Stengard - Lawful Good God of Justice, Law, and Competition

Stengard: Lawful with Good tendencies. Primary Judge of the Gods. Leader of the Good Gods. Primary Characteristics are Law and Justice. Secondary Characteristics are Competition, Sports, Protection and Guardianship, and Strategy.

Stengard is usually portrayed as an older man with a full head of long, flowing white hair. He has a bushy white mustache which hangs straight down past the corners of his lips with no beard. He is quite muscular and is almost always depicted in a suit of silver full plate, with no helmet while carrying a large silver two-handed sword. His build is that of the ultimate athlete.
When not seen wearing armor, his clothing is still white and made of silk. On those occasions he wears a sleeveless vest, always buttoned up, which has tiny stitchings of gold, usually in the pattern of a dragon on each of the front panels. His trousers will be loose fitting, solid white as will be the close-toed silk slippers he wears.
Stengard is commonly referred to as Sten outside of formal rituals and services. His serious demeanor is rarely depicted as mean, cruel or strict. He is seen as non-judgemental and tolerant of the faults of others. This is not contrary to him being the god of justice and law. He holds those values above all else, however he is not beyond compassion for those who show proper remorse and contriteness.
As leader of the gods, he is focused more on that they work collectively as a unified whole for the betterment of Camoray as opposed to imposing his morality over all the lands. He understands that different lands and cultures create different needs within a society and even the evil gods are a representation of the societies they represent. He is more focused that the feuds of the individual socieities don't spill over into wanton destruction and mindless pillage. When it comes to such feuds, he can be standoffish, even if it means allowing one of his cities to be attacked, taking an approach of pausing to see what happens. He realizes that to do different could lead to an outright rebellion of the evil gods and result in even further hardship for all mortals. He is also a strong proponent of the idea of free will and every mortal must choose their own way in life, taking with it both the rewards and consequences of such actions. The idea of free will is probably one of his highest personal laws.
His relationship with the other good gods is cooperative and his clergy reflects that in dealing with their clergy. Of the neutral gods, there are amicable relations between him and both Yahalla and Torya, all their clergies working closely together.
With regards to Sanderal, there is a tolerance given. As Sanderal can represent elements frowned upon in a civilized society, their clergies can be at odds at from time to time. As Sanderal is often called upon by the dispirited and the poor, a common ground exists. It is the larcenous side of the Sanderal’s faith which causes the most problems.
Kristor is welcome and tolerated, as are her clergy. It is usually one-sided with her priests keeping the distance, emotionless, and being unapproachable. A great respect exists when Kristor speaks, everyone listens. When her priestesses approach any of the other temples, great care is taken to make sure their needs are met as her clergy is never visiting out of camaraderie.
Of the two evil gods, Ramian Fax and Letheria, Stengard takes a hands-off approach. He is steadfast in that they shall not influence the lands where the good gods hold sway and in return, he often leaves them to their own devices in their lands. Part of this is for the benefit of the entire world. The other reason is that it helps for when Stengard feels the need to actually override and issue a command to either of them. As it is seldom, both have always deferred when pressed.
The clergies of Ramian Fax, Letheria, and Stengard have an uneasy alliance, all generally attempting to stay out of the others way. While both the evil gods have hidden temples within the good cities, those temples make sure they don’t make disturbances which would bring undue notice. The clergies also make sure that any of their nefarious plans can’t be openly traced back to them, as Stengard is more tolerant of mortals doing evil as long as it isn’t orchestrated by a higher power. Again, this ties into his view of free will.
Slinjetto is often on the outs with the good gods overall, so she and her clergy are often not allowed in the cities belonging to the good gods. Oddly, the vast majority of her worshipers tend to be laymen and they are accepted in all lands. The saying is, “Pray for safe passage, Pray for her guidance, but never invite her to dine.” Her blessings are always welcome, her presence is not.
Grethello, being completely insane, requires to the full might of Stengard bearing down before he will succumb to his will. Such is the effort required that Stengard will only rein him in with the support of all the gods behind him. This does not preclude his, or any of the other clergies, actively seeking his followers out to eradicate them.
His priests often work as the local magistrate and take great pride in being fair and just, serving the needs of the community over the needs of the individual. They are renowned for their insight and wisdom when passing judgment. The religion abhors the use of torture as a cruel means, though will utilize short-term pain for the purpose of penance and as a punitive measure. A priest of Stengard can be depended on to know the majority of the local laws and customs, especially once they have lived in an area for a year or longer.
Another role that priests often fulfill is that of judging or refereeing competitions of all levels. As servants of a god of competition, many priests are athletes and compete, but their higher calling is to ensure that such competitions are fair and evenly judged. Stengard is the god of competitions, not of competitors as many might suspect. In fact, it is considered ill-fortune to pray to Stengard for favor in an upcoming match.
As an extension of this, he is also a god of war in that he focuses on making sure the war fought is honorable. Prisoners must be held and treated with respect. His priests often oversee the ransom and exchange of officers. They also play a prominent role in all peace and treaty proceedings.
With regards to the actual fighting, he leaves that to the other gods like Radok, Josca, and Slinjetto. His concern is that the fight is fair and not the design of dark manipulations. Those who break established rules of combat earn his immediate wrath, as do those who violate treaties by playing on another nation's goodwill.
His primary cities are the three sister Rynth cities of Brynthia, Crynthia, and Drynthia. In Crynthia, he takes a much sterner roll and the clergy there are often more intractable when it comes to mercy.
In Kraylin he has minimal presence, often viewed as a god which the city has little need for. His clergy in that city tends to be much more militarized for protection with his small temples acting more as embassies than bastions of good.
He has no presence in the cities of Zylonica or in Amaravati.
Chrailis has seen his presence ebb and wanes over the years. Currently, there are three temples devoted to Stengard and little effort is made to spread the faith by the small yet devoted congregations.
His month is Stijaka, the first month of Summer and is named after his golden dragon aspect. This is also the name of the Zodiac sign representing the celestial dragon. The longest day of summer is within this month. During this month, several competitions and festivals are held in his name throughout Arisilon.

