Skiggaret

In many campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Skiggaret is the half-mad bugbear deity of fear. Skiggaret's symbol is a black claw.

Publication history

Skiggaret was first detailed in the book Monster Mythology (1992), including details about his priesthood.^[1] His role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996).^[2]

Description

Skiggaret appears as a bugbear with jet-black fur, red lips, red hands, and red feet. The smile playing around his mouth is at least half insane. Skiggaret prowls the Oerth in avatar form, driving bugbears to acts of destruction and aggression through the terror he inspires.

Relationships

Hruggek is the dominant member of the bugbear pantheon, though he doesn't really rule the others. Other members of the pantheon include Grankhul, god of hunting, and sometimes Stalker. Local bugbear pantheons often include a god of fertility and a god of earth. Skiggaret is the only deity that Stalker does not hate; they seem to understand one another to some degree.^[1]

Skiggaret's position in the bugbear pantheon is described as being that of a messenger, conveying the will of the other gods to their followers. It is noted that this role grants him a great deal of power despite his position as a demigod. Additionally, Skiggaret is described as having an alliance of mutual tolerance with Stalker.^[1]

Realm

Skiggaret shares the realm of Palpitatia on the 241st layer of the Abyss with his fellow bugbear god, Grankhul.^[3] This Abyssal layer is eternally dark, populated with shadows and spectres, where fear radiates from all things.

Dogma

Bugbears believe that if they survive Skiggaret's fear, they will be strengthened, and that Skiggaret helps protect them by scaring off oppressors who seek to overcome them. In extreme situations, Skiggaret can be appealed to help his people in this manner, if given sufficient sacrifices to bribe him.

Worshippers

Skiggaret is not worshipped by bugbears; rather, they seek to propitiate him by sacrificing the lives and sanity of their captives, torturing them to death to satisfy the terrible deity. Bugbears are ever on the alert for the rare signs and omens that Skiggaret sends, which take the form of the raising of hackles and fur, sudden chills, and magical pools of darkness. These are interpreted as signs that the gods are wrathful, and Skiggaret has been sent to make them afraid. In that sense, Skiggaret is the messenger of the bugbear gods.

Skiggaret is not worshipped by bugbears, and as such has no clergy. He is instead described as using fear to make bugbears act for him.

References