Juiblex (JOO-bleks)
Demon Lord Juiblex (a.k.a. The Faceless Lord, The Formless One, The Oozing Hunger)
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Juiblex was a demon lord of oozes and shapeless things, a being that exemplified the corruptive nature of the Abyss and that was almost glorious in its unrivalled obscenity. Ridiculed by its peers as "Lord of Nothing", the Faceless Lord was, even to them, a demon as revoltingly vile in body as it was inscrutably aberrant in mind. Juiblex's mind was beyond the comprehension of mortals and alien by the standards of demons; conforming to no standards, it acted with unknowable purpose. Contrary to what one might assume of the Father of Slime based on the mindlessness of his spawn, he was an incredibly knowledgeable being of frighteningly vast intellect that moved with caution and subtlety while manipulating his minions with chess master prowess. The eldritch entity also knew the true names of each obyrith, coupled with an intuitive sense of their goals, and was one of the few beings that understood the true purpose of the Abyss. Ironically, regarding Juiblex's own goals, he was possibly the easiest of the demon lords to understand purely because his desires were so simple and uncomplicated. Rarely did he need to bother plotting and planning because he was normally content just to continue existing, his only active goal being the corrosion of anything he could reach. The malevolent monstrosity cared little for intrigue and hated practically everything, perhaps enjoying only the act of destruction, and occasionally rumbling with some approximation of amused laughter with his more sadistic moves. If Juiblex could be said to have a grander, more philosophical mission, then it would be his ordinary goal on a greater scale, to dissolve all living things, flooding all of existence in his pestilent putrescence and leaving his shapeless reflections as the only remaining lifeforms. Relatedly, Juiblex was something of a recluse, rarely leaving his lair and reacting with violent anger at any intrusion. The oozes and slimes he surrounded himself with were the only beings that interested him outside of the context of consumption and corruption, and his viscous subjects quivered with something akin to pleasure when their Faceless Lord was near. Activities:
It was rare for Juiblex to actually affect the world outside his Slime Pits in any significant way; he never ventured to the Material Plane, nor waged war against his Abyssal enemies, and his surging presence in the upper realm of Shekdalah was more an act of opportunistic infection than a tactical choice. If he decided to wander, he left slime trails that would grow into various oozes and he would influence the slimes around him, but these were also merely natural, or rather unnatural, processes caused by his presence. Normally, he just stewed in his domain, enjoying the presence of his amorphous kin, breeding new oozes and releasing plagues. That wasn't to say that Juiblex had no plans or agendas, simply that he was patient and subtle enough that he didn't achieve them quickly or obviously. Though he did wish to defeat Zuggtmoy, he didn't feel that conscious effort was needed to do so or that he should feel incited by her taunts. Instead, Juiblex waited, slowly but steadily accumulating more and more power, sometimes taking small steps to further his master plan but never in such a way as to provoke too much attention. He believed that the multiverse was his to claim and he would do so when he decided he was ready. Relationships:
Juiblex's greatest strength was perhaps how easily he could be dismissed, both by scholars and his peers. He was shunned by most of demonkind, regarded with hateful ridicule and callous contempt mixed with genuine fear of the gelatinous abomination's greatest desire. Few demons wished to deal with the disgusting monster and on his part, Juiblex couldn't care less for the schemes of other demons, almost never making alliances except in the direst situations and consuming all envoys that intruded on his home. Though he claimed the title of "master of all slime and ooze", there was a fair chance that no one ever challenged him for that epithet. Juiblex's lands were similarly undesirable; though some demon lords could crush him individually, invading his nauseating kingdom would not be worth the effort, for though he was a lord, his domain was something no one would ever want. It would be incorrect to view Juiblex's position as pitiable however, as in truth, the current situation was exactly as Juiblex desired. Despite being hated by almost everyone in the Abyss, the loathing he received was the disrespectful disdain held for a menace, with most viewing him as a useless hazard that was only a threat to those foolish enough to stand in his sight. With fear came hesitation, with scorn came ignorance, and with disgust came avoidance. Juiblex desired to be hidden and overlooked because his rivals' indifference towards him meant that he could act without fear of reprisal, his unwanted status