Application, Contact Info, OOC

[acratophorus]

Player Information
» Name: Paul
» Age: 36
» Journal: manos74
» Contact: AIM (mrevilena1), email (pward_74@yahoo.com)

Deity Information
» Pantheon: Greek
» Deity: Dionysus
» Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus, http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Dionysos.html
» Divine Family: {mother & father} Zeus and Semele; {spouse} Ariadne
» Mythology: Dionysus was the Greek god of wine, pleasure, and vegetation. "Acratophorus," one of the epithets used to name him, translates as "giver of unmixed wine."

While early depictions of him were of an older and bearded god, he was also frequently depicted as a young feminine-appearing man of extraordinary beauty. Depictions of him also often included him carrying a thyrsos (a staff of fennel wood topped with a pine cone) and accompanied by a procession of nymphs and satyrs.

In the most common myth, Zeus seduced Semele, a mortal woman who was one of his priestesses. Zeus first appeared to her in the form of an eagle, and later visited her secretly and repeatedly; as a result, Semele became pregnant. Upon learning of the pregnancy, Hera grew jealous of Semele; in the diguise of an old crone, she manipulated Semele into asking Zeus to reveal his true form to her. Because Zeus had sworn on the River Styx to grant Semele anything she asked for, he could not refuse her, and appeared to her in his true form. Unfortunately, his divine radiance incinerated her. However, Zeus was able to rescue her unborn son, Dionysus, from the flames by sewing him into his thigh-- from which he was born fully-formed.

Zeus gave Dionysus to Hermes to raise on Mount Nysa. Later, Lykourgos, the king of Edonia, drove out Dionysus and his nursemaids and forced them into the sea. Dionysus was able to seek refuge with the sea-goddess Thetis, who also cared for Hephaestus when he was cast out of Olympus. (In revenge for Lykourgos' actions, Dionysus drove him mad, forcing him to kill his own family and later driving him out of his house where he was devoured by a wild beast.) The two gods began a long-lasting friendship. Much later on, when Hephaestus was trying to regain entry to Olympus, he sent a golden throne to Hera, supposedly as a gift; however, the throne imprisoned her. The other gods of Olympus tried to convince Hephaestus to release Hera, but he refused to listen to any of them. Dionysus was the only one Hephaestus would listen to; after getting him drunk, he was able to convince Hephaestus to let Hera go. Dionysus was also able to convince the other gods to allow Hephaestus to return to Olympus.

However, Hera remained jealous after Dionysus' birth, and drove Dionysus insane with a curse. Dionysus' madness caused him to wander for years, until he was cured by the goddess Cybele, who taught him the rites of her worship as well as the cultivation of grapes and the secret of making wine. Dionysus wandered for years again, but this time with the purpose of spreading his knowledge. In some myths, Hercules joined him, and the two of them brought civilization to the wild lands where they went-- Hercules by slaying monsters, and Dionysus by planting grapes.

Dionysus and Hercules would eventually wander as far as India; along the way, Dionysus would build the first bridge over the River Euphrates. Upon arriving in India, Dionysus erected pillars at the edge of the world to keep the sky held up. While searching for water nearby, a ram sprang from the ground and led him to a spring. In thanks, Dionysus founded the temple of Zeus Ammon on the site, and asked Zeus to immortalize the ram. Zeus granted Dionysus' request by putting the ram into the heavens as the constellation Aries. In return, however, Zeus asked Dionysus and Hercules to go to war against the Indians. Together with an army of Theban soldiers and demigods, they gained some early successes, but the Indians were able to successfully fight off the invaders by summoning fire and lightning in battle.

Not everyone welcomed Dionysus' knowledge, however-- especially since the rites of the cult that grew around him involved all manner of chaos. For example, upon Dionysus' arrival at Thebes, the Theban king Pentheus tried to stamp out the disorder of his cult (in which his mother and aunts were worshipers). Not only did Pentheus refuse to acknowledge him as a god, he did everything he could to dissuade the Theban citizens from worshiping him, and even ordered Dionysus' arrest. Dionysus became angry at Pentheus' actions, and in revenge, he had Pentheus' mother and aunts tear him limb from limb during one of his cult's rites.

(This was not the first time Dionysus had been angry with Thebes. Earlier, the daughters of the Theban king Kadmos-- one of whom, Agaue, would later become the mother of Pentheus-- had been Dionysus' nursemaids, for which he had blessed them. However, they later came to slander Semele, spreading a rumor that she had not slept with Zeus, but a mortal man instead. Dionysus grew furious and caused their sons Pentheus, Learkhos, and Aktaion to be torn apart; Pentheus' death is described above, Learkhos was dismembered by his own father, and Aktaion was torn apart by his dogs.)

