Tanar'ri (/tɑːˈnɑːrri/ tah-NAHR-ree[3] or: /tɛˈnɑːri/ teh-NAH-ree[4] or: /təˈnɑːri/ tuh-NAHR-ee[5])
Tanar'ri were the dominant race of demons in the Abyss, evil souls warped by its raw chaos into manifestations of mortal failing. Whether they arose naturally from sins and spirits, or were shaped by evil gods or other powerful demons, all tanar'ri were embodiments of vice, depraved inner demons spawned from the darkest corners of mortal minds.[6][7][8]
“Purveyors of ill intent and creatures of utter cruelty, it's likely that the tanar'ri are the most mean-spirited and thoroughly evil monsters in existence. They view life as a nuisance. They see the living as toys to be savagely abused and then discarded. They care for nothing but themselves, and they don’t even care about themselves all that much... The tanar’ri are destructive, petty, an
Unlike their obyrith progenitors, who were spawned directly from the heaving flesh of the Abyss, the tanar'ri emerged from the more fertile soul of mortal spirit. However, the original tanar'ri breeds were not truly born from the first humanoid souls to enter the Abyss, but rather forged from them. Several varieties of the chaotic fiends had to be coaxed and shaped into existence by the obyriths, particularly through the aid of the sibriexes. In more recent times the process continued without intervention, with the tanar'ri emerging from sins on their own. Some sins were ageless, invariable in nature across time and so spawning commonly known tanar'ri, but there were often new depravities that existed for a brief window of time, resulting in transitory breeds able to go extinct before even coming to the attention of the Material Plane.[6]
The most pitiful of chaotic evil souls (assuming they did not worship an Abyssal lord or deity, in which case those beings would choose their form) manifested in the Abyss as the worm-like soul larvae.[22][173] Demons often devoured these petitioners, utterly destroying them and permanently erasing all that they were from the multiverse,[173] but the tanar'ri "promoted" almost all of the creatures into higher forms,[22] bending the tenuous natural order of the Abyss to make them into true demons.[173] This was among the many reasons why the tanar'ri outnumbered the baatezu, who trolled the Hells for only the hardiest larvae that struggled against harsh conditions and met their strict standards to mold into lemures.[22][174]
Many (but not all) new souls were spawned directly on the Woeful Escarand to be judged according to the dubiously upheld standards of the Lords of Woe, assigned a tanar'ic form, and from there deposited on some other layer of the Abyss.[173][22][88] Most souls, however, did not have to start as a pathetic larva, but rather took the form of a mane which vaguely resembled their mortal selves, albeit driven feral by the overwhelming psychic shock of their transformation.[173]
“Purveyors of ill intent and creatures of utter cruelty, it's likely that the tanar'ri are the most mean-spirited and thoroughly evil monsters in existence. They view life as a nuisance. They see the living as toys to be savagely abused and then discarded. They care for nothing but themselves, and they don’t even care about themselves all that much... The tanar’ri are destructive, petty, an
Creation
The tanar'ri were an incredibly prolific race, outnumbering their baatezu rivals to a staggering degree and possessing a wide variety of advantages when it came to the numbers game. For example, both the baatezu and tanar'ri could emerge spontaneously from their native planes, but the tanar'ri blossomed from the chaotic maelstroms of the Abyss far more frequently than the baatezu could pull themselves out from Baator's unfeeling order and rigid ground, as was to be expected from somewhere as structured and regulated as the Nine Hells.[172][22]Unlike their obyrith progenitors, who were spawned directly from the heaving flesh of the Abyss, the tanar'ri emerged from the more fertile soul of mortal spirit. However, the original tanar'ri breeds were not truly born from the first humanoid souls to enter the Abyss, but rather forged from them. Several varieties of the chaotic fiends had to be coaxed and shaped into existence by the obyriths, particularly through the aid of the sibriexes. In more recent times the process continued without intervention, with the tanar'ri emerging from sins on their own. Some sins were ageless, invariable in nature across time and so spawning commonly known tanar'ri, but there were often new depravities that existed for a brief window of time, resulting in transitory breeds able to go extinct before even coming to the attention of the Material Plane.[6]
The most pitiful of chaotic evil souls (assuming they did not worship an Abyssal lord or deity, in which case those beings would choose their form) manifested in the Abyss as the worm-like soul larvae.[22][173] Demons often devoured these petitioners, utterly destroying them and permanently erasing all that they were from the multiverse,[173] but the tanar'ri "promoted" almost all of the creatures into higher forms,[22] bending the tenuous natural order of the Abyss to make them into true demons.[173] This was among the many reasons why the tanar'ri outnumbered the baatezu, who trolled the Hells for only the hardiest larvae that struggled against harsh conditions and met their strict standards to mold into lemures.[22][174]
Many (but not all) new souls were spawned directly on the Woeful Escarand to be judged according to the dubiously upheld standards of the Lords of Woe, assigned a tanar'ic form, and from there deposited on some other layer of the Abyss.[173][22][88] Most souls, however, did not have to start as a pathetic larva, but rather took the form of a mane which vaguely resembled their mortal selves, albeit driven feral by the overwhelming psychic shock of their transformation.[173]
Basic Information
Anatomy
Ascension
“Just look at the tanar'ri. Uncountable fiends at their command, and still the fools can’t defeat us! We rise based on skill and cunning, but they rise through luck and hatred. That won’t win many fights in the long run.”
— The opinion of an erinyes devil.[180]
The tanar'ri were constantly taking on new shapes,[12] always changing to become more powerful,[181] and most types of tanar'ri originated from weaker fiends that had advanced into a higher form.[10] Baatezu ascended by obtaining favor and stamps of approval from important fiends and infernal ministries, yugoloths by proving their competence and conviction in wickedness, as well as how best to demonstrate it,[10] and even the slightly chaotic gehreleths by waiting for the deaths of enough superiors.[182] The tanar'ri, meanwhile, had no such rigmarole,[10] nor the set torture procedures used to elevate castes.[12] Unlike other fiends, it would be inaccurate to label their transformations "promotions" or even to say they were "rising". Rather than ascend, it would be more accurate to say the chaotic fiends "changed" and they did so with no apparent rhyme or reason.[10]
The most common theory behind tanar'ric transformations was that the demons changed based on what they believed. It was a strange combination of posturing and self-confidence where by convincing both themselves and those around them of their strength and intelligence, reality would shift to match perception. Whether or not they were right was irrelevant, for so long as others believed (and if they deluded themselves into believing), the lie would eventually become true, but it helped to have some edge, such as cunning, power, magic, or deep self-confidence, to back up their supposed greatness.[10][12] This change was not believed to be automatic, but a gradual, self-determined process, and the means by which tanar'ri shaped themselves to best survive in their native layers.[11][10]
But just as the Abyss shaped the tanar'ri, the tanar'ri shaped the Abyss, feeding it with their own beliefs and power and it empowering them in turn.[11] In the ever-changing depths of the Abyss, power was station and it was adapt or die. The lowest Abyssal petitioners, the soul larvae, learned quickly of the brutality of their existence and advanced towards strength and sentience as fast as possible. When new kinds of fiendish life spontaneously appeared in the Abyss, it was because the larvae there had undergone a twisted kind of evolution. On harsher layers of the Abyss, generations could go by before one managed to rise above the rest and assume a form able to exploit their environment.[11]
Indeed, just as the tanar'ri adapted to the Abyss, the Abyss adapted to the tanar'ri, forming new hazards and inhospitable realms to crush all but the most capable lifeforms.[22] The most common shapes of the tanar'ri were those able to inhabit multiple specialized environments, even those completely obscure to most mortals.[11] In a sense, it was the many hostile layers of the Abyss that taught the tanar'ri which forms to take (and which to flee from) to survive.[10] After obtaining forms capable of survival, a tanar'ri could attempt take on new forms, but only if they had the energy to spare.[11]
However, it was important to note that the newer demons were not simply changing to match their homes. Rather, these tanar'ri took cues from more experienced fiends, imitating the strength and abilities that gave them their staying power.[11] A tanar'ri that adapted a pair of sharp claws, for example, needed not be from a layer that truly encouraged close combat, but merely to believe that excelling in this area was the most worthwhile of goals.[10]
A fair number of people felt that faith was an insufficient explanation of tanar'ric transformations. Some were certain that other forces, such as balors or nalfeshnee, manipulated and channeled the belief, while others thought that the Abyss randomly determined a tanar'ri's form without regard for skill of mental capacity.[10] In reality, neither of these views were wrong. In the chaos of the Abyss, both force of will and pure luck played a role. The spontaneous evolution of manes, for example, usually happened at the whims of the Abyss, even if an individual's chances were higher. Furthermore, stronger demons did engineer the promotions of manes on occasion, generally the unusually cruel and intelligent.[11][173][183] The nalfeshnees in particular drained life and dark emotions from those they judged, readying the husks for torturous transformation into Tanar'ri.[41]
Genetics and Reproduction
Procreation
Some tanar'ri employed the more traditional methods of reproduction. Unlike with the baatezu, whose females were all infertile, many types of tanar'ri were capable of breeding among themselves.[10][31][175] It was not uncommon for tanar'ri to take on different sexes at will, going between male, female, both, and neither as they so desired. Over time they generally stuck with one form, letting their strongest predilection dominate the others. This was partially because changing between them was a considerable effort even for the mightiest of them, effort that they'd generally rather use on something destructive.[10]
