Apotheosis

At Demigod, your Long Term Deeds are structured to provide Apotheosis. When choosing your first Long Term Deed during each arc, pick a long term deed that fits with your current step of apotheosis (note that steps 2-4 can be done any order). 
If you perform a Milestone without it being tied to a Long Term Deed, the step is still considered accomplished and you move to the next step during your next arc.

The Second Call, in which the Demigod reenacts an early challenge of his post-Visitation life in a new (usually more angerous) way or becomes drawn into one of the early myths of the God he wants to emulate. The lesson of this stage is to let him reflect on his progress so far and to announce to Fate that he is ready to pursue Apotheosis. This is always the first step and culminates in the act of gaining Legend 5, a Deed undertaken while the Scion is still a Hero.

The Parting, in which the Demigod discovers the extra burdens that Fatebinding places on Gods and glimpses similar divine restrictions on behavior in the mortal realm. Along the way, he develops a powerful Fatebond with a mortal or lesser mythic being, one that lasts beyond even death. Then, inevitably, that bond will be severed. The lesson of the Parting is that all morSectal connections are, compared to the eternity of the Gods, fleeting ones.

The Threshold, in which the Demigod explores her connection to her Callings to solidify her identification with them. For most Scions, it’s one of the less dangerous stages, with an emphasis on playfulness, fluid identities, and change instead of the harsher lessons of responsibility. For others, it’s a period of intense questioning that can lead to a total reinvention of the self. The lesson of this stage is to teach the Scion who she is on an archetypal level.

The Descent, in which the Demigod starts to shed his strongest associations with the mortal World. This can mean a literal journey to an Underworld, but it can also be a period of isolation, or the loss of a loved one through death or betrayal. Whatever form it takes, its lesson is that a God must make sacrifices as well as accept them.

The Theophany, in which the Demigod gathers all her resources and talents to face one myth-defining challenge. If she succeeds, she achieves Apotheosis and becomes a God. If she fails, she dies, and her unfinished Mantle goes free until some other Demigod takes it up to try again. This stage isn’t a lesson; it’s the final exam. No matter what route a character takes through the other stages, the Theophany is always last. If the Scion succeeds in this last stage, they reach
a Legend score of 9 and a form of immortality.

Different Storylines

• Comic: The comic arc starts at a low point, then rises steadily. By putting the Descent stage at the beginning, the player is saying that she wants her character to suffer great loss at the outset, then show his ability to triumph over them.

• Tragic: Starting with the heroic victory of the successfully completing the Second Call, reworking the Threshold to be about self-doubt instead of playfulness, then following with the Parting and Descent sets the Demigod on a trajectory in which things continue to get worse until they end.

• Redemption: A significant mistake with regard to the Fatebound Storyguide Character (SGC) in the Parting stage can drive the Demigod to spend the rest of his journey to Apotheosis trying to make amends. If the Parting involves him betraying or causing the death of the SGC, all the better.

• Metamorphosis: The Threshold represents an opportunity for the Demigod to question who she wants to be and gives her the freedom to explore her choices. At the beginning of the journey, it represents a kind of undifferentiated being that she will gradually focus into a new identity as she advances.

MANTLES

The Deeds of a Demigod come together to create a Mantle (see Hero, p. 43). A Demigod can also take up the incomplete Mantle of another Demigod who tried to rise to the ranks of the Gods but failed, and by playing out the same story up to and beyond that point of failure, turn tragedy
into victory. Or she can walk in the footsteps of another God (living or dead) so perfectly, so completely, that Fate itself acknowledges that she is that God.

There are three ways to take on an existing Mantle, two of which come with significant risks and one still effectively removes a Scion from the game, even if successful. A player needn’t decide which approach to take until she reaches the last Divine Deed of Apotheosis, the Theophany. At any point before then, she can also change course completely and try to create a Mantle of her own, but the further she progresses toward Apotheosis, the more difficult it becomes to break free of the current of Fate sweeping her to her end.

USURPATION

The most violent way to adopt a Mantle is to separate it from its current holder. By walking in the footsteps of a God, a Demigod gradually puts herself in a position to convince Fate itself that she is worthy of taking on that God’s role, but that’s the easy part of the process. She must also
work to dislodge the God’s Mantle by weakening his ties to it, then — directly or indirectly — kill the God.

SHARING

Some Demigods (and some players) don’t want to take a Mantle by force. If her relationship with her divine parent isn’t antagonistic, why would she even consider it? Even if it is, the prospect of standing face to face against such formidable powers is enough to make many Demigods look for a more diplomatic solution. That’s where the choice to share Mantles comes in.

SURRENDER

Few Demigods, having gone through the challenges on the way to Apotheosis, opt for the third way to achieve it. It involves coming face to face with the God whose myths she has emulated and, instead of fighting to take a Mantle or bargaining to share it, she acknowledges that she is nothing more than one aspect of the God’s greater identity and voluntarily allows herself to be absorbed into that identity.

All the Deeds she has performed until then become part of the God’s Mantle. When she is remembered, it is as a manifestation of the God, not an individual Hero or Demigod. It’s rare, but it has happened, like with Enyalius and Ares.