Aphrodites Apples

Having let the pc's wonder around an eerily empty Mount Olympus they were afraid to touch almost anything , however one of them has the blood of Aphrodite and had just finished an Elysian story where she had played the role of Aphrodite and was willing to take one of the apples.
She is definetly not going to give it to anyone else as she thinks that would be offensive to Aphrodite and she does not want to cross the gods of Olympus wherever they are.
However what do people think one of those apples would do so far I have said it could be used for the following

  1. 15 pawns creo Vis
  2. The basis of a really strong longevity potion
  3. An ingredient for the Faerie becoming ritual essentially replacing the ritual and vis for the Becoming of the body step

Any other clever things it could do, I had expected the wrath of the gods to prevent any pc property aquisition tendencies and this one suprised me

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You mean the golden apple given to aphrodite by Paris that started the Trojan war? All started by Eris/Discord inscribing the apple with "for the fairest"? Potentially related to the apples which cause Appolonia to lose the race because she had to pick them up?

My first thought is mentem, where they have some effect that causes them to be an irresistible lure. Possibly only applying to faeries- faeries read the glamour of the apple and have to have it, it might affect mortals the same way but with parma magica it just seems like a regular old golden delicious...

I should have been clearer there are a lot of magical apples in greek legends
In this case I think the apples are those used by several goddesses to maintain beauty and youth , similar to the ones guarded by Ladon. So in the general catagory of 'Ambrosia' of the gods, these got included because one of my players was certain they existed and there was no time to check, It may be a mythological inconsistency
So these apples are of a type which greek goddesses use to maintain youth and beauty. Sorry for the confusion.
The apple starting the Trojan war and possibly those involving Atalanta will appear later in the campaign
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I think your players confused the apples of the Hesperides with the apples of Idun in Norse mythology, which did grant youth. The apples of the Hesperids are a gift to Zeus from Gaea, the only reference I find to the having powers is when they are retrieved by Hercules where they are said to grant immortality- in which case I would assume they transform mortals into magical beings...

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There may well have been confusion, however we now have Aphrodites Apples being a form of pleasent fruit which helps keep the gods young and beautiful. (They may also be exactly the same as Idun;s apples although I don't see anyone testing that in this campaign)
So given they are mythologically suspect apples any good ideas for other things they could do?

The option the player is currently planning on taking is to complete the body transformation part of the becoming ritual

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are they magic or faerie?

They are Faerie as they were found in Olympus a Faerie Regio/Arcadian realm. However I consider that the Greek Gods are magical beings which became more powerful faeries before the Titanomachy so I am liberal with things crossing over between the 2 realms when dealing directly with the Gods .

Mythologically they were a gift from Gaea, which suggested the possibility of magic, in which case I still like the idea that the apples will transform the eater into a magical being. However, if you want to go the faerie route I think something that simply lowers apparent age might suffice, being nicely beyond the bounds of hermetic magic while not overwhelmingly powerful and still on theme. Maybe also have the apples have some corpus (faerie) vis as well.

This is a bit of a plug but nonetheless in the most recent issue of sub rosa I wrote a piece on norse treasures which actually includes the apples of Idun. I would suggest you check it out if you have access to it.

If they are associated with youth then anything related to youth or being unaging is fitting.

I suggested that eating an apple of Idun decreases the age of the eater by 5 years. Thus changing the eaters essential nature to be 5 years younger, meaning that it affects aging rolls removes decrepitude and aging point accrued in the past 5 years, even restoring lost bonuses, etc.

This however fits best if you want the apples to be associated with youth.

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honestly if you want high powered even one of those effects- lowering true age or removing aging points, is massive.

I do have that Sub Rosa and I had forgotten about the norse treasures.
I think I will probably allow it to knock 5 years off age, however the character in question does not need that and will use it as part of the transformation of the Becoming.
Thanks for the toughts

They could Grant the Unaging virtue.

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That would work as well, in this case though the pc with the apple already has this virtue

I would second something like that as well, The Apples removes "X" number of years of apparent age, (say, reduces apparent age to 20) and then grants the Unaging virtue. Aesthetically they are "youthful" again but still die, and doesn't break the game.

that is certainly possible by kinda weak given that you could get apparent youth with as little as bit of Imaginem or Corpus magic. The player in question already has unaging.

I would be disappointed a legendary item of the greek gods amounted to a bit of makeup.

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Make it as powerful or weak as you need/like then!
Perhaps the point of the apples is the quest, not the apples themselves - but the whole thing taken together turns out to be an initiation for Greater Faerie Blood.

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Well if you wanted to go straight for greek mythology, those golden apples are made of gold. Solid gold. Explains why everyone would fight over one when Eris chucked one into the room marked 'for the fairest' and why Atalanta got distracted by them and it slowed her down (try carrying 3 apples made of solid gold). A single apple would be worth a small fortune and it would take 4 pawns of vis to make one via hermetic magic.

Also the golden apples are featured in Ancient Magic, they each have a pawn of Creo vis and reduce Apparent Aging by 10 years.

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Part of it depends on how much of which legend you want to emphasize- the fact is the golden apples of Zeus (which Aphrodite did have possession of) were handed out like candy compared to the golden apples of Idun, though both could be considered legendary. Atalanta picked up three of them as a distraction so she would lose a race, and was later killed or transformed into lions as punishment for offending the gods. In fact aside from the Hercules myth it would seem the golden apples which grew from that tree were simply that- apples made of gold, like golden goose eggs. I realize you have committed to a particular association with youth due to your discussion with your players, but something can be legendary without having to have world shaking powers. What you have here is a list of options as to how much power you want to hand your players.

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A character with unaging gets an item associated with youth and is unhappy it doesn't do much? That would be like Hercules complaining that steroids didn't make him stronger.

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For my game the abilities of the apples will be :-

  1. Can replace the body step of the becoming ritual. One of the steps of being admitted to Olympus was to eat and drink the food of the gods
    2)5 pawns of Creo Vis(15 if used for a longevity potion) and +10 on the effective level of the longevity potion
  2. Grants unaging and knocks 10 years or a decrepitude point of your age.
    The last 2 will encourage them to hide it from elderly magi, while the first one is probably what the player will use it for.
    Comes free with the attention of Aphrodite