Vulgurak¶
Contested
Named in the open questions Vulgurak's lieutenants and The Gorgery's wards and their holders. The two rosters of his lieutenants (S336 and S337) are a week apart and give several of them different names, forms and roles. This page follows the revised Vulgurak sheet (S337), as the Gorgery page does, and keeps the other reading under "Earlier accounts" until the question is ruled.
"Vulgorak embodies bottomless consumption, not chaos." — the Vulgurak sheet (S337)
Vulgurak the Maw, Arch-glutton, is the demonlord of the Gorgery in the Demonlands and master of the seven Great Gorgers. He is the most feared of the demonlords in the eyes of the Order of Valyr, which his rivals have taught to fear him, and the one they all conspire against. He has "no allies, but is very powerful."
Also spelled Vulgorak.
Appearance¶
Vulgurak "towers as a grotesquely bloated mass of muscle and chitin-distorted flesh, shaped like a giant muscled toad, with a flat, wide humanoid-like head." He is wider than he is tall, on short, thick, widely spaced legs. Where a neck would be sprout two arms "thicker than ancient oak trees, ending in long curved scythes for claws", used "more for ripping prey open than for fine manipulation", and four long tentacles with suckers and retractable barbs reach from his flanks.
- "A vast swollen gut that pulses with internal motion, and sometimes screams can be heard from within."
- "A double hinged jaw that opens wide enough to swallow an ogre whole", ringed with "backward-curving barbed teeth that retract and extend like hooked spines"; when angered or hungry, "which is always", the maw "splits wider than anatomy allows, revealing a secondary grinding maw beneath."
- "Skin resembling rotting whale-hide merged with slick, toxic barnacles that leak necrotic pus."
- Breath that "rolls like warm, venomous fog, thick with spores, acids, and disease."
- "Three milky orbs that fixate only on sources of food or essence."
His demonic aspects are the Maw above all, with Rot, the Horned and the Bladed behind it.
Character¶
"He is strategic, patient, and disturbingly calm for a Maw demon." He "speaks in a slow, rumbling tone, as though savoring each word." He is "obsessed with dominance over all living things … they are food", and "despises waste: demons under him who waste food, essence, or resources are eaten." "Unlike many demonlords, he is exceptionally pragmatic and loyal to his own rules—a reliable tyrant." The Gorgery's punishments and its rules of rank are described on the city's page.
Rivals and enemies¶
The other demonlords combine against him without allying with each other. Daennelgin and Cuoridaz "can be friendly and are both looking to displace Vulgorak"; Almerdia "tolerates Buoritix in a loose allegiance vs Vulgorak" (see Minor Figures). The Order "has been fooled by the other Demonlords (Almerdia & Daennelgin) into believing that Vulgurak is too powerful", and its rank and file talk of a Crusade against a demonlord grown beyond the others' check. For his part, "Vulgurak has designs on pushing Daennelgin further south."
The Order works to split his faction from within. Its Wardens feed information through expendable go-betweens, and their preferred outcome is that his first lieutenant Gharmatha, who "is planning to supplant Vulgurak", should succeed, "as a civil war would weaken Vulgurak the most, or even replace him with a much weaker version." The Order holds a dozen of his demons captive, a greater demon of Gharmatha's among them, and means to loose them on Grozzurash's town of the Vile Pit so that the attack is laid at Vulgurak's door. It fears a rise of Daennelgin's rival Drazannak chiefly because weakening Daennelgin "would STRENGTHEN Vulgurak."
The Great Gorgers¶
Vulgurak's lieutenants are the Great Gorgers, numbered in the order the revised sheet gives them, each holding a ward of the Gorgery. The first, Gharmatha the Gut-Queen, "swollen Ogre demon matron with dozens of egg sacs", has her own page. Below the Gorgers come four to six Skitter-Captains, dozens of Engorgers and hundreds of Devourlings, described with the demonic forms.
Thaleg¶
Thaleg the Gore-Skewer, second of the Great Gorgers, of the Maw and the Barbed: "a tall, thin wall of bones and flesh. Multiple stingers, Pincer arms, Belly-maw, and hooked skeletal limbs." He is Vulgurak's hunter, tracker and scout, and holds the Halls of Prey.
Morzaguth¶
Morzaguth, the Plaguebelly King, third of the Great Gorgers, of Rot above Maw: a "bloated, semi-undead giant who carries entire colonies of disease." He is the Gorgery's lord of disease, a "Dominion Tyrant" and its spymaster, and holds the Spore Cave.
