The Demon Lords

Dagon

The demon is immense, its glistening bulk heaving monstrously into the air as a writhing storm of hook-suckered tentacles unfolds from its shapeless lower body. Its two longest tentacles terminate in immense five-fingered talons. Its head is that of a deep-sea fish, twisted with cruelty and leering with a primordial intelligence, its stiletto like teeth immense and translucent. Its body is not quite sea serpent, not quite mollusk, and not quite shark, but somehow, horribly, a combination of all three.

Ancient Dagon is among the oldest demon lords of the Abyss and the patron of those who dwell in the lightless depths of the sea.

Servants, Enemies, and Goals

Dagon is survived the rise of the tanar’ri in large part due to his isolationist nature. When the Queen of Chaos called upon the obyrith lords to aid her in her battle against the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, Dagon refused her call. Other obyriths did so as well, and the Queen destroyed them for their trouble. Dagon was powerful enough that the Queen dared not raise her tentacles against him. When the obyriths were defeated, Dagon knew his choice had been the right one.

Today, Dagon is held as an oracle and seer among the tanar’ri. They come to this ancient demon with offerings of weapons and sacrifices in return for ancient knowledge of the Abyss and its holdings that predate the rise of the tanar’ri. Dagon has built a mighty empire in his realm on these offerings and today is one of the mightiest demon lords in the Abyss. Dagon’s realm lies directly below Demogorgon’s, and the two have entered a strange sort of alliance.

Dagon is served by all manner of aquatic demons and monsters in his realm, which is known as Shadowsea (layer 89). Despite his obyrith nature, myrmyxicus demons often pay him tribute if only to keep him appeased. His favored minions are the wastriliths—once obyrith themselves, these demons retain loyalty to Dagon despite the fact that they have evolved beyond their ancient roots into their
own beings.

Dagon’s presence is felt on the Material Plane as well. He is sought by powerful and insane spellcasters for the ancient secrets he guards, and has been known to grant these secrets through spells such as contact other plane. Treat Dagon as a demideity on all topics except for the ancient history of the Abyss, on which topic he is treated as a greater deity who always knows an answer (treat results of “don’t know” as “true answer” results). Contact with Dagon is particularly dangerous, though, and Intelligence checks made to avoid a decrease in Intelligence and Charisma take a –2 penalty.

Dagon is also venerated as a god by certain aquatic races. Kraken are known to worship him, as do some chuuls, sea hags, and water nagas. The most fanatic of Dagon’s Material Plane worshipers are certain ancient tribes of kuo-toa that dwell in the depths of the open sea and have never heard of Blibdoolpoolp. These kuo-toa hold that their race has existed for eons before the advent of the gods and that, in these ancient times, they were the chosen minions of Dagon. Today, their numbers are small and dwindling—
they have been hunted nearly to extinction by intolerant sahuagin who view Dagon as a threat to Sekolah’s power. Isolated pockets of these ancient kuo-toa have relocated to shallower homes off the coast of isolated stretches of land. In many cases, these kuo-toa have come in contact with coastal communities of surface dwellers. These unsuspecting coastal villages are quickly converted to Dagon’s worship by force or trickery—in so doing, these kuo-toa hope to rebuild their numbers and strength so as to some day reclaim rulership of the depths.

Clerics of Dagon have access to the domains of Chaos, Entropy, Evil, and Water. His symbol is a set of six spiraling tentacles arrayed around a fanged mouth.

This hulking menace stands just over 18 feet tall, despite his hunched posture. His muscular body is covered with short, coarse pale-blue fur. Two black, leathery wings protrude from his back, and his coiling tail ends in a cruel razor-sharp point. His face is framed by large, ragged ears, and while his eyes are relatively small, his mouth is overly large and filled with fangs.

Deceptive Fraz-Urb’luu is the patron demon lord of illusionists and tricksters, a wrathful prince who only recently escaped imprisonment on the Material Plane.

