Call of Cthulhu - Cthulhu Dark Ages ...

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1 Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76 Stéphane Gesbert
Bestiary
“There you will serve gods... that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell” - Deuteronomy 4:28
possible misinterpretation of the giant squid-like head of
star-spawns.
Manifestations of “worms” (Dholes, Flying polyps and
Hunting horrors), Shantaks, and Lloigors, may also have
contributed to the myths of the dragon and the sea serpent.
The names given to many dragons suggests that they are
considered as devourer of corpses.
GIANTS
.
“And now, the giants, who are produced from
the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the
earth, and on the earth shall be their dwellings. Evil spirits
have proceeded from their bodies...” - Book of Enoch -
15:8
.
The definition of giants is ambiguous. According to the
Greek poet Hesiod, they were sons of Ge ("earth") and
Uranus ("heaven"). The Bible, the Book of Enoch and the
Necronomicon either suggest that they are the product of a
blasphemous union between intermediary beings (Old
Ones) and daughters of men, or that they “fell out of the
sky” (Great Old Ones). Medieval folklore often saw giants
as cannibal monsters or “demons”, said to reside most of
the time underground.
In all cases, the reference to the Great Old Ones of the
Cthulhu Mythos is obvious.
Other names given to giants: Grigori, Nephilim, Thurs,
Iötunn, Risi, Trolls, Leshy.
HALFLINGS
.
Results of the crossbreeding between humans and non-
human creatures, e.g. Elves (Old Ones). Notable Mythos
halflings are human-Deep One, human-ghoul and human-
Old One.
LEVIATHAN
.
“Who can open the doors of its face?
There is terror all around its teeth. Its back is made of
shields in rows, shut up closely as with a seal. One is so
near to each other that no air can come between them...
When it raises itself up the gods are afraid.” - Job 41:14
.
Leviathan - the Coiled Serpent - came out of the primal
chaos. Once vanquished, he took refuge in the sea and lies
in wait, feigning sleep. He is a personification of evil, a
protagonist in the cosmic battle that has raged since the
beginning of time and will finish only when everything has
been consumed.
The myth of the Serpent or the Dragon is so universal that
it can only hold one inescapable truth: the Serpent is not a
myth, and Great Cthulhu is the Serpent.
Other names given to Cthulhu: Lotan, Yamm, Tiamat
(Chaldean chaos-dragon), Kul (Syrian water spirit).
LOKI
.
“Loki is handsome and good-looking, of bad spirit
and very unstable in his ways.” - Snorri Sturluson,
“Gylfaginning, XXXII”
.
Loki or Loptr is the archetype of the trickster god, the
father of lies and of monsters. Loki will ultimately cause
the Twilight of the Gods: in the last battle, “the Wolf will
swallow the sun, ... [the Serpent] will walk the land”. Then
Loki, as the black fire giant Surtr, “casts fire on the earth
and burns all the worlds”.
Loki is a thief, an adulterer, a shape-shifter and a
magician. Loki’s symbolism clearly relates him to Hermes,
Lug, and Thot, and therefore to Nyarlathotep. We may
Dark Ages Mythos
A relatively sparse human population and the increase in
blasphemous sects and heresies favored the proliferation of
Mythos creatures in the Dark Ages. Humans shared the
earth with ghouls, deep ones, a handful of mi-go and
pockets of serpent people. Beyond the thin veil of sanity
lurked the Outer Gods Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Shub-
Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth.
Needless to say, all Mythos creatures have their place in
the Dark Ages. Notable Mythos creatures in Cthulhu Dark
Ages are: the Ancient Ones, Bugg-Shash, the Dark Folk,
the Doels, Lilith, the Nameless Mist, the Old Ones, Tawil
at’Umr, the Tomb-herd, and the Worms of the Earth.
Mythos or not Mythos?
A given Mythos entity may be known under many
different names and given different descriptions, in
accordance with various systems of beliefs. As it
transpires, we only have our names for Mythos creatures -
we do not even know the names they give themselves, or if
they have names at all.
ANGELS
.
“Wheels within wheels” - Ezekiel 1:15-19
.
