Difference between revisions of "Styx"

Scene Setting

“…And I woke from that pain to a serene disregard. I hurt no more; the thirst that had plagued me in my final moments had left me, and for a time I felt hopeful. I knew better than to expect an agreeable end, but the ground felt so soft before the horror set in.”

There is another place our world aside—a place of imagination, belief and the rule of story. Built upon the Dragon’s back, the land of Wild Adventure is where all aspects of imagination exist in a very real sense. Here, all things passed in story come to be; every fantasy tale, every romanticised aspect of humanity, every Heaven and every Hell.

Mages and Magic users of Earth would tell you this place is called Faerie. That it can oft be visited by the wary only; that its inhabitants can be called upon for power, for knowledge or even wishes. These very Mages, the ones that survived such treks, would tell you to also be careful where you tread. It is terribly easy to lose your feet, and so your path in this place.

If you find yourself in unfamiliar scenery—you are likely to find yourself in unfamiliar company; and the creatures of this place are as strange and fantastical as the land itself. They come with their own mystery, their own quirks and goals often derived from the stories people remember from their childhoods.

You might meet your hero here—the one from the story you recall, that saves the Princess from Dragon fire and damned tower. You might meet romanticised Cowboys from the Wildest West, or Knights in armour sitting around circular tables. You might meet Angels; the goodness you expect watching from on up high—every Religion played out in its own little corner of Faerie; every God and Pantheon ruling over their own little slice of the Human condition.

You might too then, also meet your Demons.

“I could smell burning. The scent of a world ablaze filling my lungs with dust and heat; it was apparent then, as I girded myself to open my eyes, that I saw the world of ashes and embers…”

Every instance of Hell imagined by Humanity also takes a slice of the Land—each unique, fiery and heated all the way to frozen and despairing. We, as mere mortals then, are bound to fall into whatever place we believed we should after our demise. Should you believe in Hell, should you believe in the laws of a God and wilfully break them—you end up Damned.

Styx, the Devil

“…I heard it, long before I saw it. The heavy sound of thudding steps rumbled the very ground of this Godless place; my heart pounding within my chest as I waited withheld dread for what came.”

The Devil Styx is a twisted figure of a thing—an abstract result of Human imagination, she is a monster from a monstrous place. The segment of Faerie she hails from is a dead, burned out husk of what once might have been a healthy world; The Doldrums are a layered place of punishment and strife.

Styx towers over most she meets; lending her a good deal of awe and intimidation to her cause and allowing her to control a good territory of her Hell, where she dominates the unlucky souls which fall into the place. Akin to a kind of limbo; The Doldrums are a place of purification at the hands of such creatures, making it Styx’s purpose to punish and torment those sin sullied souls that land into her realm.

Her experiences in that Hellish realm have moulded the Devil no little into the oft frowning creature that she is, yet she is far from predictable. Due to her time in the human world at the behest of Mages and Witches, she has an abstruse, often stoic personality which is difficult to read. Rather than being the personification of anger her horrific shape might lend itself to, she is capable of being calm and collected and indeed it seems to be her default state. This is not to say she does not enjoy getting riled up.

She acts with strength, aggression and no little determination in her purpose. She feeds off of the suffering of those in her grasp—the muscular nightmare gaining energy and power for all the pain and torment she inflicts, all in the name of purification. In effect then, she works on the side of ‘good’; to make those who believe suitable to meet their God.

“It was huge—towering nine-feet over me in the dim, a head crowned of Ram’s horns and legs of a goat to match. It was the heavy thud of its hooves which had so alerted me. It wears some grim invidious expression, and a desire meant for me…”

From there she is called. Those Mages and practitioners of Magic call upon the denizens of Faerie from time to time—and the Devil Styx is no different, summoned from her Hell into the mortal world via a mere Child’s riposte.

Power of a Whimsical Repartee

Any of you that have spent time on the play-ground will have hear the mischievous comeback to whatever insult or childish slur, and it is to this that the Devil Styx owes her existence.

“Styx and Stohnz may break my bones, but names may never harm me.”

Taught to children by parents wishing to break the cycle of anger and immature squabbles—it is substitute then to insult and ire from childish minds. The otherwise meaningless words have become known by so many, that they are lent power in the Land of Wild Adventure—Faerie.

In this place they have become personified in the forms of two individual constructions of the human imagination; one of them being the large Satyr like Devil, Styx.

It has been postulated by Mages and people interested in the workings of otherworldly power as to why this rhyme would coalesce in a Hellish place such as The Doldrums and perhaps the most reasonable explanation for the random nature of Faerie came from a Sixteenth century Wizard named Peter;

“…It is possible then, that all the insults never said and anger not shared from mere children’s hearts has fed into these pair, and the power of the rhyme. Meeting them both was an experience…”

The rhyme is a line of summoning and indeed hints at the purpose of the two creatures called forth. It is said that a Mage whom controls both the Devils Styx and Stohnz gains great power from their union.

The ‘Sister’, Stohnz

It is true that creatures such as Styx do not normally claim to have family of any sort; but these two are an unusual case, linked to the one witty retort. Styx’s Sister Devil is Stohnz; a diminutive creature at first glance, patterned with torment and fractured it can be said she is everything the titanic Styx is not.

While Styx is often a large, gruff creature that tends to sulk; Stohnz is a lively pip-squeak of childish manner. Stohnz is often seen perched upon some part of her Sister Styx, be it broad shoulder or arm, or even her head she is seemingly perfectly comfortable around the mighty Behemoth. It has been noted that the Devil Stohnz is not terribly good at her role; an apparent weakness belies her power as the strongest of the pair, and her childish manner often leaves one unguarded when meeting her. This is, of course, if she is not accompanied by her Sister and Bodyguard, Styx.