Tanar'ri offspring were normally the same type as their parents or of a type somewhere between the relative strength of the two, favoring the mother's due to their influence up until the birth. Some were carried for mere days before being left to the Abyss, others were carried over decades and given time to incubate, and others still were laid as eggs. In any case, a tanar'ric birth could end badly for the bearer if proper precautions weren't taken. These "true-born" tanar'ri were planar beings born ready for the hardships of battle from the moment of inception. Fortunately for the rest of the multiverse, most of such creatures were killed in infancy by their own parents soon after being spawned.[31][16]
Unfortunately for many, the tanar'ri loved to mate with a countless variety of races. From seduction and disguise to brute force and unholy pacts, they had many methods to get what they wanted in this regard.[31] The unluckiest mortals were the ones chosen as breeding stock;[34] conversely, some sought out tanar'ri to couple with for the sake of power. Sometimes tanar'ri were motivated to crossbreed by the desire for a new sensation,[39] while at others they sought simply to create more of their ilk,[34] tanar'ri nature (notably their ability to magically transform)[176] able to override the most pressing biological barriers to crossbreed with nearly any mortal species. However, mortal mothers almost always died in the painful throes of Abyssal childbirth, while mortal fathers were often killed soon after the coupling (assuming they didn't die the moment their seed took root).[31][34]
Examples of mortal-tanar'ri crossbreeds included cambions, alu-fiends, and draegloths, and the further interbreeding of tanar'ric half-fiends and mortals could produce various other types of fiendish hybrids down the line.[34][177] A key example of these distant descendants were demonic tieflings, their ancestors usually being either succubi or mariliths.[176] Other examples included the fey'ri, the descendants of a house of sun elves that secretly bred with succubi to empower their bloodline,[178] and the tanarukks, the descendants of tanar'ri (particularly vrocks) and the orcish slaves they bred with in an attempt to create an army of shock troops. Notably, tanarukks bred true amongst each other and pure-blooded orcs, and could theoretically breed with goblinoids or even ogres to create strange (if likely sterile) crossbreeds.[179]
Growth Rate & Stages
Time
It was said that the strongest tanar'ri (those deemed "true") were never born into their place but had to evolve into it; even those that hatched from eggs, for example, were other fiends first and kept all their previous memories.[80][173] However, a larvae created from an exceptionally evil being, such as a major dictator or violent mastermind, might technically start weak, but immediately turn into a much stronger demon.[173] The mindless manes occasionally underwent a similar transformations, generally those that possessed the most fragments of shattered memories and the highest levels of cruelty, gaining forms ranging from the lowly dretch to even a molydeus.[183]Normally however, it was practically impossible for a tanar'ri to make even one jump in status (going from least to greater for example), a feat only the most ambitious and devious of their kind were known to have accomplished. Changing rank at all could take anywhere between a century to millennia depending on a given tanar'ri's drive. Most accepted the gradual changes, allowing them to experience and take in all the many variations in the existence of their kind.[10] Granted, the chances of a mane becoming even a dretch was one in a thousand and their chances of becoming something better (such as an armanite) one in a million. Even so, the tanar'ri were incredibly plentiful,[181] and even a lowly mane could become a lord, albeit only after eons of struggling;[12] some of the strongest lords started their afterlives as mere petitioners.[173]
Types of Tanar'ri
“How many different kinds of tanar'ri exist? A dozen? Two? Perhaps we've only identified some twenty-odd types of Abyssal fiends, but I'd bet a week’s wages there are more kinds of tanar’ri than there are portals in Sigil, trees on Arborea, gears on Mechanus — you get my meaning.”— Michil Kedell[11]
Adaru
Millipede-like demons of pure corruption, adarus were verminous, venomous tanar'ri that oozed filth and spewed toxicity. Created by Talona, Lady of Poison, they awoke to vile sentience in response to the terrible results of a mortal's deceit, and manipulated other demons with lies and false promises.[187]
Alkilith
Disgusting masses of phosphorescent green ooze, alkiliths were pollution and putrescence made hatefully alive. The spawn of Juiblex, Demon Lord of Ooze, were embodiments of sloth that by merely infecting the world brought moral decay, desecration of the pristine, and the corrosion of reality itself.[7][83][188][189]
Armanite
Monstrous, centaur-like tanar'ri, armanites acted as heavy cavalry in demonic armies when not running wild across the Abyss. Vicious and quarrelsome yet brutally disciplined, armanites were militaristic mercenaries that fought for plunder, and to sate their bloodlust in the chaotic frenzy of battle.[94][107][190]
Arrow demon
Four-armed, humanoid tanar'ri capable of wielding two longbows at once, arrow demons were created to fight in the armies of the Abyss. Although the Abyssal archers understood a life of service and the value of group action, they were demons through and through, hateful of hope and alien to altruism.[95]
Babau
Sneaky, skeletal demons of deviousness and discretion, babaus were tanar'ri notable for placing work before pain. Efficiently evil and mechanically malicious, they were the alleged result of Glasya and Graz'zt's "union", when the subversive Princess of the Night spilled the Dark Prince's blood.[74][191]
Balor
With burning rage and lightning fury, balors were mighty tanar'ri champions and generals with the primal urge to battle. Brilliant, corruptive, and inspiring, they were passionate hate personified, and channeled their unholy power into the fight for freedom — the freedom of evil from order and reason.[76][89][106]
Barlgura
Animalistic ape-like demons, barlguras were tribal pack hunters that took gruesome trophies from their prey. Manifestations of savage brutality, leaping demons bounded unseen through the wilds using camouflage and teleportation, for the ambush predators were experts in guerilla warfare.[85][192][193][194]
Bulezau
Minotaur-like demons of unending ferocity, buleazus were embodiments of nature's violence, heavy infantry that went beyond savagery with bestial, suicidal rage. Made by Baphomet by breeding minotaurs and tanar'ri, the buleazu were too wild even for the Prince of Beasts.[93][195][196]
Cerebrilith
The size of an ogre yet intellectually fearsome, cerebriliths were tanar'ri with exposed, swollen brains, and the power of psionics. The horrifying creatures loved to kill intelligent beings so as to extract and examine their brains to gain new insight into the Invisible Art.[97][197]
Chasme
Cunning, craven tanar'ri sent to punish other demons, the lowly, fly-like chasmes tracked down traitors branded for service through a psychic imprint of chaotic evil before returning and torturing them. They emerged as maggots from the Abyss's dead, before feeding off the plane's pervasive corruption.[80][104][131][198][199]
Dretch
The wretched dregs of the tanar'ri, dretches were the least of their kind, pathetic and squalid beings with few redeeming qualities. Cowardly and stupid, it was only due to possessing enough mutability and malice as mortals that dretches managed to maintain a fraction of their former minds.[192][200][201]
Gadacro
Small, flying tanar'ri with a love of shiny baubles and a taste for freshly plucked eyes, gadacros were lesser demons of viciousness tempered by cowardice. Like demonic carrion birds, murders of them trailed demonic hosts to pick off surviving stragglers, betraying their kin whenever beneficial.[202]
Glabrezu
Monstrous in appearance and of devious mind, glabrezus were ambitious demons, insidious schemers and the foremost corruptors of the Abyss. Embodiments of envy, such tanar'ri tempted the weak-willed with infectious promises of unmatched power, the onset of megalomania that would beget a pandemic of sin.[6][80][33]
Goristro
Another creation of Baphomet, goristros were huge, ferocious tanar'ri that resembled fiendish minotaurs and were often used as living siege engines. The hulking demons had unimaginable strength, and spending centuries in breeding pits had made them frighteningly good at their sole task: smashing.[192][203][204]
Hezrou
Stinky, slimy, and violent, hezrous were toad-like tanar'ri that kept watch of weaker demonic forces for stronger, less numerous masters. Unusually compliant and brutally simple, they sought only to eat and destroy, and would work with anyone of sufficient strength who tolerated these traits.[192][103][1]
Jovoc
Resembling the blackened corpses of children, jovocs were nimble demons that spread their pain to those around them. Born from gloom, despair, and strife, jovocs existed to cause further anguish, their appearance in the world a portent of the suffering soon to come.[101][205]
Kastighur
Massive, sadistic tanar'ri, kastighurs often served as prison guards and hunters for more powerful, intellectual demons. More than mere sadists, they literally consumed the terror, panic, and hopelessness of those they tortured and tracked down, their greatest delight being the act of breaking wills.[133]
Klurichir
Tanar'ri of truly unfathomable might, klurichirs were demonic abominations, rare entities so powerful that they terrified even balors. Rivaling the power of demon lords but not bound by a layer, they were spawned in the lowest levels of the infinite Abyss by the corruption at its core.[206][207][208]
Lilitu
Former succubi reborn in their own ashes, lilitus were heretical tanar'ri that subsisted on the profane joy of twisting priests into demon worshipers. The first to become lilitus were born of Malcanthet, Queen of Succubi, and Ansitif the Befouler, whose corruptive nature unlocked the blasphemous rite.[209][210]
Mane
Little more than demonic petitioners, the corpse-like manes were mere sub-tanar'ic spirits even lower than the dretches. Truly abysmal, they were the physical shells of souls driven to mad hatred by loss and agony, too wicked to be spared from the Abyss but not enough to have real promise there.[92][91][173]
Marilith