effectively granting him impunity in demonic politics. Juiblex's most immediate and obvious opposition was Zuggtmoy, although even then both acted more as mutual nuisances to each other. Though Zuggtmoy often spat vile insults and foul curses at the Faceless Lord, he was either unaware of her remarks or too indifferent to respond, knowing that she and everyone else would eventually be under his control. He didn't exactly protest her presence either, since Zuggtmoy's rule over Shekdalah's surface hid his own kingdom and created an extra obstacle for anyone who might care to claim it, protecting it from other demon lords. Zuggtmoy herself could barely be bothered to try and deal with the tenacious demon lord, either fearing him or being too apathetic to his presence to resolve the issue. Nonetheless, both actively hated each other, the Faceless Lord being known to take an active role in sabotaging her plans at times and the Queen of Fungi sometimes concocting plots to permanently destroy him. Despite his antisocial behaviour and being repulsive in every meaning of the word, there were some entities that could be tentatively categorized as Juiblex's "allies". The demon lord Turaglas viewed him as the being with which he shared the most common ground, but even then he planned to devour him in the end. His most powerful potential ally and an entity he shared a common goal with, the common goal being mass destruction and a world drowned in slime, was the Devourer in the Depths, Zargon. Possibly the former king of Hell, who oversaw a kingdom of rampant slime and terror, or perhaps a demon prince exiled from the Abyss, Zargon was one of the few beings Juiblex would go out of his way to work with. There was also the ooze archomental Bwimb II, who recognized her own position as the weakest of the archomentals and had come to some manner of understanding with Juiblex in her search for allies, the exact relationship between the two as unknown as it was likely unpleasant. Servants:
Rarely did Juiblex recruit demons to serve him, instead relying on his ooze servitors to do his bidding. Practically none of these beings were sapient enough to make an actual choice to serve him, but sometimes the Faceless Lord fused demons that his oozes had trapped or consumed to create intelligent demonic oozes. Still, only one of these entities was intelligent enough that it willingly served Juiblex, that being the black pudding known as Darkness Given Hunger. Said by demonologists to had once been an unfortunate demon that lost its way in the Slime Pits and met the unholy attention of Juiblex, the demonic half of Darkness Given Hunger was that of a hezrou. The hezrou was forced to possess a black budding before Juiblex cast an imprison possessor spell to make the transformation permanent, and over the centuries the mind and body of the hezrou dissolved into the pudding until they became truly one, a creature of malevolent cunning more horrible than the sum of its parts. Darkness Given Hunger was the largest of all black puddings, a result of its insatiable appetite, and the most powerful and favoured of Juiblex's servants. The abomination helped his master patrol the Slime Pits while looking for food, occasionally venturing to the surface or the Material Plane while chasing something particularly delicious.
Juiblex was a demon lord of oozes and shapeless things, a being that exemplified the corruptive nature of the Abyss and that was almost glorious in its unrivalled obscenity. Ridiculed by its peers as "Lord of Nothing", the Faceless Lord was, even to them, a demon as revoltingly vile in body as it was inscrutably aberrant in mind. Juiblex's mind was beyond the comprehension of mortals and alien by the standards of demons; conforming to no standards, it acted with unknowable purpose. Contrary to what one might assume of the Father of Slime based on the mindlessness of his spawn, he was an incredibly knowledgeable being of frighteningly vast intellect that moved with caution and subtlety while manipulating his minions with chess master prowess. The eldritch entity also knew the true names of each obyrith, coupled with an intuitive sense of their goals, and was one of the few beings that understood the true purpose of the Abyss. Ironically, regarding Juiblex's own goals, he was possibly the easiest of the demon lords to understand purely because his desires were so simple and uncomplicated. Rarely did he need to bother plotting and planning because he was normally content just to continue existing, his only active goal being the corrosion of anything he could reach. The malevolent monstrosity cared little for intrigue and hated practically everything, perhaps enjoying only the act of destruction, and occasionally rumbling with some approximation of amused laughter with his more sadistic moves. If Juiblex could be said to have a grander, more philosophical mission, then it would be his ordinary goal on a greater scale, to dissolve all living things, flooding all of existence in his pestilent putrescence and leaving his shapeless reflections as the only remaining lifeforms. Relatedly, Juiblex was something of a recluse, rarely leaving his lair and reacting with violent anger at any intrusion. The oozes and slimes he surrounded himself with were the only beings that interested him outside of the context of consumption and corruption, and his viscous subjects quivered with something akin to pleasure when their Faceless Lord was near. Activities:
