Malcanthet (3.5e Monster)

Information About Malcanthet
Alternative Names and Titles: Angel of Iniquity, Astara, The First-Tempted

Symbol: A heart being crushed by a snake

Portfolio: Ruin, bringing down anything good about everything, lust

Domains Granted: Chaos, Corrupt, Evil, Lust, Trickery

Favoured Weapon: Whip-dagger

Malcanthet's Statistics Block
''Although the most beautiful nude woman you can imagine stands before you, twirling her red hair and looking at you with her red eyes full of passion, your gaze is strangely drawn to the amulet she wears around her neck. Even the bare breasts just beneath it do not distract you from gazing at its beautiful deep red colour, its silver setting and its beautiful chain. Once you tear yourself away from gazing at it, you see that she is indeed perfectly formed to seduce, and your blood runs just thinking about her. You hardly notice her slight horns and her six batlike wings unfurled behind her back. As her red eyes gaze at you, you forget everything but the thought of her wrapped around you.''

Like Abaddon, Malcanthet was also once an angel, but unlike Abaddon, her fall from grace was quite different - perhaps as different as it is possible to get. However, one thing they have in common is that it was the circumstances of the Time of Mercy that led to their falls, and that were it not for the policy of interference, she may have never ended up the way she was.

To understand the nature of her fall, it is important to know that angels do not conceive of the idea of sex for pleasure, or as a form of control or corruption. While they understand the importance of sexual reproduction for the purposes of strengthening and continuation of a species, and see the enjoyment of the act of sexual intercourse as an important part of this, it is at this point that their curiosity stops - they simply see no need to extend this notion further. This is not to say that they do not conceive of the idea of rape, for example - however, they view it in the broader scheme of a violent or hateful act, rather than as something related to sex specifically. Thus, during the Time of Mercy, it seemed only natural to them to appoint an angel to oversee the procreation of the humanoid races, and to protect them from all of the pitfalls that this could have. They appointed an planetar, named Astara, this task.

Little could they have known that Astara would learn far, far more from this than they ever expected.

At first, Astara took to her duties with zeal and dedication, seeking to ensure that the humanoid races reproduce in a way that was healthy and non-destructive, while avoiding violence or oppression of others. However, as she witnessed more and more sexual pairings, she began to realise that there was much more to all of this than simple procreation. She witnessed sex purely for pleasure, prostitution and other such things, and was at first bemused. An angel herself, she could simply not make sense of these occurrences. She also saw the consequences of sexual reproduction on an emotional level: the pain of loss, the manipulation of others with sex, the madness that it could drive others to, and once again, felt she simply had no understanding of what it meant. She wished desperately to protect her charges, all those who engaged in such practices, or, indeed, were harmed by them, but felt that until she could understand the problem, she couldn't do much about it.

At the same time, Pale Night was watching. She saw Astara's confusion, and felt that the situation could be one she could profit from. Although the Material Plane had been cleansed of much of the Abyssal energy that had once created it, during these early times, Pale Night still had some power over it. She used this power to create a love-venom so powerful that it could even infect an angel, and planted this venom into the body of a young man, whose name was Adam. It was then merely a matter of time before the already-curious Astara came upon this bizarre man, whom women lusted after in a way that could only be described as unnatural.

And sure enough, it happened. It wasn't too long before the High Angelic Council dispatched Astara with an urgent order to investigate this strange occurrence, and to take all necessary measures to prevent it. Astara departed for the location, little-knowing what awaited her there.

She found Adam in mid-orgy, surrounded by nude or near-nude women, and the light in his eyes and vigour in his muscles shone with the power of the Abyss. Horrified by what she saw, Astara tried to summon her power to destroy the energy, but as she was about to unleash the full extent of her power, Adam looked up at her. His red eyes met hers, and she froze, the gathered energies dissipating around her. He then spoke but three words that set Astara's blood ablaze and awoke desires in her that no angel before had experienced.

"Come to me."

What followed was a lovemaking unlike anything that the Material Plane had ever seen. The two spent six days in almost constant, uninterrupted sex, Astara fuelled by her angelic essence and Adam by the Abyssal love-venom that coursed through his veins. Astara experienced every form of sex that their imaginations could conceive of, and finally began to understand exactly why all of the things that mortals did for sex, and around sex, made sense. She understood the joy that it could bring, the ideas of completeness that it involved, and most importantly, why mortals sought it so much and to such an extent. As the sixth day drew to a close, she felt she had enough understanding, and was almost ready to depart, but it was only then that she realised that Adam, being just a mere man, could not have managed this on his own. The love-venom had given him enormous stamina and energy, but at the cost of his soul's energy. Although Astara tried how she could to extend his life, she found herself unable to do much more than delay the inevitable. Just before he died, he spoke one simple phrase to Astara:

"Thank you. I can now die happy."'

