Shoggoth.net

(with thanks to Charlotte Askew for additional input)

Alternate names: Saviour Serum, Elder Bile, Micro-Shoggoths, Nano-Shoggoths  

In appearance this small lifeform is an iridescent liquid with a reddy-brownish-purple tinge, often found in a quantity of certainly no more than a small spoon’s worth, or perhaps if someone were so minded, enough to fill a syringe. It is a miniature, in some examples even microscopic, example of the genetic engineering of the alien race known as the Elder Things and for those few sorry souls who bear the burden of knowing about such things, it would be classified as a tiny sibling to the abhorrent Shoggoth.

The original purpose of this tiny creature is unknown, but it is suspected that it was, like the far larger examples which were used to construct the basalt cities of their ancient masters, some form of forced labour albeit for far finer and even microscopic tasks. They are unequalled at this scale for their ability to manipulate matter with highly potent acids and may have been utilised not only in biological endeavours but possibly technological ones too.

It is also believed they have some capacity to be used as superconductors and may have fulfilled a vital function in Elder Thing computational devices which are not currently understood by modern science. The archaeological record is infuriatingly sparse with adequate details, but if a specimen could be acquired who knows what secrets and marvels could be unlocked for the good of all of humanity?

Shoggites in Games: Due to their very small size and how they are most likely to be encountered by Investigators, Shoggites do not have a traditional stat line and indeed may more commonly be interacted with as a type of equipment than a monster in their own right. However, the most relevant stats are provided here in case required:

TINDALOSIAN SHOGGOTH, fetid iridescences of time

Average Hit Points: 1
Average Damage Bonus: N/A
Average Build: N/A
Average Magic Points: 10
Move: 1 rolling

Combat
Attacks per round: 1
Burrow:

A Shoggite may attempt to burrow through any surface; with sufficient time they are able to make their way through steel and stone, although at a far slower pace than the horrifying speed they can move carve their way through organic matter.

A burrowing Shoggite on a surface will bypass any clothing/armour worn by its target, whether Kevlar or 16^th century plate armour, it’s just not tough enough to resist the tiny serrated fangs dripping highly potent acids. It will then inflict 1 damage on its target as it burrows inside of them.

If it remains still, it will do 1D3 damage per day it is inside its target. If it wishes to perform any tasks inside the target (re-arranging human organs to be able to process alien foods, carving eldritch curses on its host’s bones, etc.), these will cost an additional 1D3 damage. If the Shoggite wishes to cause active damage, it will cause 1 point of damage per round whilst inside a target.

There is usually no easy way to remove a Shoggite which is already inside someone, although they can perhaps be lured into a limb which is then removed.

Sanity Loss: 1/1D6 to observe a Shoggite when aware of its nature, simply seeing it and mistaking it as a spot of dirt does not count; observing it under the microscope and having it stare back at you with hundreds of tiny eyes definitely would warrant a test, as would noticing that smudge inching its way up the front of your shirt….

Exposed Shoggites: Small, dark, and sticky, Shoggites can be mistaken for smudged stains or flecks of dirt. Because of this, any attack against them whilst they are revealed and exposed is deemed to kill them – it could be as simple as a stubbed-out cigarette or a grinding in a pestle and mortar.

However, not much of their time is spent in the open, and so they are often quite safe as they dig around in the comfort of a tree’s bark, porous rock, or the soft and warm interior of a screaming (or at least gargling) host’s tongue. 

Scenario Hooks:

MAD SCIENCE (Biology): Such bold advancement as is represented by the Shoggites would only be possible with the right mindset; a properly inquisitive soul, unburdened with the constraints of bureaucracy or the ‘ethics’ so often preventing true progress, could no doubt achieve wonders. Properly harnessed, surgery could be re-invented with these tiny, intelligent scalpels that insert themselves into the patient and remove the cancer, or perhaps perform plastic surgery in the fraction of the time required by a normal surgeon. Just make sure the patient doesn’t have any idea what was just crawling across their face and inside their nose.

MAD SCIENCE (Technology): As mankind increasingly looks to a digital future, the place of a superconductor micro-organism could have huge implications for technology, especially in hostile environments where it could also potentially perform its own maintenance and upgrades.

