Sorry for the delay.
Demon Lord / Areas of Concern / Layer / Sources
Bechard / decomposition, obsolescence / Yeenoghu's Realm (422) / Fiendish Codex 1, Monster Manual II (1st ed)
* Previously, Bechard's area of concern were storms and tempests.
Behemoth / gluttony, despair, bestial instincts / Duidan / Book of Fiends
* Maybe Behemoth feuds with Turaglas?
Beluiri / - / - / Tome of Horrors
* Baphomet's consort; not mentioned in the entry, as far as I can tell, but Beluiri probably resides somewhere in the Endless Maze (600)
Bonjo Tombo / - / - / Dead Man's Chest
* This guy's an oddity I found while flipping through d20 books at my friendly local game store this week; apparently, he's the son of Demogorgon and an awakened fiendish dire ape; not actually a demon lord, but like his half-brother Arendagrost, a powerful unique demon.
Cabiri / observation / The Wells of Darkness (73) / Fiendish Codex 1, Dragon #357, Monster Manual II (1st ed)
* Possibly related to Great Mother, goddess of the beholders.
Charun / massacres / - / Fiendish Codex 1, Monster Manual II (1st ed)
* Originally an Etruscan psychopomp figure; see Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charun
Chernovog / evil druids, vengeful nature, warlocks, evil fey / The Verdant Chasm / Expedition to Castle Ravenloft
* Info above is cribbed from Wikipedia because I don't have the book on hand; this was pretty much the only bit from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft that I liked.
Cresil / - / - / Book of Fiends
* I've incorporated Cresil as Gresil's unambitious twin brother.
Cyndshyra / - / - / Dragon #357
* Called Cyndshyra of the Seven Torments, I'd make her (choosing to add an extra female demon lord in there) areas of concern torture, pain, sadism, and masochism; overthrown by Lazbral'thull after the battle against the Malgoth.
Cyth-V'sug / fungus, parasites / Jeharlu, the Blasted Heath / Pathfinder 18
* Enemies include Ugudenk and Zuggtmoy (who is Cyth-V'sug's daughter by Yibyiru).
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Next time - Dagon, Dalmosh, Decarabia, Demogorgon, Deskari, Dhanazar, Dwiergus, Eblis, Ebulon, and Eldanoth.
Chris Nichols
The different Aldinaches aren't as completely different as you might think. In FC1, she's described as a demon lord of transformation, after all. Her Pathfinder incarnation obviously can't build upon the WotC intellectual property in FC1, but since she's associated with Transformation, it's easy enough to say that the version in Golarion is either her favored form there, or (my preference) is her ACTUAL form, and that in other worlds she shields her true form in various guises.Hmm... So, Aldinach was originally just Golarion's demon lord of sand and scorpions, but sometime after she stole the Sea of Whispering Sands from Areshkagal, she decided to expand her areas of interest to include transformation. In this new aspect, she established her presence on the plain of Pazunia and has been expanding her influence into other worlds since then, transforming herself into a different form on each world.
Just for the sake of completeness, yet another version of Aldinach (this one male) appears in Gary Gygax's Necropolis, from Necromancer Games.
Chris Nichols
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They're given different entities in FC1 (although Nocticula's in the demon lord index and Malcanthet isn't; odd that...), so I'd like to stick with that. Personally, I'd make her a 'very bitter enemy,' because it gives another twist to "The Succubus War," one of the Continuing the Campaign options at the end of the Savage Tide.I suspect that when whoever compiled the list of demons and Abyssal realms (this wasn't me), Malcanthet slipped through the cracks and got forgotten. Poor thing! Anyway, yeah, both Nocticula and Malcanthet are listed as separate creatures in the book, and making Nocticula a bitter enemy of Malcanthet is a good idea. There can never be too many succubi queens, I say!
Am I the only one here who wonders what a no holds bared grapple fest between numurous succubi queens would be like to watch?
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This is a GREAT thread, it's been quite useful because you're using sources that can't be found in Mexico. Demonology being one of my favorite topics, this just rocks: I didn't know so many demons were already described and somehow defined for roleplaying uses! I was only aware of the BoVD, FC, and FF. I'll have to get a few more sources, then. I doubt you can get those magazines here, right?
