Yeenoghu

Yeenoghu is the Demon Prince of Gnolls. His personal weapon is his dreaded triple flail and he commands the obedience of ghouls and ghasts (mainly through his subjugation of the entity known as the King of Ghouls). His worshippers sometimes paint his eye on their weapons and armor so that their patron can see the atrocities they commit in his name. {| class="toc"

Contents
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 * 1 Description
 * 2 Relationships
 * 2.1 Vassals
 * 3 Realm
 * 4 Dogma
 * 5 Worshipers
 * 5.1 Clergy
 * 6 Temples
 * 7 Rituals
 * 8 Artifacts
 * 9 Myths and legends
 * 10 History
 * 11 Alternate versions
 * 12 Yeenoghu in other media
 * 13 Creative origins
 * 14 Bibliography
 * }

Description
Yeenoghu appears as a 12 foot tall gaunt bipedal hyena. His skin is a pale grey, while his yellow fur is patchy and mangy. His large, protruding eyes are an amber hue. He is often depicted wielding a three-headed flail.

Relationships
Like all demon lords, Yeenoghu has a long list of enemies and rivals, and a short list of allies and compatriots. He was not originally revered by gnolls, but gained their worship by stealing the portfolio of Gorellik, their original patron deity. His greatest enemy is Baphomet, the Demon Lord of Minotaurs and the Prince of Beasts. Graz'zt manipulates Yeenoghu on occasion into battles of Graz'zt's choice; Yeenoghu does not realize he is being used, but loves battle enough that he would hardly care if he did.

Despite Yeenoghu being the "Demon Lord of Gnolls," he accepts worship from other races, notably humans, as well. Some of the local human population of Highport have adopted his worship, in recognition of their gnoll overlord, Hyrn Armbreaker.

Dogma
Yeenoghu embodies killing and butchery. Seeking power over his rivals and the gods themselves, the Beast of Butchery commands his followers to show no mercy over their opponents. Yeenoghu welcomes to his worship any who exult in death and slaughter.

Worshipers
Yeenoghu is revered by both gnolls and ghouls, as well as power-hungry humanoids of other races. He acts as the patron for gnolls, wishing to see a world where other humanoids are simple slave labor or food.

Clergy
The typical ceremonial vestments of Yeenoghu's priesthood are dark brown robes accented by mangy yellow furs. The robes are never cleaned, becoming fouled with blood and reeking of dead flesh over time. Clerics of Yeenoghu have access to the domains of Chaos, Demonic, Evil, and Fury.

Temples
Yeenoghu has few formal shrines or temples. His unholy sites are rocks in the wilderness smeared with blood and feces and crude paintings. In the ancient times when his worship was more prominent, his temples were more elaborate, taking the form of five-sided, six-tiered ziggurats covered in corpses and swarming flies. Ruins of said temples have been excavated by the Bortala Academy in the Hotan Wastes.

Rituals
Followers of Yeenoghu perform living sacrifices in remote wilderness regions beneath the light of the moon, eating the living flesh of their victims raw, sacrificing blood to their master. Cults bring back sacrifices to their lair and mutilate them with sharp knives, collect their blood, and consume it with hallucinogenic herbs. They look for omens in the viscera of their slain enemies. Cultists of Yeenoghu never bathe.

The worship of Yeenoghu is closely tied to the phases of the moons. During the darkness of the new moon, gnolls seek as many captives as possible to slaughter in a cave representing Yeenoghu's own otherwordly den, with a chorus of terrible howls adding to the atmosphere of the ritual. At this time, the matriarchs of the tribe pray for Yeenoghu to make a personal appearance, hoping he will arrive to sire half-fiendish young, but realistically they are likely to at best receive the boon of a lesser demon, who will lead the tribe for a time and sire half-fiends to lead in his place after he returns to the Abyss.

One of the most terrible of Yeenoghu's rites is the Corruption of the Soul Consumed, in which live captives are fed to cacklefiend hyenas, who give birth to lesser demons formed from the corrupted souls of the sacrifices they devoured.

Artifacts
The Triple Flail is Yeenoghu's signature weapon, its handle said to be carved from the thighbone of a god Yeenoghu slew and wrapped in that god's flesh. Rusty barbed disks dangle from chains affixed to it.

Myths and legends
One myth claims that Yeenoghu created the gnolls himself by feeding demons to a pack of mortal hyenas. These hyenas gave birth to the first gnolls.