As his body collapsed under all of the strain it had been put under, the love-venom departed it in the form of a snake, which quickly fled the scene. It was only then that Astara became aware of the angels that had been watching the entire proceedings in horror, and just how much of her duties she had neglected.

The angels began to question Astara as to what had just happened, and why she did what she did. The more they asked, the less Astara understood why she took the actions she just had. The angels' questions became more and more insistent, and the more insistent they grew, the less Astara could answer them. Eventually, their discussion became a debate, and eventually it had devolved into an argument. Astara became increasingly more insistent that she had done the right thing, and when the matter almost came to violence, they decided that the High Angelic Council should be the ones to deal with this matter.

If Astara had been confused before, she became even more confused now, as all of the feelings of loss, anger and other emotions she had simply not known as an angel flooded through her. She blamed herself for what had happened, for her loss of control and inability to perform her duties, but also felt anger at this man and what he had made her do, and towards her inability to save him. In amidst all this, Astara failed to realise that Adam had impregnated her, combining her angelic essence with his own, mortal one, and filled with the love-venom that Pale Night had created. Having taken the life of Adam, the venom took on an intellect of its own, and was ready to begin the true ruin of Astara via the life growing inside her.

Although she had been thoroughly debriefed, none suspected that Astara was any worse for wear. Her mental fortitude had seen her through everything that had transpired, and the High Council, ever-forgiving, decided that she should resume her duties - even claiming that this experience with a mortal, although bizarre and inexplicable, would prove a useful piece of learning in her future work as a protector of humanoid races. Astara, although still feeling confused and strange at everything that had happened, agreed to this, and returned to her duties. However, she now saw things very differently, coloured by her experience and by the new life in her body - one which was both vulnerable, as mortals were, and tainted by Abyssal energy.

As she went about her duties, her experience of sex, and then loss, made her see each instance of her duties in a whole new light. Whereas before, she had seen sex as a purely biological function, requires for the continuation and strengthening of any humanoid race, she now became aware that it also revealed the greatest truths about humanoids and their reality. She also saw for the first time with how little instruction or guidance (or, in her opinion, good guidance) many undertook this step. At the same time, she also saw the importance of the unity of opposites that it represented, for it was the very key to creation - and new life. As she gazed upon that, she felt her loss and sadness all over again, and the new life within her, ever-watching, began to whisper in her mind, in a voice so familiar she thought that those thoughts were her own.

The voices told her to calm the loss by spreading her understanding and her sexuality among the mortals she was to protect. It was for their own good, they said: after all, you know far more than they, as an eternal and wise being, and surely it would be best if you taught them the true power of all of this? Astara relented after a long struggle, and discovered that more sex calmed her loss - but only for a moment. This, the voices insisted, was simply because she couldn't give herself to the experience as she had with Adam - but next time, it'll all be better. The more she followed the voice in her head, the less she resisted it, and eventually, other suggestions began to creep in. Surely too, mortals should know loss like she had - how else would they be prepared for it? And while we're on the subject, surely you should demonstrate the true power of sex to them - its capacity to ruin and lead others to madness? Are you not a greater being, a protector; is it not your task to guide humanoid life through this, and they ought to be thankful?

As she took these actions more and more readily, and more and more willingly, she began to be called by another name - Malcanthet. Uttered often as a curse toward her, it was a name she initially despised, but eventually grew to love. However, no matter how much she followed the advice of the voice, first reluctantly, then willingly, she could not find a way to stop the feeling of loss and pain forever - only for a time. Eventually, this made Astara believe that in truth, the original feeling of unity was simply an illusion, and that all sought that illusion. It was a lie, a sham - and who better than her to reveal it, through the most direct means possible?

Her true fall, however, occurred only later, when her actions and their consequences began to filter back to the High Angelic Council. The reports were slow at first, but then became more and more urgent and voluminous. Not suspecting her a unique case, the High Angelic Council felt it was their duty to protect humanoids from the angels - and vice versa - and thus issued the Edict of Observation. They also sent a notice of official censure to Astara, telling her to stop in her activities and return directly to the High Angelic Council, without going to the Place of Gathering.

