In light of his recent difficulties, my brother will retreat from community participation for some time. Those that rely on him for whatever reason may come to me to have their circumstances addressed; regardless of my own wishes on the matter, I will uphold Apollo's honor and name.

In particular, Asclepius and I will be caring for Rufus ShinRa and Mikaela Banes in their convalescence. In case you are unaware, Asclepius is my nephew and god of healing. They will be well cared for; there is no cause for concern. However, it would go easier if you, Rufus, and you, Mikaela, could inform me of your preferences.

I don't want to step on anyone's toes, so unless you fill out this form and tell me it's alright, I'll assume you don't want Artemis to know anything about or do anything to your character. If you don't fill this out and it's plot relevant that she knows something, I'll ask you on the spot, either through an OOC note or via IM. In all cases I will ask beforehand if it's alright if they are affected by her somehow, even if it's something like curing a headache.

If I ever take liberties, please tell me directly so I can be aware and hopefully alter my behavior in the future. For IC circumstances, feel free at all times to say that whatever she did didn't work, and we can handwave it as a mystery of the community.

As a goddess, she has limited power to her own realms. These are: children, women, childbirth, chastity, hunting, archery, nature, dance. She grants petitions at times but is largely a solitary goddess. Feel free to contact her for whatever reason, either through the stickied contact post in her journal or by asking me directly to set up a thread.

That said, have at it!

<B>Player Contact:</B> Do you mind being contacted? How do you prefer it be done? <B>Character:</B> <B>Ping:</B> By which I mean, does this character fall within her realm at all? Virginal, a hunter, mother, etc. <B>Info Artemis May Know:</B> <B>Info She Can't Know:</B> <B>Anything Else:</B> Special permissions, things that she can't under any circumstances do, and so on.

Player nickname: Vivi
Player LJ: vivider
Way to contact you:
Email: running.blind.ok@gmail.com
AIM: garlicbroth
Other: You know where I am. B|
Are you at least 15?: Y.
Current Characters: Minato and Zuko.

Character: Artemis
Fandom: Greek Mythology
Character Notes:
History: Daughter of Leto and Zeus, Artemis was born on the isle of Delos, the older of the twins. In some stories, she is said to have turned and helped the midwife with the birth of Apollo, thus cementing from an early age her association with womanhood and childbirth. As a child, she asked Zeus for the assurance that she'd always be allowed to remain a virgin, and unwed - in the time of Ancient Greece, that was an assurance of independence. Needless to say, Zeus granted it, and from early on she was athletic and solitary.

There are various stories of both her wrath and favor. Capable of being friend to mortals and doing them a kind turn (see the myths of Arethousa, Orion and Hippolytos) as well as at times being forgiving (the pleas of Iphigeneia and subsequent merciful response), she is nonetheless infamous for her wrath. The most famous of examples is found in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The hunter Aktaion spied on her while she was bathing, and in punishment she set the stags and his own hounds upon him; he was rent to shreds. When Niobe boasted that she was superior in motherhood to Leto herself, Artemis and Apollon both slew Niobe's children; and when Artemis' companion Kallisto, tricked by Zeus, forswore her oath of chastity, Artemis turned her into a bear.

According to Homer, she fought on the side of the Trojans in the war, along with her brother and their mother. She once scolded him for refusing to fight Poseidon, and subsequently stood up to Hera in battle herself. Hera, however, promptly struck Artemis, knocking the bow and arrows from her shoulders, and Artemis fled, weeping. Nonetheless she is described as possessing beauty to rival Aphrodite, and when she and Apollon come to Syria, they kill the aged with painless arrows.

Personality: Homer's works carry a few telling hints of her personality, first of which is her scolding of Apollo for refusing to fight Poseidon. Refusing to fight the terrifying god of the ocean is hardly incomprehensible, yet she doesn't show any mercy for even her twin brother. This says to me that she's very steadfast and rigid in her interpretation of what should be done. This is also supported by the case of Kallisto, when Zeus seduced her through trickery but Artemis still insisted on punishing her for breaking her oath. And again when Actaeon saw her bathing naked and she had not one iota of mercy, instead turning him into a stag to be torn apart by his own hunting dogs.

