[ Outsiders > Fiends > Parochial > Lou-Māra ]
Lou-Mara
Home Plane: The Abyss, Pandemonium (unclear)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Themes: Incorporeal possessors, psychic parasites of despair, conspiracy theories
Philosophy: Graybeards suspect that the lou-māra [loo-MAAH-ra] manifest from the anguish and paranoia of mortals, infiltrating minds to spread conspiracies and existential dread. These fiends seem to view consciousness as a disease, and seek to unravel sanity of mortals and merge all thoughts into Pandemonium’s screaming winds. Even their origins are wrapped up in a murk of half-truths and lies. Some say they are a recent arrival on the Great Ring, formed when the Abyss gobbled up a pantheon of sleeping powers and dreamed a new kind of demon. Others cynically laugh and say of course the lou-māra want you to believe this fake history, to distract from their real nature as embodiments of the inaccurate, the insidious, and the invisible.
Paragons: If such beings exist, they have so far kept their identities secret from planewalkers. That doesn’t stop barmy natives of Pandemonium spewing all kinds of screed about imagined beings who somehow control all aspects of life on the planes, of course.
More chant on the lou-māra coming soon…
Canonwatch: The lou-mara were debuted in the Fiendish Codex of 3e but not much was made of them—I’ve relocated them from the Abyss to Pandemonium as their theme fits better there and Pandemonium is crying out for more lore.
One thing I meant to ask for awhile but have forgotten to, with Lou-Mara, do you plan to rename the three out of four types of Lou-Mara that share a name with a PF creature? (Dybbuk, Guecubu, and Manitou)
If not, do you have any name suggestions? I have plans to incorperate them into my setting as well, and I have struggled on innovative names for these three.
Great question, my copy of the Fiendish Codex arrived recently so I’ll check out the 3e versions. I love the idea of the Lou-Mara but the mythological creatures the names came from were better captured by the pathfinder creatures, and given the Lou-Mara didn’t make it to 5e I think they’re the ones that should get the new names. I will let that thought gestate a bit at the back of my brain-box… thanks for the suggestion!