Fallen Squamoids [Mythos Future]

Fallen Squamoids
(Blighted Barbaric Serpent People)
Number Appearing: 1-12 (3d12)
Hit Dice: 6+
Armor Class: 5 [14]
Attacks: 2 (Weapon, Bite or tail-sweep)
Move: 8
Save: 13
HDE/XP: 5/400
Special: Tail-Sweep has base 30% chance to trip bipeds (Save or fall)

The Fallen Squamoids are the sad, last remnants of those serpent people enclaves that have reverted to barbarism in the aftermath of having been infected by virulent forms of fungi that have entirely infiltrated their bodies, genes and minds.

Any successful hit on a fallen Squamoid with an edged weapon will result in a blood spatter with a 10' radius. Anyone caught within the spatter must roll a save or become infected with a variant form of cordyceptrian fungi that will inflict 1d4 damage every turn until removed/sterilized or until it reduces the new host to 0 hit points, at which time they become a living fungal host under the control and direction of a fresh new colony of the cordyceptrian fungal (re-roll INT, WIS, reduce CHAR by 1d6).

One in Six Fallen Squamoids are Mycologically Mutated and have the following statistics:

Mycologically Mutated Squamoids
Number Appearing: 1
Hit Dice: 12
Armor Class: 4[15]
Attacks: 2 (Spew and Weapon)
Move: 6
Save: 7
HDE/XP:  12/2,000

Special: Spew attack covers a cone 3' at origin and extending out to a range of 60' with a width of 30' across. It has the same basic effect of the lesser Squamoids' blood spatter: Anyone caught within the spatter must roll a save or become infected with a variant form of cordyceptrian fungi that will inflict 1d4 damage every turn until removed/sterilized or until it reduces the new host to 0 hit points, at which time they become a living fungal host under the control and direction of a fresh new colony of the cordyceptrian fungal (re-roll INT, WIS, reduce CHAR by 1d6).

Larger, more bloated-looking and almost half-melted in appearance, the Mycologically Mutated Squamoids are massive, walking fungi-colonies that only have a vague, passing resemblance to the serpentine humanoids who once were their hosts. They lumber about the battlefield spewing massive gouts of fungally-infected ichor that linger as miasmic clouds for 2d4 minutes, and often form small pools of virulent foullness that can persist for up to 1d4 days afterwards.

It is a good thing that there are not very many of these horrid things within the ranks of the Fallen Squamoids, but then all that is required is just a little time for another one to mature into one of these hulking beasts...

The Labyrinth Lord version of these infected ophidians is slightly different...

Negamorph (Mythos Future)

Ancient beings composed of oily, black matter, the Negamorphs arrived on Earth millennia ago and have bided their time in the deep, dark places beneath the more populous regions of the crust and especially in the lightless caverns of N'Kai, part of the emanatory underworld unique to this planet.

Negamorphs shapechange at will. They can assume any shape that they can imagine, but are always glossy, slick, black and seamless. As a default, Negamorphs will assume a spherical form that hovers just above the surface of the dark, loathsome pools of sathlic-matter and other forms of proto-effluvia in their chosen caverns, though others, especially the immature specimens will slop and slosh around the various channels and shallow canals cut through-out the transterrestrial underworld realm of N'Kai by some unknown previous species. (Indexed Yaddithian databases hint that it might have been a splinter-group of Polyps who carved the various narrow, winding gouges in the artificially-flattened floors of this place, possibly for obscure religious observances or worse.)

They are immune to vacuum, hard-space, and can hibernate/go dormant for centuries. Their telekinetic levitation capability can be focused and used to travel through space at sub-luminal speeds, and it is also capable of being used to propel crude missile weapons at opponents, but they rarely need to resort to that sort of thing. All Negamorphs possess the knowledge and means to formulate a N'Kai Drive from within themselves, giving them personal-level starflight capability. But it is a demanding, dedicated effort to form a functional and internalized N'Kai Drive, and they can only attempt this highly intricate effort while focusing entirely and completely on just this one task for 1d6 months..

Spaceborne Negamorphs are violently opposed to Shoggoths and Polyps both, and they will attack either of these sorts of entities upon noticing them. No one is certain how Negamorphs sense or perceive anything as it has yet to be discovered and documented.

