The Great Old Ones
The Great Old Ones are otherworldly entities of almost unimaginable power—beings completely alien toedit humanity, both physiologically and spiritually. They exist in the forgotten corners of distant worlds or lost dimensions, yet their power is so great they can influence certain sensitive
mortal minds in their dreams and nightmares, even if such influence is as accidental as a star’s gravitational pull on a tiny mote of dust adrift in space. In such ways, cults devoted to the Great Old Ones can rise on worlds throughout the Material Plane, even without prior contact between these worlds. Some of the Great Old Ones grant access to the domain of Void and its associated subdomains (Dark Tapestry and Stars).
While not all of the Great Old Ones are evil, all are forces of chaos. Their cults are almost always evil and cause harm and madness, but the Great Old Ones are generally content to ignore lesser life such as humans, elves, and dwarves. Yet when their attention is garnered, the results can be catastrophic on an immense scale—for just as the ant who bites someone’s toe invites swift destruction on a scale its feeble mind can’t envision, so too does humanity invite unimaginable ruin by delving into the affairs of these powerful creatures.
The Great Old Ones themselves often serve and worship even greater powers, such as Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Shub-Niggurath, and Yog-Sothoth. Those creatures are the Outer Gods, and whereas the Great Old Ones can be thought of as akin to demigods, the Outer Gods are themselves true deities.
Golarion
In the world of Pathfinder there are several dozen sentient species (normal, magical, aberrant, and demonic) living on the world of Golarion, some native and others not. Which includes dragons, krakens, giants, elves, dwarves, lizardmen, 100+ ft kaiju, demons, necromancers, vampires, zombies, naga, aboleth, serpentmen, merfolk, kitsune, spirits, elementals, and gods among many other races and species. Humans are one of the races and there are analogs of the various ancient and medieval human civilizations of Earth, and it's believed that the humans on Golarion are actually immigrants
and/or refugees of another world (Earth). The greatest human civilization on Golarion is that of the empires on the continent of Tian Xia. Empires and kingdoms which are very similar to those of China, Japan, and Korea on Earth, and populated by both humans and non-human sentient species. The humans of Tian Xia have a physical appearance similar to the peoples of East Asia and Southeast Asia on Earth, and similar cultures.
The planet Golarion is part of a solar system with a number of inhabited worlds, each of which has multiple sentient species and the presence of magic, which altogether have over 100 sentient species of which some are from the system and others elsewhere (outside the solar system or from other dimensions). Through the use of magic (e.g. portals) some of these species have spread to neighboring planets within the system. The eldritch entities and species of the Cthulhu Mythos (known as the Elder Mythos) have a strong presence in the multiverse. The pantheon of the Elder Mythos are one of many pantheons and deities in the cosmos, with a good number in Golarion alone (some of which consist of human-like gods). While magic is a strong force in the universe, among the stars there are many spacefaring civilizations with high technology (interstellar starships, robots, artificial intelligence, directed energy weapons) and a few of those races have visited Golarion, some of them with an agenda and others due to their ship crashing on the world or as refugees. Resulting in alien artifacts (e.g. robots), mysterious alien ruins, wrecked alien ships, and isolated colonies of aliens. The worlds of these solar system also have portals to other dimensions inhabited by elemental beings, demonic races, etc., and with the right magic, one can travel to and from those dimensions.
Gods of the Mythos
In Golarion and its solar system, the gods of the Dark Tapestry (aka, the Elder Mythos) consist of two groups or pantheons. The Outer Gods are true gods, while the Great Old Ones are more akin to demigods, archdevils, or demon lords.
Great Old Ones
Great Old Ones respect the Outer Gods, and are often seen as their high priests or heralds. The Great Old Ones are nowhere near as mobile as the Outer Gods. In fact, many of them are imprisoned, waiting to be freed by a catastrophe. Which prophets across many worlds have predicted will result in the end times for their world and the Great Old Ones ascension into the Outer Gods' realms.
Mortals have a poor understanding of the Great Old Ones, who are believed to reside in the void between the stars, known as the Dominion of the Black or the Dark Tapestry. It's known that they are truly ancient beings, likely older than Golarion and it's human-like deities. Mortals that investigate these vast alien intelligences do so at their peril. Their followers and those who get their magical power by worshiping them are usually insane, and believe that that when they return the world will be unmade. Though some are limited in their ability to travel, they are able to influence the universe via mind control and dreams, and thereby even those whom are imprisoned can spread their influence to other worlds.
Outer Gods
The Outer Gods in turn are a pantheon of incomprehensibly ancient and completely alien gods which exist outside of reality or the concepts of souls, faith, and quintessence. Beings who are so ancient, that according to scholars they exited before the Great Beyond and Pharasma, and therefore predated the concept of mortality. Most of the Outer Gods reside within the Material Plane, in the Dark Tapestry. Beings that are able to travel across the universe, and out of time and reality.
As vast, alien intelligences the Outer Gods perceive reality in such an inexplicable way, that they are unable to recognize what they do as being evil. Those who follow them or gain their magical power by worshiping them are usually insane, believing that when they return the world will end. Outer Gods in turn are usually unconcerned with mortals and do not desire or need their worship, and some of them aren't even understand the concept of faith.
Text from Paizo 2018
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