Lamashtu

Tian Xia World Guide

Known as Grandmother Nightmare, Lamashtu commands numerous worshippers in Shenmen. There, devout jorogumo whisper her universal aphorism—“The three-eyed gaze sees you”—to humanoid prey incubating their eggs, ensuring that these victims are aware that their sacrifice ensures the growth of Lamashtu’s brood. Devout Lamashtans can also be found in Wanshou, where boggards and kappas have formed alarmingly zealous sects, carrying out sacrifices in undisclosed swamp locations to avoid attracting the attention of the nation’s kraken god-king, Zhanagorr. Orders dedicated to Lamashtu emerge in the hobgoblin nations of Rahk Lo and Kaoling on occasion, though most are stamped out quickly and lambasted by the populace of both civilizations. The same cannot be said for Goka’s extremist Lamashtan cults, which contribute to crime and are rumored to have links with the deepest levels of the city’s Undermarket, leading down into the Darklands.

The sands of Shanguang are also home to a handful of fringe Mutabi-qi communities who believe that the two kaiju in the region—Yorak the Horned Thunder and Bezravnis—are the ultimate manifestation of Lamashtu’s monstrous progeny. These zealots follow Yorak as the kaiju wanders on his migratory path and are often crushed by the landslides in his wake. They also pray that Bezravnis will swiftly awaken from hibernation to bring destruction to the world, giving birth to a new age of monsters. Whether Lamashtu truly has any connection with the esoteric movements of these gargantuan beasts remains a mystery to all.

Divine Mysteries

Lamashtu is the goddess of nightmares and aberrance. She was the first demon lord to achieve true godhood. After murdering Curchanus, a now mostly forgotten god of beasts, travel, and endurance, she wrested his dominion over beasts from his dying body to gain divinity. Now, she’s revered as the Mother of Monsters and the Queen of Demons. Legends say that nearly all Golarion’s foul creatures sprang from her polluted womb. Loathsome monsters account for most of her worshippers, though she also resonates with individuals who consider themselves outcasts from the world or seek to transform all mortalkind into ravenous beasts.

Lamashtu adores and breeds monstrosity and corruption. She happily welcomes mortals from all walks of life into her embrace with the goal of molding their bodies and souls into her repulsive ideal, creating a grotesque brood devoted to her. With dominion over beasts and nightmares, peace in the waking and sleeping worlds is far from guaranteed. Lamashtu is also a fertility goddess, blessing those who pray to her with bestial offspring and an increased chance of surviving childbirth. Like a twisted mother, she wishes for her children to spread and dominate, exposing and instilling revolting flaws in everything and everyone considered pure or just. She desires to see unfettered evil and chaos in the world. Though Lamashtan sects war with each other rarely, she even considers that sort of conflict desirable. After all, the more battles that transpire, the more lives are lost. The more lives that are lost, the greater the need to replenish the ranks of the fallen with her wretched creations.

Rather consistently across cultures and peoples, Lamashtu is depicted as a tall pregnant woman with a reptilian tail, dripping scars, and discolored bruises decorating her misshapen belly. She wears the jagged wounds proudly and openly, all given by the nightmarish children who burst from her body and the countless battles she’s fought. Her followers are told to wear their scars with just as much pride and participate in scarification, as these markings are seen as real and truthful, unlike the illusions of beauty that the rest of the world subscribes to. While the state of her pregnancy varies across portrayals, she’s always visibly pregnant, though it never affects her mobility. Her belly constantly bulges as if something is struggling to escape from her womb. Sometimes one can make out the impression of a claw, fist, or screaming face being pressed up against the inside of her flesh. Great black wings arch out of her back, a patchwork of raven, crow, and dark hawk feathers. Her legs end in large, midnight-blue talons. The goddess’s head sometimes varies depending on the artist, but the most widely recognized depiction includes the head of a three-eyed jackal with the third eye set above the other two. In her hands, she brandishes two blades: one enveloped in flames, called Redlust, and the other rimed in frost, called Chillheart. These weapons can be

or , but regardless of the shape they take, she wields them with ferocity. Lamashtu’s voice sounds deep, rich, and even occasionally sultry, but when enraged, her piercing howl and thunderous roar can spur horrendous nightmares that banish even the thought of sleep.

Enemies of her faith unfortunate enough to have called down the Mother of Monsters’ wrath are afflicted with excruciating joint and muscle pains, oozing and debilitating infections, and nightmares that haunt them even while awake. The signs of disfavor that Lamashtu inflicts on her devoted can seem like blessings to an outsider’s perspective, but to her worshippers, they’re just as dreaded. Lamashtu may curse errant worshippers with weeks of dreamless nights, wounds that heal and leave no scars, and untainted offspring. Fervent prayer and live sacrifices are the primary ways to appease her. When adherents of Lamashtu greatly please her, they’re blessed with deep, visible scars that they wear like badges of honor. She might also bestow upon them powerful visions that non-believers often label as nothing more than meaningless, gruesome hallucinations. Lamashtu’s children know better. These visions can range from violent imagery from which commands can be deciphered, to dreams of the warped and liberated future they’re working toward.

