All posts by Fred Lubnow

Some Notes on the Biology of the Shoggoths

When the Elder Things arrived on Earth during the Archean Eon, approximately 4.0 to 2.5 billion years ago, the only life on our planet was prokaryotic in nature. These relatively simple bacterial cells lacked organelles. However, the Elder Things used these bacteria cells as raw material for bioengineering. Specifically, this involved a process called endosymbiosis, where various bacterial cells were merged or fused together to make more complex cells called eukaryotes. Thus, many of the organelles in eukaryotic cells, such as flagella, mitochondria, and chloroplasts, were once bacterial cells. DNA and RNA comparisons between living bacteria and the residual genetic material found in these organelles within eukaryotic cells, provide strong evidence for this theory. Animals, plants, fungi and protists are all eukaryotic forms of life and were created by the Elder Things through endosymbiosis.

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To Sample The Primal White Jelly

Friends, we have a duesey of a story for you today. Fred Lubnow has explored through deep time and deep Antarctic wastes to bring you back this tale of cosmic horror set in the Mountains of Madness.


From the Neo-Galactic Sacred Text of the Elder Things:

When the Elder Things arrived on Earth, it was nothing more than a steaming rock covered with oceans, lakes, and pools. Life was essentially comprised of loose aggregates of unicellular cells. Cyanobacteria were photosynthesizing, emitting copious amounts of toxic oxygen into the atmosphere. The Elder Things used this prokaryotic raw material to create more complex eukaryotic cells through endosymbiosis.

They then used these more complex cells to generate various forms of multi-cellular life; some are still in existence, most have gone extinct. However, all were small bundles of cells, passively floating in the organically enriched waters of the Earth. While the Elder Things used this biological material to initiate the forces of evolution, they were not content to work with Terran biomatter. The Elder Things wanted more. They wanted to create larger creatures that were useful relative to their needs and purposes.

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