Elder Things

The Elder Things, or Great Old Ones, are Unliving beings that menaced the early Universe. No two of them are exactly alike, but most are almost inconceivably powerful, are malignant or indifferent to mortal life, and cannot be killed in the conventional sense. Their presence in a planetary system is usually enough to dominate the minds and thoughts of all others within that System unless they are somehow bound into slumber or neutralised.

Nature

In the early days of the first world, before the Universe took on its current shape, both the quantum and platonic fields were nearly uniform. However, slight ripples in each field could evolve into self-sustaining entities. In the physical realm of the quantum field, these ripples became the building blocks for vast structures, including galaxies and their clusters. In contrast, within the metaphysical realm of the platonic field, similar ripples and fluctuations transformed into something entirely different—free-floating thoughts and ideas that, if strong enough, could literally think themselves into being.

The greatest of these thought beings were the primordial ones, the Triarch of the Source, the Monitor and the Greater Darkness. Their emergence was followed by the appearance of their servants on the Immanent Council – the Dominions (the great caretaker personifications) and the Viritues (the leaders of the Pax Dei). However, there were other primordial ones that defied such easy classification. These were things born in the chaos and the darkness, half-formed ideas in the platonic field that assumed impossible bodies for themselves in the material world.

Races of Elder Things

The Demiurge and his armies fought these creatures at the height of the First World and imprisoned many of them in tombs sealed with the Oneiromancer’s Sigil. The largest of these beings never truly achieved full consciousness and now form the Great Dreamers imprisoned in the abyss below the Dream Lands. Their vast dreams form the foundation upon which the rest of that Domain is built.

There were also races of Elder Thing that managed to find some permanence. The most persistent was the Sun Eaters, a species of vampiric dark clouds that consume bright young stars. They have been observed to have animalistic responses corresponding to migratory and navigational impulses. These beings were a significant threat to the first generation of stars during the First World and were virtually hunted to extinction. However, some dormant Sun Eater lava survived, and there have been occasional outbreaks during later times.

Individual Creatures

Besides the unnamed masses, there are a scant few Elder Things that have gained their own names. These entities are usually singular. The number includes:

• Iog-Sotha – A malformed, malignant cloud of filamentary flesh and eyes. This entity is a cruel reflection of the Monitor and the Oracle; it sees the Universe as they do – unbound by time or space. However, unlike its wiser counterparts, Iog-Sotha will bargain its knowledge with lesser minds in exchange for foul tribute. The danger is that even a fragment of what it shares is usually enough to burn alive even the strongest mortal soul. The Demiurge subdued and imprisoned it in a dimensional vault on the rim of the Universe at the height of his crusade against the Elder Things. However, Iog-Sotha’s parasitical consciousness is wound into the platonic field like the filaments of mycelium, meaning that it is present at all points in time and can never fully be contained. The best that can be done is to deal with its cults and priests when they invariable sprout on random and isolated worlds.
• Ichthultu – One of the Elder Things with a more substantial physical presence. Ichthultu appears as a massive water-adapted kaiju, but its most dangerous influence is in its powerful telepathy, which is strong enough to touch the minds of an entire planet’s population at once. It was wounded in an encounter with the Empyrean and the Efficatius but managed to escape. Ichthultu remained unaccounted for at the end of the First World and would not be found until well into the time of the Third World.
• The King of Tears – A large worm-like body covered with thousands of black eyes and a front end that is a mass of red tentacles. Simply looking at the King of Tears is usually enough to kill a mortal. Its aim and desires, if it genuinely has any, are unknown. The King has been subdued and entombed multiple times but has a knack for being awakened by unwitting mortals.
• Yib-Nogeroth – The “son” and chief priest of Iog-Sotha. A massive, amorphous mass of tentacles and fins. It always attempts to awaken its father and raise his cults fully. However, its own malevolence often ends up consuming the world that it has infested before it is successful. Whether there is one or multiple incarnations of Yib-Nogeroth is unknown as it has been destroyed and entombed many times since the forces of the Demiurge first defeated it.
• Three Faces of Evil – The origin of this beast is contested, some consider it an Apokolitian superweapon, others merely that it has been co-opted by Apokolips. It is a red-three-headed dragon squid whose heads bear the names Terror, Sin, and Wickedness. It’s attacks on Lansinar and Atlantis prompted the formation of the Council of Eternity and the creation of the Rock of Eternity to imprison it.