Cabal of Cthulhu

• Considered a Great Old One within the pantheon of Lovecraftian cosmic entities, this creature has since been featured in numerous popular culture references. Lovecraft depicts it as a gigantic entity worshipped by cultists, in the shape of a green octopus, dragon, and a caricature of human form. The Lovecraft-inspired universe, the Cthulhu Mythos, where it exists with its fellow entities, is named after it.
• In D&D, often referred to as one of the "The Great Old Ones"
• Mysterious entity whose nature is utterly foreign to the fabric of reality. It might come from the Far Realm, the space beyond reality, or it could be one of the elder gods known only in legends. Its motives are incomprehensible to mortals, and its knowledge so immense and ancient that even the greatest libraries pale in comparison to the vast secrets it holds. The Great Old One might be unaware of your existence or entirely indifferent to you, but the secrets you have learned allow you to draw your magic from it.
• Great Cthulhu is one of the Great Old Ones, a god-like being asleep somewhere under the ocean. Currently trapped, Cthulhu will eventually awaken, an event subconsciously feared by all sentient races.

"A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind."

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" ("In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

TERUS HISTORY

• In ancient times, before beings on the Material Plane discovered the ability to tap into the arcane, there was a great war amongst the gods. It was a period before time, a war of legend that only the most ancient and powerful of gods can even remember. It was during this war that Cthulhu was smote by his enemies, driven back into the Far Realm with the rest of the Great Old Ones, and his remaining physical Avatar form cast down and buried deep beneath the earth and under a large body of water (Lake Urda) on a barren and distant planet on the material plane where no other life existed. The lack of magic and sentience on this world made it ideally suited to contain the Great Old One, as without beings to dominate his power and influence would be suppressed. Brought low, Cthulhu passed into nightmares, and his avatar lay dormant and quiet, virtually sleep, waiting one day for his opportunity.
• Hundreds of millennia later, arcane users found this small world, using their advanced arcane magics to create a semi-permanent gate between it and their own planet on the Prime Material. These people came from Eberron, before the dark days. Fortunately for the people of Eberron, their nation was far from the planet Cthulhu had been buried under, and the gods allowed their new civilization to explore, for they were not making any permanent colonies in this new land, and the ripples of their magic were inconsequential. Until the great War, until the War Forged rebellion, until the strife of Eberron began to stir the Great Old One, sending tremors through all planes of existence that the higher deities felt and immediately recognized.
• Cthulhu did not yet have the means to return life to his physical avatar form, but his influence summoned Kraken, Leviathans and Merrow to the area. Lolth, sensing the great evil and relishing in it, sent her own emissaries to the continent, High Elven followers who named it Domunz. Acting on his own accord against Lolth, Bahumat inspired his own followers (mainly Lizardfolk and dwarves) to journey to Domunz and try to convert those they could (an act that did not go unnoticed by Tiamat, who kept an eye on events in Domunz and sent her own spies to those lands.) Eventually Bahamut's follower's reached the elves who had settled in the city now known as Miraxalim, and Lolth first began to lose followers. Enraged, she began to aid the Kraken and their ilk in attacking the land, hoping they would conquer Domunz and destroy those who betrayed her.
• Hoping to fix the situation, Bahamut spoke to fellow Dragon and god of Eberron, the blue dragon god Aureon, and they formed a plan, deciding if the people of Eberron started this issue, they should be responsible for containing it. Aureon held a secret gathering of the greatest mages of Eberron, using his emissary to explain what they had done by linking their world to Terus (the name the gods had given the planet around Domunz centuries before), and asking for their help to contain the evil growing there. Eventually, 8 beings were chosen, ascending to the level of lesser Godhood (though slightly higher than demi-god), with Bahamut dubbing them the "New Gods of Domunz" and tasking them with protecting the lands from Lolth and her minions, and the machinations of the Great Old One.
• With the elves and dwarves saved, the New Gods settled into their new roles, always wary of Cthulhu and doing their best to keep magic users to a minimum in Domunz. When Obreriault and Magiault were founded, and Ryker McAult became a lich in Lolth's service, once again threatening to open the path for the Great Old One, the New Gods directly intervened to stop Ryker, following that with Bahamut erecting barriers around Domunz (and Oroccid) to prevent any god but the new Gods from being there physically, hoping that would prevent Lolth and Tiamat and any other god from interfering in business there. Unfortunately, Lolth's mischief had already begun, as she had used Ryker to summon the Anachime Sudex and increase the amount of magical potential in the land, all of which the Great Old One sensed.
• His mind awakened to the potential on Terus, but lacking much of his power, Cthulhu's reach was short, but enough that he was able to make contact with the Sahuagin who lived beneath the surface of Lake Urda, dominating the race and their arcane users. They built altars and shrines to him beneath the Lake (one of which was where Livero Domusul once lost his life after hiding his Potions of Longevity, and where the Death Joints visited trying to find said potions, only later realizing they had been stolen by Neraban the header), not realizing they were building structures that would be focal points for his ascension, for a ritual that he was developing that would restore his mortal form. They did not know they were building a pale imitation of the ancient city of R'lyeh in the Far Realm (for which Lake Urda had been named), and the more they bullt the stronger the connection Cthulhu had with Terus and his avatar form, which he now knew could be brought back to life, bringing his will once more to the Material Plane.
• The events of C2 happened, Ryker came back and joined with King Clain of Obreriault, both in service to Lolth who sought to destroy the land and punish all those who worshipped the New Gods, and they were ultimately defeated by the Death Joints. While the DJ did send the Sudex back where it came from, much of the damage was already done, as there were thousands of arcane users in Domunz and Oroccid by this point (granted their connection to the multiverses's magic by the Sudex), and the walls separating Domunz from other planes had been severely weakened by the Merrow's experiments to summon the Aboleth Ebul and bring back the Kraken.
• In the 100 years since C2, The Great Old One's awakening has continued, summoning friends old and new (including Lolth, Malar, Tiamat and the Shadow) to Domunz, where their influence could be felt much more keenly since so many inhabitants were connected through the arcane arts, and the barriers erected by Bahumet were weaker than ever since the events of C2 had thinned the planar walls on Terus. They could communicate freely with Cthulhu and worshipped him, but his physical form could not be brought back without much work. Similar to the ritual that brought back the Aboleth and the Kraken, a new ritual, much bigger and more powerful, would have to be done, using a number of arcane instruments (both beings and artifacts), all of which would take time to prepare, as his allies would need to scour the multiverse for the components needed. Fortunately, each of these deities had their own servants which would prove useful in this quest, including a number of Dark Cults in Domunz and Oroccid.
• As for the Great Old One, his powers were returning, and he was finding it easier and easier to reach out to malleable mortals to bend them to his will, using their eyes and ears to see the outer world, driving them mad as he demanded more and more on his quest to return. And return he would, his Cabal was large, and ever growing. And they all knew what they had to do. Once he was freed, he would help each of them with their own wants, including the destruction of the peoples of Domunz and the hidden city of Eldathir, wiping out the New Gods, the murder of Aureon and letting the Shadow loose on Lumengrad, and ultimately bringing down and destroying each of the ancient gods that had cast Cthulhu down in his prison, starting with his chief antagonist, Bahamut.