Zhul'Khar¶
Zhul'Khar the Eyeless Seer, fourth of the Great Gorgers, of Night above Maw: "an ashen colored gnome with an extra large jagged maw, no hair and with bone spikes driven through his eyes." He is a seer and "Powerful Arcanist" and keeps the Gorgery's security from the Tower of Eyes, with the Eyeless, "security guard demons", and the Gloom-Worms, "eyeless eel-demons that wriggle through shadows."
Vruskorr¶
Vruskorr the Iron Maw, fifth of the Great Gorgers, of the Infernal and the Maw: "a towering demon plated in molten-iron carapace. Two sets of steel horns and four burning eyes. A tripartite maw drooling with lava." He is Vulgurak's warmaster, smith and general and holds the Spine Forges. His Slagborn Legionaries are "humanoid demons with armor fused to their flesh", and his Goremelt Juggernauts "four-armed living furnaces that turn battlefield detritus into new armaments." The earlier roster adds that his mouth is "an anvil-shaped furnace capable of smelting metal or bodies alike", that "where he marches, weapons grow like tumors from slag", and that his forces are "elite compared to the usual spawning chaos", enabling Vulgurak's hordes "to function as an actual army rather than a chaotic swarm." When he bleeds, "droplets cool into razor-sharp blades that lesser demons collect and wield."
Miarath¶
Miarath the Harvester, sixth of the Great Gorgers, of the Maw and the Bladed: "a long, eel-like demon formed from endless folds of sharp scales. Its head splits into three lamprey maws with razor teeth." It is the Gorgery's breeder and farmer of essence, and holds Butcher's Row.
Also spelled Miareth; the earlier roster calls her Lady Miarath the Hollow Feast.
Uldroxx¶
Uldroxx the Great Worm of the Underbelly, seventh of the Great Gorgers, of the pure Maw: "an enormous centipede like creature built from layered jaws instead of legs. Each segment ends in a snapping mandible and its underside drips digestive fluids that carve tunnels wherever it crawls." He is the territorial guardian of the Underdark beneath the Gorgery, with Tunnel-Gnashers, "small, centipede-like maws bred to patrol the warren networks", and Chasm Droolers, "stationary demons acting as digestive pits that dissolve anything thrown in." The earlier roster adds that he "feels heartbeats and footfalls within miles" and "can erupt beneath prey like a living sinkhole", and that "he makes Vulgurak's realm a literal deathtrap."
Gap
No source says how Vulgurak came to power, how long he has ruled the Gorgery, or how the Great Gorgers rank among themselves beyond their numbering.
Earlier accounts¶
The campaign's general NPC roster (S336, dated a week after the Vulgurak sheet) gives several lieutenants other names, forms and roles:
- Thaleg is "Churn-Brother Thaleg", "a mass of stingers, tongues, and hooked limbs" who "specializes in dragging prey back to the Warrens."
- The third Gorger is "The Plaguebelly King", unnamed, a creature of Rot and Maw.
- Zhul'Khar is "the Gullet-Sage", of Maw and Night, "Oracle of Hunger; Whisperer of Forbidden Appetites": "a long, eel-like demon formed from endless folds of shadowed flesh" whose head "splits into three lamprey maws that speak in overlapping whispers, delivering prophecies drawn from what it consumes—memories, dreams, secrets." He is Vulgurak's strategic counsellor, advising "which territories are 'ripest,' which enemies 'most tender,' and which souls carry secrets worth devouring", "the advisor Vulgurak tolerates because his prophecies are always nourished with pain." His minions are the Gloom-Worms, which "feed on dreams", and the Sibilant Collectors, "tall thin demons that 'harvest' memories with hooked tongues."
- Miarath is "Lady Miarath the Hollow Feast", of Maw and Barbed, "Corrupter of Mortals; Mistress of Excessive Indulgence". "Beautiful only at first glance", she "resembles a statuesque demoness draped in living hooks and barbs that move like jewelry". She corrupts "mortal courts, nobility, and cult leaders by promising exquisite feasts, forbidden pleasures, and the 'joy of endless consumption'", runs "Vulgurak's cult infrastructure", and can pass as a mortal, "though her reflection always shows her true, hollowed shape." Her Pleasure-Harvesters are "beautiful, hollow-bodied demons who drain vitality with embraces." "Where Gharmatha rules brood and Thaleg rules force, Miarath rules temptation."
- Uldroxx is "the Maw of the Deep Warrens", living in "the Deep Warrens, the subterranean labyrinths beneath Vulgurak's domain."