Vermlek

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Frost Special Thanks • The Paizo Customer Service, Warehouse, and Website Teams Premortality Lords of the Abyss That Which is Dead Demonkind The Realms Demonology The Qlippoth The Demonic Horde At Your Door Credits Table of Contents This product makes use of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary. These rules can be found online as part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document at paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd. Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game Content or are in the public domain are not included in this declaration.) Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this Paizo Publishing game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Vol. 2 is published by Paizo Publishing, LLC under the Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Paizo Publishing, LLC, the Paizo golem logo, Pathfinder, and GameMastery are registered trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC; Pathfinder Adventure Path, Pathfinder Campaign Setting, Pathfinder Player Companion, Pathfinder Module, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and Pathfinder Society are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC. © 2010 Paizo Publishing. Printed in China. Paizo Publishing, LLC 7120 185th Ave NE Redmond, WA 98052-0577 paizo.com opular wisdom holds that before the beginning, before reality, existence was the Maelstrom. That the Maelstrom went on forever, that in the time even before direction had been conceived of, the raw chaos of potentiality and the lack of actuality made for nothing but entropy. Yet what if this were not the case? What if preexistence had a shape? What if order did not flow from chaos, but was merely an illusion laid over an underlying chaos that was the only possible reality? If one could defy truth and travel back in order to observe what came before, would the Maelstrom truly be the extent of beginning? Was there nothing before nothingness? Or was there something before, something so unimaginable and ruinous that even reality itself has tried to mask its source? What if the fact of reality is fact only because the Abyss itself allowed it to be? Premortality When the first proteans realized they existed as separate forms of life from the surrounding Maelstrom, they also knew they were not alone. They could feel the Maelstrom reacting to other solidities—biological singularities of potential life that seemed to boil and suppurate just beyond the veneer of chaos. And when they grew brave enough, and their power grew great enough, they laid aside the chaos to peer into these imperfections in the chaos. And what they found was nearly enough to destroy them, for the Maelstrom did not exist, as they believed, forever. It lay upon a foundation, akin to a material sea over a world’s crust, but did not rest upon anything as solid as stone. What lay beneath was the Abyss, and by opening a wound in the Maelstrom, they allowed what entropy had hoped to contain to bloom within. Even as the proteans took to combating this infection of evil into their chaotic paradise of potentiality, they were intrigued by the lure of the Abyss. For here, life already existed. In the deep realms and impossible depths of these rifts writhed the qlippoth, ancient already and with their own alien societies and stories of long- forgotten creation. The qlippoth came with the Abyss to infect the Outer Sphere, and the proteans fought against them as well. Whether it was because of a protean attempt to build fortifications and foster aid in their war against the qlippoth, or just the inevitable result of an extrusion of reality into the Maelstrom, other realms spontaneously arose from the chaos of the Maelstrom, like crystals forming in water brought to the very limits of saturation. That everything mortals hold to be eternal owes its very concept to the Abyss may be the cruelest truth of all, one that few deities have dared to admit. Yet the evidence is there, the deeper one travels into the endless dark of the Abyss. There is always something older. Infestation As other planes formed, the spread of the Abyss slowed and an equilibrium grew throughout the Outer Sphere. The qlippoth remained a concern, for wherever the cleft of the Outer Rifts gaped, they emerged to prey upon things that dwelt nearby. And so it happened that after divinity rose in Heaven and fell to Hell, after mortal life opened its eyes and took its first gasping breaths upon countless Material Plane worlds, a new order of life came to be. For when mortals perished and their souls flowed to Pharasma’s Boneyard and were judged, they came to settle upon the myriad realms of the Outer Sphere. And in so doing, they transformed. In Hell, they became the From the Book of the Damned In which the nature of truth and reality is, unfortunately and unfairly, laid bare to expose devastating truths. We are not what we hoped we were. We are but the offspring and accidental results of our greatest sins and fears. —The Book of the Damned, “History of the Abyss” Damned, eternally punished for their failings or forming the raw materials for the creation of devilish life. In Heaven, they rose as shining archons capable of eventual evolution into great powers of good. And in Abaddon, the first cataclysms resulted in such a sudden rush of the dead that reality, traumatized by the sheer scale of such deaths, reacted with the manifestation of the first daemons—the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. To one of these Horsemen, the nature of how mortal souls changed was a delightful curiosity. As he looked upon the rims of the Outer Rifts, he saw that the souls who manifested there did so as writhing, worm-like larvae. Pregnant with sin, they seemed at a sort of dead end, vermin content to gnaw upon the flesh of the Abyss and do nothing else. And so that Horseman worked one of the greatest sins the multiverse has ever witnessed. After a series of experiments, he fed a singularly groomed larva to one of the oldest qlippoth. The sin-gorged larva erupted from the doomed qlippoth, emerging as the first demon. The Abyss watched and learned, and across the Outer Rifts, this hideous transformation occurred again and again, and in a heartbeat a frightful new race was born—demonkind. Curator’s Note Numerous formerly reputable antiquarians assert these pages come from the legendary Book of the Damned—called myth by some and said by others to have been destroyed. While we have no way of proving either the veracity of such claims or the authenticity of these unquestionably ancient pages, such allegations—and the dramatic warnings of those same scholars—remain under debate. As a student of the past, I cannot overstate the fascination and curiosity that the revelations of the following pages represent. Yet, as a mortal, with a life and fate guarded dearly, I must add my own dire recommendation to the ravings of my predecessors: What follows stands beyond the writings of madmen and heretics, and if you do not care to risk your immortal soul, do not read on. May the gods have mercy upon you and us all. —Djavin Vhrest, Curator of Apocrypha Forae Logos, Absalom Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos A steaming canyon boiling with tormented souls. A gnashing cleft more akin to a hungry mouth than sane terrain. A glass-lined pit smeared with blood and shot through with the promise of pain. A simple gash bubbling with noxious ooze and poison air. The entrances are as legion as the realms they unveil, and none are safe to approach, for despite their variety, they share one thing in common—a link to what truth was before sanity infected it. One should not lightly approach these Outer Rifts, for to gaze within is to invite ruin. This is where sin goes to die. It is where reality is consumed. This is the Abyss. —From the Book of the Damned, “The Maw Eternal” Chapter One Lords of the Abyss Lords of the Abyss T he Abyss is a realm of infinite horror and unlimited danger. Its vast rifts wind throughout the surface of the Outer Sphere, dropping away into bottomless darkness without regard for the realms above which they violate. Known to many as the Outer Rifts, these vast chasms are more common amid the lower planes, but they certainly exist elsewhere as well. Where the Outer Rifts of the Abyss open onto realms like Elysium or even Heaven, they are the sites of eternal wars against the celestial races. Here, the armies of good maintain permanent encampments along the edges of Abyssal rifts and do their best to prevent the rifts’ spread. For spreading is the correct word. The Outer Rifts are growing, if slowly. Scholars believe that this is a sure sign of the end of all things, that nothing can stop the growing dissolution of the Outer Sphere, and that at some time in the future, the Abyss will consume it all. Worse, the Outer Rifts do not constrain themselves to the Outer Sphere—they can open elsewhere, and have done so countless times before to consume entire worlds. The malevolent Worldwound in northern Avistan is but the latest to appear in the Material Plane—a rent in reality that even the full might of the nation of Mendev is unlikely to contain for long. Abyssal Layers The vast rifts of the Abyss are typically all that visitors to the Outer Planes see of this realm. This fact, combined with the common definition of the plane’s name, creates the false perception that the plane consists solely of these vast canyons and rents in the Outer Sphere. In fact, these rifts are merely the entrances to the true Abyss, for they plunge deep into the underlying solidity of the Outer Sphere and into the countless realms embedded deep below. Connected by impossibly long tunnels and impossibly deep pits, these regions are known as Abyssal “layers,” and each is a plane of existence unto itself. Some are relatively small, no larger than the smallest terrestrial continents, but most are the size of entire worlds, or multiple. The majority of the Abyssal layers are uncharted and unexplored, with the most well known being relatively near the inner surface of the Outer Sphere. The deeper these realms go, the stranger and more removed from sane reality they grow, with rulership passing from demonic masters to older races—the deformed monsters known as the qlippoth. What lies below the realms held by the qlippoth remains one of reality’s greatest mysteries. This book, however, focuses on the realms in relatively close proximity to the Outer Sphere. Here, the demons rule. Cataloguing the Abyss The layers of the Abyss are difficult beasts to codify, for the Abyss itself is an ever-changing realm. When a layer is claimed by a demon lord, god, or other powerful entity, it can remain stable forever, but the majority of Abyssal layers are unclaimed. These “wild realms” are unstable places, prone to being absorbed or remade by the Abyss itself according to an unknown agenda. Some of the more stable of the wild realms have remained so for the entire span of mortal existence, but others have collapsed on themselves or been born quite recently. This chapter thus focuses its attention on what are currently recognized by planar scholars as “anchored layers”: these include the Abyssal realms of four deities and dozens of demon lords, as well as several more layers that seem to have stabilized in the chaos of the plane without the inf luence of a god or lord—the wild realms. Reading Demon Lord Entries Each of the demon lords detailed on the following pages is presented in the same format, starting with a stat block that summarizes the details of the demon lord’s cult and ending with a list of three boons that the demon lord often grants its most faithful servitors. Name: The demon lord’s name is followed by its most common appellation or epithet, its gender, and its primary areas of concern. Cult: This section lists the demon lord’s holy symbol, the locations where its temples are most often found or the themes those temples often adopt, the type of people and races that most often worship it, the type of demons and monsters often associated with the cult (usually as guardians or pets), and finally the demon lord’s obedience. An obedience is a method of worship closely tied to the granting of divine power—see page 8 for further details on who must perform obediences and what they can grant. Boons: A demoniac (see page 46) or any creature that takes the Demonic Obedience feat (see page 8) can gain boons from worshiping a demon lord. This section lists the three most common boons that the demon lord can grant. The first boon is always a spell-like ability—either a 1st-level spell-like ability usable three times per day, a 2nd-level one usable twice per day, or a 3rd-level one usable once per day. The second and third boons are unique extraordinary, spell- like, or supernatural abilities that vary with each demon lord. Unless otherwise stated, spell-like second boons that do not duplicate existing spells are treated as 8th-level spell effects, and spell-like third boons are treated as 9th-level spell effects. Note that the domains granted by each demon lord, as well as their favored weapons, are listed on the inside front cover of this book for ease of reference, and not on the following pages. After each stat block, a few paragraphs describe the demon lord’s appearance, personality, and Abyssal realm. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Lamashtu The Demon Queen CE female demon lord of madness, monsters, and nightmares Cult Unholy Symbol three-eyed jackal head Temple caves, dungeons, natural rock platforms, standing stones Worshipers the insane, bugbears, derros, gnolls, lamias, morlocks, ogres Minions all demons and monsters (particularly yeth hounds), hyenas, jackals Obedience Engage in a tryst with the sincere intention of being impregnated or impregnating your partner, or sacrifice a creature that has been alive for no more than a week. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against insanity, confusion, and polymorph effects. Boons 1: Lunatic’s Gift (Sp) lesser confusion 3/day, touch of idiocy 2/ day, or summon monster III 1/day 2: Teratoma (Ex) You gain a beneficial deformity. Generally, this deformity manifests as a tentacle, tail, claw, or bite that grants you a secondary natural attack dealing 1d6 (1d4 for Small creatures) points of damage. You gain an additional ability depending on the attack chosen as well—this ability can be chosen from the following special attacks: bleed 3, grab, trip, or a 5-foot increase to reach with the natural attack. 3: Third Eye (Su) A third eye opens in your forehead. This eye grants you darkvision to a range of 60 feet (if you already have darkvision, it extends the range of your darkvision by 60 feet) and a +4 profane bonus on Perception checks. Three times per day, you may use a gaze attack that lasts for 1 round; activating this gaze attack is a swift action. This gaze attack has a range of 30 feet, and drives those who fail to resist its effects with a Will save permanently insane, as per the spell insanity (save DC equals 10 + half your HD + your Charisma modifier). Lamashtu appears as a heavily pregnant human woman with the head of a three-eyed jackal, a raven’s wings, a snake’s tail, and a vulture’s feet. Her distended belly is crisscrossed with ragged scars, and she wields twin blades—Redlust (a blade made of sentient fire) and Chillheart (a blade made of sentient ice). The length of these blades varies from that of a kukri to that of a falchion—in art, she is often depicted with kukris, but in battle, she prefers to wield both as falchions with horrific skill. Gnolls claim that when Lamashtu first saw a hyena, she took it as her consort, and thus the original gnoll was born. Other races tell similar stories, citing the Mother of Monsters as their race’s progenitor, in carnal conjunction with some beast. Lamashtu revels in destroying the most innocent, whether by defiling their flesh or tainting their minds. To her, a nursery is a banquet. She is a fertility goddess, but while those who pray to her are more likely to survive childbirth, their offspring are inevitably tainted. She is called the Demon Queen, the Mother of Beasts, and the Demon Mother. Despite her titles, she is not the creator of the demon race as a whole, merely the first of their kind to achieve true godhood. While many of the demon lords loathe her or envy her power, only a few (notably the demon lords Nocticula and Pazuzu) openly oppose or threaten her. Indeed, the battles between Lamashtu and Pazuzu are the stuff of legend. While Lamashtu has greater power on her side, Pazuzu has fewer responsibilities and can thus devote more of his time to his pursuit of toppling his ancient enemy from her throne. Countless worlds bear the scars of their conflicts—conflicts that invariably rise from the slightest of imbalances, when a priest of one or the other secures an advantage over the enemy cult. Over time—be it days, years, or centuries—such conflicts escalate until finally the two demons send their direct agents (or, rarely, appear themselves) to do battle again. That Pazuzu has not yet been killed by his more powerful enemy speaks greatly to the demon lord’s tenacity—yet he has also failed so far to strike a decisive blow against the Queen of Demons. Priests of both faiths know that it has been some time since the last confrontation between these two enemies, and that the time is nigh for another. Cultists on both sides are desperate to determine the site where this conflict is to take place, so as to be there to lend what support they can. Lamashtu is served by countless species of monsters. She is said to have created the lamia race, and her worship may have had something to do with the transformation of exiled Azlanti into the morlocks. In her Abyssal realm, she is further served by her favored daughters, seven powerful demonic sorceresses called the Seven Witches. Her herald is the Yethazmari, a winged jackal with a snake’s tail and empty eye sockets that emit smoke. She considers all other gods enemies, although she focuses on nurturing her children and expanding the lands for them to inhabit. She knows Desna hates her for killing the god Curchanus and defiling his faith, but Lamashtu treats Desna as beneath her notice. Her greatest foes are Urgathoa, Rovagug, and the demon lord Pazuzu, although Nocticula’s swift rise in power (along a trajectory of divine murder that bears more than a passing resemblance to Lamashtu’s) has recently caught the Demon Queen’s attention as well. The Demon Queen’s church operates on the outskirts of civilization. Her worship typically occurs atop flat, bloodstained rocks or within rings of stones, trees, or logs carved with the goddess’s image. Some use a deep hole in the ground or some sort of chasm representing an entrance to the goddess’s underworld realm. Hidden cathedrals and temples to Lamashtu are unsettlingly common, both in the wilds and below the streets of urban centers. Lords of the Abyss Kurnugia Lamashtu’s realm is the largest layer of the Abyss, as befits her power as one of the core gods of Golarion. This realm is known as Kurnugia, a vast region capable of swallowing dozens of worlds—and according to certain texts kept closely guarded by her faithful, the Demon Queen has done precisely that at times in the past. Her faithful vehemently deny that this realm was once ruled by the demon lord Areshkagal, and that Lamashtu stole the realm from that deity long before she became a true god herself—certainly Areshkagal denies this claim, but that could simply be an act of self-preservation against the wrath of the Demon Queen. Kurnugia’s vast size allows it to include all known terrestrial terrains—steaming jungles, parched deserts, ice-caked mountains, vast seas, and immense swamps being the most common. Other decidedly nonterrestrial terrains exist here as well, violent and insane regions that only the Abyss could host. All of these realms are infested with demons, ruled by nations of warring fiendish gnolls, or otherwise inimical to non-demonic life. Several of the more infamous or notorious regions within Kurnugia are summarized below. Birthing Hills: These strangely rounded hills are where sinful souls gestate within the realm. The pregnant hills periodically burst to release hordes of demons, fiendish gnolls, and other monsters to maintain Kurnugia’s population in the light of the constant wars fought by its natives. Goblin Tunnels: Nestled in a valley in the Xorian Mountains, a field of strange, blue stones creates a complex pattern when viewed from the towering peaks above. By walking a spiral path among these stones, one can travel from Kurnugia to the Abyssal Realm of Basalfeyst, a realm ruled by the barghest gods of the goblin races, and one of Lamashtu’s greatest allied realms on the Abyss. Nightmare Fields: It is said that Lamashtu retains “copies” of every nightmare imagined by mortals within regions where her worship is strong, and that these nightmares function as a sort of fertilizer for strange flowers that grow within the so- called Nightmare Fields. Capable of releasing these nightmares as vivid, realistic hallucinations, this region is a favorite place for the Demon Queen to strand victims she’s captured. Tharsekti: The largest gnoll nation on Kurnugia, this realm consists of a central region of forested hills surrounded by a churning sea. The gnolls here are led by a towering monster named Vandaku. The brackish sea that surrounds Tharsekti is the domain of the nascent demon lord Kalvakus—the shark-infested depths and shipwreck-lined shores are often braved by Tharsekti’s gnolls when they mount vast armadas to cross the sea and raid gnoll nations on the far shores. Xorian Mountains: This immense mountain range runs along one side of Kurnugia—it is said that the highest peaks actually open out upon the Outer Sphere itself. These mountains are infested with all manner of scavengers—particularly fiendish vultures the size of rocs, hyena-like monstrosities, and scaly behemoths the size and shape of the largest dinosaurs. All of these scavengers are ruled by the nascent demon lord Daclau-Sar, a six-legged, two headed hyena with vulture wings believed by many to have been created from the corpse of the dead god Curchanus. Yanaron: An impossibly vast mesa protrudes from the heart of Kurnugia. A towering palace of strange spires and towers, itself the size of a world, looms at the center—this is Yanaron, Lamashtu’s palace-city. The diamond-shaped city that surrounds the central palace is populated by demons, fiendish gnolls, and other creatures handpicked by the Demon Queen for their loyalty or unique deformities—the gnolls of Tharsekti and the lesser nations of Kurnugia fight their wars for positions in this legendary city. Several nascent demon lords dwell here as well—powerful minions of Lamashtu that may soon become demon lords and rulers of Abyssal realms of their own, including shadowy Nightripper, many-bodied Izyagna, and sulking and filthy Murnath. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Demon Lords Only the strongest demons can rise to become lords. The process by which a demon becomes a lord varies from demon to demon, but always begins when a demon grows beyond CR 20, whether by advancing in Hit Dice, gaining class levels, gaining a monstrous template, or gaining some other strange power. The majority of these demons come from the ranks of powerful mariliths, balor lords, or other high-CR demons simply because of their higher baseline abilities, but any demon that rises to the height of demonic power can make the initial transformation to nascent demon lord. This process is explored on page 37. Rarely, non-demons can become demon lords. The majority of non-demons who make this transition are ascended qlippoth (see pages 50–51), but in even rarer cases, a powerful non-native of the Abyss can attract the plane’s attention and make the transition to nascent demon lord. The demon lord Zura, for example, is believed to have once been a human queen in old Azlant—her life of cruelty and sin was enough to ensure her ascension to nascent demon lord long before Azlant’s fall. Another such example is Kostchtchie, who became a demon lord against his will when the Witch Queen Baba Yaga stole his mortality and hid it away for eternity. Demon Lords as Campaign Foes With the exception of Lamashtu, all of the demon lords presented in this book are demigods, and as such could be fought and slain by powerful mortal heroes. Yet no statistics are provided for any of the demon lords in this book, because their abilities are far in excess of the most powerful foes that a normal party of adventurers might face, such as great wyrm dragons or even the legendary tarrasque. Direct confrontations with demon lords are a matter for truly epic- level play, for these creatures could well have CR scores in the high 30s. For standard play, where player characters are unlikely to be above 20th level, demon lords should remain untouchable menaces at the hearts of their realms. They are the inspiration and source of power for dangerous foes themselves, and confronting and defeating a powerful cult and its leaders should itself be a task that even 20th-level PCs might struggle to complete. Nascent demon lords (see page 37) could serve as powerful foes here as well, for such creatures should have CR scores of 21–25. Rules for demon lords and the epic fights against them may someday be presented in the Pathfinder RPG, but for now, these rules are beyond the scope of the game. Other Demon Lords The demon lords presented on the following pages comprise only those who have specific interests in Golarion. Countless more demon lords dwell in the Abyss, although since their attentions have traditionally been focused on other worlds than Golarion, they are not detailed in this book. Still, these creatures could someday turn their attention to your campaign if you wish, be they demon lords with names like Behemoth, Demogorgon, Ipos, Marbas, or Vepar, or new demon lords of your own creation. You can use the entries presented on the following pages as templates and guidelines when adding new lords to your own private Abyss. Abyssal Obedience Demon lords are not satisfied with mere promises of loyalty or sacrifices of blood—they require physical and painful proof of devotion from their worshipers. These acts are known as obediences—acts of self-mutilation or great blasphemy performed by the truly damned. An obedience is typically an hour-long ritual that must be performed daily; unless otherwise stated, it does not harm the creature performing it. Spellcasting demon cultists can integrate their obedience completely with their normal hour-long rituals and methods of preparing or regaining spells—others are free to perform their obedience at any point during the day. Most choose twilight as the time of obedience. Obedience can bring with it great boons, particularly to the most powerful of a demon lord’s followers. The Demonic Obedience feat allows a worshiper of a demon lord to gain access to additional resistances and powers. The demoniac prestige class (see page 46) allows access to the most powerful boons more quickly. New Feat: Demonic Obedience You physically defile yourself, others, or holy objects in order to prove your blasphemous devotion to a demon lord and gain special boons. Prerequisites: 3 ranks in Knowledge (planes), must worship a demon lord. Benefit: Each demon lord requires a different obedience, but all obediences take only an hour to perform. Once the obedience has been performed, you gain the benefit of a resistance to some element or attack associated with your demon lord, as indicated in the “Obedience” entry for the demon lord. If you have at least 12 Hit Dice, you also gain the first boon granted by your demon lord upon undertaking your obedience. If you have at least 16 Hit Dice, you also gain the demon lord’s second boon. If you have 20 Hit Dice or more, you also gain the demon lord’s third and final boon. Unless a specific duration or number of uses per day is listed, a boon’s effects are constant. Demoniacs (see page 46) gain access to these boons at lower levels as a benefit of their prestige class. If you ever fail to perform a daily obedience, you lose all access to resistances and boons granted by this feat until you next perform the obedience. Lords of the Abyss Abraxas Master of the Final Incantation CE male demon lord of forbidden lore, magic, and snakes Cult Unholy Symbol demonic face with two snake tails descending from a mouth encircled by a serpent Temple libraries, reliquaries, vaults Worshipers drow, sorcerers, spirit nagas Minions mariliths, xacarbas (Pathfinder Bestiary 2), snakes Obedience Self-flagellate with a small whip or tree branch, punctuating each stroke with utterances of mystic words of power. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against charm effects and written magical effects. Boons 1: Secret Lore (Sp) identify 3/day, augury 2/day, or illusory script 1/day 2: Heretical Revelation (Su) Up to three times per day, you can whisper terrible secrets to an adjacent target as a standard action. The target can resist with a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Charisma modifier). If the target fails its save, it is stunned for 1 round, then confused for 1d4 rounds, and then nauseated for 2d6 rounds. This is a mind- affecting effect. 3: Penultimate Incantation (Sp) Up to three times per day, you can affect a single creature within 60 feet with a targeted greater dispel magic. Each spell or effect dispelled inflicts fire damage to the target equal to the result of your caster level check made to dispel that effect. This ability is the equivalent of a 9th-level spell. Abraxas is a hideous creature with the head of a deformed and fanged bird and two writhing vipers in the place of legs. His torso is humanoid, and he wields a flail and shield, both of which have eerie and deadly powers: the flail can steal portions of a thinking creature’s mind or its prepared spells and give them to Abraxas for his use, while the shield can animate and attack foes as it continues to defend Abraxas. Abraxas knows countless destructive secrets and eldritch magical formulas, particularly those that cause great devastation and pain. His greatest weapon is the dreaded “Final Incantation,” a single potent word that can unmake magic. Although Abraxas’s following is quite strong among the drow of Golarion, one can expect to find small cults of Abraxas in most large cities on the surface. His cult is particularly strong in Nex’s capital city of Quantium, where it maintains a notorious library called Scrivenbough, a fortified stone structure with countless rare books in its holdings, and cultists who tattoo their greatest secrets on hidden parts of their bodies. Abraxas dwells in the realm of Pleroma, a deceptive world of false paradise maintained by complex illusions and clever construction. A visitor to Pleroma may not even realize she wanders an Abyssal realm, as the nefarious region reshapes itself between blinks and around every corner into places the traveler might view as serene and beautiful. Abraxas himself rules Pleroma from the spiral city of Diovengia. Hypnotic in its beauty, Diovengia consists of thousands of library towers and fortified repositories of hidden knowledge. Populated by serpents, enslaved souls, and plenty of demons, Diovengia’s libraries are sometimes visited by brave and curious seekers of knowledge—although one must be wary when bargaining with the custodians therein. The city itself is protected by a cabal of powerful marilith demons, who are themselves ruled by one of Abraxas’s favorite consorts and minions, the marilith Alistraxia (female marilith rogue 12). Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Aldinach She of the Six Venoms CE female demon lord of sand, scorpions, and thirst Cult Unholy Symbol gold scorpion with sand dripping from its claws Temple barren valleys, burrows, caves, pyramids Worshipers desert nomads, slavers, raiders Minions fiendish earth elementals, giant scorpions Obedience Pray to Aldinach while lying prone on sand for an hour, during which time you must eat at least one live scorpion. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against poison from vermin and effects that cause fatigue or exhaustion. Boons 1: Desert’s Wrath (Sp) endure elements 3/day, glitterdust 2/day, or searing light 1/day 2: Raise Scorpion (Su) Once per day, you may cause a dead body within 60 feet to transform into a fiendish giant scorpion under your mental control. This transformation lasts for 1 round per level, after which the scorpion returns to its original corpse form. This is a polymorph effect. 3: Dehydrating Strike (Su) Once per day as a swift action, at any point when you successfully inflict damage on a target, you can cause that target to become instantly and painfully dehydrated if it fails a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Constitution modifier). If the save is successful, the victim is staggered for 1 round. If the save fails, the victim takes 1d10 points of Strength drain, is stunned for 1 round, and is then staggered for 1d4 rounds after recovering from being stunned. Aldinach appears as a Colossal golden scorpion. Her claws have razor-sharp crystalline edges, and her face is hideously human. On her back swarm countless scorpions, which she can send out to do her bidding with a thought. Aldinach’s cults are strongest in deserts, particularly in Osirion’s wastelands and the remote reaches of Rahadoum, where her cultists work to seduce and corrupt that realm’s godless citizens. Aldinach is one of Lamashtu’s daughters, although since Lamashtu’s ascension to divinity, the two have not associated overmuch. The same cannot be said of her relationship with her sister Areshkagal, with whom Aldinach is locked in an eternal war. Ever since Aldinach stole the Abyssal realm known as the Sea of Whispering Sands from her sister, forcing Areshkagal into exile in the desolate Blood Clefts, Aldinach has been forced to defend her desert realm constantly from her sister’s increasingly desperate attempts to reclaim her lost territory. Although she has ruled the Whispering Sands for only a few dozen centuries, already she has inspired her minions to create hundreds of eerie desert cities in her honor, hidden amid the trackless sands. Andirifkhu The Razor Princess CE female demon lord of illusions, traps, and knives Cult Unholy Symbol skull pierced by six thin blades Temple dungeons, labyrinths, torture chambers Worshipers bugbears, derros, drow, illusionists, sadists, torturers Minions mariliths, retrievers, illusion-using monsters Obedience Torture a living creature that is smaller than your size category on a mechanical device that utilizes blades or spikes, or torture a bound creature of any size with a knife. The creature must remain alive for the duration, and must die within 1 minute of the obedience’s end. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against illusions and a +4 profane bonus to AC against traps that inflict slashing damage. Boons 1: Sadist’s Trick (Sp) magic weapon 3/day, phantom trap 2/day, or snare 1/day 2: Deeper Cuts (Ex) When you damage a creature with a slashing weapon or effect that deals slashing damage, at your discretion you may add a bleed 5 effect to the target. 3: Andirifkhu’s Kiss (Sp) Empowered blade barrier 1/day (you are immune to the effects of this blade barrier). Andirifkhu is the patron of the debased illusionist, the cruel torturer, and the sadistic inventor. Her cultists are fond of building trap-ridden dungeons and sending sacrifices through to die on spikes, swinging blades, or spear tips within—sacrifices who manage to escape are hobbled or otherwise crippled and then put through the gauntlet again and again until they eventually succumb. Andirifkhu appears as a towering, beautiful woman with green, scaled skin and long, crimson hair. She has ophidian eyes, and she has six arms that all wield different blades, although her favorite weapons are kukris. Her worship is strong among the drow and certain noble families in Galt and Northern Taldor, who venerate her in secret and look to her for inspiration in methods of torture and extracting information from prisoners. Andirifhku’s realm on the Abyss is the Vault of Ten Thousand Deaths, an immense, trap-filled labyrinth rumored to have hidden connections to hundreds of dungeons scattered throughout the multiverse. Those who stumble into the Vault via one of these obscure portals typically find themselves stranded in the Abyss, for these entrances are one-way only. Andirifhku dwells at the center of this continent-sized dungeon, and it is said that those who manage to navigate the Vault and reach her lair have been so traumatized and transformed by their experiences in the Vault that they have no choice but to become her favored slaves. Lords of the Abyss Angazhan The Ravenous King CE male demon lord of apes, jungles, and brutal tyrants Cult Unholy Symbol demonic ape face Temple jungle glade, ruined city, ziggurat Worshipers charau-ka, high girallons, jungle warlords Minions fiendish dire apes of immense size, girallons, jungle monsters Obedience Ingest hallucinogenic jungle plants and then beat a complex rhythm on a large drum made of human skin and bones while chanting prayers to Angazhan. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against disease and poison caused by exposure to the jungle or creatures native to jungles. Boons 1: Jungle’s Wrath (Sp) entangle 3/day, bull’s strength 2/day, or summon monster (fiendish ape only) 1/day 2: Summon Child of Angazhan (Sp) Once per day as a swift action, you can summon an advanced fiendish girallon, 1d3 advanced fiendish dire apes, or 1d4+1 advanced fiendish apes as if by casting summon monster VI. 3: Jungle’s Might (Su) You gain a +2 profane bonus to Strength and a +2 bonus on all Fortitude saving throws. Angazhan appears as a towering, blood-red ape with six long fingers, tusk-like teeth, and relatively small, bloodshot eyes. His worship is strongest in the Mwangi Expanse, where his chattering brood, the simian charau-ka (known also as ape- men—see World Guide: The Inner Sea) hold court in jungle-choked ruins and feast on the flesh of human chattle. Angazhan is also served by nalfeshnee demons, and although most nalfeshnees are too proud and self-absorbed to admit that Angazhan is their lord, he is nonetheless served in his jungle realm of Ahvoth-Kor by hundreds of them, if not thousands. Angazhan’s presence in the Mwangi Expanse is of particular note for its exceptional length—explorers have encountered his minions for thousands of years, and the general consensus is that Angazhan has held power in the Expanse for far longer than humanity has ruled nations on Garund. His favored agents are known as the Gorilla Kings—although only one Gorilla King rules in the Mwangi Expanse a time, there have been hundreds of these violent jungle tyrants over the centuries, each reincarnated into its simian form by potent artifacts. Ahvoth-Kor is an expansive Abyssal realm—a seemingly endless jungle that stretches along opposing faces of a vast Abyssal rift. Gravity in Ahvoth-Kor pulls toward the walls of this rift, so that someone standing in the jungle realm in an area where the canopy above is open to the sky can look up to the opposite rift’s jungle, although thick mists and clouds usually obscure the view. In places, immense trees and thick vines bridge the gulf between the twin jungles. Both jungles are rife with dreadful simian life, fiendish dinosaurs, and megalithic nalfeshnee-ruled cities populated by demons and other fiends. The point at the bottom of the rift where the jungles meet lies tens of thousands of miles below, and it is here that Angazhan’s palace squats—an immense ziggurat of black stone straddling several deeper rifts that lead into uncharted horrors of the Abyss and often belch forth qlippoth monstrosities or other alien horrors. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Areshkagal The Faceless Sphinx CE female demon lord of greed, magical and mundane portals, and riddles Cult Unholy Symbol a faceless woman’s head decorated with a bloody pharaoh’s headdress Temple megaliths, pyramids, stone archways, and stone sphinxes Worshipers avaricious rulers, dragons, drow Minions evil sphinxes, golems Obedience Inscribe several of the 23 riddles of the flesh (an interlocked series of conundrums, the answer to which no mortal has achieved) on your own flesh with a tiny bone knife carved from a child’s rib. Gain a +4 profane bonus on Will saving throws against sonic and language- dependant effects. Boons 1: Sphinx’s Secret (Sp) hold portal 3/day, touch of idiocy 2/day, or shrink item 1/day 2: Portal Jump (Sp) Once per day as a swift action, you can step through one doorway, arch, or window and emerge from another at any point within 500 feet. This is a teleportation effect similar to dimension door, but you do not become disoriented when you use this ability. This ability is the equivalent of a 7th-level spell. 3: Create Portal (Sp) Once per day, you may use gate as a spell-like ability, but only to create a gate as a mode of planar travel, not as a method of calling creatures. This ability is the equivalent of a 9th-level spell. Areshkagal appears as a faceless female sphinx with six legs, midnight blue fur, and pale flesh. Her wings are draconic and her tail is a hissing viper—it is from this viper’s mouth that she whispers her unfair riddles to those she captures. Rumors hold that her actual face is too hideous for even the Abyss to bear, but that for brief moments she can reveal its true appearance to drive viewers insane, strike them dead, or worse. Areshkagal’s realm is a barren region of crimson, stony hills and gulches through which seep rivers of blood. Known as the Blood Clefts, this region abuts Aldinach’s Abyssal realm of the Sea of Whispering Sands, a realm that Areshkagal once called her own. The displaced demon lord often sends her armies into the desert to torment those of her half-sister Aldinach in hopes of someday regaining control over her realm, but to date her armies have been unable to match the power of Aldinach’s forces. It is said that Areshkagal’s treasury still lies hidden somewhere below the Sea of Whispering Sands, and that Aldinach has yet to locate this vast vault. What riches might lie within the lost treasury have long tempted adventurers and demons alike. Baphomet Lord of the Minotaurs CE male demon lord of beasts, labyrinths, and minotaurs Cult Unholy Symbol a brass minotaur’s head with ruby eyes Temple basements, catacombs, labyrinths Worshipers conspirators, minotaurs, secret societies Minions chimeras, fiendish carnivorous animals (particularly carnivorous aurochs or bison), gorgons Obedience Remain motionless for 55 minutes, and then spend the last 5 minutes speaking 50 observations regarding your surroundings into a hollowed-out bull’s horn. Gain immunity to maze and a +4 profane bonus on saving throws against confusion and insanity effects. Boons 1: Conspirator’s Whisper (Sp) summon monster I 3/day, misdirection 2/day, or beast shape I 1/day 2: Minotaur Form (Su) Once per day, you may change shape into a minotaur for 1 hour (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 298). When you do so, you gain a +4 size bonus to Strength, but suffer a –2 penalty to Charisma. If you are actually a minotaur, this ability instead allows you to assume a humanoid form at will (this change of form does not alter your ability scores). 3: Maze of Madness (Sp) Extended maze 1/day. Although he is traditionally the god of the minotaur race, Baphomet’s cult is on the rise among humanity. His human worshipers hold sermons in his name in secret and hand down his teachings along family lines across generations, forming secretive societies that tend to have much political power in Golarion’s larger cities. They remain silent about their allegiance to Baphomet, however, patiently awaiting a time when he might call upon them to rise up against their enemies and return the world to the dominion of the beast. These secret societies use complex signs, hand gestures, passwords, and sigils to identify themselves to each other and pass messages— in these communications, they use their “true names” and refer to themselves as the Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth in honor of Baphomet’s labyrinthine Abyssal realm. Baphomet ascended to the status of demon lord from the soul of the first and greatest minotaur, a beast created by Lamashtu to serve as a leader for her latest creations. He remains one of Lamashtu’s favored consorts to this day, and she often visits the demon lord in his Ivory Labyrinth. Baphomet appears as a muscular humanoid with a bull’s head; he is only rarely depicted without his cruel glaive of red adamantine in hand (a weapon said to be able to cause particularly horrid and painful wounds to good targets). He is served by glabrezu demons, who often act as advisors to his Templars and even seed new cults in cities not yet tainted by his word. Lords of the Abyss Cyth-V’sug Prince of the Blasted Heath CE male demon lord of disease, fungus, and parasites Cult Unholy Symbol mold-caked severed tentacle coiled in a spiral Temple caverns, dead or fallen trees, diseased forests, sewers Worshipers alchemists, black dragons, derros, drow, ex- druids, polluters, evil vegepygmies Minions fungal creatures, giant vermin, mandragoras (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2), swarms Obedience Eat moldering flesh rife with parasitic worms and drink putrid alcohol distilled from strange fungi during a 1-hour feast. You gain a +4 profane bonus on all saving throws against disease and effects that cause nausea. Boons 1: Sickness Within (Sp) ray of enfeeblement 3/day, warp wood 2/ day, or contagion 1/day 2: Parasitic Link (Su) Once per day with a successful touch attack, you can infest a living creature with tiny worms and gnawing mites unless the target makes a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Constitution modifier). These parasites retain an unholy link to you, draining that creature’s energy and transferring it to you. This infestation persists for 10 rounds, during which you act as if hasted and the infested victim is staggered. As a swift action, you can quicken the parasitic infestation—this reduces the remaining duration by 1 round, but causes the parasites to chew and feed at an accelerated rate, dealing 1d2 points of Constitution damage to the target. You can only maintain a parasitic link with one creature at a time. These parasites count as a disease effect. 3: Fungal Ruin (Sp) Once per day, you may target a creature with a destruction spell. A creature slain by this effect crumbles into a mound of russet mold (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 273) that immediately releases a cloud of spores in a 20-foot-radius burst. This ability functions as a 9th-level spell. Cyth-V’sug’s realm is both a place and a being—an immense parasitic fungus called the Jeharlu capable of extending tendrils into other planes, corrupting them, and then drawing them into the Abyss to expand itself. A quivering, spherical clot of fungal matter much larger than the largest of planets, the Jeharlu lies at the center of an immense cavern, suspended by thick white filaments that attach it to the surrounding rift. Pallid giant worms (fiendish 32 HD Colossal purple worms), moldering shamblers (Gargantuan 24 HD half-fiend shambling mounds), deformed fungoid dragons (half-fiend green or blue dragons with the fungal creature template—see page 131 of the Advanced Bestiary), and all manner of demons are but a few of the Jeharlu’s dangers. Cyth-V’sug dwells at the heart of this fungal sphere, an immense monstrosity that appears as a tangled mass of fungal tubers, tentacles, and grasping claws topped by a heaving draconic body with puffball eyes and jagged teeth. Cyth-V’sug can be thought of as a planetary parasite that infests worlds and consumes them, adding the waste that he leaves behind to his ever-expanding Abyssal realm. One of Cyth-V’sug’s greatest minions, the nascent demon lord Treerazer, recently established a domain on the Material Plane after a failed coup against Cyth-V’sug, yet curiously, the Prince of the Blasted Heath has done little to strike against his wayward minion since. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Dagon The Shadow in the Sea CE male demon lord of deformity, the sea, and sea monsters Cult Unholy Symbol gold disk inscribed with sinister runes around an open octopus eye Temple decaying seaside churches, lighthouses, sea caves, underwater cathedrals Worshipers desperate or insane coastal dwellers, boggards, heretical sahuagin and skum, krakens, marsh giants (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2) Minions devilfish (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2), fiendish water elementals, krakens, shoggoths, other sea monsters Obedience Offer a bowl of fresh blood to Dagon by speaking prayers over the blood and then emptying the blood into the sea. The bowl must be made of gold and inscribed with runes sacred to Dagon—such a bowl must be worth no less than 100 gp, but can be reused for multiple obediences. Gain a +4 profane bonus against the extraordinary or supernatural attacks of creatures with the aquatic or water subtype. Boons 1: First Oath (Sp) speak with animals (aquatic animals only) 3/ day, disfiguring touch (see page 48) 2/day, or summon monster III (aquatic creatures only) 1/day 2: Second Oath (Ex) You become immune to damage from water pressure, and gain the ability to breathe water, a +2 profane bonus to Constitution, and a swim speed equal to your base land speed (or increase your current swim speed by 30 ft.). 3: Third Oath (Sp) Dominate monster 1/day (aquatic creatures only). Dagon dwells in the Abyssal Sea of Ishiar in a sunken city called Ugothanok. The surface of this Abyssal Sea is dotted with countless islands, many of which are settled by fiendish and half-fiend humans known as Ishians who wage constant nautical warfare upon each other in a never-ending battle to claim new islands and impress Dagon with their cruelties. Not quite fish or octopus or eel, Dagon is fond of sending his spawn into the oceans of the Material Plane to spread his influence, often physically by breeding with creatures of the deeps or among isolated coastal-dwelling societies. Marsh giants are traditionally among his most fervent worshipers on land, yet in certain remote locations (particularly along the western coastlines of Avistan and Garund), his cult is growing among humans. A village that turns to the worship of Dagon often does so secretly, maintaining a facade of worshiping another deity when in fact the town’s devotions are for the Shadow in the Sea. In the most remote locations, these cults mix with sahuagin, boggards, and other hideous aquatic creatures. The deformed hybrid children of such blasphemous unions are sure signs of Dagon worship. In these regions, such deformities are regarded as badges of honor. Deskari Lord of the Locust Host CE male demon lord of chasms, infestations, and locusts Cult Unholy Symbol crossed locust wings dripping with blood Temple caverns, rifts, ruined churches Worshipers denizens of the Worldwound, doomsayers, worms that walk (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2) Minions giant vermin, retrievers, swarms, vermleks (see page 54) Obedience Meditate while allowing insects or worms of any type to crawl upon your body—if no such vermin is available, you must instead lie facedown in a trench dug into soil and mouth prayers to Deskari into the dirt while scratching yourself with sharp bits of bone or wood. Gain a +4 profane bonus on all saving throws against disease and against effects caused by vermin. Boons 1: Swarming Susurrus (Sp) inflict light wounds 3/day, summon swarm 2/day, or summon monster III (vermin only) 1/day 2: Swarm Walker (Su) You can walk through any swarm without fear of taking damage or suffering any ill effects— swarms recognize you as one of their own. As long as you stand within a swarm, you gain a +4 profane bonus on Initiative checks and on all saving throws. 3: Swarm Master (Sp) Quickened insect plague 1/day. Thought to be Pazuzu’s greatest son, Deskari is believed by many scholars to be the Usher of the Apocalypse. He and his cult long plagued the northern nation of Sarkoris, where his cultists were eventually driven into the Lake of Mists and Veils by Aroden. Yet upon Aroden’s death, Deskari’s influence on Golarion ripened and burst, transforming Sarkoris into the demon-haunted Worldwound. The blighted land is barely held in check today through the diligence of crusaders from Mendev and the south, who fear that the Worldwound could eventually spread to engulf all of Avistan remain. Cults of Deskari continue to prosper and cause problems in Mendev, northeastern Numeria, and Brevoy, yet it is in the Worldwound itself that the presence of the Lord of the Locust Host can most strongly be felt. Here, armies of bickering fiends are led by powerful, unique demons, and the very land itself shakes in pain. Deskari’s Abyssal realm, a horrific maze of chasms known as the Rasping Rifts, features many direct portals to the growing rift of the Worldwound. Deskari appears as an insectoid creature, vaguely humanoid above the waist and locust-like below, with wings made of swarming insects and hands holding a terrible scythe known as the Riftcarver—a powerful weapon that can be used to create earthquakes or cut chasms into the ground, among other things. Lords of the Abyss Flauros The Burning Maw CE male demon lord of fire, salamanders, and volcanoes Cult Unholy Symbol fanged mouth drooling lava Temple caverns, lava caves, volcanoes Worshipers arsonists, drow, fire giants, evil metalworkers, red dragons, salamanders Minions brimoraks (see page 56), fiendish fire elementals Obedience Burn a valuable nonmagical object (something worth at least 100 gp) or any living creature as an offering and eat the ashes. Gain a +4 profane bonus on all saving throws against fire effects. Boons 1: Fire’s Harlot (Sp) burning hands 3/day, flaming sphere 2/day, or fireball 1/day 2: Flame’s Consort (Ex) Gain fire resistance 30. If you are immune to fire, you may instead gain cold resistance 30. You may change to cold resistance if you gain immunity to fire at a point after you gain this boon. 3: Awaken Flames (Su) As a standard action once per day, you may call forth an elder fire elemental from any flame source. Alternatively, you may activate this ability as a swift action during the casting of any fire spell. The elemental appears immediately, and you can direct its actions as a free action via telepathy. The elemental is considered called, not summoned, and remains your minion for 1 hour. Flauros appears as an immense reptilian monster with red-hot lava for skin and a humanoid torso. In places, his flesh cools to the sheen of volcanic glass, only to crack open and melt anew as his liquid interior boils up to the surface. He wields a jagged obsidian spear in his muscular arms; this spear can transform into a 60-foot-long lash of lava, and can instantly immolate mortal foes it strikes. His head is mostly fanged mouth, from which thick rivulets of magma, clouds of smoke, and tongues of fire emerge. As a demon of fire and lava, Flauros is favored by the salamander race. The Mistress of Fire, a jealous and vindictive elemental named Ymeri, has long waged war against Flauros for the salamanders’ worship, but on this front Flauros has traditionally been the victor. Flauros is also worshiped by the drow, particularly those who dwell in volcanic regions or pride themselves on crafting weaponry in lava forges. He is known to count fire giants, red dragons, and countless humanoid arsonists among his faithful as well. Flauros’s abyssal realm is known as the Bloodpyre Fields, an immense cavern lit by the searing fires of a semicircular arc of volcanoes that surround the shores of an ocean of lava. This molten sea pours off the side of a bottomless chasm, yet never drains. Flauros dwells in the caldera of the largest volcano, in a castle of torrid adamantine suspended over a boiling crater by immense chains. A great wyrm red dragon named Fhengasma dwells in the lake below—many believe that she and Flauros are lovers, and that her offspring compose the large number of half-fiend red dragons that rule the other volcanoes of this realm. Certainly Flauros has been known to send these Abyssal dragons to the Material Plane to do his work, and their devastating visits can lay entire nations to waste in a matter of days. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Gogunta Song of the Swamp CE female demon lord of amphibians, boggards, and swamps Cult Unholy Symbol fetish of a boggard or frog made of twigs Temple bog island, marshy pool, swamp deadfall Worshipers boggards, chuuls Minions froghemoths, giant frogs, hezrous Obedience Drown a living creature in swamp water (or at the very least, in muddy water), then impale the dead body on a sharp branch so wild creatures can feast on it. After impaling the creature, you must spend the rest of your obedience meditating on the sound of fluid dripping from its sodden body. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against disease and poison caused by exposure to the jungle or creatures native to swamps. Boons 1: Swamper’s Boon (Sp) jump 3/day, summon swarm 2/day, or water walk 1/day 2: Warty Skin (Ex) Your skin grows thick and warty, increasing your base natural armor bonus by +3. 3: Summon Froghemoth (Sp) Once per day, you may summon a fiendish froghemoth as if using summon monster IX. The goddess of the boggards, Gogunta began her life as a mighty mobogo (Pathfinder Adventure Path #12). Her route to ascension as a demon lord is believed by the boggards to have been the result of a life spent slaughtering just the right creatures and feeding on just the right parts of their bodies. Scholars of the demonic believe it more likely that she was a herzrou in Dagon’s service who ascended to the role of demon lord by more traditional means—certainly she favors the hezrous as guardians and lovers, and often sends them to guard or even lead boggard tribes on the Material Plane (particularly tribes in Varisia’s Mushfens, the River Kingdoms, or the Sodden Lands). Gogunta is unusual among the demon lords in that her realm is not wholly her own—the stinking saltmarsh of Mephizim is a vast region, yet it is contained wholly within the realm of Dagon’s Ishiar. Mephizim floats upon the surface of the vast sea of Ishiar, being pulled idly along by the current. Despite the swampy island’s continental size, it remains a relative speck on the surface of the great Abyssal sea. Dagon seems content to let Gogunta rule her tiny realm above his own, ignoring her blasphemous cavortings. Gogunta’s cult often mingles freely with that of Dagon on the Material Plane, with her boggards and Dagon’s cultists mixing and mating in disgusting ways that nature never intended. Gogunta appears as an immense, multi-headed frog with too many eyes and even more tongues, but in some boggard artwork she appears instead as an immense boggard queen. Haagenti The Whispers Within CE male demon lord of alchemy, invention, and transformation Cult Unholy Symbol the philosopher’s stone Temple foundry, laboratory, library Worshipers alchemists, drow, non-werewolf lycanthropes, shapechangers Minions golems, magical beasts, mutated animals, non- werewolf lycanthropes, oozes, retrievers Obedience Practice the Divine Experiment by following the procedure to transmute lead into gold; this process normally requires a philosopher’s stone, but for this obedience, the thaumaturge can substitute any material for lead—it’s not the actual transmutation that functions as the obedience, but the act of going through the motions. Gain a +4 profane bonus against transmutation effects. Boons 1: Truth in the Flesh (Sp) enlarge person 3/day, alter self 2/day, or beast shape I 1/day 2: Transformation (Sp) Extended transformation once per day. 3: Master of Shapes (Su) You gain the shapechanger subtype. Your body can react instantaneously to mitigate attacks, granting immunity to critical hits and sneak attacks (which are treated as normal attacks). Whenever you are affected by a polymorph effect, you heal 4d8 points of damage. Of the demon lords, there is a perception that Haagenti is among the least destructive and most reasonable. Of course, this impression is little more than smoke and mirrors, for Haagenti is as cruel and sadistic as demon lords get— the usefulness of his alchemical creations and wondrous inventions is simply his method of subtly influencing the development of society. Many scholars believe that Haagenti is responsible for guiding many of humanity’s greatest minds to discover new and deadly methods of inflicting destruction and pain on each other. The greatest secret he has revealed to mortal life is the method of transmuting lead into gold using a philosopher’s stone, but he is the author of other secrets, such as the method of creating retrievers or the basis of drow fleshwarping. Haagenti has a myriad of forms, and can change his appearance at will—he typically appears as a member of the same race as those he is interacting with. Rumor holds that his true form is that of a demonic winged bull. Haagenti’s realm on the Abyss is called Cerebulim. This region is an immense collection of laboratories, libraries, torture chambers, bestiaries, and other chambers that Haagenti can shift around and rearrange to suit his preferences, causing them to grind into new layouts with the thrum of immense, unseen clockwork gears. Lords of the Abyss Jezelda Mistress of the Hungry Moon CE female demon lord of desolation, the moon, and werewolves Cult Unholy Symbol full moon rising above a desolate moor Temple forest glade, remote farmhouse, standing stones Worshipers debased rural folk, lunatics, werewolves Minions dire wolves, wolves, worgs Obedience Under the night sky, you must offer up prayers to the moon. On nights when there is no moon, you must supplement your prayers by sacrificing an intelligent creature of your own race by tearing out its throat with your teeth and feeding on the still-warm body. Gain a +4 profane bonus on all saving throws made when the moon is visible in the night sky. Initiates 1: Gift of the Moon (Sp) charm animal 3/day, summon nature’s ally II (1 fiendish wolf or 1d3 wolves only) 2/day, or beast shape I 1/day 2: Afflicted Lycanthrope (Su) You contract lycanthropy and become a werewolf (even if you normally couldn’t gain that template). If you are already a werewolf, you become a true lycanthrope. If you are already a true lycanthrope, you gain a +2 bonus to Strength and Constitution. 3: True Lycantrhope (Su) You can use your lycanthropic change shape ability as a swift action. You become a true lycanthrope if you were an afflicted lycanthrope. If you are already a true lycanthrope, you gain another +2 bonus to Strength and Constitution. In certain rural areas of the world, particularly in the region around Darkmoon Vale and the darkened woodlands of Lozeri in northern Ustalav, the barrier between human and wolf grows thin on nights of the full moon. Many religious texts point to the werewolf Jezelda as the first to spread lycanthropy among the mortals of the world, but strangely, neither she nor her faithful support that claim; instead they remain strangely silent upon her history, as if they shared a secret that the world is not yet meant to know. As the patron of werewolves, Jezelda is herself a shapechanger. She can appear as a beautiful and dark- haired Varisian woman, a feral and slavering wolf with huge fangs and yellow eyes, or her favored form—that of an emaciated amalgamation of these two embodiments, also bearing a pair of demonic horns. She despises non-werewolf lycanthropes, and charges her worshipers with seeking out such creatures as heretics worthy only for sacrifice. Good- aligned lycanthropes in particular raise Jezelda’s ire, and such a sacrifice almost always curries her favor. Jezelda’s realm on the Abyss is known as the Moonbog. This vast realm is large enough to contain a single glowing moon high above—the “stars” in the night sky are said to be the eyes of her favored wolf consorts looking down upon the realm below. Below, the Moonbog consists of vast stretches of moorland separated by winding wetlands of bogs and fens infested with all manner of monstrous denizens—the deeper and more remote of these bogs are often ruled by powerful hezrous or half-fiend froghemoths. Yet it is on the moors themselves where the true dangers of this realm can be found—for it is here that Jezelda and her favored consorts hunt under the wan light of the moon. These moors are populated by isolated communities of humanoids harvested from countless worlds. Jezelda enjoys moving from one village to the other, constantly hunting while her minions work furiously to abduct and repopulate the realm behind her so she need never be faced with an empty realm. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Jubilex The Faceless Lord CE male demon lord of ooze monsters, poison, and sloth Cult Unholy Symbol a melting red eye Temple caverns, junkyards, sewers Worshipers drow, drug users, poisoners, the slothful Minions oozes Obedience Submerge a small, severed piece of a human body in a vial of acid and chant praise to Jubilex as the flesh dissolves. Gain a +4 profane bonus on all saving throws against poison. Boons 1: Sign of the Faceless Lord (Sp) grease 3/day, delay poison 2/ day, or slow 1/day 2: Poisonous Touch (Sp) Up to 3 times per day, you may use poison as a spell-like ability. If you make an attack with a melee weapon, you may activate this ability as a swift action as part of your attack, targeting the foe struck with the effect. This ability is the equivalent of a 7th-level spell. 3: Call Forth the Spawn (Sp) Thrice per day you may use destruction as a spell-like ability. The body of a creature slain by this ability immediately transforms into an ochre jelly under your mental control. Ochre jellies created by this ability melt away into noxious residue after 1 hour. This ability is the equivalent of a 9th-level spell. Of the demon lords listed here, Jubilex is perhaps the one least concerned with maintaining a cult. His favored minions, the omoxes (Pathfinder Adventure Path #16), do more to spread his cults than he does—in fact, it’s debatable whether Jubilex even realizes he has worshipers. Only among the drow is his faith particularly popular and pervasive. Certainly, those who worship him tend not to think of him as an entity to be venerated as much as a source of power. Yet despite the Faceless Lord’s lack of interest in his faithful, he certainly knows of the Material Plane and enjoys absorbing the bodies of unwilling mortals into his protoplasmic bulk. Jubilex appears as a shapeless green mass of ooze shot through with dark ribbons of tar and hundreds of glaring red eyes the size of a man’s head. His realm on the Abyss is called the Undersump, and consists of a tangled warren of sewer-like catacombs and tunnels that winds below dozens of other Abyssal realms—many creatures use the Undersump as a method of covertly moving from one such realm to the other, but they must take care to avoid Jubilex’s awareness when they do. Of course, Jubilex’s wanderings and attention to the regions of the Undersump are basically random, and certain parts of the realm are so rarely visited by the Faceless Lord that other strange and dangerous creatures have claimed them. Kabriri Him Who Gnaws CE male demon lord of ghouls, graves, and secrets kept by the dead Cult Unholy Symbol maggot-filled bowl made from a human skull Temple catacombs, funeral homes, graveyards, necropolises, warrens under graveyards Worshipers cannibals, conspirators, ghasts, ghouls, grave robbers, necrophiles Minions fiendish earth elementals, rats, undead, vermleks (see page 54), worm monsters Obedience You must partake of a cannibal feast; the body upon which you feed must either be at least a week old or be eaten while atop a grave. Gain a +4 profane bonus on all saving throws against paralysis and against disease effects from undead. Boons 1: Kiss of the Grave (Sp) deathwatch 3/day, ghoul touch 2/day, or speak with dead 1/day 2: Undead Minion (Sp) You can cast create undead once per day. The undead that is created obeys you without question. If you use this ability to create a new undead minion, the previous undead is destroyed. 3: Ghoulish Apotheosis (Ex) The next time you die, you rise as a ghoul after 24 hours. Your type changes to undead and you lose all the abilities of your previous race, replacing them with +2 natural armor, darkvision 60 feet, channel resistance +2, and a ghoul’s physical attacks. You do not change your total Hit Dice or alter your ability scores. If you achieve this boon when you’re already an undead creature, you instead gain a +4 profane bonus to Charisma. It is said that when the first humanoid (according to most tales, an elf) to feed upon the flesh of his brother died, he was reborn in the Abyss in a vast necropolis that the plane created in his honor. Kabriri’s teachings are popular among the ghouls of the world, particularly those who dwell in the Darklands city of Nemret-Noktoria deep under Osirion. Kabriri appears as a muscular ghoul with pointed ears, sharp teeth, a long tongue, and pale gray flesh. His eyes are beady and red, his hands are talons, and his feet hooves. His favored weapon is a two-headed flail made of iron and bone, the twin heads of which are skulls wrapped in strips of spiked iron. This weapon is capable of transforming those it enslaves into ghouls, and causes the flesh of the living to rot away. Kabriri’s Abyssal necropolis is a realm called Everglut—an immense city of ghouls and worse creatures built into a vast cavern with countless stairways leading up to tunnels in the roof above, which in turn lead to a tangled network that connects to graveyards throughout the multiverse. Lit by strange green light, the libraries of Everglut are unusually vast. Lords of the Abyss Kostchtchie The Deathless Frost CE male demon lord of cold, giants, and revenge Cult Unholy Symbol ice-caked, rune-carved warhammer Temple frozen castles, glacier fortresses, icy mountain caves Worshipers ettins, frost giants, hill giants, ogres, white dragons Minions half-fiend yetis, ice golems, ice linnorms, remorhazes Obedience Spill the blood of a living creature onto snow- covered ground; the creature must remain alive during the entire obedience, and must die within a minute of the obedience’s end. Gain a +4 bonus on all saving throws against cold. Boons 1: Frozen Wrath (Sp) chill touch 3/day, bull’s strength 2/day, or sleet storm 1/day 2: Cold’s Caress (Ex) Gain cold resistance 30. If you are immune to cold, you may instead gain fire resistance 30. You may change to fire resistance if you gain immunity to cold at a point after you gain this boon. 3: Wrath of Frost (Sp) You can cast giant form I once per day. Three times during this ability’s duration, you can cast an empowered cone of cold as a spell-like ability. This ability is the equivalent of a 9th-level spell. Kostchtchie was born of Ulfen parents, and grew up a murderer after his father forced him to kill his mother and sisters. Kostchtchie went one better and murdered his father as well. Later in life, after he had become a ferocious warlord, he confronted the Witch Queen Baba Yaga and tried to force her to grant him immortality—the witch agreed, but twisted his form, turned him into a hideous giant, and hid away the last fragment of his mortal soul in a magical torc. Kostchtchie fled to the Abyss to nurture his hatred and hide his shame, eventually finding a new purpose as a patron of frost giants, who turned away from their god Thremyr in search of a more active and warlike deity. Kostchtchie’s current goal is the destruction of Irrisen and the recovery of the torc that contains the fragment of his previous soul, in the hope that its return might reverse his deformity without removing his immortality. His worship is common not only in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, but also in distant Iobaria and the frozen wastes of the Crown of the World far to the north. Kostchtchie appears as an immense, deformed frost giant with twisted legs, tiny white eyes, and a thick matted beard into which are woven dozens of skulls—trophies of mortal kings and priests of rival faiths he has slain. He is never seen without his warhammer, an adamantine maul of such prodigious size that even the strongest frost giant would have trouble wielding it properly, but which appears almost weightless in Kostchtchie’s grizzled hands. This nefarious weapon can destroy nearly any object it strikes, and stuns all but the largest creatures that suffer its crushing blows. Kostchtchie dwells in an immense fortress called Skyskar that is carved out of the heart of a towering mountain in a realm known as Jhuvumirak. This fortress is itself located in the heart of a rugged realm of jagged mountains and immense glaciers infested with manifold frozen horrors. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Mazmezz The Creeping Queen CE female demon lord of bindings, driders, and vermin Cult Unholy Symbol skull at the center of a spiderweb Temple caverns, web labyrinths Worshipers driders, drow, insane ettercaps Minions bebiliths, retrievers, spiders and other vermin Obedience Bind a living creature so only a few key portions of anatomy (such as the belly, mouth, or eyes) remain exposed, allowing you to torment these exposed areas with needles, tiny knives, or poisonous vermin. Gain a +4 profane bonus on grapple checks and to CMD. Boons 1: Mazmezz’s Embrace (Sp) animate rope 3/day, web 2/day, or snare 1/day 2: Spider’s Blessing (Sp) You can use poison and vermin shape II (see page 49) once per day each as spell-like abilities. 3: Temporal Web (Sp) Once per day, you may use temporal stasis heightened to function as a 9th-level spell. The target of this ability appears to be wrapped tightly in spiderwebs. You can maintain up to three targets in a temporal web at a time—if you use this ability on a fourth target, you must select one of the other three targets to immediately release. This ability is the equivalent of an 9th-level spell. Mazmezz appears as a hideous tangle of insectoid legs, far too many for any worldly insect to command. Some of these legs end in claws, others in pincers, and still others in spinnerets. At the center, a sickening clot of wriggling hair boils around a roughly spherical body, the only concession toward a “front” being an immense spider’s mouth filled with thrashing pedipalps and fangs. Mazmezz has the insidious ability to wrap herself in gauzy, vexing swaths of webbing that can magically alter her form to anything she can imagine—the form of a beautiful woman or female drider is a particular favorite when she’s dealing with those she might wish to capture and keep as trophies for her horrific harem. Yet when forced to punish foes or do battle, the Creeping Queen always reverts to her nauseating true form. Mazmezz is worshiped primarily by drow, driders, and ettercaps, but some particularly demented humanoids worship her as well—these tend to be isolated admirers rather than members of full-blown cults. Her hive-like Abyssal domain is known as Khavak-Vog, and its tangled ways are the lair of her favored children, the bebiliths. The core of her maze-like lair is guarded by several of these fiends grown to great size. Legend holds that the first bebiliths were spawned by Mazmezz; if true, this would explain the disgust and hatred with which most other demon lords hold the Creeping Queen. Mestama The Mother of Witches CE female demon lord of cruelty, deception, and hags Cult Unholy Symbol human eye balanced atop three sharp stones Temple abandoned buildings (particularly churches or schools), old houses, swampy islands Worshipers annis hags (Bonus Bestiary 11), banshees (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2), green hags, sea hags, spurned lovers, vengeful widows, witches Minions will-o’-wisps, witchfires (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2) Obedience Perform an act of cruelty upon a nonbeliever of Mestama after spending an hour observing the nonbeliever— preferably from a vantage unknown by the vicitm. This act must, at the very least, incite the victim to tears or anger. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against illusions. Initiates 1: Witch’s Trick (Sp) disguise self 3/day, misdirection 2/day, or bestow curse 1/day 2: Elder’s Grace (Ex) You immediately age into the next age category, taking all of the appropriate bonuses to mental ability scores without any of the penalties to physical ability scores. If you are venerable when you achieve the boon, you die and become a ghost. Any illusion effect you create gains a +2 profane bonus to the save DC. 3: Shriek of the Damned (Sp) Once per day you may use wail of the banshee. Patron of hags, witches, and vengeful widows, Mestama takes great delight in murdering young women on the night before their wedding day so she can take their form and wed their husbands-to-be, only to return to her true form (that of a fanged crone with sunken black eyes, talons, raven wings, and a donkey’s tail) at the height of the wedding’s consummation that evening, at which point she castrates the husband and vanishes. Those who survive often receive visits decades later from twisted and hideous half-fiends—their sons or daughters, sent by Mestama to finish off the job and murder their fathers. Mestama’s cult is a hateful one, composed entirely of eunuchs or women who live for the spread of cruelty through deception. Her cultists generally regard competing faiths (such as worshipers of Gyronna) with jealous anger. The Mother of Witches dwells in an Abyssal realm called the Barren Wood, a vexing forest of dead and dying pine and fir trees. Decrepit houses serve witches and hags as dens or traps, and darker creatures haunt the more desolate reaches of the wood. Certain remote forests in Avistan (particularly in Nidal, Taldor, and Galt) are said to connect to the Barren Wood— those who unknowingly wander too deeply into these areas can become lost forever. Lords of the Abyss Nocticula Our Lady in Shadow CE female demon lord of assassins, darkness, and lust Cult Unholy Symbol seven-pointed crown wrapped with thorny vines Temple brothels, dungeons, elegant manors, hidden cathedrals Worshipers assassins, drow, rapists, shadow-using creatures, succubi, whores Minions bats, carnivorous plants, charmed or dominated humanoids, seraptis demons (see page 58), shadow demons, shadows Obedience Ingest a dose of psychedelic plants or fungi and engage in any number of sexual acts (either alone or with others), during which at least a pint of blood must be shed. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against blindness and charm effects. Boons 1: The Lady’s Charms (Sp) charm person 3/day, darkness 2/day, or suggestion 1/day 2: Instant Blindness (Sp) Three times per day, you can cast quickened blindness/deafness. 3: Dominate Thrall (Sp) Once per day, you may cast dominate monster. You may only have one creature dominated at a time via this effect, but the effects are permanent until you dominate a new target, at which point the previous target is released from domination but is stunned for 1d4 rounds. The first succubus is a beautiful but deadly creature. Lady Nocticula is fond of wearing her dark hair in complex styles. Her eyes are devoid of pupils, her fingers are tipped with talons, and her feet end in stony hooves that weep molten iron. Bat-like wings covered with glowing runes and three tails ending in stingers complete her demonic appearance. Yet she typically appears to unsuspecting folk as a particularly beautiful woman or handsome man in order to lure them into her clutches. Even demon lords aren’t safe from her deadly seductions; the number of demon lords she’s seduced and assassinated is formidable—among her greatest triumphs is Vyriavaxus, the Demon Lord of Shadows. From him she won the grudging loyalty of the shadow demons. The other demon lords treat Nocticula with a mixture of obsession and fear, with only one of them, Socothbenoth (her brother and sometimes lover), maintaining a relatively friendly relationship. Nocticula is one of the most popular demons among the drow, but she is also worshiped in places of decadence like Katapesh, Nex, Geb, and certain River Kingdoms. Recently, Lamashtu’s cult has taken notice of Nocticula’s rising power and has increased the level of hostility with her worshipers, causing some to believe that Nocticula may be close to becoming the second demon to ascend to divinity. Nocticula’s Abyssal realm consists of dozens of islands on an immense sea of still black water. The sky is always dark here, with strange stars and a disturbingly large moon in the sky above. Each of these Midnight Isles represents a demon lord or other notable entity she’s assassinated—with each new kill, her realm grows. Each island is ruled by a unique succubus or incubus with strange and terrible powers. The terrain and natures of these islands are linked to the themes and history of her victims, save for the largest island in the center—this island is Alinythia, her personal realm of pleasure and decadence. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Nurgal The Shining Scourge CE male demon lord of the deserts, the sun, and senseless warfare Cult Unholy Symbol a sun clenched in a lion’s jaws Temple desert ruins, mountaintop monasteries, observatories Worshipers dragons, mercenaries, those who fear the sun, warlike desert nomads Minions desert-dwelling creatures, lions and leonine creatures (such as chimeras and manticores) Obedience Offer prayers to Nurgal during an hour-long ritual of self-flagellation with a salt-encrusted whip—the ritual must end at noon. If this obedience does not take place under the light of the sun, you must end the ritual by swallowing a handful of sand and salt. Gain a +4 profane bonus on all Fortitude saving throws against effects that cause fatigue or exhaustion, or that damage, drain, or penalize ability scores. Boons 1: Desert’s Embrace (Sp) endure elements 3/day, scorching ray 2/ day, or daylight 1/day 2: Nurgal’s Breath (Sp) You can cast sunbeam once per day—the beam of sunlight created by this ability issues from your open mouth. 3: Desiccating Pulse (Sp) You can cast horrid wilting three times per day. Not all who worship the sun do so with joy and kindness in their hearts. Those who venerate the Shining Scourge worship out of fear or awe. Nurgal embodies the destructive aspects of the sun, and his minions walk without fear in the full light of day. His lower body is that of a golden lion with a draconic tail. His torso is deeply tanned and masculine, and he is rarely seen without a heavy mace, the head of which appears to be a miniature sun, held in one four-fingered, taloned hand. His head is that of a lion as well, and blinding light spews from his eyes and mouth. Nurgal’s faith was quite strong in ancient Azlant, and not a few Azlanti ruins bear evidence of this connection in carvings that depict a fanged mouth around a sun or the presence of lion- like monsters. Today, his worship has lessened, and is limited to the deserts of northern Garund, Qadira, and ruined Ninshabur. His Abyssal realm is known as Kuthan, an expansive region of alternating desert and dry savannas under a vast red sun that never moves from its noontime height above. Narrow gorges hundreds of miles long connect Kuthan to its neighboring realm, the Sea of Whispering Sands, where Nurgal’s lover, Areshkagal, used to rule before being banished to the Blood Clefts by her sister. Nurgal is also believed to be the half-brother of Socothbenoth, but this relationship is not friendly, and the two have been at war for as long as they both have existed. Orcus Prince of Undeath CE male demon lord of death, necromancy, and wrath Cult Unholy Symbol a goat’s head with red eyes and four horns Temple burial vaults, caverns, towers Worshipers derros, necromancers, powerful undead (particularly liches or mummies), thanatotic titans (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2) Minions undead, vermleks (see page 54) Obedience Grind a half-pound of bones from the skeleton of a sentient creature, mix with water to create a gray paste, and then eat it at the end of a long recitation of prayers to Orcus. Gain a +4 profane bonus on all saving throws against death and negative energy effects. Boons 1: Necromancer’s Secrets (Sp) detect undead 3/day, command undead 2/day, or vampiric touch 1/day 2: Invoke Death (Sp) Once per day, you may use slay living as a spell-like ability. A creature slain by this spell immediately rises from death as a juju zombie (see Pathfinder Bestiary 2). The zombie is not under your control, but it will not attack you. This ability is equivalent to a 7th-level spell. 3: Call the Dead (Sp) Once per day, you may summon a nightwing (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2), 1d3 devourers, or 1d4+1 advanced mohrgs as if using summon monster IX. Although Orcus doesn’t have a strong following on Golarion (his worship is mostly restricted to the nation of Geb and certain backwater regions in Nidal), he has far more dealings with other worlds than most of Golarion’s demon lords. His cultists maintain that the Prince of Undeath is merely waiting for matters in other worlds to resolve themselves before turning his gaze upon this world as his next prize—and that when he does, his faithful shall be rightly rewarded for preparing the way. Of course, fierce competition for worshipers with the cults of Zura and Kabriri and the church of Urgathoa is a more likely reason why Orcus’s cult on Golarion isn’t more widespread. Orcus appears as an immense, fat humanoid with a ram’s head, bat-like wings, cloven feet, and a long tail ending in a stinger. His legendary weapon, the Wand of Orcus, is never far from his taloned hand. His Abyssal realm of Uligor is an entire world of undead-haunted ruins, frozen seas, ragged mountains, and hideous deserts and swamps. Orcus shares this realm with a large number of evil thanatotic titans, not all of whom worship or even ally with the Prince of Undeath. Large regions of Uligor are scarred by the unending civil war between the titans. It is unknown what shadowy force directly opposes Orcus on Uligor, but his war with this mysterious demigod has lasted for millennia. Lords of the Abyss Pazuzu King of the Wind Demons CE male demon lord of the sky, temptation, and winged creatures Cult Unholy Symbol image of Pazuzu with right hand upraised Temple cliffside cathedrals, desert ruins, mountaintops, towering spires Worshipers antipaladins, harpies, enemies of Lamashtu, tengus Minions fiendish flying creatures, perytons (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2), swarms, vrocks Obedience String up the intestines of a freshly killed creature somewhere that will attract the attention of hungry birds (such as the branches of a tree or the crenellations of a tower), then meditate on the offering. Gain a +4 profane bonus on all saving throws against effects from flying creatures and compulsion effects. Boons 1: Whispers on the Wind (Sp) charm person 3/day, enthrall 2/ day, or fly 1/day 2: Possession (Sp) You can cast magic jar once per day as a spell-like ability. You can use a holy symbol of Pazuzu or a statue of Pazuzu as your receptacle—if you do so, you can determine the exact creature type and position of all potential life forces you’re capable of possessing. This ability is the equivalent of a 7th-level spell. 3: True Temptation (Sp) If any creature speaks Pazuzu’s name aloud three times with a single breath, and that creature is within 60 feet of you, you can cast quickened charm monster on that creature as an immediate action. You can use this power up to three times per day. Creatures with fly speeds take a –4 penalty on saves against this effect. If a creature that fails its save against this effect has protection from evil or a similar effect activated, that effect is immediately and automatically dispelled. You can use this ability against a creature that has not invoked Pazuzu’s name, but if you do so, it functions as a normal (non-quickened) charm monster spell that does not dispel protection from evil effects. This ability is the equivalent of a 9th-level spell. Pazuzu appears as a wiry human with eagle’s legs and talons, a demonic avian head, two pairs of bird wings, a scorpion tail, and a writhing snake in place of his genitals. Pazuzu is an aggressive demon fond of possessing mortals and using them to work his evils upon the world—it is said that Pazuzu can hear his name when an innocent speaks it unknowingly, and that this may be all that is needed to invite possession by the demon. He is the patron of all evil things that fly, particularly vrocks and harpies. His breath is a cloud of locusts, and it is said that at the dawn of civilization his first breath of air upon the Material Plane spawned the demon that, in time, would become Deskari. Pazuzu is among the oldest of the demon lords, one of the first to rise to power in the Abyss long ago alongside the likes of Lamashtu, Abraxas, and Dagon, yet his long conflict with Lamashtu has prevented him from achieving greater power or perhaps even godhood himself—a fact that only serves to spur his unending conflict with the Mother of Monsters. Pazuzu’s Abyssal realm of High M’Vania exists on the side of one of the great Abyssal rifts. This vertical realm includes an immense city on a vast shelf, as well as the depths below it and the skies above. The unique location of this realm allows Pazuzu unprecedented mobility among the Outer Planes, a freedom he often abuses in his war against Lamashtu, recruiting powerful allies from Hell, Abaddon, and beyond. Pazuzu’s personal rookery is a tangle of towers called Shibaxet—a place only his most trusted minions or his favored meals ever get to see. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Shax The Blood Marquis CE male demon lord of envy, lies, and particularly violent murder Cult Unholy Symbol curved white feather sitting in a pool of blood Temple crooked alleyways, hidden rooms in grand estates, secret dungeons Worshipers babaus, chokers, derros, drow, evil nobles, serial killers, torturers Minions fiendish animals (particularly great cats, birds, dogs, and rats), shadow demons Obedience Perform an autopsy on a creature killed within the last 24 hours, using bare hands instead of tools as much as possible. Gain a +4 profane bonus against effects that cause bleed and figment illusions. Boons 1: Killer’s Finesse (Sp) true strike 3/day, invisibility 2/day, or keen edge 1/day 2: Life in Blood (Su) You treat bleed effects as fast healing. For example, if you suffer an effect that causes bleed 5, you do not take any damage from the effect and instead gain fast healing 5. This effect ends whenever you are fully healed. 3: Murderer’s Wrath (Ex) You gain sneak attack +3d6. This increase to sneak attack damage stacks with sneak attack damage you may have from other sources. Whenever you inflict sneak attack damage with a slashing weapon, you inflict +2 points of damage per sneak attack die. Cruel and sadistic, Shax revels in the act of torture and murder, especially if the victim retains hope for survival up to the very instant of death. He is particularly fond of eating the eyes of his living victims, but not until he is sure they have seen the filthy tools and bloodstained devices he intends to use upon their bodies. Shax appears as a human man with a dove’s head, bird’s legs, and an immense collection of knives and other bloodstained weaponry. His cultists are typically lone murderers or sadists, often killers who lead double lives as upstanding citizens of society and kill in secret. Shax is the creator of the babau race, and those he creates by skinning living victims and then infusing them with Abyssal energies are the most powerful of their kind. Shax’s realm is the appropriately named Charnelhome, an immense house the size of a city perched atop a slightly slanted bluff surrounded by a vast bog of thorny, blood- drinking plants. Each of Charnelhome’s rooms contains a different insidious deathtrap or horrific guardian—Shax is fond of releasing victims into a wing of the vast manor so he can watch them try to escape, often posing as a fellow prisoner so that the demon lord can experience the victim’s despair and fear on as intimate a level as possible. Shivaska The Chained Maiden CE female demon lord of aberrations, clocks, and prisons Cult Unholy Symbol clock face with 13 hours Temple caverns, dungeons, prisons, workhouses Worshipers chokers and other aberrations, sadistic prison wardens and guards, slavers Minions constructs (particularly clockwork creatures), gibbering mouthers, other aberrations Obedience You must start an obedience to Shivaska at exactly the start of an hour. You must spend this hour bound with chains, rope, manacles, a straitjacket, or some similar restraint. While bound, you must recite prayers to the Chained Maiden and strain against your bindings enough to leave marks on your flesh for the remainder of the day. Gain a +4 profane bonus to your CMD. Boons 1: Maiden’s Cry (Sp) lesser confusion 3/day, hold person 2/day, or ray of exhaustion 1/day 2: Binding Touch (Sp) Once per day, you can use binding, but only at a range of touch. You need not expend any material components to use this ability, nor can assistants aid you in its casting. You can only have one creature affected by this ability at any one time. If you successfully use this ability on a second creature, the previously bound creature is immediately freed. This ability is the equivalent of a 7th- level spell. 2: Unwind the Clock (Sp) You can use time stop once per day. Shivaska appears as a female choker with four arms and four legs. Her mouth is unnaturally large, but she has no eyes on her head—her eyes glare red from the palms of her four hands. From her back writhe a dozen long, thin animated chains that end in cruel hooks. Shivaska’s cult has a particular interest in orphanages, and an unsettling number of these institutions have ties to the Chained Maiden. An orphanage under the secret control of the cult of Shivaska uses its orphans for all manner of cruel labor, and keeps the children in line by allowing unsettling aberrations (usually chokers) to prowl the orphanage after dark. Tales of monsters and fears of being taken away by strange things lurking in chimneys or cramped closets or hiding under the floorboards work quite well to keep child laborers in line. Shivaska’s realm on the Abyss is a gloomy temperate wilderness known as the Winding Wood. Her palace, the Ticking House, is an immense workhouse with a huge clock tower, the face of which accounts for 13 hours rather than 12. This clock is kept running by the constant toil of a small army of abducted children. Lords of the Abyss Sifkesh The Sacred Whore CE female demon lord of hopeless despair, heresy, and suicide Cult Unholy Symbol bloody feminine hands crossed at slashed wrists Temple desecrated churches, haunted houses, many- windowed towers Worshipers blasphemers, heretics, outcasts from other religions, survivors of botched suicide attempts Minions lamias, seraptis demons (see page 58), undead crafted from the bodies of suicide victims Obedience Perform a ritualized suicide by first scribing a note lambasting your enemies and then pretending to kill yourself via strangulation or cutting. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws against mind-affecting effects. Boons 1: Heretic’s Hiss (Sp) command 3/day, whispering wind 2/day, or suggestion 1/day 2: Heresy (Su) Once per day as a standard action, you can utter blasphemy or heresy against a single religion other than the worship of a demon lord. A worshiper of the targeted religion must be able to hear your utterance, or this ability fails. You gain SR equal to your HD + 11 against spells cast by worshipers of the religion you spoke out against—this SR lasts until you use this ability again to blaspheme a different religion (as long as you continue your daily obedience, this SR persists until you select a different religion). 3: Mass Suicide (Sp) You can cast weird once per day as a spell-like ability. Rather than assault the victims with images of fear, this ability assaults the targets with images and sensations of crippling sadness and despair. Those who succumb to the spell and die do so at their own hands. If no method of suicide is available for one who succumbs to this effect, the victim simply dies outright of sadness. This effect is equivalent to a 9th-level spell. Sifkesh is unusual among the demons of the Abyss in that her motives are much more diabolical than those of most of her kin. She seeks not to destroy the body but to twist the mind away from purity, to seduce men and women of faith into betraying their religions in blasphemous ways that cause lingering damage to their faith’s reputation in society. Her greatest pleasure is to be with a fallen priest when he or she realizes what has been done and seeks suicide as the answer, for then Sifkesh can snatch away the heretic’s soul and consume it. Sifkesh appears as a thin human woman with snow-white bird wings and stringy black hair that drips blood. Her lips and eyes are stitched shut with rusty wire, and her body is cut into sections at the joints. Usually, these amputations appear at the hips and shoulders, but at times they can appear elsewhere. Each portion floats independently, not quite moving in sync with the rest. Many believe Sifkesh was originally a powerful erinyes devil who became one of Hell’s first heretics. Sifkesh embodies the similar roles shared by the three major fiend races—she corrupts like a devil, feeds like a daemon, but is in fact a demon, a conundrum that has long vexed those seeking to impose order upon the nature of the demonic. Sifkesh’s Abyssal realm is Vantian, the legendary City of Open Windows. This city sprawls along the edge of a cliff overlooking a churning sea—each day, portions of the cliff collapse into the sea, taking with them chunks of city. Vantian’s inhabitants constantly rebuild along the city’s far side, barely keeping pace with its destruction. It is said that false temples of every religion can be found in Vantian, all tended by fallen priests who took their own lives. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Socothbenoth The Silken Sin CE male demon lord of perversion, pride, and taboos Cult Unholy Symbol eyeless snake coiled around a bejeweled staff Temple desecrated churches, dungeons, harems, secret cathedrals, prisons, torture chambers Worshipers deviant rulers, drow, half-fiends, hedonists Minions half-fiend animals, half-fiend magical beasts, seraptis demons (see page 58), succubi Obedience Achieve sexual release, either alone or with a partner, and then defile a page torn from the religious canon of a lawful good deity. Gain a +4 bonus on saves against enchantment effects. Boons 1: Sins of the Flesh (Sp) charm person 3/day, eagle’s splendor 2/ day, or beast shape I 1/day 2: Compelling Voice (Su) Your mind-affecting effects become harder to resist. Increase the save DC of such effects created by you by +1, or by +2 when used against an intelligent creature that could be sexually attracted to you. 3: Truth in the Flesh (Sp) Shapechange 1/day. If Nocticula is the demonic embodiment of seduction and lust, then her brother and lover Socothbenoth is the embodiment of the methods by which such hungers are satiated. Paragon to deviants of all types, Socothbenoth views all of creation as his personal arena of pleasure. His tastes, and those of his faithful, tend to run to the violent and destructive. He is fond of changing his form on a whim to aid in whatever pleasures he currently seeks, but his true form is that of a lithe, handsome man with black eyes, long brown hair, pointed ears, and numerous body piercings of metal and bone. His cult is strong among the drow, but also thrives in the Ustalavic county of Versex, where his cult is quite large, and he maintains a steadily growing secret society of deviants among the nobility of the city of Karcau. Socothbenoth is a highly social demon lord, and maintains more contact with other demon lords than any of his kin. His greatest alliances are with his sister Nocticula, Pazuzu, Andirifkhu, and Baphomet—all of whom have at times served Socothbenoth as lovers. These alliances are prone to transformation into warfare at times as disagreements and arguments flare, but it is with his hated enemy Nurgal that Socothbenoth’s battles are most legendary. Socothbenoth’s Abyssal palace is the Cathedral Thelemic, a city-sized structure containing thousands of rooms dedicated to the demon lord’s numerous vices. Despite the deceptively peaceful sylvan wilderness that surrounds it, one need not look far beneath the surface here to see the deviant activities that run rampant in Socothbenoth’s playground. Urxehl Trollfather CE male demon lord of natural disasters, storms, and trolls Cult Unholy Symbol storm cloud pierced by lightning Temple caverns, forest glades blasted by fire or wind, mountaintop towers, ships Worshipers druids, those who live in fear of natural disasters, trolls Minions behirs, fiendish elementals Obedience You must cavort naked atop a hill, rooftop, or mountaintop during a storm, or else ritualistically sever the fingers, toes, then arms and legs of a nonevil being, burning each severed fragment to ash before moving on to the next. Gain a +4 profane bonus on all saving throws against weather-related effects and spells. Boons 1: Storm Breath (Sp) obscuring mist 3/day, gust of wind 2/day, or call lightning 1/day 2: Earthshaker (Sp) You can cast earthquake once per day, but this ability only affects a 40-foot-radius spread. This ability is the equivalent of a 7th-level spell. 3: Invoke the True Storm (Sp) You can cast storm of vengeance once per day. Although he is considered to be the patron of the troll race, the demon lord Urxehl in fact despises the twisted giants that share his form with a great and tremendous loathing. His Abyssal realm of Verakivhan is a constantly burning forest lashed by powerful storms with rain that fuels the flames below rather than dousing them. It is only in the face of such tremendous natural disaster that Urxehl is truly pleased, and he often sends visions of such disasters to mortals in hopes they might find a way to create them. Even so, his strongest worshipers remain his trolls, the most religious of which believe that Father Urxehl gifted them with regeneration so that they could survive his terrible rages and depredations. Urxehl’s cultists are particularly active in the River Kingdoms, where trolls are common. Urxehl appears as a towering horned troll, nearly 20 feet high and with a long, spiked tongue. He can command storms with ease, and can direct the flow and power of forest fires with a thought. His troll priests often prepare spells that both protect them from fire and allow them to utilize fire as a weapon, primarily as a way for them to maintain control of those they lead through fear. In addition, a surprising number of chaotic or evil druids look to Urxehl as a source of inspiration and divine power. These druids are generally not trolls, but rather humans who recognize Urxehl’s power over storms and natural disasters. Of course, other druids view these cultists as heretics at best. Lords of the Abyss Xoveron The Horned Prince CE male demon lord of gargoyles, gluttony, and ruins Cult Unholy Symbol five-horned gray gargoyle skull missing its jaw Temple caverns, rooftops, ruined cathedrals, tall structures Worshipers bandits and brigands, gargoyles, gluttons, nabasus Minions fiendish purple worms, man-eating animals, stirges Obedience Perch atop a high outcrop and look out over the surrounding terrain. If the outcrop is in an uninhabited area, you need do nothing more but wait for an hour, but if the outcrop is in an inhabited area (such as a city), no passersby should realize you are a living thing—any who do must be slain before the hour’s end. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws against effects that cause sickness, nausea, fatigue, or exhaustion. Boons 1: Gargoyle’s Gift (Sp) sanctuary 3/day, shatter 2/day, or vampiric touch 1/day 2: Glutton’s Feast (Sp) You can cast heroes’ feast once per day. The food created by this effect consists of raw or rotting meat and rancid milk. Those who partake of this feast consume their food shockingly fast, as if they were starving—it takes only 1 minute to gain the effects of this spell. Non- worshipers of Xoveron must make a Fortitude save (16 + your Charisma modifier) to avoid being sickened by the feast for 6 hours (though all other benefits of the feast still apply). This ability is the equivalent of a 7th- level spell. 3: Death-Stealing Gaze (Su) You gain the death-stealing gaze ability of a nabasu (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 64). You can activate this ability as a free action, and can use it for up to 3 rounds per day plus an additional number of rounds equal to your Constitution bonus—these rounds need not be consecutive. The saving throw to resist this gaze is equal to 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Charisma modifier. Nabasu demons who gain this boon can use their death-stealing gaze at will, regardless of their total number of growth points. Some believe that the Horned Prince can look out of the stone eyes of any gargoyle perched atop a ruined building to watch the world below, and that from these vantage points he selects those he wishes to torment. Whether or not this is true, the monstrous gargoyles of the world certainly venerate horned Xoveron as their lord. Sacrifices to the demon require bodies to be cast from high windows or impaled atop spires under the open sky—always in ruined locations, for inhabited cities are anathema to the Horned Prince. His goal is nothing less than the emptying of the cities of the world so that he may reign over the resulting desolation. Xoveron is the patron not only of gargoyles, but also of the dreaded nabasu demons, and he often sends the latter into the Material Plane to spread his cruelties. Xoveron appears as a four-armed, four-headed gargoyle. Xoveron’s realm is an immense, ruined city called Ghahazi, located in a ragged realm of razor-sharp hills of flint and iron. The catacombs below Ghahazi are extensive and deep, and are said to extend to no less than a dozen other Abyssal realms—many of these routes are secret and known only to Xoveron and his closest allies. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Yhidothrus The Ravager Worm CE male demon lord of age, time, and worms Cult Unholy Symbol an hourglass filled with worms instead of sand Temple caverns, clock towers, graveyards, hidden cathedrals, old houses Worshipers liches, those who would do anything to avoid death, worms that walk (see Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2) Minions ghosts, leeches, swarms, undead, worm-like monsters, vermleks (see page 54) Obedience Meditate in a closed coffin partially filled with worm-infested soil or leech-infested mud. During the obedience, you must swallow or inhale at least a dozen living worms or leeches. Gain a +4 profane bonus against effects that cause slowness or magical aging, or anything that damages, drains, or penalizes ability scores. Boons 1: Blessing of the Worm (Sp) ray of enfeeblement 3/day, gentle repose 2/day, or slow 1/day 2: Curse of Brittle Bones (Sp) Once per day, you can use a powerful bestow curse, heightened to a 7th-level spell. This special curse causes the creature cursed to suddenly grow to venerable age. This curse imparts a –6 penalty to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, but does not grant any bonus to Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. This ability is the equivalent of a 7th-level spell. 