A Forgotten God: The Torhoon Demon
By: Wolfsire
Posted with permission. Do not repost without obtaining prior permission from the author.

A continent away from its homeland, near the shores of the Icy Sea, and hidden in a dungeon recently established by an insane Suel Lich, the idol of a long forgotten god rests. The idol is now but a curiosity; a fascination for those few who know of and have become enamored by the ancient Torhoon race of far Hepmonaland who lived some eight thousand years ago. The idol is a hideous statue. It stands nine feet tall and depicts a man transforming into some unidentifiable creature. It is hollow and made of an unknown, silvery metal that is painfully cold to the touch.

While the ultimate form of the god cannot be determined with certainty, elements of the statue can be identified and are strongly suggestive. Notably, the room where it is located is clearly identified with spiders and snakes, inhabiting and decorating respectively. It appears that spider legs are sprouting from the god’s torso. His hands appear to be oversized, longish and unwieldy, suggesting that these too might be changing into spider legs or something as questionable. A spherical protrusion is depicted as developing in the god’s chest, reminiscent of a spider’s cephalothorax. The god has no human legs, but a long serpentine tail that extends from his body, which is covered with sharp protrusion. This tail might be a thorny vine, or a horny tentacle, but given its size and position, the room’s motif and replacement of the man’s legs it is very like a modified snake’s body.

Both the spider and the snake are chthonic creatures. Both are archetypically feared by mankind. Both are often poisonous. Snakes are associated with metamorphosis, because they shed their scales. Indeed, so are horns, as they are reminiscent of the crescent moons. Thus, the modification of the snake’s body may simply reinforce the gods half-snake nature. Spiders are symbolic of fate, deception, wholeness and complexities. That a god would take such a shape, half spider half snake, even more so that he would be shown as actually transforming into such a strange creature, is highly suggestive of a demonic nature. It is evil and unstable. That the very idol itself would cause harm further substantiates this.

Whether this god is representative of Torhoon society, or just some narrow aspect of it, insofar as evil is present in all societies, may be difficult to determine. In that very same dungeon can be found a book that discusses at length Torhoon society, but the only thing truly known about its contents is that they are as questionable as the mind of the insane Suel Lich.

Sources:
Dungeon 77, "Ex Keraptis Cum Amore"
http://spiderdreams.tripod.com/spiderdreams.html