Being of Ib
(aquatic)
(incorporeal)
Beings of Ib are amphibian aberrations native to the Dreamlands who worship Bokrug. Most beings of Ib are now incorporeal undead known as Ib shades, and few, if any, living beings of Ib survive to the present day on distant worlds.1
Appearance
A being of Ib is a nauseating green amphibian humanoid with webbed hands and feet, a lithe body, fragile skin, and sunken belly. Its face is froglike, with wide, flabby lips, and its overly large eye sockets are empty. Its ears are long and taper to two distinct points that protrude backward from the skull at an angle, with a third point descending downward to the shoulder in place of an earlobe. Its slimy skin and internal structures are strangely composed of the same alien matter.1
History
Aeons ago, the beings of Ib, rumoured to have descended from the Dark Tapestry, built the city of Ib from grey stone in the land of Mnar in the Dreamlands, on the shores of a deep lake to and from which no waterway flowed. They lived in Ib for ages until being slaughtered by the humans from the city of Sarnath, who were disturbed by their strange appearances and frightening deity. One thousand years later, the Ib shades rose from the lake, descended upon and brought doom to Sarnath, exterminated its inhabitants, and wiped the metropolis from existence.1
Society
Beings of Ib are mute, but are capable of learning and understanding languages. Their mother tongue is Ib, a sign language. 'Being of Ib' is an exonym given to this race by scholars; if they had a racial name, such a word has long been lost to time.1
In life, the beings of Ib were simple, peaceful fisher-folk, with little ambition or drive. They were content with hunting, fishing, and pursuing idle entertainments. They were, however, fanatical in their worship of Bokrug, and always built statues of him from a strange sea-green stone when they first settled an area. They never built underwater cities, preferring swampy lakeshores where the ground was firm enough to support stone edifices.1
As undead, Ib shades are much more violent and dangerous, and threaten all who cross Bokrug's followers with vengeful wrath. They have been known to rise from bodies of water to assault and destroy settlements whose denizens have harmed Bokrug's worshippers or caught his attention. Beyond this, Ib shades are content to remain hidden in the bogs and lakes in which they once dwelt, coexisting in relative peace with animals but tolerating no intelligent intruders.1
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 . “Bestiary” in Dreams of the Yellow King, 86–87. Paizo Inc., 2016
External links
- "The Doom That Came to Sarnath" (real-world story) on Wikipedia
- "The Doom That Came to Sarnath", H.P. Lovecraft. June 1920, The Scot.