Gug
- For another meaning of "Gug", please see Gug (language).
Ancient and grotesque giants banished since time immemorial, the gug is as savage a foe as it is alien. Having been exiled beneath the earth for countless generations, the appearance and morphology of gugs marks them as clearly alien. Whatever they are, they clearly have no place on Golarion. This origin would be easier to overlook if it were not for the occasional sign of a far greater intelligence influencing the bestial gugs.1
Appearance
Gugs at first glance resemble mangy, furred giants. However, even the briefest of glances reveals them to be far weirder than any sort of giant. Their most obvious difference is that they have four arms. Rather than four separate arms, gugs have their extra pair of arms growing out of what should be their elbows. Their eyes are pink, bloodshot, and are sheltered by unnatural bony protrusions. Instead of opening vertically, a gug's mouth opens horizontally across the top of the head, turning the gug's head into a single oversized abyss of teeth.1
Ecology
Gugs are not native to Golarion, but came to this world ages ago from another reality tied to the Dreamlands. They were lured here by the Rough Beast, Rovagug, who called to them through a magical portal located in the Orvian vault known as the Midnight Mountains. Once in this world, they fell under the god's influence and began to multiply.2
Their flexible body structure allows them to crawl through spaces far smaller than their appearance would suggest. Gugs are both carnivorous and ravenous, and though they favor the flesh of sentient creatures, gugs can also survive on the subterranean flora of their homes. They are one of the few creatures that find nourishment in undead flesh, although they have an inherent fear of ghouls.1
Habitat and society
Gugs live in the Darklands below Golarion's surface, particularly in Sekamina, and speak a gurgling language known simply as Gug.3 They normally dwell in small nomadic groups that wander the Darklands, hunting to feed their ravenous appetite. Occasionally gugs are found inhabiting huge underground cities that seem completely at odds with their bestial nature. There is no definite explanation for this behavior, and regardless of whomever built these cities, they belong to the gugs now.1
Numerous gugs live in the Scales district of Ilvarandin, one of the vaults of Orv. They are sometimes taken as hosts by the xoarians of nearby High Ilvarandin.4
Religion
Gugs do not traditionally make religion a key part of their society, but gug cities feature prominent temples to deities of the obscure Elder Mythos. Most gugs know of entities such as Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, and Yog-Sothoth, but even among gugs, these Outer Gods are more feared and respected than prayed to.5 Gugs have also revered Rovagug, who called them to Golarion.12
On distant worlds
Gugs have also been spotted on the remote planet of Aucturn.6
Gug hide
Their skin is sometimes used to make gug hide armor, which allows its wearer to split their arms in two at the elbow to gain four hands for short span of time.7
References
Paizo published a major article on gugs in Darklands Revisited.
For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 . “Bestiary” in Skeletons of Scarwall, 83–83. Paizo Inc., 2008
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 . “Sekamina” in Into the Darklands, 36. Paizo Inc., 2008
- ↑ . “Exploring the Darklands” in Into the Darklands, 3. Paizo Inc., 2008
- ↑ . “Ilvarandin” in Lost Cities of Golarion, 8. Paizo Inc., 2011
- ↑ . “Monsters A-Z” in Bestiary, 198. Paizo Inc., 2019
- ↑ . “Chapter 3: Aliens” in Distant Worlds, 57. Paizo Inc., 2012
- ↑ . “Chapter 2: Running Planar Adventures” in Planar Adventures, 47. Paizo Inc., 2018
External links
- The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (real-world novella) on Wikipedia
- The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath on Wikisource