a contest. Arachne agreed.

They both completed splendid works in the same amount of time, but this is where the two stories diverge.

In one story, the story accepted as true by most people on Orlantia, all the village people marveled at both works, but in the end, some say simply because they feared the goddess, they picked Athena as the winner. Arachne insisted her work was still better. The villagers taunted her and shunned her because she wouldn't gracefully accept defeat. Over the next few weeks Arachne insisted anybody who wished to be her friend must admit her work was superior to Athena's. Not wanting to anger the goddess, most villagers cut Arachne out of their lives. It finally got so bad that even her boyfriend left her. Eventually, Arachne was all alone without a friend in the world. In despair, she hung herself.

As it so happened Athena found out what Arachne had done. The goddess' heart sank when she learned of it. If only she had properly ignored the little girl, Arachne would still be alive and sharing her beautiful weaving with the world. Athena traveled to Orlantia and found Arachne's body. Now since the girl had taken her own life Athena couldn't give it back. She instead turned her into the first spider so she, as well as all her children, could continue to weave and share their lovely work with the rest of the world. Some say it wasn't the first spider, but just a spider, though they also feel spider webs have become dedicedly prettier since that time, and ever since then if you saw a beautiful spider web you could be sure it was made by one of Arachne's descendants.

The other story goes something like this. Both Athena and Arachne finished weaving at the same time. It turned out, apparently by Athena's own judgment, that Arachne had tied her in beauty and skill. Well! Athena was a goddess after all. How dare a mere mortal human be equally as good as she? Athena destroyed Arachne's work and proceeded to beat her and humiliate her in front of everyone.

Arachne was so angry and humiliated at the experience that she went out and hung herself. This is why the Athenian people of Orlantia don't believe this version and generally consider it to be a lie spread by the followers of Ares. They simply don't find Arachne's actions credible. In any event, Athena, supposedly feeling remorse for what she had caused Arachne to do, used her magic to turn Arachne into a spider. The rest is similar to the first story.

Now which of these stories is really true? I guess it depends on the planet. It may be the case that both are true or both are false; and it may be they were all made up by the clerics of Athena or Ares as a tool for teaching young children valuable lessons.

Athena, as the goddess of crafts, weavers, and artisans, has lent her support over the centuries to various occupations on Orlantia. One of the most important of these is alchemy, and to a lesser extent, the apothecaries.

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