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Baatezu

2020-08-14T04:29:49Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA:

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[[Image:Baatezu Army.jpg|300px|thumb|right|No, not that kind of [[PROMOTIONS|Promotion]], at least, [[Monstergirl|probably not.]]]]
The [[Alignment|lawful evil]] badguys from another dimension, in [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] 2nd edition. Formerly known as devils in the earlier editions, living in what was once called ''The Nine Hells''. This change was because of one-time CEO of [[TSR]] [[Lorraine Williams]], due to the events of the [[Satanic Panic]]. The term ''Baatezu'' is a [[Open_Gaming_License#Parts_of_D.26D_that_are_not_Open_Game_Content|trademark of Wizards Of The Coast]], so you won't find them mentioned in any Open License products like the d20 SRD nor [[Pathfinder]]. Their home is now called "[[Baator]]", but each of the nine levels still has the same names from Dante's Inferno.

Baatezu represent the lawful side of evil: the concept that cruelty and malice should be distributed in an orderly and efficient fashion. Backstabbers, vicious politicians and cruel warlords can opt to become petitioners in the "nine hells". They fight the [[Blood War]] against the [[Tanar'ri]] at behest of [[Asmodeus]], the ruler of Baator.

Baatezu are not born as mortals are. While only the most powerful of devils can breed at all, most opt not to do so because a child is a dangerous rival and a potent tool for their enemies. Instead new devils are made from the tortured souls of the damned, who are reprocessed after an [[Grimdark|extensive period of torture]] to strip them of their individuality. These soul shells are then reprocessed and turned into Lemures, starting their new existence as Baatezu. Lemures who please their dark lords enough - through a combination of gathering corrupted souls, guile, defeating their enemies and their master's enemies - may be promoted to a Spinagon, a grotesque, spiny gargoyle-esque monster. From stage to stage, devils begin looking more and more like their horrible masters, with the process being detailed more just below.

The use of the term Baatezu has been dropped in 5th Edition, so there is no longer any distinction between Baatezu and non-Baatezu devils (which included [[Imp]]s, [[Kyton]]s, and a few other less known devils).

==The Hierarchy of Hell==
Baatezu are Lawful to a fault. They are masters of forming contracts that give themselves as many loopholes to exploit as possible, while bringing those for the other party down to zero. If a devil turns out to be clever, powerful, deceitful, lucky and sycophantic enough they may be promoted in an agonising ritual that grows a miniature fetal version of the new form inside of the devil, eventually bursting out in a grotesque and agonizing display. If a subject however fails its master, is betrayed in some way or if the master needs the energy that is released when doing so, a baatezu can be demoted back into a lesser form - which is a great humilitation for a devil.

All the various forms are part of a ranked hierarchy: the higher up the more powerful a devil is. Devils can only be promoted and demoted by their direct superiors, so it is not possible for rival devils to demote all of their rivals' servants or promote themselves to increase in power. As mentioned before, there is only so much power around to promote devils, gathered from souls. If a "drought" of sorts were to befall an area, high-ranking devils would be more stringent with their promotions or even demote their followers to reallocate resources: the latter is a powerful motivator for all devils to keep corrupting souls.

{|border=0 align=right cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 style="margin: 1em; border: 2px solid black;"
|-
! Category || Rank || Form || Punishment || Fallen Angels || Abishai
|-
| '''Least Devils''' || 1 || Lemure
|-
| || 2 || Legion Devil, Advespa|| Nupperibo || || White Abishai
|-
| || 3 || Spined Devil || || || Black Abishai
|-
| '''Lesser Devils''' || 4 || Bearded Devil || || || Green Abishai
|-
| || 5 || Imp || || || Blue Abishai
|-
| || 6 || Steel Devil || Gulthir || || Red Abishai
|-
| || 7 || Chain Devil
|-
| || 8 || Harvester Devil, Pain Devil || || Erinyes
|-
| || 9 || Amnizu
|-
| '''Greater Devils''' || 10 || Bone Devil, Orthon, Narzugon || Malebranche
|-
| || 11 || Barbed Devil
|-
| || 12 || Ice Devil || Xerfilstyx
|-
| || 13 || Logokron, Remmanon, Horned Devil, || || Pleasure Devil
|-
| || 14 || Assassin Devil
|-
| || 15 || Paeliryon
|-
| || 16 || Pit Fiend
|-
| '''Archdevils''' || 17 || (unique forms)
|-
| || Archduke || (unique forms)
|-
| || King || [[Asmodeus]]
|}

A few of the forms in the hierarchy are not part of the regular advancement. The wretched Nupperibo is the result of a demotion of a higher-ranking devil (from 3.5 onwards at least, see below), though it still outranks the lowly Lemures. However, it is skipped in the regular progrssion and is a form used as punishment, as are the Malebranche and the Xerfilstyx.

The Erinyes are an unusual group. Instead of being created from soul shells they are either fallen angels turned into their current form or born from another Erinyes. The most powerful of the Erinyes can be promoted to the rank of Brachina, or Pleasure Devil. These creatures are alluring seductresses and are ruthless in their searches for advancing to the highest ranks of devilkind. But because the step between Erinyes and Brachina is so big, only the most accomplished of Erinyes can be promoted to this rank.

Finally there are the Abishai. They are beholden to [[Tiamat]], who lives on the first layer of Baator.

==The Devils' Many Forms==
As they progress through the ranks Baatezu change into new forms: stronger, cleverer, more magical and so on. While some details might differ a higher ranking Devil is always more dangerous than its last form in some way or shape. Baatezu is the name the devils use for themselves: to make it more confusing it is also a creature subtype. All Baatezu devils have the following abilities: immunity to fire, immunity to poison, cold resist 20, acid resist 20, can see in total darkness including magical darkness, telepathic communication 100ft.

===Inside the Hierarchy===
* A '''Lemure''' is a small, pitiable creature standing at a mere 5' tall. Whenever a devil of any authority needs cannon fodder, they gather up some Maggots (the form that the petitioners of all [[Lower Planes]] take) and promote them into Lemures. Lemures are mindless and cannot speak, though they can understand telepathic commands. They are cruel and try to claw apart whatever they can as a way to get revenge on the multiverse. Promotions from Lemures are often made as a matter of convenience for a higher ranking fiend: they promote a batch of them into forms like Imps if they need spies or Bearded Devils if they need more shock troops for their armies.
* A '''Legion Devil''', or Merregon, are the weakest footsoldiers of hell who all look identical to each other. They are sharp-toothed red-skinned humanoids whose left arms are bloated, covered in metal, and end in a useless vestigial hand. They wear armor and carry a sword in their right hand. They have several abilities that make them more dangerous when they are in large groups. For example, legion devils in a group all share hit points with each other such that it is not possible to down just one of them, but when the group runs out of hit points they all drop dead at the same time. And if you target a single legion devil with a mind affecting spell, all of the legion devils around it also get a saving throw, and the spell fails if just one of the succeeds, but if none of them succeed it will affect all of them instead of just one.
* An '''Advespa''', are low class devils resembling giant black wasps with a woman's face. The more yellow strips on their body the higher their rank. They can quickly regenerate from damage except for acid and holy damage.
* A '''Spined Devil''', also known as the Spinagon is a small gargoyle-like creature covered in spines. They are sometimes used as spies by high-ranking devils, but because of their low intelligence their reports are not always dependable and tend to miss the finer nuances of what they had observed. They are cruel beings, but because of their low standing a single Spinagon is only a threat to Lemures and Nupperibos, on whom they vent their frustration and cruelty.
* '''Barbazu''' ([[Neckbeard|Bearded Devils]]) are often employed as shock troops for powerful fiends. Bearded Devils are aggressive and revel in fighting, where they swing their powerful glaives with skill. So much in fact that if they land a hit the wound will fester until attended to by either a skilled healer or a powerful healing spell is used, and even then the wound is difficult to treat. A Barbazu's beard can inflict a powerful disease upon a foe, infecting them with Devil Chills which saps away their strength. The disease has a short incubation period and lasts a lifetime when untreated, however short or long that may be. Bearded Devils can also burst into fits of frenzy, cutting through enemies in a way much like a raging [[Barbarian]] would.
* '''Imps''' are not actually Baatezu for some reason but are still part of the hierarchy of hell. They are small and weak so instead of fighting they prefer to try and tempt people into evil, laying claim to their souls if they manage to do so. Imps are cowardly and stay away from fights but they are willing to sting with their tails if the opportunity to do so arises.
** The 3rd edition [[Fiend Folio]] details three variant imps. Bloodbag imps have blood that heals people that drink it, making them the medics of hell, and they can also cast a curse that worsens bleeding from wounds. Euphoric imps are living drug dispensers with venom that causes hallucinations, which they like to use on themselves. Filth imps are outcasts from hell due to their horrible smell and often find work on the material plane using their talent for languages and codes.
* '''Steel Devils''' are powerful warriors, fighting on the front lines of the wars of Hell: either in the Blood Wars or against the armies of fellow devils. These Bueroza take the shapes of humanoids in heavy steel armor, covered in cobwebs and dust. While they can strike with enough force to send an enemy reeling, their strength comes from them gaining bonuses from fighting in ranks with their fellow Bueroza, becoming swifter and more durable as they fight. Their most potent ability is their chanting: a horrible shrieking that debilitates enemy casters and makes it more difficult for them to cast spells, making them easy prey for the Steel Devils.
* '''Chain Devils''' resemble tall humanoids dressed in nothing but chain. They can swing these around in deadly fashion, tearing at their prey in horrible ways. They can take control of chains in their range and have them attack anyone at will, and while it is possible to break a Kyton's control of a chain they will not let anyone just do this whenever they want. Chain Devils can also change their visage to resemble that of someone's loved ones or hated enemies, stunning a target. They can also regenerate parts of their bodies that were cut off and are adept at metalworking. Chain Devils are sometimes charged with torture, something they relish. This has caused them to grow a rivalry with the Pain Devils.
* '''Harvester Devils''' are often found in the material planes where they offer mortals contracts of power, wealth and other such things in exchange for their souls. They lurk in sewers, at crossroads at midnight, in back rooms of corrupt businesses or serving as courtiers to nobility. Any who approach them can ask for an infernal pact: anything they want for the price of their undying soul. They are not powerful combatants; while they carry blades that will instill a curse upon anyone that forces them to strike a good creature. Instead they will try to escape when entering combat, trying to find someone else to tempt with their contracts. But they cannot be killed unless the devil ''starts'' the fight: for some strange reason the Falxugon are protected by [[Plot Armor|powerful magic]] that remains in place unless they strike someone first. They look like mostly humanoid beings but with horns, tails and hooves, and tend to go dressed in expensive clothing.
* '''Pain Devils''' are masters of torture. Because they are hated by all other Baatezu and will be destroyed when not beholden to a lord they offer themselves to the service of powerful devils as torturers. They are very good at this, inflicting untold pain upon anyone unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. They torture the soul shells entering Hell and whoever has failed their masters, making for a powerful motivation to not fail. The Excruciarchs carry great spiked chains which they can imbue with powerful agonizing energy or swing around to hit all standing close to them. They can also inflict wounds upon non-Baatezu by just standing nearby, gain more power from inflicting wounds and can study an enemy to negate any damage reduction it might have.
* The '''Amnizus''' are the bureaucrats of hell. They record the soul shells that enter Baator, stand guard at the portals to and from the plane and record all who go through, often extorting them out of their valuables. Amnizu are particularly ambitious and try their best to improve their lot in life, working their way up the ranks through politics, intrigue and assassination. They are also tasked with hunting down fugitives, something they take much pleasure in. When facing an enemy that they cannot defeat on their own without any significant risk to them they will send their minions to deal with the target. When they can fight, an Amnizu prefers to take wing and strike targets with their [[Derp|intelligence-damaging]] touch.
* '''Bone Devils''' police the Nine Hells, observing the activities of other Baatezu and reporting on them. They are tall and strong and possess some magical ability. The Osyluth, as they are sometimes called, are freakishly thin and have large stingers with which they can inject targets with potent poisons. They will ruthlessly attack anyone who opposes them.
* '''Orthons''' are powerful soldiers in the front lines of the Blood War, specialized in killing demons. They use a combination of their bladed spears that are usable in both long and short range and magical crossbows that shoot powerful blasts of energy. Orthon are large, covered in metal plates bolted directly onto their bodies, possesses large tusks and has a pained look on its face. Orthons are skilled in fighting in formation, increasing their power and durability. They also possess the ability to stop all interdimensional movement in a 20' radius. When an Orhton is slain maggots burst from its body, who try to devour anything near the slain host before expiring themselves. Because of the nature of their armor Orthons are in constant pain, and [[World Eaters|only battle takes their mind off of this]]. They are very loyal though, and will not plot against their masters.
* '''Narzugons''' or Hell Kights are the cavalry of hell, who ride on flaming horses called Nightmares. They are humanoids wearing spiky armor. Narzugons hate everything including themselves but are surprisingly honorable and obedient, as they are formed from the souls of former paladins who fell into evil as a result of following the letter instead of the spirit of the law, and so are filled with [[RAGE]] from learning that their actions in life were wrong.
* '''Barbed Devils''' serve as the guards and bodyguards of Hell. They are tall and covered in spikes, hitting all that come too close to them. Fighting a Hamatula in close range will always result in the devil using its many spikes to stab or even impale an enemy that comes too close to them. They possess some magical ability, being able to cast Hold Person so they can use their impale attacks at their leisure.
* '''Ice Devils''', also called Gelugons, are commanders of the armed forces of hell. They prefer to avoid direct battle if possible. They are quite tall and look something like white devilish ants, often carrying large spears. Striking with its spear will cause a powerful numbing effect on a target, making it an easy prey for either the Ice Devil itself or one of its servants. They can cast several spells as well, most of which are ice-based.
* '''Logokrons''', are devils that wield [[Truenamer]] magic, which would be a lot scarier if the Truenamer wasn't the worst class in the game. A Logokron is a four-armed devil that wears armor and wields two halberds at once, and has a long tongue with symbols tattooed on it which are painful to look at.
* '''Remmanons''' are devils who love to spread conflict and are masters of manipulation and seduction. A Remmanon looks like a floating naked hairless horned man with barbed and hooked wires and other peircings hanging off its body which small pieces of paper with the names of mortals it has made deals with attached to them. A Remmanon has a telepathic aura that causes enemies around it to become confused and attack each other while making itself and its allies stronger against enemies affected by it.
* '''Horned Devils''' are powerful creatures, serving as the elite soldiers of Baator. It is a large scaled fiend with huge wings, often carrying spiked chains. They can use these weapons to deliver blows powerful enough to stun a target, and they can use their tails to cause dangerous persistent wounds. The Cornugon also possess magical abilities and can regenerate.
* '''Assassin Devils''' are widely feared and distrusted. They are vaguely humanoid with featureless faces aside from their mouths, lined with sharp teeth. They can meld into shadows with ease and cast clouds of fog to hide themselves, striking when they feel the time is right. The original Assassin Devils were natives to Baator, melted down and reformed into the Dogai. The most experienced of the bunch often have levels in the [[assassin]] [[prestige class]].
* A '''Corruption Devil''' is an information broker, trading knowledge for hefty sums of money, souls or other information. They are putrid creatures who dwell in comfort, opulence and excess, often bathing in disgusting pools and eating the finest of foods. They are some of the most powerful creatures in Baator, and not just because of its personal power. A Corruption Devil, also known as a Paeliryon or That Fucking Guy, has a lot of information about a vast number of beings and can use this information to manipulate or blackmail them in a way that is profitable for themselves. These devils are very vain, and will use their claws to disfigure their opponents in combat and belittle them as they do battle. Also, they look like obese drag queens with too many teeth.
* The '''Pit Fiends''' are the nobility of hell. They are immensely powerful, can use many kinds of magic, have teeth that transmit Devil Chills, poisoned claws, can strangle enemies to death with their bare hands and are pretty big. At this level the intrigues of hell are the most dangerous and cutthroat, with enemies on all sides trying to get the upper hand over any given devil. From this position Pit Fiends can be promoted to the rank of duke. From there one can be promoted to an unique devil with their own gender, powers and personalities, but this is seldom done because of the huge threat such a being poses to the Archdukes of hell. If this sounds familiar, good job. The highest ranking demon, called the Balor, is almost exactly the same thing - giant humanoid winged infernal monsters at the almost-top-except-uniques part of their hierarchy. The main difference, aside from the Law/Chaos thing, is that Pit Fiends are usually shown to be a bit more reptilian and don't get giant flaming whips. This makes them ''also'' almost the same thing as a [[Bloodthirster]].

