Hephaestus

Hephaestus (Ήφαιστος in Ancient Greek, also spelled Hephaistos) is the god of forges and fire and blacksmith to the gods. His Roman counterpart is Vulcan.

Description(Greek and Roman)
He is a huge lump of a man with his shoulders at different heights and a bulging, misshapen head and his leg in a steel brace, with a wild black beard that sparks fire. He is the only Olympian to show such extreme physical injuries however, he is also muscular from working in his forges. Inside his workshop, he wears a jumpsuit smeared with grime and oil with the name Hephaestus embroidered over the chest pocket. Whene he is on Olympus, he is clean and elegant.

Vulcan...

History
In a few myths, Zeus is the father of Hephaestus. The smith was present in these stories when Athena was born from Zeus’s head, and was in fact the one to deliver the blow to the god’s skull.More common, however, was the idea that Hera created him on her own. Before marrying Hera, Zeus had been wed to the Titaness Metis. Hearing that she would eventually bear a son that would be strong enough to overthrow him, Zeus turned his first wife into a fly and swallowed her. What Zeus had not known was that Metis was already carrying his first child. Several months later, blinding headaches began to plague the king of the gods. Desperate for relief, he ordered his head to be split open. When he did, Athena emerged fully formed and dressed in armor. The story goes that Hera was jealous of her husband’s new child. In carrying and birthing a daughter on his own, albeit in a very unusual way, Zeus had devalued Hera’s role as his wife. Her jealousy toward Zeus’s many children was a common theme in myths. With Athena, though, there was no mother to point to as the enemy. Hera was jealous of her husband himself. Out of spite, Hera resolved to have a child on her own, as well. She and Zeus would each have a child the other could not claim. Hephaestus was born from Hera’s will to get back at her husband, but it was immediately apparent that his birth did not live up to Athena’s. Rather than a perfectly formed deity like Zeus had created, Hera gave birth to a son with a disability. Many myths describe him as “lame,” a common term for someone with a limp, while one hymn specified that he had a shrivelled foot. Such a condition was considered a curse by many in the ancient world, all the more so for a divine being who was supposed to adhere to the ideals of the gods. Hera was immediately disgusted by her son’s imperfection. It was not unheard of in the ancient world for physically disabled or deformed infants to be killed or left to die from exposure, and the same held true even for the gods. A rumor was spread by Hera that Zeus threw him from Mt. Olympus at birth due to his ugliness, when it was really Hera herself. Another story makes the claim that Hephaestus stepped in between his mother and father's argument and sided with Hera. In rage of his son's actions, Zeus seized Hephaestus by the legs and threw him from the top of Mt. Olympus, which caused his drastic injuries. After being nursed to health, Zeus (in a rare act) apologized and welcomed his son back with open arms.

The goddess of love, Aphrodite, was causing a lot of problems in Olympus due to her radiant beauty. Zeus decided to wed her to Hephaestus to keep her off the market, though she still had multiple affairs with Ares. Though these days the affair is considered old news and every one just accepts it but Hephaestus still tries to find ways to publicly embarrass his wife and her lover in front of the other gods with elaborate traps and tricks. The most famous one and the first one was when he caught the two lovers in a magical net and then invited the other gods to come and laugh at the unfortunate sight.

He also took part in creating the metal giant Talos, the Trojan Horse, and other various automatons

Powers/Abilities
He is god of the forges and can forge anything in a short amount of time. He is a master blacksmith and can make anything with the materials around him. He is the god of fire so can control fire and lava. Like the other gods he can teleport using super-fast air travel and is probably very strong due to working in the forges all day. He presumably possesses the standard power of a God.

Personality(Greek and Roman)
Hephaestus tends to be gruff, and disappointed in life and in people. He loves his wife, Aphrodite however he is sad and angry at her unfaithfullnes. He is very bitter and hatefull towards his mother, Hera. He is very bitter about his life, and puts his faith in machines rather then people, as machines can't let you down. However, he appears to have a soft spot for cyclops like Tyson, and seems to be on good terms with Athena. Hephaestus greatly admired Daedalus. Dispite his bitterness, he is the lover of many things, his unfaithfull wife, Aphrodite and his demigod children and their mothers.

Vulcan...

Children
The children of Hephaestus are made for the forge. They have a high resistance to heat, and even lava. The tools of the forge listen to them, and their feats are majestic. They do not find it hard to enchant their creations, at least after years of practice. They can control melted metal, solid metal, fire and lava. They feel at home within volcanoes, and when they are inside of one, they have complete control over it.

The abilities of Hephaestus develop slowly, and take more instruction than any other. Only his strongest children can accomplish this. Hephaestus's children can create automatons out of scraps, and have very skilled hands. Also may be really smart and are in the Duke Tip program for 4th-6th graders and so on.

Children:



Roman Demigods: