Post by Mnemosyne on Aug 28, 2008 17:14:34 GMT -5
Name- Inanna
Aliases- Innin, Ennin, Ninnin, Ninni, Ninanna, Innina, Ennina, Irnina, Innini, Nana and Nin, commonly derived from an earlier Nin-ana "lady of the sky" as well as Ishtar.
Type- Goddess
Age- At least 6000
Gender- Female
Parents/Family- Sister- Ereshkigal
Husband- Dumuzi
Sister-in-law- Geshtinanna
Powers- As well as those generally associated with a goddess, she has power over all things growing, particularly crops and farming animals, able to wither or increase the yields of any at will. She can bring about a bountiful harvest in the deepest, darkest winter and can kill a healthy crop in the most beautiful autumn. Her true form here is that of bounty, a warm and soft persona, full of life and the promise of fruit. She is the smell of spring and the crisp breeze of autumn, the glow of gold on the wheat harvest and the crunch of each fresh apple. She is the acorn and the chestnut, the egg and the honey. In this persona, she is her most human, a woman in full bloom of youth, her long hair dark and glossy, her arms full of corn and her skin glowing from days spent in the sun.
As a goddess of war, she also has the power to steer conflicts, finding the fulcrum of the battle and using it to her advantage, letting the underdog seize the day or allowing the greater force to enjoy its sure and certain victory. It is to her prayers must be addressed before battle to ensure a provident outcome, and to her which thanks must be given after victory. She often rides to battle flanked by two lionesses, the symbols of her power, and she exults in the bloodshed, taking her own sword to both sides evenly, relishing the feeling of death and the warmth of blood on her skin. Conflict gives her power, even on the smallest level, and so any kind of confrontation around her will give her strength; the greater the battle, the greater her benefit. And if she reveals one of her multiplicitous true forms, it is that of the killer, steeped in blood with ragged hair and nails broken and clawed, dirty with human flesh, her bones showing through decaying skin and muscle, a battlefield corpse with vulture wings, wearing a death’s head grin of triumph and wielding an ancient sword, notched and scarred from combat and stained with the blood and bone of her fallen enemies. In that guise, pale and deathly and deadly, she is at her strongest and at perhaps her most dangerous.
Her third power is that of a love goddess, more particularly a goddess of erotic love. She is not one for marriage, nor childbearing, nor long contented old age together. Hers is the flame of passion and desire, the surge of lust and the rush of attraction. Hers is fleeting love, passing quickly on but burning fast and hot while it lasts. In this persona, her true form is like fire, her hair bright and burning, her skin light and her eyes wide and fiery. She is, like this, capricious and fickle, she takes her power from the heat of others’ desires. She is, liked this, a waif and a shadow, mostly, unless she can take from the passions of others the rare heat of the truly mad with love. To become at her most powerful here, she must find those whose love is insane, obsessed and vicious in its intensity.
She is a threefold goddess, in each capable of great harm and great bounty, but between the three, balanced on her guile and cunning to turn all ends to suit her own. She uses her powers easily, but will more likely turn to her own mind when she needs anything done beyond the whims and fancies of her daily wants. Just as she tricked Enki into giving her the “mes”, she uses her charms and her quick mind to get what she wants.
Weaknesses- In most of her incarnations, she thrives on strength of feeling, on rage and passion and heat to be powerful. If she is deprived of these, she loses a great deal of her godly power, and so must rely on her own skills. She is also prone to suffer a fall due to her pride, which holds her aloft like a scaffold. It is this which drove her into the kingdom of Ereshkigal, and this which left her there, at the mercy of her sister, until Enki sent his gala-tura and kur-jara to revive her. She is also spiteful and vengeful, denouncing Dumuzi for not mourning her, and condemning him to half the year in the Underworld in her place.
She is also, unlike the Greek pantheon, unable to consume ambrosia or nectar. They affect her as they affect humans, since her immortality is due to her own different lineage, which is shrouded in its own mystery. She can of course be harmed, as can all gods, but she heals on her own powers. This takes a while, depending on the injury of course, but means she must be careful of other gods’ food.
Her strengths also make her a strong character, and she is vulnerable due to her whims and whimsies, floating through life on impulses more often than thought.
Physical Description- As a god, her physical body is a construct, changing as she wills it, but she has developed preferences. She tends towards lighter skin with dark hair, often worn long. She rarely ties her hair up, leaving it free and wild.
Her eyes are normally dark, wide and slightly upward tilted at the corners, with heavy lashes and thin eyebrows. She likes to wear good cheekbones with a defined facial structure, her chin narrow and her jaw quite hard. Her face in general is always beautiful, but also always sharp, thin and lovely in a dangerous way.
Mental Description- Due to her multiplicitous nature, Inanna is fickle and changeable, at one time being peaceable and calm, at another dangerous and vicious. But in everything she does, she is extreme. If she is in love, she loves with all her heart, if she hates, she hates with every fibre of her being, is she wants something, she will go to the very ends of the earth to make it hers. She wields her power like a sword, always at her side and ready should the need be, but she has wits and cunning enough to use as well. If the situation demands it, she will be still and she will be calm, and she can put as much of her fire and will into that as into anything. Though an impulsive creature, she is very much under her own control. This seems a paradox, but it is not so. It is simply that she follows her desires and sees no reason to do as she "ought" when to do as she wills is so much more fun, even if there is no reason or sense behind it. This makes her dangerous to those around her.
History- Her birth is shrouded in mystery, and even she herself is not entirely aware of her beginnings.