Some early descriptions of angels are rather intriguing,
like Ezekiel who saw the Cherubim as many-colored
wheel-like structures, and Saint Basil who saw the
Seraphim (“Burning Ones”) as vaporous fireballs. In
ancient times, the concept of angels (from the Greek
angelos, equivalent to the Hebraic mal’akh, meaning
“messenger”) was intimately related to that of fallen gods,
an idea which, in our Mythos context, reminds of even less
religiously correct entities.
DAGON
.
“They put his armor in the temple of their god,
and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.” - 1
Chronicles 10:10
.
Obscure deity linked with the ancient Philistine city of
Ashod. Ancient coins depict Dagon as a god with a
fishtail. Dagon is a well-known god among Dark Ages
scholars, for his name appears many times in the Bible.
DRAGONS
.
“Tiamat [Leviathan] that shapes all things
made also invincible weapons: she gave birth to monstrous
serpents, sharp-toothed, with unforgiving jaws.” -
Akkadian verse
.
“Dragon” - from the Greek drakon (“large serpent”) -
could be the Dark Ages name for “star-spawn of Cthulhu”.
In Dark Ages symbolism, dragons are the enemies of man
and terror-inspiring manifestations of the Serpent - the
archetype of all evil, alias Leviathan. Dragons are said to
reside in underground or underwater megalithic chambers,
there to guard the secret of immortality. This
representation disturbingly reminds of living-dead Cthulhu
and his minions, entombed in the stone vaults of R’lyeh
below the surface of the oceans.
The description of dragons confirm this match: their huge
bodies are clawed and winged, some appear to be poison-
blowing or exhibit numerous serpent heads (hydras), a
Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
 Stéphane Gesbert Bestiary 2
Large herbivores
Animal STR/SIZ/HP
1
Forest
2
Moor
2
Buffalo 32 01-20 01-05
Auroch 32 21-35 06-15
Wild horse 28 36-50 16-50
Moose 28 51-55 51-55
Large Deer 16 56-80 56-85
Wild Boar 10 81-90 86-95
Small Deer 4 91-00 -
Beaver 5 - 96-00
1
Averages.
2
In Dark Ages Europe, forests covered about
40-60% of the land.
infer that Loki is one of the thousand forms of
Nyarlathotep, namely the Black Man, so often confused
with the Judeo-Christian Devil.
There is no evidence of Loki’s worship among men.
SATAN
.
“He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who
is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand
years, and threw him into the pit, and locked and sealed it
over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more,
until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be
let out for a little while.” - Revelation 20:2
.
In Hebrew “satan” means “enemy” in a generic sense, and
doesn’t convey the idea of a personified prince of evil.
Rabbis usually referred to the Devil only as a symbol of
man’s moral evil. Satan with a capital “S” is a Christian
creation. The first versions of the Old Testament made
Jehovah - the Lord of the Universe -
the sole cause of all
good and evil
. The figure of Satan as the personification of
sin – the serpent of genesis - is posterior to 700 BC. In
fact, the name Satan can apply to any despotic ruler just as
well as to a Mythos deity.
A sixth century mosaic depicts Satan wearing a glorious
halo, a red robe and feathered wings. The slow
transformation of Satan into a monster over the centuries,
was the consequence of Christian propaganda.
UNICORNS
.
The Unicorn is perhaps the most famous of all fabulous
beasts, a massive - usually placid - white thing with a
single horn and allegedly in admiration of virgins. It
appears to have disappeared from the northern parts of the
world but is quite common in Africa and Asia. Use the
rulebook statistics of the white Rhinoceros.
Other fabulous antediluvian beasts that are sporadically
sighted are giant stags, boars, hyenas, bears, wolves,
aurochs, vultures, owls, and sharks. For these, use the
normal-sized version statistics, but multiply STR, SIZ,
damage and hit points by two.
