Ouroboros

Ouroboros
(Creature)
Rare N Gargantuan Astral Beast Level 21 Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Adjective Ouroboros Images of ouroboros Source: Bestiary 3, pg(s). 194–195 Type Magical beast (extraplanar) CR 21 Environment Any (Astral Plane) Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Adjective Ouroboros Images of ouroboros Source: Bestiary 6, pg(s). 206

Ouroboros are serpentine beasts native to the Astral Plane. Embodying eternity and the cycles of divine creation and destruction that created the multiverse, ouroboros forever consume themselves and are reborn in an unending loop.

Appearance

An ouroboros appears to be a serpentine creature that consumes its own tail for most of its life, but closer inspection reveals that its body is formed from a myriad of smaller entwined serpents, which are not independent creatures and become lifeless if separated from the main body. These serpents are formed from smaller serpents that, when inspected under magnification, are composed of yet tinier serpents. An ouroboros is usually coiled into a circle roughly 50 feet in diameter that weighs 260 tons.

Mortals' minds have difficulties comprehending the embodiments of perfect infinity, straining their mental facilities to varying degrees every minute they view an ouroboros.

Ecology

Each ouroboros is biologically immortal and reliant on no other creature to survive, constantly eating itself and replenishing its body with its own infinity. Ouroboros have crude intellects and can understand speech like Aklo but cannot speak.

Ouroboros will travel the Astral Plane in eon long cycles, much too long for any mortal to chart in their lifespan or fully comprehend. Ouroboros are such rare creatures that they may meet another ouroboros once in an age, and then they will likely ignore each other.

Ouroboros have an almost pathological survival instinct, which drives them to destroy any creatures that pose even the slightest threat without provocation or warning: being in their line of sight is enough to provoke them. This has given them a reputation for being engines of mindless destruction and other Astral creatures stay out of their way.

Most ouroboros found on the Material Plane came there by accident, tumbling through portals from the Astral Plane, or summoned by homicidal spellcasters. When they arrive on the Material Plane, ouroboros begin a cycle of renewal, starting with destruction.

Abilities

Ouroboros are massive flying serpents recursively made of smaller serpents. They are immune to acids, diseases, poisons, and negative energy.

Ouroboros can almost instantly grow new flesh and heal nearly any wound thanks to their blood, which is suffused with positive energy; this regeneration is only halted by fire. Their acidic blood readily gushes out when they are slashed, pierced, or they stop eating their tail. Drops of blood that hit the ground congeal into a magical venomous snakes that attack any non-ouroboros and become real snakes, like an emperor cobra, after one hour. Some naturalists think hooplamanders were born from salamanders hatched in a ouroboros' acidic trail.

Exposure to ouroboros blood by other creatures confers its regenerative properties but also a primal transmutation curse that transforms them into a clump of snakes like an ouroboros.

When an ouroboros eats its tail, it regrows at the same rate it consumes itself. In this state, it will continue to regenerate wounds and other bodily afflictions, even if fire is used. This consumption can not involuntarily be stopped unless the ouroboros is first pinned down and the tail wrestled out of its maw.

Many have tried to harness the healing powers of ouroboros blood to restore life to the dead, using it as a more potent substitute for a diamond in a resurrection ritual or to heal grievous wounds, unaware that it is suited to the regeneration of ouroboros flesh and no other: it warps the flesh of those exposed to it, including these patients, mutating them into clusters of snakes. Despite the repeated failures, its power and rarity still command value, and wealthy necromancers will reportedly waste gallons of it in failed rituals.

On Golarion

Many Golarian cultures have depictions of ouroboros, some of which depict a dragon eating its tail, which could indicate that more types of ouroboros exist.

The coiled one

"The coiled one," as the first ouroboros is referred to, is according to some faiths believed to help with the expansion of the universe and define the cycle of life and procreation. It is currently theorized by some that "the coiled one" is now the barrier of the Astral Plane.