The Stormlords
The Slave Kings, The Odd Couple, United Gods of Thunder, Lightning and Nautical Travel
The unbreakable unity of Ronom, God of Thunder and Ranarim, God of Lightning. Patrons of broken shackles, weather, storms, good fortune, nautical travel and monster hunting. Even the proudest sailors say a quick prayer to the "Stormlords", the "Slave Kings" or the "Odd Couple" before weighing anchor. On the continent of Marai they are known as Raijin and Fujin.
It is said Ronom & Ranarim were the mightiest Big Game Hunters of the First Age, specializing in kaiju of the seas. (While obviously smaller than the Sunken Expanse, Materia's antediluvian oceans were still impressive.) What started as enmity and rivalry eventually evolved to cooperation, then love.
The Stormlords are amongst the most storied of Material gods. Many such stories involve their adventures with their closest ally, the bard god Laila By-the-Sea; the trio are sometimes collectively worshipped as the “Gods of Adventure”, "The Chorus of Seasky" or the "Trioskuri".
The Slave Kings, alongside Laila, were also later additions to the Insurgent Pantheon who united against the tyrrany of the Colonial Gods.
Ronom & Ranarim are both Chaotic Good aligned.Appearance & Heraldry
See also: Ronom & Ranarim Image Gallery (External)Portrayals are generally of the two heroes as they were in mortal life: Ronom as a tall, broad-shouldered, moustachioed Valamonian and Ranarim as an athletic but lighter-framed Nireauan, with long black hair often tied into a simple ponytail. Ranarim was sometimes portrayed wearing shaded glasses, suggesting a light sensitivity that may mean a Meranthic human-drow ancestry, not uncommon in Nireau.
Worship
The Stormlords' worshippers are called cedas. They may be from a variety of martial schools so long as they are proficient aeromancers and hydromancers, such as clerics, druids, wizards or stormblood sorcerers. Though rare, they also count some liberator paladins in their ranks. They generally act as escorts and protectors of ships, either mercenary or tied to a specific crew. Since Ronom & Ranarim are good-aligned, they rarely accept employment by marauders or other evil crews (unless the benefits substantially outweigh the detriments; they are not a dogmatic church).
Occasionally cedas group into pirate bands, stealing from the rich and corrupt to fund church activities and donate to good causes. To these groups, the stories of the Stormlords' charity are not only morally but divinely inspirational.
Cedas also specialize in distracting, subduing and, at their most elite, killing kaiju, like their divine patrons. This makes them classic enemies of the cults of Ob'Silexia, Goddess of Sea Monsters. They do their best to carry on this legacy and train new generations of hunters, but few are brave enough to take up the call.
At least one historical ceda, known as Thorkel the Toothless, even raised a kaiju as a familiar: he named the creature Rorodt, which was said to resemble a dire skullfish, but with six hippo-like legs and porcupine-like spines. He enjoyed drawing screams & laughter from bargoers by describing Rorodt as his "wife" and kissing it on its giant, scowling mouth.Domains
Ronom & Ranarim's primary Domain is Travel. Their secondary domains are Lightning, Air, Water, Luck and Star.Favoured Weapon
Ronom's favoured weapon is the warhammer. His Relic warhammer is Jormgandsbane, and his Relic shield is Streamsplitter.
Ranarim's favoured weapons are the glaive and unarmed/Kung Fu. His Relic glaive is the Senkugoshoha. He is a Divine Grand Master of Meandering River Fist; legend claims he was taught the art by its inventor, Saint Frances Heronseye himself, though historians of antiquity have been unable to find evidence in support of this.
