Evilbound

399707
paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009
18227
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Desmer: Colin McComb + Editor: Ray V a l l e s e Proofreaders: Michele Carter. Monte Cook. Valerie V a l l e s e Cover Artist: Robh Ruppel Interior Artist: Adam Rex Cartographer: Roy Bohold Art Director: Bob Galin Project Manager: Karen Boomgarden Electronic Prepp~ns Coodinator: Dave Conant mography: AngeUka Lolrotz Border Art Robert Rrpp + Graphic Design/Cover: Dawn Murin
CRB D I IE S
Author's note: Special thanks to the PUNESCAPE@ game e-mail list, Erik MOM, and all those whose suggestions or actions-good or evil-insphi me. You know who you are.
Editor's note: Even more special thants to Coli for writing so many @at Pmesupe products over the past few years. I only wish I had been lucky enough to work with him on all of them.
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Ii@TROOUCnON ............................
TheNahucofEvil What - a p k n d i F i w.! Plant of0rlgin Immortality Gender Clueless Slun True N a m e The Blood War Going to the Prime Summoning the Fiends AFinalWord Acknowledgements
TABLIB cse C ~ N + I B N L ) I ' ~ 4
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1 THEBAAIEZU
..... Origin of the Specie 12,. Up From the Muck -12 .. Modem Evolution 12 . . Fleeting Memory ................13 Station to Statloa Least Baatm , Lesser Bast.. Greater Baatccu T ~ C PIOC~SS of mmotibn i Methods 17' ''' . i . Ridng to Power 17 Demotions .18 The Pit of Flame * 1 9 Bodily Form and Fmdcma 1 9 . I 9 .: A Parts Gender 9X.. . Birth 20 Nourlshment ................... 20 Siecp and Dreams 21 22 Powers 22 Alterations 23 WeaknesJcs 24 Physical Vulnerabilities 25 . . Spiritual Vulncnbillties The True Death 28 25 Banishment Summoning the Baatuu ............. 26 How to Call Them 27 How to Control Them 27 Dealing With Mortals 28 The Dark Eight 29 Noble Baatuu 29 The Lords of the Nine 30 Lord of tht h t 30 Lord of the Second 30 Lord of the Third 30
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........... ............. L.nyage ..........................35 . Tht Csxtes of Speech ............-35 cutturc .......................... 235 hhitcctufe ..................-36 Aft. ........................... 36 Economy ...................... 36 Educatibn ..................... 3c
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ind the RMn ASorlcty ofBctrayal 1
LordoftheFourth l(hd &thpFiftb : $@of, tala of h i 2 Lord ofthe Eighth &od o # W Nhth ch#adurd)urity
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WeatnTanar'rl Tnle Tanar'ri ................... 46
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Glutdlln nhet'ri Ascen3ioti Traiton BodUy Pohn and Fundions .P h y s m AnnbutsJ
Rest and Respite POWCrS Vulnerabilities W n g Dead Stay Dead D e w w ' t l h Modah Suwdning the Tanar'ri
Communication
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... Arcane % & I ................. 53 Sprcadtng the Word ............. -54

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...................... 60 . .............. ....60 .............. ....M, ....... .....-61 ......61 Verin ............... ...... 62 Abyssal Prlnccs ................. 62 . Controlling a Layer ............. 6 2 Pmsccuting the Blood War ........... 6 3 InSummary ....................... 63 Mal Atundak: The City of Confusion .... 63
Eldanoth Fraz Urblu Lupenio Lynkhkb The Lies of TNth In the Beginning The TNCst Fiends 69 The Shapes of Evil 70 Yugoloth Creations 70 Lesser Yugdoths 70 h a t e r Yugdoths 70 The Oinoloth ..................1. Baemaloths Promotion and Purification Rogue Yugoloths 72 Bodily Form and Functions 73 Gender 73 Birth 74 Nourishment 74 Rest and Recovery 74 Powers 75 Dbposing of a Yugoloth 75 Dealing With M o r t a l s 76 Summoning Yugoloths 76 Language 77 Culture and Society 77 Essential Beliefs 77 Politics and Caste 78 Manipulation 79 In Summary 79 R e Tower of Incarnate Pain 80
..................55 ..................... 56 ..................... 56 Society ....................... 56 Laws ......................... 57 Getting What You Want .............. 57 Posturing ...................... 58 Parasites of Power ............... 58 Abyssal Lords ...................... 58 Alvarez ....................... 60
A Culture of Chaos Character Aesthetics
THEGEHRELETHS ..........................
The Legend of Apomps Physiology TheTriad Population Count Gender and Birth Rest and Nourishment Powers Mortality
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THE YUCOL~S
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Society and Culture Night Hags Physiology Swiety and Culture Meeting a Night Hag Shadow Fiends Physiology Society and Culture Meeting a Shadow Fiend Tkfh@ PhyJiOlOgy Society and Culturc
. .................... 91 Physiology .................... 92 Society and Culture .............. 92 Meeting an Imp or Quasit ......... 93 Larvae ............................ 93 Physiology .................... 93
h p w d Quasits
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think you've got the with a bent toward the dark side
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More importmtly, though, this pendish mind. 41th alt, the matures most of 'em ears. anyway). They've ,got TbeyfonnsociclJes out ofalliances a and architecture and education. And
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Just m e m b e r me when somethiw's riaht.
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Before we get into the nuts and bolts of the Bends. we need to tackle a much bigger question: What i s evil? SUR, most folks think they h o w evil when they see it, + but stop readtng for just a moment and try to come up with a definition. Chances are that no two of you came up with the same defdtion. Know what that means?Evil is different things to diffmnt people. I started a few folks talkini
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Barlaw: Evil? That's simule. Evil is trvinu to ruin and destroy,
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these n i t t e n ~ t l b ' a lby , stomp their way am Great Ring, m n i n ' ever's in thcir path,.<. B: All rlght, then. Evil is
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where else, it Jn't a Bend. M o d . O n the other hand, not cvnythlse tbat comes from the Lower Planes is IBend. Plenty of die ataturn come f r o m the bottom of the Gnat Ring. Some of than even haw the word 'fiend" built right into tbetr neme8, like the ahadow But they'rrnot f i w . F q 4 , Only flvc d m i races &clcshucs can rightly be d W W: the baathe
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trying to make sure that thdr o w v i m prevail. They we any mea118at their dirposrl to drive out welr ha or aauipulate 'rm to their own epds [asyoull learn In latar chaptd.
Now, it's true that not a 1 1 flendr spend their entire lives dcmt usually deal with mortal%and besides, they've got to focused on the Blood War. The hordlings ann? involved, the gather the wisdom before tbcy can use it. Bat when they gehdeths try to avoid it entidy, a d the yugoMhs scun to begin to we that k n o w l ~ be& that's another story. w & for one side just as easily as the other. The baatau and I'w h e d there's no mortal reartion that surprises a high.~up tanar'ri keep the flm of w a r bwning, but not even atl of them fiend, not cvm from Xaositcak Chant is that b d s pley care all that much. Stiil, mortals like guahprps. any fiend that hopes to rcoune, d l ahls kgs , . make a name for itself d the question: Why do better consider how it's fiends give a fig about 5th-level wiza urationlsummonii going to deal with the m o w hthe f i r s t place? fighting. Weil, w abready stated, Range:. 10 yards I The Blood Wsr trouthey count on thc sods as Durktion: Special Casting Time: ld4 bouts blcs mort& in more ways future fodder fur the Arca of Effect: lcreature Saving Throw: None , i Blood War. EriPyes, than one. Obviously, the battles raze lands and kill glabreru, succubl and innocents. But they also Dthers try to tempt and wipe out so many fiends corrupt mortals over,to that the baatezu and Lheir side, so that when fiends appears in the wiz tanar'ri have had to figure the brit, 6ie thcy end up out how to rtplcnish their a n the 'proper" Lower numbers more rapidly. Plane. Soktinhcs, the What they did was learn Rends just smtch ldving how to twist larvae into mortals and &!ag &tm lemures and manes. They iwck home for use as also tumbled to the fact sbvss. mercenaries, or that larvae form on the foodstuffs. And s o w Lower Planes when evil times, they just like to mortals die. Any berk >lay wfth 'em,IS a cat who can put two and two 'orments a mouse before together can see what the kill. happened next: The h d s Fiends also use the "efore casting the spell, the began to corrupt mortals norlds of the h i m e as ,ng circle in which to trap the crea in order to get more lar>attlegrwnds or &itvae. loks for the Blood W a r . VIost fiends won't perform any service thai'takes longer than Most OF the outer Plnncs 34 hours to complete; only guardian yqoioths are.,able to IW too well defended by ;ewe longer. Once the fiend agrees to a deal. it must complete., GeING h e natives modrons, .he terms of the bargain to the best of its ability'before reipzimon, gusrdinals. o z +(B +HE urnim' to the Lower Planes. Of co f the fiend can violate nhattver to let the he intent of the agreement while ng to the letter of the PRlmE 'irnds grab mueb of a leal, it will, but lesser calling brings only creatures of low to From a fiend's point of oehold. But, rkghtly OF niddling Intelligence - not the Bind well known for their view, mortals are dung : h e r trickery. m * , the CRatUm Bee and vermin. That doesn't If the wizard's warding circle is faulty, or if he doesn't hc cludcss P puahom mean they're useless, )repare a circle at all, the fiend is free to do as it pleases from md they bri% thdr bathe moment it arrive. (Later chapters in Faces.of E d 1 give dethough. The fiends dis4es to prime-mterial ails.on how various fiends react to being summoned.) Ifit so covered the Prime long uoddr without a Exre. :hooses, the creature can remain on the wizbnl's plane~for up ago, and they've used Most of all, though, o a year, at which time it's back to the Lower Planes. mortals in their schemes ht Primd is a w@Uspdng The material compone this spell are an animal's ever since. If faith. The outer Planes :ollar, a handful.of soil from cursed gro&&;and a skieet of From the perspective a n on belief, and, as iarchment made from the skin of any outer-planar being. of a fiend, a mortal's life we've already seen, the For details on constructing warding circles and hargainspan is pitifully short. %ends thrive on it. So if ng with summaned creatures, refer to the 6th-I This grants the creatures he creatures journey to extraordinary insight into the Prime and convince mortal character, though the Clueless to fear and they often have to wait until they're fairly high-powered berespect them, they gain the strength of that belief. T b t fore they can put this knowledge to use. See,weaker fiends alone is mason enough to terrorize m o r t a l s on the h e .
...
m y a b h k d want to summon a Rend Is beyond w, but o o k willing to try, I figured I'd since thep's no shortage of P better ghe a quick rundown on the best methods of d o l y It and whan to expect f r o m each. h t c r chaptm in this book look specifically at calllng the maln types of fiends. The chant bdow'sfwt a general ovuvim. Ffnt of rU, it depends on whether or not you know the ttue name of the &nd to be aupmoned. If you don't and m a t spellcasters don't you're stuck with casting lesser callfng, which sorely limits what you can get (see the spell description on this page spread). It's theoretically possible that a very high-level monster summoning spell will call a more powcn%l fiend, but since you won't kno ture's t m name,I'd advise agatast trying. I f , 'onthe other hand, you ,know a speci& rime, opu can try to c#~$?Qy g u ment, or cacoficnd. TheSe"&b baatau, tpnar'rl and YiUryaulaJ After all, goh merely o can steu throunh or to w&r shows up is petty much free todo wha& it llkes. With cwmarfmmt and mro~?& a blood can bind the summoned fiend in a wading drde or, more accurately, he can try. If he does it right, the mature's trapped until it a m to perform a d c e (or u n a it flgum out how to get free).'Cortnc, enslavtng a fiend like this won't do much to make the creature happy. No doubt there are plenty of magical items and other methods of c a b g fiends fmm the Lower Plams. But thme're tite best known and most widely u d . To me, that means they wo*the best. So if you m u s t aummon a fiend, stick to what you can
Some of what's in these pages is undeniably true; some of it's just aa likely barmy nonsense.Wth q o r t s gathered f r o m every nook and cranqof&e p l w , It's hard to separate fict f r o m fidion, truth f r o d lies. P o r n know just how much the fknd8 lb.&d$dfc@t& It'! tpLL1((;pudLtlme and &rt to sort thkAlg o\p +ed wscq;l2dst o m e ' s a compilation of the findings of researchers and bloods all over the multiversc. Though I'd like to take credit for all of It, I can't I'm just the ultimate compiler of what's here. As you're reading the book, you'll no doubt notice that different rrpom're credited to diffmnt people. Let's glve 'emthdr due. Nornoto Sinh, my mage . good . . mend, is as friendly and
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Lest a body think that all fimds are alike, let me say that this chapter presents only saperficiP1 similaritles. Though It's been suggested that all fiends sprang Prom one primal source, tkcy're Incredibly difercnt In their outlooks and goals. Tha mt of Feces o f Evil lays those dlfFefcnrcs bare, W k even dug up the dark on a baatezu city, a tanar'ri burg, and a yugoloul tower: that chant appears klong with mapa) at the *Ids of each of the three main chapters. And f i x those of you who still need to know how tall a fiend is, *st kind of morale it h a , or how hard it is to kill, we'n Included refito other books that speclake In that kind of chant. These "Other Sources" appear In each chapter, telllng you where to go to lsam more about each type of mature.
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Kedell, a cheerful and taka Telson Spluhom, whose the rest; and the blue sla who's a dprd. That says points in some kind of order and weed fusing iuIdes, but its personality still better or for wone). The mastermind behind the yueoloth chapter - a zeral with a sometimes doleful outlook - asked to remaM anonymow, signing his pieces only as The Unnamed He didn't want t o bc linked to all the smctr spiued about the yugoloths. Those as3&Ung him,the old tiefling Enkillo the S I y and the well-spoken luplnal Mowart Ke'Mahn, weren't so discreet. Unfortunately, much of the chapter is suspect. I have mason to believe that one of the three rcswchm - though I don't ' m paranoid? know which - is a disguised loth spy. Think I With the yugoloths, a body can never be too carcful. The gehreleth chapter was a good deal easier. The whole thing was pulled together by Carlvfan Euerboftc, a r o m the M e . A f e w of you might've read his dmw w h r d f h m B&s ofEVf1. It's previous boot on gehreletb, R e J what made me tap him for this job. Finally, the chapter that covers other pssorted flendirh creature3 was a group effort. I asked some of my contrtbutors to do double duty and write a short piece on bodaks, a @ , or whatever else needed attention. night h Sadly, not all of the bloods I just named are still with us. I lost aome good people making thls volume, and not all of 'em were lost to death. Some went to fites far, far worsc. ' m not naming any names here. I don't want the chant But I they dug up to be tainted or overshadowed by their fates. See, we made sacrifices in the name of truth so that you wouldn't hwe to. The least you could do now is put our collected wisdom to good use.
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Prom the boiling rivers offluid in Avernus to thc f Nessus, a body'd be hard-pressed to sheer crags o find a place that sums uv the cold cnulh, of the rultfvme more rkan Baator does. Certdnly, other L&er Planes - say, the Abyss or the Gmy W a s t e might seem tofit the MI& but an Baatof the honors are catalogued and o r d m d , with harsh law bun&t to the most chaotic elements ofthe cosmos. There, the evilflowsfast and W e . T h m . the glint o f evny cyc sizes up a body mdJigum out where he'dfit best into whatever scheme the obema's got cooking. b, the clink of evny coin is the sound of betrayal. There, thefiends plot and a c h e within their circles to smear law and evil acmss the planes. That's the tub, I always say. It s e e m like tkc baatau nm the show, hying to turn the whole plane k t a a twl for t M r agenda. T h y we the plane; the plane ldcs them. It's a geod tradefmm W r p o f n t
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Chant is that u) vlore on Baator is I k o f the baatern's i&ence. I ccrhridy k i e v e h i m h i e s and powcr athat to be true - just look at all their i-al tures. And above it all sit the Dark Efght, the highest of the 'ordinary" Ibaatern, thejfmds who tun the Blood y\hr and give orders to the rank-adfile. T h y don't hesftate to m h any berk who stcmds in the way o f t h d r g m d plan. But there's more. Another level of organization lurks above the Dark Eight: baatezu nobles who scheme and plot in tk names ofthdr prmonq the Lords of the Nine. And let's notforget the lo& themselves, dtkerl RmwaUy, I believe they're ascended baatezu, though the truth is no one m U y knows where t h y camefrom. Supposedly, the lords are about on the same &vel as the f yet. Regardless, powers, but they've not d C f i n * e l v e s &her way os o thy're s&,t&-.* srpbs more, *n a disinterew c + A D E A L keep ural@6fhey'd show thejfmds BAA+EZU? sfthe plane. , +HANKS. Now, for all their talk A + H E R C U + m y +HR@A+. abodvcanundmtand,ab . and smngth to the weak, &'s the dark of it: The TARSHSVA L(BNOR8ACH. baatern are in this existence only for themselves. BXPBRIBNCBD PLANBWALKSR They make tortuous rules, nearly as totinous as their vny lives, and u d r mazes of logic la^ eycll the Fmternity of oldcr bqeped at times. This chapter offers what chant my team and I have gathered on the baatern. But I think the real k y to undmtandifig them lies in h m a l f n g tD the f Tkms. Thefiends' home plane has nine (three times thm)Ipym. The Rule o race i s divided into t h m main castes: least, lesser, and grram: The h r c h y o f their society involves t h m mnkfngs of power: oniimnyprnds, the noble, and the Lords o f the Nine. See, the lives of the baatezu are g o v m d by the knawn pdncfpks o f the multiverse, in ways that've been reanangulfor their convenience. Certainly, it's no easy task to sum up the mm, and perhaps no one will aver manage it. But we believe the answers are there. We must keep trying. - Nomoto Sinh, Compiler-in-chicf
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it's a reshaping for selfish PUQOSCS, plain and simple. The baatnu don't want to take the chance that the n u p p w h s l v e into stronger members of the andmt might one day m Baatorian race. So they steal the fat flmds and f o m them into thein own hvlsted hierarchy. It's the supreme example of the baatezu imposing order - t h d r order over the essential chaos of life. Even the winnowing of the larvae showcases their love of law. The fiends let the brutal proms of natural selection catapult the toughest larvae to the top of the heap. The choice isn't arbitrary or subject to bad judgment only the most capable larvae sunrlve to become lemum. Not all baatezu grow from larvae and nupperibos, though. Somejust pull themselves fully formed from the unfeeling oMer of Baator itself. But, as a body might suspect that's a tough trick In a place as structured and regulated as Baator the baatezu don't just spring up like weeds. Still, the Rends can't produce ofipring by mating (as will be discussed later), so they have only two ways to replenish their race: appear spontaneously or evolve from larvae. 'Come, baatezu aren't stuck in a single form all their r o w in power and rise through the ranks of lives. They can g their ram; later my editor will present a discussion of the hierarchy of their shapes and promotions. For now, just understand that the monsters assume new abilities with each change in rank and undergo full physical transformations. 6ven the& spirits are altered (though only slightIy). Their mcmories, unfortunately, remaln intact.
baatau mow up In rank they gain greater intelligcnrr, aod thus greater ability to p m c a old memories But just as it can take a long time to locate one particular phrase in a book, it can take ewn longer to puU minute detaib out of a memory that spans millennia. So, unless a baatczu juat happ n u to store rrttain important details right at the fmnt of its mind, it'll need a few moments t o (forexampk) r e d thc name of a m o r t a l it met once before. That's how you can fool them. Remain insignificant enough for as long as you can to a d d their suapMons [aa much as anyone can avoid their suspicions) just long enough to do your deed and get awlry with I t 'Coursr, Prom that moment forth, you'd better keep a constant migU for thc fiend's vengeance. Being made a fool of by a mortal is an n thc insult a baatau doesn't forget easily certainly not I span of a mortal's life. In short,the baatezu don't forget thdr pmrioua stations and pmrious feuds. They may undcgo starfling change8 i n shape and abifity, but the bansformations reflne their minds and their memories (though spellcasting flends do loae their learned spctls).
S+A+IQN
Hahl I don't have the space to explain how many dlffercnt ways that b n k ww a liar. The fmpomnt point here is that baptczu do remember the time they spent In pmrious forms. If they didn't, they'd lose the hard-camed knowledge a c ~ u l a t e throughout d their centuries in the lower ranks. Even m o e to the point, they wouldn't be able t u anticipate the schemes of their inferiors (and that skill is one of their most f i n e tuned instincts, seeing as it Lnpa them alive). Now, it's no dark that as mortals grow older, they accumulate experience and knowledge. It's no dlfkcnt for the baatezu &hough they don't grow older; they just keep on living). Of m u m , since the m o n s t e r s live for so much longer than ordinpry people, their coilected experience is a veritable treasure-trove - and it's all tainted by the wlls they explore throughout their lives. L k mortals,the baatezu lcam to look back through the Alters of expcrience, and thcy constantly reinterpret past events to glean nuggets of knowledge for lpsc in the future. Fortunately, like an aging human, the baatnu don't always have immediate access to their pasts. The longer a fiend lives, the farther its memory stretches, and the harder It becomes to recall insigniRcant facts. Naturally, as the
An old fool I met in Sigil swore that he kept stealing from one partlrular baatezu by using the same trick on each of the flendis incarnations - because the monster couldn't remember the m f r o m one body to the next.
F L a c I + I N O IUBIlIORY
I was abk to uncover iltformahn on 13 diffmnt klnda of baatczu; I don't think any others crict. The k d s f d l into three overall castes (leaat, Icsser. and greater), and within each caste, into numerous stations (speciflc drpa). Apparently, the time spent in each station is meant to tach a particular Icaop about the nahm of lawful evil and its place in the multi-. It seems the lowest stations - that of lemure and nupperibo don't impart any specific lessons. That might be because those two miserable ranks barely qualify as baatczu in the first place. (Rememkr, as ow Mend Tarn reported, nupperibos actually belong to another race entirely.) Perhaps the Rends make their lowest kind nearly mindless X I they can fuUy manipulate the maturea and set them rigidly on the c o m e o f Nil. The higher baatau decide the behpvior that marks the lower Reads for the rest of their livcs.
Nomoto Sinh
+e S + A + I e N
pain and destruction. However, as pathetic as they are, h i n @ (they can lcmurcs are also the stqph@tone to greater t be promoted to splnagon statlon, and f r o m &re h@cr still). But don't forget the nuppcribos, the strange matures forcibly reshaped into baatezu. The lawful fiends put forth e members of their race, and the lie that nupperibos are m
them as tnre basta, leaving them officially unrmked and deAnitcly unnamed. The lemum are the mlndless armies of a r ,t h e rank-and-&, incapable of mUu#dcdthe Blood W sions on their own. They're driven into battle by threats of
The lemurcs fester at the wry boltom of the scale baatau politics, Again, many scholars seem reluctant to classify
LBAS+ BAA+BZU
+ 13+
that thct b a t e d monstm a n huned into lemures as punishment. Unpcrtunatcly, most low-planar s a p belimd that story, having no good reason to suspect otherwise, until e very recently, when chant purchased from yugoloths r vcakd rule m t h . (Of aourse, one might wonder how much faith to place in Such mnlatlOM, but I eMlIC YOU, the 'laths proved their claim exceedingly 4, aithough I'm sworn not to discuss their evidence here.) Interestingly, it seems that some nuppmibw M actudly higkr-rsnthg bartuu that died outalde of Baator and were reborn into that low shape, I & to toil unknown and unwant@d u n a such time (If cver) as thcy're &covered and mtoredlto thdr previous rank. This, to me,is simply mMc pmof &at nupperibos aren't really baatczu at all, but the original4 natunlly occurring spawn of Baator. It must vex the fiends greatly to know that when they die, they w-mter the worlki in a 'fomign' shape: no wonder they're so eager to turn nuppibos into lcmurest still, fo~ the sate of Eonvmhcc, we'll continue to refer to nupperibos as 'lesat baatau" throughout this book. Perhaps in time, as the truth becomes more widely known, wc can do w a y with that fiction entlrcly. The last of the least baatezu arc the spinagons, the expendable mcscon~mand iaforma~s-gathcmrsof Baator. Though they'rc the weakest and the most bullied of the intelligent baatau, they're also the ' h t rank that can determine thqir own eventual fate. A splnagon who serves well r high as amnfiu. (That's 811 Incredibly rare ormr+ can rise I ~nn far ; mare common ia a promotion to one of the thm kinds of bbishai.1 Thelstatlon of rplnagon is also the flnt one in which the baattzu learn a lesson: It's best to succeed early and avold the trouble of dealing with the in-betwenrP.
LBSSBR BAA+BZU
The mptilian abirbpf's thm rank am (in ordm of asccndlng influence) black, green, and red. Ironic&, black abishai are often mote Qaplrcd throughout Baator than a r c spinagona Mer all, a spinagon who pclfonns wdl can be promoted t oa But a spiwon who lacks amMtbn and cunning m h t c s thc smallest possible promotion and becomes a black abishal. Thus, black abwlai are sccn as fiends without purpose (except qs fodder for the armies). And if that perception docsnt dpm a black abishai to try to cbange it, ststion. it truly Is one of the most worthless creatures on thc plane. 'Spinago$s have potential," said 811 crhyes I brlbed on the Outlands'(th0ugh wtth what, I wlll not say). 'gut a black abishai? h t h l n g but a spinagon without enough drlve to make soldahfng useful of itsclfl" She exaggerates; black a b b h i da have their uses. As the most bmmonly summoned l a m baatau (the barbazu and OsyIdths arc alro called, but less frequently), they're given a c c p to atrong magic 90 they can cormpt inexperlenccd mottals with the promise of great powa. And black abishai who perform admirably can still recti@ thdr prcvi-
numbmMhighcrrrnLs-barhnqosyluth,andcvrnamnizu.
mistake, gaining promotions to gnen and, later, red .birhsi.From there, t h y can rise to the &tIons of babuu, Locrschon (for those with slighUy more prwdsel, or erinycs Ifor the very tsdcntd). The lesson of the abishri: IRm@ d d m n W W 0 r aul ckver thlnhiug, cvm eady nfrtrbo can be cwwcemc. Ncxt. the barbazu and kocrachau l%wgb. tKhnially h d r q u a l in station,t h e two h d s M woltds e m +nt percsptions and goals. Barbazu, strong and dull-wlttrd killing machines, art on the slow tmck o f p~~~~otion.'@cd ablshai who excel sldp this station altogertra.) Bnbrm arc the elite of the baatezu warrlon, ya,but they rbo S U E U ind i b kb e s ~ s a e c iin the battles o f the Blood W a r .They arc, in short, expendable benetlrcn, c o h n e d to A@ by t M r lack of ambitlon. They cao ltte only to the rank Of6@& ThctWhkSSOMOf@Eharbrzu:&V4#C~ drlvcs m e qui& c$icknt~ and it tules mom sHll than hrot to survfw. Yacrpchons, the elite torhwaa of Baator, a r e i a W u m h m the barbazu are n e d for of horror and nlghtmare. W thcir ferocity on the fleld of battle, the kocmchoas are known for theL skill and subtlety with the instmrscnts of u l l a d brutal nurkn. c ~ d t y the vary antithcsfs of the d Thty extract bsttle plans m d inibrmrtion about q h frmn tanar'rl and cclcstial prisoners of wu, and from mort& UBwire enough to fall into flendkh hands. Maaten of thdr trades, komachons are rcspected by every other kind of the baatezu for thcir ability to w r i q a confw6ion Rom c ~ l c n moSt unwilling throat. flnterestlngly,the most skilled kocrachons earn the gspert +heir wiaima well, who learn to equate exquisite pain th love: the mortals and cclestials among them are especially dangwas when - m If i .rclea&) But no matter how swcmlid thcb mcthDQ @michonsran be prometed only to the station of cdnym. The lesson of the kocrachon: Take pafns tu 1ndp~c in o t h m mpectfm a &dng ofobvfovs shllL The rank of erinyes i s Choaght to be a reward for baatezu who've overcome tiuir Initial eluggIsham.9, for those who've bad to sufkr through thc stations to prove thdr Worth. Tho@ @lhW Mptrtdhl famdc, Msume e k h a male or female form in orda to best acdwx haplw mortals. Erlnycs arc spies an well, wnt to irua Kcrets f r o m enemies and allin a l i k e . And these Acnds art frighteningly good at both tasks. They can rlse d M y to any mt above than (wen straigld to that of plt MI), or they can suffer demdlan to thc station of biubsru. depcading 011 how well they SCNC their maam (thy'= d d (0 report dircrtly to the Dark Eight). Howcm; the most cmmon mow is to the atation of wyhrth. The l w o n of the erlnyes: Cunning m c d nralhn thinking e m p o t ma&. Me thc splaagons and the black abishai. the o&uths are hated among the baatezu, but for a vny d i f h m t mson: The oryk\ths have power over all o t h m of tbdr race (excepthg only thc pit fiends). In CS#IICC, osylutb are the guardians of baatezu morality and caste. They watch to make sure the ideals of law and evil are upheld by every
OW
r
Gelugon Hamatula Cornugoa oayluth
Erinyesi
Barbaau
Lemure
PLAN ESCAPE^ MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM^ Appendir Abishai, amnizu, barhazu, cornugon, erinyes. gelugon, hamatula, Iemurc, nupperibo, osyluth, pit fiend, spinago
Other Sources: Baateau
+ 16+
and they bow only to the Dark Eight (who are pit fiends themselves),the nobles (who are something more), and the Lords ofthe Nine (who may be deities). The leswn of the pit fiend h this: Powrr c&at'@es, aad
a b d U h P O W N Cbt'@CS 4bSdUhl>
+ $P
TH6 PReCSSS
Nomoto Sinh
PRellIe+I@N
How arcbaatrcu pramoted? WCH, lemurcs are chosen by chance and left to wort up to theb 01111 potential. Andeat's the kst time chance plays a r o k in their lkm. Prom that point OLI t h @ nwatckd, catalogued, numbmd, and ordeml, s o b e highafknda can drmrmtnc w W ofthem am worthy of promotion, which are the k t dedslon-makers and the p).omMng Lcpdrra of ?be next gmersdon o f baatrm, and whi& art doomed to be tpliar'rl-fodder for the rest of their midrrrbledstmcu. Y e thm We b M m mtnimks d m t to Slmpk rrconaltlaprngrmd obtervatbn. And *e Idn smes IIC fPhtyimporlrettoaSuppoedy,notarlnglepasaaindl the history of thcaultivcne hmr broken into o w . (Of course, if anyone has, he was no doubt exterminated befort he could ever breathe a word of his accomplishment.) The point of all this eimcrvation Is to ensure that only the most competent make k to thc top. A baatezu's got to show ambition, strcffiltl4 anb(m0atSiaIl)thc Intelllgence to make a splash in the fleedl54 worid. Alrcr a& the race ia centered around the $acts of law and cvil, whiela w , I n turn,u e d toward thc ma of the strong ~S I~ II to thc ton
Othcr baatau go through d d a r tomUn to ascend to the natstptlon. 1belieucht the d hwdpad I s h a r e r t p r o p o ~ to o ~t h e speed o f the pmatotion. m dh t achlevin@ each new rank involve suffntng a WMcnt LLad of pam. w oftornun rn irmasdf.t~ (anlllc thc tanar'ri, which are said to o m over t Inn# period of time), and rll of them mqplrr t)3L assistance of other hatem to complac the rituals and hbuc tbc promoted ilnrd its am o)ilitkr. POI examp*: A lenmra chosen to h o m e a splnq3onri3#h In a vast glatliatodal combet with othdrs of &s kind, MM striking down ail comm u n a it's thc only . stanfnn~'Ihc wiancr i r t h m e d off mB Its skin peeled from its body, revealing Ihe spiaagemtbat h r s fomWd !Mid6 the wPX& shell of 4hc
; *
+
'
An a b l d a i selected to b e a o w as eitnycs mst submit to the tender minMmtions oP the bmchons in thr Knoll of Blades, wbo mmn@(be features of the h i d to matt it mere pGcrsh~#ta mortals. They also c a m anoti~s syllable into dLe fiend's spirit, making it a more cmnpliaatd ma' ture, more d i W t to sumpon, and acme cunning then cvn k f m . @St@ 4lh1tnttim~n wlll p s c . ) An osyluth promvtal toithe station o f a m n h mdergoa the ritual making, aod .grurmlsg necessary for asccasiom As e u h limb ia yank& f r o m the osyluth's bo& a d & o n c e m c q @ W the torso. When thc cwkting Bsyhrtb pLd~vff the Mny face of the se0rldoay-W thsg krm&Mnd a alJY caul on the PLCW smmh's krr.'Fhe .mdh must remove the caut *.force d will rDwc. 01it
lCIlIru0.
~pcryesr,pcrrmtuly,andsofolth,arrnonrcnrc.If,ina given tiqe period. there aren't enough capable fiends to pmmotc to the rank of amnlzu, then them just won't be M many amnisu for awhile plain and simple. Though the inspectors of the Ministry discourage short promotions and may p+h superiors who hil to deliver good educa?ions, they won't fill ranks with the unready. No incompetent baatezu aan ever rise to power. Intmstlngly, that doesn't mean that a fiend who does succeed ia the cream of the crop. My ahyes contact told me tha$when a pit fled PrLS for "exemplaryd c e , " he doesn't expect a stellar performance so much as the abscnce of mist a k e s .In puler words, the baatezu care leu for marding the good than they do for punishing the bad it provides the Rends wlth exaapks of what to avoid. Sadly, sometimes the ided of *the bad" can change, depending on how much a superior wants to atop a particular baatezu from rising througb the ranks. That might wen mean doctoring =ports and walustions t o keep a Rend down. Of COUISC, this practice is officially discouraged, and a fiend M I Ito be m a y hamperin% the education P S u a of a promising young baatezu is
Th.aMinistry of Promotion (overseenby the pit fiend Zaeboa, a member of the Dark Eight) won't let a f i d ascend rmtil it meets the stringent nquiremcnts OF its h t u t t station. The stmia of quotas for how many baatent rtx and
based on the l h l y p r o m of a fiend fmm strtia to Sation, as wdl as the careful study of its supcriofa taaia. Thus it is that the fiends have to both thdr supcrhs and the impectoa h m the Mhlistry of Promotion. And, of course, being caught h a bribe WMIDtS punishment. See how the baatezu way enCOUragCS subtlety and covering one's tracks?
"None may rise unless another WltS." Most of the time that axiom refers to face and pmttge among one's feUom,.but for the batear, itts often Utenlly true. Ifa meabcl of the racejust Wt wonklag out In ttsposition, or l it ~ m m i t a s snious w m g %pinst ImamuMv. the high-ups have no choke but to dcmotc i t Thc m d t y of the demotion depends on tho severity of the tvnnagmsioa as wdl M the number of ofinsea t & fknd m@t ham accumulated pmiously. Minor faults can mult In thc demotion of a station within a caste w, on a bad day,a futf duction in caste. More suica m o m un hock a Bsntezu down sevenl casta. And the mort heloorts erimapvl mult nk o f kmwe (and perimp$ a masincs of the Blood W a r ) .
2%
'4.
Soma mhtaka, certainly, rpll be c o d up, depending on how high a baatau stands and how powerful its friends are, But when a fiend falls, it's usually marked in some way to make its punishment clear. Evcn worse ifthe demoted one is foreed go d n in the ranks it formerly commanded, it's likely to end up in the dead-book (baatezu are notoriously unfogiving of anyone who's done them wrong). Some demoted fiends take the route of the roguq rather than face the punishment 4ikely to be doled out by their new pens.
THB P I + @ ffLAllIB
Of the schools of punishment on Baator, none seem quite so excruciaqing and fearsome to the baatezu as the Pit of Flame, which sits in the center of PhLcgethos (the fourth layer). I haven't seen it myself (nor would I want to), but the Pit is said to be a huge lake of boiling filth and excreta, burning with searing white tlames @at reach over a hundred feet high. Supposedly, all osyluths have the power to magically depssit in the Pit any baatuu (except a pit fiend) that flouts Baatorian law.
Sometimes, wan I have to admit that the formr, o f the baatezu seem like mundane and, well, gargoylish, barque shells chosen for their ability to frighten morwS though naturally, they can adopt more pleasing fcaturm to lure those same victims. But then I l o & dcqur, and I h a y s flnd the baatezu creatures of strange beauty. Tho- deemed thew fienda marry form bkkous by conventional standard% and function aIm& pufcrtly w i t h their bodies. The basic shapes of the race u e generally fairly well adapted to the layers of Baator: even CanIa hsll evolved its own baatuu. They can withstand erbcmea of both heat and cold, and their very nature helps to deflect most ethe h ya m in short, magic a mortal might hurl agsfnst than. T some of the toughest creatures in the multivene. Though thdr f o m wry, a body wlth an eye for detail can spot similarities if she knows w h a e to look for them. Discounting the lemum pnd the nuppdbo& we seethat, hierarchically, the forms tend to rltanate between an appearr fragility and O M of dmsity or danger. ance of delicacy o Examining the hierarchy in o r d n of rank (rathu than in O F d a of m m o t l o a which
guarded nlne companies of corI A D m I + +e 14the two CXtFemq the only nugons, who watch to make SUR none leave B ., RA+HER. e x kine -R .. the Crinycdo@uth before theJr time - nor othen enter. Why would I rnAKE S @ r n @ N i BLSB and hnmatulal *nmr 1 . - T. anyone u w t to enter the Pit, you AU11117 T W I ask? Becape to the Rends of Baator, cormrgoa Is this conhuing it's a place of purification A N A I Y ~ R Q U N ArnAizu, , as well as punishment. A yet? Do ~JYh r k q up. AVeIDING D @ m 6 + i e N S If we look at simibaatuu Mho bathes in laritics along the various l a m e s EM the tompting f paths, we get engain stre@ and heal w y diffrremt intaprrtpbM.That's aftk doesn't tend toward law and evil is Instantlv concaste svatau. I t ' s sumed by the Am (and, some say, reborn & a slave to the like reading a n d with vari& p& t o follow thmugh the chaptm, where a & reading a difflends but that may just be a tale to frighten children). Naturally, the fire isn't no1 fire as we know it at all, f m t vision of the work aa a whple. l m e s . Insince most baatezu arc immune to wen magical f stead, it'q some kind of fiery energy drawn up from the PAkrLY essence of Bsator itdf. Of course, it might &8 well be ordinary the do mortals,as it bums them just as easily. Firstly, to get this out of the way: Bsatezu keep t h e i r vitals in much the same place as do mort bnmpn anddcmihuarsn mortals Of COOISC. theirvitpls M quite dlffacnt thrn thax of mortals, sinee brnnu have quite differrnt go& md 4nstincts. LurcwisC, t h y don't breathe as oRm or as deep& LI A N D SUNCL)IIeNS do mortals, so Auiag their lun@ with polsonous gaa doesn't Tealo Wilton bother them quite as much. The body of a baatuu matures toward a 'perfect form" as it They do ham eyes, cars, tongues, skin, vocal cords, ascends @rough the fkndirh hierarchy. The IC& and symand other a p p a n m k t M faidy simllar to what a m o a meby of its shape i n wlth each incarnation, uscs for perception. Thcy also ~BUKSS h e a s , lung. kidthough thc changes m ' t always apparent to an untrained nys, brains, and all that i t ' s ju& that a b t u u ' s w for eye or, for that matter, to an eye that's unfamiliar with these organs dlffm from a mortal's. To put it bhntly, a baatrm l a c and style. And the higher up the ladder a fiend body who ruts open both a baatuiu and an ordinary primeclimbs, the more twisted the logic that goes into its creation. material human might not notice much difference in the
. 1
BIBWILY p e ~ i n
+ 19 +
Do you ever wonder why aobody sees baby baatrmP Itb an easy answer, really - t h m aren't any.Mak4aatem w f d k , but females are not Thw bratau arc not born in thccgtrmtional sense and do not grow from infamy to PdsWood. When they achieve a promotion to'a c&&n s W n , they bcgin their new life as a Mly famed &nd oftheir am trSt Indeed, Bastodan sori@ is far more ~ 1 l t . r i r n r t b a ritmrk. Baatezu bones seem to be made of a different matethat of most pn4me-matnlal worlds. 3y that I man that a rdal than most bones. They're slightly metallic, and fiend needn't worry about its station or drcunutmw ba*say Secm to have been carved before placement in c a w anyone with enough cunning and tenacity canmlakelt the body - almost as if their omem had been contc the top There's no "glass ceiling" It's all a m t t u of how driven &e flend is and wh atnutmi. This is a mystery I've yet to aack. nge. Sow say that thlr is bilarem.soddy; i*rsyit% ' s ascendaxe b-the makhae. Many be& who don't underst&& b as I dfromkhcbjecfaihWAl ,*,p '~: do nwen seem to know whether to use ot &e bhth. maIc h b c w uc *: w k n refhring to such a fiend. The t e r r n s are &t eq~%$ J1 fully-capable of &timing offi$lng, and their aocicty mbaatau dearly fall into one of the time categories. But like courages them to do so with other races. It Is pasi of&c so much tdse in Baatorian society, the gender of a Rend is baatau's agenda to enrkh the mu#ivcrstrvtth their dah determined by its high-ups, based on the fiend's perforsed, as ccrtaIn mortals haw ka& nb doubt to IMr dismance in its past station(s1. may (see ?Dealing With Mortals," later in tbk chapter). Naturally, there is a pattern to the assignment of gender, Some ofthcsc fkndr am m a i n l y driven by I-, but f o n t h and it follows the Rule of Threes. Among all baatezu (save most put, theb zenl flows from an edhmnce to the gmter the nlnyus, which are female only, and the lemms and nupagenda of leavlag the baatau mark OQ the muktiverse. pnibos, rrhich are uttaty genderiesr), one t h i r d of the fiends MC mak, lone third W e , and one t h i sexless. This breaks WOUAISll e r within each station; thus, one third of the down stul m spinagonr are male,one t h i r d are femak, and one thkd are One of the base atqvirracnta of hu u c a w is sustmance almost everyone needs to take in some form of nourishment. left to wonder at the mystnia of the other two. What role does gender play in baatezu society? For Even the powers depcnd on the bencf of their wonhlpm to creatureswith the power to alter thehelr appearance at will, tt sustain W r uistcnct. It's 110 different with the bartau. would seem to be a supduous diffmnca, and it's a safe bct But whrt ex.ctly do tbey In@&? Folh f r o m alI wal& that the baatau don't give a toss one way or anotha - unof life have seen blstczu cat Just a b u t anytbin%~a mcMd less it matters to their duties (as with the erlnyes, whose job can cat, thou& of come t h e y prcferrmat (l'k nupis to lure mortals of all sMpes and tempment). eat nothing, bac then, they're not mnUy.baatem, arc they7) I haw an explanation, of course: The baatezu simply The flsnds also make distinctions as to the source of their desire to understand as broad a reach of behavior as posfood. That is, they pnfer meat from an intrlligcnt maturr,
gross appearance of mqjor organs. But the truth is in the details: 1 A baatezu's pineal gland (or third eye) is more highly developed. ThC fiends are attuned to portals and the hidden secrets of the planes, and their @mal gland has grown to reflect that semitivfdr. A baatezu's adrenal gland can be up to three limes the size of a human's (apcdally among the barbazu)l This accounts not only for their incredible vpecd and ferocity in battle, but also for their mtoflow@ aggressive behavior. + Certain baatezu muscles are altcrpd to fit the power that courser through their veins. The muscles are generally longer,meaning that the flends have fantastic enduranm. And while not as highly developed, the rhorter muscle@ are more open t o the flow of blood and other fluids, &wing the f l e d to p a c fDrmgreat kats ofsbmgth for short m o d so ft i m e . Baatau blood tends to flow as black as the waters of the Styx, though it changes depending on the atmosphere it's exposed to. The internal organs of the baatezu are, like their $tin, usually covered with supple, leathery scales. This helps to account for their natural ability to resist blom and to heal more quickly than most when
sible, and can learn this only by amming the forms of all genders posstble through each of the stager ctf rheir life. Thus, when a baatau is promotcl to a higher s t a h , it might keep the same gender or be given aaothur. h & deI pen& on what the fiend stlll d t o learn (ory*hnt Itasum o r s tkM it needs to lam). I t ' s the only expiana8on thn really makes any s m e . despite tk criticism Icvttlcd nt me by undoubtdy jealous pcers. My thmy has one excepfMn:.When a boraEu fr promoted to the station of pit fiend, it becomes fm to choose i $ mind later in life and its sex. A pit fiend can even e switch genders, but only by flrst spending three days in the Pit of Flame. Baatezu who ascend bcyolld t k rank of par fknd and become nobles are again cbslnad to a sin@@ gcsder (though, as usual, they cen change thah aplssmfirc to that of anothal.
BIR+A
+ ao +
..
they treasure meat from a good-aligned sentient creature, and theytprire most highly of all meat from a paragon of goodncsq like a deva or solar. They also eat their own kind, if neccsnpy, though they'd rather dine on larvae, tanar'ri, or yugolW. So what's the common thread? U n l i k e thc tanaf 6, who are thought to take their sustenance from terror and pain, the baatau derive nourishment fromlife Itself, from the symbolic devouring of the d v l d wl spark. When a baatau eats P cnaturctba poseslcu Ufc and wlll, it subsumes that life into itp own, thus maklqj tbc energy serve its own needs. < I'm ant.in that's why the buanr take such pkanue In consuming beings of good or chaos:In so d , t l y use the lives of their enemies for the baatem c a w , Hvcs PhPt othcrwiso would bc devoted to workibg cyrfnkt &em. By eating the flesh of their foes, they Mt only tvcakcn mclr opponents but also strengthen themselves. It's a zero%un game what one gains, another must lose. No doubt my revelations will amaze many readm, espcdally those from tba Prime Material Plane. Why, if 1had a copper piece for every prime who thinks the baetezu feed on the Spirits of the living.'. . It'ssimply not so. Thew people have mobt likely seen erinyes at work dragging mortals away to Baator or faMcated their stories out of whole cloth. Baatezu don't eat spirits unless said spirits are flrst distilled into physical form (as larvae or lesser Bends). Certainly, the flends can take these essences from the living. but spirits art made foriconuption, and eating them would be a waste of valuable mources. As for drinking: Baator's said to hold great rivers and bottomkss lakes of fluids precious to the baatezu. Most of these fluids were once precious to the livlng, and I trust I need ssyino more than that. While away from thdr home plane, the baatezu can drink the fluids of othcr creatures or wen draw moisture fromthe very air to refresh themselves (though again, nupperibos drink nothing). H e ' s the dark of it, though: The baatnu don't need to eat or drink anything. It's just one of their pleasures. All they truly need to exist is the awe and dread of creatures below them. Certainly, they enjoy consuming meat, and they relish sacrifices and offerings, but the baatezu are partly matures of belief, and in the end, belief is what they feed on.
S L P I P AIID D R I A m S
When it comes right down to It, the baatezu are still living creatures, and all living creatures need to rest, even if it's just for a few moments. The lower ranks sleep more frequently than the higher, though their rests are of much shorter duration. For example, the l e m m snatch moments of sleep no more than five mlnutes at a time - in between long periods of being crowded iostled. and forced into combat. The splnagons, likewis~, must always be available for their superiors and can only catnap.
rl
only one hour, and therefore the flends must sleep several times a day. Generally, lower-station baatezu who serve well are allowed more time to themselves for rest. And so it goes up the ladder. The higher ranks are bury and have fewer opportunities for sleep, but when they do rest, it's for longer periods of time. Of cwrse, B ~ t o r i p n ambivop compela most high-ups to devote all thdr waking to SCrvlCc, a d t h e usually bcgrUdg@ tharnwhm M y bseaks. They wmt t o p w e their worth, a d d h o l e who yeem to make rorpabing of thtmselves sleep u littk as posdbk. As cceaUms of panendous will, baatezu can hold OBbsmonthr st a tllhc.3ut when exhaustion catches;up b &em snfIice it W say tbey'n out of commission for a week or two. Ws w W i PiR the greatest of the 5ends. They can keep themsWts awd& for years, decade& wen CUIturks at a tlmc.*pw eventually pay the phx, falling mmpktely odt bf codkiousness until thcy've mplenabhed their stores of energy. That's why they guard their slecplng places so j d ously. Why, any basher who happened upon a siteping baatau could wreak comldaable damage on thc flmd before it could rouse itself from its stupor. Thus, too, isr baatezu's sleeping place ringed with wards and hiddm frmn thc most care131 searchers. NaturPlly, the mlghtie? the flend, thc mightier its protertions. Woe to thc fool who WCS to violate the sanctity of a pit flend's sleep! Far the exact r a t i o of wpung to slnpina we turn a#dn to the Rule of Thms - or an uhnsion thereof. Aa nuu as 1 can tell, baatezu nonuaUy sleep for one hour for cvny nine in which they're awake, with light dfffcrenm allowad for personal dhdpline. (It's a known fact that some bsPtnu follow the tcmts of law more d o d y h n others.) I must admit that my theory is based on observations of lower-ranking fiends; I've not had the chanct to measure the sleeping schedules of higher creatures, but snly because I haven't been alive long enough to do so. On to the next topic: Do baatczu dream? It's a good question. I've gathered enough evidence to posit that baatezu definitely dream, and that their d r e a m are more vivid than those of any mortal. Naturally, they have their o r gwd and bad h a m s . What a own idens of what makes f baatau mlght consider a ni.gbharcwould be a nectrfllled dream for a tanar'ri, a blessing or an archon, or the quesy, half-remembered ravings of a prime-matuial barmy. The baatezu's most pleasant dreams Mbetter known a s t k horr i M nightmaw of bashen acmes thc p l a n a n e s e dreams have a purpose, too; they m e to e m @e the fiends through their next period o f wakefulness, I also bcllwe thaithe baatmu draw their dreams fmm - and r r m contribute drealps to a sort of rdlectlve planar d ing. (The Outer Planes are bullt on belief, and what are dreams but the beliefs of the uncanscious?) Baatorian dreams impose a tCFIkjhg order on thc mlnds of others,tbat sham this pool of visions, but the taint flows both ways: The baatezu rOme away colored by the perceptions of othus.
...
Here's what I've been able to dig up. Each of these separate experiments is headed by a different baatezu Regnus Roy high-up, though I'd bet that none of the leadcn'm Iowa than pit Rend rank. But there's one thing that h e l p the rest The baatau're a tough bunch of b u h m . Every single kind's of us out: When a baatezu's been altered. It show6 #e got one or more special abilities: even the sodding fiend's outward appeariemures regenerate whe ance changes. Uafortuthey're hacked to bit Most bdatau have sew nately, the diffmncca are rate spellblitc powers, ioc slight; they're prSencaUy All baatezu land tanar'ri] have lost the ability to teleporr wit1 out error, as detailed in the boxed set Hellbound: The Bloc And all of the lessen an0 invblble to any krlc wko War. The fiends can regain the ability only by swearing loyal W t spent tlme studyine greater$ share the same ~- 'he yugoloths, who secretly stripped them of the power i group of spell-like powen t k brutau fonn. first place. Few baatezu have even admitted the loss i on top dfeveqything else. ,,,h other, let alone to their enemies; they don't want to t &DIC CORNUOONS. Sed, they can creal perceived as vulnerable. In the halls of the highest, pit tieni A normal cornugon's illusions from the thi discuss the problem. Meanwhile, they simply hand down edic fabric of space and mini main offcusivc wcmpoa Is that forbid the lower ranks trying to use the power at a! They w call deaden bac Its lfgktrrfng Mt ability? ,TrR . 7 " . V to service (though the which has no effect on corpses won't haw the spark of life). They can ixnd a bod most tanar'ri. A bit useless for Blood War combat, If you ask to their w i l l . Thcy can see in the dark. They can tell a eutme. The baatezu m u s t h thought so too, becaosc in some ter's views Just by looking at him. Worst of all, they can cornugons they've changed the electridty into d. Their drop thqmselves from one place to another - wen from new acid bolt power causes the same damage PI the old lightning bolt, but with a gwd deal more paln aud howling. plane to plane -just by thhkhg about it. 'Course, the fiends aren't calling on that last power The cornugons with d d bolt W e a more brownish much lately. Instead of teleportlng all over the multlvene, f scales. tint than the others, and their hands are free o they've been taking the Great Paths and ordinary portals. That should make a canny blood wonder if maybe, just The standad saw-toothed gldves of the barbazu art sbwty maybe, the baatezu're having trouble doing some of their fancy Mtks. On the otha hand. think on that too much and being replaced with similar glaives made of cold-wmugbt a body'sllikely to second-guess himself and wonder if the iron. This isn't the case acmss the board m i r y to get a barbazu to give up lts glaive, wen In exchange far a new fiends're@st mnnlng a peel, and that sort of thinking leads to seeing a baatezu around every comer and unda every one? But some of the baatezu high-ups'm purhlng for aztotal bed. I changcovcr. After all, the barbam are primarUy Blood WarIt's best just to figure they're as tough as they've always rlon, and cold imn brings a lot mom hurt to a tmrr'ri th8n been. Better safe than sorry. OrdlMW Sted. Since this change doesn't alter the physical meLCup of the OMS with cold-&on glpphns don't look any the barbazu, AL+GRA+l(BNS I dffercnt than the others. 'Coune, the mapon i W f ia aaycr I t ' s no dark that the baatezu've played around with ways to and a lot less shiny. make thdmselves more powerful. They've created "study groups" to see how a bit of tinkering with the promotion process can alter standard baatezu abilities. With my own Everyone knows that a spinagon's spina bunt into R u c eyes. I'wi seen the results. some of 'em are funnier than a when released from its body. Till now, thii flre'sjust been an modron in Limbo, but some of 'em well, they're downright ordinary reaction between the fiend's blood and the air. But Descent the baatezu'vc #em4 wqe of ~e$U@&o~Splned frfghtenidg, I don't mind saying. Even more frightening than the changes themselves is to make it a nagkal fiame. Though it seems to c a w a slight the knowledge that the baatezu're ready to tmplement the drain on the spinagons' reserves m e y lose a small Mtof ones thatiprove useful. That means the berks could fiddle their life form with each spine flml), I've heard more than with w q y slngle promotion ritual to make themselves one say that it's worth the cost. Whether they say this benSigil stronger and deadlier than ever. Chant I've picked up I cause they've been told to o r because they actually belleve it is that many baatezu high-ups are tradltlonaiists and don't is a macer of opialon. want to +ess around with tried and true methods, but a The spinagons with thc magical-flame enhancement growing rhuaba are more adventurous thcy feel that conare of a slightly d a r k a d rdorthur their companions. trolling cbangc is the best way to make sure that uncontrolled change doesn't sweep the race. Whatever happeq, W A R M E R GELUQO(IS. the outcoine'll determine the fate of the baatezu, and thur <All baatezu take full damage from electricity and lightning, the rest of,theLower Planes. ' and dkotce gelugons've been ad?"+" '7 to get around
I
+ Pewens +
+-
that wcptnc&s. Such M d s haw a lpcata resistanceto dccMcity a&d lightning, magkal and othemiW, so t h e only safper half a6 much fmm a jolt. Wfortunakly for them, the procrss d B 0 pilrcs tbdrrLLn I c y iq, so thdrpowcr to ndiate cold fmm thdr tails has 1IkcwSse dimlnlshcd by half. A bbod can spot an dcctrlcltp-rraiatsnt gelugon by its odd skin (which is more transparent than normal) and the extra antennae atop its head.
cOLD@R GELUGONS.
Tbe fUp sMc of the clect~Idty upniinmts has mated gdugons that're orm more ffi$id tbm w a l . See, &e yugolouU have a strange vulnerability to cold of all sorts, so the bartent Ugh-ups liLc to send detachments of enhanced gdugons albng with any d a l yueroioth mnrcaprg companks. By deubllng the strength of the Bcrcrgons' cold, the pit finds h o p tcv ensure that the yugolothr w o n ' t turn.rtpg not unless they feel like losing their entire force to thclr extra-chilly baatezu comrades. The gelugohs so treated mbrlght blue, not fading wen in the glooms of the Gray Waste.
tbc d u e of elite fiends skilled In stealth and

