Old Gods
The Old Gods, also known as the Great Old Ones, or the Great Elder Ones, are five, primordial god-like entities, and the first sentient creatures to have existed since the Known World came into being. A common descriptive term used for them is 'extra-planar', existing in multiple realms at once with varying influence on each layer of existence.
The Old Gods are poorly understood entities who are said to have come from the darkness between the stars. What is known is that they are truly ancient, and probably pre-date not only the world but also its more human-like gods. They are thought to be of vast, alien intelligence that mortals investigate at their own peril.
Those who follow them and draw Magical power from their worship are almost always insane, believing that these ancient beings will one day return to unmake the world and reassert their dominion over its ashes. The Old Ones, despite some of their limited ability to traverse the cosmos from their extra-planar prison, may influence the wider universe via dreams and mind control, and this influence may stretch well beyond their aptly-named Realm of Insanity to other worlds.
Azorr'Baloth is often depicted as a gargantuan, aquatic worm whose infinitely long figure stretches behind it for all eternity. Its body represents the past. Its head represents the present and its multitudes of forward-facing eyes represent many possible futures ahead of itself. Cults that worship Azorr-Baloth are said to be as old as time itself, and its worshippers said to be ancient.
Azorr'Baloth's spawn are the Aboleths, aquatic beings that dwell in watery environments, including ocean abysses, deep lakes, and the Elemental Plane of Water. They possess flawless and eternal memories, making them treasure troves of ancient lore, recalling moments from prehistory with perfect clarity.
Azorr'Baloth is worshipped by various aquatic races, those dwelling near coasts, and those driven to madness by haunted dreams. They are careful to hide their faith and only meet in barely trodden places, infecting others with terrible visions of their master rising from a sunken city. They know that when the stars are right, it will rise again, and it will be only a matter of time before their master breaks free from the Realm of Insanity and wipes the world clean to make way for its empire once more. They believe that their obeisance will cause Azorr'Baloth to reward them, but in truth, Azorr'Baloth is unlikely to notice them at all. Azorr'Baloth's temples are stark, cyclopean, monolithic buildings beneath the waves, but since most of Azorr'Baloth's worshippers on the surface lack the resources to access them, they usually make do with simple hidden shrines.
Baal'Hadar is usually depicted in ancient texts as an ever-shifting mass of multitudes of eyes, constantly dilating and focusing on the many different planes that comprise reality. It is said that the few who pay homage to Baal-Hadar are able to scry at will upon anyone they choose.
Baal'Hadar is worshipped by many cults who demand that its disciples achieve a high level of wisdom, and thus must remove their eyes. Only after removing their unholy eyes during a sacred initiation are they accepted into service. Those who lack the stamina, by not surviving the initiation, are thrown into a pit of those who were faithless. Worshippers of Baal'Hadar believe that, by cutting out their eyes, they shall be closer to achieving some sort of twisted enlightenment. It is said the most powerful priests of these cults are able to commune with Baal'Hadar through their dreams, achieving a form of 'True Sight'. To its most crazed followers, Baal'Hadar witnesses all, and the Old Gods' name is invoked when experiencing scopaesthesia, the sensation of being watched.
However, Baal'Hadar's most fervent followers, and its children, are the Beholders, also known as the Hadari; paranoid and xenophobic enough to closely observe any and all who might approach their lairs. It is said that the chosen Hadari of Baal'Hadar have the capability of mass hypnosis on an extremely subtle level through dreams, to the point where not even their victims know of its effects.
C'tethx is often considered in ancient texts as a weaver of fate. Her myriad children, the Arachis are seen as her incarnations, building webs between planes; omens of ill luck and good fortune alike. It's heavily debated among the few scholars who do study ancient history whether this personification of fate has a kernel of reality to it.
Her legs, infinite in number, pluck the threads of destiny and weave her silk to form paths for the lucky while severing the fibers of the unfortunate.
Even despite the lack of widely available information on the Old Gods, C'tethx seems to be more well known only in that none know her as a spider-like eldritch being, but rather utter her name merely as a saying, phrase, or expression, and unlike other Old Gods, C'tethx is not seen as inherently evil, but neither is she inherently good.
C'tethx is worshiped as a god by soothsayers, prophets, and diviners of moral ambiguity, and darker still, a coven of seven brood-mothers; powerful and intelligent spider queens of Arachis societies that inhabit the deeper caves and dark places of the world.
