Post/Author/DateTime	Post
HarshWind 05-30-06, 11:09 PM	What is the difference between a Tanar'ri and a regular consume your soul demon.
Shemeska the Marauder 05-30-06, 11:36 PM	The Tanar'ri are simply the most widespread race of demons in the Abyss, a subgroup of CE fiends. Other demons which are not Tanar'ri include Bebeliths and Varrangoin. Beyond those there are two other major subtypes of demons native to the Abyss (which are introduced in the upcoming Fiendish Codex I). The Tanar'ri also are reputed to have a common origin, and are not originally native to the Abyss. According to the oldest histories on the topic* the Tanar'ri were one half of the self-purification of the yugoloths at the behest of their own creators the Baernaloths. At the instruction of the Baern, the first Ultroloth, later known as the General of Gehenna, purged the lingering traces or impurities of law and chaos from his kind, and forced this waste into the first larvae to appear on the Gray Waste. Those larvae infused with Chaos were herded into the Abyss and became the first Tanar'ri, and those infused with law were herded into Baator and became the first Baatezu (the major race of the 9 Hells of Baator, but not its original native race). The Tanar'ri and Baatezu bitterly disagree with this common origin legend, but their own histories are either nonexistant or worthless regarding the time period in question. The yugoloths don't push this theory heavily themselves, nor will they provide open and ready access to their own massive archives in the Tower Arcane in Gehenna or the Wasting Tower of Khin-Oin in the Gray Waste, but their proof is suggestive of having some basis in fact. If it's a firm truth or not is left up in the air for DMs to decide, but it's poetic when the evidence is considered. *(mostly of Yugoloth origin, as they appear to be the oldest of the major fiend races, or at least they have the oldest and most detailed records on the history of the lower planes)