[hider=Apollo, in Falsehood]
 
[center][b]Then he saw that she had become a black bird upon a branch near to him. “A dangerous woman thou art,” said Cú Chulainn. [...] “It is at the guarding of thy death that I am; and I shall be,” said she.[/b][/center]
 
[center][b][u][h2]Apollo[/h2][/u][/b][/center]
[center][b][u]Mór-Ríoghain[/u][/b][/center]
 
[center][b]Titles and Roles:[/b][/center]
To the gods of Olympus and the mortals of Hellas, she is known as Apollo: god of Oracles, of healing, of archery and the arts, consummate entertainer of Olympus, and, to the eldest of the gods, former astrogator and consummate data-analyst, now prophet and font of mysterious knowledge. Furthermore, her impeccable skill in archery, largely made possible by her incredible aptitude for rapid analysis (and partly due to modifications made to the unique implants which allowed Apollo to operate the Antikythera), makes Apollo a deadly-accurate shot, and the Mórrigan a frighteningly precise warrior.

To herself she is no longer one person, but rather three: Badb, Macha, and Anand. She is the battle-crow, bringer of fear and confusion. She is warfare and rightful kingship, the arbiter of sovereignty. She knows must become the woman capable of breaking Zeus's chains, bringing the technology of Old Arith to the people it was intended for, Olympus be damned.

[hider=Artifacts and Powers]
[b]The Antikythera Mechanism:[/b] Perhaps the most prominent and essential of Apollo's artifacts is that which allows them to serve as prophet -- the quantum computing device and network of computer intelligences that once formed an essential part of the ship's operation, which only Apollo, on departure from old Arith, was considered qualified to operate. The device, eventually dubbed the Antikythera Mechanism by Zeus, however, held a fundamental flaw -- the data it produced was so labyrinthine, so confusing, and so expansive that specialized processing implants, neurological restructuring, and training were all necessary to bring any sense to its more complex messages. It was only through plenty of honeyed words and sycophantic praise that Apollo was able to convince Zeus of the reality of the situation in a way that did not offend his bloated ego. There was no threat of the device’s destruction, however, without Apollo, there was no guarantee that it would ever work again or not simply drive the user insane, as the implants required to operate could wreak havoc on a brain not specifically trained and genetically conditioned to operate with it, the data necessary to do so absent from Olympus.
 Hence, Apollo was to be allowed use of the device, faithfully using it to predict the path of unexpected outbreaks of disease, to chart the course of wayward meteors and the stars, and to otherwise simulate possible futures with frightening -- but incredibly useful -- accuracy, all while selectively hiding that which she did not wish to be known when such things were possible.
The Antikythera, after all, could not predict everything... Though Apollo continues to tinker away at it, turning it towards matters of scientific research that have allowed them to access leaps and bounds of knowledge that would otherwise remain forever hidden. Nowadays, it is often turned toward the Mórrigan's -- not Apollo's -- most secretive projects, though it was once used to develop the complex pharmacological concoctions that have since become known as the god's blessings, and the purview of one of her cloned children, Asclepius.
To mortals, however, the Antikythera is both more and less simple: it is a ludicrously complex device which, through her divine nature, Apollo and only Apollo can comprehend, designed for this purpose by the Prophet himself.
