The Dark Gods

These are the evil-aligned gods who seek to destroy the world and remake it in their horrifying ways, bringing pain and endless suffering instead. They, along with the Prime Deities, are trapped in different dimensions and planes behind the Great Gates. As the Prime Deities cannot cross the Gates either, these beings are free to do as they please within their own realms without interference.

• ASMODEUS, LORD OF THE NINE HELLS: the devil god represents mastery of tyranny and domination. He relishes in corrupting mortal souls with his honeyed words. He rules his domain with an iron fist and the punishment he inflicts for crossing him is legendary. Asmodeus is depicted in many tomes and murals as a handsome humanoid of dark red skin, with long black hair, and fearsome homes rising from his brow. His symbol is that of a crown of spiked onyx and curved horns. (LE)
• BANE, THE STRIFE EMPEROR: the deity of war and conquest. His followers accept his call to conflict, seeking lesser people to break and subjugate. Warmongering nations and goblinoid tribes often worship him is they seek to conquer the lands. The Strife Emperor twists all living things to his iron will, even forcing nature to itself to bow to his whims. His followers are one of the three warring groups that wander the Scourgelands and battle the followers of Kord and Gruumsh- though they will more easily ally with those of Gruumsh [even if they don't truly get along]. They are believed to have reached the Southern seas by sailing from an unknown continent in search of slaves, or through Ugyur and from the eastern continent beyond. A dark reflection of the honorable warrior, the Strife Emperor is often depicted as a brutish, ogre-like man clad in jagged black armor. Heads dangle from his belt, and through the shadow that obscures his helmeted face stare his unblinking, piercing yellow eyes. His symbol is a flail of chains, each ending in shackles. (LE)
• GRUUMSH, THE RUINER: a god who commands hordes of hordes of barbaric marauders to roam the world and destroy, pillage, and slaughter. He originally created orcs in a dark parody of humanity, but his will over them weakened severely after the Sealing. He has followers still, but many orcs left him in favor of the Prime Deities, angered for his enslavement of their ancestors' will. Those who do follow are devout, and half-orcs are both from those who joined civilization and mated with humans, and those in his warbands who have human barbarians join them. His primitive representations can be found in his worshipper's communities. They depict Gruumsh as a hulking, behemoth of an orc. His missing eye has shifted, the single prominent eye is now central to the face like that of a Cyclops. His symbol is a single, unblinking eye that bleeds. (CE)
• LOLTH, THE SPIDER QUEEN: is the evil goddess of deceit, shadows, and spiders. She is known for weaving a complicated web of schemes and treachery through her worshipers, deceiving allies and enemies alike to gain power. She stole thousands of elves and dwarves into the Underdark and tortured them until they broke for her. Some truly converted, while most bid their time, praying that Moradin and Corellon would save them. The Moonweaver took the initial plunge, swimming through the shadows and creeping darkness and evading Lolth sight and spies until she found their children. Moradin, Corellon, Sehanine, assaulted the Underdark with Kord's assistance, rescuing their creations who wished to go while the Stormlord kept Lolth busy. Those who stayed were now known as the drow and the duergar, and Lolth bears a searing hatred towards Kord for the way he impaled her to a cliffside during their battle. The drow and the duergar's appearances began to slowly change as a result of their time spent under the earth and the dark magics they embrace. Lolth is depicted as a darkly alluring woman of dark purple skin and silver hair, with the lower body of a terrifyingly monstrous spider. Her symbol is that of a jeweled spider. (CE)
• THARIZDUN, THE CHAINED OBLIVION: the mad deity of death, trickery, and decay. It is depicted, if at all, as a "creature of rolling, hungry, ink and darkness." Tharizdun in an ancient entity, believed to be the first being out of the Primordiral Chaos, or perhaps the Chaos itself. It was the first to be imprisoned in the Sealing, as they could not attempt to stop the other Dark Gods with it in play. Those who are foolhardy enough to follow such twisting destruction as the Chained Oblivion are spurned, hateful, chaotic souls who fall through the cracks of society and are persecuted for the safety of others. A bit of inherent madness left unchecked cracks open the door to the creeping Void that draws those who worship this entity. The characteristics of the Chained Oblivion's influence are bouts of uncontrollable hunger, uncharacteristic aggression, and eventually violent mania. Its symbol is that of a crooked, seven-pointed star made of chains. (CE)
• TIAMAT, THE SCALED TYRANT: the evil queen of chromatic dragons. She is a fearsome god of greed, envy, and hoarded wealth. She is the sworn enemy of her brother, Bahamut. Her common symbol is that of a taloned dragon claw, or her five colored heads in a star formation. (LE)
• TOROG, THE CRAWLING KING: otherwise known as He Who Tunnels Beneath the World, is the god of torturers, slavers, and jailers. His worshippers are those who take others' freedom, and creatures living in the darkness below. It is said that the pathways under the world, and in the Underdark, are the remains of his time before the Sealing. Torog is largely depicted as a swollen, malformed worm slithering through the darkness below with a hairless human head at the helm, with three arms carving through a lightless rock. His symbol is three pale arms clawing from a dark void. (NE)
• UMBERLEE, THE QUEEN OF THE DEPTHS: the evil goddess of the deep sea, she created all the horrifying things deep in the oceans, and its evils as well. She is a particularly malicious, petty, and vain deity who acted on her turbulent whims and greeded for power and the flattery of the others. Harbors a deep hatred for Melora, who directly opposed her through the God War. Her symbol is that of two waves crashing and cresting in opposite directions. (CE)
• VECNA, THE ARCHLICH: also known as the Undying King and the Whispered One, Vecna was born a mortal wizard in the Before World, and ascended to godhood with the help of the Dark Gods. He was put away as well during the Sealing. His symbol is that of a desiccated hand with an eye in the palm. (NE)