Vampire Council: War Counsel

Relatively little is known of Odysseus’s background other than that his paternal grandfather (or step-grandfather) is Arcesius, son of Cephalus and grandson of Aeolus, whilst his maternal grandfather is the thief Autolycus, son of Hermes and Chione.

Hence, Odysseus was the great-grandson of the Olympian god Hermes.

According to the Iliad and Odyssey, his father is Laertes and his mother Anticlea, although there was a non-Homeric tradition that Sisyphus was his true father. The rumor went that Laertes bought Odysseus from the conniving king. Odysseus is said to have a younger sister, Ctimene, who went to Same to be married and is mentioned by the swineherd Eumaeus, whom she grew up alongside.

Husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of Laërtes and Anticlea, Odysseus is renowned for his brilliance, guile, and versatility (polytropos), and is hence known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning.

History, Myth and Legend have mixed up much of Odysseus’ history. He will always tell a great tale, one just needs to figure out the truth inside of it.

Though legend has him in the middle of the Trojan War, few know the fact he was Turned and friends with Achilles a century before.

Legend has it…

Odysseus and other envoys of Agamemnon then traveled to Scyros to recruit Achilles. By most accounts, Thetis, Achilles’s mother, disguised the youth as a woman to hide him from the recruiters because an oracle had predicted that Achilles would either live a long, uneventful life or achieve everlasting glory while dying young. Odysseus cleverly discovered which among the women before him was Achilles, when the youth was the only one of them showing interest to examine the weapons hidden among an array of adornment gifts for the daughters of their host. Odysseus arranged then further for the sounding of a battle horn, which prompted Achilles to clutch a weapon and show his trained disposition; with his disguise foiled, he was exposed and joined Agamemnon’s call to arms among the Hellenes.

No one is really quite sure how the two met. What is known is that Odysseus picked Achilles out of the ‘crowd’ pretty quickly. After he requited the young warrior, he discovered his true nature of being a Vampire. During a battle, Ody had been mortally wounded. He did not want to leave his wife and children – Achilles Turned him.