And, no, Moorluck, you're not the only one. To be in the midst of a succubus war, I think that's the way to go.
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Malcanthet was created by Rob Kuntz in Dungeon #112's "Maure Castle," and I did the majority of the work developing her character in Savage Tide, the Demonomicion, FC1, and Rob developed her more in the Maure Castle sequels in Dungeon. All of that was under WotC, alas, so she's closed content. Since she's not based on a real-world myth, she's not public domian either (as is the case of Demogorgon, Orcus, Pazuzu, and many other demon lords).
Which is the primary reason we turned Nocticula into the queen of the succubi in Golarion, rather than continue using Malcanthet.
For the record, which of the Demon Lords are OGC?
Here's the ones that I am aware of:
The Tome of Horrors from Necromancer Games contains OGC writeups for the following demon lords that were authorized by WoTC back in the early days of 3e:
Baphomet
Fraz-Urb'Luu
Jubilex
Kostchtchie
Orcus
Pazuzu
In addition, this book provided a original writeups of the following demon lords:
Dagon
Tsathogga
The Book of Fiends from Green Ronin contains some OGC information on a number of demon lords.
Many of the demon lords described in the Book of Fiends have names and attributes that are clearly in the public domain because they are based upon real-world mythology - most of them are lifted directly from the Goetia:
Abaddon
Abraxas
Anarazel
Astaroth
Baphomet
Behemoth
Decarabia
Demogorgon
Flauros
Gamigin
Haagenti
Ipos
Nocticula
Raum
Sabnach / Sabnock
Shax
Socothbenoth
Vepar
Many of these demon lords also appear in the list of Rulers of the Abyss on p.35 of the 1st edition Monster Manual II.
A couple of additional OGC demon lords appear in the Book of Fiends:
Arachnadia (obviously based upon Lloth)
Vaz'zht (Not sure of the origin of this one)
Zhar'Ub-Luur (presumably based upon Fraz-Urb'Luu)
Yughhooragh (obviously based upon Yeenoghu)
Have I missed anybody?
Vaz'zht (Not sure of the origin of this one)
Vaz'zht is based on Graz'zt.
Based on the discussion in this thread, here's a preliminary set of demonic initiate powers for Aldinach (based on a combination of Pathfinder and Fiendish Codex 1) that I've done. Comments welcome.
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Demonic Initiate (Aldinach)
Abyssal Resistance - You gain a profane bonus equal to your class level on saves made to resist transmutation spells and effects and against scorpion-related poisons.
Demonic Boon, Lesser - You can cast alter self, glitterdust, summon monster II (fiendish monstrous scorpions only) as spell-like abilities once per day.
Demonic Boon, Greater - Three times per day, as a spell-like ability, you may cast giant vermin (scorpions only). Also, you become immune to all scorpion-related poisons.
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Chris Nichols
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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I'm pretty sure that FC1 contains some subtext that allows careful readers to piece together the names of some of the demon lords who captured the Malgoth, but I don't think any of them were the names you mentioned from the Eric Boyd source (which I assume was the Savage Tide adventure). In any event, the clues in FC1 were, I think, in the Wells of Darkness section as well as in another section about a hunting ground layers, but I'll be damned if I can remember specific details.
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Here's the "web enhancement" featuring several of the Abyssal layer mini-write-ups that were cut from the manuscript for space at the last minute. I get the feeling not many people saw this stuff, but I remember being pretty pleased with it.
I've had that for some time now. I love that Fiendish Codex 1 has something like 5 different web enhancements for it. Erik, just how many pages over did you, Ed, and James end up with it, anyway?
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Creative Director
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Yeah; the lower CR aspects are not something I think needed to be involved since it devalues the demon lord to have mini-versions running around. Although they're handy to have around if your game tops out at a level cap of 10 or so, I guess.
I had a few other monsters cut for space too that went into a web enhancement, and a relatively lengthy section that talked about how to adjust demons who worship/serve specific demon lords to make all sorts of variant demons that never even made it to web enhancement mode, IIRC.