Negamorphs have explored the Sol system extensively, and have long-standing religio-political affiliation with various Tsathic entities.

It is alleged and suspected that the Negamorph originated on Kythamil / Kythanil, a double-planet orbiting Arcturus.

Negamorph
(Predatory Preformative Polymorphs)
No. Enc.: 1d2 (1d4)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120' (Psychic Levitation)
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 8
Attacks: 1 (Extended Glob, Psychic Power or Spell)
Damage: 2d8 or see note
Save: L10
Morale: 10 (-8 penalty when confronted with Elder Sign Variant 1)
Hoard Class: n/a


Special: Natural Spell-Use at level equal to HD, Telepathy (range 100 miles) at will, Shapechange at will, Levitate at will, Telekinesis twice per day per HD, Form N'Kai Drive once per hundred years. Gain 1 random Psychic Power or spell per HD.

Mythos Source: Negamorphs were inspired by the Formless Spawn of Tsathoggua as mentioned in The Mound, a short story ghost-written by H. P. Lovecraft in 1929-30 based on a one-sentence premise by Zealia Bishop: "There is an Indian mound near here, which is haunted by a headless ghost. Sometimes it is a woman." HPL did NOT like Bishop's premise, so he went to town and drafted a nearly 30,000-word story that delivered quite a lot more than Zealia Bishop ever expected. You can read The Mound at the H. P. Lovecraft Archives. It was also serialized at the Space Westerns site. It remains one of our personal favorite Top Five Mythos Tales...and an essential source of inspiration for our Mythos Future projects. The Formless Spawn also appeared in Clark Ashton Smith's excellent The Tale of Satampra Zeiros in 1931, which you can read at The Eldritch Dark.

Space Age Sorcery Spells

More Spells for Old School Space Fantasy & Lovecraftian Space Opera

Alter Signal (Magic User 4th level): Caster can cause any kind of signal or transmission to reverse itself with a chance of causing a short circuit to occur. (base: 5% per level of caster) A variant is noted that will allow the caster to manipulate a particular signal and reform it to suit their whims, but this is a Mi-Go secret.

Altered States (Magic User 5th level): Spell forces target to devolve backwards into a simpler, primordial version of its earliest ancestral form, usually pond scum, amoebas, gelatinous goo--something like that.

Animate Machinery (Magic User 2nd level): Caster imbues inert machinery with a strange semblance of life, but has no control over the newly awakened mechanism. (Can be used to instill sentience in robots at great peril; make a reaction roll at -3 penalty...)

Anthropophagy (Cleric 2nd level/Magic User 2nd level): Caster becomes capable of devouring/digesting human flesh as though a ghoul. There is a cumulative 1d4% chance of becoming an actual ghoul each time the spell is used.

Autoparthenogenesis (Magic User 5th level): Spell allows caster to form a fresh new cloned body from within their original one.

Barker's Sensory Overload (Magic User 3rd level/4th level): Blasts the target with an assortment of painful wound stigmata manifested through the expansion of sensation to an extremely painful point of sensory overload, and enduring excruciating pain through incessant tortures that transcend traditional laws of physics. The Target gets to make a save vs or explodes for 1d6/level of caster in a bloody rain of organs & goo. [Needles]

Bastion's Barbwire Blast (Magic User 4th level): The magic user channels a blast of strange twisted bloody wires from the Outer Darkness through the palm of their hands. The dark black twisting wires extend from the caster's palm to the target accompanied by the dire of damned souls lost to this spell in the mists of the space ways! The target must make a save vs 1d6 damage/level of caster. Casting this spell more than 3 times per day attracts the attentions of the God who controls these weird soul blasting wires. It may in fact take both the target of this spell & the caster. [Needles]

Brainfire (Cleric 2nd level/Magic User 3rd level): Causes a debilitating fever to rage through victim, making them -2 on all physical and -4 on all mental activities. Any victim attempting to cast spells or fire missile weapons under the effects of this spell rolls for a random target, including themselves.

Blasphemous Rumors (Cleric 2nd level): Victim loses 1 point of Wisdom.

Coagulation (Cleric 4th level/Magic User 3rd level): Causes target's blood and bodily fluids to clot into a solid mass. Save or die. Very effective against gelatinous masses.

Control Fungi (Magic User 4th Level): Similar to Control Robot only affecting fungi (possibly molds), Mi-Go get a saving throw.

