Demogorgon is of course the Prince of Demons and has always been the iconic Dungeons and Dragons poster boy for Big Bad Evil Guys. By contrast, Orcus is just a Balrog wannabe. But all mud slinging aside; who hold the positions of power within the court of Demogorgon? Additionally, if, as a DM, you wanted to run encounters in Abysm leading to a direct assault on Demogorgon’s Fortress, what encounters could you set up? Just how many demons does he command?
This article sets out to explore Demogorgon’s allies and servants and come up with a valid hierarchy within his court and also suggesting possible encounters, leading to a confrontation with the Prince of Demons himself.
The best sources of information on Demogorgon are:
- Gord the Rogue novels (Gary Gygax): Particularly Sea of Death; Come Endless Darkness and Dance of Demons where you get all sorts of insights into Abyssal politics; war and lots of other stuff. I do recommend reading all the Gord the Rogue books though.
- Book of Vile Darkness (WotC 3E/Monte Cook): Okay so the art director mucked up and they made Demogorgon look like some sort of plush kid’s toy.
- Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss (3.5E WotC/Ed Stark; James Jacobs; Erik Mona): Really great book; probably one of my favourite 3rd Edition supplements and almost certainly the best book to get for anyone wanting details of Demogorgon’s Realm.
- Savage Tide (3.5E Dungeon Magazine/Paizo): The fantastic adventure path from Dungeon Magazine issues 139-150. Pity they were not allowed to collect this adventure in one book. In particluar the last three episodes are the most relevant.
- Demonomicon (WotC 4E/Mike Mearls; Brian R James; Steve Townshend): Pretty good book. I’ll do a review of this one soon. More or less continues the excellent work of the Hordes of the Abyss material.
Demonic Hierarchy
Demogorgon is one of the six demon monarchs of demondom. However, in 4E, none of the Demon Princes are really dominant enough to be considered ‘monarchs’. In the Gary Gygax novels; the six most powerful demon princes had really carved up the Abyss between themselves. Each commanded dozens of layers of the Abyss. In 4E the most they seem to control is about 3 layers. A simple way of judging whether a Demon Prince was just a Prince or a Monarch would be whether or not they controlled more than 10 layers of the Abyss. The last being to do this was the Queen of Chaos. But if you really wanted to you could always elevate six monarchs of your own choosing.
- Demonic Emperor = Elder God/Pantheon Head ~ Levels 46-50 (Elite rank)…example: possibly Tharizdun (4E version)
- Demon Monarch = Greater God ~ Levels 41-45 (Elite rank) or 37-41 (Solo rank)…example: Queen of Chaos
- Demon Prince = Lesser God ~ Levels 36-40 (Elite rank) or 32-36 (Solo rank)…example: Demogorgon; Graz’zt; Orcus
- Demon Lord = Demigod ~ Levels 32-36 (Elite rank) or 27-31 (Solo rank)…example: Baphomet; Yeenoghu
- Demonic Champion = Quasi-deity ~ Levels 27-31 (Elite rank) or 22-26 (Solo rank)…example: a Balor
Demogorgon’s Resources
As per the Immortals Handbook: Epic Bestiary (what do you mean you don’t have it?); a Demon Prince should have 1d6 Demon Lords under their thrall; 10d6 Demonic Champions and so on as follows. No point rolling, instead I just found out all the subordinates of the tier below (which was four) and multiplied each successive tier by ten.
- 1 Demon Prince (Levels 32-36 Solo). Demogorgon
- 4 Demon Lords (Levels 27-31 Solo or 32-36 Elite).
Known: 1. Abraxas; 2. Dagon; 3. Fraz-Urb’luu/Var-Az-Hloo; 4. Mandrillagon/Ilsidhur
- 40 Exarchs (Levels 27-31 Elite or 31-35 Standard rank).