Six-armed, serpentine tanar'ri of militant brilliance, mariliths were demons that could act with cold logic. Proud of their martial prowess, experts in warfare, and able to coordinate demon armies, mariliths could master or suppress their inner rage to predict (if not truly understand) the forces of law.[192][80][89][105]
Maurezhi
Ghoul-like tanar'ri created from a corrupted elf society by Doresain, Prince of Ghouls, maurezhi consumed their kills to steal their forms and memories. Scourge incarnations of the undeath plague, they spread chaos and evil through vile bite, infecting mortals with an unholy, overpowering hunger for flesh.[98][211]
Mavawhan
Rare, cold-dwelling demons native to the Iron Wastes, mavawhans were tanar'ri known for focused fury and chilling magic able to freeze victims solid. The ice demons sought to take back their homelands from tanar'ri-hating Kostchtchie, who had driven them to the corners of their home.[212][213]
Molydeus
Two-headed tanar'ri created by demon lords, molydei were sent to ensure the loyalty of more powerful servants, rivaling balors in power and surpassing them in fearsomeness. Their wolf head symbolized rage and their serpent head mistrust, the latter's bite able to reduce any demon to a mere mane.[214][215][216]
Myrmyxicus
Primeval, aquatic demons, myrmyxicuses were among the earliest tanar'ri, immensely powerful creatures that commanded respect from even the haughtiest balor. Rulers of the Abyssian Ocean, each was the master of a grand slave empire, their captives ranging from unlucky humans to overconfident demon lords.[8][217][218]
Nabassu
Gargoylish demons ever-hungry for souls, nabassus were tanar'ri spawned from gluttony that peered into the Material realm waiting to enter and feed. Instantly recognizable as demons, they spread fear and death on the Material Plane to instill terror in mortals, thus bringing power to all demonkind.[6][219][220][221][222]
Nalfeshnee
The corpulent nobles of the tanar'ri, nalfeshnees were the judges of souls, picking the forms of most arrivals based on their own warped sense of "justice". The bloated demons embodied both hunger and sloth, and readied souls for conversion by consuming their hate and despair, leaving only husks.[89][39][41][223]
Palrethee
Constantly aflame, palrethees were tanar'ri of arrogance and ambition who sought to rule the Abyss as balors. Despite their great levels of sadistic intent and wickedness, the power-hungry creatures failed their trial by fire, and so as punishment were sentenced to burn for all eternity.[224]
Rutterkin
Twisted mutants in unending pain, rutterkin were outcasts of demonkind, utterly despised creatures cursed with deformity for their pride. Creatures of utter chaos, they were unrestrained by relationships, societies, and even consistency, their own forms always warping horrifically against their will.[200][225][226][227]
Solamith
Obese tanar'ri of all-consuming appetite, gluttonous depravity, and burning hunger, the flesh of solamiths was charged with the spiritual fire of their prey. They savored each bite of lesser fiend or petitioner, and once finished, a spiritual echo pleading for release appeared as a new face on their guts.[96][228]
Sorrowsworn demon
Tanar'ri of emptiness and futility, sorrowsworn demons were predators and perpetuators of weakness, grief, and despair. They appeared after tragedies in places of great misery, whispering about losses big and small, past and future, real and imagined, and the inevitably of losing what one held most dear.[229]
Spyder-fiend
Combining the worst traits of lupines and arachnids, spyder-fiends were the servants of Miska the Wolf-Spider, the second Prince of Demons and first tanar'ri to claim the title. The horrid demons were cruel, cunning, and said to be the offspring of their master and the Queen of Chaos.[78]
Succubus
Sinister seductresses, succubi enticed important souls with vile debauchery, encouraging their darkest desires before leaving them with empty pleasure. Embracing mortal form rather than twisting it, they were born from the primal, deadly sin of lust, the one most potent for seeding new demonic life.[6][85][230]
Uridezu
Cowardly and rat-like, uridezu were verminous tanar'ri that served as henchmen for more powerful demons. The rodents retained a connection to the rats of the Material Plane and had a similar niche in the Abyss, that of scavenging nuisances that lurked unseen in the shadows stealing scraps of food.[231]
“Each tanar'ri — or demon, as you mortals may call us from time to time — represents a way of thinking, a particular expression of the mind's will to power. Now count the limitless numbers of the Abyss. Truly, we demonstrate the strength of our cause in the minds of mortals.”
— A glabrezu.[28]
Vrock
Vulture-like demons of notorious selfishness, vrocks could coordinate with each other to a startling degree, battling with uncanny grace in elite fighting squads. They were also hateful creatures spawned from the ancient sin of wrath, their instinctive teamwork undermined by greed and bloodlust.[6][80][100][232][1]
Yochlol
Known as the Handmaidens of Lolth, yochlols were tanar'ri created from succubi through terrible rites exclusive to the Spider Queen. Though absolutely loyal to Lolth and sent to ensure drow fealty, they were notable being able to work with each other, and form genuine friendships with mortals.[14][233]
Non-Tanar'ri
Also of note was the fact that non-tanar'ri demons could undergo a kind of metamorphosis. A primary example of this phenomenon was Pazuzu, an obyrith lord who seemed to have evolved with the rule of the Abyss. Despite technically being an obyrith, he had been "accepted" by the tanar'ri and represented a kind of transitional link between the two. Over the eons, due to this dual nature, he had taken on a less horrible shape, his mind-warping form replaced by an aura that made avians servile to his will, and he had also gained several tanar'ri-like qualities, including the power to summon them.[184] Another example were wastriliths; they too were once obyriths, but had evolved beyond their origins into unique entities and were frequently deemed to be tanar'ri at one point.[185][186]
Dietary Needs and Habits
The notion that the tanar'ri needed to eat at all, let alone had any specific dietary requirements, was a matter of contention.[31] For a frame of reference, dretches were noted to consume nearly all organic matter, living or dead, and while they did have a rudimentary digestive system (consisting of an esophagus connecting the mouth to a "stomach") no other digestive organs, such as intensities or bowels, were to be found.[170] Some tanar'ri allegedly consumed the spirits (as well as corpses) of their enemies, while others were said to draw the magical essence out from their bodies. The feeding of many types of tanar'ri, including maurezhi, nabassus, and nalfeshnees, had an esoteric component.[31]
Whether or not they needed to eat, many tanar'ri chose to for a variety of reasons, sometimes just for the simple pleasure of the act. Vrocks, for example, devoured their enemies mostly for symbolic reasons, a gesture of their superiority over the adversary. If an overall structure or symbolic meaning underlaid tanar'ri eating habits, such a thing was unknown and certainly not being actively followed. Like with most things regarding the tanar'ri, trying to force them into neat categories based on how they ate was a futile endeavor. Their feeding, mirroring the rest of their activities, was senseless and destructive.[31]
However, even if the tanar'ri didn't need to eat, they still derived nourishment from doing so[17] (although overslaking themselves could leave them feeling letargic).[10] On the surface, the answer to what they ate overall was both simple and expected: great quantities of meat, preferably alive. If not that, most tanar'ri fed upon the life force of other creatures. What made a meal even better for them however, was when it was scared. It was a known fact that the tanar'ri could literally smell fear, and supposedly the meat took on a bold, vastly more satisfying flavor for them when their victim was horrified. They also seemed to derive greater nutrition from a frightened victim, leading to the addition of a middle step, terrify, in the typical predator methodology of stalk and kill.[17]
Furthermore, it was sometimes theorized that there was something deeper behind the process of tanar'ric consumption. Unlike creatures such as yugoloths (particularly the lesser daemons) that enjoyed fear and pain as a flavoring for their meat, it was thought that the tanar'ri consumed the agony and terror itself, that they relished the act of ripping into the living because the screams spread the fear to other prey. Furthermore, it created dark stories about the tanar'ri, increasing the fear on an even greater scale, and some perhaps intended to instill a painful, frightful reminder in their victims of their own mortality. In any case, the tanar'ri found sustenance in both suffering and flesh, whether or not they needed to.[31][171]
Whether or not they needed to eat, many tanar'ri chose to for a variety of reasons, sometimes just for the simple pleasure of the act. Vrocks, for example, devoured their enemies mostly for symbolic reasons, a gesture of their superiority over the adversary. If an overall structure or symbolic meaning underlaid tanar'ri eating habits, such a thing was unknown and certainly not being actively followed. Like with most things regarding the tanar'ri, trying to force them into neat categories based on how they ate was a futile endeavor. Their feeding, mirroring the rest of their activities, was senseless and destructive.[31]
However, even if the tanar'ri didn't need to eat, they still derived nourishment from doing so[17] (although overslaking themselves could leave them feeling letargic).[10] On the surface, the answer to what they ate overall was both simple and expected: great quantities of meat, preferably alive. If not that, most tanar'ri fed upon the life force of other creatures. What made a meal even better for them however, was when it was scared. It was a known fact that the tanar'ri could literally smell fear, and supposedly the meat took on a bold, vastly more satisfying flavor for them when their victim was horrified. They also seemed to derive greater nutrition from a frightened victim, leading to the addition of a middle step, terrify, in the typical predator methodology of stalk and kill.[17]
