The Rough Beast

The God of wrath, disaster, and destruction has been imprisoned within the center of Golarion since the Age of Creation. His increasingly restless stirrings are taken by many to be the cause of volcanic activity and earthquakes.

Countless ages ago, Rovagug the Rough Beast rampaged across the planes, destroying worlds beyond number. When he turned his gaze upon Golarion, he was opposed by an unlikely collection of gods: Abadar, Apsu, Asmodeus, Calistria, Dahak, Desna, Dou-Bral (who had not yet become Zon-Kuthon), Erastil, Gozreh, Pharasma, Sarenrae, Torag, and many others whose names have been forgotten.

Unable to destroy Rovagug, the gods fashioned a prison for him at the center of Golarion, with each deity contributing to its construction. But even so, it was an imperfect captivity. Eight thousand years ago, one of the terrible Spawn of Rovagug escaped its father’s oubliette and ravaged the unsuspecting world. A dozen more have been unleashed since in the millennia that have followed.

Rovagug is certainly respected for his destructive power in all nations, but his genuine worshipers are savage monsters and human nihilists. He is the primary deity of the orcs, while other monstrous creatures, as well as savage or despairing barbarians as far flung as the Realm of the Mammoth Lords to the north and the Sodden Lands to the south are known to make sacrifices to him.

He has no large-scale, organized church, with his priests often acting at best as unreliable mercenaries and at worst as freelance spree killers. His followers glory in destruction for its own sake and dismiss building and creating as a pastime for those too weak to destroy. Some worshipers do so out of nihilistic misery, others out of self-loathing, and yet others through a simple, burning rage towards the universe.

His unholy symbol is the Fanged Maw.

Rovagug in Korvosa

Temples to the Rough Beast are banned in nearly every civilized city, and Korvosa is no exception.

(Rovagug holy symbol credit: Hugo Solis)

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