ROW ihw're
of thdr klnd to cambion w a s -
matlnu some of their own. "he
All fiends have a vulnerability to magic mfssflcs; the o clpitdiu! on It. Sadly (fm -1, baatau hew decided t the method. they've scttklor~ ain't wwkiag oat too mu. See, they trlad to shap ficads that couki i l r r thc d d l c s from tbcir eyes. Thpt part worlredJurtfim in carb.t,they can Arr hro mag& mfssfles each- minute m e perfeye with an ~nllmited supply, a n i the bolts inflW thc wne amount of dtmrge aa thosc 18nncIicd by ihe niuad.qcll. But tile poor sob shoot the nihil- Isllisolmlnatdy mytime th& eyes are open, la b8ttls, they're & Baty, but when it's t h e to leave the fiuld, they'vemto bebllndfdded. What's more, the sods can't see a b i ? , btinMolded or not. A l m ~ Bend's r got to * ' e m PIOuad patd g & k tLdr g a m BO they cause the most damage. 'Coirrrc. b a r t a u bcing whn they M , w m d the lead tbcirekrga right to a11 the othcrh&?zu who've a n g d them, ushg the missiles to avenge old insults. (Bellonit or not, some of the guides actually get rewarded for this Und of inventlvc treachery.) Promotion srmw to mthe problem - the fiends' eyes return to normal as soon as they reach the next 6tation I n the hlmrclgl. But they losc one of thc abilities of thelr new rank, scdagly at nndom.
BUND F U N I S
1 v
SPEWSLINGERS.
cast 'em like a m
inger. And 1 hope they still in are too numerous to toss en't seen any proof with
The best way to physically harm a baatezu of any variety is with add, eleetridty, or magic missiks. They can't seem to shrug OH the damage from thane sods of attacks as easily as they can ignore poison or flrr (or, to tell the truth, as easily as tanar'd can). Cold, gaseous attacks, and somaimcs even silva generally do about half the damage you might uqnct so if you're fighting a baatuu with such weapons, be prco u l dw i t h p a d to U n d toe-to-toe with it longer than you w an ordinary berk. But that redly goes without saying. Holg weapons tend to do the trick pretty well, too, but the monsters usually spot such items f r o m a long way of, I heard OM of lbem aaually claim that holy weapons shed a kind of &ow that they can s n and cven scnac deep in their spirits. H@hlI've heard better l i a from mhons. But it is truc that i t ' s extraordinarily difficult to smuggle a holy weapon into the pmcnrc of baatuu (or M s of other varieties)
PHYSICAL VULN6RABILI+IBS
you might t u well just announce your intentions flpt out Holy water's effcrtivc as well, and f haven't beard any ng monstm dah the stuffghns offa glow. H o w 't douse a baattnu with holy water ualass you've to wedrrn the foul creature. If the mow strength, the water won't hurt it much more d d would, and that only s e m to a e t tlu B a d
g of heart, it's said that a sure ng rid of a fiend is to cut the thing apart and s how the tanar'll pmwit lnerura and n u p ragmerat& d w i q Blood War battles (hey dlas mowers.(Ifa bastcsu's cacrace Es @ekd it l o w its existcnrrj But doea tha&tdck wort king baatuu? It uay weU m y , but chances O~chisU~tOthebSkkSkhS, a a m flesh isnp somahing y o u ' d want w &y
of the original baatezu to exist (unlas tacy've Mdcn t h e m selves away so carefully and preserved their Uvea sa.,.* ningly that they've passed beyond m o d b n W g e I . Mort folks would rather tay to HI1 a baawith a d u l l fork Of course, sometimu, the baatezu truly om reborn. thnntPLsUOnsp~UyIOrmcntPlly,lByou~gw~ member: mK mmsters are iabepcnUy d l w m , and 1 pemonalky Mion that &e powcr o f an evllldad is &bg compa1~4 to lhat of a good pmon stpading againht I t Relacmbcr $his! Oae way& engage a lawful lien6 in MatalromW Is to a d am&tdy&mtkaUy. Mow Mtbact w a r a n t purpose 01 plan; a c t m the spur of the moment. The werage b e is so pmgmnpd that what he ltelievea to k slmple refkxh uc really reactionshe lcatnul IP long time ago.And rcDetionr cam be\mkpwcb H o w , if a b ~ m t@ t t&cbDCCto ~ W question lits foe to any degree and 'the higher thc baataq tbc Lns thae it n& the mwskr w i l l have a d m n t mid 011 l f s *onmWs instincts and rrblun:in thb casq chaotic behavior won't be effective against the fiend. Thc t d c works only if a baatmrand its foe hve Mlfttkcuntad Anot4er method exists.for those who aren't keen on standing itoe-to-toe wlth a baatezu. It's mom d a n g e m s Ipanbcd, but the rnracds can be eved m e r .Simply tty to a m , there's no easy convince the fiend that It's vroy). S h l a The baatezu M taught throughout their enway to dp t ttrc I M h t &elr way is the right way, and a mortal%argummtsiwm't makethink twice nowmless h c b s a silver torkgue and the luck of the goda My eempaniom and I must have had the luck, bmuse we once ldked om way past a #peenablshai by demoartnting the psuadve power o f chaon and the ncod for bUa in the mtlltiveme. We mrnrgcd eo confuse the monstkr f6r only a faiv minutes, but that was Pu wc needed to esc-. I don't thhk this tartlc would wort agrlnsi a tougher or smarter type of baatreu. Natt~rPlly, there arc o t k r waya to deal with the m stem that don't entall physical combat, bM the b u m @ I
S P I RI +UAL VU LN8 RABI LI
+ I8 S
d b l s Tlr creatures hate k i ~ fookd. g a mined never to be fooled by the same trick more than kup. The baatezu learn f r o m experience: if they didn't, they'd& Just as bad off as the tanar'ri. The baatczu claim to be immortal, that they'd live former 4 they wden't troubled by little things l i k the tanar'ri qf mortals with holy nvonds. But men then, m n when Ucjr
TH8 TRUC DBA+H
+ 25 +
common baatnu are restricted from roaming the planes at will. Andlno baatezu in its right mind would gainsay orders f r o m Baator's high-ups, not unless It could bring those superiors crashing down with that one act of rebellion. (Erinyesare an exception, as my fkndlsh contact smugly informed me, fm to journey to other planes whether they've o t . ) The matures must either obey or been summoned or n invite the wrath of those who hue the orders, not to mention the legions of fiends thatfollow the commanders. That's a formidable obstacle to most baatuu, and only the exceptionally stupid or exceptionally brave try to cross it. Solqe do, of course, and they visit the Prime or the Upper Plana even when forbldden to do so. These flends n m r return to Baator, not unless they can prove that what they accomplished was worth foreswearing the baatezu lords. As ithat's usually impossible, the wanderers often turn toward chaos or join the ranka of the risen (though some continue to pursue the ideals of law and evil on the Prime). Of course, such deviants are the exception. That's why many of the baatnu who are truly summoned to the Prime exchangq tbeir services for the privilege of hunting down thelr "traltorous" fellows. They don't want the errant fiends giving bqatczu mlywhere a bad name.
potential candidates, administered by Furcas (the member o f the Lhrk Eight in chprgc of mortal relations). As might be expected, Baator's high-ups have determined the spots where spcU crystals thew objects that grab a wuamo#d creature and whisk it to tbc summoner are Ukcly to appear from points all ovcr the multlvene. They position various baatezu at the most Important of these points. (Nstunlly, what's considered 'important" really depesdr on what fiendish faction holds power at the time, and the number and type of baatnu manning the entry points c h partically day by day.) When a spell crystal eventually appears, a fiend leaps into its path and is summoned to the location of the rpcllslinger. Naturally, the baatezu stationed at the cry8tal mtty points are briefed on what agendas to punw once they arrive at their destinatioh. For the most pW. they've got tremendous latitude in determining how to achieve their goals, but their every action reflccid on baatuu pll OVCI thc multivme. Those who fail in their mksiom or who baing shame to the race am due for torment. That's what makes flends summoned by this method more than a little uneasy in their appn4nt-d duties.
'
gcmusly unproven. Mages who wish to c& baatnu s ~ b o w rely on more widely known methods (as desaibed in the introduction to this very book). Sadly, most of the common summoning spells have been designed so that wen a rank amateur can work them (though poorly). The consequences of an improperly cast summoning can dewatate untold miles of the Prime. And there's always a chance that a spellslinging berk manages to grab one of the rare Rends who sees an improper summoning as U I e x c w for carnage (though the danger is less with baatezu than with tanar'd). Stories tell of a mageling who inadvertently released a single barbazu on her prime-material world. The fiend gated in its brrthren to lay waste to the land, and they did so with relish. By the time a pit Rend Rnally came through to call back the renegades, the barbazu had destqoyed over half the world. lko diffmnl types of summoning8 work on baatezu. Thl Arst calls a fiend by name, drawing it f r o m its tasks without cam or for that work. A baatezu so summoned is a l m o s t always Rrious for having bcen pulled away f r o m its duties. Abandoning a task set by its superiors is one of the worst crlmes a baatczu can commit; drawing a a n d away from its own schemes is one of the worst insultr a summon- can offer. Since baatnu are always invoIvd in a task or a scheme, it's hardly likely that a mage will catch one in a good mood - unlas the flend's manipulating the fool for its own pluposn. The second kind of summoning draws f r o m a pool of
In my mcprch, 1 stumbled aaons no lack of bubbers who promised to teach me "the multivene's best summoning spell' fonthe price of a drink No doubt a few of tMr rlojhs had some grain of truth, but those methods an$+t best, Bn-
H@W + 8 ) CALL
H(bW
+a
-. .
Controlling a summoned baateru I s risky at best. Though they're proscribed from action by the summoning c b d w any intelligent mage puts down when calling outer-planar beings, the more talented among them can talk their way out of nearly any situation. It might just be Baatontn bhuta,buf I've heard that some flads have been summoned ao o ht k t they know, by sight, the race of over a hundred prime-matcrlal worlds and the weaknews of e a c h . Thus, if a mortal h o w to conhul a summoned bamtuu, r y siagk scel end t o he'd best make sure to triple-check w phrase his request such that the creature can find no loopholes. The baateru are masters of manipdation; they find the smallest c h i in any protection, magical orvcrbd, and exploit it as much as they possibly can. They'll reek to s they can, as long as it promotes spread their evil as far a general gods of the h e . If all ehe fails, they'll fouow instructions so l i t e d y that the summoner will wiah he'd neve dealt with them in the Ant place. trick applies more spcdilcally fiends &w opadn$a I ncontage of on& the mort glaring the spellcaster has debased himself with enough summonings to fully ensnare himself in a net of evil,then the baatnu strike and bring the bcrk down. (Thisis why most contracts cyem those between rtputable merchants in The Lady's Ward - arc w 6 down with h e print. Obviously, it's meant to protect tke signer f r o m trickery, to close loopholes that might othmvirc k exploited, and so on. But the practice actually gmv out of dealing with the baatezu. They're the lo& of legditka and tiny details: ignore this at your peril.) Hem's the most important thing to remember: Sum-
...;*ROLT---Tl
+ 27 +
C o w , some primes know what theyre doing, but planar~ have a better grasp on dealing with WC appcara~~ce o fa fiend. A spetlslingers already lost the battle if he pn dl barmy when the thing shows up la kis cutk he nlkd it, for powers sake, so hed better k ready to hand& it1 That dont mean chewing it out, @ I A . canny bloodrccogniws the danger of a Rend and treats it with mpect. What do bwtezu think of mortals? For the mod part, the same thing mortals think of flks:lgnore aq but awat em if thcyw a bother. Even the lifc of an d f tfiouJpeds of yean long aint much more than a day or a week t oa Rend. Sure, mortals are tenacious and wry, wry pmIiRc, but D S A L I N G WI+H IIIeR+ALS theyre too weak to take on even one of the fiendish races. Regnus Roy Theyre insects; theyre vermin. But that dont mean they In all tha digging Ive done for this project, Ive found cant be exploited and then tossed aside. dozens oE hgments of text from primes detailing their mI suppose if a N t M s Bpinrd some faatascountm with Rends. And sure as Sigil, in every one the tic knowwe or power (orifhe h ~ r t h c p baatezu go to considerable lengths to make a strong t d to gpln it$which the fkndsuwimpression. They figure by assaulting a berkk ally rccogniee), a baaac~a seMes, they can make him fccl the power him with a bkt more rcspcrt lhats why of their race, make him know the dread tba Duk Eight set up the Minktry of at the COR of dabbling wlth dark forces. & Mortal Relations a , deal with & d Herek a p i m I found in a dusty book I f Y e U D IUS+ special cases that need more tbrn simcalled The Black Beyond: SIGN H E R E , ple swatting (though the minbtry stiu triestolcsvcmoltalsodswlth WE CAN CeNCLUDE M y chalked drcle completr, I thc taste of betrayal one way or awalM the comlng o f the anothcr).Undertheaysof~ fiend said to have mmrU N e P P I C I A L llI@**e caSttK~~Suppcredkl ized Phis planfor so govan PU contact with mortab, or +ue long. I did not have long and the R a d s sent out on sumI l l I N I S RY or to wait. moninlp (orwdedn@) am brl& e R*A L R8 LA* I e N S re tbev have Baator. A coursing ofelecalong tic ines of Baatau who stay clt home the spbol pmaged its dont usually get tk same imlnlng. See, mortals who mmlng. The stench of visit Baator are supposed to stl@kto cert&o paths, plaas nether m l m s wa@d anass tke where agents of the tntnlshy can work tklr chamw on em. mom as the maw to a helUsh pit Course, what with all the portnls in SiUgl (and elsewhe), gaped eyer wider to disgorge its pandemus cargo. I its likely that some folks just dip through the cracks and gaggd, my slght growing blurry with the a d d va. thats when they gtt a true glimpse of how hellish Baator p m , land through my tearfng vision, I saw the apreally is. proach o f this mature. It came, not thmugh the air Its not hard for baatezu to romrmmicate with mortals. as anionihry beast nlght, but through the cornrn They know many languages, and if thllt fails, they can usc o f spqn ikcK tmwlingjhm an unimaginable distelepathy. When they do, their thoughts simply tram)ate tannland gnnufng at a tmnrndous speed. into the lamyage of the listener. But sinn they think & I At last thefiend stood witkln my d d e , barely their own caste languages (see Language, later in this contalned by the lines. Its eyes, pg-rrd and malruchapter) and in the horrld concepts and metaphorn of evil,
nmned baatezu, even if completely bound by abjurations and holy symbols, will always try to exchange their d c e s instead of providing them for free. Most summoners (especi&y novices) fall for this m e ; the fiend provides a service, and the sprmaoner must provide one in return. Whatever the fiend ask$ for never falls to advance the goals of the baatezu or wrap *e summoner in a web of lies. magic, and evil that ends only whcn the spellcaster has become a lemure on Baator. (Canny mortals know they dont have to trade services h e simply make their demands of the fiends.) at all; t The best advice for maklng deals with the baatezu is simply ta leave them alone. But if a spellcaster happens to summon a fiend thats not all that smart, he can extort promisest from the hapless creature. And all baatezu are bound to honor the lawful agreements entered into by any member of their race, even If said member has been tricked. The deal4 made by outcasts dont count, obviously, but a bargain dRmd by an abishai will bind wen one of the Dark Eight. (Of course, thc high-up will examine the agreement ucry carefully and exploit any flaws it Rnds, but still. . . .)
thoughtfrom my mind and began the abjutatioa that would drive lt&cvm lato abllvton. Inside the clrcle, the cnahlly syflni a y m n , I t s leathery whgs unprrscd behind tt, thdr krranre span making as they spmad slowly, JllUng the n l lar, and themIt s t q p e d j h m the drele.
olent, gazed out at me lvith suck cunning &laHon that, for an Instant, Jfrored Z had remehow s m d its purpose In drplwing It h m . I skwh that
r - 1
...
e -
+ 28 +
the listener can't help but hear a low, terrifying buzz in the ba-und of the telepathic nmssge. If the fiend makes the effort, it can screen out most of the 'static," but few of 'em bother wlth this nicety.
ColRJnon chant is that baatnu take contml of the bodies of mortals so they can spread the word of evil amds the multivcrae without fear of discovely. That's barmy talk. Sure, a Atnd might plant seeds of itself in a sod's mind, and It could usemagic to take over if it wanted to. but what'd be the point? No, the baetezu're too subtk to take complete possession of m o r t a l bodies. They leave that kind of rough stuffto the tanar'ri. All this talk of bodies reminds me of something the faint of heart ain't going to l k Baatuu~sometimes bmd o r t a l s . It's not as rare an occurrence as most folks'd with m like to think; it seems the fiends go out of their way to pmduce offspring with other races. But I don't know what one of these baatezu-mortal children looks llke. because I've nrvn seen one up close and personal. However, it's practically a given that these half-baatezu do exist. Otherwise, how would we ever get tieflings with Baatorian blood, which am let mmtl oncouartcr beatezu?
+ THlsNomoto DARK 81GHl)l + Sinh
call themselves the Dark Eight arc supposedly the same pit fiends who came together undcr Cantrum. I very much doubt that. But if they truly are the originals, they're d q n e beings among the treacherous b t e a u . And if they play at politics and rivalries (which they mustl), they keep their struggleJ hlddcn f r o m mortal eyes. Each d the Darh Eight wrtchcs over ona of the m i n v istries of baatezu cultun: hem ate the fiends' n~lassrnd duty deaignatlons: B a a l ~ b o n Supply , Master of Bastor; Coria, Spyma~ta; Dagos MPrPhalbof ithe Pit%Furel* ab t a of M o r t a l Brlations; P e w , W of Ilmalck zrbor, Minister of Pmmatlons; Zapan, Miairta of bmortal Dipb macy; and Zimimar, Minlrtn of Marplr. ' I kpmtlge and iniloftbe D a k E @ t a m at least equal to thm of the noble bsrtrm that aaratheloi$eHow nnr, theE!ght rrmain ordiasly pit fiends, w h i l e t h e n e b h r ~ sume gmtu physical powa and rpatnprmdmity t at k tmp mastcm of tbc plane. S U few mortals am fool& emu@ to test the limits of the Eight. They can m c h to moat prSra a c m the muhiverse, and as the heeds o f the mbbttica of Baator, they have a m s s to more information tha rlaadt any llvinq m u f i lWI the plana I t ' s kst not to plwl tLnt
+ NeBLg BAAIE8ZU +
tween the "ordinary" baatuu (perhaps a better word would be 'nongodlike") and the Lords of the Nine. Wt my owe painstddng rrsearch has m v d e d me with t h ~ dark C p f the matter: An tlusive group of baatuu cxlsts sbovc the m to f the race, nobles who dirrctly sme the loldr Appmtly, tbc lords shape them from pit Acncb who* MNed the intsrrsb of Baator exccptionaUy well (and who've also m u a g e d to secure power for themelves in deing s o ) . The Lords of tbc Nine appreciate that sort of devotion, and they w a r d it with d c e of a higher kind service that enwls more ICI sponsibUy and more pcnond e a t i o n . It's imponant to note t h t thac noble bpstaa actudy ranL above t h eDarkEight in turns ofststus (mdlllrdypowpr). And if any ofthe Eight grumbk asout the M t , timy keep it to themsehtm.It may well be that fareat of w a g s Is Baator: a deal that's mutua+& SdVpntseeMII to eU adca Though I've not met any Baatorian n o b l a I g.tber (from lower-planar chantb that these specid fiends can choose indivklual forms, that they fonu on a pUbtColrr am of expertise and altar thcmsehres to flt their rpedaWts. Why, I suppose this means I may have m e t a nobk er t w o aRer all and simply not realized it. Is t h i s individuality a mnrk of chaos? No more thaa a secundus modron is chaotic. Though the m h n hpr a form that only t h m others duplicate, a srunduc is still a mature of taw. So it Is wlth the noblea of Baatw - they have form and individual desire,but they pmmote the laws ofthe land, And if they m a t e ~ l a to s benefit tbcmectvcS, what of it? They have the power, and more importmtly, they have the
I had no trouble convincing my ennyes 'friend" to regale me with the story of the formation of the Dark Eight, a tale which has since passed into legend (and must thus be consitbed s w ) . Long ago, she said, a great and wise pit fiend named Cansaw the necessity of further order in the ranks of the baatlezu, and he gathered together eight like-minded brethren. The combined force of nine ambitious and extremely well-organized pit fiends yielded a new pattern for SUCIYSS t&Ough discipline. Apparently, there's some debate on Baator as to whether the group grew from an idea by the Lords of thc Nine orlwhether they took the initiative on their own. It's no sen~r that some of them rose through the ranks in the senrice of the lords. In any case, the Dark Nine (as they were then calkdl became the driving force of the race, a sort of guild mediating between the whims of the noble baatezu (and the lords) and the needs of the common baatezu. Then one day, Cantrum fdl to the blade of an assassin. M o s t sa9 the killer was a paladin, though some fiends swear it was ad abishai. No matter; Cantnun died. Rather than try to replace t h & prlcekss founder (which they feared they could ncver do), the remaining pit Acnds renamed their circle the Dark Eight, though they swore to honor always the memow of their leader. Thlt's thc stow as told in Baatorian socicty, anyway. My contact says the Dark Eight learned a lesson from Cantrum's fate and protected t h d w against the kind of assassination and intrigue that characterizes the rest of baatezu society. In other words, the pit fiends who currently
For a long time, it's been thought that there was no step be-
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+ 29 +
Mht. They've paid their dues in millennia of labor for the causa of law and evil, and they deserve to reap the rewards of that m c c . As a baatezu progresses from lemure to pit flend, its name grows in length and complexity as its power increases. Once it achieves the status of noble, its name 1s again simpliflcd, but that doesn't mean the fiend is any less troublesome to call or control. Many mortals recognize this fact, and as a mult, the names of noble baatezu are more often used to summon and bind lcsscr fiends ('ln the name of Amduwias, the Horned Duke, and Caarainolaas of the S m n t h Quarter, I call t h e forth ."I. Only a fool would use a noble's name to call the noble itself. The nobles are not the culmination of Baatorian politics, however. Though they may slt above the Dark Eight, they answer to the Lords of the Nine, the rulers of the layers of Baator. Chant is each lord has a covey of nobles at its beck andl call. Each noble, of course, commands armies of baatezu and sends them against its lord's enemies (and n m r forget that armies can be used in more ways than simple physical battle). As Mr the l o r d s themselves, well I regret that I wasn't I at length, but I place you into the chosen to expound or hoacfUv capable bar-- __ one of my compaMots
..
bitter rivals, they recognize the need for dipdomaey and slg outddar. l i a n a now and again to keep Bartor strong a What else7 Well, the lords don't glve a flg about the Blood War, leaving it all in the hands of the Dark Bight. They simply rule the nine layan of Baator. They pla 4nekc pacts with leatherheads on the Prime Mated81 Plane, e promising strength, wealth, and somctlmca immortdtty t those who follow their tencts. They build Fkriltp.tiOae md nurh e m p h . T h y are, in short,ncmto k mcssad wlth. That's all 1 can say with certainty. hytbtag hjust guesswork. 'Coune, some guesses are betterthan etkm, and the chant below is a collection of the most c0gPctll.g evld a c e ever found. But mlnd where you take this infbrmaHon, berk - flap your bone-box too loudly In the w m y places and you'll wind up in the dead-book for SUI
.. .
THlh L @ R D S
Plenty oflmytbs surround the Lords of the Nine. Some folks say they'* arch-fiends, riacn fromthe ranks below than to dominatt the layers of Baator. Other graybeards claim t h e y ' r e really pgoloths ( I swear, some folks see loths everyw h m they look). There's wen a grwp that thlnks the lords g m v up from the very essence of Baator ibclf and are the livlng manifestations of the plane's will. Is any dit true7 Who know? The lords keep most of the facts about thnwhrcs dark: the I n s folks know of 'em, the o r t a l s from digging better. Still, it doesn't prevent tezlsdou m up whatever they can. Take Willgan the Dogged, for instance. That blood gathered together more material than nearly any other. 'Come, the baatuu say hls s o m were corrupt, and WUgm ain't available for questions - he's vanished. Anyway, here's what we do know about the lords. They're mighty, maybe even mightier than the deities of Baator. They're partly creatures of symbology as well as physical form, so their natures change bit by bit over the milienniar They've hidden the truth about themselves behind countless walls, giving different names and showing different aspects to almost every berk who ash, so that no one can truly labd them. Like powers, they can manifest avatars and chooe thdr formsfor bcst effect. The lords shape the layers of Baator in their own Image and polick their territory better than the Harmonium ever could ThOy command handfuls of noble baatezu and armies of common baatrm, and they use their undnlings' power to amass c v e more ~ influence for themselves. And though they're
+H6 NINg Regnus Roy

