Hermes

"Kiddo, always remembers that your dad loves you a lot."

- Hermes to a newly born Kieran

Hermes is the trickster god of messengers, travelers, merchants, athletes, and thieves of the Greco-Roman Pantheon. He is also the god of trade, roads, boundaries, border-crossings, and sports. He was revered and worshipped by the Romans under the alias of Mercury.

He first appeared in the story The Embers of Alaya, being the father of one of the protagonists - Kieran Williams.

Appearance
Hermes is a handsome young man with blond hair and orange eyes. He is also has a shorter stature compares with other Olympians, being a head shorter than most.

Personality
Unlike many other deities, Hermes is a generally reasonable and helpful figure and he has a greater understanding of mortals. He is not prone to the overt arrogance of some like Zeus and Athena, nor the character quirks like Apollon and Ares. Part of this is due to part of his duties being to help mortals rationalize divine events, giving him a greater understanding of things beyond himself. He is shown to care a great deal for his children and to be far more accepting of others - Traits that are both uncommon amongst the Greco-Roman deities.

His visits are often beneficial to both gods and demigods alike, and often help them out, even though this is usually at the request of other gods or simply personal motivations. Hermes tends to be one of the more clever and cunning of the gods, as he once tricked Argus into falling asleep and even outsmarted Apollon when he was a newly born. As he is the Psychopomp of the Greco-Roman Pantheon, he is one of the Upperworld deities to have been on good terms with the Chthonic deities. In addition, he also seemed to have unrequited feelings for Persephone.

However, Hermes can become very terrifying when crossed, especially if someone implies that he doesn’t care about his children. He also takes his divine duties very seriously, unlike his brothers Apollon and Hephaestus, who take their godly duties and responsibilities in a much lighter manner. Ass a result, he will not breach his domains, even if it is for saving his children, as not even he can defy the Fates, as attempting to do so would only make matters worse.

History
Hermes is one of the Twelve Olympians - The Twelve Strongest and Most Important Gods and Goddesses of the Greco-Roman Pantheon and is an immensely powerful god who had been active since the Age of Gods; alongside his fellow deities.

Powers & Abilities
As the son of Zeus and Maia - one of the Pleiades, Hermes is an extremely powerful god. Due to vast influence and countless domains, he draws on the worship and powers greater then most, if not all the Younger Olympians.

In the N.A.S.U Power Ranking System, Hermes is ranked as an A-Ranked Deity-Class being.

Immense Divine Power: Hermes is an immensely powerful god, being one of the most powerful deities of the Greco-Roman Pantheon. He can radiate an orange-colored aura that he can infuse with his weapons and attacks to raise their overall damage. Immense Strength: Hermes is an immensely powerful god, being regarded as one of the strongest within his generation of deities. He can lift over 500 tons of weight over his head single-handedly without any effort. He once through the house of the nymph Chelone after she refused to attend Zeus and Hera’s wedding anniversary.
 * Advanced Telekinesis: Like all other deities, he possesses the power of telekinesis - which allows him to control objects with only the forces of his mind.
 * Advanced Deus-Ergokinesis: He can manipulate his divine energy, shaping it into various constructs such as swords and spears. In Chapter XXX, while fighting Typhon, he fired countless spears of divine energy at him, destroying the majority of Brooklyn in the process.
 * Power Bestowal: He could grant various powers to individuals in the form of blessings, as long as these powers related to his domains.
 * Deification: He can turn mortals into minor gods, with their domains being parts of those within his jurisdiction.
 * Teleportation: He can teleport through a flash of gold light.
 * Astral Projection: He can astral project himself, allows him to appear in multiple places at the same time.

Immense Speed: Hermes is considered one of the fastest gods in existence, capable of running at supersonic speeds with ease. When he wears his golden sandals Talaria, he can move faster than the speed of light itself and can run to locations faster than other gods’ teleportation. In Chapter XXX, Hermes moved at a speed that allowed him to collect every single weapon from the enemies’ hands within the battlefield, as well as drew mustaches on their faces at the same time, which was less than a second.

