Dorvae

From PathfinderWiki
Dorvae
(Creature)

Type
Outsider
(evil, extraplanar)
CR
10
Environment
Alignment
Adjective
Dorvae
Source: Bestiary 4, pg(s). 62

Dorvaes are a unique fiendish race utterly determined to maintain their freedom and refuse all allegiances, yet believing all other creatures exist to serve them.1[citation needed]

Appearance

Each dorvae has stretched leathery wings, a reptilian body of writhing tendrils and serpents, and deceptively strong claws.2

Ecology

Dorvaes reproduce from their egotistical desire to bully and manipulate powerful beings, causing a parent dorvae to tear apart fragments of the cosmos as material to create a new dorvae. The parent treats its spawn like a slave, abusing and humiliating it until the child manages to escape. In this way dorvaes perpetuate a cycle of hatred, teaching their descendants to distrust one another above all.2

Society

Despite their uniformity compared to other fiendish races, dorvaes lack a shared purpose. Fiercely independent creatures, dorvaes pride themselves on not owing any semblance of allegiance to any other being, no matter how powerful. Any reminder of social norms or reciprocation is more likely to cause the dorvae to subvert and manipulate its current allies instead.1[citation needed]

Each dorvae believes all other creatures in the multiverse live solely to serve them. Cruel, selfish and calculating, dorvaes have no concept of guilt, empathy or consideration of the possible consequences, and would rather stand back and create unquestioning minions to champion their schemes.1[citation needed]

Dorvaes can be found equally in Hell, Abaddon or the Outer Rifts. A number of dorvaes ply their manipulations in the Universe. Some build cults and rule over their followers as an angry deity before disposing of them; others employ their knowledge and charisma to act as advisors, information brokers and mob bosses, though such a role lasts only so long as it serves a dorvae's purposes, satisfies its ego or entertains it before the dorvae's inevitable betrayal. Rarely, a dorvae might sabotage its own plans to cause pain to others.12

Dorvae viziers

Rarely, a dorvae accumulates enough power, sometimes by consuming other dorvaes or by sheer age and force of will, to reshape reality to befit the dorvae's mood and tastes. These dorvaes, called viziers, become the living hearts of their own demiplanes, where they rule over petty realms in mockery of the fiendish planes.2

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Paizo Inc., et al. Bestiary 4, 62. Paizo Inc., 2013
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Paizo Inc., et al. “Chapter 4: Fiendish Bestiary” in Book of the Damned, 236. Paizo Inc., 2017