Alkmene

Alkmene Halkias is a powerful shapeshifting druid and the twin sister of Anatolios Halkias, better known as Amalgami the Betrayer. Alkmene was raised by priestesses of Artemis to be a druid. After leaving the temple to travel across the world she became seduced by the power of Hades. She became a willing servant of his while also working with the Rebels of Xoria. Her power and position allowed her access to the Druid’s Prophecy at the moment the ritual was being prepared. She almost corrupted the ritual to free Hades from the Underworld, but failed. For her actions she was punished severely by Zeus.

Alkmene’s father was named Adam and her mother, Alkmene, shared her name. The birth of her and her brother, Anatolios, was long and difficult. Anatolios was born first, at high noon, and twelve hours later Alkmene was born under the full moon’s light. The priests of Leto saw this as an omen and insisted that the children be sent to the temples of Apollo and Artemis when they were barely able to walk. The priests gave Anatolios and Alkmene each a magical amulet to focus their fated powers.

As Alkmene’s prophesied talents grew she was drawn to the shapeshifting arts of druids. She became a master bear shapeshifter, able to harness the full power of the ursine form. After her training was complete, Alkmene took her amulet and left on a pilgrimage across Cimmeria.

While traveling through Those Blasted Islands in the Caspian, Alkmene’s destiny changed. She stopped for a time on Devil’s Holt to battle the unnatural creatures that lived there. In the process she became enthralled with their power. Alkmene sought to contact their master and made a connection with Hades, Lord of the Underworld. She forged a pact with him and became a secret servant of the Dead King.

Alkmene continued her pilgrimage and made her way to dragovinian dominated Xoria. Hating the injustice of the vile undead, Alkmene joined the Rebellion. Her strength and wisdom were a powerful force for the Rebels. Over time she rose through the ranks until she was one of the key figures in the Rebellion alongside Princess Tarigananata and Major Dactirian.

Alkmene used her position to manipulate events surrounding the Druid’s Prophecy. She wished to use the prophecy to revive Hades from the Underworld. Unfortunately, when she tried to retrieve the prophecy pieces herself she was repulsed by the dragovinians. Alkmene waited for others to gather the lost pieces of the prophecy and the ingredients. Once that task was complete, Alkmene offered herself as the one to perform the ritual. As she brewed the sacred potion she attempted to corrupt it by altering the recipe to revive Hades rather than Zeus. Fortunately, she was stopped and the ritual was successfully completed to return the Thunder God to health.

Zeus enacted a cruel punishment on Alkmene for her treachery. Two invisible furies were endowed with Zeus’s power to follow Alkmene for the rest of her natural days. The furies carry hot iron rods that they beat her with at all hours of the day. If any interfere with her punishment the furies beat that person mercilessly until they are dead. Alkmene returned to the mortal realm hounded by the furies and no one knows what became of her after that.

I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Seiya tells us about his TTRPG system and setting, Synesthesia Synthetica (SNS). SNS is a biopunk game adjacent to the cyberpunk and steampunk genres. After an asteroid induced climate disaster, Earth has rebuilt itself using bio-technology instead of the metal based tech that surrounds us in the real world. Genetically modified humans have split into distinct species and mutant horrors prowl the wastes outside civilization. The rich rule from their space stations up above but resistance is growing in the streets below.During the episode we discussed a piece of art that Seiya had made for the game. A picture of that bio-tank is available for you to look at.At the moment, Synesthesia Synthetica is available for free as an early access game on itch.io and DriveThruRPG.If you want to learn more or find a group to play with, you can do that on the Synesthesia Synthetica Discord.Remember to nominate your favorite TTRPG shows/creators/things for the 2026 CRIT Awards!Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stageon Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica)
  2. 80 – Dynamic RPG Countries (Travis and Tetara)
  3. 79 – Dragon Age Degenerates (Zoe from Degenerates with Dice)
  4. 78 – D&D in Suburbia (Ryan and Serenity Springs)
  5. 77 – KPop DnD Hunters (Dan and Idols of the Neon Dark)