3: Conqueror Worm (Sp) You can use summon monster IX once per day, but only to summon one advanced fiendish purple worm. Yhidothrus is a hideous and hateful demon lord associated with the negative aspects of time—aging, the destruction of all things via erosion, and the advance of entropy. Among humanity, Yhidothrus’s cultists are typically loners obsessed with the encroaching threat of old age; desperate to avoid that threat, these few turn to blasphemy and demon worship as an escape. Many become liches as a result of their obsession—a Yhidothrin lich typically appears much more worm-eaten and “moist” than the typical undead of that kind. Yhidothrus appears as an immense worm with oily, night- black flesh and a mouth that folds back upon itself to reveal a dozen ivory, hook-like jaws around a gullet ringed with countless teeth. None but the mad can claim to have seen what lies at the far end of the Ravager Worm’s endless body, and the accounts of such lunatics are not to be trusted. Yhidothrus’s Abyssal realm is not a single place as much as a massive network of tunnels the demon lord has bored through the surrounding strata of the Outer Sphere. These tunnels, called the Spiral Path, are said to connect to nearly every other Abyssal Realm and even to the lower reaches of other Outer Planes. Zevgavizeb The God of the Troglodytes CE male demon lord of vast caverns, reptiles, and troglodytes Cult Unholy Symbol twisted tentacle terminating in an oversized talon Temple caverns, troglodyte dens, underground lake shores Worshipers evil lizardfolk, morlocks, troglodytes Minions fiendish dinosaurs, fiendish reptiles (particularly fiendish giant lizards) Obedience In a cavern, impale a living sacrifice on a stalagmite so that the creature does not die immediately. Dance around the sacrifice while shouting prayers to Zevgavizeb, taking time every 10 minutes to push the impaled creature further down the stalagmite. Time the dance so that at the end, the creature is at the stalagmite’s base—it need not survive to the end of the dance. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws against special attacks and spells originating from reptilian creatures. Boons 1: Zevgavizeb’s Blessing (Sp) charm animal (reptiles only) 3/ day, darkness 2/day, or greater magic fang 1/day 2: Children of the Caves (Sp) Once per day you can use summon monster IX as a spell-like ability, but only to summon 1 fiendish tyrannosaurus, 1d3 fiendish elasmosauruses, or 1d4+1 fiendish ankylosauruses. 3: Primeval Might (Ex) You become infused with primeval power, and gain a +4 profane bonus to Constitution and your natural armor. Bestial Zevgavizeb rules the horror-filled Abyssal caverns of Gluttondark, a vast network of caverns connected by subterranean rivers and great chasms. Many of the caverns of Gluttondark are large enough to be the size of small planets— in such caverns, the walls are rife with jungles and mountains, swamps and seas, with gravity pulling away from the center of the roughly spherical chambers. Strangely colored suns that pulse from light to dark, simulating the ebb and flow of day and night, churn at the center of these vast inverted worlds. Dinosaurs, strange bat-like monsters, sea monsters, and worse rule these realms alongside nations of fiendish troglodytes. Zevgavizeb has very little interest in events beyond his empire, and as a result presents the least danger to Golarion of the demon lords described here. His troglodytes, on the other hand, commit countless atrocities in his name, for they believe that only by regularly sacrificing other creatures to his hunger can they prevent him from emerging into their own cavern lairs to feed on them. Zevgavizeb is a hideous beast the size of a dragon, part dinosaur, part tentacled worm, and part bat. His personal lair is the largest of his cavern worlds, a place at the center of Gluttondark with a jungle moon floating at its core. It is on this moon that the Troglodyte God slumbers and gnaws. Lords of the Abyss Zura The Vampire Queen CE female demon lord of blood, cannibalism, and vampires Cult Unholy Symbol crimson fanged skull rune Temple graveyards, isolated islands, noble mansions, remote castles, underground cathedrals Worshipers cannibals, drow, vampires Minions bats, gibbering mouthers, leeches, rats, stirges, wolves, undead, various other blood- drinking monsters Obedience Drink some of the blood of a willing creature, and allow the same creature to drink some of your own blood, after which you must meditate on the teachings of Zura. Alternatively, you can feed on the flesh of a creature of your own race until you are full. Gain a +4 profane bonus on all saving throws against the supernatural abilities of undead creatures. Boons 1: Zura’s Favor (Sp) deathwatch 3/day, spider climb 2/day, or vampiric touch 1/day 2: Blood is Life (Su) Once per day as a full- round action, you may drink the blood of a creature that has been dead for no more than an hour to gain the benefits of heroes’ feast and death knell for 1 hour. The blood imbibed must come from a creature with a minimum CR of your character level –2. 3: Vampirism (Su) Once per day, you may infuse yourself with the qualities of a vampire. Apply the vampire template to yourself for the duration of this effect, which lasts for 1d6 rounds plus an additional number of rounds equal to your Charisma bonus. When the effect ends, you are staggered for 1d4 rounds. If you are already a vampire, you gain the advanced template for the duration of this effect. Zura rose from the corpse of an Azlanti queen who succumbed to a lust for eternal life and the flesh of her own kind. Scholars point to Zura’s acts as the start of Azlant’s fall into decadence, and perhaps even one of the catalysts for the Age of Darkness that followed. Even today, thousands of years later, tales of her hideous banquets and baths of blood persist as legends. While many tried to assassinate her, it was her own exuberance for blood that saw her soul spiraling into the Abyss after an accidental suicide tryst with several consorts. Yet such was the weight of her sin that when her soul arrived, she rose immediately as a powerful creature—a succubus vampire who swiftly went on to gain incredible power. She became a demon lord long before Earthfall, and had that event not shattered Azlant, her growing cult in many of Azlant’s cities may well have done the job of undermining that nation anyway. Zura often assumes the form of a voluptuous maiden, but in her true form she is an emaciated woman with bat-like wings instead of arms, blood-red eyes and hair, immense fangs, and taloned feet. Her worshipers are vampires, and her cults are strong in places where their kind are common, such as Ustalav, Cheliax, and the underground cities of the drow. Ancient Azlanti ruins dedicated to her worship have been found in several remote locations, and in some cases, powerful Azlanti vampires still tend these forgotten shrines. Although it is unclear if Zura worshiped Urgathoa in life, as a demon lord her association with the Pallid Princess is a complex one. At times, the two appear to be close allies, but just as often they are at war. This dichotomy exists as well between their faiths—one can as often find Urgathoans and Zurans working together toward a common goal as on each other’s sacrificial altars. Certainly both of their religions appeal to similar sinners, with vampires and cannibals alike finding much of interest in the teachings of both faiths. Zura’s realm on the Abyss is a mountainous realm called Nesh. These mountains skirt a long, narrow world that features snowy peaks and glacier valleys at one end and jungle-covered slopes and swampy lowlands at the other. Between these two extremes lie more temperate regions of woodland and moor. Nesh lies in constant darkness, and the sky above is an unusually close approximation of Golarion’s night sky. Similar to Jezelda’s Moonbog, the land of Nesh has a large number of captured humanoids harvested from countless Material Plane worlds. These poor souls are, for the most part, unaware that they dwell deep in the Abyss—yet the cruel and sadistic leaders of their small towns know, and in return for keeping the conspiracy of the truth hidden, they are well rewarded by Zura’s minions. Priests of Zura who please the Vampire Queen are sometimes allowed to hunt and cavort in this realm as a reward. That Which is Dead Nascent demon lords exist in a sort of limbo. Though unique and powerful, they have not yet tied their reality to an Abyssal realm to an extent that they can be called proper demon lords. Thus, when they die, the Abyss absorbs and reclaims them. What comes of this recycling, none can say. Yet when a true demon lord dies, it leaves behind a legacy. In the short term, its worshipers remain—either desperate to ignore the death of their god or hoping that through their faith they might return their demon to life. In a way, their faith can do just that, for the body of a demon lord does not discorporate when slain—it returns to the Abyss as a whole. The body leaves behind its material tools and relics, and even the flesh and bone of its form, yet what might be regarded as a soul forms a sort of blasphemous pearl in a region of the Abyss known to travelers as the Rift of Repose. Here, strange stony forms emerge from the walls of an endless chasm, immense bodies preserved as if they were giants in the earth, monstrous fossils of vanquished evil. That these demon lords are dead is indisputable—their realms, if the Abyss doesn’t reclaim them, quickly fall to squabbling underlings or victorious demonic conquerors. Their clerics go mad and lose their magical powers. And in time, as stories of their depredations fade into obscurity, they are forgotten. All that remains in most cases is a name scribbled in the marginalia of decaying tomes, yet on these pages a select few of those names shall persist forever—a final testament to accompany the stony forms that hang over the black in the Rift of Repose. For if a name is preserved long enough, might not that name give rise to life again? Aolar, Lady of the Hunt The demon lord Aolar was fond of traveling to other worlds and hunting heroes, typically by leaving her body in a well-defended fortress perched on the edge of one of the uppermost rifts of the Abyss and sending her mind out across the Abyss to lie in wait for a powerful hero to die. She would then enter the recently slain hero’s body, anchoring the not-quite-departed soul to the flesh so that she could force the hero to watch as she used the risen body to hunt down all whom the hero held dear in life. These acts swiftly made her an enemy to countless organizations on countless worlds—but it wasn’t until she chose to inhabit the body of a well- loved Desnan priestess that she went too far. Enraged at the damage done by Aolar’s use of one of her favored high priests, Desna broke several divine laws to directly infiltrate the Abyss, not only destroying Aolar, but obliterating her fortress and freeing the souls of those she had stolen from the opportunity to be judged. Desna’s invasion nearly resulted in a tremendous war, with the outraged demon lords almost united to a cooperative whole—only a fortunate series of treacheries among the gathering demonic horde caused the Coalition of Chaos to turn upon itself and collapse. Some believe that the treacheries were actually caused by a disguised Calistria, and that had not the elven goddess triggered this collapse, the repercussions of Desna’s acts would have been much more disastrous. It was certainly only with the support of Calistria, Sarenrae, and Shelyn (all of whom had had their own churches targeted by Aolar in the past) that Desna emerged from the scandal intact. Ibdurengian, Lord of the Red Tide Deskari was not the only demon lord that Aroden waged war against. In his mortal life, Aroden often came into conflict with a demon lord by the name of Ibdurengian, an aquatic demon of great size that resembled a darkly handsome merfolk with the lower body of a thrashing, spiny, three-headed eel. During the height of Azlant’s time, Ibdurengian had one of the more invasive cults along several coastal cities, and after Azlant’s ruin, the Lord of the Red Tide continued to pursue and torment the dwindling numbers of Azlanti survivors. One of Aroden’s first tasks upon his ascension to divinity was to lead a host of powerful outsiders and mortal heroes to the shores of Ibdurengian’s Abyssal home to slay the demon lord in his own coral palace. Mharah, Lady of Shame Devious and treacherous, Mharah rose with startling swiftness through the ranks of Socothbenoth’s harems and minions. She served the Silken Sin as both lover and assassin, specializing not only in the murder of her victims but also the defamation of their memories—she left those she slew with a legacy of shame and scandal such that their mourners could not bear the thought of resurrecting their fallen allies. Ironically, Mharah became yet another of Nocticula’s victims after she convinced Socothbenoth to kill his sister and elevate Mharah to the role of Q ueen of Succubi. Nocticula used Mharah’s own methods against her, such that to this day Socothbenoth rages at the very thought that he once found Mharah desirable. Vyriavaxus, Lord of Shadows Once the master of the shadow demons, bat-like Vyriavaxus could drink souls from living mortals with his tongue, just as his beloved vampire bats sup blood from flesh. He dwelt in an immense cavern believed to lie near Camazotz’s realm of Argahozz, and may have been one of that deity’s misbegotten spawn. Once worshiped by sinister tribes deep in the Mwangi Expanse, Vyriavaxus may be the latest of Nocticula’s notable demonic victims, but he is certain not to be the last. She slew him to gain a measure of control over his shadow demons, an act that some believe to be a prelude to a terrible consolidation of power over all seven of the deadliest sins. Xar-Azmak, Lord of Rust Just as flesh decays and slides from the bone, so does metal rust away into ruin. Xar-Azmak, known to some as the Sin of Steel, appeared as a twisted and crumbling, horned and hoofed iron golem. He scoured the Abyss and its neighboring realms, spreading decay and entropy to not only metals, but to stone and flesh and bone and hope, rusting all with his noxious touch and rasping aura. He was eventually slain by Dispater’s armies, but not until after the demon lord brought down an entire district of the iron city—a district that remains in ruins to this day. From the Book of the Damned In which, even as other lords of the Abyss rise to great power and, in some triumphant exceptions, attain the true mantle of divinity, the countless failings of the Abyss fill endless graves and become one with the walls of the Rift of Repose. —The Book of the Damned, “Demonicide” Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Chapter Two Demonkind To think of such beauty as a succubus’s curves or the tremendous power of a balor’s might as coming from something as base as the larvae of sinful mortal souls may not be easy for the mind to comprehend, yet such is the grandeur of the Abyss. For she can cast from her womb such a myriad of life as to shame the most slattern of mortal mothers, such that these voracious souls, these writhing larvae, might gnaw at her wondrous flesh to gain potential no mere mortal could pass to its child. Those who preach against her fecundity do so not from righteousness, but from the basest jealousy and rawest envy imaginable. —From the Book of the Damned, “Whispers from the Womb” Demonkind A lthough mortals cannot recall a time when they were not haunted and tormented by demons, the strange truth is that demonkind is one of the youngest races to rise in the Outer Planes, for they are the direct result of the interaction between sinful mortal souls and the Abyss itself. In essence, demons are the ultimate “evolution” of sins born of mortal choice, a final scourge upon existence and a necessary price to pay for free will. When the first sinful mortal souls were judged by Pharasma and sent on to their ultimate fates, those sent into the Abyss did not manifest as the Damned and enter the remorseless machine that is Hell, nor did they rematerialize in their living bodies on Abaddon to become prey for the daemonic host. Those who came to the Abyss manifested as larvae—worm- like creatures with pale, glistening bodies and twisted human faces stretched over the pulpy and chitinous masses that now passed as their heads. These larvae gathered on the rims of the Abyssal rifts, and as the countless worlds of the Material Plane continued to offer up sinful souls as grist for the Abyss, vast seas of larvae began to choke the realm. It wasn’t until a now-forgotten daemon lord, one of the first Horsemen of the Apocalypse, came upon a fatal idea that true demons came into existence. This lord had long held a strange interest in the qlippoth of the deepest Abyss, and in his realm kept many as stock for experiments and investigation. Intrigued by the potency of larvae, the ancient Horseman began to conduct experiments with larvae and qlippoth—experiments that showed immediate promise. Over time, the nameless Horseman perfected his methods, and at last was able to trigger a most unholy transformation. The amalgamation of sinful soul-stuff and living matter birthed eons ago by the Abyss convulsed and transformed from the inside out, making something entirely new: the first demon. Legends vary on the subject of who this first demon may have been. While many believe the creature born that fateful moment would eventually become Lamashtu herself, much evidence suggests otherwise. If not Lamashtu, it seems likely that this first demon has long since been slain and reworked into some strange new form by the Abyss—apocalyptic scholars and explorers believe that the first demon may still exist in some deep and undiscovered node in the Abyss or beyond, and that its reemergence into the multiverse will presage a new age of transformation in the Outer Rifts. Yet the nature and fate of that first demon are overshadowed by a much greater event that occurred a moment after its creation. For the creation of that first demon, that first transformation of mortal soul into demonic life, did not go unseen or unknown. The Abyss itself felt the transformation, and almost as if the act were akin to plucking a load-bearing pebble from the fractured expanse of a vast dam, the transformation spread explosively. Across the Abyss, spasms of birth shuddered through the squirming seas of larvae. Waves of undulant flesh flowed over the edges of the rifts as individual larvae—their guts gorged upon Abyssal plants or flesh, filth, and decay—transformed into demons by the millions. This chain reaction filled the Outer Rifts with a violent new form of life in the span of a few heartbeats, and in an eyeblink demons became the most populous of the fiendish races. Not every larva was fit for transformation, and while the number of lingering souls had been vast, it had not been truly infinite. Yet the demons far outnumbered the other denizens of the Outer Rifts. Qlippoth, once the masters of the Abyss, were hunted to near extinction and fled into the deepest canyons where even the demons feared to go. Countless daemonic infestations were destroyed in a matter of minutes by the demonic tide—these fiends retreated in shock to their realms on Abaddon, and for many ages, that realm was also overrun by demonic invaders. Even on the shores of Hell itself, the change had an impact, as the infernal realm suffered a rare siege that it only barely held its own against. After the initial explosion, demonic growth quickly leveled out, albeit at an unimaginably vast population. Hell regained control of its borders. Abaddon drove out its invaders and reclaimed the lands that had been stolen from it. The forgotten Horseman who had triggered this new age was slain and erased from memory forever—though whether by the tide of demons that rose up around his fortress or by his incensed apocalyptic kin, no one can say. Yet the Abyss itself had forever changed, and the mantle of its rule now lay firmly in the grip of the demonic horde. Demonic Roles Although the demonic race is nearly infinite in number— an unhappy proof of mortality’s endless capacity for sin, regardless of worlds or cultures—the types of demons that make up that host are relatively limited in shape and scope. While the demon lords are unique and individualistic, the demons themselves are shaped and formed by the constants of sin. When a soul filled with sin comes to the Abyss and makes its transformation into a full-fledged demon, that transformation, like water, follows the path of least resistance— the results of these transformations almost always manifest as one of the known races of demon. Individually, these demons can vary in appearance as greatly as the humanoids from which they were born, but overall, the number of types of demonic races remains quite small. Presented on the following pages in order of ascending power and authority are the demons best documented by scholars of the Abyss, as well as several closely guarded secrets of summoning known to the greatest of mortal conjurers. Using one of these secret methods grants the spellcaster a +2, +4, or +6 bonus on Charisma checks made to secure a demon’s aid when casting any of the planar binding spells—the GM should decide on the magnitude as best fits his or her game. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Dretch Known variously as “the wretched” or as sloth demons, dretches fill a role on the Abyss barely above that of the larvae from which they are born. They typically serve as the basest of slave laborers, often forced into the most unpleasant and grueling of tasks, as befits creatures born of sloth. The life of a dretch is an eternity of misery. Most dretches are summoned to the Material Plane by less-powerful spellcasters to serve as guardians. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 60. Associated Sin: Sloth. Preferred Sacrifice: A promise that at least one third of its time in servitude can be used to rest. Quasit Quasits are unusual in that they are one of the few demon types that do not form directly from larvae. Instead, they manifest when a spellcaster performs the ritual of acquiring one as a familiar, which he does by severing a tiny fragment of his own soul to serve as the quasit’s genesis. A quasit who outlives its master can attempt to return to the Abyss with its master’s soul, but those who fail to complete this act become stranded on their current plane. Such demons usually resign themselves to finding a minor band of savage humanoids to torment or rule until they can find a way to return to the Abyss. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 66. Associated Sin: None. Preferred Sacrifice: A promise to send the quasit back to the Abyss when its task is done. Vermlek Know to some as worm demons, vermleks are usually called to the Material Plane for their ability to inhabit dead bodies. A spellcaster can order a vermlek to take up residence in a defeated foe’s carcass and serve as a spy, assassin, messenger, or any similar role where the advantage of looking like a trusted friend is important. Necromancers value them for their ability to heal undead, and have been known to use them to support or lead undead patrols. Source: Page 54. Associated Sin: Violation of the dead (grave-robbing, necrophilia, etc.). Preferred Sacrifice: A freshly dead and attractive body for the vermlek to inhabit and defile for an hour before its task begins. Brimorak Brimorak demons, known sometimes as arson demons, are a popular choice for lesser planar binding or lesser planar ally, as they represent a fairly formidable combat option at the upper end of what these spells can conjure. As a result, these demons are typically conjured to serve as soldiers or magical support—their abilities and defenses make them excellent choices against enemies who aren’t protected from fire. Source: Page 56. Associated Sin: Arson. Preferred Sacrifice: A living creature to burn alive, or any valuable object worth at least 100 gp to be incinerated. Babau Babau demons, known also as blood demons to those who mistake the red slime covering the creatures’ bodies for gore, are well suited for missions requiring stealth and violence. They make excellent assassins, and when paired with other creatures, they are shockingly adept at using sneak attacks to pick apart foes. Their ability to use dispel magic at will makes them popular bodyguards, as spellcasters can use them to combat magical effects that would otherwise render them helpless. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 57. Associated Sin: Murder. Preferred Sacrifice: A living, intelligent creature given to the babau to savage and murder. Shadow Demon Shadow demons and vermleks are often conjured for similar reasons—to inhabit the body of a captured enemy and then use that body as cover for espionage or assassination. The shadow demons’ ability to possess living bodies, however, makes them far more useful than vermleks, as they can tap into their victims’ own formidable abilities. Conjuring a shadow demon into an area of sunlight can make the task safer, but doing so enrages the demon and imparts a –6 penalty on any Charisma checks made to secure a bargain with the fiend. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 67. Associated Sin: Envy. Preferred Sacrifice: An attractive or capable body for the demon to inhabit during its mission. Succubus Succubi are perhaps the most infamous demons, often summoned by lonely or thrill-seeking spellcasters simply for a night of dangerous passion. They also excel at espionage and assassinations, but are not good choices for straight-up combat or guardian duties. With their ability to charm foes and understand languages, they make incredibly efficient torturers, translators, or information retrieval specialists. Finally, many spellcasters strike bargains with succubi to gain their profane gifts, even though accepting such a gift places a spellcaster at risk of being manipulated by the demon. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 68. Associated Sin: Lust. Preferred Sacrifice: A creature (preferably a virgin or someone that the spellcaster loves) for the succubus to ravish and drain energy from, or allowing the succubus to impart a profane gift to a person beloved by the spellcaster. Demonkind Nabasu Nabasu demons (known also as death demons or glutton demons) are a dangerous choice for a spellcaster to summon, though they are desirable as powerful combatants with strong battle and infiltration skills. The fact that they can not only become more powerful during their service but also recruit and create their own armies of undead slaves means that a spellcaster can quickly get in over his head should the nabasu manage to use its newfound power or minions to circumvent the strictures of its servitude. (Note that while a nabasu’s Hit Dice do not increase as it feeds, for the purposes of spells like planar ally or planar binding, the nabasu’s growth points are added to its Hit Dice when calculating its effective Hit Dice to determine whether it can be conjured at all. If a nabasu’s effective Hit Dice grow beyond what the spell used to conjure it could control, the nabasu becomes uncontrolled by the spell and is free to seek vengeance on the spellcaster.) Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 64. Associated Sin: Gluttony (particularly cannibalism). Preferred Sacrifice: A humanoid that the nabasu can use to feed upon and gain a growth point. Vrock Known also as vulture demons or wrath demons, vrocks are violent and eager to serve in any role that allows them to partake in their passion for mayhem. Spellcasters with the resources and willingness to take on the risk of controlling multiple vrocks often use these conjured demons as specialized and efficient soldiers. In larger numbers, their dance of ruin can become quite devastating, far beyond the power of most creatures a conjurer can normally call with spells like planar ally or planar binding. