well, to be fair, he WAS bailed out and his exes have embarrassed themselves multiple times on Kiwifarms.
I suspect Stolas is real, fucks with Tarl's enemies, but also makes sure to fuck with Tarl himself. My own personal experiences have taught me that such astral entities are very, very real
Tarl has also made a living (a decent regular shekel stream) being a /pol/fag NEET on the internet for over a decade and a half. Tarl also married and had regular intercourse with an attractive Dutch woman, and there is a real possibility that the daughter is actually biologically related to him.
Normally someone like Tarl wouldn't be anywhere near as successful in terms of finances, secks and romance....ergo Stolas and chaos magick have some *real legitimate effect* despite them also having negative collateral