Colors: Silver
Favored Weapons: Two-Handed Sword or an oversized Mallet
Symbol: A circular field of fine silver scale. This is often hanging as a medallion on a chain around the neck. There is never another image in this field, though in the distant past his priests did have the image of a silver mallet painted on top of the silver scale. While many images concerning Stengard will depict measuring scales of some fashion and they are associated with him, they are not considered actual symbols.
When in battle, his clergy will substitute the medallion for an item of their armor, having it in some way be covered with silver scale mail. The highest ranking members will, in turn, change out the silver scale for gold scale which has been blessed in a private ceremony by Stengard himself.
Domains: Azata, Community, Cooperation, Home, Glory, Heroism, Honor, Archon, Good, Redemption, Friendship, Healing, Law, Judgment, Loyalty, Nobility, Leadership, Martyr, Protection, Defense, Fortification, Purity, Wards, Strength, Competition, Resolve, Light, War, Tactics, (Kami EG), (Imbolc JBE), and (Lughnasadh JBE), and (Arcane School Sub-Domains [Abjuration, Transmutation-Celestial] KWD).

First Choice of a Domain for a worshiper of Stengard able to choose domains must always be Law or Judgement. The Second Choice must be either the other one or Competition. After that, any domain may be chosen.

Obedience Law Spend at least one hour a day studying local laws and customs. Over the course of a month, equal time must be spent aiding the local citizenry, especially those too poor to hire aid, with advice and legal counsel. This second requirement can be done in larger blocks and need to not be divided evenly between days. Most active priests are allowed to act on the behalf of those they aid in their home jurisdiction. By spending this time studying and helping, the worshiper gains a +4 sacred bonus on all checks associated with the effort, including those to detect lies and investigate.
Obedience Judgement Spend at least an hour a day studying local laws and customers. (A separate hour is not needed when combined with the above obedience.) When making a judgment or ruling, a sacred bonus of +4 to wisdom is gained for all such activities.
Obedience Competition Spend an hour a day in contemplation of rules of competition or studying strategy and tactics relevant to any upcoming game or event. Once done, for the next 24 hours the worshiper gets to reroll a failed attempt to make the correct judgment call when observing a series of events. This is done by the GM, as the worshiper does not know they failed the first time. Additionally, the worshiper will always be able to make snap calls correctly along the lines of as to who crossed a line first or who arrived first.
Gestures: When greeting each other, entering a holy place, or standing before a holy item to stengard, the worshiper will clasp their crossed hands over their heart with palms open, the left hand over the right hand. This is followed by a slight bow without breaking eye contact. The crossing of the hands to the heart represents that in all matters, the communion of a healthy society is the ultimate purpose of their service, a steadfast promise that in all judgments the needs to the many followed by the needs of the few will come before the act of a heartless judgment itself.