.P
The unnamed Lord of the First was deposed thoasanria of years ago by Bel, her plt flmd wpriord. Bel was an ambitbus general under the command of the Dark Eight. cud ht getbered enough power from the amiss of A m u s to knock thc lord out of power. Now, he's more or less taken over her spot. Lots of folks today don't m n know a different Lord of the First wer existed - theyju)t 5@re ltbs@wayskn Bel. His servants include the dukes Amduscias, Malphas, and Goap. They too are warlords and generals.
LBRD eF Y H B FIRS+
LBRD e F +HB S B C B N D
It's no dark that the Lord of the Second is the wk pater, an urbane flend who goes to great lengths to makc sure everyone knows he's in command of any situatiw. He's as cruel and manipalathn as they come, but he slro recognizes the need for goodwill wlth other planars. Merchants are often welcome in his iron city, Dis, though the bwgs scalding walls scorch anyone addiecowl enou##to b m h into them. Of all the lords, Dispter 1s the most vfstble to mortals a m s s the planes. Hls numerous servants include ednyes and w w a l o s t notable of thcsc i s TitMlus, DhpaMs me+ dukes. The m smger and herald.
that prattks on and on about the virtue of greed and]I& That's just barmy talk: foWre probably b h i n g the third lord with the seventh. See,the third hyw, Mimws, i s a sodding swamp, and it snms far more likely that its lord Is really the make-bodled Viscount also csllcd Minaluwl h dead giveaway, if you ask me). The Viscount k known to have had the pit flend Zimimar in his scrvicc - that is, u n a Canmade Zlmknar a member of the Dark Bight. MInarvos's romort h the h t e h Glasya, and the current commander of his armies is Duke Monch.
L@RD B,F * I i B THIRD Common chant marts the Lord of the Thltd as a M
M dug
LORD OP + R ( i SIX+H
The Lord of the Sixth is commonly portrayed 85 a hag countess p e d with a huge sword and the ability to bring avalanche down on the heads of her rncmics. This wicked countess usually called M8lagud loves to Lure mortals and p o w $ u l planar qmhrol to the layer, onty fa dcstmy *a n&@eedh&b$sdWbqlge. It's Md Bilah (hcr,pltfiend tribuncl rtrlcr...*auaes u m = see howlthe structrues hold visits to upagain& UL torrcntp of htone. :,:
+ C H A O S A N D PURIIEY +
9
Triel the Fslicn.-thc Slug ArdLQBe, the Lord of the Plies these arc pll naqcs for& Lord ofthe Scw#?h. Chant is he was once an archon nh9 got tossed frmn%fotint cdmtlp
ber of the race has the chance to asctad to the level of m a t e r baateau and bcyond. You must admit (as k~ I and k c i y ) that the flmdr enjoy a rrrurrkabtyjust rcwkty. Of -e, it's also citridly rrglwnted. A baateznjust hm to lcam bow to play in it. Again, as noted epruSr, ssch oP&a thm castes is,& thu b m k n down into various stations E v u y baatmy;hom splnsgon up must leam exactly how much d e f e m e to pay to each rank. Too much, and it'll get flayed for insulting sarc a m ; too little. and it'll be tom apart for base insolence. Whw deallng WWI a baatmu of a highec c*c, ~lltudly, it learn t o bow and scrape. it msy have plots io place for devatlng itself, but only thc ditnmw o f fleads rim its M U to
k ow f & editor detailed urlfu, BW#Ians a d e wmIsts of thm primaryeasks least, l c w and #mater w h h am the ba$c boildlng blocks of tha culture. W ' & mymem-
Tealo Wilton
OWhWhSilEpkavo-
the spirlt
is most
say the baatuzu am c o r e m e d only with corruption, but tbey alw seek the demUncss of pure conviction, and that's thmugh tha ranks I rd l about. what threefold possible m e m b e d p Thd rewad fbr in the nprli (*&?&It f Wb u mdare this Kwrrd &n -power overvast armles of lesser baatezu md the Fame that acampauks ibb; m d the shaping of the wry mjhivem wlth BCW polkin and dnfluence that few mort& can comprehd Stlll, 1'11 be happy to try to explain ItalltolyousomeothcrOimc.
Evcly ~ Q W lad again, & baatuu of wbatmr n u 1 I ~ 2 break its ~ ~ n d t h e ~ o f * ~ ~ ' I h the mgurs, snd nwyh a8 hstcd by t h e m OfthCbaatQU IW rogues arc by the clockwork nmin of Mcrhanus. Their former fellows'll do whattkq cam to bring 'em domq m ~ ahm-r ~JXW W N W thcplpn~. umim u U * D p r t ~ L H n i a t c r o f w ~ ~ r D hcrovra dr age& #tcrfkndv Wtr0)tum stag, to sbow ' e m that no one's beyond thc m c h of the brstazrr arm. MOa of the dearrtcRl wlud uptswlng@ fmn Ihc ghbctwof Bel's cpstk in Avcrnur wlh, do the botP fled their postd Well, some of 'em
TH5 R e G U 5 S A N D lEHg R I S @ N Regnus Roy
re in their
mdolhco
breasts. (It ain't always boiled out of 'em) Rarest of all gv the Ieathmheads who give themselves over to tbc 'forces of good the cdestials of the Upper Planes. B W wko Ibtlow this path're called the rlsm. See, just as the archons can fall from~(laCwso e m u w t c e u climb up out of the pit Sure, s0meaf:emmigMbc g peel to gain valuable cluat #*u double agents, ~ n n l n a the celestials into lending the flends a hand. But r m h ~ Sigil, thcte're $eRnficly wme baatczu w h o k &fIw?d$ given up their evll ways and now struggle to make.^) f & thelr past sins. And the rlsen have p r o m to b o tim II to the bms of good. Don't misunderstand, W k , t k Uppu Phnat m n % swPlmingwittkafbmndbutruL~*Rr.ruY** tween, and they don't nomPny grPrrr in c b c mcrplapl*ll M u all, how bon one d a fkndWtiw IPrhstbb changed, or Just am wiissht oat for bis &Id? lRlcr t o ske% mclear c of weach m other, they flgure. Still, there's one cutter, the most prominent of d l the risen, who can b r i w 'em toletllCar w k q Imdaa: F n a V Vahlix, a male hamatula. A do-gooder who organizes other reformed fiends into the celestbl nndn, he c o o r d l ~ t a any nlsrtons w h m have 80 U c r i L * c l ~ w i t~YUISIW~ b sarlmbn, and the l i k .Aaom&patmM& k w * o W f h . t t n k o n and would-be awmhss d o 8 k ~ W&'muL&t't i forthmmlq a b u t hb ppst kt the's 10 tw~~w@s*bdrtli~ ws WC~Y cut his t i n w#h BIS h e m e w ch..tww
k i l l e d
img to
L -
j-
,-
want to test thcmschns,right? In the lowest rsnks, barsyrb Y ~ U LEARNED +e +RUS+ N C e @NE, gmdyoccurbecP\Llcofperrdwd slights, Ute lack of communication,the ~ e EVEN + YCeUR FRlNDS. creatures of goodness won't cycr learn A N D + H A + GCe+ Y e U hckofabWtoseewrpointof view, and (of COLI~SL) thedninto to t r u s t a ahanged A PRCem$+leN. advance. I t ' s Usuplly not untll later in a baatnu fully. yeu @WE mE @NE. baatezu's life at lpcmPbisbai strtion and "Can't take above - that themonsterrellizls it cau rlsr thefireoutof S+BRAN(b DAI'BL, ABISWAI, further and faster if it plans the ktrsyll* if the fiend," DWANA mAAR' 9 it caremy schcmc~ to better itself at the exthey say. Iqact N I W BRINYBS pense of its brrthrrn. is, some folks think the Know what I think? I think aome of the most powerbaatczu're at least partly evil by ful and cunning baatczu are thcu who trusted too much in nature. Just as a yeth hound remains a carnivore, so must a their earliest days, that they became so hardened because of baatezu remain a monster of evil. But then they look at particularly painful treacheries from those they relied on the some of thk reformed baatnu, and they've got to wonder at most. Look at it this way: Imagine a lifc spannlng thousends their own lack of faith in the power of good. of years. Imagine th most wenching behyals of a human lifetime and extend those across millennia. Imagine what sort of penon a body'd become without trust, without pwlt A SCeCIis+lY eQ BB+RAYAL the hope of trust, to keep him going. Rezzik Tam Don't get me wrong I'm not saying we should feel sorry for the baatnu. H a h l They bring the misay m tbcnAlthough it's strange to think of vile monsters forming any kind of soaicty, the baatnu definitely have one. And here's selves. Their bctrayds foster further treacheries, tad ulsy become so enamored of their own smug 'perfection," of the most @portant thing to remember about it: The common t h i r refusal to face the fact tkat they too are fplllble, that fiends do@ make the d e s ; they just play by them. Natuthey practically invite hatmi and dMaia. In short they get rally, they bkuggle to ascend so they can be in a position to nothlng they don't deserve. change thq rules to suit themselves. But when they finally The real kicker is that the superiors encourage and reach the rank they so covet, they discover that the status quo is manly perfect for their ne& and desires. Typical. sometimes wen create the betrayal& When a high-rmldng Of coqrse, what can we expect from a sodety based on baatezu sees a lesser fiend with promk, it often maaipulies, betmyw, and one-upsmanship? Sparked by envy, greed, lates the monster's pule# ieto astonishing acts of tradwy, and hate, e baatau scheme and plan their whole long lives, Why? Just to teach fiend that thnr's no one it can trust, that a baptW must always I& c &self for looklng to rLse through the ranks at the expense of others. solace and comfoft What th can't use to climb to a higher status, they tear That's right. PowdW baatnu t a k ~ msLa memlm of d m j u s t it then can't be wd against them. Their lives BR i v e in fear that they dgorous d ordurd ycs, but they stlll l thdr race under thrirtrrln might not ve covered thdrtrsdu as well as they could have alter com@ttlng t h e i r latest wrong. h v h g evidence behind is said to be one of the wont alma a baatezu can commit. Fiends who excel at treachery and backstabbing rise high, and quickly at that. Such qualities are exactly the sort prized by their superiom, for they're the ideals that advance the baatezu race. Those who can't learn these lessons are doomed to wallow in low-ranking stations forever if t h e y ' r e no4 sent to a painIul death at the front lines of the Blood War, that is. Still, esplte this atmosphere of distrust, the monsters do have allies - if you can call them that. Thee 'friends" are more cbmmon at the lower l m i s of the baatezu hierarits inflrlon' i n m *wbb chy, but as a Bend travels up the ladder, Its allies become may plot to toppk it SO fewer and fewer. Unless its companions ascend qually Isd YeU'RE RIGH-F, that p m & m come into spots t)at don't threaten Its rank, a baafaces a con- I De, et.0 FRlND. h W # d l around. And stant dangpr of betrayal from thau espccidly if they I nm w s a s t f o r g e t CM profit &om the treachery. Somctlmes a fimd will turn on one of its fellows just to see If it can -, PWANA mAARBBN'S get away th it. After all, the best and brightest
'Cour$c, it seems l i k e some
SEE,
BECAUSE
I BE+RAYED YCeU,
+.
i
4
7
I _ .
, ,
' S ; B%BCU+lfBN
b y
BBPeRB
.i.
i*,,
, ,
It's a mad labyrinth, and what it bolls down to is this: The flends do their best to make sure they've placed spies and infopants anywhere their rivals might lurk, and they know that rivals lurk evcrywhm. The fellowship that many on the Middle and Upper Planes take for granted is in tremendOusly short supply. As the saying goes, 'There's more water in a thimble than trust on Baator."
+ LANGUAQB +
As highly advanced matures, the baatezu have quite naturally developed a highly cvolvcd and compllcated language. w s of Baator govern Languagt is life, after all, and the h speechJust as much as thcy govern bchavlor. Why,the Baa-
Tealo Wilton
I_
torian tongue even ri$ccts baatuu society in that it's broken into difirent castes, with each successive level adding more complexity and malevolence in its order. W i t h i n the language of each caste, the diffmnt stations use different inflections, so that an abishai's speech, say, is markedly different fmm an osyluth's. The baatezu themselves know (or wlll admit to knowing) only the languages of their station or thosl below it?a flend caught speaklng a tongue of a hlgher station is punished for Insolence. Of course, knowing a smattering of the higher languages allows a lesser flcnd to eavesdrop and perhaps gain knowledge that will help it advance in rank. I have, of come, mastered tbc SUbtlcrirJ of h t o r i a n language, but few mortals need to bother trying to mimic my incredible feat. Better to leun the standard trade Jsgm of the planes, with which most Rends are faknfliar. S t i l l ,a general understanding of the diffcrcnt levels of the lan$uage is a worthy goal.
The baatnu language has four official divkiow and though each ugs~cs different conccpb and uses different words, they're dl based on the same h~ndation. The en& structure is sum that the speaker oiwclyc apmes its domlnanm, h e listmu.I fl&l that it's quite equality, Dr subordination to t lmposslbk to tell or perceive the whole of any m a t t e r when using this tongue it always seem to snake Its way around the truth, The Ant division is the language of the least baatezu (or, more accurately, of the spinagons, as neither lcmum nor nupprribos speak). It's used to convey simple c o d and concepts and also to mock others by implying the Hstener's stupidity and dimwitted ways. This variation is a hanh tongue, almost a rough barling, ideally suited for shouting commands across a battlcfldd The second division is the language of the lesser baatezu,l and it's surely the equal of any plime-material tongue in complexity. Uscd to communicate morr abstract conceptmuch as hate and honor, this variation is the first in which the language begins to ooze malevolence and take on
a recognizable form. The pattern is easily discernible, yet quite tricky to duplicate for anyone not fully immersed in m w as that of the cultum. This 'lascr tongue" Wt as g l far from mcUWous. i t ' s &a the least baatau, but it's d the language moat nonbaatezu leun when they study Bur torian speech. The third division stilted and formal, grating yct melodic is spoken d & l y by the rpenta baatuu. It's full of patterns that emerge only over the course of a conversation, sermiagly going nowhere and s u d d ~ E 0 m t a to g a conclusion. Use of the language requires forcthoueht, planning, and the ability to lead the listener with only the smallest of cues. Chant is that two greater baatau can hold an cntirr convusatlon with this language by only spepthte tly b q l d q n pf th+,w-. b n W 3I wkw is how telepathy developed in the race.) The "greater tongur' is ustd to ImprestheIesscrbaatuu and is warly hpossihk for a mortai to Ibn. The least, Icssa, and w a t e r varkdons 111 NO^ gmlually into the coivte 1 of Baatoc, a tonye turd only by pit fknds 8pd the a o k of the lords. The court lsneDsgc spin)over with designs of cvll that move almost beyond the edge of complwnslon, patterns with t e n i a eddies that can Qng a licttprr downwvd Into hateful despair. suppoJedly, thcw&tcnRorm oftongue the clrcularloglc and exprrarlyc symbdsaf the htghest baatau IsMhw is thc elqwt line used to draw a summoning cMe, the boundd e s delineating the M d ' s powers. L e t me cmp)nie that in simpler t c m Ws only a well-constructed argument that keep a summoned flend from ravaglng a apcllcastn. Take care when Ebrllring p u r .sunrmoning cimlek No matter which wtation is spoken, the bmatczu Iraguagc i s one of bmndwfne complexity. The noises uttered ofted appear to bear no relation to one another, instead ombination of a bark@ hound, an eloquent verse, the pqucpl of slate and steel, and the subtlr smdl of ha% O~COUISC. the o\rcTBu sound vsFia, dcpading on t4( sp& aid onwhat's said. ~ t lin&&t atiom, t h e sound of the language being zrpcd aloud is c a w for mgbt.
+ GUL+UK@ +
in a mw penned by my illustricru~ U It seems that o w Fair editor h m who is best quplifM to write at length on the baatczu. Indeed one reasan 1rmptcd this assignment was to have the oppo!twnity to shon the multhrmc that the baatnu aren't the simple, savage, ~ t h less creatures they're often made out to be. Quite the mvmcl Why, thcy're some of the m a t advanced beings in the cosmos. As pmof, I point to a meit handful of example of u l t l a their fine c For a closc look at a typical baatezu city, p l a s ~ refer to the description and mugh map of the City of Man, found at the end of this chapter.)
what, two &ons
Tealo Wilton
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ARCH I
The economy of the bantczu i s almost too agonkhtgly crmof bmtrzu life, th& rvchitorturr inL&c many otha pluc to diPruss k. Suffice it to say that their cultwe oprmqmrates a dWurbing a m y of concept%The odd slyle is b u t ates on the gem standard, rupplmmtcd by coins 0f.vuiOur described with the broaling, daugmus, and loompurity (and many dark jewels arc the kind traded by shadow ing. Something about a Baatorian building m a k the v i w e r fiends - gems that house stolen mortal minds). But few fed that it's going to lurch into unwholmme life at any moview riches as the path to true power (thoughthey baatezu m d l t For those of you fgnriliarwith t8c wanis o f Sigil, the arcertainly foster that school of thought on the Prime). Monchitecture is much like the proudest stuff of the Hke: sptlty ey's often used to lure mortals toward evil, but a gelugon and pmding, with blades secming to jut h m oray surface. with vaults of diamonds isn't necessartly any stronger or But unlike the squalid buildings of the H i v e . evwy baatezu structure snms also to uroicct its own hwrtance. more respected than one without a copper to its name. _. piecc Furthermore, the. a . . . . Host baatea value larbaatezu design their vm. malic. bnftda cities along &e same or even ulc excbaw-of $elected* L a w s zf the Baaterta Ewors m e than mawlines, with grand strucI. Strength lies only in unity. ial wealth. tures of note toward the II. The strong rule the weak. center and the squatting The ~ll(m habitable Ill. All lies contain a spark o layers of Baator hold homes and businesses of N. Slavery creates freedom. sbops and businesses the lesser fiends toward V. Failure leads to pudishment. that deal in vartow the hinges. VI. ;.Do to othen as they have done to yo1 items, mostly for the a. When oossihle. do to others before. inev b d t of trpvalen. The b. Treat your inferiors as your superiors treat you. baatezn don't need to c. Learn your lessons from above and below. BaatollPn worts of att are buy tbhgs; tbc lower VII. Haste makes waste. often stunnlngly wellmnks m i v e the e m n a. Revenge is best tempered hy time. tiab of cxistmrt from compwed and chiUing in h. Plan carefully and leave no evidence. c. There is no crime if there is no proof. their cnrcl prrdsion. Ihc the hlghcr, an8 the VIII. A sharp eye and mind are more valuable than strengtl vkwa o b feclr mmy, hjghcr can slmpiy take of arms. as if flre a m were mwiwhat the like wbmcvn a. Let cunning be yo atchword. ing across his h h . Yet taywice. b. Any fool can he.won hy extravar! much baatezu art lacks a IX. Know your enemy. spark that most critics # D CAS 1@'N X. None may rise unless another f; thinkshwldappcarinthe a. There's only so much room at the top. best pieces. Please don't Education is a core part h. If you would ascend, you must first topple another. of baPtezu.ilk. While misunderstand me; the Take pride in yourself and your works. " they believe firmly in baateau deflnftciy have a. Admit weakness or error only when it gains y the lessons of ezptriaesthetic talcnt. But few an advantagi Rcnds of lower-rmking : cncc, they also L n h . stations arc allowed to ' t b t cart&,n typrd of uncounted volumes line the Shelves of the Library ot Intern create at all, and of those, gat knewlaagcjust don't ! Law in Malholge, and still more fill other cities of Baator. Fu even fewer dare to propaired od that wa3. ther, it's thought that each caste and station has its own code I behavior; for example, the charge" of "inherent chaos" weigl duce art that might rival Thus, they've founded . L -__:_ C t a It--heavily against - ---- L the work of their superirt~wls f o r pramIda# ors. And the greater baatuu. abomhabk inbaatezut don't seem to have theaWivejuice n c m s to ~ make ~ mastupims. "MI dom of the masten and the untlppcd ppamtinl of thr stnmwic, for aunplq Is stining and manipulative (the baatau dcats. It's no dark that the tanar'ff (and no dolrbt otks) know t M secrets of the mind after all, and they know what's would i m to destroy these phus. effectlw), but it follows a pattern that, once discovcrcd, reEach school rpcrhltaes in a certain path of COUFSCS that duces the pure cq)oymmt of the p i e . grooms a fiend for a partldu place in Bast& sodcty; That's the pmblcm with all Baatorlan art, from musk to sub-schools provide mom intensive education Un pain, mamurals to VCAel once you'vc dlsmncd its pattern (whichcan nipulation, politics, subordination, and so forth). The be difRdt or simple, depending on the creator), the r e s t holds schools arc, natwdly, dismal bastions of cruelty and humilno Surprkr A Rend may begin a workin a flash of mativiation, run by the V&OM ministrda of the Dark Eight gieity, but cuerylhing else must f o l l o w iogkaliy f r o m that point. orous and painful examinations weed out the fiends W ~ O That structure is the work's inspiration and its downfall. don't e x d at a particular line of study: if they fail in more
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than two of the courses suggested by the Ministry of Promotion, why, i?s off to the Blood War. Some say that mortals can gain a c m to certain schools. I'm unable to verify the truth of that statement, but who knows what sort of deals the baatuu makc? I know I'd gladly pay a small fortune for the
mw&Aw
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the nobles of the lords and the ministries of the Dark Eight. These two groups seem to be growing together gradually, but right now they're fairly distinct. The Dark Eight (and their mtnions) prosecute the Blood War. The Lords of the Nine (and their servants) govern the laym of the plane and the fiends therein. It's a strange mixture, seeing as the Dark Eight control most aspects of baatezu life, but their laws recognize the need to accede to the desires of the lords and their feudal system. (Some say the Eight are really just an outgrowth of the lords, that the lords see their own importance waning and plan to evolve into a new form of government, but I don't place much faith in that rumor.) The Dark Eight have established ministries across Baator, each answering to its respective member on the council. The ministries oversee the day-to-day life of the baatezu, including the education of the ranks, the use and abuse of other creatures across the planes, and the smooth running of government They've wen instituted emergency procedures for their continuance should the tanar'ri succeed in the unthinkable and destroy an entire ministry (which is highly unlikely, given that each organization has numerous outposts spread throughout Baator). Each city on the plane has at least one branch of each of the ministries. Detractors call this paranoia on the part of the Dark Eight - that the pit Bends don't want their comrades to gain any knowledge they don't have. I say it's simply because the Eight wish to have their fingers in every part of baatezu life.
As noted earlier, government on Baator consists mainly of
0 (bV8 RN H I8 N
For the baatuu, the lowest ranks of the military hold no honor, just endless drilling, flghting, and death. But promotions come fast and fuious for successful Blood Waniors, at least up t oa certain level. There's alwsys a need for just about any l p of lesser baatezu, because the commanders offen protect themselves with waUa of lower-ranking Bends (and that's just more reason to perform well and rmivea promotion into thc higher stations). Though the front lines usually see the dregs of baatau sodety,the flnest are sometimes sent to fight as well; nothing brings out the best in a fiend l i k e a hialby fln. The Baatorian military is just as strict as the society;both are run on the same principles, after all. However, Suving is not advantageousin and of itself; for example, a military cornugon gays no more respect or s t a t u #than a "dvillan"cornugon. Both have paid their dues in reaching thctr caste and station. On the other hand, a military baatezu that senrn well mlght eventually movc on into the a d e s of the nobles, and from there to a position of nobllity itwlf. Oenerally. thc most a civlllan baatezu can hope for is to move into its chosen ministry; only by serving with extrcmc distinction docs it c gain a shot at nobility.
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It's said the Dark Eight keep a brutally honest record of Baatorian history, an account frec of the politics, revisionism, and outright falsehoods that mar the records that aren't so closely guarded. If such a document exists, 1 haven't read it (though I'd dearly love to). But the idea isn't so far-fetched. The Eight truly believe that the baatezu can and should learn from the mistakes of the past. Of course, they also believe that other races (especially the tanar'ri) don't need to know what t h o x mistakes are. Thus, any history a mortal researcher might find in the libraries &Baator is Ukely to contain at least 25% pure fabrication. Unfortunately, the lies hold together well enough that there's no way to tell which parts are true and which are "misdirection."
The baatezu don't really have a religion, as such. They IKM the Lords of the Nine and occasionally dou us lower-planar powers, but they rarely offer up their l i i In prayerful scrvice to either. Their religion is law; their rituals, cvil. That's all they strive for, and though they may manipulate mortals through religion, they keep their own number away from It. Why? Even a chlld could gucas. The Lords of the Nine, the Dark Eight, and other Baatorian superiors demand the respect of the race, and they don't want the baatcvl to devote any part of themselves to other figures. Those fiends who choose to wonhip a deity do so only to gain the powa that comes fromsuch a deal. Even the& they cloak thci religiaw allegiances as carefully as they can. I And this odd dationship fascinating. Why, I've penned an excellent (though strangely poorly received) treatise on the subjCa. should you flnd yourself in need of a clear and thoughtful analysis.
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Though they number far leu than the tanar'rt, the baatnu have managed to keep a foul stranglehold on the Lower Planes and, indeed, on most of creation. It is my sincere hope that you now have a bmn understanding of why that is. Said fiends love their intrlgues more than they l o x their lives, and that is no exaggeration;their schemes CM live beyond them and shape the planes for eons to come. Immortality in belief that is, being immortal because of the beUef of others - is a strong weapon indeed. The h t e z u need no other.
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+ TH5 CIlzlY ef IIIAN

