User Profile

The God:
Hephaestus, the god of fire, especially the blacksmith's fire, was the patron of all craftsmen, principally those working with metals. He was worshiped predominantly in Athens, but also in other manufacturing centres. He was the god of volcanos. Later, the fire within them represented the smith's furnace. Hephaestus was associated with Mount Etna, which is on the island of Sicily. Known as the lame god, Hephaestus was born weak and crippled. Displeased by the sight of her son, Hera threw Hephaestus from Mount Olympus, and he fell for nine days and nine nights, and he landed on the island of Lemnos. It was on Lemnos where he built his palace and his forges under a volcano.

To gain revenge for his rejection by Hera, Hephaestus fashioned a magic throne, which was presented to her on Mount Olympus. When Hera sat on the throne, it entrapped her, making her a prisoner. The gods on Mount Olympus pleaded with Hephaestus to return to their heavenly domain, as to release Hera, but he refused. Dionysus gave the smith god wine, and when Hephaestus was intoxicated, Dionysus took him back to Mount Olympus slumped over the back of a mule. This scene was a favourite in Greek art. Hephaestus released Hera after being given the beautiful Aphrodite as his bride. Dionysus was rewarded by being made one of the Olympian Pantheon.

Hephaestus is known as the son of Hera and Zeus, although Zeus had nothing to do with the conception. Hephaestus was parthenogenetic, meaning he was conceived without male fertilisation. Hera was jealous of Zeus after he had an affair with Metis, from which the goddess of prudence was pregnant with Athena. However, Gaia had warned Zeus that Metis would bear a daughter, whose son would overthrow him. To prevent this, Zeus swallowed Metis, so he could carry the child through to the birth himself, although Zeus could not give birth naturally. For retribution Hera produced (parthenogeny) Hephaestus, and legend says, that Hephaestus split the head of Zeus with an axe, from which Athena appeared fully armed.

One particular legend says that Hephaestus wished to marry Athena, who was also a patron of smiths, but she refused.

Aphrodite, in some versions, was the wife of Hephaestus, and he was suspicious that Aphrodite had been committing adultery. To catch her being unfaithful he fashioned an extraordinary chain-link net, so fine and strong no one could escape from it. Then one day he surprised Aphrodite and the war god Ares as they lay together in bed. He threw his magic net over them and hauled them before the Olympian gods and exhibited them as they were, naked and wrapped in each others arms. Hephaestus asked the assembled gods for just retribution, but they did the total opposite. The gods roared with laughter at the sight of the naked lovers, after which they allowed the couple to go free. According to Homer's Iliad Hephaestus had a wife called Aglaea, who was one of the Charites (Graces).

Being a great craftsman Hephaestus manufactured wonderful articles from various materials, primarily from metal. With help from the Cyclopes, who were his workmen and assistants, he fashioned the thunderbolts for Zeus and his sceptre. He made weapons and armour for the other gods and heroes. For Athena, he made her shield or aegis and for the god of love, Eros, he made the arrows. The wonderful chariot which the sun god Helios rode across the sky was made by Hephaestus and in some versions it was a golden cup or goblet. He also fashioned the invincible armour of Achilles. Hephaestus helped to create the first woman, with the assistance of other gods, after Zeus had ordered that there be a new kind of human. Zeus plotted against Prometheus because he and his race of mortals had only included one gender, which was male, and so Hephaestus formed the first woman from clay. Her name was Pandora (all gifts) and from a supernatural jar, she released the evils of the world on mankind.

[found on pantheon.org]

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The "Man":
Harry, as he is known now, is a mechanic, probably the best one in the city. He's a fix-it man, from cars to washing machines to CAT scan machines to computers. If it's broken...he can fix it. Usually, he gets work by referrel, but he does have a little shop in one of the seedier parts of the city (though where it is seems to not necessarily remain the same at all times) where he'll deal with walk-ins and the occasional (more occasional than is strictly good for business) charity case. He's a kindly man, the sort who digs through his pockets for a good five minutes to donate towards the Salvation Army during Christmas, and almost anyone who's met him finds him to be the warm, quiet sort one tends not to notice until one really needs such a sort.

He walks with a cane at all time, one leg lame from what he's always said was an old war injury, though he'll never actually say what war it was from.

He lives alone in his apartment, and more often than not spends his free time at home, tinkering with who knows what. He doesn't date often, though there are marks from a wedding ring long worn on one finger, and he's not the most social sort in general, choosing his words carefully and not all that often. He does, however, volunteer in the Big Brother, Big Sister program offered locally, and most of the children in the surrounding areas think of him fondly.

It's well known that he's a warm and caring ear for troubles and that his door is always open. He's not especially good at cooking, but he can fix up a sandwich that can't be beat and he'll listen to just about anyone if they need him to.

Physical Description:
Harry is a tall man, over six and a half feet except that his lame leg usually has him leaning over till he's just a little above six feet. He has coal black hair, thick eyebrows, clear grey eyes, and a face that's almost perpetaully found in a warm little smile. He wears practical, high-quality clothing, but during the winter months, he utterly lives in one particular leather coat. He's almost never found without his cane, a piece of art in and of itself, and he also keeps a little notebook and pencil in his back pocket that he'll occasionally make notes in, the contents of which no one has ever seen.

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The character of Harry Flint, the reality of the game divinsanity, and all other parts of the character that are not based upon the myth are non-functional in milliways_bar. The journal is used for both, but the realities are seperate.

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Hephaestos is from Greek myth, and is the property of someone or other that isn't me. He appears here solely for the purpose of role-playing in milliways_bar and divinsanity, from which no profit whatsoever is being made.

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