Introduction
James: There can only be One
Freeman: Honourable Mention
Cam: Takin’ it Easy
Source:
Reading List:
Yad Iagnoth – Abyssal Realm
· Keep within the Outer Rifts is the unclaimed realm of Yad Iagnoth. It serves the effective ‘gateway’ to the Qlippoth territories.
· Portals that lead to this realm are hidden within voids and deep crevices, and the realm itself is composed of quasi-formless flesh and slime.
· The sudden appearance of a fanged pit or pocket of poisonous gas is common enough to repel intruders.
· Swamps and seas of cancerous liquid also form across the realm, their fluids filled with intestinal tendrils.
· Huge fleshy structures that seem to float mid-air without support house nesting qlippoths. The largest of these structures damage the fabric of the plane and create holes into others.
· One such whole leads to Tianjing on Golarion, where qlippoths led an invasion millenia in the past (but they were repelled by a celestial host).
· Black stone pillars scatter the realm, carved with ever-changing Qlippoth runes, manipulating and warping the laws of nature in contradictory ways.
· Ancient tales tell of treasures held within them that are beyond the skills of mortals to create. But of course few who ever venture far enough to discover such a thing ever return. And if they do, they return corrupted in some fashion.
· In the center of this realm lies the Vast Scar: a gigantic pit of swirling, hypnotic darkness. It’s oily darkness is semi-sentient, and anyone gazing into succumbs to its corrupting influence.
· The scar is a remnant of Rovagug when he had made his way out of the deepest rifts to destroy the entire Great Beyond.
· The scar is the exact same breadth and shape as the Pit of Gormuz (the location on Golarion where the demiplane The Dead Vault is located. Rovagug’s prison).
Thulgant (Scour Qlippoth)
· Why all the hubbub about Yad Iagnoth? Well the Thulgant built massive hives in this realm, which are the closest thing the deepest rifts have to any form of “civilisation”.
· The hives are filled with petrified or preserved victims and bound slaves.
· Thulgants seek levels of prestige through victims that are more powerful than a rival’s, and a Qlippoth known as an Utukku is employed to draw and attract victims from throughout the universe for capture.
Appearance
· Spider-like with 10 legs, with a clutch of red eyes beneath a “head” covered in writhing tentacles and 3 scorpion-like stingers at their rear end.
· These physical attributes share some of likeness of the progenitor Augnagar.
· (Remember how they eat themselves so fat they can’t move and then cannibalize themselves until they transform into a Thulgant).
Ecology
· Other than nesting in a hive and seeking victims for prestige, the Thulgant spends the majority of its time hunting demons. The nesting and gathering of galleries of petrified victims is a diversion for themselves at best.
· Destroying demonkind and returning the rifts to the Qlippoth is their ultimate goal above all else.
Honourable Mentions
Since Thulgant lore is so simple and sparse, I’ve obviously decided to pad the episode with talk of wicked realms and weirdly dark and alien shit.
Let’s do more with Qlippoths that weren’t given the 2e treatment….yet.
Behimiron
Born from the corruption of death itself (not sure what that is supposed to mean)
Basically a giant titan beetle with a sagging elephant hide over a spiny carapace.
15 ft (4.6m) across, 20 ft (6m) including it’s trunk and antennae. Weighs over 6 tons (5443 kg)
One can succumb to its hideous appearance alone, forced to imagine the trunk digging into their flesh. And the antennae can rot flesh with a simple touch
Behimirons kill living creatures (and preferably demons) and use their bodies as incubators for their young.
And young seems like the wrong word, because they basically each the entrails, muscles and skeleton of their victim, then shed their own trunk and bury it in the hollowed out remains. And within an hour they grow their trunk back and a fully-formed behimiron rises from the corpse.
Dafuq.
Cataboligne
Basically a living siege engine. 16 tons (14515 kg), 30 ft (9.14m) tall and 40 ft (12.2m) long.
Six-legged and has spiked clubs at either end of its body instead of heads or tails.
