Yugoloth

Yugoloths, which were also often called daemons or nicknamed loths, ) were neutral evil fiends native to the Blood Rift. They were neutral in the affairs of the other fiendish races, interfering only when they saw a situation that might be profitable or a potential for the advancement of their own schemes. The yugoloths were manipulative, secretive, and mercenary by nature, often acting as soldiers for deities in their own private wars, or even at times aiding both sides of the Blood War.

"Fear the baatezu: They are cold and cunning disciplinarians. Fear the tanar’ri: They are brutal, bloodthirsty killers.

But most of all, fear the yugoloths: They are masks of mystery, and no matter how many layers of skin you peel away, you will never know how many still lie between you and the true, face."

- The Unnamed

Description
Many mortals suspected that the yugoloth race as a whole had undergone some form of cross-breeding or otherworldly mutation simply because of the utterly bizarre nature of their appearances at times. The variation between castes was unpredictable; the form above and below a yugoloth could be completely alien to their present form and possibly not even seem alive. One common factor between the different types was that they usually smelt of brimstone and, in their natural forms, left faint ash trails unless making a conscious effort not to. Another shared trait was that the daemons combined some physical features of both demons and devils.

Personality
Yugoloths were possibly the most selfish beings in the multiverse, entities of such bottomless greed that the possibility of unimaginable torture wasn't enough to stem their unending cupidity. Said to be the personifications of avarice, the yugoloths were infamous for backstabbing when presented with greater payment than was given by their previous patrons. Naturally, such self-serving beings were also quarrelsome, regularly bickering and perfectly willing to rip each other to pieces and sell one another out. They gleefully caused pain and misery to those around them, often taking the opportunity to indulge in their violent instincts but always acting in their own best interests.

"What's in it for me?"

- What a yugoloth often said upon being asked to do something

Deception
Perhaps more than their rapacity, the yugoloths were known for being perhaps the greatest deceivers in reality, ruling through trickery, bluffs and misdirection with such masterfully refined skills of manipulation that even devils could be made to seem like foolish mortal children. The webs of intrigues the daemons crafted were so vast that few could escape, with even powerful immortals sometimes being ensnared and with many not even being aware they were part of the scheme. Conversely, just as the machinations of yugoloths could be immeasurably wide they could also seem unfathomably deep.

The yugoloths were experts in the art of creating wheels within wheels, weaving multilayered plans and, just when they seemed to be defeated, turning the tables and revealing that everything was going according to plan. Their instincts regarding reading expressions and deciphering intentions meant that even when one believed that they had procured their secrets, there was a fair likelihood that, whether true or false, the daemons wanted them to believe that. With plots so complex and yet utterly simple, the daemons actually getting caught was a rare occurrence, although it nonetheless happened and when it did the yugoloths brushed it off as a fluke.

But just as speculation ran wild in regards to the yugoloths, they themselves downplayed their involvement in most events, able to raise enough reasonable doubt that an accuser would end up doubting themselves. Only the most paranoid and cynical beings in existence with the time, which would normally require one to be immortal, and resources to delve into their motives would be capable of finding of figuring the various master schemes of the yugoloth race. The yugoloths were fully aware of their reputation for dishonesty, which, when combined with their intuitive sense of what their opposition could be thinking, could easily result in their opponent becoming plagued by indecision and uncertainty. No matter how many levels down into deception one was, even if it might seem absurd in most situations, there was still the possibility that the yugoloths might have placed them there on purpose.

"Move along. We're not the fiends you're looking for."

- An arcanaloth playing mind games with a mortal

The simplest possible approach to dealing with yugoloths, aside from driving oneself insane from the multilevel conspiracies, was simply not to trust a word they said. Carefully watching every syllable they uttered from a distance, so as to avoid getting personally wrapped up in the schemes, was the safest way to deal with them, hoping that a certain line could give away the truth, that they would make a mistake and contradict each other, or that their pride wouldn't allow them to keep the secret. They kept to their word only when it benefited them to do so and constantly defied their superiors for extra power, superiors who themselves had several cons in motion to better themselves at the expense of their kin.

