Qlippoth

Demons were not the first inhabitants of the Abyss. In the earliest pre-history of the Great Beyond, before humanity rose from barbarism, before Asmodeus created Hell, before the gods even began to pay attention to the world of Golarion, the Abyss was populated by the primordial qlippoth. These beings were born from the essence of the Abyss itself—inhuman monstrosities of pure chaos and malice.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

Qlippoth lords are particularly powerful and unique qlippoth that were once the rulers of the Abyss but have degraded to a fraction of their power, which is now only comparable to a nascent demon lord. Beyond that, maybe in the very depths of the Abyss, lie qlippoth that match the power of demigods. The number of still living qlippoth lords is a small fraction of those that existed at the dawn of creation, as many of them have been destroyed by the gods, archdevils, demon lords, or empyreal lords, who all find the qlippoth repugnant.
A few powerful qlippoth lords became jealous of the demons' power, and sought to also transform themselves. By fusing mortal souls to their antediluvian bodies, they became demon lords. They exist to this day, and are generally the least anthropomorphic of their brethren. They include the demon lords Cyth-V'sug, Dagon, Jubilex, Mazmezz, Yhidothrus, and Zevgavizeb.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

The qlippoth are enemies of everyone else; wherever a portal was opened to the Abyss, they used to swarm out in massive numbers to prey on anything nearby before the creation of the demons stopped them. While the forgotten Horseman who made the first demon surely did not have the well-being of the Great Beyond in mind, the resulting demonic distraction certainly turned the qlippoth's attention away from the rest of reality. The qlippoth today have several focused goals:

• To regain the Abyss from demonkind.
• To take revenge on the daemons.
• To annihilate all demons.
• Most vitally, to wipe out every mortal who embodies sin, the foodstuff of demons, to starve every demon to death and retake the Abyss, which they see as theirs.

History

Origins of the Qlippoth

According to the proteans, the first inhabitants of the Outer Sphere, the qlippoth already existed when the Abyss first opened to the rest of the Great Beyond. Upon discovering them, the proteans became intensely interested in the qlippoth, eventually leading to a mighty war that would spread out of the Abyss into the Maelstrom itself. This conflict distracted the chaotic proteans to such a degree, that order began to assert itself throughout the Great Beyond, leading to the formation of the other Outer Planes.

Birth of Demonkind

As the first sinful mortal souls were judged by Pharasma, some of them were sent into the Abyss to become larvae, which accumulated on the Abyss in vast numbers. An ancient, now-forgotten Horseman of the Apocalypse, who was fascinated by the qlippoth and kept many in his realm, had the idea of combining larvae and qlippoth, which eventually culminated in the creation of the first demon. This first transformation from mortal soul to demon was felt and copied by the Abyss: millions of larvae became demons in an instant and declared war against the qlippoth.
Although the qlippoth were more familiar with their realm and individually stronger than demons, the demons had the advantage of numbers. Eventually, the qlippoth were hunted nearly to extinction and were forced to retreat to the deepest Abyssal realms, where the demons fear to go.