Zagresh
The Destroyer. CE demipower of death, destruction, disaster (He/Him)
Pantheon: Orcish
Symbol: Stack of severed heads
Realm: Limbo / Volkorgoth
Zagresh, the Destroyer is said to be the eldest of orc demigods. He embodies the raw, primal nature of destruction, a force untamed by any advancements of technology and magic. His realm is a testament to the orcish affinity for annihilation. Unlike the despoiled ruins that mark the realm of Verex, Zagresh’s territory is a visceral spectacle of destruction in its most pure and immediate form. Here, the very concept of permanence is anathema, and everything is transient, existing only to be obliterated in a spectacle of violence and annihilation.
The afterlife for Zagresh’s followers is an unending nightmare centred around the orc god’s insatiable hunger for destruction. His petitioners, reborn into his chaotic realm, find themselves amidst relentless cataclysms—volcanic eruptions that reshape mountains in moments, earthquakes that devour landscapes whole, and tempests that erase any trace of what once was. Death here is not an end but a pause, a momentary cessation before being thrust back into the ceaseless cycle of obliteration.
This domain is a place where storms of bone shards rain from darkened skies, where rivers of acid or boiling blood carve through ever-changing terrains of ash and fire. The very air pulses with the power of Zagresh’s roars, a sound that heralds doom and incites his petitioners to acts of frenzied destruction. The ground itself is alive with the threat of demise, with chasms that whisper promises of oblivion and mountains that crumble at a thought. The air is thick with the scent of decay, a reminder of the impermanence of all things.
Zagresh’s realm is a place of paradoxes, where life springs forth only to be consumed by death in the next instant. Here, the dead walk not as undead but as manifestations of destruction itself, their forms twisted into grotesque parodies of life, animated by the sheer force of Zagresh’s will. Monstrous creatures, born of the orc god’s insatiable lust for destruction, roam the landscape. These horrifying behemoths are constantly destroying and being destroyed in turn, their regenerative abilities a cruel gift from their patron.
Zagresh cuts a solitary figure among the Upstarts, his singular focus on annihilation setting him apart. While other powers scheme and forge alliances, Zagresh remains concerned only with the next great act of destruction. His interactions with other powers are marked by their understanding of his role as the embodiment of primal, uncontrollable devastation. While some may seek to harness his power for their ends, all respect the raw force that Zagresh represents, wary of drawing his attention and ire. And they are right to be wary, for the chant goes that Zagresh will indeed go on to play a pivotal part in the future of the Orcish pantheon. Nurva has prophesied that he is a harbinger of apocalypse, though whether this refers to the line of Gruumsh alone or an even greater destruction, isn’t clear.
Source: Inner Sea Gods [PF1e] p187
