Turtledove
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Liber and Libera
Liber and Libera
Deity
OTL
Religion: Ancient Roman Pantheon
God of: Fertility and Cultivation
Fictional Appearances:
Household Gods
POD: Set in OTL

Type of Appearance: Direct

Liber and Libera, in Roman religion, a pair of fertility and cultivation deities of uncertain origin. Liber, though an old and native Italian deity, came to be identified with Dionysus. The triad Ceres, Liber, and Libera (his female counterpart) represented in Rome, from early times and always under Greek influence, the Eleusinian Demeter, Iacchus-Dionysus, and Kore (Persephone). Ovid (Fasti, Book III) identifies Libera with the deified Ariadne. At the festival of the Liberalia, held at Rome on March 17, the toga virilis was commonly assumed for the first time by boys who were of age. At the town of Lavinium, a whole month was consecrated to Liber, and the festival activities there were believed to make the seeds grow.

Liber and Libera in Household Gods

Pleased to receive prayers after centuries of devotees (and their prayers) going to that "simpering Greek", Dionysus, the two gods, Liber and Libera, were morethan happy to grant Nicole Gunther's wish that she could live in the days of Ancient Rome instead of modern Los Angeles.  Gunther had a plaque of the two gods sent to her hoe after a tour of Carnuntum and had been holding it while making her wish.

The two gods, taking the wish for a real prayer, obliged by sending Gunther to ancient Carnuntum, into the body of Nicole's distant ancestor. They added the ability to speak and comprehend Latin as a bonus.

Nicole soon learns from her slave Julia that the two gods weren't gods of iberty per se, they were gods of liberty of living life to fullest ie drinking and other debauchery. Finally, feeling generous, the gods granted Nicole of her wish to return to her home century. They were amused when the mortal attributed all the pleasant changes in her life on them, as she had done them herself.

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