Olympus: Now Hiring

You were dragged up to Mount Olympus to be punished for hubris. Then a god dropped dead in the middle of your trial. Congratulations on your promotion.

About a minute after you first set foot in a world, the gods notice you. Thunder on a clear day. Then Hermes zooms in out of nowhere: "Package for Olympus! ...Oh. You're the package."

Next thing you know, you're standing on the golden floor of the Hall of the Gods, in front of the entire Council of Olympus, being read a list of your crimes. "You punched eleven innocent trees. With your BARE HANDS."

Zeus raises his thunderbolt to pass sentence...

...and one of the gods chokes on their ambrosia and keels over. Dead. On the spot.

Awkward silence. Everyone slowly turns to look at you.

"...Euhm. So. Now that you're here..."

? The trial

A fully animated, cinematic cutscene: a free-moving camera, letterbox bars, RPG-style dialogue, and fourteen gods with real faces. They blink, raise one suspicious eyebrow, dart their eyes around nervously, flap their lips as they talk, sweat, cry, get anger marks and heart eyes, and go X_X when they (inevitably) die. Complete with a record scratch, a gasping crowd, crickets, a heavenly choir and the saddest trombone on Olympus.

• Every god dies differently. Zeus is struck by his own thunderbolt. Hades trips into his own pit. Hermes offers to fetch the chains and runs face-first into a pillar at the speed of sound. Apollo hits a note so high it's fatal. Aphrodite catches her reflection in Athena's shield and faints at her own beauty. Hephaestus' throne collapses under him. Dionysus has one goblet too many.
• Your charges are real. The gods read your actual stats: trees punched, blocks dug, creatures slain, times jumped.
• The dead get a memorial. A little sign and a flower in front of their throne. "Should have checked welds."
• Seen it before? Hold Shift to skip.

??? Become one of 14 gods

Whoever drops dead, you replace. Each god has 5 powers, an ultimate, 3 passives and a flaw: 84 abilities in total. You even look the part: your new crown, helmet, wreath or winged hat shows up on your character.

And you feel divine: a god's body (more health, harder hits, you're even a little taller), flight (double-tap jump; it costs a little ichor, but it's free on Olympus and in your domain), and a divine bolt whenever you swing your relic at the air. The more worshippers you have, the stronger you get: at Revered the monsters start to fear you, and an Olympian commands the sky itself.

?? Life on Olympus

A snowy peak above a sea of clouds: the Hall of the Gods with its golden floor, fourteen themed thrones, Zeus' dais, Hades' pit and a feast table of ambrosia.

• The council has a life. They gossip about each other, bicker, glance around, fidget, hiccup, and doze off on their thrones if you stand still long enough. "Zzz... *snort... Hm? What? Present!"*
• Sit on your inherited throne. It's still warm. Don't think about it. (Ichor flows three times faster while you're seated.)
• Chat with the survivors. They'd rather not talk about the incident. Poke one and they'll hold a grudge.
• Mind your manners. Cast a spell indoors and the whole council flinches: "We JUST had the floors polished."
• Leap from the Gate of Clouds to plummet back to the mortal world with a god-worthy landing.

?? Court is in session

Now you sit on the council. Every so often Hermes drops a mortal "hero" into the hall, the same way you arrived. "Special delivery!" The charges are serious: he claims he's faster than Hermes, he named his chicken Zeus, he says the Oracle is "just guessing". The gods heckle, his mum might burst in ("He's a GOOD boy!"), and a pigeon may land on his head. Then Zeus turns to you: "You're the newest member of this council. YOU decide."

[Pardon] [Smite] [Chicken] [Clean the Stables]

Turn enough heroes into chickens and the hall slowly fills with ex-heroes.

?? The Underworld

Hades' pit isn't a bin. Jump in.

• Charon's ferry: one gold nugget. "A gold nugget? In THIS economy?" Don't touch the water. (Do touch the water. Ask Achilles.)
• The queue of the dead: souls who have been waiting since the Bronze Age, and a clerk who insists you take a number. Estimated wait: 3,000 years.
• Cerberus (one dog). Three heads, three personalities, three bones. Feed them all and the gate opens.
• Sisyphus, pushing his boulder up the hill, forever. The sign says do not help. Help anyway. Something happens at the top that has never happened before...
• The bench of dead gods: the ghosts of every god who died in a trial, sulking. Talk to the one you replaced. "How's MY throne? ...Don't answer that." Bring them the thing they miss most.