Gorl'Boroth is usually associated with unending, all-consuming life and its inevitable self-destructive tenancies, and it is for this reason that fungal growths are seen as signs of its influence.
Gorl'Boroth is the great force of decay and the weaver of plague and pestilence. All things, no matter how solid and permanent they seem, are liable to eventual corruption and death. Even the process of creation is but the precursor to destruction and decay. The bastion of today is tomorrow's ruin, the maiden of the morning is the crone of the night, and the hope of a moment is but the foundation of regret.
Gorl'Boroth is a favored deity worshipped by fringe necromancers specializing in plague and death. Favorite recruiting grounds for cultists of Gorl'Boroth include hospices, leper colonies, and filthy slums; anywhere that the diseased and dead congregate. Some cultists may secretly infect water supplies or food stores, or simply wander among the crowded city streets passing their illnesses to everyone they meet. Of course, all cultists must act surreptitiously, for many wary eyes wander, and the cults of Gorl'Boroth prefer to contaminate from within. When woodworms burrow into the oak beams that support the walls and roof of a proud mansion, the entire edifice will eventually collapse. Likewise, the cultists of Gorl'Boroth worm their way into society, spreading disease and death, thwarting those who try to stem infection and sickness.
Many Gnolls are fanatically devoted to such a force of disease and death. Some gnolls believe it is their purpose as Gorl'Boroth's servants to cleanse the weak from the world, serving a higher purpose through the slaughter they had spread. Typically, gnolls see their brutality as a sign of their devotion to the Old God, adorning themselves in teeth to mimic depictions of it.
The most devoted among Gorl'Boroth's followers will attempt to infect members of a settlement's winder populace with a disease known as Chaos Phage, an extra-planar disease vital to the parasitic reproduction cycle of Gorl'Boroth's children, the Slaadi, a race of ravenous, monstrous frog-like entities, keen only to breed and devour. To their simple minds, all things must come to an end, and for the Slaadi, that end is through Gorl'Boroth.
every action, plot, and subtle intrigue in a cosmic game of manipulation and subterfuge. At the end of each of these sundered and repurposed threads lay the ensnared souls of his mortal servants and agents who believe they follow their own paths when in fact these paths were laid out for them by Yug'Thuul itself.
No mortal can fully comprehend the full nature of the intricately woven, multi-layered plots of The Deceiver and to attempt to do so can only lead to insanity. Yug'Thuul has a firm hold on the hands and minds of mortals from beyond the Astral Filament. In fact, many more mortals serve The Deceiver than are aware of it, and its scheming and many names often obscure the true force behind events.
The Deceiver also delights in revolt and anarchy, toppling the old order and heralding a new one, only to bring that crashing down as well. Yug'thuul's cultists sew and nurture the seeds of discontent, pruning where necessary until the mutterings of dissent grow into rebellions that threaten to undermine the teetering edifice of civilization. Cultists of the Deceiver can contort an agitator’s quest for social justice into a burning desire to overturn society, and the instigators of riots that challenge authority may never realize that they are instruments of the Deceiver.
The Deceiver is also thought to meddle in the dominions of its kin. Yug'thuul is said to be a manipulator of time, for its plots weave themselves through time itself, intruding into the dominion of Azorr'Baloth, and the nature of Yug'Thuul's machinations also cloak its true intentions from the sight of Baal'Hadar. The all-consuming nature of Gorl'Boroth is starved as Yug'thuul shapes its plans around and away from its hungry maws.
For this reason, though the Old Gods seek to usurp and fight among one another, a timeless, bitter rivalry has pitted all in some manner or another against Yug'Thuul.
The children of Yug'Thuul are the Illithid, a psychically-gifted, hive-minded race of slavers and mind-manipulators. Their long-term plans span for thousands of years and they await the day when Yug'thuul will return to them.
