Disclaimer: A Note on Accuracy

First and foremost, I want to make something very clear: I have never been to Greece.  I have been very interested in Ancient Greek culture, religion, symbol, society and language for a long time now, and as such thought it would be very educational (for both my players and myself) to tell a story set in Ancient Athens.  However, I have never been to the Mediterranean, never studied.. well.. anything, actually.. extensively in college, do not speak Ancient Greek fluently, and don’t even know anyone who has spent much time in modern Greece.  Moreover, the information I have comes from Internet sources such as Wikipedia, as well as books including Athens: A Portrait of the City in its Golden Age, World Mythology, The Complete Dictionary of Symbols, and others.

Because of all of this, I am sure that some or most of the places, people, institutions and words in my story are being used completely inaccurately.  For anyone reading this who is from Athens, Greece, or a background that gives them any connection to or authority on anything to do with Greece (and Athens in particular), I sincerely apologize.  Specifically, as far as names (especially of people) go, several of the names (such as the main character, Purithenes) are totally fabricated by me. 

Please keep in mind as you read on this site that this is a “Dungeons and Dragons” campaign, and not a “historical fiction”, per se.  That means, in my story, Purithenes is really a priest of Hephaestus who grants him “Divine Spells” that allow to him to create fire and walls of iron and communicate with the dead and instantly travel vast distances.  It means that there are wizards and sorcerers (and sorceresses!) who use “Arcane” magic to do even crazier things.  It means that there are magical creatures/monsters like centaurs and rust monsters and mind flayers and dragon turtles. Most importantly, it means that this story has no hope of being historically accurate. 

Having said all that, I would love it if someone who knows something about this subject would contact me and tell me all of the things (in a civil conversational manner, and preferably not ranting or flaming me) that I am doing wrong (historically) in my story.  After all, part of my goal in telling this story was to learn about Ancient Greece in a contextual and fun way, and truth is almost always stranger than fiction, so it would surely add a lot of interest to the narrative.  Really feedback of any sort is nice, as long as it is constructive, and as a writer it is always nice to hear that people are reading your work. 

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the story.