===Other Promotions within the Hierarchy===
* '''Nupperibo''' are bloated, ugly creatures used as base servitors in Hell. Used as a punishment for low-ranking devils, Nupperibo are slow, blind, deaf, and unthreatening compared to other devils and fight without any kind of finesse. Yet they are used for frontline warfare in the Blood War, as cannon fodder. As such they are rarely promoted back to their former form because of the high mortality rate. Nupperibo are possibly more useful to the rivals of their superiors than to their superiors themselves. By stealing one of these fiends from its master and changing it back the devil might have important information about its master, and might even help its new master get revenge on the old one.
**At least, that's what they are from 3.5 onwards. Prior to that, they weren't even Baatezu. See normally, a Maggot just stays a Maggot until some devil either needs a Lemure or gets hungnry. But sometimes, one of them would randomly evolve into a Nupperibo. The Baatezu would herd these things and demote them back into Maggots so as to immediately promote them into Lemures, since in those editions nupperibos were the Lemure-equivalent rank of entities called "True Baatorans," which were the inhabiants of Baator before Asmodeus came to power. The idea of these things returning scares the piss out of every last baatezu. Some sources said that the baatezu were so thorough that no nupperibo ever evolved further, but other sources said there were tales of a scant few being lucky enough to do so, taking on strange forms resembling ones imprisoned in the ice of [[Baator|Stygia]].
***Reconned again in 5th edition. Now they are simply formed from the souls of people who were too lazy in their mortal life to be worthy of promotion to a higher form.
* The '''Gulthir''' is another punishment only rank. A gulthir is a large size creature resembling a giant zombie that can swallow anything smaller than itself whole. The slime that fills its stomach allows it to control the minds of creatures it swallows, so it can spit them out as temporary minions until they make their save or their eyes are washed with holy water. And if the creature it swallows is another evil outsider, it can instantly digest them to strengthen itself temporarily, or it can instead slowly digest the victim to convert them into another Gulthir. These abilities make gulthirs very useful as enforces as other devils are terrified of being digested by or turned into a gulthir as punishment, and gulthirs hate their form and are desperate to get promoted again, making them very loyal to whatever master they serve.
* The form of the '''Malebranche''' are used to punish fiends, yet allow them to keep fighting for their masters. They are deadly in combat and use their massive ranseurs to strike with great force.
* '''Xerfilstyx''' are some of the most pitiable creatures in Hell. Shaped like bloated slug-devils they live in the depths of the river Styx, stripping them of all their memories. The constant exposure to the Styx has driven them insane, with the creatures finding only some solace in the memories of the lost that gather at the bottom of the river. It is nearly impossible for a Xerfilstyx to be promoted back to a higher rank because of its insanity and it being bound to the Styx.
* Based on the Furies of Greek myth, the '''Erinyes''' originate from the angels that left heaven alongside Asmodeus when Baator was being established. Others joined their ranks in later eons, all of them fallen angels. While most of them are female in form there are a few males amongst their number, with no difference being made between them. The gorgeous Erinyes stand apart from their fellow devils, their corrupted angelic arrogance making them see the souls of the damned as being beneath them. In turn the other Baatezu see the Erinyes as stuck up pretenders and usurpers of the title of devil. Still they are respected for their strength, cruelty and intelligence. Unique to the Erinyes, their promoted forms and unique female devils they are capable of becoming pregnant. Their children will always be Erinyes, and are raised in secret and well-guarded compounds. Because of their arrogance Erinyes often forego promotion to higher forms, instead opting to stay in their current, less powerful form.
* A '''Pleasure Devil''' is an improved form of the Erinyes. Even more beautiful, seductive and powerful than their previous forms, the Pleasure Devils do intend to advance to the rank of Pit Fiend. They are conniving and plotting as the other devils of their ranks, and will use their considerable skills to advance themselves. Brachina as they are sometimes called are sent to tempt those of particular virtue and goodness to the side of evil, using their wiles, bodies and spellcasting to get their way. Because of their unearthly beauty they are popular playthings amongst the highest ranking devils, discarded as quickly as selected. Because of this and the ambition of the Brachina they tend to spend a lot of time on the material plane so that they are in command, and not some other fiend.
* '''Abishai''' are the cruel servants of Tiamat. They are arrogant, even for draconic creatures; they consider themselves [[Bullshit|far above the rank of Tiamat's other servants]], including full-blooded dragons and the dragonspawn. They exist in several colors are very cruel, [[Skub|hate everyone not of their own kind]]. Souls that enter the Nine Hells under her control still become Lemures, but after that become Abishai, dragon-looking devils who tempt mortals to enter pacts with them, only to torture the mortal to the limit of their suffering. After the rank of Red Abishai they can continue to promote as normal, starting with becoming a Chain Devil, but almost all Abishai stop advancing at the rank of the Red Abishai.

==[[Archdevil|The Archdukes of Hell]]==
The various layers of hell are ruled by a group of unique devils of immense power; whether or not these Archdukes are the same thing as [[Archdevil]]s seems to vary depending on which sourcebook you have access to. In some versions, Archedevils include both the Archdukes, and the lesser Dukes and other unique devils. Each of them is a force to be reckoned with, commanding vast resources and armies of Baator. They all carry the blessing of Asmodeus in some way, which is very important: Asmodeus can withdraw his support at will and without explanation, as poor Moloch can attest. While the various lords have to deal with the machinations of their servants like all devils do, their greatest foes are their fellow lords, plotting and scheming against one another. In their high positions there are only two ways to gain a promotion: either by defeating one of their rivals and usurping their territories or overthrowing the Overlord of Hell himself, Asmodeus. Hence why Asmodeus never leaves the place that instantly kills anyone he doesn't want to be there, ignoring all defenses.

Devils who are powerful enough to gain a unique form but do not rule over a layer of hell are the Dukes or Duchesses ranked immediately below the Archdukes and a few other powerful devils who are the highest ranked servants of an Archduke.

== Dungeons & Dragons 4E ==
As with a lot of things, the Baatezu of [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition]] have in some ways changed dramatically and in other ways haven't changed at all. For starters, because this is now years after the [[Satanic Panic]] died down, the term "Baatezu" is no longer used; Devils are Devils, and the game even uses traditional AD&D names for the distinct races.

Their origins in this edition have changed, since 4e's cosmology no longer uses [[alignment]] as the end-all justification for anything's existence. 4e's devils are Fallen Angels - which is an entirely separate thing to being Evil Angels, as [[angel]]s in this edition are Unaligned and serve all deities equally, benevolent or malevolent. What this means is that devils are not merely "Angels who are Evil", it means that they are Angels who betrayed their patron deity and were cursed by it, corrupted into twisted reflections of what they once were.

The story is long and the threads differ depending on the source, but the ultimate tapestry remains the same; [[Asmodeus]] was once an [[Archangel]] serving under a benevolent deity, until he chose to betray his master. Maybe because of pride, maybe because of the manipulations of [[Pazuzu]], maybe because he meant well and saw his master failing in his efforts to contribute to the Dawn War. The end result was the same: Asmodeus descended into the newly created [[Abyss]] and achieved something that even the [[Demon Prince]]s had failed at - he found the Seed of Evil, the crystalized remains of the [[obyrith]]s' dead universe that had created the Abyss. Breaking off just a sliver of the Seed, also known as the Heart of the Abyss, he fashioned it into his Ruby Rod and used its power to become a god.

Incidentally, this is why the [[Blood War]] is fought in 4e; the demons are outraged that Asmodeus stole some of the Heart, whilst Asmodeus regrets not stealing even ''more'' and wants to get back down there to take some more. After all, if this tiny sliver made him so powerful, what would a larger hunk do?

Anyway, now brimming with power, Asmodeus manipulated most of his fellow angels into joining him as he murdered their former ruler. As the god died, though, he cursed them all, which had three effects. Firstly, it devastated the Dominion that Asmodeus had sought to claim, burning it into the blasted realm of [[Baator]]. Secondly, it wracked the Fallen Angels, corrupting them into hideously deformed mockeries of their former selves. Finally, it bound them all to Baator, rendering them prisoners in the wasteland that was they had sought to conquer.

This is why Asmodeus and his minions are so interested in claiming mortal souls. Beyond the fact they need souls to propagate themselves - unlike demons, who spontaneously arise from the stuff of the Abyss - it is through torturing the damned that they extract the magical energies they need to slowly wear away at the bindings that imprison them as a whole in Baator. Plus, getting summoned is, for many devils, their only chance of leaving Baator. As a result, devils compete with each other fiercely for who can accumulate the most souls for Hell, but all are united in accumulating souls and denying the gods their petitioners.

Who was the god they betrayed? Nobody knows anymore; Asmodeus has done his level best over the eons to erase all knowledge of that god, fearful that if somebody discovered his name, they could resurrect him, and he would be ''pissed'' with his former minions. He's only ever referred to as "He-Who-Was", and some suspect he might have been humanity's creator god. Like [[Zarus]], but not evil.

* '''Imp''' level 3 lurker
* '''Legion Devils''' compose Hell's armies, level 6-21 minions
* '''Spined Devil''' or Spinagon, level 6 skirmisher
* '''[[Succubus]]''' are devils in 4E not demons, level 9 controller
* '''Chain Devil''' or Kyton, level 11 skirmisher
* '''Bearded Devil''' or Barbazu, level 13 soldier
* '''Bone Devil''' or Osyluth, level 17 controller/leader
* '''Ice Devil''' or Gelugon, level 20 soldier
* '''War Devil''' or Malebranche, level 22 brute/leader
* '''Pit Fiend''' level 26 elite soldier/leader

== Dungeons & Dragons 5E ==
{|border=0 align=right cellspacing=0 cellpadding=1 style="margin: 1em; border: 2px solid black;"
|-
! Category || Rank || Form || Abishai
|-
| '''Least Devils''' || 1 || Lemure Nupperibo
|-
| '''Lesser Devils''' || 2 || Imp
|-
| || 3 || Spined Devil
|-
| || 4 || Bearded Devil Merregon
|-
| || 5 || Barbed Devil || White Abishai
|-
| || 6 || Chain Devil || Black Abishai
|-
| || 7 || Bone Devil
|-
| '''Greater Devils''' || 8 || Horned Devil Orthon
|-
| || 9 || Erinyes ||
|-
| || 10 || Ice Devil Narzugon || Green Abishai Blue Abishai
|-
| || 11 || Pit Fiend Amnizu || Red Abishai
|-
| '''Archdevils''' || 12 || Duke or Duchess
|-
| || 13 || Archduke or Archduchess
|}
In 5e the Hierarchy changed for the Devils.

==Pathfinder==
In Pathfinder the devils perform pretty much the same duty as in D&D. The difference is that they aren't called Baatezu or live in Baator, since those names are excluded by the [[Open Gaming License]]. Instead they're just devils who live in capital-H Hell. There are 20 different kinds of devils mentioned in the six Bestiaries that are released so far, ranging the whole garmut from CR1 to CR20. All the devils from the OGL like the Pit Fiend are included as well, though the Chain Devil has been [[Kyton| given its own subspecies]], because... well, bluntly, because ''someone'' over there is getting off on extreme body mod/BDSM stuff, have you ''seen'' [[Zon-Kuthon]]?

Bestiary 6 also lists the eight [[Archdevil]]s of Hell. They are Mythic level monsters with a CR in the 26-30 range. Aside from getting a whole slew of spell-like abilities, the use of the Miracle spell as befits their portfolio and +10 on Sense Motive checks, many of them also possess artifacts that are nigh impossible to destroy. I mean, the artifact of the weakest Archdevil can only be destroyed by exposing it to a truth spoken by an immortal which has only ever spoken lies, then cast into a magic portal with no entrance or destination. Many of the names of these Archdevils overlap with those of Baator with matching layers to rule, with a few calling back to earlier Lords of the Nine.

{{Pathfinder-Fiends}}
{{D&D-Outsiders}}

Demogorgon

2020-08-14T04:16:07Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA:

{{dnd-stub}}
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Demogorgon
|Symbol = [[File:Demogorgon.png|200px]]
|Alignment = Chaotic Evil
|Divine Rank = Demon Prince, Eternal Immortal
|Pantheon = Demonic, [[Mystara]]n (Entropy)
|Portfolio = Enervation, Madness, Reptiles, Aberrations
|Domains = '''3E:''' Corruption, Demonic, Chaos, Evil
|Home Plane = ''Gaping Maw'' ([[Abyss]])
|Worshippers = [[Kopru]], [[Ixitxachitl]], Mad beings, Demons, Deformed
|Favoured Weapon =
}}
'''Demogorgon''' is the most famous, or at least infamous, [[Demon Prince]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. Having been around in every single edition since the game was created, he is the Prince of Demons - the closest thing the [[Abyss]] has to a singular, all-powerful ruler, with only [[Orcus]] and [[Graz'zt]] really having any chance of challenging his might.

Demogorgon is infamous for taking the somewhat mix'n'match appearance of early D&D demons and really turning it to his advantage. For the most part, Demogorgon resembles something almost [[dinosaur]]ian; a giant, bipedal, predatory reptile. Except he's got two heads, resembling the heads of baboons (although the artists often give him the heads of ''mandrills'', either because mandrills look cooler, or they just don't know the difference, and 5th edition artists just give him generic scary demon heads, maybe because they thought monkey heads were too silly), and each arm splits into two tentacles.

Perhaps the greatest limitation that Demogorgon faces is that he is legitimately insane; [[Kairos Fateweaver|each head has its own unique personality, and so he's constantly fighting himself to determine which persona gets to be top dog]]. His left head is called Aameul and has a silver tongue that can charm any creature, while the right head, Hethradiah, can cause insanity. They seek to dominate or kill one another, just as their combined self seeks to slay or overpower all life. Demogorgon is a fearsome foe in battle, capable of rotting flesh from bones with but a caress of his tentacles and draining the energy of anyone slapped by his tail.

Demogorgon has few followers amongst the humanoid races, but he has many amongst the more monstrous people. Yuan-ti, troglodytes, ixitxachitl and hosts of demons worship Demogorgon as their lord. These cults are depraved and engage in all manner of horrific rituals and sacrifices to their lord. Humanoids rarely worship him as cults, but individuals dedicated to the Prince of Demons tend to be just as dangerous, given that they are quite often high-ranking members of society, and his influence is thought to be the source of many monstrous versions of natural creatures, like ettins and merrow.

Demogorgon's layer of The Gaping Maw is the 88th of the Abyss. While it's a tropical realm with plenty of water it is not a hospitable plane, with many different kinds of demons roving the surface and the ocean looking for things to devour. Demogorgon runs the great city of Lemoriax, which is one of the premier slave markets in the Great Wheel. He frequently stalks through his city to whip his followers into a frenzy. His layer is linked to the next layer, Dagon's home of Shadowsea. The two are allied, which effectively means they stay off of each other's backs.