Spiky growths all along its back and yawning mouth under where it’s belly should be, that constantly drools a flesh-eating poison.
A massive tree-like growth on its back can shoot a concentrated beam of entropic energy.
And you can succumb to the appearance of this thing as well, imagining that your own body is falling to pieces.
They have an incredible urge to destroy object. Toddler-energy personified. Especially effective against demonic fortifications and the like.
For some strange reason, they are non-hostile to proteans. Who in turn gleefully take them on sprees of destruction.
Deinochos
A smaller guy, the Deinochos is about 3 ft (0.9m) and about 120 lbs (54.4 kg).
The have a spiny shell and several hooked legs, and a jawless mouth and ringed by eyes in the dozens.
Succumbing to tis horrible appearance causes a mental numbness that halves your speed.
They attach themselves to other Qlippoth like a remora and telepathically goad the host.
When no host is available, they can turn invisible and burrow to make surprise attacks. But this is about as subtle as they get when hunting.
When the host finds a meal, the Deinochos will detach and feeds and reproduces. The bigger the kill the more powerful new young Deinochos can become from the feeding.
Gorgoros
A serpent-headed beast with multiple tails and three yellow glowing eyes.
A whopping 6,000 lbs (2721.5 kg) at 15 ft (4.6m) in length.
They known for their petrifying gaze that can turn nearly anything into stone.
Succumbing to its appearance is to be unable to avert your gaze or close your eyes.
(It was at this point I realized the “succumbing to a horrific appearance is just following the same trend we noticed with the 2e Qlippoths in their various “Display” abilities.)
They have the power to reshape stone, altering environments and battlefields. Even changing the shape of petrified victims to fit their needs or sick artistic pleasures.
It is thought that the infamous Medusas are the daughters of those who have survived the Gorgoros’ gaze.
The Black pillars mentioned above in Yad Iagnoth are homes to the gorogoros, and they hungrily welcome intruders.
Hydraggon
Aquatic, reptilian Qlippoth with sinuous and coiled bodies, and a gaping, fanged mouth.
Its tongue is forked into 3 tentacles that are capable of manipulating like a human hand.
7 ft (2.1 m) and 200 lbs (91 kg).
They can wield weapons, which looks quite silly, and their attacks can cloud the memories of its victims.
They are found swimming in the River Styx, which is known for its memory-draining properties. But the Hydraggon is immune to such effects.
Its horrific appearance simply causes the observer to become distracted by its writhing tongue tentacles and coiled body.
Utukku
A shapechanging Qlippoth that specializes in building cults designed to remove sinful souls from the mortal cycle of souls.
In its true form it resembles a scaly humanoid about 7 ft (2.1 m) and 200 lbs (91 kg).
It has a single eye surrounded by writhing tentacles where a face ought to be. And its arms end in hand-like suckered tentacles.
Oh and a lizard-y tail and hyena-like legs.
When the Utukku attacks, it siphons away the victim’s humanity (meaning humanoid only, and charisma drain)
And it can replicate the powers of a cleric, accessing abilities from two domains at once from the following: Community, Healing, Nobility, Protection and Repose.
They teach their disciples that rewards for their faith are not to be transformed into an outsider, but be assimilated into the Great Beyond itself.
After death, the souls of faithful in these cults will pass through Pharasma’s judgement and immediately be transformed into Quintessence that bolsters the Outer Rifts. Rather than become Shades/Petitioners which would feed the Demonic legions.
Utukkus are sometimes directly employed by Thulgants to collect victims for their preservation galleries.
Oh, and their horrific appearance makes you staggered. That’s it.
Thognorok
Sentient symbiotes that once live off the flesh of Rovagug himself. They are considered the divine servitors of Rovagug and will directly obey the deity or his powerful priests.
Otherwise they crave divine flesh, and consume anything in their path that leads to it. Since they have such a close connection to Rovagug, they tend to rampage on their own when/if they aren’t under instruction.
