Nomog-Geaya

Nomog-Geaya was the hobgoblin deity of war and authority.

Description
Nomog-Geaya appeared as a powerful, tall hobgoblin with rough, ash-gray skin, cold, orange eyes, and shark-like teeth.

Personality
Nomog-Geaya exemplified the traits associated with and admired by hobgoblins; he was brutal and pitiless but also stoic and courageous. The only expression he was ever stated to display was that of a grim despot with a stiff upper lip, his dour countenance remaining unchanged even when injured. He was quiet, speaking only when something had to be said, a part of why he was said to be one of the greatest commanders of the planes. He was disgusted by weakness and cowardice yet he was not unbearably egotistical, being aware of his own capabilities and able to recognize greater authorities.

Despite having some considerably noble traits however, the merciless general was still the Torturer, a sadistic entity said to have mastered the art of pain. He was a fairly unpleasant individual to be around with such unsavory habits as consuming the cooked flesh of vanquished foes.

Powers
Of Maglubiyet's servants, Nomog-Geaya was likely the most powerful in terms of individual might, one of the toughest among them and immune to strength-draining magic. Befitting a god that promoted fearlessness and ferocity, he was also immune to magic that sowed terror and despair.

Possessions
Nomog-Geaya's iconic weapons were his broadsword and handaxe with which he slashed his enemies with astonishing speed. Both were enchanted but while the broadsword possessed the wounding property, the handaxe inflicted those it struck with an effect similar to a symbol of pain.

Divine Realm
Like most of the goblinoid pantheon, Nomog-Geaya dwelt on the first layer of Acheron, Avalas, on the goblin barracks of the planes that was the floating metal cube of Clangor. He supposedly commanded his hobgoblins to settle a giant mesa known as Redspike, turning it into a giant tower to serve as their greatest city in Clangor.

Activities
Nomog-Geaya was Maglubiyet's war general, responsible for leading the goblinoid legions, although he was particularly responsible for and interested in ensuring the survival, expansion and continued discipline of the hobgoblin race.

Relationships
Nomog-Geaya was perhaps Maglubiyet's most valuable subordinate, likely more than the he knew. Maglubiyet was aware that Nomog-Geaya's philosophy was similar to his own, hence why he allowed him continued dominion over hobgoblins, and also appreciated that he was a skilled warlord without the power needed to make him a threat to his reign. However, though he would never believe it, Nomog-Geaya had no intent to overthrow his master, aware that Maglubiyet's work was too much for him to handle himself.

At the same time, the General wasn't necessarily absolute in his loyal to Maglubiyet, for while it was unclear if he resented his paranoid master, he was aware that he prevented him and the other members of the pantheon from becoming stronger to cement his own position, thus stopping him from reaching what he believed to be his true potential. Though he wouldn't dare challenge his master as things were, if the hobgoblins did begin rejecting Maglubiyet of their own accord and worshiping only their own gods, Nomog-Geaya would be faced with a difficult decision.

Subordinates
Often portrayed as his second-in-command, the goblinoid god Bargrivyek was one that incited hatred and revulsion, albeit thinly constrained, from Nomog-Geaya for his relative weakness and cowardly demeanor. The Peacekeeper, as he was called, was terrified of Nomog-Geaya's wrath, leaping to his every fulfill his every order to avoid it, none of which helped improve the image the General had of him. Though he would quickly destroy him if given the chance and would have placed someone else in his position if he could, Bargrivyek was the only hobgoblin deity left after Maglubiyet's murder of the rest of the hobgoblin pantheon, and even if he could find a replacement, Bargrivyek's position was secure so long as Maglubiyet sanctioned it.

But while Bargrivyek had earned Nomog-Geaya's contempt, it was the god below the Peacekeeper, Khurgorbaeyag, that was the General's true rival, a being he also regarded with barely contained disgust. Leaders of the goblins and hobgoblins respectively, Khurgorbaeyag competed with Nomog-Geaya to earn Maglubiyet's favor, so it fell to Bargrivyek to play diplomat between these forces.

Worshipers
As patron deity of hobgoblins, he was second only to Maglubiyet in hobgoblin religion and his symbol was a crossed broadsword and handaxe.

History
While there was once an entire pantheon of hobgoblin gods, Maglubiyet massacred the rest, so long ago that their names had been lost to time, and Nomog-Geaya and Bargrivyek were the only ones to remain.

Circa, hobgoblins and their dwarven slaves constructed a gigantic statue to Nomog-Geaya, in the Gorge of Nomog-Geaya the Warrior, at the mouth of the River Ith. The gorge became a gathering place for hobgoblin tribes for three centuries. The idol was destroyed in by Calishite armies.

Background
Nomog-Geaya was first detailed in Roger E. Moore's article "The Humanoids: All About Kobolds, Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Gnolls" in Dragon #63, 1982. Later, Nomog-Geaya was detailed in the book Monster Mythology (1992), which included details about his priesthood. His role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996).