It was rare for Juiblex to actually affect the world outside his Slime Pits in any significant way; he never ventured to the Material Plane, nor waged war against his Abyssal enemies, and his surging presence in the upper realm of Shekdalah was more an act of opportunistic infection than a tactical choice. If he decided to wander, he left slime trails that would grow into various oozes and he would influence the slimes around him, but these were also merely natural, or rather unnatural, processes caused by his presence. Normally, he just stewed in his domain, enjoying the presence of his amorphous kin, breeding new oozes and releasing plagues. That wasn't to say that Juiblex had no plans or agendas, simply that he was patient and subtle enough that he didn't achieve them quickly or obviously. Though he did wish to defeat Zuggtmoy, he didn't feel that conscious effort was needed to do so or that he should feel incited by her taunts. Instead, Juiblex waited, slowly but steadily accumulating more and more power, sometimes taking small steps to further his master plan but never in such a way as to provoke too much attention. He believed that the multiverse was his to claim and he would do so when he decided he was ready. Relationships:
Juiblex's greatest strength was perhaps how easily he could be dismissed, both by scholars and his peers. He was shunned by most of demonkind, regarded with hateful ridicule and callous contempt mixed with genuine fear of the gelatinous abomination's greatest desire. Few demons wished to deal with the disgusting monster and on his part, Juiblex couldn't care less for the schemes of other demons, almost never making alliances except in the direst situations and consuming all envoys that intruded on his home. Though he claimed the title of "master of all slime and ooze", there was a fair chance that no one ever challenged him for that epithet. Juiblex's lands were similarly undesirable; though some demon lords could crush him individually, invading his nauseating kingdom would not be worth the effort, for though he was a lord, his domain was something no one would ever want. It would be incorrect to view Juiblex's position as pitiable however, as in truth, the current situation was exactly as Juiblex desired. Despite being hated by almost everyone in the Abyss, the loathing he received was the disrespectful disdain held for a menace, with most viewing him as a useless hazard that was only a threat to those foolish enough to stand in his sight. With fear came hesitation, with scorn came ignorance, and with disgust came avoidance. Juiblex desired to be hidden and overlooked because his rivals' indifference towards him meant that he could act without fear of reprisal, his unwanted status effectively granting him impunity in demonic politics. Juiblex's most immediate and obvious opposition was Zuggtmoy, although even then both acted more as mutual nuisances to each other. Though Zuggtmoy often spat vile insults and foul curses at the Faceless Lord, he was either unaware of her remarks or too indifferent to respond, knowing that she and everyone else would eventually be under his control. He didn't exactly protest her presence either, since Zuggtmoy's rule over Shekdalah's surface hid his own kingdom and created an extra obstacle for anyone who might care to claim it, protecting it from other demon lords. Zuggtmoy herself could barely be bothered to try and deal with the tenacious demon lord, either fearing him or being too apathetic to his presence to resolve the issue. Nonetheless, both actively hated each other, the Faceless Lord being known to take an active role in sabotaging her plans at times and the Queen of Fungi sometimes concocting plots to permanently destroy him. Despite his antisocial behaviour and being repulsive in every meaning of the word, there were some entities that could be tentatively categorized as Juiblex's "allies". The demon lord Turaglas viewed him as the being with which he shared the most common ground, but even then he planned to devour him in the end. His most powerful potential ally and an entity he shared a common goal with, the common goal being mass destruction and a world drowned in slime, was the Devourer in the Depths, Zargon. Possibly the former king of Hell, who oversaw a kingdom of rampant slime and terror, or perhaps a demon prince exiled from the Abyss, Zargon was one of the few beings Juiblex would go out of his way to work with. There was also the ooze archomental Bwimb II, who recognized her own position as the weakest of the archomentals and had come to some manner of understanding with Juiblex in her search for allies, the exact relationship between the two as unknown as it was likely unpleasant. Servants:
Rarely did Juiblex recruit demons to serve him, instead relying on his ooze servitors to do his bidding. Practically none of these beings were sapient enough to make an actual choice to serve him, but sometimes the Faceless Lord fused demons that his oozes had trapped or consumed to create intelligent demonic oozes. Still, only one of these entities was intelligent enough that it willingly served Juiblex, that being the black pudding known as Darkness Given Hunger. Said by demonologists to had once been an unfortunate demon that lost its way in the Slime Pits and met the unholy attention of Juiblex, the demonic half of Darkness Given Hunger was that of a hezrou. The hezrou was forced to possess a black budding before Juiblex cast an imprison possessor spell to make the transformation permanent, and over the centuries the mind and body of the hezrou dissolved into the pudding until they became truly one, a creature of malevolent cunning more horrible than the sum of its parts. Darkness Given Hunger was the largest of all black puddings, a result of its insatiable appetite, and the most powerful and favoured of Juiblex's servants. The abomination helped his master patrol the Slime Pits while looking for food, occasionally venturing to the surface or the Material Plane while chasing something particularly delicious.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Physical Description
Body Features
Juiblex was, in short, disgusting, undoubtedly hideous to demons of all kinds and perhaps the most foul of all demon lords and deities. Its abhorrent aura was as foul as its sickening, shapeless form, a primordial soup of bubbling bile and nauseating fluid bound by a thin epidermis bathed in oil and thick mucus.
The amorphous mass was swirled and striated with a hideous mixture of hues, primarily streaks of black and green combined with bilious browns and yellows as well as translucent greys and ambers. Caustic slime of the same coloration was constantly secreted from the sludge-spewing horror and it was known to weep tears of encrusting black grime from the glaring red eyes that pulsated and shifted across it, peering in all directions.
The Faceless Lord was an appropriate name for the gelatinous monster since it lacked any kind of set form, adopting various sizes and shapes with ease. At rest, it was nothing more than a spread-out volume of reeking filth but at any point it could form a simple blob or gather together into a 18‒20 ft (5.5‒6.1 m) pillar of unsteady ordure before collapsing into a rancid wave and stretching out into a voluminous pool of animated ooze.
Most commonly however, when confronted by others, it gathered itself into a hideous heap, a 9 ft (2.7 m) cone of glistening jelly and shuddering slime. No matter the form, it could manifest dripping, trembling pseudopods in all directions to lash out and hungrily scoop up any creature that caught its attention.
Special abilities
Simply getting near Juiblex could be a serious ordeal; aside from the fact that he always attacked intruders to his domain, regardless of what they offered, his foul smell and loathsome look made him almost impossible to tolerate. Even by accident, his shuddering mass could expel toxic materials around his space, endangering most life nearby. Organic and inorganic materials alike quickly dissolved at his touch, particularly metal and wood, but while stone could also be melted it eroded at half the rate. Extreme agility was required by one wielding weapons or wearing armour composed of corrodible materials to prevent them from being ruined after making contact. His touch was not only caustic but also corruptive, and if one wasn't crushed or liquefied by his lashing pseudopods, there was a fair chance that they'd be covered in a sheet of poisonous ooze.
Juiblex's favoured tactic was to make full use of his ooze-like qualities, closing the distance between him and his enemies by whatever means necessary. His gelatinous form allowed him to swiftly squeeze through spaces smaller than an inch with ease, crawl across vertical inclines and ceilings, and maneuverer unhampered underwater. He attacked as many foes as possible, snatching them from the surrounding area and altering his form to engulf them with intent to watch them painfully melt. His ability to build himself up before crashing down as an avalanche of ooze was particularly useful for catching multiple targets.
Juiblex's amorphous body was part of what made him especially dangerous since he lacked any kind of targetable anatomy and was just generally difficult to injure. Trying to harm him with acid, diseases, and poisons was obviously useless, as was using blunt weapons and impact force, lightning, water, cold, or deadly gases. Radiant energy and fire were some of the few things that could prevent him from regenerating, although given his adaptable nature, fire could be an unreliable weapon, and cold iron or good-aligned weapons could overcome his resilience.