(Town)
CHARAWR. Behind the obvious lies the hidden. The right twlsts and turns can bring true understanding and true vision. E m the flesh has ita share of secrets.
RULER.The d m of the City of Man is Alasta the Ken, a beautiful erinyes. Shes only recently been promoted to e r gelrulership of this city and is still learning the ropes. H ugon mentor, Wlarls, the last ruler of the city, promoted Alasta and stepped aside a bit too eagerly, some say.
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BEHIND m E THRONE. ialaris is the nominal shadow ruler of the city, guiding Alastas every move. But anyone who knows the Rule of Threes is looking for yet another basher with hi6 flngcrs in the government. That other basher is rumored to be the pit Rend Furcas, Mlnister of Mortal Relations. Rums had the city built in the Rnt place, and chant is he makes sure its mn right. DESCRIP~OW. This enormous burg (ncarly 81 miles a m ) sits atop a gently sloping hill in the layer of Minauros. The hill rises above the fetid muck and offers a breathtaking view of the surrounding swamplands. Intermittent lightning races across the sky behind the city, illuminating its spires and hurtling arches. Each time the sky flashes, a body sees another a $ p d of the city, which is laid out in nine rings and tempts many a traveler to enter. Course,Rmt hes got to Rnd h i way in. Unless a body walks the s m c t path (wending around and through the city three times), the town appears to be an abandoned marble burg decorated with frescoes depicting scenes of unspeakable debaucheries and glories long past. ON the other hand, if a cutter does And the correct mute into town, he hears the sounds of riotous revelry long before he spies any life. When he rounds the Rnal comer of the path, he suddenly stumbles across a mob scene - hes entend the R o t ring of the City of Man. The nine rings are actually a smaller set of larger divisions. See, the flrst three rings Sensation, Desk, and Purity - are collectively called the W a l l s of the Body. The second three - Emotion, Logic, and Understanding - are the Paths of the Mind. The third - Body, Mind, and Power - are the Temptations of the Spirit Anyone who walks the rings in the proper sequence undergoes some changes. For instance, the Wall of Sensation purges all sensual pleasures from a traveler by offering them in tsuch excess that he eventually wearies of them. This Rnt ring is the only one in the City of Man that boasts such endless debauchery, and h m a body can find anything he wants, from pleasure in silk to agony in chains to a combination of the two. Eventually, the path leads out of the Wall of Sensation and into the Wall of Desk,a realm of desperate sods SCtLinrr Dleasurcs of a new varictv. Thev come toga& to flnd ultimate satisfa&on,
but titq wont have any luck until they reach the Wail of Thcrr, they learn to understand that the mind g w Wns tk bedy, that physical pleasures are nothing compared to the delights pwsible in the mind. This ring is a gray place of purification and asceticism. And so it goes through the mt of the ctty. Visitan can travel back through any rings thcyve already Ihedemd, but theyre forbidden to continue inward until they undestand the s e w of their current ring. Armed guards patml the 10foot-thick and 40-foot-high walls, makhg sure no visitors try to advance before theyre ready. Within each ring, the marble buildings r m a6 places to indulge in the rings dominating feature, Wth plenty of mom set aside for folks to sleep and replenish thcmsehrcs as well. Thc only structure forbidden to casual vfdton is Alastas palace, and evcn that opens up to those few who master the Temptations of the Spirit. Whats the purpose of the cIty7 Chant is it exisin to lure mortals into the embrace of Baatodan ideals, that it was built by the Ministry of Mortpl Relations to foster gocctwiU among mortals and slowly corrupt them. Another rumor says this is the place where all erinyes bring ththdr prey, so the victims might eventually become b a s t a Rcgatdlw, a body can leave the city whrncver he likes - the baatau want their m i t s to come to them f&y.
SERVICES. The City of Man holds all the baric goods offered in any city across the planes, and here its all fmc b u t only for visitors who walk the rings. (Greedy planar traders caught trying tc take advantage of the situation IC publicly tortured to death.) Naturally, the baatezu areot going to stock any items or pmvide any services that might be uard against the city itself, but otherwise, theyre happy to oucflt their visitors with whatever they need to complete their journey toward total understanding.
MILITIA. A company of cornugom keeps the peace, while solitary hamatula roam the city looking for trouble. When they flnd a problem, they take care o f it quickly and dff ciently, with a minimum of fuss, so as not to disturb the workings of the rings. Nothings more l h l y to h a k r k mood of the vfdtors than violence f r o m the militia.
LOCAL NEWS.Chant is that Alastas not rumbg the city quite right and will be ousted soon if she doesnt buck up. Also, a tanarric agents supposedly crept into the c i t y pd is mrking his way through the rings; once he undc&ands it dl, hell take the dark of the place back to the Abyss. One persistent rumor that penetrata all rings says that the citys really a baatau training camp, that mortals who reach the center are either cast onto the planes to encourr transformed into lemures. Either way, age lawful evil o more than a few folks arc gMng up on their quest for understanding and leaving the city - and occasionally theyre bmught back, some say In chain8 (so much for fmdom of choice).
You want lo uttdttxamd the taw'ri? Hm's how. Look into vourselt: Find the core of hamd then. 4 Don't w o n y $you cav'tJnd-it right 4quay. Just keep searching. Evmhrdy,"'you'llpeel away the skin o f what you thought was virtue andjind a writhing pit of darkest sin. Even (f youkoneof thepurestbCI~inufstenrc,you'llstiNdfseatntLcport ofwu that's bkackcr than am, ebom,. The vart that tastes of Mthmess. "* despoir, and envy. The part ?hat &tes, Ast o f all, of a t all tbc things you can't change and all the things you might have. Hold that malevolent core in the palm o f your mtndfw o time. PIMIIrc it expanding, slowly growing to become the size of your entire heart. Feel it thumping in your chest, stronger and stronger, attuning eWJ1Bct o f m r M n g to fts wicked rhythms o f pain and honor. Can YM( i m & w the gnnadwfRofnylc needed to make it gnnu this large, the tbat would drive you ever onwad with a heart &ked by unrelmed Ery?You can?
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cnscrllthas~~your~~~~~trrotrrfm W s w m , theyfceEtWthevagarfcsQTt&eron*ascalltptrt8spouc them right. Every single OM af &em &e& tk weight of the phhes on its shoulders, a d #m's notsingtha#can con& theprAds Mt the multivmc is0 kfndphn to be. @they w ~ r ~ y c r change, to rYahavct8 be a chan#e.)%m within. And that's w h m they're least likely to c h a y q because they simply
Diis cbpter takes you inta rlu tonar'rt b e & the tanar'ri mind, and the tanar'rl heart. Eut be wamnl: Whhe we've sMwd to bring you the truth, what you mad bere m a r may not bcjvholJy accmte. That's because what's true now may becomejblse lam, and whot was false bzfmmay become tne in time. Wfth the tanw'ri, all things are possible. - Jcssyme Rauch, Tanar'ri Specialist Extraordinalre
Mn"t COnnlvC O f the nmSon that they mi#& be w?umg.
paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, Ill 2009
+ IN *HIS
Do you bow, thens stlll debate as to whether the A m t# OnlbaVn? 1 % in 8 lo* m l f l whether .the anhuer of the Ahysr M otthe plrnc or whctha they create ft Mdden fear& wlth each layer only c m t u that ~ ~mw it. The Abyss is the place where every evU$mpuhe is laid bare. If you can lrmetge w i n g awful or &&que, youll find it there (though why youd go lookkg, I couldnt g u m ) .But docs the I m T thia(l dmady or docs thc imaginer (consciously r ocbawirc) nu1 on the plane, forging
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ABYSS Michil Kedell
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The ,phWng lands of the Abym are a welter of Impmafthem uc W. I quote from ~ r m ~ a y exr Abyss), where it like the stench of an open of an old herlots death 0 1 ~ a scream. Aridbcllcvryw be, thattsjwt has creatum of such mai&okma the pattern fmm yaur bmln enuh yoyr WmJUst for txo&Dg tbcir ptb miles brct E t * . placeofCVflin~ib~WiththCo~law\ring that t h w is no law u c e p k f m w &awthats fmpaced Rr a warrlng qiot of pmeptknq nd and t k t t and toug and amdl and Pu scMeaet*rp
the Outer Plane that most dody nmtchcs the -ce of IIIS former being: the Abyss K In the pattloncr worshlpd a partlculsr Abyssal ddty, he &up in tJmt powers mlm and is transformed into a dupe of the gods choodq (perhaps even Ms O l f g h a l form]. I f , on thc other hand, the mortal did not pledge his life to any one power, his splrit becomes a disgusting larva, whlch is still consided yeu mANS&$,, apaY ~ U RU++ERK~N. c \ tloner. Y@U D R E + C H . %@u The new larva appean in the MOUUtdn ofwoe (the 400th
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spirits that imd to-l
such a bsafDc plane. The
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C $ s A + I e N A N D JUDQUlg,N+
best to rtprt yUba q+& i&n tsnard @ne ,to exist. Now. 1,hn.t of the race laeito th kersladg of t & an& of creation of the 1
his life to &os an his spirit w& it# way to,
&fore we continue, I redly should set something straight. I know what some of you must be thinking. 'Tanar'ri? Fehl They're as jumbled as a windstorm of leaves. Me, I can think. I can plot. I can plan. I'U always be three steps ahead of those addle-coved fiends." Oh, my. My, my, my. Best read on, all those who hope to take advantage of the chaos bred into the tanar'ri spirits, all those with lawful natures who hope to trick and dupe and makc hordlings out of the Abyssal k d s . It's said that one of the best ways to dc8troy a t r l la thmugh planning, that since the creatum M incapable 01 hatching complex schemes, they're easy vlctlms of t h w who can. That's barmy t a l k ,plain and simpk land sprcpd b ) the tanar'ri themuelves, I wouldn't doubt). Heed my words The tanar'rl can and do make plana T h e y ' r e capable of weaving plots that span centuries of work It's Just that thcy don't work together, not unless It ndts them. They don't build for future generations or tbc good of thc nce. They f o w only on thcmsclvp and on Inamsing their own power. Just ask any haatau. If anyone knows just how dangerous complete self-Interest can k, they do. They've opposed the chaotic tanar'ri for mlllennia now, and they've not made much progress against their hated enemies. They're stuck, and it's due, in part, to the very chaos they despise. See, the baatezu are too steeped in the ideals of law and order to understand just how a tanar'ri can exist - let alone prosper t when even it doesn't often know what it will do next. Oh, the lawful fiends have studled chaos theory, hired Xaositccts,jumped through all sorts of hoops in the hope of better understanding their foes and they're still no closcr than they were before. If the methodid, persistent baatezu can't find holes in the tanar'rk shell after eons of trying, is there really any hope that a lawful mortal could?
for every form we see, there mwt be fifty we don't. More,no doubt, for we believe now that each layer of the Abyss spawns particular shapes suited to living there. With M many d i f i m t kinds of tanar'rl, the pattan of evolution the order in which tkis Rend becomes tkor Rcnd before turning into that otkcr Rend wut be confusing, no? Well, no. The forms of the tanar'ri aren't locked into a hierarchy. Certaiuly, they all begin from one of After a few common points: dretches, maMs. or ~tterkh. that the only thing that governs their climb i s thctr lust h r pansr (a dbcuutol, for another tlme; KC "kscuuion," later in this rhrpar).
A
In the ever-changing layers of the Abyss (which I routed are not infinite, just uncountably numerous), the tanu'd must adapt or die. When fiendish llfc rises spontpwouay on one of the layem, it's because the larvae there have mamgd to evolve to such an extent that they can survive. Of course, on some layers the proems is m o ~ r difflcult; genmtlona of larvae appear and die and appear and die, growing tougher all the whlle, until finally one of them rlses up from the chaotlc soup of its pain and assumes a form that can exploit the layer's hanh environment. What I'm saying is that the shapes commonly tplrrn by the tanar'ri arc those most suited for the rigom of tha Abyss, forms that can survive in more than one specialiffd amin& Tanar'ri that evolve into vrocks can function m l l is endronmcnts of land or air, wlxik those that becomr waatrtlitb get on best in liquid ThC a W t h doan't seem suited f o r a y environment known to mortals, though It thrives In its own parts of the Abyss. Is this an automatic change that's forctd on the tanar'ri? I don't believe so. The newn Acnds take their cues from the strength and staying power of the mom uperienced members of the race. They slowly shape themuelves into the forms that have the best chance of suvival i n tbdr home layers. Later on, thq may tak otbm fwms, but only when they have the ento spare. (Remember,thweh,the tanar'ri work on the Abyss just as it works on them. Their belief and power feeds the chaos of the plane, and It returns the favor by making them strong.) In the Ab% power equals stptlon. That's an ascntld fact of life. The lawest ataturea there. the lame. lean^ that mighty quick, and they evolve toward sentience and strength just as fast as they can. Some of them make it; others wind up as food for the other tanar'ri. P o m of will counts for a lot, but chance and luck arc Just as important we're talking about the Abyss, after all.
B V O L U W e N OF W R m
How many different kinds of tanar'ri exist? A dozen? Two? Perhaps we've only fdenqPed some twenty-odd types of Abyssal fiends, but I'd bet a week's wages there are more kinds of tanar'ri than there are portals in Si@, trees on Arbores, gears on Mechanus you get my meaning. You see, there's only one rule to the shapes of the tanar'ri: Form is slave to function. Since the very birth of the muitlvnse itself, the Rends have adapted themselves to the rigors of the Abyss, and that has shaped every sucmsive form they've ever taken. Oh, the race has a set of standard shapes, ones that appear often enough to make folks think the tanu'd have an organized system. (Why, do you know that some primes still classify the multitudinous tanar'ri by type, creatively labelling them Type I Rends, Typc U Rends, and so on? I can't d d d e whlch is greater: the irony of trylng to pin one of the most haphazard races in the cosmos to the wall like dead buttdies, or the arrogance of the primes in thinklng they could do it in the flrst place.) But
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tanar'ri they are just petftioncrs, spirits of mortal berks who spent their lives on chaos and evil. Every once in a Xanrost while, a manes realizes that everyone elsa is much t o e a t st o i m p m its podtton. This ha^ than it is, and It R Hello, mortals! It is time for you to learn about the different a hundred million times a day.No, wait& it is more R;tc, kinds of tanar'ri to be afraid of. But do not worry! X w o s t than that. Only about one in a thousand of these special has peri+mally killed many of these fiends whlk researching manes ever makes it to the next 'rank" o f power pa& bethts book So just take Xanxost or another slaad wlth you cfnnes a dretch. when ygu fight tM1pl'ri and you will be flne. The slack-jawed dretches are not much M e r off thsar O M thing everyone thinks about the tanar'ri is thr w the manes. But other they obey a system of es: Tanar'ri Other SOX tanar'ri do cousik thccr castes and stations. You know, like the baatezu or real members o f the race. LAN~~CAPEQ MONSTROUS COMPFNDIW? Appendix is becalrrc findstha% That yugoliths. Xanxost lilies its Mu-fiend, babau, balor, bar-lgura, cambion. chasme, dre reach &etch lexel step glabrezu, hezrou, manes, marilitb, molydeus, nabassu, ' being petitionen and be nalfeshnee, rutterkin, succubus, vrnck, wastrilith come m e pianat beings. 'phey get the 6pa* of the plaaes. Now, they arc thing. It is just a story Alkilith,bulezau, maurezhi, y spread by leatherheads who tawr'ri and them is no going beet1 Thc drtddm can not help but find an arc s c a d of the higher order for everything in exflends and usuaUy h k to istence.! It is a lie told by those who know nothing of chaos. please them. Thank you. If they remember nothing ebe of What Xanxost means to say: There is not a sodding their former l i f e , they d l that high-ups can h l p a fiend way anybody can tell anything for SUR about the tanar'd. A reach the next lcvd of pmrrr. Oh01 In the Mys, this Ls e fwllsh notion. And the dretches are reminded of this berk wUI get dead-booked If he trim The tanafri do not llke harshly. mortals poking into their business. Or their bellies. What Xanxost means to say: The Abyss has no comStill, now and again, a dmt& takes command of Its mon htararchy. The tanar'd have no easy classifications. pack and rises above them, becoming a mtterkin. 'Fltcsc Terms like 'lesser" and 'greater" are useless, or mostly so. malformed and crooked flends are loners and azilcs nma But mortals like to use words to guess at the power of the among the tanar'rl. They are hateful. Viciaur. BPd-t.l(ing. marc common shapes of tanar'ri and how that power affects Xanxost has heard that the original mmrkin werp h u m m u d thdr staeding in the Abyss. Xanxost docs not like standing who came from the Prime to the Abyss but Xanxost knows in the Abyss! better t u know that no one knows. RutterLin am mostly inBut tanar'ri like it. So Xanxost will tell you now ahout competent, and all tanar'ri 01cn the dc&&es m e how thqy stand there. Remember, things arc not always them and say they are pitiful w d l n g s . Arid the rutterkb what thsy look like in the Abyss. But here are the basic types hate them back in return. Xanxost has even heard of rutof power for ell the tanar'd's physical f o r m s .Yes, Xamcst terkin attacking other tanar'd that are very puny or very has described every single kind. wounded, but they would never go after anything that could No,h i t . Xanxost hsS forgotten some. But these are the a m . hurt them too b bulk of the known tanar'ri. Do you know any tanar'ri? By the way, Xanxost has done its best to remove the L B S S B R TAHAR'RI taint of M 1 or good from these descriptions. The natural tendency when speaking of the fiends Is to weight the The tanar'ri called lesser come in all shapes and dzcs m-l looks and smclb and flavors. Thc weakest amon# thcm are words. In response to their evil, Xanxost has found itself balancing toward good. Soon all Wlll be evened the mortal-tanar'ri cmssbmds that b what you get whew a tanar'd goes W t h g for a nmsemrtion or a mblzll goes lusting for powa The weakest of tbnv are the alu-flmds. LBAS+ TANAR'RI Mu-fknds, the female chlldm of succubi and 801t.14 In the cetegory of the least powerful tanar'ri, Xanxost can only be born into thelr rank. They cannot ssccnd to it. knows two kinds: the manes, the dretch, and the rutterkin. Many humans and demhumans think they arc attractive. Three kinds. occariondly ppla among Xanxoat fiads them ugly. They c ~ l l The lowly, bloated manes are the basic soum of food mortals anmarked, and they can hsl thcmwhres by harming in the Abyss. Xanxost especially likes the stomach-sting their opponenw u k e the nrttntin, alu-ffcrrds arc outcosts when they t u r n into acidic vapor as they are eaten. Deliend they work doubly hard to pmvc their among thc tanar'd~ cious. Manes are the flrst to be h d e d into battle against the hatred or t o vent it. They arc weak In combat but strong in baatezu. Other tanar'rl do not consider the manes to be real spellcasting. ThiJ makes them Wued by the hIgh-ups.
+ RANKINQS +
+ 44+
The alu-fiends are the weird sisters of t h e cambions, the bastard chiidren of oh,oh1 The tiding Ice told Xanxost to stay away from such words. So he will just say that cambions are what happen when a tanar'ri mates with a mortal female. Any kind of tanar'ri. Any kind of mortal. And they can cvcn make four different kinds of cambions. Pint there is a major cambion, whose father is a lesser or greater tanar'ri. Next there is a baron or marquis cambion who% father is a truc tanar'ri. Next there is Two uads of cambions. Say, why does the baron cambion need a whole othcr name? Who d o a he think he is? WcU, his father Is a hue tanar'ri, after all. So the baron is tougher h i n g the and more likely to rlse high in t h e m a t is one t tanafd do right, ju@lke the slsadi:The shng sweep over the weak, and accident3 of bkth &en help determinestrength. All cambiom Mvalued as ssMss1M and bodyeusrds, and m o s t peopk wiU not cmw a cambion mom than one. Like the alufiends, cambions can only k bom not made. Born or made are the armanites, tlu violent centaurs and barieur of the Abyss. Half are born fromarmanite mating (theymake such funny noises) and half are f o m d from weaker tanar'ri who manage to ascend to a better place. Limbo is a bmn place. The armanites are mercenaries and knights, and they travel in disorganized packs, hiring themselves out to whocver pays the most Amunites like to go on missions that promisc the most bloodshed at the least danger to themselves. Xanxost has heard stories that they devour the spi& of the fallen in the Blood War. Also that any bargain made with them is never worth the price. Do not tnut t h e m .But who trusts any tanar'ri? Next In power comes the maurezhi. Thcse fiends are ghoulish life-stealers, haunters of gnveyanis, and thieves of memoria8 that are not their own. Did you like those words? r o m an elf poet on the Outlands before Xalwtos? got them f his head came off his body. The elf said that maurczhi are mated by Abyssal lords. He said the Acnds M made tolift senrts from the minds of the dead. I a maurezhi kUls and eats a victim. it gets the deader'slmemories and cxpcricncca. Xanxost has scen hezrou generals k a t and imprison their baatem enemies and then stand aside aad let a maurezhi go to work. This sometimes gets them secret plans for the Blood W a r .It usually gets them lots of stupid t h i n g s the baatezu have in their heads. Do the maurnhi get a choice? D o n an Abyssal lord say to a tanar'ri: "Hey, how would you like to bc a maurrzhi?" Or does he say instead: "Hey, you will be a maurezhil" Xanxord does not know. But at least the fiends can move on to a different form when they get tired of chewing up the creatures they kill. Okay, Xanxost is back now. He left for awhile to find something to eat Writhg is such hungry work1 Arc you s t i l l there, mortals? It is time to keep talking about the tanar'ri. Tougher than the maurczhi is the succulent succubus s deflnitely female. (and hen cousin, the incubus).This fiend i She can take the form of a female of any race and make herself so desirable that few mortab can mist her wiles. W e what? A m incubus does the same thing, only it can turn into
m y kind of male. Both kinds of fiends try to tempt powahrl mortab who are slaves to their appetite&wby do &ey do it? Oh01 T h m reasons. Flrst, becane they like the auelty of luring the weak-willed and tht foolish. Sermdiibccwsc their mission is to bring as many life forms aa they can to the Abyss t o m as rlsvn,and food.Third Tvro nasona The yochlol h m o f t8c dmw go& desslolth,are mxt Thqlookllke bigNo,vplt Tbw caa look Uke ladles or SpMar or sthue nKy PR Wight to k kssatanar'ri m p t c d and twbtcd t o -thepmpo8coftk dread Spider Queen.How do you corrupt a tamfrl, that what xaaxost would naUy llketo kuowl Yachld do not have much to do with the regular dealin@ of the ram krd Wtb squadus any mdydens, heamu, o r c h a r r thatakr topvllrsh one of her m a n & For t h i s ,t3ba ymhlol IUL openly oonkmptuous of other tanar'ri. For t h k (he d e r talur'rl tear the yochlol to pims when they think theycm g e t alvqvuirh It Ia that all of the tanar'ri? No, there is also the km-@m. Ask anything in the Abyss about the bar-&It docr aot kill you, Iiwill say that the maturrsme m i d . h t h h , and nearly uselcss. The bar-lgura's prtmitsve f e a m .ad dGdl ways give no lie to that statement. Thm is U d k @ad abut them, except that they are w s in guerillr warfare, and they make excellent scouts. Xanxost think8 that bar-l@m am smarter than other tauar'd because they try to stay away fromthe Blood War. They also form chdr own Mbrl gownm a t 3 if they thhk no one Is mrhlng. But they a n a m as cruel and savage as the rest of th race; they Justdo not get out as much.Xanxost has had many NWIM with har-Igtm both singly and in groups. They arc m a t d s . The bulaau are definitely bred Pot a role 4n the pkod War. But they are bull-headed in mare wsya tbn one. That is a qlaadi joke do you get that me. mmtai7 BUirrru arc just like manes m drctches, only big rad tough and dangerous. What Xaaxost means is that the b h u attack my enemy they see. If they do not see oac, a commander bad M e r makc one up before too l o w othmiac,the will JW a foe among thdr own ranks, Tbcy arc lluyc vicious than most tanar'ri, and they r a d to plaes anythhg that mpLcs them angry. Jhrything makes icbca, mgy.
ORBA+BR TANAR'RI
The c - - - ~ Y tanar'd arc the fiends who, through cunabrg. self-] )tion, or lucky birth, have risen to a poaition of real p c r . They are worthy apponents for a dud. "bey are tougb bashem and they do not At Wo essy groupings. The weakest of the greater tuW'ri3is the nlbsscu. It is designed to spread the terror of the Abyss. Spread it like sauce all over the multivelac. Th Outer Planes are shaped by belief, especially the belief of mortals who live on the Prlme Material Plane. So the tanar'ri think:Huh1 If we scam t h e mo&& they will klim that we Mvery powdid, and so that will make w vuy pawafd. TBC tanar'rl want thcir dark name feared acnxa the multhanc. So the aabaamu travel to the Rime and terrorize the beings them. Bdng thee. Evmmally, they m r n to the Abyss and get thcir rewprd: They PIC
+ 45 +
locked up in one of the iron fortresses in the Plain of Infinite Portals. T h m they wait unffl they are needed again. A few of f them take new these nabassu are lucky and escape. Some o forms. But the tanarri say that a nabassu that flees its duty is more hated than a thousand Ntterkin. The flylike chasme arc stem agents of the true tanarri. They usually leave Xanxost alone. They say their duty is to punish Abyssal warriors who desert the Blood War. How? Everyone pressed into wartime service is psychically lmprinted with a symbol of chaos in evil (or is it evil in chaos7)i The chasme home in on this symbol and bNtally slay those who run away. But that does not always scare other warriors into staying they abandon their posts anyway. The chasme drink the blood and fluids from their sffllliving victims in a most painful way. Xanxost is thirsty now. Sometimes, a weaker tanarri transforms itself into a chasme, but most of the buzzing fiends hatch from eggs. Any adult chasme can lay eggs all by itself, without mating. So the chasme punish those who desert the armies. But the babaus arc the ones who fill the armies in the first place. These leathery skeletons recruit for the true tanarri. In exchange for their own freedom, they get other fiends to fight. If a babau can not find enough tanarri to All a highups army, it must take its own place in the ranks. Ohol Most babaus do their Jobs very, very well. TNC tanarri watch the babaus carefully. Chant is that one of them will come to help a babau that is attacked. But not always. Just five times out of every one. No, wait: Just one time out of every five. That scares anyone who thinks about attacking a babau. It also scans the babau - who wants to be watched by true tanarri? N e d , next, n a t . The behemoth goristroi standing over twenty feet tall, are often used as citadels to carry lesser tanarri. A goristro is as dumb as a barbazu, but it is so strong and hardy that even some slaadi fall back when a goristro enGoriStmi eat any meat that comes their way, and t m the it seems that their stomachs arc never full. Even the high-ups among the tanarri walk carefUlly around these monsters. Most powerful of all greater tanarri arc the wastrilith. They serve almost no one. Though they make their home in the Gaping Maw, the watery layer ruled by the Abyssal lord Demogogon, they arc not the lords servants. Wastrilith can swim in the River Styx without losing thelr memories. Thats why they maintain the aquatic defenses of the Abyss. The fences ofthe Abyss. Do they do anything else? Who knows? They Ilks to be alone In their water. A berk who swims in on a wastrillth had better be rcady to die.
&.
No true tanarri are ever born into their places. They all evolve h m weaker fiends. Even the vrock, which hatches from an egg, is mated whole withim the egg. The egg can be sold or stopped from hatching, but the fiend within keeps all the memories of its previous forms. Any fiend that wants to be a true tanarri has to get there on its own. Maybe that is
TRUB IANARRI
why the ones that make it arc called hue tanarri because they have understood what it is to hate and rage and never not know it. The most important thing to know about the true tanarri is , , , Xanxost forgets. But it is still very Important to know that they take the Blood War very seriowlyl Their desire to see it through inspires the lower ranks. What Xanxost means to say: Their desire means that they bully the lower ranks into believing the same way. The true tanarri see the advance of the baatezu as an encroachment on the pure chaos they love, or as the baatezus attempt to dictate the Answer to them. (Each tanarri thlnks that it and it alone knows this Answer.) The weakest of the true tanarri is the vulturelike vrock. Vrocks are fighters, and they work together with other vrocks with uncommon grace and ability, That is a big thing for the tanarril Of course, vrocks arc tough, but they are not as strong as some slaadi Xanxost knows not even as strong as some humans Xanxost has eaten. Still, when working together, vrocks gain special powers that make them more dangerous. H m Is the secret: Lure them off one by one. By one. Easy to do to a group of tanarri. The hezrou are the tanarri that look the most like slaadi, though they arc not as handsome or as strong as the greatest warriors of Limbo. After the babaus put armies together, the hezrou watch over the troops (or else the nalfeshnee will be mad). They take thls task seriously and arc instrumental in commanding the fiends that sweep across the Lower Planes. For tanarri, they arc remarkably docUe in following orders. They arc also remarkably m e l . Their hand claws make good weapons, and they know tricks to make a blow hurt morc than it should. The doggish glabmu arc the true tanarri most often summoned to the Prime. When they get there, they do not Just pull their summoners head off. Not always. They like to tempt him with magic and power, planting seeds of greed in his mind. Planting seeds like viper trees. When the time is right, the glabmu draws away much of the sods strength, as well as the power of his very plane. Of course, in the Abyss, the glabrezu are fearsome overlords - they take revenge for having to follow the ordm of mortals by crushing the spiritp of those around them. The slimy alklliths arc thought to be a creation of the slime lord Juiblex. Or maybe they are Just the Fanless Ones servants. Whmvs they come f r o m ,alkiliths go on mtssfons for all the Abyupl lords. Any berk who get8 in their way can ucpcct a pslnful and lingering death. Thcy can compt mortals just with thefr touch or their tnrlble stench. Xanxost has never kllled any alkiliths. The only other thing he knows is that they do not have to fight in the Blood War. And that they h i n g s . stand clear of the rest of the tanarrihordes. Two other t The mariliths, six-armed wonders and mind-dancm to the highest degree, are like gems in the heart of the Abyss. Y e s ,they are evil, but they arc deep thinkers and great t a d clans. Slaadi and mariliths both prove that chaotic beings do not have to be stupid beings. Ohol The marlliths have mast m d the inner rages of the tanarri (or at least pushed those
feelings down). They can antidpate t h e patterns of law, even though they do not really understand them. The mnriliths shape the sbatcgy of the Blood Wsr; they mpLr the plans that confound the baatau, the cuned lawful baatrm. the hated True tanar'd. Next come the bloated nalfeshnee, the judges of the paitlonm who come to the Abyss. X t has seen them seated atop their flaming thrones on the Mountain o e ,the 4GQth layer of the Abyss, Tay tum t&!.@@litionof W em into manes, drctches, or n@@J& ilqtcading DII Wthe diDd %r slaves. NabWutne do tanar'ri need food or t&wm&~? not command the armies, but they decide who makm up the armies by promoting, demoting, or destroying Rends,.& is a r in their fleshy pm ., said they hold the key to the Blood W It is said that what is said is a myth spread by the nalfe&c6 to boost their inflated sense of self-importance. It Is said that what Is'said about what is said Is sour grapes. Sal, the nalfesbnecme truly the most pownful tanar'ri known. Thk most powerful tanar'ri known? The balors. They are the kings of the race, the strongest in name and belief if nothing else. They arc above the cold logic of the mafliths. They are passion and reason combined, a lightning dance of purc hatrcd and motion unchained. Those words also came from that elf poet on the Outlands. He was such a funny mortall Too bad for him, though. BPlon exist to inspire their kind and destroy all othels.
and they do both very well. Someone once told Xanxost that there were only 24 Won in the Abyss. So he counted e found 178. Or was it 6,0137 Or as many as the tunthem. H ncls o f Pandemonium? Maybe d l three. But 24 balon? Ttmt is just a story to make people feel better, t om k e themnot so scared in thdr beds at nlgM. Only 24 balomwod mesa thm w m more Abyssel lo& than balon. Is that idea lcsl scary or more?
QUARDIAN TANAklll
' '
bast, last, last. Last are the moiydei, the two-headed cnWemi of loyalty among the tanar'd. They make sure the true tanar'ri muah Mthfut to thc vlslon of the Blood Wu. The mlydd report to ths balors.but will not bailate to hrm on t h e m If tbdr high-ups do not ahow the proper mothratlon. Of course, a balor will try to dmtmy m y molydew that d a m to qucstion its dmtlon. Ihe omn? Xanxoat l h the ocean9 of Limbo. Maybe the molydei are planted by some other farce. Why would the balas spy, ' H e r e , molydei, bit us with your big if we do nabkeep i n line"? Xanxost wowid not tell
fighting the ban
+ ASCflNSIeff +
F i t off, it's important to note that not all of the tanar'ri arc obsessed with dsing to the top. Some of them certainly do desire that level of power and infamy, but a large mdority don't care to go through the whole fiendish rat rnce. h g b they may have ambitions of their own, quite a f m tanar'ri are content to wreak havoc on their own personal level. For the baatuu to ascend, they must flrst pass muster at one or another of their infernal ministries. This requlres getting the stamp of appmval fmm one superior to the next, currying favor with all the important fiends in order to move up faster. For the yugoloths, it's la matter of finding the right way to believe and the best method to demonstrate pure evil. Both require the nod e r y long time indeed. h m hlgl)-upa and that can take a v The tanar'd have no such rigmarole.There's no rhyme or reason to the way the chaotic fiends ascend But the most common!theory suggests that they rise as they will, or rather, as they b e l i w . It'd be even M r to say they c h a w as they b d i because ~ the Abyss has no real hiernrchy to speak of, no castes or stations -just dassiflcations of pown that don't mean much. In the Abyss, a fiend earn status not by what It looks like hut by what it does. Of course, something that looks like a balor usually gets mated like a balor - that i occasionally lesser tanar'ri
Jessyme Rauch
their ability or brainpower. And, of course, groups like the Fraternity of Order suspect that a secret order underlies everything; the pattern's not apparent, but they say it's there. Which of the theories is true? It could be any one of them. Or perhaps none of them. Or perhaps d l of them. In the Ab= it's hard to be sure of anything.
thjng else around it - and WE satisfaction and the s a t i s f a h
fellows
- tlw.fleml
The chaotic tanar'd: ever changing. ever mutabla The baks base their lives on being Werent from thelr fallows, on the triumph of indivldualily over all. Some of the flux& spmd so much sodding t h e focuacd 011 the bcaulks m d bomm of the self that they tumble to a novel way to k tfubdIfferent that is, they cmbrncc the rmdy of gooancaC witb d l their dark hearts. M o s t of 'emmnl i n thekr IKW bdief system for a Urn, flaunting their differences (if thty can get away with It). But before bng, they realize that the goodnesa they've toyed with ain't nothing compared to the exquisite horror of their old lives, and they return to the old ways with dish and a greater understanding than before. A few fiends, though, turn st@ rad m m It. 'hey stand l h w t fast wlt4 their new beliefs, learning to wadi the w out of their body and soul. They're traitors to the Abyaaal cause, seeking to be dlffmnt and savoring it so much that they makc a mockcry of their en& Wtenrcs. whpt do the other t a n a r ' r i do bD 'em? Wdl, tmclmy's a
TRAI+ERRS Telson Splithorn
multivcrsc'd cr)s it wanted 0.The tPnpr"ri might be able to mwe&fbe tdbtklrnrhua, but
tuned ip the baatau vanishes here, tossed to the wayside as the esrc~lceof chaos MIS its ugly head. Thc organs of one Abyss& Rcnd are not the organs of another: the skin of one bas no baring on the skin of another. No, Wend, far easler than classifying the slmilarlties and dlllkrencesbetween the variow type of tanar'd is classlfyhg the similarities and differences between the many f the A b . That is, after all. where the tanar'rl learn layen o which forma to adopt (and which forms toflee from) lo order ta Nvive. To be sure, some layers are small (not at all the intinite expanses most folks seem to expect), and the tanar'rl that live there might all share the same forms, unable to leave or evolve. Some layers, certainly, support no life at all. They all have their own themes, and they're all inimical to life in their own way.
I
Do you beginto 8ee how much the tanar'd tcU us without ever spcaLIng a word? Let's continue with examples of more subtk p m a l clues: A find with sportlig eyes and a distant s t a n eould be from a layer where it's necessary to pow hta ?he infrared o r that llhe fiend's got the sbuitjr to see maglc wherever It goes, Paceted eyes may @e a fknd more than thc a b w to see In many directions; they nigM also allow sight into Merent realities or tbc abiligr to daact emanatlons of heat, cold, b y , pace whatever. Snaky appendages without bone o r f h g m tell a canny blood tkat th &td's a quick mom,that it can attack with blinding epeed In I@ rage, that it can sMLe like a whip (and might also have YCILOID).
+
+
PHYSICAL A++RRIBU+#S
The tanw'rl fomu have no pattern because the tanar'rl UXStence b s no pattern. Some types of tanar'rl are wholly
unique., Por example, a humanold fiend bound about with rings of cold fire and dripping with llghtning is to be avoid4 at all costs. Though it's not a well-known mature, it Is the dread Knlght Want, and to see it is to see death. It allows 00 one who looks on it to live, no m a t t e r how far it must hunt those who try to Bcc. A @ect example. However,jW because all tanar'd can be diffept, that's not to say a clever blood can't undustnnd a fiend's function by looking at it. You see, many of these physid dues are fairly obvious. Some arc more subtle and remain hidden fmm the simple and the careless (of which I am neither). And some are nearly impossible to discern without the lnside knowledge of an expert such as myself. Here arc some examples from among the obvious clues: + Sharp claws, horns, and teeth indicate that the fiend comes from a layer that encourages close-up fighting, preferably the kind that results in massive lbloodshed and pain (or, at least, that the fiend itself believes those qualities to be worthwhile pursuits). An ability to coqjure fire from thin air probably means that the fiend is quite comfortable around flame (and thus unllkely to be bothered much by ,fieryattacks be warned). + A fiend's style of movement reveals a great deal about its character and environment. Does It slide sinuously a m s s the ground?Does It shuffle with a Uerky stumble? Does it cover huge distances with great horizontal leaps? Whatever the movement, It ~spcaks volumes about the natives of a fiend's layer (both predators and prey), the dangers found there, and Lperhaps) the best way for a h v d w to make his own way a c m the layer, should he ever vislt + A tanar'rl covered with spikes and another covered In slime are llkdy from layers far apart from each lother. Furthermore, the substance of the spikes lbone? metal? might indlcate the most common imatvlal of that fiend's layer.
Finally, then,I c d u d c with a few aolllp*s of phydolaher to cal clues that are nearly Impossible for Use av-e detect or olpll understand A fiend with a s m g e neck and d d l y Juprd can might well be able to induce sound wwm ulrt can shake the earth and collapse struutum (or e v wa foe's blood vessck depending on the tkquacy and volume of the waves), If c e m h fiends stand at just the right angle in p w tlcular kinds of light, their bodies become gsllrlucent and they appear to have vanis&d. Their b o w laym are no doubt menaced by fearsome p r c d a m
+
+
+ A fiend with a sllghtly awkward grit may have just
w i t h poor senses.
overslaked itself on a victim and be P n l i aa bit lethargic. That's the best time to attack or escape from the creature.
It's not uncommon for the tenar'ri to take genders as they wlll. Some days they're male, some days kmok; some days they're neither, and SDme days they're bot& tend to d c k with one or the o k s s they grow older, and to all thmc who think W lmplks order or atabllity, why, I ague thrt Ws simply another a m p l e of the @endsktthg the &ongust urge dominate (asthey do in all otherospccfa of tbClrUve9, On the &a hand t h e fleods can't sI@y cbpagc mtir genders as easily as you o r I might change our shoes. You see, it takes a considerable amount of effort. even for &e migMkst members of the race. That's another reasen w b a particular fiend mlght make a c h d n a n d nti& with it latin% the other possibilities fall by the wayside It w d d much rather use Its power for d e s W o n than waste anergy on switching genders.
Most t y p e s of tanar'd are formed when w a k r flenda sdvance and t a k e on new shapes. But the tanar'rl can a d do
PRO CRaA+ I eN
breed among themselves. For example, armanltes couple
+ 49 +
after slawghtdng baatezu, goristmi are carcfwly mated by a s t e r s so as to produce young, and chasm lay eggs. their m Tanarri born naturally arc, of COUISC, hue planar beings from thelr Aot moment of life (unlike thosc who begin thdr s petitioners]. Abyssal c a ~ n as Whtm two tanarri mate. the offspring is usually born into the same rank as the parents, or,if the parents are of different types, into a rank somewhere in between. In the latter case, the youngling often favors the mothers status, for shes the one who carries the child and influence it until the day its born. Thankfully for the rest of the planes, many hue-born tanarri are killed by their p m t s soon after birth, althoughsomc do survive to adulthood. The various methods and periods of gestation are quite interesting to me. Some tanarric mothers carry a child for mere days before disgorging it onto the plains of the Abyss. Others cany their babies to term o w decades, allowing the ofkpilng time to gmw and h t e r In their wombs like owrs with so many other fearipe fruit on a loathsome tree. A tures of the Abyss, reproductions a chaotic affair (and one that could spcll no good end for the childbearer unless protected ageinst the coming of the offspring). Of coum, try though we might, we cant overlook the fact that the tanard love to mate with members of countless mortal races 85 well, using seduction, disguise, brute force (powen save usl), unholy pacts, or what have you. My goodness, I dont know of a single mortal race with which the Abyssal flends cant crossbreed: their natures seem able to override the most compelling biological barriers. Mortal fathers are often slain soon after the coupling, and mortal mothers rarely survive the birth of their Infernal children.
rows of dassification. Theres even argument as to whether the tpnprri need to cat or slmply ckoosc to do so, eithcr for simple pleasum or for other pwpom. For example, mwrczhi eat their foes in order to assume their forms, and vmctr devour Mien oppontnts mostfy as a symbolic gcstule of supdomy (though it also prevents rcrtdn fimdlrh enemies from ntumlag to M e ) . If theres strurturr or symhllsm to thr wrythe tmafrl cat (asthm is for the baatnu eud yugdothb), nu ollc h#ws the dark of N. Unless they Intend to i d 1 Pear nd the reminder of pshfw mortality in thck victfms, it d be s i l d that the tanarri eat Just as thy llvc: senselessly and Qstruaively.
So what does a tanarri eat? Well, the answers Just what youd expect (and fear], my friend They consume meat and lots of it. They prefer it still living, obviously, and even better, thcy prefer it scared. @VerycutterS heard the story that nttalh anlmds can me11 feu; with the tanarb its a knawn fad. If the flcnds can ltterplly mgiw thdr prey witless, the m h t a k e on a bold new flavor (or so Im toldl) f calmer victims. thats far &ore saaSgring than the meat o Oh the tahri can stUl derive nourishwnt Prom prey that ttnr tarlflkd, but its Just not as good for them. But iq thCR someihlng deeper io the process? Well, while the fugoloths like the taste of meat flavored by fear and pain, i\s thoughi that the tanarri eat the fear and pldn its@ You $ee, they relish tearlag the meat from the bnes of the living because their victims' screams add to the fear f d t by o f h a p w (not to mention the dark tales that arhc wrounding tanarri eating habits). Some tanarri are said to eat the spirits of their fallen foes along with the corpses; others supposedly draw the magical essence from the bodies. But I cant tell you which kinds of flwds inflict what types of honors on which som of prey. Nope of them follow any set pattern in thdr dining habits: itslscnselcss to try to force the tanarri into neat
SUS+aNANCB
If the tanarri sleep, they manage to avoid sbwhg it, or dsc they do it so quickly that its nearly lmpoaaibie to notice. Theyre rrrpturrsof constant nwloa. movlu# wl(h p w p d & aim fmm one task to the n a t Ihcy dont e m seaato stop. Oh,its not impossible to catch a tsnard doxi&#, but h all my years of observing them, not WN have b dvu seen one actually sleep. Perhaps they w e r e aware of my gaze. M a p s thcy simply earn the rest thcy need In bclwccn *e blinks o f an eyc, dreamlag with cvcry third step take. Indeed. that may well be why they act as they do they live in the twln worlds of sleep and wattfulncrs, never sure which is the dream and which the mality, and theyre determined to wreak 85 much havoc & &her. This theory also cxplallw the tanarrls berrtlreactions to so much of the multivenc rad th& abU4ty to make completely dazzling ksps in Mght. If hue, its bath their blessing and thdr curse. (Of CGWSC, thc flcnQarm@ behavior could just as easUy be &bed to insantty bmught on by insomnia.1
Jessyme Rauch
Truth be told, theres not really any such thtng pb a standard ablllty of the tanarri. Thdr macrY, el1 btlt precludes such a statement. However, two special powers m p up repeatedly among the chaotic Reads the a m to m in the dark and the abtlity to mate darkness Itself. And thats all we can predict with any measure of sxrtniaty. The list of standard powm isnt nearly as long m it & for the baatnu. But then again, the individOa1 b m d s of tanarri have also shown thcmsrlves to posscss more unlque abilities than the b a n t m could ever know. Thc tannrri dso have the formidable p o w io transport thcmsclws uncrrlngly throughout the Abyss and a r m the rest of the plane pb well, though with slightly lcss accuracy - at the agmd of thought At I n s t , they used to haw this power. Ccnhuies worth of reports and accounts describe in meticulous detail tln frustration of flehting off flends that could move fmm spot to spot in the blhk of an
PeWfiRS
eye. But not one tanar'ri has cailed upon its telcportation power iin some h e , not wen when its life was at stake. Npw, the tanar'rl m n ' t likely to voluntdy forgo use ofithe ability - espcctdly not when it could .sa~,t&eir
the cMl. 6xactly how it h
.*
I,
it's bqt not to ask The fl subject, and some poor
9 VULNSRABILI+IeS Xanxost
tanar'ld. Xanxoat knows of only three attacks that arc effectbe: the magic m cold-wrought iron. Two attacks. A cutter lng wlth the Abyssal flends had better h spells and weapons at hand. Any bcrk w
times? No one knows. tanar'ri [and baatezu) have lost the ability to teleport wit\ r. as detailed in the boxed set Hellbound: The Blood War. ds can regain the power only by swearing loyalty to yugoloths, who secretly stripped them of the ability in the : place. Unfortunately for the tanar'ri. few of them have even alized the tmth. Their lack of organization means that they d, know they're all in the same boat: many think they're the c ones having "problems" with teleportation. And most of tl don't much care: Powers come, powers go - that's chaos. tlmn. Sknu+es, tho*, an e w t PB tie Abyn It sll e n d s on w h m Itd&rrhrt kW of it kiadhow many d m it hsr o .llskft RIQL ActtuBy, it d w not matter at a U about Ib+ W. If a tansr'rl dies while it is I n tbc the W 40 dead forever, ncr t h m w - w t it Ilr c 0 r p r " l S R e M back lato @a heut ofthe p i h and cvcntuolly spit out I ntke Rkplcof a mulpor some such leua mature. It d4#9glhc mum or its pact* too dor t o mform and ~QIa g l n The pull of t h e m b & s t tob -@the flmd's spirtt is somehow dcatmyzdu well, the q & t wlthers away and does not feed the Abyss.)
weapons arc primitive. Scconil, the weapons do
people to stop using cold-wrought iron. That way, the ' tanar'd wlll have one Lcss thing to wony about. Other types of assaults hurt the tansld as wdl: + Magkal add bums them all, except for the atkilith - it does not cam +I Normal acid does the trick, but a l y sometimes. Some tanar'ri shrug it offafter a wince or two, and others take no damage at all. +I Holy water and holy weapons work nicely - steal these things from the mortals known as paladins. They work even better if they are enchanted or made of cold-wrought iron - except for the holy
+51+
'
t it !s,bahy. 'Xanxost" they liLe wehave told you, you are ' bumyl"They thinl'that any .tanPl'li thpt dim just reforms in thcAbyss as the lowest of the
explain why the Abyss is 80 full of tanar'ri. But it is probaMy not true., Other fiends can die when they die. Even daadi die whm they dk. So who says tanar'ri should comc back to llfe? Nbt Xanx0stl:ThCtanar'ri are contrary, but not even they cdn give death the laugh fomrer.
Sure, I might forget most of what I learn, hut I should be able t o turn some of it to
+ BBALINQ W I + H mBn+ALs +
At a Lot of time h d hassle.
k 'upwed. But W s no telling whrt'll3uppcn w k n d a tanar'ri, and there's no use gncsaiu@nblt,;prt in. Sowtima a taasr'rl's grndaw and
tastes dla more to cvil nKy,mt
-.
th,body&chsb r k&gy all of W hat& and Afhh
public
- they might be followed through by a baatczu, a celestial, or any k r k
someone, well, the flend's that got to tract dorm dy enough to do it. If a tanu'd fr suipmoned, thou& n to do as it likes - it won't be chased by planar enei c t i m . ears right in front of a perfect v c boob on summoning t & ' om of the m o l t d sources known to m o r t a l s is the Harmonium-and Owanned volume Mors Mystetfum Nomfnum (also known as the Mysterious Nunes). This ancient tome & half stench of the age. It'a spidto hold the &ea e tanar'ri in udstaarr dong wit4 thc?llll& and chain 'em. What's more, the book wppm itsdf whenever a true tanar'ri i s formed or dein the multivasc.
d if a tanpr'ri pop over to the Prime on its o m ruu'a plow shfp ability) in ordu to swhr an in-
and the rlghl key can xc 'em,,
b o o b that teach a b&y blnd tpnnr'ri Cwa d n w
the Prime, hoping that a foolish mage might actually dare to try it. There's a good chance the leatherheadll be turned inside out for his trouble; t h m ' s an equally good chance he'll be mvpldcd with magic 01service. The Abysspl lords want to keep folks guessing. If mere m o r t a l s can predict thdr mctions, how much easier would it be for the baatnu to do so? Balors eager to begin their rise to lordhood occasionally make their names known as well. They want to k summoned to the Prime so thy can work on devdoping a base of wonhip. Ironically, they often struggle to keep their b w i W gains as best they can - at least at Arst Sce,they%by striwng deals with mortals, their fame will spread, and o establish decent thus their might will grow. So in order t reputations, they've got to keep the agreements somewhat fair. 'Course, once a balor gains enough power and no longer needs to keep its word - well, look out. Another warning: Any spellslinger who stumbles moss om of these balor names'd bmcr double-cheek bis sources. Some balors find that their true npII1c. get s p m d h e y ' r e called away f r o m the around by their encmies so that t Abyss at the most inconvenient times. Obviously, a k r k who summons one of these furious fiends'd best hope @ wards are strong and perfectly drawn. Otherwise, he rry wcll find himelf embraced in tlames and whisked away to S t l f f C I unendurable t0mMtS for hlS prrsumptlon. There's no telling what a tanar'ri'll do to a summoner on any given day, nor how it might react fmm moment to moment. A barmy who insists on calling the tanar'ri fmm the Abyss takes his life into his hands cvny time he plucks a fiend out of the gibbering daILnas.
Jessyme Rauch
Most kinds of tanar'ri can communicate telepathically, except, perhaps, the manes, which arc too witless to communicate at all. The fiends are far too diverse a crowd to have drawn together in a uniwing racial language, so they've learned to project their thoughts across the distances between minds. Those that haven't picked up the skill of u s t pment themselves to their supcriors on 'mindspeak" m dcmandiso the high-ups can simply pluck whatwer inforr o m their heads. mation's needed dght f Based on reports f r o m Blood W a r mercenaries, it can be determined that the tanar'ri are able to communicate via mindspeak to a range of about 1,OOO yards wen across crowded battlefields. A forceful mental ahout deafens the ICceiver's mind for a moment or two, much as an audible smam leaves a rlngfngin a body's e m . However, the mindspeak doesn't disnrpt speUca8ting or harm the target It aimply informs the poor sod that a tanar'ri wants to t a l k to him. Intemthgly, the fiends can use mindspeak to mmmunicate with any intelligent race, for the messages rely more on symbols and concepts than on words. The lower tanar'ri, unable to express complex ideas. usually project symbols that are harsh and crude. Cannier fiends eventually learn to
translate thnc symbols into intciUgble conccpta thai nontanar'ri can more easily understand. But be warned: Sometimes these fiendish symbols burn thenuelm into the receiver's mind, leaving him permanently scarred The tanar'ri, namdly, take great delight in this. Of counc. just becaw the tanar'd speak with $be& minds docan't m a n that they can't Iho do so v d y . Ihc fiard. weam and shout and threaten aloud PI w& PI in si?dace. choose whatever method ia most convenient acffcctin,~.~whi~ertbyfceliitcurir41rtthe time. Some those who d e a l mguldywith bions, and succubi have mortals, like tht alumastered one or more mortal tongues, but the bvwr of thc tanar'rl simply make noise. The lower tanar'ric vocal speech membks the buWg of canines yapping incerswtly as they vle Poi attention. More refined fiends speak in the soft drone of ocun MVPS coupled with the violence of a disturbed w e ' ncmt. But occasionally a balor yelps in jangkd disronrnre and a harIn a smooth susurrus. As with cverytbing tanar'ri, their U K of &can? k p d c t e d e acrosa the b o d , though: Their vocal prtdirect as telepathy and t m d to tcveal thc of the speaker. Among the fiercely territorial fiends,that can be a death sentence. To tell the truth, the tanar'ri are a deconstructionist's f POdream. nKy don't wer fuUy undentand the spnch o &a fiend, and it goes without spying that they'rr net fuUy understood either. When mortal scholars try to learn the tanar'ri lansluay, they usupuY focus on the dlrlects oE one or two of the &otic fiends, but even thee it's a task. That maywdl be p u t of the mson the tannr'ri arc so angry all the time thcy'rr comtantly a n d fuadpmatluy misunderstood Thst may .Is0explain why the tuuu'd oftm mort to methods of communication that can't be mbconstrucd - like torture.
l?qm
vn
+ A CUL+UR@ ef C H A e S
Michil Kedell
