Geryon, Lord of the Fifth

The archdevil Geryon is the master of swampy Stygia, Hell's fifth layer. Geryon is the source of all great heresies. Geryon was formerly an asura rana before becoming an archdevil; he notably devoured 812 other tyrants of Hell before swearing itself to Asmodeus.

Appearance

Although Geryon typically stands 10 ft tall, his serpentine body stretches to 30 feet in terms of length and ends in a venom-dripping barb. His humanoid torso is muscular, with massive, bat-like wings protruding from his back, and his large, bestial arms end in clawed hands similar to paws. Despite his mismatched bodily structure, the Wild Beast has a kind of raw, animalistic presence that makes him weirdly alluring and his head boasts a strangely handsome visage.
Sometimes Geryon takes the form of smaller beings to make movement easier, preferring the shapes of monsters like ogres and minotaurs or predators like tigers.

History

When the empyreal lord Asmodeus found a simple, darkened shrine in Hell when wandering the Great Beyond, the serpent that would become Geryon appeared and asked him who he was. Asmodeus learnt of the serpent and its people, the asuras, as well as its neighbours in Hell, the velstracs. Asmodeus learned much of beings beyond Heaven, and he in turn shared many of Heaven's truths and innovations to the asuras and velstracs before returning to Heaven.
The serpent recognised Asmodeus and remembered all they had learned from one another after he fell from Heaven and led his followers in an exodus to Hell. It petitioned to enter Dis, a bastion just hastily claimed by Asmodeus, and spoke in private to him. As they negotiated, a truce held between the invaders and defenders before the serpent exploded from Asmodeus' keep and nearly destroyed Dis.
The serpent issued a call for Hell's tyrants to unite their armies against Heaven's rejects. 812 asura ranas, velstrac demagogues and gigas warlords answered the call, and the serpent consumed them all. With their armies shattered, the asura ranas cursed the serpent and fled to a corner of Hell called Atalu, while the velstracs departed Hell for the Shadow Plane, granting Asmodeus and his followers a foothold over Hell. Only Asmodeus knows what promises turned the serpent against its people.
Asmodeus' forces proceeded to conquer the entirety of Hell except for the serpent's realm of Stygia, where the treasures, slaves, and cities of Hell's defiant inhabitants were transferred. After the end of the conquest, Asmodeus granted the serpent a legion of devils for it to consume and share their blood, along with all the spoils, wisdom, and secrets of the asura, and allowed it to continue ruling over @Stygia. The serpent swore itself to Asmodeus in the Only Vow, a word that none remembers, and Asmodeus named it Geryon.

Possessions

Geryon's iconic item is his Horn of the Bull, a powerful magical artifact he always keeps close that acts as both a dangerous weapon and a symbol of his dominion. Claimed during a quest for Asmodeus from some gargantuan monster, the horn is banded in iron and most creatures that try to use it had to use both hands. When blown into, the huge horn summons up to 20 minotaurs to do the bidding of the wielder, although reports on how often it could be used vary between once per day and once per week. The minotaurs summoned serve until death but disappear the next time the horn is used. The exact nature of the summoned monsters is questionable, with some sources claiming that they were stolen from Baphomet and enslaved, while others state they weren't minotaurs at all but rather a breed of extinct devils that happen to resemble minotaurs. Regardless, Geryon typically uses the horn before charging with his summoned monsters at his weakened foes.
Geryon is also known to possess two enchanted armaments for situations where weaponry is needed. The first is a sentient battle-axe known as Sever, a weapon forged in the Nine Hells that electrocutes those tainted by good or chaos that try to wield it. The wicked, sharp blade can communicate either verbally or telepathically and can detect secret traps and passages. The second is a shield named Tonguelash that depicts a giant, devilish face on its surface. It isn't sentient like Sever, but the mouth area houses a red tongue that will quickly lash out like a whip at the wielder's command, potentially paralyzing the target for a short amount of time, and can let loose a fear-inspiring roar to terrify its wielder's foes once a week.

