Turaglas

Turaglas, in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, is a demon lord. He is known as the "Ebon Maw" and the "Hunger Eternal."

Publication history

Turaglas first appeared in the article "The Ebon Maw: Beware the Waking Hunger" in Dragon #312 (2003), by Ari Marmell.^[1] Turaglas received further details in third edition in Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss (2006).^[2]

Turaglas is fully detailed in the online version of Dragon, in issue #376 (June 2009) in the "Demonomicon" feature.^[3]

Description

Turaglas has two forms, one of which is a colossal-sized mass of shapeless flesh covered with eyes and mouths, like a gigantic gibbering mouther, its roiling flesh shifting in color from pink to green to gray. The second one is that of a huge turagathshnee—gangly, green-skinned tanar'ri demons spawned by Turaglas.

Relationships

Turaglas's chief enemies are Demogorgon and Orcus, who joined forces to imprison it long ago. Spawned directly from the Abyss in a way that they were not (Demogorgon was a creation of the obyriths, while Orcus was a former mortal), they feared that Turaglas or something greater might rise from the Abyss to usurp their rule.

Turaglas has no long-term allies. It considers all other demon lords to be food. It is willing to acknowledge, however, that sometimes food has other uses before it is devoured, so for a short period, normally no longer than a single skirmish, it may ally itself with other demon lords. At these times, Graz'zt, Yeenoghu, and Juiblex ally themselves with Turaglas most frequently. Juiblex and Turaglas ally themselves the most of all, but Turaglas plans one day to devour even Juiblex.

Vassals

One of Turaglas's greatest servants is Gargmanethka, a mutant otyugh of extraordinary size and intellect. Gargmanethka believes that once Turaglas has devoured the world, it and others of its kind will have the privilege of feasting on its remains. Turaglas is also served by other monsters known for their ravenous appetites, from purple worms to ghouls, gelatinous ghouls, swarms of insects, and disembodied jaws.

The turagathshee demons resemble tall, gangly humanoids with their heads replaced with huge, eyeless maws, their jaws positioned on top facing the sky, with their hinges attached to their shoulders so that the whole thing opens at once. Their gullets are partially extradimensional, so that they can consume things larger than they are.

Cobul Uthgren, known as the Wrath of Turaglas, is a mortal man who leads the most militant endeavors of Turaglas's cult.

Realm

The realm of Sholo-Tovoth, catalogued as the 32nd layer of the Abyss, is home to vast hordes of demons, primarily the turagathshee spawned by Turaglas himself, but bar'lguras, evistros, hezrou, and vrock dwell on the layer in smaller numbers. More intelligent demons prefer to avoid the layer.

Sholo-Tovoth, while it is somewhat quiescent during Turaglas's imprisonment, is a layer of pure, predatory hunger in which everything feeds on everything that it can. Holes open in the ground at unpredictable intervals, dropping those nearby into pools of digestive acid. Those who remain in the domain for long find that nothing but sentient flesh can satisfy their hunger. The Fields of Consumption are bordered by a range of mountains known as the Gnashing Crags, which resemble nothing so much as enormous teeth; some say that an upper pair of teeth can sometimes be seen descending from the clouds above them. The Valthuin Plateau is an enormous "tongue" of stone that houses the layer's only real communities: the largest is Taan Shavas, a metropolis where the citizens themselves are the only food, the society using their social rank to determine who may eat whom, with starving dregs on the very bottom of the cannibalistic ladder. All other foodstuffs rot away at the gates. In the Ravenous Wood, the trees bleed not sap but bile, and even the demons must fear the hunger of the trees. And an acidic swamp becomes a sea of gastric juices filled with mutated sharks and tentacled horrors; the sea is rumored to run into the River Styx.

Dogma

Turaglas is driven to consume all things until nothing remains. First, though, it is aware that it must increase its own power by defeating its enemies and reestablishing control over its layer of the Abyss.

The faithful of Turaglas believe in two precepts: first, that the faithful will be the Ebon Maw's chief instruments in bringing it souls to devour, and second, that when Turaglas has devoured the entire world they will be spared to rebuild the world in preparation for Turaglas to devour the world again. The fact that Turaglas does not actually intend to spare them seems to have escaped them.

History

Turaglas first formed, spawned by the Abyss itself, a million years ago, "not merely from the Abyss but of the Abyss... a manifestation not of the Abyss's rage but of its eternal, unslakable hunger for all things." A demon of the tanar'ri breed, Turaglas was not among the most ancient of demons; Demogorgon was older, and Miska the Wolf-Spider, as were the obyrith who preceded them, such as Dagon, Pazuzu, Pale Night, Obox-ob, and the Queen of Chaos herself. Nonetheless, Turaglas was ancient.

Turaglas came unto power in the Abyss thousands of years ago, ruling the 32nd layer, Sholo-Tovoth, the Fields of Consumption. Not surprisingly, Turaglas came into conflict with its fellow demon lords for supremacy of the Abyss. However, Turaglas' habit of consuming its own minions as readily as its enemies stymied its own base of power. It fled to the Prime Material Plane to escape before its enemies could destroy him, and there it fed upon the world of mortals. A vile cult, the "Feeders of the Ebon Maw," eventually came into being.

As Turaglas ravaged the Prime Material Plane with its incessant hunger, an unlikely alliance formed between the demon princes Demogorgon and Orcus. The Prince of Demons and the Prince the Undead had their own plans for the mortal world, none of which involved having it devoured by an ancient enemy. The two demon princes attacked the Ebon Maw in person. When Turaglas's followers opened a gate to allow the Ebon Maw to escape, Orcus and Demogorgon corrupted the magic, sending Turaglas to a void, where it is imprisoned to this day. The combined cults of the two demon princes then hunted down and destroyed Turaglas' followers, hoping to erase the memory of the Ebon Maw from mortal memory.

A few decades ago, the wizard Vuren Krabath was fooled into summoning Turaglas, who despite being imprisoned, was able to manifest a portion of itself into the Prime Material Plane. Turaglas consumed the wizard and is now in the process of rebuilding its cult and to escaping its prison.

Worshipers

The cult of Turaglas is called the Feeders of the Ebon Maw. Its surviving members were in hiding for the most part until recently. They believe the Ebon Maw is destined to consume the world, and they, the faithful, will be spared. They are also tyring to free Turaglas from his prison. One method to this end is a set of minor artifacts called The Fangs of Turaglas. They are a set of thirteen weapons which actually feed life force to Turaglas whenever they deliver a negative level or a killing blow. It is unknown how much life the Ebon Maw needs in order to escape, but the cult currently has recovered five of the artifacts.

References