Known: 1. Agadin (minor Demon Lord); 2. Arendagrost (Monster); 3. Belcheresk (Balor); 4. Bogromar (Avatar); 5. Enderan (Demon); 6. Glusktubtum (Dragon Turtle); 7. Gromsfed (Undead Klurichir); 8. Kargoth (Death Knight); 9. Kazuul (Demon); 10. Meurteenz (minor Demon Lord); 11. Nulonga (Priest); 12. Poshban (minor Demon Lord); 13. Rozvankee (Lich); 14. Severik (Balor); 15. Tetradarian (Avatar); 16. Tharak (Ettin); 17. Vloorm (minor Demon Lord); 18. Volophon (minor Demon Lord); 19. Zerkar (minor Demon Lord), 20. Unnamed Demon (Lieutenant) Other Examples: Ancient Abyssal Worm; Balors; Sibriex Flesh Crafter.
- 400 Primary Major Demons (Levels 22-26 Elite or 26-30 Standard rank or 34-38 Minion).
Examples: Abyssal Rotfiend; Bebilith; Glabrezu; Guardian Demon Souldrinker; Klurichir; Marilith; Retrievers, Sibriex Chain Master; Writhing Crag
- 4000 Secondary Major Demons (Levels 17-21 Elite or 21-25 Standard rank or 29-33 Minion).
Examples: Bonegouge Assassin; Consumptive Swarm; Evanissu; Ferrolith; Fire Demon; Goristro; Hezrou; Nabassu Deathwing; Nalfeshnee Tyrant; Nycademon; Quarrak; Seszrath; Ultrodemon Schemer
- 40,000 Primary Minor Demons (Levels 12-16 Elite or 16-20 Standard rank or 24-28 Minion).
Examples: Armanite Lancer; Ash Wrought Soulburner; Derghodemon; Dust Demon; Greater Maw Demon; Haures; Hydrodemon; Kazrith; Nabassu; Nalfeshnee Swine Guard; Pod Demon; Ruin Demon; Shaadee; Shadow Demon
- 400,000 Secondary Minor Demons (Levels 7-11 Elite or 11-15 Standard rank or 19-23 Minion).
Examples: Abyssal Eviscerator; Arctide Runespiral Demon; Babau; Blood Demon; Bulezau; Chasme; Immolith; Malgodemon Thug; Mezzodemon; Needle Demon; Piscodemon; Solamith; Vrock
- 4,000,000 Primary Sub-demons (Levels 2-6 Elite or 6-10 Standard rank or 14-18 Minion).
Examples: Barlgura, Bloodseep Demon; Canoloth; Consumptive Parasite; Demonspawn Adept; Dust Wisp; Evistro; Guardian Demon Abomination; Jovoc; Lesser Fire Demon; Neldrazu; Podspawn; Quasit; Rutterkin
- 40,000,000 Secondary Sub-demons (Levels 1 Elite or 1-5 Standard rank or 9-13 Minion).
Examples: Abyssal Scavenger; Arachnid Clockwork Horror; Canoloth Harrier; Dretch; Gnaw Demon; Ixitxachitl Demon Ray; Ixitxachitl Priest; Maw Demon; Runespiral Demon; Rupture Demon
- 400,000,000: Manes
First Strata: Demon Lords
Several major demon lords have been noted as subordinate (in some fashion) to the Prince of Demons, including:
- Abraxas: Level 29 Solo Soldier…or Level 34 Elite Soldier
- Dagon: Level 32 Solo Controller
- Fraz-Urb’luu/Var-Az-Hloo: Level 31 Solo Controller
- Mandrillagon/Ilsidahur: Level 30 Solo Brute…or Level 35 Elite Brute
Demogorgon directly controls the 88th layer (The Gaping Maw); Dagon the 89th (The Shadowsea) and Mandrillagon the 90th (The Screaming Jungle). In later volumes Abraxas controls the 17th layer (Death’s Reward) while Fraz-Urb’luu has dominion over the 176th layer (Hollow’s Heart). Its probable that any direct attack on Demogorgon’s Realm would involve encounters with some (or all) of these beings. Abraxas and Mandillagon could work well in tandem with Demogorgon as Elite Rank adversaries.
