Strycek - The Good Uncle

*Ascribed to Anon c. ~300 JDF*

No major god within the greater Unseran pantheon is perhaps more misunderstood and misinterpreted than Strycek, the god officially known (if not commonly referred to) as Agrios in Prothyra. Typically attributed to this god are the domains of Blood and Death, but the latter is not to be confused with or equated to the Wodean domain of the Grave. These differences are explained in great, if imperfect detail by Alaric Rotenbard in his Epistles to Coryneus Vol. II but in summary, while Wodean worship is primarily concerned with the grave as a component part of a greater cyclical system of birth/rebirth, life & and death, Strycek's domain is death itself, more similar in fact to Opfern's domain over life. And, while in addition to the domain of Life, Opfern also governs the domain of the Forge, or ‘creation,’ Strycek in addition to Death also commands the domain of Blood, sometimes misidentified as ‘destruction,’ but as will be explained here, can be more accurately represented as ‘ controlled change.’

These three gods, Strycek, Opfern, and Wodea, (or Agrios, Akreena, and Wodea) are often treated in the modern day as a unified triad, as their domains are, by contemporary theological understanding, intrinsically interwoven and interdependent. In oversimplified terms, Akeeena forges life, Agrios bleeds life into death, and Wodea protects the natural order by overseeing the cycle between them. This is what is taught in Völkervier and in the south, and can largely be attributed to appealing to the folk and dwarven palates, which traditionally might chafe at the practices of Wodea's and especially Strycek's more traditional adherents. However, one need only look at the historical origins of these gods to know that they were not always so related. Opfern is of the dwarves. Wodea is of the elves. Strycek is of the Krovi. They have been woven together in both Völkervieri and Prothyran Unsere, yes, but in doing so each one has lost some measure of their original identity in exchange for a new one. For Opfern and Wodea, the changes have been perhaps more subtle, but for Strycek, the metamorphosis into Agrios has been significant.

The heat of the matter is stoked, to put it bluntly, by the common aversion to necromancy and to a lesser degree blood magic. Akreena and her dwarven form of Opfern are beloved and popular for what to many may be obvious, even self-evident reasons. We tend to like living. We tend to like making things. We tend to like births. Our modern continental society is propagated by trade and industry, each one benefiting from Akreena's blessings. Even Wodea is revered, if not as commonly beloved. All of us have lost loved ones and all of us can appreciate the natural order of the world. Wodea promises, in her own solemn and perhaps sometimes morbid way, peace and acceptance with what we're powerless to change. Strycek, at a lazy and ignorant glance, seems to stand against all these things. How could the god of necromancy and blood sacrifice possibly have our best interests at heart? How can raising the dead not be a direct attack on the domains of Life and Nature? How can it be anything but a direct insult to Akreena and Wodea? These concerns have been largely mollified (if not nullified) by the rules and guidelines which the clergy of Strycek are held to when interacting with the dead which limit the manner of necromancy which can be performed without committing heresy.

But where did these rules come from? To understand them as anything more than an artificial apparatus manufactured by the clergy to appease their critics, detractors and opponents, and to understand Strycek as a whole, one must look back to the Krovi and their relationship with the god, beginning with the name itself. "Agrios" can largely be ignored, deriving from the old Estacossi word for "savage" or "feral", and serves little more purpose than to belittle and bestialize the Krovi and their culture as a whole in the wake of the Krovi Wars. Conversely, "Strycek" is most often translated into common as the much more affable "Good Uncle."

However, while “Good Uncle” is unquestionably better than "savage" or “feral” as comes with Agrios, it does have the unfortunate side-effect of assigning a definitive masculine nature to Strycek which isn't seen in Krovi culture. A more accurate translation for Strycek would be "trusted and/or valued family friend and/or ally." In dwarven terms, Strycek could be thought of as a sort of spiritual godparent, though this is still not a perfect analogy. This friend could be masculine, feminine, both or neither. Moreover, it is debatable whether the Krovi even view Strycek as a singular deity, or if “strycek” is a classification for a specific kind of spirit. It is entirely possible (and likely) that specific views on the matter vary between the individual Krovi clans, though this has become increasingly difficult to confirm as fewer clans survive into the modern day, and even fewer are willing to openly discuss their religious views with outsiders.

Whatever the specifics of Strycek’s nature may be, their role in Krovi society tends to intertwine with the Krovi values of survival, self-sufficiency and individual agency. It should be noted that while I use the term “individual agency,” this individuality can be applied to both individual persons as well as individual clans. During the Krovi Wars, this was extended to the unified Krovi Clans as a whole, as a distinct individual entity from the dwarves and folk, each of which were treated as their own clans, and could even be applied to individual nations and settlements such as Völkervier and Prothyra. For the Krovi, the person, clan, settlement and nation are all individuals and are all personified as spirits with their own distinct personalities, boundaries and desires. From this understanding, we can then hopefully understand that for the Krovi, to attack the clan is equal to attacking a person, to enter clan territory without permission is equal to entering a person’s home without permission, and indeed is equal to entering a person’s space without permission. Personal space is highly valued among the Krovi which has led some outsiders to view them as a cold and distant people. This could not be less true. While their space is valued, once permission is given to enter it, the Krovi are as varied and nuanced in their affability as any dwarf or folkman. It should be noted as well that, stemming from this, rape is particularly taboo among the Krovi.