If you seek to understand the culture of the tanar'ri, my friend, just remember the nature of the Abys: It's chaos. More to the point: It's Chaos. My goodmu, aqy-thing' can and usually docs happen there. The tanar'd watch their backs in all dimtions, constantly alert to aqy possibility. expecting the wont because they know that's what uswily comes to pass. They lay plans and discard them just as quickly. In short, the fiends adapt thenuelm to any situation, no mntter how sticky that's how they're bid. Their culture (if one can truly speak of a tanar'ri culture) reflects t&. It surges in all directions, anticipating nothing and ready for wcrything, datwying itself from within when thar's no threat fromwithout. Thc Blood Wsr7 I see it as a diversion for t b e tanar'rl a way to focus thdr anger beyond their own kind (a difficult task!) and onto those who represent the law and orda they so hate.
This is the key to undemanding thc tanar'ri: Each fiend AgS+ R8 + I C S beliwcs that It - and It alone knows the true answer to Thfs Is mother of the fm points when the tanar'd Ihlm. As exhtmceJ the real meanlng of llfe. And it tries to teach by ' v e heard this from enough different tanar'rl to a race, the cbaottc fie& produce M that b not plcula& not example. I platy (pawen be, sometimes It's sot Ncll ad), but it's ab assume that it's true. If It's not (which Is unlikely), that would m a n the fiend6 are all Mmtkally confused or have ways disturbin#, plwpys thought-prwoling. Thatr prktbriQ rallied 'mund a common Ile, and the fiends are too their architecturn, thelr music, thdr poems and &?ks wildly in&vidud for that. Thus, I believe it's trepr'rk work Irr a hcd#e-podge (wmc m i a t 3ay ntbhma6h) thh certainty of truth that drives of rontlktlng tmrges and h a ,each of whldr portrayasom new etrodty even morrhrtrted the tanar'd to their nefarious dacdr.1 &anted, some than the one before. of t k lesser fknds simply Well, now that 1% gotten thc gmtralexist to tomre, izationsoutofthcwry,IcanPorusinona Y E S ,B U + Is ,+ AR+? maim, and U, but few exceptions. Y e s ,my Melcndr, occwbnslty a denizen of the Abyss p d u c n a work of thcuc with any inWI.)IKIN IIIAHURA, telllgmce seek the not say bcrclly) *t +AN A R'RI A k+ C RI I C undeniable appeal alwwm far themselvm touches hcarta acrosa the planer. For rxample, (NOW D # C # A S # D ) and then try to impresa the camblon Olltrtaar'r c p k paam lnto that knowledge upon others. the h a d Slyr is a moving testament T h e y ' n not looking to enlighten, but to loyalty, betrayal, and lom. M e r only to spmd the doctrine of cham pmoaal favorite Or mine ts the .scrim of csmcor and the only way they know how to do that painted by the n a l f d n m Judge Qiwdt OF the is through their pnsollpl torment and experience. moaai petitionen brought b t & e her. nK Image6 are ddlcate and loving, showing a measure of c o w passion unthlnkabk in the tanar'ri. ('The medium ulad C H ARAC+BR whlch is bcst unrrvcaled here learn samething Just how bed arc the tanar'rl, anyway? Take the worst morto be desired, Mt with the unar'ri, we must take what w t tal murdertr, the most amoral human monster Imaginable. can get.) Now imagihe all the horrors he's Eommitted on Ms vfctlms In short, the tanar'rl aesthetic mlnon ttnlr live as (stccl younclfl) - wearing their skins, devouring thdr bodall good art should. It is unprrdfct&e a n d J e w and brnb ies, and other unspeakable acts and multlply that by a and soft and flowing and clean and messy, all at the same hundred, adhousand. That mindless calloasness and disretime. It's a mixture of Jarring contrasts where the audience gard for others, roupled with savage delight in pain and sufexpertssmwth transition, a d , we& a mixture of jarring fering, metcly scratches the surface (the surface!) of the contrasts where the audience upccbjarring contrasts. I can tamr'dc &dSa. At leas4 mortab who commlt qrehenslno more explain the tanar'd aesthetic than I can explain the ble actions usually feel some twinge of guUt; the tanar'd dreams of the wind. The !lends Mbeyond dcflnltioa. revel in the misery they inflict. But they p d u c e wry, very i n t a n g art, Some "experts" claim that the tanar'ri act as they do because the fiends need to express tbdr inner rage at bdng S(BCII+Y trapped In such hideous forms. Leatherheads who make this argument don't seem to understand that most tanar'ri like Sod@?B.ldcrdashl The Abyss. hac nowiety, and ntitkr their shapes - they're adaptable and powemtl. do the tsnar'ri- at least none that rpSM the whole $bat. One of the best explanatlons I've ever heard of the There is nothlng more than what an amMclous fiend am tanar'rlc character Is this: The flcnds lash out because c a m out for itself and hold onto for a the. And cvcll tbat they're weply of being repressed by t o u g h n flmds. Oh, I C U I endure only if the next flend to come dong the sucdon't doubt that some accept or enjoy harsh oppresslw ccssor to the vhIonuy has the ablllty to hold it mgetk, fromthe W t y .And I don't mean to imply that the tanar'ri to M a t it forselhrh ends. It's notbecsw anychiqmrckln at the top oflthe chain are n k y they're sffll nastyJust for thc h te m is neatst t o endure; pltltc the oppos&e. sake of nastiness. But why do you think the Abyssal lords Certainly, small kingdom do exist throughout the scratched t4elr way to the top In the flnt place? So they plane, and some ftcMoms blanket en& 4 n .But whereus wouldn't hlhre to take orders from anyone, tbat's why! In the baatcau rally around a &@e Unifyhg pdnciple, the Fact, that's h e of the few mlcemlng features of the Abyss: tanar'rlc instinct encomgcs dlvisivmnr md cham by its The fiendswere M all individuals, and they fight with such very nature, and the imposition of a single society goes fmwity because they're upholdlng the11 personal vfsions. agalnst cry drop of b h d the tanafd pws- Ofcoune, if (The worth o f those vhions is another m a t t e r entirely.) a pomrhrl Abygol lord w m to unite the lpymand tmpoK They can be admlrcd for that much. Powers know his wilt over the entire plane, the tanar'ri (theanticatiy, at there's precious little eLw to admh. least) would be under a single ruler.
At the time of this writing, for ucpmple, the lord Graz'zt has aircady taken over three adjacent layers (the 45th through the 47th, I believe). However, I don't think he'll claim too many more.That kind of domination would surely cause the lesser tanar'ri to rise up and cast out the one who would crush their freedoms; the fiends are capable of concerted action, aRer ail.
I
LAWS
will flnd s t r u m in the Abyss (even if they must impose it themsellresi), but let me tell you, friends, the only kind of law amqng the tanar'ri is the tanar'ri. By that I mean that each fiend Is a law unto Itself. each seeking its own way and its own truth or deceit (as the case may be). They each rebel against the higher powers and kick and kUl until they can claim tatal frcedom for themselves. They each act as their own judge, jury, and executioner, and pity the berk who breaks their 'laws." So how are these so-called laws established? No one knows (probably not wen the tanar'ri). You see, they invent thelr lives over and over again with wery breath they draw. They dop't believe in consistency why, that would nail them down, force them to be something thcy're not1 The tanar'ri believe in making their own ~ I e sthat ; way, only they can tell when they're bmking them. Let me put it another way. Every basher's Been the Xaosltegts raving in the sprawling Bazaar and the stinking Many of the poor sods are crazy and can't help Hive of Si. it. Othgs, howwer, struggle mightily to be crazy, trying hard to throw off the shackles of restraint (no matter who might have put them thnr in the first plm). It's hard to say which @ p u p has it worn and which the tanar'ri resemble more.But the truth of it Is that both kinds of Xaositectc t y p ify tanag'rlc nature: Barmy naturally and trying desperately to get even more so. "Barmy" may be too strong a word; the tanar'ri are too canny to be dismissed as simple lunatics. But then, only one other word can describe a whole race of creatures with no structure: chaotic.
Are there laws in the Abyss? You might as well ask if there's chaos OB Baator, or order in Limbo, or evil on alysiuml Now, I ' m sure that many of our friends in the Fraternity of Order
G6++ING WHA+ Y 8 U WAN+
Think that the only activity in the Abyss Is the constant smggle of kssa fiends ploming and scheming against one another, tiepltins pad baffles to the death and beyond? It's true - almost. But not qultc. The hlghcr flea& and wen the Ahyssal lords plot and Schmae and flght just as much. ThcyJust prefer to do It Wth more subtlety than the weaker tmar'ri. And when subtlcfy falls? Wdl, it's not hard for a layer's lord to round up a squad of warriors to lay siege to a rival's forms
Jessyme Rauch
The Abyss holds Innumerable such strongholds. Some are built of Iron, others of flre-hardened and magically enhanced clay, and still more of serpents mortared togahcr with tbc essence of paln, It seems there's no substance that hasn't been used to create a forbcss. But all of them haw k e n +seated and tested to stand true. A R a all, sieges come frequently in the Abyss. Hardly a day gwc by without an assault on some castle somewhere. It mlght be a matter of territory or insults or simple mean-spiritedness. It might have no reason at all. The tanar'ri act as they wlll. Thus, because it's nearly impwsible for the fiends to prepare themselves for all the attacksthat come mpecially when they have thdr own violence to commit, they try to hold their enemies at bay wlth politics. They hspc to buy time to mmhal their defenscr, offcavs, or supposed allies. Political maneuvering Is one of the fm ways they ~ p l l forestall a war until they're ready for it. Of course, the tanar'ri don't have the complicated, dgorous political system favored by the baatczu. @&e h l r verse, in fact. Politics In the Abyac Is just a m a t t e r of who n numbas. stmgth, magic, clad holds the greater power i reach - or who appcan to. The tanar'ri throw their loyal& such as it Is, toward the stronger side unless tky'm. pcmnally threatened or believe that they're goin# to be tbmtened. In that case. they try to convince thelr fellowthat they are strongest in order to gain aUles against the apparent usurpcr. When a fiend rises quite high In the Abyss, it has to start playing down its power while still mnintpinlng Its real strength. The tanar'ri like nothing better than toppltag whatever someone else has built Mgh. A k n d that porhpvs itself as almighty will soon find Its Itestad kw at every turn.Then again, if the Rmd mekm itsclf out to be teo weak, that also opcns the door to assault. It's a delicate balance. Who would haw thought the tanar'ri could wdk such a flne edge? Strangely enough, the greatest among tbc tpnar'ri do it so well that they often fool thcmsclvcs. They fdp strength and weakness as the need arises, but in order to be truly convlndng, they must bellm their own storin first. And it goes bcyond merely putting on a good show. Rememkr: In the Abyss, as on the rest of the Outer Planes, strong belief can turn dreams Into reality. Politics is another arena in which the distinctlorn of least, lesser, greater, ~NC. and guardian m y take 011 -Itance. Though the labels are redly just broad estimates of power, the tanar'ri themselvu somctimm flaunt the tnmr to frighten a foe 01' put its mind at nsc. For example, an dufiend might tell a band of drctches that sinn thcy're only least tanar'ri, they've got no chance against a lrwr tanu'ri such 89 herself. ,Of course, if that same alu-fiend lata fapa a nabassu, she'll do her best to convince it that the divkknm arc meaninglm After all, she's got maglc dancing at her flngertrpk and no mere clacsiflcatloncan hold her. In short, Abyssal politics are based on the tanar'ri dolng whatever they need to do from moment to moment to survlve and thrlw.
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At the lower end of the power scale, tanar'ric politics tends f tooth and nail, of whlch fiend can most effecto be that o tively dwtroy another through sheer physical and magical strengthr The more fearsome a creature looks, the more likely it I $ that laser flends avoid it or accede to its wishes. The weaker tanar'ri don't understand the subtletfes of the high-upst All they know is raw destructive might. While they desire that kind of power, they also shrink from those that currently porn tt or seem to. Thus, when a higher tanar'd waats to commuaicate with a lower, it adopts a brutally fierce form something the Icssen fiend, which equates appearance with strength, can understand. Of course, if a higher tanar'rl meets with another flend of the same power level, It takes on a more subtly imposing shape. This need to deal with each other on many levels, low and high, may contain the seeds of the tanar'ri's shape-shifting abilitles. Intmstlngb, though the higher fieads no doubt dcsplsed the o p p d o n they s u m back when they thcadves w m in weaker forms, they show no compuncMon about d u g it out now tbat t h y wield the power. They use lesscr tanar'ri to t m a l veadma against the baatau. and they prosecute their e gather amlfes to assault anyone who disagrm with them It's e of use and abuse, one that kecps the tanar'ri a vicious m both evil and chaotir. M e r all, they reason, if it was done to J s e . them, they can do it to s-ne Of cqunc, among the highest members of the race from true tanar'ri on up the political games rely on more than Just appearance and cruelty. They depend on posture, gestures, kord choice, and scores of factors beyond the comprchewion of laser tanar'rl. Survival is no longer the only goal: the players seek dominion over the Abyss by atending their wills across the layers. Naturally, since the Aends are all out for themselves, the atmosphere is one of constant paranoia and hatred. Indeed, the high-ups never know what their foes might be planning, as they literally move without provocation or forethought. And then we have the games of the Abyssal lords. Think the m e tanar'ri cling stubbornly to their vision of what's be& for the Abyss and the rest of the multivemc? Well, to use the vernacular, you ain't seen nothing yet. Each Abyssal lo@ holds to a personal vision, and each works at cms-pwposcs with the othm. Thou@ they may stand side by side now and then, they expect no less than betrayal from their compatrlots every time, and most lords flgure it's best to bettay the othersfirst. Alliances rise and fall with nary a single bond of tmt. If one Abyurl lord grows too arrogant or dingemus, the others migbt band together to take him down a notch or two. They might marshal riotous i m ,lock h i m up armies, turn a familiar confidante againat h fn one of the stale bubbles of Pandemonium's Agathion, or banish him to a a interdicted layer of tbc Abyss where even the tanar'ri know Rnr. On the1other hand, they might fail. In the Abyss, nothing is certain. That's why the politics of the plane are so tur-
P@ S U R I N
bulmt. Indeed, the cardinal ntlt, a law that even the rampaging tanar'ri manage to obey, is this: Tnwt nothing and no one.
Is there no way for the weaker flends to deal wMh the h a d ministrations of the stronger? Well. there's outright revolt, but that rarely finds success. And the process of advandag s a slow and difPlcult one. However, if a to a tougher shape i r o m the lower tanar'ri wants to flnd immediate release f abuse of its betters, it might attach Itseif to a flrad af importance and become what's called a parasltc Mpmucr. ThC pansltn are tanrr'ri that give up their own drlves and d& in order to make themselves m m lwful to one more powerful. They don? change th& physlcal fonm; they merely surrender their wills. For thdr chosen master, pansites perform any rUnaion, no matter how m m d or buurliiating. (Seefflusmtbn at might.) Why? Simply -use they feel they m ' t amount to much on their ewn, sad they want to aUy themselves with a winaer. These tanar'ri are odd flends indeed. They subjugate themselves M y just for the privilege of saying they know and serve someone of importance. Truth is, they sacrifice their own chance at gaining that %me kind of Importance just to pssociate with a fiord thafs more powerful, dcstruetive, and lntemtbg than t h e y are. By doing so,t h e yh o p t o make themselves seem more pownftd, destructive, and interesting. The parasites learn & they can about theis master and d a t e his actions whenever gosstble, dorm t o mannerisms, styk of drrso, and chosen nwmics. Indccd, mortals haw, on madon, mistpbn particularly adept parasites for their overlords. Chant is some pirrmitts mntualiy ovnthrow their masta, having ka& their lnsoas too well. If another fled trles to stand k t w ma panrite and its mater, the parasite feigns fifcamh(p for (and perhaps r t l b servience to) the interloper, and then bcglns to commlt its betrayals. And If tm parasiten go to wrr over whicbof them can better serve a mighty tanar'ri well, the m a m y fiends understand each other and know how best to iofila great misery on their kind. Naturaliy, they do it with h y &hb. Rcscsrchcn have catalogued pahitts rangingfa pomr from the least dretches to fiends that might have been Abyssal lords themselves, had they not sacrificed their fumes for t h i s fascinating but pitiful display of sycophanw,
Hello, mortaisl It is time now for you to learn about the Abyssal lords. 'fdble are they, great creatures truly honifylng in their wickedness and powm Most of them spent cons rising tiirough the many s h a m o f the tanar'ri. Some got where they are because they had mighty tmar'rl.parents. Some got where they are because of a strange co!!jun&n of Abyssal forces. Some got where they are because of no
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good m n at all. For example, Urdlen of the gnomes and the 0-t Mother of the brholdem both rule their own layers of the Abyss Is it easier for a tanar'ri to seize a layer and hold on to it? Or is it easier for a mature from the outside? wha cam? There do not sccm to be any particular bad fcdin the two kinds of 1. would expect f r o m
chaos, but beneath it SCathR even mom chaoa Does the Abyss have an inamitc WmbR of layem? Y e s . Xanxost has counted them. But the Abyssal lords are wt iafinite. xnnxost has led merrolmy companiatIuougb several Layam that were not ruled by nnyonc. Still, laat l p y a do
l '11' paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, IApr 6,t 2009
Before they can do that, t h e y muat eliminate their rivals, The arrival?Xanxost thinks theyshould Rght the slaadi way: one oa one. The t9efling Ice has ,asked Xanxost to name all of the Abyssal 1Qrds. Impossiblel But Xanxost will do it. Xanxost will describe each Abyssal lo& starting with Zzyaesiya no, A I and continuing through to the end until mry last one la here for all to see. Prepare yomlva~, mortals. This may take some timL
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Tanar'ri csll him "The Purging Duke," but not when he is most famous for the mdty and brutroops. Bven the Iicnds fear the inventive under &e Duke's m m a n d . Slaadi do not. b the Dukcwsr rerrnthr a mortal
wards. Out came many vassals, including EManoth. who b now trying to get mortals on the Rime Muterial Rime to worship him so he can become an Abyssal lord, too. Eldanoth looks like a smiling d e tictling with makes @wing from hls Angertips. He wants to become a power of crime and hatred, and his worehip Includes the rituPl e said to slaughter of criminals by criminals. Their spkits u feed his stragtb with their evil. nyr'rr cvil. Slaadi reports say that one of the old a b a n b a i layers of the Abyss somewhen in the 300s la slowiybeingreshapcd by Bldanoth. Snake md already gather on . s rlrcn the blasted plains outside a roppv fortress that h from a mt in the esrth It is said that when Bldtnoth journeys to a prfiae-m&tW, world, h d e a w s hb body hidden in* fortnar and psojccts Wpcnm8Uty through the Asw p t n a
lng to hls current
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curdie even slaadi blood. The tMrd sign is Lupnclosincredible strength; the tanarri say them is nothing in the Abys that the Baron can not lift. Du fourth slgn Thee signs. A balor once told Xanxost that Lupercio I really the embodiment of the strength of darkness. Bu whrtcver Lu@o is. he goes back and forth between Ion periods of total sbth and short Bouts of manic activity. he either Sits and sits and sits. or he flits around lilrr a wh
tittering cackle, a mixture of sounds that has been known to
guarded ad all times by a horde of w i n g claws and bones that move around all on their own. Slaadi say the castle itself can riqt up and crush all who come against it. Somchmes mortals who wander through Baphomet's across her castle. The Lady sends some of pad lirrps some of them for her collection
as a h a l e mopped
m u n d her palace around can scc:
cver &This leaves her sewants to wonder.
VCIIU is a flim. pale flgure who serves the Abyssal lord Graz'd He is also known as Ztefano, and slaadi reports say he mlght nothing more than a parasite - not a real lord at all. Vuiqdoes nothlng to stop such talk. At the very least, acts among all of the lords. If k can ask them favors, is he not powerful? Xanxost would say
VB RI N
xpnxopt
Verin flnds out all lords. Then, whenever he feels like being he is a tanar'ri, what was secret information and then sits back and ach other. None of the lords trust him.After all, Verin might hold se,so they go along with ust another name for this creasay whlch is the true Is someone else. One o(bicr is dark. Both ooze spiritual slime. e between than Is that Ztefano has the detected, while Verin is better known lords of the plane.
Oops. Evnything Xanxost just snid might be wrong. It depends on what day it is. The tanar'd change their Utks faster than a p r i w changes his mlmd b a d on wlnt is most likely to gamer them more power and respect. But based on the current chant, the Abyssal lords arc higher in rant The princes are mighty Rends always tanu'd. never outddas who gather on the Plain of Infinite Portals. That is the topmost layer of the A b y s The prlnces Live then in huge fortresses and command massive armies. They give themselves big, fancy titles and try to LLU all the other pzinm so they can rise higher in the eyes of the teeming m a s s e s .Why do they do this? No one knows. Wait, Xanxost remembers why. It is because they are looktng to flnd a layer they can wrestle into submisslw, a place they can call tbdr own and rule from as phey grab more and more strength. sometimes the prlnccs send scouting parties down the conduits that riddle the Plain of Inflnite Portals. Xanxost does not know any riddles about the Plain. But the scouts go down In search of layers that are unclaimed and ripe for conpunt. That is the true difference h e e n an Abyssal p r i m and an Abyssal lord. A princecontrols a citadel and a stretch oland on the Plain of M n i t e Portah A lord a&ally controls a layer, watchlng it rrspond to his wirhes aim o s t a8 a power's r e a l m responds to the &ityoThat Ls not to say an Abyssal lord Is necessarily a power - at least not yet. Some truly are gods, but most are just dmmns.
C 8 N + R e L L I N Q A LAYBR
What does it mean to rule a layer of the Abyss? Mcmhaulk Ithe y u a n 4 power) and Ramenos Ithe god of the bullymgs) both live in Smaragd, the 74th layer. Xanxost is sure that both would claim to be the lord of Smaragd. And Kali, a human goddess, named the en& 6 4 M layer for her holne there, the Cavcms of the Skull. Is she the Abyssal lord of the layer? Most people say yes. It snms some gods Mconsidered lords of a layer just because they happcn to live thcrc. Fine. The strongest blood on a layer can say he b the lord. Why does Xanxost care? 'Course, being an Abysssl lord takes more than just Rnding anpty ground end marching over it with an army. Porn is not enough. Anyme who wants to be a lord m u s t do thm thinga: D r i v e the natives of a layer into submission, and &ape the land itsclf to flt ids will and vision. Two things. That is where moa Abyssal prlnm fail they do not have enough strength In their heads to dominate a whok layer. Why is It so hard? The tanar'ri say that Abyssal layers are sentient. Not smart -just aware. The layers haw primal urges and abilities. They respond to their masters and can swallow unworthy berks whok. Sa if a prince tries to take over a layer but does not haw enough force of wlll, he g& absorbed into the land. It is the price of failure In the Abyss. And that means Xanxost is hungry. No, It means that each prince who tries to &e a layer and fails becomes part of the land's power used to resist the nest prince. You have heard that even the tanar'ri are afraid of some layers of thc
among all
AEYSSAL P R I N C B S
Xanxost is tjred of writing about the Abyssal lords. He will finish the lib some other day. Now he ls moving on to another subject: the tanar'ri known as Abyssal princes, which some peopleisay arc higher in rank than the lords and some say are lower. Mortal~~might think that the princes stand greatest of all; after al1,;that is the way most hierarchies work, Well, it is not the way the tanar'ri work. Tanar'ri are like slaadi. They do not stand for other berks' rules. Being a prince i n the Abyss does not really mean much. It Is the lords who hold the real power.
I.
Abyss? Those are the layers the ones full of berks that tried to rule them. The problem with Abyssal layers is that they need wtenance. Suss ten ants? And they constantly need bigger h e y do not get and stroaer prilmcl to nourish them. When t their feed they grow weaker and eventually didc away into nothingness. "hese poor, hungry layers get absorbed into other layers. There they shrink and become little realms, and that is how they stay unless t h e y can lure other prince-food to their 18nd But sometimes a layer clings too much to life to fall away like that, and it makes a deal with a prince who wants to N e it as long as the fiend can convince the layer that it would be best for both of them to work together. Abyrspl princes and 0th- challengm are not the only ones who rbk going into the ground. An Abyssal lord. too, can melt 1 into his awn layer if he is not careful. Whcn that happens, !the lord becomes an extension of the layer he has crafted. He turns into the living embodiment of the land itself. Taking on a shell of a body begins to become a chore. Oh01 The lord had betta watch out, because if he discorporata muqh further, he will be gone. Then the layer is ready r y his hand at ruling. for a new master to t Xamost has much more to say, mortals. But he is too hungry tp write now. Maybe later.
in keeping the war raging. Whether they gain power for themselves or just get to watch thds hated e n & CnraMe (which ain't bad, dtha),the huc taonr'ri Mem only to bm~efit hy forcing the ksser fi& to Qht. But the truc tanar'd aren't the b a l l and end-all of the Ab-. Many lo& of the layem w l g h in on tbc Lwc as s well. Some of 'em. l l h Scss'innck, lock ~ l v c nway f r o m the c o a c t entkly. 0th- Ilk Alvscheme mom against their fellows than against the bantczu. And sttill others, like Graz'zt, work to end th H o o dWar (at kmt tcmponrily) so the tides of evil can unite and fiow against the forres of g d TNth is, thac M es ?Utly approrcha to thc Blood War as there are Abylsd 10and not O M of 'csl aepm with the others in ail-the paFtknh.MuchIlk thc m t of the tansr'ri, really.
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Purveyors of ill Intent and crrotum of utter cruelty, it's likely that the tanar'ri M the mcut mcan-spkited and theroughly cvit monsters in d t e n c e . They vkv life m a nulsance. They sectheliving as toys to be s a v a g c y pburcd and then dimrded. They care for nothing but themaelm and they don't even care about themselves all t h t mwh. The tanar'ri act in accordance only with thck own daim,and whatever hidden motives drlve those deslrer are ao dee t t a off not howbauched and depraved that a body'd be b
Jessyme Rauch
PRts S Is C U I N 0 +Ha B L e e D W A R +
Telson Splithorn
Some fo+ say the Blood War is everything the tanar'ri live for, that they grow old and perish fighting, fighting, fightf the fiends. It's no ing. Well, that's dght enough for some o dark thattthe truc tanar'ri push vigorously for thc rest of the race to qush the b a a t m out of existence. V e s t companies of disorganized armies disembark every day f r o m Durao (the 274th layer of the Abyss), spreading chaos and havoc across the Lowe Planes - and sometimes the Middle and Upper Planes, too. Clawing and screaming, the fiends launch themselves like arrows from a bow, raining down on any sod who stands in their way. 'Course, they're mowed down by the mlllions by the steadfast1and dkciplined baatezu. Toe-to-toe, the tanar'd fight likq well, like fiends. But they've got to get there first, and that's why the commanders send in the lowest rpnLs. See, the true tanar'd need the berks at the bottom of the power scale to maroh in and softenup the baatezu (or at least dlsYact 'emfor awhile). Once their fw're biuiscd and bloody, the big shots can move In and slay 'em without nearly asmuch trouble. Sure, the tnie tanar'ri lose plenty of troops thct way, but it doesn't seem like the Abyss'll run out of new fitnds any time soon. No qne really knows why the true tanar'd are so eager to push the Blood War. Maybe they figure it's their mission to get rid of the baatuu, or maybe they Just want to strip the skin of law from the face of evil. In any case, it's a safe bet to say that nearly all true tanar'ri have a vested interest
ing anything about them. A fool who travels willingly to the Abyso d a r v e s whatever he gas. An addle-cove who deals willingly with the tavar'ri deserves no more than death and he'd bc lucky to get wen that. The tanar'll arc d & N c t ~ e , petty, and hateful, proud to exemplify all the worst that can come from chaos. Just hope thcy don't win the Blood Wnr.
CHAFXTEK. In a breath of air, the rot of the dead essaultst h e ears. A riot of color SCOWS the t o w . A scream ntaa UXOM flesh, and the disjointed feel of cinnamon echoes t h r o w the balls of the mind. PuriAcstion of the body Ir paramount; those who fail sbnll perish.
HIAL ARUNDAK T HO ~I + Y 09 cewusmn (Town)
R w n . The fallen trumpet archon Alusiel watches over the city. Unfortunately, the archon d m p ' t realize that she is fallen. Aluriel sttll believes hemelf to be a good m e r and considns hcnelf an wid foe of all that Is chaotic and evil leven thou& she's become chaotic evil).The trouble started long ago, when she accepted the task of ncortlng a lost spirit back to Mount Celestia. Unbeknownst to Alusid, she
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took the wrong spirit, one that planted snds of malice in her lieart.lWhhisperingwords of power Into the archon's ear, thb dark qpirit turned her toward the Abyss but not before Aluiel had also infected a handful of her b r e t h n by sharing with them the trickster's wicked promises. Now iAluslel seeks to be a candle of hope In the Abyss, to ease the tormented sods back into the light of truth and purity. She wants to cleanse the spirits of all those who r o mM a l come to her city, so that her charges can emerge f Arundak I b h and ordered. No one ever has.
BEHIND THE THRONE. Alusiel maintains her entourage of archons that were lured away f r o m the Mount, trusting them sure the city is secured. Or 90 they the lure of the Abyss, Alusiel tmsts for such have they become at all. o wrest the city from her. and she won't let that happen; she knows that only her way can purify the mortals who wander into her land.
of sensory impressions. The deluge never cads, and that's why many say Mal Arundak is a city of bannkr; the dreamcursed are a common sight in the sbccts. llm who llve here permanently do so in coaptpnt denlal of their desim. They don't dare gurmc antbcy want, for f e u that they'll be driven mad.Thus, the rrddnrls have taken to indulglng their menta: appctltn, sptaning f a n t h and tdes of dcprwitia that would $hock evtn a tanar'ri. By represslng the desire for physical goods and pleisum, Aluskl's created the supreme market fer those Whwc h S t C in V k C N I l S t0 tbc WJIlkd. Mal Arundak Is a welter of Ilapresrlons. The stately mansions of philosophen loom on one side of a broad avenue, whik the hovels of the poor and m i d y squat on the other. Yet tbc U p boast more beauty ta tMrcacfw acSlgn, and the fine h o w a n squalld and Alhd with vcmdn. 'Izlls is the city of denial, and what appears to be beautiful on the outside rots on the inside.
M l m . The city really needs no militia. Alwici's fflusiau tempt and destroy most wrongdoma long before they ewn realize what's happning to them. But since aome can rrsist her web of drcpms, a company of bund archow arfrrtains the peace. Whereas Alusiel's law says that viUains muat k destroyed, the hound archons recognize the value of mercy, even in the Abyss. They often allow minor criminals a chance at escape, though a second ofAac brings destruction down. S a , It shouldn't be long bcfotc thc archons lose hold of their lawful goodness entirely.
DESCRIPTION. In the heart of the Rainless Waste (the 403rd layer), w h a t the parched desert soil holds rifts wlde CMugh to swallow a town, sits Mal Arundak the City of Confusion. Perched on the edge of a sulfur-belching rift, Mal Arundak tl a tiny dot in the vast, dusty landscape that surrounds It. The city's gained the reputation as a burg of trade - or at kgst the nearest thing the Abyss can muster but, In truth, hapl Arundak Is much more. To rc*h the c i t y ,a body need only journey to the Plain of Infinite Portals (the first layer of the Abyss) and pasn through a huge triangular portal made of a mixnne of c o p per, iron, and sllvcr. (The key is a broken feather from any bird.) Mal Arundak Itself is much like its doorway: roughly triangular,with walls of copper, iron, and silver to shield it from the dements and the occasional tanar'ri siege. The walls are 33 feet thick and stand over 100 feet high. Squadrons of weary archons pace atop the walls, casting their pnry eyes over all those who approach. The landscape around the city's walls is dull and dttary, but inside, Mal Arundak is a riot of confusion and fear. Only the Grand Market (and the roads to and from it) remains somewhat calm, for it's a place where travelers go to pup r o m a simple skin chase whatever they might want or need, f of wine to their deepest heart's desire. Three main roads lead to the Marbet, one f r o m each of the three gates. But If a visr o m the t h m roads or the M a r k e t ,the true naitor strays f t u r e of the city becomes apparent. See, Alusld designed M a l Arundak to purge the impurities from m o r t a l flesh. She weaves a net of illusion and reality throughout the city to tempt and repulse those who come k ~ and , no OM can tell what is red and what is illusion unffl tbey'n grasped for it. H e r e ' s the dark of It: An invisible web, spun f r o m the hidden palece of Alusiel, blankets much of Mal Arundak. Whenever a sod brushes up against a strand of that web,the city conjures an image of hls fondest desire. If he pursues his dream, he's given evnything he ever wanted in a flood
nu^ a burg in t h e m and plans to fortiblymorc Aludd when the time is right. The city's sulprislngly nrtensive lmkgmmd k U W that Aluslel maintains control over Mal Arundak only through the use of an ebon stone that reflects light llk a J I C Grand Marcrystal. The gang bossca who operate out of ~ ket would pay a pmtty piece ofJink to anyone who steals the stone (If It wen exists) from Alusiel's cvcr-shifting palace.
L l . Chant is Alusiel's spiralling ever further into Inu n i t y ,that she's already half-tanar'rl (with powen beyond those of most archons) and ready to take the next sttp. Whether sbe intends to or not, sht'a chnglng, and If she doesn't leave the Abys soon, she'll be stack Umc f o m , Some folle even nbtsper that she's losing her grasp on the city, that a lcascr archon has nallzcd the folly of ttying to
S s. The Market holds anything a *tor mlgM want. f the Market, a body should sMck to Beyond the conflnes o findlng a place to cat and a p l m to sleep. The dcdre for anything other than those moat bask needs might offend AluaIcl; depending on her mood,even a simplc swig of bub might be forbldden. Fortunately, Mal Arundak features many Inns that cater to d l manner of mortal p h e w s l h n . Naturally, fiends aren't welcome In the city, thou@ that doesn't stop them fromtrying to gain entrance.
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To think like a yugoloth, youfirst have to empty your heart and mind o f all you hate kancd in the past, Y o u must achicve a state o f wtuy wtth yourself;fully ac t g w all that you are today and all that wu d h t be in the future.
Lr
mean nothing to you. price o f a m a l Iflt your heel. . yet stfll
. .
sulc it's J u t a fwc
..
.,
.
Of the three primary races of the Lower Planes - baatezu, Although I am flrstky a hunter and a celebrated leader of t a n a r ' b and yugolotb the ?oths are the d J t Bends that I've led enough charges against the yugaloths to They draw tkh arngtb d i m don? arise fmm partiknow my enemks quite well. Their beginnings rectly from t h d r planes ofpower: sahsnna (thrtr new homc) have and the Gray Waste (their ancient bilabplace). Granted, lost so fru back in tlme that not wen their own many baatau and tatuu'ri are spawned h m thdr rcspc a t t e r ,but the yugoloths any authority on the m agreed to have beem spawned (perhaps by bacrtive planes as well, but they supplcmenb thci? rmmbsg with glooms of the Gray Waste, near the banks of Bends raised from petitioners. And the gehrelethr d e e the Riveq Styx. Rising fromthe dusiy plains of their essence f r o m their hideous god Oinoa the new fiends must have scrabbled r o m the plane of Apomps, not f toward dvzlhtion as so manv 0 t h 1 CamrL races have done throughout &e. It's epsy to e , um&why Hoywer long that may ha+ taken, their history I$uspea,of WHEN D E A L I N G tn\c planar &rdapu%cdof come) g~s us that the hv#n strptas of law rd
I N L)IH@B ~ Q I N N I N Q
Mowatt Ke'Mahn
THB TRUES+ F I E N D S
&
the yugofoths found themsclves contamillat& with A traces of lchaos and lawandbltadtotlnd a way to lexpunge their spi* ofltecsc tplnts. Yug@othhistories (most notably The BWR ofDml* MagJcLS, though scholpm have recently un wthd qthm)posit that one ultroloth created a gem called the H e m of Darkness,which it used to 'puriv the yugolothk magnificent jewel spilled the law and chaos into the f o r q of tibe larvae nearby, whirb w e r e then herded to thc Abyfi and Baator, where they evolved Into the baatezu and tanaqri. As for the clevcr ultroloth, he went on to bethc~kgenday fyrurr known as the G c n d of Gehmna,,whose wisdom guides the race wen today. b tale a true one? %me certainly ~ n it k so. B U I~ would belremiss if I failed to mention that m n t chant especial1 talk on my beloved Upper Planes - brands the yugoloth as hopeless liars. Just yesterday, it seemed as if everyoneland hls imp were ready to believe that the 'ioths were indqed the flrst and greatest evil planar race, that they did indeqd create (directly or otherwise) the baatezu and tanar'd. df come, dear Reader, the Mca that the yugoloths are less *an truthful is hardly news. but regardlass, 1 think I spy on th+ horizon a backlash against 'bth podamations of superiorit+ Sa, story of the General and Msjewel mtahly hdps to explain1why the yugoloths feel M though thy can manipulate Even if the tale of the H e a r t of D a m is just a fably designed to make the yueroloths fed hnpomt, irs a tenibly good one.
' 111
4 s
pe
locked away frommortal knowledge) focus the energies of thc Lower Planes, attracting the power of 4 and harnessing It for the yugolotbs That Implies, dew Readst, that there ucdwaya at k a s t a certain number of yugchls hr &am. ( I aay bt last? because the Am& c a n a l s bred natwaIiy, which Inm a m t$dr population.) Supposedly, only the d a m d o n Qf~eofthayll~~MwasC~arcmdnthe'lOthrdcrdf~ any slgniffcant kngth of h e . TNC? Pabe? Dear me, who can say? But it & trueat the yugoloths clafm to have rid themirhrer of lorvend chaos, claim to have driven t h e s b s m s Into l a m e that and tanar'd. Seholam would later woke into the baawho klkvc this claim (what a wtionl) have mberqusntly theorized that the yugolotb deatmyed their own 1 M m # spsrkwhenthqdminedthetuaLthfcrl~etomtbir spirits. That's why, Some say, thc am& W ' t draw newtcruits from l a m e and why they've been k e d t o wolve t h d r reinforcemen@frollp the phrm Thost *ho lurk ia the undcgreund of AcndbB howledge &&that rrhllctlic p q e m y kellznfnsted (Be true spirit from the~yugobths,it has ensured that thdr race b Filled rrwIthe aacaa of mil. W a l i theyugoloths haw to do is keep the m a r pcaaptlods of cvil from q . Por if those basic no!ims e ,the very sntff of the Lower Planes wu) change, bld that could spell the end of dl of the yueoioths' plana.
+ 69 +
+T
The yueolbths are much like the baatau, in that they spend most of tlrck lhrcs learning the lcuons they need to advance to the next step of their NL1existence. Thosc who succeed may shape the planes. Those who fail have only death to fear. Aftq all, l k all fiends, the high-ups of the race (and even the lafniors) do all they can to challenge a yugoloth's Progress. ' H CI
i
SHAPBS eF @VIL The Unnamed
Flrst we have the canoiotns ana guarn~.nyugoloths,tw9 spdes wated by the yugoloths p rb serve as lackeys and summonlng stock. The canob s, the 'dogs" of the race, are thought to be mezzoloth stripped of their power and ~ansfbrmed into beings that will serve greater yugoloths hithblly. Sages aren't sure whether the transfonnation is a punishment or a stcppingstone to greater power. Still, no yugoloth wants to be forced into canoloth form. for it's sal4 that to be a canoloth is to glve up the status of yugoloth qntirtly. Chan$an yugdoths w ' t true members of the race, elther. Mora powerful 'loths create them to heed the interminable summonings of mortals addle-coved enough to try nowlsp *ts true name. calling a figoloth guardlam arc an answ lett#r&?c binding, spirit T h q take many forms, none ot whfdr lty of the yugoloths.
.I
keep their stnygla W R mbU4 Tbt hated, bullytng.Rcnds often wind up splattered across the rocks on the banks of the River Styx. Next come thc hydrolotha the scouts and guidca of thc yugoloth foms. They swim in the Styx fcdcsrly, knowlng that their memories are protected against the dnlnlng power of the black waters; this m;llua t h m espdally valuable in the Blood War. S t i l l ,the hydroloths know they're Juat pawns, and they desperately try to reach the lcvd of yagnoioth, where, though hated, they can at least stand back from the carnage of the war. Hydrolotho learn to trade In informatinn rather than pure muscle, mowing f r o m the phydtal. Slowly, slowly they grasp at how to
~
end of the lowest ranks, we And the
Gray Waste against invaders - that is, when they can bc bothered. It seems the yagnoloths prefer to do as llttk PI possible, living instead off the labor of thelr underli-. Still, the ultroloths grant them widcjudldary powers yagnoloths can command any yaeoloth in their domala. d l the way up to the rank of arcandoth so the reat of the race must dqgtantly tolerate their bNtd d e . of this laziness and hatred?
human. Mquolotha are the basic tools in the ultmloth chain e n of commafld, used only when subtlety and guile have k exhausted, only when there's a need for &ct action. Oddly, though mauoloths are the lowest in rank, they're not the weakest in strength. A stq up in rank, we find the dergholoths, which also serve as mercenaries in the yugoloth armies. They, too, are stupld, brutish, and malcvolent, but they make excellent soldlh19;their four arms let them parry as well as attack (and do much of both). It's A d that this shape is a form of punishf so, it's one ofthe harshest the ultmloths can dish ment but i out Mer 9,stdpping a creature of the knowkdge it hos accumulated is tantamount to total oblivion on the planes. Abovq the dergholoths slt the pkoioths, the sergeants and mastns of the brutes of the bottgm two ranka, ovcnnr~ of the race1 They're powerful and frightening 'loths, to be sure, but they're also desptsed by thwc they command and more t&m a f e w wind up dead or &sing. If a body accounts only for direct treachery, he'll find that the rank of s one of the most rapidly RUed and emptied posipiscoloth i tions in yugoloth society. (Higher-rankingyugoloths tend to
The lowest and m o s t plentiful of the yugoloths art the mezzoloths, tht brutal s o l d i m of the race. They're tough, in=tile creatum but they're not wen as smart as the average
Jokes from above, which they do notkakc, and thc target of hatred f r o m below,which they moIpllzc aU too wdl. Flnally wc haw the skeletal mamesolotb, which some
call "the in-between," a middle ground between the lnsrr and greater yugoloths. Having leR bddnd thc bunlansomc rank of yagnoloth, the manaenolotbs learn the d u e ofmeterial wealth (payment for their smrlcesl a.6 the hrlstkng patterns of thought mastered by tbe greater yugoloths (aa embodied in the Styxh As the boatmen of the dark riwr, tbc marraenoloths absorb complctc knowledge of the waterway's way bend and swirl, and the R m d s KC it echoed in the multlvcrse around them. And, as ferrymen for the Rendlsh armies, mamenolaths also learn the rudiments of maklng and brmking contracts.
A triad of greater yugoloths
the nycaloths, arcanaloths, and ultmloths - art thc makers of pollcy pnd the Rends responsible for hewlng the race's path to ascendancc. All lesser yugoloths pmrlously described are simply todr urcd to bring that goal to frultion That 1s the essential divide bctween the ranh of lesser and greater. ThC least ofthe gmter yugoloths, UK nyuloths mthe observers and scouts of the Blood War. They often carry enchanted axes, many of which are said to be wrpal wapons.
Nycaloths watch the battlefields and pass their findings straight on to the arcanaloths. Their role is dtical; their observations hclp the alranaloihs determine exactly where to allot the yugoloths' strength, which in turn allows the ultmloths to plot the coune to victory. Next in the chain of command are the jackal-headed arcanaloths, yugoloths too keen to be dulled by mind-affcctlng magic. These dmr fiends Imp tbe contram o f the Blood War. assigning yugoloth mercenary companies to the baatczu and tanar'ri - end deciding the costs of such services. Indeed, the war is h i profitable for the yugoloths, and with the stroke of a pen, an arcanaloth can make or break its own wealth and reputation. They enact thc policy of the yugoloths delegating the troops and dooming one fiendish rnny while saving aaothcr (at least, for today). Of COW the arcanaloths all take their orden f r o m the ultroloths, who watch the vast sweep of the baffles and r k tennine when the mercenaries should betray one side o r the other. The faceless ultroloths (a mom apt form than most folks realize) are some of the most feared creatures in the entire multivene. Though solan and certainly powen a n stronger, it's said that few have longer reaches than the ultroloths, and fewer still can hide their knowledge f r o m these ruthless flends. Truly, the most effective weapon the ultroloths have is their reputation - no fool in his right mind would dare to cross them. Although the ultroloths are the highestranking manbas of their race, they're physically indistinguishable from one another. The only differences are in how they ?LANESCAPE MONSTROUS C d m and how they seck to pursue yugoloth interests. Ultmloths provide the vision that guides the race; t h e y ' r e the secret soum of all modern 'loth scheming (and, no doubt, all part L scheming as well). In the UONSTROUS MANUAL"' t eons it tqkes for a yugoloth to asrend to this lofty rank, it learns to spin its weba far and M e . As a result many folks fear ultroloths on the basis of their knowledge alone. Thdr contacts supposedly span m n the Primc Material and the Inner Planes, and the forces an ultroloth can bring to bear on a foc can be as mild as a message and as mighty as the destmction of a planet.
tion, and it can be held by only om yuBoloth at a time - invariably, an ultmloth. Of course, theJob is a precarioue one. Most ultroloths wish to sit in the throne known as the Siege M a l i c i o u s ,and they lay t h d r schemes to further their ambitiom, not caring who's crushed under thalr mhecis of pwm d e & , and behsyrL Naturally, a k w camnothlng for gabing the s a t of power - but only iftkycanaontd4hezdns of the one who docs. The currmt Oindoth Is an ulbolath n a n d Mydhmchlarus, a datlvely recent snfvel to thcSlage. urrprtyfta memies m a r s b a l ~ f o l r e to s toppk tbrmw lulerandcJc the mvlltfe for thcmsdvca. Howcvcs, Mydianchipnu is no cay mark: rumor says it single-hanWy ousted tke previous Oinoloth, an incredibly powerful ultroloth known aa AnthraxuaBntthebattkwnan't apbysial ont-is said tu have whlspctrd to Antkrsxur a single uerr( of saab pmfound and disturbinginsight tha&thclattarfhad wm camp t U d to lcaMKhh-Oin and mwcon.An?bmxw& now tryto o f f a his savipcs towrious powrrs of the Loffapfnae* Above the ultroloths, above the Wolotb, above even the General of Gchenna sit the baumloths thrt is, if the legendnry matures exbt at all. These pustular rupposedly created the.entlre yMo1uth mce back in a time b d o m history and them later vanis~,-leavin@ the altroloths in ahange. But w M J m that story is true or tk bscrnaloths arc simply myth.^ spmpd by the ukmlotha t o Just@ their own d e , the fact is that most of the yuploth race b d b n in ck erlstsnee athe b m nalothnTo &em, It b t r u e , udthcykthclrka ifit wmw true. For tht rrst of us, that mCQM it's just
~
BA I RN AL Q +R S
The nominal leads of the yugoloth race, the Oinoloth commands all &om Khin-Oin,the dreaded Wasting Tower of Oinos (the flnt layer of the Gray Waste). The status of Oinoloth isn't a new or horrifying shape; it's merely a posi-
TRa Q I N @ L Q + H
A handful o f planewalkers here and there have clalm&&o hnw t ~ & a hpard o t h on their travels, whlrh poke hales in the w o n that only the ultroloths know wheR to flnd their rrclwdve fat h m . These morPals reported that the baentalotha dehavine created theyugolaths thovevlthey .dmtttcdofmrkg advice to so-called worthy nlt~ola?he b o 8 t notably, the General of Gehenna), This (pddrre b rskl to Wa the form of secrets about khe ophcr fiendlrh races, and word among s that these secrets have proven tried and the pgoloths 1 truc o m and we?agabl. Of c o w , dnrc all knowledge from the W& filten down only through the ultraloths, it's possible that the faceless Ben& twlst it to thdr own cnds.
aagoodaatruc.
+71+
+ A N D PVRIFICALEIeN +
Yugoloths don't climb through the ranks like the baptnu or tanar'd do. Sac, when a lawful Rend advanm, it's only got a fm plam to go. The chaotic Rends ain't so conflncd: they can try to transform themselves into a n w n g they sct their minds to. But &e yugoloths walk thc strsightatroad of all, moving from mezzoloth to dergholoth to piscoloth and so on and so on, until thc hcklcst bloods reach the statu of ultroloth. They can't sliip ranh just because of a good r e & or a tough will. They've got to do time in crch form, learning an they go. The promotion of a 'loth depends on a few factors. First of all, the Rend in question mwt've rntd well in its current rank. (Noscrew-ups need apply.) Second, the 'loth mustlve ambled to the kssons built into its current rauk. (For example, when a lowly wuoloth flnal)y opens its rycs to the fact that it can easily lay a dergholoth 'superior" low, it earns a shot at promotion; lt's learned that command don't always mean physical power.) And last, the 'loth's got to belkvc, with all its dark heart, in the purlty of cvil and t k necessity of cvil's triumph. 'Coum, It ain't as easy as all that. See, a 'loth has to plot and protect againa intrigue from three sides: from above, where the high-ups try to dcfcnd tpeir own positions against up-and-uetners; from its own ~ . p M l c r r s t Q do whatever it takes to make sure f k y get ahead w a d ; and h m below, where the schand tecdng ppmq may decide to show ofy their own potcntlrl by knocking off their superiors. Chant i s that all yugoloth promotions foilow a W c pattcm. First,the bcrk in question has to show its imwdt.tc high-ups what a Rne job it's doing laming the Ins and outs of, well, yugolothness. It petitions them for a revim e#l fully demonstrates its brains and skill which can t a b yeus,decades, or wen centuries, dcprndtne on how quickly the SupcriO~~ want to proceed. Ifthc hlgb-ups decide th' impressed by the candidaie's evil and high&they s q g d the pmmotlon to tlr& high-ups. That's where lots of promotbolls fail apart. Sre, the next level of superiors pepper the candidate with even more q u a tioas and chnlknges to s e e if it's truly worthy. If they Rnd the sod lacking, they punish thc 'loths who recommended it in the Rrstphrc - usuPUy by Raying off their skin and d m g them for a time - and then thy demote or destroy the c a d date h tha furnace8 of Gehcnn8. Let me tall you, that ~ p U y make a candid& think twice about whether it's ready, and it ~ n f t c l makat y the W s bosscJ look at it long and hard before daub@to recommend It for promotion. If, on the other band, the judges Rnd the candidate worthy, well, the next step is to wipe away all the fwlts it's accumulated in life and make it, in essence, a dam d a h for the new Rand to come. 'Coursc, they don't want to get rid of the ucqldfullespons of its previous f e r n ; that's why they go through the process of the Puriflcatlon. It's a painful ritual,
P R 8 8llI 8 L EI 8 N
Enkillo tl
one that invariably inwlves the outer death of the 'btk's ~ W III thc SMPplne S W O f~ thc living s h e (The rttupls'd give brlors nightmares; 1epIcd on one as I paacd Mvcm portah in Mungoth om time, and i nearly gouged out my own eyes to block out the Bat that's a story for M k other time.) Ones thc PurtRcaUon b complete, tka Rend arbor, ready to take IS place in thc yu@lotbhierm&ydat* urally, lt's got to prom itscif 111 o w again b e f m M gab another shot at movingup. Like I said before, there ain't no short-cuts. A yugoloWs got to move up OBC rank at a time. wh.t'swonc, chant is it's got to spend at least a few ccnt\nlcs Isa often d k n a i a -in a p.rticu*r shape Wore It.next p10c motion. T h e trlas patience. Some a n handk &e wait, always kcepingthdr eyes on thc mnnk to mnr, shys plotting and planning and showin@ thcir wurtb. OIhCn eitht~ can't bide tbeir time or Just atkept thefrpt that they don't haw thc drhr to succeed. Thcrc 'loth6 don't worry 10 much about advancement and eontent thmsckocs nrt(h F a d i n g evil at their ament rank. After ail, tfry~rcdtll fiends, ail1 more powerful and mow feared than 'meat bmks on the ~ S W .
m.
R e O U f l YUQeL8LEHSi+
~ 'l3im&W'u~
WJgIm among their lmmk, flqv;f;llmR~~bLpching&loB~kknl~clobdely*
Mowatt Ke 'Ma hn
might also fall prey to this *affltctlonF ( ~ 3 p d k t o ~ 8 blessing). l t Mow,I'm IW appUs0 of the khd ofaanyakm emn+ m a t o tl*yw.goircb* thc Iartloyal ef all t h e m . I'&W thrrt~i$illrgmsMyontheLomtPlsaartbrdatmop OtlaaznlatbrW't~thcmschesonpbdt~ a dorm sfilluloths nfl -e& otkcr doin ibb manner aren't vc@im:
to *d, but nrrn4tItscmly not be trac trestom. Irs thought that the gduektb g d 4- thc unsightly being known as Apomps b an uihd y u g m md the W t y witb which thc gcklcths a & & &Wage yqW4h would ccrtsinlyrcsl to btsrautiimt ammpihm. And Ihm ire others uh A ' b , thc unnaioth whontm.lbs FricadlyFind.trlnka shop ia S i @ #bagb #kin oftea e m tertains lhdish cdlcrs, and I W e be's sinrpay Jtlllsd at masking his m e intentions). The dark of it, dear Reader - at least as most bloods s that the ywgoloths viclowly prosecute the traihave it - i tors among their number, driving them forth and killing thcm at d l costs. Why, during a raid I led on the Qrry Waste, I pmonalty witnessed a 'loth wrce~ry eonrpupy practlcalty ignotc their attackers - that is, me and my pack of lupinals to w ~ t r a t on c chasing and sl.yfng a pis-
layself, It r$inds to lu80ntht
+ 72 +
coloth that sought to switch sides. Do the yugoloths haw such great secrets that even lesser 'loths who turn stag must be silenced? Or are the fiends simply vindictive monsters who refuse to let one of their number slip away? I've heard of many a dissatisfied yugoloth that has chosen self-induced oblivion over desertlon from the ranks. Of c~$urse, therc arc some yugoloths that disagree with the prwajling political mood of the race, but, dear me, that doesn't make them rogues. (Some of the most loyal guardinals on Rlysium are those that quation the orders of our leaders.) If these 'rebellious" yugoloths w m to speak their minds too freely, they mlght be tormented until they either recant or demonstrate the validity of their 'dangerous ideas," but they're still welcomed back into the fold. As long as they don't t r y to cause dissension or abandon the general goal of raising evil to dominance, they're allowed to live. Some have it that vulroloths are incaDable of true change, +at their spid&aA so tilled with [he essence of
B O D I L Y eenm + AN D 9UNCLEEONS +
Long ago, when the g m n buks of the Prime Material Plane first laid eye8 on the yugolotbs, thy fSgimd the f l e d had to be the mult of some kind of bizam adaptations, mutations, or cross-breeding. Why? Simpk: Creatum couldn't look that weird naturally. No wonder pdma're called Clueless, eh? In my dny,we called 'em worse names than that, let me tell you1 And now we know today that yugoloths arc flesh-and-blood planar beings, whlch means that they mate, eat, and sleep just like anything else does. Well, maybe not just l i anything else; read on.
Enkillo the Sly
Q8ND8Il
The whole idea of gender just ain't as important to the
cerned)?
F'