Abraxas may just be a subordinate ally; whereas Demogorgon; Fraz-Urb’luu; Mandrillagon and possibly Kardum might well be the rulers of the Varunas or Ape-Demons. If we assume Demogorgon is to water; Kardum is to fire; then either Fraz-Urb’luu or Mandrillagon may possibly have some connection to the earth/stone with the other some connection to the air (possibly Fraz-Urb’luu to the latter since he is winged, though Mandrillagon is noted as having a force of Winged Monkey Demons).
Second Strata: Avatars
Demogorgon has two Avatar’s, each cloned from one half of his being.
- Bogromar: Level 29 Elite Brute
- Tetradarian: Level 29 Elite Controller
Second Strata: Minor Demon Lords
Allies or thralls of Demogorgon. Unlikely that any of these would be present within Abysm at the time of attack, since they’d probably be attending to their own realms. Roll a d20. On a roll of 1-6 the appropriate Demon Lord would be visiting (probably to pay fealty). Each is probably a bit more powerful than a Balor (+1d4 Levels).
- Agadin: Level 31 Elite Artillery
- Meurteenz: Level 30 Elite Brute
- Poshban: Level 30 Elite Controller
- Vloorm: Level 29 Elite Lurker
- Volophon: Level 29 Elite Skirmisher
- Zerkar: Level 28 Elite Soldier
Second Strata: Exarchs
The champions of Demogorgon. Saint Kargoth being the most renowned/powerful.
- Belcheresk, Balor: Level 29 Elite Brute
- Major Enderan : Level 27 Elite Soldier
- War Secretary Gromsfed the Drowned: Level 29 Elite Soldier
- Saint Kargoth the Betrayer: Level 30 Elite Soldier
- Kazuul: Level 28 Elite Soldier
- Archpriest Nulonga: Level 28 Elite Artillery
- Rozvankee, female Lich pirate: Level 27 Elite Controller
- Severik, Balor: Level 28 Elite Brute
- Tharak, Ettin: Level 26 Elite Brute
- Unnamed Demon Lieutenant: Level 29 Elite Lurker
Other exarchs (the other 20 of the total 40 second strata villains) will mostly be comprised of Balors (Level 31 standard rank versions perhaps) and Sibriex. Lets say 15 Balors and 5 Sibriex.
Second Strata: Monsters
Each layer of the Abyss has one type of native Demon Brute and ten types of native Demon Beasts. The Demon Brutes would most likely be Mega-sized monsters (think Godzilla sized) and in around Level 30-35 Super-solo monsters of various roles (the term Demon Brute is just the name Gary Gygax gave them and not meant to indicate any 4E monster role). Demon Princes hunt these Demon Brutes for sport, with captured Demon Brutes being used as attractions in abyssal amphitheatres and colisseums. Demon Beasts would probably be high paragon/low-epic tier monsters. In addition to the Demon Brutes; there are also Abominations. One that is known is the ‘son'(?) of Demogorgon; known as Arendagrost.
- Arendagrost, Abomination (Offspring of Demogorgon): Maw of the Abyss: Level 30 Elite Lurker
- Glusktubtum, Fiendish Dragon Turtle: Level 28 Elite Soldier
Possible Demon Brutes:
- Layer 1: Pazunia…Rodan
- Layer 88: The Gaping Maw…Demodragon
- Layer 89: The Shadowsea…The Kraken (from the Clash of the Titans movie)
- Layer 90: The Screaming Jungle…Godzilla
Third Strata: Princely Guards
The most powerful groups (as opposed to unique beings) under Demogorgon’s command. Demogorgon is known to have a Bodyguard of 20 Ahazu Demons. He is also known to have a Personal Guard comprised of snake-fish, toad-crabs, and lizard-slugs (presumably some unknown or rare demon types; though ‘lizard-slugs’ might refer to Kazrith demons). Given their numbers; the Ahazu-Demons are probably second to Balors in terms of the power of generic demons. Units of Death Knights probably operate in a strike team capacity. The Dusin (also known as the Goro) are possibly the rank and file warrior within Demogorgon’s army (ideally the probably suit in around Level 13 better, converting to Level 21 minions).
- Roll twice ignoring a result of 1 or 8.
