Lamashtu

CE goddess of Aberrance, Monsters, and Nightmares

Mother of Monsters

Great is the daughter of heaven who tortures infants. Her hand is a net, her embrace is death. She Roars like a lion. She constantly howls like a demon-dog

-Lamashtan Prayer

For those who revel in the corruption of the pure or who find themselves spurned and neglected by a world that despises their differences, Lamashtu offers respite among her grotesque brood. The Mother of Monsters readily accepts mortals into her fold and has made it her goal to twist mortal life toward her abhorrent ideals. Her intervention is widely known to inflict corruptions and terrible nightmares. Ostracized individuals who share her ideals will find this intervention a boon, while others treat similar events as horrible curses.

Above all else, Lamashtu desires the proliferation, permeation, and dominance of her children. Her touch upon the mortal world reveals the repugnant flaws among those considered to be beautiful and moral. She and her followers seek opportunities to rip the veil of innocence from every creature and reveal the writhing, heinouspotential in a hypocritical world.

Lamashtu takes the form of a pregnant woman with scars crossing her swollen belly. Great black wings protrude from her back, and her legs contort into enormous avian talons. A third eye is vertically set above her jackal snout. From Kurnugia, her personal realm in the Abyss, she reigns as the Queen of Demons and creator of heinous beasts. Her children, either burst from her body or sculpted from her monstrous mind, serve as pinnacles of might among her followers. Her faithful pursue her ideals to become or create ever more vile monsters and spread her murderous influence over the mortal realm.

Lamashtu encourages her worshippers to embrace monstrosity and may assist in this endeavor by granting torturous nightmares to unlock their minds to the might and truth she offers. Their corrupted imaginations fabricate ever more horrendous images for Lamashtu to introduce into reality. Devotees sacrifice the flesh and bone of conquered beasts and their enemies to provide building material for their motherto mold new monstrous brethren or to grant the gift of mutation to her faithful.

Child-bearing followers are able to directly imitate some of their goddess’s abilities. Bearing monstrous children for Lamashtu is regarded as one of the most sacred acts achievable within her religion. The mental and physical torment these worshippers experience during their Lamashtan pregnancies and the gruesome births they endure are sacrifices that earn them great prestige—should they survive. Worshippers with the durability to survive several births, and who proudly bear the scars from them, are honored by other Lamashtans and reign as the utmost authority in the faith.

Lamashtans spread their goddess’s doctrine via a variety of paths. Warriors protect the brood alongside their monstrous siblings. Healers focus on keeping followers alive through multiple births and are talented in ensuring wounds form atrocious scars. Caretakers with the strength to manage the church’s monstrous children are rewarded with blessings by the goddess to aid them in their duties. Worshippers of all kinds are likely to venture into the world as missionaries, recruiting shunned individuals and forsaken communities to benefit the prosperity of the brood.

When those not among Lamashtu’s faithful feel her presence, it is an omen of unimaginable misfortune. Communities subjugated by monsters and demons may find themselves pleading with Lamashtu to spare them from her children’s wrath. Expectant parents who wake in the night from traumatizing nightmares fear what horrors their offspring may bring.

Lamashtu’s obsessive creation of new monsters promises to reshape the mortal world into a sinister menagerie of vile corruptors. Her devotees join a family of all manner of demons and beasts with the goal to cultivate and glorify the loathsome. To the world that ostracizes them, Lamashtans offer this ultimatum: join the brood, or perish under its might.

Relations with other Religions

Lamashtu considers all other gods her enemies, although she focuses her energy on nurturing her children and expanding the lands for them to inhabit. She knows Desna hates her for killing the god Curchanus and stealing his power over beasts, as well as for her control of nightmares, but she treats the childless, flighty goddessas beneath her notice. She sees Urgathoa as a rival, as the Pallid Princess's deathless followers can multiply quicklyand have the potential to swarm the mortal world. Lamashtu wars with Rovagug often over control of the various races and tribes of uncivilized humanoids thatrevere him. She has a vague interest in capturing Shelyn and transforming her into a hideous breeder of monsters, but such interests can wait until her offspring cover the mortal world.

Though she distrusts any beings that rival or approach her in power, Lamashtu does occasionally work with other deities and demigods when it serves her interests. She created a realm in the Abyss and gifted it to the four gods now known as the Goblin Hero- Gods in return for their help in ensuring that goblins worship the Demon Queen above all others.

