Zgg'Sarak

Zgg'Sarak the Deceiver is a lesser demon with delusions of grandeur.

History
The Slime Pits are amongst the foulest and darkest portions of the Abyss, and are populated almost entirely by the foulest and darkest sorts of demons. The Vile Lord Juiblex rules over this dank place, and exists only to consume and destroy all around it. What creatures do dwell within the Pits are little more than leftover buds of Juiblex itself, smaller, cancerous oozes and slimes made purely of the evil the Lord of Slime cannot contain within itself. For the most part, the denizens of the Slime Pits have no grand designs or aspirations of power other than wanton destruction. Even Juiblex itself seems to desire only to feed. There are strange members of every family, however, and even the darkest demons are no exception to this rule.

When the abomination known as Darkness-Given-Hunger was created, it spawned forth several hundred lesser demons in the process. There were a certain number of these creatures that were crafted out of the remains of several unusual creatures that Juiblex had consumed, amongst them a number of illithids and a beholder tyrant. The demons in this "family", for lack of a better term, were different than the others...for they were cursed with cognitive abilities, and given more than simple mouths. They began to think, and feel, and hunger...but for power, and not food. These obvious deficiencies made them unsuitable for existance within the Slime Pits, and most were reabsorbed immediately after creation. A few, however, escaped, and went searching for ways to acquire control.

Unable to find any quarter in the Abyss, these laughingstocks were cast out, and so began searching for different planes to exert influence over. Significantly weaker than the other Tanaari, the demons began searching for alternate methods of bending others to their will, and found that while they did not possess the raw power that Juiblex's other children had, they had a far greater ability to deceive. They simply needed to find a plane where even ones as weak as they would seem strong in comparison, and the illusion would be complete. They found precisely what they were looking for in the Material Plane, and amongst the 5 demons that ventured out into Illur, it was the weakest, Zgg'Sarak, that managed to get himself captured before even attracting his first follower.

Imprisonment
Zgg'Sarak had claimed the southern reaches of the world as his own, and entered into the Material Plane for the first time in the same place where the Desolate Reaches now stand. In that time, however, the entire area was a lushly populated forest known as the Verdant Reaches, watched over by one of the native Illuri, The Nurturer. Zgg'Sarak was not exactly subtle. Upon his arrival, the demon (who now felt especially powerful in this new world) decided to burn down the forest as a show of force. As he was doing so, The Nurturer was said to have approached him from behind and subdued him using nothing more than a watering can. The beast was then lashed tightly with vines, and upon consulting with other regional Illuri, it was decided that it would be contained beneath the Sleeping Valley in the Eastern portion of Icarus Island. Strapping him to the back of her large aquatic familiar, The Nurturer took the beast around to the other coast of the island and imprisoned him beneath the surface. Upon returning, she erected a lighthouse nearby so that she might be able to watch over the spot where he laid buried and make sure that the beast never escaped. Zgg'Sarak then lay slumbering under the earth for hundreds of years.

Characteristics and Personality
As with the other 5 surviving members of his brood, Zgg'Sarak desires nothing but power, but lacks the strength himself to attain it. For this reason, he constantly seeks others to do his bidding on his behalf, luring them with false promises and illusions of power. He is an extremely crafty dealer, and though he may be the weakest physically of the five, it is said that few can rival him in terms of sheer duplicity.

Zgg'Sarak's true form is that of a mad pile of tentacles and fangs surrounding an enormous, unblinking eye. The eye seems to watch in all directions at once, and flits wildly around in the socket. He is completely black, but is constantly surrounded by a low, purple haze. The mere sound of his voice is enough to drive lesser beings insane, and it alternates between a unfathomably low pounding and a shrieking, manic buzz. To those he wishes to coerce, however, the voice has been reported to be unsettingly, strangely soothing.

Trivia

 * Zgg'Sarak's "siblings" all have names that begin with Z as well: Zsyzak the Many-Handed ; Zox the Plaguebringer; Zuggoth, He-Who-Waits; and Zaal the Voidqueen.