Demogorgon is the creator of a race of [[Lizardfolk]] called the [[Khaasta]]s. In a rare moment of generosity, he decided to set them free after his generals started complaining that they were difficult to command and not as effective in battle as true demons, since they had served him loyally for so long. [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5e]] expands on Demogorgon's creations, crediting him with the accidental creation of [[ettin]]s, due to [[ogres]] being exposed to his sigil and developing, like Demogorgon, a second head, or the [[merrow]] being the result of [[merfolk]] mutated by his dark influence. And he is also now the creator of the first [[Chimera]]s, which he made from some mortals who dared to summon him, because he thought they were unimpressive.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Demogorgon 3e.jpg
File:Demogorgon 4e.jpg
File:Demogorgon 5e.png
File:Demogorgon OotA.jpg
File:Demogorgon BoVD.jpg
File:Demogorgon mini.jpg
File:Demogorgon Prescott.png
File:Drizzt vs Demogorgon.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D-DemonPrinces}}
{{D&D-Mystara-Immortals}}

Demogorgon

2020-08-14T04:14:22Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA:

{{dnd-stub}}
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Demogorgon
|Symbol = [[File:Demogorgon.png|200px]]
|Alignment = Chaotic Evil
|Divine Rank = Demon Prince, Eternal Immortal
|Pantheon = Demonic, [[Mystara]]n (Entropy)
|Portfolio = Enervation, Madness, Reptiles, Aberrations
|Domains = '''3E:''' Corruption, Demonic, Chaos, Evil
|Home Plane = ''Gaping Maw'' ([[Abyss]])
|Worshippers = [[Kopru]], [[Ixitxachitl]], Mad beings, Demons, Deformed
|Favoured Weapon =
}}
'''Demogorgon''' is the most famous, or at least infamous, [[Demon Prince]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. Having been around in every single edition since the game was created, he is the Prince of Demons - the closest thing the [[Abyss]] has to a singular, all-powerful ruler, with only [[Orcus]] and [[Graz'zt]] really having any chance of challenging his might.

Demogorgon is infamous for taking the somewhat mix'n'match appearance of early D&D demons and really turning it to his advantage. For the most part, Demogorgon resembles something almost [[dinosaur]]ian; a giant, bipedal, predatory reptile. Except he's got two heads, resembling the heads of baboons (although the artists often give him the heads of ''mandrills'', either because mandrills look cooler, or they just don't know the difference, and 5th edition artists just give him generic scary demon heads, maybe because they thought monkey heads were too silly), and each arm splits into two tentacles.

Perhaps the greatest limitation that Demogorgon faces is that he is legitimately insane; [[Kairos Fateweaver|each head has its own unique personality, and so he's constantly fighting himself to determine which persona gets to be top dog]]. His left head is called Aameul and has a silver tongue that can charm any creature, while the right head, Hethradiah, can cause insanity. They seek to dominate or kill one another, just as their combined self seeks to slay or overpower all life. Demogorgon is a fearsome foe in battle, capable of rotting flesh from bones with but a caress of his tentacles and draining the energy of anyone slapped by his tail.

Demogorgon has few followers amongst the humanoid races, but he has many amongst the more monstrous people. Yuan-ti, troglodytes, ixitxachitl and hosts of demons worship Demogorgon as their lord. These cults are depraved and engage in all manner of horrific rituals and sacrifices to their lord. Humanoids rarely worship him as cults, but individuals dedicated to the Prince of Demons tend to be just as dangerous, given that they are quite often high-ranking members of society, and his influence is thought to be the source of many monstrous versions of natural creatures, like ettins and merrow.

Demogorgon's layer of The Gaping Maw is the 88th of the Abyss. While it's a tropical realm with plenty of water it is not a hospitable plane, with many different kinds of demons roving the surface and the ocean looking for things to devour. Demogorgon runs the great city of Lemoriax, which is one of the premier slave markets in the Great Wheel. He frequently stalks through his city to whip his followers into a frenzy. His layer is linked to the next layer, Dagon's home of Shadowsea. The two are allied, which effectively means they stay off of each other's backs.

Demogorgon is the creator of a race of [[Lizardfolk]] called the [[Khaasta]]s. In a rare moment of generosity, he decided to set them free after his generals started complaining that they were difficult to command and not as effective in battle as true demons, since they had served him loyally for so long. [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5e]] expands on Demogorgon's creations, crediting him with the accidental creation of [[ettin]]s, due to [[ogres]] being exposed to his sigil and developing, like Demogorgon, a second head, or the [[merrow]] being the result of [[merfolk]] mutated by his dark influence. And he is also now the creator of the first [[Chimera]]s.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Demogorgon 3e.jpg
File:Demogorgon 4e.jpg
File:Demogorgon 5e.png
File:Demogorgon OotA.jpg
File:Demogorgon BoVD.jpg
File:Demogorgon mini.jpg
File:Demogorgon Prescott.png
File:Drizzt vs Demogorgon.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D-DemonPrinces}}
{{D&D-Mystara-Immortals}}

Baatezu

2020-08-14T02:38:59Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA:

{{NeedsImages}}
[[Image:Baatezu Army.jpg|300px|thumb|right|No, not that kind of [[PROMOTIONS|Promotion]], at least, [[Monstergirl|probably not.]]]]
The [[Alignment|lawful evil]] badguys from another dimension, in [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] 2nd edition. Formerly known as devils in the earlier editions, living in what was once called ''The Nine Hells''. This change was because of one-time CEO of [[TSR]] [[Lorraine Williams]], due to the events of the [[Satanic Panic]]. The term ''Baatezu'' is a [[Open_Gaming_License#Parts_of_D.26D_that_are_not_Open_Game_Content|trademark of Wizards Of The Coast]], so you won't find them mentioned in any Open License products like the d20 SRD nor [[Pathfinder]]. Their home is now called "[[Baator]]", but each of the nine levels still has the same names from Dante's Inferno.

Baatezu represent the lawful side of evil: the concept that cruelty and malice should be distributed in an orderly and efficient fashion. Backstabbers, vicious politicians and cruel warlords can opt to become petitioners in the "nine hells". They fight the [[Blood War]] against the [[Tanar'ri]] at behest of [[Asmodeus]], the ruler of Baator.

Baatezu are not born as mortals are. While only the most powerful of devils can breed at all, most opt not to do so because a child is a dangerous rival and a potent tool for their enemies. Instead new devils are made from the tortured souls of the damned, who are reprocessed after an [[Grimdark|extensive period of torture]] to strip them of their individuality. These soul shells are then reprocessed and turned into Lemures, starting their new existence as Baatezu. Lemures who please their dark lords enough - through a combination of gathering corrupted souls, guile, defeating their enemies and their master's enemies - may be promoted to a Spinagon, a grotesque, spiny gargoyle-esque monster. From stage to stage, devils begin looking more and more like their horrible masters, with the process being detailed more just below.

The use of the term Baatezu has been dropped in 5th Edition, so there is no longer any distinction between Baatezu and non-Baatezu devils (which included imps and a few other less known devils).

==The Hierarchy of Hell==
Baatezu are Lawful to a fault. They are masters of forming contracts that give themselves as many loopholes to exploit as possible, while bringing those for the other party down to zero. If a devil turns out to be clever, powerful, deceitful, lucky and sycophantic enough they may be promoted in an agonising ritual that grows a miniature fetal version of the new form inside of the devil, eventually bursting out in a grotesque and agonizing display. If a subject however fails its master, is betrayed in some way or if the master needs the energy that is released when doing so, a baatezu can be demoted back into a lesser form - which is a great humilitation for a devil.

All the various forms are part of a ranked hierarchy: the higher up the more powerful a devil is. Devils can only be promoted and demoted by their direct superiors, so it is not possible for rival devils to demote all of their rivals' servants or promote themselves to increase in power. As mentioned before, there is only so much power around to promote devils, gathered from souls. If a "drought" of sorts were to befall an area, high-ranking devils would be more stringent with their promotions or even demote their followers to reallocate resources: the latter is a powerful motivator for all devils to keep corrupting souls.

{|border=0 align=right cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 style="margin: 1em; border: 2px solid black;"
|-
! Category || Rank || Form || Punishment || Fallen Angels || Abishai
|-
| '''Least Devils''' || 1 || Lemure
|-
| || 2 || Legion Devil, Advespa|| Nupperibo || || White Abishai
|-
| || 3 || Spined Devil || || || Black Abishai
|-
| '''Lesser Devils''' || 4 || Bearded Devil || || || Green Abishai
|-
| || 5 || Imp || || || Blue Abishai
|-
| || 6 || Steel Devil || Gulthir || || Red Abishai
|-
| || 7 || Chain Devil
|-
| || 8 || Harvester Devil, Pain Devil || || Erinyes
|-
| || 9 || Amnizu
|-
| '''Greater Devils''' || 10 || Bone Devil, Orthon, Narzugon || Malebranche
|-
| || 11 || Barbed Devil
|-
| || 12 || Ice Devil || Xerfilstyx
|-
| || 13 || Logokron, Remmanon, Horned Devil, || || Pleasure Devil
|-
| || 14 || Assassin Devil
|-
| || 15 || Paeliryon
|-
| || 16 || Pit Fiend
|-
| '''Archdevils''' || 17 || (unique forms)
|-
| || Archduke || (unique forms)
|-
| || King || [[Asmodeus]]
|}

A few of the forms in the hierarchy are not part of the regular advancement. The wretched Nupperibo is the result of a demotion of a higher-ranking devil (from 3.5 onwards at least, see below), though it still outranks the lowly Lemures. However, it is skipped in the regular progrssion and is a form used as punishment, as are the Malebranche and the Xerfilstyx.

The Erinyes are an unusual group. Instead of being created from soul shells they are either fallen angels turned into their current form or born from another Erinyes. The most powerful of the Erinyes can be promoted to the rank of Brachina, or Pleasure Devil. These creatures are alluring seductresses and are ruthless in their searches for advancing to the highest ranks of devilkind. But because the step between Erinyes and Brachina is so big, only the most accomplished of Erinyes can be promoted to this rank.

Finally there are the Abishai. They are beholden to [[Tiamat]], who lives on the first layer of Baator.

==The Devils' Many Forms==
As they progress through the ranks Baatezu change into new forms: stronger, cleverer, more magical and so on. While some details might differ a higher ranking Devil is always more dangerous than its last form in some way or shape. Baatezu is the name the devils use for themselves: to make it more confusing it is also a creature subtype. All Baatezu devils have the following abilities: immunity to fire, immunity to poison, cold resist 20, acid resist 20, can see in total darkness including magical darkness, telepathic communication 100ft.

===Inside the Hierarchy===
* A '''Lemure''' is a small, pitiable creature standing at a mere 5' tall. Whenever a devil of any authority needs cannon fodder, they gather up some Maggots (the form that the petitioners of all [[Lower Planes]] take) and promote them into Lemures. Lemures are mindless and cannot speak, though they can understand telepathic commands. They are cruel and try to claw apart whatever they can as a way to get revenge on the multiverse. Promotions from Lemures are often made as a matter of convenience for a higher ranking fiend: they promote a batch of them into forms like Imps if they need spies or Bearded Devils if they need more shock troops for their armies.
* A '''Legion Devil''', or Merregon, are the weakest footsoldiers of hell who all look identical to each other. They are sharp-toothed red-skinned humanoids whose left arms are bloated, covered in metal, and end in a useless vestigial hand. They wear armor and carry a sword in their right hand. They have several abilities that make them more dangerous when they are in large groups. For example, legion devils in a group all share hit points with each other such that it is not possible to down just one of them, but when the group runs out of hit points they all drop dead at the same time. And if you target a single legion devil with a mind affecting spell, all of the legion devils around it also get a saving throw, and the spell fails if just one of the succeeds, but if none of them succeed it will affect all of them instead of just one.
* An '''Advespa''', are low class devils resembling giant black wasps with a woman's face. The more yellow strips on their body the higher their rank. They can quickly regenerate from damage except for acid and holy damage.
* A '''Spined Devil''', also known as the Spinagon is a small gargoyle-like creature covered in spines. They are sometimes used as spies by high-ranking devils, but because of their low intelligence their reports are not always dependable and tend to miss the finer nuances of what they had observed. They are cruel beings, but because of their low standing a single Spinagon is only a threat to Lemures and Nupperibos, on whom they vent their frustration and cruelty.
* '''Barbazu''' ([[Neckbeard|Bearded Devils]]) are often employed as shock troops for powerful fiends. Bearded Devils are aggressive and revel in fighting, where they swing their powerful glaives with skill. So much in fact that if they land a hit the wound will fester until attended to by either a skilled healer or a powerful healing spell is used, and even then the wound is difficult to treat. A Barbazu's beard can inflict a powerful disease upon a foe, infecting them with Devil Chills which saps away their strength. The disease has a short incubation period and lasts a lifetime when untreated, however short or long that may be. Bearded Devils can also burst into fits of frenzy, cutting through enemies in a way much like a raging [[Barbarian]] would.
* '''Imps''' are not actually Baatezu for some reason but are still part of the hierarchy of hell. They are small and weak so instead of fighting they prefer to try and tempt people into evil, laying claim to their souls if they manage to do so. Imps are cowardly and stay away from fights but they are willing to sting with their tails if the opportunity to do so arises.
** The 3rd edition [[Fiend Folio]] details three variant imps. Bloodbag imps have blood that heals people that drink it, making them the medics of hell, and they can also cast a curse that worsens bleeding from wounds. Euphoric imps are living drug dispensers with venom that causes hallucinations, which they like to use on themselves. Filth imps are outcasts from hell due to their horrible smell and often find work on the material plane using their talent for languages and codes.
* '''Steel Devils''' are powerful warriors, fighting on the front lines of the wars of Hell: either in the Blood Wars or against the armies of fellow devils. These Bueroza take the shapes of humanoids in heavy steel armor, covered in cobwebs and dust. While they can strike with enough force to send an enemy reeling, their strength comes from them gaining bonuses from fighting in ranks with their fellow Bueroza, becoming swifter and more durable as they fight. Their most potent ability is their chanting: a horrible shrieking that debilitates enemy casters and makes it more difficult for them to cast spells, making them easy prey for the Steel Devils.
* '''Chain Devils''' resemble tall humanoids dressed in nothing but chain. They can swing these around in deadly fashion, tearing at their prey in horrible ways. They can take control of chains in their range and have them attack anyone at will, and while it is possible to break a Kyton's control of a chain they will not let anyone just do this whenever they want. Chain Devils can also change their visage to resemble that of someone's loved ones or hated enemies, stunning a target. They can also regenerate parts of their bodies that were cut off and are adept at metalworking. Chain Devils are sometimes charged with torture, something they relish. This has caused them to grow a rivalry with the Pain Devils.
* '''Harvester Devils''' are often found in the material planes where they offer mortals contracts of power, wealth and other such things in exchange for their souls. They lurk in sewers, at crossroads at midnight, in back rooms of corrupt businesses or serving as courtiers to nobility. Any who approach them can ask for an infernal pact: anything they want for the price of their undying soul. They are not powerful combatants; while they carry blades that will instill a curse upon anyone that forces them to strike a good creature. Instead they will try to escape when entering combat, trying to find someone else to tempt with their contracts. But they cannot be killed unless the devil ''starts'' the fight: for some strange reason the Falxugon are protected by [[Plot Armor|powerful magic]] that remains in place unless they strike someone first. They look like mostly humanoid beings but with horns, tails and hooves, and tend to go dressed in expensive clothing.
* '''Pain Devils''' are masters of torture. Because they are hated by all other Baatezu and will be destroyed when not beholden to a lord they offer themselves to the service of powerful devils as torturers. They are very good at this, inflicting untold pain upon anyone unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. They torture the soul shells entering Hell and whoever has failed their masters, making for a powerful motivation to not fail. The Excruciarchs carry great spiked chains which they can imbue with powerful agonizing energy or swing around to hit all standing close to them. They can also inflict wounds upon non-Baatezu by just standing nearby, gain more power from inflicting wounds and can study an enemy to negate any damage reduction it might have.
* The '''Amnizus''' are the bureaucrats of hell. They record the soul shells that enter Baator, stand guard at the portals to and from the plane and record all who go through, often extorting them out of their valuables. Amnizu are particularly ambitious and try their best to improve their lot in life, working their way up the ranks through politics, intrigue and assassination. They are also tasked with hunting down fugitives, something they take much pleasure in. When facing an enemy that they cannot defeat on their own without any significant risk to them they will send their minions to deal with the target. When they can fight, an Amnizu prefers to take wing and strike targets with their [[Derp|intelligence-damaging]] touch.
* '''Bone Devils''' police the Nine Hells, observing the activities of other Baatezu and reporting on them. They are tall and strong and possess some magical ability. The Osyluth, as they are sometimes called, are freakishly thin and have large stingers with which they can inject targets with potent poisons. They will ruthlessly attack anyone who opposes them.
* '''Orthons''' are powerful soldiers in the front lines of the Blood War, specialized in killing demons. They use a combination of their bladed spears that are usable in both long and short range and magical crossbows that shoot powerful blasts of energy. Orthon are large, covered in metal plates bolted directly onto their bodies, possesses large tusks and has a pained look on its face. Orthons are skilled in fighting in formation, increasing their power and durability. They also possess the ability to stop all interdimensional movement in a 20' radius. When an Orhton is slain maggots burst from its body, who try to devour anything near the slain host before expiring themselves. Because of the nature of their armor Orthons are in constant pain, and [[World Eaters|only battle takes their mind off of this]]. They are very loyal though, and will not plot against their masters.
* '''Narzugons''' or Hell Kights are the cavalry of hell, who ride on flaming horses called Nightmares. They are humanoids wearing spiky armor. Narzugons hate everything including themselves but are surprisingly honorable and obedient, as they are formed from the souls of former paladins who fell into evil as a result of following the letter instead of the spirit of the law, and so are filled with [[RAGE]] from learning that their actions in life were wrong.
* '''Barbed Devils''' serve as the guards and bodyguards of Hell. They are tall and covered in spikes, hitting all that come too close to them. Fighting a Hamatula in close range will always result in the devil using its many spikes to stab or even impale an enemy that comes too close to them. They possess some magical ability, being able to cast Hold Person so they can use their impale attacks at their leisure.
* '''Ice Devils''', also called Gelugons, are commanders of the armed forces of hell. They prefer to avoid direct battle if possible. They are quite tall and look something like white devilish ants, often carrying large spears. Striking with its spear will cause a powerful numbing effect on a target, making it an easy prey for either the Ice Devil itself or one of its servants. They can cast several spells as well, most of which are ice-based.
* '''Logokrons''', are devils that wield [[Truenamer]] magic, which would be a lot scarier if the Truenamer wasn't the worst class in the game. A Logokron is a four-armed devil that wears armor and wields two halberds at once, and has a long tongue with symbols tattooed on it which are painful to look at.
* '''Remmanons''' are devils who love to spread conflict and are masters of manipulation and seduction. A Remmanon looks like a floating naked hairless horned man with barbed and hooked wires and other peircings hanging off its body which small pieces of paper with the names of mortals it has made deals with attached to them. A Remmanon has a telepathic aura that causes enemies around it to become confused and attack each other while making itself and its allies stronger against enemies affected by it.
* '''Horned Devils''' are powerful creatures, serving as the elite soldiers of Baator. It is a large scaled fiend with huge wings, often carrying spiked chains. They can use these weapons to deliver blows powerful enough to stun a target, and they can use their tails to cause dangerous persistent wounds. The Cornugon also possess magical abilities and can regenerate.
* '''Assassin Devils''' are widely feared and distrusted. They are vaguely humanoid with featureless faces aside from their mouths, lined with sharp teeth. They can meld into shadows with ease and cast clouds of fog to hide themselves, striking when they feel the time is right. The original Assassin Devils were natives to Baator, melted down and reformed into the Dogai. The most experienced of the bunch often have levels in the [[assassin]] [[prestige class]].
* A '''Corruption Devil''' is an information broker, trading knowledge for hefty sums of money, souls or other information. They are putrid creatures who dwell in comfort, opulence and excess, often bathing in disgusting pools and eating the finest of foods. They are some of the most powerful creatures in Baator, and not just because of its personal power. A Corruption Devil, also known as a Paeliryon or That Fucking Guy, has a lot of information about a vast number of beings and can use this information to manipulate or blackmail them in a way that is profitable for themselves. These devils are very vain, and will use their claws to disfigure their opponents in combat and belittle them as they do battle. Also, they look like obese drag queens with too many teeth.
* The '''Pit Fiends''' are the nobility of hell. They are immensely powerful, can use many kinds of magic, have teeth that transmit Devil Chills, poisoned claws, can strangle enemies to death with their bare hands and are pretty big. At this level the intrigues of hell are the most dangerous and cutthroat, with enemies on all sides trying to get the upper hand over any given devil. From this position Pit Fiends can be promoted to the rank of duke. From there one can be promoted to an unique devil with their own gender, powers and personalities, but this is seldom done because of the huge threat such a being poses to the Archdukes of hell. If this sounds familiar, good job. The highest ranking demon, called the Balor, is almost exactly the same thing - giant humanoid winged infernal monsters at the almost-top-except-uniques part of their hierarchy. The main difference, aside from the Law/Chaos thing, is that Pit Fiends are usually shown to be a bit more reptilian and don't get giant flaming whips. This makes them ''also'' almost the same thing as a [[Bloodthirster]].

