PHOCT Cast - Judge Minos

PERSONALITY/QUIRKS

Minos is an imposing man, both physically and intellectually. He is solidly built, with a deep, rich voice that exudes power and authority. He is given to dramatic speeches, and clearly enunciates every word, while rarely using conjunctions. He often comes off as arrogant and condescending to those around him, but he is always calm, controlled, and polite. He never smiles. Instead, he always seems to be frowning, as though thinking of some unpleasantness he will have to perform, usually to keep himself two or three steps ahead of everyone else in the room.

Despite a somewhat poor reputation among outsiders, to anyone working under him he is well liked. Both in life and death he was and is a remarkably good boss, fair, flexible, with an excellent eye for talent and a willingness to reward hard-work.  His promotions are based on merit, not politics or favoritism, and he has a gift for putting people places they will excel.  He's also not afraid of getting his hands dirty, and will work into the late hours of the night to get something done. He is well respected by those under his command.  Otherwise the FLEET never would have approached him offering their services. 
   
Finally, Minos cares deeply about his family, although he has trouble showing it.  He tamed gods and nearly destroyed his own city in an attempt to cure his wife and eldest son.  At the same time, he lost touch with his other children, banishing some and taking others for granted.  Minos is not a flexible man, and he held his family to high standards.  He's always been the type to stand next to his principals unyielding, and regret any unfortunate losses, than to bend a little and hold on to what he has. (You can read more about his children & wife here: [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] )
 
INTERESTS/MOTIVES

Minos has been given a second chance by a god that, by all rights, should let him rot in the deepest pits of Tartarus. Minos has thrown himself into his new role as a judge of the dead with rare enthusiasm. With Hades largely incapacitated, Minos has become the de facto ruler. Even Persephone, who outranks him, defers to his knowledge when it comes to running the day-to-day minutiae of Hades.

Minos has no plots of revenge, nor is he working toward redemption. In his mind, it’s simple. Hades has fallen into chaos. It needs order. It needs structure. Minos is the best man for the job, and he’s going to make sure it gets done right.

Minos’ main goal is the recovery or replacement of the Ferryman. Without the Ferryman, Hades has no front door. Minos needs this problem fixed before he can focus on anything else.  Those working with Minos may be granted a free pass to anywhere in Hades. In a society as rigidly structured as the Greek Underworld, this can be a huge boon. After all, a serial murderer isn’t welcome in Elysium, and even the purest hero will eventually go mad if thrown into the pits of Tartarus. Minos’ favor ensures that no soul searching for the Ferryman (or the soul that inherited the Ferryman's powers) will be mistakenly persecuted for entering the wrong place.

Should you find the Ferryman, Minos also has the power to assign you to a better afterlife than you may have earned.  Previously destined to the Asphodel Slums?  Congratulations, you've been bumped up to the Exotic Orchard Resort for the next eternity.

ABILITIES AND SKILLS

Minos does not have the extensive intelligence network that he once used to rule Knossos. Still, he is a master strategist, and a keen organizer of both resources and people. He is likely to be best source of reliable information about Hades and its occupants. While Mr. Saturday may know more about the underworld’s underbelly, Minos is much more forthcoming with his information. All one needs do is ask. After all, Minos has an afterlife to fix.

Minos also has the assistance of the Fleet, a mysterious, but helpful staffing organization that has proven quite useful in managing all the disparate and myriad newcomers to Hades’ shores. The Fleet reports to Minos only, and he has nominal command over their operations here.

HISTORY

In life, Minos was a brilliant and, above all, ambitious man.  At a very young age, he became one of the wealthiest businessmen on the planet with his unique and advanced technologies.  It was just the type of stunning intelligence and drive that the gods were drawn to, and he was highly favored by the deities of Greece, his homeland.  Poseidon, god of the sea, took a particular shine to Minos, and presented him with a magnificent gift.  It was a bacteria, birthed in the darkest recesses of the ocean, with incredible mutagenic capabilities, a mix of organic life and god-given magical power.  Within it lied the key to untold medical mysteries, but Minos saw far more potential profit in its capabilities for destruction.  His laboratories immediately began studying the bacteria, synthesizing a virus with similar mutation properties, but far more dangerous traits.  It was called the White Bull Virus.

Poseidon soon learned of what Minos had done with his gift, and was enraged.  He told Minos to destroy the virus, or face the mighty wrath of the gods.  Minos, having already invested millions of dollars and untold hours into the project, refused.  Hera, seeing an opportunity to get vengeance on the other gods for past humiliation, struck a bargain with the mortal.  She gave him the power to bind the mind and will of gods to objects, turning them into his servants.  In secret, Minos bound Poseidon to this lab facilities, and in his arrogance thought himself above even the power of a god.  However, in his last moment of sentience, Poseidon set off a massive tidal wave that destroyed the lab and released the White Bull Virus into Minos' city.

The plague was devastating.  It killed over 90 percent of the people it touched, and spread like wild-fire.  One of the first to die was Androgeous, Minos' first and most beloved son.  Wracked with grief and despair, Minos found a way to bind Hades to his will, hoping he could force the god of the Underworld to return his son.  Tragically, in binding the god, Hades lost all memory and much of his power.  Even if he had agreed, the god of the dead would not have had the ability to return Minos' son. 

As the death toll mounted and Minos unable to save his son, he set about trying to save his city.  He lured in the other gods of the Greek Pantheon, and one by one bound them to his will.  With their combined powers, he had them build an enormous underground city, called the Labyrinth.  With the help of the bound gods, he quarantined the city on the surface and brought the uninfected survivors to his paradise underground.  However, this was not the end of the tragedy to strike the House of Minos.

By the time the Labyrinth was built, the White Bull Virus had begun to mutate.  Instead of just causing cells to become rapidly cancerous in a matter of hours, it was warping people, turning them into monsters and giving them strange powers.  In nearly all cases, these changes were incredibly painful, and eventually, fatal.  In one case, it might have been more merciful if the victim had died.  Pasiphae, Minos' wife, was turned into a hideous creature, part human and part beast.  She became a minotaur.

Unable to abandon her, Minos hid her in the deepest lab of his underground city, along with the preserved remains of his son, and swore he would find a way to cure the disease AND use it to resurrect his son.  To that end, he began developing a new virus, The White Bull II.  At last, he managed to stabilize it enough so that in most cases, it was no longer fatal.  However, the magical properties still made the mutations unpredictable.  To find a way to bring his son back to life, he would need a great variety of test subjects.  He sent his bound gods out, through time, through space, through other dimensions, to find people to test.

So began Project Minotaur, and the start of a series of events that would cause Minos' death.

MANNER OF DEATH

During an altercation with some of the escaped test subjects, Minos realized that his wife had sabotaged the stasis chamber for his son's body.  In the resulting scuffle, Pasiphae trampled her husband to death.  Edmund Dauger convinced Minos to release the gods from their binding, and Minos did so with his dying breaths.  (You can read that final scene here:  [link] )

The next thing he can recall is being drug through throngs of the dead by Hades, deposited in a seat of power in front of a stack of papers, and being told via emphatic gestures to sign them.  Much to his surprise, the documents granted him the power of a Judge of the Underworld, a responsibility that he has grimly accepted.