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Div, Druj Nasu
The Tainters of Corpses
NE; CR 8 [PF1e]
The druj nasu are the embodiment of decay and disruption, horrific fly-like humanoid fiends standing around six feet tall and weighing 100 pounds. Compound eyes protrude from their insectile faces, and their chitinous bodies drip with unpleasant moisture. They exude a sickly smell of feral musk, rotting flesh, and acrid sweat. Their buzzing wings fill the air with a dreadful drone even when the creatures are still, a sound that can weaken and incapacitate those unfortunate enough to hear it. This dreadful droning mimics the buzzing of millions of flies, surrounding these sods with a stinking atmosphere of death and decay.
The Ecology of the Druj Nasu
Within the hierarchy of divs, druj nasus occupy the role of desecrators, focusing their malice on disrupting the sacred rites of mortals. They haunt funeral pyres and burial sites, stealing corpses to prevent them from passing peacefully into the afterlife. This behaviour has led many cultures to change their burial practices in an attempt to thwart the druj nasus’ interference. When a druj nasu is found even near a newly-dead corpse, the body is considered unclean, often necessitating sky burials to dispose of the flesh before the stripped bones can be safely interred.
Druj nasus are driven by a deep-seated hatred for the dead and the living who mourn them. They revel in causing grief and sorrow, animating stolen remains and sending these undead back to prey upon their former loved ones. This act of sending reanimated corpses to torment their families disrupts even impolite society and commits a severe taboo, undermining the social fabric and spreading fear and despair.
Strengths and Weaknesses
In battle, these divs often summon swarms of insects to overwhelm their enemies, usually while shrouded in invisibility. A druj nasu’s most notable strength is its ability to incapacitate foes with its droning wings and its command over insect swarms. Additionally, their immunity to fire makes them formidable opponents, especially when coupled with the fire-resistant undead they create as they can pass on this ability tomorrow their minions. However, their compulsive hatred for dogs—and indeed hound archons—is a significant weakness. Druj nasus often flee from dogs or become fixated on them, ignoring other threats. This aversion has led morticians and priests to keep dogs as guardians to ward off these vile creatures.
Although druj nasus are not weakened by sunlight, they prefer to operate under the cover of night, when there are fewer vigilant eyes to spot their malevolent activities.
Philosophical Musings
Druj nasus are a reminder of the fragility of life and the thin veil that separates the living from the dead. Their very existence is a perverse celebration of decay and despair. While they infest the slopes of Gehenna, the druj nasu are also found in Malbolge feeding off the corpse of Malagarde, on the Prime tormenting mortals, and in the Underlands, despoiling graveyards and attempting to turn misplaced or straggling souls into flaming undead minions before the psychopomps can find them.
Source and stats: What Grows Within p84 [PF1e]
