In this sense, the stronger a slaad was, the more it could define itself as an individual, not only establishing their individuality in their own minds, but in those across the the multiverse. In order for a slaadi to become truly free, it had to be more powerful, thus allowing them to freely do what they wished rather than what others wished of them. The slaadi were exemplars of chaotic neutrality, reveling in their freedom, but the weaker slaadi never knew true freedom for they were constantly at the bullying whims of the dominating slaadi above them. As it was understood, however, becoming a slaad lord was a matter of individuality. The slaad lords were likely as old as the multiverse itself, but the process to becoming one was unclear. Little information could be wrung out of the slaadi regarding their lords. Ygorl himself tried keeping the number of slaad lords low, and sought out death slaadi that seemed close to becoming slaad lords in order to consume them. Ygorl strongly discouraged the notion the slaad lords were deities and all slaadi were under orders to devour anyone inquiring about slaadi gods. In order to avoid others, whether from the Material Plane or otherwise, seeing them as just another slaadi caste, thus preventing himself from being harassed by an endless stream of adversaries, Ygorl had made several moves to limit knowledge of them. Too many multiverse beings were eager to prove themselves, and an eager host of hotheads and adventurers would seek to best him if such a future came to pass.
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He believed that if the slaad lords became too familiar, and knowledge of their existence too widespread, it would create a series of annoying diversions. A major element of Ygorl's rule was secrecy he tried the hardest of the slaad lords to perpetuate the mystery of their kind. Likely this was due to their own disinterest with holding such authority, or possibly because Ygorl had so few rules that most didn't care. While Ygorl was technically considered Limbo's planar ruler, the other slaad lords had never challenged his "rule". Still, some slaadi were more loyal to the lords than others, and some slaadi were willing to obey the commands of representatives, with the slaad lords themselves rarely looking beyond the slaadi for servitors. Their "rulership" of the slaad race was a combination of bullying, beguiling, and physically forcing those below them to do their bidding, and though the slaad lords stood at the top of the chaotic hierarchy, the hierarchy itself often extended only so far as the powerful could reach. The slaad lords themselves likely had little interest in ruling anything, rarely if ever demanding service, though they still self-styled themselves lords. Rather, based on slaadi descriptions, the slaad lords were more like the great heroes of their race, standing at the peak of their hierarchy. Though the common slaadi revered the slaad lords, few considered them actual deities, including the slaadi themselves. The slaad lords, however, were a different story, for the slaadi regarded their paragons with both respect and fear. They didn't recognize the gods as divine nor did they bow to mighty primordials, which, given their already chaotic tendencies, meant that any task given to them was likely to go wrong somehow.
While the slaadi were often used as intelligent minions of chaos by the various deities and demigods of Limbo (as servants, messengers, and soldiers), they were predictably unreliable. Like gods, most possessed their own realms, and their domains remained stable even in their absence.
The slaad lords were extremely powerful beings, especially when on their home planes. If a slaad lord's true name was spoken, there was a small chance they would manifest themselves, after which they would take the summoner (potentially killing them in the process), to Limbo. Their embrace of chaos could be so staggering as to make them difficult to understand, and their expressions varied in terms of both the potential harm they caused and the actual maliciousness with which they acted. The slaad lords each embodied their own flavor of chaos, and as such each acted differently, although as a whole they were creatures of unrivaled ferocity. Each sought to express chaos in a way beyond what the normal slaad form could offer-some didn't even resemble regular slaadi in any way. All slaad lords had a different appearance to some degree.