While clever enemies might attempt to exhaust Juiblex's ability to move towards them and then attack him from a distance, the Slick of Foulest Humors would find it all too humorous to send airborne foes hurtling towards the ground. Every now and then, Juiblex could vomit a particularly vile excretion, 3 ft³ (0.085 m³) cubic feet of a toxic substance that combined the effects of ochre jelly and green slime that he spewed several feet into the air. For similar reasons, he could also spew out patches of green slime, as well as to delay his enemy's approach, or break off bits of his own body to create lesser versions of himself to assist him.
Supernatural:
Many of Juiblex's spell-like abilities were related to blighting and befouling areas or desecrating and despoiling specific targets. Often times his first move was to hide, possibly by turning invisible, before engulfing multiple foes and unleashing a contagion on the first. Other powers allowed him to dominate and restrain powerful beings, such as using hold monster to augment his attacks, or advance on far away foes, like greater teleport, fly, or phase door. Also among his supernatural powers was his ability to shed a circle of darkness, which he could see through and that no light could dispel, as well as a circle of frigid cold in a radius around himself, which both followed him wherever he went and which he could activate and deactivate at a whim. If seriously injured, Juiblex could be made to retreat, probably through teleportation, although such an escape was likely temporary. In such a situation he would attempt to summon oozes or tanar'ri to keep his enemies busy during his recovery period, but fitting his lack of association with most of demonkind he had few options. Once per day, he could call upon a mob of stinking dretches, a few fetid hezrous, or an acidic alkilith to aid him, and either a couple of grey oozes, ochre jellies, or black puddings. Lord of Ooze:
Juiblex was often regarded as one of the weaker demon lords, and the way he normally was, this was accurate. However, all of Juiblex's powers seemed minuscule in the face of his most threatening ability; the power to control any ooze from anywhere. Oozes were inherently tenacious creatures, able to exist in some of the most hostile corners of the multiverse, and all Juiblex had to do was focus his power to control them. In a sense, Juiblex's true form was not the one that dwelt in his abyssal layer but the combined volume of every brainless slime, pudding, and jelly in existence. The omnipresence of oozes throughout reality raised the question of why he didn't simply takeover the multiverse at his whim. In truth, despite his great intellect, the vastness of Juiblex's true body far outmatched the capacity of his comparatively small mind, and he was incapable of dividing his attention and ordering all of his servants at once. Juiblex's mere presence in an area could make the oozes of the region more aggressive and intelligent, although not necessarily both. Some oozes were no more capable than before but showed signs of malevolent intent rather than mere, mindless hunger, while others gained human levels of intelligence and telepathy without a hint of ill will towards sentient beings.
Many of Juiblex's spell-like abilities were related to blighting and befouling areas or desecrating and despoiling specific targets. Often times his first move was to hide, possibly by turning invisible, before engulfing multiple foes and unleashing a contagion on the first. Other powers allowed him to dominate and restrain powerful beings, such as using hold monster to augment his attacks, or advance on far away foes, like greater teleport, fly, or phase door. Also among his supernatural powers was his ability to shed a circle of darkness, which he could see through and that no light could dispel, as well as a circle of frigid cold in a radius around himself, which both followed him wherever he went and which he could activate and deactivate at a whim. If seriously injured, Juiblex could be made to retreat, probably through teleportation, although such an escape was likely temporary. In such a situation he would attempt to summon oozes or tanar'ri to keep his enemies busy during his recovery period, but fitting his lack of association with most of demonkind he had few options. Once per day, he could call upon a mob of stinking dretches, a few fetid hezrous, or an acidic alkilith to aid him, and either a couple of grey oozes, ochre jellies, or black puddings. Lord of Ooze:
Juiblex was often regarded as one of the weaker demon lords, and the way he normally was, this was accurate. However, all of Juiblex's powers seemed minuscule in the face of his most threatening ability; the power to control any ooze from anywhere. Oozes were inherently tenacious creatures, able to exist in some of the most hostile corners of the multiverse, and all Juiblex had to do was focus his power to control them. In a sense, Juiblex's true form was not the one that dwelt in his abyssal layer but the combined volume of every brainless slime, pudding, and jelly in existence. The omnipresence of oozes throughout reality raised the question of why he didn't simply takeover the multiverse at his whim. In truth, despite his great intellect, the vastness of Juiblex's true body far outmatched the capacity of his comparatively small mind, and he was incapable of dividing his attention and ordering all of his servants at once. Juiblex's mere presence in an area could make the oozes of the region more aggressive and intelligent, although not necessarily both. Some oozes were no more capable than before but showed signs of malevolent intent rather than mere, mindless hunger, while others gained human levels of intelligence and telepathy without a hint of ill will towards sentient beings.
