#Stygian Priests

[thydungeongal]

Anyway I'm currently planning an old-school D&D campaign (actually using Holveja & Hirviöitä) set in late iron ages/early medieval Finland. Why? Because this campaign will undoubtedly be run irl for a bunch of Finns and I think the idea of a setting that mixes local history and mythology is fun.

First of all, I'll be going with the expectations set up by H&H: no demihuman player characters. The Cleric equivalent, Pyhimys (Saint), is very Christian-coded and I'm leaning into the idea that miracles are the domain of Christian miracle workers. But this also means that not every single village priest is going to be a Pyhimys.

But contrasting with this, creatures from Finnish mythology are very real. And due to the nature of Finnish folk religion, you can easily run into Mielikki, the goddess of the forest, in the woods. She will probably be in disguise, but if you know you know.

Old-school D&D kind of gets a lot of deserved flak for presenting an American colonial fantasy where the main dialectic is between civilization and wilderness, with the latter also represented by monstrous humanoids who are also portrayed in not exactly the most favorable terms. That dialectic is going to be present to some extent in my game, but it's very much going to be between Christianity and paganism, between Swedish rule and independent Finnic tribes, and you know. Neither side will have orcs and a big "these guys are okay to kill just because" stamp on their foreheads.

Now of course there will be dungeons. And dragons. The idea in this historical/mythological setting of mine is that in many ways pre-crusades Finland was a more uncanny and magical place, and one of the effects that "civilization" as the Swedes have brought it has on the environment is that the land becomes much less magical.

To this end I'm probably going to be using a system not unlike in depth-crawls, where the random encounter tables are weighted to produce more dangerous results the further you are from cities. +1 for each hex of distance to the nearest city. This is a concept I'm familiar with through @cavegirlpoems' modules Gardens of Ynn and Stygian Libraries which both kick ass, and I'm interested in seeing how well this concept would work in a hexcrawl!

Speaking of hexes, having discovered that the Scandinavian mile (or peninkulma as it's called in Finnish) ≈ 6 miles I have decided to go with a scale of 1 peninkulma per wilderness hex.

[dark-magician-girl-meets-world]

The young alchemist leaps to answer the door of his cluttered room above the wheelwright's, but stops, overcome by a sudden pang of sheer terror. "Who's there?" he calls out, and the voice that answers isn't human. "Banana," it says. "Banana who?" There is no reply. A year later, the alchemist is in his new room in the southeastern corner of the Duke's manor, when he hears a knock on the door that he knows isn't his patron's. "Who's there?" he asks. "Banana." "Banana who?" Silence. Another year, and the alchemist is now in a rich and well-furnished laboratory in the king's very castle, when he hears the dreaded two knocks on the window. The window that leads down to a hundred foot drop. "Who's there?" Why does he ask a question he already knows the answer to? "Banana." "Banana who?" and that makes even less sense, and yet he asks it anyway, and strains his ear to hear the thing in the hallway, the thing he summoned as a young and foolish man. Forty years later, and the young, terrified priest enters the Onyx Spire which the people had built to house the person and the magicks of the Great Alchemist, ruler of the land of Alchemistia. The guards lead him up to the very highest chamber, but when he is about to rap on the door, they halt him. "No knocking," they say. "The master does not allow it." The priest enters, and sees the alchemist old and weak, and lying in a sumptuous golden bed with velvet sheets. "I wish to confess something before I die," he begins, in a weak and cracked voice. "When I was young, I bought a grimoire from an old bookseller for the few coins I had left. I was bitter, and the world had not been kind to me. The creature appeared, three eyes gleaming from the cloud of darkness that enshrouded it, and it offered me a simple bargain. Its power for my happiness." The old ruler was shook by a violent, wheezing cough. He continued his story. "Its sorceries would be bent to my service. My success would be ensured, but if I were ever happy, even for a single moment, it would reap my soul and keep it forever. It bent my steps towards victory, towards glory, but all the while, it calls to me. Every year it calls me. When I don't answer, it keeps calling. You hear it now, don't you?" But the priest heard nothing. "It keeps knocking," said the mad alchemist, "But I won't answer! I won't hear it say banana again!" For hours, the priest tried to speak to the dying old man, but he would say nothing except that he heard a knocking at the door, a knocking he would not answer. At night, when the priest had gone, the alchemist could stand it no longer. "Who's there?" "Orange," said the voice. The alchemist laughed. Had he done it? Had the demon's will finally been broken? "Orange who?" The alchemist felt himself falling into stygian darkness as the voice responded, felt the burning heat rising all around him. "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?"

