Demonomicon of Iggwilv
| Greyhawk magic item | |
|---|---|
| Demonomicon of Iggwilv | |
| |
| The Demonomicon, from The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth | |
| Type | Artifact (minor) |
| Price | - |
| Body slot | |
| Caster level | |
| Weight | |
| First appearance | The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1982) |
The Demonomicon of Iggwilv is a notorious tome associated with Iggwilv, the legendary demon-summoning witch-queen who gave the book its name.
Description
According to Robert S. Mullin's article in Dragon #225, the Demonomicon (like the Nethertome, another work by Iggwilv which is that article's primary focus) has an ebony cover and spine with a black demon hide stretched over it, secured to the covers with brass cornerpieces and edging, and a brass clasp.
The adventure "Iggwilv's Legacy: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth," available from Wizards of the Coast's website, describes the Demonomicon as "a massive leather-bound tome," bound with brass, its pages stained with ichor, sealed with three golden clasps. These golden clasps cannot be opened by spell or physical force. It can only be opened if placed within the lectern in the hollow of Iggwilv's Horn.
The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth simply describes it as a brass-bound book, though it includes an illustration.
Study of the work takes a week, but afterward, the user gains the ability to prepare and cast any spell in the tome, regardless of class-based limitations.
Each copy of the book has two guardians. One remains in the immediate vicinity of the Demonomicon and attacks those other than its mistress who come near it. Another remains hidden, and stalks the thief, continuing to pursue and attack until either the guardian or the book's new possessor is dead. Guardians may include ghosts, nycoloths, devils, and so on.
The copy in The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth includes the following spells: abjure, exaction, Henley's digit of disruption, dismissal, dolor, ensnarement, banishment, torment, and binding. It also contains the command words for the Prison of Zagig found nearby.
In Dungeon #151's revised version of Lost Caverns, the spells included in the book include abyssal army, all magic circle spells, anticipate teleportation, banishment, binding, dimensional lock, dismissal, gate, greater anticipate teleportation, greater planar binding, hellish horde, lesser planar binding, planar binding, planar bubble, planar exchange, and refusal, as well as many other more common spells.
The Demonomicon is also a treasure-trove of lore on demons and the Abyss, containing the personal names of certain demon lords and extensive descriptions of the lords and their layers. It even lists certain evil individuals from history and outlines what sorts of demons they became after their deaths, and details a hierarchy of demon types beginning with the wretched manes and terminating in the mighty lords and princes of the plane.
History
In 318 CY, Zagig Yragerne, Iggwilv (using the name Tasha), and the rest of the Company of Seven discovered in the ruins of Veralos the Tome of Zyx, an ancient book of demonic lore that Zagig and Iggwilv would later use to help imprison the demon lord Fraz-Urb'luu. After the binding of Fraz-Urb'luu, Iggwilv would steal the book and bring it with her to her lair in the Yatil Mountains, where she added to its extensive lore and renamed it the Demonomicon of Iggwilv after herself.
Since then, five other copies of the book are known to have been made. An abridged copy can be found among cultists of Dagon in the village of Ashenport.
The Demonomicon of Iggwilv series in Dragon
Beginning in 2005, James Jacobs began writing a series of articles describing the demon lords of the D&D game for Dragon magazine, using the name "Demonomicon of Iggwilv" to tie them together. Although these articles contain game statistics and are not generally written from an in-game perspective, it can be presumed that the Demonomicon artifact within the world of the game contains much the same information the Dragon articles do. After the 4th edition of the game debuted in 2008, subsequent Demonomicon articles were written by Robert J. Schwalb and Ari Marmell. Because these were written with the 4th edition "World Axis" cosmology in mind, their assumptions are different from those in previous editions, and it would take some work to interpret both the 3rd edition and 4th edition Demonomicon lore as a single in-character volume.
2010 hardcover
In 2010, a hardcover called Demonomicon was published detailing the Abyss for the 4th edition D&D game. Iggwilv was used as the in-character narrator of the tome, with excerpts from her Demonomicon interspersed throughout the text.
Bibliography
- Gygax, Gary. The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1982.
- Jacobs, James. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Apocrypha." Dragon #359. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2007.
- -----. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Baphomet." Dragon #341. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2006.
- -----. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Dagon." Dragon #349. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2006.
- -----. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Demogorgon." Dragon #357. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2007.
- -----. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Fraz-Urb’luu." Dragon #333. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2005.
- -----. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Graz'zt." Dragon #359. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2007. Available online: [1]
- -----. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Kostchtchie." Dragon #345. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2006.
- -----. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Malcanthet." Dragon #353. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2007.
- -----. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Pazuzu." Dragon #329. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2005.
- -----. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Zuggtmoy." Dragon #337. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2005.
- Marmell, Ari. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Turaglas, the Ebon Maw." Dragon #376. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2009.
- -----. "Iggwilv's Legacy: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth." Dungeon #151. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2007. Available online:[2]
- -----. "The Last Breaths of Ashenport." Dungeon #156. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2008.
- Mearls, Mike, Brian R. James, and Steve Townshend. Demonomicon. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2010.
- Mullin, Robert S. "Campaign Classics: Three Greyhawk Grimoires." Dragon #225. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1996.
- Stark, Ed, James Jacobs, and Erik Mona. Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006.
- Stephens, Owen K.C., and Gary Holian. "Spellcraft: The Demonomicon of Iggwilv." Dragon #336. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2005.