What ol' EnLUIo means is that a yugeloth's gender really d w n d s on b current sftuation. What's m a , it may change at a moment's notice, because the only real change taking place is one of perception. When two 'loths mate, the fiend who fithers the offsprhg is considered the male, and the Aend who carries 'emis marked as the female. 'Course, anytime a yugoloth docsn't care to identify with a particular gender, it can still position itself as neuter. Strictly speaking, I guess a body could say the '10th are neuter all the time - or that they're everything all the time. It's just a matter of how the flends're vlcwed.
1
brightest in positions of power. And the only way to get that is through rmNiies of striving and pmmotion.
BIR+H
All yugoloths can breed. That might be due to the fact that they can't replenish their race with petitioners like the baatezu and tanar'ri c a n Sure, every time a 'loth dies, another one's born from the rnergles of Gehenna or the Oray Waste, but that just keeps the population constant. To grow the race, the fiends'vc got to reproduce naturally. Anytime two lesser yugoloths of any variety mate, tht end result is a mnzoloth, the lowest-ranklng Rend of the race. Whichever parent takes the female role glvq birth, though the mezzoloth doesn't come out full' s a young 'loth, plld it must be raised to adultre it can B c g h advtpdng through the ranks of
E 28 t hto see whlch one earns t k r i g h t to grow to
yugoloths mate, they anturnllpproduce cy can breed only with others of 11 never catch an ultroloth mating ample. And the same rule applies ' s got to reach its prime More it
nycalothhlways produces a litter of
Most folks call yugoloth carnlvorrs and let it sit at that But that ain't tlrc whole story, and it's an o v c n h p l i M o n to just say W they eat meat. Pint Oa, loths mlkh in the crlting of life. Meat Is mom than food for them: a h g it's a symbolic of contempt 8o*vud the lrst of the nwdtlvem. See, yugolothr consldci thcmschns t0.W et the top of any food chaln, and they want orcry berk In existence tc know of their arrogance. The freshness of thc m e a t and thc way in which its mna got put In the dead-book are o l h s Important Rcton in a yugoloth's diet. Sure,they can survive by eaold meat, even the flesh of a bariaur that's been lying &atd in a des& for weeks, but they redly prefer thc m a t &a lfvin& thinking creatYTr. m e lesscr 'lo* npactdly, h &e flesh of a berk that's quaking in tmor. Chant is the fear taints the flesh with Just the right amount of angst and despair flavorings that're an ns+ntlpl part of -0th he. But anger's supposed to lend a kick aU Its own, and tbe other dark emotions each produce their own unique tzstcs lor so it's said, not having tried it mysclfj. 'Ihc Wta yugoloths don't care as much about cmotionrl flhrdugs, and some arm? Nan m a r aboat thc quality of the mea6 at all. Nyraloths lean towand m e d
A e URI SH m @ N +
, which're forred by their parents to fight
flesh, savoring the extra decay and a11 that it symbolizes. Arcandoths devour marmw, partly in a gesture of disdain and partly to show their place in the multivene as fiends that drain life from the inside out. And ultroloths well, they chew up the all of their victims. They take pain and love, glee and anger. It's a good thing the powers watch over their petitioners, or else the uttroloths'd devour every b a k they came across, bot&& soul.
Le, arcanaloths create nothing but more of their The m n g ' r e raised viith grace and care and ( p and ~ outs o f negotiation, but lessom M no
Einally, ulffeloths can gi without qaving t o mate, But th young amallplotb. who, like tbe ents, end up flu@ more mund chy. Why don't ultroloths produce it's because heir state of existcqcc
ves OM
ham&
itandhaon:
thm days"
F..
,,
..
'+74+
d y , ultroloths need never fear such an unpkamat mrprIse; tually i m m q y themselves in the soil (or wood or water or when they gate In a yugoloth, the summoned ficsd lraaws whatever) of the plane and let it refresh 'em for about five that it had M e r obey. hours Then they rise up again, ready to rrsumc thcir dutk Me, I think they or& do It because that's what they sec their high-ups doing. 'Course, the yagnoloths and marDISPeSINQ nenolothg don't seem to understand the point of the pmcess: tbcy'rrjust like children aping the RCUOIIS of thdr parents. BP A YUO*Le.)IH See, the nycaloths and arcanaloths actually meld into The Unnamed the essenec of the plane. They don't just wrlggk down into Mortals everywhere should thank t h & godsthat dapstt all the dirt or sink into a river: they let that soil or water get of their much-vaunted powers, the yugoloths hrve their Into tkm, too. They merge with their chosen element and weaknesses. The most effec?ive weapon against the Wgodraw life-glrfng power directly from the plane. It's also a lothg Is an application of cold, m a g l d or othnwisc;thh ingreat way to keep in touch with the mood of the plane, to flicts twice the damage one wwld axpcct it to mise. Then see where it's falling away and where it's growing. The are two ucceptions: First rsczzoloths, for some odd 1~119 fiends do this for nine hours way nlne days. take only . d dunage The ultroloths, on th .,, . c_ from cold-h& a t t a c h other hand, simply fad xme uar p e r b p s the yugofothr from sight for a whilc found s a p e may to ImSome folks think they gl u have lost the a prove the'msfataace of to commune with the bacrewor, as detailed in the boxed set Hellbo&d: ThhBlood Wa their ranband-fila MInaloths. Some say they disThe fiends can regain the power only by swearing loyal* to t k d i m . And seconb, u1p m e themselves (or focu yugoloths, who secretly stripped them of the ability in the fir tmlaths tote no dtmrge themselves so tightly tha 1 place. Of coume, the yugoloths themselves lost teleport withot frdm nonmagkal cold: It amounts to the sam c ewor along with the other fiends, hut they quickly managed to they're made of sterner get it back and now use the power as a tool to bend the baatau think!) into the realm o I stuff. m e t ~ ~ h y s i creallty al and ' and tanar'ri to their wUI. The oath of fealty binds even the mo chaotic of the tanar'ri; those fiends who agree to the deal fin If a cold-based rtwaft on currents of power themselves at the beck and call of the 'loths at the most lncor tack is lmposslble, the through the Lower Planer venient times, forced to turn stag on their companions wher n u t best o f f e mis a d m 'Course, the ultroloth ever their new masters com--A it so. Many feel the restor might just hole up In on of magical electricity, ability isn't worth the price, iere's no going hack. which inflicts 111 damage of the towers of yugoloti on all yugolotbs. Ordilore, places where they Q = m know thqf'll be protected from all dangers but treachely. naly electricity is nearly as good, though be warned that ultroloths are, again, Immune. Finally, if neither cold nor elecWhatever the truth, the ultroloths don't seem to need as much rest as the other 'loths: they're gone for just one day tricity are available, try using magical or ordinary gas against a yugoloth foe. Alas and by now this Amid be wmy decade. expected - the nonmagical varlety will do no harm to an ultroloth. Do not attempt to defeat a yugoloth any yugolath P@W@RS by attacking it with acid, fire, or p o w whtcb bm no d Mowatt Ke'Mahn fed whatsower (except, perhap,, to amuse the f*ndt. W h a In comba0 the yugoloths arc fonnidabk foes indeed. Take it it comes to weapons, remember that a blade of coldfrom me;I ' v e led my packs on many Invasions of Gehenna wrought Iron works no better against a yutpioth than a and the Gray Waste. All secm to have an imprrsslvearray of blade made of any othcr substance. However, silver 01rugpowers they can wkld at will, powers that mortals can duIcal weapons can cut deep into lotk flnh. plicate only with magic. Yugoloths can change their feaFor the sake of a%l\lamt, M u s you contures, raise the dead, infect a foe with a crippling illness, f your wits and ow ef front and slay a yugoloth by virtue o turn a fon into a Mend, create potent illusions OUP of thin the above methods. Do not 4ebrStc; the fiend may not k air, draw f l mf r o m that same air, and relocate themselves In entlrely dead. If it is a lnscr )Mgdoth, you can be rewonthe space of a heartbeat. ably certain that you haw U e d it ( u n l it ~b playin# h a d LIke other flcnds, most yngoloths also have the ability in order to lure you closer, or it can use magical means to I say ' m o s t , " dear Reader, because to gate in their romrpdu. ( revivify itsel0. But most greater yugoloths can be slaln only yagnoloths arc too widely hated by the other members of whea on the Lower Planes of fslrrrl, O d K I I I I I ,or th Gray their race to gate in allies for a flght.) Howom, moat yugoWpstG If a mater vu~oloth 'dica" on a m other o l m . it mloths take poorly to this sort of perrmptoly summoni$, ind . form blckon tho&& on which it waabora, tpldng ten to if the gated fiend is as powerful as the one who summoned thirteen years to mh* its physical b r mf r o m the energies it, chances are fairly good that a struggle will ensue. Natuof tM lan&lt ir l@t hewn whether greater yugoloths a n
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dangerous or wen sentient during thii t i m e ,but once whole, they remember the faces of their killers and take pains to avenge themselves. Beyond these general rules, two kinds of yugoloths have special abilities regarding death. First of all, an arcanaloth can be completely destroyed only if killed on Gehenna - neither Carceri nor the Gray Waste will do. And when an arcanaloth is slain on Gehenna, its accumulated knowledge wings its way to the Tower of the Arcanaloths and is absorbed into the racial memoly of all yugoloths of that rank. The other special case is the much weaker dergholoth. For some mmn, it - alone among all the lesser yugoloths has the ability to regain its form within a few days of its death, as long as that death occurs outside of the Lower h i i might Planes. Not even th@ ultmloths can do the same. T be related to the mezzoloths' increased rrsbtrnce to cold; as the bulk of the yugoloth armies, dergholoths and ms- % zoloths might have evolved the pownrg tbcy need@ to wmain aliva and battle-ready. And vet, cuen when a sturdy mortal panages to & a yugoloth and know in his heart tbst it will not rise agoin. the victory is a hollow one. Thcyu@bb do pot fear death, bsauscit.issaMthatthereisdnrc(yra#tirumbcroflo~ in existence at any one time tbrt, like the IuodroM, when one dies, another rises to take i& p l m . %Is may he pmpaganda spread by the yugoloths tbcrmJa&er t o dlshearten their foes, but it seems reasonable Yngolbths asc p m evil. and the amount of evil rarely dcPrrPscshr the atultivme.
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Thinking about hiring on with a loth mercenary company. or maybe offering to sell one some chant on the Blood War, or wen calling one up f r o m Gehenna and fming it to do some of your dirty work? Well, here's a tip, berk Remember that the baatezu and tanafri - two of the most vile, dangerous, and arpnienced r a m on the planes are like clay in the hands of the yugoloths, molded and shaped as needed. Imagine how much trouble a 'loth'd have pulling your strings, a puny m o r t a l who ain't even been alive as long as It taka to fight a minor Blood War skirmish. The best way to dcal with &e yugoloths is to kecp out of their knowledge. S q t h e 'loths think killing mortals is a waste of resources. They'd much rather peel the sods into canying out thdr dark plans& them.That way, if the truth of a scheme wet comas to light, the mortals're likely to take the blame. And even though plenty of folks know how sneaky the yugoloths are, they rNll all for the fiendish tricks more often than not. It sccllls that 'lothsj u t have an uncanny knack for appealing to a mortal's greed, ego, seme of sdfpreservation, awl the like - you name it, they'll take advantage of it.
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Look, youngsters, it's never safe t o snmnmn a fiend No matter what anyone else ssys,the d u b &.a Iowa-ptpnnr -ter can -helm a berk without a m o n d thought if he's not rprrful. And wen care ain't enough,most tlmm,to keep Imortal summoner from falling into I & -of whst? ewer fiend he calls. It's a dangernus Lwiness, d 110 one in Wright mind'd try it. Those who do are dapeate, addle. covcd, or greedy for power or maybe all three. For folts with hain-boxes in their heads, summoning a f i d is the worst kind of last resort. Most b l d d r a s h e rd i e . Them. That's my spiel to discourage a11 you m@ spellslingem out there from t r y i n g to summon a yugoloth. Did it work? Did anyone put this book dorm? Did anyont say, "Youknow, ol' Enkillo's right on the mask, he is I figure I11 uo dn sopcthin~ safer. like tease the Ladvuf Rh"? a '. , 6 D k t thinkso. +&then, read M, but r e k o o e t h m I tried. y n a b t a d gets rip@ o f f a n d i h d e d to you, #on4 come qybg to me, be& Let's rtpa yIth the basics: namesoIf a body docan't work t h q t k name bf a specific yngoloth into his stunm&@peU if he &ut blindly c a b a 'loth, any :loth, froia~~hc~--UendupwW1acanolsthora @umttimylydoth. Itpt'r what those creatures w e r e made fbr: to aaswerJli.t8c gencral summoning so the mal yugofa& wwkhft i d r e t q bother. Oh, they anive with all the stink a d smokt of my'hydroloth. but thev're second. . dngm at but. ' Fact &O(trydlan yueoloths can't even do anything but they Can't perform the kinds of shvices that summoners these days seem to want. And s1mt thcy'lc notking but loth conshuctionr,guardians perisb & m u whtn sl;dn. Bound to their masters in exchange for smrlccs o f & d o r prod&, guardians have about as mu& kWlll m golaap. They can be smart: they're just not independent, When they're not under orders, they're motionless,locked away in the secret cellars of the Wasting Tower. The guardiaM're s m r l ceso9 actually. It takes power to command one of these fiends. That's no problem for a regular yugoloth, but any mottal berk who brlngs one to the Prime'd M e r be prepared to back up his entreaties w i h a show of strength This is OM case where the yueolotlts brook no argument or bluff. If the cuter hasn't tumbled to certain mysteries of the mulfhwse beyond a c n poiat, the guardian yugoloth might Just kill b&n outright Now then, we w w talking about names. If a montnl wants to puU something better than a canololh or guardian, where does he get the true name he needs to do it? Well, h r there's always a chance he could buv the dark ~- - off . . .t . baatnu or s&al it from the dallpr'ri akuming that those fiends ~ lb of w any true loth namra. A d it's pmible he could track down a blood who's eelled a higher 'loth. btfpre (and lived to tell about it) and use that same name OWT again but, m n a alive, that yugoloth'll be sodding furious to be called away from home twice in the stme short time span (short for the loth, anyway).
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No, the best bet for true name# I 8 The Book of Keeping, a rare tome that identifies a good number of the '10th~ in existence and gives tips on calling and blndtng them. Some folb say the book's Just a north, but ol' Enkillo's seen a copy with his own two eyes; I even got to fflp through a few pages before fleeing for my lik from ita owner (a story for another tlme). Chant is that ten copopks of the b o k exirt In all the multiverse, which is an increase of six aver the last time anyone checked. (Doyou suppose the bean-counters were wrong before, or is some blood with a vendetta against the l o t h maUng new copies?) ' C w c some of the 'loths mentioned in The Boo)# Kecpine have no doubt been put in another boob by spw the dead-book and replaced with new fl&W~osc dames cmn't yet public knowledge. But if a yugoloth's still alive snd klcking on the Lower Piancs, The Book OfKeeping'li give the best details on summoning and binding it. Natunlly, unkss he wants to hide his existence away for the rest of his mlsnible life, a basher'd better take care to compensate the e n d handsomely for its trouble. Yugoloths - espectally thergrrater t y p s that most berks can't seem to mist calling - are no creatures to irritate, and the flends definitely consider summoning an irritation.
Nor should you orpea that the yugoloth language follows the divisions o f rank. The ul&oloth and tfLs pimloth do not spcak d i t tongon. Howeve?, it may seem so to the casual observer, because the fiends' languagu grows more complicated as its speaker w o h . No mortal ~EOWI to history has nm mestercd t h e speech bcyond the level of nycaloth. None ever will. The labyrinth 0% manjng and a b tlety grows too dark to nartgete; It is said that even the b a l m and pit f l & cannot unravel the secret tongue of the ultroloths. In some quartezs, k g d has It that a blood who
+ LANGUAQB +
The yugoloth language is a complex ode, *minding one both of the stench of decaying roses and4he whisper of wind blo&ing across the sand. Though they cate with pne.anothrr and with many other an innate !sortof telepathy, yugoloths also c dinctly ifithey 90 desire. And when dealing h y genemlty choose to speak yugoloths, t to convey e x a w the message t h y intend. k a n a l o & c s p b l l y , rely on speech in thek negotiations with baatau and tanar'ri forthe sale ofyugoloth mercmaria But whereas most races use the spoken word to send simple mgssaga and prefer to deliver sensitive or complex information tekpathically, the yugoloths take the opposite approach. After all. a conversation held with telcpathy can be overheard by any fool wfth the right magic. But even a sage who eavesdrops on a spoken exchange cannot uncover meanings hidden deep below the surface of the sounds. Nearly rvcry word in the yugoloth language carries t w o or more meanings, and thus when a 'loth speaks, H delivers at lqast two messages by its phrasing. Not all yugoloths arc highly practiced in this matter. Small-brained flends like the slruoloths and dergholoths r y to commw have liffleiconunnnd over the language; they t nIcate hidden meanings but usually end up obscuring at2 understanding. (It is quite amusing to observe.) But do not assume that two yagnoloths in Si@ who speak of a mni rred conchant's wares are doing anything of the sort. a versation no doubt takes place in the subtle shadings of word choice and inflection.
The Unnamed
They have created a system that focuscs the h a b e wkkedness of their race and encourages a cold and shpiIplt6Dmprd march toward the realization of their mas& plan. S o w say that the yugoloth culture seems as though tbc enttrr m10c were evolving toward one organism Others dtcmfu that 110tion as chlldkh nonsense, viewing the society as a eel*rtiw of individuals working together. Regadless of whlch a i & is correct, dear Reader, I now present some of the more f d nating facets of that culturr.
As one might expect, the yugoloths have a h@ly advanced society, one developed toward the pursuit and p d t y o f cull.
Mowatt Ke'Mahn
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understanding yugoloth sodcty: llreir nrlturr rests on the h i s of the bluff. The fiends believe fa manipulation and the skillful twisting of words and deeds tc achieve thdr goals. Why,tWr en& hierarchy toarhn,thm the Importance of controlllng the mIon from behind the scenes, of ntpbushing dominance by blanketing pwns with a s l I k m wcb rather than p d f n g them with brute f o Several varieties of yugolotb are weaker than their Inferiors
~ S S ~ N + I ABeLiePs L H m is the most Lnportpnt s e a to
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in sheer qrength, so the high-ups must somehow convince And though my past dealings with arcallploths have shown their subardinates of their power and the m@ht of the hlerthem to be utterly without feeling, several colleagues on archy abonrc them. By doing so, they learn to bring the f o m Elysium have boasted of how they managed to dig into an of the whole race to hear to suppress threats and make areansloth's core and unleash the deeply veiled c m o t i o ~ within - the better to vanquish the fiend. I'd hazard a pear themsclve seem ever greater. t the ultroloths manipulate the wiled pauloas o f the uOf course, there are degrees of bluff. Dear me, it can't all be liesc otherwise, the whole system would crash to the c nalothJ ia order to keep them under control, and so on ground the h t time one fiend & t i d e d to put its superior's d n the yugoloth ladder. My, but don't the fiends live in a dangworld? bluster to the test Yugoloths prefer to have the upper hand They espouse the f o m ofw& and 00 they must& at ail times (unless they put themsahns in the apwith it on a daily b u k If the yugolotba ~ N seek I Y pearance of submission, only to strike to bring strength ta the multhrcnc, the only again later): they know they need o make tbsmrlva way to do it is t to back up their bluff on the odd co1wt(llltb. dmp,constantly aware chance that it's actually and the hest way to do thatis to mpLc called. They prefer to do so SUIC that t h e y JRW trust a s o d The with WO& p r o m n g I F 1 WERE Y @ u , B E R K , yugoloths move toward a realientiaa greater and greater threat of no amtlon, no honor, and no I'D IUS+ E N D I + N e w . undtheirfoeeithergives trust And yet they mwt work toin or shows slgas of reTHE YUG@L@+HS CAN gether, since they'= buudhg for the sorting to m~ physical metho* of debate. REACH Y @ U ANYWH@Rfi* goodofthemulthmsc.~rpthn,for And if it cpmes to RAVAL VALSBIR, the evil. that, the yugoloths SPY roll +He YUGOLe+HS, like to be ready. Ovcr peu+ics COUNSBLING the years. they've accumulated a AFD C(sS+@ Ill8N+BIRUS C H B I R I P , , " A wealth of power, and they've no One could o w that life as defined compunctbas about using it if 8 N +ne RUN R 8 Ill they have to. +HM F I B N D S by the yugoloths is one of caste, Ah, that leads me nicely much Ukc thnt of the baatezu into mv next touic: the lack of feelins! b (tho& n d t h a ammiSmongthe fiends. n e yugoloths greater r ~ the k l n n r thmugh adfit, mauic. and force of will. The infcriorr steer d& of their supetioa when n n ,but tlcgr rsrcly dse up against the opprnson unless they can of dfspsssia. T h uIress. Those who must take get away with i t Mutlny is tolerated at the lower ends ofthe scale: tho= higher up should know better. To nukc m d t m P feel anger or jealousy merely a driving ambition to seize the throne for themworse, there's no telling when an especially ha& supecior selves. has been installed simply to test the loyalty of the lower That's not to say the yugoloths donY understand emoranks, and any Rend higher than a piscoloth mains alert for that possibility. Thus, the very exbtence of the yugotion; on their way up through the ranks, they learn all about it, but they also learn how to cast it out of their bodies. The lo&, dear Re~der, i s one great test. fiends are coldly dispassionate, logical ond intuitive to the A distinct chain of command runs f r o m the ultrolotb extreme; they're said to scc all with crystal clarity. The yugodown to the mcpzoloths, but within each rank, all h d s BR 1 0 t h use emotion as they do any other tool - to manipulate more or less qual. One der@oloth,or hydroloth is M good urged the strains of law and chaos as any other at least, until a fiend proves itself specla1 they claim), they're just not gripped enough to merit a promotion to the next rank.And thus the pride, hatred, or greed. They certalnly yugoloths struggle to prove themselves worthy of n d c e , wind up like the tnnar'd and baatezu, who'w certain that their situation wu1 improve as 00011 as they astaken these dark emotion8 to ridiculous extremes. cend. Of course, they progress only from being one maUnfortunately, shedding passions is not u easy or as 2010th among many to one dergholoth among many to one permanent as flaying skin. The heinous actions of one piscoloth among many. Thtr ppttaa of proving oneself yugoloth can actually drive another backward in its emospecial and then rejoining the masses repeats itself with tional evolution. The stories I've heard of Anthraxus (poor, greater and greater complexity as the 'lotha grow prngmdeposed Anthraxus!) seem to indicate that he has truly sivcly more powerful. learned to hate the clever rival who, without so much as liftAs you mlght expect, the scheming for advancement is ing a finger in battle, drove him f r o mt h e Siege Malicious. much more subtle than even that of the baatezu. Yugolodhs
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prefer to lrccp their politicson a mentd and verbal lwd. Occasionally, though, it degenerates into physical or magical brawling, ,and then all hidden factiona stand maled. When two 'lothq dcdde to settle mattrrs wIth combat, they bring their subordinates and allies along for the ride, and what might have bcm a simple duel turns into a free-for-all with various cabals struggling for domination. When the fight ends, theifactions realign, and only the canniest of the yugoloths knows who's d l y on which side AU of thlp politlrpl squabbling fpils k f m the true leadus of the tare:the Ohloth and the General of &henna. The Oinoloth the fiend that rulea from the Wasthg Tower is said to d d e the rare and uniw the warring factions, to present a dermined yugoloth face to the outside world. Believe me, 11don't envy the Oinoloth its job. How can the b W accomplish anything worthwhile when it must constantly defend against real and imagined plots against Its position? Among the lupinals, we have a theory that Oinoloths are #lad to give up the throne to new leaders, to free themselves from the chains of rulmhip. Dear me, the creatures can guide their race more fully by their absence than they Wer did by their presence. Now, ,the Gennal of Ochenna LY said to be many thlngs. 'I2re Arst and Ptrongcst ultroioth. A returned baernaloth. The leader of,the yugoloth race. The keeper of all fiendish knowledgq. A symbol to be revered and respected. The most feprsoune 4mhur in the multivrrsc. A god-slap. Whatcw the truth of the General, it exerts a powerful pull on the hearts and minds of the yugoloths and especially the ncwcst Ultploths. Just as some say the ultrolaths conspire to create thq fiction of the baernaloths, others believe the to it that the legend of the General lives on. Oinoloth s ~ e s When the Pinoloth isrues a dccm h m the General,d l the fadions listen. The myth and reputation alone of the General are enough to unite all yugoloths under a commd goal. The fienda know (or do they simply aucvCi') that agt cycn the Oinoloth would d m to lie about such a thing. Amoqg the 'loths, that sort of respect is truly pow-.
Disc~wa all the schemes haiched by the yugoloths over the eons? Dear me, our mysterious cditor has not granted me the space to detail those we've uncovered tor suspected) in the past year alone1 The neutral evil fiends have been involved itq so much string-pulling and shadow-ruling throughout history that I daresay it'd be easier to list all the events they didn't have a hand i n . And wen then, I'm sure that someme, somewhere, would stand up and swew that the 'loths were behind those occurrences, as well. How could we prove It conclusively one way or the other? The canny fiends cover their tracks too well. (If you must have an example of this cunning, refer to ?he Dark," &in in this chap&.) I'm always amused when a mortal mercenary in my employ tells me that he's seen through a particular yugoloth's p l m . The poor bashen have such a hard time un-
lUAN I P U LA+ IO N
derstanding that theydee onty what the fiends let them see in order to mislead them fmm the huc plot. (Of COUDC, mortal egos rarely allow them to believe that they've been duped so easily.) The yugdoths play games of plots within plots, mazes withln mazes spinning webs of sucb complexlty and, at the same time, bmtLtaMng s i m p l l d ~ - thpt few cutters cver have a chance at unravcUing them all. Only those with vastly cynic4 attihlda and the tilac (and expcnsc) to devote to mndcmtandiug yugoloph m o t l m might ever c o w close, and that, mallyi d e s out just about everyone but the fiends'fellow immortals. Thc yugolotha simply vim cvny h g that walks the planes 01a pawn in a greateninatrh. They don't rrspfft myone's feel&# OY fate and why should they, sine phe multiversc is thdr plrythinp Depr Reader, the 'lotha don't wen spare one another from this attitude. Each thinks that it is running the ultimate game, that wen though other yugoloths can see thr pieces on the board, t h e y ' r e stilljuat pawns in a gmater contest. Yugolotlw usc and manipulate o a e anaths elmod as much as they do everyone da. How do they become so dcvlous, so calious? Imagine, dear Reader, that your closest friend, thc being you trust most in the entire world, is suddenly revealed to h a w been moldlng you to his needs and goals all along. HOWdo you i t h shock and dismay, certainly, with self-loathing react? W for letting yourself be fooled. And you m i w not t o make the same mistake with the nElt king you choose to beMend. .but it happans a@. And again Ova and anr, until you become untrustlng, ushg others to see if thcy have the integrity to treat you as you d a c m . By &ea, OE course,you can dearly see how much umartcr you PIC thm evayonc else, how you cen manipulate othcls to yowr ends - and then you discover, once again, that you've heen molded. The evolution continues.Thou& you see the paindeed, tho@ you set the pattern all around you you come to realize that there's something greater. You f a 1 110 passion for your inferiors; thcy can be - should be n&p ing but y~ur unwilting pawns. Now you look to control t & thing that controls you. So it is with the yugdoths.
Pear the baa& They B T ~ cold ULd cuaning dlsripunulrar Fear the tanar'ff: They are brutal, bloodthirsty klllcn But most of all, fear the ytgoloths: Tky ur masks of mystery, and no matter how many layers of sk(ll you peel away, you will ncyn know how many sal lie between you and t ktluc face. Spamtd on tbc Gny Wastc ( t h e wheart of mil) awl n a v f s h d on 0 (the very foge of u-ving kutalityl, the yugoloth race is notorious for the ill ends to which it applies its manipulative genius. Pny that their plans whatm y be never come to fruition.
+ INCARNALE5 P A f N +
SAY. Somewhere on one of the LamPlanes, the yugoloths are constructing a hidden tower that'll form a perfect planar trinngie with two other 'loth spires: Khin-Oin (on the Gray Waste) and the Tower of the Arcanaloh (onOehenna). Thb new tower, which is nearly flnlshed, is t h e finds' @eat& est smct and will also bc their greatest source of power P place where yugoloths can scheme against the multivcne unhindertd. Ita completion will giw them domination over the plan- and spell the triumph of mil. What's more, any mortal who enters the tower will be transfigured into a shape more suited to Knlng his new yugoloth masters.
TH5 T'$WBR '$F (Site)
dalism. But the neutral cvil Rends want to keep the whole thing quiet, 80 they don't dare move such a large force. WhaP's more, chant among the 'lettb l a d e n has it tbat Apomps, the bitter god of the gchreleths, l a & &ne aid to its creations, epecr to ruin d l yugoloth plana That wonies the eommandcn; they haw no dcityan their dde.
SPECIAL Fmms. The Tows of Incarnate Pein docs not p t haw any spcdal featurea forthe y?@lothr. I h w e r , it& have t8c abUityto abmb pay aonyusodoth f;odirhenough to walk M& the Stnrchm. The tomrtakeuthek bodies fbr ttT brieks and their spirits forthe Bdkdhrc Cham (sccb d m k Appacntly, the uae of livlng k(rrlp in the rnnamction is more than just fiendish malwokncc. Chant b that the h u e purposc of the tower is tu launchran cxpdmcnt I n a n w end up with a amr Ip.d tience, that the yugolotha hopc t utterly loyal) mature that will codify their race and bring wirM enlightenment to the m m .
Though most chant about what the yugolothr're up to is dtad wmng (malnly because it's usually disinfowation spre8d by the 'loths themselves), word about the IICW tower is actually half-right. For the past several millennia, the flends've been growing the structure in Othrys, the flrst layer of qarceri. The new spire called the Tower of Innrnate Paini- will allow the yugoloths to forus theb energies across the Low- Planes of Conflict (namely, Gehenna, the Gray Waste, and Camri]. Where the Wastlng Tower is the spine of a &ad god and the Tower of the Arcanaloths Is an obsidian spire, the Tower of Incarnate Pain is the perfection of agony made corporeal: The town's formed of the living bodies of pefitionm magically bound together in an obscene mish-mash l e s h Bact is, the town's planned to be a living creature of f on its own, able to move or bury itself into the ground. 'Course, the tower'll never leave Car& (not that it could, anyway); in order to maxlmize their power, the 'loths need to keep one spire on each of the t h m mid& Lower Planes. The Rower's only about one-third finished (though chant-broken flnd it more dramatic to warn that it'll be done any lday now). The walls stlll bled w i t h pain, and the agonies of its mortar scream to the skies. When completed, the Tower of Incarnate Pain will stand over 20 miles high and three miles through. It'll replace the Wasting Tower as the supreme architectural creation of the yugoloths.
DESCRIPnON.
THEReplscmre CHASM. Below the "scaffotdiae" ofthPTomw d Incarnate Pain lies a gash In the epldh, a dcap pii thaaOpr for miles straight down. That's w h a the tomr will come to rest when completed; the cham wen moycs a8 tbc spire m o m s o as to remain aiwayxundemcatb.nKsldcsnftl*plt are lined with darkly glimmering obddhn, wh*h reRmts back in a thousand diffmnt ways anyH@ brougi&nearit Now and apln, purpk lightning a m up fmm the chasm, shootiag jag@dlyinto the roiting clouds a b the kwm. A bcrk who approachesthc edge of t k pit and gpass ia
HISTORY. If the builders had been allowed to work in peace, the tower would've been finished long ago. Unfortunately (for the fiends, that is), the fict that the project's #et on Carmi means that they've got to deal with the gehrelcths, and, as any bnk knows, the 'leths hate the yugolothsis o m e t h i n g flerce. On four separate occasions, the architects1had nearly completed the tower, onty to have a marauding army of farastu, kelubar, and shPtor storm in and tear the tliing to still-screaming pkces. 'Course. since the gehrcleths numberjust shy of twenty thousand at the best of times, the yugoloths could simply fill Othrys with AR,thousand 'loths to guard against the van-
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blood,".d.theabysslooksalsointo&he"). One to six minutes after a be& f l r s t starts h e y ' l l mne,pcacefully into a watching the rplop, t sickening hue and begin to rise. At that point, a perfect double of the vicwcz qmma In the congsung colonandtrlcstoovcmhclmhIm.Hithitstnwkd@of tis secret weaknessca A paladin, for example. f e b @tmnching m o m for any unwo?ihy acb he may bavecornmitted in the past. A fiend,on the othcl ha&, dkrs from the weplrmar of a m m y allowed or a vlrhlc lcfh msoikd. M e r way, the unlucky rod's got m e chance, and one chance on&, to resist the puU of the Re&rtlve UUWL If he is well and tmly wise', he can SaMbk to safety. (If he wer returns to tbc charm, though, hk reflection will still be tho, w a i t i n g fOr hln~) But a bmk who fatls the t n t feels an inexorable pull from the pit, and no force on the planea can stop him from hurling himself in, where he joins the tortured cham of watb In the danrin&lightnhg.
In other words, if he succeeds at a Wisdom check at -4.
may*rrilbefuolaatedbythe~b~eplPyd~m-deap blues and angry re& clash and cdHde in the mWt of the chasm, seeming to war for dominance. If a sod lookn on thesc radiant hues too long, though, he'll see mure than br ewr expected. Thc catom while besutifd la a aavage h y , I& h m oalootrn wlwewa dark mcmorles and emotlonr they thou@ t h w loeked dwm dnp (or, in the words of rn and&
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nlssrmw thcir way m u s s the plane, dooming any traveler whosefootfly is uqwaty, and miles-high m~rofnJmaks shrug fl thdr laads, s h d w k u l d a and L i b f I n those darkest cabHe, Ibr,
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APOmPS
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it's dark ps to how long ago t h e gchlctha came into being. W o r d has it that they've been around at least as long as all the other flendlsh races, and maybe longer, though the yugoloths would no doubt challenge such a c l a i m .It is said that a mlghty shator itsclf mnded the truth: The g c ~ l c t h s once held sway over the entire Lower Planes, unpU they were reduced in number and imprisoned on C m r i by a cabal of evil deities who feared the flends' power. It is said that a chant-broker haunted the Upper P h e s for scraps of wisdom about the gchrclcthsi returning with a dilapidated tome (apparently bound in klubar skin) that told a story of how the 'lcths, once the handsomest nobles of E l y s i u m .were dbffmucd and cast out bv jealous arehons and asuras. It is sdd that an Arcadian z&logist capturrda larvae, locked it 1 ; a tank on Gchenna, and obscnnd i t She later claimed that the thing, kept out of thc hands of fiends and night hrgs, slowly evolved into the form of a farastu. and thus she concluded that the gehrrlcths m u s t be the natural race of the Lower Planes, the intended kings of those blighted lands. The tales are many as to why and how the gehselcths came about. But none of them take into ac-
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stu attack any nongelarrhtha they no fcrr of their own,death. re stili known as the lowest Th finds make ,up.ifiol.this percdvdFraIity with.theirfauiin bsitk -At's bath ,to he~eallcd."ao:bravc m a , . . T h e middlegehnleths are the.kdubagor :dime.'lah*" @e.to~rrldiraensh&by their skin. lbestcnch of thia slimerk maugh t o : d b r c i r i m brethren and their new crestions, a race cal)Ld the s .~ Few of the nehreleths had survived tht trek to __. _ ,&ir ne\ir home, and so';Qpomps asMoned.ncw ones, usiug the bodies of the native beasts of C m r i . Apomps siphoned its life force into the models it had created, at the same timc channeling their perceptions back in upon itself. Finally, it bestowed upon them obsidian triangles, shapes of power from w&ch they derived their history and inner strength. Thus w 4 the current race of the gehreletha spawned. No bne k n o w if this story is any more true than the variant legend rays that the.yUli0and that thc original gehrektba wclc mimiay. Wkbkmer the rc~&tntth, the
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ap.faOrn their aatumkadd Kelubar are said to be a mow bctnem the,hrrmt 811&he shetor. Thick ,fiends with d i ebony-slimed bothy'neven sttang- than t$c fpnsbq a & t o wIutle.pdmermtuipl.@antswith little diffldty. l%y uc mat%* n q t b cal itens, flgwhg that surh o m Mhdp k y i a fluther power Pmong their raa. Thc,nobility.ofthe gebrektb, PhcshPtDr.ambovarrd with lwse wattles of fieab, making ithem bot iik thy?rr draped in skins. This mtght be the Io f alskmne, 'shpglly 'lcths," whirh is r d & a mbnomer in thatabator are hairlak Thcsc fiends m shortcrthpn either dtht-otkr hro varktles of gekrrtetk, Mtbr3p'rr.much.havlar~rad.m rtroagv than just about'any Irtnd of t a n u ' l baatam-or
~ ~ b y o n e o f ~ a c m a -
the g e i m k t b h v e bcea rouewi
pnd dangerous pieceof m h slrm
p j e c t paint U4&%am.incrr&bly
...
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Thls Ls due In part to the fact that they're blesaed with special abilities that promote their natural talents. All gehrcleths h a w a number of innate powem that dupllcate the effects of m d spells. 'lEough.sow 'leths haw h t k r abilitks, these am the powers conimon to aU membns &the race: sense the presence of gead-rlllplcd bcines, smrc the presence of creatum that try to hide imrldbly, ppwc tlramselves to be so hidden, dstcrmine whcthes a place or objeu radiates magical power, do away with the efbcta of spdb O C l N D l R A N D BIR+H and other magic, read the minds of others, comnrunicate Gender is unknown among the gehrelcths. The fiends don't verbally with foreign creatures, cause foes to flee in a b j d couple for p m a s o n or pleasure, and it's not that they simterror, summon other gchrcleth8 to thdr ald, m a t e banka of pty choma n o t to thq can't do It at aU. Gehrcleths appear obsrluing fog, and sap the strength of t h d r cnemis The gehrelcths can call upon some of these powem at will and to be totally wlthout the drive to create new life, existing some only a certain number of t i m e s per day. only to dntroy. When one is slain. a new farastu rlses fmm a corpse somnvhcre on Cmeri, the body remaking i$df into Furthermore, both farastu and kelubar can liquefy the shape of a tany ' I d . The process has nothing at d l to do themselves into pools of slimv ooze - and later rrfwm their withpetitioners. bodies more or less at Others claim to have will, depending on ouW other Sources: Gehreleths spoken wlth various gehforces st wok If a -e rrlethr that IdentiM themI NINIJ~P Appendu p w s itself into a bottle selves as males or females, and then a sbatorgopski a so unless the mortals were cork, the Hqucfkd fiend being peeled, it seems that some 'lcths do assume genders at won't be going anywhere until it's rdeetd In fact, i t ' s very will. But inasmuch as they can't sire offipriug or give birth, l i y that a &ator has a number of such bottks in its lair so It makes little difference. In the end, all gehreleths are that it can open 01 shatter said contabas and quickly comneuter. mand a brace of guards and dehdem Natumlly, thc imnsformation isn't immediate; the gehrdeths trLe a tcw minutes to dlssolve themselves, and t h e y take &out twicc w RBS+ A N D N @ U R I S H l l I B N + long to rtform. Gehreleths never seem to sleep. Infused wlth the restless power of their creator, they comtantly roam, seeking new opportunities for destruction and havoc. Stlll, when the farastu and kelubar liquefy themselves (see "Powers," Gehrelcths seem to be a tad cask to dispose of than other fiends in that they don't share many of t b t inununttia enbelow), they might achieve some sort of replenishing rest. Shator remain wakeful throughout their existences but arc joyed by baatezu, tanar'rl and yngolothr not tMt they're largely sedentary, resting occasionally to gather their n any sense of the word. pushovers i thoughts, though no study of a gehreleth has ever shown it AU three kinds of gehrclcths mmly laugh at add, poito attain trite sleep. son, and weapons that a m ' t enchanted. Farastu, plhrps As for sustenance, aU gehrrktbs seem to be pure m i due to their tany skins, don't burn of Reen as e d y w tJxy votes and eager ones, at that Thcy're always on the hunt otttcmire might, and sa they suffer only half damage from for meat, and they appear to have nearly limitless appetites. flames and cold. Kclubpr, their skin evm better pmhaad by Some schdars think 'leths eat all the t i m e because It's the acidic slime, feel no pain whatsoever fmm fire- M c o l d best way to destroy other fiends. but they may eat so much based attacks. And while shator don't exude anything simply beaause they have little else to do; they certainly through t h e i r flesh, they don't s a e r woun& f b m any kin$ don't let the need for food overwhelm them. After all, of nonmngtcal attack. veri enchanted wcspolu prm't quite gahrrtcths u e Rends and presumably immortal. They can't as cffcctlvc agatnst shator M they could be, perhapn because starve to dmth. the fiends'hanging folds of skin deffect many blows and help to absorb the force of those that strike home. When it comes to the matter of d n g sure a gjddetb rewins is truly dud, again the finds of Carccri follow less complex Though smaller In number, the gehreleths arc, pound for rules than thdr lower-planar brrthrm. In slaylng t b a a pound, morr powerful than dmost any otbrr race of fiends, or tanar'rl, onemust take into account all manner of hctors which no dpubt helps them to stay allve when thc Blood War - site of death, method of killin& type of fiend in detersurges. A shator likely can defeat a pit fiend, balor, or ulmining whether it might rfae again on its home plane. In imloth in straight-up battle, and even a farastu can give the slaying a gehrekth, one can rest assured that he has buly higher baatrm, tanar'ri, and yugoloths a run for their money. and permanently ended its Ufe.
Y e s ,some believe that Apomps - recognizing the immediate danger to its chlldren nearly depletes all of its own personal energies by creating enough gehreleths to wlthstand~the war. Once the bulk of the invaders have left C u m l the 'I& according to the stosy quickly dwindle back down to 9,999 as Apomps reabsorbs its precious o r c e . life f
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Promotion in gehreleth society is a matter of catchh-* catch-m. When one of them b bcsboycdthe most convenient gehreleth of luscr rank is promoted immdhtdy, and so on down the line until a new fmstu stin fmm a coqm. It has nothing to do with merit proven or lessons leuncd; it's merely a matter of chance. It is not known whether f the Apompa or some other force pulls the strinp o process, or whether it is merely as natural as a crmpUlar Gehreleths are said to have no society, but that's oqLy half tyniqtllto a butter&. true. The veracity of the statement coma t h t hrt &atA' fhc Y a m * rad Wubu believe the latter, but when a 'leths constantly perish and are replaced, and thus have 110 gcbkth meha t& rSnt of shator, it gain6 enough iaWreal identities to speak of. What's m m , othu thnn thdr OM- g a c t W-tJmtitern, perhspa, k a w the B d y rrrlm ian trlangles, which command quite a black-market price, the entirely and mage with Its god, es do pailionrn thoughgehreletho produce no cultural material of any value. Howout the Outer Planes. Of c o o u ~ c ,thc reptor haw no ldn if ever, the reality b that they haveevolved a sockty of a sort t h e y c ~ ~ ~ t h ~ ~ I n a n y w Of course, the society is extmely simple, one based on advanranrnt b again a matter of chanae. In any case, t h q raw power. Inasmuch as the shator are t h e strongest, they might be wrong and face nothing but eternal oblivion when rise to thk top of the heap, and, as the nobility of the race, slain. they enforce their whims ruthlessly. It is said that the shator . ._. draw from their obsidian triangles the images of the lesser Z S 3 l D I A N TR- .-,@S 'leths, then command them accordingly. If that's the case, though, it's hardly ever seen. Despite their might, the shator One thhg unites the gehrekttw Each of thpm carries an obsidian triangle, said to haw ken m a t e d by Apompa Thb appear to be creatures of whim, and they don't organize m o p s unless soreiy pressed to do so. object is thought to be a link to Apomps itsel, .s wdl es a The keiubar occupy the middle rank of the society, and way for the flends to draw power and knowkdge h m their they too bully the lowly farastu. Their main goal in life b to collective racial memory. It is said that, on occasion, a r m i e s (especially yugoloth mercenary destroy any fiendish a gehreleth can draw strength from ita triangle In olllrr to companies) that cross their paths, but they'll not hesitate to strike en& such as baton sad pit flcnda that norsharpen their skills on any mortals they come across. mally are wounded only by magical weapons. WMI the triThe ifarastu are the least of the gehreleths, and they angles, the 'leths can level the playing Rdd a blt. chafe under the& lack of power. Though they're born Wlth Chant in some quarters sap that the triangles also the instinctive knowledge of their purpose, they don't have KNC as eyes and ears for Apompa, which coUecb the imthe power to cany it out entirely, so thcy rage agaInst any pressions and thoughts of its minions. Thus it Is that mature Chat's diffcrrnt from them. When a shator needs an Apomps is said to be omywhm that a grhrrleth is. to hnn army or a kelubar needs a distasteful job done, it calls the insinuated its own being thmughout the c e t h ram. It b rmfarastu forth, and so the tarry 'leths simmer in resentment. clear whether Apomps conhols Its ofFaprlng or stlnpbr h u e s Apomps, their deity, watches over all, perhaps from a secret wisdom vlci the tzhngles and l l l m the k, hidden ldir in the sixth layer of Carceri. It remains aloof do as they will. Most believe that Apomps infines the lahs from the day-to-day concerns of its creations, but when a with knowledge at the time of their creation, then sets them gehreleth finds itself in dire need, it can somehow call upon loose on an unsuspecting plane. the power inherent in its obsidian triangle to gain an audiThe triangles are difficult to study. The only way to obn o w if the gehreleth travels to ence with Apomps. No one k tain them is to kill their owners. nrrd even tbcn, it's susits god, if Apomps comes to the tknd, or if the exchange ocpected that the objects lose whatever dark potency they curs only in a dreamlike, spiritual sense. Naturally, a m@t once h a w had, lmring them valuable only as atrios. gehreleth knows to petition its god only as a last resort, for A wily merchant or mercenary mf@ be able t o steal OM what prevents Apomps from simply letting the foolish fiend from a still-living gehrelah, but the fiend and its brethren die? After all, another will take its place. would then go to any length to retrieve it and dsy the
from a Carcaian corpse. Unless the Red Prison were cleaned of every last dead body (an impossible task, all admit), the gehreleths have an inexhaustible supply of meat waiting to s e m Apomps. In the end, remember this: No matter how or where or why a gehreleth is killed, a new one forms immediately in the canyons of Carceri, complete with its obsidian triangle and ravenous appaite for destruction. Thus, no one can ever really say that he's killed a gehreleth.
Of course, one must also live with the knowledge that he has mated a new menace in the proms. Ifa farastu dies, another one instantly rlses on Carceri to take its place. If a kelubar or shator dies, ARt lowrr g h l e t h s are promoted to tUl the holes in the hierarchy, and then a new fupstu is born
Oddly, gehreleths n e w Rght amongst thcnrwlvea Perhaps they're so closely tkd to one another that every blow struck against a gehreleth is felt by Apomps, and those k t h against another wound most deeply. struck by one m The mad baernaloth forbids the infighting so commen among the other fiendish r a m and, as a mult, gchrrhthe lash out only at other creatures, and they lash out hard
thief. Because of their rarity, there's a thriving market for triangles taken from live 'leths, not to melption for guarding
L e e K I N G +e BUY 'L,E+H'S + R I A N G L E . CU++E R I G H + PLACE. I'VE G@+ WH(BLE +FLUNK F U L L *Hems+-,ORADY, A LeW#R-?LAN meRCEHAN'le IN S I Q I mAR&S+ WARD
plumbed their secrets yet, but the thought of unlocking knowledge accumulated by the fiends over the span of eternity spun on many a mearcha. If theitriangles truly do all that is said of them, it's dasy to see why gehrelefhswould want them returned. eo' " But some scholars believethpt,thc rewen deeper, that ApompJ %peer Billy t b u g h triangles carried by its faithful . Each stolen b one fewer eye the baernaloth. Cuccri: and thus BIK step toward decreasing the power ofthe ddg, end its race. On the planes, that cannot be tolerated - especially among Rends.
thesafetyofasagebusyexamining the dangerous object. No one's fully
'Em.
puppet, the greater the pleasue of the fiend. Of course, once the shator grows weary of spreading malaise, it slays its tool and travels back to Carcni. Don't summon a gehreleth. If one fcels he
indeed, they may wen pass the mcmorim of that scrvitudc on to the mt of
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SUUlUl8NINQ A Q@HR@L@+H
If a spellcaster knows the true name of a specific farastu, r gate to try to kelubar, o$ shator, he can use ensnammt o summon the fiend to his plane. If the wizard uses lesser caNing or another mcBlls to summon a fiend at random without knowing the creature's true name, he can bring only a
The farastu are particularly notorious for turning on the mortals who summon them. They hate to be ripped from Carced and will kill their Summoner o r plot revenge against him for being forced into tasks not of their own choosing. Should one (accidentally or with malice aforethought) summon a farastu, he should banish it back to Carceri immediately. For even if one succeeds in binding and commanding the fiend, it will no doubt look to avenge itself on the entire f cruelty and pain, world. It will try to establish a kingdom o spreading destruction across the land by enslaving all people to its wiU. Keluhu summoned f r o m Carml aren't as murderous or bloodthirsty. They use their vast abilities not for havoc but to steal as many small magical trinkets as they can before they're banished. Kclubar have little or no interest in ravaging or dominating prime-material worlds and prefer to tear apart the wastes of their home plane. contributing to its bleak desolation. The stlator actually delight in being summoned. One of these fiends will try to turn the spellcaster's mind from all thoughts of banishment, then set itself up behind a mortal philosopher or artist. Using its powers, the shator induces visions of beautiful despair and grants a strange sort of poetry to its victim. The more appealing the presentation of the
faraslu.
Gehreleths don't deal with mmnh tbc fie#& 6J toying with them. They don't h d U s latome1 them to get information. trick them hlto oot dark schemes, or anything of the sort. s4& e t violence upon thelr victims in such a manan Y to uxtse themselves greatly. They arc openly contemptuous of@ #er creatures and won't show deference to any being e m if they're about to be destroyed. lhdr knowledge of thctr RccTs immortality keeps them from fear or respect of any s o n The fiends speak their own language, a harsh and gmvelly tongue, but they can use their magical abilities to communicate with any creature that crosses their path. Even when speaking other languages, 'Ieths sound guttural and raucous, full of the malevolence that only the urge for true destruction can bring. Generally, gehreleths talk to mortals only to taunt or anger them, or to instill in them the dread of Impending doom.
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gehreleths seem to exist only to destroy - and to destroy yugoloths in particular. They are primal and instinctual, with little society or culture to speak of; even the poetically bent shator prefer to corrupt other cultures rather than mate their own. Gehreleths are reviled by the baatezu and tanar'ri for getting in the way of the Blood War (and, worse yet refusing to fight on either side), and they're hated by the yugoloths for their deep-seated vendetta against that race, Gehreleths are, in short, the most despised creatures In the multfvcrse, and they strike back accordingly. If one sees a 'leth w h i l e on his travels, his best bet is to hide until the creature has passed. Gehreleths aren't beasts that can be dealt with. They are agents of annihilation.
A! once the simplest and most puzzling of all the fiends, the
IN SUllImARY
elelCIp1ms
A
Theflends oftheplanes arent limited to those described in thepagespnvtous. Thoserejust the most common and the best known. Fact fa, the Lauer P h m are crawling with plenty o f creatures that have the raw povcr o f d l rr*lofng through their veins. Some are Considered flendc in tMr own tlght, whik others have a simple touch o f thefiendish about them. See, some o f the creatures natiue to tbeLower Plonu a m j w t 1u wicked and some just as intelligent as any bortctv or gehmkth, f fiend. A ~ o y these l we corntcd without actually earnixg the title o abrians, barghests. diakka, maelephants, nightmas, rrhfnms, skodaudrakes, uargouilles, and so forth. These monsmre all natfue to oneor more o f the Lower Planes nut? Some say its beeawe the simply that thefiends a
took my own stab a t soMnp that pun*.
+e
f o n e d f i m the eisence o f a petitioner or tbe rnw material o f the Lower Planes themselves. Sure, plenty o f beasts that live on Acheron or the Gray Waste or PIlndnnoniun UK touched by the essence o f their home planes, but its also afact that most o f them atrnt Ishaped by thdr plane, altemi by the pow? o f bdw, a d i&rd with a tmlblepurpase. T h y might take on some da* pnrpsc T H E R E IS m $ R E themselves, and they might be feared in the coundb o f +HEIR V I L L A I N Y rhdr lands, but they cant rightly be cai*dJ&. +HAN +HE E Y E . Thisfind chapter ductibes the most promhat lower-planar matures that hawnt already been coyerrd A ?rime SAGfi, in this book. No d d t plmiy o f Mllhoot and howl beIIIeRfi CeRR8CIE +BAN Muse I I@ out theirfiwtites, and to #em I say: tough. You want to learn more about wrgodJcs?00 poke thwu#h same SEI6 K N 8 W S caves ow Cateerf youll learn pknty, and tkor ff&t quick. But heres what Ive gotfor yeu: Bodaks - mottals corrupted a d d&nned by tkc euils eftkc Abyss. Hordlings the rootless, mawuding abomfnations o f the Gray Waste. t Imps and qumlts small but insidiow Partations onjieuHsh themes. + Lnrvae the writhing clayfrom which baatern and t w r i &n#. Night hags wrrteked cmes Nut p&le &I to bot6 sides df the Mood Mar. S h a d o w j i 4 - creatures qfdafiness t W steal a M s wy n d d Tiflings - the plane-tonched descendanh o f mortal-Bend COYplings.
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Some af these creatures, like the larvae, imps, and quasfts, can go on to become realfiends. Othm wiM never be mare than what t h y am. But only the hordlings are concl&rrd mcCj3cnds, Jvrr WI the bnakm, tanarri, yugolatks, and gehreleths. The othm am, at best, nunlyjhdlsh. But watch yourselfcaqM~bcrk: That doesnt make them any ku dk.
- Ice the M e - B o r n
+ 88 +
I
lhra so much lbpt they'd

