Kothogaz
Unyielding Kothogaz, the Dance of Disharmony,1 is one of the Spawn of Rovagug. It arrived in Vudra in 345 AR from Casmaron and proceeded to rampage across the land.2
Appearance
Surviving parts of the acid-scourged Ezida Scrolls provide a most detailed known description of it: a shell like a horned beetle's: veined wings of broken glass; a torso resembling a humanoid with a slug-like abdomen and moist, chitinous armor; four arms, two tipped in pincers; a drooling maw that forms most of its head; and dozens of eyes arrayed above its mouth.3
History
Kothogaz was first spotted near old Ezida, then a city of Ninshabur.3 Hathga-Tah the Ninshaburite also described Kothogaz as "pus of raw and bursted wounds" in their list of the Spawn of Rovagug.4
A bite from Kothogaz is blamed for the disfigurement and madness of the gold dragon Trilochan in the Narhari Desert.3
The squabbling mahajanapadas united for the first time but were overwhelmed one after the other in the desperate fight against the beast. The legendary hero Khiben-Sald, whom the current maharajah claims as an ancestor, is said to be a descendent from these rulers. The fighting continued until the legendary psychic Vanitapati confronted Kothogaz. Psychics, occultists, sorcerers, and countless common people lent Vanitapati their strength through meditation and prayer. Legend claims her psychic avatar stood as tall as a mountain to rip Kothogaz to pieces. It is said that the battle claimed a million Vudrani lives but ultimately the hero-priests cast it into the ocean and boiled the ocean, weakening it to the point where the creature's heart could be extracted.32
The heart is now in 101 pieces, and the largest is said to lie beneath Padiskar on Jalmeray.3
Kothogaz is said to have scattered three pieces of the Champion of the Gilded Host, a powerful construct, when it trampled across Vudra.5
In culture
Kothogaz is not well-known in Avistan. Its tales are retold primarily in Nex, and (amongst the reactionaries who revived it) Ezida. In Vudra, where it is best known, it is a crime to speak of it, nor is it recommended for visitors to inquire after it in Vudra's outpost of Jalmeray.3
Many legends exist detailing methods of Kothogaz's final destruction, and one of them uses part of Kothogaz's heart.6
References
- ↑ . Inner Sea Bestiary, 46. Paizo Inc., 2012
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 . “Vudra, the Impossible Kingdoms” in Sixty Feet Under, 69. Paizo Inc., 2020
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 . “The Spawn of Rovagug” in The Final Wish, 53. Paizo Inc., 2009
- ↑ . “The Spawn of Rovagug” in The Final Wish, 49. Paizo Inc., 2009
- ↑ . “Lost Treasures” in Lost Treasures, 22. Paizo Inc., 2014
- ↑ . “Kothogaz” in Monsters of Myth, 52. Paizo Inc., 2021
