The idea is sound; Nike is confident of that much. It’s just tragically unfortunate timing.
She’d had the idea of being more approachable. A winged warrior woman wielding a torch is animpressive main form, and she doesn’t have any complaints on that front. But, she noticed over the years that she wasappealed to only by a fairly specific set of people – the warriors and theathletes.
Which, of course, is a perfectly respectable group tospecialize. But it would be nice to beable to appeal to everyone.
Everyone in the world thinks of Zeus when it rains. Everyone thinks of Hera when there’s amarriage. They think of Apollo whenevera song is sung; they think of Artemis when a woman gives birth. Demeter touches all lives with her grains;Persephone touches all lives who see her springtime flowers… and anyone whodies, which is every mortal. Hermes, youcan’t avoid him even if you try. But forNike, only the soldiers and athletes seem to want to be victorious.
Nike doesn’t know why – she wants to help anyone who seeksvictory! A victorious harvest – Nike andDemeter, working in tandem! A victoriousparcel delivery, thanks to a team-up with Nike and Hermes! A victorious – er – whatever it is Dionysusdoes? A victorious….. orgy… well, maybesome things don’t need her help.
She teams up with Athena all the time, of course; andAres. But she wants people to pray toher with their small victories as well. Perhaps her winged, garland-bearing form is too intimidating.
She gets the idea of choosing a more… low-key form. Something accessible; something that everyonesees all the time. Most animals arealready spoken for, though, which makes it difficult: the traditional “noble”creatures like the lion, the bull, the eagle… but, she’s looking for a “humble”creature.
(“You could try the cockroach,” her idiot brother Kratossuggests. “Truly a testament to thevictory of survival!”
“Not that humble,”she informs him loftily. The imbecile.)
Even the humble creatures are spoken for. The deer belong to Artemis. The rooster goes to Helios. The goose and cow go to Hera. Virtually every bird seems to belong toApollo. Turtles go to Hermes, dogs go toAres…
Oh! But no one’sclaimed the cat!
And how perfect! It’sa humble creature to be sure, but unique among animals in that it chose, on itsown, to almost self-domesticate. Thisresulted in all the survival benefits of a domesticated species, while stillmaintaining independence and self-reliance. Truly a victorious creature.
It’s decided! TheSpirit of the Cat will represent her. Anytime a mortal sees a cat, they will think – victory, for even thesmall things! And they’ll beinspired! She’ll cheer them on!
….Or, well, that was the idea, anyway.
Unfortunately, she had this big idea just before Constantinestirred things up – and the people slowly but surely began to turn from thegods. Official worship was dead; thus,official means of promoting the Victory Cat were no longer available – though,of course, that was becoming a distant priority at that point. By the time the Dark Ages kicked in, not eventhe soldiers and athletes prayed to Nike for victory – and her hopes of being awinged cat who inspires the masses were all but crushed. To add personal insult to the matter, mostEuropeans of this time period chose to persecute cats as the creatures of theDevil, in their new religion.
