The Stormlord

The Stormlord is the god of strength, battle, glory, thunder, and storms. Said to have strode into All That Is fully formed with a flash of lightning and the booming thunder of his laughter, the Stormlord cares for little but strength and competition. He is a hedonistic being, known for tackling physical challenges of all kinds just for the fun of it. The Stormlord is also reputed to have dallied with beautiful mortals of both genders in times long passed—from elves, to humans, to giants—and tales are told of the great heroes that are born of such liaisons.

He is also called the Brawler, the Iron Strength, and the Thundering Glory.

## **Overview**

The Stormlord believes in strength and power, the verdict of the sword, and the music of clashing steel. While he is considered a good god, and despite advances in magic, technology, and the tools of war, the Brawler is remarkably constant. His focus is on battle itself, not the reasons for it or the tools used to wage it. Whether a battle is between orcs and humans, goblins and dwarves, or elves and drow, the Stormlord is there to glory in the vital energy of conflict.

It is far more pleasing to the Stormlord to see a soldier fight a score of battles in his lifetime than to die in his first, and if compromises and truces mean warriors can live on to fight again, he supports diplomacy over pointless death. Regardless, he doesn’t care much for negotiations and quickly loses interest in such things. Battles of words and wit tire him, not because he lacks intelligence but because he finds them as pointless and unsatisfying as squishing ants—the true challenge is when your life is on the line, and quick decisions can mean the difference between life and death.

## **Dogma**

The word “strength” conjures up images of muscled warriors swinging massive weapons and cutting through swaths of foes, or heroic figures lifting some great weight above their head. But the concept of strength is more than physical. He teaches that happiness lies in becoming mighty in all aspects—raw physical force is a part of that, yes, but so is force of will, cunning, perseverance, and sheer presence.

The Stormlord loves a challenge or contest more than anything else. He promotes nonlethal sports as a method for resolving disputes among his followers, and his teachings say that the strong and fit should lead the weak. Courage is the greatest quality anyone can have, god or mortal, ruler and citizen alike. Everyone should scorn cowardice and always try their best. Give your all and another ten percent in the face of every challenge, says the Brawler.

While the Platinum Champion represents the tactical side of war, and the Everlight represents its necessity as a last resort when evil cannot be stopped in any other way, the Stormlord is the excitement, the battle high, and the brutality of combat. He is indifferent to whether his followers are knights in heavy plate armor, goblins in piecemeal scraps, or children wrestling in the street—anyone willing to put up a fight deserves the chance to try. The Stormlord cares little for good or evil, instead focusing his attention on the glory of combat. However, one should not make the mistake that the Stormlord teaches "Might Makes Right". The strong should be respected but they are also obligated to use that power to protect the weak.

The Stormlord doesn’t really care about marriage or familial bonds, but he *does* value the bonds between brothers in arms. He doesn’t really give a shit how his followers live their lives when it comes to sex and marriage; he doesn’t care if children come from a traditional marriage or from a polygamous thing or a random coupling. He understands love and passion can inspire mortals to push themselves farther, and legend has it that the Stormlord is quite the philanderer. Courting and sex are battles in and of themselves, after all.

## **The Church**

### **Worshipers**

The Stormlord’s faith is all or nothing: an individual is either strong or weak; either brave or a coward. The Stormlord demands only that his faithful continue to prove themselves. They do not have to do so only in battle or combat. Strength, perseverance, courage; any task that proves one or more of these traits are worthy. Whether it be lugging heavy crates or building a house, the backbreaking work of farming and drawing pails of water from the well to help one’s family, cutting pieces of meat with a sure cut from a cleaver, even plucking up the courage to admit your feelings to a crush.

A typical worshiper of the Stormlord is a soldier, mercenry, athlete, or even criminal. His followers are often impulsive, reckless, and somewhat aggressive, earning them a reputation as boastful, rowdy ruffians. They tend to turn everything into a contest, from drinking ale, to who can eat their dinner fastest, to who can weather the cold longer. Fights between the faithful are common, though they are almost never to the death; they are tests of strength or games or duels taken to establish dominance or settle arguments, to impress lovers, or sometimes just for entertainment.

Bravery is held in the highest esteem. Those who flee from battle are often excommunicated publicly, displaying their cowardice before the entire community. Thus, even if the odds are against them, a follower of the Stormlord is likely to take the field. They would rather go down in a blaze of glory, singing hymns to the god of battle, than suffer the public humiliation accorded to cowards.