Origins
The Old Gods came to the world from the cosmic dark. Some ancient beings recount tales of them dropping from the primordial skies. Others wonder if they've always been, and the world merely formed around them. According to some tales told by primal, elemental entities, there existed a time before even the four elemental titans of Air, Water, Earth and Fire. This time is referred to as the Primeval Time, where these five Old Gods raged and battled for dominance across the world, each heading an empire of nightmarish creatures; spawns of their own blood. Beholders, Aboleths, Mind Flayers, Slaadi, and Arachis. The Old Gods grew upon the world like mountainous cancers of blighted flesh and mind-splitting horror, commanding great armies of their offspring. They fought for dominance of the world through their nightmarish empires. As chaos raged across the world, an object referred to as the Birthing Star fell to the world from above and gave birth to the leylines and the four Elemental Titans of Water, Air, Fire and Earth, who sought to bring stability to the world. This clash began the Primeval War between elementals and these nightmarish empires. Eventually, the elemental titans' creations, the Primordial Dragons, destroyed the five nightmare empires. The titans banished the Old Gods beyond the Astral Filament, imprisoning them in their own plane which, with time, became the Realm of Insanity.Followers
The Old Gods' crazed worshipers seem to spring from all of the world's cultures and peoples. The Old Gods are imprisoned beyond the veil, yet their power is so vast that their maddening, destructive taint seeps out from their realm and appears to tear away at the sanity of some of the world's inhabitants. To what extent sentient beings can fall under the influence of the Old Gods in this manner is not well understood, but those who hear the Old whisperings most clearly have joined together in small, closed, secretive circles and cults, most of which have lost every ounce of their sanity and have become completely unpredictable, or even malevolent and forever changed. These Old Cults perform prehistoric rites in dark places, designed to bring about the return of their gods to the world from the Realm of Insanity. Other followers try to open magical doors to their patrons in an attempt to summon alien creatures, which are then released to wreak havoc. Some scholars believe that the Old Gods are simply the inventions of their fever-brained devotees, but this is clearly false, as clerics of these cyclopean monstrosities can draw on divine power and cast spells. The Old Cults have few allies, even among each other, and are rarely noticed by their patrons. Cultists primarily worship the Old Gods for power and use the promise of power or nightmarish truths to gather weak-willed pawns which they then use to further their goals.| Old God | Alignment | Dominions of Influence | Offspring | Rival Gods |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azorr'Baloth | N | Eternity, knowledge, timelessness, and stagnation | Aboleths | Gorl'Boroth |
| Baal'Hadar | CE | Paranoia, fear, envy, and sixth-senses | Beholders | C'tethx, Gorl'Boroth |
| C'tethx | LN | Destiny, fate, luck, misfortune, and order | Arachis | Yug'Thuul |
| Gorl'Boroth | CE | Chaos, decay, destruction, entropy, and undeath | Slaadi | Azorr'Baloth |
| Yug'Thuul | LE | Change, deception, greed, knowledge, and time | Mind Flayers | C'tethx |
Azorr'Baloth, The Wandering Eternity
The Wandering Eternity, also known as Azorr'Baloth, represents the slow, endless forward-march of time. Azorr'Baloth is perhaps the eldest of the Old Gods; the very first to arrive on the world during the beginning of the Primeval Time.Baal'Hadar, The Sight Beyond Sight
The Sight Beyond Sight, also known as Baal'Hadar, is considered a primordial entity of extended sight, dreams, and sixth senses; an eternal watcher that observes events unfold throughout the cosmic dark, able to peer through the inner and outer planes at will.C'tethx, The Weaver of Fate
Gorl'Boroth, The Ruinous Maw
Gorl'Boroth is considered to be a force of destruction and hunger by the scant few ancient texts that mention it. The entity is often depicted as a cyclone of gnashing teeth and cavernous mouths, forever twisting and spinning. At its peak sits thousands of clustered spore sacs containing its innumerable young. Ever reproducing, ever birthing, and ever starving for more.Yug'Thuul, The Deceiver
Within ancient texts, the Deceiver is considered the most powerful and devious of the Old Gods, and is without question, the most disturbing and least comprehensible to mortal minds if only for its ability to constantly shift, morph, and transform. The Deceiver's skin crawls with constantly changing faces comprised of smaller tendrils that leer at and mock all who look upon it. When it deigns to speak to other beings, these tendrils repeat its words, often with subtle but important differences of intonation and meaning. It is the Deceiver who manipulates and meddles with the carefully plotted threads that are woven by C'tethx to benefit itself rather than the grander cosmos, steering
Type
Religious, Pantheon
Alternative Names
The Old Ones, The Great Elder Ones, The Great Old Ones
Location
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