Fri May 29, 2026 4:57 pm  
Ghouls and Shadows

Collecting my thoughts on Ghouls and Shadows, I put this together.

It needs work, but it will be a TNC chapter in time.

EATERS OF FLESH

The flesh-eating undead known as ghasts and ghouls are the most numerous and generally the only known of the eaters of flesh. They are also the most recent type to come into existence, as well as the sole undead among them. This treatise looks at the origins and traits of the various flesh-eaters. In the process, it uncovers certain elements related to shadows, a creature not ordinarily associated with ghouls, but whose origins are tied to them.

THASMUDYAN (MORDIGGIAN) THE CHARNEL LORD

The entity named Thasmudyan does not seek worshipers, only food. Thasmudyan is an alien entity, a creature of the Far Realm that has come to ordinary reality to feed.

Unlike most such entities, the Charnel Lord is not actively malign. It hungers, but it is not a predator. It feeds only on the dead. Its coldness to the feelings of mortals and its strict requirements of its followers make it somewhat Lawful and Evil, but it is fundamentally uninterested in the greater moral dynamics of the multiverse. It would be Neutral if it cared, but it cannot truly do that. This element of its nature gives it a slight affinity for the iron-shod battle planes of Acheron, and when it has found itself within the Outer Planes its essence gravitates to the lowest levels of that place. There, due to its association with the dead, it has found itself in contact with the Ruby Queen Wee Jas on a number of occasions. The Ruby Queen, understanding more than any mortal, has been able to come to accommodations with the Charnel Lord, and the souls of her servants, as well as most Suel who at least remember her with the proper death rites, are exempt from its feeding. Hextor, the Scourge of Battle, has approached the Charnel Lord several times seeking information on undead that he might use to improve the undead in his service. Whether he has succeeded is not recorded anywhere, but many suspect the origin of swordwraiths lies with lore the Charnel Lord has shared with the Scourge of Battle. These dealing have led cultists and scholars alike to believe the Charnel Lord is a lord of the Nine Hells, a might duke or archdevil exiled by the ruler of that plane for some transgression, or merely out of fear the Charnel Lord may take over. This is simply untrue. The Charnel Lord has a much greater affiliation with the Negative Energy Plane, and often resides there, bathing in, to it, the comforting energies of consumption. A scribbled note in a forgotten tome suggests that Acererak had dealings with the Charnel Lord and that is how he became the Devourer. The truth of this is likely to remain unknown.

For those humans who accept the Charnel Lord there is only one requirement: that all the dead of the community be given to it. They are taken to its temple by the ghouls that serve it, who conceal their true nature behind masks, gloves, and flowing robes. There, the bodies are left to suitable age before being consumed the Charnel Lord or left to its ghoulish clergy. There is no appeal and there are no exemptions from this. Any who seek to subvert it face a fate far worse than having their remains consumed by either the Charnel Lord of its clergy.

The Charnel Lord most commonly manifests as a mass of shadows whose size and shape ebb and flow with every breath, sometimes barely a stain upon the floor, other time encompassing an entire building. It is this form that shows its greater connection the Negative Energy Plane, as well as to what seem to be its most powerful servants, the horrors known as slow shadows. While scholars commonly associate these with undead shadows, the abominable slow shadows are outsiders, though whether they came from the Far Realm with the Charnel Lord, are manifestations of the Negative Energy Plane, or something of both, is yet another mystery involving the Charnel Lord. It is even possible that they are splinters of the amorphous form taken by the Charnel Lord, remnants left behind as it moves, or some kind of spawn. Whatever the truth, they are lethal, and those who encounter them are advised to flee if at all possible.

