kli'tolath - The Lord of Cold Water

Hidden in the northern Alps in water-filled caverns is the Star God called Kli'tolath. Where it resides delves deep into the mountains with parts draining into the Underdark. The main entrance for his personal chambers at the top is hidden deep under a glacier that has been there since the Last Ice Age. Kli'tolath roams about he caverns and sometimes crawls out of his watery environment into the surrounding systems to prey on mortals, accepts worshipper & their gifts, and examines what is happening in the world surrounding him.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Kli'tolath is one of the earliest Star Gods to arrive on Earth in it's infancy. Drawn by the other Star Gods, it went into the Underdark preferring the colder wetter lava shoots that formed after the world cooled down. At this time, many such shoots started to form into caverns with the effects of the Snowball Earth & ice ages, melt waters and rain water started to drip or flow in. These expanded the caverns enough that Kli'tolath could move more freely through them, for it had started to grow and take on further mental aspects.
Originally sexless to begin with when arriving on Earth millions of years before, Kli'tolath started to show masculine tendencies like his father, Cthulhu. At this time as well, he started to draw followers from the younger sapient species that showed up on Earth and they carved temples deep within the caverns & diverted water into some chambers to allow him to hide or rest in these.
At about the time of the splitting of Pangea, Kli'tolath had made his main lair below the region that would form Europe. At this point, swathes of it was under an inland sea. When the lands started to buckle and push the area of his newly reshaping home upwards, he found that in time, a cap of ice & snow had formed over many of the entrances to the upper layers. This didn't bother him in the slightest as his considerable mental fortitude could extend for hundreds of miles in all directions tapping into the most primitive parts of sapient species. Affecting the minds of mortals became a game to Kli'tolath over this time, and he delighted in corrupting specific groups, especially Elves & Dwarves of all kinds. Specific families & lineages of both were corrupted right down to the genetic memories of them, and he could draw nourishment from them at will. Many of these still survive to this day, and he sees at least one High Elf, a traitor to the Saxons, as a potential new priest to his cause. What may come of this is another thing.
What must be noted is that Kli'tolath has developed numerous cults over the millennia, and has many servants spread throughout the world. Many of these are found in colder, wetter environments and recruit almost exclusively longer lived species. They, like their master, regularly carry out covert wars against other cults of other religions while spreading the word of the Star Gods wherever they can. This has led to Kli'tolath himself being hunted by everything from dragon cults to demon cults all vying to take his head, or at least a tentacle. Some have came close and a draconic group in the past came very close. So far two (a black dragon, and a red dragon, have been neutralised in some way or the other, or so the rumour goes. The remainder, a white dragon called Birgin the Winter Storm was believed lost but, again according to rumours, active in the world and looking to resurrect the magical means to kill kli'tolath, while restoring dragonkind to power.
One of the most active of all the Star Gods, Kli'tolath has noticed other powers rise & fall over time and is patient in the extreme. Always willing to probe the minds of his minions, and interact where possible, he is not above lying to them, and helping his brothers & sisters out where he can. This allows him to gain allies within the Star God pantheon, and is known to have done this since time immemorial. It is known he has knowledge of many manuscripts and sites of interest to occultists & magic users. He is willing to trade some of this knowledge for further information, and will happily trade it for free if it leads to the destruction of a cult to a rival power. What is generally not known is that he is not above selling out those he bargains with for greater knowledge or making a "devil's bargain" where he has the greater hand. Sometimes this means taking the knowledge and gaining the lifeforce of a follower by having them killed by an enemy. The latter has happened a few times, especially when it comes to protecting a larger portion of Star God assets.
One such time was a large portion of Saxon High Elf cult that existed until recently. They had drawn the notice of the Vanir gods & goddesses, and war seemed to loom. Kli'tolath persuaded them to go to the southern coast of the Baltic Sea where he effectively handed them over to Deep Ones belonging to Dagon & Mother Hydra. The technique he used was to plant the idea of a ritual in their minds that would call him to Earth in a designated spot. By doing so, he managed to get them to summon the Deep One children of Dagon & Mother Hydra instead & led to them being took as slaves below the oceans instead. A few of one family still survives who believe in & worship the Vanir, while the Elf he sees as a priest in waiting, is tucked away in service to a lord of the Franks, safe in the time being. Kli'tolath looks on with interest to see how this will bear fruit.

