Apollo

Apollo was an interloper deity of music, light, and healing who originated from another plane of existence and was considered the third greatest member of his pantheon. There was no evidence that this deity was directly worshiped in the Realms.

Description
Apollo's avatar typically appeared as a well-muscled, incredibly handsome young man.

In his true form, he was a beardless young man who rarely wore clothing.

Personality
Apollo was a tolerant deity, generally benevolent and helpful, but terrible whenever he got angry. He valued peace, forgiveness, and justice, strongly disdaining vengeance. And though forgiving, he was intolerant of those who willfully committed acts of evil or were unrepentant criminals that made a living through dishonest means, thus he was an advocate of strict laws or penalties for outlaws.

One aspect of Apollo that stood out from the rest of his personality was the vanity he had towards his musical prowess.

Abilities
Apollo could cast a purple haze around any single being, having a similar effect to that of a +5 ring of protection.

He had a wide variety of spell-like abilities that his avatar form could cast. These included the following:


 * aid, antimagic field, blade barrier, clairaudience/clairvoyance, cure critical wounds, cause disease and cure disease, cure light wounds, cure moderate wounds, cure serious wounds, detect secret doors, detect thoughts, discern location, dispel evil, dispel magic, divination, endure elements, find the path, fire seeds, fire shield, flame strike, foresight, heal, healing circle, heat metal, holy aura, holy smite, holy word, identify, imbue with spell ability, legend lore, magic circle against evil, mass heal, Mordenkainen's disjunction, Nystul's undetectable aura, prismatic sphere, protection from evil, protection from spells, regenerate, searing light, spell resistance, spell turning, summon monster IX (good only), sunbeam, sunburst, true resurrection, true seeing, flesh to stone, shapechange, and polymorph others.

Apollo's avatar form also had access to a variety of bard spells, which included the following:


 * animal trance, confusion, control water, control weather, dancing lights, daylight, displacement, dominate person, expeditious retreat, false vision, flare, ghost sound, glitterdust, haste, hold monster, identify, illusory script, light, mage hand, mass haste, mind fog, mislead, modify memory, persistent image, pyrotechnics, rainbow pattern, read magic, repulsion, sculpt sound, shout, sleep, veil, and ventriloquism.

Possessions
Apollo possessed an enchanted +7 composite longbow made of silver, with the weapon qualities holy, mighty, speed, and disruption. Along with this bow he had +5 arrows, twenty in total at any time, that were made of adamantite. Those struck by these arrows would instantly fall ill with a supernatural disease. Apollo also had a golden, magical lyre with a wide variety of abilities. These included raising an ally's strength to that of a storm giant, bestowing curses, and casting disintegrate.

Activities
Whenever Apollo was fond of a human he was likely to give them needed advice or aid them indirectly in battles. Such as giving archery skills, gifting his enchanted adamantite arrows, healing them, or using his prophetic power to advise.

Beyond individual humans, he was likely to help ripen crops, destroy pests, cure illnesses, and protect shepherds and their flocks.

Whenever he needed to send lesser proxies out on a mission, he preferred to use pers and solars.

History
Apollo was born with the goddess Artemis to the Olympian god Zeus and a Greater Titan by the name of Leto.

One day Apollo was watching over a herd of cattle when his newly born sibling (from a different woman), Hermes, came and stole them, hiding them within a mountain cave. An act which left him with a distaste for thieves for many years. While he went looking for the lost cattle, Hermes fashioned a lyre for Apollo as a gift of appeasement. He was Later gifted pan pipes by Hermes, for which he gave the golden caduceus that Hermes would be widely known for. He later gifted these pan pipes to Pan in return for some unknown service.

On the first world the Olympians were worshiped on, Apollo had a particularly famous oracle at a place called Delphi. He later took this oracle, named Pythia, and established a site on Mount Olympus for her where deities in need of advice could seek aid.

As the Olympians grew to be among the most influential pantheons on the Outer Planes over the course of a few thousands years, Apollo would establish an oracle on every Prime Material world where the Olympians had influence. And along the way he siphoned followers from the Mulhorandi deity Ra by appropriating his portfolio of light.

