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Book of the Damned

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Book of the Damned
The Book of the Damned
(Magic item)

Aura (1E)
Overwhelming all schools
[chaotic, lawful, evil]
(when complete)
Caster Level (1E)
25th
Type
Major artifact
Slot (1E)
None
Origin
Affiliation
Source: Artifacts & Legends, pg(s). 14f.
This article covers the tome on Golarion and the demiplane it contains. For the real-world series of books, see Princes of Darkness, Lords of Chaos, Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and Book of the Damned (sourcebook).

The Book of the Damned is one of three legendary books compiled by the angel Tabris, along with the Chronicle of the Righteous and Concordance of Rivals, that purportedly contain all knowledge in existence.1 The Book describes the Outer Rifts, Hell, and Abaddon, and includes details of their rulers and inhabitants and how the world of Golarion has connections to these lower planes. Dire warnings concerning the reader's soul are often appended to these pages.2

History

Tabris hard at work on the Book of the Damned.

The Book is a mysterious and legendary tome, pages of which are said to still exist in certain libraries, including the Apocrypha Forae Logos in Absalom where it is termed the 'Black Book'. It was compiled by Tabris, an angel who collected lore of the Great Beyond but whose endeavours with the Book led to his trial and exile from Heaven.341

The rulers of Heaven ordered the Book of the Damned to be erased from existence in a vault-kiln of the Great Library, but the book disappeared and was not seen again until fragments were discovered ages later across the Material Plane. The book has since been largely reconstructed on Golarion.1

Copies

Several mortal attempts to copy parts of the Book resulted in mundane, error-filled manuscripts that nonetheless contain considerable knowledge of evil. These include:

Contents

The Book of the Damned is contained in three sections, which may be found separately from the rest of the book. Known sections include:

  • The Daemonic Section6
  • The Demonic Section7
  • The Diabolic Section8

The Book is constantly updated with new knowledge of evil deeds and actors, spells, conspiracies, creatures and mysteries that span planets, locations of portals to evil-aligned planes and sites of evil deeds, instructions on how to destroy good-aligned artifacts and find evil-aligned artifacts, true names of fiends, profane rituals, detailed information about evil demigods and Great Old Ones, and accounts of divine failures (such as the rebellion in Heaven, wars against Titans, and fates of dead gods).9

Demiplane

The book itself can also be inverted into a portal to an expansive demiplane that contains the evidence and research used to compile its record of evil deeds, and at its center a path to the Unspeakable Word.10 The information is cataloged by the Voice of the Damned, a bound entity who also defends the Unspeakable Word.11

Daemonic section

This section concerns Abaddon and its native daemons; it also acts as a vast spellbook containing every evil spell and some others. It is written in a confusing mix of both the Chthonian and Diabolic languages, requiring deep skills in both to understand the text, though the book can also communicate its contents telepathically. The frozen bindings of the book seem to be made of ash and draw in any local light. The pages inside are clearly palimpsest, with the redacted sections obscuring earlier history of Abaddon; this is likely the power of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse who are known to wipe away history when it is unpalatable to them. Ownership and study of the book can yield great power but only for thoroughly evil students.4

A selection of the chapters in the Daemonic Section include:

  • On the Nature of Daemons12
  • Ride of the Horsemen13
  • Paean of the First14
  • Creation's Suicidal Urge15
  • On Daemons16
  • The Church of Nothing17
  • The Fallen Masters18
  • The Ride of the Four19
  • Horrors of the Four20

Demonic section

This section21 concerns the Outer Rifts, its rulers and its inhabitants, constantly updating itself as the chaos of the Outer Rifts continuously transforms the Plane. It is written in Cthonian and bound with sharp cold iron covers likely to wound any reader; readers of any alignment bar chaotic evil suffer just by touching the book and worse by reading it.3

Some of the chapters in the Demonic Section include:

  • History of the Abyss22
  • The Maw Eternal23
  • Demonicide24
  • Whispers from the Womb25
  • The Innumerable Host26
  • The Finest Treachery of Hope27
  • Before Sin2829
  • The Death and Birth of the Nightripper30
  • Visitations31
  • Rituals for demonic transformation32
  • Demonic Spells33

Diabolic section

This 2,500-page, flesh-bound folio of Diabolic text contains profane images and diagrams and describes rituals, prayers, and practices of Hell. It also contains heretical information about deities and evil spells. Greater devils can scry the book without being detected, and the book itself defiles its surroundings, empowers evil spellcasters, and answers questions about Hell, creatures of lawful evil alignment, or profane subjects.34

Some of the chapters in the Diabolic Section include:

  • Before35
  • The Triumph of Hell36
  • The Iron Heart of Dis37
  • On Dis37
  • A Season of Hell38
  • Order39
  • The Prayer of All Praises40
  • The Peerage of Hell41
  • Spheres of the Malebranche41
  • A Vision of the Pit42
  • Exodus43
  • The Account of Pious Mor44

References

Paizo published a series of books representing three volumes of the Book of the Damned: Princes of Darkness, Lords of Chaos, and Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Book is also the subject of chapters in Hell Unleashed (pages 16-21) and Artifacts & Legends.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 F. Wesley Schneider & Jerome Virnich. Benabak (Imp)” in Hell Unleashed, 16. Paizo Inc., 2015
  2. James Jacobs. “Premortality” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 3. Paizo Inc., 2010
  3. 3.0 3.1 James Jacobs. “Demonology” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 49. Paizo Inc., 2010
  4. 4.0 4.1 Amber Stewart. “Daemonium” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 40. Paizo Inc., 2011
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 F. Wesley Schneider. “Diabolatry” in Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1, 49. Paizo Inc., 2009
  6. Amber Stewart. Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3. Paizo Inc., 2011
  7. James Jacobs. Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2. Paizo Inc., 2010
  8. F. Wesley Schneider. Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1. Paizo Inc., 2009
  9. F. Wesley Schneider & Jerome Virnich. Benabak (Imp)” in Hell Unleashed, 18–19. Paizo Inc., 2015
  10. F. Wesley Schneider & Jerome Virnich. Benabak (Imp)” in Hell Unleashed, 17. Paizo Inc., 2015
  11. F. Wesley Schneider & Jerome Virnich. Benabak (Imp)” in Hell Unleashed, 20. Paizo Inc., 2015
  12. Amber Stewart. “The First Daemons” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 2. Paizo Inc., 2011
  13. Amber Stewart. “On a Pale Horse” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 4. Paizo Inc., 2011
  14. Amber Stewart. “Eclipse” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 17. Paizo Inc., 2011
  15. Amber Stewart. “Daemonkind” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 18. Paizo Inc., 2011
  16. Amber Stewart. “Daemonic Influence” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 26. Paizo Inc., 2011
  17. Amber Stewart. “Daemonium” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 28. Paizo Inc., 2011
  18. Amber Stewart. “Previous Horsemen” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 42. Paizo Inc., 2011
  19. Amber Stewart. “The Soul Reavers” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 44. Paizo Inc., 2011
  20. Amber Stewart. “Oblivion's Creation” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 63. Paizo Inc., 2011
  21. Large parts of this section of the Book of the Damned are quoted in Demons Revisited on the frontispieces for each chapter.
  22. James Jacobs. “Premortality” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 2. Paizo Inc., 2010
  23. James Jacobs. “Lords of the Abyss” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 4. Paizo Inc., 2010
  24. James Jacobs. “That Witch is Dead” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 31. Paizo Inc., 2010
  25. James Jacobs. “Demonkind” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 32. Paizo Inc., 2010
  26. James Jacobs. “The Realms” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 40. Paizo Inc., 2010
  27. James Jacobs. “Demonology” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 42. Paizo Inc., 2010
  28. James Jacobs. “The Qlippoth” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 51. Paizo Inc., 2010
  29. James Jacobs. “Before Sin” in Beyond the Doomsday Door, 62. Paizo Inc., 2012
  30. James Jacobs. “The Demonic Horde” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 52. Paizo Inc., 2010
  31. James Jacobs. “At Your Door” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 63. Paizo Inc., 2010
  32. James Jacobs. “Demonology” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 45. Paizo Inc., 2010
  33. James Jacobs. “Demonology” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 48. Paizo Inc., 2010
  34. F. Wesley Schneider. “Diabolatry” in Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1, 48. Paizo Inc., 2009
  35. F. Wesley Schneider. “Before” in Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1, 2. Paizo Inc., 2009
  36. F. Wesley Schneider. Hell and the Archdevils” in Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1, 4. Paizo Inc., 2009
  37. 37.0 37.1 F. Wesley Schneider. “The City of Dis” in Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1, 24. Paizo Inc., 2009
  38. F. Wesley Schneider. “Devilkind” in Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1, 26. Paizo Inc., 2009
  39. F. Wesley Schneider. “Order” in Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1, 34. Paizo Inc., 2009
  40. F. Wesley Schneider. “Diabolatry” in Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1, 36. Paizo Inc., 2009
  41. 41.0 41.1 F. Wesley Schneider. “Hierarchy of Hell” in Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1, 50. Paizo Inc., 2009
  42. F. Wesley Schneider. “Diablerie” in Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1, 52. Paizo Inc., 2009
  43. F. Wesley Schneider. “Exodus” in Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume 1, 62. Paizo Inc., 2009
  44. F. Wesley Schneider & Jerome Virnich. “Diabolical Influences” in Hell Unleashed, 4. Paizo Inc., 2015