?? Your own domain

Press H to visit your personal realm: a floating island themed to your god, with its own sky and atmosphere, a temple, a giant marble statue of you-know-who, resident priests, the Oracle (twenty ichor per prophecy; the vapours are included), and a pillar of light in your god's colour that leads back to Olympus. Hades gets a soul-lit river of the dead, Apollo a sunflower temple, Artemis a moonlit forest, Hephaestus a volcanic forge, Poseidon an island in an endless sea.

?? Worshippers & rituals

Craft a Shrine and place it near a village. Villagers convert into your worshippers: they pray at your shrine, cheer when you walk by ("IT'S POSEIDON!!"), leave you offerings, and raise your faith: more ichor, faster regeneration, and a better title. Climb from Acting to Minor, Rising, Revered and finally Olympian, each with its own title card and a memo from the council.

• Prayers. Your worshippers ask you for things: bless their crops, get back the hat a zombie stole, show yourself, find Gerald (Gerald is a goat), make it rain. Answer in time and word of your miracle spreads.
• Burnt offerings. Toss anything into a brazier and the council reviews it, food-critic style. ????? "It's dirt. You burned dirt. For a god. Bold move." Five stars pays well.
• Festivals. Keep a big enough congregation and they'll throw you a party at dusk: fireworks, music, cake. Don't miss it. They notice.

?? Divine drop-ins

Every so often a member of the council pops in on you out in the world. Zeus arrives by lightning, Hades rises out of the ground, Poseidon lands with a splash, Hermes shows up at the speed of sound. They stay in character, and they bring gifts: Hestia's soup (nobody on Olympus eats her soup), Apollo's signed greatest hits, Hephaestus grumpily repairing whatever you're holding. Walk away mid-sentence and they'll notice. "...Rude."

• Performance reviews. Athena from HR drops by with a scroll full of your actual numbers (worshippers, prayers answered and ignored, offerings, monsters smitten, deaths, a worrying amount of jumping) and gives you a star rating. Five stars gets you a raise. One star gets you a written warning. It's mostly doodles.
• "Have you seen my husband?" Hera needs help: Zeus is in disguise again. He's an animal, somewhere nearby, and a terrible actor. Listen for a very deep moo.

??? Myths on the road

Out in the world you'll stumble into little stories already in progress, and some of their characters come back.

• Icarus falls out of the sky right next to you: "The wax was a design flaw." Give him some honeycomb and he'll be back with Wings Version 2 (now with SPF 50). You know how this ends.
• Narcissus sits at the lake, in love with the handsome stranger in the water. Echo repeats the last word of everything anyone says nearby. You may push him in.
• King Midas is starving next to his golden butler. Hand him food and watch it happen again. He'll let you keep the golden apple.
• Pandora would love it if you opened her box. [Open the box] [Don't open it]. Bats, tax forms, a rain of chickens... and Hope, at the very bottom.
• Orpheus plays songs so sad that nearby mobs start to dance. He'd like you to take a message down to Eurydice in the Underworld.
• Prometheus sprints past with your fire, Zeus' eagle pecking at his liver. Catch him, then let him go, or turn him in.
• Diogenes lives in a barrel in the village, looking for an honest man with a lantern in broad daylight. Do NOT stand in his sunlight.
• Medusa stands in a field of very surprised statues. "Don't look at me!" Stare too long and you go a bit crunchy. What she really needs is a pair of sunglasses. The stone Hermes next to her was bringing her some.
• The Sirens (Thelxiepeia, Ligeia and Gary) sing on the rocks, slightly off-key. The song pulls you towards the water: sneak to cover your ears. Applaud and you'll swim like a fish. Boo and... don't boo.
• A giant wooden horse stands alone in a field. The sign says A GIFT (definitely not full of soldiers). Get close. "SURPRISE! FOR GREECE! ...Wait. Is that a GOD?" This isn't Troy.
• Achilles is sitting on a rock. Not because of the heel. The heel is FINE. Poke it, or bring him a bandage and he'll share his invulnerability for a while.
• Greg the Cyclops has lost count of his sheep again. It keeps getting stuck at forty-three. Find Forty-Three, who has decided to follow you now, and bring her home.

?? Council meetings

Ring the bell in the hall (or wait: the council meets on its own every so often) and the gods sit down to vote on a new law. The chair reads the motion, one god argues for it, one against, and then everyone votes out loud, one by one. Dionysus always votes aye. Hades always votes nay. You get three votes, because you're the newest member ("It's in the bylaws. Hermes wrote them."). Laws last a whole day:

• Talk Like a Pirate Day: everything you say in chat gets an "Arr!". Poseidon: "Finally some culture!" Athena: "This is beneath us. Arr."
• Creepers must wear hats. Hephaestus has already made hundreds of hats.
• All sheep shall be pink, Casual Friday (sandals optional, everyone moves faster), Double harvests, No rain anywhere, A feast day, and Everyone must say please (Hera is listening).