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 69. Associated Sin: Wrath. Preferred Sacrifice: A living, intelligent creature to slay, or a work of art worth at least 250 gp to tear apart and befoul. Kalavakus The kalavakuses, also known as horned demons, form from the souls of those who were slavers in life. They have a large number of spell-like abilities to command, control, and manipulate creatures, particularly humanoids, and are often conjured to serve as commanders for groups of humanoids that a spellcaster might wish to bend to his will. They also serve well as bodyguards, for they are among the more powerful creatures capable of being called by planar ally or planar binding. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 78. Associated Sin: Slavery. Preferred Sacrifice: A CR 4 or greater creature, typically a humanoid, that the kalavakus can dominate or command to serve as a slave to aid it in the task at hand, and whom the kalavakus can bring with it on its return to the Abyss. Hezrou Known also as swamp demons or toad demons, hezrous are foul and unpleasant creatures that most conjurers avoid commanding simply because of the hideous stench associated with them. Those who can stomach the foul stink, though, find these creatures to be particularly effective as bodyguards or solitary guardians. The stench they exude, combined with their spell-like abilities, makes them effective solo combatants, especially against good foes. Boggards in particular believe hezrous to be sacred, and while most boggard spellcasters cannot command these potent demons, they often conjure them simply to let them loose upon the world. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 62. Associated Sin: Poisoning, pollution of the body, pollution of the world. Preferred Sacrifice: Potions or poisons worth a total of at least 500 gp. Omox Omoxes are excellent choices for use in aquatic environments, or for infiltrating fortresses through routes too restrictive or narrow for most larger creatures to travel. In life, these slime- dripping and amorphous demons were those who befouled or destroyed objects of beauty—they are similar to hezrous in this way, save that they form from the souls of those who found satisfaction not from the act of pollution but from the act of using pollution to despoil. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 79. Associated Sin: Destruction and desecration of beauty. Preferred Sacrifice: An air-breathing creature for the omox to smother, or any beautiful work of art worth at least 500 gp for the omox to destroy. Glabrezu The immense glabrezu demons, known also as treachery demons, are the most powerful demons a conjurer can call with planar ally and planar binding. Their physical might alone makes them a desirable choice for the role of guardian or soldier, and their spell-like abilities give them even greater versatility. Yet the primary reason the desperate or foolish summon these demons is their power to grant wishes to mortals. Even though all wishes granted by glabrezus manifest in the most destructive and ruinous way possible, many spellcasters feel the cost is well worth it. The repercussions of these greedy and self-centered wishes typically cause more damage than the glabrezu could on its own. If possible, a glabrezu skews the result of any wish that it grants to cause as much disruption to the spellcaster’s life and society as it can. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 61. Associated Sin: Betrayal, treachery, and treason. Preferred Sacrifice: Information about powerful families or nations, or other secrets that the glabrezu can use to undermine society. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Nalfeshnee Known to some as greed demons or boar demons, nalfeshnees excel in the role of guardian, but their considerable intellect and spell-like abilities are wasted in such a capacity. They can also serve as advisors—each nalfeshnee has its own areas of intellectual specialization and knows lifetimes of secrets. Bargaining with a nalfeshnee for information can be unintentionally dangerous, as these demons almost never reveal greater secrets than those they learn in exchange. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 65. Associated Sin: Greed. Preferred Sacrifice: Any important information associated with the nalfeshnee’s chosen Knowledge specialty. Seraptis As with most powerful demons, the seraptis can serve as an excellent guardian or combat specialist, but its powerful magical abilities make it even better suited to serve as a subcommander of troops. Serapti can even be sent to gather specific targets as dominated minions, or simply to spread madness and hopelessness among the spellcaster’s enemies. Source: Page 58. Associated Sin: Hopelessness and suicide. Preferred Sacrifice: An intelligent creature to voluntarily allow the demon to command the victim’s suicide. Shemhazian These bestial demons are as destructive as they are huge— spellcasters who summon a shemhazian should take care that their environs are both large enough to house the elephant-sized demon and sturdy enough to withstand its presence. Formed from the souls of torturers and mutilators, shemhazians take to tasks that allow them to continue their gory passions, but resist serving in less violent manners. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 80. Associated Sin: Torture, mutilation. Preferred Sacrifice: No less than a half-dozen bound captives for the shemhazian to rip apart. Marilith Although mariliths (known also as pride demons or serpent demons) are among the most devastating demons in melee combat, they are also among the most arrogant of demonic races. A conjurer who attempts to force a marilith to take a task below what she feels is her standing suffers a –6 penalty on his Charisma check to secure her aid. Roles such as serving as the commander of a cult or the general of an army are the minimum level of prestige a marilith typically accepts as worthy of her talents. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 63. Associated Sin: Pride. Preferred Sacrifice: Any magical melee weapon of at least +2 or greater enhancement. Vavakia Poised at the upper end of demonic life capable of being conjured by greater planar binding or greater planar ally, the tremendously violent vavakias are well suited to aid in warfare, sieges, or other situations where siege engines or mass destruction is warranted. These demons are known to be eager to serve in minor or petty roles that other powerful demons might balk at, provided they have the opportunity to spread destruction and ruin and to feed on souls. Source: Page 60. Associated Sin: Destruction of souls. Preferred Sacrifice: A lawful or good creature’s soul (typically one harvested via trap the soul or soul bind). Vrolikai Too powerful to be conjured by any effect less than a full- fledged gate, the vrolikai are among the most dangerous of demonkind. These monsters represent the ultimate evolution of a nabasu demon, gorged to satiation on mortal life and returned to the Abyss, where it undergoes a final transformation into a creature nearly equal in power to the dreaded balor. Vrolikai serve well in any roles the much less powerful nabasus excel at, but their greater power makes them all the more dangerous to traffic with. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 81. Associated Sin: Gluttony. Preferred Sacrifice: An offering of no less than a dozen lawful or good humanoids for the vrolikai to feed upon. Each offered victim in excess of this minimum of 12 counts as 500 gp worth of the material component cost in offerings—an offering of 32 or more sacrifices negates the 10,000 gp cost for using gate to call upon a vrolikai. Balor The most powerful demonic race, balors can only be summoned to the Material Plane via magic on par with gate. They do not enter servitude lightly, as balors deem themselves masters in all situations save for those directly relating to a demon lord. Balors, known to some as fire demons, are swift to seize chances for revenge against those who dare conjure them—if denied such immediate revenge, they are capable of holding grudges for centuries, and have even been known to seek out the souls of those who escape their wrath to haul them physically back to the Abyss for forced transformation into larvae. Those who command balors must themselves be forces to reckon with, or else are fools of a magnitude rarely seen among those capable of wielding such magic. Source: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 58. Associated Sin: All sins, taken to an ultimate degree of excess. Preferred Sacrifice: Any helpless good or lawful outsider of at least CR 15 in power, or any helpless cleric or paladin of a good or lawful deity of at least 15th level or higher, offered up to the balor to use as he wills. Demonkind Nascent Demon Lords When a demon of any race grows powerful enough, by advancing in Hit Dice, taking class levels, or simply gaining strange powers and abilities from eldritch sources in the Abyss, it undergoes a new transformation. Just as the demons themselves are shaped from the raw materials of sin-gorged larvae, demon lords are formed from powerful individual demons. Yet with very few exceptions, a full-fledged lord is never born fully formed—instead, each must build power and resources during an extended period of transformation. Demons in this transitional stage are known as nascent demon lords. The means by which a demon can become a nascent demon lord are as varied as the lords themselves. Some might make this transformation simply by achieving a certain level in a prestige class. Others might need to undertake a strange ritual, while still others must conquer Abyssal realms and subjugate armies of fiends. It is the Abyss itself that makes the decision on whether a demon deserves to begin the transformation to lord—sometimes with the aid and blessing of a current lord serving as a mentor or patron, while other times in abject defiance of a demon lord actively working to prevent a loathed minion from making this first step to greater power. At any one time, there exist hundreds if not thousands of nascent demon lords on the Abyss. The vast majority of these are comparatively new and will not last for long—competition and conflict between nascent demon lords is common, and wars work well to ensure only the strongest survive. While nascent demon lords might superficially resemble the types of demons they used to be, the longer they exist and the closer they grow to full apotheosis as demon lords, the more unique in shape and power they become. Creating a Nascent Demon Lord Demon lords themselves are full demigods, and as mentioned earlier in this book, if they were to be fully statted out, they would likely have CR scores of 30 or higher. Foes of this strength are not appropriate for use in the majority of campaigns, yet the campaign wherein the PCs strive against and eventually face off against a powerful and unique demon is an iconic plotline. This is the role nascent demon lords are built for. A nascent demon lord ranges in power from CR 21 to CR 25, and as such works perfectly as a final foe at the end of a full campaign, with a 20th-level party facing off against the demon in a climactic battle. The best way to build stats for a nascent demon lord is to build them from scratch, customizing them entirely using the rules in Appendix 1 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. When building a CR 21 to CR 25 creature in this manner, you should use the table below in the same way you’d use Table 1–1 on page 291 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary as a series of benchmarks to strive for. Nascent Demon Lord Traits Whatever powers and abilities a nascent demon lord possesses, all of them possess the following traits in common. These traits replace the normal demon traits, in many cases with more powerful variants of the typical demon racial traits. Nascent Demon Lord Traits: A nascent demon lord is a powerful demon that has not yet made the full transition from unique demon to full demon lord of an Abyssal realm. The typical nascent demon lord traits are similar to those possessed by a typical demon, only more potent, as summarized here. • Immunity to death effects, electricity, charm and compulsion effects, and poison. • Resistance to acid 30, cold 30, and fire 30. • Summon (Sp) Once per day, nascent demon lords can summon any demon or combination of demons whose total combined CR is 20 or less. This ability always works, and is equivalent to a 9th-level spell. • Telepathy 300 ft. • A nascent demon lord’s natural weapons, as well as any weapon it wields, are treated as chaotic, epic, and evil for the purpose of resolving damage reduction. • Nascent demon lords can grant spells to divine spellcasters who worship them. Granting spells does not require any specific action on the nascent demon lord’s behalf. All nascent demon lords grant access to a favored weapon and the domains of Chaos and Evil—in addition, they grant access to two other domains that vary according to the nascent demon lord’s themes and interests. Nascent Demon Lord Statistics by CR Hit Armor High Low Average Damage Primary Secondary Good Poor CR Points Class Attack High Low Ability DC Save Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Sample Nascent Lords The nascent demon lords presented below comprise the most powerful of their kind currently active in the Abyss. All of these nascent demon lords are CR 25 and nearing a point where any one of them could make the transition to full-fledged demon lord. For every nascent demon lord, a short description is presented along with a few notes on its personality, followed by the demon lord (if any) that serves as the nascent demon lord’s commander, the realm the nascent lord rules, its unholy symbol, and the obedience it demands from its greatest minions. Nascent demon lords can also grant boons, but their boons are less complex than those granted by full demon lords, manifesting only as spell-like abilities usable once each per day. The domains and favored weapon for each nascent demon lord are listed on the inside front cover of this book. Daclau-Sar Daclau-Sar, the Lord of Carrion, is a powerful nascent lord content—for now—to rule over the beasts that lurk in the Xorian Mountains in Lamashtu’s realm of Kurnugia. Feral and bestial, Daclau-Sar has little time or interest in politics or trickery. He appears as a six-legged, two-headed hyena with vulture’s wings. His bite causes a horrific wasting disease, and he commands all manner of scavenging beasts. Commander: Lamashtu. Realm: Xorian Mountains (Kurnugia). Unholy Symbol: Hyena’s jaws clutching rotten bones. Obedience: Eat at least a pound of carrion. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against disease. Boons: 1 death knell; 2 contagion; 3 beast shape IV. Izyagna Known as She of the Sevenfold Swarm, Izyagna exists not in one body but in seven. Each of these bodies looks similar—a horrific, ant-like creature. Yet each body is also capable of transforming into one of seven different humanoid forms (human, elven, dwarven, gnome, halfling, half-elven, and half- orc)—each of these forms can vary in specific appearance. The seven bodies share one mind, can command swarms with a thought, and can spread madness and wrath through a crowd like a swift-acting plague. Commander: Lamashtu. Realm: The slums of Yanaron (Kurnugia). Unholy Symbol: Circle of seven ants biting each other’s back left leg. Obedience: Meditate while within a swarm of ants. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against charm effects. Boons: 1 enthrall; 2 giant vermin; 3 mass suggestion. Menxyr Cadaverous Menxyr, known to many as the Coffin Groom, stands nearly a dozen feet high but weighs barely over a hundred pounds. Despite his emaciated and seemingly fragile frame, which he can fold up to appear like little more than a tangled mess of old bones, he possesses great strength. He can pull forth bones from living creatures, animate the dead to serve his foul lusts, and can even climb inside the bodies of the freshly dead to animate them and seduce those who mourn the loss of a loved one. Commander: None. Realm: The Harem Graves (Malvyrea). Unholy Symbol: Skull wearing a wedding veil. Obedience: Engage in acts of necrophilia. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against negative energy effects. Boons: 1 command undead; 2 animate dead; 3 move earth. Murnath Lumbering Murnath, the Horned Rat, dwells in the foul sewers below the city of Yanaron—it is said that not even Lamashtu knows the full extent of these sewers, but Murnath knows them entirely. Served by rats, chaotic evil wererats, and other sewer-dwelling beasts, Murnath himself appears as a muscular horned rat the size of a horse, with a series of thin poison spines at the tip of his tail, and paws that bear a hideous resemblance to human hands. Commander: Lamashtu. Realm: The sewers of Yanaron (Kurnugia). Unholy Symbol: Horned rat seen in profile with a long tail encircling it. Obedience: Meditate while floating in sewage or similar filth. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against disease. Boons: 1 summon swarm; 2 beast shape II; 3 control water. The Nightripper In life, the Nightripper was a prolific serial killer who preyed upon the people of no less than a dozen cities. When he was finally caught, he claimed to have murdered 953 men, women, and children with his knives, leaving them broken and bleeding to death at the bottom of pits scattered throughout the Inner Sea region. He miraculously survived a dozen executions, growing more and more broken and insane with each survival, until finally he perished and went to the Abyss. The Nightripper retained his personality and memories of life throughout his afterlife, and retains them still in his role as Lamashtu’s favored torturer and assassin. He appears as a hideously burnt and mutilated human wrapped in blood-soaked strips of black cloth and wielding a razor-sharp bastard sword. Commander: Lamashtu. Realm: The dungeons of Lamashtu’s palace (Kurnugia). Unholy Symbol: Skeletal hand with knives for fingers, partially wrapped in a strip of black cloth. Obedience: Perform a series of cuts upon the flesh while periodically auto-asphyxiating. Gain a +4 profane bonus on all effects linked to slashing damage. Boons: 1 spiritual weapon; 2 phantasmal killer; 3 harm. Demonkind Ovonovo A vast, pale shark the size of the largest ships, Ovonovo can appear as a human as she wills, often doing so to command a ship of unfortunates, only to deliberately drive the ship aground so she can enjoy the panic of sailors aboard a sinking ship before she slips into the sea to assume her true form and feed on her crew. Commander: None. Realm: The Flensing Rocks (Ishiar). Unholy Symbol: Ship being swallowed by an immense shark Obedience: Allow a shark to bite you and then focus on the pain while floating in seawater. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against fear-based effects. Boons: 1 wood shape; 2 summon monster IV (1d3 sharks only); 3 beast shape IV (sharks only). Shamira The greatest of the unique succubi and incubi who rule the various Midnight Islands of Nocticula’s realm is also one of her favored lovers—crimson-haired and phoenix-winged Shamira. Legend holds that Shamira is the only being who ever seduced Nocticula, although Shamira herself has the good grace and sense of self-preservation to deny such claims. She specializes in the seduction of pure souls, and often travels to the Material Plane in the guise of a priestess of a good faith to invade the dreams and secret lusts of mortals. She has a strange obsession with Sarenrae and her faith in particular; whispers that Shamira may be that goddess’s wayward daughter are not tolerated among Sarenrae’s devout. Commander: Nocticula. Realm: Alinythia (The Midnight Isles). Unholy Symbol: Upside-down ankh formed from a naked woman with outstretched arms and burning wings. Obedience: Engage in sexual acts (either alone or with a partner) in the presence of a sleeping intelligent creature without waking that creature. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against charm effects. Boons: 1 alter self; 2 fire shield; 3 mass suggestion. Sithhud Once the master of the frozen mountains and glaciers of Jhuvumirak, Sithhud’s realm was assaulted by the armies of Kostchtchie eons ago. Sithhud lost that battle, but survived by retreating into the maze-like frozen valleys of the highest peaks of Jhuvumirak, a region that even to this day Kostchtchie has hardly explored. Sithhud’s defeat resulted in that rarest of events—an Abyssal “demotion” back to the status of a nascent demon lord, a status that the Frozen Lord has been unable to reverse. Sithhud appears as an icy skeleton of a horrifically deformed horned humanoid with a tripod-like lower body consisting of three spidery legs. His breath brings frozen death in the form of blizzards, and those who are slain by his freezing magic rise as enslaved, frozen undead. Commander: None. Realm: The Razormaze Glaciers (Jhuvumirak). Unholy Symbol: A frost-caked, skeletal, three-fingered hand. Obedience: Meditate while carving complex runes into the flesh of a frozen creature, or while naked in freezing environs. Boons: 1 chill metal; 2 ice storm; 3 freezing sphere. Treerazer Treerazer, the self-styled Lord of the Blasted Tarn, was once the favored minion (some even say child) of Cyth-V’sug. After a failed attempt to wrest Cyth-V’sug’s crown away from him, Treerazer fled to the Material Plane, where he appeared in the realm of Kyonin, abandoned when the elves fled Golarion. Treerazer began to corrupt Kyonin into a swampy realm more to his liking, but when he discovered the elven portal network and attempted to twist the magical gates to re-link his new realm to the Abyss, the elves returned. Treerazer lost the resulting war, but retained a portion of southern Kyonin as his realm—this is the swamp known as Tanglebriar. Treerazer lives there still, a constant threat to the elven nation as he works to find a way to become a true demon lord so he might return to the Abyss more powerful than before. World Guide: The Inner Sea provides full statistics for Treerazer. Commander: Cyth-V’sug. Realm: Tanglebriar (Kyonin). Unholy Symbol: A black axe wedged in a bleeding tree stump. Obedience: Feast on rotting flesh infested with hallucinogenic or poisonous fungus, then meditate upon the harrowing visions they provide. Boons: 1 warp wood; 2 antiplant shell; 3 repel wood. Yamasoth Yamasoth, the Polymorph Plague, is a strange beast indeed. His stony body evokes the imagery of a nightmare octopus with too many tentacles, each partially connected by a leathery web. Each tentacle ends in a different method of pain, be it pincer or blade, claw or serpent’s head. Yamasoth’s “face” (if such it can be called) consists of a single huge maw filled with teeth and stinging tongues. Several eyes surround this mouth, but one hidden deep in his throat remains closed except in combat, when the lord can open it to use a terrible gaze weapon that transforms enemies into feral monsters. Yamasoth rules a vast kingdom in the cavern realm of Sekatar-Seraktis, a kingdom populated entirely by the hideous results of his strange and vile experiments into the secrets of flesh and the heresies of life. Commander: None. Realm: Kingdom of New Flesh (Sekatar-Seraktis). Unholy Symbol: Jagged circle containing three eyes and six spiraling arms radiating out from its edge. Obedience: Work the flesh of your own body or the body of another creature into a strange new shape, then meditate upon the sensations this unfamiliar shape affords. Boons: 1 alter self; 2 polymorph; 3 elemental body III. The Realms The Abyss is a realm of change, and as such any attempt to fully catalogue its realms is an experiment in frustration. Yet certain realms, particularly those ruled by deities or demon lords or those who serve a key role in Abyssal functions, have existed for eons. These are the anchored realms. The following list catalogues the greatest and most legendary of those realms, with no attempt to be complete. Ahvoth-Kor: A tropical jungle realm growing along facing cliff sides, ruled by Angazhan. Akigyiat: One of the deepest known anchor realms, said to be the den of the Iathavos qlippoth. Currently unclaimed. Argahoz: A cavernous realm dominated by a vast pit. Argahoz is a third of the tripartite realm of the bat god Camazotz. Ashen Forge: The realm of Droskar, the Ashen Forge is a tangled mess of mineshafts and forges that the Abyss constantly works to destroy at precisely the same rate Droskar’s slave minions toil to maintain and rebuild it. Barren Wood: A vexing and desolate forest of dead and dying pine and fir trees, ruled by Mestama. Basalfeyst: An unusual realm not truly formed by the Abyss, but rather by Lamashtu “siphoning” a corner of Hell across the Maelstrom to augment her own realm of Kurnugia. Blood Clefts: Crimson stony hills and gulches through which seep rivers of blood, ruled by Areshkagal. Bloodpyre Fields: A volcanic realm surrounding a sea of molten rock, ruled by Flauros. Cathedral Thelemic: A city-sized structure nestled in a sylvan woodland of deceptive comfort, ruled by Socothbenoth. Cerebulim: A completely indoor realm of laboratories, libraries, torture chambers, bestiaries, and other occult rooms, all linked to the River Styx and ruled by Haagenti. Charnelhome: A city-sized house perched atop a bluff overlooking a bog of thorny, blood-drinking plants. Ruled by Shax. Everglut: Sprawling necropolis of ghouls and other hungry denizens. Ruled by Kabriri, and linked to the River Styx. Ghahazi: A ruined city surrounded by razor-sharp hills of flint and iron, ruled by Xoveron. Gluttondark: A hollow world populated by dinosaurs, with a jungle moon adrift at its core. Ruled by Zevgavizeb. High M’Vania: A vertical realm that exists on the largest of the Abyssal rifts. Ruled by Pazuzu. Ishiar: A monster-filled ocean whose shores touch upon many other Abyssal realms, linked to the River Styx and ruled by Dagon. Ivory Labyrinth: A vast maze inhabited by minotaurs and secret societies, ruled by Baphomet. Jeharlu: An immense fungus capable of extending its tendrils into other worlds to corrupt them. Ruled by Cyth-V’sug. Jhuvumirak: A realm of glaciers, frozen seas, and the ice-rimed Skyscar Mountains, all ruled by Kostchtchie. Khavak-Vog: A hive-like series of caverns infested with vermin and ruled by Mazmezz. Kurnugia: The largest of the Abyssal realms. The size of Kurnugia allows for all manner of terrain, from vast seas to parched deserts, all centered on the single immense city-mesa of Yanaron. Linked to the River Styx and ruled by Lamashtu. Kuthan: Deserts and dry savannas under a vast red sun that never moves from its zenith. Ruled by Nurgal. Malvyrea: A graveyard island surrounded by sunken catacombs and shipwrecks. Home of Menxyr. Mephism: An immense, floating swamp located wholly within the realm of Ishiar and ruled by Gogunta. Midnight Isles: A vast archipelago of night-shrouded islands in a region of Ishiar where the waters are black and the sky above is haunted by a large, pale moon. Ruled by Nocticula and linked to the River Styx. Moonbog: A moor-realm of eternal night lit by a single moon and ruled by Jezelda. Linked to the River Styx. Muravelara: A woodland