Iggwilv\Tasha

Iggwilv is a powerful human spellcaster and demonologist best known as the creator of the Demonomicon of Iggwilv. In the history of the Flanaess, she is remembered for her conquest of Perrenland in 481 CY.

She is known under various aliases and titles, including Tasha, Natasha the Dark, Hura of Ket, Igwlf, the Witch Queen of Perrenland, the Dream Witch, the Mother of Witches. and Zybilna.

Iggwilv famously appears in a range of guises, from a bald, hideous crone to a beautiful woman. While she favors beautiful appearance, it is believed that the crone is her true form, although none live who have ever seen it.

In her guise as Natasha, she is a tall, slim human woman with long black hair and alabaster skin. In another, as Iggwilv circa 585 CY, she is a thin woman with golden skin, with eyes resembling black pools, and wears a dark gray robed hood. As Tasha, she is sometimes depicted wearing an iconic witch's outfit with dark robes and a tall pointed hat, as well as a variety of other clothing. She is sometimes seen with a tattoo or mark beneath her right eye representing a three-forked line, known in the Flanaess as an inverted form of a rune representing evil magic, although its purpose is unknown. Circa 597 CY, during her planes, she wore an iconic revealing dark green dress along with the demonskin artifact cloak Fiend's Embrace.

Iggwilv is capricious, wicked, and highly ambitious. As Witch Queen of Perrenland, she subjected its people to such a reign of terror that, a century later, mothers still invoked Iggwilv's name to frighten disobedient children. While she makes an exceptionally powerful ally, she also has a reputation for treachery. She plotted careful revenge against the Circle of Eight after they foiled one of her plans, but quickly lost interest after her revenge failed. She is somewhat vain, materialistic and desires wealth, collecting treasure and magic items in particular. She has a preference for the use of demons as servants. She also collects mold and fungi, including sentient species.

Family

Iggwilv is the adopted daughter of Baba Yaga, from whom she first learned magic. She is adoptive sister to Elena the Fair, a lawful good sorceress of whom she is jealous, though she wishes no harm upon her. Iggwilv's father is unknown.

Iggwilv imprisoned and seduced the demon lord Graz'zt, who sired her a son, Iuz.

Iggwilv is also the mother to the vampire Drelnza. Her father is unknown, though it is almost certainly not Graz'zt. Some sages speculate that Drelnza is the only creature Iggwilv ever truly loved.

The warlock Mary Greymalkin claims to draw lineage from Iggwilv, who is also one of her patrons. Iggwilv may have other descendants, and such is Iggwilv's bloodline that demons can sense those individuals' connection to her, and treat them with greater respect.

On multiple occasions, Iggwilv has clashed with the Circle of Eight, who maintain a constant watch in order to ready should she return to Oerth.

Allies

She has a famous love-hate relationship with the demon lord Graz'zt, who have fought and betrayed each other in the past.

Her allies include the yugoloth Tul-oc-luc, the demon lords Zuggtmoy and Demogorgon, and Tuerny the Merciless.

She secretly holds significant influence over the demon lord Kostchtchie, and is responsible for his rise to power. Her long-term goals are to use him to defeat Orcus and Demogorgon, allowing Iggwilv to seize control of the Abyss.

Iggwilv also has numerous contacts across the planes, and could use this to bring together a large army should the need arise.

Origin

Iggwilv was born centuries ago to unknown parents. She was adopted by the legendary witch Baba Yaga as a child, who raised her and introduced her to the secrets of magic. Her first memories were of growing up in the Feywild, something Tasha resented due to frequent occurrences of bizarre and unpredictable natural phenomena.

As a young woman, she went by the name Natasha the Dark. She enjoyed manipulating demons and using them as servants, and developed a wicked streak. She also collected magic items and conducted magical research, becoming a skilled magic user in her own right. She lived with another adoptive sister named Elena.

4th century CY

The earliest record of Iggwilv in the Flanaess is nearly three centuries ago (circa 300 CY) in the western borderlands of al-Ket, where she went by the alias Hura. Here she occupied a tower at the outskirts of the city of Loppolla, where she conducted various terrible experiments.

Her presence there was tolerated until she plundered the Vault of Daoud (likely where she acquired the Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn), which outraged the pious citizens of Lopolla. She was driven into exile.

Taking the name Tasha, she joined the Company of Seven, a now legendary adventuring party whose members included such luminaries as Zagig Yragerne, Heward, Quaal and Nolzur. Tasha hid her true ability, and posed as a spellcaster of less capability than her true strength. Before the end of the 300s CY, the Company of Seven parted ways due to internal disagreements.

At some unknown point she developed the spell Tasha's uncontrollable hideous laughter.

5th century CY

Tasha settled in the City of Greyhawk approximately 200 years ago (circa 400 CY), where she drew the attention of its powerful and eccentric mayor, Zagig Yragerne. Zagig took her as an apprentice, studying the creatures of the Outer Planes and engaging in summoning rituals. Tasha had a particular interest in the Abyss, and learned a great deal on the subject under Zagig's tutelage. Zagig carried out a relationship with his apprentice, considered something of a scandalous in the City of Greyhawk at the time.

