Rovagug
The darkness bound at the world’s heart is real, and its name is Rovagug. How long our world can withstand his tireless thrashing, none can tell. —Chronicles of the Darklands
The Rough Beast, the Tide of Fangs, the Imprisoned King, the Worldbreaker, the Unmaker
Spawned to destroy worlds, Rovagug tore into existence while the cosmos was still young, devouring and destroying everything he touched and laying waste to the careful creations of the gods. Trapped by a union of desperate deities, Rovagug shudders in anguish and impotent rage, causing the earth to shake and mountains to crumble. He bellows and clouds of toxic gas billow from rents in the ground. He births monstrosities that clamber from the rotted depths of the world to ravage and destroy in their creator’s place. Rovagug does not dream of glory or wonders. He dreams of the end of existence, shoveling all that lives into his devouring maw and crushing all that does not beneath his terrifying form. His ruin is not slow entropy but rather destructive fire. All rational beings, divine and mortal, hate and fear him, for he is the hastener of the end, the Unmaker, enemy of the gods and of life itself.
Upon Rovagug’s arrival from somewhere beyond the depths of space and time, he launched a vicious war that eventually prompted an unprecedented alliance among all the gods as they sought to defend all they had created. While wily Calistria distracted the terror and countless now-forgotten gods gave their lives to aid her, Torag and Gorum forged an unbreakable prison in the heart of Golarion, and Asmodeus and Pharasma drew upon the power of the planes to fit it with potent magical locks and wards. When the sign was given that the work was complete, the great angel Sarenrae challenged Rovagug directly, taunting him with holy fire. His profane howls of rage and anguish shook the void as the Dawnflower lured him close to the world that would be his prison, and with her blazing sword, sliced a great rift deep into the land’s heart. Power beyond mortal comprehension, born of the toil of dozens of gods and paid for with the lives of dozens more, lashed out and ensnared the destroyer, drawing him into the god-forged prison. As the cell quaked and threatened to buckle around its furious captive, Asmodeus used his Hell-forged key to lock the Rough Beast away for all time.
Bound for millennia, the Rough Beast has nursed his rage, believing that one day he will break free and feast upon Sarenrae, the fragments of the world, and the cooling flesh of all the other gods. He sleeps fitfully for centuries at a time, comforted by dreams of annihilation. Rovagug is the cancer at Golarion’s heart, straining and struggling against his bonds until the day when he will consume all life. There is nothing beneficent about the Rough Beast, no creation to offset his destruction. He has no friends or allies; once he has devoured the world, he will surely turn on even his own spawn and devour them in a cannibalistic orgy. The Rough Beast is indifferent to the petty things mortals do in his honor, or whether they speak his name with adoration or loathing. He requires no special rituals and demands no heartfelt devotion as a channel for his divine energy—he wishes only to be set free, and to know that he is not forgotten. Though some of his faithful may believe otherwise, he promises no honored place at his side or immunity from his destruction. The lucky ones may ride in his wake for a time, reveling in unbridled obliteration, but eventually they too will be consumed by their god’s terrible hunger.
Rovagug’s imprisonment limits his interaction with both mortal and immortal beings. His intervention in the world must be through his violent priests and, more infamously, through his titanic spawn, which act as his host of catastrophic heralds. Few civilized cultures attempt to depict the Rough Beast as anything more than a wormlike creature with a great toothy maw, and the primitive tribes and mad cultists who worship him are satisfied with simple depictions painted in blood on walls, banners, and shields. Rovagug’s true form is maddening: a miles-long worm with countless limbs stretching along his length and grasping from within his mouth. Various parasitic creatures cling to his skin and spill forth from his wounds; some of them are sluglike or insectile, many are swarms of thousand-legged vermin, and others take more unspeakable shapes. These parasites voraciously consume those foolish enough to be caught in the wake of Rovagug’s spilled blood, then die, unable to sustain their own existence apart from the god’s flesh.
After earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur, Rovagug’s cultists pray and make sacrifices to wake him, believing such events are manifestations of his restless slumber. They see storms and toxic gas vents as his breath coursing up from the dark places in the world. If these things afflict the enemies of the cult, the faithful take it as a sign of their god’s favor; he is clearly displeased if such natural disasters harm his worshippers.
