Kostchtchie

Prince of Wrath

Kostchtchie
General information
Portfolio:	Strength, Violence, Wrath
Home:	Abyss
Alignment:	Chaotic Evil
Gender:	Male
Class:	Fighter 13 (avatar)
Superior:	None
Rules items
Domains:	Chaos, Evil, Fury, Winter

Kostchtchie is the Demon Prince of Wrath.

Description

Kostchtchie appears as a bandy-legged, yellow-skinned, and (other than his eyebrows) hairless brute, who carries a magic hammer which he squashes his victims with. In the game's first edition, Kostchtchie was a mere seven feet tall. In third edition, he is now more than 20 feet tall.

Relationships

Kostchtchie is a demon lord who is so hateful and hideous that all other demons despise him. He himself hates most everything, as befitting his title as the Prince of Wrath. Even though he is a tanar'ri himself, he wanted to destroy the tanar'ri race as he never saw himself as one of them. Toward this end, he has tried to form an alliance with Obox-ob. Three of Kostchtchie's most hated rivals include Graz'zt, Malcanthet, and the frost giant deity Thrym. The Prince of Wrath also bears great hatred for the celestial paragon Gwynharwyf.

Though she certainly played a part in his ascension, the current status of Baba Yaga's relationship with Kostchtchie is unknown.

Realm

Kostchtchie resides on the 23rd layer of the Abyss, called the Iron Wastes, a realm of mighty glaciers and plunging temperatures.

Worshippers

Although Kostchtchie himself was never a frost giant, he identifies himself as one of them, and works to subjugate the entire race to his worship, which puts him into direct conflict with the frost giant god Thrym. Kostchtchie's cult are for the most part males, and certainly none of his thralls are women. Any women in his cults have marginal roles, as he is misogynistic in the extreme. Frost giant tribes under Kostchtchie's rule often increase their numbers not by reproduction but by raiding other tribes who are not worshippers of the demon lord.

History

Kostchtchie started life as a hideous mortal human whose physical ugliness was matched only the ugliness of his soul. Rejection and derision from his own people only served to ferment his hatred. Kostchtchie eventually met the legendary witch Baba Yaga, who gave him a strange container of nested skulls into which he can store his soul. As long as the skulls remained hidden and unharmed, Kostchtchie was invulnerable to death. With his newfound immortality, Kostchtchie wreaked horrible vengeance upon all those who wronged and ridiculed him. Even then, his anger was not satiated and he went on to amass a huge army to spread more misery and destruction. Finally, a celestial paragon, Gwynharwyf, intervened and struck him down, sending his soul into the Abyss. There, it became lodged in the eternal ice of the Iron Wastes, a place as cold and pitiless as himself, and Kostchtchie began life anew, eventually becoming a demon lord.

Creative origins

According to the "Demonomicon of Iggwilv" article in Dragon #345, Kostchtchie's name was inspired by Koschei the Deathless of Russian folklore.

Publishing history

Kostchtchie made his first appearance in the first edition module The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. He later appeared in the first edition Monster Manual II.

Bibliography

• Gygax, Gary. The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1982.
• -----. Monster Manual II. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.

• Jacobs, James. "The Demonimicon of Iggwilv: Kostchtchie." Dragon #345. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2006.

• Sargent, Carl. Monster Mythology. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1992.

• Stark, Ed, James Jacobs, and Erik Mona. Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006.

External link

• An image of Kostchtchie.