In a pinnacle of their achievement together, the two succeeded in summoning and binding the demon lord Fraz-Urb'luu, who they imprisoned beneath Castle Greyhawk.The pair were aided in this plot by several rivals of Fraz-Urb'luu, demon lords who hated him for his habit of incessant trickery.[28] Iggwilv took this opportunity to interrogate Fraz-Urb'luu, Prince of Deception, and from his lies Tasha was able to glean valuable secrets.

Tasha was not satisfied sharing such demon-binding power with Zagig, and sought to wield such power by herself. She looted Zagig's library and fled in the night with several of his priceless artifacts. The greatest of these was the Tome of Zyx, a work of demonology penned by Zagig. This tome was the foundation of Tasha's understanding of demonology.

In search of greater power, Tasha traveled to the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth in the Yatil Mountains, where she uncovered the tomb where the archmage Tsojcanth was said to have been laid to rest. Unknown to most, Tsojcanth was the half-demon son Fraz-Urb'luu who masqueraded as a mortal, and was alive. Tasha deployed her accumulated knowledge to bind him in an epic contest of wills, and subsequently spent many years interrogating him to increase her knowledge of demonology.

At some point following her departure from Greyhawk, Tasha took the name Iggwilv.

Demonomicon of Iggwilv

Using the additional knowledge she gained from Tsojcanth, Iggwilv successfully summoned and bound the demon prince Graz'zt, imprisoning his physical form. Once again she used this opportunity to expand her knowledge of demonology.

Collecting together her accumulated knowledge in written form, Iggwilv refined and expanded upon the Tome of Zyx to produce a six-volume work known as the Demonomicon of Iggwilv.

Iggwilv and Graz'zt became lovers, although she continued to hold him bound.[8] Shortly before 460 CY, the two had a son, Iuz, who was given in adoption to a petty lord north of Whyestil Lake. Graz'zt gifted her not only knowledge but items, including the rare cloak Fiend's Embrace, made from the hide of the pit fiend Drokarrn.

Conquest of Perrenland

Iggwilv is first recorded in the history of Perrenland, a nation at the foot of the Yatil mountain range, in 460 CY.

In 479 CY, Iuz's adoptive father died, and Iuz seized upon the opportunity to take control of his estate.[9] Iuz proved to be a capable general, and raised an army of barbaric humans and humanoids. In 480 CY, Iuz led these forces under Iggwilv's banner to conquer the lands surrounding her base in the Yatils. By 481 CY Iggwilv enslaved all of Perrenland, establishing herself the title of Witch Queen. Perrenland's nobility fled to their embassy in Exag,, and Iggwilv's rising power began to concern Perrenland's neighbors, resulting in an alliance between Ket and the dwarves of the lower Yatils.

From 481 CY until 491 CY, Iggwilv's conquests continued, taking Lake Quag to the north and attacking the Wolf Nomads. She stripped conquered lands of their wealth to invest in magical research. She offered an alliance to the Storm Riders of the Temple of Celestial Winds, raiders bound to their temple by ancient curse, but when they rejected her offer she sealed away their temple for over a century.[32] She also gave birth to a daughter, Drelzna, whose father is unknown (but unlikely to be Graz'zt).

Under Graz'zt's influence, Iggwilv's grew ever more hungry for power, and sought to extend her conquest Ket, the land which exiled her before. Graz'zt grew resentful of his continued exploitation, and began plotting to escape Iggwilv's control.

In 491 CY, Iggwilv's control of Graz'zt finally slipped. A rift to the Abyss grew beneath Iggwilv's lair, a dangerous side-effect of her frequent summoning rituals. Graz'zt proposed freeing the half-fiend Tsojcanth to use his essence to seal the rift, but when Iggwilv undertook the ritual, Tsojcanth suddenly attacked her. Iggwilv defeated him, but was weakened in the battle. Graz'zt immediately took the opportunity to attack Iggwilv without mercy, in a titanic battle said to have shaken the Yatil Mountains. Iuz, torn between loyalty to both parents, was divided into two halves, one demon, one human.

Graz'zt was slain, banishing him to his home in the Abyss for 100 years. Iggwilv survived, weakened and broken, and with her power greatly reduced. Graz'zt's motivation for allowing Iggwilv to live is debatable: he may have been insufficiently powerful to deal the finishing blow, or wished his former lover to continue living for his sake, or wished to punish her by having her live in a weakened state.The battle cost Iggwilv nearly every spell, artifact and ally at her disposal.

Weakened and alone, Iggwilv's reign over Perrenland ended, but the impoverished nation suffered a famine which lasted for two years. Iggwilv abandoned the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and fled north with her son Iuz, who she helped to gain power. She then departed from those lands, and was widely presumed dead. Much of her riches and many of her magic items were plundered by her former servants, including Iggwilv's Nethertome.

Conflict with the Circle of Eight

In the 570s CY, Iggwilv had two notable clashes with the Circle of Eight.

