Triptolemus, Herald of Demeter
Rider
Alignment: Neutral Good.
Likes: travelling.
Dislikes: killing animals.
Image Color: white, grey and blue.
STR: B+ MGI: A+ END: B+ LCK: A AGI: C+ NP: B+
Background:
Spoiler:
Class and Personal Skills:
Riding: A++
It's the expertise to ride animals and vehicles. Thanks to Triptolemus’ Blessed Envoy skill, creatures on the level of Phantasmal Beast and Divine Beast can be used as mounts, including members of the Dragon Kind
Magic Resistance: C
It cancels spells with a chant below two verses. Cannot defend against Magecraft on the level of High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals.
Divinity: C
Even if born human, Demeter would afterwards grant divine authority to Triptolemus in accomplishing his mission. Later on, Triptolemus will be considered as a demigod with his own distinct cult from those of Demeter and Persephone inside the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Knowledge of Eleusinian Mysteries: A++
It measures the level of proficiency and initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries. As the herald of Demeter, Triptolemus was not only one of the first to be initiated, but also one of the main advocates and integral part of the rituals and the cult’s hystory.
Eleusinian Mysteries were a most importal cult in ancient Greece, directed to the worship of Demeter, goddess of agriculture and land fertility, and her daughter Persephone, consort of Hades in the realm of the dead and symbol of the rebirth of nature. As an agrarian and cthonic cult, they have their roots and archetypes in a past that his far older than the similar Orphic and Dionysiac Mysteries, even older than Greek religion itself in an embrional form (after all it’s not difficult to find similarities between the myth of Demeter-Persephone and that of Isis-Osiris), going back as far as the worship of the Great Goddess.
The goal of these mysteries was to elevate man beyond his mortal/human nature (as it were the goal of every Mysteric cult), to the rank of divinity or, more generally, to grant rewards and advantages to the initiated ones in the afterlife. In practice they would promise happyness both both here and hereafter.
Mirroring the myth of Demeter’s search for her lost daughter in the otherworld, and her successive “rebirth” to a new life in spring, such rituals were meant to symbolize wheat’s germination from the dark depths of the earth to the birth/awakening of the ear to the light of day, that is, eternal rebirth and felicity.
Although the exact nature of these Mysteries was always kept secret (no wonder they were called “mysteries”), they had a large following and expansion, succeding in impressing personalities such as Plato and Cicero.
Plato in particular stated the the ultimate purpose of the Mysteries was to lead back the initiated to the principles from where we derived, reachin a perfect enjoyment of intellectual good. When purified from the defilements of a material nature the subject could be elevated to the realities of spiritual vision.
It’s thanks to this esoteric knowledge that Triptolemus will be able to gain his own special spot amongst the Eleusinian goddesses.
In other words, Eleusinian Mysteries are a series of complex rituals that can modify and reshape both body and soul, allowing the subject who follows the rites and precepts to get back in touch with the primordial/original part of self lost many millennia ago, to renovate the natural and intrinsic connection to Akasha, gaining abilities thought to be lost (with good reason) in the dawn of times.
Blessed Envoy: A
The divine protection granted to Triptolemus by Demeter and successively by Persephone too. It increases every natural skill of Triptolemus to the highest level for the sake of fulfilling his mission. Usually Demeter would protect him, without the need for him to fend off dangers directly, but since the decay of the gods into elementals he now can (and has to) show his real skills. “Demeter, my Goddess, used to watch over me all the time, never allowing me to defend from my enemies by myself. But now it seems she has loosen her grip … looks like this time I’ll have to get serious!”
Noble Phantasms:
Πυρός ΧρύσεοςPyros Khruseos
Gift of the Goddess
(C+-rank; 1 person, anti-unit)
The bag containing the seeds of wheat given to him by Demeter, so that he would sow them throughout the world, teaching the art of agriculture to mankind.
The first techniques of cultivation managed to free the hunting and harvesting populations from the nightmare of famines. Villages would become more stable, and the nonmigratory tribes created the first true cities organized in social structures.
Barley, spelt and other species of semi-wild and less nutritious wheat were gradually replaced with a more domestic and versatile class of wheat, easy to grow and nutritious apt to sustain the development of growing socially complex communities.
Thanks to this new source of food the arts, knowledge, religions and technologies and every other aspect of the growing culture could find new spaces and chances of expression. In this regard Cicero said: “for among the many excellent and indeed divine institutions which your Athens has brought forth and contributed to human life, none, in my opinion, is better than those mysteries [the Eleusinian Mysteries]. For by their means we have been brought out of our barbarous and savage mode of life and educated and refined to a state of civilization”.
Truly Triptolemus can be considered a real benefactor of humanity ready to prolong the lives of others, sometimes at the cost of his own life.
“Who said that you have to slay monsters and kill men to do a good deed and become a hero?”
After Demeter finally found Persephone and orchestrated her daughter’s annual return from the underworld she still did not forget the kindness of Celeus’s family. She saw that the transition from summer’s abundance to winter’s scarcity was difficult for humans and was killing many of them. Therefore these aren’t simple seeds, but a true gift from the gods whose purpose is to allow mankind to prosper, a food of divine origin (the concept of a divine food consumed either by immortal gods or humans can be found in different cultures and mythologies: from the Ambrosia, the nectar served on the Olympus, the Hindu Amrita and Soma, to the biblical Manna that God sent to the jews during the exodus).
Just as common vegetables produce nutrients from sunlight and the richness of the soil, this kind of wheat is able to produce and store great amounts of Od. A fistful of grains can roughly provide the amount of Mana of a Command Spell.
Ἅρμα ΔρακόντωνHarma Drakontōn
Chariot of the Divine Envoy
(B+-rank; 30 people; anti-army; range: 30)
The winged chariot-plough led by snake-dragons given to him by Demeter, so that he’ll be able to travel the world to instruct and share the gift of agriculture with men everywhere and to teach them everything concerned with the labour of sowing.
The snakes that draw the chariot are themselves connected to the earth, since they’re the animals that are most in contact with the soil, knowledgeable in the secrets of cultivated terrain; inhabitants of high grass and fields, and thus knowledgeable in the secrets of cultivated terrain and archetypical symbols of rebirth.
The true purpose of this chariot is not that of a weapon; nevertheless when required to fight he can make an improper use and incite the dragon to attack.
“I’m here to teach agriculture, seed wheat and kick ass… and no, I’m not out of the former but I’m still going to kick ass!”
Thanks to Seika for the consultation.
What can I say, Triptolemus is the kind of hero-Servant that makes you say “Who is this guy?”, only to find out that he’s really dangerous. Also, how come Riders are always so friendly?
(I’m not too satisfied with the first NP, but whatever.)
Originally Posted by Seika