[b]The Bow of Apollo:[/b] Originally a high-powered Pulsed Energy Projectile rifle, a weapon that fires a laser pulse and generates an explosion of plasma and electromagnetic energy on contact with a target, the legendary Bow of Apollo has since been altered to resemble strange cross between a bow and crossbow, though its string is, in reality, merely a light-emitting ornamental trigger. The Pulsed Energy Projectile, though a fundamentally well-understood technology by D.E.W. standards, is both incredibly potent and especially multifarious in its function as the bow of Apollo, capable of violently destroying circuitry, temporarily or permanently disrupting nerves (though generally indiscriminately), or simply burning and blowing holes through things by function of the explosive plasma it generates on contact -- on lethal settings. The weapon does not, in reality, require the nocking of arrows, but has nonetheless been modified to display holograms of this function, creating the illusion that Apollo is nocking arrows when the ‘trigger’ is drawn; in fact, it requires no ammunition at all, aside energy and something to strike.
[b]The Lyre of Apollo:[/b] Although a mythical device in its own right, said to have been gifted to Apollo by Hermes for reasons mortals dare only speculate about, the Lyre of Apollo is, in reality, just that -- a Lyre, admittedly made from the strange choice of material of a tortoise shell. It is not the device itself that gives ‘Apollo’ her incredible musical aptitude, but rather the deity’s expansive mind and centuries spent both studying music and understanding what makes people tick in a previous life that makes Apollo such an incredible musician and entertainer. Certainly, the medical alterations made to her neurology also play an important role in allowing them to juggle so much information.
[b]The Mórrigan’s Blood:[/b] known only to the Morrigan, Asclepius, and a select few of the Korybantes, the Morrigan’s Blood was a complex infusion of body and mind-altering nanites and drugs, designed for the express purpose of allowing the ascendant goddess to shift her shape. The greatest creation of her and her children, whether any more can even be produced is a matter of mystery to even them, though the full course applied to her on those weeks of absence has long-since completed its work and actual information on its precise mechanisms of operation has mostly been destroyed to prevent its use against the tripartite goddess. In that sense, it is less an artifact even if it once was, and more accurately an innate aspect of her being.
The Phantom Queen, in essence, is now capable of radically altering her shape, from taking on the form of a strange crone, to a shapely, black-haired seductress, all the war to a horrifying warrior-queen whose hands form talons fully capable of rending apart metal. The modifications have their limits, however -- the Morrigan can only work with what transmutable mass she has available, requiring absolutely enormous intakes of food to replace that which has been shaped into the aforementioned talons after use, for example. Some of the gods may have noticed Apollo’s unusual change in appetite, however, the true nature of the cause of it is a closely-guarded secret.
[b]The Mórrigan’s Cry:[/b] One of the least understood of the Mórrigan's abilities, even to the goddess herself, her scream is given its power to drive men to die of fear or slaughter their comrades in a berserk rage by an arcane, bioengineered implant that was discovered in her searches of the caches brought to the Isle of Delphos. Its precise mechanism, however, is poorly understood, so much so that it cannot be disassembled or reverse engineered for fear that it couldn't be put together. Regardless, its theoretical capabilities make it essential to Aoife fully embodying the Mórrigan.
[b]Project Coronis Ailm:[/b] Another of Apollo's early projects built in tandem with Asclepius and Coeus, Coronis Alpha played heavily into Apollo's association with crows, engineering a biologically and cybernetically modified corvid, resembling a raven, to serve as Apollo's messenger to mortals and her eyes and ears. Each can be personally piloted by Apollo through use of her neural implants, additionally taking advantage of the natural ability for mimicry of ravens to deliver messages and prophecies in the god's voice when Hermes is deemed too valuable to be warranted.

