Great Race Of Yith

Description

Appearance

The Great Race currently inhabits forms that resemble broad-based cones with four tentacles sprouting from the top. Two tentacles end in claws, while one ends in trumpet-like ears and the fourth ends in a globe sporting three eyes and several small tentacles.

Combat

In combat, they can attack with their two claws (as above), but they prefer to use their lightning guns: short range 100 y; 32 charges/pack, one round to reload; any number of charges can be used per shot, but each charge beyond 4 has a 5% cumulative chance of burning out the gun; each charge causes 1d10 points of damage due to electricity, save vs. wand for half.

Habitat/Society

The Great Race is quite civilized, living in highly advanced cities. They are quite adept at psionics, and the average Great Race member has the power of an 8th level psionicist. They practice time travel, or more properly mental projection through time. They are also voracious consumers of knowledge, and have built up vast libraries.

Ecology

The Great Race (in their current forms) feed only on liquids, and reproduce only rarely.

For more information, see "The Shadow Out of Time" by H.P. Lovecraft.

Also in this section of the source

From:

Greetings,

Following this message is the third and final installment of my AD&D adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. I would like to thank everyone who sent me private messages about the previous installments; as I have not had access to ADND-L over the past three weeks, I will have to check the archives to see if there were any responses posted to the net.

Thematically, this is the catch-all section. It includes Hastur and Shub-Nigurrath, who are in a sense "wedded", the Fungi from Yuggoth who worship Shub-Niggurath and the Byakhee who appear to be servants of Hastur; Cthugha and his servitors, the Fire Vampires; and Ithaqua, the Wendigo or the Walker on the Wind.

Adelheyde

Shub-Niggurath (The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young) (Greater Goddess)

Shub-Niggurath represents the essence of fertility among the Great Old Ones, which pantheon is already quite fecund as it is; she is also strongly associated with the forces of the element of earth. While she is not the equal of Azathoth or Yog-Sothoth in the grand scheme of things, she is by far the most widely worshipped of the Great Old Ones, and one or more of her masks are revered in nearly every culture of Terra in the home material plane of the Mythos. It is this broad popularity that gives her her status as a greater goddess. She is most often identified as female, but as the veritable essence of procreation, she can also be male or hermaphroditic. She can and does reproduce in all three modes; most famous, however, is her mating-partnership (often anthropomorphized as a "marriage") with Hastur.

Shub-Niggurath is almost never seen in her natural form, which doubtless involves a number of tentacles and a considerable amount of primordial slime.

Role-playing Notes: Of all the Great Old Ones, Shub-Niggurath is the most benign in her attitudes toward mortals. While her motives in this are not certain, it is likely that she actively courts worship in this fashion, thereby enhancing her own power to advance the goals of the Great Old Ones.

Statistics: AL ce; WAL any; AoC fertility; SY black goat

Shub-Niggurath's Avatar (wizard 20, priest 20, psionicist 20)

Shub-Niggurath's Avatars almost never appear in her natural form, preferring one of her masks, whichever is most appropriate to the viewer. For example, an audience comprised of those from a Hindu culture would be faced with an avatar indistinguishable from one of Kali, while Celts would see a man bearing the antlers of a stag on his head, and would be known as Cernunnos; her witches, for that matter, would likely see a humanoid creature with the head of a black goat, referred to by some as "Baphomet", which is also the name given to her symbol, especially if her head is depicted in frontal view, circumscribed by an inverted pentagram. (This is the idol the Templars were accused of worshipping.) The powers of her Avatar will vary according to form; where appropriate (as in the case of her Cernunnos-form), substitute druid for priest.

Duties of the Priesthood

There are many different kinds of priest serving Shub-Niggurath, and these will differ from each other according to the priests' cultures and the masks that they worship. A priest of Shub-Niggurath as Ishtar would be indistinguishable from a real priest of Ishtar; the same rule applies whether the mask is of Cybele, Chalchihuitlicue, Hecate, Kali or Cernunnos. Naturally, the real divinities that resemble her masks will resent her intrusion in planes where THEY hold sway. In a more pastoral environment, priests of Shub-Niggurath may be druids; whether they are neutral or chaotic evil will depend upon the level of revelation, while all other particulars remain standard. Under active persecution, her worshippers may be witches instead; in some cases, her priests worship her in her true nature, as the Great Old One Shub-Niggurath. It is this comparatively rare group that is described below.

Requirements: AB standard; AL ce; WP any; AR none; SP all, animal, charm, combat*, creation, elemental earth, healing, plant, weather*; PW nil; TU nil.

Hastur (He Who Must Not Be Named) (Intermediate God)

Hastur is the half-brother of Cthulhu and mate of Shub-Niggurath. Like them, he enjoys a special affinity with one of the elements, in his case air. He is also in some way associated with flight through space, and is thus more widely recognized in Wildspace than on the ground.

Hastur's natural form is rarely seen, but it is believed to be bloated and scaly, and somewhat fluid. Like his half-brother, he also has octopoidal and reptilian elements in his appearance.

Role-playing Notes: Hastur is even more aloof regarding mortal affairs than most of his kin.

Statistics: AL ce; WAL any evil or cn; AoC air, space; SY image of Hastur.

Hastur's Avatar (fighter 20, wizard 20, psionicist 20)

Hastur's Avatars usually appear as massive creatures, rather reptilian in face and form, with tentacles covering much of his body. This last aspect appears to be a familial trait.

Special att/def: Hastur's avatars regenerate 5 hp/round, and can summon 2-20 byakhee. Creatures that fly naturally cannot attack Hastur.

Duties of the Priesthood

The priests of Hastur are little different from most priests of the Great Old Ones, in that they shower adoration upon an entity that could care less about such things, save for the enhanced power such worship brings; their only expectation is to work for the freedom of the Great Old Ones (in the home planes) or their introduction into other planes. They are rather common in Wildspace, though held as abominations by most other cults.

Requirements: AB standard; AL ce; WP a; AR a; SP all, combat, elemental air, weather; PW nil; TU nil.