Servants, Enemies, and Goals

The most significant event in Fraz-Urb’luu’s recent past was his imprisonment on the Material Plane below Castle Greyhawk by the mad archmage Zagig. Fraz-Urb’luu remained imprisoned in those infamous dungeons, trapped in a bas-relief carving on a wall, for over two hundred years before he was accidentally released by a pair of adventurers whom Fraz-Urb’luu promptly repaid by destroying their gear and stranding them in his Abyssal realm.

Since his escape, Fraz-Urb’luu has spent the past 25 years rebuilding his Abyssal realm of Hollow’s Heart and searching for his staff, a potent artifact that was stolen at the time of his imprisonment. Fueling these goals is rage—rage focused primarily on all of humanity. Fraz-Urb’luu hopes that when he has fully re-established his power over Hollow’s Heart and has reclaimed his staff, he’ll be able to bring this rage to bear on his enemies.

Fraz-Urb’luu counts no other demon lord as an ally, because his ability to deceive them and trick them makes him a particularly hated demon lord. Rumors hold that this hatred might have encouraged some of the other demon princes to aid in Fraz-Urb’luu’s imprisonment. For now, his enemies keep a watchful eye on Hollow’s Heart but dare not move against him. He might be alone, but Fraz-Urb’luu remains one of the more powerful of the Abyssal lords nevertheless.

A shuddering, glistening cone of jelly and slime striated with veins of black and green rears up from the pit. Baleful red eyes swim in the thing’s gelatinous body, and dripping pseudopods of tremulous ooze writhe with latent hunger in every direction at once.

Juiblex, the wretched Faceless Lord, cares little for cultists or companionship. Yet still, there are those who find reasons to worship the lord of slime.

Servants, Enemies, and Goals

Of all the demon lords of the Abyss, Juiblex is perhaps the simplest (and therefore easiest to understand) in his goals. Put simply, Juiblex has no goals other than to simply exist, destroying and killing and corroding anything he can get his tendrils around. He hates everything and revels only in destruction.

Juiblex shares the 222nd layer of the Abyss with Zuggtmoy, the Lady of Fungi. The two demons have a long history of conflict and war, with Juiblex’s constant attempts to surge upward into Zuggtmoy’s holdings a constant source of contention between the two. Other demons despise and loathe Juiblex, yet most see him as a faceless menace that poses a threat only to those foolish enough to stand in front of him, and they wisely choose to leave him alone.

There is no organized cult of Juiblex, although a few demented souls do revere the Faceless Lord as a god. It’s doubtful that Juiblex knows of these few, and if he does, he certainly doesn’t encourage them or reward their loyalty. His primary minions are the countless slimes, oozes, and jellies that shudder in the depths of his realm. Of these, only one is intelligent enough to serve the Faceless Lord willingly—a unique demonic black pudding known as Darkness Given Hunger.

Clerics of Juiblex have access to the domains of Chaos, Corruption, Evil, and Ooze. His symbol is that of a pseudopod dripping slime.







Juiblex, known as the Faceless Lord, is a loathsome demon of slime and ooze. Even most demons shun him, and the demon princes are said to refer to him contemptuously as the “lord of nothing.” He is among the weakest demon lords but is a terrifying foe nonetheless. He embodies many of the horrible abilities of various slimes, oozes, and puddings, and he commands impressive magical powers as well.

The domain of Juiblex is his by right of power—he has driven everything from the Slime Pits except the various slimes and oozes that teem there. Nevertheless, a few demons—hezrous, mainly—pay him enough fealty that they bring victims for Juiblex and his slimy brood to hunt and feed on.

Juiblex often appears as a 9-foot-tall cone of jelly and slime striated with black, green, and a disgusting mixture of brown, yellow, and gray. At other times, Juiblex is nothing but a seething pool of animate ooze. In any form, pulsating red eyes that look in all directions cover Juiblex completely.

Juiblex’s symbol, hardly ever used, is that of a pseudopod dripping slime.

The Goals of Juiblex

Juiblex does not plot and scheme. Juiblex is content to simply exist, destroying and killing and corroding anything he can get his tendrils on. He hates everything and revels only in destruction.