Contributing to the deceptive nature of the yugoloths was their individualistic nature and unpredictable behavioral patterns. Most of the time they simply manipulated their foes, but their levels of civility towards a random stranger could range from wanton murder to unbridled praise. They held demonic levels of spiteful wrath and devilish degrees of calculated cruelty. Their evil was the opposite of other fiends and yet paradoxically included both methods of their more ethically extreme counterparts. They were both devious and direct, intelligent and impetuous, acting with civility when others showed savagery and, sometimes, offered a gentle hand where others employed an iron fist. Always keeping their true feelings and thoughts shrouded, daemons were, perhaps more than any other fiend the most difficult to understand.

Perfection
"Do you honestly think we believe ourselves evil? My friend, we seek only good. It's just that our definitions don't quite match."

- Ailanreanter the Arcanaloth The core driving principle behind the yugoloths, possibly the best way to understand them, was their relationship towards the concept of evil. In the minds of the yugoloths, evil was perfection, although obviously to them, what was considered evil by ordinary standards wasn't actually wrong. Though many claimed to desire perfection, the yugoloths believed that their weak philosophies and permission of mistakes tainted their view, and that only they pursued true perfection. The petty considerations of law and chaos were meaningless to them, distractions that prevented consideration of the possibilities of pure evil.

Accordingly, the daemons perceived themselves as above the demons and devils that were corrupted by such a dichotomy to ridiculous extremes, and vainly thought of themselves as the only "true" fiends. Supposedly, according to themselves anyway, the daemons were beings of unmitigated evil, so filled with its essence that they were hopelessly beyond redemption. Just as they praised the virtues of evil, yugoloths unabashedly despised the "virtues" of good, and went out of their way to quash and crush even the smallest sparks of it whenever possible. Befitting their philosophical outlook, yugoloths acted with sociopathic self-interest, viewing themselves as the chessmasters in a grand game and seeing all other beings as pieces to be moved where it best suited them. The multiverse was their board and even if other yugoloths could see the pieces, they were all pawns nonetheless.

In their pursuit of perfect evil, yugoloths also drove themselves to be totally emotionless, seeking to exemplify the dispassionate evil best exemplified in the Gray Wastes. The lack of emotion, however wasn't to be mistaken for a lack of understanding of it, since emotion was a valuable tool that could be manipulated to their advantage. Instead, the yugoloths sought to reach a state of unfeeling, high-functioning psychopathy, with the ability to operate with cold logic and hard intuition to best bring about their desires. Pride and honor were liabilities and trust was unreliable, being abused was not to provoke anger and the primal emotions of greed and jealousy were to be replaced with unfeeling ambition for evermore power.

Of course, those were just the virtues of the race, their view of what it meant to be strong, and like many idealists, the yugoloths themselves often couldn't live up to them. Yugoloths as high as arcanaloths had, according to certain celestials, had their deeply repressed emotions brought to surface, and presumably yugoloths of higher station manipulated the feelings of their lower brethren to comparatively lesser degrees of complexity. It was said that even a daemon of such high station as an oinoloth could "devolve" and be made to feel emotions once again, although in the one potential case the emotion was hatred towards a rival yugoloth for their treachery.

Similarly, the yugoloth claim that they had rid themselves of law and chaos was, as one might expect, a lie, or at the very least a half-truth. Though it might once had been the case that the yugoloths had purged themselves of such things, modern yugoloths were nonetheless susceptible to the concepts, the tyrannical piscoloths for example being stained by the impurity of law. Even more surprisingly, despite flaunting the notion of being purely evil, it was possible for even an ultroloth to find redemption and seek to do good, although it was likely a safe decision to assume that no yugoloth ever would.

Abilities
Spell-like abilities common to yugoloths, although not necessarily possessed by all members, included invisibility, darkness, detect magic and dispel magic, along with the less common powers of alter self and charm person or suggestion]. Other supernatural abilities included telepathic communication several dozen feet away, the power to flawlessly teleport from place to place and the ability to summon others of their kind to varying degrees of success.

