Sandy petersens cthulhu mythos (1) 52

II Mythos Races
considered. Also, when noble zoogs feel a need for the

their friends to travel with the zoog host and keep

guidance of other, lesser zoogs, they do not hesitate to

them safe from enemies and ambushes. Herding along

call them to the council as participants. For example,

a large mob of small, ferocious zoogs while wolves,

if a lower ranked zoog had traveled for a long period of

trolls, or other natural foes try to pick off some of the

time with a group of captured adventurers, that zoog

troop could be a fun travel scenario. Hazards might

would be interrogated at the council, and his testimony

include bandits hoping to kidnap a zoog noble or a

may well determine the fate of those adventurers.

family, bitter about past zoog predations, lusting for

When less-sweeping plans are needed, a single noble

vengeance.

may lead a group of zoogs in some major task—for

Warfare

example, constructing a large trap designed to capture
a large animal.
Zoogs also have an equivalent to human guilds,
in which all like-minded zoogs within a forest share
wisdom or work on large projects. Typical zoog guilds
include trap-makers, magical researchers, alchemists
(a generic term for all tinkerers), loremasters, and
animal tamers. Unlike human guilds, these are always
led and ruled by one or more noble zoogs and advised
by the rest. The nobles are not necessarily the most
experienced workers in the trade, but they do receive
training and are always willing to listen to other, more
skilled zoogs. Young nobles are assigned as apprentices
to the various guilds so that they can learn the trade
and be ready to take positions of leadership.

Venturing Outside the Wood

While zoogs are known to go into battle, these
excursions would not be considered a “war” by human
standards. Instead, the zoogs treat their attacks as
an extension of their clever tricks, and usually try to
encapsulate the whole conflict within a single huge
ambush or trap. Hence, a typical zoog war lasts only

a day or two and ends in a complete victory for one
side or the other: either the zoog ambush works or it
doesn’t.
Zoogs are highly protective of their high-ranking
nobles because they take so many generations to
produce, so their wars are almost always triggered by
the death (accidental or otherwise) of a noble zoog or
zooglet.
Zoogs recover populations decimated in war more
quickly than other sentient races, thanks to their fast

The natural zoog habitat is dark, deep woods. Often,

breeding cycle. As a result, they are not particularly

when zoogs wish to colonize a new region, they must

deterred by the threat of losses—except with regard to

travel through the outside world, which is a dangerous

their nobles.

proposition. Sometimes, they try to avoid trouble by
moving only at night. Other times, they bargain with
fey to gain access to their strange magic or mysterious
portals. Occasionally, zoogs make a treaty with groups
whose lands they must travel through, offering to
gift their hosts with magic or unusual forest herbs in
exchange for protection.

Protection deals can lead to interesting adventures

Faith
Zoogs are not very religious. They recognize the
existence of gods and demons, but are only interested
in them as potential sources of power or as threats.
They are always, at their core, pragmatists in any kind
of religious devotion, though they are able to parrot
belief in order to comfort or fool humans or other races.

for players, who may be tasked by their kingdom or

45