===Other Promotions within the Hierarchy===
* '''Nupperibo''' are bloated, ugly creatures used as base servitors in Hell. Used as a punishment for low-ranking devils, Nupperibo are slow, blind, deaf, and unthreatening compared to other devils and fight without any kind of finesse. Yet they are used for frontline warfare in the Blood War, as cannon fodder. As such they are rarely promoted back to their former form because of the high mortality rate. Nupperibo are possibly more useful to the rivals of their superiors than to their superiors themselves. By stealing one of these fiends from its master and changing it back the devil might have important information about its master, and might even help its new master get revenge on the old one.
**At least, that's what they are from 3.5 onwards. Prior to that, they weren't even Baatezu. See normally, a Maggot just stays a Maggot until some devil either needs a Lemure or gets hungnry. But sometimes, one of them would randomly evolve into a Nupperibo. The Baatezu would herd these things and demote them back into Maggots so as to immediately promote them into Lemures, since in those editions nupperibos were the Lemure-equivalent rank of entities called "True Baatorans," which were the inhabiants of Baator before Asmodeus came to power. The idea of these things returning scares the piss out of every last baatezu. Some sources said that the baatezu were so thorough that no nupperibo ever evolved further, but other sources said there were tales of a scant few being lucky enough to do so, taking on strange forms resembling ones imprisoned in the ice of [[Baator|Stygia]].
***Reconned again in 5th edition. Now they are simply formed from the souls of people who were too lazy in their mortal life to be worthy of promotion to a higher form.
* The '''Gulthir''' is another punishment only rank. A gulthir is a large size creature resembling a giant zombie that can swallow anything smaller than itself whole. The slime that fills its stomach allows it to control the minds of creatures it swallows, so it can spit them out as temporary minions until they make their save or their eyes are washed with holy water. And if the creature it swallows is another evil outsider, it can instantly digest them to strengthen itself temporarily, or it can instead slowly digest the victim to convert them into another Gulthir. These abilities make gulthirs very useful as enforces as other devils are terrified of being digested by or turned into a gulthir as punishment, and gulthirs hate their form and are desperate to get promoted again, making them very loyal to whatever master they serve.
* The form of the '''Malebranche''' are used to punish fiends, yet allow them to keep fighting for their masters. They are deadly in combat and use their massive ranseurs to strike with great force.
* '''Xerfilstyx''' are some of the most pitiable creatures in Hell. Shaped like bloated slug-devils they live in the depths of the river Styx, stripping them of all their memories. The constant exposure to the Styx has driven them insane, with the creatures finding only some solace in the memories of the lost that gather at the bottom of the river. It is nearly impossible for a Xerfilstyx to be promoted back to a higher rank because of its insanity and it being bound to the Styx.
* Based on the Furies of Greek myth, the '''Erinyes''' originate from the angels that left heaven alongside Asmodeus when Baator was being established. Others joined their ranks in later eons, all of them fallen angels. While most of them are female in form there are a few males amongst their number, with no difference being made between them. The gorgeous Erinyes stand apart from their fellow devils, their corrupted angelic arrogance making them see the souls of the damned as being beneath them. In turn the other Baatezu see the Erinyes as stuck up pretenders and usurpers of the title of devil. Still they are respected for their strength, cruelty and intelligence. Unique to the Erinyes, their promoted forms and unique female devils they are capable of becoming pregnant. Their children will always be Erinyes, and are raised in secret and well-guarded compounds. Because of their arrogance Erinyes often forego promotion to higher forms, instead opting to stay in their current, less powerful form.
* A '''Pleasure Devil''' is an improved form of the Erinyes. Even more beautiful, seductive and powerful than their previous forms, the Pleasure Devils do intend to advance to the rank of Pit Fiend. They are conniving and plotting as the other devils of their ranks, and will use their considerable skills to advance themselves. Brachina as they are sometimes called are sent to tempt those of particular virtue and goodness to the side of evil, using their wiles, bodies and spellcasting to get their way. Because of their unearthly beauty they are popular playthings amongst the highest ranking devils, discarded as quickly as selected. Because of this and the ambition of the Brachina they tend to spend a lot of time on the material plane so that they are in command, and not some other fiend.
* '''Abishai''' are the cruel servants of Tiamat. They are arrogant, even for draconic creatures; they consider themselves [[Bullshit|far above the rank of Tiamat's other servants]], including full-blooded dragons and the dragonspawn. They exist in several colors are very cruel, [[Skub|hate everyone not of their own kind]]. Souls that enter the Nine Hells under her control still become Lemures, but after that become Abishai, dragon-looking devils who tempt mortals to enter pacts with them, only to torture the mortal to the limit of their suffering. After the rank of Red Abishai they can continue to promote as normal, starting with becoming a Chain Devil, but almost all Abishai stop advancing at the rank of the Red Abishai.

==[[Archdevil|The Archdukes of Hell]]==
The various layers of hell are ruled by a group of unique devils of immense power; whether or not these Archdukes are the same thing as [[Archdevil]]s seems to vary depending on which sourcebook you have access to. In some versions, Archedevils include both the Archdukes, and the lesser Dukes and other unique devils. Each of them is a force to be reckoned with, commanding vast resources and armies of Baator. They all carry the blessing of Asmodeus in some way, which is very important: Asmodeus can withdraw his support at will and without explanation, as poor Moloch can attest. While the various lords have to deal with the machinations of their servants like all devils do, their greatest foes are their fellow lords, plotting and scheming against one another. In their high positions there are only two ways to gain a promotion: either by defeating one of their rivals and usurping their territories or overthrowing the Overlord of Hell himself, Asmodeus. Hence why Asmodeus never leaves the place that instantly kills anyone he doesn't want to be there, ignoring all defenses.

Devils who are powerful enough to gain a unique form but do not rule over a layer of hell are the Dukes or Duchesses ranked immediately below the Archdukes and a few other powerful devils who are the highest ranked servants of an Archduke.

== Dungeons & Dragons 4E ==
As with a lot of things, the Baatezu of [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition]] have in some ways changed dramatically and in other ways haven't changed at all. For starters, because this is now years after the [[Satanic Panic]] died down, the term "Baatezu" is no longer used; Devils are Devils, and the game even uses traditional AD&D names for the distinct races.

Their origins in this edition have changed, since 4e's cosmology no longer uses [[alignment]] as the end-all justification for anything's existence. 4e's devils are Fallen Angels - which is an entirely separate thing to being Evil Angels, as [[angel]]s in this edition are Unaligned and serve all deities equally, benevolent or malevolent. What this means is that devils are not merely "Angels who are Evil", it means that they are Angels who betrayed their patron deity and were cursed by it, corrupted into twisted reflections of what they once were.

The story is long and the threads differ depending on the source, but the ultimate tapestry remains the same; [[Asmodeus]] was once an [[Archangel]] serving under a benevolent deity, until he chose to betray his master. Maybe because of pride, maybe because of the manipulations of [[Pazuzu]], maybe because he meant well and saw his master failing in his efforts to contribute to the Dawn War. The end result was the same: Asmodeus descended into the newly created [[Abyss]] and achieved something that even the [[Demon Prince]]s had failed at - he found the Seed of Evil, the crystalized remains of the [[obyrith]]s' dead universe that had created the Abyss. Breaking off just a sliver of the Seed, also known as the Heart of the Abyss, he fashioned it into his Ruby Rod and used its power to become a god.

Incidentally, this is why the [[Blood War]] is fought in 4e; the demons are outraged that Asmodeus stole some of the Heart, whilst Asmodeus regrets not stealing even ''more'' and wants to get back down there to take some more. After all, if this tiny sliver made him so powerful, what would a larger hunk do?

Anyway, now brimming with power, Asmodeus manipulated most of his fellow angels into joining him as he murdered their former ruler. As the god died, though, he cursed them all, which had three effects. Firstly, it devastated the Dominion that Asmodeus had sought to claim, burning it into the blasted realm of [[Baator]]. Secondly, it wracked the Fallen Angels, corrupting them into hideously deformed mockeries of their former selves. Finally, it bound them all to Baator, rendering them prisoners in the wasteland that was they had sought to conquer.

This is why Asmodeus and his minions are so interested in claiming mortal souls. Beyond the fact they need souls to propagate themselves - unlike demons, who spontaneously arise from the stuff of the Abyss - it is through torturing the damned that they extract the magical energies they need to slowly wear away at the bindings that imprison them as a whole in Baator. Plus, getting summoned is, for many devils, their only chance of leaving Baator. As a result, devils compete with each other fiercely for who can accumulate the most souls for Hell, but all are united in accumulating souls and denying the gods their petitioners.

Who was the god they betrayed? Nobody knows anymore; Asmodeus has done his level best over the eons to erase all knowledge of that god, fearful that if somebody discovered his name, they could resurrect him, and he would be ''pissed'' with his former minions. He's only ever referred to as "He-Who-Was", and some suspect he might have been humanity's creator god. Like [[Zarus]], but not evil.

* '''Imp''' level 3 lurker
* '''Legion Devils''' compose Hell's armies, level 6-21 minions
* '''Spined Devil''' or Spinagon, level 6 skirmisher
* '''[[Succubus]]''' are devils in 4E not demons, level 9 controller
* '''Chain Devil''' or Kyton, level 11 skirmisher
* '''Bearded Devil''' or Barbazu, level 13 soldier
* '''Bone Devil''' or Osyluth, level 17 controller/leader
* '''Ice Devil''' or Gelugon, level 20 soldier
* '''War Devil''' or Malebranche, level 22 brute/leader
* '''Pit Fiend''' level 26 elite soldier/leader

== Dungeons & Dragons 5E ==
{|border=0 align=right cellspacing=0 cellpadding=1 style="margin: 1em; border: 2px solid black;"
|-
! Category || Rank || Form || Abishai
|-
| '''Least Devils''' || 1 || Lemure Nupperibo
|-
| '''Lesser Devils''' || 2 || Imp
|-
| || 3 || Spined Devil
|-
| || 4 || Bearded Devil Merregon
|-
| || 5 || Barbed Devil || White Abishai
|-
| || 6 || Chain Devil || Black Abishai
|-
| || 7 || Bone Devil
|-
| '''Greater Devils''' || 8 || Horned Devil Orthon
|-
| || 9 || Erinyes ||
|-
| || 10 || Ice Devil Narzugon || Green Abishai Blue Abishai
|-
| || 11 || Pit Fiend Amnizu || Red Abishai
|-
| '''Archdevils''' || 12 || Duke or Duchess
|-
| || 13 || Archduke or Archduchess
|}
In 5e the Hierarchy changed for the Devils.

==Pathfinder==
In Pathfinder the devils perform pretty much the same duty as in D&D. The difference is that they aren't called Baatezu or live in Baator, since those names are excluded by the [[Open Gaming License]]. Instead they're just devils who live in capital-H Hell. There are 20 different kinds of devils mentioned in the six Bestiaries that are released so far, ranging the whole garmut from CR1 to CR20. All the devils from the OGL like the Pit Fiend are included as well, though the Chain Devil has been [[Kyton| given its own subspecies]], because... well, bluntly, because ''someone'' over there is getting off on extreme body mod/BDSM stuff, have you ''seen'' [[Zon-Kuthon]]?