[themorrignasystem]

hello!

was curious what a stygian tech priest is?

Hello!

My username, Stygiantechpriest

Is a 40k thing

Stygies VIII is a forgeworld of the Mechanicus

And is my favorite forgeworld

Ergo

With my obsession of the Mechanicus from 40k

My username is stygiantechpriest

A Techpriest from Stygies

I have considered renaming myself Tenebrantechpriest, off of my homebrew forgeworld of the canon world of Silva Tenebris tho

[vinylspinning]

Brocas Helm: Into Battle (1984)

This album's exceedingly plain, even dull -- ok, butt-ugly -- cover art says a lot about its creators' impoverished independent status, but it also fails to do any justice to one of America's great '80s cult metal bands: Brocas Helm!

Though they came into existence in the same time and place (1982, the San Francisco Bay Area) as thrash metal speedsters like Exodus and L.A. transplants Metallica, Brocas Helm were musically aligned with fellow castle metal knights like Manilla Road, Cirith Ungol, Witchkiller, and the neighboring Griffin.

Meaning that band members Bobbie R. Wright (vocals and guitar), Jim Schumacher (bass and, uh, magic!), and Jack Hayes (drums) took most of their cues from select late '70s metal pioneers like Rainbow and Judas Priest and especially New Wave of British Heavy Metal champions like Iron Maiden and Angel Witch.

In 1984, Brocas Helm inked deals with First Strike Records (for America) and Steamhammer (for Europe) and then bravely rode Into Battle wielding little (certainly little recording budget) but the cardboard Excalibur depicted in the hilarious band photo overhead.

Ah, but Brocas Helm were blessed with the most unshakable, if innocent, heavy metal faith as they rode out of the thunderstorm on the hooves of "Metallic Fury," sought ancient treasure on "Dark Rider," showed their Tolkien fandom with "In the Ithilstone," and slayed the dragon with a six-string axe on "Warriors of the Dark."

No, seriously, even those self-appointed 'Kings of Metal,' Manowar, had nothing on Brocas Helm's lyrics, see for yourselves:

"And against a spear of lightning; A figure rides the stars; His steed a dragon red and gold; His weapon a black guitar.

My fingers played like hellfire; As I played the killing chord; The dragon screams and falls from sky; As if pierced by magic sword."

What did I tell you?

But Brocas Helm were at their finest and fiercest when the title track, "Here to Rock," and "Night Siege" accelerated to a frantic gallop, armed with Wright's explosive shredding, which came jabbing and slashing all unworthy 'false metal' poseurs to shreds.

Indeed, with surprisingly powerful performances like these, one can't help but wonder what might have been, if only these metallic knights could have benefitted from even the slightest financial backing.

Instead, as I once wrote in the All-Music Guide, Brocas Helm waited four long years to deliver their second album, Black Death, and issued nothing but demos in the 1990s, before re-recording several old favorites for 2004's Defender of the Crown collection.

Ultimately, although they were clearly doomed to waste away in a castle metal dungeon, Brocas Helm's influence later reverberated through the Bay Area metal scene, thanks to 21st Century acolytes like Slough Feg, Saviours, Hammers of Misfortune, and Ludicra.

More Castle Metal: 3 Inches of Blood’s Battlecry Under a Winter Sun, Armored Saint's March of the Saint, Cirith Ungol’s King of the Dead, Grand Magus' Monument, Griffin’s Flight of the Griffin, Hammers of Misfortune's The Bastard, High On Fire’s Snakes for the Divine, Isen Torr’s Mighty & Superior EP, Khemmis’ Hunted, Lair of the Minotaur's Carnage, Legend’s Fröm the Fjörds, Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Trilogy, Manilla Road’s Crystal Logic, Manowar’s Hail to England, Omen’s Battle Cry, Overdrive's Swords and Axes Queensrÿche’s Queensrÿche EP, Rainbow’s Rising, Savatage's Hall of the Mountain King, Silver Mountain’s Shakin’ Brains, Skeletonwitch’s Beyond the Permafrost, Stygian Shore’s Stygian Shore EP, The Sword’s Age of Winters, Virgin Steele’s Guardians of the Flame, Witchkiller’s Day of the Saxons EP.

