Lamashtu

Mother of Monsters

Alignment: Chaotic-Evil
Realm: Kurnugia (the Abyss)
Temples: caverns, ruined buildings, abandoned orphanages
Worshippers: gnolls, goblins, monsters, outcasts
Sacred Animal: jackal
Sacred Colors: red and yellow
For those who revel in the corruption of the pure or who find themselves spurned and neglected by a world that despises their differences, Lamashtu offers respite among her grotesque brood. The Mother of Monsters readily accepts mortals into her fold and has made it her goal to twist mortal life toward her abhorrent ideals. Her intervention is widely known to inflict corruptions and terrible nightmares. Ostracized individuals who share her ideals will find this intervention a boon, while others treat similar events as horrible curses.
Above all else, Lamashtu desires the proliferation, permeation, and dominance of her children. Her touch upon the mortal world reveals the repugnant flaws among those considered to be beautiful and moral. She and her followers seek opportunities to rip the veil of innocence from every creature and reveal the writhing, heinous potential in a hypocritical world.
Lamashtu takes the form of a pregnant woman with scars crossing her swollen belly. Great black wings protrude from her back, and her legs contort into enormous avian talons. A third eye is vertically set above her jackal snout. From Kurnugia, her personal realm in the Abyss, she reigns as the Queen of Demons and creator of heinous beasts. Her children, either burst from her body or sculpted from her monstrous mind, serve as pinnacles of might among her followers. Her faithful pursue her ideals to become or create ever more vile monsters and spread her murderous influence over the mortal realm.
Lamashtu encourages her worshippers to embrace monstrosity and may assist in this endeavor by granting torturous nightmares to unlock their minds to the might and truth she offers. Their corrupted imaginations fabricate ever more horrendous images for Lamashtu to introduce into reality. Devotees sacrifice the flesh and bone of conquered beasts and their enemies to provide building material for their mother to mold new monstrous brethren or to grant the gift of mutation to her faithful.
Child-bearing followers are able to directly imitate some of their goddess’s abilities. Bearing monstrous children for Lamashtu is regarded as one of the most sacred acts achievable within her religion. The mental and physical torment these worshippers experience during their Lamashtan pregnancies and the gruesome births they endure are sacrifices that earn them great prestige—should they survive. Worshippers with the durability to survive several births, and who proudly bear the scars from them, are honored by other Lamashtans and reign as the utmost authority in the faith.
Lamashtans spread their goddess’s doctrine via a variety of paths. Warriors protect the brood alongside their monstrous siblings. Healers focus on keeping followers alive through multiple births and are talented in ensuring wounds form atrocious scars. Caretakers with the strength to manage the church’s monstrous children are rewarded with blessings by the goddess to aid them in their duties. Worshippers of all kinds are likely to venture into the world as missionaries, recruiting shunned individuals and forsaken communities to benefit the prosperity of the brood.
When those not among Lamashtu’s faithful feel her presence, it is an omen of unimaginable misfortune. Communities subjugated by monsters and demons may find themselves pleading with Lamashtu to spare them from her children’s wrath. Expectant parents who wake in the night from traumatizing nightmares fear what horrors their offspring may bring.
Lamashtu’s obsessive creation of new monsters promises to reshape the mortal world into a sinister menagerie of vile corruptors. Her devotees join a family of all manner of demons and beasts with the goal to cultivate and glorify the loathsome. To the world that ostracizes them, Lamashtans offer this ultimatum: join the brood, or perish under its might.

Divine Domains

Aberrance, Monster and Nightmares

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Divine Classification

God