Those unfamiliar with the church’s philosophies might think that followers of the Stormlord favor straightforward, brutal tactics—and they would be mostly right. A frontal assault gives the faithful a chance to prove their courage, after all! However, they will not reject sound strategy in favor of a foolhardy charge, even if they are likely to grumble about it.

The faithful believe that storms, especially those that include lighting, are harbingers of the of the Stormlord’s favor and portents of great meaning. Regions that frequently experience such storms are considered holy places, and the church views thunder as the Stormlord’s booming voice; lightning bolts as his sword touching the earth. Those who die from natural lightning strikes clearly deserved their fate, but those who are struck and live are considered blessed by the deity. Such individuals are known as “Storm-Kissed” and are consulted by clergy and the faithful who seek wisdom and guidance…even if the affected person is not a priest, a scholar, or of sound mind.

### **Clergy**

The Stormlord’s clerics are expected to be leaders. They value strength, but not domination. They train others to become stronger, organize athletic tournaments, and participate in physical challenges. Doubting their fitness is the gravest of insults, and they go to great length to prove their might (although they do recognize the difference between a difficult and suicidal challenges). They favor attire of orange and brown; their god’s holy colors.

The church values strength over age or knowledge, and the senior priests in any temple typically reaches that position by defeating hosts of enemies and beating down all rivals. When several leaders come together, there is usually some gruff posturing and a few crawls until a hierarchy is established. Underhanded tactics such as poison are considered dishonorable, though spells that enhance a priest, his weapons, or armor are considered fair game. The head of a particular arena is usually addressed as “Chief”.

Clergy identify themselves through their arms and armor. Many warriors of the faith carry greatswords or other heavy, two-handed weapons. Some garb themselves in heavy metal armor to prove their strength, while others wear little armor in an effort to emulate the Stormlord himself. The faithful are also frequently covered with scars, as even the most skilled among them suffer wounds on a regular basis. They bear these marks as badges of pride. Few wear gaudy holy symbols or specialized garb—their armors and armor, usually with a holy symbol hastily painted or tattooed somewhere easily visible being the only identification they need.

Formal raiment for a priest is an orange, sleeveless tunic with flowing, baggy trousers. Plate armor is also somewhat common, buuuuut it doesn’t *really* matter all that much. The Stormlord isn’t particularly picky about what people are wearing as much as he’s interested in what they do.

### **Temples & Shrines**

A temple to the Stormlord is spacious and airy, and typically resembles an arena. They often have gymnasiums, fighting pits, and extensive pools. They invariably have adjoining fields for athletics competitions and large-scale mock battles. Areas where members can practice the fighting arts fill the interior, surrounded by galleries where others can observe their favorite combatants. Battles within the temple are not to the death. Differences between members of the church are usually resolved here in some sort of athletic competition, game, or even a duel.

Temples are built with thick walls, iron gates, internal forges and stables, and spikes on the parapets, even in the heart of an otherwise peaceful region. The priests keep them stockpiled with alcohol, armor, and weapons, many of which are harvested from fallen enemies. The priests don’t bother to record what came from whom, so it’s entirely possible for a young priest’s armor to have been from an orc chief or hero of the faith and would never know it.

A typical shrine to the Stormlord is a pile of rocks capped with a helm. Sometimes the shrines mark the graves of fallen champions, and other times merely a battlefield where much blood was shed.

### **Holy Texts**

The Stormlord has no extensive sacred text, but there does exist a collection of seven heroic poems called the *Words of Thunder*. Young priests quickly learn to recite these poems perfectly, as elders beat them every time they make a mistake. The poems may be spoken or sung, and each has a distinct rhythm so a familiar listener can easily recognize them when played on a drum. Though individual translations have slightly different meanings, all translations of a poem use the same rhythm, which means that in some languages—particularly Elvish and Maezari—the phrasing is pretty awkward.

### **Rituals**

Holy rites among his congregants include ceremonial tests of strength, mock battles, beating large drums, and shouting. Most church music is based off of the Stormlord’s holy text, the *Words of Thunder*, and are suitable for marching, charging, working, or dancing that favors stomps and other loud footfalls.

Services often consist of members’ recitations of their glorious victories and deeds. More than simple boasting, they are songs of praise to the deity, honoring the Stormlord with the battlers fought in his name. Such praise is usually reserved for the temple, but some boisterous members so honor their god wherever they find a receptive ear.