Cranial Detonation (Magic User 3rd level): Target gets to make a save or their skull explodes for 1d6/level of caster. Useless against invertebrates or fungi. Only has a 50-50% chance of affecting humanoid-configuration robots or androids.

Degeneration (Cleric 3rd level): Save or gain 1d4 minor mutations. (Note: A specific Degeneration Table will be forthcoming, we'll update with the link when it's posted.)

Destroy Fungi (Magic User 4th level): Similar to Destroy Robot only affecting fungi, Mi-Go get a saving throw.

Detect Machine (Magic User 1st level ): Similar to Detect Magic only affecting machinery, cybernetics, implants and robots.

Extract Brain (Cleric 3rd level): Save or have your brain removed. Successful caster now has the victim's brain in their hands, what now? Oh, and yes, the victim remains alive, sentient, conscious and aware the whole time, assuming they were any of those things to begin with.

Fungal Armor (Cleric 1st level/Magic User 2nd level): Envelopes caster in a form-fitting suit of ultra-pliable fungal sheathing equivalent to enchanted leather armor that gains an additional +1  defense value every three levels of the caster. Prolonged use results in caster becoming a host to the fungus and it remains a permanent part of the caster's body.

General Chang's Clinging Cloak Of The Cloying Darkness (Magic User 5th level/Cleric 4th level): The caster becomes a channel for the strange rolling black light of dead stars from the Outer Darkness. The black light does not behave as light but rather a black moaning gas that exits every orifice of the caster. It continues to roll & moan as it covers the entire ship making it invisible to normal sensors for 4 rounds. This rolling cloak of darkness allows normal weapons to be fired even as the space ship is invisible in the normal universe. If cast more than twice a day the ship begins to lose normality within the normal space time continuum! [Needles]

Hybridification (Magic User 4th level): Caster combines features from two or more test subjects or targets into a completely new creature combining traits from its source-donors (roll up a random creature: HD=caster's level plus or minus 4--roll d8, even add that amount, odd subtract that amount). Unfortunately, this new being is 70% likely to be insane or 30% chance to be a total catatonic, and hence not terribly useful beyond certain nefarious purposes.

Implant (Cleric 1st level/Magic User 3rd level): Allows caster to embed an object or device (or stolen organ) into target and keep both intact and functional.

Infect (Magic User 2nd level/Cleric 1st level): Caster inflicts magically-enhanced pathogens on target. Save or become infected, and thus subject to effects of sorcerous affliction. (Sorcerous Affliction Table fothcoming...or use Gorgonmilk's handy Dungeon Funk Table instead.)

Instill Ennui (Cleric level 3rd): Target becomes so bored they wander off mumbling to themselves and require a saving throw to prevent them from doing something rash or dangerous just to relieve the crushing burden of sheer unmitigated boredom.

Molt (Cleric 2nd level/Magic User 3rd level): Forces target to shed their epidermal layers. Causes 1d4/level of caster unless victim is naturally able to molt.

(A) Momentary Lapse Of Reason (Cleric 3rd level): The caster becomes one with The Outer Darkness for 6 rounds. Strange pulsing veins appear across the forehead of the caster as the cranium expands to hold the power of the Outer Darkness within the caster's brain. The caster is temporarily able to see the lines of hyper space intersects & direct nearby ships to these passages. At the end of 6 rounds the caster must make a save vs or his head shall retain these strange abnormal veins, brain expansion, & cranium adjustment. Multiple castings will cause insanity, mutations, & eventual death of the caster. There really are some things man wasn't meant to know. [Needles]

No Signal (Magic User 3rd level): No artificial signal can get past the zone of anullment erected by this spell. (Area of effect equals 10' cube per level. Yes, robots make a save or are rendered inert akin to Sleep).

Parasitizatory Embrace (Cleric 4th level/Magic User 5th level): By embracing target, the caster drains 1d4 hit points/level from the victim and gains them as temporary hit points themself. Caster takes full consequence of being in contact with target. Anyone reduced to 0 or fewer hit points via this spell will go into a coma for 1d4 hours after which they will awaken as a thrall to the caster who can now drain 1d4 hit points from them each turn with a range of 10'/level of caster. Thralls are not undead, but lack volition or the ability to go against their master's wishes. Each thrall counts as a retainer/henchman, depending on their vitality/utility/ability to fight, cast spells, or carry out simple commands.