Furthermore, it was sometimes theorized that there was something deeper behind the process of tanar'ric consumption. Unlike creatures such as yugoloths (particularly the lesser daemons) that enjoyed fear and pain as a flavoring for their meat, it was thought that the tanar'ri consumed the agony and terror itself, that they relished the act of ripping into the living because the screams spread the fear to other prey. Furthermore, it created dark stories about the tanar'ri, increasing the fear on an even greater scale, and some perhaps intended to instill a painful, frightful reminder in their victims of their own mortality. In any case, the tanar'ri found sustenance in both suffering and flesh, whether or not they needed to.[31][171]
Biological Cycle
Most demons were living things, yet as creatures not from the Material Plane, they lacked the same biological requirements found in those that were and had strange features of their own. For example, a dissection performed on a dretch revealed that while their muscles were cable-like and their bones dense while they were still alive, their tendons became atrophied and their bones brittle when they had died, implying their strength was not simply biological, but magical in nature.[170]
Like with their most of their myriad abilities, the features of specific types of tanar'ri generally reflected where they came from. The substance they were made of, whether bone or metal, sometimes indicated the most common material of their native layer, and those that seemed drastically different (such as if one was covered by spikes and another with slime) were likely from very distant layers. Their style of movement — whether they sinuously slid, jerkily stumbled, or made great horizontal bounds — often indicated the dangers of a layer and possibly the best way to traverse it. The home of a tanar'ri with sharp teeth, claws, or horns likely encouraged close-quarters combat and the shedding of blood, while a layer with predators that were dangerous but had poor senses might host tanar'ri able to turn translucent under the right angle of light.[10]Sleep
Although capable of it if they desired and able to be rendered unconscious, demons generally didn't require sleep and didn't gain any benefits from doing so.[170] If tanar'ri did do anything more than dozing they managed to avoid revealing it, as everything indicated that they were creatures of constant activity, always moving from one task (however pointless) to the next.[31]
Some theorized that they did in fact sleep, but did so with imperceptible speed, getting the rest they needed between steps and blinks. Some thought this an explanation for their behavior, portraying the tanar'ri as halfway between the world of the sleeping and awake never certain which was which. This was also posited as an explanation for their more bewildering reactions and ability to jump to insightful conclusions. Then again, their strange ways could just as easily be explained by the idea that they did need sleep and never got it, their behavior able to be written off as insanity born from insomnia, and whether real or not they were just as determined to wreak havoc in their surroundings.[31]Death
There was little question to what happened to a tanar'ri that was slain in the Abyss: permanent death. They were too close to the source of their being to reform, the pull of the Abyss so strong that their spirits were sucked into the heart of the churning mass of hatred. Normally the body was taken along with the spirit, feeding the Abyss that would eventually spit the corpse out in the form of a mane or other lesser creature.[31] This, however, was assuming that they weren't completely destroyed in the process (such as if they were devoured or taken out with holy weapons or water).[123] If a tanar'ri's spirit was destroyed, the corpse just withered and the Abyss would get nothing from it.[31]
A more debated matter was what exactly happened when tanar'ri died away from the Abyss. The best possible fate for a killed demon under these circumstances was instantaneous reformation in the Abyss, their bodies swiftly dissolving and eventually returning (assuming they weren't kept bound by a spell like spirit anchor) their minds intact, and their "essence" reincarnating as a new demon. But even in this best case scenario, a demon's life was still put at great risk. A fiend that fell back to the Abyss (assuming they weren't summoned, in which case death was ultimately irrelevant) was in danger of "demotion", either suffering a reduction in rank or potentially starting at the very bottom of the rung. Even the mighty balors could be subject to this phenomenon, and only by the will of a demon prince could one be exempted.[234][235]
Less charitable understandings of demonic reincarnation cast this process as taking far longer, specifically a hundred years or so. The burning rage of the tanar'ri's spirit had to reshape its individual form from the gestalt rage of the Abyss, and moreover had to retain their will to live the entire time; a moment's hesitation and they would be lost forever. Fortunately for them, most tanar'ri fought to the last, and depending on their strength of will might be able to come back even stronger than before.[31]
“Some other slaadi have told Xanxorst it is barmy. “Xanxost”, they say “like we have told you, you are barmy!” They think that any tanar'ri that dies just reforms in the Abyss as the lowest of the low, returning to life as a manes. That this always happens, to all fiends. It would explain why the Abyss is so full of tanar’ri. But it is probably not true. Other fiends can die when they die. Even slaadi die when they die. So who says tanar'ri should come back to life? Not Xanxost! The tanar’ri are contrary, but not even they can give death the laugh forever.”
— Xanxost[31][236]
This, however, was assuming that a killed tanar'ri would be able to find their way back in the first place. Whereas being killed in the Abyss put a tanar'ri too close to the source of their being, being killed outside put them too far away. The weaker ones lacked a sufficient link to the Abyss, so it was not guaranteed that they would be able to make it back. Even if they did, there was no telling if they would have the willpower to endure the potentially decades long reformation process. Only a tanar'ri of approximately "true" status had both the ties to the Abyss and willpower to come back, having mastered their forms and inner fires over the centuries. Some claimed that they carried fragments of the Abyss in their hearts before leaving the plane which could be called back when their physical shells were dispersed.[31]
Like with their most of their myriad abilities, the features of specific types of tanar'ri generally reflected where they came from. The substance they were made of, whether bone or metal, sometimes indicated the most common material of their native layer, and those that seemed drastically different (such as if one was covered by spikes and another with slime) were likely from very distant layers. Their style of movement — whether they sinuously slid, jerkily stumbled, or made great horizontal bounds — often indicated the dangers of a layer and possibly the best way to traverse it. The home of a tanar'ri with sharp teeth, claws, or horns likely encouraged close-quarters combat and the shedding of blood, while a layer with predators that were dangerous but had poor senses might host tanar'ri able to turn translucent under the right angle of light.[10]
Sleep
Although capable of it if they desired and able to be rendered unconscious, demons generally didn't require sleep and didn't gain any benefits from doing so.[170] If tanar'ri did do anything more than dozing they managed to avoid revealing it, as everything indicated that they were creatures of constant activity, always moving from one task (however pointless) to the next.[31]
Some theorized that they did in fact sleep, but did so with imperceptible speed, getting the rest they needed between steps and blinks. Some thought this an explanation for their behavior, portraying the tanar'ri as halfway between the world of the sleeping and awake never certain which was which. This was also posited as an explanation for their more bewildering reactions and ability to jump to insightful conclusions. Then again, their strange ways could just as easily be explained by the idea that they did need sleep and never got it, their behavior able to be written off as insanity born from insomnia, and whether real or not they were just as determined to wreak havoc in their surroundings.[31]
Death
There was little question to what happened to a tanar'ri that was slain in the Abyss: permanent death. They were too close to the source of their being to reform, the pull of the Abyss so strong that their spirits were sucked into the heart of the churning mass of hatred. Normally the body was taken along with the spirit, feeding the Abyss that would eventually spit the corpse out in the form of a mane or other lesser creature.[31] This, however, was assuming that they weren't completely destroyed in the process (such as if they were devoured or taken out with holy weapons or water).[123] If a tanar'ri's spirit was destroyed, the corpse just withered and the Abyss would get nothing from it.[31]
A more debated matter was what exactly happened when tanar'ri died away from the Abyss. The best possible fate for a killed demon under these circumstances was instantaneous reformation in the Abyss, their bodies swiftly dissolving and eventually returning (assuming they weren't kept bound by a spell like spirit anchor) their minds intact, and their "essence" reincarnating as a new demon. But even in this best case scenario, a demon's life was still put at great risk. A fiend that fell back to the Abyss (assuming they weren't summoned, in which case death was ultimately irrelevant) was in danger of "demotion", either suffering a reduction in rank or potentially starting at the very bottom of the rung. Even the mighty balors could be subject to this phenomenon, and only by the will of a demon prince could one be exempted.[234][235]
Less charitable understandings of demonic reincarnation cast this process as taking far longer, specifically a hundred years or so. The burning rage of the tanar'ri's spirit had to reshape its individual form from the gestalt rage of the Abyss, and moreover had to retain their will to live the entire time; a moment's hesitation and they would be lost forever. Fortunately for them, most tanar'ri fought to the last, and depending on their strength of will might be able to come back even stronger than before.[31]
“Some other slaadi have told Xanxorst it is barmy. “Xanxost”, they say “like we have told you, you are barmy!” They think that any tanar'ri that dies just reforms in the Abyss as the lowest of the low, returning to life as a manes. That this always happens, to all fiends. It would explain why the Abyss is so full of tanar’ri. But it is probably not true. Other fiends can die when they die. Even slaadi die when they die. So who says tanar'ri should come back to life? Not Xanxost! The tanar’ri are contrary, but not even they can give death the laugh forever.”
