Volisupula
The Flensed Marquess
Planar tanar’ri lord of grotesque and ostentatious finery [he/him] / CE
Lair: Abyss / Layer 8—Skindjur / Citadel Excorius
Volisupula, the Flensed Marquess, paints himself as a vision of cruel elegance and grotesque artistry. Towering over his court with angular limbs and perfectly sculpted muscles, his body is a patchwork of scars and exposed sinew, draped in robes stitched from the flayed skin of his rivals and devotees. His garments shimmer with an unnatural sheen, as they have been enchanted to display shifting patterns of agony—faces screaming, hands clawing—etched into the very flesh he wears. Volisupula’s presence is horrifying yet somehow magnetic. His every movement exudes a deliberate grace that belies the pain he inflicts—and endures. To gaze upon him is to witness his Abyssal philosophy made flesh: Beauty lies beneath the skin, but only for those brave—or foolish—enough to carve it free.
The Flensed Marquess rules Skindjur with an sinewed fist, wrapped in layers of ostentation. His court is a macabre parody of mortal nobility on the Prime material plane; one where tanar’ri vie for his favour through acts of increasingly extreme self-mutilation and grotesque artistry. Courtiers undergo elaborate flensing rituals, carving their bodies into living sculptures in an endless pursuit of Volisupula’s misguided idea of perfection. Each of his Grand Ballroom Parties might start off looking refines and elegant but they always turn into a spectacle of cruelty and frenzied creativity, and it never ends well for any mortals who are foolish enough to have attended.
The body modifications carried out by members of Volisupula’s court are beyond imagination. Tongues split into shapes to produce alien harmonics, ribs extruded and reshaped into decorative cages for songbirds (or at least what passes for such in the Abyss), or entire faces peeled away to reveal intricate designs etched into raw muscle. These acts are not merely for show; they are declarations of devotion to Volisupula’s philosophy that sentimentality and decay are weaknesses to be flensed away. Yet no matter how extreme their transformations, none can surpass the Marquess himself—his fleshwork is a masterpiece that no rival can replicate, and his philosopher-surgeons are kept on their toes thinking of new and awful things they can do to improve on it further.
Volisupula’s philosophy is as barbed as the blades that litter his domain: Freedom comes from cutting away all that decays or binds. Aging, for example, is a weakness that is not to be tolerated. He preaches from his throne of skin that sentiment is a shackle and that true power lies in embracing pain as a tool for transformation. His court echoes with his teachings, delivered in a voice that cuts like glass—each word laced with psychic venom capable of flaying the minds of those who hear it. It’s said he was one of the first patients of the new technique invented in Sharp Tongue. His followers believe that by shedding their imperfections, they ascend closer to his ideal. Yet this pursuit comes at a terrible cost: those who fail to endure the surgeries or whose transformations displease him are cast into Skindjur’s jagged plains, their flayed bodies left to rot among the shards.
The cost of Volisupula’s favour extends beyond physical pain; it demands absolute submission to his ideals. Those who seek his audience must offer sacrifices worthy of his attention—artifacts crafted from the flayed skin of rare creatures are a favourite. In return, he grants boons tailored to their ambitions: Abyssal finery made from exquisite petitioner leather, weapons forged from crystallised agony, or spells imbued with the power to flense skin at range. Of course, these gifts are double-edged; they bind the recipient ever closer to Volisupula, ensuring loyalty through both awe and fear.
Canonical Sources:
- Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p156; mention of Volisupula as ruler of the layer
- Planes of Chaos [2e] Chaos Adventures p6-7; a short adventure where the objective is to capture Volisupula’s stronghold—no significant details on its are given however
Source: Jon Winter-Holt