Cataboligne

Greyhawk Creature

Cataboligne
A cataboligne demon illustrated by Ben Wooten in Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk (2007).
General information
Size:	Large
Alignment:	Always chaotic evil
Type:	Demon, Outsider
Subtype:	chaotic, evil, extraplanar, shapechanger
First appearance:	Saga of Old City (1985)

Cataboligne are a type of demons native to the Abyss. They are most known for their "soft and feminine" voice which sounds like a human woman's and their ability to create deceptive illusions, masking it's appearance.

Ecology

Though a cataboligne is a demon, it is not a tanar'ri. They are instead enemies of the tanar'ri.

Many catboligne are bound in service to protect places or objects, and are thus not encountered often. Their enemies (frequently the tanar'ri) are often unable to find them, thus they are little known. Additionally, cataboligne demons are few in number and are tending toward attenuaton.

The Fiend-Sage of Rel Astra says this about the cataboligne demon:

"These demons were unknown to me until recently, when the report of one serving as a guardian was given to me by one of my spies in Greyhawk who heard the tale from a young rogue. After some research, I discovered that one of my former slaves, an old hezrou named Gsstarkaneth, had fought against one centuries ago and was able to tell me about these nearly extinct Abyssal dwellers. In any case, they are almost unheard of on any of the Abyssal planes I have frequented, and it is possible that they live in one of the more inhospitable layers or have moved to another plane entirely after suffering terrible losses at the hands of the tanar'ri. They are about as powerful as a vrock, but have few special abilities that would give them a fighting chance against anything more powerful. I have not been able to acquire an actual body for study, but suspect that there is little to them that might serve useful that could not be found in other fiendish corpses."

The beginning of the above reference relates to Gord the Rogue and the events of Saga of Old City in which Gord encounters a cataboligne guardian.

Environment

Cataboligne demons are native to the Abyss, but are frequently found on the Material Plane, serving as bound guardians. They are "thought to come from a part of the Abyss where cold and electricity are more prevalent than fire."

Typical physical characteristics

A cataboligne demon's "faint blue radiance", depicted on the cover of Saga of Old City (1985). Art by Clyde Caldwell.

"Cataboligne demons are scaled and horned, with strong claws on their hands and a spade-ended tail. Unlike most demons, they lack wings, but their magic allows them to fly. Their eyes are bulbous, with slit pupils. Broad of frame but with a lanky build, cataboligne demons have an uncanny catlike grace and speed. The demon’s voice is that of a beautiful female human or elf, and when it detects visitors, the illusion-shrouded demon announces its presence to mislead them from its true nature."

"Hunched figure [...] displaying a mouth full of sharp teeth between downward-sweeping jowls. Two horns twist back from its demonic face, and its round, oversized, leering eyes have strange, elongated pupils. The monster’s form is humanoid, but its scaly skin glows with a faint blue radiance. A pointed tail completes the demonic image. The creature’s voice, however, is feminine, sultry, and alluring."

While most cataboligne demons are large, some very powerful or old catabolignes grow tremendously, becoming huge and more than twice the size of an "average" cataboligne.

A cataboligne's blood is "yellow-green ichor".

Society

Language

The feminine voice of a cataboligne is distictive and they can communicate in Common, Abyssal, Infernal, and Elven

Abilities

A cataboligne from the Enchiridion of the Fiend-Sage (2002). Art by Sam Wood.

Str 20, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 14—CR 12

Str 30, Dex 18, Con 24, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 22—CR 10

The most extraordinary ability of a cataboligne is it's captivating voice. which causes victims to be charmed. (In some editions this is created by a charm person spell-like ability.) A catboligne demon is a "shapechanger" and can "change shape (or change self in some editions) to appear as a beautiful humanoid woman."

They can also see in the absence of light (blindsight), and some have darkvision.

All cataboligne demons are able to regenerate wounds inflicted upon them within seconds and can reattach limbs, if severed, though they are not able to heal burns from fire. Some catabolignes are also affected normally by blessed or holy weapons. Also, their scaly hides are tough and very difficult to cut or tear and they have damage resistence (10 or 15) to all normal weapon attacks.

Some cataboligne demons have the ability to create some spell-like or supernatural abilities—fear (or cause fear), darkness (or deeper darkness), dispel magic, hallucinatory terrain, mage armor, magic missile, and minor image. They may also have eye rays which flare and shoot beams of grey light which cause paralysis (or hold person).

All cataboligne demons are able to either fly or levitate.

They are immune to electricity and poison, and have high degree of innate spell resistance.

Possessions

Though cataboligne are frequently bound by mages to guard treasures or individual objects, the demons themselves seldom have possesions of their own.

Notable examples

A cataboligne illustrated in Saga of Old City (1985). Art by Clyde Caldwell.

• one unnamed catablogine encountered by Gord the Rogue in Saga of Old City
• four unnamed cataboligne demons found in the chamber of the Godtrap, in Castle Greyhawk, in Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk

Creative origins

Cataboligne demons were created by Gary Gygax for the first novel in the Gord the Rogue series, Saga of Old City in 1985.

Appearances

The first cataboligne demon to ever be described was in Saga of Old City (1985), a Gord the Rogue novel by Gary Gygax.

Later, cataboligne demons were used by Erik Mona and Jason Bulmahn in Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk (2007), in the room housing the Godtrap.

See Also

See also: Gord the Rogue

References

Bibliography

• Bulmahn, James, James Jacobs and Erik Mona. Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2007. Item code 10925. ISBN 0-7869-4358-0.
• Gygax, Gary. Saga of Old City. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1985. ISBN 394-74275-3
• Reynolds, Sean. "Enchiridion of the Fiend-Sage (Seventh Report)". Living Greyhawk Journal #11. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, May 2002.

Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

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
Demon, Cataboligne	Monster		Dragon magazine #295	92, 93, 94