- Ahazu-Demons/Gorgants: Undetailed but 20 of these form Demogorgon’s bodyguard in Dance of Demons. Possibly a greater version of the Bar-Lgura or something akin to General Gorgant. Level 30 Brute
- Death Knights: Level 29 Soldier mounted upon Cauchemar Nightmares Level 24 Skirmishers
- Dusin/Goro: Undetailed Crocodile-jawed warrior demons armed with iron weapons. Its possible these are the same as the Goro that have been mentioned. Level 28 Minion Soldier
- Klurichir: Level 28 Soldiers
- Lemorian Lancer: Level 26 Brute each riding a Bodak Tyrannosaur: Level 25 Controller
- Retriever: Level 27 Soldiers
- No Encounter
Fourth Strata: Underlings
Gaping Maw (Aquatic) Random Epic Level Encounters:
- Roll twice ignoring a result of 1 or 8.
- Chuul Juggernaut: Level 23 Elite Soldier
- Hezrou: Level 22 Brute
- Infernal (Astral) Kraken: Level 25 Solo Controller
- Ixitxachitl: Various epic tier vampiric ixitxachitl villains
- Myrmixicus: Level 26 Elite Lurker
- Seszrath: Level 24 Brute
- No Encounter
Screaming Jungle Random Epic Level Encounters:
- Roll twice ignoring a result of 1 or 8.
- Dusin/Goro: Level 20 Soldier
- Howler Terror Incarnate: Level 22 Lurker
- Infernal Girallon: Level 22 Brute
- Nalfeshnee: Level 20 Brute or Level 23 Controller
- Rageborn: Various
- Wendigo Primal Spirit: Level 25 Artillery
- No Encounter
Abysm Fortress Random Epic Level Encounters:
- Roll twice ignoring a result of 1 or 6.
- Balor: Level 27 Elite Brute
- Chaos Beholder: Level 25 Elite Artillery
- Retriever: Level 27 Soldier
- Sibriex Chain Master: Level 25 Elite Controller
- No Encounter
Part Two: Demogorgon Delves, tomorrow
Eternity Publishing 
Alzrius
December 31, 2010
U_K, I wanted to go over some of the numbers presented in this article; they don’t seem to match with what’s presented in the IH: Bestiary (I figured it was fair game to bring this up here, since you referenced it yourself in the article).
Basically, the number of underlings presented for a Demon Prince in (the middle column of) Table D6, p. 52 of the Bestiary initially correspond to the numbers you present here, but this article’s numbers quickly inflate beyond what’s in the table. Let’s go over it line-by-line and compare the Bestiary to what’s here.
There’s a single demon prince, that being Demogorgon; no disagreement with what’s here.
The prince will have 1d6 demon lords. Again, that matches with what’s here; Demogorgon has Abraxas, Dagon, Fraz-Urb’luu, and Mandrillagon.
The prince will have 10d6 demonic champions. Once more, that jives with what’s here; you list them as exarchs, but the 40 listed demonic champions (which consist of Demogorgon’s avatars, minor demon lords, and “true” exarchs) fill this listing.
The prince will have (320 x d6) major demons. Now things start to get tricky; the largest number this can result in is 1,920 major demons. Yet in this article, you grant Demogorgon 4,400 major demons, subdivided as 400 “primary” and 4,000 “secondary.”
This continues as we move down the ladder. A demon prince should have (10,000 x d6) minor demons, or no more than 60,000. However, here you grant Demogorgon 440,000 minor demons, again divided into 40,000 “primary” and 400,000 “secondary.”
It’s the same thing again for the sub-demons. A demon prince should have (320,000 x d6) sub-demons, or no more than 1,920,000. But here Demogorgon has 44,000,000 sub-demons, once more divided into 4,000,000 “primary” and 40,000,000 “secondary.”
Oddly, Table D6 also lists that a demon prince should have (d6 x 2000) auxiliaries (which aren’t ever defined). Contrast this to the 400,000,000 manes that Demogorgon rules over at the end of this article’s count of his servitors.
The big question here is why do the numbers become so different as we move down the chain of command? Is it because of the difference between the Bestiary being 3.5 whereas this article is 4E? Or is it something else altogether?
