Pallas Athena in Inzeladun

Pallas Athena
Goddess of Wisdom, Battle Strategy and Psionics

(The Athena known to Inzeladun is somewhat different then the depictions of the goddess on other worlds.)

Athena is usually depicted in full battle gear, wearing a great helmet, and carrying the aegis and a gladius (Ingaran short sword). Athena's domains on Inzeladun include Wisdom (Knowledge), Battle Strategy (War), Psionics, Good, Craft and Trickery. Her sacrifices are giving a book to a library or simply the gift of knowledge to those who do not have it.

Symbols that are holy to Athena are; The owl, which represents Athena's dominion over the mind; The Aegis--Zeus' shield which has a medusa's head mounted on it, which represent Athena's dominion of the art of battle. The olive tree is the symbol of Athena's sacred city, Peswarswir.

While Athena is a goddess of goodness and justice Athena and her followers do not mind resorting to trickery (or even down right lies) when necessary to make sure that injustices are made right. It has been rumored that the motto of Athena's high priests is; "Never let your sense of morality prevent you from doing what is right." Athena recognizes that both law and chaos can be beneficial and her priests are expected to act in the best interest of good and not of either law or chaos. Thus all priest of Athena must be Neutral good in alignment.

Athena is one of the three virgin goddesses in the Ingaran pantheon (the other two being Artemis and Hestia) therefore her priest are required to remain chaste to show their commitment to the Athenian philosophy and way of life.

While Athena is primarily worshiped in Ingara (and Andarland to a lesser extent), the priest hood of Athena is making efforts to try and promote worship of their goddess in other lands, primarily as the goddess of Psionics. The Athenian priest hood has began sending out traveling priest to spread the greatness of Athena's powers and gather knowledge of the world to make their organization more powerful.

Followers of Athena believe that all Psionics are a gift from the goddess of wisdom, and that it was her gift when the gods created man. This belief is partly supported by a legend that Athena came to Tarberius Allamahiny, an ancient Ingaran king, in a dream and told him that if he built schools dedicated to teaching and the furthering of the psionic arts and let the priest hood of Athena administrate these schools Ingara would always be protected. Although it is not know to many the Athenian priest hood has been influencing reactions and working behind the scenes to help rebuild Ingara after it was destroyed by the tower. As of yet it is not know what the Priest hood intends to do about Ingara being concurred by Yam ibn Ares but it is very unlikely that they are pleased that the land they have sworn to protect is currently under the control of a general that claims to be the son of Athena's adversary.

Athenian Psionicist-Priests:
Some priests of Athena are not priest at all but rather recognized at a young age by the priesthood for their great psionic potential and have been trained their whole lives in the psionic academies in Ingara so that they might become priests of Athena themselves. These pseudo-priests believe whole heartedly that their powers are granted by Athena, therefore if they behave in a way unbecoming of a priest of Athena they must make a Will check DC 25 using only half their flatfooted will save modifier or believe that they can't use any power until they atone for their actions. After the atonement is made the pseudo-priest checks against his full wisdom check modifier to see if he believes Athena has "re-granted" his powers (if he fails he makes a check each day at +1 for each day after the atonement has been made). These psi-priest get priest skills as class skills and proficiency with the short sword because of their training in the Athenian temples and psionic academies run by Athena priests.

The Favored Class of the Priest and Psi-priests of Athena is fighter; this replaces the favored class of a characters race.

Athenian Legends and Relationship with other Ingaran Gods:

There has been a great deal of conflict between Athena and Ares since they both declare to be the god of battle, however as of this time they have agreed to divide the dominion of war. Athena is considered to be the goddess of the general and the commander, while primarily the infantry and foot solders of the Ingaran armies worship Ares. Athena's followers view battle as stage on which they can demonstrate their talents and gifts that Athena has granted them, while Ares' follower's just relish the bloody slaughter of war.

Poseidon and Athena have a long-standing but peaceful rivalry when compared to that of other gods, which stems from times ancient when the Gods divided Ingara among themselves. Poseidon wanted Peswarswir to be his holy city because it was a great port and Athena wanted it because it was well known to contain some of the greatest libraries and scholars in Ingara. So the two of them agreed that they would each give the people of Peswarswir a gift and who ever gave the greatest gift would be the patron of the great city.

Poseidon then gave Peswarswir the horse and Athena gave them to olive tree, and after much discussion the people of Peswarswir decided that the olive tree was the better gift because of all the things that could be made out of it. Poseidon was enraged and in an act of vengeance sent his avatar to seduce the High Priestess and defile the altar in Athena's temple. After finding out about this Athena struck out in a fit of rage and turned the High Priestess and her two sisters into horrible monsters with snakes for hair and whose glance would turn anyone into stone. For years conflict between the two increased until the other gods intervened and forced them to make peace. And so they agreed to give each other gifts as a sign of their newfound peace, and so Athena gave Poseidon the bridle so that his great gift of the horse could be harnessed and Poseidon gave the olive tree the ability to grow in the rocky salty shores of the sea. Years later Athena's Champion and one-day king of Ingara, Tarberius Allamahiny, hunted down and slew the first medusa and sacrificed her to Athena. This medusa's head hangs on Athena's shield and on the shields of her priests to remind their enemies of what will one day become of them.