would that it wen h e . don't sletp long (would heal up whatever dam Then thay shamble on. If thq' cat, it's edge of most folks; no bodak hw,onr anything. Perhaps they survive on tile life fok@% & ..~ & 'Bod& i with their gazes.
~
RESTAND NOURISHMENT.
i.
a bod& is its dreaded death gaze if you get too close and look the mature In the eyc, there's a good chance that you'll simply die. (Should this befall you in the Abyss,I ' m afraid that you, too, will become a bodak.) Their bodies are tough but not too tough, harmed only by weapons of mild enchantment or cold-wrought iron - silver weapons do nothing. Perhaps bccause they spend so much of their lim in darkness, bod& can also spy body heat at a great distance (three times farther than an elf!). But darhness is a curse as well as a blessing. You scc, a bodak that finds itself In the sunlight slowly withm a d d i n -for good. l'hw the best way to get rid of 8 bod& Is t oI n it out into a large field, or, better yet, a desert (in daylight, of courscl. But if you want to prepare against bodaks in the Abyss, carry flasks of acid and outfit younclf (or your spellslinging friends) with mugfc missiles both work well. 0the*, tny cold, magical fire, and gas, but don't bc surptised if those attacks don't work as w d as thcJt should. Poison, nonmagical tlames, and ligbtning haw no effect whatsoever. and neither do the spells charm, hold, sleep, and slow. ( B O W may be immune to othu mind- and body-alturing magic but, as you might expect, it's quite difflcult to conduct this sort of research.) 1
POWERS AND WFAKNESSES. The most f a & ability of
of
*plane.
7blbc&D
+ H$RDL,INGS +
Waste and spill onto the neighboring Lower Planes, where they provldt amusement, entertainment, and sometimes w o horUlings panic for the berks there. Oraybeardg say no t are alike, that their forms are endlessly varied. From what I'vc rpd h n d , that's a power's own tNth. Hen'$ the chant: Hordtings are formed from petitioners, f o b who devoted th& mortal lives to the pursuit of neutral Nil. When these sods pass into the dead-book, they're cooqsigned to the Gray W e e to live out eternity as larvae (unlp they'lt later molded into new Rends or simply the essence of the plane). absorhed 40 Everyl basher knows that the Waste drains a body of aaotlon. d k h , and purpose. So toss o f f the despair of the pl willed cutqcr, and keep their They nwh#e the hate or e in the Rrst place, and their emotions twist ' shepcr: hofdli*. Tbtrr'b no telling what horrid new form they'll settle in or what w w powers they'll have m e all's said and done. e t t y jealousy and deepEvery h a m is difFerent, and every p seated resentment has its own unique influence. The shapes of the horplings arc truly awful, and they all reflect the inner tornlent of the brain-box inside the shell. What's worse, hor$lings don't get promoted into new forms llke the other m ; they're stuck with whatever they get. Touw, all the shapcs're well-sulted to rmding, snapping, and tearing. Fighting and eating are about the only things the tniserable hordlings do well.
The Gray Waste's got more hordlings thanYsgprd's got warriors and a body who's been to Ysgard knows just how many that means. The teeming masses swarm over the
Regnus Roy
hordlingr have no culture to spcak of. They produce natbing of value, though sometimes an overeager haatmu or wmr'ri trles to press a group of 'eminto a Blood War army. %a the hordlings'rc harder to control than manes, and that's spying a lot. They're Far too undisciplined to take any sort of cemmands, and they don't seem to be afrald of anything, so they just do whatever they plme. Chant is that's a villpge sowplace on the Gmy Wnte where a f e w dozen hordlings have managed to overcome thcir hatreds. SuppoKdly,they've bullt up some sort of dcfense a ainst the despair of the plane and're slowly paeiag es of evil If it's true, it'll be an interestha expcrimcnt: ill they keep their shapes, or w i l l they turn back into 1 ae - or even their original mortal forms? 'Come, it probsb ai#? true, but just some night hag's way of luring --&Us doqpj;lo the Waste.
S@CIB+Y A N D CUL+URU Though they travel in huge packs a m m the Gray Waste, the
th2
How can aibody make general comments about a race when every single member's different from every other? Gender? Well, some hordlings have one or the other, some have neither, and some have both. Do the ugly little things breed? Who know? Chant is that hordling-descended tieflings lurk about In rdmote places of the Waste, but there's really no way to tell4 If these ticflings do e x i s t ,they're most likely exceedingly pre, 'cause hodlings take their greatest pleasure in MUng apd devourlng any berk that stands in their way even other Slordllngs. As fori their powers and wcllnascs, well, it's doubtful a bufldlng b e size of Sigil's Civic Festhall could hold all the books It'd t a k e to describe 'em. Some hordlings, ao doubt, would fall over from a good strong sneeze. Others regenerate even if they lose thdr heads. Some spit ire or tmdc dust or streams of caustic acid (Some turn into caustic acid, for powers' sW) Some bum at the merest touch of light, while others glow with an inner radiance. No, the only similarity the hordllngs have is that they're all so sodding different.
There ain't much to a hordling's personality. They're ravening beasts, bent only on destruction and devouring. They can be as clever as a human or as pox-brained as a lemure, but they generally recognize wepLmss aud tbcy f a l l on a berk who shows it Ant chance they get. Hordllngs are tm tally UMlly, in other words, and a body shouldn't expect to deal with one unless he's got protective magic and a powerful blade. 'Come, what's it mean to deal with a holdling? Thm's no standard hordling tongue, so unless a cutter's lucky enough to Rnd one that can speak an understandable language, any exchange'll be short. A blood who uses some sort of mental communication like telepathy finds a hordling's mind cluttmd with persistent anger and burning barred. As with a hodak, the best way to deal with a hordliig is to avoid it.
+ lmPS A N D QUASI+lS +
Xanxost
Hello agaln, mortalsl Xanxost is here to tell you now about imjx and q u a s h 6and quash? They are easier to kill than tanar'd but they do not taste quite P( good. That is the most important lesson: The best meals take some w o k The Lower Planes are full of larvae. Xanxost does not liLc being full of larvae. Not all of the worm-things get tossed into a lich's larder or shaped into the bully-flends of the baatau and tanar'ri. Some of them arc inmighi instcad to the attention of @cater Rends and twisted into new and iniuesting forms. Xanxost twisted a hrva once. It squealed and ripped into pieces. But when a baatau twis*l a larva in just the right baatezu way, it becomes an Imp. Ta~&ri get quasits. Thc poar Imps l i e most creaiuru under the control of the baatuu, the cursed lawful baatau, the hated -
+91+
The poor imps are rigidly regulated and watched over by their baatezu masters. When a lawful evil priest or wizard is judged "worthy," the fiends may make a gift of an imp to that poot basher. Ohol It is no good @AI From that point on, the imp starts to corrupt the mortal and drag his heart, inch by inch, closer to the grasp of the baatuzu. Quasits do the same thing for the tanar'ri, though their masters don't work together in any grand scheme to draw in victims. A marilith or vrock or baior or nalfeshnee or nabassu or hezrou or glabrezu or chasme or babau just sends a quasit to spread mischief on a primematerial world. If it can scrag a chaotic evil mortal here and there who is foolish epough to deal with the tanar'ri, good. If it just rum around and causes trouble, good. Chapt is imps that do well can be turned into baatezu, and quasits that do well might be made into tanar'ri. Personaily, Xanxost would rather stay as an imp or a,quasit than become a iemure or a manes. But if one of these little creatures is willing to start small and work up through the ranks, it could go far.
form, in the blood marshes ouuide the town of Torch. Xanxost planned to find it by asking each frog in the marshes: uAreyou a quasit?" Xanxost knew that the frog that did not answerwould be the quasit, trying to hide. Those marshes had many guasits. As far as food goes, bothlmps and qussita eatwh.tcva they can get, as long as it is meat. The crraturw do n o t CM If thc m e a t h &e or dead, or if it has been in frpror ge~slhnc.ltjusthartobemutXanxostha,~
P M S AND W-SSSS. Both imps and pwSib hmpohon in their bodin Ah Lmp's is much morc deadly: a imp EM even take outa dragon with awdl-plad sting Xpluostbeb it could oren take out a slaadl A q d t ' s p o h n just eauscea virtlm toitch and bum and be cluduin for a fou mlautes. When the b a a t m and tonar'rl twist hrvot aato i m p and quasib, they wrlng a fcvr special pwcts into thdr new m n t a A l l hnpsandquasibaaidl w k i Bod-or magid arc ncaw, and they can twn iwhtbleto hMc fromawthiag that worries them. Also. c imps can t a d oth& berks into ddmg things, and quasits can make those same berka nan away M e a d . To kill imps andqwasib, do not t r y to burn or mnC or shock thcm;they love h, cold, and lightning Bcltm it or not, tscse puny maturea am almost as hardy as a Icdstppd when it comes to r h ~ g g h off g spells. UK mseaE.r wmpom instcad. Or PIC silver weapcns on quasib and cold*wmugbt iron on impa Wait, do that the other way around. Anyway, both creatures also regenerate from wounds. But Xanxost will say this: No imp or quasit has wer regenerated out d a slaadi stomach1
'HY
Imps and quasits are about IWO r m tad, so they both run between pour legs when you try to grab and cat them. Still, r o m a quasit. First, there a* two easy ways to tell an imp f an imp Was wings and can fly; a quasit doca not. Srcond, if you are stung by its tail and you die, you know it was an imp; all of a quasit's poison is in its claws. Third three easy ways an imp can change its shape into any two of these forms: large spider, raven, goat, or giant rat. A quasit can chasge itself into any two of these forms: bat, frog, wolf, or giant centipede. If yqu see a big frog in the Abyss, it might be a h u , a hydroioth, a bullywug. or a shad like Xanxost. If you see a big goat on Baator, it is just a big goat. Unless it is an arch-fiend.
as neuter beings. When they have done enough good jobs to please thdr masters, they are assigned a gender according to the traits of their work. Why must the baatezu always do things the hard way? Quasits have whatever gender their a s t m impose on thau tanar'ri mators and prime-material m Xanxost already talked about how imps and quasits are made.
H. Imps muddle through centarics of existence
DEATH. If slain off their home planes, imps and quasits just reform back home after a year and a day. But if you kill an h e y are blasted into imp on Bador or a quasitkntheAbyrs, t e t m a l obiiw h i c h is right where Xanxost wishes thcy would stay.
REST AND NOURISHMENT. Imps and quasits are usually too busy to sleep. Their Rend masters and their mortal mastm always send them out to do evil things. Many imps and quasits do not care; they do not need sleep at all. But sometimes they get tired O f running around and they hide in one of thdr animal shapes so they can rest somewhere. Xamost was hired once to find a quasit that had run away from the Abyss. It was hiding on the Outlands in frog
These aeaturs do not r d y have a & c l y . h p s ~ t i n with whatever plans thdr baateat matns dream an$ &cy follow thee to the kst of thdr fbflitin, lacy Dey be weak and low, but they are smart emtgb to how that theyhadbcttlfdovrhPtthyaktold.~atk(heo~way
haw m future tanar'rl, andthey ilgarfthy am the best k r k s to decide how to spend thcir iivm.
theyEMedvance. A w r i t works direct@uada a Angle tanar'ric and hps to do lb bidding, If it get8 the chance, It MQ t e a cepe. Of course, all qursits bow now not to hide in thc Mood marshes o f Torchi Those tlmt flee m l k e that they
Two thingssare most important of all. Pint, both imps
Larvae appear as slimy, sickly yellow worms that generally span about Eve or six &et in length. Their worst hhture, though, is their kads, which haw twisted and mpipormcd featum that faintly echo their former mortal fam. Larvae also exude a noxious stcnch that docylt get any m e e m no m @ # + I N G AN I m p B)R QUASI+ matter how long ohe creatures arc around. They haw no obvious gender: since they dont mate to rrproduce, they dont Like mostismall infernal creatures, imps and quasits act seem to f e d that need. They eat eath otkcr and whatevers weak to tough berks and tough to weak ones. What Xanxost means to my: To those they serve, they are ingratiating and unlucky enough t u fall in their path. endlessly pelpful. But they lord their little migh! over any Planewalkers who cross the Gray Wlste report seehg huge clumps of l a m e just lying around motholeas aa if it sods unfortunate enough to come under their power. werent easy enouuh already for night ha@ to catch tbe Most of them [especially imps) are also way concemcd about thelr potentiai adcreatures1 When larvae do vancemeqt. If you offer move, they leave traib of orner erourcea one a hanQ up on the food slime in their wake. But they usually wriggle only chain, you might earn its PLANEsCAPfB MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM Appendix I ., hordling, implquasit, larva, night hag when prodded by their loyalty, at ileast for a small ! w fiend, tiefling time. But ohol These allianas dont l& low. and if you ccunt that they will, you m s w d Fount yourself 8 fronS to Ul&C thCa dimC along. What good are larvae? Why do fiends and Hches e m right into the dead-book, because thats exactly where the about buying them f r o m the hags? Well, m o s t larvae are eaten little horrors would like to put you, mortaL or sacrificed,their colYNrmd for whatever anme rimals their new masters can think up. Lame that arent so lucky n t o other, d l more honlble forms. he crcclhmr get mhaptd i LARVAE are the tabula m a of thc Lower Planes, the blank dotes on Rezzik Tam l m o s t anything can k written and become true. A which a When m o r t a l s who stupidly and selfishly followed the path Iowlyhvae can cvcntuPlly become a p i t Aend o r a baler -but only one in a million moves on fromthe life of a squirming of evil die, their spirits appear on the Lower Planes, transgmb and m o s t of them die at the lowest kvds of flrndhhsob formed into larvae for their transgressions. These squirming, woradiLc monstrosities hideous petitioners, really - can cty. S a at least that chance isbetter than wtr4plt -on. Reports coming i n fromBaator say that the baatau PFC appear anywhere. Lawful evil mortals become larvae on stlnldng Baator; chaotic evil foob sufFcr in thc Abyss. And purchasing more and more l a m e fromnight hags an inthose who IWWUC simply euil, with no care for either law or cradibk amount, h fact A spy warned that the flends plan chaos? They &rm on one of the other Lower Planes usuto perform some sort of ritual with the creatum life forces ally, tlnc Grny Waste. to destroy the tanarri or give themselves a new power that will makc them unbeatable. Hahi Its h Good folks steer clear of the larvae, using them only to a d to see how myscare their children straight as examples of what hte befalls thing could swing the Blood War one m y or another. But thc -1But to homn like fie& and liches, the lame are Rends are foul creatures, remember. If theyre desperate the basic units of lower-planar currency. They serve as enough, theyll try anything. money, foo& or new mauits for the armies ofthe Blood War. Lame are, In short, untapped potential at its best. Night hags SB) l+Y AN *URB l l them to the highratndthcnl np on the Gray Waste and e est or doset bidder, depending on how much the crones need Socictyr L U I N ~ CYou I must brjoungi Larvae He around. the jhk or fpvors their dirctuptine cuatomm promise them They get h d d They get sold They squirm when you potc Oh, iflonly we could wipe all larvae from the Lower them, and they bite you if youre not careti& What eke is Plane)! M q y Rends and fiendish races would suffer then, thm to say about them? thats for aurcl Hordlings, imps, quasits, baatesu, and S a , tlu thing3 are - just bandy above animal intdUtanarrf all rise fromthe ranks of the larvae [though, admitgcnce. some Schob whovrshtdkd the larvae say they haw tedly, the bgatezv and tanarri do emage h m other sources a crude language made up of body movement. Hahl They ad well). Hpw do the Renda twist the worm-creatures into might ac wdl just spy the l a m e wdg@c and roil o mone antheir new Jhapes? Even if I knew, I would not sey. Some other - it all loobthc sameto thelestofuk Somcofthe Iarknowledge daavcs to be Iwt to timc. we rls to the top of thc pike. Some sink to the bottom.Some bite others. Sometimes they move on their own, but not UUL. ally. That doesnt sound like much of a language to me.
and quasits realhe that they have sidestepped one of the most dangkrous things about being a larva. By accepthe the changes thrust upon them, they avoid being turned into lemum, manes, or other fodder for the Blood War. Second Xanxost forgot what the second thing was.
. ..
I .
+93
+ NIGH+
Of all t h e creatures of the Lower Planes, the night hags're probably one of the most underrated and overlooked. And the why of it's completely dark to me. As suppliers and herders of the larvae across the Gray Waste, hags're one of the great "economic" powers of the Lower Planes. But the fiends o5ten dismiss 'em as simple mmhants. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, maybe the machinations of night hags don't reach as far as, say, the plots of the yugoloths, but hags're some of the most influential bloods of the Lower Planes. Tbey're the top of the pecking order of the natives of the Gray Waste, that's for sure. ('Gourse, that's mainly because the yugoloths all moved to Gchenna, and any other tougher bashers keep out of sight.) See, the hags don't forget slights easily, and theyke no compunction about wasting years hunting a berk dons for any wrong done to 'em, no matter how slight. Small wonder, then, thqt they've risen to their current status as the real merchants of the Lower Planes - they've done their level best to &stmy the competition.
Telson Splithorn
HAGS
sleepmg. But the crones withdraw, certainly, and perhrps they go through a period where they lie vulnerable. But if so,they protect themsehrn so Well that they're basically up approachable. Unfortunately, what night hags eat ain't so much of a mystey; t h e y ' r e seen snacking on fmh h e plucked from o p e s . their henis. But chant says they also devour dreams and h A s avatum ofthe Gsay Wsrtzthat mtainly-likdy.
RESTAND NOURISHMENT. No one's ever caught a night hag
PHY S I 6 L 6 Q Y
Horrid qeatures whose features vaguely resemble the most wizenedl(snd ugly) of mortal crones, night hags stand about five feetitall. Th& skin's a nanseathg purple-blue in color, their h 9 darkest ebony, and their eyes a bitter, glowing red. Their dsws protrude like hooks, and their fanged teeth rock loosely ip their gums. Dod't misunderstand, berk - hags might look h U , but they're powcrful opponents, both magically and physically. After all, they've got enough might to earn the respect of pit Rends, balorr, and lichcs. That alone should be a telltale sign for mosttbashers to deal with ' e m carefully, if rt all.
POWERS AND WEAKNESSES. The night hags ain't the toughat bashen on the Gray Waste, but they're among the most stubborn. They r e h to let inntwS dmp,and they m M thanselves get p d e d by anyone. If they deal with solncone who's weaker than they are, they usually Wad the k k down bter and turn him into a lam. Fact Is, they a n omr h d d fwrtd sod's dreams and dain his he& awry until be'rJust pprt of a wrlggiing herd on& Wssta I I P g s ' n too a r t to let thtir brain-boa be M . Mq@c lib rkrmc, sleep, and fir won't even slow 'an down. They're also immune to !ire and cold, though a good rmrL with a weapon3 usually make a hag sit up and tnkt notk6. 'Course, not just any weapon'll do - it's got to be highly achanted, or at least made of silver or cold-mought fron.
DEATH. It's thought tha.t a dead night hag simply die. If something special happens, no one kaons what it is. 'Course, with all the power night hags have, It's far easier to talk about killing 'emthan to actually do it.
B m . night hags are f o a s k . They omasionally take a powenid fiend high-up (of any race, as long as it has some kind of noble status) as a husband. The chiidrcn of this mating are invariably female, invariably hags. It's said that, now and again, night hags take a more seductive guise than their usual and trick mortals into helping 'em propagate the hag race. Where did the first hags come from? No one knows. The latest theory making the rounds of Si@ says they amse o r t a l s with too much hatred to from larvae, that they were m become mere hordlings. If that tale's true, that'd make the hags real fiends. It'd also make a body wonder why the crones sqll larvae rather than twn 'em into new hags themselves Do they have some method of raising and controllhg a young hag that domn't work on one that comes from a larva? Or is it just that mortals today don't have the capac ity for hamd t h e y did in the old days? (Any planar alive'U tell you what he thinks of that idea.)
m m
There's precious little sqckty for night bags to k a ppt & They compete against each other as well w outddm, and t h y don't fed any partlrulrrloplryt o any m e b d t v b their own. It seems even hlgr'm mowhan afftietnl. by I k apathy of the W a s t e .Still, they do worship CegilUe, &e greatest hag of 'em all. Chant has it she'sJust a nigh! hag who's fax more powaful than the rest of 'em,bul $b@ certainly holds hcr own PI a power. Night hap'rc an important lint in the ahah o f tbc Lower Planes. Thcy herd vast srmics of l a r v a PQOII thc planes, culling the worst and saltlng the ahoke6t to fian& Hches. and h e r creatuiu that rcqulre life Irmrrs. F . bi , h n g s ' r a somehow able to tell the good luvro from the &d quiclr w a wi.k; that's why their cuetonmb dcpad 011 ' e m And one r e a m t h y harvest moltt3.on thc Gray W c h t h a t the plane's larvae ate cdl ncubal d, which am e d y adaptcdcby both baatau and tmsr'ui. @ftk hags sald trvac that already leaned t o w d l a w or c b a m tl&d be rmtting afhalf their businem fiends find it too hard to evoke lwnc that haw bnworkable" al@mmts.) ' h e hags o h n ride nightmares, summon lcglcr fimh as servants, and k ' mercumdes(evil ones, of counc; hpss attack any good folks they think they can as g w * on the more dangerous treks. That's about the extent of their involvement with society.
secIe+Y A N D CUWURCI
+ 94 +
mehow, and they seek hanh revenge if thcy're peekd in t u r n . sb don't t r y to trick ' a Ifyoulcm't . put I I&$ in the deadaoot try tlj buy hcr odntth magic,hlowle & @ ! , or M e hrg prize those things above all e k .
Most hags're good to their word, if a body can get 'em to @v@ it in the tlkt They don't ketp their pacts out of benot; tbq do it bcrpurr thtir uvellhood dcpcnds on it. Not CYM a f l d d trust a ntgbt hag known to $ell h d larvae or back out of d e & . ' C o q , trytae to conduct businns with a night hag's a lbadlag bdd idea for *ne. They're petty, &lous, a w l , pnd TMyVc h a @ got a pccl mmhg
IEl#+IWQA NIQH+ 'HAQ
into new shadow flends. Of come, like so rmrh elsc about these creatures, exactIy how thb occurs b not known. simply loses itsclf i n pure darkness. Hmcn the b M light to caat a shadow, the c r e a m can just fade into inky Mackness and relax. Do they actually sleep, or do they simply cease all movement until they recover whatever angy they've expended? Once again, w e don't know.But one thing I s amhc DepriVr a ahadow Bend o f its rccovuy time,and it gmvm a bit weaker. That also might be due to the possibility k flenda actually sub& on dprlmcas and that t shadow. However, now and again the creaturrs do consume the minds they hawest f r o m mortals but only those that prove too weak to command a good price on the trading blocks. Though a shadow fknd haa wing, it cannot actually #ly.Its whga are udd only for slowing a f J i or helping the creature to sprine a great dimt8nce. They like to surprlse a foe by leaping onto it and rendlng it with all four claws. Once the poor sod is shaken by this Mt&dattack, the flend trks to snatch his mind and stuff it into a dark gem for safekeeping, leaving the victim's husk to w i t h a and rot. The !lends can also create magical darkneas amund themselves and send their opponents away shrieking in magically induced terror. Furthermore, shadow fiends are unhindered by Arc, cold, and lightning. On the other hand, the monsters do have their weak spots. Simple torches or light spells cause them pain, and stronger stuff like sunlight or conHnvclf lfght spells maku them much easier to strike and wound. They can wen be turned by clerics.
DEATH.If a shadow Rend is slain, it's thought to be hrever dead. W v t all heud the rumon that the mmsters can use their stolen minds to somehow refom, but if this occurs, how could we tell? Wen to a trained eye, all shadow f l & look alike, with only minute differences. As always, the best advice whm dealing with fkadish natures is to sprinkle a corpse wlth holy water.
Pow~lls m uW -
W AID Ncmmbmr.When a shadow flend wants to mt, it
* I
+ SHADeW P I B N D S +
Nomoto Sinh
Shrideiw fipds are'tipParently a r w e unto themselves, thargr sodac liloods t i l a to an odd thcory that the mmea growl fMm manen f ~ n wro@# e What,dienaenselThe sheii iatcl~gcnct Of the shadow f l M d s puts &at notion to resh,n~.irmnd the fact that theyseem to be made of the .. d n . of ida@aa. T h m despite their name, they share n a n g with , N tnene ;Bula thril a reputition for Rightcniq atyodtiq. Rall&$'of shadow,Rends blot thC.low& Planes, h t e niwttbiiwon in the Abyss, C k r i , and the ,. Gray Was+ Lone s h a d h fiends wander the &eat Ring and appear on any of the Ourer Planes, though they also travel to the Prime in search of minds ripe for stealing. Some 4 a g h put forth that the shadow fiends are actudyip+ of pow&, the lowrr-phnst etjuivdentb of sdalst Tbe:trath.Dfthis Is dark, but a few wicked priests h8W boqtdd thbi t M l ?bcltib send shadow fftfids on mis* doas. Of cwme.ewnif tlK priests sp&e true, pdaps said flends wen merely promised minds or power .in exchange f o ra me-time Jnvice. Who knows what g o a on when we aren't t h m to see it? Shadow R a d 8 are said to be built out of the stuff of darkness itself, their slender forms shaped from shadow and glwn I & by the force of pure t d . Thcsc mowitas of corporeal gloom are sMetal in appearance, as if they're fiends r o m their bones. lheir finthat haw iqd the flesh saipped f gers and tqes are cruel hooks, their eyes empty pools of white space. Terrible beiags to behold, shadow flends are few and fa betmen, which unfortunately also means they don't lend cmrclvca to claw study.
I
PHYSIeL@QY
3,
I
OWER AND BIRTH. l h entire race appears to be neuter in gender. It's!thought that they reproduce by obtaining the raw force of evil magic and shaping it with arcane rituals
Like the gehreleths, the shadow flends seem to have an absolute prohibitlon agaislnst kiIling each other. And, also likc the gelmktbq they have no compunctionabout slaying members of any other race. But their purpesc Isn't simple datmcdon; they live to caphut the minds of mlgMy and knowledgeable m a l & They store their prfics in gems rad trade them for powerful magic, which they w to shrpc more of their thd. (You'd be surprised - and alarmed to hear just how many diffnrnt matuns on the Lower PIanw are lntacstcd in b y ing W e stolen minds, using them as food, imphies, and bar-
S@CI#+Y A N D CUL+URB
+ 95 +
gaining c h i p for thcir own trPda.1 Thus,the trading system of the shadow fields supports their enth race. On the Lower Planes, the fiends cluster in eerie hollows near tiny gatcs and portals. Their structures art shaped from p u t darkness and rise high into the alr, supported by nothing by vrlllpower. Shadow fiends possess a highly developed sense of the aesthetic, and they enjoy meking sculptures fmm the doom. I h & It has longbeen thought that shadow fiends have iWnd of no language, I*KaTdlcR have m n t l y discov telepathy among the creatures that lets them ommunfEate with any sentient being. Of course, a message n e ' s mind like pure evil. Its m shadow fiend wan o Is smooth and insinuating, hiding a great darkness words. I t ' s like listening to a voice cmpnating from a
we rely far m q e on gur quick wits and quicker reflexes to get ourselves out of jams.
. Tieflings can he of & h a gender, or none, or both. 'hem's a broad range of posdbtllties open to u s , and we experiment whenwe can (a stmy foranother time). That's how we know that we're uompatlbk w i t h most othm humanoid ram. And. aft@? a while, our fiendish blood is dilated enough that our chiirken's Wdren's chlldmr mi@ become pruC - but tha! hLn! E1 l y # time.
~
FINO A
AD@W P l s N D
A shadow fiend won't automatically try to kill everything it meets, as do so many of the other lower-planar races. If a
mismm. For mst, tic4lbgs we pmity mwh like nary b a s h . We've got goad csukmu, but Mget H's our m o d hnitagc Asfonfood, we praWr meat wer the better. But we can survive on inserts. ashes, or even minerals for a short while, if need be. We're nothlng if not adaptable
cutter is smart, the flend might just try to take his mind. If a cutter is really clever, he might figure out a way to give the
fiend is to avoid acting powerful or exceptionally knowlr ~ cow many maedgeable. Bluff and bluster may I m p o tures of the Lower Planes, but those tactics fail miserably auainst shadow fiends.
monster what it wants and s a l walk away in one piece. Of course, the beat way to protect yourself against a shadow
, This is whnc our ancestry comes into play, because any tiefilng could have q a u s t * r ~ o f stmge powem quirks, or v u i n e w k r . i'n rm *dl i n my day But I've a h seen ma@ te h o w thatmat Flap. lings can 9cc body heat about as well as an a n d wrap themxhns in da&ncss llke a clort Cold dwn't a&a us as much as it would an ordinsry be& and w e ' r e mom n s u l s t to fire, l&hbkin&and poison.
+ TIE
Enkillo the 31y
Dwm.When WC'R killed, we die. Anywhcm. Fnkd We can be lpisld fmm the dead, h t tot& .Ihttruth~ wedonB~!DIlllt on anyone t o do us the favor.
Tiding society2 Pike tbatl If anything c a u b I&I nW assurance about tiefliny, it's tfist we're laacn. We're dbt w e d andvirmd PI cvil mdro*ts for so lowthat . R start tubdkvc It o u m h . It's bud not to try to Iiiupe the hype,eh? That's why tictlin&s are p m y and &Itmy. Just L a g & having the lesson that you're cvil and bound to eoae to no good end pounded into your head fromyour very earliest memories. Picture being the butt of pmnks, having all the blame for dirty tricks placed on you wen if you had nothing to do nith ' a Imd then try (a hasghrki~adalliviag gentle person. On owasion, M Io f note attract y o u u p ticcutters r h o want to Inm how to sunive la a mplthrtm that doasn't s m n to wani 'em Tbrt's &out as much wdrty as a tidling's ever likcly to haw, and about as much as hell ever want. And as for culture, lstr of us a v e Into d4tk endeavors later IB We, hoping ta a p m a our w e at the injustice of the multivene. Like mort other thfags we rry, we're sodding good at it, too. Fact iS, despite d l tbC cmma WWS at US, Mdllngs'R pretty tau@. k !the end, It's how we feel about o u m h that coun& anyway.
Being atidlhgmysctE.IsupposeI'mina sodd&ggoalposition to HRite about those who fdnd thcir llncage touched or tainted, take your pick - by the denizens of the Lower Planes. Sure, there's a remarkable range to the way we look and act, but somethhg, somewhere, always giws the game away. Srr, somewhm way back in our past, one of our ana k e your ton dallied with a fiend - or with a human Again,t pkk. Thc mult was a half-breed. Well, when a half-bred fiend mates with a mortal, thc result is a quarter-breed a tietUng. Truth is, thfllngs're guatct-bmds at nost. When a body moves down the line a dozen generations. little of the original flends left in the descendants. Still, fiendish blood is powerful, and it shows through in strange ways.
rWD
FI,
11
2,
fl
<
PHYSI@
The signs of a tiding's fi&n n c r l ~ @ c usually subtle: small horns, a tail, crimson skin, bony teeth, strangely cuwed ears, a &wing cast to the eye - the li.st goes on and on. These clues ain't foolproof, though; only a ieatherhcad thinks that cmy b n k with horns Is a tiefllng. 0 1 ' Enkillo docsn't have horns at all. We ticflings also tend to bc a bit sllmmcr and more attractive than your average mortal. We're not brawny, and
+ 96 +
...
'.'
Faces of Evil:
EVERYLEHING Y@U EVER WANLEED LE@ KN@W ABeULE F M N D S

