Saint Sollars

"I'm Saint Sollars. Pleased ta meetcha."

- St. Sollars.

Saint Sollars, called the Twice Martyred, was a saint of the faith of Ilmater the Crying God. He was the patron saint of Bloodstone Pass.

Worshipers
Within the church of Ilmater, St. Sollars was venerated by the Disciples of St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred and at the Monastery of the Yellow Rose in the Earthspur Mountains and the Abbey of St. Sollars located in Bloodstone Village in Damara. He was viewed as a patriarch of the faith. It was the only faith to have a saint known as "the Twice-Martyred" and many Ilmatari hoped to follow his path.

The people of Damara particularly venerated Ilmater and St. Sollars. Many Damarans, even those who followed other gods, felt a special closeness to St. Sollars, knowing the virtues of endurance in the face of hardship. The yellow rose of St. Sollars was a common sight in the realm.

Symbol
His symbol was a yellow rose, which was adopted by the Monks of the Yellow Rose, and a lone, five-pointed star. The Abbey of St. Sollars employed both symbols, where literature related to the saint displayed the lone star.

Works
The Book of St. Sollars was a religious tome consisting of numbered verses. A copy rested on the altar of the Abbey of St. Sollars.

History
As his title suggested, St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred died in martyrdom, returned to life, and died as a martyr once more, a heroic feat for which he was sainted.

St. Sollars was long dead by the 14th century DR. The Disciples of St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred had crossed over the Great Glacier, over the lands that would later be known as Damara and Vaasa, whilst both realms still lay beneath the ice. In the Year of the Yellow Rose, 1242 DR, they founded the Monastery of the Yellow Rose, also known as the Citadel of the White Worm.

In the Year of the Serpent, 1359 DR, an adventuring party comprising Sir Gareth Dragonsbane, Olwen Forest-Friend, Friar Dugald, Riordan Parnell, Celedon Kierney, and Emelyn the Gray was faced with the perilous quest of pursuing the Witch-King Zhengyi through a gate into the Abyss, in order to end his threat to Damara forever. As they hesitated at this nightmarish and deadly expedition, St. Sollars appeared behind them to offer encouragement, refresh their divinely granted magic, and explained what they needed to do. He informed them that Bahamut wanted to prevent Orcus—Zhengyi's patron—from getting to the Material Plane. St. Sollars then tasked them with traveling through the Abyss to the realm of Orcus, where they were to steal his famed wand and deliver it to him in the Celestial planes.

Traveling through dozens of Abyssal layers, they finally made their way to Orcus's realm on the 333rd layer, where they snuck into the demon lord's castle and successfully stole the Wand of Orcus. They then fled to the Astral Plane, where they were rescued from pursuing demons by Terxyx, a tome archon, and a troop of sword archons, who served St. Sollars and would escort them to meet him. They travelled to Mercuria in the Seven Heavens, to St. Sollars's realm at Castle Al-Amo. To destroy the wand, St. Sollars directed them to Bahamut, who in turn predicted that the Wand of Orcus needed to be bathed in the blood of a slain avatar Tiamat, the Dragon Queen. After the slaying the avatar and destroying the Wand, and a last meeting with Bahamut, St. Sollars healed the heroes, rewarded them with wishes, and let them rest in the Seven Heavens for a day before sending them on their way.

Description
When meeting with Gareth Dragonsbane and party, St. Sollars appeared as a man, short and stocky of build, with huge white angel's wings. He had a very distinctive accent. He wore a white robe, smoked a cheap cigar, and conjured beer for the group. When he vanished, he took the beer, and left only the smell of cheap cigar smoke.

Base
St. Sollars resided in the plane of Seven Heavens, on the layer of Mercuria, where he had a golden castle called Castle Al-Amo, the Fortress of Love. He described it as "his spread".

Relationships
As a saint, Sollars served the god Ilmater, the One Who Endures.

St. Sollars also revered the god Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, whom he called "the big boss".

St. Sollars was served by Terxyx, a tome archon, who in turn led a squad of at least twenty sword archons.

St. Sollars opposed the demon lord Orcus, Prince of the Undead, who he said was a "bad hombre" and "the meanest dude this side o' the Pecos".

Background
The name St. Sollars first appeared in the 1985 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Battlesystem supermodule titled Bloodstone Pass by Douglas Niles and Michael Dobson. Further mentions followed in the rest of the series, culminating in an appearance in person in the final adventure, The Throne of Bloodstone. It wasn't until 1988 that the Bloodstone Lands and all its adventures were incorporated into the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, with The Throne of Bloodstone and the sourcebook The Bloodstone Lands. The sourcebook linked St. Sollars to the existing Realms god Ilmater. Previously, St. Sollars was a minor deity in his own right.

When St. Sollars appears in person The Throne of Bloodstone, he is given a distinctly 'cowboy' voice and slang in an odd change of tone. What's more, he appears to come from Texas on Earth—he refers to the Pecos River, his yellow rose symbol is probably the Yellow Rose of Texas, his lone star symbol is probably for the "Lone Star State", and his Castle Al-Amo is an exact match for the Alamo. However, the picture depicts a chubby, long-haired, bespectacled man, perhaps not unlike a certain kind of D&D player.

The Bloodstone Wars and the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 2nd edition (revised) spell the saint's name as "Sollers", with an 'e'.

Incidentally, Bloodstone Pass was playtested by Ed Sollers, a TSR editor. According to author Michael Dobson, here, "Saint Sollers, of course, I do remember: he was TSR editor Ed Sollers. Sollers' symbols (the Yellow Rose, etc.) had to do with his Texan origins." Ed Sollars was laid off by TSR twice, hence the "Twice-Martyred" title.

Appearances

 * The Throne of Bloodstone