Current Residence- (gods- olympus, or wherever you want, everyone else, anywhere but olympus)
Codeword- (In the Character Rules)
Aliases- Innin, Ennin, Ninnin, Ninni, Ninanna, Innina, Ennina, Irnina, Innini, Nana and Nin, commonly derived from an earlier Nin-ana "lady of the sky" as well as Ishtar.
Type- Goddess
Age- At least 6000
Gender- Female
Parents/Family- Sister- Ereshkigal
Husband- Dumuzi
Sister-in-law- Geshtinanna
Powers- As well as those generally associated with a goddess, she has power over all things growing, particularly crops and farming animals, able to wither or increase the yields of any at will. She can bring about a bountiful harvest in the deepest, darkest winter and can kill a healthy crop in the most beautiful autumn. Her true form here is that of bounty, a warm and soft persona, full of life and the promise of fruit. She is the smell of spring and the crisp breeze of autumn, the glow of gold on the wheat harvest and the crunch of each fresh apple. She is the acorn and the chestnut, the egg and the honey. In this persona, she is her most human, a woman in full bloom of youth, her long hair dark and glossy, her arms full of corn and her skin glowing from days spent in the sun.
As a goddess of war, she also has the power to steer conflicts, finding the fulcrum of the battle and using it to her advantage, letting the underdog seize the day or allowing the greater force to enjoy its sure and certain victory. It is to her prayers must be addressed before battle to ensure a provident outcome, and to her which thanks must be given after victory. She often rides to battle flanked by two lionesses, the symbols of her power, and she exults in the bloodshed, taking her own sword to both sides evenly, relishing the feeling of death and the warmth of blood on her skin. Conflict gives her power, even on the smallest level, and so any kind of confrontation around her will give her strength; the greater the battle, the greater her benefit. And if she reveals one of her multiplicitous true forms, it is that of the killer, steeped in blood with ragged hair and nails broken and clawed, dirty with human flesh, her bones showing through decaying skin and muscle, a battlefield corpse with vulture wings, wearing a death’s head grin of triumph and wielding an ancient sword, notched and scarred from combat and stained with the blood and bone of her fallen enemies. In that guise, pale and deathly and deadly, she is at her strongest and at perhaps her most dangerous.
Her third power is that of a love goddess, more particularly a goddess of erotic love. She is not one for marriage, nor childbearing, nor long contented old age together. Hers is the flame of passion and desire, the surge of lust and the rush of attraction. Hers is fleeting love, passing quickly on but burning fast and hot while it lasts. In this persona, her true form is like fire, her hair bright and burning, her skin light and her eyes wide and fiery. She is, like this, capricious and fickle, she takes her power from the heat of others’ desires. She is, liked this, a waif and a shadow, mostly, unless she can take from the passions of others the rare heat of the truly mad with love. To become at her most powerful here, she must find those whose love is insane, obsessed and vicious in its intensity.
She is a threefold goddess, in each capable of great harm and great bounty, but between the three, balanced on her guile and cunning to turn all ends to suit her own. She uses her powers easily, but will more likely turn to her own mind when she needs anything done beyond the whims and fancies of her daily wants. Just as she tricked Enki into giving her the “mes”, she uses her charms and her quick mind to get what she wants.
Weaknesses- In most of her incarnations, she thrives on strength of feeling, on rage and passion and heat to be powerful. If she is deprived of these, she loses a great deal of her godly power, and so must rely on her own skills. She is also prone to suffer a fall due to her pride, which holds her aloft like a scaffold. It is this which drove her into the kingdom of Ereshkigal, and this which left her there, at the mercy of her sister, until Enki sent his gala-tura and kur-jara to revive her. She is also spiteful and vengeful, denouncing Dumuzi for not mourning her, and condemning him to half the year in the Underworld in her place.
She is also, unlike the Greek pantheon, unable to consume ambrosia or nectar. They affect her as they affect humans, since her immortality is due to her own different lineage, which is shrouded in its own mystery. She can of course be harmed, as can all gods, but she heals on her own powers. This takes a while, depending on the injury of course, but means she must be careful of other gods’ food.
Her strengths also make her a strong character, and she is vulnerable due to her whims and whimsies, floating through life on impulses more often than thought.
Physical Description- As a god, her physical body is a construct, changing as she wills it, but she has developed preferences. She tends towards lighter skin with dark hair, often worn long. She rarely ties her hair up, leaving it free and wild.
Her eyes are normally dark, wide and slightly upward tilted at the corners, with heavy lashes and thin eyebrows. She likes to wear good cheekbones with a defined facial structure, her chin narrow and her jaw quite hard. Her face in general is always beautiful, but also always sharp, thin and lovely in a dangerous way.
Mental Description- Due to her multiplicitous nature, Inanna is fickle and changeable, at one time being peaceable and calm, at another dangerous and vicious. But in everything she does, she is extreme. If she is in love, she loves with all her heart, if she hates, she hates with every fibre of her being, is she wants something, she will go to the very ends of the earth to make it hers. She wields her power like a sword, always at her side and ready should the need be, but she has wits and cunning enough to use as well. If the situation demands it, she will be still and she will be calm, and she can put as much of her fire and will into that as into anything. Though an impulsive creature, she is very much under her own control. This seems a paradox, but it is not so. It is simply that she follows her desires and sees no reason to do as she "ought" when to do as she wills is so much more fun, even if there is no reason or sense behind it. This makes her dangerous to those around her.
History- Her birth is shrouded in mystery, and even she herself is not entirely aware of her beginnings.
Current Residence- (gods- olympus, or wherever you want, everyone else, anywhere but olympus)
Codeword- (In the Character Rules)
