Editing Sahkil

[[File:Zipacna.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Zipacna, a Sahkil Tormenter]]
'''Sahkils''' are a [[fiend]]ish race native to the [[Great Beyond]], invented by [[Pathfinder]] to flesh out the malevolent cosmology of their [[Golarion]] setting beyond the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] trinity of [[Demon]]/[[Devil]]/[[Yugoloth]]. A form of fallen [[psychopomp]], these corrupted, twisted entities have reshaped themselves into the living embodiments of fear, craving to literally terrify all other life into obedience to themselves and rule as cruel god-kings until oblivion itself claims them.

No, seriously. These guys manage to out-[[edgy]] '''[[Kyton]]s'''.

Sahkils inhabit the [[Ethereal Plane]], making them unique amongst the vaster expanse of fiends. Their obligatory super-charged rulers are known as the '''Tormentors''', although currently we have nothing for them beyond a list of names:
* Ananshea, The Skin That Walks on Teeth
* Chamiaholom, Skull Staff
* Charg, The Typhon Wheel
* Dachzerul, The Darkness Behind You
* Eil, The Cancer Note
* Iggeret, She Who Was Lost
* Hataam, River Eater
* Nameless, Upon an Empty Throne
* Ozranvial, Despair’s Smile
* Shawnari, The One Out of Place
* Velgaas, Minds in the Dark
* The Vermillion Mother
* Xiquiripat, Flying Scab
* Zipacna, The Mountain Below

The Sahkils first appeared in the Pathfinder Bestiary 5, and were expanded in Bestiary 6.

==Official Pathfinder Fluff==
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[[File:Nucol.jpg|right|300px|thumb|A Nucol Sahkil]]
Psychopomps are the ever-important bureaucrats of life and death in the ''Pathfinder'' setting. They ensure that the progression of souls is done through a well-oiled machine, and preventing interference with the path of souls.

While the psychopomps do their busywork to maintain the cosmic order, the world changes around them. The psychopomps know that eventually, the order of the universe will decay and be undone. Most psychopomps are motivated by this truth, and delaying the inevitable is a good enough reason for them to do their job well.
Some find no peace in maintaining a system that will inevitably rot away and leave them behind.
Some just say "fuck it" and leave the order of the psychopomps to take command of their own fate, and these psychopomps who strike out against the order become the heinous sakhils.

Tired of feeling that they are slaves to the imperfect order of the universe and of working for weak souls, sakhils strike out on their own and leave their duties to hide away at the edges of existence, a great many hiding away in the Ethereal Plane, even having a demiplane within that is all their own: Xibalba, the Land of Dread, a colossal torture chamber where the sakhils cause pain and fear to all mortals unlucky or foolish enough to end up there. No longer slaves to souls like the psychopomps, the sakhils seek to rule all there is through terror and violence.

Sakhils almost universally cast aside their former appearances as psychopomps, and choose to define themselves through fears felt by mortals, whether they appear to represent them or not. They appear with unnatural aggregates of body parts, often with disgusting tendrils or bladed insectile limbs, and are more often than not caked with blood. While at their lower levels, sakhils tend to be uncomfortably similar to things which exist in the mortal world, going up the ladder reveals more alien assemblies of gruesome pieces.

The M.O. of sakhils is to take root in the dark corners of the world. When mortals happen upon their dark influences, their terror turns them to paranoia and cruelty to escape the dread the sakhils seek to bring them. Unfortunately for these mortals, they prey upon the frenzied pursuit of escape their victims indulge in, sending them into a downward spiral of pain and fear. Ultimately, a sakhil's playthings either perish, or lose even the capacity to comprehend suffering. Not content to let their toying with the fates of mortals cease, the sakhils reanimate them as undead - marking them as the furthest thing from the order of psychopomps.

At the top of the pecking order of the sakhils are their lords, the sakhil tormentors. These demigods rule Xibalba, gathering forces of sakhils to aid their inscrutable whims, be that warring against other tormentors for dominance or seeking mortals to exploit. While they have many unique qualities, tormentors choose to hide many things about themselves. The fear of the unknown does have great sway over mortals, after all.

Because the sakhils are consummate edgelords and are generally really good at ruining the order of existence, most outsiders with a mind for good and order opposes them. While their greatest enemies are their former brethren in the psychopomps, the Positive Energy Plane's manasaputras (also described in ''Pathfinder Bestiary 5'') also oppose them; they seek to push mortal souls to perfection instead of grinding them into dust.

Three of the other fiendish races gel with the sakhil, the only beings in the world vile enough to do so. [[Div]]s appreciate the sakhils' motivation to ruin everything and often cooperate with them, [[daemon]]s respect their manipulation of mortal souls and apocalyptic ends, and [[kyton]]s find great intrigue in the sakhils' work in defiling the minds of mortals.

==Breeds of Sahkil==
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Naturally, there are many different kinds of Sahkil, and theoretically there could be an infinite number of different subspecies. So far, these are the ones that have been developed.