What I'm saying is that the FC1 could easily have been twice as long. But then Erik and I would have been even later on our deadlines and the book would only be releasing like this week.
Sorry for the delay in posting - I was waiting for some back issues of Dragon and Dungeon to arrive so I could double-check the source material.
Anyhow...
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Demon Lord / Areas of Concern / Layer / Sources
Dagon / the sea, sea creatures (Pf 18); creatures of the deep aquatic (FC1) / Ishiar (Pf 18); The Shadowsea (89) (FC1) / Pathfinder 18, Fiendish Codex 1, Dragon #349, Monster Manual II (1st ed)
* A version of Dagon appears in Tome of Horrors, but is substantially different from the Pathfinder and Fiendish Codex versions.
Dalmosh / - / The Flesh Mountains / Monster Manual V
* Not actually a demon lord, but a unique, powerful demon, much like Arendagrost; The Flesh Mountains are not a layer by a geographic feature that spans several layers (much like how Zelatar spans all three layers of Azzagrat).
Decarabia / flying creatures, the firmament, spies / The Landless Aerie / Book of Fiends
* Possibly related to Pazuzu (a daughter maybe?).
Demogorgon / demonkind (FC1); despotism (BoF) / The Gaping Maw (88) / Fiendish Codex 1, Book of Fiends, Dragon #357, Savage Tide Adventre Path, Book of Vile Darkness, Monster Manual (1st ed), lots and lots of other sources
* Seriously, if you don't know about this guy, why are you reading this thread? Also, Demogorgon's areas of concern should include reptilian, simian, tentacular, and ichthyic monsters, but this is not official listed as such anywhere.
Deskari / locusts, infestation / The Rasping Rifts / Pathfinder 18
* See the note under Abaddon.
Dhanazar / - / Vudra / Dungeon #60
* Shaktari's sensechal; not a demon lord, but a powerful, unique demon.
Dwiergus / the shaping of demonic races / Fleshforges / Dragon #359, Fiendish Codex 1, Dragon #341
Eblis / refusal to surrender / Pazunia (1) / Fiendish Codex 1, Monster Manual II (1st ed)
* From Islamic mythology; based on his area of concern, probably focuses on the Blood War and/or war with celestials.
Ebulon / - / The Wells of Darkness (73) / Fiendish Codex 1
* I'm sure he's from an earlier source, but I can't find the reference.
Eldanoth / crime / The Arc of Eternity (359) / Fiendish Codex 1, Faces of Evil
* Formerly a servant of Orcus.
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Next time we'll have Eligor, Eltab, Eurynomus, Felex'ja, Flauros, Fraz-Urb'luu, Gamigin, Gholl, Gogunta, and Gorion.
Chris Nichols
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I'm pretty sure that FC1 contains some subtext that allows careful readers to piece together the names of some of the demon lords who captured the Malgoth, but I don't think any of them were the names you mentioned from the Eric Boyd source (which I assume was the Savage Tide adventure). In any event, the clues in FC1 were, I think, in the Wells of Darkness section as well as in another section about a hunting ground layers, but I'll be damned if I can remember specific details.
Having finally gotten the relevant back-issues of Dungeon and Dragon in the mail, I can safely say that the Eric Boyd article in Dragon #357 is the only source that definitively names the demon lords who fought the Malgoth (given as Ansitif the Befouler (also called Ansitif of the Shining Void), Cyndshyra of the Seven Torments, Felex'ja the Tiger King, Ixinix the Lord of Blackwater, Qij-na the Shattered, Rhindor'zt the Black Prince, and Wejindhastala the Tempest).
None of the demon lords involved are actually named in the Shadows of Istivin/Wrath of the Abyss trilogy.
Ansitif is mentioned as the Malgoth's foe in Fiendish Codex 1... maybe the hint relates to the four demon lords who escaped the Wells of Darkness?
Chris Nichols
James,
Can you tell us a bit about your long-ago creation, the demon lord Yamasoth, which you mentioned in the editorial from Dungeon #140?
It sounded kinda fun, and I like hearing what people came up with as young players and DMs.