This statuesque beauty wears a sardonic smile on her ruby lips. Curved horns jut from her brow and hold back her long dark hair—and her eyes smolder with dangerous red sensuality. Large leathery wings stretch from her back, the joints of which are laced with razorlike claws, and a sinuous tail ending in a thin curved spike completes the image of demonic beauty. She wears a revealing gown of diaphanous silk and razor-studded leather straps, and she idly toys with a glittering and sparkling scourge made of fine adamantine spiked chains.

Servants, Enemies, and Goals

Malcanthet dwells on an exquisitely beautiful plane of the Abyss known as Shendilavri (layer 570). To the casual observer, this realm might seem like a hedonistic paradise—in a way, this is exactly what it is. The problem for visitors is that it serves only as Malcanthet’s paradise, and the Queen of the Succubi often takes great pleasure in the torment and ruin of her guests.

Malcanthet is served in her palace by numerous incubi and succubi, along with a cabal of 13 lilitu bards called the Radiant Sisters. These lilitus do not exhibit their kind’s notorious intolerance for other lilitus or succubi, and their songs can be heard throughout Malcanthet’s palace at all times, haunting and erotic melodies that can have unwelcome effects on those whom Malcanthet has not invited into her realm. Lamias, harpies, and half-fiend nymphs serve her as well.

Among the demon lords, Malcanthet’s greatest allegiances are with her sometime lovers Pazuzu (with whom she has sired numerous particularly deadly succubi children) and Demogorgon (with whom she has sired things best left unmentioned). She has had trysts with most of the other demon lords, although these were idle affairs engineered by the Queen of the Succubi to gain some favor or prize. Many other minor demon lords such as Shami-Amourae and Lynkhab vie for the title of Queen of the Succubi, but none have been able to usurp Malcanthet from her throne as of yet.

She has long been in conflict with Yeenoghu, and her only contact with him now is when she sends armies to his realm to assault his kingdom (or vice versa). The exact source of their conflict is unclear, but it seems tied to the Maures, a powerful family of wizards who dwelt years ago in a massive castle on the Material Plane. Among the Maures, Malcanthet’s greatest servant was a woman named Elluvia. Other factions in the Maure family served Yeenoghu, and when Elluvia attempted a coup to gain control over the family’s holdings (with Malcanthet’s support), the resulting magical catastrophe ruined the entire family and left none (except perhaps Malcanthet herself) the victor. In any event, Malcanthet and Yeenoghu have been at war ever since.

Only her relationship with Graz’zt is worse. Malcanthet maintains that she spurned Graz’zt for being unworthy of her attentions eons ago when he tried to court her, and that his wounded pride created the legendary rift between the two. Graz’zt, of course, maintains the opposite. In any event, the conflict between these two is less one of open warfare and more one of constant scheming on how best to upset and ruin the other’s realms and plans.

Malcanthet has many cults on the Material Plane—groups of courtesans, hedonists, and bored nobles seeking a dangerous thrill to add to their lives. Her clerics have access to the domains of Chaos, Evil, Temptation, and Trickery. Her symbol is an iron thorn drawing a drop of blood from the lower edge of a pair of feminine lips.

The massive, bloated demon stands 15 feet tall, his immense frame a hideous combination of muscle and bloated flesh. His head is that of a ram with a great maw filled with tusks, and his thick-furred legs end in cloven hooves. Leathery wings and a barb-tipped tail complete the picture of the archetypal demon.

Of the innumerable demon lords of the Abyss, dread and vile Orcus, Prince of the Undead, might be the one most often worshiped as a god.

Servants, Enemies, and Goals

After becoming complacent in his eternal war with Demogorgon and Graz’zt, Orcus was recently murdered and deposed. But then, Orcus rose from the dead—an undead demon—and took the name Tenebrous for a time, hiding in the shadows of the multiverse and waiting to take his revenge. Now he has reinstated himself to his former position and reclaimed his realm Thanatos, and once again finds himself in a struggle for dominance with many other demon lords.

Orcus is no longer content to grow fat and decadent in his castle. He focuses his anger and hate on the absolute destruction of his enemies and the spread of woe and havoc among mortals. He covets Graz’zt and Demogorgon’s realms above all others, and commands a host of undead and demons that ravage entire layers of the Abyss at his whim.