[metal-patches-vinyl]

Here are 25 new release albums in 2024 that are worth giving an honest listen (in random order):

🔥🤘🔥

Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere

Judas Priest - Invincible Shield

Necrowretch - Swords of Dajjal

Kvaen - The Ancient Gods

Stygian Crown - Funeral For A King

Seth - La France des Maudits

Darkthrone - It Beckons Us All

Vale Of Pnath - Soul Offering

Spectral Wound - Songs Of Blood And Mire

Dödsrit - Nocturnal Will

Gatecreeper - Dark Superstition

Wormwitch - Wormwitch

Necrophobic - In the Twilight Grey

Vredeharmer - God Slayer

Bat - Under The Crooked Claw

Undeath - More Insane

The Absence - The Absence

Akhlys - House of the Black Geminus

Demiser - Slave to the Scythe

Necrot - Lifeless Birth

Witch Vomit - Funeral Sanctum

Wraith - Fueled by Fear

Haunt - Dreamers

Whoredom Rife - Den Vrede Makt

Aethyrick - Death is Absent

🔥🤘🔥

What are you top picks for 2024 so far?

[leveractionlesbian]

40k headcanon: Forge World Stygies VIII and the Blood Ravens Chapter are absolute besties. Raven scholars, such as librarians, apothecaries, and techmarines, will meet up with Stygian tech priests, share each other's knowledge, and perhaps knock back a couple brewskis.

because when the rest of the imperium hates you for tech-heresy, your options for friends are limited

[theblackbookofarkera]

Lyndonmire

Aside from the bustling black metropolis of Shadowpool the city of Lyndonmire is the largest settlement in the Pale Isles. Serving as the capital of the kingdom of Westcastur the city is built upon the ruins of an Old World Fortress amidst an artificially drained mire. The skyline of the city is dominated by the illuminated towers of the stygian temples of fallen Goz that have been converted to Dinorian churches. A dangerous city of thieves and murderers if you ever find yourself in trouble in Lyndonmire seek out one of the aforementioned churches as the priests are sworn to protect anyone within their holy walls.

“Once the fickle old gods walked the paths of Old Lyndomire but they have been driven out by the true Almighty. The sod cottages are now wood, soon stone and then steel. This once hallowed village will rise to touch the sky and control all the realms of men.”

-Archdruid Crethos Egalbran

[fanaticastrid]

I felt fine, despite what had obviously happened. It didn't make sense how in the world I could possibly be alive right now.

But here I was, standing in the alley pondering my life, feeling so... empty. Something else didn't seem right with me, yet I had no clue what was off. I just felt as if a part of me were ripped out. I don't know.

I bring you... Aoroi Lester. (Tap or click images for better quality)

Yeshhhh this is Lester's true form in the AU! He's got to be careful not to break into this as he's quite aggressive in this state, but a bit of food or physical affection will quickly calm him down. Lester's mostly the same as an aoroi except he's faster, but now vulnerable to magical metals like Celestial bronze, Imperial gold, and Stygian iron.

Apparently, aoroi have some sort of magical quality to them, which one can use if they capture one. Lester isn't so sure about that... until he encounters Medea, who has a strong interest in using his "magic" for a task that Neos Helios very much wants done. No spoilers ;)

Eventually Lester masters control over his aoroi form, and he's quite proud, bragging about it to Apollo and Meg until he hears something land 9n the hearse. Next thing he knows, he feels a sharp cut across his belly, but he knows immediately it wasn't him that was wounded. Before he knows it, the voice of Tarquin beckons him to return to his tomb, eager to have such a strong spirit among his ranks of the many dead Romans...

Stay tuned, folks! I'm working on getting the Double Lester AU/ Son of the Priest on Ao3, I'm working here!