— Xanxost[31][236]
This, however, was assuming that a killed tanar'ri would be able to find their way back in the first place. Whereas being killed in the Abyss put a tanar'ri too close to the source of their being, being killed outside put them too far away. The weaker ones lacked a sufficient link to the Abyss, so it was not guaranteed that they would be able to make it back. Even if they did, there was no telling if they would have the willpower to endure the potentially decades long reformation process. Only a tanar'ri of approximately "true" status had both the ties to the Abyss and willpower to come back, having mastered their forms and inner fires over the centuries. Some claimed that they carried fragments of the Abyss in their hearts before leaving the plane which could be called back when their physical shells were dispersed.[31]
Civilization and Culture
History
There were few tanar'ric accounts of history, and those that did exist were not particularly useful. Their "accounts" were too muddled and hyperbolic,[237] for the position of tanar'ri historian was filled by whoever wanted it. The demons took the axiom "history is written by the winners" to its logical extreme, with their past rewritten to fit the motives of whoever was currently in power,[116] and their rampant individualism meant they generally wouldn't rally around a common deception.[15]
There were, however, two claims that the tanar'ri generally agreed upon: they were the first race of fiends and the baatezu were twisted representations of themselves, a branch of chaos corrupted beyond corruption into order.[174] The first point was entirely false; the tanar'ri had deliberately attempted to erase their progenitors from history.[166] The second point, however, might have had some grain of truth to it.[238]
In the Pact Primeval origin story, perhaps one of the most accepted creation myths for the cosmos[238] and which had at least some basis in reality, [239] it was said that Asmodeus was originally an angel created to fight against demons. Over the eons, however, he and his host became more cruel and wicked, adopting many of the traits of demonkind in order to fight them more effectively, before eventually becoming the more commonly known diabolical tyrant.[238] At any rate, baatezu history placed the race as being at least as old as the tanar'ri, having both sprung from the hearts of their home planes.[237]
On the other hand, the daemons claimed that they created both the tanar'ri and baatezu. Using an artifact called the Heart of Darkness created by the General of Gehenna, the yugoloths supposedly purged themselves of the "impurities" of law and chaos, expunging those forces into the larvae of the Gray Wastes (which at this point were not made from mortal souls). The larvae grew, mutated, and twisted into impure mockeries of the yugoloths, with those that received strands of chaos journeying to the Abyss (possibly herded there by the yugoloths) and eventually transforming into the first tanar'ri.[237]
Many regarded the yugoloths as hopeless liars, dismissing their tale as a simple fable designed to reinforce their superiority,[240] although their claims weren't completely meritless. The same yugoloth tomes that described their story made mention of the very real Maeldur Et Kavurik, a corrupted celestial once used to give many of the fiends their power to teleport (something they believed they could do innately). The Maeldur knew the names of practically every baatezu, yugoloth, and tanar'ri in existence (among other forbidden knowledge) at one point, whispered to it by arcanaloths, and it served as a massive teleportation matrix for all the fiends whose names it knew.[237][241]
Before the tanar'ri, mortal life, and perhaps even the gods themselves, was the Age Before Ages. During this period, the primordial Abyss was an even more horrifying place, but nonetheless occupied by life fecund and foul. The rulers of the primeval plane were the first race of demons, eldritch fiends known as the obyriths.[242] Of all the beings of creation, only the obyriths had the natural capacity and cunning to survive in the brutal realm of seemingly unending chaos and evil.[166]
During those younger days of the multiverse, when the aftershocks of creation still shuddered the depths of the Abyss,[166] most obyriths avoided the plane's lower realms, for even they could not survive in such a hostile environment. Instead, the majority clustered upon the uppermost layer, the barren wastes of the Plain of Infinite Portals that would later be known as Pazunia. It was that land where they fought and bred,[242] ruling from mighty iron citadels on the rims of great chasms leading to lower layers. Though they searched the depths carefully, they rarely stayed long before resurfacing, either to make war with each other or make life in their own terrible image through unholy rituals and surgeries.[166]
Eons passed at the obyriths went about their vile ways content to struggle against each other, until the rise of one being. This entity, now known only by her self-given title — The Queen of Chaos — did what no other being thought to do. Looking beyond the Abyss, she laid witness to a shocking revelation, the appearance of lifeforms outside their realms.[7][242] As these first lifeforms lived, sinned, and died,[6] their souls seeped into the Abyss; the obyriths quickly learned that these spirits could be shaped and their innate chaos and evil enhanced to create a new race of demons, the very first tanar'ri.[242] The Queen of Chaos was among the first at the forefront of this latest development, the nurturing and cultivation of a new brand of evil.[7]
The first tanar'ri creations of the obyriths were twisted parodies of life fit only for slaves or worse.[242] They were rendered monstrous by the unconstrained chaos of the Abyss,[8] rejecting and warping their previous forms.[6] The very first tanar'ri, formed spontaneously, was a "deformed abortion of evil". This was Demogorgon, and the howling, snapping, two-headed manifestation of primal mortal fears only came to be when the first evil mortal soul arrived in the Abyss. Ultimately he was an uncontrollable monster that the Queen tossed aside in favor of the less malformed tanar'ri that came after him.[8][7] The process of souls falling to the Abyss and their subsequent conversion to tanar'ri became commonplace over time, and with it did tanar'ri forms become more stable.[8]
Yet it was the sibriexes that played a massive role in the creation of the tanar'ri race,[14] for it was with their aid that the obyriths prompted the tanar'ri into being[6] and the marks of their ancient work on the developing tanar'ri races could still be seen millennia later.[14] Nascent life filled their vast breeding pits, each generation bringing new depraved innovations,[166] and the more the tanar'ri grew, the more augmentation and transformation the sibriexes were called to perform.[7] Whether or not the modification of the tanar'ri was part of a grand plan on the part of the sibriexes (given the eventual domination of the newer fiends) remained a mystery.[14]
Before long, the tanar'ri rivaled their obyrith masters in variety and specialty,[7] eventually becoming the most numerous of their creations. The lords of the iron fortresses needed a constant supply of servitors for conquest, espionage, and self-defense, and the tanar'ri, whether for domestic decadence or military action, served their creators as a slave race. The internal squabbling of the obyriths, however, was merely one part of the larger narrative of the Age Before Ages, a time when the primal conflict of law and chaos that had started in the elemental Inner Planes had entered the developing Material and Outer Planes.[166]
As the obyriths learnt of the other planes, the Queen of Chaos eventually came to the conclusion that it was for her to destroy these domains.[242] In the midst of a titanic battle that nearly split the Abyss, she killed the obyrith lord Obox-ob, the first Prince of Demons,[242][7] and gave the title to Miska the Wolf-Spider, her most trusted servitor and consort.[166] Miska had already been the most powerful of tanar'ri before the Queen crowned him the new Prince of Demons once he had matured into a demon lord to rival the obyrith lords of old.[7] Not only did this rank mark him as the foremost amongst his kind to the obyriths, it garnered the Queen the loyalty of the tanar'ri race.[166] Most obyriths were marshaled and cowed before the Queen's banner, even her rivals, and nearly all those that remained defiant were banished, imprisoned, or slain.[166][242][7]
With her obyrith and tanar'ri forces now in tow, the Queen and her Prince marched to war, tipping the cosmic scales in favor of chaos. Miska's savage demon hordes brought massive spoils in the form of territory and converts, particularly on the Material Plane. Worlds fell under her dominion, each victory turning saner times into a half-forgotten memory. The laws of nature had begun to break, the once immutable became fluid, and as chaos ascended, so too did the Abyss. The war went on for eons until eventually shuddering to a stalemate. Using an artifact called the Rod of Law, agents of order known as the Wind Dukes of Aaqa banished Miska to an extradimensional prison on Pandemonium. Word of his legendary defeat and the item itself soon spread throughout the multiverse, and would forever change the nature of the conflict.[166]
The Queen of Chaos had underestimated the balancing forces of law, and her forces had been decimated.[7] The obyrith survivors of the devastating loss had retreated to the Plain of Infinite Portals,[242] but with the defeat of Miska, the alliance of demonkind had been fractured. Tanar'ric cooperation was no longer assured, the Queen's most powerful ally was missing, and the Queen herself had abandoned the 1st layer and left for the 14th, the Steaming Fen. This was the beginning of the tumultuous Upheaval, but it would not be law that spelt the final end of the obyrith era, but chaos.[166]
Sensing weakness, an enemy of the Queen of Chaos struck out[166] eager to cleanse the Abyss of obyrith corruption.[7] From the heights of the wild, Olympian Glades of Arborea, none other than Faerie Queen Morwel, leader of the chaotic good eladrins, ordered an attack on the remaining fiends. A vast eladrin host descended upon the Plain of Infinite Portals to launch a furious raid, legions of ghaele knights storming its iron fortresses.[166][243] But even as the obyriths struggled to maintain their strongholds from the assault without, both them and their thralls dying in the thousands, they were set upon from within by none other than their own tanar'ri slaves.[166][7]
This betrayal threw the obyriths into complete disarray,[7] the tanar'ri burst into open revolt even as the sky swarmed with gleaming, armored celestials. By no means were the eladrin working with the tanar'ri, killing all demons with little interest in their differences. Demons of all types fled into the depths of the Abyss and were faced with an infinite variety of deadly environments, many vanishing forever either due to the dangerous realms themselves or their fellow refugees.[166] The eladrin armies, however, were nonetheless intent to finish the job the forces of law started, continuining their crusade through the infinite layers destroying all they could, and in the aftermath, the Abyss laid severely depopulated.[6][244]
