[hider=Mercury, Messenger of the Gods][center]
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[color=black]M E R C U R Y ,   G O D   O F   C O M M E R C E [/color]
[color=81586E]M E R C U R Y ,   G O D   O F   C O M M E R C E[/color]
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[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/usuPuHZ.png[/img]
[hider=HUMAN][sub][color=81586E][u] 𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗦 [/u][/color]
[color=gray]Roman Kopski[/color]
[color=81586E][u] 𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 [/u][/color]
[color=gray]Mid to late 30s[/color]
[color=81586E][u] 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗥 [/u][/color]
[color=gray]President of [color=81586E][b]Argentum[/b][/color], an auction house based in Seattle, New York City and London[/color][/sub][/hider][/center][/cell][cell][center][color=81586E][u] 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬 [/u][/color]
[table][row][/row][row][cell][color=black]𝑮𝑶𝑶𝑫
[list][*] Cunning
[*] Meticulous
[*] Persuasive[/list][/color][/cell][cell][color=black]𝑩𝑨𝑫
[list][*] Disingenuous
[*] Sardonic
[*] Opportunistic[/list][/color][/cell][/row][/table]
[color=81586E][u] 𝗔𝗠𝗕𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 [/u][/color][/center]
[color=gray][sup]Mercury doesn’t want his godhood back, nor does he desire the resurgence of Rome like the others in his family seem to do. To return to how things were in the past would mean getting stuck playing messenger to the rest of the gods, and he’s through with that. But of course, it goes without saying that this newfound [i]‘freedom’[/i] of his comes with its own set of grievances, like a beeping ankle bracelet, only ancient and occult. More and more often now, he has found himself wondering if there’s truly any way to break free of its influence.[/sup][/color]
[center][color=81586E][u] 𝗙𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦 [/u][/color][/center]
[color=gray][sup]What does Mercury fear? Await in horror? What keeps him up at night with terrifying resolve? He’d like to say something poetic, something about the crushing despair of life itself, but the truth is, he doesn’t [i]know[/i]. It’s hard to pin down any one specific thing. Mercury has long prided himself on always being a step ahead of everyone — most of the time quite [i]literally[/i] — and maybe that’s what frightens him the most: [i]not knowing[/i]. With curiosity comes a compulsion to understand everything, a hunger for control, and the thought of being kept in the dark is nothing short of anathema to him.[/sup][/color]
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[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/EB7MQ4a.png[/img]
[hider=DEITY][sub][color=81586E][u] 𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗧𝗬 [/u][/color]
[color=gray]Mercury[/color]
[color=81586E][u] 𝗗𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗡 [/u][/color]
[color=gray]Commerce, eloquence, messages, divination, travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery, merchants, thieves[/color]
[color=81586E][u] 𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗢𝗡 [/u][/color]
[color=gray]Roman[/color][/sub][/hider][/center][/cell][/row][/table]
[center][color=81586E][u] 𝗠𝗬𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗬 [/u][/color][/center]
[indent][indent][quote]As the youngest son of Jupiter and the Pleiad Maia, Mercury has long been renowned for his skill with negotiation, though to anyone who knows him, such a fact shouldn’t come as a surprise.

It has often been said that the first thing he did after being born was invent the lyre, using nothing more than the shell of a tortoise and a handful of reeds. But that wasn’t the only deed he applied his ingenuity to —– far from it, in fact. By that very evening, he had spotted a herd of oxen grazing in a nearby field when the bright idea came into his head to steal them. All the oxen were made to walk backwards to cover their tracks, but as it turns out, the herd had belonged to someone quite important.

Even to this day, he still maintains that it was all just a simple misunderstanding. I mean, how could he have known that the oxen were Apollo’s? And what was he planning on doing with them, anyway? But in the end, everything went surprisingly well. With the beautiful music created by the lyre, Mercury was able to mollify Apollo, and after returning to him his oxen, he even received his signature [i]Caduceus[/i] in exchange for the instrument.

Mischief wasn’t all he got up, though. Thanks to [i]Talaria[/i], his winged sandals, Mercury was blessed with divine haste, and his ability to travel across distant lands in the blink of an eye made him a valuable asset in the eyes of his fellow gods and goddesses.

When Aeneas began straying from his path of greatness, Mercury was the one who appeared before him and reminded him of what he had to do. And when Pluto stole Proserpina from her home, he was the one who brokered a deal to appease everyone involved. The Maiden of Spring would be allowed to see her mother, to return to earth for six months every year, and for the rest, she would stay with Pluto and rule alongside him as Queen of the Underworld.

