Japalisura

Japalisuras have a perverse propensity for extracting embarrassing truths from the universe, using a combination of artifice and prophecy to obscure the truth and corrupt traditional soothsaying. They have a special talent for manipulation-feeding listeners' worst impulses and prejudices, telling them what their prey most want to hear, and twisting their perceptions to suit the japalisuras' own ends. All this occurs from behind a veil, though, for japalisuras are grotesque fiends with six arms, infinite faces, and an obsession with the profane.

The first japalisura rose from the remains of three demigod archers, sons of a goddess who feared their rise to power and slew them. Their merged form was so terrifying that they struck a deal with a powerful asura rana to alter their face into something more pleasing. The true cruelty of the enchantment became clear only later-the japalisura had a new face, but that face transformed into a different one every minute, each more hideous than the last.

Asuras are, above all, proof that the gods are not infallible. These fiends arose as physical manifestations of divine accidents, taking form when the gods themselves stumbled and blasphemed on a cosmic scale. As a result of their own divine genesis, an asura loves above all to undo the workings of the divine. They eagerly travel to the Material Plane, seeking out temples, congregations of faithful worshippers, and religious orders of all stripes to sow doubt and destroy what the gods seek to build.