Trobbo-Gothath
The Mad Delver. CE tanar’ri lord of obsession with forbidden and secret knowledge [he/him]
Location: Abyss / Layer 4 — the Grand Abyss (Wandering)
Listen up, cutter. If you’re planewalking through the Grand Abyss, you’d best keep your ears open for the rumble of picks and the groan of stone. That’s the sound of the tanner’ri lord Trobbo-gotath and his crew, and trust me, you don’t want to get caught in their path. Or under it. Especially under it.
Trobbo-gotath’s a demonic mountain come to life, with a voice like an earthquake, arms like granite pillars, a maw that could swallow a giant, and an appetite for secrets that would shock a sphinx. This barmy blood oversees most of the mining operations in the layer, from mundane ore extraction to the harvesting of exotic materials like soul silver and hot ice.
The chant goes that Trobbo-gothath was a minion originally posted to the Grand Abyss by some Abyssal lord or other to build fortifications and shore up defences in case of baatezu attack. He did as he was told for about as long as a tanar’ri usually does, before getting distracted by the imagined promise of unlimited power. Thing is though, the berk only managed to find it down there in the tunnels. Wasn’t long before he had ascended from the ranks of a normal tanar’ri and gained the powers of an Abyssal Lord. By then of course, he was hooked on power.
So here’s the dark of it: Trobbo-gotath ain’t just digging trenches to find shiny rocks. He’s got it in his brain-box that the juiciest secrets of the multiverse are buried in the deepest reaches of the Abyss. His philosophy? Dig deep, no matter the cost. He’s always rattling on about “piercing the veil” and “uncovering the truth beyond reality.”
This obsession for mining forbidden knowledge shapes everything about his reign. While other demon lords are busy abusing their armies or plotting horrible conquests, Trobbo-gotath’s pouring resources into mad excavations, trying to punch holes between layers, and tap into the raw stuff of the Abyss itself. Sounds like a load of piking nonsense to most cutters, but he’s deathly serious about it. The sodding fool’s got his minions digging tunnels that stretch deep into the cliffs of both Precipit and Hag’s Rock, burrowing into places that’d make even a balor think twice.
Now, Trobbo-gotath ain’t shy about the risks of his little hobby. He’ll tell you straight up that digging too deep might unleash ancient horrors from beyond the planes, warp reality, or even bring down the whole sodding layer. But he does not care in the slightest about consequences—the lure of forbidden knowledge is worth any price. Chant goes he’s trying to create a gate to the Far Realm or even the Ordial Plane.
For planewalkers unlucky enough to cross his path, Trobbo-gotath’s a right dangerous piker. He’s unpredictable and as unstable as the poorly constructed mineshafts that his poor slaves are forced to dig out. He might pressgang you to work in his mines, use you as a test subject for some barmy experiment, push you into a rift like an Abyssal canary in the mine to find out what’s beyond, or worse, decide your mind might hold some secret he needs to uncover.
So if you’re ‘walking the Grand Abyss and you hear the sounds of digging, do yourself a favour and head back the other way, fast. ‘Cause Trobbo-gotath and his slave gang are always delving, and you don’t want to be around when they finally unleash whatever’s waiting for them in the deep dark.
The Delver’s Domain
Trobbo-gotath’s abyssworks involves overseeing massive excavations throughout the layer. Here’s the dark of it:
Ore and Silicon Mines: The blood’s got crews working all hours, burrowing into the endless cliffs for precious metals and silicon. These operations are the backbone of his empire, supplying materials for all sorts of nefarious schemes.
Hot Ice Harvesting: Believe it or not, there’s hot ice in the Abyss, and Trobbo-gotath’s miners are after it. They chip away at steaming-frozen caverns, hauling out massive blocks for who knows what purpose.
But here’s the real dark, berk, Trobbo-gotath’s not just after your run-of-the-mill resources. His true passion lies in the pursuit of what he calls “forbidden knowledge.” This leads to some rather barmy-sounding mining operations:
Void Tapping: The demon lord’s got his minions drilling into areas where reality gets thin, trying to tap into the raw stuff of the Abyss itself.
Layer Breaching: Some say Trobbo-gotath’s found ways to punch holes between layers of the Abyss, creating enough new gates to make a Guvner record-keeper’s hand cramp noting them all down.
Artifact Excavation: The Grand Abyss is ancient, and Trobbo-gotath’s always on the lookout for buried relics and artifacts of terrible power.
Source: Jon Winter-Holt. Trobbo-gothath is briefly mentioned as a ‘greatest demon of earth’ in a ‘Gord the Rogue’ D&D novel by Gary Gygax called Come Endless Darkness. The entry above is my home-brew attempt to give him some back-story.