Aboleth
Long before the days of mortals, or even before the coming of the gods, Aboleth lurked in the primordial depths and subterranean seas as ancient visitors from other planes. They found the burgeoning life of this plane easily malleable- their own psychic powers easily dwarfing those dimly-awakened beings, and so they reached out with their alien minds and seized control of this realm, intending to enslave sapience and place themselves atop a new planar order. Their dominance made them like gods, their supernatural power worshipped.
But over time, the psychic powers of their thralls grew, straining at the mental shackles set by the aboleths. Mortal beings began to slip from their grasp, and the true gods appeared, smashing the Aboleth empire and relegating them almost beyond memory itself. But an Aboleth's memory is eternal and perfect, and the Aboleth have never forgotten the war the gods waged on them, nor have they conceded it. They merely bide their time for the next offensive.
Basic Information
Anatomy
To denizens of the mortal plane, an Aboleth appears entirely alien. An Aboleth has a long, tubelike body with a jagged dorsal fin running along their back, and ending in a a ragged, spined fin on the end of a tail on end and a perfectly round, suckerlike mouth most similar to that of a lamprey on the other, ringed with rows of squat triangular teeth. Aboleth have three large, smooth tentacles nearly the length of their body, which despite lacking any bones are thick and muscular. Protruding from all around the Aboleth's face are long barbels like those of a catfish, while three milky eyes run up the top of the aboleth's body. Aboleth have rows of gills which run around their head until the body branches into its tentacles and tail.
Ecology and Habitats
While Aboleth have not been seen for eons, the most credible rumors suggest isolated individuals may still exist in the hardest to reach and nearly untouched places of the world, such as the deepest ocean trenches and subterranean seas and lakes in the underdark, or deep in fetid ponds and pools in an as-of-yet unmarked part of the jungles of Luxia or Dualahei.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Aboleths are carnivores, but consume more than just material flesh, but sapience and psychic energy itself, using its power to enslave mortal beings to draw them in and feed upon them. An Aboleth's mouth literally rasps at a creature's psychic aura, stripping away layers of its psyche as it feeds, simultaneously draining the creature's lifeforce and also making it more subservient and pliant to the Aboleth's will. By its final feeding, a creature may be little more than a mindless puppet, the last of its thought and free will consumed before the Aboleth feasts on its vegetative body. However, an Aboleth's almost nonexistent metabolism means that it can go immense lengths of time without feeding, and even very limited psychic energy can sustain it.
Biological Cycle
Aboleth seem to be eternal and almost unaffected by the passage of time. Very little is known about the Aboleth's natural life cycle or even if they age. An Aboleth cannot even truly die. Rather, if an Aboleth's body is destroyed, its psychic energy returns to their home plane and coalesces into a new Aboleth.
Behaviour
The Aboleth's timeless nature and perfect memory means their fall from power was all the more traumatic. Every Aboleth remembers the glory days of the Empire, and also perfectly remembers each day of brutal ignominy spent hiding in existential terror at the fringes of existence from species who had not even yet evolved during their apex.
Suffice it to say, Aboleth are not thought to have not taken their downfall well. Although their memories are perfect and extended to before recorded time itself, their apparent withdrawal from the world means little they remember is useful to anyone besides themselves- still, Aboleth are often repositories of ancient lore- seeking to barter such knowldedge to gain power. Moreover, eternities spent living in the same black pits, often in complete isolation, means that any Aboleth is, to an outside perspective, completely insane. Its aims and perspective are so alien, and occur over a timeframe such as to be incomprehensible to mortal minds. To an Aboleth, sapience exists to serve it, its current rebellion against the Aboleth notwithstanding, and Aboleth will seek to reimpose their control wherever and whenever possible to eventually restore their eternal rule.
Aboleth use their telepathic powers to read the minds of creatures and know their desires, using this knowledge to gain a creature's loyalty, promising to help it fulfill these wants in exchange for obedience.
Additional Information
Social Structure
It is unclear exactly how Aboleth society was structured when it existed, and all known Aboleth reports describe them as solitary beings.
Average Intelligence
Aboleth are exceptionally intelligent. Their memories are perfect, and extend back to before recorded time itself, giving. Moreover, their immortal nature and telepathic ability means they can plan with almost perfect foresight on a timescale entirely beyond mortals.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
An Aboleth's chief power comes from its psionic abilities, thought to be augmented by the strange barbels and tentacles on its body. It can feel the thoughts of any creature within 120 feet of it, and also effectively use its psionic ability to "see" in complete darkness. Moreover, an Aboleth can communicate telepathically with its thralls over any distance, and as part of the Aboleth's feeding process of consuming a creature's psionic energy, it also adds the knowledgge and memories of its prey to its own memory, enabling an Aboleth to become a literal treasure trove of knowledge and experience.
Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms
To an Aboleth, enslaving sapient species and moulding them to better suit the Aboleth's needs is nothing more than domestication. Contact with an Aboleth's mucous is enough to begin the dangerous process of transforming the creature into the aboleth's slave. The skin of such creatures becomes translucent and slimy, and they can no longer breathe or even survive outside of water. Over time, such transformations worsen and the body is further transformed until the afflicted eventually metamorphosizes into a Chuul- a purpose-built slave of the Aboleth Empire.
Conservation Status
While rumors Aboleth appearances circulate infrequently amongst learned scholars and the most intrepid explorers, Aboleth are thought to be extinct from the mortal plane for eons, and indeed few beyond the most studied are even familiar with their existence.
Average Weight
2,400 lbs
Average Length
12-16 feet
Average Physique
While Aboleth are known for their psionic powers, they are deceptively strong. Each Aboleth tentacle is solid muscle and sinew, and is capable of smashing a target nearly as hard as an ogre's club.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Aboleth's skin is typically a pale yellow or sickly and mottled bluish green, and covered in a thick film of their transformative mucous.
Comments