Against Graz’zt, Orcus’s tactics are fairly direct. He constantly sends wave after wave of his limitless undead armies against Graz’zt’s three Abyssal layers, continuing these battles eternally since Orcus can replace fallen undead soldiers as quickly as they are destroyed by Graz’zt’s defenders. This relentless assault is inexorably penetrating deeper and deeper into Graz’zt’s territory, but at nowhere near the pace that Orcus wishes.

He realizes that Demogorgon is a more powerful foe, and as a result, Orcus’s actions against the Prince of Demons are more subtle. He sends small bands of nabassu, vampires, and liches into Gaping Maw and other places Demogorgon holds sway to undertake missions of precisely calibrated assassination and sabotage.

Yet while Orcus himself might not be as powerful as Demogorgon, and his realm might be dwarfed by the size of Graz’zt’s holdings, Orcus’s cult on the Material Plane is in truth his greatest resource. In particular, orcs, half-orcs, ogres, and giants revere Orcus, as do a large number of corrupt and despicable humans. His temples are usually hidden, and his worshipers form secret societies that commit atrocities and wage wars in his name. He demands living sacrifice from his cultists, and blood and skulls are important parts of the imagery used in his worship. Intelligent undead rarely serve
him willingly, although many vampires, liches, and other undead creatures are forced into his service by dark pacts or compelling magic.

Clerics of Orcus have access to the domains of Chaos, Death, Demonic, and Evil. His symbol is his wand—a skulltopped black mace.







Orcus is a massive, bloated demon prince—bloated on spite, bile, and contempt. After becoming complacent with his wars against Demogorgon and Graz’zt waning, Orcus was murdered and deposed. But then, Orcus rose from the dead—an undead demon—and took the name Tenebrous for a time, hiding in the
shadows and waiting to take his revenge. Now he has reinstated himself to his former position and taken up residence in Naratyr, his terrible fortress-city in the Abyss on Thanatos, the layer he rules.

Once again Orcus finds himself in a struggle for dominance with many of the other demon lords. Orcus is no longer content to grow old and fat feeding on larvae in his castle. He focuses his anger and hate on the absolute destruction of his enemies and the spread of woe and havoc among mortals. Truly a demon reborn, Orcus is more terrible and more dangerous than ever. Orcus hates both Demogorgon and Graz’zt. He resents them for their power, and he covets their realms.

Orcus commands a host of undead as well as armies of demons that ravage the fields of the Abyss that they cross. Probably because he has an identifiable, if loathsome, “portfolio,” Orcus is worshiped as a god more often than most of the other demon princes are. Although Demogorgon might actually be more powerful, Orcus may be closer to ascending to true godhood.

Standing 15 feet tall, Orcus is a massive demon. His head bears a striking resemblance to that of a ram, and his legs end in cloven hooves. Batlike wings complete the picture of the archetypal demon. In fact, when commoners think of demons, they most likely think of some terrible picture of Orcus that they once saw somewhere. Orcus is best known in some circles for his wand, an artifact of malefic might. This wand—more accurately described as a rod—is made of black iron and obsidian and topped with a skull. It has terrible powers (see the Artifacts section of Chapter 6) and is a horrific weapon in its own right. The black, skulltopped rod also serves as the prince’s symbol.

The Goals of Orcus

Orcus is in many ways a contradictory figure. He does not delight in his charges, the undead, and has not taken up the self-proclaimed mantle “Prince of the Undead” out of devotion or allegiance. If anything, the demon lord despises undead. He has little but contempt for them and uses them without thought or consideration. Of course, Orcus despises the living as well. He hates all things, and seethes with utter revulsion and loathing at all times. He craves only personal power and the spread of misery and destruction for all others. Occasionally, Orcus allows his wand to be found by a mortal in order to wreak greater chaos and evil among those inhabiting the Material Plane. This sort of dalliance lasts only for a short time—perhaps a year or two at most—before the bloated prince grows bored and reclaims his artifact, usually along with the soul of whoever currently wields it.

