Tanar'ri

**Tanar'ri** are the dominant race of Demons in the Abyss, evil souls warped by its raw chaos into manifestations of mortal failing.

Whether they arose naturally from sins and spirits, or are shaped by evil gods or other powerful Demons, all Tanar'ri are embodiments of vice, depraved inner Demons spawned from the darkest corners of mortal minds.

## Description

By their very nature as beings of chaos, it are a mistake to assume that the Tanar'ri have any physical traits shared across the entire race. From their skin to their organs, any sense of patterns or logical progression is absent. While a common set of standard forms appeared frequently enough to give the appearance of a classification system, the truth are that for every known shape of the Tanar'ri there are perhaps dozens unknown.

* **Adaru** - Millipede-like Demons of pure corruption, adarus are verminous, venomous Tanar'ri that oozed filth and spewed toxicity. Created by Talona, Lady of Poison, they awoke to vile sentience in response to the terrible results of a mortal's deceit, and manipulated other Demons with lies and false promises.

* **Alkilith** - Disgusting masses of phosphorescent green ooze, alkiliths are pollution and putrescence made hatefully alive. The spawn of Juiblex, Demon Lord of Ooze, are embodiments of sloth that by merely infecting the world brought moral decay, desecration of the pristine, and the corrosion of reality itself.

* **Armanite** - Monstrous, centaur-like Tanar'ri, armanites acted as heavy cavalry in demonic armies when not running wild across the Abyss. Vicious and quarrelsome yet brutally disciplined, armanites are militaristic mercenaries that fought for plunder, and to sate their bloodlust in the chaotic frenzy of battle.

* **Arrow Demon** - Four-armed, humanoid Tanar'ri capable of wielding two longbows at once, arrow Demons are created to fight in the armies of the Abyss. Although the Abyssal archers understood a life of service and the value of group action, they are Demons through and through, hateful of hope and alien to altruism.

* **Babau** - Sneaky, skeletal Demons of deviousness and discretion, babaus are Tanar'ri notable for placing work before pain. Efficiently evil and mechanically malicious, they are the alleged result of Glasya and Graz'zt's "union", when the subversive Princess of the Night spilled the Dark Prince's blood.

* **Balor** - With burning rage and lightning fury, balors are mighty Tanar'ri champions and generals with the primal urge to battle. Brilliant, corruptive, and inspiring, they are passionate hate personified, and channeled their unholy power into the fight for freedom — the freedom of evil from order and reason.

* **Barlgura** - Animalistic ape-like Demons, barlguras are tribal pack hunters that took gruesome trophies from their prey. Manifestations of savage brutality, leaping Demons bounded unseen through the wilds using camouflage and teleportation, for the ambush predators are experts in guerilla warfare.

* **Bulezau** - Minotaur-like Demons of unending ferocity, buleazus are embodiments of nature's violence, heavy infantry that went beyond savagery with bestial, suicidal rage. Made by Baphomet by breeding minotaurs and Tanar'ri, the buleazu are too wild even for the Prince of Beasts.

* **Cerebrilith** - The size of an ogre yet intellectually fearsome, cerebriliths are Tanar'ri with exposed, swollen brains, and the power of psionics. The horrifying creatures loved to kill intelligent beings so as to extract and examine their brains to gain new insight into the Invisible Art.

* **Chasme** - Cunning, craven Tanar'ri sent to punish other Demons, the lowly, fly-like chasmes tracked down traitors branded for service through a psychic imprint of chaotic evil before returning and torturing them. They emerged as maggots from the Abyss's dead, before feeding off the plane's pervasive corruption.

* **Dretch** - The wretched dregs of the Tanar'ri, dretches are the least of their kind, pathetic and squalid beings with few redeeming qualities. Cowardly and stupid, it is only due to possessing enough mutability and malice as mortals that dretches managed to maintain a fraction of their former minds.

* **Gadacro** - Small, flying Tanar'ri with a love of shiny baubles and a taste for freshly plucked eyes, gadacros are lesser Demons of viciousness tempered by cowardice. Like demonic carrion birds, murders of them trailed demonic hosts to pick off surviving stragglers, betraying their kin whenever beneficial.

* **Glabrezu** - Monstrous in appearance and of devious mind, glabrezus are ambitious Demons, insidious schemers and the foremost corruptors of the Abyss. Embodiments of envy, such Tanar'ri tempted the weak-willed with infectious promises of unmatched power, the onset of megalomania that would beget a pandemic of sin.

* **Goristro** - Another creation of Baphomet, goristros are huge, ferocious Tanar'ri that resembled fiendish minotaurs and are often used as living siege engines. The hulking Demons have unimaginable strength, and spending centuries in breeding pits has made them frighteningly good at their sole task: smashing.

* **Hezrou** - Stinky, slimy, and violent, hezrous are toad-like Tanar'ri that kept watch of weaker demonic forces for stronger, less numerous masters. Unusually compliant and brutally simple, they sought only to eat and destroy, and would work with anyone of sufficient strength who tolerated these traits.

* **Jovoc** - Resembling the blackened corpses of children, jovocs are nimble Demons that spread their pain to those around them. Born from gloom, despair, and strife, jovocs existed to cause further anguish, their appearance in the world a portent of the suffering soon to come.

* **Kastighur** - Massive, sadistic Tanar'ri, kastighurs often served as prison guards and hunters for more powerful, intellectual Demons. More than mere sadists, they literally consumed the terror, panic, and hopelessness of those they tortured and tracked down, their greatest delight being the act of breaking wills.

