"When the owl sings, the Indian dies." - Old Spanish saying.
In his divine form, Ah Pukuh typically resembles a tall, lanky, rotting corpse with gray skin and a fleshless skull for a head. His upper and lower body are adorned with black Mayan death tattoos. His finger and toe nails are claw-like and painted black. Despite being a skull, Ah Pukuh's head sports long, messy black hair, which he will often wrap into a topknot when not wearing his crown. Within his eye sockets, glowing, yellow-green eyes make themselves visible.
In terms of clothing, Ah Pukuh wears little. Atop his head sits an elegant feather-crested, jade headdress, which has a red and yellow patterned band maintaining the crest's shape. A pair of gold, skull-shaped earrings hang from the sides of Ah Pukuh's head, despite the fact that he appears to have no visible ears. Around his wrists, and one of his arms, Ah Pukuh wears jade and orange-red cloth bands that have many small bells attached to them. Around his neck, Ah Pukuh wears an elegantly patterned mantle with a glowing gem molded into the shape of a skull, attached to the front of it. To the sides of the mantle are a pair of equally elegant owl feather shoulderpads. Around his waist, Ah Pukuh bears a belt which has three skulls and several small pouches (each containing various reagents, including zombie dust, herbs and other strange items) tied to it. The upper portion of his legs are covered by a wrapped, robe-like piece of cloth with a long cape trailing behind. His lower legs and feet are wrapped in orange-red bandages.
On his back, Ah Pukuh wears a grisly looking rack-like backpiece sporting one skull and three shrunken heads with their eyes and mouths stitched shut. Each of these "trophies" are inhabited by the spirits of Ah Pukuh's most powerful under-lords, who serve as advisors, as well as useful tools for their lord.
During the earlier days of Mayan civilization, Ah Pukuh was an immensely cruel and arrogant being who relished in the torment and death of others, gaining power through wars and the bloody sacrifices made in his name. The dark god even took his time to stalk and kill individuals in the night for the mere purpose of his amusement. As time passed, and pre-Columbian Maya civilization faded from existence, Ah Pukuh effectively began to "mellow out", as a means of putting it simply. With a lack of worship, and sacrifices made in his name, Ah Pukuh's cruelty and blood-lust seemed to decrease as well.
Today, while still noticeably arrogant, Ah Pukuh possesses a particularly laid back, dismissive, a vast improvement over his disposition nearly 2000 years ago. Befitting his role as an overseer of the undead and lord of the underworld, Ah Pukuh possesses a strongly vindictive mindset when it comes to criminals and the punishments for their crimes; On more than one occasion, Ah Pukuh has executed a criminal for the crime of murder and sent their soul down to Metnal to face torment. After several incidents with other super-powered beings regarding his attitude towards criminals, the ancient deity has begrudgingly toned this behavior down to an extent in order to avoid attracting unwanted attention from other divine deities, or mortals who might actually pose a threat to him.
As the Mayan god of war and death and lord of the underworld, Metnal, Ah Pukuh possesses a vast and deadly arsenal of sorcerous powers, all of which are strongly associated with death, poison and disease.
Ah Pukuh is capable of wielding the chaotic, venomous energies of his home realm to devastating effect against his opponents, be it through small, venomous bolts, or massive fatal blasts of toxic Xibalban miasma.
- Lance of Metnal (Infernal Bolts): Ah Pukuh can project bolts of toxic Xibalban energy from the palms of his hand. While not particularly lethal, they can occasionally overwhelm a target with toxicity, causing them to gag and choke helplessly, thus leaving them open to other attacks.
- Putrid Wrath of Metnal (Defile): After a short build-up, Ah Pukuh can cast a massive bolt of Xibalban energy at an opponent, inflicting massive damage upon impact. The acidic qualities of the blast leave the victim vulnerable to further attacks from Ah Pukuh's unholy arsenal.