Realm

Geryon's primary residence is Stygia, the untamed fifth layer of Hell and one dominated by frigid oceans and ice floes. During his rule, monuments have been made in his honor like the Pillar of Geryon that floats along the River Styx on the iceberg Elgarz. The granite outline, similar to a cave painting, shows Geryon cutting off right hands and replacing them with powerful, fiendish versions, requiring the wielder to commit evil and lawful acts to retain their power.
Geryon rules the layer from the Citadel Coldsteel in the city of Tantlin. Geryon constructed the fortress by hollowing out an iceberg deep within Stygia and it is often compared to a surgeon's scalpel due to its almost clinical sterility and dangerous nature. The majority of the fortress is unpleasantly cold to most devils and lethally so to most mortals staying for extended periods of time, although the bottommost layer is oddly warmer as it goes so deep that it is halfway between Stygia and Malbolge.
The mile around Geryon's lair is filled with the sounds of howling, either from creatures or simply the chilling winds, and portals seeming to lead to safety occasionally appear only to put travelers somewhere else in Stygia. Within his lair itself he has the ability to banish and restrain those before him and cause bursts of arctic energy to shoot out from the ground.

Activities

Geryon occupies himself by hunting those he lures into Tantlin with elaborate plots. He tries to entice the most powerful prey from beyond the Nine Hells with contrived rumors of riches and lore, imprisoning any survivors of the onslaught within his quarries. Although he still enjoys simple pleasures, like coiling up in his dragon-like treasure hoard, Geryon is brooding and had a new mission; namely gaining himself more power. Geryon has carefully crafted a secret army of fiendish mercenaries and renegades and, like Zariel, spawning cambions to act as leaders in his legions.

Relationships

Flanked on all sides by enemies, the lords of the fourth and sixth layers of Hell staunchly despise Geryon. Of the two, Moloch is Geryon's greater nemesis as opposed to Belial, and without Baalzebul's presence, Moloch would have suffered from the Wild Beast's incursions. Mammon is also a potential sore spot, as the Lord of Greed was thought to had altered his form in an attempt to imitate Geryon and convey loyalty to Asmodeus, although his true opinions on the subject are uncertain. Despite still serving him, Geryon holds a serious grudge towards Asmodeus spends much of his time secretly expressing his rage towards him within Coldsteel.
Geryon also has a retinue of servants, the most trusted and powerful of which is the wolf-headed duke Amon. Geryon is not discriminatory in his hiring practices and is willing to work with yugoloths and various other races to accomplish his aims. He also keeps a council of creatures from various races, including an erinyes, a medusa, a mind flayer, and a beholder.

Worshipers

Even before he first ruled Stygia, Geryon was summoned by mortals to Eldarr, an unwise move as he normally took the chance to go on long expeditions looking for rich and powerful opponents or to make devilish deals with mortals, often through his agents. In exchange for their obedience, Geryon grants raw physical power and enhanced durability to his followers, who are normally found among barbarians and rangers. His ferocity, despite interfering with his ability to harvest souls, is also an important part of his image as a patron of controlled fury and patient vengeance.
Cultists of Geryon are as unerringly self-centered as he is, often times forming bandit gangs or mercenary groups where the weak were plundered and rule is established by proving oneself strongest. His symbol was the frightening head of a bull surrounded by a snake's spiraling body, not only hinting at his serpentine nature but also representing the homage he receives from sentient savages throughout the multiverse such as orcs, certain giants such as ogres and trolls, manticores, and minotaurs. He ss also known to have servants among standard races, as well as gnolls and the more brutal goblinoids like hobgoblins and bugbears.
Of the few creatures that worship Geryon as a deity, lawful minotaurs are the most common. His temples are similarly rare, extremely stark labyrinths of cold, bluish steel. A kind of reverse chapel exists within Coldsteel, used to meditate upon the divine energy he gains from reverence. Although nowhere near close to ascending, reaching godhood is a goal that Geryon still strives towards and believes he will accomplish.

Rituals

Clerics of Geryon were to wear red or dark green garments and snake-like jewels.

Divine Classification

Devil

Alignment

Lawful evil

Current Location

Stygia

Species

Devil

Realm

Stygia

Aligned Organization

The Hordes of Hell

Ruled Locations

• Stygia