realm where men are hunted as wild animals and women rule and serve as the Hag Queen demands. Ruled by Gyronna, although she also rules other realms on other planes and is not often present here. Nesh: A mountain realm of constant night reaching from snowy peaks and glacial valleys to jungle slopes and swampy lowlands. Ruled by Zura. From the Book of the Damned In which the uncountable is counted, regions unknowable are known, and secrets forgotten are remembered. What has come before in the Abyssal realms may have gone, but may yet be born. —The Book of the Damned, “The Innumerable Host” Pleroma: A realm of false paradise maintained by illusions and treachery, and ruled by Abraxas. Rankarrus: A cavern filled with ammonia, guano, and poisoned air nestled deep under the realm of Argahozz. Once ruled by Vyriavaxus, but now unclaimed. Rasping Rifts: A maze of chasms and canyons infested with insectoid monsters and ruled by Deskari. Rift of Repose: A hidden rift, the walls of which are decorated with the fossilized remains of dead demon lords. Unclaimed. Sea of Whispering Sands: A vast desert riddled with ruined cities and ruled by Aldinach. Sekatar-Seraktis: An underground cavern realm said to lie at the heart of the Spiral Path, ruled partially by Yamasoth and partially by 13 bickering balor lords, vavakias, and vrolikais. Slithering Pools: A reach of tidal flats and rocky pools that stretches for miles into the Abyssal sea of Ishiar. Once ruled by Ibdurengian, but now unclaimed. Spiral Path: A twisting network of tunnels that connects the underground of every Abyssal realm. Formed by Yhidothrus, who does not rule so much as wander. Uligor: A world of haunted cities, frozen seas, ragged mountains, and infested swamps, all ruled by Orcus (though contested by titans). Undersump: A maze of sewer-like catacombs that wind through the Abyss, connecting to the undercities of countless Abyssal settlements. Ruled by Jubilex and linked to the River Styx. Vantian: The legendary City of Open Windows, sprawled along a cliff that overlooks Ishiar and constantly being rebuilt as portions collapse into the waves below. Ruled by Sifkesh. Vault of Ten Thousand Deaths: A single, immense, trap-filled dungeon of stone and iron ruled by Andirifkhu. Verakivhan: A constantly burning forest lashed by powerful storms whose rainfall fuels the inferno below. Ruled by Urxehl. Vlorus: A realm of junk and castoffs—a massive valley filled with refuse and ringed by rusting castles and strange constructs. Once ruled by Xar-Azmak, but now unclaimed. Winding Wood: A gloomy woodland that houses the huge clocktower known as the Ticking House. Ruled by Shivaska. Yad Iagnoth: A deep realm commonly believed to be the primary entrance to the qlippoth-ruled reaches of the Abyss. Currently unclaimed, and for good reason. The sacrifice must be bound such that escape is impossible, yet not so securely that hope for escape is impossible. Let hope grow. Let it bloom, as might a beautiful wildflower from the corruption of an infant’s body rotting in a field—the flower knows not what gift of fertility it quickens within. A sacrifice’s death should never be hastened, save in the case of a secondary offered as an indulgence or demonstration of intent to the primary. Let hope linger long in the sacrifice, so that when the method of delivery—be it blade or fire or poisoned kiss or tooth and claw—finally brings death, the sacrifice knows, in the end, that hope is the greatest cruelty of all. —From the Book of the Damned, “The Finest Treachery of Hope” Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Chapter Three Demonology Demonology A lthough demon lords are not true deities (with the exception of Lamashtu), they are close enough to divine status to serve as objects of worship for mortals. Demon lords are what are known as demigods, and are as capable of granting spells, domains, and favored weapons to clerics as are true deities—indeed, to a mortal worshiper, there is very little difference between the status of deity and demigod. Worshiping Demon Lords Most demon lords actively encourage worship, for in a way this is how demonic life flourishes. Demon cults are actively destructive and cruel, and as a result must often work in secret or base their operations in remote regions where civilization cannot rise against them. Many cults work toward a singular goal, such as the destruction of a town, the murder of a number of important nobles, the release of a powerful demon upon the Material Plane, or the ruin and downfall of another religion. Others merely serve as a method for a powerful priest to keep a group of followers (be they a tribe of savage humanoids or a secret society of aristocrats) under control. As with all deities and demigods, one need not be a divine spellcaster in order to worship a demon. Yet it is the divine spellcasting classes who receive the greatest benefits from worshiping demon lords, in the form of their class abilities. The inside front cover of this book lists all of the demon lords discussed here, along with other Abyssal divinities like nascent demon lords, the barghest hero gods (the gods of the goblin races), and the deities who make their homes on the Abyss itself. This list also provides the domains each demon lord grants to clerics, as well as each demon lord’s favored weapon. Demon lords beyond those listed on the inside front cover should be assigned the Chaos and Evil domains, and then two additional domains in keeping with their personalities and areas of concern. Demon lords never grant access to the Good or Law domains, and only rarely grant access to the Glory domain. If you use the subdomains presented in the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide, clerics of demon lords gain access to all subdomain options available to them from their demon lord’s domains, with the exception of the following subdomains (which are never granted by demon lords): Agathion, Archon, Azata, Daemon, Devil, Heroism, Inevitable, Honor, Love, Protean, and Purity. Clerics: The vast majority of divine spellcasters who worship demon lords are clerics. Sometimes serving as leaders of cults or members of the same, while at other times acting on their own agendas, clerics of demon lords are almost always chaotic evil. The nature of their rituals, the forces they expose their souls to, and the sins they must partake in to maintain their place in their faith inexorably move such worshipers’ alignment to chaotic evil. Technically, a cleric could be neutral evil or chaotic neutral and still worship a demon lord, but such examples are so rare as to be almost unheard of. Antipaladins: Some demon lords are particularly fond of corrupting paladins to their service. Paladins who succumb become antipaladins (see the Advanced Player’s Guide 118). Although Pazuzu is perhaps the most notorious recruiter of antipaladins, other fallen paladins are known to serve Angazhan, Baphomet, Deskari, Jezelda, Kostchtchie, Lamashtu, Mestama, the Nightripper, Nurgal, Orcus, Shax, Sifkesh, Treerazer, and Xoveron. Druids: Druids rarely, if ever, worship demon lords, as the very idea of worshiping an Abyssal divinity is anathema to a servant of the natural world. Nevertheless, rumors exist of neutral evil druid circles who venerate demon lords in addition to their own twisted takes on nature. Inquisitors: Inquisitors of demon lords seek out not only those who would attempt to curtail or destroy their faiths, but also those within a demonic cult who might be having second thoughts or simply don’t have what it takes to properly serve such blasphemous lords. Most of these types of inquisitors don’t serve a specific demon lord, but see themselves as serving the Abyss itself. Oracles: These spontaneous divine spellcasters do not worship specific demon lords. Rather, they have been touched by the Abyss and gifted with their powers and curses for inscrutable reasons known only to that realm. They are usually loners, not belonging to specific demon cults, although other demon worshipers often seek out Abyssal oracles for their wisdom. An Abyssal oracle favors the mysteries of Battle, Bones, Flame, Stone, Waves, or Wind, but no mystery is completely barred from an Abyssal oracle. Rangers: Rangers are rarely known to worship specific demon lords, but when they do, they tend to choose demon lords whose areas of concern mesh well with their preferred terrain. A ranger from the frozen north might worship Kostchtchie or Sithhud, while one who prefers tropical jungles would worship Angazhan or Cyth-V’sug. Demon-worshiping rangers typically limit their favored enemy choices to various types of humanoids or to lawful or good outsiders. Non-Divine Classes: When a non-divine spellcaster worships a demon, the choice is nearly always due to either an obsession with the demon’s associated sins or the perception that worshiping a particular demon lord might reward the character in this life or the next with secrets and powers known to such potent entities. An alchemist or wizard might worship Haagenti in hopes of learning some of that demon’s alchemical secrets, for example, while a particularly violent tribe of barbarians might worship Kostchtchie. A rogue might worship Nocticula simply because she represents the path of the assassin, while a witch could well worship Zura due to a desire to eventually transform into a vampire. As a general rule, though, a non-divine spellcaster receives no additional rules advantage for worshiping a demon lord. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Becoming a Demon While it is one matter for a sinful soul to be judged and then sent on to manifest upon the Abyss as a larva, from there to perhaps someday transform into a newborn demon, it is quite another to bypass this process entirely. Yet for some, the power wielded by demons is too seductive and compelling to wait for—especially considering that the process of becoming a larva almost always expunges memories of life. To this end, there are methods by which mortals can hasten the transformation into a demon—demonic implants and a vile transformation ritual. Demonic Implants A less invasive, but perhaps more painful, method of becoming a demon is the piecemeal transplanting of demonic elements into a mortal’s body. By extracting a portion of a demon’s body and then preparing it by utilizing various occult techniques or strange methods of preservation, one can reap a portion of the demon’s power and transfer it into a sentient being. Demonic implants can either be temporary (and often addictive) drug-like magical elixirs, or they can be actual body parts that must be grafted onto or into a living mortal before they work. All are treated as wondrous items for the purposes of construction and use. The three examples listed below merely scratch the surface of this reckless category of magic item. All demonic implants require a willing host to attach them to—attempts to attach a demonic implant to an unwilling host automatically fail. Successfully attached demonic implants impart a negative level to a lawful or good user—the number of negative levels imparted stacks with each new implant. These negative levels remain as long as the implant remains attached or (in the case of demon blood) until the effects wear off. They never result in actual level loss, but cannot be overcome in any way while the implant is in effect. Implants must be physically excised to be removed. Removal inflicts 1d6 points of Constitution damage, and could have other effects as well (such as deafness or blindness) as determined by the GM. Demon Blood Aura faint evocation [evil]; CL 5th Slot none; Price 800 gp; Weight 1 lb. Description A character who drinks a dose of this black, bubbling ichor becomes nauseated for 1d6 rounds if he fails a DC 15 Fortitude save. He also gains an enhanced capacity to affect demons with his magical attacks for 1 hour—during this time, demons suffer a –2 penalty on their saving throws against the user’s spells and spell-like abilities, and the user gains a +2 bonus on caster level checks made to penetrate a demon’s spell resistance. Demon blood is somewhat addictive, and every day for a week after a user stops daily doses of the ichor, he must make a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid taking 1 point of Wisdom damage and being sickened for the entire day. Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, desecrate; Cost 400 gp Demon Senses Aura strong conjuration [evil]; CL 15th Slot none; Price 20,000 gp; Weight 1 lb. Description This implant appears as a demonic eye, tongue, finger, ear, or nose floating in a small jar of transparent fluid. In order to gain the benefit of this implant, the contents of the jar—thick fluid, body part, and all—must be consumed as a full-round action. This immediately grants a permanent +8 racial bonus on all Perception checks (note that as a racial bonus, this does not stack with any other racial bonuses a creature might already possess). After gaining this bonus, the part of the creature’s body corresponding to the body part eaten changes to match the eaten part—eyes might become red, ears might grow long and pointed, a tongue might become forked, and so on. Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, limited wish, regenerate; Cost 10,000 gp Demon Talon Aura strong conjuration [evil]; CL 15th Slot none; Price 20,000 gp; Weight 3 lbs. Description A demon talon must be held against the raw flesh of a fresh stump—preparing a creature by severing an existing hand causes 1d6 points of Constitution damage, but preparing a preexisting stump by cutting the flesh free at the end causes no significant damage. Once attached, the demon talon fuses with the stump, granting the creature a claw attack as appropriate for a creature one size category larger than the target’s actual size. The claw is shaped like a human hand (fingers and a thumb), but looks obviously demonic (scales, strange coloration, long nails, and so on), and is fully capable of wielding weapons or performing any other feat a human hand can perform. Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, limited wish, regenerate; Cost 10,000 gp Demonology The Transformation Ritual The forbidden and blasphemous rituals of demonic transformation can be found only in the rarest of tomes (such as the Book of the Damned). A rare few demons, ranging from lowly quasits up to the mightiest balors, know these rituals and can teach them as well—they guard this knowledge closely, offering it only to those they deem deserving of the lore. One way to learn such a ritual from a demon is to use planar ally or planar binding to conjure the demon in question and offer it a payment in return for the secrets of the transformation ritual—this could even be a four-step process requiring a new conjuration for each step of the ritual. Not every demon knows this information, of course, so researching the name of a specific demon can add an additional level of research required before the process can begin. A character might even receive the methods by which to transform into a demon via a series of dreams or visions (typically granted to him from a demonic patron in reward for service), although this route is best left for NPCs that are strictly under the GM’s control. First Ritual: The first ritual is the easiest, and requires nothing more than for the user’s alignment to become chaotic evil. By undertaking acts of a vile and destructive nature, the mortal consigns her soul to the Abyss even if she never finishes the second and third rituals. The mortal must select a demon lord (or a nascent demon lord or balor lord) at this point to serve as a demonic patron. The acts the user must undertake can vary, but should be of a nature that represents and “honors” the areas of interest of her chosen demonic patron—these acts are intended to attract the patron’s attention, after all. Even mortals who begin the transformation ritual as already chaotic evil must undergo this stage of the ritual, if only to select a demonic patron. In total, the first ritual must progress in this manner for a minimum of one year—at the end of the ritual, the mortal’s alignment changes to chaotic evil. Second Ritual: The second ritual requires many more months of debased acts and vile plots, but at some point during this second year, the mortal must contact her chosen demonic patron, via either commune or contact other plane. A trusted minion or ally can cast this spell on the mortal’s behalf—it’s common for a spellcaster to gain a quasit familiar so that the quasit can use its commune spell-like ability for this purpose. Once contact is made, the demonic patron must be told of the mortal’s desire to become a demon—the commune or contact other plane spell cannot be used to ask any other questions. At some point thereafter, but before a year has passed, the mortal must offer a significant sacrifice to her demonic patron as a burnt offering in a temple consecrated to the demon lord. This offering can be either living or dead—in either case, the burnt offerings must be of someone that is related to the mortal by blood or family—an adopted parent or child is sufficient if, at some point the mortal and the offering once loved each other. The mortal must make a DC 20 Knowledge (religion) check to properly perform the burnt offering—if the sacrifice is or was once a worshiper of a lawful or good deity, the check drops to DC 10 (and thus becomes something that even one not trained in the Knowledge skill can attempt). If this check is successful, the second ritual ends and the mortal gains a demonic implant (typically demon senses or a demon talon) as proof of her demon’s favor. Third Ritual: At some point after the mortal contacts her demon lord (typically after the second ritual succeeds, but sometimes before), the demon sends the mortal a vision of a task that must be completed (such as freeing a bound evil outsider from a Material Plane prison or assassinating a powerful cleric of a good religion). This task is typically one of significance to the demon lord, and in many cases one that the mortal has no hope of completing until she grows more powerful. There is no time limit for how long the mortal has to complete this task, but she must maintain her weekly devotions to her demon in the time that passes in the form of regular worship and continued atrocities in the demon’s name. Additional burnt offerings to the demon, betrayals of allies, and assaults on innocents are popular choices. Once the assigned task is completed, the mortal must perform another ritual in honor of her demonic lord—a sacrifice consisting of no less than a dozen nonevil intelligent creatures offered in the course of no more than a single week. The mortal must make a DC 30 Knowledge (religion) check at the end of the sacrifice, but gains a +1 bonus on the check for every 5 additional sacrifices offered beyond the initial dozen. If the check succeeds, the third ritual ends and the mortal permanently gains the half-fiend template. Fourth Ritual: For many, gaining the half-fiend template is enough, but for those who wish to go even further, a fourth ritual exists. The mortal’s demon lord grants no vision or advice to begin this ritual—the mortal must take it upon herself to honor her demon lord in a manner appropriate to that demon lord’s interests and areas of concern. Once every year, on the anniversary of the day the mortal completed the third ritual, she must perform a special ceremony that recounts her accomplishments over the past year and culminates in a significant sacrifice (usually consisting of the sacrifice of an important member of an enemy faith, or of a lawful or good outsider; in either case, the sacrifice must be at least CR 9). The mortal then makes a DC 40 Knowledge (religion) check, with a cumulative +1 bonus for each previous such ritual she’s performed over the past several years. Success results in a final transformation into a full-fledged demon—the mortal loses all benefits of her previous race or the half-fiend template, but can immediately apply all of her class levels to her new demonic race (for example, a human fighter 10 could become a vrock fighter 10). The type of demon that the mortal transforms into depends on both the nature of her chosen demon lord and the GM’s discretion, but should generally not result in a total number of Hit Dice that more than doubles the mortal’s original Hit Dice. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Demoniac Those who seek to worship and gain power from a specific demon lord are known as demoniacs. Cultists, crazed mages, foul priests, and their kind delight in the adoration of demons and bargaining for their might. All demon worshipers understand that sinful mortal souls become demons once the Abyss digests them, but the demoniac simply cannot wait for death to begin this transformation, and instead begins the transformation while he yet lives. Depending on which demon lord a demoniac devotes himself to, his evil obedience, suite of powers, and resistance changes. Yet in the end, all demoniacs are damned, their souls transformed by the Abyss into demons upon their deaths. The drow are particularly fond of this prestige class, but typically refer to the demoniacs as demonic initiates. Hit Die: d8 Requirements To qualify to become a demoniac, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria: Alignment: Chaotic evil Feats: Demonic Obedience, Iron Will Skills: Intimidate 7 ranks, Knowledge (planes) 7 ranks, Spellcraft 7 ranks Language: Abyssal Special: Must worship a demon lord. Special: Must have been physically traumatized by a demon— either reduced to negative hit points by a demon’s physical attacks, taken a total of 10 or more points of ability damage or drain from a demon’s special attack (this total damage can be from multiple attacks as long as the total is 10 or more in all), or spent at least 1 day under a demon’s control (either via charm or compulsion effects or via demonic possession). Note that this demon need not be one encountered during an adventure—many would-be demoniacs simply summon a demon and command it to aid in fulfilling this requirement. Class Skills The demoniac’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex) Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier Class Features All of the following are class features of the demoniac prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A demoniac gains proficiency with all simple weapons and with his demonic patron’s favored weapon. He gains no additional proficiency with armor or shields. Spells per Day/Spells Known: When a new demoniac level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before taking the prestige class. He does not, however, gain other benefits a character of that class would have gained, except for additional spells per day, spells known (if he is a spontaneous spellcaster), and an increased effective level of spellcasting. If the character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a demoniac, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day. Damned (Ex): When a demoniac is killed, his soul is instantly claimed by the Abyss. In time, the demoniac’s soul is transformed into a demon appropriate to the greatest sins the demoniac gloried in while he lived. Any character attempting to resurrect a slain demoniac must succeed at a caster level check equal to 10 + the demoniac’s level or the spell fails. That character cannot attempt to resurrect the demoniac again until the following day, though other characters can attempt to do so if they please. Demonic Mark (Ex): A demoniac bears the sign of his chosen demon lord as a tattoo- like brand somewhere on his body. Once per day, a demoniac can call upon the profane power of this mark to power a spell as he casts it. Doing so causes the spell to gain the chaotic and evil descriptors, and causes the spell not be expended as it is cast, allowing the demoniac to cast the spell again at a later point in the day. Obedience (Ex): In order to maintain the abilities gained from this prestige class (including all spellcasting abilities that have been augmented by this prestige class), a demoniac must indulge in a daily obedience to his chosen demon lord (see page 8). This ceremony Demonology is incorporated into whatever method the demoniac uses to regain spellcasting abilities (such as praying to a demon lord, meditating, or studying a spellbook). Energumen (Su): Once per day at 2nd level, a demoniac can open his soul to a demonic spirit as a free action. This spirit possesses the demoniac for a number of rounds equal to his demoniac level, granting a +2 profane bonus to one ability score of the demoniac’s choice. At 5th level, energumen grants a +4 profane bonus to one ability score, electricity resistance 10, and a +4 bonus on all saving throws against poison. At 7th level, energumen grants a +6 profane bonus to one ability score and also immunity to electricity and poison. When the energumen ends, the demoniac becomes confused for a number of rounds equal to his demoniac level as the demonic spirit has its way with his mind. At the start of each round of confusion, the demoniac can make a DC 25 Will save to end the confusion effect immediately. Energumen is a possession effect, and is negated by protection from evil or protection from chaos. A demoniac can prevent or end the confusion side effect by having one of these spells cast upon him when (or before) the energumen ends, but being affected by such a spell before the energumen has run its course also causes the benefits granted to end prematurely. Demonic Boon: As a demoniac gains levels, he gains boons from his demonic patron as his body and soul become increasingly infused with demonic energies. The nature of the boons granted varies, depending upon the demoniac’s chosen demon lord. Each demon lord grants three boons, each more powerful than the last. At 3rd level, the demoniac gains the first boon. At 6th level, he gains the second boon, and at 9th level, he gains the third and final boon. Consult the demonic obedience feat on page 8 and the demon lord descriptions in Chapter One for details on demonic boons. When a demonic boon grants a spell-like ability, his caster level for the spell- like ability equals his total character level. This ability allows a demoniac to access these boons earlier than normal; it does not grant additional uses of the boons once the character reaches the necessary Hit Dice to earn the boons normally. Summon Demon (Sp): Once per day, starting at 4th level, a demoniac can use summon monster VI once per day to conjure one succubus, 1d3 babaus, or 1d4+1 brimoraks (see page 56) to serve him. At 8th level, the demoniac also gains the ability to use summon monster VIII once per day to conjure one hezrou, 1d3 vrocks, or 1d4+1 succubi to serve him. Demonic Form (Ex): When a demoniac reaches 10th level, he may undergo a temporary transformation into a unique demon. His type changes to outsider with the chaotic, demon, evil, and native subtypes. He gains damage reduction 10/good and cold iron, resistance to acid 10, cold 10, and fire 10, and telepathy to a range of 100 feet. When he gains this ability, he chooses one additional physical transformation from the following to gain when he transforms: wings (fly speed of 40 feet with good maneuverability), gills (ability to breathe water and a swim speed of 30 feet), or a single natural attack (a claw, bite, gore, slam, or tail sting—damage inflicted as appropriate for the demoniac’s size). Once this additional physical transformation is chosen, it can never be changed. The newly created demon’s natural weapons, as well as any weapon it wields, are treated as chaotic and evil for the purpose of resolving damage reduction. The demoniac can remain in this form for a number of minutes per day equal to his caster level; this duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be used in 1 minute increments. Returning to his normal form is a free action. Ex-Demoniacs A demoniac whose alignment becomes anything other than chaotic evil, or who goes against the will of his demonic patron, loses all class features of this prestige class, in addition to all spellcasting ability that has been enhanced by levels of this class (even if that spellcasting ability comes from a class that normally does not rely on the approval of a divine patron). He cannot thereafter gain levels as a demoniac until he atones for his deeds (see the atonement spell description). This is the only route a demoniac can take to switch to a different demonic patron—the atonement must come from a worshiper of the new demon lord. Demoniac Base Fort Ref Will Level Attack Bonus Save Special Spells per Day/Spells Known 1st +0 +1 +0 +0 Damned, demonic mark, obedience — 2nd +1 +1 +1 +1 Energumen +2 +1 level of existing class 3rd +2 +2 +1 +1 Demonic boon 1 +1 level of existing class 4th +3 +2 +1 +1 Summon demon 1 +1 level of existing class 5th +3 +3 +2 +2 Energumen +4 (resistances) +1 level of existing class 6th +4 +3 +2 +2 Demonic boon 2 +1 level of existing class 7th +5 +4 +2 +2 Energumen +6 (immunities) +1 level of existing class 8th +6 +4 +3 +3 Summon demon 2 +1 level of existing class 9th +6 +5 +3 +3 Demonic boon 3 +1 level of existing class 10th +7 +5 +3 +3 Demonic Form +1 level of existing class Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Demonic Spells The following spells have ties to the Abyss, are spread by the work of demon cults, have links to the boons they grant their most devoted followers, or appear within the pages of the Book of the Damned. Disfiguring Touch School transmutation; Level cleric 2, sorcerer/wizard 2, witch 2 Casting Time 1 standard action Components V, S Range touch Target creature touched Duration 1 day/level Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes With a touch, you cause the victim of this spell to suffer a painful curse that causes it to grow hideously disfigured. The physical appearance of the deformity is subject to the caster’s whim, but most demon worshipers choose deformities that reflect their Abyssal patron’s shape or form. The victim of the spell can resist the effects with a successful Will save, but if he fails, he takes one of the following penalties. • –2 decrease to an ability score (minimum 1). • –2 penalty on attack rolls or saving throws. • Land speed reduced by 5 feet. You may also invent other effects, but they should be no more powerful than those described above. The deformity created by this spell is a curse and cannot be dispelled, but it can be removed by any effect capable of removing curses. Rift of Ruin School conjuration (calling) [chaotic, evil]; Level cleric 8, sorcerer/wizard 8 Casting Time 1 standard action Components V, S Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level) Target 5-ft.