The Boss' Wife

Question: So Zeus and Hera tend to be constantly at each others throats, and their (meaning of course Zeus', since Hera, at least in myth, tends to be quite faithful as far as I know) kids often get to be the pawns of their marital arguments, much like Hercules and the Labors. I would say it is safe to imagine that Hera would torment almost any and all Scions of Zeus. Is there any hope for the children of the Olympian king? Or are there always going to be snakes in all their cribs and madness-induced murder?

Hera is, indeed, completely and totally faithful only to Zeus; even the wacky mystery religions, which come up with truly insane side genealogies and affairs for many of the Greek gods, never touch her. As the goddess of marriage and the family who has never had any lover before her husband, she couldn't have any flesh-and-blood Scions of her own without not only breaking the rules but actually flouting her own central representation as a goddess. She has no children that are not also Zeus' children with the possible exception of Hephaestus, who in some alternate versions is her parthenogenic son and does not have a father.

On the other hand, Zeus probably has, like, all the Scions, and you're right, Hera is unlikely to be happy about any of them. While the Titan war has certainly put the gods in dire straits and Scions are certainly necessary for them to eventually triumph, it's unlikely that Hera would be able to ignore her own nature or her husband's infidelity even in the name of cooperation and the war effort (after all, she adopts her Scions, so why can't he?). Scions of Zeus are probably always going to have to deal with her anger and dislike, which could range from infanticide attempts to making their missions hellish to sabotaging their every move when they get to Olympus and are on her home turf. I would say that, in the name of Scion's setting, Hera will probably not actively try to murder Zeus' Scions most of the time as much as make them the most miserable people in creation (murdering their families, for example, totally not off-limits); she's a savvy lady and she understands the need for shock troops, but if calm and logical reason was enough to override five dots of Vengeance, none of the Greek gods would have half the problems they do.

If you're worried about Scions of Zeus feeling too picked on, feel free to spread the anti-love around to other Scions who spring from Zeus' misbehavior; after all, Greek gods are all about punishing several generations of those who offend them, so Scions of Hermes, Apollo, Artemis or Persephone might also find her wrath turned upon them for being the grandchildren of Zeus' affairs. (Scions of Dionysus may be exempt, since he's the only illegitimate child of her husband who ever managed to convince Hera that he was a great guy and she should love him. Beleagured targets of her wrath may want to go beg him for advice on how he did it.)

Or if you're looking for a way to have a Scion of Zeus who doesn't have a giant bullseye painted on his forehead, consider having him be the son of both Zeus and Hera instead of born out of wedlock; as long as Hera was willing to take on a low-Legend Avatar form for the conception and birth, we rule that goddesses can give birth to Scions who aren't full gods from the outset (this is what Vishnu and Lakshmi, and other famously monogamous couples, usually do in our games). Of course, that depends on whether your Storyteller is down with it - I know of some games that require both parents to be in low-Legend Avatar form to have non-god children, and some that don't allow it at all - but it might be a good workaround for that rare, shining Scion of Hera who is her blood child, or of Zeus who isn't marked for extraordinarily angry goddess reprisal.

By the way, an interesting theory was suggested to me via email by a fellow Scion enthusiast the other day; the idea was that since the prophecy that Zeus' son will overthrow him is still in effect, Hera is actually killing off all his bastards in an effort to protect him from it coming to pass, rather than just because she hates them (though, again, Vengeance, so she probably hates them at least a little). They don't know who the mother of this prophesied son might be, so Hera may actually be acting to save her husband from himself and preserve their rule of Olympus by murdering children who might threaten him when they grow up. Considering that Scions are exactly the sort of children who have mighty prophecies spring up around them, she wouldn't be off-base to fear that any new son might be the chosen one. So for those looking for a version of Hera that is more sympathetic and supports the legendary solidity of their marriage more, that might be an interesting plot point all on its own.

Alas, Scions of Zeus will always have a hard row to hoe, even if they're trying their very best to impress their cranky stepmother. But that's how it goes when you're the destined sons of the ruler of the Greek universe; nobody said being at the top was going to be easy.