Conqueror worm

Conqueror worm
(Creature)
Rare NE Gargantuan Aberration Level 21 Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Source: Night of the Gray Death, pg(s). 66 Type Aberration CR 21 Environment Any Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Source: Bestiary 6, pg(s). 64

Conqueror worm

(Deity)

Alignment

Neutral evil
(Chaotic evil)

Worshipers

Cultists

Edicts

Manipulate those in power
Foster psychic abilities
Endorse unjust laws

Anathema

Enact hasty schemes
Tell the truth except to nurture a larger lie
Reveal those higher in the conqueror worm's network

Cleric Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Charm, Evil, Nobility, Trickery
(Chaos, Death, Evil, Repose)

Cleric Alignments (2E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (2E)

Ambition, Secrecy, Trickery, Tyranny

Favored Weapon

Varies, always a simple weapon (most commonly dagger)

Symbol

Varies, typically resembles a ring of eyes

Source: Bestiary 6, pg(s). 64 (1E)
Night of the Gray Death, pg(s). 67 (2E)

Conqueror worms are divine immense worm-like creatures of vast intellect and depravity who revel in ruling civilisations through puppet leaders.

Appearance

A conqueror worm resembles a gigantic maggot with pale flesh and multiple hearts. Its mouth is peeled back to reveal four long, hooklike jaws. A conqueror worm is 80 feet long and weighs 70 tons.

Ecology

A conqueror worm infects the minds of others from afar, allowing it to control its puppets while remaining unseen. It typically burrows beneath the target nation's capital, then uses this ability to infect the leaders, either promising them with wealth and power or just controlling them outright. The end result is the same: without intervention, all end up as the conqueror worm's toys.

Conqueror worms are theatrical and spend decades engineering the downfall of their puppets. A conqueror worm might push a leader towards tyrannical policies, then use another puppet to incite rebellion, who will later be denounced as a traitor or criminal, causing the rebellion to turn on itself, all the while the conqueror worm delights in the madness, sin, and horror.

When a conqueror worm tires of its current puppets, it destroys them by sending them to war against another nation, devastating both. Its favourite servants are brought into its realm and given a glimpse of their master's true form before the conqueror worm devours them and moves on to another nation to subjugate.

Cults and worshippers

Conqueror worms are capable of granting divine magic, and uses this ability to attract cultists. They are absolutely loyal to the conqueror worm, which they worship as an omniscient and omnipotent god, while the conqueror worm usually considers them expendable. Often, the conqueror worm's clerics are the only pawns that are aware of the true nature of their puppet master.

Certain sects of conqueror worms see Yhidothrus as their unclean origin and control nations in his name.

References

Original Source: Edgar Allan Poe, "The Conqueror Worm", 1843