Abraxas

Master of the Final Incantation
CE male demon lord of forbidden lore, magic, and snakes

Cult

Unholy Symbol: demonic face with two snake tails descending from a mouth encircled by a serpent
Domains: Chaos, Evil, Knowledge, Magic
Favored Weapon: Flail
Temple: libraries, reliquaries, vaults
Worshipers: drow, sorcerers, spirit nagas
Minions: mariliths, xacarbas, snakes
Obedience: Self-flagellate with a small whip or tree branch, punctuating each stroke with utterances of mystic words of power. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against charm effects and written magical effects. May cast identify 3/day, augury 2/day, or illusory script 1/day as a sorcerer of your current level.

Abraxas is a hideous creature with the head of a deformed and fanged bird and two writhing vipers in the place of legs. His torso is humanoid, and he wields a flail and shield, both of which have eerie and deadly powers: the flail can steal portions of a thinking creature’s mind or its prepared spells and give them to Abraxas for his use, while the shield can animate and attack foes as it continues to defend Abraxas. Abraxas knows countless destructive secrets and eldritch magical formulas, particularly those that cause great devastation and pain. His greatest weapon is the dreaded “Final Incantation,” a single potent word that can unmake magic.

Although Abraxas’s following is quite strong among the drow of the underground realms, one can expect to find small cults of Abraxas in most large cities on the surface. His cult is particularly strong in the city of Tarsas, capital city of the country of the same name, where it maintains a notorious underground library with countless rare books in its holdings, and cultists who tattoo their greatest secrets on hidden parts of their bodies.

Abraxas dwells in the realm of Pleroma, a deceptive world of false paradise maintained by complex illusions and clever construction. A visitor to Pleroma may not even realize she wanders an Abyssal realm, as the nefarious region reshapes itself between blinks and around every corner into places the traveler might view as serene and beautiful. Abraxas himself rules Pleroma from the spiral city of Diovengia. Hypnotic in its beauty, Diovengia consists of thousands of library towers and fortified repositories of hidden knowledge. Populated by serpents, enslaved souls, and plenty of demons, Diovengia’s libraries are sometimes visited by brave and curious seekers of knowledge—although one must be wary when bargaining with the custodians therein. The city itself is protected by a cabal of powerful marilith demons, who are themselves ruled by one of Abraxas’s favorite consorts and minions, the marilith Alistraxia (female marilith rogue 12).