BUILD YOUR OWN WORLD Like what you see? Become the Master of your own Universe!

The Old Ones

The Old Ones are a group of ancient eldritch beings hidden in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. They were first encountered by Christopher Columbus in 1493 in which they were mistaken for mermaids. They are known by many pirates of the seven seas for being ruthless, cunning, and all-powerful kraken-sized beings with the ability to take over the minds of creatures and sailors and making them their slaves.    The Old Ones themselves are said to be large squid-like creatures, second only in size to the kraken. Their abilities are vast, but they are known best for their exceptional cunning, magical capability, and multi-generational memory. Most of what the sailors of humanity have learned about them has come from exchanging information with the creatures directly, or through a minion, upon which the creatures took pity on their victims and let those sharing information live. Their goals appear to be shrouded in mystery, much like their origins.    One of the defining features of the Old Ones is their ability to enslave unsuspecting sailors, who become minions. Entire crews of these husks have been encountered, scouring the seas for information and more minions to enslave. These phenomena have been written off as mass hysteria caused by sickness, but those few wise sailors know better.

Description

The Old Ones refers mostly to the eldritch creature-gods, but also includes any creature that has been possessed by them. Sailors know to treat each tier of eldritch enemy as one of the Old Ones themselves, as it is known that the creatures are part of a hive mind.    Regardless of the type of creature encountered, all Old Ones are covered head to toe in a thick, sticky, pearlescent mucous. This mucous is said to cause any creature covered in enough of it to become water-breathing, but be unable to breathe air. By covering themselves in this mucous, these eldritch creatures can venture aboveground, but if the mucous dries they will suffocate.   

Slaves

Many of the encountered Old Ones are the creatures speaking through various slaves. The Old Ones can communicate telepathically and verbally through their slaves, using them as eyes and ears in scouting scenarios before making an appearance. Most slaves are unfortunate sailors whose bodies have been snatched and utilized as a piece of the army of the Old Ones.   Slaves go through transformations into tentacle-like creatures over time, and those husks used long enough begin to grow their own sentience and operate semi-independently of the Old One controlling them.   

Eldritch Minions

In addition to enslaving the   

Old Ones

The Old Ones themselves are said to be squid-like creatures between 20 and 100 feet long, and 15-30 feet wide, second only in size to the kraken. They have several vertically stacked eyes and a large gaping mouth with concentric circles of teeth.  

Organization

Structure

The Old Ones have two major classes of being- either they are an eldritch creature that participates in the collective knowledge of their ascended race, or they are a minion, mind controlled in some capacity to do the bidding of the higher race.    The hierarchy in the elders is hard to define, as much of the organization's individuals are either partially or fully controlled by one of the old ones. It appears in scenarios where the old ones don't have direct control through an aberration or possessed creature, operational control is given to the eldest minion. Stronger minions capable of taking on high-power foes will command at least a dozen smaller fodder, keeping them in tight, organized formations with telepathic connection, and focusing their efforts onto a single task.    Within the old ones themselves, the eldritch beings typically are organized in hierarchy by order of magnitude of age. For example- two elder creatures of only 1,000 and 3,000 years will both be treated on the same level as compared to a creature 10,000-90,000 years old. Other than this distinction, which has only been observed a handful of times while the creatures argued over who had first rights to create mind slaves of their victims, not much is known about the organizational structure of the old ones.

Culture

What small encounters that have been observed with the old ones have revealed very little about the culture of their kind. What is clear from these few encounters is that knowledge of any type if considered of supreme value. The Old Ones appear to have a massive amount of pride in all that they know and have known throughout their entire existence, and those few foes they have faced with a high amount of knowledge relative to their age are respected opponents of the Old Ones. It is considered a great insult to attack the intelligence of an old one, as many pirates have unfortunately discovered.

History

Recounts of the Old Ones go as far back as written record. Stories of civilizations worshipping heathen gods of the ocean and all-knowing powers in the depths have spread through every major culture. Most recounts describe the creatures as gargantuan, hyper-intelligent beings with the power to control tides and the weather.   As early as 1200, accounts of possessed individuals visiting major population centers with claims of serving a higher power exist. Most of these individuals were captured and persecuted for witchcraft, but the stories seem to coincide on their oceanic sources. This was the start of the written record and reference to the "Old Ones" by name.    While encounters continued, much debate was sparked in the seafaring folk about whether or not the Old Ones actually existed, or were just a symptom of growing hysteria among explorers grown weary from pushing the bounds of human civilization. Still, this debate rages, but many sailors do know the stories of the Old Ones, and will vehemently avoid any creatures that look remotely compromised by their signature bland-pale mucous and matching color eyes.

Those who see the beginning of this world have the right to decide its end

Founding Date
Unknown
Alternative Names
The Eldritch creatures, The All-Knowing, Sages of the Seas
Demonym
Elders

Non-aggression Pact

The Old Ones have aligned themselves with the interests of a subsection of humanity for the first time, seeing the relationship as nonconventional slavery.

Comments

Please Login in order to comment!