Yog

Yog was the Elder Evil of Ondûn. It was primordial chaos, the writhing void of malice and madness that predated all. Incorporeal and everlasting, Yog was an entity of conquest and death, shadow and secrets, madness and deceit. Imprisoned beneath Ondûn’s crust, Yog ever sought escape, to undo the labors of the Prime Pantheon and to usher in a new aeon of terror and darkness.

Essence

Incorporeal and shapeless, Yog was more a cosmic energy than a physical being. Its essence once suffused the universe until it was imprisoned beneath the crust of the earth, where it writhed in perpetual agony. Only when the earth was rent by seismic activity could Yog open a fissure and spread its malevolent influence upon the earth. It could submerge creatures into that essence, to mutate them, destroy them or simply to transport them beneath the world with startling speed.

History

Main Article: History of Yog

Imprisonment

The Great Peoples all told different myths about the imprisonment of a profound evil at the hands of the gods and thus, it was impossible to know which story was most accurate. What was known was that, before the coming of the Prime Pantheon, Yog was the sole entity within Its reality. Some scholars argued that Yog did not truly exist until the deities appeared to oppose it or, indeed, until they imprisoned It.
All the tales agreed that even together, the six gods were no match for Yog's shapeless power. When their attempt at eradication failed, they tried a new tactic and imprisoned Yog within a shell of matter. This shell, created by the pooled magic of all six gods and formed from earth, stone and magma, became the planet known as Ondûn. To secure Yog's captivity, the gods created a substance known as sacrosteel, an inherently radiant metal. They wrapped the deepest depths of the earth in such a thick layer that none of Yog's insidious power could escape.

Vanished Time

The foe vanquished, the gods departed Yog's reality. In their wake, they created a number of safeguards to ensure Yog did not escape. Firstly, they created powerful beings – dragons and giants – to guard against Yog's escape and to watch one another. Only the wise Gno did not depart. They did not trust the new prison they'd constructed and always kept a watchful eye on Ondûn, even when the pantheon turned to other matters.
Gno's fears proved valid, however, as both the dragons and the giants failed to stop Yog's encroachment. The dragons grew fat and content with their hoards of treasure, while some of the giants even aided Yog in its attempts to escape. At the last moment, Gno summoned back their divine allies and they were able to stop Yog's escape in the nick of time. In anger, they punished both dragons and giants for their arrogance. The six dragons were thrown into the sky and transformed into constellations, guarding against the return of the Sojourner Star.
The giants attempted to defend their actions but were nonetheless punished all the same. This the lesser giants – ogres, ettins, cyclopses and the agonized trolls – were born. New peoples – elves, dwarves and orcs – were created and their creation myths were seeded with stories of the ancient evil contained, that they might serve as new guardians of Yog's prison. As one final assurance, the gods created the moon fro pure sacrosteel and hung it from the heavens. A perfect mirror to the strength of the sacrosteel core, this would allow the gods to monitor Yog's imprisonment from afar. Satisfied, they once again took their leave, seeking a universe with more Elder Evils to slay.

First Age

During the First Age, Yog's power was quite limited, its ability to influence mortal events curtailed. It was whispered, however, that Yog was the mysterious entity that granted Azathomet his gift of vampirism. This was, in many ways, the impetus for the Night Wars that spread across Ondûn and left so much destruction in its wake, including the Sister Empires themselves.

Second Age

In 899 2A, when next the Sojourner Star appeared in the sky, Yog's power had grown more substantial and so too its knowledge of the civilizations of Ondûn. A number of catastrophes, all levied at the few remaining world powers, struck with frightening synchronicity. It was believed that Yog was ultimately responsible for the Blight, the Seven Sorrows and the dozens of other disasters that further fractured the weakened civilizations of Ondûn.
In Auros, Yog rent the earth with terrible quakes and, while these proved insufficient to free It from Its prison, it did lay the groundwork for much of Its work in the next Age.

Third Age

Throughout the Third Age, Yog's influence over the continent of Auros slithered into the minds and bodies of its residences. Many humans, orcs and elves that dwelled there listened too long to the whispers creeping from tears in the earth, promising power and glory for obedience. While these cults began smaller enough, it didn't take much to shatter that final bulwark.
In 899 3A, with the Sojourner Star blazing bright overhead, Yog deceived an unnamed wizard to shatter the Hope of Mortals, the final seal containing Yog within the earth. The moment this occurred, Yog instantly took possession of Its first Vessel, tore upon the First Fissure and transformed all the denizens of Auros in tieflings, dark elves, uruks and duergar. Yogoth was born.