At some point Apollo also usurped many portfolios of Pan, particularly that of music.

Some centuries prior to the Time of Troubles, a group of Olympian worshipers from another world brought their faith to the Raurin Desert on Toril and formed cities such as Medinat Muskawoon. From his dealings with the city, the mage Martek would come to learn of Apollo.

Centuries later, Apollo one day bumped into Hermes outside of the palace of Zeus. His siblings proceeded to boast of his scheme to stir up controversy among the Olympians, involving a group of Torilian adventurers that had mistakenly entered the plane of Olympus by ascending the island of Achea. Intrigued, Apollo wagered a hundred golden apples on the mortals' success, which Hermes then counter wagered his best lyre that the mortals could never secure the favor of Daphne, a nymph that had recently caught Zeus's eye. The two deities then began using magic to closely observe the progress of the mortals.

The mortals' quest lead them to undertake three labors for Daphne's father, the wood elf King Hiyawat. The third of these labors took them to the chained Prometheus, who they defended from one of his vulture torturers. For their aid he informed the adventurers of the fate of Hiyawat's people, then for saving him a second night he informed them of how they were pawns in Hermes' elaborate wager with Apollo. Including the exact bets that each of them made. He then warned them that whoever lost the wager would likely hold a grudge against them.

Realm
Apollo resided within a temple on Mount Olympus, in the divine realm of Olympus. It was made entirely of beaten gold, which shined intermittently with the sun. On either side of the entrance's interior where his representatives gauged whether a performer or philosopher was worthy of entering. In the throne room sunlight flooded in from all corners, focusing on the throne. Off to the side of the throne room were a feasthall and a rehearsal room.

Behind the temple stood an amphitheater, where talented playwrights could enact their work and mortal poets could recite verses honoring him. Across from the amphitheater stood a debate hall, where philosophers could get into heated discussions.

Relationships
Apollo was respected by all members of the Olympian pantheon, but had no true friends among them besides his siblings Hermes and Artemis. The Olympian Pan had an intense dislike of him for usurping many of his portfolios and would often play practical jokes on him.

The Celtic deity Diancecht got into bitter disputes with him at times, due to the latter obsessively wanting to be the best healer in the multiverse. He had a secret friendship with another Celtic deity, Goibhniu, despite Zeus's forbiddance of fraternizing with the Celtic pantheon. He was also friends with Mitra of the Lords of Creation, Seker, and Amaterasu. And he admired the Oerthian deity Tritherion's zeal for creativity.

He considered himself an enemy of all deities of darkness and harm.

Worshipers
The priests of his faith typically wielded bows and arrows, nets, or staves as weapons. They wore laurel leaves, along with tunics of a golden or yellow hue, as part of their priestly vestments. They were required to use laurel wood in their devices. They had access to spells from the charm, divination, healing, and sun spheres. They particularly had access to the spells cure disease and heal.

His priests generally served in peaceful roles, such as advisors, diplomats, teachers of music and song, oracles, or healers. Though they weren't afraid to take up arms when needed.

Apollo urged his followers to be bold and relentless when facing evil, but to mke peace where they could and try to help those who strayed atone for their misdeeds. They were also urged to provide compassion to the victims of evil and to appreciate the finer things in life, most of all music. Additionally, they were urged promote the lawful administration of their local government.

Temples
On the worlds where he was worshiped, temples to Apollo were usually constructed in sunny areas, near caves or hot springs. These temples typically featured hospitals for the sick and divination chambers where his oracles divined the future.

Temples of Apollo built within cities were usually shared with the worshipers of his twin, Artemis.

Rumors & Legends

 * Those who worshiped the Olympian pantheon believed that each day Apollo carried the sun across the sky with a chariot.
 * Those who worshiped the Olympian pantheon claimed that Apollo was the first to teach people the art of healing.
 * Some claimed that the Olympian goddess Hecate was the one who taught Apollo how to be so eloquent.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Tales of the Outer Planes