Gate area
D100 Result
01-05 Servitor/Independent Race or Spirit
06-10 Magical
1
Human or Carnivore
11-90 Magical
1
Herbivore
91-95 Roll twice or switch to Wilderness
96-00 Nameless Mist and/or Gate to Limbo
2
1
Being with inborn magical ability, i.e. a spell
2
Keeper’s discretion
Limbo
D100 Result
01-05 Old One, Dimensional Shambler or Tomb Herd
06-90 Spirit (incl. disembodied human)
91-95 Roll Twice or Gate to Gate area
96-00 Ancient Ones/Tawil at’Umr – Ultimate gate
1
1
Keeper’s discretion
Beasts & Demons
The descriptions of creatures below are purposely
archetypal. The listed statistics in particular are only
averages. The keeper should craft each individual being for
the circumstance. For most beings, the knowledge of a
spell should be considered an inborn magical ability. The
usage of such ability entails the expenditure of magic
points, as prescribed in the corresponding spell entry.
Sanity loss does not apply.
Encounter tables
Encounter tables are included as an optional help for the
keeper. The resourceful keeper should always prefer
crafting meaningful events to using random encounters.
Even so, the tables provide realistic frequencies of
“animal” species in different habitats, and as such can help
the keeper to populate his world.
ANIMALS
A few animals commonly encountered in the wild:
BEAR
STR 15+ CON 14 SIZ 15+ INT 5 POW 10-11
DEX 13 Move 11 HP 15+ db +1D4, Armor 3-point fur and
gristle; Track by Smell 80% Bite 25% damage 1D10, Claw
40%, damage 1D6
LARGE DEER
STR 10+ CON 13 SIZ 15+ INT 4 POW
10-11 DEX 15 Move 14 HP 14+ db +1D4
WOLF
STR 10 CON 12 SIZ 5-10 INT 6 POW 10-11
DEX 14 Move 14 HP 10 db none, Bite 30%, damage 1D8,
Armor 1-point fur, Spot Hidden 60%, Track by Smell 80%
FALCON
STR 2 CON 2 SIZ 1 INT 3 POW 13 DEX 15
Move 32 HP 2 db N/A; Spot Hidden 90% Beak/Claw
45%, damage 1
WILD BOAR
STR 10 CON 12 SIZ 10 INT 6 POW 7
DEX 14 Move 11 HP 11 db none; Armor 3-point hide;
Track by Smell 80% Gore 30%, damage 1D4
Wilderness
D100 Result
01-05 Human or Carnivore
06-95 Herbivore
96-00
Roll twice or switch to Gate area
1
1
Keeper’s discretion
The table below indicates the relative bio-mass of wild
herbivores in ancient and early-medieval Europe. Most
animals are very unlikely to attack humans. Predators
represent at most 5 % of all animals in any environment.
Large predators include wolves, bears, lynxes, badgers,
and of course men. Small carnivores (SIZ 1) include foxes,
wild cats, weasels, owls, falcons, etc. Small herbivores
include various sorts of mice, moles, hedgehogs, squirrels,
hares, etc.
Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
 3 Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76 Stéphane Gesbert
skull or to the heart can harm a vampire (see Armor
below).
Vampires are incomplete creatures lacking POW (hence
they cannot regenerate lost magic points). Some vampires
are animated by grim magic (see Gray Binding in the Old
Grimoire).
Optional rule
: vampires gain 1 magic point for every SIZ
point of corpse that they devour, or for every hit point of
body fluids they drink. They must expend a magic point
every daybreak; for each hour in the sun, vampires must
spend an extra magic point. This process represents the
corpse’s decay: at 0 magic points, a vampire rots into
incapacity and is destroyed.
VAMPIRE ATTACKS
: if the vampire strikes home, then
it hangs on and worries its victim with its fangs,
continuing to do 1D4 Bite damage automatically. A
successful STR against STR Resistance Table roll
dislodges the vampire, ending the Bite damage.
VAMPIRES, The Undead
STR 3-18 CON 3-18 SIZ 8-18 INT 3-18 POW 0 (1+
magic points) DEX 3-18 Move 4-8 HP 12
Other names
: lilu/lilitu (Mesopotamian vampires),
revenants, ghouls, ogres, strigae or striges, succubae,
whores of hell, lamia.
Damage bonus
: none.
Weapon
: Bite 30%, damage 1D4+automatic worry.
Armor
: Impales do normal damage to a vampire; other
attack results do half of rolled damage, round up any
fractions.
Spells
: at the discretion of the keeper, one or more
appropriate spells and Body Warping and Become
Spectral.
