The god of righteously being punched in the face, Sylvester the Holy Fist heeds the prayers of the wronged seeking justice. Anyone can pray to him, and if he deems the request worthy of the prescribed punch-based retribution, his ethereal form of a wagon-sized set of five-curled fingers will spontaneously appear and land a striking blow to the offender. For this reason, Sylvester is considered in line with the pantheon of justice, albeit of a chaotic and rogue breed. The standing morals of the Holy Fist are decided and shaped by Sylvester alone, being the deity that he is, giving him influence enough in a large radius due to the amount of supportive worship offered up by fairly constant prayers for his services.
Unlike many gods who seek to create a following among mortals and men, Sylvester seeks no esteem outside of the sweet sense of evenhanded honor-punching.
A prayer to Sylvester must be made soon after the offense is committed, before other factors and circumstances interfere with the judgement to be paid. The subject's rage and desire for retribution summon the attentions of the Holy Fist, and the plea is concluded soon there after. As an ethereal being, Sylvester is capable of quick-time travel but may not be in two places at once. Pending on the seasons, some requests for a divine hammering may take more time than others. This can make for awkward weddings.
To summon the Holy Fist, the would-be worshipper must make his good hand into a fist, and press it firmly into the opposite palm, then speak the name of who should soon be the owner of less teeth. The name must be stated out loud and clearly, and with the mystical observation of proper context, rarely is someone of the same name though unrelated to the offense subject to improper punishment, though there have been such claims made in the past. Once the target for a knuckle kissing has been made, the purveyor of the prayer must then punch the ground he stands on with as much might as they can muster. Bleeding knuckles and broken finger bones are more likely to stir Sylvester's attention. If the suggested person to be pummeled is present, a death stare is recommended. This will show the sincerity of the reproach. The prayer is then finished, although holding the hit-ground pose for lingering moments after adds a nice touch.
If the offense is deemed despicable, appalling, in bad taste, and god awful, the call will be answered by a ghostly haymaker from the void, with a force equal to the crime and the slight visible visage of a hand and a grin before the squish and crack of impact. The prayer is only accepted once every dozen blue moons, because anyone who begins to incur more transgressions of such magnitude on a semi-regular basis will be judged as being their own worst enemy. Or just unlucky.
There is a trade-off to invoking the Holy Fist--you become more punchable for your acts of aggression against others. There is a kind of universal justice that, despite your reasons of personal offense, you are violating by wishing broken ribs and missing teeth on to others. Knowing that, however, is what keeps Sylvester well-worshipped and in business. Though he is a god of justice over revenge, the two rarely dwell far apart.
The purpose of the prayer must not be out of selfishness against the odds. If someone indirectly causes pain to another, the link it not direct enough to invoke the Fist's justice. Sylvester an omnipotent knowledge of events and the degree of their necessity. This means, for example, if a lady's husband is slain in battle, she may not invoke the Fist to enact retribution against her late husband's killer. The Fist exists to attend where injustice manifests on a personal level, when the wrong perpetrated is monstrous, unnecessary, and taken out of malice. So, if the same knight rode into a city during times of peace and slew a farrier of a neighboring land because he was quoted a fair price, yet felt as though his status alone should be enough, the farrier's wife has a good claim to the Holy Fist to see the knight unhorsed and bed-ridden for decent number of days.
It should also be noted that the Holy Fist's face smashing will not function in addition to present acts of Justice. As in the previous example, if the knight is immediately seized by a town guard an imprisoned to wait sentencing from higher authority for his inessential use of deadly force, Sylvester shall stay his hand when justice equity of the city is already present.
Concept art from a recently justice-punched banana stealer, who claims to have got a good look at Sylvester's spirit form.
Sylvester the Holy Fist's range of influence extends only the the region where his power has been observed, which expands and contracts by fractions over time. This commands authority only within that realm, leading the commonfolk to worn travelers about stirring trouble where it needn't be, lest they be subject to the Fist's extra justice.
There are some known cases of sad, sorry subjects wishing to submit themselves to the Fist's bash-wrath, as a result of insurmountable guilt felt over their own misdeeds. This will result in an upper cut everytime, sometimes resulting in death, known as "Fisticide" in the realm where Sylvester's influences extends. It is considered more honorable to die by the Fist then live in shame. The Holy Fist who makes his own rules knows this, however, and sometimes decides that living out their dejected, downcast lives in ridicule is more of a punishment than a crack to the jaw every could be.
One other commandment: No punch backs. The pain and rage of being punched doesn't justify being able to punch back, or Sylvester the Holy Fist would be the strongest, most-worshipped god on the Orb .