Pave Stavroz Vatsisk

Stravroz Vatsisk serves the Church of the Lawgiver as the Pave of Hazlan. He commands the Iron Faith across the land of Hazlan from the Iron Citadel-Fane at the western edge of Toyalis under the relatively distant direction of Himmelsk Naeve Pieter Jergaar. As Pave of Hazlan he enjoys much greater autonomy than Lod Ragnaar who as Pave of Nova Vaasa is under the thumb of the Himmelsk Naeve. But in the end he has to avoid angering both the Himmelsk Naeve and Hazlik, two potent individuals with wildly incompatible natures and agendas. And matters are coming to a head.

The position of the Church of the Lawgiver in Hazlan is complex and unsatisfactory. The reception of the Lawgiver's message among the Hazlani could hardly have gone better. Master and slave, rich and poor, Mulan and Rashemani all found much in the doctrine to take to heart. And perhaps the satraps appointed by Hazlik to govern in his sted benefitted from it most of all. But this bloodless coup has left the Church of the Lawgiver in the extraordinarily uncomfortable position of blessing the authority of an individual that it finds contemptible on nigh every level. Worse, just as Hazlik madly tore up the law forbidding the practice of arcane magic, he could wake up tomorrow and ban religion. But aside from mere whim, what would ever possess him to do so?

Himmelsk Naeve Pieter Jergaar has ordered that the hardline of the Iron Faith be maintained in Hazlan in respect to the blasphemy that is the practice of arcane magic. Pave Stravroz Vatsisk has not yet seen fit to obey this order, having some appreciation of the consequences.

Speculation and Future Possibilities

Short of simply proscribing the Iron Faith, Hazlik could declare the independence of the Hazlani church, he could see to the deaths or disappearances of church leaders, he could impose a pave of his own choosing, or he could ensorcel the pave or other church leaders. None of these things would be good for Stavroz Vatsisk personally or, he reasons, the Church of the Lawgiver. Whether the Himmelsk Naeve fails to appreciate the consequences or appreciates them all too well is the question. But it is not clear that Pave Stravroz Vatsisk has thought long on this question and realised that it may well be the latter.

Sainted Prince Gorkyn could be trusted to make the most of any such unlawful reply by Hazlik to the right and proper application of the will of the Lawgiver. Could Prince Othmar? Could it be that the Himmelsk Naeve ("Divine Fist") is betting that the prospect of becoming the conqueror-king is the bone that will put iron in the belly of the Bolshnik whelp and make of him a respectable and worthy leader of the Vaasi nation? The Himmelsk Naeve may not be as content as the Pave to count the days until death carries the aged and deranged wizard off to the Hell of Slaves, knowing full well that such powerful individuals rarely go easily or quickly. And Stravroz Vatsisk would be the first pawn to be sacrificed to Pieter Jergaar's ambitions for the Vaasi nation and for the tyranny of the Lawgiver.

Whatever the truth of these speculations, the Pave of Hazlin has a momentous decision before him: to obey the head of his church, and risk his life and that of his church, or to offer Hazlik a reformed Hazlani church loyal and obedient to the Red Wizard. And from a strategic prospective, the only grounds for not having already chosen and acted upon the former, would be the choice of, and secret negotiations toward, the latter. For time is not on the side of Stavroz Vatsisk. The Himmelsk Naeve could remove him from office at any moment and replace him with someone who does as he is told.

Statistics

Human male, Cleric 12, Lawful Evil (it would be extraordinary were his alignment to be LN and it would be unthinkable for it to be anything other than LE or LN).

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume I Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume V
		Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume I - p59 Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume V- p127
		Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume I - p59 Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume V- p127