In the mid to late 570s CY, the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth were rediscovered. The Circle of Eight, unable to directly intervene, quietly sponsored groups of adventurers to sack the caverns. Iggwilv's daughter Drelzna, now a vampire, was destroyed while guarding the ruins.

In another instance, Iggwilv attempted to attack the Flanaess with an army of fiends and monsters. Tenser of the Circle of Eight hired adventurers to head to the Isle of the Ape to locate the Crook of Rao with which to prevent the incursion of her army of fiends. Among those who took part in the expedition were Agath of Thrunch, Great Druidess Reynard Yargrove, Franz, Lord Torkeep, Lady Marshal Rowena of the Silverbow of the Vesve Forest, Warnes Starcoat of Urnst, and Guildmaster Rakehell Chert of Scant. Iggwilv was defeated, but not before corrupting the Crook of Rao with a curse which risks its destruction.

Greyhawk Wars

Iggwilv recovered most of her power and returned to Oerth prior to the Greyhawk Wars (582 - 584 CY), in which she secretly supported Iuz.

Iggwilv soon fell for a ploy involving Graz'zt's majordomo Verin.[4] Early in the Wars, Iggwilv attempted to summon and bind Graz'zt again, but discovered that Graz'zt had made plans for this eventuality, bringing a unique artifact which broke her binding circles. He took her to the Abyss, who imprisoned her in his Argent Palace, where he recovered portions of his stolen power.

Not long after her capture she escaped her bondage, aided by Tuerny the Merciless, who freed Iggwilv to spite his enemy Graz'zt. Iggwilv and Graz'zt fought a running battle throughout the Argent Palace, destroying halls of priceless treasures and slaying each other's favored servants, but neither was willing to commit their full strength to deal the killing blow. Graz'zt finally called a kind of truce and allowed Iggwilv to leave unharmed, and even employed his own demonic servants to convey her research and valued possessions to her manor on another plane. Iggwilv and Graz'zt would thereafter continue in a cycle of attempting to exploit each other to serve their own plans.

In 585 CY, she once again clashed with agents of the Circle of Eight during a plan to invade Oerth using the moon Luna as a staging ground for her forces. Tenser, who had previously Iggwilv's lunar base abandoned during the Greyhawk Wars, chose it as a location to hide one of his clone bodies as insurance. Warnes Starcoat, now a member of the Circle of Eight, sent adventurers to the moon to recover Tenser's clone body after his death. Iggwilv was again defeated and sent into exile.

Recent history

In 591 CY, rumors of Iggwilv's return sparked public panic in Perrenland.

The wizard Vayne created a simulacrum of Iggwilv from a lock of her hair, less powerful than the true Witch-Queen but still greatly powerful.

As of 597 CY, Iggwilv bides her time in a hidden lair in the Lower Planes, located in Niflheim in the Gray Wastes of Hades. She is guarded by Stygian linnorms. Iggwilv also possesses a small personal demiplane, where she holds a manor within an orchard of black-leaved trees and an ancient gray gazebo. Her current long-term plans include conquest in the Flanaess, although she is not yet prepared to do so.

Spells

Iggwilv's lightning cage

Iggwilv's timeless sleep

Tasha's caustic brew

Tasha's forcible conscription

Tasha's mind whip

Tasha's otherworldly guise

Tasha's uncontrollable hideous laughter, also called Tasha's hideous laughter

Iggwilv is known to have authored the following works:

The Demonomicon of Iggwilv

Lore of Subtle Communication (as Tasha)

Iggwilv's Nethertome

Creative origins

Iggwilv was the creation of Gary Gygax. His inspirations included the evil witch queen Louhi from the Finnish Kalevala, and Baba Yaga of Russian folklore. Gygax considered her primarily a behind-the-scenes manipulator type character. While Gygax's novel Sea of Death says that Iggwilv is known as Louhi on other worlds, in 2005 Gygax stated that Iggwilv is not the Louhi of Finnish mythology.

The name Tasha first appeared as the namesake of the spell Tasha's uncontrollable hideous laughter, which first appeared in Dragon #67 (Nov 1982). Gygax named the spell after a little girl who wrote him letters in crayon. Tasha's identity as an alias of Iggwilv and former member of the Company of Seven did not appear until Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk (2007).

Natasha the Dark first appeared in the adventure module The Dancing Hut, Dragon #83 (March 1984), where she is a demonologist and adoptive human daughter of Baba Yaga, although her connection to the demonologist Iggwilv had not yet been made. The Demonomicon of Iggwilv, Dragon #336 (Oct 2005) introduced Iggwilv's past identity as Hura of Ket, and noted a rumor that she was a daughter of Baba Yaga. Following the publication of Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, which established Tasha as an alias of Iggwilv, Dragon #359's Unsolved Mysteries of D&D speculated that Dragon #83's Natasha the Dark was yet another of Iggwilv's aliases. The connection was explicitly made in The Iggwilv-Graz'zt Affair, Dragon #414 (Aug 2012).

In 2003, Gygax suggested that in his opinion, Iggwilv would be a demigoddess with a character level in the 30s.