Kostchtchie

Kostchtchie

(Deity)

Titles

The Deathless Frost
Demon Lord of Cold and Giants
The Deathless (as a mortal)

Adjective

Kostchtchie

Realm

Jhuvumirak, Outer Rifts

Alignment

Chaotic evil

Areas of Concern

Cold
Giants
Revenge

Worshipers

Frost giants, Iobarian cults, ettins, hill giants, ogres, white dragons

Edicts

Avenge all slights three times over, kill all witches

Anathema

Make a deal with Baba Yaga or her offspring, obey or defer to a woman

Follower Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Chaos, Evil, Strength, War

Subdomains (1E)

Demon, Ferocity, Ice, Tactics

Follower Alignments (2E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (2E)

Cold, destruction, might, zeal

Favored Weapon

Warhammer

Symbol

Icy rune-carved hammer

Sacred Animal

Polar bear

Sacred Colors

Blue, white

Images of Kostchtchie

Source: Book of the Damned, pg(s). 64–65 (1E)
Gods & Magic, pg(s). 126–127 (2E)

Kostchtchie

(Creature)

Type

Outsider
(chaotic, cold, demon, evil, extraplanar)

CR

26

Environment

Any cold (Outer Rifts)

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Adjective

Kostchtchie

Images of Kostchtchie

Source: Bestiary 4, pg(s). 48

Born a mortal Ulfen human before being cursed, Kostchtchie (pronounced KOSH-chuh-chai or kosh-TIK-ti-kai) became the demon lord of giants and biting cold. He was killed at some time recent to 4724 AR by Sithhud, the demon lord of Jhuvumirak that he had once defeated and deposed, who then erased Kostchtchie's name from all reality.

History

Kostchtchie was not always a demon. He was once an Ulfen man from the land of Iobaria who hated women and giants and had a violent temper. His father raised him barbarically, forcing him to slaughter his own mother and sister, but in time, the savage Kostchtchie murdered his father as well. Much of the rest of his mortal life is lost in myth and fable. The next event of which scholars are certain, is the beginning of his unholy ascendency.

Kostchtchie sought immortality by forcing a bargain with the Witch Queen Baba Yaga. As is often the case with such arrangements, Kostchtchie's wish for immortality was twisted by the evil crone, and he found himself transformed into the demonic form of the thing that he hated most: a giant. Baba Yaga also hid an element of his mortal soul in a torc, known as the Torc of Kostchtchie. The defeated Kostchtchie then fled to the Outer Rifts to lick his wounds.

Jhuvumirak was originally the domain of the demon lord Sithhud until Kostchtchie arrived, defeated him, drove him out, and claimed the realm for himself. Sithhud, demoted to a nascent demon lord in the process, survived the encounter and lived in his former kingdom's highest peaks, where he found a hiding place from his vanquisher and plotted his vengeance.

Since that time, Kostchtchie turned his hatred towards Baba Yaga and humanity itself. He waged constant war on the tribes of Iobaria, and sought to conquer and destroy the nation of Irrisen, ruled by the many daughters of Baba Yaga herself. His interest in Irrisen was associated with the recovery of the Torc that held part of his soul, as he belives the Torc might have cured his deformity while maintaining his immortality.

While he sometimes campaigned by proxy, Kostchtchie preferred to enter combat in person. For example, according to the eponymous Record of Truan Iolavai, he took personal interest in Iolavai's investigation of Hask-Ultharan in the great pine forest of Iobaria.

Sithhud meanwhile worked to form a secret army of frozen undead in Jhuvumirak, and at some time recent to 4724 AR he led his forces to slay Kostchtchie and reclaim his realm and title as demon lord. After killing him, Sithhud also erased Kostchtchie's name from reality.

Home

Kostchtchie's home was Skyscar, a huge castle hewn out of a mountain within the Abyssal realm of Jhuvumirak, which he took when he defeated Sithhud in battle.

Appearance

While he was once a mortal man, it was very hard to see any trace of humanity in Kostchtchie's form as a demon lord. He resembled an immense frost giant with twisted legs and an obscenely muscular frame. His head was remarkably small compared to his hulking body, and his two tiny, pure white eyes gazed out from above a massive white beard woven with the skulls of kings and defeated champions of other faiths. He always wielded his massive adamantine warhammer.

Cult and worshipers

Kostchtchie's main worshipers were frost giants who turned from the worship of their traditional deities, particularly Thremyr, and instead embraced the demonic as being a more aggressive philosophy. Some claim that these frost giant worshipers of Kostchtchie were even more war-like and bloodthirsty than their already fearsome frost giant kin.

Despite his general hatred of humans, Kostchtchie had many human worshipers, particularly in the western reaches of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. They prayed for the day when he would finally bring destruction upon their most hated enemy, the realm of Irrisen. He also had worshippers in Iobaria and the Crown of the World.

His religious symbol was an ice-rimed, rune-carved warhammer.

Religious text

Kostchtchie's religious text, The Tale of the Deathless Frost, was usually written in spiraling runes on stone, which made it very heavy. To overcome this, the short stories were often learned and told orally. It contained a history of Kostchtchie's ascent to immortal power, where the story of Baba Yaga was twisted from the truth. It also contained his three commandments to his faithful:

• Avenge Yourself Times Three
• Bow to No Woman
• Kill All Witches

Relations with other religions

Being a mere demon lord, Kostchtchie did not often trouble the greater gods with the exception of Iomedae. His relations tended to be with the other denizens of the Outer Rifts.

Inimical relationships

Dagon

As Dagon is lord of deformity, Kostchtchie hated him, seeing the echoes of his own deformation.

Iomedae

Kostchtchie seemed to have evoked the particular ire of the powerful goddess Iomedae, both for his hatred of women and for the fact that he was a demon lord and murderer.

Mestama

Mestama was the patron of hags and witches and, in line with Kostchtchie's desire to annihilate such women, he gleefully sought opportunities to destroy her followers.

Neutral relationships

Lamashtu and Pazuzu

Kostchtchie avoided Lamashtu and Pazuzu due to their greater power and took no side in Lamashtu's war with Pazuzu.

Nocticula

Kostchtchie desired Nocticula with a passion, and wanted to conquer her and make her his concubine.

Thremyr

After taking many of Thremyr's followers from him, Kostchtchie merely ignored him, while Thremyr seemed indifferent to Kostchtchie's poaching of his erstwhile faithful.

References

Paizo published a major article regarding Kostchtchie in Maiden, Mother, Crone.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

External links

• Koschei (real-world fictional character) on Wikipedia
• Kostchtchie (Dungeons & Dragons character) on Wikipedia