*The clash of sword and shield is my song! I am in your armor, your blade! Strike at your foes and I will guide your hand, for I thirst only for battle!*

### **Orders of the Stormlord**

* **Bloodied Gauntlet Tribe:** A tribe of orc Stormlord-worshipers lives in the southern Dharrenal where they are in near-constant conflict with the local human communities. Their dedication to the Stormlord has given them a sliver of what might be called honor, they do not recklessly slaughter the weak as many other orc tribes do, instead seeking to hone themselves in glorious battle against the strongest opponents.
* **Iron Fists:** A quiet, disciplined monk might not be the first thing one thinks of when imagining the faithful followers of the Stormlord, given the god's tendency toward raucous violence, but the Iron Fists take a different approach than most. They meditate and train constantly, focusing their attention on attaining physical perfection to the exclusion of all else. They aim to turn their bodies themselves into living weapons as the ultimate act of worship to the god of strength and battle.
* **Valiant Vanguards:** These rowdy, reckless warriors fight against demons and devils who find their way to the Material Plane wherever they may show up. While held in high regards for their work against the Abyss, they are known for being extremely aggressive and destructive, and for their willingness to cross certain lines generally considered taboo in most circles. They are given shelter in smaller temples only long enough to heal their injuries before being asked to move on.
* **Vision of Strength:** An order who focus all their might on bringing down the most powerful quarry there is--dragons. Their specific rites and selection process for this order is kept largely secretive.

## **Lore**

### **Appearance**

Artistic depictions of the Stormlord are uncommon, as his followers prefer mighty deeds and boastful words to quieter, more permanent works of art. Of the depictions that are created, however, his image, shape, or shadow is often drawn in blood or hammered together out of scraps of metal.

When he is depicted, he is usually shown to be tall, broad, and muscular. He has long red hair and a thick red beard, and eyes like lightning. He is usually shirtless and either wearing only a loincloth or plaid trousers and sturdy boots. The Stormlord is always shown to be smiling or laughing.

### **History**

The Stormlord is one of the oldest known gods. In the earliest stories, he is described as riding across the sky in a chariot pulled by bolts of lightning as he kept watch for Destruction’s machinations. When the dwarves fought through the Underdark in their legendary Quest for the Sky, fighting past hordes of Primordial abominations, the Stormlord was with them. When savage hordes of humans clashed on ancient battlefields, the Stormlord was there. In an era of conflict and bloodshed, the Stormlord was known to all mortalkind as the personification of battle, strength, and glory.

During the Dawn War, the Stormlord was among the most vocal of the gods who wants to fight against the Primordials and was the second to join the Dawnfather’s side, after the Platinum Champion. During this war, the Stormlord and the Laughing Knave are said to have engaged in a contest to see who could kill more Primordials. Each of the churches claim their patron god won that contest, but only the gods know the truth today.

Throughout the Exalted Age, the Stormlord is said to have been busy going from battlefield to battlefield, watching and lending his strength to many wars and battles across the world. During the Sundering, the Stormlord engaged in battle in each of the most dangerous and violent battlefields across the planet, and his own storms are said to have caused great destruction in and of themselves.

His greatest deeds were in helping the Dawnfather defeat and bind the Chained oblivion, and in slaying the Leviathan and defeating the Warbringer by cutting off two of the titan’s (formerly) six arms.

After the Sundering, the Stormlord makes his home in the plain of Elysium, on the massive battlefield of Ysgard, which is devoted to the glory of combat and competition. He rules from the sprawling halls of Valhalla and day after day, endless battle is waged. Buildings razed and warriors felled—only to return at dawn the next day to do it all again.

### **Relationships**

Traditionally, the Stormlord has little interest in the affairs of other gods, considering politics to be a waste of time. He has battled with most other deities, with demon lords, Primordials, and other beings of power when their interests happen to conflict with his own.

The Stormlord was known to be friends with the Deceiver before his betrayal. He respects the conviction of the Dawnfather, and the strength of the Allhammer. While the Laughing Knave has made the Stormlord the butt of many jokes, countless tales exist that describe the exploits and adventures of the gods of thunder and mischief. They are described as being best friends, almost like brothers, and it is said that the pair once threw a party so raucous that it actually led to the destruction of a number of titans!

He is unimpressed by and bit contemptuous of the Knowling Lord’s preference for magic over might, and he is known to be a friendly, if fierce, rival to the Platinum Champion. There is no nuance for the contempt he feels for both the Chained Oblivion and Father Skinsaw. In recent years, conflict has started to grow between the Stormlord and the Drowned God. Among other gods, the Stormlord is seen as a warrior without equal, but prone to his temper, and he can be destructive when he grows bored.

His church has no particular enmity or friendship with followers of other faiths, with the exception of the church of the Allhammer, who they are on fairly good terms with. Despite the friendship between their gods, they hold enmity for the church of the Laughing Knave, accusing them of being cowards and cheats.