Demogorgon

Demogorgon, also known as the Prince of Demons, was a powerful demon lord and lesser deity. The self-proclaimed title "Prince of Demons" was won by virtue of power and influence; many demons challenged it but none could defeat Demogorgon and claim it.

Description
The demon towered a full 18 feet (5.5 meters) in height, his body at once sinuous like that of a snake and powerful like that of a great ape. Two baleful baboon heads, with blue and red faces similar to mandrils' heads, leered from atop his lumbering shoulders, from which writhed two long tentacles. His lower torso was saurian, like some great reptile with blue-green, scaly skin. He had an immense forked tail.

Personality
Each of Demogorgon's head had its own name and personality. One was named Aameul while the other was named Hethradiah (sometimes referred to as Hathradiah). The two heads warred with each other. Aameul relished deception, while Hethradiah relished destruction.

Abilities
Demogorgon preferred to avoid direct conflict, instead using magic to help his servants. Demogorgon could hypnotize with a gaze or drive creatures around him to terror and insanity just at the sight of him. His whip-like tail had the ability to drain the life energy right out of a living foe. His tentacles inflicted a withering disease that caused living creatures to rot away in an effect similar to that of cause disease. Rotted limbs and bodies could only be cured if spells such as remove disease were cast very quickly. He was extremely resistant to magic.

An accomplished spellcaster, Demogorgon was capable of innately casting a number of spells, including, but not restricted to, detect magic, dispel magic, fear, feeblemind, major image, project image, and telekinesis. Unlike other demons, Demogorgon was capable of plane shifting.

Demogorgon was comfortable underwater.

Divine Realm
Demogorgon lived on the 88 layer of the Abyss, known as the Gaping Maw. This was a layer consisting of a great sea of briny water broken by tall, sharp, ugly, rocky promontories. Demogorgon's palace, called Abysm, consisted of two twin towers roughly shaped like tightly coiled serpents, crowned at the top with skull-shaped minarets. The two towers were linked by a bridge near the top. Most of the fortress lay underwater beneath the towers. The reefs and caverns near the fortress were home to aboleth, kraken, and ixitxachitls, which constantly warred with each other and worshiped Demogorgon in his palace above.

Demogorgon also kept a fortress in the bog of the Gaping Maw called Ungorth Reddik. This was where he housed his armies of hezrous, aboleths, scrags, skum, and ichythoid creatures. The fortress was guarded by unusual retrievers, golems, and other evil constructs. Demogorgon was also served by abyssal marauders.

The only significant landmass of the layer was a vast continent covered in tropical jungles. Here, Demogorgon's capital city of Lemoriax was located.

Activities
Demogorgon conducted several experiments in his realm. He was credited with the creation of retrievers and with the turning of the first death knight. He also invented a plague known as scalepox cloud, a series of clouds of mist that roamed both Gaping Maw and the guttering Grove.

Cult of Demogorgon
Demogorgon's cult was relatively small compared to "true" deities, but much larger than those of most fiends. He was worshiped by the intelligent manta ray race known as ixitxachitls, who drew power from the Abyss itself in order to become more powerful spellcasters. In turn, vital energy drained by vampiric ixitxachitls was transferred directly to Demogorgon via an unknown Abyssal mechanism.

Demogorgon's other worshipers included troglodytes, kuo-toa, and other humanoids, particularly evil humans. His cult prospered in times of chaos and caused great destruction wherever it was found. Temples to Demogorgon were split in half, with one side representing Aameul and the other representing Hethradiah. Demogorgon's domains were Chaos, Corruption, Demonic, and Evil. His symbol was that of a forked tail, often wrapped around a skull or sword.

In the late 15 century DR, as a result of a vision of the demon lord in the Darklake, a faction of the kuo-toa of Sloobludop started a cult of Demogorgon, who they referred to as "Leemooggoogoon the Deep Father".

Aspects of Demogorgon
Mortals could not summon Demogorgon himself, but the most pious could use sacrifice to summon a temporary aspect of Demogorgon. The aspect was smaller and not as powerful as Demogorgon. An aspect of Demogorgon was always unbalanced, taking after one head more than the other.

Relationships
The hatred between Orcus and Demogorgon was legendary. He was also a dedicated foe of Graz'zt, and Fraz-Urb'luu. He hated Sekolah and encouraged his followers to kill sahuagin.

Demogorgon was allied with the obyrith lord Dagon, who often advised the heads of Aameul and Hethradiah separately. Dagon provided intellect, while Demogorgon provided brute strength.

Some of his other allies included the Succubus Queen Malcanthet. The imprisoned Shami-Amourae was his former consort. He was the brother of another demon lord called Mandrillagon.

History
It was believed that Demogorgon was originally a primordial and the first of his kind to set foot in the Abyss shortly after the formation of the plane, followed closely by Dagon, who challenged him for control of the plane. As he and Demogorgon fought, the obyriyh Obox-ob seized the opportunity to become the first Prince of Demons. A temporary alliance between Demogorgon, Orcus, and Baphomet was formed to defeat Obox-ob, who had since vowed to murder Demogorgon and reclaim his title.

Demogorgon once had a single head until a blow from Amoth split it in two. Soon after that battle, Demogorgon defeated the stone primordial Storralk. He kept Storralk beneath his throne, torturing him for eternity.

After the fall of the Queen of Chaos, Demogorgon launched a massive assault throughout the plane to crush his rivals' forces and assert his position as Prince of Demons.

At one point, Demogorgon and Dagon worked up an alliance of sorts, given the proximity of the Shadowsea to Gaping Maw.

On Nightal 15, 1486 DR, Archmage Gromph Baenre weakened the barriers of faerzress, inadvertently "summoning" Demogorgon and allowing him to pass from the Abyss to the Prime Material Plane. He arrived at the tower of Sorcere in Menzoberranzan and cut a swath of destruction as he exited the cavern. Gromph was able to weaken the faerzress because of his study of psionics and the psychic conveyance of a plan devised by the goddess Lolth.

In 1487 DR, Drizzt Do'Urden defeated Demogorgon in Menzoberranzan acting as a conduit for a barrage of magical energy, released upon him and held by the kinetic barrier of an illithid hive-mind.

Rumors & Legends
Some myths concerning Demogorgon's past suggested that his hatred of Sekolah was earned during a time he spent as Sekolah's vassal, forced to do his bidding under the power of an artifact.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Out of the Abyss


 * Novels:
 * The Glass Prison
 * Depths of Madness
 * Archmage
 * Ashes of the Tyrant (mentioned only)


 * Computer games:
 * Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn: It is possible to make a sacrifice to Demogorgon, thus summoning some demons with no desire to be friendly.
 * Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal: Demogorgon appears imprisoned in the dungeon known as Watcher's Keep. The player's standard quest is to seal the dungeon in order to keep Demogorgon imprisoned, but the player can also destroy him, sending him back to the Abyss.


 * Magazines:
 * Dragon #79: "Setting saintly standards"
 * Dragon #85: "The ecology of the ixitxachitl"
 * Dungeon #120: "Lost Temple of Demogorgon"
 * Dungeon #142: "Here There Be Monsters"
 * Dungeon #150: "Prince of Demons"