Why Would New Greek Gods Create Humans and Olympus?

Question

So I'm setting up a setting for Genesys that I have placed in a alternate dimension inhabited by humans from ancient Greece that would build their own world according to how they perceive their previous life. I am starting with a origin story of course and have a few questions that I would like a new eye on.

The origin of Thurian

In a sea of chaos and force there flows a string of pure magic through uncontrolled collisions that ignites a spark that after millennia creates a parallel universe to all the others in the time-space continuum with a massive explosion. This explosion of an unparalleled force creates a rift in time and space into which twelve entities from our own universe are pulled.

The surrounding force recognizes these new entities and grants them the ability to wield the force itself to control their surroundings.

With this power, the long lost humans of a classical civilization start to build up a world of their own, in the manner in which they have long been familiar. They build a sun that has one single planet in its field, a planet that has a resemblance to earth itself insofar as its atmosphere and climate. The landmass is what they believe the earth looks like, and since they have just been around their local areas this is quite random.

On the planet they start with one island, an island that also is the home of the volcano Olympia that holds the golden doors to the eternal plane that is their own home. One by one they form races, animals and all entities that are needed in a ecosystem, entities that can worship them and give them more powers.

But what I would like is your take on this:

How should the race of humans come to existence? Even though the gods in this world have been humans in another time and space, why would they create these again? Why would anyone create a race with a free will that will in time question their existence?

Would a god build a secluded (but accessible to those with the strength) palace for themselves on a mortal plane? I do want to keep planes to a minimal at this stage, but I think this might be a port to another plane, or they do live with the humans in a different part of the world. That is, would gods build a home on Mount Olympus or would Mount Olympus be a plane itself?

Answer 1

Because it is familiar.

Some ancient Greek people are given godlike powers and put in a blank canvas type universe. Since they are still humans, they don't want to live in an empty universe and try to create something familiar. So they create. . . . Ancient Greece.

Okay not exactly Ancient Greece. But the world they create is similar enough to Ancient Greece that they feel comfortable living there.* But it quickly becomes apparent there is one big difference between this new world and the old -- hundreds and thousands of people.

It's only a matter of time before someone creates more people. The real question is how do they rationalize it to themself. Some examples:

Loneliness: There are only a small number of gods and a big big world. Many are off having adventures on their own. One god gets lonely and tries to create some companionship.

A Prank: Mythology is full of trickster gods. Somehow creating humans was a prank that got out of hand. The stupider the prank the better. For example Loki creates a duplicate of Thor and Freja to wipe his ass at the toilet. Due to hijinks they escape and start the human race.

An Accident: Humans were not supposed to have free will. Someone just created a whole Athens full of background characters who were not supposed to have souls. But on accident one got a soul and that's where humans come from. Perhaps some god has a favourite human who they give a shred of free will, the same way you might give your dog a dog biscuit. This is the beginning of the end.

Once humans are created they will stick around. It's easy for a former human to say they shouldn't be created. It's much harder to say they should be eradicated.

I mean, presuming the humans you created were dignified Greek citizens, and not the savage barbarian flavour.

*Interesting point: If there are already planets, suns, moons etc in the empty universe, they might create Planet Greece. Otherwise they might create a flat world with a moving Sun, or otherwise base their cosmology on Ancient Greek mythology. Someone might even take the role of Helios to be the sun. So that cosmology which was not real to begin with them becomes real.

Mount Olympus

To justify mount Olympus being accessible you can put a power limit on your gods. Remember Greek Gods are not as powerful as the Judeo-Christian type. They can only do such great deeds as building the world by sacrificing members of their own. In this case the ones who would be Gaia, Oranos, and so on. In the beginning those guys were happy to sacrifice themselves to create the world. But now the world is created no one is willing. So the best they can do is build a big mountains and live on top of it.

Answer 2

To worship them.

The mark of apotheosis in ancient Greece was for the humans to offer you sacrifice. Creating automatons that will do automatically doesn't give them the same effect; it feels like a little girl pushing around dolls to offer her sacrifice.

Besides, if the humans doubt, these gods intend to be right on the job. Blasting the doubters with lightning and demanding that all the listeners offer sacrifices to purify themselves will fix that.

As for accessibility, they've undergone apotheosis themselves. They may offer it as a bonus to humans. They may even need it to increase their numbers. Also, it keeps the bolder humans in line by giving them something to strive for. (If an insolent one appears to be succeeding, blast him with lightning.)

Answer 3

Greek gods were all but ascetic in their divinity: lust, gluttony, jealousy... none of the human vices was unknown to them.

And what's the point of being a god if you can't fornicate with some pretty hot human or you can't enjoy the fragrance of those sacrifice that they are so good at doing?

Give them a month sitting on their throne and they will get bored. Humans are such a source of entertainment, I guess they see us as their board game. While we sometimes prefer Risk, Monopoly or Ticket to ride, they play with us the 1:1 scale version of those games.