As Dionysus was the god of pleasure, he had many lovers, both human and divine-- though the relationships were not always pleasant ones. For example, Eros was in love with the Titan Aura, but Dionysus pursued her as well. In jealousy, Eros shot Dionysus with an arrow; as a result, Dionysus' lust ran out of control, causing him to get the nymph Nikaia drunk and rape her. Later, Dionysus had a liaison with the goddess Aphrodite, resulting in the birth of a son, Priapus, and three daughters, Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia (better known as the three Graces).

However, Dionysus would eventually find lasting love with Ariadne, the mortal princess of Crete and daughter of King Minos. After she and Theseus escaped from Crete, Theseus abandoned her when she was asleep on the island of Naxos; Dionysus found her, stopped her from committing suicide, and eventually married her. Upon marrying her, Dionysus put her bridal diadem into the heavens, where it became the constellation Corona. Dionysis and Ariadne eventually had many sons together-- most noteworthy, the twins Staphylos and Oinopion, who were the personification of grapes and wine, respectively. Tragically, when she returned to Naxos, Ariadne was killed by an arrow shot by Artemis. However, Dionysus traveled to the underworld and, after getting Hades drunk, took both Ariadne and Semele back to Olympus with him.


Character Information
» Played By: Russell Brand
» Journal: acratophorus
» Current Name: Chase "Chaz" Woods
» Birthdate: 03/17/1983
» Height: 6'0"
» Distinguishing Marks: On his right shoulder, a tattoo of a grapevine and ivy braided in a circle
» Family: {mother & father} Mother deceased, father estranged.
» Occupation: Formerly bartender; now currently unemployed.
» Currently Residing In: Spokane, Washington
» Ability: Has the alcohol tolerance of someone thrice his size; very skilled homebrewer, vintner, and distiller; has the ability to summon alcohol out of thin air; can make anyone within a twenty-foot radius lose their inhibitions.

» History: Chase Woods-- or "Chaz," as he preferred to be called from the age of six on-- grew up in the Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia, the son of a housewife and a corporate middle-manager. Despite his privileged upbringing, however, his childhood was not particularly happy. His mother died in a house fire when Chaz was still a baby, and as a result he has very little memory of her. His father never remarried, and instead used Chaz as a way to live vicariously through his son-- he kept urging Chaz to apply himself and study hard, so that he could become the great success his father desired for himself. Young Chaz, however, much rather preferred to spend his time watching cartoons or having fun with his friends-- in his own words, he "couldn't give a rabid rat's ass" about his grades or after-school activities. This was the beginning of a rift between Chaz and his father.

At school, one of Chaz's teachers wrote on his report card "This student would have to put forth more effort for his academic performance to be considered lackluster." For a long time, summer was his least-favorite time of the year, since his abysmal grades during the school year meant that he had to stay in summer classes while all his friends were having fun without him. As time went by, and Chaz grew into a teenager, he started to nurture a huge resentment towards his teachers, seeing them only as jumped-up babysitters at best, prison wardens at worst. The worse Chaz did at school, however, the more determined his father became for him to study harder, take more advanced classes, and become more involved in extracurricular programs. Chaz found no trouble at all splitting his resentment in huge and equal portions between both his teachers and his father-- and, by the time of his freshman year of high school, toward the idea of authority in general.

However, despite his hatred of school and teachers, Chaz had a quick enough wit to figure out how to slip out of the worst kinds of trouble, and how to figure out the bare minimum to get by. Even so, hardly a week during Chaz's adolescence would go by without a huge fight between Chaz and his father, sparked by his perpetually-messy room, low grades, or (in extreme cases) a minor scrape with the law. Finally, on the night Chaz graduated from high school, he took off his cap and gown, threw his diploma into a trash can at the bus station, and jumped on the quickest Greyhound to New York.

Despite his lack of formal education and lack of job prospects, he had a gift for making friends quickly and easily, and soon found himself not only with a reliable circle of people who were willing to let him stay at their places, but with enough friends who "knew a guy" who were willing to give Chaz a job. In this way, Chaz was able to find steady work as a bartender at Al's Tap-- a small hole-in-the-wall bar near the Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn. The work suited him-- not only did he feel a kinship with the bohemian art-school crowd of the area, but he quickly found he had much skill in mixing and serving drinks as well. The bar's owner was so impressed at Chaz's behind-the-bar skills that he left the place to him when he retired. Renamed to Gambrinus's Hole, Chaz ran the bar for two years now, and was a favorite with drinkers who didn't quite fit in at other establishments.

However, as time went on, he felt something calling him to move on. He tried to ignore it, but the feeling grew more insistent by the day-- until, finally, one night he had the most vivid dream of his life: He was on a mountaintop, surrounded by powerful beings, laughing and drinking deeply. Without being told, he knew they were gods, and he knew he belonged with them.

As soon as he woke up, he threw as much as he could fit into a duffel bag, tossed the keys to the first of his staff he came across, bought a beat-up clunker with all the cash in his pockets, and drove out of town with the rising sun at his back. It was time for the young god to go West.