Skills
: Burrow 75%, Hide 80%, Listen 70%, Scent
Blood/Decay 75%, Sneak 80%.
Sanity loss
: 0 to 0/1D6 Sanity points to see a vampire,
depending on its state of decay.
BASILISKS, Fabulous creatures
.
“What good is it that
poor Murrus spited a basilisk with his spear-tip? In a
flash, its venom shoots up the shaft and invades his hand–
which he, drawing his sword, strides clean off from the
upper-arm at a single blow; stands and stares at the pitiful
paradigm of his own demise, safe himself, while his hand
is destroyed…” – Pharsalia 9.824-833, Lucan
.
“You will tread on the lion and the basilisk, the young lion
and the serpent you will trample under foot.” - Psalm
91:12
.
The basilisk serpent (meaning “kinglet”) is a 2 to 3 yard
long snake so venomous that the creature dwells in a self-
created desert. Pliny in his Natural History wrote that the
basilisk is “adorned with a bright white marking on the
head like a sort of diadem… and does not move its body
forward in manifold coils like the other snakes but
advancing with its middle raised high”. Basilisks are the
personification of venom: if a basilisk bites a victim, that
individual dies after one heartbeat of a major paralysis.
There is no chance to resist the poison, except maybe by
immediate amputation of the bitten limb to prevent the
venom from reaching the heart. Legend says that the
basilisk’s breath is venomous: this is a misinterpretation of
the fact the basilisk can spit its venom at up to 6 yards. The
attack is aimed at the target’s eyes!
Basilisks are native of Cyrenaica to the West of Egypt. It is
likely that these creatures were originally created by the
serpent people.
BASILISKS, Kinglets
STR 1 CON 1 SIZ 1 INT 3 POW 1 DEX 10 Move 6 HP 1
Other name
: cockatrice.
Damage bonus
: N/A.
Weapon
: Bite 30%, damage 1D4; if armor is penetrated,
automatic death after one heart beat. Virulent Spit 30%
(base range 3 yards), of potency 3D6: a victim must
successfully resist against that on the resistance table with
his CON or take damage equal to the 3D6 roll. If the target
successfully resists, he or she still takes half damage. An
impale means the spit found the target’s eyes: blindness!
Armor
: 4-point scales.
Sanity loss
: none.
Creatures of the Mythos
DARK ONES, Servitor Race
.
“…but in the hills a still
wilder and infinitely more terrible people dwelt - the
Strange Dark Folk
(Miri Nigri)
who held the monstrous
Sabbaths on the Kalends of Maius and November.” –
Letter, Lucius Caelius Rufus.
“
Thor said: ‘What is this man? Why is your nose so pale?
Did you spend last night with the dead? It seems to me that
you have the shape of a Thurs; You were not born to have
this bride’. Alviss said: ‘Alviss I am called, I live under the
earth, Under a rock I have my home.’” - “Edda”.
The Dark Ones are a race of “dwarfs” (Germanic
zwerc
,
Norse
dvergr
, old English
dveorg
; original meaning
“twisted” or “bent”) that serve Loki (Nyarlathotep) and the
Magnum Innominandum (the Nameless Mist). Twice a
year the Dark Folk follow barbarous rites, lighting pale
bonfires on remote hilltops, beating drums, and fetching
humans to feed the Magnum Innominandum and “what
lies within”.
The Dark Ones are generally encountered in groups of ten
or more.
Legend says the Dark Ones originally lived off the corpses
of dead Great Old Ones. The Dark Ones’ true shape
remains a mystery, as they only survive by living as
parasites “inside” dead bodies. Although the host remains
VAMPIRES, Lesser Independent Race
.
“For crouched
within that centuried coffin,… was the bony thing my
friend and I had robbed; not clean and placid as we had
seen it then, but covered with caked blood and shreds of
alien flesh and hair, and leering sentiently at me with
phosphorescent sockets and sharp ensanguined fangs...” –
“The Hound”, Lovecraft.