Once this news reached her, Astara became afraid, for she realised that something was not going right with her, even if she couldn't guess what. It was then that the life within her made its presence known. Its voice, and Pale Night's voice, spoke in Astara's mind, revealing to her the truth of her actions. Malcanthet came to realise that in fact, her actions and current thoughts fitted the Abyss' pattern perfectly, and that ruin and chaos were to the benefit of the Material Plane. However, the imminent danger of censure and punishment would mean that her work would no longer be done - and with the Edict of Observation about to come into effect, none else could do it for her. Pale Night had a solution for this too - she could continue her work as an agent of the Abyss, but she had to hide her angelic essence so that the High Council couldn't find her. Following the instructions of Pale Night, Astara foreswore her angelic nature, and bound it into a gemstone. She then melted down the weapon that served her as a planetar, turning it into a setting and a chain, which allowed her to wear her essence around her neck. She abandoned her name, so that the High Angelic Council couldn't trace her through it. What remained of her joined with the being growing inside her to become her new, current form - Malcanthet, Worlds' Ruin.

Combat
Malcanthet is a lover, not a fighter - she will attempt to use her magic to convince her enemies to fight each other, or better still, not fight at all. If this is impossible, however, Malcanthet will not hesitate to gently caress the life away from her enemies, or even crush them between her sensuous thighs. Her spell-like abilities also give her a wide range of options for dealing with her enemies - or escape, if needs be.

 (Sp): Malcanthet has the ability to advance her portfolio. This is considered identical to the wish spell, but may only be used to produce effects appropriate to Malcanthet's portfolio or goals. Malcanthet may only use this ability once per minute.

 : Malcanthet has a resistance bonus on all saves equal to her Charisma modifier (+11 by default).

 (Ex): While she no longer calls herself an angel, Malcanthet still shares many of their traits. At the same time, while not being a true demon, Malcanthet has taken on many of their traits. This gives her darkvision 60ft, low-light vision, immunity to acid, cold, electricity, petrification and poison, resistance to fire 25, and telepathy out to 1000ft.

She can grant spells to clerics, and gives access to the Chaos, Corrupt, Evil, Lust and Trickery domains. Her favoured weapon is the whip-dagger and her portfolio is ruin, bringing down anything good about everything and lust.

Additionally, Malcanthet is immune to any attack that changes her form, mind-affecting effects, ability damage, ability drain and energy drain, unless such an effect comes from a creature that has a caster level or character level (or CR, for monsters) over 20.

Lastly, Malcanthet can burn off some of her essence to stop magic dead in its tracks. As a free action that can be used outside of her turn, Malcanthet can lose 42 hit points to counter any spell, supernatural ability or spell-like ability in Medium range, as if by greater dispel magic (although it can counter supernatural and spell-like abilities as if they were spells). This ignores temporary hit points, and can be used any number of times. For any ability with an ongoing or permanent duration, this merely suppresses it for 6 rounds.

 (Su): Malcanthet is an ancient evil, and one of the greatest of her kind. As a result, she receives a +8 enhancement bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls, a +8 resistance bonus to all saves (although this is superceded by her Dark Blessing ability) and a +6 deflection bonus to AC. Malcanthet also has maximum hit points per hit die.

Additionally, the Abyss itself protects Malcanthet from any attempt to scry on her. Anyone that uses a divination effect on Malcanthet or the area within 1 mile of her must make a DC 32 Will save or become dazed for 1 round, and ending the effect automatically. Additionally, if the save is failed and Malcanthet wishes it, she can use an immediate action to transport herself over to the location of the user of the divination effect, even if it is on a different plane.

Lastly, Malcanthet's very presence is a blight on the surrounding area. She radiates a desecrate spell effect to a radius of twenty miles, and the innermost mile of this is subject to an unhallow effect instead, both at caster level 23rd.

 (Su): Just like other angels, Malcanthet radiates a protective aura, although hers is very different in its nature to that of other angels. This aura provides a +4 deflection bonus to AC and a +4 resistance bonus on all saves to all allies within 40ft of Malcanthet against any abilities from good or lawful creatures. Additionally, it functions as a magic circle against good, magic circle against law and a globe of invulnerability out to a radius of 40ft (caster level 23rd). These are not included in Malcanthet's statistics block.

 (Sp): As a full-round action, Malcanthet may bestow her ravage on a creature eligible to gain a level. That creature gains its first level in the ravaged by Malcanthet racial paragon class. If Malcanthet attempts to ravage an unwilling creature, it receives a DC 32 Will save to resist (Cha-based).