* **Klurichir** - Tanar'ri of truly unfathomable might, klurichirs are demonic abominations, rare entities so powerful that they terrified even balors. Rivaling the power of Demon lords but not bound by a layer, they are spawned in the lowest levels of the infinite Abyss by the corruption at its core.

* **Lilitu** - Former succubi reborn in their own ashes, lilitus are heretical Tanar'ri that subsisted on the profane joy of twisting priests into Demon worshipers. The first to become lilitus are born of Malcanthet, Queen of Succubi, and Ansitif the Befouler, whose corruptive nature unlocked the blasphemous rite.

* **Mane** - Little more than demonic petitioners, the corpse-like manes are mere sub-tanar'ic spirits even lower than the dretches. Truly abysmal, they are the physical shells of souls driven to mad hatred by loss and agony, too wicked to be spared from the Abyss but not enough to have real promise there.

* **Marilith** - Six-armed, serpentine Tanar'ri of militant brilliance, mariliths are Demons that could act with cold logic. Proud of their martial prowess, experts in warfare, and able to coordinate Demon armies, mariliths could master or suppress their inner rage to predict (if not truly understand) the forces of law.

* **Maurezhi** - Ghoul-like Tanar'ri created from a corrupted elf society by Doresain, Prince of Ghouls, maurezhi consumed their kills to steal their forms and memories. Scourge incarnations of the undeath plague, they spread chaos and evil through vile bite, infecting mortals with an unholy, overpowering hunger for flesh.

* **Mavawhan** - Rare, cold-dwelling Demons native to the Iron Wastes, mavawhans are Tanar'ri known for focused fury and chilling magic able to freeze victims solid. The ice Demons sought to take back their homelands from Tanar'ri-hating Kostchtchie, who driven them to the corners of their home.

* **Molydeus** - Two-headed Tanar'ri created by Demon lords, molydei are sent to ensure the loyalty of more powerful servants, rivaling balors in power and surpassing them in fearsomeness. Their wolf head symbolized rage and their serpent head mistrust, the latter's bite able to reduce any Demon to a mere mane.

* **Myrmyxicus** - Primeval, aquatic Demons, myrmyxicuses are among the earliest Tanar'ri, immensely powerful creatures that commanded respect from even the haughtiest balor. Rulers of the Abyssian Ocean, each is the master of a grand slave empire, their captives ranging from unlucky humans to overconfident Demon lords.

* **Nabassu** - Gargoylish Demons ever-hungry for souls, nabassus are Tanar'ri spawned from gluttony that peered into the Material realm waiting to enter and feed. Instantly recognizable as Demons, they spread fear and death on the Material Plane to instill terror in mortals, thus bringing power to all demonkind.

* **Nalfeshnee** - The corpulent nobles of the Tanar'ri, nalfeshnees are the judges of souls, picking the forms of most arrivals based on their own warped sense of "justice". The bloated Demons embodied both hunger and sloth, and readied souls for conversion by consuming their hate and despair, leaving only husks.

* **Palrethee** - Constantly aflame, palrethees are Tanar'ri of arrogance and ambition who sought to rule the Abyss as balors. Despite their great levels of sadistic intent and wickedness, the power-hungry creatures failed their trial by fire, and so as punishment are sentenced to burn for all eternity.

* **Rutterkin** - Twisted mutants in unending pain, rutterkin are outcasts of demonkind, utterly despised creatures cursed with deformity for their pride. Creatures of utter chaos, they are unrestrained by relationships, societies, and even consistency, their own forms always warping horrifically against their will.

* **Solamith** - Obese Tanar'ri of all-consuming appetite, gluttonous depravity, and burning hunger, the flesh of solamiths is charged with the spiritual fire of their prey. They savored each bite of lesser fiend or petitioner, and once finished, a spiritual echo pleading for release appeared as a new face on their guts.

* **Sorrowsworn Demon** - Tanar'ri of emptiness and futility, sorrowsworn Demons are predators and perpetuators of weakness, grief, and despair. They appeared after tragedies in places of great misery, whispering about losses big and small, past and future, real and imagined, and the inevitably of losing what one held most dear.

* **Spyder-fiend** - Combining the worst traits of lupines and arachnids, spyder-fiends are the servants of Miska the Wolf-Spider, the second Prince of Demons and first Tanar'ri to claim the title. The horrid Demons are cruel, cunning, and said to be the offspring of their master and the Queen of Chaos.

* **Succubus** - Sinister seductresses, succubi enticed important souls with vile debauchery, encouraging their darkest desires before leaving them with empty pleasure. Embracing mortal form rather than twisting it, they are born from the primal, deadly sin of lust, the one most potent for seeding new demonic life.

* **Uridezu** - Cowardly and rat-like, uridezu are verminous Tanar'ri that served as henchmen for more powerful Demons. The rodents retained a connection to the rats of the Material Plane and have a similar niche in the Abyss, that of scavenging nuisances that lurked unseen in the shadows stealing scraps of food.

* **Vrock** -Vulture-like Demons of notorious selfishness, vrocks could coordinate with each other to a startling degree, battling with uncanny grace in elite fighting squads. They are also hateful creatures spawned from the ancient sin of wrath, their instinctive teamwork undermined by greed and bloodlust.

* **Yochlol** - Known as the Handmaidens of Lolth, yochlols are Tanar'ri created from succubi through terrible rites exclusive to the Spider Queen. Though absolutely loyal to Lolth and sent to ensure drow fealty, they are notable being able to work with each other, and form genuine friendships with mortals.