"The God Games"
Introduction
For many centuries, if one wished to face the most fearsome warriors in the Mediterranaen, one would travel to the small city-state of Sparta. The Spartans were powerful warriors whose kings were said to be decended from Hercules himself, and each man was easily worth several other normal men in battle. So, it was only a matter of time before the Spartans found themselves challenged for this title. However, this challenge was not issued from other men-it came from the very gods!
Once, many many decades ago, the gods came down from their heavenly abode in shining chariots of metal and thunder. They shared the form of man, but their faces were covered in masks, for no mortal can gaze upon the face of a god and live. They spoke the langauge of birds and snakes as well as man, talking in clicks and hisses. They defeated every Spartan whom they challenged, until they challenged the Spartan king, Histinos. The trial was simple-if Histinos lost, the gods would take the remainder of Sparta as their reward, the people to be slaves to their strange and mysterious masters for all time.
Histinos won against his challengers, but not without the cost of his eye during the battle. The gods, partially in anger and partially in respect, told the Spartan king that they would return in a hundred years' time for yet another challenge. And so, once every one hundred years when the moon grows full and the air warmer than usual, the gods return in the now traditional battle between themsevles and the Spartans.
This tradition is now known as the God Games...