Zuggtmoy

Zuggtmoy
	Dungeons & Dragons character
First appearance	mentioned in the original Monster Manual II (1983)
Created by	Gary Gygax
Information
Race	Demon lord
Gender	Female
Title	Lady of Fungi, Demon Queen of Fungi, Demon Lady of Fungi
Alignment	Chaotic Evil
Home	Abyss
Portfolio	Fungus
Domains	Chaos, Evil, Ooze, Plant

Last updated October 28, 2019

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Zuggtmoy or Tsuggtmoy is the Demon Queen of Fungi. Her symbol is a jawless human skull with fungi blooming from within, though some of her false cults use other symbols. For example, her cult in the Temple of Elemental Evil used the symbol of the Elder Elemental Eye.

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. It was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997. It was derived from miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game Chainmail serving as the initial rule system. D&D's publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry.

Fantasy Genre of literature, film, television and other artforms

Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction set in a fictional universe, often inspired by real world myth and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became literature and drama. From the twentieth century it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga and video games.

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines.

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the Abyss, or more fully, the Infinite Layers of the Abyss, is a chaotic evil-aligned plane of existence. It is one of a number of alignment-based Outer Planes that form part of the standard Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) cosmology, used in the Planescape and Greyhawk campaign settings. The Abyss is also the name of one of the faith-based outer planes that form part of the Forgotten Realms cosmology. While the published 3rd-Edition source books indicate that the Abyss of the standard D&D cosmology is not the same plane as the Abyss of the Forgotten Realms cosmology, they are for all practical purposes identical.

Publishing history

The demoness Zuggtmoy has always been mentioned in first edition World of Greyhawk supplements as an ally and perhaps consort/lover to the vile demigod Iuz.^{[ citation needed ]} She was mentioned in passing in the 1st edition Monster Manual 2 .^[1] It wasn't until the release of the supermodule T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil that players got a good look at Zuggtmoy.^[2]

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, demons are the most widespread race of fiends. The demons are chaotic evil by nature, and are native to the Abyss. Demons have no true rulers, though powerful demon lords are able to gain enough power and influence to gain control over sizable armies of demonic creatures.

Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. Although not the first campaign world developed for Dungeons & Dragons—Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign predated it by over a year — the world of Greyhawk closely identified with the development of the game from 1972 until 2008. The world itself started as a simple dungeon under a castle designed by Gary Gygax for the amusement of his children and friends, but it rapidly expanded to include not only a complex multi-layered dungeon environment, but also the nearby city of Greyhawk, and eventually an entire world. In addition to the campaign world, which was published in several editions over twenty years, Greyhawk was also used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, as well as for RPGA's massively shared Living Greyhawk campaign from 2000–2008.

Demigod A minor deity, the offspring of a god and a human, or a figure who has attained divine status after death

A demigod or demi-god is a minor deity, or a mortal or immortal who is the offspring of a god and a human, or a figure who has attained divine status after death.

Zuggtmoy was featured in third edition in the Demonomicon of Iggwilv column in Dragon #337 (2005).^[3] She also appeared in Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss (2006).^[4]

Iggwilv is a fictional wizard from the Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. She was created by Gary Gygax and was named one of the greatest villains in D&D history in the final issue of Dragon.

<i>Dragon</i> (magazine) magazine de TSR

Dragon was one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products; Dungeon was the other.

<i>Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss</i> book by Erik Mona

Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss is an optional supplemental source book for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.

Zuggtmoy was detailed in the Fourth Edition Demonomicon (2010).^[5]

In September 2015 Zuggtmoy was updated to the Fifth Edition rules in the Out of the Abyss.^[6]

Description

As Lady of Fungi, Zuggtmoy as originally presented resembled a huge puffball fungus on top of four elephantine legs. A mushroom-shaped head with squashed and vague humanoid-like features resided atop her body. She could extrude pseudopodia from her bloated body to squash opponents. Canonically, Zuggtmoy can also appear as a feeble crone or a ravishingly-beautiful human woman.

Third edition game publications, such as Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss and Dragon , have Zuggtmoy retaining her blue-skinned demonic female form from The Temple of Elemental Evil video game, while her original fungoid form has become an aspect.

Relationships

Zuggtmoy is an ally of Iggwilv and Iuz and has been romantically linked to the latter. She is forced to share Shedaklah, a layer of the Abyss, with the demon lord Juiblex, who she constantly wars with over control over the entire layer. Her two chief allies are the demon lord Haagenti, Lord of Alchemy, whose minions are often seen in the forests of Shedaklah collecting ingredients for chemical reagents, and the demon lord Demogorgon, with whom she often collaborates.

Vassals and minions

Zuggtmoy is served by her lieutenant, the demon lord Yibiyru, the Rancid Lady of Bitter Bile (who has been described conflictingly as either her mother and or daughter). Her most notorious high priest was the druid Xhagevoxhab, who once ruled a vast territory in the Underdark over 600 years ago.

Zuggtmoy is served by elemental rukarazylls and vathugu demons as well as various fungal creatures.

Realm

Zuggtmoy rules the 222nd layer of the Abyss, officially called Shedaklah, although according to her creator Gary Gygax, it is called Mycorji. She shares this layer with Juiblex, the Faceless Lord. Also called the Slime Pits, Shedaklah is a duo-layer: its surface is overrun by fungi and plant creatures while its underground corollary is infested with oozes and slimes. Zuggtmoy claims the surface realm whereas Juiblex is confined to below ground. As a result of her setbacks in the "T" modules, Juiblex has managed to lay claim to parts of the surface realm. It was with the efforts of Zuggtmoy's lieutenant, Yibiyru, the Rancid Lady of Bitter Bile, that Juiblex didn't conquer all of Shedaklah.

Zuggtmoy rules from the center of the layer in a palace that consists of two dozen or so gigantic mushrooms, each connected to the others by shelf-fungi, and each four miles tall. Numerous chambers and corridors have been carved within the mushrooms; it is said not even Zuggtmoy herself knows the full extent of the palace.

History

In the T modules, Zuggtmoy is revealed to be a competitor and enemy of Lolth. She built the Temple of Elemental Evil with Iuz. The forces of good launched a campaign against her, trapping her within the temple's confines. In the current World of Greyhawk Timeline, Zuggtmoy is presumed released from the Temple by Robilar.

In other media

In Gary Gygax's Gord the Rogue novels, Zuggtmoy is one of the so-called "Monarchs of Demonium". She also has a vile artifact called the Cauldron of Corruption, a small kettle-like object covered with bumps, knobs and other weird protrusions. Upon command, it can grow into a huge cauldron and shoots out jets and sprays of flesh-eating and poisonous slimes and spores.

In the 2003 The Temple of Elemental Evil video game, Zuggtmoy was given a more fearsome appearance: a blue-skinned demonic female form with long sharp claws whose lower body consists of strands of fungoid matter.

Related Research Articles

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References

↑ Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual II (TSR, 1983)
↑ Gygax, Gary, and Frank Mentzer. The Temple of Elemental Evil (TSR, 1985)
↑ Jacobs, James. "The Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Zuggtmoy." Dragon #337 (Paizo Publishing, 2005)
↑ Jacobs, James, Erik Mona, and Ed Stark. Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss (Wizards of the Coast, 2006)
↑ Mearls, Mike, Brian R. James, and Steve Townshend. Demonomicon. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2010
↑ Slaviscek, Bill; Perkins, Christopher (2015). Out of the Abyss. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0786965816.