Clerics and paladins of the Stormlords typically choose one hero to emulate in this regard, though some particularly devoted cedas master both.History
Two of the great “Story Gods” alongside Solonn, Silas and Laila By-the-Sea, the Stormlords were First Age heroes that gathered divine power gradually over decades as tales of their exploits spread. As such, there are enough repeated consistencies to build an acceptable canon: Lightninglord Ranarim was a Nireauan exile and a magus of great talent; Thunderlord Ronom was Valamonian, a former Kalevan warlord turned warpriest of Aios.The Valamo-Rozsan Wars
Each one a stranger to their birth culture, Ronom and Ranarim became the greatest kaiju hunters of their rival nations, and therefore highly politicized icons of the violent Valamo-Rozsan Wars. For a while, each bought into their roles, thinking the other their enemy, and even clashed on occasion. But the two were smart and well-traveled, and saw too much outside the rhetoric of their warring homelands. The warriors would later subvert their celebrity, becoming icons of opposition to those same wars.Stories
Tales of Ronom & Ranarim's heroics number in the dozens, ranging in veracity from historical to apocryphal to fictional. Often they involve liberating or rescuing the downtrodden, favouring those most lacking in in the strength or wealth to defend themselves.
One popular story, the duo sail to the humble island of Talaus, plagued by the monstrous Birds of Artevangia, whose sharp, armour-piercing pecks bore an insanity-inducing poison, and whose dung created noxious vapours as powerful as mustard gas. Fighting through flocks of the demonic avians to reach the Talausian garrison, Ranarim noted the only wildlife they attacked were Maned wolves, which were killed even more violently than the local humans. He surmized the birds have an instinctual hatred of their old predators (mainly large canids). The two concocted a plan, starting with the surviving islanders weaving a net the size of a field. Slathered in wolf musk and flying as fast as he was able, Ranarim lured the Birds of Artevangia through a nearby chasm, whereupon Ronom and a dozen soldiers dropped the net behind him, capturing the creatures. With his immense strength, Ronom pulled the colossal net closed, and it was set alight. Lingering birds were dispatched more easily without their mob tactics.Liberation of the Lírmenach
Their heroics eventually culminated in the liberation of several Valamonian prison camps (the New Rozsans simply executed and reanimated their captives), hiding the newly-freed among the ruins and cliff-platforms of the Worldscar in what is now the Broken Empire. It is this in chapter they became known as 'The Slave Kings'. Descendants of the freed slaves populate the Worldscar to this day. The settlements are collectively called Nikkal-at-Scarsend.The Insurgent Gods
In the Stormlords, the Insurgent Gods found valuable new allies. Their ability to hunt prey much larger than themselves lent itself to a supremely important skill: being able to fight and kill the enormous Warbodies of the Lichlords. Mentoring other worthy heroes in these techniques, they became two of the most hated enemies of the undead god-emperors.The Chorus of Seasky
Several First Age histories describe Laila By-the-Sea as friend and frequent adventuring partner of the Stormlords. If these records are even partially true, the three combined were mighty, able even to take down a Lichlord in a Warbody without the assistance of an Insurgent God. As such, the trio are often considered a sort of “united god” or holy trinity of adventuring parties, sometimes collectively called "The Chorus of Seasky". Churches to the Stormlords in port cities of most Material societies also have shrines to the Seal Woman and their clergy are unfaillingly cooperative, often seen distributing charity or helping with refugee claims when not conducting mercenary work as travel guides and ships’ cedas.The Näckros Wars
During the The Näckros War of Valamon, where nearly the entire species of bizarre merfolk rose from the ocean on crab-legged sharks and flying manta rays to invade the continent, it took a combined force of Valamon's humans, eladrin, dwarves, The Chorus of Seasky and The Unwelcome Order to fight them back.Controversy
Some religious sects blame Ronom & Ranarim for the danger of Materia’s post-The Deluge oceans. If anyone knows whether this is true or not, it would be the high priests of Ina'ut, but after the sea god’s descent into darkness, their ramblings almost never provide clear answers.
THE STORMLORDS
Godhood
Ascendant Alignment
CG Domains
Travel, Lightning, Air, Water, Luck, Star Favoured Weapon
Glaive, Unarmed (Ranarim)
Warhammer, Shield (Ronom) Relic Weapon
The Senkugoshoha, Meandering River Fist Style (Ranarim)
Jormgandsbane and Streamsplitter (Ronom)
Profile: Ronom (Top) and Ranarim (Bottom).
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