Graz'zt
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Graz'zt is a sinister demon lord in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, and one of the most powerful fiends in the Abyss.
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[edit] Description
Standing nine feet tall, Graz'zt appears as a lithe, muscular humanoid. His skin shines like polished obsidian, and his eyes glitter with malevolent green light. He has yellowed fangs, pointed ears, and six slender fingers decorating each hand. He is sometimes described as having six small black horns half-hidden amid his thick black hair. These fiendish traits are apparent, regardless of whatever form Graz'zt chooses to take. He is considered the comeliest demon in the Abyss, and dresses in the most expensive and elegant finery on the entire plane.
Wielding an acid-drenched greatsword in one hand and a profane tower shield in the other, the Dark Prince is a veritable killing machine when loosed upon the hordes of the Abyss. What's more, he has a vast reportoire of spell-like abilities at his disposal, making him a deadly magical opponent as well. Graz'zt's greatest weapons, however, are his mastery of seduction and guile. He entertains the notion that he is the most cunning and intelligent creature in the Abyss; indeed, there are few who could possibly contest such a claim.
[edit] The Minions of Graz'zt
[edit] The Material Plane
Although he has not yet achieved divine status, Graz'zt is worshiped by many monstrous races, most notably the lamias. Many of his high priests, known as the Chosen, are female, and the rituals they perform are violent and involve themes of darkness and betrayal.
The Dark Prince is a deeply sexual, erotic being. He is known on many worlds only in legend, as a dark figure who visits witches and sorcerors, granting them sexual favors as well as magical powers. As a result, his female consorts have populated the multiverse with a depraved host of half-fiend children. Some learn of their father's identity and delve into the Abyss, hoping to usurp his power. His dark elf son, Athux, leads Graz'zt's demonic army, while his daughter Thraxxia serves as a private assassin.
For a time, Graz'zt was trapped on the Material Plane by the witch-queen Iggwilv, who used his insight to elevate her own power. Eventually, however, she succumbed to the Dark Prince's charms, and their story was made infamous by the product of their romance: the vile demigod Iuz. Graz'zt ultimately returned to the Abyss, but rumors abound that he did, in fact, fall in love with his captor.
Some sources claim that Graz'zt was the creator of the vasharan, a breed compared to humans as the drow are compared to elves. Deemed cruel and soulless by the god who created him, the vasharan's Adam-like creationism figure was destroyed... until Graz'zt breathed new life into it, long before he was even a demon prince. It is a terrifying legacy, for the vasharan are obsessed with deicide, and hope to wipe out each and every pantheon.
[edit] The Abyss
Graz'zt is always attended by six powerful lamias, and his marilith escorts, Unhath and Reluhantis, are never far from his side. When at his palace, the Dark Prince keeps many attractive demons at hand, to feed his ferocious sexual appetite. Bodaks and similar horrors are the only other occupants of the Argent Palace.
Technically, every demon living within Graz'zt's world-spanning empire is considered one of his loyal servants; those who prove otherwise are fed to the carnivorous plants in his perfumed hanging gardens. Noteworthy minions include a hulking goristro named Orwantz, who acts as Graz'zt's personal border control for Azzagrat, and Rule-of-Three, a cambion who meets secretly with other fiends of the Lower Planes, to strategize an attack against the celestials.
Graz'zt's most powerful servant is a mysterious, hyper-intelligent demon named Verin. Like Graz'zt, Verin appears almost human, but his skin is deathly pale, and he constantly oozes spiritual slime. Verin can change his form at will, and often elects a black-skinned mirror image of himself, known as Ztefano. He serves as the Dark Prince's major domo and chief ambassador to the other demon lords.
The god Raxivort was once a servant of the Dark Prince. He stole powerful artifacts from Graz'zt and escaped to the howling chasms of Pandemonium, where he became the divine patron of rodents and bats. Raxivort even has his own chosen race, a goblinoid horde known as the xvarts.
[edit] Enemies
Through his own schemings and mischief, Graz'zt has become the chief enemy of Waukeen, a goddess of wealth and merchantry. The deity bargained for safe passage across Zelatar with information regarding a secret horde of treasure. Graz'zt readily accepted the offer, but betrayed Waukeen as soon as she arrived in the Abyss. Imprisoned in the Argent Palace, the goddess was forced to witness profane celebrations held in her honor. Her rescue is detailed in the campaign module For Duty or Deity.
But even the wrath of a god cannot compare to the hatred and spite of the Dark Prince's chief rivals, Demogorgon and Orcus. The violence of the eternal war between these three demons rivals that of the Blood War, and costs them unthinkable resources that could be put to use in the battles against the baatezu. Graz'zt covets Demogorgon's title as the Prince of Demons above all else, and throws army after army at his most hated enemy in hopes of claiming it.
Graz'zt wars with many other lords of the Abyss as well, including Baphomet and Yeenoghu. Thanks to the efforts of his son Athux, he recently overthrew the demon prince Adimarchus, who ruled Occipitus, the 507th layer of the Abyss.
Naturally, the Dark Prince is a fundamental enemy of all that is good and holy in the multiverse, and despite whatever promises he makes, every mortal who deals with him is doomed to an afterlife of endless horror beyond the scythe-tipped gates of Zelatar.
[edit] History
Graz'zt was originally created by Gary Gygax, and first appeared in Module S4, "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth" and in the original AD&D Monster Manual II. After leaving TSR, Gygax featured Graz'zt in the Gord the Rogue series. The character has since been expanded upon by other designers.
Various incarnations have appeared over time; in Gygax's Gord the Rogue novels, Graz'zt is known as the Ebon Lord of the Abat-Dolor, a race of demons who all look more or less like him. He ruled over the abat-dolor with his queen and consort, Elazalag, until he was captured by the witch queen Iggwilv. After seducing her, the Ebon Lord founded a new mongrel empire, forsaking his kin in an effort to enslave any and all of the demon breeds.
In the 1st edition of AD&D, Graz'zt was considered to have the status of a lesser god, but with each subsequent publication, he loses some of this power.
[edit] References
- Greer, Stephen S. "Fiend's Embrace." Dungeon #121 (Paizo Publishing, 2005).
- Gygax, Gary. Dance of Demons (New Infinities, 1988).
- Gygax, Gary. The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (TSR, 1976).
- Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual II (TSR, 1983).
- Gygax, Gary. Sea of Death (New Infinities, 1987).
- Jacobs, James, Erik Mona, and Ed Stark. Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss (Wizards of the Coast, 2006).
- McComb, Colin. Faces of Evil: The Fiends (Wizards of the Coast, 1997).
- Perkins, Chris, and Chris Thomasson. The Shackled City (Paizo Publishing, 2005).
