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“Six feet end to end, three and five-tenths feet central diameter, tapering to one foot at
each end. Like a barrel with five bulging ridges in place of staves. Lateral breakages,
as of thinnish stalks, are at equator in middle of these ridges. In furrows between
ridges are curious growths – combs or wings that fold up and spread out like fans.
. . which gives almost seven-foot wing spread. Arrangement reminds one of certain
monsters of primal myth, especially fabled Elder Things in [the] Necronomicon.”
—H.P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness

their everyday lives, as their natural flexibility and

Elder thing communities engage in commerce with

ability to fly, swim, travel through space, and crawl

other such communities or other organisms of similar

rapidly mean they don’t need mechanical transportation

advancement (the fungi from Yuggoth, Yithians, or

or medical appliances.

starspawn for instance). Mere humanoids typically

Thanks to the massive lobe of their brain devoted to

have little to offer them. They use small flat stone

the biological arts and sciences, elder things are highly

counters, five-pointed and inscribed, for money. Elder

skilled at biological engineering and have synthesized

things must eat, so they maintain farms, as well as land

many life-forms. The dread shoggoths themselves

and undersea ranches, and conduct other agricultural

originated with elder thing science.

activities. They are known to keep dinosaurs, whales,

Society
Because the elder things reproduce through spores, and
then only occasionally and circumstantially, they have
no biological basis for families or romance. They live
together with other like-minded elder things as “groups”
in large dwellings. All items are kept in the center
of their huge rooms, with all the wall spaces free for
decorations. Though they can freely move and perceive
in complete darkness, they prefer electro-chemical
lighting. They have some basic furniture, particularly
favoring book racks and display cases, though they rest
and sleep upright with folded tentacles.
Their writing system is a series of raised or depressed
dots, though they can also reproduce it with simple

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black and white patterns.

and other prehistoric creatures. Typically, elder things
live in their cities, while agricultural experts among
them fly out to their lands to tend crops and domestic
animals. The incredible speed of this flight means they
don’t have to stay on their farms all the time. Long ago,
they used shoggoths to protect their farms and work as
beasts of burden, and in more recent times they have
taken to taming other monsters for this purpose.
Use of the shoggoths is a dangerous proposition for
the elder things. Periodically, the enslaved shoggoths
rise up, and usually when this happens, they wipe out
much of local elder thing society. While the elder things
are able to re-tame and control shoggoths with their
magical, technological, and scientific prowess, they are
always aware of the danger these creatures represent.