Metsäst (mɛt sæst)

Master of the Hunt Metsäst (a.k.a. Keeneye, Winterlord, Beastmaster)

The Master of the Hunt is worshipped in many lands, throughout the Old Kingdoms, New Kingdoms, and Frontier Lands. His huntmasters celebrate the winter and teach the arts of hunting and archery.

Divine Domains

Animals, archers, hunting, winter

Holy Books & Codes

Metsäst has two holy books. The first titled The Journey of Metsäst is a somewhat allegorical tale of his rise to divinity. The events related in it are so ancient that it is impossible to verify any of them. The other book, The Winter Huntsman is a collection of hunting and winter survival tips interspaced with parables and proverbs teaching Metsäst’s philosophy.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Bow and arrow

Tenets of Faith

Respect the wild and the creatures of it.

Live Lightly on the land; take only what you need.

Winter is the time of renewal, celebrate it, don’t hide from it.

A curved bow, a straight arrow, and a sharp eye will solve many problems.

The hunter is not greater than the prey, both have their place.

Mourn not for those who have died fulfilling their purpose.

Holidays

Winter Sports Day; 17th of Divy
Midwinter Festival; 30th of Goyag – to 1st of Divy

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Metsäst is depicted as a tall man with platinum blonde hair, and glacial blue eyes. He is in excellent physical condition, with wiry muscles, and strong, calloused hands.

Body Features

He has very fair, almost pale skin with a smattering of freckles.

Facial Features

He has a broad face with high cheekbones. His hair is long and usually tied back and he has a thick bushy beard.

Apparel & Accessories

He is usually dressed in furs appropriate to winter hunting and is never without his longbow and a quiver of arrows.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Metsäst is one of the ascended gods, that is he was born a mortal, but ascended to godhood. Little is known about his people or his history prior to ascension. What is known is he was a skilled hunter capable of bringing in game any time of year. According to legends his people dwelt in the far north of the Old Kingdoms before the present day inhabitants arrived. Some legends credit him with inventing the bow, or at least the longbow variant. According to legend one particularly severe winter, game was almost nonexistent and cold and snow was persisting long past the time of spring. An oracle told that a great beast was keeping summer at bay and preventing the return of warmth and food. Metsäst set out to destroy the beast. He was gone for many days, then one day the wind stopped blowing and the snow began to melt. A few days later Metsäst stumbled into his village, nearly dead and bearing the head of a ferocious beast of some sort. A short time later he passed away. He was placed on a great pyre, as was the custom of his people. However before the fire could be lit a great flame fell from the heavens and the people saw him ascend in the pillar of fire.

Intellectual Characteristics

He has an innate ability to accurately judge windage and gauge ranges. He is intelligent, a genius when it comes to the natural world and its ways, but less than knowledgeable when it comes to civilization and its ways. He tends to react more emotionally than logically, not that he is not capable of logic, but rather that his heart rules him in most circumstances.

Morality & Philosophy

Metsäst cares little for good and evil, preferring the primal ways of the natural world, with its unspoken philosophy of survival of the fittest. He believes in living lightly on the world, taking only what is necessary and giving back when possible. Consequently, he doesn’t oppose hunting for food, or even agriculture. He does oppose hunting for sport and trophies and creatures like goblins and orcs with habits of killing more than they need have his enmity. He does not believe that those who die fulfilling their destiny should be mourned. Rather that their lives should be celebrated. He teaches that those who die fulfilling the tenets of their faith have fulfilled their destinies, so a deer that dies to feed another, or a warrior of Kello who dies defending a town, or one of his own rangers who dies hunting a particularly dangerous opponent have all died fulfilling their destinies, whereas a paladin of Utu who dies of disease at night has not.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

His motivation is to ensure that wild places and animals remain, and that humans or other races, don’t completely despoil the land.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

He is extremely skilled with a bow, and is said to never miss his target.

Likes & Dislikes

He loves hunting, especially in winter. He likes winter weather the way a fresh snow makes everything seem clean. He dislikes clearcutting of forests. He hates hunting for sport.

Divine Classification

Deity

Religions

Alignment

Neutral

Church/Cult

Church of Metsäst

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Master of the Hunt, Keen Eye, Winter Lord, Beastmaster

Children

Current Residence

Jättää

Gender

Male

Eyes

Piercing glacial blue

Hair

long and platinum blonde

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

very fair, almost white, with a smattering of small freckles

Height

6'1"

Weight

275 lbs.

Aligned Organization