Trying to use acid or poison, let alone fire against the Gehennan natives, did nothing to a yugoloth besides potentially amusing them. They were resistant to magic and unenchanted weapons were practically useless, but it was said that silvered weapons could harm them. Although reports varied on its actual effectiveness, ranging from heavy resistance to surprising vulnerability, electricity and gases were said to harm yugoloths more effectively than other methods and cold was particularly deadly.

Combat
Yugoloths were as fierce as they were focused, generally choosing one opponent to attack until they were defeated before moving on to their next enemy. Raised in a culture of bluffs and uncertainty, they normally used their most powerful spell-like abilities and attacks as soon as possible, even if it wasn't obvious what they were up against, rather than save their power for later.



An important element to take note of when yugoloths were fighting was their fickle, selfish attitudes. Despite being predisposed to enjoy violence, yugoloths fought primarily for their own betterment and had a completely mercantile approach to combat, gladly turning on their allies for the right price.

This lack of loyalty was also why gating in others of their kind was a risky tactic for them, since their kin likely wouldn't take well to such peremptory summons. Factoring in their level of strength relative to the one that summoned them, there was about a 25% chance that the summoned yugoloth would turn on their summoner to aid their enemy, with fairly good chances of a betrayal if the two were of similar strength. Afterwards, the traitor would attempt to glean some kind of reward for its assistance.

Warfare
Daemons were less efficient formation warriors than devils, capable of fighting as a team but doing so purely for their own personal advancement and with less regimentation than an infernal legion. At the same time, they were more organized than demons, kept in line by a strong leader that gave their units more cohesion than an abyssal horde. In a way, this could make them scarier fighting force than both, since unlike certain devils they were capable of acting independently in battle, but unlike demons they could also coordinate their actions, a major part of their success.

Common mercenary company units included a few hundred mezzoloths, some scores of dhergoloths and a couple of piscoloths to keep them under control, although sometimes there were bands of a hundred or so hydroloths with the one closest to advancement placed as leader.

Society
Yugoloths operated in an advanced, societal system focused on enhancing the evil of its members and that encouraged a direct line of progress towards their end goals. Though many yugoloths had some form of personal lives, all of which they had to grudgingly put aside at the demands of their superiors, there was speculation that the race was evolving into some singular organism, although others dismissed this as a childish notion and viewed them merely as a collection of "cooperating" individuals.

In theoretical structure, yugoloth society was simplistic and feudal, a hierarchy of fiefdoms and outlined territories. In practice however, it was nowhere near as stable as that arrangement might sound, filled with the byzantine schemes one might expect from a race of disloyal deceivers. Despite technically having a leader and sharing the goal of bringing perfection to reality, there was no unified idea on what that perfection actually was. As such, yugoloths were fiercely divided and constantly took part in factional warfare, each fighting to bring their idea of the perfect evil to dominion. If this degenerated into a physical matter, a simple duel could turn into an all-out faction war where multiple cabals, along with subordinates and allies, fought in a chaotic brawl until afterwards the remaining fiends realigned, with most of them unaware of who was really on who's side.

True to its feudal form, daemon society was based on a caste system, although one based on unorthodox principles. A yugoloth's rank wasn't based purely on their physical strength, with several yugoloths of higher station being easily defeated by those several leagues lower, but neither was it based on raw intellectual greatness. Instead, the center of yugoloth culture was based on a yugoloth's ability to bluff, to be cunning and manipulative rather than domineering and heavy-handed. The hierarchy taught those within it to achieve their goals by ruling from the shadows, using those of greater strength, whether physical or mental, to obtain and maintain more influence for themselves.

The bluff was how weaker yugoloths of higher station compelled those of lower status to fall in line, and by convincing their lessers of their greater power, as well as that of the hierarchy, yugoloths of greater rank quashed descent and reinforced the fearsome nature of the hierarchy in a feedback loop of fear. That in mind, their societal structure wasn't completely based on lies, otherwise it would completely collapse the moment that it was tested, and ruling yugoloths typically possessed some way of backing up their word if their bluffs were called. At the same time, the method of doing this was often just another bluff, as the dominant daemon used increasingly greater threats until the servitor either relented or fully rebelled, prompting their superior to use everything at their disposal to force them back into line.