While most of Rovagug’s followers simply seek an end to all, his most extreme worshippers believe they will be uplifted as gods in a new world Rovagug will create after destroying the old. In truth, the Rough Beast cares nothing for them. He cares only about destruction and bringing an end to all things. Should the day come that his prison fails, he would, after enacting his vengeance on the other gods, turn on his own spawn and followers, devouring them as surely as all else.
Rovagug’s faith is forbidden in civilized lands, where no temple to him is allowed to stand. The Rough Beast’s worshippers revel in the hatred of the other gods and their faithful. Creatures who take up Rovagug’s service live to destroy. Most are monsters or hail from communities that celebrate destruction; they cry out paeans to the god as they cut through lesser creatures in howling fits of rage. A few individuals—all somewhat monstrous in their own right—follow Rovagug in their lust for the power that they believe even the other gods fear, or in the mistaken belief that the obliteration the god promises would clear the way for a new birth. Even they know enough to not name their deity in the open, however, lest they be swiftly cut down.
The few adventurers who follow Rovagug cherish destruction, laying waste to as much as they can. They may be warlords, cultists seeking to open the locks of Rovagug’s prison, warriors who have seen such horrors that they can envision only destruction, or vengeful souls who want an end for themselves and all who have hurt them.
While Groetus is often described as the God of the End Times, he and Rovagug display none of the animosity one would expect of competing deities. Some sages speculate the two may not actually be at odds, and that while Rovagug’s purpose is to destroy the physical world, Groetus will feast upon spirits and the energies of the dead.
Galulab’daa: Some say Galulab’daa was an angel—or perhaps a whole host of angels—who stood among Sarenrae’s army and were sacrificed when she imprisoned Rovagug, locked within the mad god’s prison. Galulab’daa seems to be in a constant, insane rage, prone to attacking anything near it, even allies, as if under the effects of a confusion spell. This horrifying amalgam of broken wings and melted steel resembles and has all the abilities of a gibbering mouther. Lore passed mostly by word of mouth among priests who survived summoning it recommends simply conjuring it into the midst of enemies, as attempts to bargain with it prove fatal. Despite its apparent madness, it recognizes the symbol of Sarenrae and preferentially attacks her followers before any others.
Spawn of Rovagug: Rovagug doesn’t have a herald like the other gods. Instead, over the ages, the Rough Beast has gradually vomited forth a horde of titanic monstrosities that embody his unrestrained disaster and destruction. Though these beasts can’t be summoned with planar ally or other such spells that allow the faithful to call the heralds of their gods, it is whispered that strange and elaborate rituals exist that can attract their attention or wake them from millennia-old hibernation. Among Rovagug’s spawn are such creatures as Ulunat, who crawled from the Pit of Gormuz and whose shell still stands in Sothis; the Armageddon Engine, better known as the Tarrasque; the destructive Xotani the Firebleeder, Kothogaz, who terrorized Vudra; the dread burrower Chemnosit the Monarch Worm; and the flying terror Volnagur the End Singer. Thankfully the emergence of the Spawn of Rovagug is rare to the extreme.
Upon Rovagug’s arrival from somewhere beyond the depths of space and time, he launched a vicious war that eventually prompted an unprecedented alliance among all the gods as they sought to defend all they had created. While wily Calistria distracted the terror and countless now-forgotten gods gave their lives to aid her, Torag and Gorum forged an unbreakable prison in the heart of Golarion, and Asmodeus and Pharasma drew upon the power of the planes to fit it with potent magical locks and wards. When the sign was given that the work was complete, the great angel Sarenrae challenged Rovagug directly, taunting him with holy fire. His profane howls of rage and anguish shook the void as the Dawnflower lured him close to the world that would be his prison, and with her blazing sword, sliced a great rift deep into the land’s heart. Power beyond mortal comprehension, born of the toil of dozens of gods and paid for with the lives of dozens more, lashed out and ensnared the destroyer, drawing him into the god-forged prison. As the cell quaked and threatened to buckle around its furious captive, Asmodeus used his Hell-forged key to lock the Rough Beast away for all time.