Repair Machine/Robot/Ship (Magic 5th User level): Restores 1d4 hit points to target per caster's level.

Slow Ship (Magic User 5th level): Diminishes ship speed by 10% per level of caster.

Spore Blast (Magic User 3rd level): Causes a sputtering stream of alien spores to spray out from caster's hands that inflicts 1d4-1 damage per level of caster, with a 10% chance of infecting those hit by the blast with a random Fungal Infection (see table).

Summon Beast Of The Fire Maidens From Outer Space (Cleric 4th level/Magic User 5th level): This spell summons "the man with the head of a beast". This nasty, dangerous monster comes from the 13th Moon of Jupiter. The creature is slender, with dark, pitted skin and is impervious to bullets. Legend states that the monster is relentless & will follow its victim through the very dimensions beyond space & time itself. Even those who survive an attack by the beast must contend with its infect ability. Roll on Gorgonmilk's handy Dungeon Funk Table! [Needles]

Summon Mugwump (Magic User 4th level): The caster needs a drug called "black meat," derived from the guts of giant space centipedes. The mugwump will arrive within 3 rounds from the deep echoes of the ID. Mugwump will act as a NPC go between for the caster with certain shady underworld figures known as the Nova Mob. Care should be taken as these planar powers are malevolent in the extreme. The banishment ritual involves the use of a rare substance called bug powder & the burning of a mechanism known as a typewriter. Very little is know of the powers of the mugwumps & their intentions are often murky & hazy at best. The Nova Mob is rumored to have destroyed several star spanning empires. [Needles]

Summon Thought Monster (Cleric Spell 4th level): Summons an invisible ID monster that rips its way from the victim's body. The monsters  mutated "bodies" are revealed to be the missing brains and connected spinal cords taken from their victims; the spinal cords have become very flexible and also sprouted feelers. This allows them to move quickly and even to leap; each brain has also developed a pair of small eyes on extended eye stalks. [Needles]

Transfer Brain (Magic User 4th level): Caster extracts the target's brain and transfers it to some ready receptacle or another body, including any convenient corpses or undead.

Transvective Dismemberment (Magic User 6th level): Victim must make a save versus spell or else have 1d4 limbs detached from their torso and scattered 1d100 feet in randomly determined directions. A second save lets them live through this. The clerical version of this spell allows for the caster to determine which specific limbs (or organs) are involved, and precisely where they go. It is often used for committing sacrifices.

Tcho-Tchoids (Mythos Future)

The Tcho-Tchoids abandoned Earth to its bitter, black fate long ago, between the time when the oceans drank Singapore and the raving hybrid offspring of unnameable things arose to crush the world of humanity beneath hoof and horn. Once they were human, now only soldiers, they wage terrible wars in the desolate places beyond the fixed stars. For a price they will serve anyone...or anything.

It was the Tcho-Tchoids who Dhole-bombed Beta Cygnus III.

---

Mythos Source: The Tcho-Tchoids were inspired by an off-hand mention of the Tcho-Tchos in The Horror in the Museum, a short story ghost-written for Hazel Heald by H.P.Lovecraft in 1932. The story is included in the collection The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions originally published by Arkham house in 1970. The Tcho-Tchos went on to be mentioned and even featured in a number of other stories and remain an intriguing blend of human and inhuman qualities that make them an interesting example of genetic transgression and posthumanism within the Mythos.

Tcho-Tchoids
(Abhuman Mercenary-Servitors to Dark Things)
No. Enc.: 1-4
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120' (Passwall Ability, expert swimmers and divers)
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 6
Attack(s): 1 (Weapons, Psychic Powers or Spells)
Damage: 2d4 or by Weapon, Power or Spell
Save: L8
Morale: 8


Special: 4 random Psychic Abilities or 4 levels as spell-caster. All Tcho-Tchoids have fungal-augments, synthegrafts or cyber implants (treat as 2 Physical Mutations, with 1d4 additional Physical Mutations per 3HD.


Equipment: Axolotl-Masks, Personal Resonator, Voidflesh Armor.