Finally, how would you compare these numbers (both in the Bestiary and in this article) to those suggested for a deity’s divine retinue in Ascension, since a demon prince is (according to the Bestiary) a lesser deity (and Ascension even uses Baphomet, a demon prince, for the example when calculating divine retinue)?
Upper_Krust
December 31, 2010
Hey Alzrius mate…and thanks for giving me my first post on these forums! :+)
Okay, as you guessed, the figures here are slightly different because of 4E. Basically the tiers were split in half. So you would have:
Heroic Tier (Sub-demons): Level 1-5, L 6-10 monsters
Paragon Tier (Minor Demons): L 11-15, L 16-20 monsters
Epic Tier (Major Demons): L 21-25, L 26-30 monsters
Immortal Tier (Demon Lords): L31-35, L36-40 (typically modified L27-31 Elite, L32-36 Elite)
Reading over Come Endless Darkness and Dance of Demons again it seems that the Demon Monarchs would have armies of several million strong and more importantly, that sub-demons wouldn’t really be counted towards the army numbers. Meaning they’d have millions of minor demons.
Given that 4E Demon Princes are a bit weaker than the Gord the Rogue novel Demon Monarchs, they’d probably have a number of minor demons roughly akin to 110,000 per layer controlled (10,000 primary, 100,000 secondary).
From that we can extrapolate the number of major demons to be 1100 (100 primary and 1000 secondary).
Sub-demons really just comprise the flotsam and jetsam of the Abyss and are more of an irrelevance than anything else. A million lemures might make a decent unit under my new Army Rules. Remember that each layer is basically world sized (or at least continent sized) so tens or even hundreds of millions of lemures make sense as the defacto abyssal population.
As regards Divine Retinues, I’ll be looking to revise those for 4E as well. Baphomet isn’t a Demon Prince in 4E (as I use the term anyway), he’s simply a Demon Lord (Level 28 solo) making him just a Demigod.
Alzrius
December 31, 2010
U_K, thanks for the quick answer. I hope you don’t mind if I keep pressing you for some further clarification (I am, as always, your editor).
You mention that the reason the numbers are so different between the Bestiary and here is the difference between 3.5 and 4E, particularly as you’ve split 4E’s tiers in half and counted each half-tier separately. That said, this article and the Bestiary also use differing multipliers as you work your way down the demonic hierarchy.
The Bestiary posits eight ranks, from demon monarch down to auxiliaries. The numbers increase by a factor of 10 as you go down the ranks, until you hit the “major demon” rank, at which point the numbers increase by a factor of 32 (notwithstanding the auxiliaries, which use their own, much smaller numbers). Given that the auxiliaries don’t really count, and that Demogorgon is a demon prince rather than monarch, he’s only getting five of these eight ranks (since we’re not counting Demogorgon himself), the top two of which are calculated using multiples of 10, and the bottom three of which use multiples of 32.
By contrast, in this article, you’ve also posited eight ranks (by halving the four tiers). However, in this ranking Demogorgon occupies the very top rank, and the bottom-most one isn’t a throw-away like the “auxiliaries” were. Hence, he gets seven ranks (again, we’re not counting Demogorgon himself) with each one increasing by a flat factor of 10.
Thus why the numbers here are so much larger. However, all of this brings me to my main question regarding your response: if the 4E Demonium uses a different system, why did the main “Court of Demogorgon” article bother to reference the IH Bestiary at all? You wrote, “As per the Immortals Handbook: Epic Bestiary (what do you mean you don’t have it?); a Demon Prince should have 1d6 Demon Lords under their thrall; 10d6 Demonic Champions and so on as follows.” However, it is not “and so on as follows”; it’s quite different.
From what I can see, referencing that system here is needlessly confusing. Since the numbering system for the Demonium exists in isolation (that is, it doesn’t tie into other parts of the game system, or anything else for that matter, save possibly for the Gord the Rogue novels you referenced), there’s no reason not to simply recalculate and re-post the new 4E Demonium numbers here, at the top of the article, rather than cite the numbers in the Bestiary which don’t accurately reflect the system you’re now using.