[b]Project Mór-Ríoghain/Coronis Beith:[/b] built on the back of the knowledge gained during the course of Coronis Alpha, Coronis Beta was Apollo's most secret endeavour, the very cloning project that completed the tripartite nature of the Mórrigan. Each of the two is a genetic clone of the original, capable of the same shapeshifting abilities, usually taking on the guise of Apollo's favoured consorts -- Coronis, the pale, raven-haired princess, and Kyrene, Apollo's chestnut-haired right hand, frequently placed in charge of Delphos while Apollo is at Olympus.
 
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[center][b]Persona:[/b][/center]
[center]Whether among gods or mortals, Apollo is almost always amiable and cooperative, at least outwardly, quick to engage in friendly conversation, though Zeus is inevitably treated in a formal manner akin to that which a soldier would treat a General. She is generally willing to entertain the other gods, especially Apate. She is perhaps even friendlier to mortals than she is to her fellow gods, secretly caring more for their fate than her own 'siblings'.
 
Beneath that veil, however, Apollo is an entirely different person -- the Mórrigan. Though much of her history and that of her people is lost, she remembers being told by her parents that, long ago, her people, the people of Éire, prospered, until they were conquered and placed among the brutal thumb of an oppressive empire that she believes shares many traits with Zeus's Olympus. They suffered, died, and starved under this thumb, one revolt failing after the other, until a great war struck the nations of Old Arith, bringing them the opportunity to finally be free. Among these revolutionaries was one of the Mórrigan's ancestors, her name long-since lost to time, and it is this ancestor that now drives the Mórrigan to work against Zeus's shackles, and the memory of whom caused the Mórrigan to fall down a spiral of guilt for her inability and fear of putting a stop to Fletcher when she had the chance. Now, though, she shares this burden with her clones, who she views as one and the same to herself, acting out the lost memories of her ancestors in her new identity. The tales of the Mórrigan, then, served a twofold purpose for her -- they had a direct, tangible connection to the history of her people, and provided her some loose guidance toward who she would be.
 
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[center][b]Background and Relationships:[/b][/center]
Wherever Aoife Caomhánach came from, she no longer remembers much of it, much to her regret. What she does know, however, is that she long ago served alongside the man who would become Zeus, a starry-eyed explorer who longed for nothing but to ply the endlessness of space, raised on possible fictions of alien life and wondrous worlds and phenomena to uncover. She had an academic fascination with myth and faith, a spiritual person herself, possessing just enough knowledge of such matters to be conveniently useful to Logan as he became Zeus. She could not have understood his ambitions until they came to fruition, however, much as they enjoyed conversing about ideas of the gods. 
 
What made Aoife most valuable, however, was her training -- the specialized knowledge that allowed them to interface with and understand the data put out by the isolated predictive computers that allowed their vessel to chart its course unmolested, avoiding everything from lethal micro-debris to the remnants of stellar detonations, all obstacles that would otherwise have posed a constant risk of destroying or disabling the vessel, leaving its crew to die with no recourse.
 
When the time did come, however, Aoife sided with Isaac, though the tide quickly turned against them. Cornered with her support staff, Aoife was given a choice, spared by her irreplaceable knowledge.
 
Join Zeus, and she and her staff would be spared, or defy him and they'd all die or be imprisoned in torment.
 
Biting her tongue, she chose the latter, assigned a masculine identity against her will such as to fit into the role Zeus had designed for her, a cruel punishment for siding with the mutineers.
 
She ground her teeth as she was compelled to fill those few gaps in Zeus and Horace's knowledge of the classical world, terrified that, if she fought openly against his restructuring, the madman might slaughter the colonists in a fit of petulant, arrogant rage, compelled to live in the body of an androgynous, athletic man by Zeus's intimidating presence, terrified of what might happen should she break from the foundation he constructed -- but she was not, however, completely idle. She played the role of divine prophet, entertainer, and eventually pharmacologist, in which they were aided by both her Antikythera and a clone of themselves created for that specific purpose - Asclepius, also justified by Apollo's need for a personal envoy with which to visibly fulfill these duties -- and to design biological constructs necessary for Apollo's duties.
 
Still, as much as she was able to do under Zeus's thumb, Apollo yearned for more -- so, so much more. She watched, mostly helpless, as Zeus neglected Hera, using her role as an entertainer in vain attempts to provide her some respite, but still, she lacked the power to put an end to Zeus. She watched, deeply pained, as Konrad fully became Hades, visiting his terrible machinations both on the innocents of Hellas and people they once knew as friends with little to no recourse, and in shame as Dr. Quinn destroyed herself to become Demeter, cursing themselves for lacking the wherewithal to do something about any of it, for even though they knew that to rebel against Zeus would slay millions of mortals, some small part of them wondered if Isaac's bloody vengeance had been right all along.
 
And yet, despite her turmoil, Apollo watched, cowardly and helpless as Hermes was shattered into what they saw as a shell of his former self, so terrified and cowed by Zeus's presence they wondered if he had been holding a gun to his head all along -- but for Kevin, however, Apollo felt most guilty, and complicit, of all, perhaps seeing some part of themselves in them.
 
Most of all, she felt guilty for failing so utterly in her mission to ply the stars and see aid safely brought to the hapless colonists of Hellas. These feelings came to a head shortly after she'd completed Hebe's training, when Apollo stumbled upon ancient data hidden within tertiary databanks attached to the Antikythera to keep them away from Zeus -- fragmentary recordings and diaries of her time spent on Old Arith with her parents. Though much of the data was lost, what little remained reminded Apollo of how her ancestors fought against the oppression of her conquerors, intensifying the guilt she felt a hundredfold. 
 