Bound for millennia, the Rough Beast has nursed his rage, believing that one day he will break free and feast upon Sarenrae, the fragments of the world, and the cooling flesh of all the other gods. He sleeps fitfully for centuries at a time, comforted by dreams of annihilation. Rovagug is the cancer at Golarion’s heart, straining and struggling against his bonds until the day when he will consume all life. There is nothing beneficent about the Rough Beast, no creation to offset his destruction. He has no friends or allies; once he has devoured the world, he will surely turn on even his own spawn and devour them in a cannibalistic orgy. The Rough Beast is indifferent to the petty things mortals do in his honor, or whether they speak his name with adoration or loathing. He requires no special rituals and demands no heartfelt devotion as a channel for his divine energy—he wishes only to be set free, and to know that he is not forgotten. Though some of his faithful may believe otherwise, he promises no honored place at his side or immunity from his destruction. The lucky ones may ride in his wake for a time, reveling in unbridled obliteration, but eventually they too will be consumed by their god’s terrible hunger.
Rovagug’s imprisonment limits his interaction with both mortal and immortal beings. His intervention in the world must be through his violent priests and, more infamously, through his titanic spawn, which act as his host of catastrophic heralds. Few civilized cultures attempt to depict the Rough Beast as anything more than a wormlike creature with a great toothy maw, and the primitive tribes and mad cultists who worship him are satisfied with simple depictions painted in blood on walls, banners, and shields. Rovagug’s true form is maddening: a miles-long worm with countless limbs stretching along his length and grasping from within his mouth. Various parasitic creatures cling to his skin and spill forth from his wounds; some of them are sluglike or insectile, many are swarms of thousand-legged vermin, and others take more unspeakable shapes. These parasites voraciously consume those foolish enough to be caught in the wake of Rovagug’s spilled blood, then die, unable to sustain their own existence apart from the god’s flesh.
After earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur, Rovagug’s cultists pray and make sacrifices to wake him, believing such events are manifestations of his restless slumber. They see storms and toxic gas vents as his breath coursing up from the dark places in the world. If these things afflict the enemies of the cult, the faithful take it as a sign of their god’s favor; he is clearly displeased if such natural disasters harm his worshippers.
While most of Rovagug’s followers simply seek an end to all, his most extreme worshippers believe they will be uplifted as gods in a new world Rovagug will create after destroying the old. In truth, the Rough Beast cares nothing for them. He cares only about destruction and bringing an end to all things. Should the day come that his prison fails, he would, after enacting his vengeance on the other gods, turn on his own spawn and followers, devouring them as surely as all else.
Rovagug’s faith is forbidden in civilized lands, where no temple to him is allowed to stand. The Rough Beast’s worshippers revel in the hatred of the other gods and their faithful. Creatures who take up Rovagug’s service live to destroy. Most are monsters or hail from communities that celebrate destruction; they cry out paeans to the god as they cut through lesser creatures in howling fits of rage. A few individuals—all somewhat monstrous in their own right—follow Rovagug in their lust for the power that they believe even the other gods fear, or in the mistaken belief that the obliteration the god promises would clear the way for a new birth. Even they know enough to not name their deity in the open, however, lest they be swiftly cut down.
The few adventurers who follow Rovagug cherish destruction, laying waste to as much as they can. They may be warlords, cultists seeking to open the locks of Rovagug’s prison, warriors who have seen such horrors that they can envision only destruction, or vengeful souls who want an end for themselves and all who have hurt them.
Relations with Other Religions
The deities responsible for Rovagug’s imprisonment lack the ability to destroy him; they were forced to settle for binding him, and all fear what would happen should he throw off his chains. Cayden Cailean, Milani, Zyphus, and other gods too young to have played a role in his fettering either heeded elder deities’ warnings about Rovagug or reached the same conclusions after visiting the edge of his prison. Rovagug’s greatest hated is reserved for Sarenrae, for it was she who dared to strike him, and her fiery sword that drove him into his oubliette. He has sworn that when he is free he will tear her apart, feast on her still-living remains, and only then return to his task of sundering the world.While Groetus is often described as the God of the End Times, he and Rovagug display none of the animosity one would expect of competing deities. Some sages speculate the two may not actually be at odds, and that while Rovagug’s purpose is to destroy the physical world, Groetus will feast upon spirits and the energies of the dead.
Planar Allies
Unlike other deities, Rovagug does not have a single herald. Rather, an entire host of extraordinarily rare but catastrophically destructive beasts known as the Spawn of Rovagug serve as his ruinous emissaries upon Golarion, as well as strange and unique qlippoth and other planar allies. In addition to the thognorok qlippoth, the following creatures can be summoned only by worshippers of the Rough Beast.Galulab’daa: Some say Galulab’daa was an angel—or perhaps a whole host of angels—who stood among Sarenrae’s army and were sacrificed when she imprisoned Rovagug, locked within the mad god’s prison. Galulab’daa seems to be in a constant, insane rage, prone to attacking anything near it, even allies, as if under the effects of a confusion spell. This horrifying amalgam of broken wings and melted steel resembles and has all the abilities of a gibbering mouther. Lore passed mostly by word of mouth among priests who survived summoning it recommends simply conjuring it into the midst of enemies, as attempts to bargain with it prove fatal. Despite its apparent madness, it recognizes the symbol of Sarenrae and preferentially attacks her followers before any others.