- Gluttonous Disc of Metnal (Ebon Void): Ah Pukuh can project a small gateway leading to Metnal on his wrist, forming a protective shield for Ah Pukuh to defend himself with. This shield can absorb most attacks, and additionally lances out at the source of the attack, stealing life energy from the target, and feeding it to Ah Pukuh
- Gate of Metnal (Planar Fracture/Teleport): Ah Pukuh is capable of tearing open the dimensional fabric separating the mortal world from Metnal, causing chaotic energy to spill in from the latter. The spiritual energy of Metnal is extremely harmful to most living beings and, apart from harming those nearby directly, can afflict victims with a wide variety of deadly secondary effects, such as causing their blood to boil or infecting them with potentially fatal diseases. Ah Pukuh can also use a more benign variant of this ability to teleport.
- Wings of Metnal (Flight): Ah Pukuh uses this harmless ability to fly.
Ah Pukuh is capable of summoning a cadre of undead servants to aid him in battle. Most of these servants are souls from Metnal who have been inserted into rotting bodies and brought to the mortal world by Ah Pukuh's power, though Ah Pukuh can raise nearby corpses as well. While most consider his usage of this power vile, Ah Pukuh claims that their forced servitude is part of their punishment for sins committed in the mortal world.
Ah Pukuh can hypnotize most mortal beings through his dark power, rendering them incapable of action and making them vulnerable to his other abilities. Ah Pukuh can also use his soul manipulating abilities in a more positive manner, as he is capable of resurrecting any recently deceased mortal being by returning the victim's soul to its body. This must be done within a certain time frame (before the victim's spirit passes on to the other side) and while Ah Pukuh is near the deceased victim.
Perhaps Ah Pukuh's most dangerous ability is the power to drain life energy from opponents and absorb it into his own body, increasing his own power in the long-run. He is capable of doing this at both close and long distances, although the former method is faster and far more deadly. Ah Pukuh will often comment about the various types of life energy he absorbs, stating that each seems to have its own unique "flavor".
Ah Pukuh can exhale a toxic miasma over a wide area. The miasma itself is capable of a variety of effects based on what Ah Pukuh wills it to do, be it rotting flesh, making opponents sick, or simply putting them to sleep. Regardless of the effect, the miasma generally has an almost overwhelming foul stench.
While limited in his ability to do so in the mortal plane, Ah Pukuh is capable of shape-shifting. Among his forms are a bulkier "demonic" form, a human form, as well as anthropomorphic owl, dog and jaguar forms, the last being something of an indirect "gift" from his lover. His favored human form is that of a humble, aged Mexican medicine man named Alvarez Raymundo-Kan.
Baak-Bahlam (name meaning "Bone Jaguar" in Yucatec) is the ancient war-sword of Mental and Ah Pukuh's favored weapon. An ancient, heiroglyphed macuahuitl with blades of enchanted, unbreakable obsidian, laced with a wide variety of toxins and disease, Baak-Bahlam is, metaphorically, Ah Pukuh's scythe, originally used to reap the souls of the wicked and send them along to Metnal. The weapon today is used as its mortal counterpart was used.
The blades of the weapon are capable of inflicting a variety of diseases upon mortal victims it strikes, leaving gaping infested wounds that are very difficult to heal, even with modern medical technology. These wounds can spread from their point of origin, rotting and necrosing flesh and muscle alike, leaving the victim in exquisite pain. If left untreated, this rot can consume the victim's entire body, rotting the flesh and muscle away to bone. In addition, if Ah Pukuh wills it so, the rate of rot can be sped up the point of being near instantaneous.
The weapon itself cannot be wielded by any other being but Ah Pukuh himself. Any other being that tries wielding the sword is liable to receive any of many poxes that coat its blades.
Curiously enough, Ah Pukuh has developed a strong and romantic, if not unusual, relationship with the Egyptian Goddess of protection, fertility and the home, Bast, following an encounter in Millennium City. The cat-like goddess is one of the few, if not the only being the dark god actually cares deeply for and openly shows affection towards, acting fiercely protective of her when she's threatened. He can often be heard lovingly referring to her as his "Bahlam-Ix" (A combined Yucatec name meaning "Jaguar Woman").