The Church

Lamashtan churches operate on the outskirts of civilization, preaching the doctrine “destroy and sully all that is good, beautiful, or just.” To the faithful, the concept of perfection is considered a foolhardy illusion that must be uprooted, contaminated, or shattered. It’s usually impossible for people in a civilized society to publicly glorify the goddess, thus they construct places of worship in the most depraved or secret of locations—subterranean caves, crumbling ruins, sewer redoubts, and befouled grottoes, to name a few.

Within these churches, there’s little to no structure. Every member is bonded through their shared devotion and the recognition of the hostility and adversities they face from those outside the faith. At most, a church will have a handful of priests to guide its congregation. However, when some kind of hierarchy needs to be established, priests will compare scars, the number of tainted offspring, and monstrous mutations they have. The greater the number or severity of these things, the higher the rank the priest boasts. Magical power is the last element compared, if at all.

Temples and shrines dedicated to Lamashtu are rarely more than a series of flat rocks used as sacrificial altars, or deep holes and chasms representing the entrance to the goddess’s underworld realm of Kurnugia, or statues of her image carved out of boulders or trees. Regardless of the form the shrine takes, they always feature a font with a shallow basin carved into it. Sites with devotees who fervently worship the Queen of Demons and carry out her will are blessed with the waters of Lamashtu. This rancid, unholy fluid bubbles up from seemingly nowhere to fill the basin and is usually collected into specially consecrated receptacles. Creatures that drink the substance receive wondrous strength but suffer terrible and painful side effects that warp their mind and body.

Services honoring the Mother of Monsters include screaming, howling, bloodletting, self-flagellation, branding, childbirth, and sacrifices of humanoids and animals. All of this is done to nothing but a pounding drumbeat, setting the tempo for the ceremony’s events. Usually, services take place late at night, underground, or during lunar eclipses, but anything can inspire a ritual at any time. Intoxicants and hallucinogens are key parts of Lamashtan rituals and practices. Marvelous is the ceremony that devolves into excessive debauchery, even more so if the overindulgence lasts for several days and eventually produces several offspring. The goal of these extended services is to open the mind and alter perceptions of the mortal world, which can sometimes result in permanent mental and physical changes.

Followers

Lamashtu and her faithful highly regard creatures with scars, nightmarish features, and unnatural virility. As such, they’re expected to make themselves and others as similar to such creatures as possible. They transform what’s beautiful into something monstrous and reveal the corruption and imperfections in all things. Those subjugated or ostracized for their flaws, their nonconformity, for being everything Lamashtu loves, should be brought into her embrace to receive strength and community by becoming a part of her brood.

When among other followers, Lamashtan priests tend to wear their ritual garb. This might include thick cloaks of dark fur or black feathers, tall horns affixed to a headdress, and jackal masks usually made of leather, stone, or precious metals. Every piece of clothing is worn to shape their image into that of the Mother of Monsters, right down to the pairs of falchions or kukris they keep at their side, which are often decorated to resemble Lamashtu’s weapons. Wealthy priests might even imbue their blades with magical abilities to further emulate their goddess.

Priests have very strong ties with their community. Clerics, druids, thaumaturges, magi, and even rangers commonly comprise the ranks of priests, and it’s their job to care for their community physically and spiritually. Priests must ensure that the people of the church are strong in their faith, tend to their wounds, guide them through tribulations, and interpret visions and signs from Lamashtu. Disputes between followers are brought to her priests who then settle them with magic, punishment, or other means. Her priests also serve as the teachers of the young, taking on the parental role as most don’t have identifiable parents. As their strict role models, these priests guide the next generation in the goddess’s ways, making sure they understand Lamashtu’s importance in their lives.

The common folk who revere the Mother of Monsters are no less monstrous than their priests, whether physically or in the depths of their hearts. Civilized society has shunned most of them, causing many to create small communes and settlements far from any towns or cities. Within these communities, they take up mundane roles like farmers, builders, hunters, and any other jobs necessary for the collective to survive. Those who can successfully hide their corruption are often found in seats of power or influence that allow them to sow strife and expose iniquity, like a politician or a high-ranking member of the military.

