When you sign up, you can either choose your patron god or choose to have a random one assigned to you. The patron gods available to choose from are the 12 Olympians. Each patron god offers a unique set of bonuses, each of which affect your entire settlement, unless otherwise noted. For example, Aphrodite's -15% offensive power penalty applies to both the settlement's hero and military troops. Likewise, the food production bonuses affect your hunting villagers as well as food gained from farms and docks, unless stated otherwise. Note that each patron god has a bonus that is based on that god's god power on Mount Olympus. You may read the page about the olympian gods to learn more. Each patron god also bestows one unique troop type on each settlement that worships it, in addition to the five standard troops that all settlements may train.

APHRODITE - +35% maximum population, -5% offensive power, -15% defensive power, +20% population growth rate. +3% maximum population per 1,000 god power. God Troop: Sirens - Cost: 1,100 dra., 150 ore 1.5 defence, 6.5 offence, sirens convince some enemy toxotes and hippikons to join your army if you successfully attack. Sirens take up no space on biremes or triremes. Aphrodite's Guard Duration: 60 hours

APOLLO - On Vacation! (Not playable this age). Begins with All-Seeing Eye skill. Farms produce an extra 50 bushels of food per hour per 1,000 god power. God Troop: Peltastes - Cost: 1,000 dra., 50 ore 6 defence, 4.5 offence, peltastes suffer half as many casualties as normal troops do Apollo's Guard Duration: 68 hours

ARES - +20% offensive power, +20% casualties (and also +15% casualties to any city that attacks or is attacked by a city with Ares as its patron), +5% population, hero begins with Level 2 Battle Acuity. +7.5% offensive power per 1,000 god power. God Troop: Berserkers - Cost: 550 dra., 50 ore 0 defence, 6 offence, berserkers suffer twice as many casualties as normal troops do Ares's Guard Duration: 52 hours

ARTEMIS - Hunting villagers retrieve 8 food per hour regardless of kingdom type, troops and land return 3 hours faster from battle. -20% starting casualty reduction. -10% casualties per 1,000 god power (to a maximum of a 100% reduction). God Troop: Hunters - Cost: 875 dra., 100 ore 5 defence, 1 offence, each hunter gathers 5 food per hour Artemis's Guard Duration: 64 hours

ATHENA - -5% maximum population, +10% defensive power, -20% battle casualties. +7.5% defensive power per 1,000 god power. God Troop: Pallades - Cost: 1,300 dra., 100 ore 3.5 defence, 7 offence, every 35 Pallades that are sent on a successful attack will garner 1 experience for their hero, if the hero is sent on the attack. Athena's Guard Duration: 64 hours

DEMETER - +5% defence, +5% offensive power against settlements with Hades as their patron god, +15% offensive power against any settlement that has attacked your kingdom within the last 24 hours. Villagers gather 0.5 more of the resource that they were sent to gather (lumber, iron ore, or food) per hour per 1,000 god power. God Troop: Hetairoi - Cost: 400 dra., 1 prodromos 3 defence, 10 offence, an upgrade of prodromoi, each hetairos requires 1 prodromos to be trained first (prodromoi that are training to become hetairoi can not be sent on invasions, and they do not provide their 2 defence to your settlement during this time) Demeter's Guard Duration: 72 hours

DIONYSUS - +10% offensive power, +15% maximum population, buildings require an extra 4 hours to construct, troops (including biremes and triremes) require an extra 2 hours to train. Dionysus settlements gain an extra 1.5% land and 5% experience per hour that an attack takes per hour over 4 (so, for example, a 10 hour attack will generate an extra 6% land and 20% experience). Building construction costs (drachmae and lumber) are reduced by 10% per 1,000 god power. God Troop: Maenads - Cost: 900 dra., 100 ore 3 defence, 6 offence, maenads gain 0.1 offence per hour that it takes to attack the settlement that you are invading (for example, if sent on an attack that requires 7 hours, your settlement's maenads would have 6.7 offence) Dionysus Guard Duration: 60 hours

HADES - +20% offensive power, +35% battle casualties, +25% drachmae production, hero begins with Level 2 Guarding skill. +5% chance of capturing enemy spies per 1,000 god power. God Troop: Stygian Warriors - Cost: 1,600 dra., 150 ore 2 defence, 7 offence, they suffer no casualties unless they are sent on a failed attack Hades's Guard Duration: 52 hours

HEPHAESTUS - +10% offensive power, +15% defensive power, troops and land return 1 hour slower from battle, hero begins with Level 2 Hephaestus' Forge. +3% offensive and defensive power per 1,000 god power. God Troop: War Smiths - Cost: 1,800 dra., 600 ore 5 defence, 12 offence Hephaestus's Guard Duration: 56 hours

HERA - +10% maximum population, +5% defensive power, can't send villagers hunting, begins with the All-Seeing Eye skill. Cost of watchers decreases by 75 drachmae per 1,000 god power. God Troop: Watchers - Cost: 1,150 dra., 0 ore 6 defence, 2 offence, every 2,000 watchers at home increase your city's effective Guarding level by 1 Hera's Guard Duration: 72 hours

HERMES - On Vacation! (Not playable this age). +30% casualties, shops produce 110 drachmae per hour, heroes have access to the Thievery skill even if not a Thief, spies always require 4 hours to return from doing a mission, settlement has 14 spies instead of 12 (16 spies if hero class is also Thief). Shops produce an extra 20 drachmae per 1,000 god power. God Troop: Vanishers - Cost: 1,100 dra., 200 ore 0 defence, 7.5 offence, vanishers do not appear on military spy missions unless the settlement doing the spying also worships Hermes Hermes's Guard Duration: 56 hours

HESTIA - +12.5% maximum population, -15% offensive power, -5% defense, +10% food production, starts with Level 2 Urban Planning and Level 2 Carpentry. +35% lumber gathered per 1,000 god power. God Troop: Carpenters - Cost: 1,000 dra., 150 ore 5.5 defence, 1 offence, each carpenter gathers 1 lumber per hour Hestia's Guard Duration: 64 hours

POSEIDON - Docks provide + 10 food each, troops and land return 2 hours faster from battle, hero begins with Level 2 Naval Excellence skill (Level 4 if hero is an admiral). Ships can transport 5 more troops. Hippikons gain .3 DP and Prodromois gain .3 OP per 1000 god power God Troop: Juggernauts - Cost: 6000 dra., 1400 lum 5 defence, 23 offence, require 18 hours to construct normally (Naval Excellence applies to Juggernauts, as does Carpentry), housed on docks (Juggernauts count as ships for all purposes) Poseidon's Guard Duration: 60 hours

ZEUS - +5% defensive power, +5% offensive power, +25% food production. +5% land gained on successful attacks per 1,000 god power. God Troop: Titans - Cost: 4,600 dra., 500 ore 0 defence, 22 offence, each titan consumes 2 bushels of food per hour (instead of 1 bushel per hour, like other troops) Zeus's Guard Duration: 72 hours