Demogorgon

Demogorgon is a powerful demon lord and lesser deity from The Abyss. He is known to most as the Prince of Demons, and is referred to as the Imprisoned One by some followers of the Church of the AllFather, and Leemooggoogoon the Deep Father by some kuo-toa. The self-proclaimed title as 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 towers a full 18 feet 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 those of mandrills, leers from atop his lumbering shoulders, from which two long tentacles writhe. His lower torso is saurian, like some great reptile with blue-green, scaly skin. He has an immense forked tail.

Personality

“Demogorgon is his own worst enemy. He is, in many ways, two creatures that share the same body. Aeumal, his left head, is the more charismatic and calculating while Hethradiah, his right head, is more impulsive and feral. Each views the other as inferior and each believes the other incapable of outfoxing itself[. If you want to have even a chance at stopping him, you need to distract him. That is Demogorgon's weakness. Each situation he faces brings two reactions, not one. And when faced with danger across multiple fronts, these reactions can paralyze him.” - Helldiver Kitmono”

Each of Demogorgon's heads has its own name and personality, a duality that creates an enduring internal conflict of his personality, while shaping all his actions and even his realm. His left head is named Aameul while the right is named Hethradiah (sometimes referred to as Hathradiah). The two heads war with each other, constantly seeking to obtain the upper hand on each other. Aameul, the more charismatic and calculating, relishes deception and wishes to break free from the other half. The more impulsive and feral Hethradiah relishes destruction and does not wish to be separated.
Perhaps the only thing preventing Demogorgon from taking over the rest of The Abyss is his own dual nature. Despite this internal madness, Demogorgon is extremely creative and relishes experimentation and innovation.

Abilities

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

“I studied Demogorgon's symbol. I thought that, by looking at it through a mirror, I might avoid its effects. If anything, viewing its reflection made its effect more potent and more subtle. It was Rary who saved me, and I thought he had been spared the symbol's effects. I don't have many regrets, but underestimating that symbol is one of my greatest.” — Tersoul

An accomplished spellcaster, Demogorgon is 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 is capable of plane shifting.
Demogorgon is comfortable underwater.

Divine Realm

Demogorgon lives on the 88th layer of The Abyss, known as the Gaping Maw. This layer consists of a great sea of briny water broken by tall, sharp, ugly, rocky promontories. Demogorgon's palace, called Abysm, consists of two twin towers roughly shaped like tightly coiled serpents, crowned at the top with skull-shaped minarets. The two towers are linked by a bridge near the top. Most of the fortress lays underwater beneath the towers. The reefs and caverns near the fortress are home to aboleth, kraken, and ixitxachitls, which constantly war with each other and worship Demogorgon in his palace above.
Demogorgon also keeps a fortress in a bog of the Gaping Maw called Ungorth Reddik. This is where he housss his armies of hezrous, aboleths, scrags, skum, and ichythoid creatures. The fortress is guarded by unusual retrievers, golems, and other evil constructs. Demogorgon is also served by abyssal marauders.
The only significant landmass of the layer is a vast continent covered in tropical jungles. Here, Demogorgon's capital city of Lemoriax is located.

Activities

Demogorgon conducts several experiments in his realm. He is credited with the creation of retrievers, ettins, and khaastas. He also invented a plague known as scalepox cloud, a series of clouds of mist that roamed both Gaping Maw and the Guttering Grove.

Worshipers

“The dual-lived, dual-willed Prince of The Abyss, Master of the Mysterious and King of the Deviants, Demogorgon, you are my lord!” — Qill, half-elf cultist of Demogorgon, a warlock of Demogorgon

Demogorgon's cult is relatively small compared to "true" deities, but much larger than those of most fiends. He is worshiped by the intelligent manta ray race known as ixitxachitls, who draw power from The Abyss itself in order to become more powerful spellcasters. In turn, vital energy drained by vampiric ixitxachitls is transferred directly to Demogorgon via an unknown Abyssal mechanism.
Demogorgon's other worshipers include troglodytes, kuo-toa, and other humanoids, particularly evil humans. His cult prospers in times of chaos and causes great destruction wherever it is found. Temples to Demogorgon are split in half, with one side representing Aameul and the other representing Hethradiah. Demogorgon's domains are Chaos, Corruption, Demonic, and Evil. His symbol is that of a forked tail, sometimes wrapped around a skull or sword.
Demogorgon is sufficiently powerful to offer patronage pacts with warlocks, who usually kept quasits as familiars. His most devout followers are granted magic boons, such as an aspect of his dual minds that conferred resistance to mind-affecting effects. Their signature spells mimick Demogorgon's own abilities, such as charm person, enlarge/reduce, and vampiric touch.

Aspects

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

Relationships

The hatred between Orcus and Demogorgon is legendary. He is also a dedicated foe of Graz'zt and had unsuccessfully attempted to conquer Fraz-Urb'luu's realm. He hates Sekolah and encourages his followers to kill sahuagin.
Demogorgon is allied with the obyrith lord Dagon, who often advises the heads of Aameul and Hethradiah separately. Dagon provides intellect, while Demogorgon provides brute strength. He is also frequently visited by Zuggtmoy, who exchanges fungi at Gaping Maw  and engages with Demogorgon in several plans. He is also allied with Ilsidahur, lord of bar-lguras.
The balor Belaphoss considers himself to be the most powerful of Demogorgon's servants.

History

There are conflicting legends about the origin of Demogorgon. One account claims that he was the first of the demons, who originated out of the shadow of The AllFather. Another legend claims 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, 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.
According to this second legend, 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 through a ritual that created the ettins from Storralk's blood and linked them to his body. Every time an ettin felt pain, that agony was transferred to Storralk.
At one point, Demogorgon and Dagon  worked up an alliance of sorts, given the proximity of the Shadowsea to Gaping Maw.

Divine Classification

Demon

Alignment

Chaotic evil

Current Location

Gaping Maw

Species

Demon

Realm

Gaping Maw

Aligned Organization

The Hordes of Hell

Ruled Locations

• Gaping Maw