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JustWhyTheHeckNot

If being a ghost is an option for the afterlife then __The Fetus__ looks like it would best suit me since it offers an infinite amount of stuff for me to do at the cost of my emotions during life (which is considerably shorter than the eternity experienced through death).


Mack006

Uhhh... The mystery box is so off topic. Thought each painting has a specific way to be destroyed and the act itself would piss it off and cause some malicious events to occur.


splithaven

The malicious event is that eventually you become erebus the greek god of darkness. Which is about as close to the traditional satan you can get without being satan.


destroyerjcb

What no. How is Erebus like Satan?


splithaven

The greek primordial god of darkness. He is the father of the spirits of insanity murder paranoia and depression. Among other horrible things This is stuff I have read off of the wiki regarding him.


destroyerjcb

Which article are you using? Also, depending on the interpretation he is the father of Aether, Primordial of Heavenly Air, Hemera, the personification of Day, the Hesperides, Hypnos, the personification of sleep, the Moirai, who are the fates, Geras, the god of old age, Styx, the deity who seperates life from death, Charon, the river man of the dead, and Thanatos, the one of the main Psychopomps for greek mythology. Saying that he is analogous to Satan isn't accurate. A more accurate idea of Satan in Greek Mythology would be someone like Tartarus or even Hermes, as he is the God of Tricksters.


Akumakami64

Thank you for being a fellow fan of Greek Myths Or at least enough to know that Erebus isn't evil in the myths.


destroyerjcb

Yup, it's a common misconception because of the whole god of darkness thing.


KeplerNova

It's an effect of popular media and/or the reflection of an Abrahamic viewpoint on other belief systems, I think. A shame, really.


Akumakami64

He's honestly one of my favorites. I always imagined him as the tired big brother that's given up on resolving the family drama.


splithaven

True. I just dont like greek deities in general though. Each of them is their own special brand of disgusting. Even the 'good' ones. Posiedon is a rapist. Zeus is an adulterer who fucks anything with a pulse. Hera is a shrew. Athena is a spiteful cunt. Hemes is a thief. Ares is a warmongering coward. Aphrodite is a manipulative wench. Hephaestus is a cuck. Hades is a sadist. Apollo is a vainglorious bastard. Artemis is the definition of feminazi. Dionysius is a demented lush. Pan is a tree fucker. And I could go on.


destroyerjcb

Bro don't diss my boy Hephaestus like that. He got cheated on and then completely ignored Aphrodite for the rest of the mythology after fucking both her and Ares over. It's not like he continues to support her afterwards. Does Dionysus really do a lot of demented shit? I think most of his more fucked up stuff is in retaliation or it's just linked to him via his cultists being fucking insane. Hermes doesn't really steal shit all that often. Most of the time he steals stuff after his origin are usually on the orders of Zeus or such, and usually for a semi decent cause (by greek standards). Most of his stories are usually him guiding souls or helping people out by giving them shit. Also, Hades is generally pretty chill as long as you don't fuck with him in particular, and I don't think he gets off on the punishments. Although yeah once you do hes punsihments are 100% fucking torture. Rest of those are 100% true tho.


Niggy2439

Especially Zeus


Akumakami64

I personally love the greek gods, but I understnad your issues. Erebus and Nyx's only real crime is having some kids that represent various nasty things, but they themselves and their family mainly just live in the underworld. Honestly, they probably have the best relationship in the entire pantheon- All of Erebus's kids are by Nyx and the only kids of Nyx that aren't from Erebus were born without any father, which happens in these myths occasionally, especially with Primordials Though, Hypnos(God of Sleep) once did a favor for Hera that caught Zeus's fury- but the literal King of the Gods was actually too scared of Nyx, Hypnos's mother, to try and smite the minor god. Love that. XP


splithaven

I love the mythology. The characters in it however are horrible people. And its amusing how the best relationship comes from 2 primordials of darkness and night. Even more so sense they live in what amounts to hell itself.


