Pazuzu

Pazuzu

(Deity)

Titles

King of the Wind Demons,
Demon Lord of the Sky and Winged Creatures

Realm

Shibaxet in High M'Vania, the Outer Rifts

Alignment

Chaotic evil

Areas of Concern

The Sky
Temptation
Winged creatures

Worshipers

Antipaladins, harpies, enemies of Lamashtu, tengu, evil avians

Edicts

Tempt others to commit immoral acts, exalt in flight, possess or magically influence others to cause harm

Anathema

Ground a flying creature, abuse Pazuzu's name or call on him for aid, help Lamashtu's faithful

Follower Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Air, Chaos, Evil, Trickery

Subdomains (1E)

Cloud, Deception, Demon, Wind

Follower Alignments (2E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (2E)

Air, swarm, trickery, tyranny

Favored Weapon

Longsword✝

Symbol

Image of Pazuzu, right hand raised

Sacred Animal

All flying animals

Sacred Colors

Brown, red

Images of Pazuzu

Source: Book of the Damned, pg(s). 86–87 (1E)
Gods & Magic, pg(s). 77, 126–127 (2E)

Ⅰ

Ⅱ

Pazuzu

(Creature)

Type

Outsider
(air, chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar)

CR

30

Environment

Any (Outer Rifts)

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Images of Pazuzu

Source: Bestiary 4, pg(s). 50

Ⅰ

The demon lord Pazuzu (pronounced pah-ZOO-zoo) has claimed for himself the title of King of the Wind Demons, and few dare dispute it.

History

Pazuzu's breath is likened to a plague of locusts and many believe his first breath in the Universe brought about the entity that would become the demon lord Deskari. Pazuzu is as old as is his power—he ascended to demon lordship at the same time as Lamashtu, Abraxas and Dagon.

In ages long past, Pazuzu and his lover Lamashtu slaughtered hordes of greater demons together to claim a large portion of the Outer Rifts, which they ruled jointly. Lamashtu's ascension to godhood enraged Pazuzu, who betrayed her by stabbing her with a cold iron shard from the heart of a mountain before casting her into an infinitely deep chasm from where she languished for centuries. Ultimately, Lamashtu emerged and wrested control of the plane from Pazuzu. The two have been bitter rivals ever since.

Home

Pazuzu has a "rookery" called Shibaxet located in his vertical Abyssal realm of High M'Vania.

Appearance

Pazuzu has the body of a thin and wiry humanoid with several monstrous additions. These include having the legs and flesh-rending talons of a predatory bird, two sets of majestic eagle's wings that sprout from his back, a ferociously evil-looking avian head, a poisonous snake in place of his genitals, and a scorpion's stinger as a tail. He wields the Scepter of Shibaxet, a black hooked metal staff.

Relationships

Deskari

The mating of Pazuzu with a giant demon resembling an insect resulted in the "hatching" of Deskari; Pazuzu is thus considered Deskari's "father". Under Pazuzu's protection, Deskari rose in power within the Outer Rifts to eventually attain full demon lord status himself. Deskari admired Pazuzu, and they maintained cordial relations with each other. Although Deskari and Pazuzu were similar in power, Deskari maintained a modicum of subservience to his father and brought credit to Pazuzu through his own successes. Deskari's mother's name is unknown and likely destroyed since he created his brutal scythe, Riftcarver, from her remains.

Deskari was killed in 4718 AR by a band of adventurers at the conclusion of the Fifth Mendevian Crusade.

Lamashtu and Baphomet

Pazuzu has been in constant conflict with the more popular demon goddess Lamashtu for eons, since before Lamashtu's ascension to godhood when she was a demon lord. Pazuzu covets Lamashtu's position as the deity of beasts and desperately wishes to usurp her dominion over them. This conflict, and the resources it takes to fight it, might have cost Pazuzu greater power or even his own ascension to divinity. In his war against the Mother of Monsters, he recruits allies from Hell and Abaddon. Pazuzu's name is believed to disperse Lamashtu's influence, and amulets with his name or image are worn by pregnant women and newborns to ward her corruption away.

Before they became bitter enemies, Pazuzu and Lamashtu were lovers during the Age of Creation. One of their trysts in what would become the Lost Coast region of Varisia gave birth to a son named Uvaglor, among other spawn. Their cults rebuff this story out of a terrible shame and have been playing out their patrons' battle in a small way.

Due to Baphomet's closeness to Lamashtu, he opposes Pazuzu to maintain his good relationship with the Mother of Monsters despite lacking any personal enmity with Pazuzu himself.

Ylimancha

Pazuzu also wars endlessly against the agathion empyreal lord Ylimancha for dominion over flying beasts.

Influence

Unlike most other demon lords who work their evil on the world through cultists and demonic minions, Pazuzu is fond of taking direct action in the Universe. His favoured method of influencing the mortal world is through possession, and it is said that simply saying Pazuzu's name is enough to invite the demon lord's attention. Pazuzu has shaped many terrible events in the world through possession, from calamities like the formation of the Worldwound to minor atrocities like the Chopper murders in the Varisian town of Sandpoint.

Cult and worshipers

Pazuzu has declared himself the King of Wind Demons and patron of all that is evil and flies. While this is a grandiose claim, it is far from unfounded arrogance. A wide variety of evil flying creatures worship Pazuzu, the most fervent among them being vrock demons, harpies, and kuchrima lamia, though these also once worshiped to the former demon lord Nocticula. While he has no specific doctrine or edict for his followers, Pazuzu's cults are nonetheless present across the world, if only in the shadows.

References

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

External links

• Pazuzu (real-world demon) on Wikipedia