Tuerny

Tuerny the Merciless is a feared villain of the World of Greyhawk. His symbol is a black iron disk engraved with a stylized man carrying a rod above his head with both hands, forming the letter T. Tuerny is a nalfeshnee (Type IV) demon: twenty feet tall, with a head like a fiendish boar, a body like an ape, and raptor's wings with a ten foot span. His claws are huge even for a demon of his type; his fur is an eerie green striped with black. When he appears in human guise, it is as a bald-headed man with robes of rust-red. Perhaps this was his mortal visage. One of Tuerny's greatest enemies is Graz'zt, whom he bound in his Iron Flask long ago, and from whose clutches he recently rescued Iggwilv. Tuerny was briefly allied with Iggwilv, though this alliance collapsed after the rescue of Tenser. Tuerny was born in approximately -316 CY into the House of Cranden, in what is now the United Kingdom of Ahlissa. He became a great wizard, one of the most feared in all of history, and a counselor to the ruler of one of the Aerdi principalities that preceded the rise of the Great Kingdom. As ambitious as he was, he slew his liege and the rest of the royal family, founding an expansionist tyranny in his own name. He used his magic to charm or enslave those among his generals who resisted him, and summoned demons to bolster his armies. Unfortunately, he had little control over them, and though his efforts created great terror, notoriety, and disgust, his kingdom grew little. He created his Iron Flask artifact circa -266 CY, binding within it an aspect of Graz'zt himself. As Iggwilv would do centuries later, Tuerny forced Graz'zt to aid him in his conquests. His neighbors sent armies against him; the wars lasted for years without resolution. Finally, during a great battle, as he would do with Iggwilv, Graz'zt ultimately turned the tables on Tuerny. The demon prince transformed the warlord into a dretch, a kind of minor demon, and dragged him into the Abyss to be his slave. Tuerny somehow survived centuries of torment, slowly gaining power and evolving into greater forms. With time, he became a mighty nalfeshnee, a kind of demon that commonly works as judges of the damned. He has not held this form for very long; it was a recent reward for victories in the Blood War. After staging a daring rescue of Iggwilv from Graz'zt's prisons, Tuerny and the former Witch-Queen of Perrenland made their way to one of her forgotten bases on Luna, where they sought to create a portal to let Tuerny's armies into the Prime Material Plane on Goodmonth 11, 585 CY, to ally with and reinforce the overextended armies of Iggwilv's son Iuz. When this scheme fell apart due to the interference of a band of doughty adventurers, the two parted ways. Tuerny still seeks to reestablish an empire on the world of Oerth, to revenge himself against those who he feels have wronged him, and to avoid the wrath of Graz'zt. Tuerny is the creator of the Iron Flask of Tuerny the Merciless.