Chris Nichols
Late... meh. Life's been busy and I haven't felt good lately.
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Demon Lord / Areas of Concern / Layer / Sources
Eligor / war, strategy, dishonor, survival / The Eternal Lists / Book of Fiends
Eltab / hatred, retribution / The Hidden Layer (248) / Fiendish Codex 1, Champions of Ruin, Spellbound
* Appears extensively in Forgotten Realms material; Champions of Ruin details his layer and has the Thrall of Eltab PrC.
Eurynomus / - / - / Book of Fiends
* Areas of Concern are probably consumption, cannibalism, and necrophagia.
Felex'ja / - / - / Dragon #357
* One of the Malgoth's foes; called the Tiger King; area of concern is probably feline predators.
Flauros / fire, salamanders (Pf 18); the purifying light of the sun, fire, burn victims, arsonists (BoF) / The Bloodpyre Fields (Pf 18; BoF) / Pathfinder #18, Book of Fiends
Fraz-Urb'luu / lies, subterfuge, illusion / Hollow's Heart (176) / Fiendish Codex 1, Monster Manual II (1st ed), lots of other stuff
Gamigin / the dead, souls, undead, accountancy, numbers / The Jagged Tor of Final Reckoning / Book of Fiends
Gholl / - / - / Gary Gygax's Necropolis
* Area of concern is gholls, a new race in Necropolis, similar to gnolls, but more ape-like; probably a subordinate of Yeenoghu
Gogunta / boggards, swamps / Ishiar (Mephizim) / Pathfinder #18
Gorion / - / - / Dragon #139, p 18, "Lords & Legends"
* Only mentioned in this article in Dragon (which is split between generic and Greyhawk NPCs), so he's a rather marginal inclusion here; the wizard Shugar helped to banish him from the Material Plane.
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And now a few demon lords that slipped past me in previous entries.
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Akyishigal / - / - / Kobold Quarterly #8
* Areas of concern seem to be roaches and other scuttling vermin, filth, slums, and slum-dwellers.
Atis / - / - / Knights of the Dinner Table #124
* One of the demon lords of the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting; called the Horned Demon and the Castrated Bull; areas of concern seem to be rage, beasts, violence, and castration.
Begizo / - / - / Knights of the Dinner Table #124
* One of the demon lords of the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting; called the Oracle; areas of concern seem to be prophecy, reflections, and light.
Carifa / - / - / Knights of the Dinner Table #124
* One of the demon lords of the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting; called the Matron; areas of concern seem to be poison, snakes, deformity, disease, and ugliness.
Daho] / - / - / Knights of the Dinner Table #124
* One of the demon lords of the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting; called the Eternal Dragon; area of concern seems to be the creation of Abyssal layers (Daho vomited many of the current layers of the Abyss into existence).
Dinus / - / - / Knights of the Dinner Table #124
* One of the demon lords of the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting; called the Waif; areas of concern seem to be wolves and werewolves, and the death and disappearance of children.
Erida / - / - / Knights of the Dinner Table #124
* One of the demon lords of the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting; called the Vulture; areas of concern seem to be hate, rage, cold, and rot.
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Chris Nichols
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Creative Director
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James,
Can you tell us a bit about your long-ago creation, the demon lord Yamasoth, which you mentioned in the editorial from Dungeon #140?
It sounded kinda fun, and I like hearing what people came up with as young players and DMs.
Chris Nichols
The actual design of Yamasoth's appearance was created by my friend David Mouton. It was an inspiring drawing, and I built a whole mythology around him and his minions, the gongorinas. He was a demon lord that was imprisoned in the underdark below Sekamina, and wanted to get out and rebuild his empire so he could return to the Abyss. Part of that plan was to begin an event called the Polymorph Plague to cause civilization to break down into monsters, and in so doing, he would impress Obox-ob (who is the primary evil deity in my campaign world and also the "boss of the Abyss") enough to get let back into the Abyss.