Even a loss as dire as this, however, was little but a stutter in the vile fecundity of the Abyss.[6] Though many had died in the layers of the Abyss, other thrived, and managed to bend whole layers to their wills. The tanar'ri in particular proved adept at becoming demon lords, coaxing layers into strange, symbiotic relationships,[166] for indeed the tanar'ri had sensed back during the initial eladrin invasion that the Abyss was ready to shift its support to their kind.[7] Their domination occurred in the blink of a cosmic eye,[6] and by the time the few remaining eladrin wardens were purged and the Plain of Infinite Portals reclaimed, the tanar'ri were the undisputed masters of the Abyss.[166]
In the wake of the obyrith's fall from power, the greater conflict between law and chaos had, for the most part, collapsed into an awkward but sustained and relatively peaceful stalemate between opposing philosophies. Yet despite this truce, some races refused to stop fighting, for to do so was not in their nature. Long after the rest of the multiverse had settled into uneasy coexistence, the races of demons and devils continued to destroy each other en masse. This conflict would be known as the Blood War, and while nonetheless rooted in the ancient battle between law and chaos, the actual reason behind it was far less important to the participants than the tradition of unending violence.[166]
After establishing their foothold in the Abyss[237] since the utter devastation wrought by the eladrin crusade,[6] a group of tanar'ri decided on a whim to explore the planes. Eventually they made their way to the Nine Hells, whereupon they met a small patrol of baatezu. Meanwhile, a party of baatezu explorers set out to discover the planes, pushing into the Abyss where they met their first tanar'ri. These first meetings immediately exploded into hate-fueled, rabid violence, the manifestation of their innate philosophical differences. A few of the tanar'ri explorers slipped back to the Abyss while the others insisted on killing all baatezu. The baatezu party similarly killed as many as tanar'ri as they could before heading back to Baator to report. This was the beginning of the Blood War.[237]
At first the Blood War consisted only of small skirmishes and raiding parties, but over time entire armies formed. In these initial years of the conflict the balance of power would swing radically back and forth, with entire swathes of Carceri and Gehenna falling under the control of one side and drifting over into other planes before being lost and sliding back. Over time however, as the two sides grew to know each other better, great victories and losses become less and less frequent.[237] Eventually both tanar'ri and baatezu came to learn of other planes of existence, the believed spoils of war once their foe was defeated, and came into contact with celestials and god-like beings (which swiftly learned to avoid interfering too much).[245]
After millennia of fighting, both sides then discovered a new element of the conflict: soul larvae. Before, both the baatezu and tanar'ri simply ate these spirits from an unknown plane, but at one point the baatezu began experimenting on them and realized they could be twisted into baatezu. Eventually this knowledge leaked to the tanar'ri (possibly by way of the yugoloths) and they discovered they could use larvae to create more tanar'ri. This discovery was a turning point in the conflict,[245] as unlike before, where both sides dwindled as they clashed since few of their number could reproduce,[237] there was less of a need to worry about casualties. After a while both became curious about where the spirits came from, discovered the Material Plane, and eventually formed their infamous relationships with mortals.[245]
At one point the commanders of both baatezu and tanar'ri tried to sue for peace, but seemingly any chance of that ended when, at the conclave, a balor sat in a pit fiend's chair and refused to move, causing it to erupt into carnage.[110] Indeed, in the millennium following the Upheaval period the appetite of the Blood War threatened to engulf all the Abyss. That was until a cadre of nalfeshnee demons that would become the Lords of Woe discovered a way to subvert the process of demonic promotion and shunt many larval souls to the Woeful Escarand. This would become the centralized layer for the promotion of larvae, where judgement could be passed on the spot and larvae could be transformed to feed the endless needs of the eternal conflict.[173][88]
The militant activities of the tanar'ri across the Lower Planes was only one half of the Abyssal post-obyrith period. Even as foreign conflicts flared, the domestic front of the tanar'ri was embroiled in its own wars. In time it became clear that the tanar'ri were too numerous, spiteful, and chaotic to unite under a single leader. With Miska gone, scores of powerful "evolved" tanar'ri would emerge from the deepest Abyssal layers, squabbling over who would become the new Prince of Demons.[173] Though occasionally more subtle, this conflict was no less brutal than the Blood War.[246]
Without the supervision of the obyriths, the Abyss spent an unknown epoch in an even more chaotic state than before; no Prince of Demons reigned over this plane, and the former vassals had fallen to total war. The obyriths themselves were in no condition or mindset to reestablish themselves, having already suffered multiple cumulative defeats. Even as they warred amongst themselves, the tanar'ri scions would scour the Abyss trying to wipe the obyriths from existence and record.[173][247] Notably a cabal of seven lords led by Ansitif the Befouler (one of the first tanar'ri lords) allied to take down the powerful obyrith known as the Malgoth, a strange entity that haunted many Abyssal layers. Hunted down on the fields of Spirac, its defeat helped marked the rise of the tanar'ri in the centuries after the retreat of the Queen of Chaos.[247][248]
This was a time of betrayal and ruin, of legendary deaths and ancient imprisonments, all of which afforded the demons great excitement and murderous glee. Though the mantle of Prince of Demons was the prize, few could manage the feat of becoming a demon lord in the first place. Just as one would-be lord was poised to conquer a layer, the final step to lordship, his enemies would rise against him to drag him back down. Not all who endured this age of treachery succumbed to backstabbing however, for with the advent of betrayal came opportunity for growth.[247]
Eventually the race for the crown was between two particularly powerful tanar'ri that had risen rapidly to prominence; soon all knew that either Orcus or Graz'zt would become the next Prince of Demons. However, in their clash, neither noticed the strange silhouette that had risen from the forgotten depths of the Abyss, the malformed accident who, in the shadow of plane-spanning conflicts, had grown strong. Indeed, none were prepared for when this being, who had previously earned the grudging respect of all demonkind for his victories over the waning obyriths, would claim the title of Prince of Demons.[7]
Dozens of the most powerful tanar'ri lords were eager to slay the new Prince, yet a dozen died before him while the rest only survived. Demonkind rankled at his arrival, yet none would raise fist, claw, or tendril against his overwhelming might. No one, not even Graz'zt and Orcus, could oppose him, for both had exhausted their resources in their war against each other. The first tanar'ri, Demogorgon, had become the Prince of Demons.[7]
Since the tanar'ri ascent to power, the Abyss had been defined by the war for dominion between them. At the pinnacle of this ancient feud were Demogorgon, Orcus, and Graz'zt, whose epic three-way war for control had been going on almost as long as tanar'ri rule.[166][43][249] Each archfiend had been laid low in the past only to return (Demogorgon spontaneously reforming after being slain by adventurers,[250] Orcus rising again after his defeat as Tenebrous,[58] and Graz'zt escaping from the clutches of the witch-queen Iggwilv),[68] and never since the struggle's inception had the Abyss fully known peace from their ceaseless conflict.[249]
The few obyriths that remained from their momentous defeat were of a race slowly shuddering towards extinction. Those that still maintained a shred of influence either had the tacit acceptance of the tanar'ri or laired in such extremely isolated or inhospitable places that they couldn't be dispatched.[43] Though the sibriexes were called to augment the armies of the Queen of Chaos, they were too canny to let themselves truly be roped into the war, and as a result survived relatively unscathed (if extremely few in number and unable to reproduce), acting as sages and flesh-sculptors for the tanar'ri lords much as they once did for the obyriths.[14]
Meanwhile, those obyrith lords that managed to survive their fallen age were in no condition to regain their power then and were still a faded force eons later. Many were trapped or crippled in some way, could not reclaim their native layers, or had minds too alien to desire power.[247] Some few obyriths awaited the return of the Queen of Chaos, who had not been seen since the eve of the Upheaval.[43] Some seers, however, predicted that she would one day appear on Pazunia with the Rod of Law in hand and members of a secret obyrith alliance in tow, ready to return to the fight against order.[251]
Obox-ob, the original Prince of Demons, lurked in the shadows of the Abyss for many eons before finally emerging from hiding, only to find the obyriths fallen, the tanar'ri risen, and himself a forgotten relic of the past. Reduced to the Prince of Vermin, and the title he once held passed from tanar'ri to tanar'ri ever since his defeat, Obox-ob sought nothing less than to reclaim his mantle and cleanse the Abyss of all tanar'ri, returning it to obyrith rule.[252] The enigmatic Pale Night, said by the Black Scrolls of Ahm to have been the genesis of the entire tanar'ri race, might not have been far off in desire.[253] From her fortress of bones, she created draudnu obyriths, genocidal monstrosities that made up the bulk of a obyrith army mustering on Banehold no longer content to wait on the Abyss's fringes.[254]
Deep-dwelling Dagon on the other hand acted as an oracle of the tanar'ri, accepting offerings of weapons and sacrifices in return for his ancient knowledge of holdings that predated their rise.[185] The Prince of the Darkened Depths was specifically allied with Demogorgon, and yet remained strangely aloof to his struggles despite actively helping him.[250] In truth, Dagon had watched and waited in shadowy silence for a long time. He had felt the end of the obyriths drawing near even before the Queen of Chaos rose to power, and remained confident that their reign too would come to an end, and that when they fell, he would remain.[242][255]
“While we've strived to bring you the truth, what you read here may or may not be wholly accurate. That’s because what’s true now may become false later, and what was false before may become true in time. With the tanar’ri, all things are possible.”
