Stronmaus

Stronmaus was a neutral good greater deity of the giant pantheon, known as the Ordning, holding the portfolios of the sun, sky, weather, and seas. His titles were the Storm Lord, the Thunderhead, and the Smiling God.

Description
When Stronmaus manifested an avatar, it was as an incredibly tall and muscular giant, standing up to  tall. Forever with a smile on his face, he had blue eyes and auburn-red hair that was wavy and flowing. He wore but a simple white robe of silk with golden edges. A statue of Stronmaus standing in a storm giant temple in the undersea fortress of Maelstrom instead depicted him as a bare-chested storm giant with a beard of foam, an imperious expression, and a lower body that was no more than a massive wave, with a trident in his hands.

Personality
Stronmaus was a god full of life and energy—the very power of life itself flowed strongly through him. He was joyful and laughing, and always smiling because he simply couldn't help it and he displayed his great energy in dramatic ways. He loved to conjure mighty storms across the Beastlands, rejoicing in the rains and lightning and cheering with the thunder he produced with his hammer. But this could be terrifying for those unready for it and his exuberance, Stronmaus could forget his strength and might. Despite his generally jubilant nature, he was reputed to have times of deep brooding and gray moods. Stronmaus was much like his father, Annam, but younger, more vigorous, good-natured, carefree, and cheerful, which made the All-Father proud and pleased with his son. However, he shared his fickle lusts also.

Abilities
The avatar of Stronmaus commanded all weather within a radius of, could call lightning every ten minutes or so, and could hurl a powerful lightning bolt up to in length and  in width and a chain lightning–like effect each thrice a day.

Stronmaus's avatar was immune to all death spells and mind-affecting spells, all effects that could blind or deafen, all energy-draining attacks, and all electrical assaults. Furthermore, no avian or aquatic creature of non-evil nature would attack him, even if the creature was charmed, dominated, or similar and commanded to attack him, in which case the effect broken.

Possessions
Stronmaus's avatar fought with a mighty +5 hammer of thunderbolts that slew any evil giant dead with a single hit.

Activities
With Annam's withdrawal into seclusion,  Stronmaus took an ever greater interest in the affairs of giants and his fellow giant gods, and he would call out their misdeeds and destructive feuds and so on. In time, he was managing the affairs of the whole Ordning, yet he had no desire to rule it. He would happily yield the role to his father as soon as he came back.

Being an adventurous god, Stronmaus often sent avatars to Toril and the Prime Material plane for various purposes. He would send them to interfere in the schemes of Memnor, owing to their enmity, or to aid his god friends when their peoples were threatened. He might go in disguise as a typical storm giant traveling between their steadings to meditate with great storm giant shaman-priests, but they would always know him for who he was. But he also liked to just go for a walk through forests and remote mountain areas, taking in the clean air and the elements, and sometimes visiting storm and cloud giant communities. He was also known to send avatars simply to court and seduce beautiful giantesses who had attracted his interest. By custom of the giant gods, he never interfered directly or obviously in the affairs of giants, but often acted indirectly if it meant having adventures. He also regularly roamed the mountains of the Beastlands and flew through all its layers stirring up storms alongside his mortai companions, sentient cloud-like beings.

His omens were storms and lightning, clouds of unusual shape that partially hid the sun, and direct warnings of coming evils.

Realm
Stronmaus lived in the divine realm of Stormhold, which, in the Great Wheel Cosmology, could be found in the Beastlands in the midnight layer of Karasuthra, though it was believed by some to be attached to Gudheim, Annam's former realm in Ysgard. In the World Tree cosmology, it was in the plane of Jotunheim. He was the most powerful and most influential god residing in the Beastlands. Although Stronmaus wandered the Beastlands as he willed, he kept his castle in Karasuthra simply because he appreciated the way the light of the moon of the Beastlands, Noctos, reflected off his gold-adorned marble battlements, making them glow. It stood atop a roiling thundercloud that could be flown about the layer, steered by several mortai attendants who rumbled and shot lightning bolts at one another in a form of conversation. There was always at least one mortai here. Sign of One members on the Beastlands debated the ties between Stronmaus and the mortai. They also wondered just how the cloud could even carry the castle, whether it was Stronmaus's power, the mortai's will, or something else that was behind it. In Jotunheim, the cloud was a brilliant white and hardly ever cast rain or storms onto the land below, and though its shadow was vast, the sun shone brightly above it.