Castes
Yugoloths were typically split into two categories: greater and lesser, based on the prior principles. Greater yugoloths were ruling officers and policy-makers responsible for guiding the race's decision while maintaining their reign through intimidating presence and lethal power, magical or mundane. Lesser yugoloths were rank-in-file servitors, tools to bring the visions of the elite to reality and that served for the faint promise that with power, cunning, intelligence and diligence, they too could ascend to greatness. Such yugoloths had little free will and rarely knew the schemes of the greater yugoloths, simply moving like pawns where they were ordered to. This distinction, between free-willed chooser and unwilling tool, was the crucial difference between the greater and lesser caste.

However, it was also argued that there was a third caste of yugoloth, least yugoloths, entities that were typically classified as being creations designed to serve a specific purpose. Such daemons weren't considered true yugoloths, but former yugoloths could potentially be demoted into them as a form of punishment and would lose all perceived status as members of the yugoloth race. A common factor between those proposed to fit in this caste, namely guardian yugoloths and canoloths, was that they were incapable of rebellion. In the formers' case this was due to essentially being living constructs incapable of independent, albeit intelligent, thought, and in the latter's a result of being too stupid.

On the opposite side of the spectrum were the yugoloth lords, the unique masters of the race that didn't belong to any caste. Some held official positions in the hierarchy like the Oinoloth, while others rose to prominence some other way like the altraloths. Being a yugoloth lord didn't necessarily have a transformation attached to it and some of them were just powerful entities that otherwise had little to do with yugoloths, such as fallen solars or otherwise displaced archfiends.

Least Yugoloths

 * Battleloth: Created for war, battleloths were yugoloths that served as literal tools which could take on the forms of various weapons.
 * Canoloth: The "dogs" of the yugoloth race, canoloths existed as a punishment caste and served as guard dogs, retrievers, hunting hounds and pets.
 * Guardian daemon: Guardian daemons were created by real yugoloths to act as lesser servants for their mortal allies, and to serve in their stead when powerful wizards tried to summon them.
 * Skeroloth: Like canoloths, the pathetic skeroloths were a punishment caste, the simpering, unintelligent insectoids being unwillingly charged with spying, thieving and infiltration.
 * Voor: Hulking brutes sometimes specifically bred for certain tasks, voors were unerringly loyal monstrosities used as guardians, protectors, bodyguards, and enforcers for powerful fiends.

Lesser Yugoloths

 * Mezzoloth: The most common kind of yugoloths, mezzoloths resembled four-armed, bipedal insects and served as rank-and-file grunts in yugoloth mercenary companies.
 * Dhergoloth: Larger insectoid warriors of only slightly higher rank than mezzoloths, dhergoloths essentially served the same role as brutish foot soldiers.
 * Piscoloth: Piscine, sergeant yugoloths of domineering demeanor, piscoloths often worked together in small groups, tasked with trying to maintain order in yugoloth mercenary companies.
 * Hydroloth: Amphibious assault troops that inhabited the River Styx unharmed, hydroloths were elite fighters that specialized in ambush strikes and underwater missions, as well as retrieving things lost underwater.
 * Yagnoloth: The misshapen minor lords of the yugoloth race and most hated of their kind, yagnoloths were responsible for maintaining yugoloth provinces and lorded over all lesser yugoloths as well as some greater yugoloths.
 * Merrenoloth: Skeletal boatmen of the River Styx, merrenoloths were the most specialized yugoloths and those closest to becoming greater yugoloths, acting as free agents that ferried passengers throughout the lower planes via the River of Blood.

