Areshkagal
| Areshkagal | ||
|---|---|---|
|
||
| Aliases | The Faceless Sphinx | |
| Alignment | Chaotic Evil | |
| Divine Rank | Demon Lord | |
| Pantheon | Golarion | |
| Portfolio | Greed, Portals, Riddles | |
| Home Plane | Blood Clefts, Abyss | |
| Worshippers | evil humans, evil sphinxes, avaricious rulers, dragons, drow | |
| Favoured Weapon | Sickle | |
One of two daughters of Lamashtu who went on to achieve the title of Demon Prince in their own right, Areshkagal is the Demon Queen of Greed, Magical & Mundane Portals, and Riddles. If that sounds like a rather strange portfolio, you're not the only one to think that. She appears as a massive female sphinx with six legs, draconic wings, a viper for a tail, midnight-blue fur, and pale skin. As her title of "The Faceless Sphinx" suggests, she has no face, instead talking out of the viper's head on her tail-tip; there are rumors that she actually does have a face, it's just that she's so ugly that even the Abyss thinks she's too hideous to look at and it hides her features. These same stories claim that if Areshkagal wishes, she can temporarily remove the veil that renders her faceless, exposing her true face for just a moment - a sight that can supposedly drive people insane or strike them dead with horror on the spot.
Mostly worshipped by avaricious rulers, dragons and sphinxes, especially those with an interest in wizardry, Areshkagal's unholy symbol is a faceless but feminine humanoid's head wearing a Pharoah's headdress that is smeared with blood. Her worshippers do her homage through the "Riddles of the Flesh", an interlocked series of 23 conundrums, the answer to which no mortal has achieved, which they carve onto their own bodies with a knife made from a child's rib. Her blessing shields them from sonic and language-based effects. As boons, she offers Hold Portal, Touch of Idiocy and Shrink Item spell-like abilities, the ability to enter one mundane portal (door, window, etc) and teleport out of another one within 500 feet, and the power to open a gateway to another plane once per day.
Areshkagal is the half-sister of the Demon Queen Aldinach, and the two hate each other bitterly. Not helping is the fact that Aldinach booted Areshkagal out of her original territory, the Sea of Whispering Sands, and forced her to take up residence in the Blood Clefts, a region of crimson, stony hills and deep gulches carved by snaking rivers of blood.
She is noted as looking identical to one of the avatars of Nyarlathotep.
| The Demon Lords of Pathfinder | ||
|---|---|---|
| Demon Lords: | Abraxas - Aldinach - Andirifkhu - Angazhan - Areshkagal - Baphomet - Cyth-V'sug - Dagon Deskari - Flauros - Gogunta - Haagenti - Jezelda - Jubilex - Kabriri - Kostchtchie - Lamashtu Mazmezz - Mestama - Nocticula - Nurgal - Orcus - Pazuzu - Shax - Shivaska - Sifkesh Socothbenoth - Urxehl - Xoveron - Yhidothrus - Zevgavizeb - Zura | |
| Nascent Demon Lords: | Daclau-Sar - Izyagna - Kro'akoth - Menxyr - Murnath - Nightripper - Ovonovo - Shamira Sithhud - Treerazer | |