If Malcanthet wishes, she can attempt to share the senses of a creature that has at least one level in ravaged by Malcanthet. This works identically to a scrying spell, except it must be centred on the creature in question. The creature doesn't get any say in the matter. Malcanthet may use this ability at will. This has a caster level of 23rd.

Additionally, if any creature with at least one level in ravaged by Malcanthet attempts to affect Malcanthet or the area within 20 miles of her with any ability, Malcanthet may choose to use dominate monster on that creature as a free action that she can use even outside of her turn. The creature receives a DC 32 save as normal. This has a caster level of 23rd, and the DC is Charisma-based.

Malcanthet can also create retrievers. The process is identical to applying her normal ravage, but is subject to the usual restrictions of becoming a retriever.

 : Malcanthet has learned to use her body to hold her opponents (and lovers) in ways that should not be possible. She ignores any immunity to grappling a creature possesses, and causes any size modifiers to grapple checks for her opponents to become inversed (i.e. bonuses become penalties and vice-versa).

Caster level 23rd. Save DCs are Charisma-based (32 by default)

 (Su): Malcanthet can speak to any creature, as if under the effects of a tongues spell (caster level 23rd). This ability is always active.

  Malcanthet's touch is one of the most intensely pleasurable experiences one can feel, but it also steals away the soul. Any touch by Malcanthet, as well as any successful grapple checks, inflict one negative level per Malcanthet's CR (23 by default). Assuming the creature survives, the Fort save to remove these negative levels is Charisma-based (32 by default). Her touch also causes so much pleasure that it requires a DC 32 Will save (Cha-based) from the touched creature, or it becomes dazed with pleasure for 6 rounds. Those who fail this save are also afflicted with a suggestion that forces them to seek out the touch again, no matter the cost.

Those killed by this ability transform into succubi instead of wights.

Malcanthet may use her touch instead of a normal attack for the purpose of attacks of opportunity.

 : Malcanthet can tempt almost anything, even those that would normally be immune. She ignores the following immunities on any creature whose CR or character level is lower than 20: charms, compulsions, fear effects, enchantments and mind-affecting effects. If the immunity comes from a spell, Malcanthet only ignores it if its caster level is below 20th.

Malcanthet's Equipment
The Bloodmare Stone

Although Malcanthet rarely wears clothes unless she has to, this blood-red stone, set in silver and suspended by a thick chain, also of silver, is never far from her body, usually hanging just above her breasts. It almost forces the eye to gaze upon it, and within it, souls can be seen to writhe. It is believed that the stone was the place where Malcanthet hid her angelic essence, and that her angelic sword was melted down to make its setting. If this is true, then breaking this amulet could potentially release this essence - although what this could cause is unknown.

The Bloodmare Stone can be commanded to appear as a suit of any kind of clothing. This is not an illusion - it actually transforms into those clothes. If removed, they rapidly decay to nothingness. The Bloodmare Stone is always clearly visible as part of such an outfit, although its precise form might change - it might appear as a large decorative jewel on a dress, or a large ring, etc. Commanding the Bloodmare Stone to become a suit of clothing, to change this clothing, or to return to its normal form all require a swift action.

Additionally, those gazing at Malcanthet feel their eye intensely drawn to the stone, making them distracted and unable to focus. Every time a creature attacks Malcanthet, or uses an ability on her requiring line of sight, it must make a DC 32 Will save (Cha-based) or take a -6 penalty on any rolls and any DCs for any action affecting Malcanthet this round. Success grants immunity to this ability for 24 hours.

Lastly, Malcanthet has regeneration 25 and a +6 armour bonus to AC as long as she wears this stone, as she can draw on the power of her angelic essence. The armour bonus also applies to touch attacks against Malcanthet, and nothing can bypass the regeneration. This makes Malcanthet incredibly difficult to kill, and she must be parted from the stone before she can be truly destroyed.

Malcanthet's Worshippers
Malcanthet has a relatively broad base of worship, as many seek the gifts of her sexual abilities and the way it can control others. Cults to her tend to be quite secretive, however, as they risk exposure on more fronts than most. Her clerics tend to be women, but the vast majority of ordinary cultists are instead men. They seek to use sex and its power to ruin and destroy as much as possible - relationships, friendships, cities, nations... even worlds if possible. Always seeking to be the power behind the throne, such cults are hard to locate, and even harder to root out, as they draw upon the most fundamental of passions.

In the Abyss, Malcanthet's most numerous servants are succubi, whose patron (if not outright creator) she is considered to be. A large number of the monstrous nalfeshnees also serve her.