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Author Topic: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas  (Read 960 times)

Servant Corps

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Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« on: August 15, 2009, 11:40:11 pm »

There is going to be a great CoC Mod that will be coming out, but it will be excluding some 'non-Lovecraftian' stuff, such as the Elder Gods, that were created by August William Derleth, the guy responsible for the Cthulhu Mythos. Even if the Elder Gods are hippie gods not deserving to exist in the Lovecraftian universe, I still think it would be nice to add them anyway, so I decide to make a sperate mod where these hippie Elder Gods would exist. If only as a thought experiment of course. I'm not going to add in the "Other Gods" and the "Great Old Ones" in this mod, you can download the CoC mod for that.

However, there will be one ground rule. August William Derleth has said about the Elder Gods...

Quote
As Lovecraft conceived the deities or forces of his mythos, there were, initially, the Elder Gods... [T]hese Elder Gods were benign deities, representing the forces of good, and existed peacefully at or near Betelgeuze in the constellation Orion, very rarely stirring forth to intervene in the unceasing struggle between the powers of evil and the races of Earth. These powers of evil were variously known as the Great Old Ones or the Ancient Ones...
—August Derleth, "The Cthulhu Mythos"[17]

The Elder Gods are not good. They will never be good, understand? Even I know that Lovecraft's universe is blind to such human concepts as morality, and it is not up to us humans to declare some omipotent diety as "good" and another even-more omipotent diety as "evil" just because the first diety doesn't care about us and the second diety dislikes us dearly.

Grey Myers made a retcon that try to keep the 'good-evil' duality, without actually calling using the words 'good' and evil', but for now, I'm ruling that the Elder Gods have their own agendas, and aren't opposed to the Great Old Ones at all.

Spoiler: "Grey Myers's Retcon" (click to show/hide)

Planned Elder Gods:
*Bast (Goddes of Cats): If you like cats, cool. If you hate cats, not so cool. Pretty boring god. Really, hordes of cats raiding your settlements? Bo-ring!
*Nodens (Lord of the Great Abyss) The Hunter. He hunts other dieties for sport, not out of any compassion for human beings. He does sometimes help human beings out though, for unknown reasons, possibly if the humans help in the great hunt. A wandering mega-beast and a deus-ex machina to behold.
*Hypnos (Lord of Sleep) is an enigmatic being of unknown form. He apperantely terrified two people whenever they go to sleep...after one of them crossed this 'barrier' and saw things man was not meant to see. Good times, good times.
*Vorvadoss:
Quote from: Wikipedia
Vorvadoss (The Flaming One, Lord of the Universal Spaces, The Troubler of the Sands, Who Waiteth in the Outer Dark) appears as a cloaked, hooded being, enveloped in green flames, with fiery eyes. He may otherwise appear as a misty, silvery being not unlike Tawil-at-U'mr with an inhuman face

Elder Gods That Are...Meh.:
*Kthanid:
Quote from: Wikipedia
Kthanid is said to be the "brother" of Cthulhu. He looks like his sibling but has golden eyes. He resides in a crystal cave on Elysia. It is said that he is as good as his brother is evil.

But since Cthulhu is not "evil", Kthanid is not "good". So, yeah...not really that interesting. Invented by Brian Lumley.

*
Quote from: Wikipedia
Yad-Thaddag is possibly the Elder God equivalent of the Outer God Yog-Sothoth. This being has the same appearance as Yog-Sothoth, except its spheres are of a different colour and its nature is purely benevolent. It appears in Lumley's 1989 novel Elysia.

This one is also invented by Brian Lumley. We already got one Yog-Sothoth.

*Ulthar:
Quote
Ulthar (or Uldar) is a deity mentioned in the (fictional) Sussex Manuscript. He is the son of Sothoth and was sent to Earth to keep watch over the Great Old Ones.[1]
Not sure how to incorporate a person who 'keep watch'.

The Computer here is getting unstable, so I'll quit for now. Suggest new ideas for the Call of the Elder Gods!
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Servant Corps

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Re: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2009, 01:16:31 am »

Also, since I have few Elder Gods, I am willing to accept suggestions for new Elder Gods.