[leam1983]

Hero's Journey

It's funny, really. You grow up getting your head stuffed with narrative devices, being told that Heroes Exist and that some people Really Do Go Through All That in the span of a few months - and then you get older. You realize that heroes are morality vectors and narrative frameworks, nothing more. You realize you'll never scale a wall with your bare hands like Conan the Cimmerian and steal the Eye of Whateverthefuckit'scalled to fight back against the Stygian Priests of Set whose biggest crime seems to involve... liking snakes a lot.

Yeah.

And in the meantime, your biggest accomplishment probably involves successfully voiding your bowels after three days of absolutely horrendous constipation.

Walt gave me a look as I headed out the bathroom. "Feeling better, Grem?"

I gave him an intentional glower and a muttering of Crom's name, which earned me a thumbs-up.

"Let me heah the lamentations of their women!" he later shouts at me, in a deliberately bad Schwarzennegger impression.

[hemerasiae]

The Order of the Stygian Parable

This is a cult of apostates / hedge mages that has existed for centuries and is based in the wilds of southern Ferelden. Thomasin is one of the many fabled witches of the wilds, except she is actually doing all of the horrible things most of the others aren’t.

Hierarchy

Thomasin the Vile: Scion, The Crone, Avatar of Qessith (mysterious entity the cult worships)

Bellanthe: Second Scion, Heir to the Crone

Vexacion Grimm: Honored Lady, High Priestess (“raised” Bellanthe)

Godrex Heliot: High Priest

Important cultists: Elegia Crane, Diamanda Sangrey, Sable Wright, Vaughn Addington, Riskel Crane, Tidus Wood, Kieran Heliot, Wendall Latimer, Carmin Barlow, Katia Drabek, Finch Vossen, Griffin Depraysie, Vayne Zul

Goal

Release Qessith into the world to do as she pleases and serve her. They will be honored with immortality and her favor.

Bellanthe’s sole purpose was to become Qessith’s final avatar. She is no more than an empty vessel, even as a child.

Thomason resents that she was not desired.

Qessith is not a demon/spirit or a god but a secret, third thing. 🤫

[digital-meat]

I've said it before, Blood Meridian is just an pbfuscatrd pulp story. Pulp is good and it's a good example. Judge Holden is just a Fu Manchu guy. Just a well written Stygian priest.

Theres nothing in the book I couldn't imagine Michael Moorcock writing in his prjme

[superpoweredfancast]

When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee #2 Review

When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee #2 BOOM! Studios Written by Gus Moreno Art by Jakub Rebelka Colors by Jakub Rebelka Letters by Becca Carey The Rundown: Stygian and Barrera pay a visit to a friend to perform a dangerous exorcism on a child. Stygian and Barrera make their way to the country to pay a visit to Maru. After learning that the spirit of a dead priest has been haunting the area…

[graphicpolicy]

When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee #1 sets up a religious thriller

When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee #1 sets up a religious thriller #comics #comicbooks #ncbd

Father Barrera is a disgraced priest, haunted by his part in the tragic death of a child. As penance, he is exiled to the remote South American town of Puerto Cristina to apprentice under the enigmatic Father Stygian, controversial exorcist. Exorcists are normally trained in the Vatican, but Stygian has his own way of handling demons… methods that predate even the Church. And unfortunately for…

[fangirlnationmag]

'When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee' Comes to Stores January

Writer Gus Moreno and artist Jakub Rebelka bring new horror to stores this January from BOOM! Studios with When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee. Here’s the official story: Father Barrera is a disgraced priest, haunted by his part in the tragic death of an innocent child. As penance, he is exiled to the remote South American town of Puerto Cristina to apprentice under the enigmatic Father Stygian,…

[melvin-dukowski]

Operation listen to a new album a day Q1 list

1: Foreign Skies by the Dreadnoughts.

