[ Outsiders > Fiends > Orphans ]
Lilu, Gallu
The Faceless Demon (CR 8)
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Themes: Faceless horrors who worm their way into the confidences of mortals before dragging them to the Underworld
The gallu are large and terrifying lilu fiends, associated with the Underworld Powers of the Anunnaki. They serve as infiltrators, kidnappers, and transporters for more powerful Lower Planar entities, using their shapeshifting abilities to blend into mortal society, before abducting chosen victims and whisking them away to the Underworld.
DESCRIPTION: Gallu are a horrifying sight in their natural forms: Towering nine-foot humanoids with completely featureless faces except for a gaping maw lined with several rows of sharpened teeth. Their skin is a glossy, obsidian black that seems to absorb light, and their hands have long, wicked talons. Despite having no visible eyes, nose, or ears, they can apparently see, hear, and smell perfectly well through supernatural means. When not disguised, they wear no clothing or armour, relying entirely on their natural defenses and predatory grace.
HABITAT / SOCIETY: Gallu embody patient malevolence, combined with strategic deception. Unlike many fiends that rely on brute force, gallus are cunning predators who excel at long-term infiltration missions. They view mortal’s desperation for friendship and trust as weapons to be exploited, often spending extensive periods cultivating relationships with their chosen targets before revealing their true nature. Gallu frequently travel between the Material Plane and the Lower Planes, spending months at a time in mortal realms establishing false identities and relationships. They serve as elite operatives for Lower Planar lords, balors, or other high-ranking fiends, who require specific mortals to be captured rather than simply slaughtered.
PHILOSOPHY: Their philosophy centres on the belief that the most effective evil comes through betrayal of trust rather than obvious menace. However, gallu are also quick to anger and hard to control. After months couped up in the form of a mortal, when they transform back to their natural forms they’re sometimes overcome with ferocity and devour their targets impulsively before completing their assigned missions, much to their masters’ displeasure.
ECOLOGY: As outsiders, gallu demons don’t require conventional sustenance, but they do enjoy the taste of mortal terror, despair, and the spiritual essence of betrayal. They particularly relish the moment when a trusted friend realizes their true demonic nature—and the fiends then feed on the psychological anguish of broken trust. Behaviorally, gallu are methodical stalkers who must use subtle approaches to accomplish their goals. A gallu will often befriend its target, learn their habits and weaknesses, then strike when the victim is most vulnerable and isolated. They are only able to use their ability to drag a victim to the Underworld if they willingly participate in the spell—although obviously the gallu does not reveal the true purpose of their ritual.
They know no food, know no drink, eat no offerings, drink no libation.
—Angalta: Inana’s Descent to the Underworld [approx. 1700 BCE]
They tear away the wife from a man’s embrace.
They snatch the son from a man’s knee.
COMBAT: A gallu can assume any humanoid form indefinitely, which makes them perfect deep-cover infiltrators who can maintain false identities. While in their false humanoid forms they are unable to use their claw or bite attacks, or grapple victims—in order to do that they need to resume their true, fiendish forms.
In combat, a gallu will typically drop all pretence of being a humanoid, attacking ferociously with its powerful bite attack. However, its most dangerous ability occurs when it successfully strikes a victim with a claw attack and then grapples its target. Should it successfully restrain a cutter, the gallu then tried to Abduct the sod, using a power similar to translocation, only they’re able to inflict it upon unwilling targets too.
Out of combat, they are most feared for their penchant for kidnapping mortals and hauling them off to the Underworld. They do this by gaining the confidence of cutters while in their false humanoid form, and then after much time building trust, they betray their ‘friend’ in a magical ritual that ends in the victim being plane shifted to Kur, or whatever other dreadful realm the gallu hails from.
Statistics: [ PF2e ]
Canonical Sources: These fiends are based on the gallu demon from the Tome of Horrors Complete [PF1e]. Canonwatch: The gallu are an Underworld fiend from Babylonian mythology, that drag sods down to the Underworld. The ToHC gallu was clearly inspired by these myths, and I have ramped up its CR from the PF1 rules to better spread out the lilu but also because its abduction powers are dangerous. The PF1 sourcebook the Worldwound also has a gallu demon [here], but that one is CR19 and doesn’t fit the mythology as well. I’ve classed these fiends as lilu rather than demons as these are Mesopotamian in origin and not Abyssal. Etymology: The word ‘gallu’ is thought to be the precursor of the Arabic ‘ghul’, the English ‘ghoul’, and the Jewish ‘golem’.
Source: Jon Winter-Holt
