Nupperibo

Nupperibos were a type of devil. To be precise, they were the absolute bottom of the infernal hierarchy.

Description
Nupperibos were bloated, tall devils that waddled about with their  pound bodies. They were similar to lemures, being vaguely humanoid monstrosities with even less discernible features. They had lanky, arm-like appendages and a head with the eyes and mouth sewn shut, a fact that didn't prevent them from shrieking or sensing those around them. Vestiges of their old forms always lingered, such as some tattoos, a scar pattern, odd skin coloration or other obscure leftovers. Clouds of fetid vermin formed a stinging veil around their distended forms.

Personality
Nupperibos barely had anything that could be considered a personality. They lacked any kind of ingenuity to develop anything that resembled combat strategy on their own, even when somebody directed them. They showed their sense of order in their unquestioning obedience towards their superiors and expressed their cruelty through the glee they took when engaging enemies. They followed the telepathic orders of any devil due to their sensitivity to such commands and in order to lighten their own torment at the hands of their commanders. They knew primarily of unending hunger, consuming everything they could scoop into their sewn up mouths.

Abilities
Nupperibos were blind, deaf, and mute, only able to discern the existence of nearby creatures by scent. One way to "blind" a nupperibo was to confront it with an overpowering odor.

Like the lemures they were incredibly hard to kill, as they had a persistent, if slow, regeneration ability. Even when burnt down to ash, a nupperibo's regeneration ability fully restored it if given enough time, leaving two main methods to permanently destroy them Firstly, they only regenerated when within the Lower planes, meaning if a nupperibo was brought away from there, it could be permanently killed. Second, nupperibos could not regenerate from wounds dealt by holy implements like holy weapons or holy water. Another trait they shared with lemures was their mindlessness, which made it impossible to mentally manipulate them.

The horrific appearance of the nupperibos combined with their ruined mental state created an aura of raw terror around them. Their fetid forms were also constantly being swarmed by vermin that stung at non-devils nearby. Provided they were in the Nine Hells, nupperibos could pursue any creature without fault that was hurt by one of the vermin.

Combat
Nupperibos generally fought with their claws, but were sometimes given simple weapons like clubs. When more than ten nupperibos ganged up on the same opponent, they generated an effect that was similar to cause fear against the one they were ganging up on. However, such behavior was only displayed on order from a superior devil. Nupperibos were relentless warriors who never lost their fighting morale and were completely immune against any effects that tampered with their minds.

A nupperibo's role in the infernal military was canon fodder, distractions, rear guard during a retreat, cushions to absorb attacks, and forces to occupy enemies. A nupperibo was never the protagonist in a military campaign.

Society
Nupperibos were at the utter bottom of the infernal hierarchy. A nupperibo was on a purely technical level a creature that stood higher than a lemure. However, a nupperibo was a dead end for baatezu promotion, it was not possible to rise higher in the hierarchy. To rise higher than that station, a nupperibo needed to first be demoted to lemure-status to have any chance to rise high in the hierarchy. A devil was demoted to nupperibo-status only on some failure towards its superior. It was common belief among devils that demotion to a nupperibo was a tool to clarify how important the failed mission was. Sometimes, a failed devil was turned into a nupperibo, but kept around because the superior devil saw some value in the nupperibo's original form's capacities. In such cases, a nupperibo was returned to its former station when it was opportune. From time to time, this led a devil to kidnap a nupperibo from its rival, to restore the nupperibo to its former station, and then gain information and/or an ally. Asmodeus was rumored to send formerly-important-devil-nupperibos as servants to mortals to enjoy the activities of other devils.

Nupperibos were the target of abuse at the hands of other devils who outranked them. They were the menial labor force of Baator and as far as devils were concerned, it was labor resource that was virtually inexhaustible, because it constantly gained new members.

A usual group of nupperibos was one consisting of four to eight called a mob. This number was chosen, because it would force any opponent to divert some time and maybe even magical power to get rid of them. Giant mobs of thousands of nupperibos were organized when fighting the Blood War. When a nupperibo was found alone, it was most likely a survivor of the nupperibo-mob it was part of, or an enforcer or guard gifted to a low-class mortal servant of a devil. This was something of a joke among devils, as they found the idea of a diminished devil serving a weak mortal funny.

A mob for war consisting of nupperibos was overseen by osyluths. They were armed and put into the front line. They often died and it was very rare for a nupperibo to rise in rank.

Ecology
Nupperibos were genderless creatures. They also never drank or ate anything. That said, they constantly hungered, and they put whatever they could grab, no matter how filthy, into their mouths, it simply was never satisfactory or quenched their hunger in any way.

The method through which a devil was demoted to a nupperibo was to carve its flesh, sew its eyes and mouth, seal the ears with lead, fill the body with corruption, and then remove the brain. The process, as done by an excruciarch left the devil with practically no hint about its former form and the nupperibo was complete. A nupperibo that was born from demotion always had some signs that might give another person idea about its former identity like some unique scar patterns.

A second way to generate a nupperibo was to leave a larva alone on Baator. They naturally grew into nupperibos. However, they were turned into lemures, so they could become full members of infernal society. However, some souls, namely of evil people, who were not evil because of their actions, but because of their laziness, lacked the spark of ambition that gave a devils the ability to enter and rise in their hierarchy. Such souls still entered the Nine Hells, but the devils could draw no use out of them and could not turn them into lemures or other devils. So, these souls became nupperibos and stayed that way.

History
Nupperibos were counted among the baatezu and the baatezu claimed that they were part of their race. This was a lie, the race of the nupperibos, or to be more precise what the nupperibos eventually matured into, existed on Baator for a longer time than the baatezu did. Whatever they were, when the baatezu came to Baator, this race disappeared.

Being the original denizens of Baator, nupperibos naturally grew from larvae that were left alone and were expected to grow into mature specimen of their race if given time. However, the baatezu, who claimed that they were the first denizens of Baator, perpetuated a lie that the nupperibos were members of their race and turned them into lemures to build them artificially into their hierarchy. The truth that the nupperibos were not baatezu was leaked by the yugoloths at some point during the 14 century DR.

When a devil died outside of Baator, it most often became a nupperibo in Baator. Devils often made arrangements with their subordinates to find them by leaving detailed descriptions of their nupperibo-form and restore them to their former position. This method had a number of problems. Distinguishing one nupperibo from the horde was difficult even for devils and from time to time, it happened that a devil intentionally disobeyed the order. However, having the chance to work one's way up from nupperibo-status was viewed as more preferable than dying by the devils.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
 * Miniatures:
 * Icons of the Realms
 * Video Games:
 * Planescape: Torment