Atropal (Basic Lore)

Atropal (CR 30)
Lawful Evil - Large - Outsider (Undead)
All abominations are horrors. They are things which should not exist in the bright, sunny world of the Prime Plane. There are many sorts of abominations out in the Deep Dark, and of those, the Atropal are among the most terrible. Atropal are dark, horrendous things. Eye-witnesses to Atropal incursions on the Prime are rare, but they describe them as terrible floating fiends, dead and yet still aware, with the dreadful sound of their azoic aura as it gnaws away at the fabric of our reality everywhere they go. Atropal are powerful things, juggernauts of darkness that drift about when they are stillborn into our reality, sampling and examining. Normal creatures die in the presence of an Atropal, and their flesh is nearly instantly bound in service to the abomination. An Atropal incursion is usually discovered when the army of undead they generate simply by existing goes on a rampage. Atropal never negotiate, and only rarely try to communicate at all. Atropal are vastly intelligent, but their intelligence is of a different order from creatures. Atropal are both undead, and constructs. Atropal are made things, you see, although the agency of their creation seems to be embodied in the very fabric of reality itself. Atropal are also dead, the aborted remains of failed gods which do not go quietly into oblivion, but persist as stains upon reality. Atropal are very rare in the Prime Plane. Occasionally a Lich or Demi-Lich will manage to allow one into the world. The Atropal is completely beyond the power of most creatures on the Prime Plane to control, although that doesn't stop power-mad fools from trying. They make dandy weapons of terror for the very few who can manage them, and can be summoned within a kingdom that is troublesome and left to their own devices. Demons and Devils are cuddly little housepets compared to an Atropal. If you hear of an Atropal, and you are less than a world-striding epic hero, then go and get help. Do not confront the fiend, lest you become part of its world-destroying army. If you are a mighty epic hero, and your lessers come to you for help with an atropal incursion, then go, no matter your personal morals or ethics. Atropals are the enemies of everything.