The Charnel Lord has also been known to take the form of a massive worm with a great beak and four flailing tentacles surrounding that orifice. Those reading this description may note that it resembles that of the slithering underoerth predator called a grick. Scholarly consensus holds that gricks come from the Far Realm. Whether they were servitors of the Charnel Lord in the place or some sort of larvae is as unsettled as the truth regarding slow shadows. What is known is that where the Charnel Lord goes, gricks gather. One outrageous claim made is that gricks that feast on the bodies of spellcasters may, over time, absorb something of the intelligence of their dinners. These claims suggest that such gricks change over time, sprouting limbs and walking like men. No rational being would credit such tales, and none did. Until the Worm Lord Kyuss revealed itself.

Most cults of the Charnel Lord are found among the first race of creatures named ghouls. These are not, however, the common undead abominations. They are living creatures, though of a most unnatural and revolting appearance. They are most often described as resembling something like a dog or perhaps a jackal, having a long muzzle with sharp teeth, and hands more like paws with sharp claws. Their flesh has a rubbery quality and is completely hairless. They invariably reek of the grave and mouldering earth, and the stink of the carrion they feed upon is always about them. They have a language, though their voices sound like meeping and gibbering. However, the most curious aspect of these ghouls is how humans can transform into them. Three methods for this have been documented. The most common is for humans to embrace cannibalism, feasting on their fellows, and slowly devolving. Next is the practice of these ghoul stealing human children and teaching them to feed on corpses until the children grow up to be like their ghoul caretakers. The last method, which many believe is the true source of both of the previous ones, is that a ghoul might, under bizarre circumstances, mate with a human, and produce an offspring that will, over time, transform naturally into a ghoul. This ghoulish taint may linger in a human bloodline for many generations, remaining hidden until circumstances, actions, and environment reveal it. Despite these practices, these ghouls are not the brutal, savage undead associated with the name. They have their own culture, though one founded in the grave, and some, especially those who were human or part-human at one time, maintain a greater degree of sophistication and intellect. When in direct service of the Charnel Lord, however, they fully embrace its ways and strict laws. The actions they take against those humans who violate those laws are recorded only in shuddering allusions of ineffable horror.

Despite claims in other sources, these are the origins of ghouls and shadows. These were the first, whether they be servants, offspring, or something else, of the Charnel Lord. In some manner, they all come from Thasmudyan.



THE JANN AND THE GHULS

On the Elemental Planes, the greatest servants of the Elemental Lords were imbued with power to serve the Elemental Lords and protect the planes. While the genies have long since turned to their own affairs and interests, their legacy remains. As the Prime Material Plane is composed of all of the elements, so a branch of genies composed of all of the elements was sent there to guard the wild places where portals to the Elemental Planes are likely to form. These genies, known as jann, still walk in the lands far from civilization, tending to the natural order. Of course, corruption finds it way into all things. The corruption among the jann gave birth to the ghuls.

Where this corruption came from is unknown. What is known is that it is powered by the Negative Energy Plane. This naturally leads scholars to suspect the Charnel Lord. The response, for those foolish enough to ask, has been consumption. While this reinforces the suspicions, it has been suggested that it is, instead, the Charnel Lord taking offense at such a base accusation. And this is true. The Charnel Lord has nothing to do with the origin of ghuls. It is a combination of their own cupidity and the random chance of element energy coming from the Negative Quasi-Elemental Planes infusing jann that turns them into ghuls. Of course, the ghuls have long since learned how to infuse jann with sufficient Negative Energy to convert their cousins to help in propagating the race of ghuls.

A common misperception is that ghuls are undead. Like the servants of the Charnel Lord, they are not. They are, in common parlance, outsiders native to the Prime Material, just like their janni cousins. That they employ Negative Energy to convert their cousins does not change this. Nor does their association with undead ghouls, creatures the ghuls despise for their weakness and vile nature.

Ghuls are, generally, of Evil disposition. Despite this, they have been known to leave mortals in peace if shown proper respect and treated well. This typically means being given the same kind of effusive praise that genies are, along with providing them food in the form of living or dead humans, demi-humans, and humanoids. It also includes providing them grooming services for their greasy, tangled hair, broken nails and hooves, and foul stench.

