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Blibdoolpoolp (pronounced: /blɪbˈduːlpuːp/ blib-DOOL-poop[11] 
listen or: /ˈblɪbduːlpuːp/ BLIB-dool-poop[11] listen), also known as the Sea Mother, was the primary deity worshiped by the kuo-toa. Her holy symbol was a lobster head or a black pearl.[6]
Description
Blibdoolpoolp usually took the form of a 15‑foot-tall (4.6‑meter) nude human female, with a lobster's head and claws.[8][10] Other depictions portrayed a crayfish's head and claws and an articulated shell covering her shoulders.[12] Those forced to look deeply into her eyes at close range could be driven to insanity.[8]
Personality
Blibdoolpoolp was filled with hatred for the pain her kuo-toa children suffered at the hands of many races. A special enmity was held for surface-dwelling races, as well as illithids and drow. Humans and particularly elves were spited for the initial driving of her children to the Underdark, while mind flayers and drow were seen as competitors for the little territory her followers had left. On the other hand, her hatred for sea dwellers was relatively minor, except for sea elves. The Sea Mother was irrational, prone to unpredictable mood swings and fickle changes in behavior. She was also highly secretive, shunning contact with most other deities. She believed herself to hold deeply fundamental magical secrets related to the nature of the universe, but hoarded those secrets to herself, making them impossible to check.[8]
The Sea Mother placed a high value on pearls, which were considerably more effective than normal gems and precious metals in gaining her favor.[13]
Abilities
The Drowning Goddess manifested herself primarily as a spellcaster. She had access to numerous spells in the way of summoning magic and elemental control of water, although she was lacking in control of fire. Like her kuo-toa patrons,[14] she was hard to poison or paralyze and she was immune to all water magic. Her eyes were powerful, capable of seeing through most illusions. She could grab opponents with her claws and force them to look into her eyes, potentially rendering the victims insane. In addition, she could create a symbol of insanity every day to drive her foes to madness. She was also capable of summoning waves of giant crustaceans to do her bidding for a short amount of time, as well as huge water elementals that remained in her service for up to 4 hours each day.[8]
Blibdoolpoolp's powers also extended to the empowerment of favored kuo-toa. The Whip of Whips could mark a single kuo-toa egg in a settlement as exalted, destining them for greatness by granting them extraordinary physical and divine power.[15] She could also empower preexisting whips or monitors that she particularly favored with incredible power, causing them to grow to titanic size and become kuo-toa leviathans.[16] She could bestow upon her faithful the unique spell touch of Blibdoolpoolp, which gave the caster the ability to turn his or her hand into a large lobster-like claw.[17] She provided those in her service with the ability to speak the kuo-toa language.[13]
Possessions
Blibdoolpoolp once possessed a magical necklace that was capable of generating pearls with an assortment of magical properties. A number of new pearls could be made each week, with effects lasting approximately one month. This necklace was stolen by the goddess Diancastra.[18] She also possessed a ring of human influence and a wand of fear.[8]
Divine Realm
According to the Great Wheel cosmology, Blibdoolpoolp's realm was known as the Murky Depths, located in the Elemental Plane of Water.[9] Its waters churned and swirled based on her emotional state. The realm was kept surrounded by giant primitive crustaceans in an attempt by the Sea Mother to convince herself that her powers had not diminished.[8] Visitors to her realm who could not breathe underwater were granted that ability by the deity herself, a boon which also put them immediately in her debt.[13]
In the World Tree cosmology, Blibdoolpoolp's realm was located in the Fated Depths, in an enormous, spherical temple resembling the moon that drifted through its fiendish waters. It was home to fiendish crustaceans and her kuo-toa petitioners and servants.[2]
Blibdoolpoolp's form manifesting from a worshiper.