Specialized Equipment
Juiblex's underground sanctum contained many useful treasures, some of which he was known to wear and use, ranging in usefulness from rings of plant control to a talisman of ultimate evil. Certain items were inexorably tied to the Faceless Lord or could be things he would consider useful to his plans.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Juiblex's true origin was unknown, although there were many theories about where the Indescribable Darkness originally came from. At earliest, he was one of the original tanar'ri, somewhere around the age of Demogorgon, but many posited that he was far older than that. The obyrith lords Dagon and Pazuzu suspected that Juiblex was himself an obyrith lord who was mostly destroyed by Tharzidun, gradually declining in importance until eventually becoming an ancient relic of the past. Some cited the presence of certain obyriths on Juiblex's plane as a sign that he came before the tanar'ri, although this wasn't concrete evidence.
According to the research of some, Juiblex was originally just part of the Elemental Chaos, part of its raw essence until the appearance of Tharzidun. When Tharzidun first planted the seed of evil, it wounded the Elemental Chaos, and at the direct site of the wound was the first mass of infection, a black, bilious collection of fluids and solids awakened to wicked self-awareness. Dark knowledge rushed into his newly formed mind as he welled up, but after the obyriths began to emerge from the Abyss, he fled deeper inside to escape the conflict, coming to grips with his new existence, reflecting upon his home and contemplating his purpose while creating new oozes wherever he went. Still, some theories suggested that he could be even older than that, that he was a being from beyond any of the planes that found its way into the Abyss and settled there.
Regardless of what was true, for as long as Juiblex had existed, he had stayed out of the conflicts by the rest of demonkind, presuming of course that he was present. He was said to have witnessed the Abyss' beginning, the emergence of obyriths, and the final battle between them and Tharzidun, but he avoided the long conflict the entire time, secluding himself in Shekdalah shortly after the war ended to drink from the Abyss and bloat himself with its power and knowledge. He did not defend his home against the gods during the Dawn War or when Asmodeus supposedly fell and took a sliver of its original shard, nor did he fight for it alongside the Queen of Chaos during the Age of Ages or involve himself in the more recent Blood War against the devils. While others throughout the history of the Abyss and those surrounding it rose and fell, the Faceless Lord always remained in the background, preparing to consume all reality, knowing the true nature of the Abyss and fully intent on fulfilling his discovered purpose.
Juiblex's only consistent opposition against this goal was Zuggtmoy, who, for her faults, had ways of keeping Juiblex in check. Once, centuries ago, the Queen of Decay used a series of potent divinations to determine Juiblex's exact location, erected a series of adamantine plinths throughout Shekdalah, and then triggered a ritual to banish Juiblex somewhere else in the multiverse. Fortunately for Juiblex, this plan only partially worked, but fortunately for everyone else, the partial success was enough to separate a portion of him from his whole, the unnecessary expenditure of power being something he tried to avoid. Part of his polluted essence was sent to the Elemental Plane of Water but was too toxic to be permanently stored there, so its inhabitants banished it once more to its own demiplane. That demiplane would become known as the Demiplane of Filth and a shard of his essence would become the Hermit. Despite the many failings of the project, it demonstrated Juiblex's seemingly inevitable descent was not as predestined as he would want.
Divine Classification
Demon Lord
Alignment
Chaotic Evil
Current Location
Realm
Church/Cult
Children
Pronouns
It
Sex
Intersex
Gender
Nonbinary
Presentation
Neuter
Eyes
Pale, milky
Hair
None
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Green slime
Height
9 ft
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