Lamashtu also makes occasional deals with demon lords, but never with for Pazuzu, her former lover, for whom she brooks no quarter. Pazuzu is one of the most ancient demon lords, and his long conflict with Lamashtu has prevented him from achieving greater power or perhaps even ascending to godhood himself; this knowledge only serves as a goad for his hatred of the Demon Queen. Accounts differ as to whether the King of the Wind Demons and the Mother of Monsters began as siblings, lovers, or merely allies, but most agree that they slaughtered thousands of greater demons and claimed a large territory they ruled jointly. When the Demon Queen tore away Curchanus's power over wild beasts, her ascent to greater power and status infuriated Pazuzu. When she returned from battle, he stabbed her with a shard of cold iron snapped from the heart of a mountain, maiming her wings and casting her into an infinitely deep chasm at the edge of their shared realm. It took her centuries to recover, but upon her emergence from the pit, she wrested control of their territory from Pazuzu. She hopes to someday capture him, break his wings, and imprison him for a thousand years before finally eating his heart. To this day, his name is believed to disperse her influence, and mortals fearful of her corrupting touch put amulets with Pazuzu's name or image around the necks of pregnant women and newborns to ward her away

Her faithful are generally hostile toward other faiths, no matter how closely aligned their goals are. The rare exception comes from worshipers of those demons like Socothbenoth or Nocticula who claim (or seek) to be the Demon Queen's servants or lovers. Particularly ambitious Lamashtans may infiltrate other faiths to corrupt them from within, sowing nightmares, suspicion, infighting, and even monstrous offspring among them, a tactic they particularly favor against worshipers of Pharasma because of their shared interest in births.

Holy Books & Codes

Although most Lamashtan writings are clawed in stone or painted in blood, her holiest teachings can be found in a pair of profane references.
The Four Hides of Lawm: This text is a series of three leather straps stitched together and marked with simple runes telling the history and lessons of the Demon Queen. Lawm, a hero of the faith, created this item by pulling strips of flesh from her own body, tanning them to make leather, and painting them. Two of the strips have been torn and repaired, and legend tells of a fourth strip containing a heresy expunged from cult lore.
The Skull of Mashaag: This is the preserved skull of a yaenit champion slain by a cleric ofDesna. The skull was found intact by a Lamashtan priest and empowered with the ability to speak the Demon Queen's doctrine in several different humanoid languages, as well as in Abyssal. Every few years, a number of Lamashtan cults meet to hear the skull speak, and heroes of each cult face off in contests of strength to determine which cult holds the skull until the next meeting. On these occasions, the skull makes observations as ifit were its own sentient being.

Tenets of Faith

Edicts bring power to outcasts and the downtrodden, indoctrinate children in Lamashtu’s teachings, make the beautiful monstrous, reveal the corruption and flaws in all things
Anathema attempt to treat a mental illness or deformity, provide succor to Lamashtu’s enemies
Follower Alignments Chaotic Evil

Holidays

The cults of Lamashtu celebrate no known regular holidays, though they engage in debauched hedonism to celebrate births, deformities, and demonic visitations. The entire month of Ardos (which they call Lamashan) is sacred to them, because it represents the transition from fall to winter, a time of year when the weakest offspring die from the first seasonal illnesses.

Aphorisms

Lamashtu’s followers utter phrases that drip with their mother’s monstrous wisdom. Others use phrases to keep her beasts at bay.
It’s another scar on the belly: Also sometimes stated as “The scars are the proof,” this saying expresses the sentiment that your hardest trials can become your best qualities. This phrase was brought into new communities by goblins who abandoned Lamashtan worship. It spread in popularity for its seemingly positive message, but those familiar with its origins are often nervous about the reference to the brutal scarring of Lamashtu and her profane mothers.
Sweet dreams and safe deliveries: In communities that have suffered a history of tragic Lamashtan births, this comforting saying is a popular way to wish people, especially expectant parents, a life safe from Lamashtu’s notice.
The three-eyed gaze sees you (me/us): Among Lamashtu’s faithful, this phrase is said ritualistically at the completion of auspicious deeds, such as the creation of new monsters. Its declaration rallies the brood to prove themselves to their goddess. When hissed in vicious tones to unaware victims, it is a vile threat and omen of impending wrath.

Religions

• Gods of Tengaria