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Shub-Niggurath

From PathfinderWiki
Shub-Niggurath
(Deity)

Titles
Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young
Realm
Alignment
Areas of Concern
Fertility,
Forests,
Monsters
Worshipers
Cleric Alignments (1E)
Domains (1E)
Animal, Chaos, Evil, Plant, Void
Subdomains (1E)
Dark Tapestry, Decay, Feather, Fur, Growth, Stars
Favored Weapon
Symbol
Radially arrayed goat heads
Sacred Animal
None
Sacred Colors
Green, white
Source: Wake of the Watcher, pg(s). 66

Shub-Niggurath1 is an Outer God belonging to a group of immensely powerful, yet inscrutable beings called the Elder Mythos, or the gods of the Dark Tapestry. Shub-Niggurath is the fertility deity of that pantheon. Her unholy symbol consists of three goat heads attached at the neck, with horns pointed outward to form a circular shape.2

Home

Shub-Niggurath resides in what is known as the Dark Tapestry: the darkness between the stars where inhabitants of Golarion believe true madness lies.3

Shub-Niggurath's mobility means she is able to materialize quite readily on any planet in the Material Plane especially if locals are dabbling with her spawn.4

Appearance

Shub-Niggurath appears as an alien, sanity-shaking, immense blob of living tissue and mist with tentacles, hooves, eyes, fanged mouths and other deformities protruding from every surface.256

Relationships

Shub-Niggurath is a fecund goddess and has mated with probably most Dark Tapestry deities, giving birth to powerful offspring. The goddess' title refers to the number of spawn she is likely to have born.26 Some of her most successful spawn are termed dark young of Shub-Niggurath, which start out as moit of Shub-Niggurath.7

On Golarion

The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young has a relatively strong following within the Inner Sea region compared to the other gods of her pantheon, usually localized in rural areas: especially forests, jungles or swamps. The largest cult following is around Lake Encarthan, which is also home to a piece of Shub-Niggurath: the Watcher in the Bay, the result of an occult ritual designed to call out Shub-Niggurath enacted long ago by her worshipper Ariadnah.268

Shub-Niggurath was responsible for spawning millions of neothelids into the surface of Golarion during the Age of Creation. Most neothelids venerate her and pray for her return so she might give birth to a new clutch of neothelids.9

Outside of Golarion, the mi-go population mostly worship Shub-Niggurath.10

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

  1. Shub-Niggurath on Wikipedia. Original source: H. P. Lovecraft and Adolphe de Castro, "The Last Test", 1927, published 1928;James Jacobs. “The Elder Mythos” in In Search of Sanity, 71. Paizo Inc., 2016
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 James Jacobs. “Cults of the Dark Tapestry” in Wake of the Watcher, 66. Paizo Inc., 2011
  3. James Jacobs, et al. The Inner Sea World Guide, 235. Paizo Inc., 2011
  4. Greg A. Vaughan & Robert G. McCreary. “Wake of the Watcher” in Wake of the Watcher, 15. Paizo Inc., 2011
  5. James Jacobs. “Cults of the Dark Tapestry” in Wake of the Watcher, 67. Paizo Inc., 2011
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 James Jacobs. “The Elder Mythos” in In Search of Sanity, 71. Paizo Inc., 2016
  7. James Jacobs & Greg A. Vaughan. “Bestiary” in Wake of the Watcher, 78. Paizo Inc., 2011
  8. Jim Groves. “Black Stars Beckon” in Black Stars Beckon, 55. Paizo Inc., 2017
  9. Thurston Hillman. Neothelid” in Darklands Revisited, 41–44. Paizo Inc., 2016
  10. James Jacobs & Greg A. Vaughan. “Bestiary” in Wake of the Watcher, 87. Paizo Inc., 2011

External links