Yamasoth looks like a huge, 15-foot wide boulder with a flat bottom on which his snail-like foot allows him to slither around. He has three eyes on one face of the rock, the middle of which never opens because it has a superpowerful destroyer beam that would kill most foes but also destroys Yamasoth if he opens it (a last-minute "from Hell's heart I stab at you" death-throes power). Under the eyes is a big scary mouth. He has six arms rising out of the top of his body, each of which has a different attack—a scorpion tail, an octopus tentacle, a robotic arm with a claw, a humanoid arm that can wield weapons, a smaller robotic claw, and a barbed whiplike tentacle. He sort of looks vaguely like a squat "Swiss Army knife" three-eyed roper, I guess.
Yamasoth's underground kingdom was a lost world style realm; an immense underground cavern with a false sun in the sky, the four elements represented in each corner (cold/water to the north, fire/desert to the south, air/forest to the west, and earth/mountains to the east) and with his castle situated in the center of that realm. The surrounding region was infested with dinosaurs, giant bugs, demons, and other monsters. His castle was filled with demons, mutants, gongorina (which were mini-versions of Yamasoth), and lots of dungeon levels, at the bottom of which was hidden an artifact called the Scarab of the NIght which was Yamasoth's only weakness; he couldn't destroy it, so he hid it deep under his realm to keep it from falling into enemy hands. The plot of that adventure, of course, was to invade his castle, get the Scarab from the bottom level of the dungeons, and then clamber back up to kill him, which of course made Obox-ob show up in a cameo to gloat and threaten the PCs and thus reveal to them that the ACTUAL campaign (which had 5 increasingly huge adventures to go) was to defeat Obox-ob and prevent him from seizing utter control over the Abyss.
I have not yet ruled out the possibility of having Yamasoth (with all of the silly parts replaced with better parts, of course) show up as the bad guy in a "Polymorph Plague" Adventure Path sometime in the distant future...
Re: Volisupula.
I remember, maybe a couple of years ago, asking Wolfgang Baur about this one. I believe he created it as a throwaway reference for Planescape's "Planes of Chaos" if I remember correctly. He said, at the time, that he had just moved and all of his old notes were packed away. You might want to see if he's found any of these old notes, and what if anything they might say. :)
Oh by the way, since I'm here, and since mentioning Planescape made me think of it; I'll plug Planescape: Torment which was just made a "Featured Article" at Wikipedia after a ton of hard work! We've been working hard to improve the D&D coverage over there, and (especially with our favorite stalker mostly silent for the last 6 months) we've been able to do a lot of good, I think. :)
About Aldinach, there is yet a fourth version of Aldinach, in the awful Fast Forward Entertainment book Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils. This version, ironically, is the most accurate depiction of Aldinach as an Egyptian storm demon. In Armies of the Abyss, she is listed as "Aldinach of the 33 Winds".
Mythologically speaking, Aldinach is a male demon, when he manifests, he always take the form of a woman.
As for Nocticula, I think the version of Armies of the Abyss is a bit lame. Her very name suggested that she is a demon lord of darkness and the night, which she is listed as in Fiendish Codex I. Then again, there is no reason to merge all three facets of Nocticula (succubi, night, demon earth goddess) into one.
In real-life myth, Nocticula is another name of Bensozia (or it is the other way around?). Bensozia has been called "Chief Deviless", which lead Gary Gygax to listed her as Asmodeus' consort, thus the Queen of Hell. Nocticula became a demon lord and was listed in MM2.
Now for Alrunes, there is a female demon race in Armies of the Abyss called the alrune (alrunes plural). So Alrunes maybe an ascended alrune, or the ruler of the race.
A few other questions for Mr. Jacobs:
* Was Volisupula supposed to be listed as a male or a female in FC1? Volisupula's title, 'Marquesse,' is feminine, but Volisupula isn't listed as female in the index (others, like Ardat, Barbu, Nocticula, and Rhyxali have an 'F' next to their name).
Thanks!
Chris Nichols
In fact, there is no such title as "Marquesse". It exists as a surname. Actually the spelling is Marquess, dropping the "e". It is the same as Marquis. The female form of Marquis is Marquise or Marchioness. So Volisupula is a male. Unless the e was added to the title deliberately to signify gender confusion.