Vampires are the dead who come out of their tombs at
night to drink the body fluids of the living or eat the flesh
of the dead. They are related to the Arabic ghûl (ghouls)
who are partly human, partly dog. The strigae or striges of
the Old World were half woman, half owl. In the Dark
Ages monks believed these creatures to be the lilim -
depraved daughters of Lilith the She-devil (see below). In
many cultures, vampires are capable of constantly
changing form and may appear as humans, wolves, birds
or even insects. Vampires are quite common in central
Europe, Russia, the Balkans and Arabia.
It is said that these creatures become invisible by standing
still, and can move in complete silence. Only blows to the
Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
 Stéphane Gesbert Bestiary 4
dead and continues to rot, a Dark One can animate it into a
parody of the living. Before the host decays into
incapacity, the Dark One will find another body (or kill a
living being) and “occupy” it. The Dark Ones are thus
effectively shape-shifters, and despite customary belief,
they are not small.
On earth Dark Ones often seek the bodies of dead humans
that were mummified before burial. They consequently
hide in the cool and dark underworld of burial mounds,
tombs and caverns that preserve their bodies best (legend
wrongly assumes that daylight turns dwarfs into stone).
Otherwise, the Dark Folk can be found in peat bogs or near
glaciers. The Dark Ones have an unexplained bond with
horses and can apparently ride them.
Lacking POW (and with it any recognizable form of
emotion, fear or sanity), the Dark Ones cannot exercise
magic. Instead, the Dark Folk seem to be able to forge all
kinds of ominous artifacts, which allow them to open
Gates without spells, to animate lifeless “machines”, and
to
modify
living beings in forbidding ways. To Dark Ages
humans, the Dark Folk’s science would appear as magical
and utterly frightening. How the Dark Ones’ inferior
intelligence can account for such rarities is yet another
mystery, unless one adds Nyarlathotep in the balance – the
Dark Folk may very well be his Million Favored Ones!
Mythos deities or alien races like the mi-go often utilize
the vile crafts of the Dark Ones.
The myth of Germanic and Norse dwarfs living under the
hills and hoarding treasures can easily be explained by the
modus operandi
of the Dark Ones. Still older myths seem
to suggest that the Dark Folk and the Old Ones (or the
Tomb-herd) may be related or even
complementary
.
“Ancestor”, “He-who-enters-the-tomb”, “Buried-under-
the-cairn”, and “Dead-man-of-the-mound” are typical
names given to Dark Ones.
DARK ONES, The Strange Dark Folk
Use the dead host’s statistics as defaults, with INT 0 and
POW 0, and add the Dark One’s following characteristic
points and hit point
:
STR 1 CON 3-18 SIZ 1 INT 2-12 POW 0 DEX 1 HP
as
per cumulated CON and SIZ
Move 1
The keeper may rule that the decay reduces the host’s
characteristics over time, forcing the Dark One to find
another host
.
Other names
: miri nigri, Children of the Fire Mist,
dwarfs, black-elves, Afanc, Korr.
Weapon
: any weapon 75%, damage as per weapon.
Armor
: none.
Spells
: none, but may possess non-magical artifacts to
open Gates, to contact mythos creatures, to invoke Mist,
Winds, etc., at the keeper’s discretion.
Skills
: Sneak 90%, Ride 75%, and any number of
appropriate skills.
Sanity loss
: 0/1D2 Sanity points to see a Dark One.
classical descriptions, so don't think you're prepared.” –
“The Moon Lens”, Campbell.
“... The sylphs and the fauns, commonly called ‘incubus’,
showed themselves shamelessly to certain women...” -
Saint Augustine, “The City of God, XV, 23”
.
Cthulhu Mythos scholars believe that Goblins are the
“Goff’nn Hupadgh Shub-Niggurath”, i.e. favored
worshippers of the Black Goat of the Forest that have been
ritualistically devoured by the goddess and then disgorged,
“transformed”.
Goblins (from the Greek kobalos, “rogue”) are considered
short creatures, but they can grow and take on the nature of
an animal or even of a breeze. They have fluctuating
forms, shiny black skin, clawed hands, and are given
various names depending on the region they are found in.
Goblins usually live in haunted forests and ruins. They
steal children, cook poisoned food that they try to sell to
unwary humans, raid hapless travelers, and are prone to
rape. They sometimes appear in large groups. Goblins may
fight with gnarled clubs and all sorts of improvised
weapons.