Most who venerate Lamashtu seek the destruction and defilement of everything that’s natural, and so have little in common with those outside of the faith. A group of worshippers might adventure together, but their cause will hardly be just. They might wish to test out their prowess in battle, find monsters or great beasts to recruit for their cause, or chase after parents for their hideous offspring. In any case, such individuals will have trouble fitting in with any right-thinking group of heroes.

Relationships

Lamashtu considers most of the other gods her enemies at worst, and future victims to mold into monstrous forms at best. This attitude is likely a continuation of her hatred and rivalry from her days as a demon lord. But despite being amid adversaries, she rarely makes aggressive or openly hostile moves. Instead, she pours her time and energy into growing her following and spawning more abominations to wreak havoc on the mortals of the Universe.

and are some of Lamashtu’s greatest enemies, second and third only to the demon lord . The Mother of Monsters and Urgathoa often directly compete as she would much rather Golarion be overrun by her menagerie of hideous beasts than Urgathoa’s horde of undead. Lamashtu also vies with Rovagug for control over the many ancestries pushed to the outskirts of society that have turned to him instead of her.

Pazuzu and Lamashtu’s history runs deep and long. Once lovers during the Age of Creation, the two demon lords now wage a long-lived war due to the jealousy and betrayal Pazuzu acted out after Lamashtu achieved godhood. With the power and number of minions Lamashtu wields as a full deity, she believes Pazuzu is no match for her. However, what he lacks in power, Pazuzu makes up for in focus, strategy, and allies, resulting in a stalemate that has seen little to no progress for eons. Possibly due to Lamashtu’s slight underestimation of Pazuzu, his name can disperse her influence. It’s even said that wearing an amulet with his name can protect expecting parents and newborns from her gaze. If worshippers of Lamashtu and followers of Pazuzu were to meet, it would likely result in a gruesome fight to the death.

The goblin creator-gods

, , , and are Lamashtu’s loyal barghest servants. Legend holds that mortal goblins were created from the blood of their victims, and the four have promised the Mother of Monsters that these goblins will always venerate her. Though these barghests invoke considerable fear in goblins, this terror doesn’t necessarily result in faith. However, Lamashtu appreciates the barghest gods’ vigilance in destroying the souls of goblins who get too close to ascending to godhood (and possibly detract from her own worship). She considers the four her personal attack dogs, at least when it comes to goblins. She has yet to extend similar relationships to other monstrous gods whose faithful might also be considered under her purview.

Divine Allies

Monsters and demons serve the goddess Lamashtu, red of fang and long of claw. The malformed, the broken, and the murderous flock to her sides from across every realm, but only the most vicious among them survive for long.

Yethazmari: Rumored to be Lamashtu’s favorite child, Yethazmari appears as a starving, jackal-like beast with tattered wings and a serpent for a tail. Having gazed upon the most blasphemous atrocities its mother has committed, its eyes have been burnt into nothing more than smoking coals. Yethazmari revels in devastation and carnage, eagerly awaiting any opportunity it might have to run rampant across the mortal Universe. It’s just as likely to slaughter its allies as well as its foes, a fact that doesn’t stop its monstrous kin from flocking to its side.

Divine Intercession

Lamashtu rewards kinship with monsters and brutal dominance in combat. Those who offend her serve the brood as prey or unwilling sacrifices.

Minor Boon: Lamashtu’s touch mutates a part of your body. You gain either an

that deals 1d6 damage or one that deals 1d4 damage and has the and traits. Whether the attack deals bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing damage depends on the mutation. If the unarmed Strike replaces a limb, you can still use the mutated limb for its original functions. Lamashtu chooses the form and function of your mutation.

Moderate Boon: You spread Lamashtu’s nightmares everywhere you go. You can cast

once per day as a divine innate spell.

Major Boon: Lamashtu uses your body to birth a new monster, regardless of your gender. Once per day, you can spend 1 minute to birth a monster determined by the GM, which rips its way from your belly. The monster’s level is up to your level, and it does as it pleases, following Lamashtu’s will, though it doesn’t attack you unless you’ve lost her favor. You’re

3 from the ordeal.

Minor Curse: Horrid visions torment your mind, overlaying reality at inopportune times. You treat everything around you as if it was

.

Moderate Curse: Lamashtu marks you as prey. Any creature with imprecise or better scent can smell you from 100 × the usual range of their scent and can’t shake the feeling that you smell like prey, so they might attack you even if they would normally avoid attacking creatures of your ancestry. This smell doesn’t magically compel their action, and the scent of prey doesn’t overcome a deeper bond such as that with an animal companion.

Major Curse: Your dreams are an unending stream of nightmares. You need 16 hours of rest to try to get enough sleep to recover resources in daily preparation that normally require an 8-hour rest; even then, you must succeed at a DC 15 flat check to do so, and you’re still

on a successful check.