Obox-ob

In many campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Obox-ob is a demon lord, also called the Prince of Vermin. Unlike many of the infamous demon princes, Obox-ob is an obyrith, a type of demon far older than the tanar'ri.

Publishing history

Obox-ob is first mentioned by name only in the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook Monster Manual II, where it is said in passing that he rules a liquid layer dominated by marine dretch, hezrou, kraken, and horrible fish-monsters.

Obox-ob is fully described years later, in the game's third edition in Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss. Obox-ob's realm is described on Wizards of the Coast's website.

Description

Obox-ob is shown in an illustration to resemble a giant, platter-shaped centipede, with three scorpion-like tails serving as his heads. Curiously, he has a vaguely humanoid head at the tip of his segmented tail, which roars blasphemous litanies and senses the air with a long, razor-edged purple tongue.

Relationships

Obox-ob despises the tanar'ri and hopes to cleanse them from the Abyss, taking back his title from Demogorgon and leading the obyriths against the eladrin, who played a part in his downfall.

Realm

Obox-ob's realm is the 663rd layer of the Abyss, the home of demons in the Dungeons & Dragons setting, in a hideous world known as Zionyn. A portal to the 663rd layer of the Abyss exists in the fifth dungeon layer beneath the parody version of Castle Greyhawk, in the form of a mural on the wall in room 13D.

Zionyn is an expanse of vermin-infested badlands. Insectoid obyriths called ekolids are the aristocracy of the realm, reigning over massive hive-cities which they create from the resin-preserved corpses of their victims. Other demonic and monstrous insects are common in Zionyn as well.

Worshippers

Demon Cults are a major aspect of many Dungeons & Dragons campaigns that focus of fighting demons. As such, much detail is given in source material to describe the cults and their goals.

Having once held the title of 'Prince of Demons', Obox-ob once had a great and terrible cult following. Even after he was murdered by the Queen of Chaos, one of his aspects (a common concept in the Dungeons & Dragons cosmology is that an entity's power is the entity itself, and thus it can send a part of its own power out to take a physical form) managed to survive, eventually growing in power and influence; this aspect is what is now called Obox-ob, and though its power rivals that of Graz'zt or Orcus, it is said to be only a pale shadow of its original power.

In the setting, Obox-ob is worshiped primarily by evil vermin across the multiverse, and the ekolids that inhabit his layer of the Abyss have numerous temples and effigies erected in his honor.

History

According to the official story, Obox-ob was once the Prince of Demons, but was killed once by the Queen of Chaos. He managed to survive death, however, and now commands an entire layer of the Abyss, a hideous world known as Zionyn. Unlike many of the infamous demon princes in the series, Obox-ob is an obyrith, a type of demon far older than the setting's standard tanar'ri. Obox-ob despises the tanar'ri and hopes to cleanse them from the Abyss, taking back his title from Demogorgon and leading the obyriths against the eladrin, who played a part in his downfall.

Additional reading

• Jacobs, James. "The Demonimicon of Iggwilv: Dagon." Dragon #349 (Paizo Publishing, 2006).
  • Jacobs, James. "The Demonimicon of Iggwilv: Kostchtchie." Dragon #345 (Paizo Publishing, 2006).