Apollites

Origins

Apollites were created in order to prove to Zeus that human beings could be improved on. They were born from the union between Apollo and an unknown nymph. Four children were born from this first mating and within days the children grew into adulthood. They possessed improved senses, acute hearing, strength, beauty, psychic ability, and superior intellect. In order to curb their ambitions (global domination), Zeus confined the Apollites to Atlantis, where they intermarried with the Atlantean natives. They constantly fought with the Greeks, which pleased Apollo because he planned for them to eventually help him overthrow Zeus. In 10,500 B.C., Apollo fell in love with the Apollite Clieto and had five sets of twins with her. Those children intermarried with the Atlantean royal family, further strengthening the mix of the two races and Apollo's dominion in Atlantis. Apollo also procreated with their descendants, fathering the firstborn royal son in every generation.

Downfall

The Abbreviated Version

One of Apollo's former mistresses took revenge on him by having his current mistress and child murdered.

The Long, Complicated Version

In 9548 B.C., three important queens got pregnant:

1. Apollymi, the queen of the Atlantean pantheon, conceived Apostolos
2. Xura, the queen of the Apollite/Atlantean people, conceived Stryker with Apollo
3. Aara, the queen of the Greek island Didymos, conceived Styxx with her husband Xerxes

The Fates foretold that Apollymi's son would bring about the destruction of the Atlantean people. Archon ordered her to kill the child but she refused. Instead, she tore Apostolos from her own womb and placed him in Aara's womb with Styxx. Archon mistakenly assumed that Apostolos had been placed in Xura's womb, so he ordered that baby to be killed. Apollo didn't want his son to be murdered, so he placed Stryker in the womb of one of his Delphic priestesses and put the priestess's baby in Xura's womb. Unfortunately, he never told Xura that he had replaced their child, so she was devastated when it was slain. When all the baby swapping was complete, Apollymi was heartbroken that Aara would be raising her son Apostolos, Aara was suspected of infidelity when she bore Apostolos in addition to Styxx, and Xura was furious with Apollo over the perceived death of their son Stryker.

In 9529 B.C., Apollo took a new mistress: Aara's daughter Ryssa. Ryssa soon gave birth to his son Apollodorus. Upon hearing news of the birth, Xura ordered the murder of mother and child.

The Curse

In order to make it look like an accident, the bodies were torn apart to simulate an animal attack. Apollo was not fooled and he planned to kill all the Apollites, but he stopped their complete destruction upon his sister Artemis' urging. Since the Apollites were created of his own flesh and blood, he too would be slain. His god powers would then be unleashed on the world, which would destroy it. Rather than killing them, Apollo cursed his people:

1. Because they made it appear that an animal had killed his mistress and son, they would have to feed off each other’s blood in order to live. After puberty this becomes extremely sexual. They were given fangs and the eyes of a predator.
2. They could never again walk in his daylight realm.
3. On their twenty-seventh birthday (the age his mistress died), they would all disintegrate slowly and painfully over a twenty-four-hour period until they were dust. Their aging is accelerated. Apollites in their mid-teens are fully grown.
4. They are unable to enter the home of a human uninvited. (Once invited, the invitation stays from that point on.)

Related Terms

• Cult of Pollux: Apollites who take an oath to die exactly as Apollo cursed them to die—to neither commit suicide nor turn Daimon.
• Daimon: Apollite who ingests human souls to avoid dying at age twenty-seven.
• Doulos: A human servant of Apollites and Daimons.
• Elysia: A secret underground Apollite city, where Apollites live hidden from humans and Daimons alike. One of the oldest Apollite cities in North America. Featured in Kiss of the Night.
• I am the light of the Lyre: Phrase used by Daimons and Apollites to seek shelter from another Daimon or Apollite. Refers to their kinship to Apollo, god of the sun.