Fourth Age

Newly emergent upon the unprepared earth, Yog began amassing power in earnest. Its mere presence transformed the pristine paradise of Auros into the blistering hellscape of Yogoth. Many great cities were transformed into licentious capitals, home to cruel and unnatural creatures. What's more, Yog began accumulating mortal agents – individuals of unique dark power, called the Marked of Yog – to help bring about Its ultimate aim; the destruction of the world.
War was immediately inevitable with the rest of the world. The Covenant Kingdoms was formed in the early Fourth Age in direct response to the threat that Yog posed. Several invasion attempts – notably the Field of Failure – by the Sixfold Faith ended in disaster. It wasn't until late in the Fourth Age that Yog began Its true conquest of the world.
Fighting a war on every front, Yog sent legions of undead, uruks and demons to assault the bastions of civilization on the Draconic Coasts. Notably, It focused Its attention on the city-nation of Thorp in the west. Though Its advance was initially blunted, by 894 4A, Yog's forces were making inroads into both Emeros and Sapphros.
At the same time, Yog concealed Its true aim. As It distracted the mortals with Its war against the world, the Marked conducted secret missions on behalf of their dark master. In 895, a team of villains kidnapped Princess Nimria of Cymbia to serve as Its new vessel. In 896, Yog sent four Marked to besiege the Gatehouse and open the way to Thorp. The same year, a squad of Marked recovered an ancient artifact – the Starsphere – from obscurity in Cape Cowrie, despite treachery in their ranks. In 897, four Marked assassinated the heads of the Covenant Kingdoms while they met in the Quorum. In 898, villains made contact with Hadar, neighboring Elder Evil, to entreat its aid. Later that year, the Soulsworn made a direct assault on Yogoth, kidnapping the Vessel and nearly foiling all Yog's plans – until a team of Marked recovered her.

Aspects

As an incorporeal entity, Yog could only manifest on the Material Plane in a number of limited forms. In mockery of the Prime Pantheon, these aspects were six in number and represented values contrary to each of their corresponding gods.

• Conquest: An aspect of war and carnage, Conquest appeared as a many-armed behemoth, each wielding a different weapon of war.
• Shadow: An aspect of stealth and subterfuge, Shadow was an insectile creature, wreathed in a permanent sphere of darkness.
• Death: An aspect of disease and decay, Death manifested as a cloud of noxious gas, grasping with hundreds of infectious undead arms.
• Secrets: An aspect of forbidden knowledge, Secrets took the guise of a cloaked figure, their face an impenetrable well of deepest darkness.
• Madness: An aspect of babbling insanity, Madness had no appearance that any could report for, even looking upon the aspect drove the viewer instantaneously mad.
• Deceit: An aspect of lies and trickery, Deceit has no consistent form, appearing however It can best spread confusion and disorder.

Marked of Yog

The Mark of Yog was a symbol – an eldritch star – and it was the arcane sigil used to bind Yog to the Mortal Plane. Over aeons imprisoned, Yog empowered the sigil with Its own dark sorcery and, upon escape, It used the Mark as a focus for Its own eldritch might. Those who bore the Mark – sometimes a tattoo, sometimes a brand, sometimes a birthmark – were Its chosen, called simply the Marked, and were granted extraordinary powers and access to Yog as a result.
Anyone Marked could be summoned back to the Spires of Yog at Yog’s whim. They could travel through the essence without suffering any ill-effects damage and they cancouldcommunicate with a limited telepathy with Yog itself. What’s more, they were granted access to its Dark Gifts, a fell asset that Yog bestowed upon Its champions.

• Agnoment
• Azathomet
• Desdemonia
• Dr. Hughbert Hilkington
• Erick Idylvain
• Ernst
• Narcinae Barrityl
• Phantasmagoria
• Raelas the Stalker
• Skoura
• Smuj
• Xosh
• Zyzzenxkys

Vessel

As an incorporeal entity, Yog had limited power to manifest in the material world and the Aspects were costly to maintain. As such, It required a vessel – a mortal host, through which it can exert tangible influence on the world. Yog’s chosen Vessel is the nameless wizard that, in 0 4A, broke the Hope of Mortals, the final seal containing Yog and released the Elder Evil from its imprisonment. In thanks for this deed, Yog promptly took possession of the wizard and transformed the poor spellcaster into Its first Vessel.

The Vessel was Yog’s conduit to the mortal world. Through Its Vessel, Yog could cast spells and speak with mortals and bring its limitless cosmic power to bear. In the history of Ondûn, there have been two known Vessels:

• First Vessel: A nameless elven wizard, Yog deceived Its first Vessel into breaching the final seal and took possession of Its body. The First Vessel served as Yog's primary conduit for nearly 900 years.
• Princess Nimria: The latest scion in a long line of powerful druids, Princess Nimria was an infant when she was captured by the Marked of Yog and delivered to their dark master – the perfect weapon to rend open the earth

Name: Yog
Classification: Elder Evil
Titles: The Black Star
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Symbol: An eye above a seven-pointed star
Portfolio: Conquest, shadow, death, secrets, madness, deceit
Domains: Death, Knowledge, Trickery, Twilight, War
Worshippers: Aberrations, cultists, dark elves, duergar, fiends, necromancers, tieflings, uruks, undead