Also, you said “Reading over Come Endless Darkness and Dance of Demons again it seems that the Demon Monarchs would have armies of several million strong and more importantly, that sub-demons wouldn’t really be counted towards the army numbers. Meaning they’d have millions of minor demons.” However, this doesn’t track with either the Bestiary or this article.
As I posted above, the greatest number of minor demons a demon prince would have would be 60,000 (this would be ten times greater for an actual “demon monarch” as per the Bestiary, which it states there is only one such being, but you mentioned demon monarchs as a plural, so I’m assuming you meant “demon princes”) with a much smaller number of greater demons, etc. to add to that. Similarly, in this article, Demogorgon would have just under a half-million minor demons, with smaller numbers of additional major demons, exarchs, etc.
In other words, if you’re attempting to accurately portray the armies of the demon rulers from those books, neither the Bestiary nor what’s in this article are giving us the requisite numbers. Now, to be fair, you do say that the 4E demon rulers aren’t as powerful as those described in the books and so their armies are appropriately smaller. That said, however, if those numbers were never going to track with what’s in the books, I’m not sure why you’d go by what’s in the books at all.
And on a final note… just what the heck are auxiliaries???
Upper_Krust
December 31, 2010
Hello again amigo.
Okay, I see your confusion now. The main problem is that the designations of what constitute the various demonic ranks in 3E (and thus the Bestiary) do not translate well (or at least not exactly) to 4E. Balors were 20 Hit Dice and are now (effectively) Level 31 in 4E.
This article is more 4E centric, but I was wrong to reference the 3E Bestiary herein (even though either set of abyssal army building rules probably work seperately with either system). These rules are a simplified tailoring specifically for 4E. But the main reason for the change is that I just see my original numbers from the Bestiary as wrong. The idea of a mere 2 billion demons in the whole of the Abyss seems a gross mistake. Several trillion seems a lot close to the mark.
However, the end results are actually quite similar looked at in an overall fashion, rather than in specifics. Demogorgon as by the 3E rules would have 100,000 xd6 Minor Demons (averaging 350,000). Whereas in these 4E rules he has 440,000 Minor Demons. So the differences are definately negligable.
Note that the use of x32 (in the 3E Bestiary) was a simplification of the square root of 1000. For 4E I have changed that x32 to x100 (or more specifically x110). You will note of course that in 4E; Sub-demon to Major Demons go from Levels 1-30, whereas in 3E they just went from 1 to 14 Hit Dice. So immediately there is a changed dynamic, especially since in 4E the difference between levels is more pronounced.
I’m not trying to definitively portray abyssal armies from the Gord the Rogue novels as much as I am trying to evoke the idea that those novels were broadly accurate (if that makes sense?). That said, as previously noted, the Demon Monarchs therein were more powerful. I also changed the 3E Demon Princes with the Bestiary…Kabiri was 35 Hit Dice for instance.
Lastly, ‘auxiliaries’ are those attached to the army but not doing the fighting. Those looking after supplies and so forth.
Have I missed anything?
Alzrius
December 31, 2010
Thanks again for the response, U_K. That definitely does shed some light on things, and makes the disparities in the numbers much more understandable.
I have to wonder if, given what you said about the number of demons in the Abyss, and the overall power of Demogorgon (as you noted he’d use the army rules of a demon monarch rather than a “mere” demon prince) if the information on Table D-4: The Demonium (Bestiary p. 52) should be tweaked some; both for numbers and for the idea that the strongest demon in the Abyss would only be an intermediate power?
And, I forgot to say this before, congratulations on getting comments on your new site! ^_^
Upper_Krust
January 1, 2011
As noted in my previous post, I am convinced the Demon Tables in the Bestiary are flawed as regards numbers. I think if we multiply from Demonic Champion downwards by hundreds then we get something a bit closer the mark (and simpler too).
Intermediate Power was always an annoyance (for someone brought up with 1st Edition). I think with 4th Edition things are in many ways ‘back to normality’. I also like the idea that Thor would be (more or less) as powerful as Demogorgon.
