| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| moonbeast |
Posted - 27 Feb 2016 : 10:33:44
Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone could give me a short list of so-called "Elder Evils" or Great Old Ones that are verified as being part of (or compatible) with Forgotten Realms setting. The really popular ones that I'm aware of, for example Kyuss, tend to be native from Greyhawk etc.
And are the Lovecraftian deities (e.g. Cthulhu) still considered part of D&D canon? Last I heard, the past trademark/copyright dispute between TSR/WotC and Chaosium meant that D&D was forced to abandon its use of Cthulhu Mythos elements (last time I remember seeing it in print for D&D was for original Deities and Demigods from the 1980s). Has that somehow changed?
I'm launching an FR campaign for 5E, and one of my new Players is thinking about a Warlock character that pacts with an aberrant/alien supernatural being, one that is distant from your typical household Faerunian Pantheon (e.g. Lathander, Waukeen, Bane).
Appreciate any input. |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| LordofBones |
Posted - 04 Mar 2016 : 11:19:09
Jubby really doesn't care about anything though.
The EEG/DG are really Tharizdun, and he certainly fits the Elder Evil category. |
| The Masked Mage |
Posted - 04 Mar 2016 : 03:38:39
In 2nd Edition, you had three gods from the wider AD&D product called Monster Mythology. In that product Jubilex is more powerful than he/it was describe in later sources. I am going to include an abridged version of the description here because it contains a description of 2 mentioned before and discusses their relationship. I would point out that the Dark God as described therein closely resembles Thardizun.
The Lost Gods
There are three gods here who are in some sense Lost Gods: the entity known as Juiblex, the being known as the Elder Elemental God, and an unknown deity called simply Dark God. Myths about them take protean form, and vary wildly from world to world, but the most common version of the tale is as follows:
The Elder Elemental God is a force of pure elemental energy, dwelling in a demiplane that stands in the same relation to the elemental and quasi-elemental planes as the Plane of Concordant Opposition does to the totality of all planes of existence. Its nature and ancient worship are virtually incomphrehensible... Readers of FOE, The Drow of the Underdark, will find a specific form for this god in the Forgotten Realms, that of Ghaunadaur. The version presented there is one which fuses the identity of the Elder Elemental God with that of an entity which appears to be its servant in some manner, Juiblex. In this book, the Elder Elemental God and Juiblex are separated and statistics for both are provided. In most worlds, their followings have a very distinctive difference.
Juiblex appears to be an entity related to the most powerful of the tanar'ri (Monstrous Compendium: Outer Planes) and he has a specific group of worshippers: certain aboleths, who can become priests of significant standing. A handful of deranged human cultists may also revere this bizarre entity in some worlds.
The Elder Elemental God has few no organized followers of any sort, because it is almost impossible for most beings to work out how to worship it. A handful of drow, and humans of exceptional wickedness, conduct rites directed towards raising magical energies from this being, and a tiny minority have succeeded. But, fortunately, this remains the achievement of a tiny handful of fanatics.
The Dark God had a cult of human worship in the dim past in most worlds, but the nature of the cult was such that it died from simple exhaustion and attrition. The Dark God is always
associated with cold, exhaustion, and slow death. As its cult has slowly expired, so the god itself has lost the ability to influence events on the Prime Material plane. But many ancient sites of worship to it lie buried deep in the underground, and its shrines and temples seem to store magical energies that usually have malefic effects, but which can be exploited by the most courageous.
The Lost Gods represent a world of danger, madness, death, and mystery. They offer an opportunity for the DM to face player characters with challenges and perils of almost entirely unpredictable nature! |
| Bladewind |
Posted - 27 Feb 2016 : 18:00:07
*salutes with an elven blade flourish* Congrats! |
| hashimashadoo |
Posted - 27 Feb 2016 : 17:48:08
Eric Boyd wrote the conversion of Paizo's Age of Worms campaign so it could be played in the Forgotten Realms, but he specifically stated that it wasn't Realms canon. However, the Elder Evils sourcebook took Eric's conversion as canon when it tried to convert Kyuss to FR.
The Elder Evil Zurguth, which has the ability to transform things from the Material Plane into things that could survive in the Far Realm by its mere presence, has links to ancient Imaskar.
Elder Evils makes a pretty strong case too for Atropus and Setrous to be involved in the Realms.
Also, post no. 1,000. w00t! |
| Bladewind |
Posted - 27 Feb 2016 : 15:20:12
I think Ghaunadaur is older than Jubilex, so I wouldn't make him equivalent to the Sluggish Demonlord. He actually steals any worship the cults to Jubilex generate, one of the reasons he has grown again to greater deity status from lesser deity. |
| LordofBones |
Posted - 27 Feb 2016 : 15:15:03
Ghaunadaur is just the divine equivalent of Juiblex.
Tharizdun is something infinitely worse and certainly fits the Elder Evil scheme. |
| Bladewind |
Posted - 27 Feb 2016 : 14:07:01
The god Ghaunadaur, is sometimes thought to be akin to an Elder Evil quite similar to Tharizdun, sharing the name and cults of the Elder Elemental Eye.
Pandorym was imprisoned in a crystal plane by Imaskari and used as a threat to the gods of their slaves.
Several types of Abolthic dieties are actually Elder Evils (with place holder names for the C'tulhu mythos elder gods), like Piscaethces, the Blood Queen (C'thulhu), the creator of Aboleths.
The tome 3e Lords of Madness has a detailed description of the worship of elder evils, and most of Bruce Cordell's work on Xxiphu, the floating citadel of ancient aboleth over the Inner Seas, might be of interest for you.
edit: syntax |
| LordofBones |
Posted - 27 Feb 2016 : 12:43:43
There's Fenris - I mean, Kezef the Chaos Hound, and Jormun - er, Dendar the Night Serpent.
Kyuss may not count as an Elder Evil. He's a relatively weak demigod who was promoted by Nerull and had his divinity siphoned off by Mellifleur.
GitP had a post where the tanar'ri prince Abraxas became an Elder Evil; the relevant links are http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18733801&postcount=972 and http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18735341&postcount=977 |
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