Spawn of Rovagug: Rovagug doesn’t have a herald like the other gods. Instead, over the ages, the Rough Beast has gradually vomited forth a horde of titanic monstrosities that embody his unrestrained disaster and destruction. Though these beasts can’t be summoned with planar ally or other such spells that allow the faithful to call the heralds of their gods, it is whispered that strange and elaborate rituals exist that can attract their attention or wake them from millennia-old hibernation. Among Rovagug’s spawn are such creatures as Ulunat, who crawled from the Pit of Gormuz and whose shell still stands in Sothis; the Armageddon Engine, better known as the Tarrasque; the destructive Xotani the Firebleeder, Kothogaz, who terrorized Vudra; the dread burrower Chemnosit the Monarch Worm; and the flying terror Volnagur the End Singer. Thankfully the emergence of the Spawn of Rovagug is rare to the extreme.
Holy Books & Codes
Rovagug’s chaotic and constantly warring followers do not agree on a single holy text, and many tribes prefer to pass down their particular beliefs and teachings in stories and songs. Noted here are two such “unholy writings” used by sizable cults of the Worldbreaker, though hundreds of other such texts likely exist.
Cycle of the Beast: For the past 20 years, a resident of Havenguard Asylum in Caliphas, the insane prophet Chalmus Col, has scrawled these rambling passages hearkening back to myths of Rovagug and his terrible spawn. They make a dubious but impassioned claim that all creation causes destruction and all the multiverse trends toward annihilation. Both worshipers of Rovagug and a small number of scholars find Col’s observations shockingly insightful, and transcriptions are widely popular among them, though the madman has not been granted visitors for many years.
The Red Mark of Xhor: Known among many orc tribes, this mark looks like little more than a spiraling symbol of Rovagug with its legs randomly twisted. While the image itself holds no mystical power, the superstitious among Rovagug’s worshipers claim looking at it draws the Rough Beast’s ire down upon the viewer, cursing the viewer as bad luck or marking her for impending consumption by hungry beasts.
Cycle of the Beast: For the past 20 years, a resident of Havenguard Asylum in Caliphas, the insane prophet Chalmus Col, has scrawled these rambling passages hearkening back to myths of Rovagug and his terrible spawn. They make a dubious but impassioned claim that all creation causes destruction and all the multiverse trends toward annihilation. Both worshipers of Rovagug and a small number of scholars find Col’s observations shockingly insightful, and transcriptions are widely popular among them, though the madman has not been granted visitors for many years.
The Red Mark of Xhor: Known among many orc tribes, this mark looks like little more than a spiraling symbol of Rovagug with its legs randomly twisted. While the image itself holds no mystical power, the superstitious among Rovagug’s worshipers claim looking at it draws the Rough Beast’s ire down upon the viewer, cursing the viewer as bad luck or marking her for impending consumption by hungry beasts.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Rovagug's symbol is a fanged mouth surrounded by spider legs, though individual cults might use slightly different symbols such as a crab with a mouth on its back, a maw surrounded by scorpion stingers, or a crude drawing of a claw encircled by a spiral. He has many names used by various tribes and cults, including the Tide of Fangs, the Imprisoned King, and the Worldbreaker.
Tenets of Faith
Rovagug’s only goals are destruction and slaughter, and the same is true of his honest believers. They destroy the idols of others, break works of art, and tear down the illusions that protect others from the Rough Beast’s truths: that life comes to nothing, and that craftsmanship and artistry can’t stave off the inevitable. They want to see civilization fall and its leaders die. Many also seek the deaths of children so that the future too will perish. They believe that acts of destruction loosen the chains that bind their god, and work tirelessly toward the day when their combined atrocities will release the Rough Beast and bring the end at last.