On the other hand, there's also evidence of a more compassionate side. Iphigeneia, Hippolytos, Arethusa and Ovid's version of Orion are the prime examples I've seen. When Iphigeneia was offered up by her father in sacrifice to pacify Artemis's rage, Artemis heard her cries for mercy and instead took the life of a red doe in her place. In the case of Hippolytos, he was killed through the machinations of Aphrodite, and Artemis petitioned Asklepios to return him to life. Once he was resurrected, she kept him safe in one of her shrines.

Something similar happened with Orion: he was slain for boasting, and Artemis had her mother Leto set him as a constellation in the sky (in some versions, she herself did so). Arethusa, chased by an unwelcome man's intentions, was changed into a spring so that she could forever evade him. Therefore, if she sees an action as unjust, she can be compelled to mercy. This fits quite well with the many pleas to her from women in pain, as Penelope did several times in the Odyssey.

Lastly, and perhaps most tellingly, is when she fled from Hera in tears in the Illiad. Shamed by her defeat despite her bold words, Artemis shows her nature as not only a proudly chaste woman but as a vulnerable, unattached girl. Though she relies on no one to do her work for her, nevertheless she isn't invulnerable, and I interpret her rage at the many actions against her disciples as both anger at the trespass and genuine caring for their well-being.

Other: If she's accepted, she'll remember her previous time at DDD and any characters that she interacted with, despite possible discrepancies in her portrayal.

Additional Links: I'll be taking her à la Homer's Illiad and Odyssey, as outlined here and more generally explored at Theoi, along with various other minor Homeric sources and Ovid's Metamorphoses. My PB for her would be Rachel Weisz.

First Person: It's been some time since you've seen me here. If any of you remain that I was acquainted with before, make yourself known and I shall greet you in accordance.

If you do not know me from before, I am Artemis of Delos, huntress and sister to the god Apollon. You may greet me here if you wish, but I warn you: disrespect will not be tolerated. I advise you to learn this well enough that I shall not have to teach it to you.

[locked to Apollo]
Brother, I apologize sincerely for my prolonged absence. I will explain, but let it be in person.

When can we meet? Your warmth is much missed.

Third Person: "Bulbs for the spring," she explained, distracted. Artemis relinquished his hand and knelt to pry off her shoes. "Daffodils and the like. Mostly vegetables. Green beans, potatoes. Lettuce. I am trying strawberries this year as well. Sometimes they take."

She stood up, leaving her boots discarded on the ground, and pushed her feet into the cold grass, disrupting the soft earth around her toes. She smiled, pleased as always to be outdoors in the dark, in a place far removed from the bustle of civilization.

"The asters and goldenrod are blooming now," she observed, gazing at them. Other deities might artificially enhance the beauty of what was around them, but Artemis was averse to that. She believed in the innate beauty of what was, and let her garden flourish as it wished or didn't. Never would she seek to inhibit willful growth of what she tended. The weeds were plucked without compassion, but not without grace. That was the way of it.

The goddess turned to face her twin, smiling. He knew her ways. They didn't hold hands again, but they were close in the moonlight.

[Continued from here.]

Artemis was nothing if not patient, and never one to pry unnecessarily. Here, it was necessary; so she took her time, and walked away with Will, glancing at him as they went. Slowly, her blank mask fell, and soft concern shaped her expression.

"Will you return to my home with me?" she asked, an honest inquiry. She had done enough presuming. "I believe we can both get there from here. I would drive you to your hotel later, if you wished."

Contact the mun here with questions, concerns, constructive criticism, anything!

You can also reach Artemis here if you like. She's gotten with the modern times and has e-mail as a natural consequence of having a livejournal. Leave messages to her inbox below.