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iany timec. A OcrkJnd7'out how much drinrcads ajf to the Lorver Plane7 - and i c Net ' T h e fipndc a r p n ' t i i i r t l i c r c n f qUm}yr' evol turr ,rate w r u 11 Curturt of rli all hac 6 it= of duckrirg 'ndcr ding
This rb-page P L A N W A P E ' accessory, wrirren Tor players and Dungeon Masters 111levels, i s the ultimate guide to the fiends of the Lower Planes - the malevolent mons1 :hat wage the Blood War, terrorize mortals, and befoul the multivene. But whereas other guides focus on statistics and mbat, Fuces of Evil delves into the physiology and psychology o f the fiends, exploring the ark forces that shape every detail of their lives. How are they born? What do they eat? How do they deal with others? And just what makes them so - well, fiendish?
and destruction.
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399707

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS Wizards of the Coast, P.B. 34 2300 Tumhout Belgium

V i OUI' website at http://www.tsrinc.com

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

TABLIB cse C ~ N + I B N L ) I ' ~ 4

...................5 ., ..........*.., ........... ...6 6 .............. ... ........................ 7 '.7 .................,.

..................... 7 .................. 7 ................... 8 ................ 9 ....,................... 9

............. ............... .... .

...............31 .............33 ...... .........s r .... ........

.............. . ......... . ........... .......................... ........................

...... ......... .. ...

An Endless Varlcty .............. 43 Mutbn.obfbfit.i* 4 ItaWga i ' . J

............. . .. . ................. w tW w I t ................... 44 L+cr T a n d d ..................

........................... .................... ....................... ...........

................ ..................... ................ ................ .............. ................

.................... ............... ............

Glutdlln nhet'ri Ascen3ioti Traiton BodUy Pohn and Fundions .P h y s m AnnbutsJ

... Arcane % & I ................. 53 Sprcadtng the Word ............. -54

...................... 51 .......... 5 1 ..........

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

................85 ............85 ........................ 85 ...................... 85 ................... 86

.................. .................. .............. ..................

.................... 95 .............. 95 .......... 96 .......................... 96

.............. 93 ........................ 94 .................... 94 .............. 94 .............95 ..................... 95

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

der machines. And *ten those who

skips over a tot o f numbers you can pick up

w h e n r m going. Find my place in the multlversc.

Just m e m b e r me when somethiw's riaht.

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

Barlaw: Evil? That's simule. Evil is trvinu to ruin and destroy,

thinu that pets in vour wav.

there, bckI belon$ I i o th Fatedy

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

'he freedoms of those

this is w a n t for all you bem-couna fiend Is ID evil

end b sknplya basher that's of cvU. a bnt with atrange

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

'Coup& that wqn't make

bma p q that it nevu co

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

ofview-t-@et whnt they

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

Other Sources: Baateau

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

paizo.com #652842, Kari Wilfong <gundamgal7@hotmail.com>, Apr 6, 2009

tbc d u e of elite fiends skilled In stealth and

of thdr klnd to cambion w a s -

matlnu some of their own. "he

cast 'em like a m