Holidays
Although the harvest month of Rova is named for Rovagug, during which the mowing of wide swaths of cropland mirrors the destruction the Rough Beast would bring to the entire world, he is in no way a harvest or fertility deity and common folk do not invoke his name as part of their work. Individual tribes or cults have their own unique holidays, deciphered from remnants of old books or fragments of god-inspired dreams; only two are common among many tribes, and some do not acknowledge even these events.
Lastday: This holiday is based on conjunctions of the sun with certain stars and planets, which align in early fall during most years. Every few decades, the alignment occurs during another part of the year, with occasional intervals during which the event isn’t celebrated at all. The Rough Beast’s followers believe these alignments indicate a weakening of the god’s prison, a swell in his power, or a moment where stellar divination allows them to accurately predict the end of the world.
The Waking: When the Starstone crashed into Golarion, the force of the impact jostled Rovagug in his prison, rousing him from centuries of hibernation. Overwhelmed by the equivalent of a massive telepathic roar from the Rough Beast, bloodthirsty orc shamans all over Golarion drove their comrades, still confined to the Darklands, forward against their tribal enemies. The orcs commemorate this event annually with the ceremony of the Waking, usually held in early spring; they don’t know the exact day, month, or year when Earthfall occurred, and tribes are known to war over their beliefs as to the correct date. The tribes have become superstitious about the holiday, believing Rovagug will abandon them or go back to sleep if they don’t offer him the correct prayers and sacrifices.
Lastday: This holiday is based on conjunctions of the sun with certain stars and planets, which align in early fall during most years. Every few decades, the alignment occurs during another part of the year, with occasional intervals during which the event isn’t celebrated at all. The Rough Beast’s followers believe these alignments indicate a weakening of the god’s prison, a swell in his power, or a moment where stellar divination allows them to accurately predict the end of the world.
The Waking: When the Starstone crashed into Golarion, the force of the impact jostled Rovagug in his prison, rousing him from centuries of hibernation. Overwhelmed by the equivalent of a massive telepathic roar from the Rough Beast, bloodthirsty orc shamans all over Golarion drove their comrades, still confined to the Darklands, forward against their tribal enemies. The orcs commemorate this event annually with the ceremony of the Waking, usually held in early spring; they don’t know the exact day, month, or year when Earthfall occurred, and tribes are known to war over their beliefs as to the correct date. The tribes have become superstitious about the holiday, believing Rovagug will abandon them or go back to sleep if they don’t offer him the correct prayers and sacrifices.
Symbol
Edicts
destroy all things, free Rovagug from his prison
Anathema
create something new, let material ties restrain you, torture a victim or otherwise delay its destruction
Areas of Concern
destruction, disaster, and wrath
Allies
none
Enemies
Abadar, Asmodeus, Calistria, Desna, Gozreh, Lamashtu, Pharasma, Sarenrae, Shelyn, Torag, Zon-Kuthon
Temples
caverns, chasms, fortresses, pits
Worshippers
destructive zealots, doomsayers, hate-mongers, warlords
Sacred Animal
scorpion
Sacred Colors
brown and red
Favored Weapon
greataxe
Domains
air, destruction, earth, zeal
Alternate Domains
swarm, void
Divine Ability
Strength or Constitution
Divine Font
harm
Divine Skill
Athletics
Religions
Realm
Church/Cult
Children
Ruled Locations
Aphorisms
With no centralized religion, no standard holy book, and worshipers who consist mostly of oft-battling rival tribes, Rovagug’s faith has no set adages. Most sayings among his cults are joyous exclamations uttered at an enemy’s injury or death, or wry curses hissed when a necessary item breaks. Still, a few invocations are popular among Rovagug’s followers.The end is now: This battle cry derives from the belief that, since the Rough Beast’s imprisonment, Golarion has been slowly sickening and dying. This declaration is a favorite of maniacal savages and mad doomsayers proselytizing the inevitable coming of the end times.
I am what gods fear: A dramatic exaggeration savored by warriors who serve Rovagug, this boast evokes the divine battles once fought between the other deities and the Rough Beast. Tales abound of the monstrous deity’s most notorious followers shouting this unlikely battle cry in the midst of combat, believing themselves to be Rovagug’s favored champions.
When the Cage crumbles: This understated threat carries the promise of eventual death. It speaks to his followers’ certainty that Rovagug will break free and spread destruction. The faithful sometimes use it to learn whether another shares their beliefs, hoping for a response of “Gods will die.”
Nothing holds me: Fanatic followers use this battle cry to indicate their god is working through them, and thus is unconstrained by his prison.
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