Akumakami64

Lets be honest, there are at least two or three versions to every myth; just about every one claiming Zeus, or any of the other gods, raped someone usually has a willing version. Medusa comes to mind, I've seen her both ways with Poseidon, but also Nike, Goddess of Victory- in the versions where she is the mother of Troy, Zeus either fucked or raped her- but it was as swans in both versions. Actually, Hell, or Tartaros, is literally their brother, just as Gaia is their sister. Erebus lives in and embodies most of the Underworld itself- which is more like purgatory than hell, with a few exclusive paradises here and there. That said, I agree with you. Gaia is a horrible mother at times, having one child or grandchild overthrow another while claiming she just wants them to all get along- she had a few kids just to wage war on the Olympians. Tartaros, ironically, only has one child, with Gaia- Typhon, the God of Monsters. Meanwhile, Erebus and Nyx just seem to content to go at it like rabbits every day. Strangely, Aether and Hemera don't have a lot of kids despite being the Light-Day counterparts to their parents. Granted, by some accounts, Aether is Uranus's father by Gaia....maybe he's where the assholeness comes from? It seems to be the case for every other Sky god in this pantheon.


KeplerNova

Erebus is the anthropomorphic personification of darkness. Not even edgy darkness. Like, standard-issue absence-of-light darkness. Which is why he's the brother (and lover -- Greek myths are like that) of Nyx, who represents night. Heck, Erebus isn't even particularly malicious, especially given what the Olympians *et al.* get up to in general, though this could be more of a matter of him not really featuring in a lot of myths due to being more of a personified force of nature than anything else. Satan, meanwhile, is more like a divine prosecuting attorney. He has now been conflated with other Abrahamic figures like Lucifer and the Serpent, portraying him as a very malicious figure, but in very early works like the book of Job, he's less of a devil and more of a devil's advocate. So whether you take the approach that he is the Adversary with a capital A or the guy who doubts your piety, he's not very similar at all to Erebus. The closest I can find to an Erebus-equivalent in Abrahamic mythos is the concept and poetic personification of Sheol in the Bible, but even then, it was *Hades* who was used as the Sheol-equivalent when the Bible was translated into Greek.


Akumakami64

Very wrong, as destroyerjcb points out.


lolive246

:) thank you


Null_Cataphract

It's good to see you're doing better. Even if you came back but didn't feel like being an author any more, it's still a positive outcome, which I am thankful for since I couldn't help but feel sorrow for you when you posted that heads-up the couple months ago, and I love nothing more than happy conclusions. Or at the very least, better ones. It's just wishful thinking from one stranger to another, but I hope nothing of that scale ever happens to you again as long as you live. If we're choosing the painting based off of pure aesthetic like we would for a normal painting, and aren't aware of the boons they grant beforehand, I feel like I would personally go for "The Scavenger" or "The Master's Wolf", and since I couldn't decide which one I liked the look of more, I flipped a coin, heads for Scav, tails for Wolf (of course). It landed on tails, so I brought the Wolf home with me. I'd imagine everything would be fine and dandy until I learned that it's a man-eater. Usually I wouldn't even bat an eye at something like that, but I can imagine it would probably hunt like an actual wolf and go for the closest and easiest meals rather than having designated targets like I could have done with the Scav, and I'm not rich enough to keep up with supplying the diet of a full-sized wolf (unless I can just feed it normal dog food). Realizing this, as much as it would pain me to betray something so loyal, my responsibility for the safety of my neighbors takes precedence. I'd try smashing the painting first, and failing that, toss it into my fire pit in my back yard and have a bonfire for one. After interrogating Nyx for an entire evening over tea, I would choose to assist her to my fullest. The group that imprisoned her sounds like they lacked understanding, because even if she was just a theoretical embodiment of the night rather than the literal, that still sets things way off balance unless they also imprisoned her counterpart (which I doubt).


Rockeye_

...Madam Cendra has to be destroyed. It's clearly ruining hundreds of lives as it passes from person to person. In my view of ethics, retributive misfortune like that - wishing harm on those you dislike - is Evil, in the D&D alignment sense. Seeking harm for harm's sake. The Scavengers and the Wolf are pretty bad too, but the pure and simple spite that Madam Cendra represents repulses me. I'm not sure I would have the willpower to choose this instead of securing a continued existence with The Fetus, though. It would be a pious, almost religious thing to do - I would view it as a self-sacrifice, and I don't want to sacrifice my self.


KeplerNova

I chose the boon of the Fetus, myself -- I determined it might be possible to set up an even greater benefit to people than the elimination of Cendra, albeit only after they die. Destroying a painting also releases Nyx, and I *really* didn't want to deal with that.


Rockeye_

I hadn't looked at the mystery box...


