King of Ghouls
| King of Ghouls | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Portfolio: | Ghouls, Necromancy |
| Home: | Infinite Layers of the Abyss |
| Alignment: | Chaotic Evil |
| Gender: | Male |
| Superior: | Yeenoghu |
| Rules items | |
| Domains: | Chaos, Evil, Hunger |
The King of Ghouls is a malevolent undead creature turned demigod. He is sometimes known as "Doresain."
Description
The King of Ghouls is said to appear as an especially thin and wasted ghoul, eyes ablaze with a sickly green ghoul light, with hoof-like feet. He wears an elegant coat of supple human flesh and a suit of pale leather armor studded with tiny skulls.
Relationships
The King of Ghouls was once a vassal of Orcus who ruled his own layer of the Abyss until Yeenoghu invaded. Doresain was forced to swear fealty to the gnoll lord, who apparently still holds sway over the White Kingdom.
Realm
The layer of the Abyss where the King of Ghouls resides is known as the White Kingdom. This place is sacred to ghouls, who sometimes try to recreate it on the Prime Material Plane. See White Kingdom for more on Oerth's version, which lies in the Underdark beneath the Hellfurnaces.
Dogma
Worshippers
As his name implies, the King of Ghouls is the patron deity of ghouls of all strains. It is noted in Libris Mortis that the King of Ghouls sometimes appears to incautious necromancers meddling with the Negative Energy Plane, forcibly converting them into ghouls to create worshippers for himself. Ghouls created directly by Doresain are known as gravetouched ghouls, which differ from standard ghouls in that they retain most of their original abilities. The gravetouched ghoul is, in fact, a templated creature based on the standard ghoul.
As a demigod, the King possesses the unique ability to add the gravetouched ghoul template to creatures to which it is not normally applicable.
Clergy
Doresain's clergy favor the scimitar.
Creative origins
The King of Ghouls was first mentioned in the first edition Monster Manual under the demon lord Yeenoghu's entry, where the King supposedly paid homage to the gnoll lord. Practically nothing was mentioned about the King of Ghouls until years later in the Dungeon magazine adventure "Kingdom of the Ghouls" by Wolfgang Baur, where he was the major villain and was named Doresain, Master of the White Kingdom. This "Doresain" wasn't connected to the earlier King of Ghouls in any way, however, and was said to have been summoned to the Prime Material Plane from either the Negative Energy Plane or the Plane of Shadow.
In 3rd edition's Book of Vile Darkness, the King of Ghouls was little more than an advanced fiendish ghoul.
While other unofficial d20 supplements provided alternative statistics for the King, he was promoted to a demigod in Libris Mortis.
Bibliography
- Baur, Wolfgang. "Ecology of the Ghoul." Dragon #252. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998.
- -----. "A Gathering of Winds." Dungeon #129. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2005.
- -----. "Kingdom of the Ghouls." Dungeon. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998.
- Collins, Andy, and Bruce R. Cordell. Libris Mortis. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2004.
- Cook, Monte. Book of Vile Darkness. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2002.
- Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1977.
- Stark, Ed, James Jacobs, and Erik Mona. Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006.