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Description
Kshatra Vairya probably has the least information about him available online out of all the six (sometimes seven) Zoroastrian entities known as the Amesha Spentas. Apologies if this entry is a little short, as a result. If anyone has any scholarly sources on this being, I'd be happy to read them. Simply put, Kshatra Vairya is the embodiment of divine strength, and represents the immense power that righteousness ultimately carries over evil in the eternal struggle. His name literally means "Desirable Dominion", which definitely needs to be a metal band name. Speaking of metal, later tradition would associate Kshatra Vairya with the element of metal, as metal is the material of weapons and war, which draws blood and vanquishes foes into forgotten obscurity.

Design notes, based on this association, I leaned heavy into decking this guy out with resplendent brass and sleek armor. Admittedly, I based his chest armor more off of Sassanid era armor, so it may not be entirely accurate to his original Achaemenid context, but it looks really cool so I'm willing to let it slide. There's a few ancient coins minted with depictions of Kshatra Vairya, so I had a very rough silhouette to draw from. You're probably noticing a pattern here where the ancient Iranian kings only minted their image in association with the male Amesha Spentas and the powers they bestow. The patriarchy strikes again-

For his wings, I struggled for a while thinking which bird I wanted to use as reference. There's not exactly any birds who incorporate metal into their biology or lifestyle. At least not that I'm aware of. I don't know, I think the birds might be keeping secrets from me, those bastards. Ultimately, I ended up using the feathers of the Bearded Vulture, which is just a dinosaur. Look them up, they look metal as hell. Ah, ah, see what I did there? Metal? No? I'll see myself out.

Yeah okay I'm reeeeally stretching the "metal" association there and if there's one thing that irks me more than anything, it's puns. Puns don't work in translation or across time, that's why I try to avoid them when writing historical pieces set in non-English-speaking parts of the world. But oh well, I know what I did, I'll go sit myself in the corner knowing that at least the composition takes at least a little bit of awesomeness from those superiorly majestic vultures. I like to think Kshatra Vairya would approve.

Description
Kshatra Vairya probably has the least information about him available online out of all the six (sometimes seven) Zoroastrian entities known as the Amesha Spentas. Apologies if this entry is a little short, as a result. If anyone has any scholarly sources on this being, I'd be happy to read them. Simply put, Kshatra Vairya is the embodiment of divine strength, and represents the immense power that righteousness ultimately carries over evil in the eternal struggle. His name literally means "Desirable Dominion", which definitely needs to be a metal band name. Speaking of metal, later tradition would associate Kshatra Vairya with the element of metal, as metal is the material of weapons and war, which draws blood and vanquishes foes into forgotten obscurity.

Design notes, based on this association, I leaned heavy into decking this guy out with resplendent brass and sleek armor. Admittedly, I based his chest armor more off of Sassanid era armor, so it may not be entirely accurate to his original Achaemenid context, but it looks really cool so I'm willing to let it slide. There's a few ancient coins minted with depictions of Kshatra Vairya, so I had a very rough silhouette to draw from. You're probably noticing a pattern here where the ancient Iranian kings only minted their image in association with the male Amesha Spentas and the powers they bestow. The patriarchy strikes again-

For his wings, I struggled for a while thinking which bird I wanted to use as reference. There's not exactly any birds who incorporate metal into their biology or lifestyle. At least not that I'm aware of. I don't know, I think the birds might be keeping secrets from me, those bastards. Ultimately, I ended up using the feathers of the Bearded Vulture, which is just a dinosaur. Look them up, they look metal as hell. Ah, ah, see what I did there? Metal? No? I'll see myself out.

Yeah okay I'm reeeeally stretching the "metal" association there and if there's one thing that irks me more than anything, it's puns. Puns don't work in translation or across time, that's why I try to avoid them when writing historical pieces set in non-English-speaking parts of the world. But oh well, I know what I did, I'll go sit myself in the corner knowing that at least the composition takes at least a little bit of awesomeness from those superiorly majestic vultures. I like to think Kshatra Vairya would approve.