ASSASSINATION: Being so small, it would be easy enough to slip some Shoggites in to someone’s food, or otherwise ‘spill’ some on their bare skin through contrived circumstance. If a cult were to try and make their enemies’ have ‘mysterious accidents’ then using a Shoggite would certainly send a message to the people who would pick up on the Mythos nature of the death.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL ACCIDENT: Sometimes, the ancient sarcophagus should just remain shut. In fact, why not try pouring some more lead over the entrance, y’know, just to be sure?  

THE SOUND… OF SHOGGITES: Graphene is often used in high-end headphone drivers as its thinness and its conductivity make for the best quality sound. What if one Mythos-inclined musician, in search of the perfect aural experience, were to replace the graphene with superconductive Shoggites—and what if they went on to mass market this new “Universal Sound” they’d discovered? 

Alternative Names: jellyfish shoggoth, shoggoth of the deep, bane of Davy Jones’ Locker.

The shoggoth o’ war is likely an Elder Thing creation, devised in one of the underwater Elder Thing cities where few can survive. This variety of shoggoth is likely still in the service of the Elder Things as it is a simple thing compared to its other brethren. While the original shoggoth was taking from the body of Ubbo-Sathla, there are rumors that this variety may have more in common with Great Cthulhu, though that is mere speculation and no evidence has been found. The common theory is that these shoggoths were combined with whatever Mythos material was used and prehistoric jellyfish.

Statement of Junior Vice President of (REDACTED)

“Looking at our yearly financial trends I am happy to report that currently, our methods of ensuring maximum productivity have hit their targets. The advent of the “downward sloping toilet seat” resulted in a net gain of an additional 6.25% of workers time spent working rather than completing non-work related  tasks. Our share holders were thrilled when we began developing the containment cage which would ensure shorter breaks for workers and maximise hourly productivity. What I have prepared for todays’ presentation is going to revolutionise the workplace and result in levels of productivity that must be seen to be believed. In a secure site, technically in international waters, we have begun to develop a bio mechanical platform that, whilst being considerably slower than standard human workers, requires no rest, no pay and best all has yet to be discovered by the general population. In short, we have found our new “employee of the month.”

Photograph slide show not found/considered destroyed. 

Witnesses describe seeing some horrific black sludge operating in a warehouse, picking, packing and sending orders. They did note the terrifying masses changing shape and form to complete various tasks. The near maddening sight of seeing a operational warehouse fully staffed by the things could have driven the investors mad, however, once they saw the exceeded quotas and expected production values of the site they decided to categorise the work force as a new form of machinery, merely entered into a patent submission as the Worker Centralised System or more colloquially referred to as Wagey Cage Shoggoth.

Alternate names: Mezzamalech’s escaped shoggoth, aural shoggoth

The Book of Eibon tells us of a wizard, Zon Mezzamalech of Mhu Thulan. It tells us of his scrying orb that “could behold many visions of the terrene past, even to the Earth’s beginning,  and of how “potent gods visited the nascent Earth and left tablets of their lore in the primordial mire….” And it tells of how he and the crystal vanished one day, completely from all of time as we are able to perceive it. What it does not tell is how Zon Mezzamalech, aware of the dangers of slipping into the millrace of backward-flowing time that was visible within the cloudy depths of the crystal, first sent his psyche throughout time, to link up with as many different minds as possible, creating as many bubbles within space-time as possible. For if even one succeeded, the powers of the Elder Gods would be his.

Throughout history, beings have gone missing without a trace. Of these, roughly one in each generation is due to Mezzamalech’s sorcery…his mind and theirs, melding, and them being undeniably drawn to a mysterious crystal they stumble upon. Mezzamalech’s spell wasn’t targeted, and he psychically exists in all times coterminously. This led to an unexpected side effect—the various entities’ oftentimes incompatible minds meeting, melding, splintering off in whole or in part, meeting and melding again, in an endless loop, with almost all rushing headlong to an inevitable end—melding minds with formless efts that slough off Ubbo-Sathla and becoming part of the primordial ooze that existed on Earth before the Elder Things arrived.

One such mind to escape that pre-ordained fate was that of a shoggoth servitor of the Elder Things. When the many minds of Mezzalech’s magic encountered the Old Ones’ beast of burden, its resulting behavior was deemed an aberrant and it was put down. Its mind though, lived on simultaneously in the cacophony of pscyhes that were entangled by the spell. After untold mega-anna, the shoggoth’s mind escaped the spell and found both itself and Antarctica greatly changed.