The Goblins know group rituals called “Scarlet Circles”
that tear the fabric of space like a temporary Gate does,
and allows them to travel between distant places. They
have been known to let the Hounds of Tindalos use the
Circles to break into our world.
GOBLINS, The Thousand Young
STR 1-20 CON 1-20 SIZ 1-8 INT 4-24 POW 1-20 DEX 2-
40 Move 8 HP 8
Other names
: dusii (demons), sylvani (forest spirits),
schrats (shouters), fauns, satyrs, pilosi (Hairy-ones),
incubi, etc.
Damage bonus
: -1D4.
Weapon
: improvised weapons 25%, damage 1D3 to 1D6.
Armor
: no natural armor.
Spells
: most goblins know at least one spell besides Body
Warping, Become Spectral, and Gate (“scarlet Circles”).
Skills
: Hide 90%, Sneak 70%.
Sanity loss
: it costs 0/1D6 Sanity points to see most
goblins. An especially vile specimen might cost more.
NAMELESS MIST, Independent being
.
“From the
slopes and peaks above us a crackling chorus of
daemoniac laughter burst, and winds of ice swept down to
engulf us all.” – Letter, Lucius Caelius Rufus.
The Nameless mist was created by Azathoth to fill the
interstices between the spheres that compose the universe,
and to spawn Yog-Sothoth.
The Nameless Mist is served by the Gugs and worshipped
by the Dark Folk, and may intrude into the material world
when certain conditions are met. These emanations of the
otherworldly mist resemble the mist invoked by the spell
of the same name and are preceded by icy winds. Living
beings engulfed by the Nameless Mist loose all senses to
the exception of touch (modify skill rolls appropriately).
Cognitive skills and in particular the occult skill function
normally. The outlandish experience costs 0/1D4 Sanity
points.
The Nameless Mist is likely to hide befitting creatures at
the keeper’s discretion, e.g. one Dimensional Shambler, 1-
2 Gugs, 1-3 Old Ones, 1-10 Dark Ones, and any number of
Doels, etc.
NAMELESS MIST, Milk of the Void
GOBLINS, Servitor Race
.
“You may get a bit of a shock
tonight when you see us naked, though. We've gone down
below to his
place
, to a region I won't describe to you, and
to live longer we've had to… to change. You've probably
heard about it in a different way, though - the young of the
Black Goat?
Gof'nn hupadgh Shub-niggurath?
But the
dryads and fauns and satyrs are a lot different from the
Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
5 Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76 Stéphane Gesbert
SIZ infinite INT 0 POW 24 Move 24
Other names
: Magnum Innominandum.
Weapon
: indirectly those attacks of “what lies within”
(see corresponding creature entries).
Sanity loss
: 0/1D4 Sanity points to be engulfed by the
Nameless Mist.
hills. Before long, the Worms entered human legend as the
Little People under the hills.
The Worms worship an artifact of obscure origins, the
Black Stone, marked by symbols of terror. It is said that
anybody succeeding in stealing the Black Stone may be
granted a service in return, although in the end he or she
will still incur the wrath of the Worms.
There are three stages to the serpent-men’s devolution and
one “family” of degenerates may breed true to their stage
form many centuries before devolving further.
STAGE 1
“… A brief impression of a broad, strangely flattened
head, pendulous writhing lips that bared curved, pointed
fangs, and a hideously misshapen, dwarfish body that
seemed – mottled – all set off by those unwinking reptilian
eyes.” – “Worms of the Earth”, Howard.
The Serpent People are dwarfs compared to their non-
devolved kin, averaging only 3 foot six inches in height
with shortened arms and legs. Their intellect also drops
sharply. Stage 1 Degenerates are capable of speech and
spell use.
STAGE 2
“This thing was more like a giant serpent than anything
else, but it had aborted legs and snaky arms with hooked
talons. It crawled on its belly, writhing back mottled lips to
bare needle-like fangs, which I felt must drip with venom.
It hissed as it reared up its ghastly head on a horribly long
neck, while its yellow slanted eyes glittered with all the
horror that is spawned in the black lairs under the earth”
–
“People of the Dark”, Howard.