Greater Yugoloths

 * Nycaloth: Least of the greater yugoloths, nycaloths served as both combatants and observers, fighting on the battlefield as an elite flying force and watching the war efforts before reporting their findings to those above them.
 * Arcanaloth: The civilized record-keepers of the yugoloths, arcanaloths masterfully crafted contracts with mortals and other fiends alike, deciding which forces to delegate where and when and how much to charge for their services in order to ensure the success of yugoloth goals.
 * Ultroloth: Enigmatic visionaries and masterminds of the yugoloth race, ultroloths determined the course their kind would take to achieve their despicable ends, ruling over the mercenary companies and others through fear and shadowy manipulation.

Yugoloth Lords

 * Altraloth: Made from yugoloths of any type, altraloths were fiends who, either for their needs or those of the witches, entered a deal with night hags that would enhance them, some using their newfound powers to master over other yugoloths and others doing as they pleased independent of their kin.
 * Baernoloth: Sometimes classified as greater yugoloths, baernoloths were supposedly the primal champions of evil who created the yugoloths, although in recent times they scoffed at their schemes and had little to do with their society besides allegedly giving advice to certain ultroloths.
 * Oinoloth: Despite being the ruler of Khin-Oin and nominal leader of the yugoloth race, responsible for uniting the fractured cultural elements of their society, the Oinoloth spent most of their time simply playing factions off each other trying to prevent them from turning to him.

Miscellaneous Yugoloths

 * Corruptor of fate: Stealthy and cunning manipulators of luck, corruptors of fate were philosophical bringers of misfortune and murder that often worked under yugoloth patrons as assassins.
 * Echinoloth: Rear echelons of the yugoloth armies, echinoloths were bizarre yugoloth amalgamations of squids and starfish that mopped up, or in other words, devoured, remaining soldiers on the battlefield.
 * Gacholoth: Infiltrators and saboteurs, gacholoths were four-legged horrors that waited to betray their supposed masters and reveal their true loyalties, their terrorist tactics and deceit sometimes granting them minor positions of power among daemons.
 * Raavasta: Expert deal-makers that caused chaos to divert from their schemes, raavastas were sly, fox-headed humanoids thought to be descended from arcanaloths.

Promotion
Like that of the devils, a comparison neither appreciated, the yugoloth way of life was defined by their caste, and most of their kind spent their lives learning the skills and information needed to progress to the next stage. The scheming was even more subtle than baatezu conspiracies since their politics were normally kept mental and verbal, and there was no way to tell when a particularly brutal leader was placed in charge to test the loyalty of those below. Those that did have the willpower, as well as skill, to best their superiors could be promoted, so in a sense, the entire life of a yugoloth could be regarded as one massive test.

However, unlike that of the devils, the yugoloth hierarchy wasn't a complicated web in and of itself, filled with lateral promotions and multiple points of progressions. Comparing it to the demonic system would also be flawed since there was still a structure for the daemons to follow. Instead, yugoloths had to walk a straightforward line of advancement with no shortcuts or alternate paths, with the exception of demotions. Neither good record nor burning ambition could allow them to skip stages and every rank had to do their time, a time which could last centuries if not millennia. Not every yugoloth had the patience or will to go through the process and some were content to stay at their current level.

Despite the caste system placing different yugoloth types in a direct chain-of-command, yugoloths of the same caste were relatively equivalent. By proving their merit, yugoloths could receive special notice, and members of each type struggling to prove themselves worthy of such attention, certain that rising in the ranks would problems would be solved. However, each yugoloth class was dominated and controlled to some extent by the strongest and smartest members of their type, and ascending to the next caste only made a noteworthy yugoloth of lower caste an ordinary member of a higher caste, so the cycle of distinguishment before homogenization repeated itself over and over with greater complexity each time.

The actual process of promotion was a perilous affair and whether or not promotion was received on a few factors, all based on if the daemon in question was mastering the art of "yugolothness". The candidate had to possess a record indicating an excellent streak of service in their current rank, as well as truly believe in the necessity of pure evil ruling reality. Finally, each yugoloth caste had a special lesson inherent to it that members had to learn in order to advance to the next stage, each of which were designed to teach the members about, in the yugoloth view, what it truly meant to have power.

Relations
"The Blood War is but a game, its armies merely our pieces."