Lost in crisis, Apollo blamed herself for the fate of the colonists. What if she'd defied Zeus? What if she'd attempted to send a transmission back to Arith when she'd had the chance? Perhaps she could've ejected the vessel's cargo, keeping it out of the hands of Zeus and in the hands of the colonists?
 
Apollo had simply no idea what to do until, digging deep into the tertiary banks she found, she stumbled upon mythological tales of the identity she would eventually adopt: the Mórrigan. Memories came rushing back to her of reading the tales in her teenage years, some small part of her wishing she was the Mórrigan, and finding security and comfort in the pre-Christian faith of her people.
 
Then, she had an epiphany. Perhaps that was her mistake, convincing herself that she could save the mortals without hurting the Olympians was her error. Allowing Zeus to force her to become Apollo was a mistake, too, but perhaps her greatest error was being unwilling to hurt and kill and actively manipulate to tear Zeus's empire down. Surely he deserved no such kindness, when he only showed it to others as an utterly cynical method to secure his power?
 
Of that, Apollo was certain. She was not Apollo. Apollo was a lie, and so was her cowardly unwillingness to do what had to be done. Zeus had to be stopped.
 
And so, with a new course in mind, she took up the mantle of the Mórrigan, pressing Asclepius and her most trusted servants to alter and augment her in increasingly elaborate ways to allow herself to embody the Mórrigan. Asclepius's laboratories on Delphos were expanded to allow greater, more complex chemical production, and the relic equipment on Delphos was scoured for any technology that could serve that purpose, but searches quickly dried up, leading the Mórrigan to result in increasingly desperate, radical methods. 
 
And of course, as Zeus's rule continued to persist, the Mórrigan increasingly came to view herself as the only one capable of toppling his empire, and Isaac as a brutal monster that only claimed to care, enraged at his raids against innocent civilians. She was their only hope at freedom, and the more she believed that, the more she began to believe she could really be the Mórrigan, retreating into the identity in a desperate attempt to feel feel from Zeus's grasp and separate herself from her guilt and trauma, all while still serving the role of divine entertainer.
 
As of late, however, Apollo's absences to observe the Antikythera device -- and her involvement with the mortals of the world -- have both intensified, bringing more and more followers into her direct tutelage in her primary temple on the so-named Isle of Delphos, a heavily-defended fortress where Apollo spends much of her time, rather than on Olympus itself. In fact, her Apollonides fulfill many of the functions of entertainment Apollo once did, though Hebe has taken up much of her mantle as the entertainer of the gods.
 
[b]GULA:[/b]While Gula would always be the primary means of maintaining the health of Olympians, Apollo truly did feel for Gula's mandate to heal all the sick (and remained paranoid of Zeus's access to the A.I.), regardless of his refusal. Apollo has yet to make significant strides in enabling the A.I., however.
 
[b]Asclepius:[/b] Apollo's most favoured child, even more than the naturally born demigods she impregnated, Asclepius was an early cloning project designed specifically to help fulfill Apollo's function as a deity of healing. With GULA serving this function for Olympus, Asclepius provides an admittedly lesser service to mortals on occasion, helping to stymie unexpected pandemics or encouraging proper medical practice for the mortals of Hellas, alongside his daughters, especially Hygieia. They're limited in scope by the level of technology of the mortals, however, though their efforts see marked reductions in the spread of disease where they deign to visit. More importantly, however. Asclepius is Apollo's personal pharmacologist, enabling much of their secret projects, and is one of the few people aware of her true nature as the Mórrigan.
 
[b]The Korybantes:[/b] Apollo's most favourite demigods, the Korybantes are mostly the male (though occasionally otherwise) followers of Apollo, warrior-dancers clad in carbon nanofibers and metal places nearly of the quality worn by the gods, serving as both entertainers on Olympus and Apollo's personal guard. Each of the Korybantes is unflinchingly loyal and sculpted to physical perfection, though they are no less culturally aware than their progenitor, frequently wielding combination-weapons, such as spears that incorporate pulse weapons or physical shields containing embedded plasma window generators.
 
