Athens lay at the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula. It was Greece's capital and largest city, with a recorded history spanning more than three thousand years. Hailed as the "cradle of modern civilization," it was also the birthplace of philosophy and of renowned figures such as Socrates and Plato.
But as modern civilization developed, the city that had once shone so brightly gradually declined. Through centuries of change, the gods its people had worshipped for generations became figures of myth, living on in stories they told their children. The one they truly worshipped, confessed to, and prayed to was the omniscient, omnipotent God.
Then the gods began displaying miracles. Their divine power appeared over Greece time and again, breathing new life into the worship of the gods of Olympus. Many Athenians who took pride in their ancestry felt they should return to the faith of their forebears. After all, judging by what they had seen, God cared little for the Greeks, while the gods of Olympus had always watched over them in silence.
Temples rose in great numbers, and sects long buried by history suddenly resurfaced. Claiming to worship the gods, they recruited Believers and accepted their offerings. But because the gods truly existed, these sects showed restraint. They did not demand offerings that would ruin families. Instead, they studied historical records of their sects and the deeds of their gods, recreating them as they had once been.
They eagerly urged everyone to follow the gods' example: seize pleasure while they could, become human breeding machines, and do their part to boost the world's population.
The Orphic Mysteries were among the sects that resurfaced. An esoteric religion of ancient Greece, they had historically existed under the shelter of religions devoted to other gods. Their Believers were few, and they