- Ailanreanter the Arcanaloth Despite their usefulness, neither the baatezu or tanar'ri particularly wanted to make use of the daemonic forces as a result of their treacherous habits. The mercenaries never agreed to any deal that forbade them from switching sides, and yet both sides had to use them since either side ignoring them would cause the daemons to gravitate to the other, giving their rivals an exclusive advantage. Because of this, both demonic and devilish armies were often given war chests of some kind to try and incite betrayal from opposing yugoloth forces, leading to a complicated back and forth where the war chests were fought over, disguised, trapped or replaced with decoys.

The yugoloths presented themselves as simply greedy mercenaries, willing to sell their services to both sides, while behind that public face, the members of their highest castes viewed the entire course of the conflict as their own thing to control and manipulate until they decided to end it, unify the Fiendish Planes, and turn their attention to the planes of Good.

The Weeping War
In, a group of Netherese arcanists summoned a trio of nycaloths (Aulmpiter, Gaulguth, and Malimshaer) to test the defenses of the elven realm of Cormanthyr. The nycaloths, who served Malkizid and became known as the Khovanilessa (which meant the "Trio Nefarious"), caused a great deal of damage before Cormanthyr's high mages succeeded in imprisoning them with epic magic.

Unfortunately for Cormanthyr, the prison did not hold forever. In 708 DR, the flight of the elven-raised red dragon Garnetallisar over the realm inadvertently fulfilled one of the conditions of their release, weakening the magical barrier enough that a gnoll shaman could summon them. The Trio quickly moved to exact vengeance on the elves, raising the Army of Darkness and invading northern Cormanthyr in 711 DR, sparking the Weeping War. The next year, the Army of Darkness crushed a force of Harpers at Twilight. Garnetallisar struck back, causing some damage but vanishing in the midst of the fight.

The war raged on. In 713 DR, Cormanthyran forces killed Gaulguth and Malimshaer, but the Army continued to advance on Myth Drannor; its citizens began to evacuate. Taking advantage of the war, drow forces attacked and recaptured the Twisted Tower.

The war ended in disaster for the elves in 714 DR, when Myth Drannor fell. The only good that came out of this came when Captain Fflar Starbrow Melruth slew Aulmpiter, the final member of the Trio Nefarious. The seat of power in Cormanthyr returned to the Elven Court, and the nation was barred to non-elves.

War of the Spider Queen
The ultroloth Inthracis mustered the majority of his army at the behest of Vhaeraun to kill Lolth's Yor'thae, thus preventing her elevation to greater power. He and his army failed in their task, and Inthracis himself was killed by Pharaun Mizzrym but was resurrected using one of his Stasis clones that he kept on the Blood Rift.

Notable Yugoloths

 * Anthraxus The Oinoloth, briefly usurped by Mydianchlarus.
 * Bubonix. A former arcanaloth, later the master of the Tower of Incarnate Pain.
 * Charon. The ruler of the marraenoloths, ferryman of the River of Blood.
 * Inthracis. An ultroloth necromancer master of Corpsehaven.
 * Kexxon. An Oinoloth, that acted as the Archgeneral of the Blood Rift.
 * Malkizid: Formerly a solar serving the Seldarine, Malkizid was later both an exiled archdevil and a lord of yugoloths.
 * Mydianchlarus was briefly the Oinoloth, ruler of the Wasting Tower of Khin-Oin.
 * Taba. One of the greatest spies and thieves in the Fiendish Planes, Taba could appear as any sort of fiend. She used her abilities primarily to acquire wealth.
 * Typhus. Resembling a hunch-backed mezzoloth, Typhus was a powerful general who commanded an army known as the Infernal Front.
 * Tyranthraxus: A bodiless spirit of possession and flame.
 * Xengahra: An outcast yugoloth who became a living personification of hopelessness. He superficially resembleed a solar.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Faces of Evil: The Fiends
 * It's All in the Blood
 * Curse of Strahd
 * Novels
 * Resurrection
 * Computer Games
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds
 * Computer Games
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds

Connections
Yugoloth