Spoiler: Cats (click to show/hide)
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Rowanas

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Re: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2009, 09:19:49 am »

Ah, I like what you've done here. Cool. If when the CoC mod gets done I wouldn't mind helping with the modding if you'll let me. I'm glad you decided to take what we're doing with the CoC and basically make an expansion for it to suit your own tastes :D
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I agree with Urist. Steampunk is like Darth Vader winning Holland's Next Top Model. It would be awesome but not something I'd like in this game.
Unfortunately dying involves the amputation of the entire body from the dwarf.

Glowcat

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Re: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2009, 01:30:11 pm »

Quote
<Servant> Well, I don't know what Catdom would be
<Servant> Let me think.
<Servant> In a Lovecraft story, some guy killed a cat
<Servant> so a huge army of cats arrived and killed that guy.

The Cats of Ulthar had an old couple who trapped and killed cats that wandered too near their home. Their fate was to be devoured by a horde of cats.

As for Catdoms, in the Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath there were both Earth cats, who would sometimes ally with humans who did them favors, and their enemies: the cats of Saturn. Those cats are leagued by treaty to evil toad-things.

Which is really silly and exemplifies the weirdness of the setting.

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Rowanas

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Re: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2009, 06:10:27 pm »

You just gave me another idea for a creature I need to put in the CoC mod. Moon beasts. Bast watches over all cats, Saturn cats and Earth cats are all good with her :D

EDIT: I mean, she gets on with them, not that they instantly turn friendly to people :D
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I agree with Urist. Steampunk is like Darth Vader winning Holland's Next Top Model. It would be awesome but not something I'd like in this game.
Unfortunately dying involves the amputation of the entire body from the dwarf.

Servant Corps

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Re: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2009, 11:41:30 pm »

You just gave me another idea for a creature I need to put in the CoC mod. Moon beasts. Bast watches over all cats, Saturn cats and Earth cats are all good with her :D

EDIT: I mean, she gets on with them, not that they instantly turn friendly to people :D

But the DF engine has it that each Entity follows a different god. So, if I have an Saturn Cat Empire and an Earth Cat Empire, there would be following different gods, almost by definition. I don't know how to program in two rival races having the same god.
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Rowanas

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Re: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2009, 04:39:03 am »

Hmm. You could always have two Basts with the same name. Technically they would be following different gods, but to the player it would appear that it was one god, Bast.
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I agree with Urist. Steampunk is like Darth Vader winning Holland's Next Top Model. It would be awesome but not something I'd like in this game.
Unfortunately dying involves the amputation of the entire body from the dwarf.

Enatai

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Re: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2009, 11:00:54 pm »

Cool elder gods, bro.  Also glad to see nobody's too keen on that Brian Lumley crap, it sounds like a bad fan fiction turned worse book.  I want my megabeasts with hair on their chest, dammit!
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jaked122

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Re: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2009, 08:15:43 am »

make cthulu have 50 different limbs, and make this
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Rowanas

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Re: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« Reply #9 on: August 18, 2009, 10:26:03 am »

Cthulhu is done in the CoC mod. this is just Elder Gods
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I agree with Urist. Steampunk is like Darth Vader winning Holland's Next Top Model. It would be awesome but not something I'd like in this game.
Unfortunately dying involves the amputation of the entire body from the dwarf.

Winterbrass

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Re: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« Reply #10 on: August 18, 2009, 10:31:21 am »

So... cats.

Last I checked, jaguars were feline.

30-40 angry jaguars beelining for your gates could be fun.
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Servant Corps

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Re: Call of the Elder Gods---Open For Ideas
« Reply #11 on: August 19, 2009, 01:20:34 pm »

Cthulhu is done in the CoC mod. this is just Elder Gods

...And there is a difference.

Somehow.

I can't seem to think of one though.

Anyway, jaguars. I'm going to need to reread that Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, to see if they described Saturn Cats...If not, then maybe jaguars could be retconned as the "Saturn Cats" the "Earth Cats" warned about...
« Last Edit: August 19, 2009, 01:24:36 pm by Servant Corps »
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I have left Bay12Games to pursue a life of non-Bay12Games. If you need to talk to me, please email at me at igorhorst at gmail dot com.