Cult of the Old Ones

The Cult of the Old Ones is the most mysterious fate throughout all of Emicara. No one knows truly when their followers began worship, just that it predates the Nameless Empire by a substantial margin. Worship of the Old Ones is illegal throughout most of Emicara, and their worshipers are feared and believed to be responsible for the worst atrocities that have ever occurred. The Old Ones are said to be the most active deities within the world, constantly involved, and choosing to reside upon the Material Plane itself rather than in their own realms. Their motives are inscrutable, and substantial debate exists of if they even concern themselves with worship or if they are simply pursuing their own gains. They thrive upon madness and death, making them feared wherever they lair. No one knows an exact count of the Old Ones, only that they lurk in the darkest and most hidden places of the world.

List of the Old Ones

The true names of the Old Ones are believed to be unpronounceable by humanoid tongues, and are lost in obscure books that are said to drive people mad. Therefore those who talk about the Old Ones and engage people in discussion simply call them by the terms they are referenced in those texts.

Deity	Alignment	Suggested Domains	Symbol
The One Which Echoes	Chaotic Evil	Trickery	The mouth of a cave
The One Which Triumphs	Chaotic Evil	War, Death	A flail
The One Which Slumbers	Neutral Evil	Nature, Death, Twilight	The new moon
The One Within Webs	Lawful Evil	Trickery, Nature	A spider with humanoid torso
The One Which Remembers	Neutral Evil	Grave, Peace	Gravestone
The One Within Minds	Chaotic Evil	Arcana, Trickery	A human brain
The One Which Burns	Neutral Evil	Forge	A burning humanoid
The One Which Soars	Neutral Evil	Death	A winged skeleton
The One Beneath	Lawful Evil	Order, Nature, Death	???

Structure

The Cult of the Old Ones has no formal leadership or organization. Individual cults tend to gather in places of madness or strife. Some also tend to emerge in locations near to the resting place of an Old One, forming a protective society to keep do-gooder adventurers from posing a threat to the plans of their patron. Occasionally a charismatic can emerge, but he will only occasionally be able to hold together a force to achieve some goal through force of his personality. Anyone who serves the Old Ones for considerable time without being slain typically disappears or losing all semblance of their sanity.

Public Agenda

The Cult of the Old Ones has no truly public agenda, save one. They despise the light of civilization and its achievements and instead seek the return of the Old Ones to prominence for their own selfish gains or out of a simple desire for destruction. Should the Cult appear in a location it is solely for woe and loss to be inflicted upon all those around them.

Assets

There is no lasting treasury or organization to provide any fixed assets to the Cult of the Old Ones. Instead, most cults usually find a wealthy patron or mark to scam their finances from to achieve whatever their goals may be. On occasion, it has been rumored that an Old One can bless one of its most faithful followers with powerful artifacts and items that channel the power of their ancient lives. These artifacts can cause substantial chaos whenever one emerges, and typically leave a dark stain upon all those who encounter them, for good or ill. Few last long in the open, but those that are not destroyed nearly always return to cause problems within time.

History

The history of the Cult of the Old Ones is the history of the world, both before the end of the Nameless Empire and after. The constancy of the world is that wherever there have been shadows, chaos, and death, the Cult of the Old Ones rests somewhere near by. Sometimes they are involved, sometimes they are simply gleeful participants in the chaos brought about by war or other organizations. Reports of cults springing up happen fairly frequently, and all usually end terribly. In the best cases, the members of the cult simply kill themselves and their friends and family. In worst case scenarios, legends claim that the Cults have brought about the toppling of nations.

Mythology & Lore

The legends of the Cult of the Old Ones are typically unknown to most religious scholars. Their tenets, practices, and myths are unknown to anyone still sane and among the living. Beyond that, the origin myth of the Old Ones is simply known by the more dedicated readers into Emicaran faiths. According to the sparse legends known, the Old Ones have existed beyond known time and space. Some claim that the rock which formed the earth itself emerged around them as a protective cocoon and that life was at best an afterthought. Others claim that the very concepts of suffering and madness emerged from the minds of the Old Ones to plague humanity and the other races. All agree upon one thing and one thing alone: The Old Ones are the original inhabitants of the Material Plane, and they existed before anything else, and they will continue to exist after everything else.

All Shall End to the One

Founding Date

Unknown

Demonym

Old One Cultist