Dolazur

Sovereign of Cunning and Conquest.

The fair fight is a farce. Dolazur’s followers do not endeavor to fight, but to arrive at the end victorious. They come out of cover and out of the dark, sending their foes into flight. They may take a man’s eyes, his breath, or his will — and the most powerful among them need nothing but a glance to bring ruin upon him.

Dolazur’s acolytes teach his traditions in stories. In one such story, three of the Sovereigns swore to meet Death at dawn. When the time came the eldest was elsewhere, carrying a great treasure out of the Citadel of the Dead, while his brother and sister met death with their soldiers’ lives. Their followers tell the story as an accusation. Dolazur’s faithful know it as the only victory possible against such a foe. His siblings that kept faith bought their own defeat; he alone seized a victory that day.

Another story poses it as a question. A hundred hounds run down two wolves and offer them honest battle. One wolf turns and fights in the daylight, and they tear him into pieces. The other goes into the dark, and each night devours one of the hounds. At the end of a hundred nights, he is the only thing still standing. Which of the two wolves was brave?

Traditions that teach him: the Dwarven Forgepriest and the Gnomish Iconologist.

His worship day is Zol, a market day, when a city honors Kolkorn by counting and recording its wealth. Dolazur’s servants use the day to reckon what it would cost to take.

The humans do not name him. Where a dwarf or gnome sees Dolazur, a human sees Vulkoor, Sovereign of Pain and Poison.

Strictures

Both of Dolazur’s traditions ask a great deal, and the deeper asks more. Find your own tradition below; it tells you what it adds to the one above it.

Dwarven Forgepriest

• A follower of Dolazur must always wear a ring of leather or cloth, visible upon his person. The ring must be fashioned from spoil, taken from a foe that did not suspect his attack.
• A follower of Dolazur must offer prayers at dusk each day. The most common prayers come as a retelling of the myths above. Offering prayer takes one hour (6 turns).
• On Zol, Dolazur’s holy day, a follower of Dolazur must make an assessment of a person, place, or thing he desires, noting its defenses, strengths, and weaknesses, and his best available means to claim it.
• A follower of Dolazur must never offer straightforward battle, except with absolute superiority of numbers or strength. If an enemy forces one, it is his duty to withdraw and seek advantage at a time and place of his choosing.
• A follower of Dolazur must never leave a beaten enemy the means to face him again.

Gnomish Iconologist

An iconologist of Dolazur abides every stricture listed for the Dwarven Forgepriest above, and further:

• A follower of Dolazur must obey any follower of Dolazur who has bested him, until he bests them in turn.
• A follower of Dolazur must take no henchman, retainer, or sworn man he has not first bested himself. He must not trust loyalty that can be bought with mere coin.

The advantage

Victory is never a sin. Dolazur forbids offering an even fight, not surviving one forced upon him. Where a follower can withdraw and take it back on his own terms, he must; but one set upon, cornered, or handed a battle with no line of retreat breaks nothing by winning it.

Obedience suffices. In any contest to secure a retainer or other supplicant, the faithful of Dolazur may accept the other’s obedience as sufficient to satisfy the stricture against foes with means. It is to his own benefit that he avoids maiming or killing those who might serve in health. His household and retinue are assembled entirely out of people who have lost to him and know it, leaving no argument about who is in charge.

Obedience challenged. The stricture of obedience runs only between followers of Dolazur. As above, it is to his own benefit that a master avoids maiming or killing his servants. One who is subservient may request another challenge at any time, and it must be answered within the week or it is forfeit — but the challenger should beware, as the challenged need not announce the time or place he intends to answer!

A rout is not a slaughter. To leave an enemy no means is to take the arms, the walls, the men, the office, the name — whatever it was he was strong with. Dolazur has no particular preference for homicide. A beggar in a ditch has been left no means, and may be a great deal more instructive to one’s foes than a corpse.