Naturally, when Proserpina needed an escort to and from the Underworld, Mercury was the one Jupiter sent, a task that he dutifully undertook without complaint.

[s]Not like he didn’t already have enough to do.[/s][/quote][/indent][/indent]

[center][color=81586E][u] 𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 [/u][/color][/center]
[indent][indent][quote]Mercury’s first brush with the Colossus was somewhat… [i]anticlimactic[/i], to say the least. He had already been on earth on some business or other — no doubt following the orders of Jupiter or somebody else — and by the time he realized what was happening, it had already been done. Far from the mighty shift of earth beneath his feet, however, it felt more to him like a [i]shudder[/i]; a brief, inconsequential [i]blip[/i] that was over before it began.

He’d simply chalked it up as another one of Jupiter and Neptune’s rows until he tried to take to the skies and felt nothing, [i]heard[/i] nothing.

Not even the whistle of wind through the reeds.

He started running, then. He ran faster than any mortal ever could, until his legs hurt and every breath he drew into his lungs felt like it wasn’t enough, but all the same, he kept running. He needed to know if the same thing had happened to all the others, if it wasn’t just some [i]test[/i] set upon him by his father.

He’s not sure which option he would’ve preferred, but it wasn’t long before he figured out the truth.

All the gods and goddesses of the world, not a single one spared, were chained down to earth and stripped of their powers by a magical [i]rock[/i].

His first reaction was disbelief, an all-consuming [i]bewilderment[/i]. He couldn’t quite bring himself to believe that a mere mortal could create something powerful enough to bind them all to earth. Then, it was just… [i]funny[/i]. The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it all seemed. A mortal had done this. A [i]mortal[/i]! Somehow, even with their fleeting lives and petty squabbles, one mortal had risen above it all to create the Colossus.

Even he had to admit it was impressive.

Mercury remembers the first few centuries of his new existence on earth fondly, perhaps more so than he would like to admit. No longer did he have to answer to the whims and wishes of his pantheon. And for the first time in forever, he was free to do as he pleased, go where he wanted… but that wasn’t all true, was it? As the god of travelers and boundaries, Mercury has always been acutely aware of the limitations the Colossus imposed upon them; and while he was able to whittle his time away chasing momentary pleasures, he knew it was all just a distraction from the elephant in the room.

They were all trapped and powerless to do anything about it.

So he adapted, a process he found surprisingly effortless thanks to his prior dealings with mortals. In most of Mercury’s lives, he was either a merchant or a thief, making a living off the ignorance of others. He had a way with words, an easy manner that most people found difficult to hold a grudge against, which made slipping their valuables free of their pockets and into his own that much easier. His savings never lasted long, however. Mercury quickly acquired a taste for the finer things in life — clothes, shoes, liquor — and was a consummate gambler. Of course, with liquid luck running through his veins, winning was a simple matter of willing the dice to fall the way he wanted them to, but that sort of spoiled the fun, didn’t it? Chance was chance, and with each roll of the dice, he eagerly awaited that split second of breathless anticipation.

By the mid-1700s, he was fresh off a hot streak, having recently broken off his acquaintance with a dissolute young heir after getting what he was after: a ring of burnished gold that had once belonged to Ivan the Terrible. Mercury, along with his partner Smythe, an antiques dealer and occasional black market fence, started up their own business, handling all manner of [i]objet d’art[/i] —– jewelry, wine, art, even suits of armor dating back to the Middle Ages. Some of it was contraband, acquired from thieves desperate to offload their ill-gotten gains, but both Mercury and his partner were skilled in keeping the constables off their trail.

This business soon acquired a title: [i]Argentum[/i], the Latin term for silver. Over the years, it would go through many changes, both in personnel and premises, following Mercury wherever he went, and by the time he set foot in the New World, Argentum had grown to become a household name among the cognoscenti and wealthy elite. Lesser known is the organization’s dealings in stolen goods, secret auctions open only to people with the right information, contacts and inclinations.

There are some things that haven’t changed, though. Mercury is still an inveterate gambler with a fondness for cheap cigarettes and fast cars, and spends far too much time keeping tabs on the rest of his pantheon. He might not be interested in the plans they have for Rome 2.0, but he likes staying informed, keeping an ear out for any words on the wind.

He guessed it was true what people said about old habits.[/quote][/indent][/indent][/hider]