Cast

The Olympians || The Olympians (cont.)
Other major gods || The Muses
The Muses (cont.)

The twelve Olympians
Zeus is the leader of all gods, and the holder of the most potent of godly weapons, lightning. Despite being the father of a large amount of deities, he's hardly a role model to them: most of his children were born to him and his numerous mistresses, some of whom he seduced with his shapeshifting abilities. Zeus can hardly resist an attractive woman, be she a goddess or a mere mortal, and his adulterous shenanigans frequently aggravate his wife Hera. Other gods still ask for his advice whenever a dispute remains unsolved, as his position as a leader makes his point of view particularly important... even in the cases when it's somewhat irrelevant.
Hera is Zeus' wife and his sister, and the goddess of marriage, motherhood, and (cuckolded) women. Due to her husband's numerous extramarital relationships, she has become more agressive and less forgiving than she used to be. Seeing as she's surrounded by her illegitimate children every single day, she can get a bit snappy with them as well; should she have been cheated on with a mere mortal, she'll easily try to kill both the mistress and her child, or at least to bring them as close to total ruin as she can. She's prone to keeping long grudges.
Poseidon, god of the sea, is hardly ever around Olympus, as he spends most of his days sailing around, fishing and petting dolphins. He's one of these guys you don't want to annoy: prepare for a massive tidal wave if you ever do. When he's not busy drowning disrespectful sailors or eating fish sticks, Poseidon's usually giving a hand to Zeus on his extra-marital escapades.
Demeter is the goddess of harvest and, as a whole, of Nature as harnessed by Man (as opposed to Artemis, goddess of the wilderness). She makes crops grow, flowers bloom and trees bear fruit, and is generally a laid-back, polite deity, if a bit sloppy - that is, unless you make an actual effort to anger her; then, may Hades have mercy on your soul. What Demeter values the most is her daughter Persephone (whom she had with her brother Zeus. Go ahead. Crack an "inbred hick" joke.); she'd rather not think of what would happen if she was taken away from her.
Hephaestus, the god of fire, blacksmiths and various precious stuff you find underground (gold, gems...) was post-natally aborted by his parents, Zeus and Hera. By this, I mean they chucked him down Mt Olympus, for very shallow reasons: he was a VERY ugly baby. After falling down for nine days (someone had cast Feather Fall on him or something), he hit every branch of the ugly tree and hit the ground, making him lame for the rest of his life. However, he finally found his way back among the other Olympians by showing the talent he had developed for blacksmithing. Hephaestus forged the lightning, Zeus' weapon of choice, and designed a trapped chair to constrain his own mother until she'd get him married to the beautiful Aphrodite.
Ares, the god of war, murder, frenzy, bloodshed and general, mindless violence, is one of Zeus' few legitimate sons. Unlike Athena, who covers strategic aspects of combat, Ares is more blind rage-oriented, and his vocabulary is more limited. The city that worships him the most is obviously the brutal, military Sparta, where puppies are regularly sacrificed to him by night. Yes, Ares hates puppies. Ares hates fluffy bunnies. Ares hates YOU. Ares hates everyone... except maybe for Aphrodite, and that's only because he has an affair with her.