Master Magician: Hermes is an immensely powerful magic-wielder, knowing more than 1000 different Magic Systems, and mastered over 100,000 magic techniques. Personally trained by his step-mother Hera, he is one of the few non-Titans to be able to wield Titan Magic - an archaic Magic System that was created by the Titans and carries immense destructive powers. Master Spearman: Hermes is a very skilled spearman, using the tip of his Caduceus as a spear tip to attack against his opponents. His skill with the spear is said to be quite great, as he was able to defend against the combined attacks of both Ares and Enyo.
 * Ancient Greek Alchemy:  As the non-official Greco-Roman god of alchemy, he is extremely in-depth in the arts of alchemy, especially its Ancient Greek counterpart. He can create alchemical artifacts beyond the levels of even the most skilled alchemists and had created many works that revolutionized the art.
 * Potion: He is a very skilled Potion Master, having created various types of magic potions, elixirs, and supernatural chemicals that are still widely used by the Greco-Roman Pantheon. One of his most notorious creations is the Greek Fire, which he later taught to his lover - Archimedes.

Master Swordsman: Hermes is very skilled with his divine sword Argeiphontes, and can defend against other War deities such as Ares and Athena with it. Apparently, this skill was later inherited by his son, Luke Castellan.

Master Thief: As the god of thieves, Hermes is an extremely talented thief, capable of stealing and looting everything he desired. A few hours after his birth, he was able to successfully steal Apollon’s entire heard of cattle without said god ever noticed before it was too late. Master Inventor: Hermes is an unbelievable master inventor, only be surpassed by his half-brother Hephaestus. He is the creator of the chelys lyre, the flute, the sports of racing and wrestling, and, apparently, the Internet.
 * Advanced Clauditiskinesis: He can sense the internal structure and mechanisms of any kind of lock, both physical and digital, and is always able to make it unlock. He can also instantly identify curses and traps placed on locks, and deactivate them. In Chapter XXX, he unlocked the coded file on Circe’s laptop with just a wave of his hand.

Master Athlete: As the god of sports and athletes, Hermes is an incredible athlete, to the point where he was banned from the Divine Olympics just to give other competitors a chance to win.

Advanced Communication Manipulation: As the god of communication, Hermes has divine authority and control over communication - the act of conveying intended meanings from one to another, in all shapes and forms. He can also control the type of information being conveyed, altering it to his liking and even forbidden it to be conveyed by anyone weaker than him. Keen Intellect: Hermes is a very shrewd and cunning god, as he not only successfully stole Apollon’s cattle, and later on appeased his brother’s wrath through offering him the chelys, but he also acquired numerous magical artifacts from his brother by trading him the flute. He also gifted Pandora with slyness, cunning, and deceitfulness.
 * Pseudo-Omnilingualism: He can understand, speak, and write any form of language, as long as they were created after his birth.
 * Divine Charisma: He is an extremely charismatic deity, being the patron god of the art of eloquence. He can infuse his voice with divine energy, making whoever he is talking to fall under his charms and do whatever he commanded. However, if said person is strong-will enough, they will be able to resist his control. According to him, he developed this ability after personally saw how destructive and powerful Aphrodite’s Charmspeak can be.

Oikonomíakinesis: As the god of commerce and trade, Hermes has divine authority and control over the economy. He can manipulate money, wealth, and anything related to them, such as properties and the stock market. In Chapter XXX, it was revealed that the Great Depression was entirely his fault, as he was angry that he lost to both Loki and Set several times in a row.

Psychopomp Physiology: As the Psychopomp of the Greco-Roman Pantheon, Hermes possesses all the standard powers of a Psychopomp. Prophecy: As one of the gifts he received from Apollon, Hermes can predict the future by throwing dice, which might have been how he found out about Luke’s fate.
 * Death Sense: He can sense the upcoming presence of death, and the actual act of dying. He can also perfectly sense the deceased, their cause of death, and their exact locations. In Chapter XXX, he sensed the death of Team Sigma over 10,000 miles away.
 * Soul Conduction: He can conduct the souls of the recently deceased to follow him to the D.O.A Studio, as well as making sure they correctly arrived at their designated locations in Hades.
 * Afterlife Transportation: He can teleport to any locations in Hades without any problems, and can give his blessing to whoever journey down there that will protect them from any dangers on their trip.

Invulnerability: Hermes is impervious to all mortal weapons as only supernatural weaponry is capable of affecting him. Flight: Hermes can fly, both with and without the use of his winged shoes.
 * Immunity: He is immune to most poisons and curses, and all forms of diseases due to her divinity. He is, however, susceptible to immensely powerful poisons of supernatural origins such as Hydra's Venom or Echidna's Brood.
 * Immortality: As a Pagan deity, he can live indefinitely unless he is faded. Even when his mortal form is destroyed, he can just reincarnate into another body as long as he still has enough divine power.
 * Advanced Generation: He can regenerate every single part of his body down to every single cell in mere minutes, making it nearly impossible to cause permanent harm to him.

