Furies

The Furies were a trio of powerful spirits, living aspects of the universal force that was divine vengeance, and acted as avenging proxies for the Olympian pantheon. Because of their great power, some believed them to be true deities in their own right.Deities & Demigods gives no exact power level for the Furies, referring to them as "spirits" instead of gods. Legends & Lore and On Hallowed Ground both rank them as lesser gods, though the latter also refers to them as "spirits. And Planes of Conflict: Liber Malevolentiae leaves things purposefully ambiguous by stating, "Some say they're gods in their own right". The Furies were originally known as the Erinyes, long before the baatezu of the same name, but were more commonly referred to by the epithet The Kindly Ones so as to avoid offending them.
==Base of Operations==
The Furies lacked a divine realm of their own, but resided within the Underworld of the Olympian power Hades, on the Pluton layer of the Gray Waste. They were the best known proxies to reside on that plane, only ever leaving the Gray Waste when called upon to deal out vengeance.
==Members==
The individuals who made up the Furies were named Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megarea. Alecto "the persevering anger" was a powerful priest who could draw upon any sphere, Tisiphone "the blood avenger" was a powerful warrior, and Megarea "the jealous" was a powerful wizard that could draw upon spells from any school of effect. The true forms of the trio were that of old, winged crones.
==Possessions==
Though their divine rank was that of lesser powers, the combined might of the Furies was so great that they held the potential to take down even deities of far greater power, even one such as Zeus. This tremendous power was derived from the collective belief and respect of the Olympian pantheon, but granted only when they were on missions that were justified by those who called upon their service.
The most prominent of their powers was an impeccable ability to track down a quarry anywhere across the multiverse, unless hidden by some divine means. Additionally, the Furies could not be permanently slain. Whenever they were killed, they would return to life within a tenday.
Beyond these innate abilities, the Furies all mercilessly wielded powerful, metal-barbed scourges. These scourges had the powerful to drain away core aspects of a creature with each strike, to a degree that was proportional to the severity of their crime. According to some, the three scourges all possessed the same capacity, whilst according to others each of the scourges stripped away a particular aspect. The scourge of Aledo would drain a victim of their wisdom, the scourge of Tisiphone would strip away a victim's strength, and the scourge of Megarea would diminish one's intellect.
==Activities==
The great eternal role of the Furies was to act as an avenging force for the Olympian pantheon, unleashing their wrath upon those who committed horrible crimes against its deities, though they could be called upon to punish serious crimes committed by the Olympian powers. They always saw to these punishments in person, never sending out avatars, and carried them out together. As they were aspects of divine vengeance, a force that was impersonal in nature, the Furies only ever took the criminal acts themselves into consideration when deciding upon a punishment, never the reasons for why they were committed. Their vengeance was nearly impossible to appeal, carried a steep price that most Olympians were wary of, and the severity of their punishments was always commensurate with those of the crime.
Some believed punishable crimes could be as simple as emotionless murder, robbing the elderly, or attacking the defenseless. In reality, the crimes avenged by the Furies were those considered to be either personal slights against the Olympians or gross breaches of society that demanded divine retribution, never going out on what would be considered an "ordinary mission" for a proxy. Some specific crimes on the plane of Olympus that could raise their ire included attempting to summon a fiend or any other form of creature of the Lower Planes, such as nightmares, destroying the shrines on Olympus that were dedicated to dryads, nymphs, or sylphs, as well as stealing offerings from said shrines.
If somehow an individual ever managed to kill one or more of the Furies, the remaining (and eventually resurrected) members would furiously attack the killer(s), stopping at nothing to hunt down and ensure the death of those responsible.
When not traveling across the multiverse to deal out vengeance, the Furies spent their time roaming across the gloomy wastes of the Underworld, unleashing their harsh brand of justice upon that divine realm's petitioners.
==Relationships==
The Furies were rarely ever worshiped across the multiverse, being far more often feared. Among the few to worship them were some members of the Mercykillers, a planar faction dedicated to justice and avenging wrongs.
Despite their allegiance to the Olympian pantheon, as they were mere proxies the Furies had no firm allies among its many powers. Though their lack of allies amongst its members was also due to the Olympians fearing their power.
==History==
The goddess Gaea convinced one of her children, the greater titan Cronus, to overthrow his father Uranus and thus avenge her mistreatment, in retaliation for him having locked away their more monstrous children. Cronus did so, wounding his father so severely that he allegedly perished. The blood from his wounds fell upon Gaea, fertilizing her once more, causing the creation of the Furies and the gigantes.On page 105 of Legends & Lore the gigantes are referred to as simply "the Giants". This is carried over to page 2 of the Living City module No Time to Lose, which copies much of the former text verbatim in order to provide backstory for the greater titans in the adventure.
Sometime after their creation, the original name for the Furies was taken up by a breed of baatezu. According to legends, this was due to the erinyes admiring the function that the Furies served in the multiverse.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===Appearances===
===References===
===Connections===
Category:Aspects
Category:Proxies
Category:Spirits
Category:Greek pantheon
Category:Female organizations
Category:Neutral organizations
Category:Organizations in Pluton
Category:Organizations in Hades
Category:Organizations in the Outer Planes
Category:Organizations in the Great Wheel planes
Category:Deities by group