Excerpt from "The Alps: Unknown Stories & Myths, by H. Phillipe Lucius
"I felt it, I really did. Hidden away below the snow & ice, up near the peaks. Old, old tunnels are rumoured to be there. Many still unexplored and likely filled with riches of all kinds. But a voice too. Strange, alien in origin yet so familiar. It spoke to me first, then Alain the Half-Orc, and finally the human explorers & delvers. It seemed disappointed at first there were no Elves with us, but... It seemed content enough with me being Dwarven. Said my kind were always welcome in his domain. Our abilities in stonework was appreciated. Little did we know that our group was to be more than just help. Shortly after making camp below a large ledge, we found a rend in the mountain wall with little snow & ice. It seemed protected somewhat from the high valley walls & the lip of the ledge protruding out. A trickle of water was running out that tasted a little odd but still potable. We put it down to possible compounds coming out of the rocks during the stream's travels.


The next morning we widened it a little and made our way in. At first it looked like any other rend or tear you might see, though near the end we could see it widened out. We near fell over the lip at the inner end if Alain didn't notice it on time. A larger cavern was here, and melt water running down the walls in place had dripped on the lip. It seemed when high enough in a little pool there led to it running out collecting in pools that either fell over the lip or in the rend building up on the way up.


This inner cavern was narrow but passible. We were able to mark out a path down the side making hand & foot holds in the rock face and marking the way with a mix of paint, oil and magic dust that glowed when us or a torch were near. We left a rope & pulley system hanging too in case of any emergency. Passing on down, more water was present dripping from the rocky surfaces all through the cavern. At one end to the left of where we came in, at the corner where the walls tapered off and the roof joined, we could see a little light coming through, filtered by glacial ice. The deep dark blue colour of the light can be transfixing if your not used to it, but we know now that this is likely the main source of the water. Something about this made the idea of living or working here a little more bearable.


Down the other end we came across another cavern entrance caused by damage to the wall. It looks like a mix of the mountain settling in ages past, and the water over time, had worn away the entrance. Little did we know or even see at the time was the other marking here, made by something widening the hole and crushing the rocks further. Strange smells came up out of here. Chanting and indecipherable phrases echoed up through the cavern.


Upon entering we started to notice a bit of Dwarven stone work from ages past. It had the markings of Duergar so we stopped here. Thinking we needed a bit of protection we fashioned makeshift weapons from some of the extra gear we had. Can never be too safe as by our estimates we were close now to the edges of the Underdark. Can never be too careful what will boil out of there, can we? After a few hours the strange chanting stopped, and before that we had examined the stonework. It seemed to start of small pieces carved into the walls to help hold it in place, and now we realised that the deeper it went the, more detailed & extensive it was. Wider too as if something large could pass through. We noticed another tunnel heading upwards, so thinking it may hold another way out we followed it. It was a shock when we reached the top.


The carved cavern that greeted us was opened in the roof with a small beam of light illuminating the cavern. Rectangular in shape it was about 100 yards long and about 45 yards wide, with carved pillars, roof, and floor. The roof had the opening, which was filled with the ice from a glacier above polished to a mirror finish. Though saying this, it was the floor that got our attention. Dug out of the rock was a perfect rectangular area of polished stone about 2.5 to 3 feet deep, and filled with water. Clear water at that, except for what appeared to be a slight film of grease or fat at the bottom. The carvings before this had shown us Dwarven & Elven shaped beings worshipping a creature with a body of tentacles and a ridged elongated head. This room showed that some being drowned in the pool as worshippers surrounded the same being while it sent some type of beam out of it's head into their heads. A few showed it touching the worshippers foreheads with the tip of it's tentacles.


Deciding to leave, we noticed about half our human companions had vanished. Tracing our way back we saw no sign of them, just a feeling in the back of our heads that they were with whatever inhabited these caverns. Alain wanted to go deeper and said he felt that someone or something wanted to meet him, to show him information of some kind, some new weapon type. I tried to reason with him, but you know how bull headed those Half-Orcs are. He disappeared into the gloom, and we never seen him again. The rest of us left post haste. The sounds of those chants, the welcoming feeling we had the deeper we went in, and the thoughts of ancient evils in the Underdark from my youth, still rang in my ears for weeks later.


Now I'm working these salt mines by Saltsburg, and never want to go there again. Though saying that, I can still feel the call of that thing, when I'm in the deeper parts of the mine."
Gunthr Forkbeardson, Dwarven miner working out of Saltsburg.

Character Location

Europe

Alignment

Neutral Evil

Current Status

Northern Alps

Age

Unknown but rumoured to be in the billions of years

Current Residence

Water-filled caverns in the northern Alps

Gender

Neither

Presentation

Masculine

Eyes

no discernible eyes

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Skin is leathery and pigmentation is dark & near black

Height

Unknown

Aligned Organization

Star God Cults & Gods - A Few Notes