Ahrimanes

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Archfiend
Ahrimanes
Title: Chief of the Cacodaemons
Home plane: Abyss
Power level: Demon lord
Gender: Male
Class: n/a
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Portfolio: Exiles, wanderers
Superior: None

Ahrimanes, known as the Chief of the Cacodaemons, is the demon lord of exiles and wanderers.

Realm

Ahrimanes dwells on the 45Second layer of the Abyss, known as Ahriman-abad.

Publishing history

Ahrimanes was first mentioned in the Monster Manual II (1983) and was included in the index of demon lords in Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss. He has never been officially detailed in D&D.

Apocrypha

In The Book of Fiends (2003), Ahrimanes is a former planetar who fell from the Upper Planes before the creation of the mortal world. He considered the gods to be childish and capricious, and fomented rebellion against them. The gods banished Ahrimanes and his followers, using their servants, the still-angelic Baalzebul, Iblis, and Sariel, as instruments of their will. All three celestial beings would later follow Ahrimanes into exile after rebellions of their own.

Now an exile, Ahrimanes wandered the still-unformed cosmos for a thousand years until the creation of mortals and the subsequent rebellion of those who had once enforced the gods decrees (including Asmodeus, who Ahrimanes considered to be his heir). After laughing at the misfortune of his erstwhile tormentors, he finally ended his wanderings and established a realm of his own from which he does his best to corrupt mortals to send their souls on their own wanderings into the depths of the Lower Planes.

In this book, Ahrimanes is described as a naked nine-foot-tall humanoid with inky blue skin. His face is a knot of writhing larvae from which spews a swarm of flies.

Creative origins

Ahrimanes is named after Ahriman, the source of evil in the Zoroastrian faith.

Bibliography

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic Type Description Product Page/Card/Image

Ahrimanes Non-player character Manual of the Planes, AD&D 1e 65
Ahrimanes Non-player character Demon, Demon Prince, Living Greyhawk Journal #5 9
Ahrimanes Non-player character Demon, Demon Prince, Monster Manual 2, AD&D 1e 35