Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Gray Richardson 05-27-07, 04:10 PM	What do we know about Zanassu, the Demon Prince of Spiders? I know that Selvetarm destroyed him and Lolth took over his layer. Prior to that he claimed to be the Demon Prince of Spiders (and/or Aranea). I was just thinking about his background and it occured to me that his spidery nature might be due to some kind of link with Miska. It seems a fair question to ask if Zanassu might have been the son of Miska and the Queen of Chaos (or perhaps Pale Night). Granted, he was only a minor abyssal lord, but he had enough power to control a whole layer (the 65th layer I believe) and it is often the case that the sons of nobles (or other celebrities) do not achieve the same level of greatness as their parents. In fact, it might be that Zanassu was actively pressed down by the other demon princes, or even Miska himself, to keep him from consolidating the power his father once had. Does anyone know of any links between Zanassu and Miska? And is it possible they were related?
ripvanwormer 05-27-07, 05:28 PM	It's possible, yes. He might also be a spawn of Obox-ob. For that matter, maybe Miska the Wolf-Spider is the son of Obox-ob - we know the Queen of Chaos slew Obox-ob and made Miska Prince of Demonkind in his stead. It would make sense if Miska bore a hereditary right to that title, and it would be appropriate for the Wolf-Spider to be an offspring of the Lord of Vermin. We know Miska was a tanar'ri and Obox-ob was an obyrith, but that's not a big deal; Graz'zt's a tanar'ri too, and he's said to be a son of Pale Night (though we only have Xanxost's word for this). Perhaps Miska's other parent was some wolflike tanar'ri, some primal demon-wolf destined to swallow the sun. I assume that Zanassu controlled the 65th layer because the 1e MotP said Lolth currently controls both the 65th and 66th. It's just an assumption, though.
XHereticX 05-28-07, 10:34 AM	Maybe Zanassu IS Miska the wolf-spider, there are so many similarities between them. Or maybe Zanassu is an avatar of Miska sent to the Great Tree,Though I don't know if the whole Queen of Chaos thing described in HoTA(which had some very Planescapelike flavor:D ) could have happened with the new cosmology setup in the Realms and beyond.
ripvanwormer 05-28-07, 12:02 PM	Though I don't know if the whole Queen of Chaos thing described in HoTA(which had some very Planescapelike flavor:D ) could have happened with the new cosmology setup in the Realms and beyond. In Eric Boyd's Realmsification of the Age of Worms Adventure Path, references to the Wind Dukes of Aaqa were changed to the djinn who colonized Calimshan thousands of years ago. Calimshan is also a region associated with Zanassu, so there might indeed be a parallel to be made. Maybe Zanassu was involved somehow with the Calishite djinni-efreeti war.
James Jacobs 06-02-07, 03:39 PM	Once I get high enough level at Demon Writer, I might try to retcon Miska into an obyrith. But for now, I'd say that he's probably his own thing. Obox-ob is too alien to have kids, and Miska's been imprisoned longer than Zanassu's been around. So unless Miska's cage has conjugal visits or there some other high-level tomfoolery going on... Zanassu's probably got a different dad.
zook1shoe666 06-06-07, 02:25 PM	Once I get high enough level at Demon Writer, I might try to retcon Miska into an obyrith. well he isn't the most humanoid of demon lords either... and the tanar'ri were supposed to be just that, more humanoid, compared to the obyriths. EDIT- they come from the sins of the mortals.