— Jessyme Rauch[21]
Ill omens were abound about the end of the tanar'ri, yet Demogorgon remained the mightiest of all demon lords,[256] surviving every assassin attempt Obox-ob sent his way.[244] Graz'zt, supposedly the child of Pale Night, had surpassed even the mind boggling power of the Mother of Demons.[257] And Orcus, however hazardous the remnant of it was to his own stability, still had in his possession the Last Word, an utterance gleaned from the ancient past so potent that even deities would fall to its power.[258] Despite the portents, the tanar'ri remained the masters of the Abyss and a continuous threat to all the cosmos.[13][115]
There were, however, two claims that the tanar'ri generally agreed upon: they were the first race of fiends and the baatezu were twisted representations of themselves, a branch of chaos corrupted beyond corruption into order.[174] The first point was entirely false; the tanar'ri had deliberately attempted to erase their progenitors from history.[166] The second point, however, might have had some grain of truth to it.[238]
In the Pact Primeval origin story, perhaps one of the most accepted creation myths for the cosmos[238] and which had at least some basis in reality, [239] it was said that Asmodeus was originally an angel created to fight against demons. Over the eons, however, he and his host became more cruel and wicked, adopting many of the traits of demonkind in order to fight them more effectively, before eventually becoming the more commonly known diabolical tyrant.[238] At any rate, baatezu history placed the race as being at least as old as the tanar'ri, having both sprung from the hearts of their home planes.[237]
On the other hand, the daemons claimed that they created both the tanar'ri and baatezu. Using an artifact called the Heart of Darkness created by the General of Gehenna, the yugoloths supposedly purged themselves of the "impurities" of law and chaos, expunging those forces into the larvae of the Gray Wastes (which at this point were not made from mortal souls). The larvae grew, mutated, and twisted into impure mockeries of the yugoloths, with those that received strands of chaos journeying to the Abyss (possibly herded there by the yugoloths) and eventually transforming into the first tanar'ri.[237]
Many regarded the yugoloths as hopeless liars, dismissing their tale as a simple fable designed to reinforce their superiority,[240] although their claims weren't completely meritless. The same yugoloth tomes that described their story made mention of the very real Maeldur Et Kavurik, a corrupted celestial once used to give many of the fiends their power to teleport (something they believed they could do innately). The Maeldur knew the names of practically every baatezu, yugoloth, and tanar'ri in existence (among other forbidden knowledge) at one point, whispered to it by arcanaloths, and it served as a massive teleportation matrix for all the fiends whose names it knew.[237][241]
Age Before Ages
Before the tanar'ri, mortal life, and perhaps even the gods themselves, was the Age Before Ages. During this period, the primordial Abyss was an even more horrifying place, but nonetheless occupied by life fecund and foul. The rulers of the primeval plane were the first race of demons, eldritch fiends known as the obyriths.[242] Of all the beings of creation, only the obyriths had the natural capacity and cunning to survive in the brutal realm of seemingly unending chaos and evil.[166]
During those younger days of the multiverse, when the aftershocks of creation still shuddered the depths of the Abyss,[166] most obyriths avoided the plane's lower realms, for even they could not survive in such a hostile environment. Instead, the majority clustered upon the uppermost layer, the barren wastes of the Plain of Infinite Portals that would later be known as Pazunia. It was that land where they fought and bred,[242] ruling from mighty iron citadels on the rims of great chasms leading to lower layers. Though they searched the depths carefully, they rarely stayed long before resurfacing, either to make war with each other or make life in their own terrible image through unholy rituals and surgeries.[166]
Eons passed at the obyriths went about their vile ways content to struggle against each other, until the rise of one being. This entity, now known only by her self-given title — The Queen of Chaos — did what no other being thought to do. Looking beyond the Abyss, she laid witness to a shocking revelation, the appearance of lifeforms outside their realms.[7][242] As these first lifeforms lived, sinned, and died,[6] their souls seeped into the Abyss; the obyriths quickly learned that these spirits could be shaped and their innate chaos and evil enhanced to create a new race of demons, the very first tanar'ri.[242] The Queen of Chaos was among the first at the forefront of this latest development, the nurturing and cultivation of a new brand of evil.[7]
Origins
The first tanar'ri creations of the obyriths were twisted parodies of life fit only for slaves or worse.[242] They were rendered monstrous by the unconstrained chaos of the Abyss,[8] rejecting and warping their previous forms.[6] The very first tanar'ri, formed spontaneously, was a "deformed abortion of evil". This was Demogorgon, and the howling, snapping, two-headed manifestation of primal mortal fears only came to be when the first evil mortal soul arrived in the Abyss. Ultimately he was an uncontrollable monster that the Queen tossed aside in favor of the less malformed tanar'ri that came after him.[8][7] The process of souls falling to the Abyss and their subsequent conversion to tanar'ri became commonplace over time, and with it did tanar'ri forms become more stable.[8]
Yet it was the sibriexes that played a massive role in the creation of the tanar'ri race,[14] for it was with their aid that the obyriths prompted the tanar'ri into being[6] and the marks of their ancient work on the developing tanar'ri races could still be seen millennia later.[14] Nascent life filled their vast breeding pits, each generation bringing new depraved innovations,[166] and the more the tanar'ri grew, the more augmentation and transformation the sibriexes were called to perform.[7] Whether or not the modification of the tanar'ri was part of a grand plan on the part of the sibriexes (given the eventual domination of the newer fiends) remained a mystery.[14]
Before long, the tanar'ri rivaled their obyrith masters in variety and specialty,[7] eventually becoming the most numerous of their creations. The lords of the iron fortresses needed a constant supply of servitors for conquest, espionage, and self-defense, and the tanar'ri, whether for domestic decadence or military action, served their creators as a slave race. The internal squabbling of the obyriths, however, was merely one part of the larger narrative of the Age Before Ages, a time when the primal conflict of law and chaos that had started in the elemental Inner Planes had entered the developing Material and Outer Planes.[166]
Law and Chaos
As the obyriths learnt of the other planes, the Queen of Chaos eventually came to the conclusion that it was for her to destroy these domains.[242] In the midst of a titanic battle that nearly split the Abyss, she killed the obyrith lord Obox-ob, the first Prince of Demons,[242][7] and gave the title to Miska the Wolf-Spider, her most trusted servitor and consort.[166] Miska had already been the most powerful of tanar'ri before the Queen crowned him the new Prince of Demons once he had matured into a demon lord to rival the obyrith lords of old.[7] Not only did this rank mark him as the foremost amongst his kind to the obyriths, it garnered the Queen the loyalty of the tanar'ri race.[166] Most obyriths were marshaled and cowed before the Queen's banner, even her rivals, and nearly all those that remained defiant were banished, imprisoned, or slain.[166][242][7]
With her obyrith and tanar'ri forces now in tow, the Queen and her Prince marched to war, tipping the cosmic scales in favor of chaos. Miska's savage demon hordes brought massive spoils in the form of territory and converts, particularly on the Material Plane. Worlds fell under her dominion, each victory turning saner times into a half-forgotten memory. The laws of nature had begun to break, the once immutable became fluid, and as chaos ascended, so too did the Abyss. The war went on for eons until eventually shuddering to a stalemate. Using an artifact called the Rod of Law, agents of order known as the Wind Dukes of Aaqa banished Miska to an extradimensional prison on Pandemonium. Word of his legendary defeat and the item itself soon spread throughout the multiverse, and would forever change the nature of the conflict.[166]
Upheaval
The Queen of Chaos had underestimated the balancing forces of law, and her forces had been decimated.[7] The obyrith survivors of the devastating loss had retreated to the Plain of Infinite Portals,[242] but with the defeat of Miska, the alliance of demonkind had been fractured. Tanar'ric cooperation was no longer assured, the Queen's most powerful ally was missing, and the Queen herself had abandoned the 1st layer and left for the 14th, the Steaming Fen. This was the beginning of the tumultuous Upheaval, but it would not be law that spelt the final end of the obyrith era, but chaos.[166]
Sensing weakness, an enemy of the Queen of Chaos struck out[166] eager to cleanse the Abyss of obyrith corruption.[7] From the heights of the wild, Olympian Glades of Arborea, none other than Faerie Queen Morwel, leader of the chaotic good eladrins, ordered an attack on the remaining fiends. A vast eladrin host descended upon the Plain of Infinite Portals to launch a furious raid, legions of ghaele knights storming its iron fortresses.[166][243] But even as the obyriths struggled to maintain their strongholds from the assault without, both them and their thralls dying in the thousands, they were set upon from within by none other than their own tanar'ri slaves.[166][7]
This betrayal threw the obyriths into complete disarray,[7] the tanar'ri burst into open revolt even as the sky swarmed with gleaming, armored celestials. By no means were the eladrin working with the tanar'ri, killing all demons with little interest in their differences. Demons of all types fled into the depths of the Abyss and were faced with an infinite variety of deadly environments, many vanishing forever either due to the dangerous realms themselves or their fellow refugees.[166] The eladrin armies, however, were nonetheless intent to finish the job the forces of law started, continuining their crusade through the infinite layers destroying all they could, and in the aftermath, the Abyss laid severely depopulated.[6][244]
Even a loss as dire as this, however, was little but a stutter in the vile fecundity of the Abyss.[6] Though many had died in the layers of the Abyss, other thrived, and managed to bend whole layers to their wills. The tanar'ri in particular proved adept at becoming demon lords, coaxing layers into strange, symbiotic relationships,[166] for indeed the tanar'ri had sensed back during the initial eladrin invasion that the Abyss was ready to shift its support to their kind.[7] Their domination occurred in the blink of a cosmic eye,[6] and by the time the few remaining eladrin wardens were purged and the Plain of Infinite Portals reclaimed, the tanar'ri were the undisputed masters of the Abyss.[166]