===Chakanaj===
Originating from the 2E ''Night of the Gray Death'' adventure book rather than a 1E bestiary, the chakanaj sakhils represent the fear that one's secrets will be revealed. Their miniscule size and vague shape makes them incredibly stealthy, and they can pick up on lies being told in their vicinity without anyone knowing. They can hide on someone's persons without being noticed, and they drive people to great anxiety without them knowing someone else is feeding their discomfort.
If a chakanaj wants to be a bit more on-the-nose about keeping someone in line, they can rest on someone's face as a mask. While mundane in appearance, the chakanaj has whoever wears them at their mercy - able to plunge their razor-sharp legs into their face at any moment.

===Esipil===
[[File:Esipil B5 PF.png|right|150px]]
Like every other clade of outsider in ''Pathfinder'', sakhils have a breed that a 7th-level spellcaster of the proper alignment with the Improved Familiar feat can call upon.

These three-foot-long bulldog-worms represent the fear of domesticated animals, and the worry that they could degenerate to their base instincts at any moment. Often, they worm their ways into the lives of people (especially evil spellcasters who use them as familiars), and largely act as loyal pets, occasionally having aggressive, primal outbursts. They're more eager to fight than most, and they tend to not rely on supernatural methods of invoking fear in others.

===Ichkoh===
[[File:Ichkoh B6 PF.png|right|150px]]
Ichkohs feed on the fear of one's body failing. They taunt mortals who feel they're no longer in their physical prime, or torment those with positive body images. They drive these souls to self-destructive behaviors, often culminating in suicide.

===Kimenhul===
[[File:Kimenhul B5 PF.png|right|150px]]
Kimenhuls are the strongest sakhils beneath the tormentors, and represent the fear of failure. They're able to turn the slightest inkling of inadequacy among the mightily competent into a vortex of self-loathing and trauma.
The fleshy tower connecting their three heads to their three legs is constantly changing in shape, and someone who looks into them will often see someone who has caused them pain or trauma in the past, be that through abuse or loss.
Kimenhuls almost always leave indelible marks on the people who encounter them, and they regularly check up on people they've marked to reinforce their burgeoning self-hatred.

===Nenchuuj===
From the ''Ruins of the Radiant Siege'' Adventure Path of ''Agents of Edgewatch'', the nenchuuj is a sakhil that relishes the worry that magic will fail. They are able to show casters all the possible ways that their spells can fail them, and can redirect spells cast targeting them.

===Nucol===
Originating from the ''Book of the Damned'' sourcebook, nucol are sakhils in the shaped of plagued boars who feed on the fear of parasitic infestation and mysterious sicknesses. They plague mortals with diseases, offering to cure them in deals that claim something more dear to them than their physical condition.

===Pakalchi===
[[File:Pakalchi.jpg|left|150px]]
Pakalchis live to see relationships crumble, and are willing to spend as much time as they have to to see a bond be broken. Using manipulation and domination, they find as much pleasure in slowly pulling people apart as they do from dealing massive damage to a relationship with a single spoken word. They enjoy watching the havoc they cause, though they sometimes use third parties to divide people. In the fallout of their destruction, pakalchis take the people torn apart by their interference and finish the job of breaking them.

===Penqual===
Also from ''Ruins of the Radiant Siege'', penqual sakhils take the form of swarms of featureless humanoids, and bunch up with incredible closeness. Their favored fear is that of being lost in crowds.

===Qolok===
[[File:Qolok B5 PF.png|right|150px]]
The massive bloated bodies of qoloks spread feelings of discontent and fear of lacking. Mortals pulled in by them are driven to gluttonous indulgence.

===Tumblak===
Another variety of sakhil described in ''Night of the Gray Death''. Resembling corpses crushed into a rectangular shape, the tumblaks represent claustrophobia in all its forms, including being crushed and being buried alive. They have an affinity for seeking victims in crypts and ruins, and they make the air in their vicinity thin.
Many tumblaks are susceptible to being repelled by burial rites that ward off the undead. 

===Wihsaak===
[[File:Wihsaak B5 PF.png|right|150px]]
Wihsaaks are unsubtle sakhils who preside over the fear of vermin, showing off their ugly forms to all those they seek to bring fear to. They push their victims to commit misdeeds, making them think that the onus of their sins lies with them and not with their tormentor.

Uniquely, when in battle against a group, wihsaaks don't single out targets to frighten and pick off. They try to plague all of their opponents with fear, tearing them to pieces when there is nobody left to resist.

===Ximtal===
[[File:Ximtal B6 PF.png|right|150px]]
Ximtals' domain is loneliness and exclusion. Being mighty members among the painfully edgy sakhils, they abhor goodness, and they manipulate the allies of the great and virtuous to discredit and isolate them. When faced with those who proactively work for the cause of good, ximtals seek to burn everything they work for to the ground.
While almost invariably working alone, cooperating with the similarly relationship-breaking pakalchis allows these sakhils to tear apart massive organizations.

===Zohanil===
[[File:Zohanil B6 PF.png|right|150px]].
Zohanils haunt those who fear needles and invasive medical procedures, and push their victims to addiction.
Basically, they are that guy offering drug-laced candy that only exist in your parents' imagination.
They make excellent pushers.

{{Pathfinder-Fiends}}