These Degenerates are essentially large snakes with
rudimentary arms and legs, but with no guarantee of both
sets of limbs. They move by slithering like snakes and
pulling/pushing themselves with any limbs they may
possess. Again intellect takes a sharp drop. Some Stage 2
Degenerates may still speak and very rare ones may cast
spells.
STAGE 3
The Serpent Person has now devolved into a snake looking
almost like a natural one. They still possess more
intelligence then natural snakes but have lost all spell use.
WORMS OF THE EARTH, Children of the Night
STAGE 1
WEREWOLVES, Servitor Race
.
“I am he who howls in
the night; I am he who moans in the snow; I am he who
hath never seen light; I am he who mounts from below.” –
“Psychopompos”, Lovecraft.
“... his men went without mailcoats, and were frantic as
dogs or wolves; they bit their shields and were as strong
as bears or boars; they slew men, but neither fire nor iron
could hurt them.” - “Ynglinga saga, 6”
.
Werewolves are men or women possessed by a kind of
spirit (“wolf-shadow”) normally found in Limbo. Tawil
at’Umr may impart such a spirit to a warrior who caused
great carnage in battle, or to a cultist in return for mass
sacrifices. Alternately, a Woelcyrge (Old One) may embed
the wolf-shadow into a newborn’s mind.
In the heat of a battle, the wolf-shadow tries to take over
the mind of his host using the sacred Fury spell (Wut) –
see the Old Grimoire for further details.
Werewolves have been around for a very long time, for
Virgil and Saint Augustine already spoke of them. The
Vikings consider wolf-men (berserks) to be elite warriors
of Odin (alias Tawil at’Umr) awaiting the final battle
against the forces of Chaos on the Last Evening. Berserks
– who die their body black - are known to have formed the
household guard of Norway's king Harald I Fairhair (872-
930). Berserk warriors wear wolf skins into battle or fight
naked, and are in the habit of raping and murdering at will.
Two anonymous texts written around 1000 AD, “the
dialogue of Solomon and Saturn” and “the poem of
Widsith”, attest the existence of a mythical nation of wolf-
men - the Hundigas (“Those-of-the-dog”). They appear to
be ruled by an elusive giant sorcerer named Marculfus
(Tawil at’Umr), “the raging wolf known in the whole
world”, messenger of an ambiguous god whose kingdom is
beyond the reach of humans and animals (Yog-Sothoth).
WEREWOLVES, The Army of the Dog
Use the human statistics as defaults, except when the wolf-
spirit takes over: switch then to INT 6 and add the spirit’s
POW 11 to the human’s POW thus forming a common
pool of magic points.
Other names
: wolf-men, wolf-coats, versipellis (“turn-
skins”), Hundigas, Berserks.
Weapon
: Bite 30%, damage 1D8+db (in wolf-form).
Armor
: add an extra 1 point of hide if in wolf-form.
Spells
: Fury, Body Warping.
Skills
: Hide 60%, Track by smell 90%.
Sanity loss
: 0/1D6 Sanity points to witness the shape-shift;
0/1D3 to see a giant wolf form (SIZ 12+).
characteristics
Rolls
Averages
3D6
10-11
STR
CON
3D6
10-11
SIZ
2D4
5
INT
3D6
10-11
POW
3D6
10-11
DEX
2D6+6
13
Move 8
HP
7-8
Other names
: Little people.
Damage bonus
: varies, but never negative.
Weapon
: Bite 35%, damage 1D6 + poison (POT equal to
CON); may use weapons.
Armor
: 1 point scales.
Spells
: at the discretion of the keeper, those with POW and
INT greater than 12 may know 1D4 spells.
Sanity loss
: 0/1D6.
WORMS OF THE EARTH, Lesser Servitor Race.
The Worms of the Earth are the remains of the Serpent
People who turned away from worshipping their father
Yig, and turned to Tsathoggua instead. Cursed by Yig they
have devolved from humanoid towards snakes. They
withdrew into Britain during the serpent-men’s decline.
When the Picts first arrived on the isles, they fought
against the Worms and made them retreat deep into the
STAGE 2
Characteristics
Rolls
Averages
2D6
7
STR
CON
3D6
10-11
Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
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