Blood War
In the wake of the obyrith's fall from power, the greater conflict between law and chaos had, for the most part, collapsed into an awkward but sustained and relatively peaceful stalemate between opposing philosophies. Yet despite this truce, some races refused to stop fighting, for to do so was not in their nature. Long after the rest of the multiverse had settled into uneasy coexistence, the races of demons and devils continued to destroy each other en masse. This conflict would be known as the Blood War, and while nonetheless rooted in the ancient battle between law and chaos, the actual reason behind it was far less important to the participants than the tradition of unending violence.[166]
After establishing their foothold in the Abyss[237] since the utter devastation wrought by the eladrin crusade,[6] a group of tanar'ri decided on a whim to explore the planes. Eventually they made their way to the Nine Hells, whereupon they met a small patrol of baatezu. Meanwhile, a party of baatezu explorers set out to discover the planes, pushing into the Abyss where they met their first tanar'ri. These first meetings immediately exploded into hate-fueled, rabid violence, the manifestation of their innate philosophical differences. A few of the tanar'ri explorers slipped back to the Abyss while the others insisted on killing all baatezu. The baatezu party similarly killed as many as tanar'ri as they could before heading back to Baator to report. This was the beginning of the Blood War.[237]
At first the Blood War consisted only of small skirmishes and raiding parties, but over time entire armies formed. In these initial years of the conflict the balance of power would swing radically back and forth, with entire swathes of Carceri and Gehenna falling under the control of one side and drifting over into other planes before being lost and sliding back. Over time however, as the two sides grew to know each other better, great victories and losses become less and less frequent.[237] Eventually both tanar'ri and baatezu came to learn of other planes of existence, the believed spoils of war once their foe was defeated, and came into contact with celestials and god-like beings (which swiftly learned to avoid interfering too much).[245]
After millennia of fighting, both sides then discovered a new element of the conflict: soul larvae. Before, both the baatezu and tanar'ri simply ate these spirits from an unknown plane, but at one point the baatezu began experimenting on them and realized they could be twisted into baatezu. Eventually this knowledge leaked to the tanar'ri (possibly by way of the yugoloths) and they discovered they could use larvae to create more tanar'ri. This discovery was a turning point in the conflict,[245] as unlike before, where both sides dwindled as they clashed since few of their number could reproduce,[237] there was less of a need to worry about casualties. After a while both became curious about where the spirits came from, discovered the Material Plane, and eventually formed their infamous relationships with mortals.[245]
At one point the commanders of both baatezu and tanar'ri tried to sue for peace, but seemingly any chance of that ended when, at the conclave, a balor sat in a pit fiend's chair and refused to move, causing it to erupt into carnage.[110] Indeed, in the millennium following the Upheaval period the appetite of the Blood War threatened to engulf all the Abyss. That was until a cadre of nalfeshnee demons that would become the Lords of Woe discovered a way to subvert the process of demonic promotion and shunt many larval souls to the Woeful Escarand. This would become the centralized layer for the promotion of larvae, where judgement could be passed on the spot and larvae could be transformed to feed the endless needs of the eternal conflict.[173][88]
Prince of Demons
The militant activities of the tanar'ri across the Lower Planes was only one half of the Abyssal post-obyrith period. Even as foreign conflicts flared, the domestic front of the tanar'ri was embroiled in its own wars. In time it became clear that the tanar'ri were too numerous, spiteful, and chaotic to unite under a single leader. With Miska gone, scores of powerful "evolved" tanar'ri would emerge from the deepest Abyssal layers, squabbling over who would become the new Prince of Demons.[173] Though occasionally more subtle, this conflict was no less brutal than the Blood War.[246]
Without the supervision of the obyriths, the Abyss spent an unknown epoch in an even more chaotic state than before; no Prince of Demons reigned over this plane, and the former vassals had fallen to total war. The obyriths themselves were in no condition or mindset to reestablish themselves, having already suffered multiple cumulative defeats. Even as they warred amongst themselves, the tanar'ri scions would scour the Abyss trying to wipe the obyriths from existence and record.[173][247] Notably a cabal of seven lords led by Ansitif the Befouler (one of the first tanar'ri lords) allied to take down the powerful obyrith known as the Malgoth, a strange entity that haunted many Abyssal layers. Hunted down on the fields of Spirac, its defeat helped marked the rise of the tanar'ri in the centuries after the retreat of the Queen of Chaos.[247][248]
This was a time of betrayal and ruin, of legendary deaths and ancient imprisonments, all of which afforded the demons great excitement and murderous glee. Though the mantle of Prince of Demons was the prize, few could manage the feat of becoming a demon lord in the first place. Just as one would-be lord was poised to conquer a layer, the final step to lordship, his enemies would rise against him to drag him back down. Not all who endured this age of treachery succumbed to backstabbing however, for with the advent of betrayal came opportunity for growth.[247]
Eventually the race for the crown was between two particularly powerful tanar'ri that had risen rapidly to prominence; soon all knew that either Orcus or Graz'zt would become the next Prince of Demons. However, in their clash, neither noticed the strange silhouette that had risen from the forgotten depths of the Abyss, the malformed accident who, in the shadow of plane-spanning conflicts, had grown strong. Indeed, none were prepared for when this being, who had previously earned the grudging respect of all demonkind for his victories over the waning obyriths, would claim the title of Prince of Demons.[7]
Dozens of the most powerful tanar'ri lords were eager to slay the new Prince, yet a dozen died before him while the rest only survived. Demonkind rankled at his arrival, yet none would raise fist, claw, or tendril against his overwhelming might. No one, not even Graz'zt and Orcus, could oppose him, for both had exhausted their resources in their war against each other. The first tanar'ri, Demogorgon, had become the Prince of Demons.[7]
Modernity
Since the tanar'ri ascent to power, the Abyss had been defined by the war for dominion between them. At the pinnacle of this ancient feud were Demogorgon, Orcus, and Graz'zt, whose epic three-way war for control had been going on almost as long as tanar'ri rule.[166][43][249] Each archfiend had been laid low in the past only to return (Demogorgon spontaneously reforming after being slain by adventurers,[250] Orcus rising again after his defeat as Tenebrous,[58] and Graz'zt escaping from the clutches of the witch-queen Iggwilv),[68] and never since the struggle's inception had the Abyss fully known peace from their ceaseless conflict.[249]
The few obyriths that remained from their momentous defeat were of a race slowly shuddering towards extinction. Those that still maintained a shred of influence either had the tacit acceptance of the tanar'ri or laired in such extremely isolated or inhospitable places that they couldn't be dispatched.[43] Though the sibriexes were called to augment the armies of the Queen of Chaos, they were too canny to let themselves truly be roped into the war, and as a result survived relatively unscathed (if extremely few in number and unable to reproduce), acting as sages and flesh-sculptors for the tanar'ri lords much as they once did for the obyriths.[14]
Meanwhile, those obyrith lords that managed to survive their fallen age were in no condition to regain their power then and were still a faded force eons later. Many were trapped or crippled in some way, could not reclaim their native layers, or had minds too alien to desire power.[247] Some few obyriths awaited the return of the Queen of Chaos, who had not been seen since the eve of the Upheaval.[43] Some seers, however, predicted that she would one day appear on Pazunia with the Rod of Law in hand and members of a secret obyrith alliance in tow, ready to return to the fight against order.[251]
Obox-ob, the original Prince of Demons, lurked in the shadows of the Abyss for many eons before finally emerging from hiding, only to find the obyriths fallen, the tanar'ri risen, and himself a forgotten relic of the past. Reduced to the Prince of Vermin, and the title he once held passed from tanar'ri to tanar'ri ever since his defeat, Obox-ob sought nothing less than to reclaim his mantle and cleanse the Abyss of all tanar'ri, returning it to obyrith rule.[252] The enigmatic Pale Night, said by the Black Scrolls of Ahm to have been the genesis of the entire tanar'ri race, might not have been far off in desire.[253] From her fortress of bones, she created draudnu obyriths, genocidal monstrosities that made up the bulk of a obyrith army mustering on Banehold no longer content to wait on the Abyss's fringes.[254]
Deep-dwelling Dagon on the other hand acted as an oracle of the tanar'ri, accepting offerings of weapons and sacrifices in return for his ancient knowledge of holdings that predated their rise.[185] The Prince of the Darkened Depths was specifically allied with Demogorgon, and yet remained strangely aloof to his struggles despite actively helping him.[250] In truth, Dagon had watched and waited in shadowy silence for a long time. He had felt the end of the obyriths drawing near even before the Queen of Chaos rose to power, and remained confident that their reign too would come to an end, and that when they fell, he would remain.[242][255]
“While we've strived to bring you the truth, what you read here may or may not be wholly accurate. That’s because what’s true now may become false later, and what was false before may become true in time. With the tanar’ri, all things are possible.”
— Jessyme Rauch[21]
Ill omens were abound about the end of the tanar'ri, yet Demogorgon remained the mightiest of all demon lords,[256] surviving every assassin attempt Obox-ob sent his way.[244] Graz'zt, supposedly the child of Pale Night, had surpassed even the mind boggling power of the Mother of Demons.[257] And Orcus, however hazardous the remnant of it was to his own stability, still had in his possession the Last Word, an utterance gleaned from the ancient past so potent that even deities would fall to its power.[258] Despite the portents, the tanar'ri remained the masters of the Abyss and a continuous threat to all the cosmos.[13][115]
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Currently embroiled in endless war with the Baatezu
Appendix
References
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