Rovagug

Imprisoned since the Age of Creation, the god **Rovagug** (pronounced ROH-vah-gug) seeks only to destroy creation and the other gods. Believed to be imprisoned in a state of torpor somewhere deep within Golarion, his increasingly restless stirrings are taken by many to be the cause of volcanic activity and earthquakes.

## History

According to the *Windsong Testaments*, just after the current incarnation of reality came into being, Pharasma took her first step off the Seal in fear of something chewing and gnawing beyond her perception. Her next steps led to the birth of the first deities and one of the new gods stepped forth beyond Pharasma's first fearful step, and in so doing would be transformed and absorbed by that fear. None can remember whether that fear became Rovagug or was Rovagug in the first place. In the earliest days of creation, Rovagug was tasked with burrowing through the Abyss.

As mortal life began, Rovagug gnawed his way out of the deepest Abyss and jumped across the Astral Plane to invade the Material Plane. He consumed seven worlds, but as they had no names nor histories, their taste was dull, and he only put up a token fight when the other gods drove him back to the Abyss.

After Asmodeus killed Ihys, Rovagug sneaked into the Material Plane again and fed on the world where the murder took place. As its inhabitants died in agony, Rovagug revelled in the taste, and he proceeded to destroy countless worlds. During this period, he rampaged through Axis in the greatest calamity that ever befell the Eternal City, laying waste to many districts which have never recovered to this day.

As Rovagug turned his attention away from Axis to three different worlds—Earth, Androffa, and Golarion—Sarenrae decided that Rovagug would have to be defeated, and gathered under her banner an unlikely collection of gods: Abadar, Apsu, Asmodeus, Calistria, Dahak, Desna, Dou-Bral, Erastil, Gozreh, Pharasma, and Torag, along with a number of other gods from more remote parts of the world.

Many gods died in this battle, but their names have been forgotten; certainly the gods who sided with the Rough Beast will never be remembered. Calistria lured Rovagug to Golarion and distracted him while Torag and Gorum forged the shell of the Dead Vault and Pharasma imbued it with potent wards against escape. Sarenrae then sliced open a rift in the Windswept Wastes on Casmaron on Golarion's surface, sending Rovagug stumbling into the Dead Vault. Dou-Bral impaled him with the Star Towers that prevented him from hearing prayers, and the archdevil Asmodeus bound him with a key crafted by Abadar that only the Prince of Darkness could turn. Sarenrae then repaired the rift, leaving behind a smooth scar and instructed her followers to avoid it. Rovagug's defeat marked the end of the Age of Creation.

After Dou-Bral travelled outside the Great Beyond and returned as Zon-Kuthon, the Star Towers started to degrade, allowing Rovagug to grant divine magic again. Meanwhile, Sarenrae's faithful misunderstood her commands and built the city of Gormuz over the scar. As she feared, Rovagug's influence corrupted the people of Gormuz, and they refused to hear her further warnings. In -3923 AR, Rovagug tricked Sarenrae into smiting Gormuz in a fit of wrath; in so doing, she opened a vast rift leading to the Dead Vault itself. The Pit of Gormuz, as it was called, was filled with all kinds of monsters, including Ulunat, the first Spawn of Rovagug.

Ulunat would be the first of a dozen Spawn that Rovagug unleashed upon Golarion's surface over the next 5,000 years. Some of his followers claim that Earthfall awoke Rovagug from his torpor, and that the time of his release is rapidly approaching. However, the Dead Vault has held itself fast and Rovagug remains imprisoned today.

According to the *Concordance of Rivals*, when the End Times come, Rovagug will be freed by a desperate Asmodeus in the hope that he will consume the other apocalypse. Indeed, Rovagug will devour the rest of creation before consuming himself, leaving behind only Groetus to turn off the light of the cosmos and a Survivor to rebuild it anew.

## Home

Rovagug lies sleeping within the Dead Vault, his divine flesh feasted upon by vast wrackworms. The Dead Vault, which has served as Rovagug's prison since his defeat at the hand of the divine coalition in the Age of Creation, is a demiplane whose physical boundaries can be seen from Golarion's molten core, but whose interior is not part of Golarion itself. From outside the Dead Vault, Rovagug can be seen, immobile and imprisoned, like an insect preserved in amber. Inside its inner surface, he is always visible, impaled by the Star Towers, on the 'sky'.

The scar which Rovagug left behind as he gnawed his way out of the Abyss in the Age of Creation still remains in the Abyssal realm of Yad Iagnoth. Despite being formed long before, it shares the same shape and breadth as the Pit of Gormuz. It is unknown which dark, undiscovered corner of the Abyssal might have been Rovagug's old divine realm, but now he remains imprisoned far from it.

## Relationships

While Rovagug hates most deities equally, his rage is primarily directed at Sarenrae. She was instrumental in keeping him subdued long enough so that Asmodeus could contain him. They had already been at war against one another numerous times when Rovagug was imprisoned, and it is said that Sarenrae placed the fire of the sun at the heart of Golarion to eternally burn the Rough Beast in his prison. All other deities hate the Devourer as well, and even feuding gods join together to oppose his release. Rovagug is believed to have some relationship with the mysterious Groetus because of their mutual interest in destruction, but he has no overt ties with the God of the End Times.

## Providence

Volcanic eruptions are said to be the result of the Devourer turning in his sleep, while violent winds are the result of his breath erupting from the dark places of the world.