You know it occurs to me that, unless I missed it somewhere, no one has ever identified that guy in the picture on the left. Yeah, I know it's an idol worshiped by degenerate lizard men -- How do I know they're degenerate? They're being slaughtered by adventurers, that's how -- but an idol of whom? The thing doesn't strike me as something a lizard man would just create out of his own imagination. I mean, if I were a degenerate lizard man, perhaps especially if I were a degenerate lizard man, I'd make an idol in the shape of something more familiar, like, oh, I don't know -- a big, scary-looking lizard man. But that's not what we see here, is it?
So who is this guy?
Kenzer & Company made up their own answer. According to them, that dude is Pagnyr'Parkus, Gawd of the Wastes, the Type XI demon.
ReplyDeleteMuch as I love the Kenzer guys -- and I do -- sometimes their humor escapes me (assuming this was meant to be humorous).
ReplyDeleteObviously, it's the efreeti on the cover of the DMG, who has convinced the lizard men to worship him as a god.
ReplyDelete- Brian
I think that one of the devils in Monster Manual 2 (the 1E book, not the 3E version) looks a lot like the idol. I don't have that book handy, so I can't supply a name.
ReplyDeleteAn “evil sorcerer” (cleric or MU) created the idol and its temple. He charmed a lizardman shaman. Though the shaman and various “miracles” he indirectly led the lizardmen to worship the idol, so that he could then—man behind the curtain style—use it to command the lizardmen to do his bidding.
ReplyDeleteThe sorcerer himself is now long gone. (What happened to him?) A new generation of lizardmen still worship the idol and have generalized its last commands as dogma.
The sorcerer’s own stronghold still exists within the temple unknown to the lizardmen. Waiting to be found so its traps may be sprung, its treasures looted, and these secrets behind revealed.
I think that one of the devils in Monster Manual 2 (the 1E book, not the 3E version) looks a lot like the idol. I don't have that book handy, so I can't supply a name.
ReplyDeleteMoloch, lord of the 6th Plane. Page 48 of the MM2, for those of you playing along at home.
Yeah, the similarity is striking.
- Brian
There's a definite similarity between the idol and Moloch, no question, although it's not a perfect match. This is one of those times when I acutely feel the need to fire off an email to Gary and see if he can offer any insights into the matter ...
ReplyDeleteIf it is Moloch, that brazier he's holding is tailor-made for infant deposition (a little real-world authenticity, or pure artistic happenstance)?
ReplyDelete- Doug
My guess is that the Moloch connection is ex post facto, since no connection is drawn between the two illustrations anywhere that I know of. That said, it's an interesting coincidence nonetheless and it's the kind of thing one could easily spin into a meaningful connection in one's own campaign.
ReplyDeleteNo one knows who it is, and obviously no one there much cares. The lizard men found it first and just claimed it because of the warm fire where they could lie in a torpor and digest their meals. The adventurers happened along and despite frantic attempts at negotiations by the lizard men slaughtered them all for xp and then yanked the magical ruby eyes out. Unfortunately the fire went out with the rubies gone and the dungeon inhabitants lost a little bit of warmth that day. Sad, really. No wonder they raid the surface.
ReplyDeleteIt's also similar to Mammon (also MM2); I've also heard claims that it's Orcus.
ReplyDeleteIt's Elmo from Sesame Street, without the makeup.
ReplyDelete(Speaking of Elmo, it would be fun to run a muppet-themed Village of Hommlet sometime.)
- Calithena
I always like campaign worlds where there's just innumerable gods, demi-gods, godlings, demon lords, nature spirits, and countless other higher beings (who may or may not exist/care/make themselves known) that are regularly (or not so regularly) worshiped. Little idols and shrines to forgotten gods tucked away in the various nooks and crannies of the world, some of them regularly visited, some of them not so much, and on rare occasion, just a few of them might actually "take notice" if you offer up the right prayers and sacrifices.
ReplyDeleteFun times...
I like that too, actually, and if you read the OD&D books, there's nary a mention of "gods" in it at all (not until Supplement IV anyway), with demigods, godlings, saints, demon lords, and high devils instead. I think that'd make for a very interesting take on D&D if you took that thread and ran with it.if
ReplyDelete“The lizard men found it first and just claimed it because of the warm fire where they could lie in a torpor and digest their meals.”
ReplyDeleteI like that one.
Another:
There are no lizardwomen. To create new lizardmen, the lizardmen gather crocodile eggs. They place them in the brazier before the idol and perform a ceremony. The eggs will then hatch into lizardmen.
The idol is the image of Zyx, a chaotic demon. Zyx is usually depicted with a host of beast-men servants and other chimeras.
What if you put something else in the brazier? Perhaps there are a few “accidental” abominations living in the complex surrounding the idol.