??? The villagers talk

Walk through a village as a god and people react. Kids run after you ("Can you make it snow? Can you? CAN YOU?"), villagers whisper to each other when you pass, and word gets around: everything you do out in the world becomes gossip. "Psst! That's the one who pushed Narcissus into a lake! My aunt SAW it." "...I heard it was worse." Get famous enough and they start bowing. Mostly.

?? Made for multiplayer and streams

• Obituaries. Every death gets announced to the server, with commentary from whoever's left on the council. "? Dev, Acting Dionysus, was killed by a BERRY BUSH." "Hades: See you soon. Take a number."
• The Hall of Shame. The most embarrassing deaths go into a book on a lectern in the Hall of Olympus (/pantheon shame). Next time you walk into the hall, somebody on the council brings it up.
• The council votes. With several player-gods in the hall, everyone votes on the hero's fate. A tie means Chicken. Those are the rules.
• Hermes Parcel Service. /parcel <player> [note] sends what you're holding to a friend, anywhere, delivered in person, with Hermes' opinion of your gift. "It's... dirt. They sent you dirt."
• Divine pranks. /prank <player>: each god has a harmless signature prank. Zeus rains on your parade, Hera's peacock won't stop screaming, Hermes reorganises your hotbar, Hades sends a ghost to follow you around, Athena puts an owl on your shoulder. Hestia refuses and sends soup.
• "Minecraft, but the gods hate me." /pantheon wrath <player> on: every few minutes an annoyed god drops in to ruin your day. Zeus throws lightning at you, Hermes steals something and drops it somewhere nearby, Athena gives you a pop quiz, Hephaestus repossesses your pickaxe, Hera turns every animal into a cow. Hestia sneaks you soup when nobody's looking. It can be turned on for everyone in the config.
• God roulette. /pantheon roulette <player> on: every time you die, the council reassigns you to a random god. HR calls it "a lateral move".
• Chaos mode. /pantheon chaos on: the gods are bored, and every few minutes one of them does something to the whole server. Happy hour (everything dances, zombies included), low gravity, fish rain, pink sheep day, cow day, fireworks, a bake sale.

?? A career in godhood

A 49-step advancement tab tracks your new job, from Contempt of Court and Now Hiring to Poultry Justice, Who's a Good Boy(s)?, It Never Helps, Stone Cold, Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts, Order! Order!, Minecraft, but the Gods Hate Me and Actual Olympian.

?? Multiplayer

Every new player gets their own trial, and another god drops dead each time. The council shrinks, the gods get increasingly nervous, whoever is left takes over the proceedings, and the bench in the Underworld fills up. "We seem to be running low."

?? Controls

All keys can be rebound in Options ? Controls.

? FAQ

Can I pick my god? No. Fate decides who drops dead, and you get their job. (Operators can use /pantheon setgod.)

Can I add it to an existing world? Yes. Anyone who isn't a god yet gets summoned about a minute after joining.

How do I get back to Olympus? Step into the pillar of light in your domain (press H to get there), or the exit door in the Underworld.

Is there voice acting? The gods speak fluent note block.

The drop-ins happen too often / not often enough. Tune them (or turn them off) in the server config.

?? Commands & config

• /pantheon: your status and the state of the council.
• /pantheon codex: a new copy of your codex.
• /verdict <pardon|smite|chicken|stables>: pass judgement on a hero (or just click the buttons).
• /vote <aye|nay>: vote in a council meeting (or click). /pantheon law: which law is in force.
• /parcel <player> [note], /prank <player>, /pantheon shame.
• /pantheon sky <day|night|clear|rain|thunder>: for Olympians only. The heavens need a minute between requests.
• Operators: /pantheon summon [player], /pantheon setgod <player> <god>, /pantheon reset <player>, /pantheon revive (bring the council back), /pantheon visit [god], /pantheon review, /pantheon hunt, /pantheon judge, /pantheon pray [kind], /pantheon festival, /pantheon shrine, /pantheon divinity, /pantheon olympus, /pantheon underworld, /pantheon encounter <who>, /pantheon wrath <player> on|off|now, /pantheon roulette <player> on|off, /pantheon chaos on|off|now, /pantheon meeting [law].
• Server config (serverconfig/nowhiring-server.toml): turn the automatic summoning off, change the delay (default 60 s), disable skipping, tune (or turn off) the divine drop-ins and the myth encounters, and set up the challenges (wrath for everyone, how often wrath and chaos strike).

Requires: NeoForge 21.1+ for Minecraft 1.21.1. No other dependencies.

Made for the CurseForge Monthly Theme: Ancient Mythology.
{A.I has been used in the making of this mod}