Stormhold was a grand cloud palace built of marble the color of a storm cloud's silver lining, which was gilted with pure gold and adorned in gems and platinum. It had soaring towers and spires and was constantly lashed by storms. Within was a magical opal pool, potent with healing magics, that appeared only or  long to those outside it, but endless to those swimming in its waters. Any being whom Stronmaus permitted to swim in it had all injuries healed, all missing parts regenerated, and all health and conditions restored. Stronmaus liked to swim here with his divine friends Hiatea, Surminare, and Trishina. In the skies above the palace and across the Beastlands, Stronmaus liked to fly with Aerdrie Faenya, Remnis, and Syranita, as well as with his mortai companions.

Communities of those cloud and storm giant petitioners who'd worshiped Stronmaus in life could be found throughout the cloud. These formed camps and congregations of extended families. They spent most of their afterlives in the open air, miles above the ground. They gathered cloud-stuff and essence of storms for Stronmaus's dinner.

Stronmaus was one of the most likely of the gods of the Beastlands to issue power keys, which allowed the use of certain spells that were otherwise inhibited or prevented, such as magical flight. His were metal tokens resembling lightning bolts, or else were tiny glass pendants containing miniature storm clouds. All who came to Stormhold received the effects of resist heat and cold. However, getting there is very difficult, as magical flight fails on the Beastlands.

Relationships
Stronmaus was the son of Annam All-Father, chief of the giant pantheon. While his mother was unknown with many candidates being put forward, he was almost always regarded as Annam's first-born son. Stronmaus's closest relationship was with his sister (or half-sister) Hiatea, with all the sibling love and rivalry, not to mention feuding, that that entailed. The two were commonly seen as a pair, as the oldest and most powerful of Annam's children. His other siblings and half-siblings in the giant pantheon included Diancastra, Grolantor (Stronmaus was not pleased with his activities ), Karontor (said to be jealous of Stronmaus), Skoraeus Stonebones, Surtr, and Thrym. He was also uncle to Grond Peaksmasher. Iallanis, Memnor, and Vaprak were also sometimes named as his relatives, possibly even siblings. Although he got one well with his siblings, Stronmaus despised Memnor above all others and sometimes he and Hiatea had to step in to stop to his and Grolantor's troublemaking.

He maintained friendly relations with the good gods of sky and sea, including the asathalfinare. He counted many as friends and he enjoyed spending time with them—particularly the ladies, like Aerdrie Faenya, the elven goddess; Syranita, goddess of aarakocra; Surminare, queen of selkies; and Trishina, goddess of dolphins. He was also a friend of the eagle deity Remnis, who frequently visited and flew with him; of the dwarf god Marthammor Duin; of the Faerûnian goddess Eldath and many gods and goddess of Toril.

His primary proxy is the storm giant cleric Cumulus Longstride.

History
Once Stronmaus came of age, he chose the skies as his domain.

It was said that when Stronmaus learned of the arrival of his sister Hiatea, he was elated and celebrated her with epic storms that flooded worlds and washed away enormous evils.

Very rarely, Stronmaus was credited with destroying the massive, near-mindless, world-eating monster from whose carcass was born the god Memnor, but this honor was more often given to his father, Annam.

When Annam challenged Diancastra to prove her worth by circling the world in an hour or less, she simply went to Stronmaus's library and stole an atlas of worlds. She returned, ripped out the relevant page, and drew a circle around the world map. For her daring, Annam made Diancastra a demi-goddess.

According to legend, Nicias, progenitor of the cloud giants, won his first cloud palace from his half-brother Stronmaus in a bet. Built by Stronmaus himself, this cloud palace was enormous, but it was only a smaller version of Stronmaus' realm of Stormhold. Here, Nicias and his descendants floated over Toril before its fall.

Millennia before the 14 century DR, after Lanaxis united the sons of Annam on Toril, Stronmaus gifted the titan with some of the waters of his opal pool. Lanaxis used this to create his own pond like it at the heart of Voninheim.

After the bitter end of the war between the giants and the dragons, Stronmaus taunted Hiatea, calling her useless in the conflict. In response, Hiatea remade herself as an avenging huntress as well as a nurturer. Though Stronmaus later apologized, Hiatea did not forget it nor did she abandon her new path, and proved herself again and again to embarrass her brother.