-wide, 60-ft.-deep extradimensional hole, up to 5 ft. long per level (S) Duration 1 round/level (see text) Saving Throw Reflex partial; Spell Resistance no This spell tears a rift in reality, creating an extradimensional hole with a depth of 60 feet. You must create the rift on a horizontal surface of sufficient size. Since the rift extends into the Abyss, it does not displace the original underlying material or allow access to areas below the surface—you can create the rift on the deck of a ship as easily as in a dungeon floor or the ground of a forest. Any Large or smaller creature standing in the area where you conjure the rift must make a Reflex save to avoid falling into the rift. If the Reflex save is successful, the creature picks which side of the rift it remains on once the rift opens. Unattended objects or structures fully engulfed by the rift automatically fall into it. The walls of the rift are covered by razor-sharp blades, while the rift floor seethes with strange chewing vermin, boiling pools of acid, writhing shards of ice, and all manner of other chaotic and deadly manifestations of the Abyss. A creature that falls into the pit takes 6d6 points of falling damage. Any creature in the pit (starting on the round it enters) takes an additional 6d6 points of damage from the pit’s environs, even if the creature is merely climbing or flying within the pit rather than at the bottom. This additional damage changes from round to round, and is randomly selected from acid, bludgeoning, cold, electricity, fire, piercing, slashing, or sonic. Each round, a creature in the pit can make a Reflex save to take half damage that round. The pit’s walls have a Climb DC of 25. When this spell’s duration ends, the rift snaps shut, violently expelling all creatures still within. These creatures take double damage from the rift’s environs in that round and are knocked prone as they are returned to the surface above. At any time during the spell’s duration, you can use it to conjure a number of Abyssal denizens out into the surrounding region as a standard action. Doing so causes the rift to snap shut, ending the spell’s duration and returning any creatures that had fallen into it to the ground as detailed above. As the rift snaps shut, choose one of the following creatures or groups of creatures to appear in the area—these Abyssal denizens are treated as if you had summoned them via summon monster VII, and remain for a number of rounds equal to the remaining duration of the rift of ruin spell. You can choose one of the following to be summoned: 1 bebilith, 1 vrock, 1d3 succubi, 1d3 shadow demons, 1d4+1 babaus, or 1d4+1 brimoraks. Vermin Shape I School transmutation (polymorph); Level druid 3, sorcerer/ wizard 4, witch 3 Casting Time 1 standard action Components V, S, M (a piece of the creature whose form you plan to assume) Range personal Target you Duration 1 minute/level When you cast this spell, you assume the form of any Small or Medium creature of the vermin type. If the form you assume has any of the following abilities, you gain the listed ability: climb 30 feet, fly 30 feet (average maneuverability), swim 30 feet, darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, scent, and lunge. You don’t gain full immunity to mind-affecting effects, but you do gain a +2 resistance bonus on all saving throws against such effects. Small vermin: If you take the form of a Small vermin, you gain a +2 size bonus to your Dexterity and a +2 natural armor bonus. Medium vermin: If you take the form of a Medium vermin, you gain a +2 size bonus to your Strength and a +3 natural armor bonus. Demonology Vermin Shape II School transmutation (polymorph); Level druid 4, sorcerer/ wizard 5, witch 4 This spell functions as vermin shape I, except that it also allows you to assume the form of a Tiny or Large creature of the vermin type. If the form you assume has any of the following abilities, you gain the listed ability: burrow 30 feet, climb 60 feet, fly 60 feet (good maneuverability), swim 60 feet, darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, tremorsense 30 feet, scent, blood drain, constrict, grab, lunge, poison, pull, trample, and web. You don’t gain full immunity to mind-affecting effects, but you do gain a +4 bonus on all saving throws against such effects. Large vermin: If you take the form of a Large vermin, you gain a +4 size bonus to your Strength, a –2 penalty to your Dexterity, and a +5 natural armor bonus. Abyssal Items The following two items are used often by demon cultists or demons themselves. Amulet of the Abyss Aura moderate conjuration [chaotic, evil]; CL 5th Slot neck; Price 15,000 gp; Weight — Description Each amulet of the Abyss bears a demon lord’s rune on its face, indicating the lord to which the amulet is attuned. An amulet of the Abyss functions as an unholy symbol to the demon lord. For a worshiper of that demon lord, an amulet of the Abyss functions as a phylactery of faithfulness. An amulet of the Abyss grants its wearer the ability to cast all three spell-like abilities granted by the associated demon lord’s first demonic boon, once per day per spell. See the individual demon lord entries in Chapter One for lists of the spells each demon lord grants as a boon. Any lawful or good character who wears this amulet gains two negative levels. These negative levels remain as long as the amulet is worn. Although they never result in actual level loss, they cannot be overcome in any way as long as the amulet is worn. Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, must worship a demon lord; Cost 7,500 gp Book of the Damned: Demonic Aura overwhelming all schools [chaotic, evil]; CL 25th Slot none; Weight 12 lbs. Description The original Book of the Damned was collected from the scattered records of the exiled angel Tabris, who was ordered to record the lore of all the multiverse but was cast out of Heaven for his findings. The demonic chapters of the Book of the Damned are bound between razor-edged covers of cold iron. Care must be taken when opening this book, lest the covers cut the fingers. Blood spattered on the pages of the book quickly fades away, as if the damp sheets of pale parchment within possessed a thirsty, vampiric nature. A DC 12 Reflex save is enough to avoid being cut when opening this book—on a failed save, the user takes 2 points of Constitution damage. This section of the Book of the Damned serves as a catalogue of the Abyssal realms and their lords—yet just as the rulers of the Abyss wax and wane, the contents of this book shift and change as well, revealing dark secrets. Any good-aligned creature who touches this section of the Book of the Damned gains one negative level. This level cannot be restored until the character has remained more than 10 feet away from the book for 24 hours. Creatures attempting to read the book that are not chaotic evil must make a DC 15 Will save or have their alignment permanently take one step toward chaotic evil. These pages of the Book of the Damned are written in Abyssal. A reader who spends 30 days (not necessarily consecutively) reading the book receives several benefits. The book contains copies of every spell with the evil descriptor, as well as all of the arcane spells listed below. The user gains a +4 bonus on all Knowledge (planes) checks if she uses the book as a resource (consulting it for at least an hour regarding a question), and its descriptions of the Abyss are so accurate that any teleportation travel to or within the Abyss always brings the caster to the exact location desired. The demonic section of the Book of the Damned serves as the focal point for a permanent unhallow effect and sympathy tuned to attract chaotic evil creatures. As long as the book is carried, its owner casts all evil spells as if she were 2 caster levels higher and gains a +2 bonus on all Charisma-based skills and checks when interacting with chaotic evil creatures. Three times per day, the tome can be used to cast one of the following spells: blasphemy, desecrate, greater planar binding, insanity, rift of ruin (see page 48), summon monster VII, or unholy blight. Once per day as a standard action, the bearer can use the book to gain any one of the boons granted by any demon lord—the boon lasts as long as the owner retains possession of the book, or until she chooses a new boon. This does not require an obedience. Destruction The demonic Book of the Damned can be destroyed by feeding the pages to a lawful or good outsider (though doing so usually results in the outsider’s death or fall from grace). Yet as long as the other sections of the book exist, the demonic section always turns up again somewhere, undamaged and whole. Before Sin The qlippoth have endured longer than most other forms of life—perhaps longer than any form of life. Doubtless, those that exist today in the deeper parts of the Abyss are different than those that existed before the Abyss became infested with demons, who served so well to strip the Abyss of its previous dominant race and turn back the qlippoth tide. Yet still, in the varied shapes and shades of their forms and the tremendous monstrosity of their hunger, the qlippoth endure. They long to reclaim control of the Abyss, to realize revenge against the daemons, and to extinguish all demonic life, yet their primary goal is nothing less than the destruction of all mortals. For without mortality, sin itself will die, and the demon host will starve to death and be no more. The Qlippoth A full accounting of the qlippoth of the Abyss is beyond the scope of this portion of the work, as these pages must remain focused upon the legions of the demonic. Yet of the qlippoth most commonly encountered in the upper reaches, those most directly involved in the qlippoth war against demonic life are listed below. Augnagar: Tremendous in size and appetite, augnagars cling to the walls and ceilings of the deep rifts—apex predators of Abyssal life. Chernobue: Believed to be the spawn of a powerful qlippoth named Shiggarreb, the chernobue are gelatinous monstrosities that creep along on cold tentacles. They can infuse mortals with a hideous poison that mimics an explosive and invasive pregnancy. Cythnigot: Strange, spore-like forms of life, the cythnigots infest small creatures and reshape their bodies as needed. Capable of extruding vise-like stalked jaws from the flesh of their hosts, the cythnigots are favorite familiars of the truly mad. Hydraggon: Although the reptilian hydraggon is not commonly found upon the world of Golarion, it is quite common in certain regions of the Abyss, where its ability to wield weapons with its multiple tongues makes it a favorite addition to fiendish armies. These creatures are commonly found slithering through the deeper waters of the most remote reaches of the Styx. Iathavos: The Iathavos is one of the largest known qlippoth species. Many believe that there is only ever one of this kind—that upon the iathavos’s defeat, the Abyss simply births a new one somewhere deep and hidden to take the place of the previous incarnation. A bloated, winged monstrosity, the iathavos wields a bewildering array of magical powers as it flops through the Abyssal skies on an eternal crusade against the demonic infestation and the infection of mortal sin. Nyogoth: Appearing as nothing less hideous than tangled knots of intestines around gaping, toothed maws, the nyogoths are Abyssal scavengers, feeding upon anything cast aside and keeping the deepest depths of the Outer Rifts from clogging with filth and waste. Shiggarreb: Unlike the case of the iathavos, there can be no mistaking the fact that Shiggarreb is a unique entity. Undeniably female, this monster most closely resembles a bloated drider, yet nothing in its chitin- plated, multi-armed upper torso suggests anything remotely human. Shiggarreb is the driving force behind the qlippoth goal of reclaiming the Abyss, yet many believe she is but a messenger in the service of even more powerful entities. Shoggti: These repulsive, tentacled qlippoth serve as slavers, specializing in the use of demons and mortals alike to serve in their war for control over the Abyss. They consume their slaves’ intellect, keeping them nearly mindless and thus easy to control. Thulgant: The spidery thulgants bear a strange resemblance to the more bestial augnagars, yet as feral as the augnagars are, the thulgants are possessed of a terrible and wicked intellect that they use to great effect. The thulgants, it is believed, are focused on murdering the demonic race and restoring the Abyss to their rule. Qlippoth Lords As mentioned earlier, stranger beings dwell in the deeper reaches: Squid-like creatures that swim through the air and feed with the tips of their tentacles. Vast, sheet-like, ghostly forms in which shapes best left unseen press against the surface. Clinging monstrosities and swimming nightmares in whose forms no earthly analogue can, thankfully, be discerned. Yet just as there are those among the demonic horde who have risen to the heights of power, there are qlippoth lords as well. The entity known as Shiggarreb may be the qlippoth equivalent of a nascent lord, yet whispers persist of qlippoth that rival the power of true gods, but which have never emerged from the deepest reaches of the Abyss. What is known is that the evolution of chaos continues, and some of the entities known today as demon lords began their ancient lives not as demons at all, but as unique qlippoth. These demon lords were among the first to be transformed by those ancient experiments, and while other demons such as Lamashtu, Nocticula, Orcus, and Pazuzu have risen beyond the power of the old qlippoth lords, those who survive today, transformed by infections of mortal sin, remain among the most powerful demon lords. One can know the nature of demon lords that began life as qlippoth most easily by their shapes— those demon lords who bear about them little or nothing of the humanoid frame. These include the following lords: Cyth-V’sug, Dagon, Jubilex, Mazmezz, Yhidothrus, and Zevgavizeb. Of the current nascent demon lords, only one is suspected to have begun life as a qlippoth—the Polymorph Plague, Yamasoth. Indeed, Yamasoth’s interest in vile experiments may point to the possibility of a link to the original experiment that created the first demon, and some believe that Yamasoth himself is that original demon. From the Book of the Damned Wherein the pages turn away from all things demonic and delve deeper into the Abyss of time and entropy, to lay bare to scrutiny the liveliest primal life, known since before creation was created as the qlippoth. —The Book of the Damned, "Before Sin" Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Chapter Four The Demonic Horde I remember my life as clearly as I remember my capture and the month-long agony of my execution. I remember standing before the Lady of Graves before she cast me spiraling into the Abyss. I remember sensation returning, of crawling amid the masses and feasting on things I wish I could forget. I remember toppling from an impossible ledge into even more impossible depths, and my second death and demonic birth from larval torment after an eon of such pains and depravities. These memories and more are why I have returned to your world, and why your world shall receive no mercy from me. —From the Book of the Damned, “The Death and Birth of the Nightripper” The Demonic Horde D emons are not the only denizens of the Abyss—they are merely the most fecund and notable race of this realm at this point in time. Long ago, the qlippoth were the most numerous inhabitants of the Abyss, and it is conceivable that in some strange age in the future, when mortals have either lost the capacity to sin or been replaced by an entirely new order of life, something could rise to replace demonkind as the dominant force in the Abyss. Other Abyssal Inhabitants Leaving aside the theory that the Abyss itself is a living thing, and that every twisted tree, bleeding rock, and gasping fissure in this nightmare landscape is its own entity, the Abyss is a place where life grows in riotous abandon. Life in this realm is anything but calm and orderly—the very chaos and evil of the plane suffuses all things that dwell here, even those who come from realms beyond and linger too long. Few other realms in the Great Beyond rival the variety of life on the Abyss, yet as diverse as these denizens might be, they are singular in their approach to life. Cruelty and a destructive nature are evident in every single living creature native to this plane. Larvae The endless flow of mortal souls into the Abyss from all the worlds of the universe manifests in a uniquely hideous manner. While in Hell, the damned souls retain their appearance from life, those doomed souls who descend into the Abyss manifest as squirming larvae. Individually, these souls resemble pallid, worm-like vermin from 1 to 3 feet in length, bearing vaguely humanoid faces that are often stretched hideously along their squirming maggot bodies. Larvae can manifest anywhere in the Abyss, but do so most often along the uppermost rims of the Outer Rifts, where their squirming undulations send them tumbling into the depths to scatter among any number of realms below. Left to their own devices, larvae eventually transform into full- fledged demons after a variable eternity spent crawling amid the gutters and filth, eating what the Abyss offers up and wallowing in their own noxious wastes, with the nature of each larva’s sins from its mortal life determining what manner of demon it eventually becomes. On fantastically rare occasions, a particularly sinful or powerful mortal soul can even retain memories of its life on the Material Plane after its transformations from soul to larva to demon, but most souls lose themselves in the process, and are reborn in mind as well as body. Larvae are often captured or harvested by fiends or other creatures for use as components in vile magic. A discerning eye can determine what manner of sins a larva contains; a larva containing specific sins can be used as a component to hasten a soul’s transformation into a demon by those who know the vile rituals—such demons are often better disposed toward their creators for a short time. This method is often used by powerful demons seeking to bolster their own ranks of followers. More often, though, larvae are used by creatures like night hags or powerful spellcasters as components for potent magics—the fact that many evil creatures find the taste of larvae to be exquisite makes them valuable as a form of barter as well. Qlippoth Before the Abyss was taught how to process and transform larvae into demons—indeed, before larvae existed and the idea of mortal life had even been conceived—the Abyss was rife with foul life. These creatures exist still, yet in drastically reduced numbers and often only in the deepest pits of the plane. Known as the qlippoth, these fiends may well be the oldest form of life in the Great Beyond— certainly, they were already in existence before the proteans discovered them. Some believe that the qlippoth come from an unknowable realm on what might be described as the “outside shell” of the Outer Sphere, but if the qlippoth are to be taken as indicative of what order of existence rules in such a realm, it is a good thing indeed that this outer realm is so impossibly distant. The qlippoth do not possess in their form anything approximating the human shape except by cosmic fluke or sinister mockery. In their twitching, squirming visages, the mad might make comparisons to life’s most primeval shapes—spiders and squids, insects and worms, and even baser forms of life. What this might imply about these lower forms of life has disturbed philosophers for ages, and is not a train of thought that many enjoy lingering upon. Other Entities Other creatures dwell on the Abyss, but their natures and roles are simply too diverse to codify. Some, like the retrievers, are immense and strange constructs built of raw Abyssal matter by demon lords, while others, like bebiliths, are merely what pass for predators on this violent plane. Some demon lords have strange monstrous minions that serve their needs— these creatures, while not technically demons, often possess similar powers. In regions ruled by demon lords, the nature of life typically follows themes relating to the realm’s monstrous rulers, but in truly wild realms of the Abyss, anything and everything could be encountered. Not all life on the Abyss is native, though—the strange resources, potent treasures, and unsolved mysteries often lure other creatures into the Outer Rifts. Beings like night hags, proteans, daemons, and even mortal spellcasters are not uncommon sights in any Abyssal region. Rumors even tell of particularly curious or adventurous azatas who sometimes venture into the Abyss to satisfy their own heretical urges, although only a fool would expect to find an honest ally among such visitors. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos Demon, Vermlek A corpulent man reels on his feet as if drunk, but a closer inspection reveals the horrific truth—he’s not so much reeling as he is seething from within, as if his internal organs were coiling and writhing like a knot of greased snakes. Suddenly, with a hideous retching and tearing sound, the man’s face blooms out like a rotten flower and a pallid, five-jawed worm extrudes itself from the ragged hole in the neck where, only a moment before, a head sat.

Defense

Offense

Statistics

Description

Abandon Flesh (Su) As a swift action, a vermlek can abandon an inhabited body, crawling hideously out of its host and leaving behind an empty sack of skin and bits of gristle. In so doing, it absorbs much of the body’s flesh to heal itself, restoring 2d6+3 hit points. A vermlek cannot later reclaim this body with its inhabit body ability.

Flesh Armor (Su) When a vermlek wears a humanoid body (see inhabit body, below), it treats the dead flesh and muscle as armor and gains a +3 armor bonus to its AC.

Inhabit Body (Su) A vermlek can crawl into the body of any dead Medium humanoid, consuming and replacing the bulk of the humanoid’s skeleton and internal organs as it does so. This process takes 1d4 rounds for the vermlek to complete, during which it is considered flat-footed. Once the process is complete, the vermlek appears for all practical purposes to be a living but hideously obese version of the previous humanoid—it gains a +8 racial bonus on Disguise checks to appear as a normal humanoid while wearing a dead body in this manner, but does not gain any of the abilities that the dead creature possessed in life, including natural attacks, unusual movement types, or bonuses to natural armor. It loses its own burrow speed while inhabiting a body, but gains the ability to wield weapons or wear armor shaped for humanoids (although note that the armor bonus granted by wearing armor does not stack with the bonus granted by the vermlek’s flesh armor ability).

Negative Energy Affinity (Ex) A vermlek is healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy as if it were an undead creature.

The hideous vermlek demon is one of the lower-ranking members of the demon race, barely above the dretch in power but remarkably more ambitious and intelligent than its pudgy lesser kin. They wriggle and crawl in nauseating numbers in many Abyssal battlefields or graveyards, impatiently awaiting a chance to find a humanoid body to inhabit. Outside of a host body, a vermlek appears like a fat-headed worm with four long tails, each of which ends in a wriggling nest of long filaments. In this form, the vermlek cannot wield weapons, and its bite and spell-like abilities are its only offensive options. A typical vermlek is 7 feet long (with its filaments giving it a further 3 feet of length) and weighs 90 pounds.

Source: Lords of Chaos, p. 55