Ghuls are not known to serve any power or similar entity, being as haughty in such acknowledgements as their genie relatives and having no overlord to claim as patron. Those with the ability focus on arcane studies, with most becoming elemental mages of some type. A sizable number become sha’ir, claiming the power to command the genies who otherwise disdain the ghuls, much to the chagrin of any genie forced to serve one of them. A few embrace the little known path of what humans have termed the ghul lord, a dangerous technique of manipulating the energy of the Negative Plane as wizards manipulate ordinary reality for common magic. That this is likely how ghuls came about in the first place does not deter new ones in the least.



DORESAIN THE KING OF THE GHOULS

Deep in the Abyss, the princes and lords of that plane looked at the servants of the Charnel Lord and saw potential. When the chance came and a group of mortal servants of the Charnel Lord came into the Abyss, the forces of that place struck. Common treatises ascribe the action to Orcus, Prince of the Undead, though servants of Yeenoghu, Lord of Gnolls, claim their patron is responsible. In drow cities, cultists of Lolth claim their mistress organized the deed. Rhyxali, who calls herself the Queen of Shadow Demons, has a notable claim though she never bothers asserting it, enhanced by her status as a daughter of Pale Night and sister of Orcus. Meanwhile, Lissa’aere the Noxious is served by large numbers of nabassu, though it does not seem she created them. Which of any of these is true in unproven. What is known is the mortal cultists were changed by the Abyss, warped and twisted, altered into three demonic forms.

The first, shadow demons, take their name and form from the slow shadows. Unlike those relatively unintelligent blots, shadow demons are quite intelligent. They are masters of claiming souls for trade in the Lower Planes, much as the despicable night hags. Like undead, shadow demons are vulnerable to the holy might of clerics, and can be banished in a fashion.

The second are the maurezhi, often described as demonic ghouls, they feed on corpses like ordinary ghouls. They are capable of stealing the memories and appearance of those they slay, making them exceptional spies and infiltratos.

The third form created, and the most terrifying, are the nabassu. These horrors feed on the life of victims to fuel their own growth and maturity. In the process, they gain the ability to steal death from the living and bestow it on others. When the nabassu do this, those humans and near-humans they steal from become ghasts, while those they bestow death on become shadows. This is likely the ultimate form of demonic ghoul.

Not content, the demons continued their experiments until they learned how to alter the manes, the spirits of mortals consigned to the Abyss, and change them into ghasts and shadows directly. Demon lords could then unleash these horrors onto the planes in great numbers. These ghasts and shadows are true undead, vulnerable to holy energy. They are, like ordinary undead, fueled by negative energy, no doubt a legacy of their origins. Notably, the ghasts remain vulnerable to cold iron, like a result of their demonic heritage. These creatures propagate like many undead, their victims becoming undead like their killers. However, those slain by ghasts become common ghouls. They are the ones universally associated with the name “ghoul”, and their undead nature is projected on to other creatures that are given the name.

Somewhere in all of this, a creature claiming the name of Doresain proclaimed itself the King of Ghouls. Where Doresain came from is disputed. There are accounts that suggest he was originally a great servant of the Charnel Lord who led a force of high ghouls to the Prime Material Plane from the Plane of Shadow. Other accounts make him a servant of Orcus. Still others declare he was a slave or conquest of Yeenoghu. The only thing that accounts seem to agree on is that he is the creator of the maurezhi, employing them as leaders of bands of ghasts and ghouls.

Likewise lost in this is Lolth, or perhaps one of her servants, who is said to have created abyssal ghouls, another form of demonic ghoul. Sources also claim that shadows are a major creations of hers, though no sources outside those of the cult of Lolth support this.



CANNIBALS AND CULTISTS

Casually grouped in among the undead ghouls, the elemental ghuls, and the supernatural ghouls, are those mortal cultists and cannibals who consume the flesh of their own. Because of their physical limitations, they overwhelmingly partake of fresh meat, in stark contrast to the others who are more comfortable with rotting corpses.