In one legend, Stronmaus caught a tarrasque in chains and pulled it down to the bottom of the ocean where it would finally drowned. To show Stronmaus where the chain-tunnels lay, Skoraeus Stonebones tapped his hammer on the ocean floor.

Worshipers
Stronmaus was the patron deity of good storm giants and cloud giants, particularly those dwelling in the Ice Spires, and he was much loved by them,    but he was seen as a god of sea or sky of some sort by giants of all races. Stronmaus was a great fisherman to the hill giants, a bold sailor and explorer to the frost giants, and a thunderous storm god to the cloud giants. Some aarakocra in the North respected Stronmaus. He was also followed as a nature deity by some druids and rangers of the Realms and was venerated by humans in Hartsvale, with priests such as Simon.

Symbol
His holy symbol was a forked lightning bolt descending from a silver-lined cloud that partly obscured a sun.

Cloud Giants
More of a typical hierarchical priesthood, the cloud giant priests of Stronmaus were proud and well-organized and were commanded to clear the skies of all evil creatures. However, they were also required to be wealthy and well-dressed, and to make and wear fine jewelry. As the quality of one's clothing and jewelry was an indicator of rank in the clergy's hierarchy, junior priests were expected to dress well, but too well. They were also expected to have some skill in an area of the arts or music. There were no shamans among them. The few members of other giant races who venerated Stronmaus had similar priesthoods.

They received special powers to fly for twice as long as normal, conjure a wind wall, and cast major creation.

Cloud giants who worshiped Stronmaus scattered handfuls of incense and spices to the winds every morning. Twice every year or so, they declared a sacred sky hunt (omjag in the Giant language) to battle evil sky creatures such as chimeras, wyverns, and chromatic dragons. The slain beast was then ritually offered to Stronmaus.

Storm Giants
In contrast, the storm giant 'shaman-priests' of Stronmaus were shabbily dressed and solitary ascetics, mystics, and visionaries who saw one another as equals, regardless of what magic or other skills they had, with no hierarchy or formal clergy. Only storm giants followed this path. They felt themselves to be born with a gift, but must actualize it with inner journeys and harsh self-denials and suffering. To become one required they undergo a grueling personal initiation rite, such as journeying to a sacred site atop a cold, deserted mountain peak, fasting to the point of starvation, and meditating there for 100 days and nights. They spent much time in meditation and had close affinities with creatures of sea or sky, as befit them, and kept animal companions. Their philosophies were highly advanced and subtle, contrasting with an almost childish or playful aspect in their recounting of mythological stories and their companionship with beasts.

They received special powers to charm natural avian or aquatic animals. After an hour of meditation, they could summon an air elemental or water elemental sometime within the next day for an hour; sea-dwelling giants could only summon water elementals. Finally, they could call for a vision from their god once a week, with greater accuracy and no risk of offending him. They too could cast lightning bolt as a divine spell.

Storm giant worshipers of Stronmaus held grand ceremonies in which they proved their ability to withstand and overcome the challenges of the world, including significant quests, hunts, and journeys of survival. These usually tested them to their limits and put them in significant risk. They also atoned for their sins through mild physically punishing rites.

Dogma
Stronmaus's faith focused on the cleansing and redeeming effects of rain and that freedom is the greatest gift in life. Cloud giant followers stressed that good-natured merriment was the essence of life. Meanwhile, storm giant followers believed life was a test of will, that one must atone for all sins. Their own god's constant smile was seen as a mockery to them, so he was sometimes depicted with a more imperious expression.

Rituals
In the event of a rainstorm or thunderstorm, all priests of Stronmaus, whatever their race, would always halt what they were doing in order to pray to the god, even if they had summoned the storm themselves. They were also prohibited from building fires, though they could make use of fires started by others.

Magic
They could cast lightning bolt as a divine spell.

A weapon of the deity spell cast by a priest of Stronmaus conjured a shock warhammer.

Shrines & Temples
A temple of Stronmaus lay within the Maelstrom, a storm giant stronghold at the bottom of the Trackless Sea.

Appearances

 * Novels


 * The Twilight Giants: The Ogre's Pact • The Giant Among Us • The Titan of Twilight


 * Adventures


 * Storm King's Thunder


 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * Crypt of the Death Giants