[b]Phemonoe:[/b] the first of Apollo's oracles and the deity's first natural-born child, Phemonoe is frequently visited on Delphos by mortal Kings and Queens seeking guidance. She has some limited ability to perceive the Antikythera, thanks to her parent's training and pharmacological treatment by Asclepius, though her ability is inevitably far lesser than the deity themselves.
 
[b]The Musa Apollonides:[/b] Another set of Apollo's demigod offspring, Apollonis, Cephisso, and Borysthenis are are never seen outside of Olympus or Delphos, serving the function temple entertainers and supporting case for Hebe on special occasions. Although physically and mentally resilient in their own right, they are not warriors, trained and bred exclusively for skill with singing and instruments, though their vocal skills inevitably pale in comparison to Hebe.
 
[b]The Centaurs:[/b] One of the Mórrigan's first projects as Apollo to appease Zeus was to father the centaurs, although, truthfully, much of the actual scientific work was done by Asclepius and Coeus to prove Asclepius's value to the supposed King of the gods. A strange, biological amalgamation of man and equine drawn from an initial handful of mortal volunteers, now a self-sustaining society of nomads, their wide-ranging travels served to establish many of the trade routes that connect the nations of Hellas today, an original purpose of their creation, along with ensuring the mortals of Hellas would be frequently exposed to supposedly mythological creatures, a reminder of the influence of the divine even to those not visited by the gods. Their unique anatomy prevents them from settling into most urban environments, meaning few centaurs, if any, will settle alongside unmodified humans, though as some of the first true shock cavalry on Hellas, they are highly prized as mercenaries, being that they are essentially only capable of cavalry warfare. Some centaurs are valued as laborers, though -- especially the stockier types, while others have developed the stamina necessary for horse archery and skirmishing warfare. Rare goods can often be found available for trade with the more wide-ranging nomadic clans, often traded for weapons, specially-made armour, or foodstuffs, though the centaurs themselves hunt and gather where they travel, at least on the long stretches between major settlements. 
 
[b]Apate:[/b] Perhaps due to friendly relationship with Nyx prior to the mutiny, Apollo has always strove to maintain an at least friendly relationship with Nyx's children, especially Apate and her closest siblings, though particularly the goddess herself. The Mórrigan's reasons for doing so are threefold -- to give her as few reasons to investigate her secret dealings as possible, and to stay close to a potential comrade in reigning in, if not outright dismantling Zeus entirely.
 
[b]Hebe Dia:[/b] Apollo's relation with Hebe is a complicated one for while it was Apollo that taught her much of what she knows of the performing arts and who subtly encouraged her charitability, as the Mórrigan, she's less able to spend time around the Princess for fear it might lead to her being discovered. The very thaumaturges that hide the grisly truth of the cult from Hebe are mostly content with this state of affairs, being that it places more distance between Apollo and them, knowing well that the god would almost certainly expose it to Hebe should the sacrificial rituals be discovered.

To Olympus, however, she was (or at least were) Hebes' tutor on matters of music, though Hebe has increasingly taken up Apollo's role, especially after her absences from Olympus grew lengthier and more frequent.

[b]Coeus:[/b] Apollo is one of the few gods that can be said to be genuinely friendly toward Coeus, referring to him as Hephaestus only in the presence of other gods. She is far more likely to rely on him for engineering projects than she is to go to other gods for help, often providing consultation through the Antikythera for him when asked.
 
[b]Zeus:[/b] Although outwardly obedient to Zeus, the Mórrigan harbours a deep hatred for the god, matched perhaps only by Typhon himself. Much of Apollo's free time is spent scheming against him, subtly nudging mortals in directions that interfere with Zeus, though the Mórrigan has grown sufficiently desperate to consider creating opportunities for Isaac. For the most part, however, her subversions are so delicate and subtle that even Apate has not noticed them, hidden in plain sight or behind veils that no sight can penetrate.
 
[b]Eros:[/b] Apollo's relationship with Eros is perhaps the most complicated of all; while Apollo deeply appreciates Eros's unending acceptance of others, and openness to alternative lifestyles, she distrusts the existence of a compound such as L.O.V.E., viewing it as a violation of the consent of mortals -- and a dangerous threat to her plans to topple Zeus. Asclepius has been tasked with producing an antidote, and the deity herself ensures her followers keep a distance from it when possible.
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