Socothbenoth

Socothbenoth

(Deity)

Titles

The Silken Sin,
Demon Lord of Perversion and Taboos

Realm

Cathedral Thelemic, Outer Rifts

Alignment

Chaotic evil

Areas of Concern

Perversion
Pride
Taboos

Worshipers

Perverts, sexual criminals, debauched cultists, deviant rulers, drow, half-fiends, hedonists

Follower Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Chaos, Charm, Evil, Travel

Subdomains (1E)

Demon, Exploration, Love, Lust

Favored Weapon

Quarterstaff

Symbol

Eyeless snake and staff

Sacred Animal

Snake

Sacred Colors

Pink, red

Images of Socothbenoth

Source: Descent into Midnight, pg(s). 83

The demon lord Socothbenoth (pronounced so-KOTH-beh-noth) is the patron of sexual and other hedonistic gratification, seeing the world as his plaything for providing the violence and destruction of which he is especially fond. He is the brother of Nocticula.

Home

Socothbenoth's Abyssal realm is called the Cathedral Thelemic, a hidden city devoted to deviant pursuits.

Appearance

Socothbenoth can shift his form to satisfy any particular desire, although his true form seems to be that of a slender, attractive male elf or aiuvarin with ebony eyes, long brown hair, elongated ears, and countless piercings of metal or bone throughout his flesh. He is surrounded by albino snakes of all sizes that are said to obey his every word. In battle, he takes advantage of his shapechanging ability to grow natural weapons to lash at foes. He formerly wielded the quarterstaff Rapture until its destruction at the hands of Nocticula; he currently seeks to recover its shards scattered across the Outer Rifts so he could reforge it anew.

Relationships

More than any other demon lord, Socothbenoth works on keeping good relations with other demon lords. He is allied to Pazuzu, Andirifkhu, and Baphomet. He has sometimes worked alongside Abraxas due to their shared affinity with serpents, and he has also traded sadist techniques with Shax. Sometimes, his alliances flare up into war but his greatest ire is for his most hated enemy: Nurgal. Since his shaming and defeat at the hands of Nocticula, some of his followers have abandoned him, many turning to Kostchtchie in his capacity as lord of revenge, which has made the two increasingly at odds. As a demon lord of perverse desires it is no surprise that Socothbenoth has bedded countless lovers (some would say victims) during his existence; what is surprising is the calibre of some of his conquests. He was a frequent and incestuous lover of Nocticula, his own sister, as well as with his allies Andirifkhu, Baphomet, and Pazuzu. He has even been lover to a god, having supposedly had several dalliances with Lamashtu herself and even fathering (doubtlessly monstrous) children with her.

He was particularly allied (politically and as lovers) with Nocticula, his sister; however, his relationship with his sister has soured due to her gradual rise in power and a failed attempt on his part to assassinate her. Following the failed assassination, Nocticula left her brother broken on the steps of his Cathedral, and has afterwards chosen to ignore him to further shame and humiliate him. Socothbenoth greatly fears becoming his sister's latest victim, although Nocticula took no further revenge on him. This has had the effect of shaking Socothbenoth's alliances with other demon lords, as most do not wish to align against someone who has killed as many of their kind as Nocticula has. In the wake of Nocticula's departure from the Outer Rifts and renunciation of her demonic nature, some of her former faithful have turned to Socothbenoth to continue their ways of hedonism.

It is rumored that his humiliation and fear of assassination have driven Socothbenoth to contact the archdevil Belial, and that the shamed demon lord is attempting to bargain for aid in avenging himself against his sister in exchange for the protection of Hell, or to defect to Hell and become an infernal duke. It is not known how much veracity there is to these rumors.

Cults and worshipers

Socothbenoth appeals to deviants of all kinds, although his own tastes run toward the most violent or debauched varieties as do many of his followers. Those who wholly devote themselves as initiates to the Silken Sin are rumored to be able to easily change their form, like their master, and cast enchantment spells which prove hard to resist.

On Golarion

His cults are popular among the drow of the Darklands, his most powerful drow worshippers being those of House Sardavic.

He is also worshipped by the degenerate race of lamyros who revere both him and his sister Nocticula.

He also has a strong human following in Versex, a county of Ustalav. There he is held in high esteem by a secret society of depraved nobles of the city of Karcau.

There is a temple to Socothbenoth in the Duskport district of the ruined underground city of Ilvarandin.

Recently, Socothbenoth's humiliation by his sister has caused him to lose worshippers to the cults of Nocticula and Kostchtchie. Those who turn to the Deathless Frost do so out of hope that worship of the demon lord of revenge will aid them in avenging their former patron, but do not realize that this supplication to another demon lord is profoundly humiliating for Socothbenoth. Socothbenoth's remaining faithful view them as traitors, and have been spending more and more resources to track them down and capture them, to be either sacrificed or fleshwarped into mindless guardians or entertainers.

References

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

External links

• Socothbenoth (Dungeons & Dragons) (D&D character) on Wikipedia