Orcus is in a constant state of war with his rivals Demogorgon and Graz’zt. More often than not, actual warfare occurs between his armies of undead and demons and Graz’zt’s hordes of monsters and demons. Strife with Demogorgon often takes a more subtle guise, that of assassination and sabotage. This is usually because both his and Demogorgon’s full armies are simultaneously warring against the forces of Graz’zt. However, sometimes the legions of Orcus and Demogorgon meet in the course of their struggle against Graz’zt, and then they attack each other as viciously as they fight the legions of the Dark Prince.





This black obsidian and iron rod is topped with the skull of a human hero slain by Orcus. If wielded in melee, it is a +6 unholy chaotic heavy mace. If the wand touches any nonoutsider, or an outsider with less than 15 HD, the target must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 25) or die immediately. Anyone that touches the wand against Orcus’s will must save or die as well. Weapons with a +6 enhancement bonus are beyond the ken of most item creators, but they otherwise follow all the rules for magic weapons.

The wand also confers a +5 deflection bonus to the Armor Class of the wielder at all times. Finally, the wielder can call upon each of the following powers once per day, as the spells cast by a 20th-level caster: abyssal might, bodak birth, call nightmare, clutch of Orcus (DC 18), summon monster VII, wrack (DC 18), and wretched blight (15d8 damage, DC 23).






Orcus appeals most to demons, necromancers, and the undead. While not an actual god quite yet, Orcus is worshiped as a god more often than any of the other demon princes. Although Demogorgon might actually be more powerful, Orcus is closer to ascending to true godhood. The cult of Orcus is widespread among other groups as well, with a more significant following among humanoids than most demon princes. In particular, orcs, half-orcs, ogres, and giants revere Orcus, as well as corrupt and despicable humans.

Portfolio: Undeath, revenge.

Domains: Chaos, Evil, Death, Darkness.

Cleric Training: Orcus isn’t one for orderly training or organization, so neither are his priests. Thus, training consists of little more than a grisly oath, the introduction to the mythology of Orcus, and a hearty strike with a skullheaded rod to complete the process.

Quests: Orcus has set his worshipers the task of increasing the level of his own worship across all lands, killing those who resist—including the followers of other evil deities, especially Nerull. Typical quests include attacking a rival Nerull-cultist compound, raiding a church of Pelor to destroy its sacred items, and building or opening portals or gates from the Abyss to the Material Plane.

Prayers: The most common refrain in a prayer to Orcus is a confirmatory phrase at the end of a declaration, something like “. . . or let Orcus strike me dead and steal my eternal soul.”

Temples: Despite his status as a demon prince rather than a true god, Orcus has inspired the creation of temples all over the planes. Those that worship him gain clerical power as if worshiping a true deity, though they clearly gain that power from some more universal source (perhaps from the Negative Energy Plane itself). His temples are usually hidden, while his worshipers function as secret societies living in otherwise normal communities. Other temples, however, are terrible strongholds full of undead, where wicked lords commit atrocities and wage wars in the demon prince’s name. Sometimes an entire orc tribe devotes itself to the Prince of the Undead, but these individuals are shunned even by other orcs.

Rites: Bloody confl ict is the method that Orcus’s followers use to rise in the ranks. Sometimes this activity is formalized, as when underlings challenge upper-echelon clerics according to the Rite of Challenge. Of course, this usually results in the underlings’ death before the Rite of Challenge can properly occur. In fact, the Rite of Challenge may just be a way for high-level clerics to identify troublemakers and weed them from the flock.

Herald and Allies: A balor is Orcus’s favorite choice for herald. Planar allies include howlers, glabrezu demons, and nalfeshnee demons.

Favored Weapon: Mace.

Although he’s a tall, well-proportioned man, this figure’s demonic features cannot be ignored. His powerful birdlike talons scrape the floor as he approaches, and four feathered wings shine with oil and writhe with smoke on his back. His head combines the features of a handsome man and a feral hawk, his cruel, hooked beak filled with a forest of needle teeth.