Activities
The Sea Mother spent most of the time brooding about her chosen race, while plotting her revenge against those who drove them from the surface.[3] She was known for sending avatars to attend large-scale sacrificial rituals conducted by her priests, in which many humanoids were drowned.[8] She also spent some time holding court for visitors, who made offerings in exchange for small favors from the goddess. Simply visiting the Sea Mother required an offering of exuberant amounts of gold and gems in the tens of thousands of gold pieces, although the price was lessened if paid in pearls. Those who did not bring an offering to her domain were then commanded via a geas spell to later return and either bring the offering amount or a number of drow as sacrifices. Affected individuals were also forbidden from directly or indirectly harming the kuo-toa until they did so.[13][10] She did not send omens to the kuo-toa as warnings or assistance, but simply to communicate her pleasure or displeasure, which could be somewhat random due to her unstable state of mind.[8]
Relationships
Blibdoolpoolp avoided contact with most other deities.[8] However, she was on relatively friendly terms with the ixzan deity Ilxendren.[19] Blibdoolpoolp hated the drow, but would not directly oppose them. Instead, she compelled those of other races to bring drow to her as sacrifices when an opportunity arose.[13]
Worshipers
Blibdoolpoolp's only worshipers were the kuo-toa,[3] whose priests ran most of their civilization. Her kuo-toa priests kept large black pearls and giant crustaceans in their temples, looking for changes in the pearls' coloration or in the animals' activity that indicated favorable omens. Priests from different settlements collaborated with each other to ensure their mutual defense, and were mandated to immediately drive away any illithid settlers found close to their homes.[8]
Lobsters were one of Blibdoolpoolp's preferred offerings and were regularly sacrificed to her. As a scavenger goddess, she also appreciated offerings of personal objects that were discarded and later recovered. Regurgitation at her feet was seen as a sincere show of faith, practiced regularly by her more devout followers.[1]
The most commonly held ceremonies to Blibdoolpoolp involved the drowning of humanoids. Worshipers requested favors from the goddess by offering copious amounts of gems and pearls. Larger amounts had a better chance of winning the Sea Mother's favor, so an offering of about 100,000 gold pieces worth of gems (or 50,000 gold pieces worth of pearls) would be considered adequate.[10]
History
After the kuo-toa were driven from the surface, they were captured by the mind flayers and forced into slavery. Unable to resist the illithids' psionic oppression, the peaceful kuo-toa were driven to insanity and to an extreme religious fanaticism, inventing deities upon which they relied for protection against their enemies, most notably the drow. If a large enough number of kuo-toa believed in an invented deity, it manifested a physical, albeit nonsensical form.[12]
Some sages maintained that Blibdoolpoolp was simply the most prominent among the deities invented by the kuo-toa, most likely the result of a human statue having been modified by a kuo-toa by adding a crustacean head and appendages and then worshiped as a deity. So intense was the insane fervor of kuo-toa priests that they managed to manifest as clerical powers.[12]
At one point, the young demigoddess Diancastra snuck into Blibdoolpoolp's lair disguised as a kuo-toa and stole her magical necklace.[18]
Appendix
Appearances
- Adventures
- Out of the Abyss
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Christopher Perkins, Adam Lee, Richard Whitters (September 1, 2015). Out of the Abyss. Edited by Jeremy Crawford. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 43, 46. ISBN 978-0-7869-6581-6.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Richard Baker, James Wyatt (March 2004). Player's Guide to Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 152. ISBN 0-7869-3134-5.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Rich Redman, James Wyatt (May 2001). Defenders of the Faith. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 93. ISBN 0-7869-1840-3.
- ↑ Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford (2014). Player's Handbook 5th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 296. ISBN 978-0-7869-6560-1.
- ↑ Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins, James Wyatt (2014). Dungeon Master's Guide 5th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-0786965622.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Eric L. Boyd, Erik Mona (May 2002). Faiths and Pantheons. Edited by Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 221. ISBN 0-7869-2759-3.
- ↑ Richard Baker, James Wyatt (March 2004). Player's Guide to Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 92. ISBN 0-7869-3134-5.
- ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 Carl Sargent (May 1992). Monster Mythology. (TSR, Inc), p. 99. ISBN 1-5607-6362-0.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Colin McComb (October 1996). On Hallowed Ground. Edited by Ray Vallese. (TSR, Inc.), p. 177. ISBN 0-7869-0430-5.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 James Ward, Robert J. Kuntz (August 1980). Deities & Demigods. Edited by Lawrence Schick. (TSR, Inc.), p. 95. ISBN 0-935696-22-9.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Frank Mentzer (January 1985). “Ay pronunseeAYshun gyd”. In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #93 (TSR, Inc.), p. 25.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins (2014-09-30). Monster Manual 5th edition. Edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 199–200. ISBN 978-0786965614.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Gary Gygax (August 1978). Shrine of the Kuo-Toa. (TSR, Inc.), p. 8. ISBN 0-935696-06-7.
- ↑ Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook (July 2003). Monster Manual v.3.5. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 163. ISBN 0-7869-2893-X.
- ↑ (July 2007). Monster Manual V. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 95–96. ISBN 0-7869-4115-4.
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, Jeff Quick (October 2003). Underdark. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 92. ISBN 0-7869-3053-5.
- ↑ Eric Cagle (April 2006). “Spellcraft: Alien Blessings”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #342 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 76.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Carl Sargent (May 1992). Monster Mythology. (TSR, Inc), pp. 80–81. ISBN 1-5607-6362-0.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd (November 1999). Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark. Edited by Jeff Quick. (TSR, Inc.), p. 25. ISBN 0-7869-1509-9.