If Thaddeus Wycliffe represents the respectable face of the Meridian Syndicate, Obadiah Stroud represents what happens when respectability has served its purpose. Known within the Crossroads Cult as the Harbinger of the Abyss, Stroud is Wycliffe’s principal agent in the field and the man, if indeed he can still be called a man, most often encountered by those unfortunate enough to stand directly in the Syndicate’s path.
Stroud was not always the creature he has become. He once served the railway interests behind the Syndicate as an enforcer, dispatched to deal with striking workers, stubborn landowners, rival companies and anyone else whose objections threatened profits or expansion. Even then he possessed a reputation for brutality. Negotiation bored him, bribery seemed unnecessarily complicated, and threats were useful only when immediately followed by violence. Wycliffe recognised that temperament as potentially useful and drew Stroud deeper into the hidden affairs of the Cult.
Exactly what happened afterwards is known only to Wycliffe and Stroud. Some members of the Syndicate believe Stroud willingly surrendered his humanity in exchange for greater power, while others whisper that he was killed during one of Wycliffe’s rituals and that the thing which returned merely remembered being Obadiah Stroud. Whatever the truth, the transformation left him stronger, faster and considerably more dangerous than the railway enforcer he had once been.
Stroud is now unmistakably supernatural. He can rise from the ground and fly, descending upon his enemies with a speed that makes conventional defences almost meaningless. Barricades, locked gates and railway cars provide little protection against an opponent who can simply pass above them, and Stroud has developed a particular fondness for appearing where his victims believed themselves safest.
More disturbing still is his ability to summon unnatural beasts from whatever realm now provides the source of his power. These creatures answer his call with alarming eagerness, emerging into the mortal world to hunt, tear and kill at his direction. Where Wycliffe treats supernatural creatures as useful assets that must be carefully controlled, Stroud appears genuinely comfortable among them. Some within the Syndicate have privately wondered whether this is because the creatures recognise something of themselves in him.
Within the Meridian Syndicate, Stroud serves as its principal front line representative. When Wycliffe wants land purchased, officials influenced or agreements negotiated, respectable agents are employed. When stronger persuasion is required, Stroud is sent. Unfortunately, his definition of when stronger persuasion becomes necessary is remarkably broad. He has been known to arrive with full authority to negotiate and resort to violence before the other party has actually refused anything.
Wycliffe has occasionally reprimanded him for this lack of restraint, although never with much expectation that the lesson will be remembered. Stroud regards violence not as a last resort but as the most efficient solution to almost every problem. If a man can be persuaded in an hour or killed in a minute, Stroud sees fifty nine minutes being unnecessarily wasted.
Even other members of the Crossroads Cult are wary of him. Stroud possesses none of Wycliffe’s polished manners and makes little effort to conceal what he has become. He is ruthless, impatient and frighteningly comfortable with killing. The only individual whose authority he accepts without question is Wycliffe, although whether this obedience comes from loyalty, supernatural compulsion or some older bargain between them remains unclear.
Wycliffe sends Obadiah Stroud when he wants a problem solved.
He merely accepts that there may not be much left afterwards.