Bestiary 6 also lists the eight [[Archdevil]]s of Hell. They are Mythic level monsters with a CR in the 26-30 range. Aside from getting a whole slew of spell-like abilities, the use of the Miracle spell as befits their portfolio and +10 on Sense Motive checks, many of them also possess artifacts that are nigh impossible to destroy. I mean, the artifact of the weakest Archdevil can only be destroyed by exposing it to a truth spoken by an immortal which has only ever spoken lies, then cast into a magic portal with no entrance or destination. Many of the names of these Archdevils overlap with those of Baator with matching layers to rule, with a few calling back to earlier Lords of the Nine.

{{Pathfinder-Fiends}}
{{D&D-Outsiders}}

Obyrith

2020-08-14T02:33:55Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA: /* Types of Obyrith */

{{NeedsImages}}
The '''Obyrith''' are pre-primordial demons in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''. They are all unfathomably [[Alignment|chaotic and evil]] extradimensional horrors that existed long before the [[tanar'ri]] came into being and very likely existed before the universe itself. They take heavy inspiration from the cosmic horrors found in [[Lovecraft]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos]].

Obyrith first appeared in 2006's ''Fiendish Codex I'' sourcebook for [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|''D&D'' 3.5]], which dealt with the [[Abyss]] and all its horrific denizens. Here they were introduced as one of the three types of demons alongside the [[tanar'ri]] and [[loumara]]. Two types of obyrith were detailed, the [[ekolid]] and [[sibriex]], as well as the obyrith [[Demon Prince]]s [[Dagon]], [[Obox-ob]], [[Pale Night]], and [[Pazuzu]]. Over the next year a few more types of obyrith would be trickled out in supplemental online postings, magazines and ''[[Monster Manual]] V'', while Dagon himself would get a much more posh write-up in ''[[Dragon Magazine|Dragon]] #349''.

But it was [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition|4th Edition]] that really shoved obyrith more into the spotlight. Confirming their identity as having come from a universe before the current one, the Obyrith actually won the war of Order versus Chaos! The absolute mad<s>men</s>things! They devoured and twisted reality so badly that their own universe was finally unmade, collapsing into a singularity of pure spite and hatred for existence. But this Shard of Pure Evil™ somehow managed to pierce the veil into [[Greyhawk|a different universe]] that was just beginning to take form, and inside of it about a dozen Obyrith managed to survive making the leap.

'''And they were pissed!''' Here they were, just getting done finally destroying existence, and now there's another one being created! Luckily for them, their shard was found by one of the new neutral [[god]]s who was starting to tidy up the chaotic elemental afterbirth, [[Tharizdun]], and they were able to instantly and so thoroughly corrupt him that he created the [[Abyss]] at their behest. Now free to exact their hate on a new universe, they began to battle other primordial entities for control of the newly minted Abyss.

Meanwhile, all the other gods stopped doing whatever it was that they were doing and placed Tharizdun in the ''D&D'' equivalent of gay baby jail for all of eternity.

The Queen of Chaos would be the main leader of the forces of chaos as they attacked the forces of law and order; however, infighting would eventually lead to a fracturing between the obyrith and the tanar'ri they created to be their footsoldiers. Chaos gonna chaos. This opening allowed the [[Upper Planes]] to invade the Abyss and righteously buttfuck the obyrith to the brink of extinction.

Obyriths have slightly different traits than Tanar'ri. They are only resistant to electric damage instead of being immune, and they don't have the Tanar'ri ability to summon other demons, but instead, most Obyrith have an ability called Form of Madness that causes permanent insanity in anyone except other chaotic evil outsiders that encounters that Obyrith and fails their save. The mental effect of the insanity is different depending on the type of Obyrith, and Obyrith lords have a unique insanity effect. And being blind doesn't protect you from this. [[Pazuzu]] has lost this abilitiy due to evolving into a more Tanar'ri like demon and replaced it with an aura that lets him control evil flying creatures, and [[Pale Night]]'s form is so horrifying that it causes instant death on a failed save, but she is unable to reveal for longer than a few seconds because the universe itself forces her to hide it under a veil. Obyriths additionally all have true seeing, immunity to mind-affecting effects, and fast healing.

A few obyrith demons return in 5e, but the word is no longer used because all demons are now just categorized as "demons".

===Types of Obyrith===
* Draudnu: Strange round demons with three long spider-like legs at the top of their body. Their body tapers towards the bottom, ending in a red eye surrounded by three wicked clawed arms. They can extend these clawed arms up to 15 feet and use them to immobilize enemies by embedding them in a victim and then breaking them off and growing a new one. A Draudnu's form of madness causes victims to become sickened and believe their is something growing inside them.
* Ekolid: Vile insectoid horrors, combining all the worst aspects of ants, scorpions, spiders and anything else you wouldn't want to get bitten or stung by. They typically exist in swarms, but on the 663rd layer of the Abyss they construct massive hives as complex as cities. They reproducing by planting their eggs in victims. An Ekolid's form of madness causes you to hallucinate biting insects crawling all over your skin.
* Golothoma: Long and wormlike with a single red eye at their anterior end surrounded by three scything claw-like appendages. These claws can reach through dimensions to attack other creatures. They don't have a mouth, so they feed through their own shadow. A Golothoma's form of madness causes you to become sickened while in darkness or bright light and makes you weaker against shadow magic and attacks from shadowy creatures.
* Laghathti: Like a disgusting slimy, black octopus, laghathti lurk within the [[River Styx]] and steal memories from souls that pass by.
* Sibriex: These resemble enormous and grotesque floating humanoid heads that are shackled to the ground by hooks and chains. Said to have a knack for flesh-crafting, the creation of the tanar'ri is likely their doing. A Sibriex's form of madness causes you to believe that the sibriex is the most perfect physical form, which makes you less resistant to the sibriex's enchantment abilities and damages your charisma.
* Uzollru: Similar to colossal aquatic centipedes, but with flippers instead of legs. Their head has a single red eye surrounded by feeder tentacles. They mostly serve Dagon in the 89th layer of the Abyss, Shadowsea.
* Verakia: XBAWKSHUEG [[dragon]]-esque obyriths which exist in the 88th layer of the Abyss, which is [[Demogorgon]]'s pad. They are mindless marauding abominations; anyone who would even look upon one is driven to homicidal fury.

===Obyrith Lords/Princes===
* [[Areex]], The Forgotten Prince (imprisoned)
* [[Asima]], The Unanticipated (dead)
* [[Bechard]], The Rotting Husk (alive but dying extremely slowly)
* [[Cabiri]], The Watching Master (imprisoned)
* [[Dagon]], Prince of the Depths
* [[Obox-ob]], Prince of Vermin
* [[Pale Night]], The Mother of Demons
* [[Pazuzu]], Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Sertrous]], Prince of Heretics (dead but trying to come back)
* [[Ugudenk]], The Squirming King

The [[qlippoth]] of ''[[Pathfinder]]'' are basically a knock-off of these nasty bastards since obyrith, much like the tanar'ri, are not available for use under the [[Open Gaming License]].

{{D&D-Outsiders}}
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Monsters]]

Obyrith

2020-08-14T02:33:29Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA: /* Types of Obyrith */

{{NeedsImages}}
The '''Obyrith''' are pre-primordial demons in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''. They are all unfathomably [[Alignment|chaotic and evil]] extradimensional horrors that existed long before the [[tanar'ri]] came into being and very likely existed before the universe itself. They take heavy inspiration from the cosmic horrors found in [[Lovecraft]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos]].

Obyrith first appeared in 2006's ''Fiendish Codex I'' sourcebook for [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|''D&D'' 3.5]], which dealt with the [[Abyss]] and all its horrific denizens. Here they were introduced as one of the three types of demons alongside the [[tanar'ri]] and [[loumara]]. Two types of obyrith were detailed, the [[ekolid]] and [[sibriex]], as well as the obyrith [[Demon Prince]]s [[Dagon]], [[Obox-ob]], [[Pale Night]], and [[Pazuzu]]. Over the next year a few more types of obyrith would be trickled out in supplemental online postings, magazines and ''[[Monster Manual]] V'', while Dagon himself would get a much more posh write-up in ''[[Dragon Magazine|Dragon]] #349''.

But it was [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition|4th Edition]] that really shoved obyrith more into the spotlight. Confirming their identity as having come from a universe before the current one, the Obyrith actually won the war of Order versus Chaos! The absolute mad<s>men</s>things! They devoured and twisted reality so badly that their own universe was finally unmade, collapsing into a singularity of pure spite and hatred for existence. But this Shard of Pure Evil™ somehow managed to pierce the veil into [[Greyhawk|a different universe]] that was just beginning to take form, and inside of it about a dozen Obyrith managed to survive making the leap.

'''And they were pissed!''' Here they were, just getting done finally destroying existence, and now there's another one being created! Luckily for them, their shard was found by one of the new neutral [[god]]s who was starting to tidy up the chaotic elemental afterbirth, [[Tharizdun]], and they were able to instantly and so thoroughly corrupt him that he created the [[Abyss]] at their behest. Now free to exact their hate on a new universe, they began to battle other primordial entities for control of the newly minted Abyss.

Meanwhile, all the other gods stopped doing whatever it was that they were doing and placed Tharizdun in the ''D&D'' equivalent of gay baby jail for all of eternity.

The Queen of Chaos would be the main leader of the forces of chaos as they attacked the forces of law and order; however, infighting would eventually lead to a fracturing between the obyrith and the tanar'ri they created to be their footsoldiers. Chaos gonna chaos. This opening allowed the [[Upper Planes]] to invade the Abyss and righteously buttfuck the obyrith to the brink of extinction.

Obyriths have slightly different traits than Tanar'ri. They are only resistant to electric damage instead of being immune, and they don't have the Tanar'ri ability to summon other demons, but instead, most Obyrith have an ability called Form of Madness that causes permanent insanity in anyone except other chaotic evil outsiders that encounters that Obyrith and fails their save. The mental effect of the insanity is different depending on the type of Obyrith, and Obyrith lords have a unique insanity effect. And being blind doesn't protect you from this. [[Pazuzu]] has lost this abilitiy due to evolving into a more Tanar'ri like demon and replaced it with an aura that lets him control evil flying creatures, and [[Pale Night]]'s form is so horrifying that it causes instant death on a failed save, but she is unable to reveal for longer than a few seconds because the universe itself forces her to hide it under a veil. Obyriths additionally all have true seeing, immunity to mind-affecting effects, and fast healing.

A few obyrith demons return in 5e, but the word is no longer used because all demons are now just categorized as "demons".

===Types of Obyrith===
* Draudnu: Strange round demons with three long spider-like legs at the top of their body. Their body tapers towards the bottom, ending in a red eye surrounded by three wicked clawed arms. They can extend these clawed arms up to 15 feet and use them to immobilize enemies by embedding them in a victim and then breaking them off and growing a new one. A Draudnu's form of madness causes victims to become sickened be believe their is something growing inside them.
* Ekolid: Vile insectoid horrors, combining all the worst aspects of ants, scorpions, spiders and anything else you wouldn't want to get bitten or stung by. They typically exist in swarms, but on the 663rd layer of the Abyss they construct massive hives as complex as cities. They reproducing by planting their eggs in victims. An Ekolid's form of madness causes you to hallucinate biting insects crawling all over your skin.
* Golothoma: Long and wormlike with a single red eye at their anterior end surrounded by three scything claw-like appendages. These claws can reach through dimensions to attack other creatures. They don't have a mouth, so they feed through their own shadow. A Golothoma's form of madness causes you to become sickened while in darkness or bright light and makes you weaker against shadow magic and attacks from shadowy creatures.
* Laghathti: Like a disgusting slimy, black octopus, laghathti lurk within the [[River Styx]] and steal memories from souls that pass by.
* Sibriex: These resemble enormous and grotesque floating humanoid heads that are shackled to the ground by hooks and chains. Said to have a knack for flesh-crafting, the creation of the tanar'ri is likely their doing. A Sibriex's form of madness causes you to believe that the sibriex is the most perfect physical form, which makes you less resistant to the sibriex's enchantment abilities and damages your charisma.
* Uzollru: Similar to colossal aquatic centipedes, but with flippers instead of legs. Their head has a single red eye surrounded by feeder tentacles. They mostly serve Dagon in the 89th layer of the Abyss, Shadowsea.
* Verakia: XBAWKSHUEG [[dragon]]-esque obyriths which exist in the 88th layer of the Abyss, which is [[Demogorgon]]'s pad. They are mindless marauding abominations; anyone who would even look upon one is driven to homicidal fury.

===Obyrith Lords/Princes===
* [[Areex]], The Forgotten Prince (imprisoned)
* [[Asima]], The Unanticipated (dead)
* [[Bechard]], The Rotting Husk (alive but dying extremely slowly)
* [[Cabiri]], The Watching Master (imprisoned)
* [[Dagon]], Prince of the Depths
* [[Obox-ob]], Prince of Vermin
* [[Pale Night]], The Mother of Demons
* [[Pazuzu]], Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Sertrous]], Prince of Heretics (dead but trying to come back)
* [[Ugudenk]], The Squirming King

The [[qlippoth]] of ''[[Pathfinder]]'' are basically a knock-off of these nasty bastards since obyrith, much like the tanar'ri, are not available for use under the [[Open Gaming License]].

{{D&D-Outsiders}}
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Monsters]]

Demogorgon

2020-08-14T02:26:19Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA:

{{dnd-stub}}
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Demogorgon
|Symbol = [[File:Demogorgon.png|200px]]
|Alignment = Chaotic Evil
|Divine Rank = Demon Prince, Eternal Immortal
|Pantheon = Demonic, [[Mystara]]n (Entropy)
|Portfolio = Enervation, Madness, Reptiles, Aberrations
|Domains = '''3E:''' Corruption, Demonic, Chaos, Evil
|Home Plane = ''Gaping Maw'' ([[Abyss]])
|Worshippers = [[Kopru]], [[Ixitxachitl]], Mad beings, Demons, Deformed
|Favoured Weapon =
}}
'''Demogorgon''' is the most famous, or at least infamous, [[Demon Prince]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. Having been around in every single edition since the game was created, he is the Prince of Demons - the closest thing the [[Abyss]] has to a singular, all-powerful ruler, with only [[Orcus]] and [[Graz'zt]] really having any chance of challenging his might.

Demogorgon is infamous for taking the somewhat mix'n'match appearance of early D&D demons and really turning it to his advantage. For the most part, Demogorgon resembles something almost [[dinosaur]]ian; a giant, bipedal, predatory reptile. Except he's got two heads, resembling the heads of baboons (although the artists often give him the heads of ''mandrills'', either because mandrills look cooler, or they just don't know the difference), and each arm splits into two tentacles.

Perhaps the greatest limitation that Demogorgon faces is that he is legitimately insane; [[Kairos Fateweaver|each head has its own unique personality, and so he's constantly fighting himself to determine which persona gets to be top dog]]. His left head is called Aameul and has a silver tongue that can charm any creature, while the right head, Hethradiah, can cause insanity. They seek to dominate or kill one another, just as their combined self seeks to slay or overpower all life. Demogorgon is a fearsome foe in battle, capable of rotting flesh from bones with but a caress of his tentacles and draining the energy of anyone slapped by his tail.

Demogorgon has few followers amongst the humanoid races, but he has many amongst the more monstrous people. Yuan-ti, troglodytes, ixitxachitl and hosts of demons worship Demogorgon as their lord. These cults are depraved and engage in all manner of horrific rituals and sacrifices to their lord. Humanoids rarely worship him as cults, but individuals dedicated to the Prince of Demons tend to be just as dangerous, given that they are quite often high-ranking members of society, and his influence is thought to be the source of many monstrous versions of natural creatures, like ettins and merrow.

Demogorgon's layer of The Gaping Maw is the 88th of the Abyss. While it's a tropical realm with plenty of water it is not a hospitable plane, with many different kinds of demons roving the surface and the ocean looking for things to devour. Demogorgon runs the great city of Lemoriax, which is one of the premier slave markets in the Great Wheel. He frequently stalks through his city to whip his followers into a frenzy. His layer is linked to the next layer, Dagon's home of Shadowsea. The two are allied, which effectively means they stay off of each other's backs.