Equipment
Caduceus: Caduceus is Hermes’ Symbol of Power, symbolizing his duties as the Psychopomp of the Greco-Roman Pantheon, as well as his numerous domains, such as trading, commerce, merchants, the roads, border-crossings, travelers, etc. It is a golden spear-like staff with two snakes entwined and a pair of wings right underneath the pointed head. It is a reforged of Apollon’s previous golden rod Kerykeion, made from a mixture of Adamantine, Imperial Gold, and Stygian Iron. The two snakes entwined on it are his two attendants - George and Martha. Argeiphontes: Argeiphontes is a sword made out of Imperial Gold and Adamantine, and was gifted to Hermes by his brother Apollon. It is an extremely sharp sword, capable of cutting through all obstacles on his paths. He later used this sword to slay the Hundred-Eyed Giant Argus and rescued the princess Io from her captives.
 * Transformation: It can change into various forms depending on Hermes’ current needs. Some of its forms are a modern phone, a high-voltage cattle prod, a laser pointer, etc.
 * Sleep Inducement: It can make people fall asleep, both instantaneously and naturally. In his myth with Argus, he used this power to make the Giant’s other 50 eyes fell asleep.
 * Awakening: It can unlock hidden powers within someone. It can also wake someone from their sleep or comatose state. In Chapter XXX, Hermes unlocked Kieran’s Sacred Gear with just a gentle tap of the staff on his forehead.
 * Dead Inducement: It can induce dead energy into monsters and mortals alike, killing them off gently and instantly. In Chapter XXX, Hermes unleashed a wave of dead energy into the Gorgon Army, killing them instantly.
 * Youth Inducement: It can grant eternal youth to other mortal beings, allowing them to stay in the prime of their life for eternity. One of the prime examples for this power is Archimedes - the famous Ancient Greek engineer and inventor, who Hermes personally gifted with eternal youth and is currently governing the Lotus Hotel in Las Vegas under his commands.

Talaria: Talaria is Hermes’ famous winged shoes. It is a pair of winged sandals made out of Imperial Gold, with each sandal has two wings, which made up a total of four wings. It allows its wielder to fly in the air and boosted his already immense speed by hundreds of times. In the Modern Age, Hermes charmed them to make them appeared as a pair of expensive-looking shoes.

Cloak of Hades: Cloak of Hades is Hermes’ special cloak that allows him to travel across the world without being detected by any supernatural beings. It appeared as a black hooded-coat with intricate designs. According to Annabeth, Harry Potter’s Cloak of Invisibility is based on the Cloak of Hades.

Trivia

 * Hermes’ appearance is based on the character of the same name from Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka.
 * Mercury, the first planet from the sun, was named after his Roman form.
 * The element Mercury is named after his Roman counterpart.
 * Hermes is the only god that can travel between the Underworld, Olympus, and the mortal world of the Greco-Roman Cosmology freely.
 * The caduceus is often confused with the Staff of Asclepius, which is a sign of healing, whilst the caduceus is not.
 * Hermes is the fastest Olympian god.
 * He is the only step-child that Hera doesn’t hate.
 * As he is the god of invention, Hermes often claims that he invented the Internet.
 * Hermes' proficiency in alchemy is connected with his other form known as Hermes Trismegistus ("Hermes Thrice-Greatest"), which is a form shared with the Egyptian god Thoth.
 * According to Hermes, he and Thoth inspired the characters, Edward and Alphonse Elric, from Full Metal Alchemist. The truths behind his claim remained unknown.
 * The word mercurial which is used to refer to something or someone erratic, volatile, or unstable, is derived from his swift flights from place to place.
 * He likes to sit on the back of the bus (the disguised Greco-Roman Sun Chariot) with Apollon.
 * The Fetiales (Roman priests whose duty was to act as guardians of public faith) refused to recognize Mercury with Hermes and ordered him to be represented with a sacred branch as the emblem of peace, instead of the caduceus. In later times, however, Mercury was completely identified with the Greek deity Hermes.
 * As Ancient Romans often associated foreign gods with their own, Hermes (then was known as Mercury) was considered to be also worshipped as Lugh (Celtic), Arvenus (Celtic), Artio (Celtic), Cissonius (Celtic), Moccus (Celtic), Visucius (Celtic), Esibraeus (Iberian), and Odin (Norse).