Yog-Sothoth

Yog-Sothoth

(Deity)

Titles

Lurker at the Threshold
The Key and the Gate
The Watcher

Realm

Dimension of Time
Dark Tapestry
All times and places

Alignment

Chaotic neutral

Areas of Concern

Gates
Space
Time

Worshipers

Alchemists, sorcerers, witches, wizards, arcane spellcasters, isolated lunatics

Edicts

Gather knowledge of gates through space and time, curse or mutate unborn children

Anathema

None

Follower Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Chaos, Darkness, Knowledge, Travel, Void

Subdomains (1E)

Dark Tapestry, Exploration, Memory, Night, Stars, Thought

Follower Alignments (2E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (2E)

Knowledge, nothingness, time, travel

Favored Weapon

Dagger

Symbol

Black spiral

Sacred Animal

None

Sacred Colors

None

Images of Yog-Sothoth

Source: Wake of the Watcher, pg(s). 67 (1E)
Gods & Magic, pg(s). 91, 130–131 (2E)

In Gods & Magic, the nothingness domain is referred to as the void domain.

For other meanings of "Watcher", please see Watcher (disambiguation).

Yog-Sothoth is the Outer God of gates, space, and time. One of the most powerful and enigmatic deities of the Great Beyond, he is said to be a terrible, self-aware manifestation of the Dimension of Time, or even the Dark Tapestry.

Appearance and existence

Being a manifestation of the Dimension of Time, Yog-Sothoth is coterminous with all of space and time and can exist in multiple times and places at once, but it seems that either he cannot properly intrude upon the Universe unless summoned; or perhaps he can but has no reason to do so. When he does so, Yog-Sothoth appears as a congeries of iridescent spheres, a conglomeration of glowing balls of various sizes and colors, or as the Lurker at the Threshold, a mass of endlessly writhing and growing black tentacles. In both forms, Yog-Sothoth wreaks incredible havoc when summoned.

The Windsong Testaments refers to Yog-Sothoth as the Watcher and one of the two anchors of each incarnation of creation, alongside a Survivor from the previous multiverse, currently Pharasma. Between Pharasma and Yog-Sothoth, the Age of Creation began with the birth of the Great Beyond.

Yog-Sothoth has been variously described by the Old Cults as a being that dwells within the Dark Tapestry; the Dark Tapestry itself; or a sapient embodiment of the Universe.

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 Universe.

Church of Yog-Sothoth

The cult of Yog-Sothoth is not an organised religion. 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. They believe that Yog-Sothoth will grant them great power, and that his increasing intrusions are a sign that he is taking an active interest in Golarion. All are prone to bicker and fight among each other as much as they fight with others.

Yog-Sothoth's followers believe that he is preparing for the awakening of the Great Old Ones on various planets, whose inhabitants will be wiped out to make way for the true masters. Cultists often call upon him to 'bless' pregnant women, leading to the birth of children and spawn of Yog-Sothoth that shall prepare the world for when the stars are right and the Great Old Ones rule again.

Some others worship Yog-Sothoth as a deity of time and space, and have called upon him in order to learn about or travel to distant places or times. They describe him as a non-evil guardian of the secrets of the cosmos' true nature who reveals them to those who ask, yet the very act of interacting with Yog-Sothoth is dangerous to one's life and sanity.

Ultimately, Yog-Sothoth cares little for mortal worship, as he has no real need of it except for one purpose: 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 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.

References

Original Source: H. P. Lovecraft, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", 1927, published posthumously in 1941

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

External links

• Yog-Sothoth (fictional character) on Wikipedia