Tcho-Tchoid Gear

• Axolotl Masks allow the wearer to breathe in most atmospheres including the extremely toxic, caustic or polluted worlds found along the Shattered Rim. These masks allow the wearer to use Water Breathing, Detect Thoughts (ESP), and Detect Magic at will.
• Personal Resonator allows the user to synchronize and interact with dimensional shamblers, various out-of-phase creatures, and a wide array of otherwise immaterial entities. (Wearer can use Detect Invisibility, Dimension Portal, and Passwall by expending 1d4 hit points.)
• Voidflesh Armor regenerates 1d4 hit points per hour, augments the wearer's physical attributes by +4, Extends wearer's perceptions to include Darkvision out to 360', and allows wearer to use Light (Continual),  Levitate, Protection from Normal Missiles, and Fly at will.

Note: ALL Tcho-Tchoid special equipment is psychically bonded to the individual Tcho-Tchoid and will not willingly serve a non-Tcho-Tchoid without them first proving themselves by undergoing a rigorous series of rites including replacing many of their internal organs with synthetic implants, bonding with a cyber-totem and essentially becoming transformed into a Tcho-Tchoid, albeit one that will very likely never quite be fully accepted into the grim society of these fierce transhuman warriors.

Caveman Options (Random Table)

Caveman Background Options (D20)
(Tech Level 3-5)

1. Your clan was wiped-out by a terrible fever. Your are the only survivor, but you have been terribly changed by your experience. Shift 1d4 points from Charisma to another attribute.
2. Aliens arrived in the night and abducted your people. After various strange and unusual experiments, several of you escaped. Each of your group of escapees has gained a mutation and a physical defect.
3. Mi-Go have cultivated your people as lesser servitors. When in the presence of a Mi-Go you must make a Save or obey them implicitly.
4. Your tribe is descended from serpent-people/human hybrids. Your women still lay eggs.
5. Despite living as cave-men, your tribe are actually androids programmed to act as primitives.
6. Your world was forcibly reduced to stone age conditions as a consequence of intense and prolonged orbital bombardment.
7. Long ago, the Deep Ones caused massive tidal-waves to inundate all the coastal cities of your world as part of their war upon your kind, driving your ancestors into the harsh, hostile wilderness where the last vestiges of civilization fell away under the constant pressure of simply trying to stay alive.
8. Your kind have burrowed-out great warrens beneath the hills where you live like rats.
9. You trade your dead to the ghouls for the secrets they whisper to your bravest warriors in the dark places. The ghouls have long been your trading partners, but there is much that they do not tell you and those who speak too loudly of wanting fine things like the ghouls have tend to disappear.
10. Terrible, polypous things rule over your tribe and demand that you all work deep below the crust of the world digging out tunnels and chambers for their use. The polyps barely pay any attention to their slaves. It is easy to leave, but where can you go more than a mile below the surface of the world?
11. Generations ago, the earliest ancestors of your tribe escaped from a Pnakotian enclave. Some strange quality in your brain-structure makes it impossible for the Great Minds to find you, let alone switch bodies with any of you. Perhaps it is the result of some experiment.
12. Caves are not all alike, and the caverns you grew up within are located deep below the pitted and scored surface of a large asteroid.
13. Primitive and prone to violence, your tribe was cloned from the salvaged DNA of the passengers of a crashed sleeper-ark who were in fact exiled criminals.
14. One out of every twenty of your people are born with functional axolotl-style gills.
15. Neanderthals, your people were saved from extinction by alien overlords who have long relied upon your physical power and ferocity in combat to defend them against lesser species.
16. Outcasts, abandoned in the wilderness without anything but their wits and bare-hands, your ancestors formed roving bands of nomads who have had to become adept at making use of stone, bone and wood in order to survive the harsh conditions and wild beasts.
17. Originally your people were religious extremists who turned their back on technology. Now you squat in caves and sharpen sticks over smoldering fires to hunt cave-worms in order to survive.
18. Your blood is black with the taint of ancient technology, unfortunately it is a vengeful, evil thing that prevents your people from advancing beyond the most simple and primitive of tools.
19. For countless generations your kind have venerated the Lord of the Flies...
20. The cave paintings of your people have long captured and held the wisdom of your elders and shamans, but now it is time to leave these caves, for a terrible death is rapidly approaching and you must go or your tribe will surely perish. So say those who can still read the meaning of the cave paintings.

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