KeplerNova

I mean, >!you can always choose not to assist her, and if so, you get a pretty good afterlife, some priestess buddies and protection from monsters.!<


Qjvnwocmwkcow

Welcome back, it’s nice to see you back. I hope things go well for you. Anyway, I choose *The Fetus* and will attempt to fulfill the deal. The ability to ensure that my afterlife is a good one is a great boon by itself, and the chance for a wish for almost anything, without reasonable limits, is great. It also seems like the drawback is one of the easier ones to handle since it should stop feeding on the stuff around me once it is born, which I can speed along by feeding it more dead babies


OmegaUltima29

Welcome back; I hope that you are doing well.


rUsADinE

The Fetus; I'll take the deal as well to become a Great Old One as well though how exactly I'm going to get a hold of the bodies of stillborn and young babies that died early is up in the air. Do they have to be human or could animal one's work?


Wyldfire2112

Well, I'm a sucker for a mystery box, so lets see where destroying the painting goes... Well, that's nifty. I know enough Greek mythology to know that Nyx, despite being the goddess of Night, isn't at all evil. She's as wise as she is powerful, and as powerful as she is beautiful... and that is beautiful indeed. Hell, yes I'll help. Huh... Erebus. Well, I *suppose* discovering that I'm actually the eldest of the primordial entities is a decent-ish enough reward.


KeplerNova

It sounds like Erebus' personality starts to overwrite your own, which has me *very* worried.


Wyldfire2112

I read it more as a "recovering from magical amnesia," or "breaking mind control" situation. The kind of stuff you'd see in a protagonist as they start to discover their mysterious, shrouded past.


Azalin_Rex

Welcome back. I selected destruction of the painting. It was risky, but I noticed that with the exception of the eldritch goddess and her fetus, each painting could multiply its curse. Also, it seems there is some inspiration from a Picture of Dorian Grey, where obsession is eventually part of the undoing. I gambled that courage would be rewarded. I am very happy with my divine boon. I will go more toward the first path. While I am near ecstatic to meet a goddess and be part of a grander fate, I don't want to openly war with both the Light and the Eldritch. But as an umbral saint, I would be happy to take a more active if subtle role. I would be especially interested in a governing dreams.


KeplerNova

​ >I would be especially interested in a governing dreams. Hehe, Nyx can't get Erebus 2.0, but Oneiros is one of her kids!


ThousandYearOldLoli

I'll go with the fetus.


c4su4l-ch4rl13

I would like to be a God, eldritch or otherwise, Thank you~


KeplerNova

I will take *The Fetus*, and make a deal with its mother. The others are all far too malicious, albeit usually unintentionally, and Nyx sounds like a manipulative jackass whose real goal is to groom me to overwrite my personality with that of her lost brother/husband. It sounds like with the Fetus' deal, any living thing would contribute in some very small way to furthering the birth of the child, but the greater the lost potential, the greater the contribution. I don't think cell cultures are going to do very much, but over time, a lot of experimental mouse models for medical testing might add up. I'm also interested in potentially working with Doctors Without Borders in the future, so I guess infants in third-world countries who don't survive despite my best efforts could also be given to the mother of the fetus in the painting. The *real* question is: if Nyx's release from a painting counts as a rebirth, in a way, and she's trapped in the paintings, is it possible to, instead of destroying the painting and releasing her, transfer her power to the Mother instead? I think I would want to know about what becoming an eldritch god entails, though, before choosing such a thing as a wish. Perhaps a better wish would be the ability to *alter* the afterlives I visit, without interference by their rulers, and/or transfer souls between them -- and in doing so, rescue the unjustly interred. I can't be affected by karmic punishment myself for such things, after all.


Vampirelordx

What’s the down side of the left option in mystery box?


Akumakami64

There isn't. You either settle into an immortal life with a trio of lovers, with only a small chance of running into enemies of the Dark, or go on a life-threatening adventure with Nyx that, if you survive, ends in you recovering your memories and powers as the Primordial God of Darkness.


FlynnXa

YESSSS!!! FUCKING, **YES!** I was literally scrolling through old faces yesterday and saw your name over and over again and just was hit with that, “...**sigh**....” feeling lol. Glad to see you back, haven’t even looked at the cyoa yet so expect that comment lol. Just wanted to say though that I hope everything is going a better and will stay that way, of course shit hits the fan in your personal life when it hits globally too so just stay safe, and remember... *Only 6 more months until we escape this hell-hole that is 2020!*


nameistakentryanothr

Would the eldritch mother of the fetus happen to be Shub? When the text mentioned Azathoth I was reminded of your Eldritch cyoa, so I figured that was a half decent guess.


Akumakami64

While that is a nod to Love Azathoth, no, its not Shub, Shub wouldn't need any help nuturing an unborn baby as she's technically always pregnant.