Nomog-Geaya

Nomog-Geaya was the hobgoblin god of warfare and authoritarianism, an iron-fisted deity who handled matters of militant conquest in the goblinoid pantheon. Powerful warrior and dangerous warlord, Nomog-Geaya was an oppressive entity that brought pain to both his patron race and their enemies, whether on or off the battlefield.

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
Generally speaking, Nomog-Geaya was a feared and respected being throughout the planes despite only being a lesser god. He 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 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
Nomog-Geaya was worshiped often and greatly by the hobgoblins, both in their every day lives and in more notable ways. Idols of him, along with standards and flags bearing his visage or symbol, a broadsword and handaxe crossed, were always to be bowed to or saluted except in the case of emergencies. Almost all hobgoblins sought to emulate their deity in his coldness and tyrannical nature, and his priests were truly fanatical in their oath to show no emotion. Even during the process of torture, laughing in public could have strict and costly consequences up to execution. His clerics were so rigidly disciplined that they were totally unaffected by attempts to make them laugh and didn't respond to displays of emotion, to such a point that they resisted even magical enchantment.

In many ways, hobgoblin society measured the worth of its members by how much pain they could inflict and endure, and both the chieftains and shamans were known to undergo ritual trials by torture to see which one could withstand the most pain and thus who was worthy of their positions. While hobgoblin priests didn't attempt to prompt violence against goblins, they preached that they were undoubtedly superior to them, and indeed many other humanoids. In fact, hobgoblin priests encouraged just as much slavery and torture as their goblin counterparts, and did so to goblins, orcs, kobolds, humans and demihumans alike, viewing them all as worthless inferior humanoids and particularly disliking the more undisciplined races like the goblins.

Humans and other demihumans were the best candidates for ritual torture but dwarves (and to a lesser extent gnomes) were slightly less so, as they at least had some majority element of lawful behavior to them. Elves on the other hand were "heretical", an unfortunate anathema to everything hobgoblins stood for, and hobgoblin shamans were quick to denounce the emotional creatures and their disgusting, chaotic way of living. Priests of Nomog-Geaya declared that elves were to be immediately slain without ceremony since they were useless at best and dangerous at worst.

Rituals and Duties
Once per year at midwinter in underground temples, hobgoblins were known to conduct mass torture, worship rituals on non-hobgoblins. Nomog-Geaya's priests took part in various other ceremonies and rituals imitating the General, such as officiating gristly after-battle feasts where they consumed their cooked enemies. Other responsibilities included martial training, strategic planning and battlefield tactics. They also had rivalries with the shamans of Khurgorbaeyag, the Overseer's goblin shamans teaching their race that goblins had to fight harder in Acheron since hobgoblin petitioners were slothful and clumsy while the General's hobgoblin shamans argued it was the hobgoblins who had it worse due to the goblin petitioners being weak and treacherous.

The priests of Nomog-Geaya were no less dangerous in terms of martial skill than mundane counterparts, trained in the combined use of longswords and axes (either handaxes or battleaxes). They typically donned iron or steel armor, normally banded mail, and with all but their eyes covered by great helmets. Their magic was frequently used to harm rather than heal, with them gaining access to spells like ray of enfeeblement or symbol of pain, as well as dominating spells such as command.

Nomog-Geaya sent his avatars to deal with matters regarding the discipline of hobgoblins, but it was possible to manipulate them into conflicting with goblins. Otherwise, he sent omens in the form of involuntary phrases, uttered by the torture victims of his hobgoblin priests. The favored animal of Nomog-Geaya was the carnivorous ape, it being considered a compliment to "fight like an ape", implying great savagery. The bright, glossy red that was the holy color of Nomog-Geaya, as one would expect, represented blood.

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).

Connections
Nomog-Geaya