Deities

• Malar (see sidebar) - working in Oroccid to find Aasimar city and destroy them
• Lolth (C2 History) - hates Miraxalim Elves and Death Joints with SUCH a passion, also vowed revenge on Drow, sending many creatures to Underdark
• Tiamat (C2 history) - Hatred toward Death Joints (and Glibgllub in particular) seethes on, still sending agents to Domunz
• The Shadow - (Mak'Ti backstory) - is promised the destruction of Aureon by the Cabal - mainly working in Wildspace against the Velkedans and Astral Elves

Important Personages Have Also Joined the Cabal

• Judai-'Aruk - Lumengrad council member and Mak'Ti's father's number 1 adversary, who has been vying for the throne for ages. Keeper of the Orrery of the Wanderer in Lumengrad, which he used to banish Mak'Ti to Domunz. Due to his corruption by the Orrery and connection to the planes, felt Cthulhu calling out to him and offering him power and the throne of Lumengrad if he joined the Cabal. In time his treachery was found out when King Yorik'il wanted to check on Mak'Ti, and Judai'aruk fled Lumengrad. In his haste to exit quickly, he used the Orrery and it seemed to convulse, sending him across the Astral Sea and breaking the Orrery in 7 components (including the main piece). Knowing that the Orrery would be essential to Cthulhu's resurrection, Judai'Aruk has begun hunting down all the components scattered across the multi-verse, unaware that many pieces followed along its last known path, to the world of Terus and the planes connected to it (Limbo and Elemental Planes).
• Mindflayers (illithid) - traveled forward in time around 1,000 years to escape Gith persecution - staying hidden as much as possible for final fight, avoid Gith, Lieutenants of the Cabal
• Psurlon Psurlon Sheet- did not disappear with Mindflayers though they are allies. When Illithid returned, offered them Terus for FEEDING if they assisted in Cabal and freeing Cthulhu. Psurlon are already invading Domunz and Oroccid
• Sahuagin Sahuagin - the first converts to follow the Great Old One in his quest for resurrection, those who guard his altars and arcane focus points beneath Lake Urda, under which his physical form was cast down and buried untold Millennia ago.
• Medusas Medusa Enhanced Meduse Followers/ scions of the Shadow, have come to Oroccid through circuitous means to sow discord and help their master's quest

Also has a number of CULTS working toward this goal:

• Church of Tiamat - Cult (Domunz, hidden)
• Cult of Lolth (Underdark)
• Cult of Xavamir - aka X-Cult (Wastelands)
• Order of the Burning Garden - Cult (Cambrey Valley)
• Shadow Priests (Coastal)
• The Hunters - Cult of Malar (Plateaus)