While cannibals are most often forced into their practices by circumstance, living or trapped in hostile places, there are those among them who take the practice to another level, embracing the service of the powers or demon lords named above. Others, in civilized lands, will take up the practice and service to such a patron out of a desire for power. And make no mistake, there is great power to be hand in the practice. There are spells and rituals to enable mortals to replicate the abilities of the supernatural creatures, stealing the appearance, thoughts, strength, and life from the dead. It must be noted, however, that while those who do so are often called “ghouls” for these practices, they remain mortal, and generally slain as easily as any other mortal. Of course, those that have pacts with demons are quite likely to return in one of undead or demonic forms after their demise, something that should be kept in mind when cleansing the Oerth of their foulness.


GAME EFFECTS

Thasmudyan’s (Mordiggian’s) Ghouls

The ghouls should probably be monstrous humanoids as they are in Sandy Petersen’s Call of Cthulu for Pathfinder. They are not susceptible to spells and effects that are intended to only affect humans, demi-humans, and humanoids. In AD&D, this would be creatures defined as “persons” as per the charm person spell. One change might be to give them the extraplanar subtype in 3E, or otherwise note they can be banished in AD&D.
Slow shadows do need any changes beyond some additional highlighting of the Negative Energy Plane connection. The 3.5 version in Dungeon 112 has them as outsiders.
Gricks that serve and are sent by Mordiggian should also receive this tweak and be subject to banishment and similar effects.

Genie Ghuls

I would suggest making ghuls the same type as jann – outsiders with the native subtype in 3E. Their abilities do not have to be altered, merely their type. With this change, an alteration to clerical turning should be considered. Similar to how “spirits” are classified in Oriental Adventures and shaman sourcebooks, clerics in Zakhara and similar genie-inspired areas such as the Baklunish lands of Oerth, should be able to affect creatures of the elemental planes instead of undead. This would include all genies, jann, and ghuls. As a minor bonus, ordinary ghouls and ghasts which are associated with ghuls could also be turned. With this, variants that do direct damage with turning rather than making creatures flee should be considered. A 3E version of this appears in Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, while Pathfinder has it as the standard.

Demonic Ghouls

Ghasts and ghouls created from manes, maurezhi, and nabassu should be considered as extremely least demons. Their attributes do not have to be changed. AD&D allowed certain weak demons and devils to be turned using the “Special” category already. Ghasts and ghouls are just weaker than that and turned more easily. In 3E, ghasts and ghouls can be an “exception”, affected by ordinary cleric turning unlike regular demons.
An interesting option would be to allow ghasts and ghouls to gain strength and possibly transform into maurezhi and nabassu by eating corpse. Like those demons, the ghoul or ghast should have to kill the creature to be consumed itself, and it fresh – withing 30 minutes of death – to gain any benefit. Further, the corpses must come from strong foes – no eating simple peasants. In AD&D, this means PCs only, with a minimum of 2nd level for those eaten by ghasts. In 3E, NPCs can be eaten, but they must be equal in level to the HD of the ghoul or ghast doing the eating. This can be either a strict number, though definitely significantly more than required for the two demons, or be xp based. Remember that ghouls start at 2 HD and ghasts at 4 HD, and should be treated as being of equal level to advance. When a ghast would gain a 6th HD, it instead transforms into a maurezhi or nabassu depending on DM preference or random roll.
This could be extended to shadows who could evolve or advance into shadow demons if they drain enough victims and create servant shadows. Perhaps in the process they absorb these servant shadows, creating a composite demon.

Human Ghouls

The simplest and most difficult as there is little material to support eating people. These are, of course, just ordinary humans, though other races available as PCs could join in the fun as well. There are a few spells in the 3E Book of Vile Darkness and a feat in the 3E 3PP Ravenloft material that directly address the practice. Otherwise, these are just generally Evil people with a nasty habit and a tendency to wind up as demonic ghouls after death.