2: King of the Jews by Oxbow

3: Swarm by Atomic Ape

4: Yodh by Mizmor

5: Los Angeles by X

6: School’s out by Alice Cooper

7: Панихида by Батюшка (Panikhida by Batyushka)

8: Shoelace and a Knot by yungatita

9: Sorrow and Extinction by Pallbearer

10: Mestarin Kynsi by Oranssi Pazuzu

11: Sign of the Devil by Dopelord

12: Unsilent Death by Nails

13: I by Hell

14: Sunami by Sunami

15: Abandon All Life by Nails

16: Big Sigh by Marika Hackman

17: Command Your Weather by Big Business 

18: Self Surgery by Mrs Piss

19: Revengeance by Conan

20: ILION by SLIFT

21: And Then There Were None by Church of Misery

22: Shades of God by Paradise Lost

23: Dismal by Grief

24: Tweedles by The Residents 

25: Myopia by Mizmor/Thou

26: Carboniferous by Zu

27: Death Magic Doom by Candlemass

28: The Bunny Boy by The Residents

29: Doc at the Radar Station by Captain Beefheart & His Magical Band

30: Koolaide Mustache in Jonestown by Don Salsa

31: Victim in Pain by Agnostic Front

32: Milo Goes to College by Descendents 

33: II by Meat Puppets

34: AN INSATIABLE HIGH by Masayoshi Tanaka

35: You Will Never Be One Of Us by Nails

36: Ein Produkt der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft by DAF

37: The Scythe is Remorseless by Yersin 

38: SAVED! By Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter

39: The Burden of Hope by Grails.

40: Redlight by Grails

41: Parole de Navarre by The Dale Cooper Quartet

42: Voice of Chunk by The Lounge Lizards

43: The Affair of the Poisons by Hellripper

44: No Control by Bad Religion

45: Ethic of Radical Finitude by Downfall of Gaia

46: Maniac Meat by Tobacco

47: L’etoile thoracique by Klo Pelgag

48: The World as it is Today by Art Bears

49: Elizium by Fields of the Nephilim

50: Ihsahn by Ihsahn 

51: You Have Already Gone to the Other World by A Hawk and a Hacksaw

52: The Underground Resistance by Darkthrone

53: Terminal by Bongripper

54: Black Tar Prophecies Vols. 1, 2 & 3 by Grails.

55: Of the Last Human Being by Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

56: Moon Healer by Job For A Cowboy

57: Green Room by Radkey

58: Maps by Billy Woods/Kenny Segal

59: Atrocity Machine by Body Void

60: Preachers Daughter by Ethel Cain

61: THE HOLY BIBLE by Manic Street Preachers.

62: Stygian Bough Volume 1 by Bell Witch and Aerial Ruin

63: The Mother of Virtues by Pyrrhon

64: I Got Heaven by Mannequin Pussy

65: Burning Off Impurities by Grails

66: Still They Pray by Cough

67: Time ‘n’ Place by Kero Kero Bonito

68: What Passes for Survival by Pyrrhon

69: Namidae by Oxxo Xoox

70: Corpo-Mente by Corpo-Mente

71: Universal Sprache by Vladimir Bozar ‘n’ Sheraf Orkestar

72: Weedsconsin by Bongzilla

73: Under a Slab, We All Rot by Asphalt

74: Mercenary by Bolt Thrower

75: She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She by Chelsea Wolfe 

76: The Black Halo by Kamelot

77: Rum, Sodomy and the Lash by The Pogues

78: Invincible Shield by Judas Priest

79: Behold the Abyss by Those Poor Bastards

80: Ultima II Massage by Tobacco

81: Dandelion Gum by Black Moth Super Rainbow

82: Self-titled 1998 by Dropdead

83: Here are The Sonics by The Sonics

84: Undestroyed by Free Salamander Exhibit

85: The Bowls Project by Charming Hostesses

86: Everybody Knows this is Nowhere by Neil Young with Crazy Horse

87: What a Fucking Nightmare by The Chisel 

88: Feel the Misery by My Dying Bride

89: Maya by M.I.A

90: Whereabouts Unknown by Mojo Nixon

91: Paralyzed by Witch

So far so good. The best albums on here have entered my normal rotation and the worst were merely just kinda boring.

[redredrosesnowwhite]

Bailey Dallas Capote-Valentino [Queenie], Clemente Lazaro Massimo Valentino [Stygian Conjuror], Benito Angelo Valentino [Dark Elementalist], Blackheart Mephistoson-Valentino [Sadistic Demon], Lennox "Shades" Ainsworth [Dark Priest], Buffy Anne Summers-Ainsworth [Goldilocks Slayer], Snow White Ainsworth-Van Helsing [Red Red Rose], and Abraham Van Helsing [The Huntsman]. Dark Winds.