Prince in Chains

The Prince in Chains

(Creature)

Type

Outsider
(evil, extraplanar, kyton, lawful)

CR

15

Environment

Any

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: Inner Sea Gods, pg(s). 314

Also detailed in Skeletons of Scarwall 84–85

Ⅰ

The Prince in Chains is the herald of Zon-Kuthon, god of darkness, and serves as the manifestation of his will on Golarion, but he was once so much more. Before his transformation into a herald, the Prince in Chains was a nature spirit who had fathered both Zon-Kuthon and his half-sister Shelyn. Now the Prince in Chains is a hateful creature of broken flesh, pain, and chains.

Appearance

The Prince in Chains resembles a skinless wolf that stands 18 feet tall and weighs almost 3 tons. He lacks any flesh of his own, for when Zon-Kuthon created him his torture was so extensive that his stripped all the original flesh from him and replaced it with metal chains, rotting necrotic flesh from other creatures, and leather.

Amongst the chains and skinless flesh, gnashing, teeth-filled mouths gnash wildly at the air then melt back into its writhing flesh. Instead of eyes, the Prince in Chains has two dark shadowy cavities, and rumours suggest one can see into the thoughts of the dark god Zon-Kuthon. The chains that enshroud the beast seem to move of their own accord as if animated by some other force, all the while constricting and tearing at the Prince in Chains's flesh. The creatures tongue is pierce by multiple hooks and barbs turning it into a horrific slashing weapon that makes its bite even more potent.

Habitat and ecology

As a herald, the Prince in Chains can be found where ever his dark liege Zon-Kuthon wills him to go. There is no place the Prince will not visit to spread the misery and suffering preached by his master.

The Prince in Chains otherwise often either roams the shadowy corridors of Zon-Kuthon's steel-maze realm of Xoviakain in the Netherworld, or is at his lord's heel mewing like a newborn pup desperate for attention. If given the chance, he will happily torture and mutilate any living thing, with a preference for sentient creatures.

History

The Prince in Chains was not always a wretched creature of pain and misery. He was once a noble creature, a spirit-wolf known as Thron, the Prince That Howls. Thron was a free-spirited creature who roamed the forest and mountains howling his songs to the stars and the sky. Thron loved life, song, and love itself, and had many trysts with other spirit creatures, the most famous results of which were the two gods he sired, Shelyn and Dou-Bral.

His children were minor deities of art, beauty, love, and music, and the only of his offspring to surpass his power to become deities. But the half-siblings squabbled, and after one of these fights Dou-Bral departed the Universe to wander the dark places beyond the planes. Upon his return, Shelyn offered forgiveness to her half-brother, who instead pierced her with his claws. When she offered forgiveness again, the being who was once Dou-Bral wrapped his father in razor-sharp chains and dragged him back to his lair as a plaything.

There, the god now known as Zon-Kuthon mercilessly tortured his father, stripping away his flesh and fashioning his own minions out of them. As a deity who believes torture to be the highest form of art, the Prince in Chains was Zon-Kuthon's masterpiece, for the hateful creature that emerged after the endless torture bore no resemblance to Thron. It was a mutilated being filled with hate and a lust to cause the same hideous pain that had been inflicted upon it.

Zon-Kuthon's defiling of their shared father pushed Shelyn to face her half-brother in battle, during which she disarmed Zon-Kuthon of his glaive, the Whisperer of Souls, before fleeing.

Abilities

The Prince in Chains can fill its surrounding area with flailing, whipping chains that attack and ensnare any who come too close. He takes pleasure in others' pain, and can heal himself by hurting other creatures. The pain-filled howl of the Prince in Chains damages the psyche of other creatures, sometimes causing them to go insane.

References

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