The exception is when they gather near planar portals where Rovagug left some aprt of himself behind. They then seek out to achieve whatever goal Rovagug had in that location (likely more wanton destruction).
Like an obscene ooze with spindly, hairy, wriggling legs. It’s like a weirder and more grotesque gibbering mouther.
Clocking in at about 5 ft ((1.5 m) and 200 lbs (91 kg).
Vexenion
Another ooze-like Qlippoth, it resembles a pulsating, blood red, bloated tumor. Muscular tentacles and eyes can quickly sprout and disappear back into its mass.
One of Yamasoth’s most fecund experiments, they feed on their victims by absorbing them and digesting them with acidic fluids. Discarding any remains that can’t be broken down.
Constantly hungry, they can be found wherever there is plenty of prey. And prefer to climb high and drop onto their victims.
They are large in size, but the amorphous nature allows them to squeeze through very tiny spaces, provided they aren’t currently engorged with a meal.
They reproduce via mitosis. When fed thoroughly they will hide away and the outside of their mass hardens, becoming indiscernible from a regular rock formation. It then stews up an internal, rancid amniotic fluid and within 24 hours two vexenions emerge from the cocoon, both retaining all memories of the original.
They might serve as shock troopers or vanguards in Qlippoth armies, gather materials for Yamasoth’s experiments, or sometimes take up company with Nyogoths, which are among the very few creatures that it finds inedible.
They have a sadistic habit of talking about flavors. Asking their victims what their favorites are, and sharing descriptions of their own favorites, all amidst the digestion process.
Iathavos
Outside of the Qlippoth lords themselves, the Iathavos is the most powerful Qlippoth there is.
It is so singularly chaotic, evil and abhorrent that the Outer Rifts only allow a single one to exist at a given time.
A colossal, spherical creature with bat-like wings, red eyes that appear on all sides, and huge claws that dangle below its body.
This is the creature I described that the nyogoths squirm all over its body, eating scraps left over from its kills.
The Iathavos can absorb other creatures and transform them into more Nyogoths (again, considered one of the worst fates an explorer could meet in the Outer Rifts).
It can also fire beams of entropic energy that cause victims to burst into energy, flesh, shadow and smoke.
It is supernaturally stinky, and boasts a bunch of magical abilities, including the ability to shift between various planes of the Great Beyond.
Succumbing to its appearance can permanently blind you and feeble your mind.
And its said that each new incarnation of this creature has slightly varied abilities and powers.
It wages an eternal crusade against demons and mortal sin. Not limiting itself to the Outer Rifts. It will travel to worlds and rid them of all mortals, leaving them bereft of creatures that can commit sin.
These worlds are thoroughly ruined and usually littered with nyogoths that continue to consume every scrap and speck left behind.
It can be summoned by very powerful magic, turning its attention to an entire world. And sometimes the world can defend, repel and banish the Iathavos, but it remembers the world always and has no problem waiting millennia to return and finish what it started.
Should it ever be slain, there is only a short period before the Outer Rifts forms a new incarnation.
There is no childhood or young version. It comes into being fully-grown and with none of the previous Iathavos’ memories. It only retains its hatred for demons and mortal sin.
It’s worth noting that this is a Level 20 creature in 1e, and it says that the longer it hunts and lives it grows more powerful, possibly taking levels in the Sorcerer class as it does.
It is said to lair in the realm known as Akigyiat. Where no Demon or Qlippoth lord has any designs on claiming. Dealing with the Iathavos is simply considered to not be worth it.
Mechanics
Archives of Nethys: https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=3157
Rovagug
Not covered here.
While Rovagug is a Qlippoth. Possible the ultimate Qlippoth, it seems beyond the scope of this production.
The history and story of Rovagug, the Rough Beast goes well beyond just Qlippoths and the Outer Rifts. Involving many deities, and creatures known as Spawn.
The focus here is to cover creatures you would likely encounter in a Qlippoth-based campaign. You will almost assuredly find Rovagug worshipers along the way too. Maybe even be one yourself.