» Personality: Chaz lives by one great overriding principle-- "Have a good time all the time." He's never been a person to worry about matters more urgent than "Where's the party at tonight?" Even as the manager of a bar, he only cares about the liquor shelves being properly stocked-- leaving details about the bookkeeping, cleanup, etc. to his employees. When he's not behind the bar, he's most often found in the bar's back room, tinkering with the many batches of home-brewed beer he's currently working on. All the tinkering must pay off, however, because his homebrew is almost always a cut above the other craft beers and microbrews in the area.

He thinks the world would be a better place if everyone did what made them happy, rather than doing what teachers, bosses, or governments told them to. At his bar, he's never been stringent about checking patrons' IDs, or making sure the bar's closed at last call. Despite this, he's so far managed to avoid any unwelcome police attention-- some of his patrons say he tips some well-placed money to some well-placed people, but some of his patrons will say anything. Still, the fact remains that while scarcely a week goes by without a bar in the city getting fined for some violation or another, Gambrinus's Hole has had a completely untarnished record since Chaz took over.

Chaz is single at the moment. In fact, he's never had a romantic relationship last longer than three months-- while he likes the fun and excitement of having a new partner between the sheets, things like "being considerate" and "remembering birthdays" and "monogamy" are harsh buzzkills to him that he tends to avoid. He has a nasty habit of ignoring his current partners in favor of finding new ones. Long-term commitment is, in his eyes, the first step on the road that leads inevitably to a house in the suburbs with a minivan and 2.5 kids and, in his words, "no more fun ever." Still, one day he might encounter someone who might make him see that commitment isn't all ball-and-chain...

Unfortunately, Chaz has been known to have a foul temper at times. While he is quite often easygoing and pleasant, any insults to him, his family, or his bar are guaranteed to set him off into a rage-- and when Chaz goes into a rage at someone, things seldom end well for them. One night, several months after Chaz took over the bar, one drinker cracked a "that's what your mom said last night" joke to him. Chaz not only banned this patron from the bar for life, but ejected him from the premises head-first onto the sidewalk. Neighborhood rumor has it that this unfortunate gentlemen was not only mugged on his way home that night, but also returned to find his apartment completely ransacked. Another time, Chaz caught a pair of robbers trying to break into the bar early one morning. After receiving a few blows from the baseball bat Chaz keeps under the bar, the pair fled out into the street-- and were both promptly run over by a bus that was mysteriously running several minutes ahead of schedule.

Despite his mercurial personality, he's often quite generous-- he'll often give free drinks or free meals to his regular patrons, and he has a habit of giving charms and trinkets to his new lovers as well. His employees have found him to be wonderfully generous with granting time off if they ask for it, and he's never chewed out anyone for showing up to work late. For his regulars of the artistic persuasion, he'll frequently allow them to use the bar as a studio or performance space free of charge. And anyone, patrons or employees, going through rough times will find that Chaz will gladly listen to their troubles, and often provide some useful advice as well.

» Other Notes: Will do anything that feels good, no matter the time or place.

» Sample Journal: Just tapped my latest batch of homebrew. I have to tell you, man, this stuff is off the chain. I don't know if I just got a really good bag of hops or what, but every brew I've done so far has been amazing. Have to see if I can brew up another pony of that Grecian Urn stuff in time for Mardi Gras week; that stuff sells like fried gold, man. And like I always say, friends come and go, lovers come and go, money comes and goes, but the taste of a good drink stays with you forever.

» Sample Log: Chaz came out of the backroom carrying a couple cases of beer. The sound system was pounding out at jet-takeoff volume-- some dance tune with an unexpected rhythm, but his regulars were way into it. After all, this was the same crowd that danced ecstatically to Philip Glass.

"Here's for the coolers," he said as he passed the cases off to one of the bartenders, a Pratt Institute dropout with tattoos sleeving her arms and ears that almost reminded him of a hardware store. His eyes took in the bottles behind the bar at a glance, noting instantly exactly how much of each liquor was available. Satisfied, he stepped over to his position at the corner behind the bar at the front window. This was his favorite spot in the place, perfect to see both the whole bar and the sidewalk outside.

With a practiced motion, he hooked a bottle of his own beer out of the cooler behind him, uncapped it on the bottle opener he'd had mounted specially to his reach, and drank deeply. He always enjoyed looking over the crowd on good nights-- and lately, all the nights had been good. The folks who came here weren't ones that fit in easily anywhere else-- art-school refugees, antisocial near shut-ins, guitarists whose bands were always "just one more gig, man" away from hitting the big-time, hotheads who spoke only in manifestoes ... and some who were just so off from the rest of the world that they even made Chaz feel uneasy. And yet, they all had three things in common-- they always came here, always got along with each other, and always had a good time.