Yog-Sothoth
| Yog-Sothoth | |
|---|---|
| |
| (Deity) | |
| Titles | Lurker at the Threshold, The Key and the Gate |
| Realm | Dimension of Time |
| Alignment | Chaotic neutral |
| Areas of Concern | Gates Space Time |
| Worshipers | Alchemists, sorcerers, witches, wizards, arcane spellcasters, isolated lunatics |
| Cleric Alignments (1E) | |
| Domains (1E) | Chaos, Darkness, Knowledge, Travel, Void |
| Subdomains (1E) | Dark Tapestry, Exploration, Memory, Night, Stars, Thought |
| Favored Weapon | Dagger |
| Symbol | Black spiral |
| Sacred Animal | None |
| Sacred Colors | None |
| Images of Yog-Sothoth | |
| Source: Wake of the Watcher, pg(s). 67 | |
Yog-Sothoth is an Outer God, one of the the ancient, eldritch entities of tremendous power that dwell within the Dark Tapestry. He is said to be a terrible, self-aware manifestation of the Dimension of Time.[1][2]
Contents
Appearance and existence
Yog-Sothoth's appearance is described as a "congeries of iridescent spheres," a conglomeration of glowing balls of various sizes and colors. Yog-Sothoth is said to be coterminous with all of space and time, and therefore common beliefs among members of the Old Cults are that Yog-Sothoth is either the Dark Tapestry itself; a sapient embodiment of the Material Plane; some kind of living, intelligent, neighboring transitive plane coterminous with our own; or some other aspect of reality apart from our own Material Plane. Yog-Sothoth can exist in multiple times and places at once, but it seems that either he cannot properly intrude upon the Material Plane, or perhaps he can but has no reason to do so.[1][3]
Servants
The Great Old One Tawil at'Umr serves as the physical projection of Yog-Sothoth's will and pursues his goals across the dimensions. It is theorised that Tawil at'Umr is little more than the side effect of Yog-Sothoth brushing up against the Material Plane.[4]
Church of Yog-Sothoth
The cult of Yog-Sothoth is not an organised religion.[5] Worshipers of Yog-Sothoth tend to be isolated and often insane arcane spellcasters, such as alchemists, sorcerers, and wizards, searching for hidden eldritch secrets and hoping that Yog-Sothoth will reveal these mysteries to them in exchange for their worship. Other common worshipers are cults comprised almost exclusively of witches. Ultimately, Yog-Sothoth cares little for their worship, as he has no real need of them except for one purpose: mortal worshipers who will either directly summon him into Golarion's realm of existence themselves, or who will mate with him to produce a spawn of Yog-Sothoth or child of Yog-Sothoth[6] who will summon its progenitor instead. Once summoned to Golarion (or any other world, for that matter), Yog-Sothoth would be free to ravage the surrounding area and consume any and all lifeforms he can reach, corrupting the very space and time he touches with his foul and unnatural presence.[1]
Prophecy
Some members of the Old Cults believe that when the time comes and Yog-Sothoth is finally successfully summoned to Golarion, it will be the ultimate sign that the "Stars Are Right" and bring about the "End Times". For as it is written:
| “ | Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. | ” |
| — Luveh-Keraph, the ancient Prophet and Founder of the Old Cults | ||
Yog-Sothoth's entrance into Golarion's spacetime will come about when finally the "Stars Are Right" for this world, and its presence will begin the reawakening of the imprisoned and sleeping dead Great Old Ones and their return to power. Their re-emergence will sweep away the last vestiges of the world's sane mortal races, ushering in an age of darkness, madness, aberration, and utter, insane evil, marking the time for Nyarlathotep to gleefully fulfill his final goal and mission, to call upon the rest of the Outer Gods to turn their collective gaze upon Golarion, which would then be left a shattered world where all sanity and morality have been cast aside, and all creatures great and small are as the Great Old Ones themselves, dancing and singing and raging and murdering in an ecstasy of chaos and evil. If and when this comes to pass, it is said that not even the collective power of all the gods of Golarion would have any chance of stopping it.[1]
References
Original Source: H. P. Lovecraft, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", 1927, published posthumously in 1941[7]
For additional resources, see the Meta page.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 James Jacobs. (2011). Cults of the Dark Tapestry. Wake of the Watcher, p. 67. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-311-8
- ↑ Robert Brookes et al. (2018). Planar Adventures, p. 214. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-64078-044-6
- ↑ James Jacobs. (2016). The Elder Mythos. In Search of Sanity, p. 73. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-882-3
- ↑ Robert Brookes et al. (2017). Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 6, p. 149. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-931-8
- ↑ James Jacobs. (2018). Return of the Runelords Player's Guide, p. 8. Paizo Inc.
- ↑ John Compton, Adam Daigle, and James Jacobs. (2016). Bestiary. What Grows Within, p. 83. Paizo Inc.
- ↑ James Jacobs. (2016). The Elder Mythos. In Search of Sanity, p. 73. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-882-3
External links
- Yog-Sothoth (fictional character) on Wikipedia
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