But what does any of this have to do with the modern rules surrounding necromancy, you might ask. First, let’s summarize those rules in their most basic form. Under modern guidelines, the clergy of Strycek may either raise the body or commune with the soul of an individual. He is said to house the dead in his Reliquary of Souls, where they remain unless/until they are ready to enter the cycle of rebirth under Wodea’s blessing. Modern Völkervieri and Prothyran clerics must either be in the grace of their church or chantry (a process which requires years of theological service and study) or petition to receive a blessing for whatever corpse or spirit they wish to raise. Essentially they must receive the permission of Strycek to borrow an individual from his house. A nuance to this which is often glossed over or omitted entirely, is that Strycek’s permission is contingent upon permission of the individual whose body or spirit is to be raised.

This concept of permission is almost one to one analogous with asking permission to borrow an individual person from a Krovi clan. Permission must be given by the clan leader, but also by the individual person to be borrowed. Where things begin to muddy from individual clan to individual clan is whether the permission of the clan leader is wholly necessary. For most clans, there seems to be an understanding that while an individual person is entirely free to act by their own agency without the clan leader having any legal authority to stop them, they may be penalized or even exiled from the clan depending on the action they choose to take, their relationship with the clan leader and their individual importance to the clan.

It is here that the necessity of Strycek’s own permission becomes controversial. Strictly speaking, by most Krovi tradition, if Strycek were indeed a one to one analog for a clan leader, with the Reliquary of Souls (a modern term, but the concept is essentially the same) being an analog to a clan, Strycek’s permission should not be necessary to raise the body or soul of the deceased so long as permission is granted by the individual person whose body or soul is to be raised. However, it should be reminded that Strycek is not necessarily a single individual entity, and it has even been suggested that “Strycek” is synonymous with the spirits of the individual persons to be raised (family friends and allies), and so their permission is one and the same.

This latter idea, while controversial and entirely heretical to church and chantry doctrines, could explain the origin of the rules which allow only the body or only the spirit to be raised at any given time if one assumes that the individual person to be raised wishes to leave an anchor (the collateral commonly attributed to Strycek) in the afterlife. There is some evidence for this if one refers back to the aforementioned borrowing of persons from a Krovi clan, where after permission has been granted by the clan leader and individual person, the person will leave an item of great personal value with the clan as a promise of their return. This custom is not collateral in the dwarven sense, where something is given and essentially held hostage if a contract is not met, but should be viewed as more of a token of remembrance with emphasis of promised reunion. An example would be a parent going off on a journey and leaving something behind with their child as a promise of their return, as well as something to remember them by. If we see the Reliquary of Souls as the Krovi do, as a distinct clan and family as genuine as the clan and family of the living, then it suddenly makes a great deal of sense why the risen should wish to return after a time.

Confusing matters further are varied accounts on the nature of higher undead beings whose souls and bodies have both been raised from the dead, particularly vampires. Church and chantry doctrine states that these beings are universally heretical, and should be destroyed with extreme prejudice. Generally speaking this remains true among the Krovi where horror stories of vampires are common around the campfire. However, there do exist at least two stories which seem to distinctly refer to ‘svatí mrtví’ which can be loosely translated as ‘saintly dead.’ These are spirits of individuals which have sacrificed their place in the afterlife to return wholly to the world of the living (in both body and soul) to either assist their former clan or perform some great dead. While one of these stories is vague in regards to the precise nature of the saintly dead in question, the other attributes vampiric traits such as an aversion to sunlight, fangs, and the consumption of blood. In each, the svatí mrtví is spoken of in reverence, though it remains unclear what it is exactly that separates these saintly dead with the otherwise universally despised vampires and other higher undead.

Blood magic is a simpler subject, relatively speaking. One only need look at the importance placed on individual agency and self-sufficiency to grasp it. Blood is part of our body, and as such is ours to manipulate by Krovi understanding. To manipulate the blood of another person without their permission is treated as any other assault, though by that same token, if done in the self-defense or the defense of another individual (be they person, family, clan, etc.) it is treated with the same honor as any other victory in war. Strycek’s part in this is seen as that of the conduit. They are the friend and ally who stand beside you, whether in times of peace, hardship, hunt or harvest.

On another level, blood is treated in many surviving Krovi clans as a symbol of change, both good and bad. Spilled blood can bring bounty, safety, or destruction to an individual. To control that blood is to control the change within the world, to guide it as you would any tool, as you would construct any shelter. It is the sign of death as blood flees the body, but death itself is a form of change, and in this very particular way worship of Strycek is not entirely dissimilar from that of Wodea.

How then, one might ask, did we come to the modern misunderstanding of Strycek? To the god that may very well be better referred to as Agrios, as the Savage, as the Wild Man? It would be easiest to lay the blame squarely at the feet of the Roten Kleriker who first introduced the worship of Strycek into Völkervieri culture centuries ago. It was their interpretation of this facet of Krovi faith, retailored, reinterpreted and dare I say twisted and simplified to fit with folk, elven, and of course dwarven sensibilities, that laid the groundwork for the modern church and chantry we see today. Strycek’s affiliation with the Red Clerics has certainly not done the deity any favours since their much-deserved downfall, and it may very well be that Strycek is simply one more victim in the body count of that infamously villainous cult. A more generous mind might give credit to the Red Clerics for at least introducing Strycek to Völkervieri culture at all, even if in a twisted form that might be later unraveled by diligent thinkers, but unfortunately for the Red Clerics, this thinker is more diligent than they are generous.

I do not expect this paper to change the minds of the masses regarding the truth behind Strycek, nor do I claim that this account is without flaw or above reproach for accuracy. But, I dearly hope that if you have read this far, you will consider the possibility that Strycek is not the feral savage who bathes in the blood of infants and defiles the sacred graves under auspices of technical legality, but is instead the trusted friend and ally who defends your individual freedoms and autonomy, who stands with you against those who would take that individual agency away.