If you get too carried away with the numbers game then you could mislead yourself into thinking that a being controlling 666 layers should be more powerful than another being controlling part of a single layer (such as Odin). But the clearer reality is that the Abyss has so many layers because it is Chaotic Evil divided, rather than Chaotic Evil multiplied x666.
Dave
March 8, 2011
Great stuff, of course now I have the strong desire to stat out all of Demogorgon’s “court”
Upper_Krust
March 9, 2011
Thanks Dave,
I’d love to do a Delve adventure for all the Demon Princes. Four encounters per Delve with the fourth encounter being the Demon Prince themselves. With perhaps a Random Encounter table filling in the gaps between the important four Delve encounters. Allowing DMs to run these adventures either as one-shots or as part of a campaign.
Of course this being me, I’ll almost certainly never be able to find the time for such an endeavour. Still, that probably wouldn’t stop me brainstorming up a few such Delves. 😉
William
January 8, 2021
Funny you mention Abraxas…
In our 3.5/Pathfinder campaign (Great Wheel/Planescapes Cosmology)…
1. Thoth (Greater Deity) is an Avatar of Algol/AzaThoth/Xy (Old One), but is unaware of this truth because of Xy’s betrayal by his peers. Long story. If you’re familiar with Gods and Dragons by Palladium, it’s easier to understand.
2. Algol/AzaThoth/Xy (same being) is both insane and slumbers (but knows the truth, even if he can’t articulate it). He remains asleep as long as Thoth remains unaware of the truth.
3. Algol/AzaThoth/Xy is the avatar of Abraxas (Demiurge Stage I), who also slumbers, but is not insane, and also knows the truth.
4. Abraxas, The Demon Prince (Monarch (Lesser Deity)) is an aspect of Abraxas, The Demiurge by way of Algol/AzaThoth/Xy. He has no knowledge of the truth behind Thoth and inexplicably has always hated Thoth for “reasons”. He’s a lesser deity as a result of having been defeated by Thoth in antiquity.
5. My character, an Abomination (Entity (Greater Deity)), is the spawn of Thoth and The Abyss (Shub-Niggurath) and nobody (divine sages mostly) can figure out why he’s an Entity and not a standard Abomination. This has led to much speculation about the nature of Thoth himself.
6. Abraxas, The Demon Prince hates my character, but seeks to use him to undermine Thoth, who my character is willingly (reluctantly) obedient to in spite of his Chaotic Evil nature. (Even demons can love and respect their “wussy” parents. Even if they disagree on many things.)
My character seeks the truth, but has no idea that it could cause the Apocalypse if he were to learn it and reveal it to his father. Fortunately the truth is well hidden and known only to a couple of beings. The Lady of Pain being one. Sandalphon being the other.
William
January 8, 2021
Sorry…Dragons and Gods by Palladium.
I get those two mixed up way too easily.
Upper_Krust
January 10, 2021
Hey William,
well as I recall I included Abraxas amongst the Demon Lords under Demogorgon because Gary Gygax used the name in a few of his books – relating to a Demon Lord. I recommend checking out the Gord the Rogue series if you haven’t already done so.
Abraxas in my kosmology would be a Demiurge of course.
Yes I have Dragons & Gods (by Palladium) its weaker than Pantheons of the Megaverse but has some really interesting art that inspired a few beings in my next book.
William
January 11, 2021
Have that series. I should read it again. It was pretty entertaining.
I find a lot of Palladium stuff inspiring, even if I don’t actually use the system. It has great storytelling and a lot of excellent art. My favorite is the drawing of Thoth. Very sinister. I mine Palladium stuff for ideas.
Will you be doing a write up of Abraxas? I’ve seen a few done before and am curious about your take on him. I know you started one in Gods and Monsters. It gave me a rough idea of his power level.
Upper_Krust
January 13, 2021
Hey William,
Some of my favourite are amongst the Gord the Rogue series.
The Palladium stuff is very imaginative, I should pick up more of their books.
I plan to do a version of Abraxas in the near future, it might not be this next book (and I might have stuff more powerful than Abraxas in this next book – who knows 😉 ) but don’t worry you’ll love the new book when I reveal what its about.