Fraz-Urb'luu

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Fraz-Urb'luu, the Prince of Deception, here on the cover of Dragon Magazine #333, art by Andrew Hou.

In many campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Fraz-Urb'luu is a demon lord, sometimes known as the "Prince of Deception." In Gary Gygax's Gord novels, Fraz-Urb'luu is alternately called Var-Az-Hloo.

1 Description
2 History
3 Realm
4 Relationships
5 Cult of Fraz-Urb'luu
6 References

[edit] Description

Fraz-Urb'luu is a large beast over eighteen feet in height, with a muscular gorilla-like body, a goblin-like head, a greyish-white coloration, and two vast batlike wings.

[edit] History

The demon prince Fraz-Urb'luu was one of the first tanar'ri to rise to power in the Abyss after the fall of the obyriths. Although he was never the most powerful of the demon princes, his vast intellect has enable him to outlive countless rivals. Fraz-Urb'luu eventually mastered the art of summoning, to the point where he can forcibly summon other demon lords into his court, so he can humiliate and degrade them for his own amusement. Fraz-Urb'luu's staff and his control of every aspect of his layer discourage any retaliatory strikes against him from his revenge-seeking "guests", so they conspired for a more subtle punishment.

These demon lords fashioned an artifact called The Ichor Lance, which they gave to the mad archmage-cum-demigod, Zagyg. Zagyg summoned Fraz-Urb'luu and tried to use the lance on the Prince of Deception. Fraz-Urb'luu took the lance and used his power to disjoined the lance. However, as a side effect of destroying an artifact, the demon prince lost all his innate magical powers; which enable Zagyg to imprison the Demon Prince in a bas-relief form in the dungeon beneath Castle Greyhawk. For centuries, many adventurers in the dungeon were destroyed after speaking to this imprisoned form. The demon recently managed to escape by tricking a wizard and a cleric into freeing him. He then transported these fools, probably Erac's Cousin and his adventuring companion Ayelerarch, back to the fiend's domain on the Abyss and enslaved them.

[edit] Realm

Fraz'Urb'luu rules the 176th layer of the Abyss. This realm, called Hollow's Heart, had reverted in Fraz-Urb'luu's absence to a wasteland of white dust under a black starless sky. Also, various minor demon nobles moved into Hollow's Heart during his imprisonment in order to stake out their own territories. Upon his return, Fraz-Urb'luu began the process of driving these squatters out of his domain.

At the height of his power, the demon lord can control the features and terrains of his layer at a whim, creating mountains and gorges within seconds. But this requires the use of the powerful Staff of Fraz-Urb'luu, which was stolen at the time of his imprisonment and has since been sundered into several pieces, all of which are scattered across the various planes of existence. The Prince of Deception therefore now focuses his attention on searching for his staff so that he may regain full control over his realm.

[edit] Relationships

Fraz-Urb'luu is one of the most hated of the Abyssal Lords, as a lot of demon lords are still smarting from the memory of their past "audiences" with the Prince of Deception. Some of Fraz-Urb'luu's enemies include Graz'zt, Demogorgon, and Ugudenk, the writhing obyrith Lord of Worms and Hungry Parasites.

The Prince of Deception had also sworn revenge against all of humanity for his imprisonment and humiliation, for it was Zagyg (at the time a mere human) who was responsible for his confinement and lost of status.