Krete
"The Labyrinth Calls"
Overview
Krete is a land apart. The great southern island of Hellas lies beneath its own moonlight, a place of mountain-born mist and cavernous myths. Krete is not ancient—it is active. This is the island where myths still bleed, where the Labyrinth hums with breath, and where the greatest tragedy has yet to happen. The gods may look away from Krete, but fate does not. The king is aging, the monster is restless, the inventor is watched—and his son dreams of flight.
Set apart from the politics of Hellas, Krete is shaped not by war, but by myth that refuses to end. Here, legend is not preserved—it is performed, rehearsed, and re-engraved with each generation. And the final act? It has not yet arrived.
Cultural Identity
Krete is ritualistic, closed to outsiders, and bound to tradition that even its people don’t fully understand.
Values
Ritual, Endurance, Secrecy, Tradition
Customs
- The Horned Year – One innocent person is chosen to Enter the Labyrinth. For one full year the chosen and their family are treated like royalty but also watched so that they do not flee. The chosen are treated as half-divine until the role ends—violently. (This was stopped a long time ago when they began to give the minitour their criminals but King Minos in his paranoia believes this ritual will help prolong his reign.)
- Minitour as Divine Punishment - When sentenced to death, the accused is cast into the maze, if they return they are deemed innocent... no one ever returns.
Art & Music
Their Music is mostly made up of stringed instruments that echo cave acoustics. Their Architecture spirals inward—homes, temples, cities. The maze is not hidden; it is mimicked.
Language & Dialect
Their written script, Phoinaká, is used only in private, sacred spaces.
Religion
Primary Deities
The Labyrinth – Considered semi-divine, a memory engine that must be fed and feared.
Hades & Persephone – Honored as keepers of self and shadow. Their rites are private, enacted in salt caves beneath coastal cliffs.
Potnia Theron – An Aspect of Artemis s, Mistress of Beasts.
Zeus (as Kretagenes) – A native aspect, born in a cave, wrapped in goat’s wool, and fed by bees. Worshipped as a storm-child, not a king.
Sacred Sites
The Labyrinth
Factions & Organizations
The Sons of Tholos – Priests of the Labyrinth
The Waxwright Priestess -
Mythic History
After Olympus rose, Krete was ruled by Potnia Theron, the Mistress of Beasts, and the Labyrinth itself, a living temple grown from the dreams of Gaia. This was an age of spiral wisdom, dream-prophecy, and wild truths.
Geography
Krete lies in the southernmost reaches of Hellas, beyond the reach of most trade winds, surrounded by deep, ancient seas. It is distant from the politics of the mainland, and it prefers it that way.
Location
Southernmost island of Hellas, isolated yet watching all from beneath Mount Ida.
Terrain
Sharp-edged mountain ranges (Mount Ida, Mount Dikti), honeycombed with sacred caves, plateaus, olive groves, coastal cliffs, and underwater tunnels.
Climate
Dry summers, stormy winters. Wind moves in spirals, and stars are said to hang lower over Krete than anywhere else in Hellas.
Major Cities & Settlements
Knossos
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