Which Olympian gained the most power from the Fracture

I had originally written this as a reply in the Lore Drop thread, but it quickly spiraled out of control, so here you go, enjoy.

So as shown in the quote above, Tech has stated in lore that Dominion=Power, which is a very, very interesting concept as it leads me to wonder who has gained the greatest boost in power from the Fracture? I realize the Olympians are currently discorporate, but I have to imagine their souls are still connected in some way to their dominions, because otherwise the Sun should not be rising without Apollo. Unless their more figurative natures don’t matter in the AU, but that’s a topic for another time. I should also say that while what a deity controls is likely the deciding factor in how powerful they are, IE Zeus or Chronos (not Kronos) controlling space and time respectively, that said I imagine that an increase in what a Deity’s dominion is would still grant at least a substantial increase in power, with that said, the question becomes…

…Who got the most out of the Fracture? I guess Hades is probably a contender, with how many souls have died his domain of the dead has expanded rapidly. Except that the Underworld is sealed, so he’s not recieving any new guests, and thus not expanding his place of power. So Poseidon is another contender, except that the oceans didn’t really expand… if anything they should have somewhat receded. Because if the continents broke apart into the new islands, then that’s a lot of water being displaced, flowing out until it reaches an uniform level, which is either very close to or potentially lower than it was originally, because it’s more area that the same amount of water has stretch over. So Poseidon likely isn’t getting a boost either.

In fact most of the gods aren’t getting boosts, because they don’t have domains which can truly expand (Zeus being an exception as Space is constantly expanding, but he’s like… dead, dead, so shrug.) So who does this leave to get a power boost? Well those deities whose dominions have the possibility to expand. First let’s talk about those who lost power, Demeter, Persephone, and other agriculture or life related dieties. This is because, a lot of people died during the Fracturing, and agriculture would have taken some time to reestablish itself, and even then the lower population of farmers would lead to these dominions losing much of the power they would have enjoyed during the Golden age.

Now onto the weird edge case, Athena, as the goddess of wisdom, and battle strategy the loss of so much knowledge would have been a heavy blow to her. However, as time has continued, new knowledge is discovered, past knowledge is rediscovered, and new tactics are thought up. Thus, I would say that she’s another of those who have stayed fairly consistent in ability after the fracture.

Now onto the deities whose dominion has expanded rapidly during the Fracturing, and the subsequent centuries, and they are, drumroll please… Ares and Dionysus.

Now I know what you’re thinking, these two are a very odd pairing to say the least, but just follow me here. Ares is simple to explain, conflict and war is constantly raging in one form or another throughout the Seas, particularly in the War Seas. Thus given the lower population, and higher amount of individual nations, and wars, Ares’s power would have increased immensely in the Post Fracture world. Basically, lot of wars = lot of power for Ares, simple like I said.

Dionysus, on the other hand seems like an odd choice, I know. I mean, I don’t imagine there’s a shortage of alcohol within the time Post Fracture, particularly with the increase in overseas travel, where it would play a vital role in keeping the crew and passengers alive as fresh water would not keep during a sea voyage the same way a stout drink would. However, this is not where I believe the growth of his Dominion lies. For you see, Dionysus is also the god of madness, and if there is something which has increased tenfold in this Fractured World, it is madness. Mageskin disease, the Dark Sea, even Chaos itself, all these things bring madness to the minds of mortals. Insanity is a rising and constant presence within the mortal world, and this above all other dominions has continued to grow.

Thus I conclude that Dionysus is, while not the most powerful Olympian, still the one who has gained the most powerful due to the calamity which has befallen the world. Granted he can’t make use of this new found power, not without a body anyway. Regardless, I’m sure that should he ever reconstitute, that the result would be as interesting as it would be potentially terifying.

FINALLY SOMEBODY GETS IT.
also, on this note, almost every depiction of Dionysus I’ve ever seen is very purple and purple is a very important color in AO.

This could be a good storytelling device tbh. Like, what if some of the gods DON’T want the world to become any better because it allows them to finally get a taste of sweet old power.

Also, Hephaestus possibly got some power too because the things you can forge nowadays are pretty top quality (such as Arcanium Tools). Possibly Nike as well (Goddess of Victory) because war comes with victory. Only reason Hecate isn’t gaining power is because she is losing power trying to keep the Dark Sea at bay.

Not to mention Eris would also gain in power, as would Ares’s children, Phobos and Demos. Actually a lot of the darker concept deities would be gaining power after the Fracture. Ares’s family is obvious, but I imagine powers like Achlys, Thanatos, and other chthonic entities would be enjoying new found power in this much darker and desperate world. Also storm spirits, such as the Anemoi Thuellai, Cymopoleia, and other wind spirits would also have increased in power due to the prevalence of storms both in the Dark Sea and clusters. Actually most weather spirits would probably have stronger dominions with how important weather has become.

Overall, I do wish that the minor gods had been spared at least somewhat in Arthur’s war. Because having to fight some suped-up nymphs or personifications of storms or fear, would be really cool… I may have some ideas to add to my fanfic.

It is, purple is incredibly important. Though it really only means two things, either magic or madness.

Magic

  • Sensing
  • The Order of Aesir
    • Queen Victoria’s hair (seriously why is she purple if she’s not part of the Order?)
  • Hecate Essence
  • Magical Creatures
  • Athena
    • For some reason even though she should be grey
  • The Dark Sea

Madness

  • The Dark Sea
  • Illusory flames
  • The Insanity Status effect
  • Cursed Mushrooms
  • Mystery Potions

Ares’s domain would’ve instead decreased, because the war going on now is nothing compared to the entire globe-spanning apocalyptic war that was going on during the Golden Age of Magic, and the War Ages before that.

The one with the most power, though not an Olympian, would be Nyx, because literally 90% of the world is shrouded in complete darkness or Night (which is her domain), so she is already practically doing what Zeus at one point feared she might do if enraged.

I mean it kinda depends on whether you look at the amount of conflict versus how many are involved. The way I see it the World spanning conflicts would have given him some power due to the grandeur of the conflicts.

However, I don’t know of it’s the same amoun given by the newer conflicts taking place throughout the sea clusters, which would be more concentrated given how much smaller the total population is now. Basically the world spanning conflicts had a lot of people on both sides, but not the majority of the world’s population. Whereas it’s likely that the majority of the War Seas’ population are at least in someway involved in any number of ongoing conflicts at any given time. So Ares definitely gets a power boost, though it may have just been enough to bring him back to baseline from before the Fracture occured. (Yes I realize I’ve basically defeated my own argument, but, eh, what are ya gonna do?)

As for Nyx, technically her domain is Night itself, not the darkness which accompanied Night. Erebus is the actual personification of darkness, and yeah would definitely be on par with Zeus at this point. Though if the Dark Sea does count as Night, it’s likely that both deities would have received expanded authority.

but don’t the gods’ powers also depend on how many people know about them/worship them? especially after they’ve ‘died’.
In that case, I’d think the one who got the most power would still be poseidon. He survived the fall of olympus and also the fracture and thus would automatically be more powerful than those who died.
also he became the boyfriend of one of the most well known people in the seven seas, so that would take care of the popularity part

poseidon because hes one of the few gods to actually be alive by then

hades too