Publication History
The King of Ghouls was first mentioned in the first edition Monster Manual under the demon lord Yeenoghu's entry, where the King supposedly paid homage to the gnoll lord. Practically nothing was mentioned about the King of Ghouls until years later in the Dungeon magazine adventure "Kingdom of the Ghouls" by Wolfgang Baur, where he was the major villain and was named Doresain, Master of the White Kingdom. This "Doresain" wasn't explicitly connected to the earlier King of Ghouls, however, and was said to have been summoned to the Prime Material Plane from either the Negative Energy Plane or the Plane of Shadow.
In 3rd edition's Book of Vile Darkness, the King of Ghouls was little more than an advanced fiendish ghoul.
While other unofficial d20 supplements provided alternative statistics for the King, he was promoted to a demigod in Libris Mortis.
Doresain was given full game statistics as a powerful servant of Orcus in the 4th edition Monster Manual, and a temple of Doresain is described in the 4th edition book Open Grave. Doresain is the primary antagonist of the adventure E2 Kingdom of the Ghouls, who marshals his allies and servitors as he "labors towards the culimatination of a secret project, an undertaking designed to catapult his lord and master into a position of unfettered power over the souls of every creature in existence". He sought to discomfit the Raven Queen and put her divine office of Death in peril, sending his servant Elder Arantham to steal souls from her at Death's Reach in the Shadowfell. Elder Arantham acquired the extremely powerful primordial Timesus, and Doresain oversees the preparations for sending Timesus to Orcus. The player characters must confront Doresain in his palace, although he has already sent the primordial to Orcus using a chaos ship by the time the characters arrive.
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