Stratis
| Stratis | |
|---|---|
 Stratis, from Chainmail Miniatures Game: Blood and Darkness - Set 2 Guidebook (2003) | |
| General information | |
| Portfolio: | War |
| Home: | None (deceased). Formerly Ysgard. |
| Alignment: | Neutral, likely lawful neutral or chaotic neutral |
| Gender: | Male |
| Superior: | None |
Stratis was an Oeridian god of war once worshipped in Western Oerik. He is now dead. He is morally neutral in alignment, neither good like Heironeous nor evil like Hextor. It may seem likely that he was lawful in alignment like his mother and brothers, but the fact that he grew to adulthood on the plane of Ysgard makes a chaotic neutral alignment a possibility.
Relationships
Stratis is a son of Stern Alia, and therefore a brother or half-brother of Heironeous and Hextor.
Realm
The location of Stratis's divine realm is unknown, although he grew to adulthood on the plane of Ysgard.
Dogma
Stratis was god of war in all of its forms, both just and unjust.
Worshippers
Stratis is unknown, or virtually so, in the Flanaess, but was apparently very well known in Western Oerik.
History
During the Demon War a thousand years ago, Stratis intervened personally to battle the fiendish dragons sent by Tiamat, but he found that killing dragons distracted him from other parts of the war. Needing to kill dragons faster, he descended to the city of Ashbringer in Ysgard's realm of Nidavellir. There he bargained with the dwarven master smith Valin for a weapon capable of killing Tiamat herself. Valin agreed to do this if Stratis would provide the blood of five chromatic dragons, one of each type, the older the better, as well as enough of each of their hides to make a suit of armor for five dwarven heroes, and then use the weapon to lead an assault on Svartalfheim, the land of Nidavellir's ancient foes. Stratis agreed to the terms on the condition that he would be able to name the time of the assault. Valin agreed, and a year later he had completed his masterwork, the [Ebon Glaive]]. As it happened, however, while Stratis was leading the dwarves to victory, one of the most ferocious battles of the war was being fought without him at the site now called Scalebane. It is rumored that Valin sold the knowledge of when Stratis would be preoccupied in Ysgard to Tiamat, but this has never been proven.
Much later, it is said that Stratis was seen riding to battle with the Baklien horsemen who were invading the empire of Ravilla.
Stratis was killed five years ago (probably in 586 CY) by a party of mortal adventurers who foolishly thought that by killing him they could win peace for their peoples. Instead, Stratis's death embroiled all of Western Oerik in conflict. Stratis ascended into the sky in a pillar of fire and scattered his weapons and armor to the four winds. With his dying breath, he decreed that there would be nothing but war until a new god of war ascended to replace him. Now the various factions of the region battle for control over Stratis's panoply, for it is believed that whoever gets all of Stratis's armaments will become the new god of war.
Stratis' spear pierced the corpse of the warlord Ahmut, who had been in his grave for centuries, and reanimated him as a lord of undeath. The Ebon Glaive probably landed in the ancient battlefield of Scalebane. The Shield of Stratis is currently being sought by the paladins of Stern Alia. When Stratis's hot blood fell on the ground, it burned through the earth and opened passageways to caverns buried for millennia, thus exposing passageways to the drow settlement of Kalan-G'eld. There, deep in the Underdark, the blood of Stratis became as mist, floating around in crimson clouds to this day. Clouds of Stratis's blood announce themselves with the sounds of screaming, the thud of arrows, and the pounding of hooves. Those who touch the clouds are gifted with a portion of Stratis's divine spark.
Bibliography
- Pramas, Chris. "Ahmut's Legion." Dragon #286. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2001.
- -----. "The Armies of Thalos." Dragon #287. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2001.
- -----. "The Ebon Glaive." Dragon #296. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2002.
- -----. "The Empire of Ravilla." Dragon #285. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2001.
- Tweet, Jonathan, Rob Heinsoo, and Chris Pramas. Chainmail Miniatures Game: Blood and Darkness - Set 2 Guidebook. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2002.