Tsardom of Copper
Realm of Stribog
Location: Gray Waste / Oinos
As per the Rule of Three, this third Slavic realm of metal is centered around the imposing palace of copper and bronze. It is full of Stribog’s fiendish petitioner Likhoradkas and humanoid and fiendish servants. In the central spire of the palace Stribog himself sits on his throne. He’s surrounded by six mezzoloths, who open his heavy eyelids with their tridents. Chat goes that Stribog knows their truenames and, as such, is in full control of them. He’s also accompanied by a powerful night hag. Most of Viy’s petitioners (who don’t end up as larvae or diseases) take the form of whirlwinds or fire storms, that roam the outer reaches of the realm and attack any trespasser.
In the deepest chambers of the copper palace, Zhupela (human/likhoradka proxy [she/her] / CE) is chained. She is said to be a daughter of Stribog, mother of the Likhoradkas and the most powerful of all of them, able to turn any who she kills into undead thralls. Why Stribog holds her captive in the vault is unknown—perhaps it’s for his own amusement, perhaps to foster even more hatred in Zhupela, or maybe because he’s afraid that his proxy could one day replace him as a deity of disease.
Sources: Margarita and Jon Winter-Holt. Margarita notes: While this homebrew power is based on Slavic folklore and beliefs, the amount of actual information we have on pre-Christian Slavic deities is so minuscule that building any kind of lore out of it is impossible. However, there are a lot of folk beliefs about things these deities are thought to represent, which I have worked into the piece.