Demogorgon is the creator of a race of [[Lizardfolk]] called the [[Khaasta]]s. In a rare moment of generosity, he decided to set them free after his generals started complaining that they were difficult to command and not as effective in battle as true demons, since they had served him loyally for so long. [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5e]] expands on Demogorgon's creations, crediting him with the accidental creation of ettins, due to [[ogres]] being exposed to his sigil and developing, like Demogorgon, a second head, or the merrow being the result of merfolk mutated by his dark influence.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Demogorgon 3e.jpg
File:Demogorgon 4e.jpg
File:Demogorgon 5e.png
File:Demogorgon OotA.jpg
File:Demogorgon BoVD.jpg
File:Demogorgon mini.jpg
File:Demogorgon Prescott.png
File:Drizzt vs Demogorgon.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D-DemonPrinces}}
{{D&D-Mystara-Immortals}}

Demogorgon

2020-08-14T02:20:48Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA:

{{dnd-stub}}
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Demogorgon
|Symbol = [[File:Demogorgon.png|200px]]
|Alignment = Chaotic Evil
|Divine Rank = Demon Prince, Eternal Immortal
|Pantheon = Demonic, [[Mystara]]n (Entropy)
|Portfolio = Enervation, Madness, Reptiles, Aberrations
|Domains = '''3E:''' Corruption, Demonic, Chaos, Evil
|Home Plane = ''Gaping Maw'' ([[Abyss]])
|Worshippers = [[Kopru]], [[Ixitxachitl]], Mad beings, Demons, Deformed
|Favoured Weapon =
}}
'''Demogorgon''' is the most famous, or at least infamous, [[Demon Prince]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. Having been around in every single edition since the game was created, he is the Prince of Demons - the closest thing the [[Abyss]] has to a singular, all-powerful ruler, with only [[Orcus]] and [[Graz'zt]] really having any chance of challenging his might.

Demogorgon is infamous for taking the somewhat mix'n'match appearance of early D&D demons and really turning it to his advantage. For the most part, Demogorgon resembles something almost [[dinosaur]]ian; a giant, bipedal, predatory reptile. Except he's got two heads, resembling the heads of baboons (although the artists often give him the heads of ''mandrils'', an animal commonly confused with baboons), and each arm splits into two tentacles.

Perhaps the greatest limitation that Demogorgon faces is that he is legitimately insane; [[Kairos Fateweaver|each head has its own unique personality, and so he's constantly fighting himself to determine which persona gets to be top dog]]. His left head is called Aameul and has a silver tongue that can charm any creature, while the right head, Hethradiah, can cause insanity. They seek to dominate or kill one another, just as their combined self seeks to slay or overpower all life. Demogorgon is a fearsome foe in battle, capable of rotting flesh from bones with but a caress of his tentacles and draining the energy of anyone slapped by his tail.

Demogorgon has few followers amongst the humanoid races, but he has many amongst the more monstrous people. Yuan-ti, troglodytes, ixitxachitl and hosts of demons worship Demogorgon as their lord. These cults are depraved and engage in all manner of horrific rituals and sacrifices to their lord. Humanoids rarely worship him as cults, but individuals dedicated to the Prince of Demons tend to be just as dangerous, given that they are quite often high-ranking members of society, and his influence is thought to be the source of many monstrous versions of natural creatures, like ettins and merrow.

Demogorgon's layer of The Gaping Maw is the 88th of the Abyss. While it's a tropical realm with plenty of water it is not a hospitable plane, with many different kinds of demons roving the surface and the ocean looking for things to devour. Demogorgon runs the great city of Lemoriax, which is one of the premier slave markets in the Great Wheel. He frequently stalks through his city to whip his followers into a frenzy. His layer is linked to the next layer, Dagon's home of Shadowsea. The two are allied, which effectively means they stay off of each other's backs.

Demogorgon is the creator of a race of [[Lizardfolk]] called the [[Khaasta]]s. In a rare moment of generosity, he decided to set them free after his generals started complaining that they were difficult to command and not as effective in battle as true demons, since they had served him loyally for so long. [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5e]] expands on Demogorgon's creations, crediting him with the accidental creation of ettins, due to [[ogres]] being exposed to his sigil and developing, like Demogorgon, a second head, or the merrow being the result of merfolk mutated by his dark influence.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Demogorgon 3e.jpg
File:Demogorgon 4e.jpg
File:Demogorgon 5e.png
File:Demogorgon OotA.jpg
File:Demogorgon BoVD.jpg
File:Demogorgon mini.jpg
File:Demogorgon Prescott.png
File:Drizzt vs Demogorgon.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D-DemonPrinces}}
{{D&D-Mystara-Immortals}}

SCP Foundation

2020-08-14T02:02:47Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA: /* Famous SCPs */

{{meh}}

[[Image:SCP_Foundation_emblem.png|300px|thumb|right|Secure. Contain. Protect.]]
The SCP Foundation''' is a writing site '''focusing on scientific descriptions of terrifying, confusing, or just plain weird monsters, events, [[Warp|locations]], etc. Expect plenty of REDACTED all across the website. The community prioritizes quality writing over pretty much everything else, and as such it is THE place to go if you like top-tier horror fiction writing. The fucking huge critical community within will RIP'N'TEAR bad articles to pieces. (On the flip side, if you want to read some hilariously bad writing, go to the lowest-rated articles page. You will know the true meaning of [[Derp|stupid]].) The SCP Foundation mainly consists of extremely horrific [[grimdark|GRIMDARK]], but also has its light-hearted moments, and at points, absurd and ironic humor.

While the descriptions on the SCP Foundation website and the hinted-at setting loosely binding the different articles together are not directly related to any specific traditional games; the whole thing is a goldmine of ideas for your horror games from [[Delta Green]] to [[World of Darkness]] to [[Call of Cthulhu]] and everything in between; or even if you simply want to throw something weird at your players to deal with for a change.

==Origins==
The SCP Foundation started when some anon on /x/ wrote a clinically-toned article about a homicidal concrete statue that only moves when you don't look at it, spawning the idea of a worldwide conspiracy to suppress similar "anomalies". In this universe, Creepypasta Events like: "If you visit the ninth floor of a certain apartment at midnight, a spirit will assrape you and split your head open" are very much real, and the Foundation finds them and isolates them for the good of the world at large. Said fictional organization would send agents to survey the existence of supernatural phenomena, contain them (if possible) for analysis, and protect the public from the consequences by any means necessary, said means including (and sometimes surpassing) teleportation to alternate universes.

It eventually shaped into a fictional wiki where thousands of these "SCP"s (items, phenomena, or persons) are contained, by ludicrous force if necessary. Extensive descriptions and containment procedures are the most favored parts of the writings, as well as [[Grimdark|UTTERLY FUCKING TERRIBLE REALIZATIONS]] that your world is a clusterfuck of horror which out-edges 40K on several levels. For example: SCP-682 is a completely invincible reptilian creature that is extremely hostile to humanity, and can barely be kept at bay via complete immersion in hyper-corrosive acid. There are also writings about the personnel within the Foundation, logs of fictional excursions to capture SCPs, and experiment logs to comb through; as well as weapons and personnel that surpass the "legitimate" human authorities' power by magnitudes: [[Mage: The Ascension|extrasolar bases across the universe]] are the only a fraction of it. We're talking about bases in alternate dimensions for inventory and endless resources dug from a plain of white rock.

And that's just the very tip of the iceberg. One SCP is a genetic phenomena that makes the dreaming person's dreams real. That's right. Everything in reality, from World Wars to history of empires *and* new SCP's (there is a rumor that this phenomena was the start of everything) is rewritten in one night's sleep. The Foundation's obvious response is to capture, detain, drug them into complete and total amnesia, use them as disposable anomaly-destroyers, and quietly kill them afterwards. Obviously this genetic trait is so dangerous and disruptive that the organization will ''authorize the [[Exterminatus|'''total genocide''']] of'' "every population that may exhibit the phenomena above average." Another is Nikolai Tesla's Reverse Entropy Tesla Gun that will DESTROY EXISTENCE in a few centuries, with NO WAY OF STOPPING IT. There's also a rock eating fish that eats California's seabed, slowly worsening the San Andreas Faultline, and the foundation failed to kill them off.

And the worst part? There are thousands more yet to be contained or even discovered.

==Classification==
Every SCP has a classification. It's basically a handy way of labeling them as to whether they have the power to totally assfuck you or not. Some of them may even have circumstantial benefits for you interacting with them, goodies like healing or granting you (usually abominable) powers. These classes are:

===Primary Class===
The initial labels given to any anomaly by the Foundation.

*Safe: There is a good understanding about the object/entity, or it's easy to contain. Can still be dangerous if someone isn't careful with it. Think of it like a loaded gun: it's "safe" if you know what you're doing. Generally speaking, if you stick it in a box, it'll be fine.

*Euclid: The object/entity is unpredictable and the Foundation has very little understanding of it. Euclid doesn't necessarily mean 'Mortally Dangerous' but a great deal of them are. Euclid entities might also be sentient, in part or whole, so they are generally locked behind many doors and very thick walls.

*Keter: The good shit. Almost all are an extremely dangerous tier entity/object. At the very least they're <s>contained</s> heavily guarded, protected by specially trained MTF's (Mobile Task Forces). These things, if they ever manage to breach containment, will inevitably destroy the world in one of innumerable horrible ways. Fortunately the Foundation has ways of mitigating these risks.

===Secondary Class===
Replacement labels for things re-classified from the Primary Class. Given to SCP's that the staff of the Foundation have a comprehensive understanding of. True safety.

*Neutralized: SCP entities/objects that are dead, destroyed, disabled, or otherwise no longer a threat. Often-times these were former Keter-class SCP's that the Foundation managed to dispose of. Their only remains are what can be gleaned from the heavily-edited documentation and records that the Foundation keeps. No one really wants to keep a doomsday device around, right?

*Explained: SCP entities/objects that are no longer considered to be abnormal, which may be due to the Foundation mistaking something for an anomaly before closer examination, or due to advances in science allowing it to be understood, or due to an anomaly becoming so widespread that it has become the new normal.

*Irrelevant: Like the former Apollyon, it means simply. "Fuck it." It's gonna happen one way or another.

===Esoteric Classes===
The following Object Classes fall outside of the purview of standard classification.

*Thaumiel: Anomalous material or entities that can be used by the Foundation to [[Ordo Xenos|contain or counteract the effects of other highly dangerous anomalies.]] Sometimes the best thing to do is fight fire with fire. Since its introduction, it's become an unofficial primary class, and is the fourth most-used containment class on the site.

*Apollyon: First used by SCP-2317 (iteration 6, Destroyer of Worlds which cannot be stopped and will destroy the world in the next 30 years) Apollyon is often derisively referred to as "Super-Keter." This class is only used for anomalies that present an apocalyptic threat that the Foundation has no way of stopping, slowing down, or undoing. For example: in one alternate timeline the sun became an Apollyon SCP when something caused the sun to start turning any living thing exposed to sunlight into blob monsters. This included trees, keters, ANYTHING. The author community mostly considers use of Apollyon to be in poor taste; this has been lampshaded in some Tales, like the Antimemetics Division tale [http://www.scp-wiki.net/the-wild-light Wild Light]: "Current thinking...is that Apollyon classification is a confession of defeat. It's bad for morale. It cultivates defeatist attitudes. [Keter is] the top of the hierarchy".

*Archon: One of the more popular esoteric classes, Archon denotes items that would do more damage contained than uncontained.

*Hiemal: Also growing in popularity, Hiemal-class objects are anomalous systems composed of separate anomalous parts, usually with one containing the other. One example was an anomaly that caused carnivores to stop hunting and survive entirely by eating themselves and regenerating, but when the Foundation contained it, a new anomaly was unleased that caused plant life and herbivores to start growing out of control and become extremely aggressive, because the Foundation didn't listen to the warnings given by the humans infected by the first anomaly.

*Cernnunos: A newer class, Cernnunos-class SCPs are entities that could be contained ''or neutralized,'' by already known means, but the cost of those means have been deemed too high, and the Foundation is actively looking for other means of containment. One example is a portal that could be closed, by the sacrifice of "every human heart that has not yet known silence."