Mighty Pazuzu is one of the oldest of the tanar’ri princes. His realm is the skies above the Abyssal layers, and he takes great delight in the corruption of purity.

Servants, Enemies, and Goals

Pazuzu is a unique example of survival in the Abyss. Originally one of the more powerful obyrith lords, his independence was a constant thorn in the Queen of Chaos’s side. As it turned out, Pazuzu has since evolved with the new rule of the Abyss. While he is still an obyrith, he has been accepted by tanar’ri and represents a sort of “missing link” between the two races. Due to this duality of nature, Pazuzu’s form has taken on a less horrible appearance with the passing of eons, and his form of madness ability has transformed into his current aura of servile avians. He has also gained several tanar’ri-like qualities, including the ability to summon tanar’ri.

Although Pazuzu commands the respect and loyalty of all evil things that fly in the Abyssal skies, he is rarely forced to call upon these creatures. Perhaps alone in the Abyss, Pazuzu has no active enemies. The other demon lords seem to begrudgingly award him the skies above their realms, if only because there seems to be little there to claim. Graz’zt alone has been known to speak ill of Pazuzu, yet he has never taken direct action against him. The one demon lord that could be counted as his enemy is wretched and deformed Lamashtu, although the Queen of Monstrous Births has been imprisoned by Pazuzu on Torremor for countless ages, so she is hardly a threat to the demon prince.

Pazuzu does not lust for the rule of a realm in the Abyss (although he nonetheless controls the 503rd layer of the Abyss, and his presence is nearly constant on the 1st layer), nor does he wish to rule over his fellow demons. His goals are higher—he lusts for innocence, purity, and honesty. These sweet nectars are his greatest vice, and as he consumes them, he leaves bitterness, cruelty, and wickedness in the shells of those he has corrupted. Since these qualities are so alien in the Abyss, he logically has little interest in what dwells there in and instead turns his attentions to the Material Plane. Pazuzu has tested his ability to manifest on Material Plane worlds without drawing the undue attention of the gods who protect them for some time, and in that time has mastered the art of telling mortals what they think they want to hear.

Pazuzu’s cults start with a single soul who cries out to the demon prince for aid. Pazuzu gives this aid, and those who call on him grow dependent on his aid. They crave the power his touch can bring. Within a year, those who have called upon him invariably join or found a new cult dedicated to his teachings, where they seek to capture and convert new innocents to his vile worship.

Clerics of Pazuzu have access to the domains of Air, Chaos, Evil, and Temptation. His symbol is a twisted bird talon.







Pazuzu, known to some as Pazrael or Pazuzeus, is a unique demon lord in that he does not rule a layer of the Abyss. Instead he oversees a portion of almost every layer: the sky above. Also unlike his fellow princes, he does not war with other demon lords. All treat him with roughly equal amounts of resentment and grudging respect.

One cannot dispute Pazuzu’s power, but he is not in the same league physically as the most powerful princes, Demogorgon and Orcus. He maintains no permanent lair, although he occasionally resides in the highest Abyssal mountain peaks or rocky crags, or in the floating palaces of the evil cloud giants that pay him homage.

Known as the Demon Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms or Demon Prince of the Air, Pazuzu concerns himself mainly with the Material Plane. He goes there more often than most demon princes. And, more than any other prince, he enjoys tempting or tricking those of good alignment to fall to evil.

Pazuzu is a 7-foot-tall humanoid with four dark, feathered wings. His large head also bears a bit of plumage, as well as massive red eyes and a sharp, toothfilled, beaklike mouth. The Demon Prince of the Air uses a swooping bird of prey as his symbol.

The Goals of Pazuzu

Uninterested in conquest, Pazuzu does not see the other demon princes as rivals. This attitude is partially due to arrogance (he considers himself above them and assumes he already controls anything of worth in the Abyss) and partially due to the fact that his goals have nothing to do with those of most other demon lords.

Pazuzu loves to tempt mortals. He personally offers his aid to any good creature that calls upon him—an act that automatically causes the good creature to turn to evil. Calling upon him usually involves intoning his name three times in succession.