Hope you didn't forget about this, I was finding this fairly useful.
I haven't forgotten; I've just been busy with "real life." I've got a stretch of days off shortly, so some new posts should turn up this week.
Chris Nichols
CNichols wrote:
Hmm... So, Aldinach was originally just Golarion's demon lord of sand and scorpions, but sometime after she stole the Sea of Whispering Sands from Areshkagal, she decided to expand her areas of interest to include transformation. In this new aspect, she established her presence on the plain of Pazunia and has been expanding her influence into other worlds since then, transforming herself into a different form on each world.
Does that sound about right?
Hi guys -- thought I'd chime in on the discussion you all are having regarding Aldinach. I did a history of Aldinach that incorporated the major elements of all three versions of her, including the male version listed in Gary Gygax’s Necropolis. Even though this is a longer post, I thought I’d post the basics of her history here.
Originally, Aldinach appeared pretty much as she is described in Fiendish Codex I: “A lithe humanoid woman…mahogany skin, alabaster mask…et. al.”
For a time, Aldinach was captured on the Materal Plane, and forced to serve as a vassal to an archpriest-sorcerer named Rahotep. (This incorporates the elements of Aldinach that are found in Gary Gygax’s Necropolis).
Aldinach’s true visage was hidden as the result of this curse placed on her by Rahotep, an act which secured with it the demon’s undying enmity toward the archpriest, given that she was powerless to prevent it. The curse not only hid Aldinach’s true form, but forced Aldinach to comply with Rahotep’s wishes. During this time, Aldinach’s form was changed (as a result of the curse) to that of a 16-foot tall male humanoid with jet black skin marked in blood-red arcane and demonic patterns, glowing eyes, and dripping fangs (using the separate stat block provided in Necropolis text). Her powers were also lessened during this time, though she/he was still a formidable opponent.
Eventually, mortal adventurers were able to overcome Rahotep, and the curse upon Aldinach was lifted. Since that time, Aldinach has been known as the Lady of Change, not simply for the experiments that she conducts upon those that fall prey to her cultists, but also in reference to the humiliation that was forced upon her. Aldinach herself does not take kindly to remarks about her imprisonment, and those pass comment about it in her presence are quickly destroyed.
Even after securing her freedom from Rahotep, Aldinach maintained a strong link to the desert region where she was imprisoned. This bond was exploited by her sister Areshkagal, who used this connection to pull the entire desert kingdom into the Abyss, thereby transforming into the Sea of Whispering Sands, an entirely new layer.
Ironically, the magics involved in bringing this layer to the Abyss transformed Aldinach again, this time changing her appearance to that of an enormous desert-dwelling scorpion the size of a house (matching her current description in Pathfinder 18). Aldinach’s power and influence have increased greatly as a result of her link to this plane, and she soon was able to seize control of the layer back from her sister, forcing her into exile in the Blood Clefts, a neighboring abyssal layer. Aldinach maintains a portal to the Sea of Whispering Sands inside her fortress on Pazunia known as Aldinach’s Egg.
With Aldinach’s most recent transformation, many more of her cults on the Material Plane are starting to spring up in arid and desert kingdoms, as she is now known as a demon princess of sand and scorpions. Due to her fortress on the Abyss’ first layer, her name has become well-known within the mortal realms, and her cult members have been known to frequent the major trade roads and slave routes that connect the various desert cities. Aldinach constantly seeks new ways to expand her power, and she is just as likely to ply her dark experiments on her cult members as she is her enemies.
Aldinach is served actively by gharros demons, as well as by a host of half-fiends and other abominations that dwell around her fortress of Aldinach’s Egg on Pazunia. Within the Sea of Whispering Sands, she is served by hippodilemons, demoncrocs, flying scorpions, lamias of khemit, saks, scorpion snakes, and unseelie sphinxes, (see Gary Gygax’s Necropolis), plus other desert creatures that survived the absorbtion of their territory into the Abyss. Uncounted scorpions now make their home within the vast desert of ruined cities that now dot her plane. In Golarian, she is also served actively by the monstrous double scorpions known as sandwalkers.