==Famous SCPs==
*SCP-049: A plague-doctor whose outfit is actually part of his body, he is obsessed with curing a supposed "Pestilence" by turning people into zombies. [[Skub|It's unclear whether this pestilence is a real thing that only he can see, or if he is simply suffering from schizophrenia.]]
*SCP-055: An unknown object that erases any memories about itself. The Foundation doesn't even remember when or how they obtained it, or even who wrote the object's containment procedures and why they work, but it is possible to remember what the object isn't, and so the Foundation is figuring it out by elimination. This spawned a long-running series about the "[http://www.scp-wiki.net/antimemetics-division-hub Antimemetics Division]", which deals with SCPs which make you forget about them or are literally impossible to think certain thoughts about. Like a building, SCP-2602, which used to be a library, which has the effect of making all its properties seem totally normal for a building which used to be a library. Including the advanced book-sorting machines (which were damaged by being stored in a former library) and the restraints which libraries used to restrain patrons with large overdue book fines (likewise), and the hazardous waste pit and thaumically-active shrines, both normal things for a former library to have, probably to aid study groups who met in the library.
*SCP-087: A seemingly endless stairwell with a voice crying out for help that never gets closer no matter how far down you go. If you go down it too long a floating face will suddenly appear and scare you to death.
*SCP-093: A disc that turns mirrors into portals to an alternate version of earth where humanity was taken over and then wiped out by a being claiming to be God, who granted the world advanced technology and also his tears, which could be used to cure people of sinful behavior but eventually turned users into faceless monsters called The Unclean that grow larger by absorbing other people.
*SCP-096: A humanoid with abnormally long arms and a very large mouth. Normally it is docile, but if anyone sees its face, it goes berserk and hunts down those who have seen it until they are all dead. How exactly it kills its victims is censored so it must be something horrible. And once you have seen it's face there is nothing that can stop it. Even getting its organs blasted out by a tank round won't slow it down. And you don't even have to see its face directly. Even looking too closely at a photo containing just a few pixels of its face will set it off.
*SCP-106: A old man who can walk through walls, corrodes everything he touches, and can teleport victims to [[Commoragh|a pocket dimension where he tortures them.]]
*SCP-173: The Statue (AKA the Original) - A killer statue that can move extremely fast when not being watched and causes a mixture of blood and feces to mysteriously appear on the floor of the room it is kept in. This means people regularly have to enter the room it is stored in to clean it and have to be extremely careful not to blink so it doesn't kill them. Started the whole thing, and yes, Whofags, it came before the Weeping Angels. Was inspired by a creepy photo of a sculpture by a Japanese artist.
*SCP-213-7: The last surviving member of seven young women who were kidnapped and impregnated by a satanic cult. If she ever gives birth it will cause the apocalypse. The only way to stop her from giving birth is to regularly submit her to something called Procedure 110-Montauk. It isn't revealed what Procedure 110-Montauk specifically is, but it is something absolutely horrifying, probably some form of disgusting sexual torture. And the Foundation regularly erases her memory to make sure she doesn't get used to it because the trauma of the procedure is required for it to work. The horror doesn't come from the threat to the world she represents, but how far the Foundation is willing to go to keep the world safe. If you had to torture an innocent person to keep other people safe, would you be able to do it?
*SCP-294: A coffee machine that can dispense anything you request from it as long it can exist in liquid form, as well as several things that normally can't.
*SCP-354: [[Lizardmen|A bloody red lake that spawns many terrifying monster 24/7]]. It spawn many varity of monster that can only be seen in movies and fictions like killer robots, lizard people, elemental monsters and a frigging krakens. The foundation put up a good fight but decided to [[exterminatus|abandoned the fuck out and nuke the site]] because they can't [[Lizardmen|kept up the pace]] and fighting [[Skaven|endless]] [[Warriors of Chaos|wave]] [[Chaos Daemons|of monsters]] [[Nagash|to a stalemate]]. The pool also sentient and will psychically attack you if you try to drain the pool.
*SCP-447: A spongy ball that constantly exudes a green slime, this substance is extremely useful and is good at improving the quality of whatever it's applied to (gasoline becomes more efficient, smoke grenades last longer, food becomes more delicious). The only catch is that it does ''something'' to dead bodies that is apparently extremely dangerous, and the Foundation is so afraid of this effect that even proposing to apply the goo to a dead body is enough to get you demoted to D-class!
*SCP-682: The Hard-to-Kill Lizard - A FUCKHUEG lizard that hates all organic life (except SCP-053, an immortal child who drives humans violently insane, for some reason) and cannot be killed. There is a LONG list of attempts, none of them successful. It will either become immune to what you tried to use to kill it with, or will copy the effects and turn them on you. The Foundation has even tried killing or controlling it using dozens of other SCPs, which normally is forbidden, and none of them have worked, and many have backfired.
*SCP-895: An empty coffin which causes any camera recording taken too close to it to be filled with horrifying images that can drive you insane.
*SCP-914: The Clockworks - A massive clockwork machine that has 5 settings: Rough, Coarse, 1:1, Fine, and Very Fine. Put something in the box, choose your setting, and pray the result isn't too radioactive. The two lowest settings take objects apart. The middle setting transforms the input into something similar, like maybe turning an apple into an orange. The second highest setting turns the input into a better version of itself. The last setting is similar to the previous one but is extremely unpredictable. The output will usually have a similar function the input but taken to an extreme, and often be anomalous.
*SCP-999: A harmless [[Slime]] that eats candy and sweats [[Noblebright|antidepressants]] and [[Dawww|loves to tickle people]]. [[What|Oh, and in one story he's the messianic son]] of SCP 231-7 and [[Big Bad Evil Guy|the Scarlet King.]]
*SCP-1471: A living malware app that, once installed, causes a skull-faced wolf-thing (the picture of it that used to be on the page was stolen from a [[Furry]]) to begin stalking you inside your phone until you can see it in real-life. Fortunately, the creature itself is harmless. Unfortunately, this all means that furries in real-real-life are totally obsessed with the character and you can't mention it without risking Rule 34.
*SCP-2521: A weird tentacle monster that can walk though walls, can only be safely described with pictograms, and loves information about itself, so it steals any document written about it and kidnaps anybody who talks about'''AAAAAAAAHHHHHH! ITS GOT ME!'''
*SCP-2845: A Deer with a human face that can transmute any substance, turn humans into weird Hexagon things, is thought to be one of the few SCPs that are actual no-holds-barred gods, and can only be contained by weird rituals involving castrating Class-Ds and eating babies.
*SCP-3008: An infinitely large IKEA store in another dimension staffed by monsters who attack anybody in the store at night that people can get trapped in by walking into a specific, otherwise-ordinary IKEA store. The people trapped inside the super IKEA are said to came from other dimensions even and they are forced to play [[Dwarf Fortress]] (or [[Minecraft]] for the current gen reader) where they craft weapons and fortress using IKEA product to defend against monster's attack at night.
===SCPs with minimal tabletop relevance===
*SCP-1230: A book containing only the text, "A hero is born". Opening the book causes the reader to have a dream where they have [[Fun|entertaining]] adventures in a fantasy world, essentially placing them in a very immersive [[Quest]], the next time they go to sleep. The entity who serves as the QM appears in the dreams on occasion, taking the form of an old cloaked man. This one's pretty harmless, but at least one researcher committed suicide after having spent over 2 centuries (by his point of view) in a single dream, after which the QM was inconsolable for a time.
*SCP-3973: An [[Ultramarines]] miniature that is sentient and has the ability to control which side dice in its vicinity land on.
*SCP-1974-EX: A d20 dice that gives players hallucination. Sadly judging by the -EX ending, meaning it isn't much of a exciting SCP meaning it is probably a fake or dud. Turns out the dice is covered in some kind of hallucination chemical. Never the less the article itself contain many references to /tg/ memes and related games, which is why it is listed here.

==Other Factions==
The SCP Foundation is not the only organization that protects the world from the supernatural or uses the supernatural for their own goals. Here is a partial list of notable rivals, allies, and enemies of the Foundation.
* Chaos Insurgency: Originally this faction was part of the Foundation, a covert deniable ops team simply named the "Insurgency." Operating under the fictitious pretense of being a group of rogue agents who assassinated and kidnapped on behalf of said organization, without their actions leading back to the foundation. They answered directly to the O5 Council, with little oversight from any other part of the Foundation. That changed when they really did go rogue, releasing various euclid and keter-class SCPs. What their goal is still remains a mystery, as is the reason for their defection. It's suggested that rather than contain SCPs, they want to proactively control and weaponize them. Whatever the case, they're a threat to everything the Foundation works for.
* Global Occult Coalition: The GOC is an organization funded by the United Nations whose mission is to protect humanity from anomalous threats. Unlike the SCP Foundation, they are far more willing to use anomalies to fight against anomalies, [[Exterminatus|but mainly focus on destroying any anomalies that they consider a threat instead of containing and studying them.]] The Foundation and the GOC have at times allied with each other, although their methodologies are diametrically opposite. Many of the other factions strongly dislike the GOC and see them as needlessly heavy-handed.
* Horizon Initiative: A religious organization formed from the three Abrahamic faiths and several other religions that work together to protect the world from the supernatural. They are particularly hostile to cults like the Church of the Broken God and the Fifthist Church.
* Serpent's Hand: The Serpent's Hand is a loose confederation of humans and other beings that fights for the rights of intelligent anomalies and the pursuit of knowledge. Their base of operations is a magical library between universes. They especially hate the GOC and call them "bookburners", they refer to the Foundation as the "Jailers". Occasional allies of the Foundation, though the Foundation usually comes to regret it later.
* Church of the Broken God: Basically the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] mixed with Gnosticism and a little bit of Greek and Chinese mythology. The CotBG is a religion of machine worshipers that wants to find and reassemble the lost fragments of their god. Although they aren't evil per se, if they were to succeed in their goals it probably would cause the apocalypse; or at the very least turn everything into living clockwork metal, and according to some sources, fixing the god of machines would actually cause the god of flesh to be released which is the opposite of what they want. They are mainly broken into three distinct denominations: the Broken Church (the oldest branch), the Cogworth Orthodox (obsessed with standardization and clockwork body modification, and prefer [[Industrial Revolution]] level technology) and the Church of Maxwellism (unlike the other two branches, they embrace the use of electronics and believe that the broken god is a digital being they can connect to through the internet).
* Sarkic Cults: Sarkicism or Nälkä (Finnish for hunger), as its followers call it, is the antithesis of the CotBG. The religion is mostly based on Gnosticism (but in an opposite way than the CotBG) with some elements of Hinduism and Alchemy. They revere [[Nurgle|disease]] and mutation and seek to achieve godhood by consuming the gods and perfecting themselves through horrifying [[Fleshcrafting]] sorcery. If you've ever seen the movie "The Thing", that'll give you the right idea. Most Sarkites are horrifically depraved monsters who should be killed with fire. The CotBG and Sarkites have a very long ongoing historical conflict. Sarkic cults are divided into Proto-Sarkic Cults, which mostly consist of isolated and technophobic communities and primarily worship the founder of the religion who achieved godhood, and Neo-Sarkic Cults, which are hidden in modern society as secret societies and organized crime organizations and worship the god of flesh.
* The Fifth Church: Well... they worship stars and have an obsession with the number 5. It seems to be based partially on Scientology and New Age and other new religious movements and parody religions, but little is actually known about their beliefs, and what is known is mostly incomprehensible. Most of the other factions consider them to be a joke, although they once nearly destroyed reality by selling a book that gave readers reality warping powers at the cost of causing insanity. It has been theorized that the whole religion is actually an interplanetary scam started by aliens. In the Antimemetics Division canon, the reality is much worse than that.
* Doctor Wondertainment: Seem to be a company that produces supernatural toys for children, which usually are dangerous if they are not used properly. They often send their products to the Foundation as gifts. For some reason they also created a line of anomalous humanoids called the Little Misters that they challenge the Foundation to collect.
* Are We Cool Yet?: A organization of artists/terrorists with a twisted sense of humor that produces dangerous pieces of anomalous artwork for laughs or for making political statements. Things like paintings that drive people that look at them insane.
* Gamers Against Weed (GAW): Anomalous Internet Memes & the like. Love taking the piss out of the other GoIs; split off from AWCY? at least partly because the former were too high off their own paint fumes. Usually used as comic relief.
* Marshal, Carter, and Dark Ltd.: An occult business that collects anomalies to sell to anyone for the right price.
* Manna Charitable Foundation: An organization that tries to exploit anomalies for humanitarian purposes, often with disastrous results. The road to hell...
* Herman Fuller's Circus of the Disquieting: A circus that travels between dimensions to put on their shows and recruit more freaks. The Circus tends to be a refuge for the truly strange. Herman was overthrown and it's now lead by a pair of lesbian clown monsters.
* Shark Punching Center: Began as a joke for mocking people who misspelled SCP as SPC. The SPC is a completely insane version of the Foundation from another universe that is dedicated entirely to protecting the world from selachian (shark) entities by punching them. They do a pretty good job.
* SAPPHIRE: An organization of militant atheists who seek to destroy all religions by anomalous means even while being in total denial of the existence of the anomalous. All the other factions think they are insane.
* ☽☽☽: In an alternate timeline, the earth was saved from destruction by being teleported into an afterlife known as Corbenic and became a third moon. From there, the people of that earth work to try to save other versions of earth from going down the same path that lead to their destruction.

And those are just some of the major ones that appear on the English version of the SCP website. Writers on other language versions of the website have come up with tons more.

== Drama ==
When you get a group of people to do something together, drama is inevitable. The SCP community has a number of big-names calling the shots, and what they say goes. They set the tone for what's allowed and what's not, and if you piss off the wrong person for a trivial thing or hurt someone's massive over-inflated ego, you can expect your stay on the website to be short. They are no stranger to massive internal strife either; fights between the big boys resulted in a lot of content being discarded at one point. It kind of mirrors [[TVTropes]]: the front end has a lot of nice reading but the community side is a dumpster fire of misery, egos and dicks. We do not prefer to give examples, but utterly retarded articles written by a newcomer cute girl may stay a lot while longer than they should (and any criticism thereof will result in a ban until someone with clout does something).

Early forms of alleged [[SJW]]ism have also started to surface, with articles spotting unusual genders without them being played for horror, or commented upon at all for that matter. Given a lot of SCPs are frequently not of this Earth/dimension/etc., there's at least SOME reasoning for it.

Furthermore, as the community around the SCP Wiki has evolved over time, the tone of the works has shifted. In the first few years of the wiki, there was more of an inclusion of levity and humor, especially in regards to test logs and the antics of senior staffers. Over time the wiki has included less and less of this, as the community broadened and namefags or otherwise notable contributors left, taking their influences and in-universe characters with them. Circa 2018, the wiki is redoubling its efforts to be purely clinical horror, with fewer jokes (for better or worse).

(That being said, there's still room for somewhat "silly" SCPs, you just have to make them the product of an appropriate silly person or group, and make sure to (A) write it up clinically and (B) have something interesting besides the joke. See, for reference, the products of the group "Gamers Against Weed", or the products of "dado".)

==See also==

* [[Delta Green]] - The closest thing to a SCP tabletop RPG out there.

[[Category:Not related]]

Obyrith

2020-08-14T01:56:53Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA: /* Types of Obyrith */

{{NeedsImages}}
The '''Obyrith''' are pre-primordial demons in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''. They are all unfathomably [[Alignment|chaotic and evil]] extradimensional horrors that existed long before the [[tanar'ri]] came into being and very likely existed before the universe itself. They take heavy inspiration from the cosmic horrors found in [[Lovecraft]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos]].

Obyrith first appeared in 2006's ''Fiendish Codex I'' sourcebook for [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|''D&D'' 3.5]], which dealt with the [[Abyss]] and all its horrific denizens. Here they were introduced as one of the three types of demons alongside the [[tanar'ri]] and [[loumara]]. Two types of obyrith were detailed, the [[ekolid]] and [[sibriex]], as well as the obyrith [[Demon Prince]]s [[Dagon]], [[Obox-ob]], [[Pale Night]], and [[Pazuzu]]. Over the next year a few more types of obyrith would be trickled out in supplemental online postings, magazines and ''[[Monster Manual]] V'', while Dagon himself would get a much more posh write-up in ''[[Dragon Magazine|Dragon]] #349''.

But it was [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition|4th Edition]] that really shoved obyrith more into the spotlight. Confirming their identity as having come from a universe before the current one, the Obyrith actually won the war of Order versus Chaos! The absolute mad<s>men</s>things! They devoured and twisted reality so badly that their own universe was finally unmade, collapsing into a singularity of pure spite and hatred for existence. But this Shard of Pure Evil™ somehow managed to pierce the veil into [[Greyhawk|a different universe]] that was just beginning to take form, and inside of it about a dozen Obyrith managed to survive making the leap.

'''And they were pissed!''' Here they were, just getting done finally destroying existence, and now there's another one being created! Luckily for them, their shard was found by one of the new neutral [[god]]s who was starting to tidy up the chaotic elemental afterbirth, [[Tharizdun]], and they were able to instantly and so thoroughly corrupt him that he created the [[Abyss]] at their behest. Now free to exact their hate on a new universe, they began to battle other primordial entities for control of the newly minted Abyss.

Meanwhile, all the other gods stopped doing whatever it was that they were doing and placed Tharizdun in the ''D&D'' equivalent of gay baby jail for all of eternity.

The Queen of Chaos would be the main leader of the forces of chaos as they attacked the forces of law and order; however, infighting would eventually lead to a fracturing between the obyrith and the tanar'ri they created to be their footsoldiers. Chaos gonna chaos. This opening allowed the [[Upper Planes]] to invade the Abyss and righteously buttfuck the obyrith to the brink of extinction.

Obyriths have slightly different traits than Tanar'ri. They are only resistant to electric damage instead of being immune, and they don't have the Tanar'ri ability to summon other demons, but instead, most Obyrith have an ability called Form of Madness that causes permanent insanity in anyone except other chaotic evil outsiders that encounters that Obyrith and fails their save. The mental effect of the insanity is different depending on the type of Obyrith, and Obyrith lords have a unique insanity effect. And being blind doesn't protect you from this. [[Pazuzu]] has lost this abilitiy due to evolving into a more Tanar'ri like demon and replaced it with an aura that lets him control evil flying creatures, and [[Pale Night]]'s form is so horrifying that it causes instant death on a failed save, but she is unable to reveal for longer than a few seconds because the universe itself forces her to hide it under a veil. Obyriths additionally all have true seeing, immunity to mind-affecting effects, and fast healing.

A few obyrith demons return in 5e, but the word is no longer used because all demons are now just categorized as "demons".

===Types of Obyrith===
* Draudnu: Strange round demons with three long spider-like legs at the top of their body. Their body tapers towards the bottom, ending in a red eye surrounded by three wicked clawed arms. They can extend these clawed arms up to 15 feet and use them to immobilize enemies by embedding them in a victim and then breaking them and growing a new one. A Draudnu's form of madness causes victims to become sickened be believe their is something growing inside them.
* Ekolid: Vile insectoid horrors, combining all the worst aspects of ants, scorpions, spiders and anything else you wouldn't want to get bitten or stung by. They typically exist in swarms, but on the 663rd layer of the Abyss they construct massive hives as complex as cities. They reproducing by planting their eggs in victims. An Ekolid's form of madness causes you to hallucinate biting insects crawling all over your skin.
* Golothoma: Long and wormlike with a single red eye at their anterior end surrounded by three scything claw-like appendages. These claws can reach through dimensions to attack other creatures. They don't have a mouth, so they feed through their own shadow. A Golothoma's form of madness causes you to become sickened while in darkness or bright light and makes you weaker against shadow magic and attacks from shadowy creatures.
* Laghathti: Like a disgusting slimy, black octopus, laghathti lurk within the [[River Styx]] and steal memories from souls that pass by.
* Sibriex: These resemble enormous and grotesque floating humanoid heads that are shackled to the ground by hooks and chains. Said to have a knack for flesh-crafting, the creation of the tanar'ri is likely their doing. A Sibriex's form of madness causes you to believe that the sibriex is the most perfect physical form, which makes you less resistant to the sibriex's enchantment abilities and damages your charisma.
* Uzollru: Similar to colossal aquatic centipedes, but with flippers instead of legs. Their head has a single red eye surrounded by feeder tentacles. They mostly serve Dagon in the 89th layer of the Abyss, Shadowsea.
* Verakia: XBAWKSHUEG [[dragon]]-esque obyriths which exist in the 88th layer of the Abyss, which is [[Demogorgon]]'s pad. They are mindless marauding abominations; anyone who would even look upon one is driven to homicidal fury.

===Obyrith Lords/Princes===
* [[Areex]], The Forgotten Prince (imprisoned)
* [[Asima]], The Unanticipated (dead)
* [[Bechard]], The Rotting Husk (alive but dying extremely slowly)
* [[Cabiri]], The Watching Master (imprisoned)
* [[Dagon]], Prince of the Depths
* [[Obox-ob]], Prince of Vermin
* [[Pale Night]], The Mother of Demons
* [[Pazuzu]], Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Sertrous]], Prince of Heretics (dead but trying to come back)
* [[Ugudenk]], The Squirming King

The [[qlippoth]] of ''[[Pathfinder]]'' are basically a knock-off of these nasty bastards since obyrith, much like the tanar'ri, are not available for use under the [[Open Gaming License]].

{{D&D-Outsiders}}
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Monsters]]

Obyrith

2020-08-14T01:39:42Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA:

{{NeedsImages}}
The '''Obyrith''' are pre-primordial demons in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''. They are all unfathomably [[Alignment|chaotic and evil]] extradimensional horrors that existed long before the [[tanar'ri]] came into being and very likely existed before the universe itself. They take heavy inspiration from the cosmic horrors found in [[Lovecraft]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos]].

Obyrith first appeared in 2006's ''Fiendish Codex I'' sourcebook for [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|''D&D'' 3.5]], which dealt with the [[Abyss]] and all its horrific denizens. Here they were introduced as one of the three types of demons alongside the [[tanar'ri]] and [[loumara]]. Two types of obyrith were detailed, the [[ekolid]] and [[sibriex]], as well as the obyrith [[Demon Prince]]s [[Dagon]], [[Obox-ob]], [[Pale Night]], and [[Pazuzu]]. Over the next year a few more types of obyrith would be trickled out in supplemental online postings, magazines and ''[[Monster Manual]] V'', while Dagon himself would get a much more posh write-up in ''[[Dragon Magazine|Dragon]] #349''.

But it was [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition|4th Edition]] that really shoved obyrith more into the spotlight. Confirming their identity as having come from a universe before the current one, the Obyrith actually won the war of Order versus Chaos! The absolute mad<s>men</s>things! They devoured and twisted reality so badly that their own universe was finally unmade, collapsing into a singularity of pure spite and hatred for existence. But this Shard of Pure Evil™ somehow managed to pierce the veil into [[Greyhawk|a different universe]] that was just beginning to take form, and inside of it about a dozen Obyrith managed to survive making the leap.

'''And they were pissed!''' Here they were, just getting done finally destroying existence, and now there's another one being created! Luckily for them, their shard was found by one of the new neutral [[god]]s who was starting to tidy up the chaotic elemental afterbirth, [[Tharizdun]], and they were able to instantly and so thoroughly corrupt him that he created the [[Abyss]] at their behest. Now free to exact their hate on a new universe, they began to battle other primordial entities for control of the newly minted Abyss.

Meanwhile, all the other gods stopped doing whatever it was that they were doing and placed Tharizdun in the ''D&D'' equivalent of gay baby jail for all of eternity.

The Queen of Chaos would be the main leader of the forces of chaos as they attacked the forces of law and order; however, infighting would eventually lead to a fracturing between the obyrith and the tanar'ri they created to be their footsoldiers. Chaos gonna chaos. This opening allowed the [[Upper Planes]] to invade the Abyss and righteously buttfuck the obyrith to the brink of extinction.

Obyriths have slightly different traits than Tanar'ri. They are only resistant to electric damage instead of being immune, and they don't have the Tanar'ri ability to summon other demons, but instead, most Obyrith have an ability called Form of Madness that causes permanent insanity in anyone except other chaotic evil outsiders that encounters that Obyrith and fails their save. The mental effect of the insanity is different depending on the type of Obyrith, and Obyrith lords have a unique insanity effect. And being blind doesn't protect you from this. [[Pazuzu]] has lost this abilitiy due to evolving into a more Tanar'ri like demon and replaced it with an aura that lets him control evil flying creatures, and [[Pale Night]]'s form is so horrifying that it causes instant death on a failed save, but she is unable to reveal for longer than a few seconds because the universe itself forces her to hide it under a veil. Obyriths additionally all have true seeing, immunity to mind-affecting effects, and fast healing.

A few obyrith demons return in 5e, but the word is no longer used because all demons are now just categorized as "demons".

===Types of Obyrith===
* Draudnu: Strange round demons with three long spider-like legs at the top of their body. Their body tapers towards the bottom, ending in a red eye surrounded by three wicked clawed arms.
* Ekolid: Vile insectoid horrors, combining all the worst aspects of ants, scorpions, spiders and anything else you wouldn't want to get bitten or stung by. They typically exist in swarms, but on the 663rd layer of the Abyss they construct massive hives as complex as cities.
* Golothoma: Long and wormlike with a single red eye at their anterior end surrounded by three scything claw-like appendages. These claws can reach through dimensions to attack other creatures. They don't have a mouth, so they feed through their own shadow.
* Laghathti: Like a disgusting slimy, black octopus, laghathti lurk within the [[River Styx]] and steal memories from souls that pass by.
* Sibriex: These resemble enormous and grotesque floating humanoid heads that are shackled to the ground by hooks and chains. Said to have a knack for flesh-crafting, the creation of the tanar'ri is likely their doing.
* Uzollru: Similar to colossal aquatic centipedes, but with flippers instead of legs. Their head has a single red eye surrounded by feeder tentacles. They mostly serve Dagon in the 89th layer of the Abyss, Shadowsea.
* Verakia: XBAWKSHUEG [[dragon]]-esque obyriths which exist in the 88th layer of the Abyss, which is [[Demogorgon]]'s pad. They are mindless marauding abominations; anyone who would even look upon one is driven to homicidal fury.

===Obyrith Lords/Princes===
* [[Areex]], The Forgotten Prince (imprisoned)
* [[Asima]], The Unanticipated (dead)
* [[Bechard]], The Rotting Husk (alive but dying extremely slowly)
* [[Cabiri]], The Watching Master (imprisoned)
* [[Dagon]], Prince of the Depths
* [[Obox-ob]], Prince of Vermin
* [[Pale Night]], The Mother of Demons
* [[Pazuzu]], Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Sertrous]], Prince of Heretics (dead but trying to come back)
* [[Ugudenk]], The Squirming King

The [[qlippoth]] of ''[[Pathfinder]]'' are basically a knock-off of these nasty bastards since obyrith, much like the tanar'ri, are not available for use under the [[Open Gaming License]].

{{D&D-Outsiders}}
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Monsters]]

Wells of Darkness

2020-08-14T00:27:38Z

2601:203:480:4C60:9479:C0C9:C0A7:73BA: /* Known Prisoners */

The '''Wells of Darkness''' are the 73rd layer of the [[Abyss]] in the [[Great Wheel]] [[multiverse]] of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. Having first appeared in the map of the Abyss included in the "Planes of Chaos" boxed set for [[Planescape]], it was expanded upon in [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]] for the [[splatbook]] "Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss", it was further developed in the article "Gazing Into the Abyss" in [[Dragon Magazine]] #357 and "The Wells of Darkness" in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #148, both written by Eric L. Boyd. In the former, rules are presented for using three prisoners of the Wells of Darkness - Ansitif, Astaroth and Cabiri - as [[Vestige|Vestiges]], whilst in the latter, as part of the [[Savage Tide]] adventure path, the players are forced to enter the Wells and release the [[Succubus]] [[Demon Prince|Queen]] Shami-Amoure for advice in their battle against [[Demogorgon]] - it also contains rules for Ahazu as a [[Vestige]].

The Wells of Darkness appear as a rocky plain interrupted by jagged tors underneath a steely blue sun that casts dim light. Pocked around the layer are pits seemingly filled with an inky black ichor; these pits are mystical prisons, which bind beings here in a manner that renders them virtually incapable of escape - and certainly impossible to do so without outside assistance. Beings so bound can communicate through a primitive form of telepathy with anyone in close proximity, although the magic rituals used by [[Binder]]s can also be used to commune with the prisoners here and to tap into their power in the same manner as [[Vestige]]s - this suggests that the pits may contain some small fragment of the same mysterious other-realm that other vestiges are known to inhabit.

The Wells are linked by a winding, 10ft wide pathway of marble, and overseen by "The Custodians"; 15ft tall [[bodak]]s of exceptional ferocity who never speak, but relentlessly patrol the layer. Atop a 300ft tall tor stands the semiruined stone fortress of Overlook, which allegedly feature a scale model of the entire layer, complete with inky pools marked with the demonic seals of their inhabitants. Many demons believe that the fortress protects some sort of controlling mechanism for the layer, but if so no one has yet figured out how to make it work. Overlook was once the seat of the [[Demon Prince]] Ahazu the Seizer, but he grew so obsessed with the binding powers of the Wells of Darkness that he voluntarily fed himself into a vacant well, and nobody has dared take control of the place ever since.

The Wells are a prison for fiends generally considered too useful - or powerful! - to be slain outright, and on rare occasions even non-demons have been forced to make use of the Well's powers to bind creatures or beings here that are too dangerous to allow to go free. Sometimes, as with Shami-Amoure, a creature that could be killed is instead imprisoned because it's far easier to cast ''true resurrection'' than free someone from the Wells. Very few beings bound have ever escaped, such as [[Shaktari]], [[Demon Prince|Demon Queen of]] [[Marilith]]s, and Shami-Amoure herself in the Savage Tide adventure path.

==Known Prisoners==
'''Ahazu:''' Original [[Demon Prince]] of the Wells of Darkness, voluntarily bound himself here. It's unclear if he's actually ''trapped'' however, as he seems to have an uncanny influence over the black void, referred to in demonologist lore as "Shattered Night".

'''Ansitif:''' A [[Demon Prince]] of Blasphemy who formed an alliance with six tanar'ri allies to hunt down and destroy an obyrith lord named Malgoth, only for them all to be slain or imprisoned after they had completed their quest.

'''Apep:''' A serpentine demigod whose native pantheon believes him to be the ultimate manifestation of evil; they bound him here to prevent the end of existence.

'''Areex:''' A forgotten [[Demon Prince]] who entered a mysterious pact with a being called Bolothamogg, who is now impatient for Areex to venture "beyond the stars" and pay the price of the deal. Nobody knows who Bolothamogg is or what that deal was. Which is worrying, because [[gibberling]]s have begun spontaneously chanting Areex's story and demanding he pay his debt, and the phenomena keeps on spreading... and furthermore, Bolothamogg was explained in [[Lords of Madness]] as being one of the [[Elder Evils]]!

'''Cabiri:''' A many-eyed [[Demon Prince]] stated as being imprisoned here by the Queen of Chaos for refusing to join her war against the Wind Dukes of Aaqa in the Fiendish Codex, and described as an obyrith lord that betrayed the Queen of Chaos and sought out the baernoloths only to be imprisoned by them in the Dragon article.

'''Ebulon:''' A [[Demon Prince]] who once served as a loyal general to [[Graz'zt]] before the Dark Prince managed to claim his own layer of Azzagrat; Ebulon ultimately fell in battle against [[Demogorgon]], who dumped his near-dead body in stasis in a Well but then forgot about it. Graz'zt actually does wish to resue Ebulon out of some strange sense of loyalty, but his long delay in doing anything has bred resentment in Ebulon.

'''Lazbral'thull:''' A [[Demon Prince]] of Torture and Bloodletting who went mad and began preying on other demons; he slew three other fiendish lords, including the demon tree Malgarius, before being humbled and bound here.

'''Ma Yuan:''' A colossal, yellow-scaled, four-armed [[lizardfolk]]-like creature with the head of a T-rex and a spiked fin, Ma Yuan is aptly known as the Killer of Gods for his power and his deicidal urges. He slew at least ten gods before an alliance of gods and demonic lords (who had also fallen prey to his rampages) managed to seal him away.

'''Shami-Amourae:''' Whilst [[Malcanthet]] claims the crown of [[Demon Prince|Queen of the]] [[Succubus|Succubi]] now, that title lay in Shami-Amourae's hands two thousand years ago. She was imprisoned her when her relationship with [[Demogorgon]] went sour, as the Prince of Demons realized his lover had learned some of his greatest weaknesses and was using them to manipulate him.

'''Astaroth:''' A [[Demon Prince]] with the power of prophecy in life, famous for infiltrating the ranks of the [[Archdevil]]s as "Diabolus" to the extent he became Treasurer of Hell before he was found out and forced to flee, Astaroth was murdered and his identity stolen by an [[Archdevil]] named Gargauth, who ultimately went on to ascend to divinity. But, whether because of Astaroth's preemptive attempts to become a god (which, reputedly, Gargauth stole from him) or his pact with Ahazu for his body to be sealed within a Well of Darkness upon his death, Astaroth still clings to existence. Hellfire constantly blankets his pit, incinerating Astaroth's body as fast as it regenerates and keeping him from returning to true life.

'''Dahak:''' A malevolent god in the guise of a three-headed dragon, Dahak was imprisoned here by his own pantheon, who had grown angry with his constant attacks on them and their subjects.

'''Echidna:''' A goddess who was imprisoned here for her refusal to cease giving birth to terrible monsters, she somehow continues to impregnate herself and bear her nightmarish progeny within the Wells of Darkness. Every so often, Ahazu allows her children to escape their pit and enter the rest of the multiverse.

'''Kizarvidexus:''' An obyrith lord who fought alongside the Queen of Chaos, who slew the Wind Duke Soziel only to be slain in turn by another, Icosiol. It is presumably Icosiol's powers that generate the perpetual tornado that rages in the bottom of the pit, sweeping up and scattering the chunks of demonic flesh that ooze from the darkness beneath in order to prevent the obyrith's regeneration and resurrection.

'''Rr'ikin'aka:''' A Demon Prince of very little intelligence who dared to challenge Tharzax the Chattering Prince ''and'' [[Obox-Ob]] the Prince of Vermin (who used to hold [[Demogorgon|Demogorgon's]] position as Prince of Demons), '''simultaneously''', to try and claim the niche of Demon Prince of Scorpions. Needless to say, they kicked his ass. His pool is buried beneath an endlessly replenished mountain of decaying scorpion corpses.

'''Ungulex:''' A tanar'ri who has been imprisoned for so long that none remember who he was or why he was sealed away. Some stories claim he may have been, if not the first prisoner to be sealed in the Wells of Darkness, then one of the first.

'''Arlgolchier:''' An ambitious demon who made a pact with Ahazu for power; when he was slain by an alliance of three [[wizard]]s on the [[Prime Material]], his contract came due and his dead body was transported to one of the Wells of Darkness. Though the Abyss attempts to regenerate him, the pit where he dwells is infested with multiple chasme and abyssal [[ghoul]]s, who feast constantly on his flesh, preventing it from building sufficient mass and coalescing together. A portal to the Wells of Darkness hidden in the Pit of Prisoners on Pazunia, the 1st layer of the Abyss, emerges here.

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Planes]]