Demon Lords of Golarion

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

So, if you'll allow me a moment here to go off on a tangent that's near and dear to my black, twitching, tainted heart—let me talk for a bit about the demon lords of Golarion.

I've always been a fan of demons. I've written at length on my personal blog, on messageboards, in editorials, and in various books about this admiration of all things Abyssal. The one person I've met who can match (or exceed) this perfectly normal and perfectly healthy obsession is Erik Mona. So with both of us pulling some key strings behind the scenes of Golarion, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that demon lords are going to play a pretty key role in the world.

With the new Second Darkness Adventure Path starting up, we'll be doing quite a bit with those demon lords. In the months to come, you can expect to see a few new demons popping into the Pathfinder Bestiary at times (including at least one well over CR 20 menace), at LEAST one prestige class for demon worshipers, and in Pathfinder #18, an 8-page article about the demon lords themselves. For those who can't wait that long, we've put a preview into the hardcover Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting that lists nearly 30 of the world's known demon lords.

To long-time players of the game, many of the names on that list will look familiar. Many of the names are from real-world mythology (perhaps with a few spelling changes here and there), while more than a few are classic demon lords that, thanks to Necromancer Games' Tome of Horrors, are open content. For now, this list in the hardcover is pretty much all we've got on our demon lords, but since so many of the demons are established names, I thought it'd be helpful to list where they're all from.

Real-World Mythology: Abraxas, Aldinach, Baphomet, Dagon, Flauros, Haagenti, Kostchtchie, Lamashtu, Nocticula, Orcus, Pazuzu, Shax, and Socothbenoth are all from various real-world myths (although in some cases, like Orcus, the real-world inspiration is a mythological place rather than a being).

Open Sources: A few old favorites, like Baphomet, Jubilex, Kostchtchie, and Pazuzu, appear in the Tome of Horrors Revised. Of these, Jubilex is the only one who doesn't really have a real-world mythological source. (Those interested in keeping track of which version is the open content Jubilex and which one isn't the open one need look no further than the spelling of his name, by the way.)

Brand New Demon Lords: And that leaves us with 16 brand new demon lords: the razor-edged Andirifkhu, the brutish simian Angazhan, the mysterious sphinx Areshkagal, the poisonous and fungoid Cyth-V'sug, the insectoid infestation Deskari (whose freaky swarming minions are illustrated here), the froglike and ravenous Gogunta, the murderous werewolf Jezelda, the ghoulish Kabriri, the creeping spider-thing Mazmezz, the deformed and hateful hag Mestama, the dangerously seductive Sifkesh, the troll god Urxehl, the stony gargoyle Xoveron, the dinosaurian troglodyte Xevgavizeb, and beautiful but vampiric Zura. I think that's all of them. These guys and gals were created specifically for Golarion (or in a few cases, imported from my own home-brew campaign world), and beyond a few mentions elsewhere in print, we haven't said much about them yet. That's a situation I hope to change over the next few months, though!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief