A caterpillar. A little brown and black caterpillar, the kind you’d call “wooly bears”. In the dead of winter and cold as ice…Incidentally, you know, the old timers say that the wooly bear caterpillar is a weather prophet. If the brown bands on his fur are narrow, there’s severe weather ahead…This one, you could hardly see the brown bands. Tough weather ahead, that’s what the old timers would say.
– Wyllis Cooper, “Northern Lights”, Quiet, Please, 1-30-1949
The People of the Light are native to a cold-blasted place. It is not known where and what that place is. It is likely located somewhere beyond our understanding of space and time. The Plateau of Leng, Kadath, or Borea may be candidates for their home.
Though they look like caterpillars, they are highly intelligent beings. They communicate through a singsong call similar to English vowels and a light-display resembling a tiny, yet dazziling, Aurora Borealis.
For some unknown reason, they covet the Earth. Through mind-controlled human agents they work to change our climate to be more hospitable to their kind. Given the environment of their home, this would result in the extinction of most life on the planet.
SPECIAL POWERS
Cold: can survive temperatures approaching Absolute Zero. Temperatures near 0 Celsius make them uncomfortable. Anything above that places forces them into immediate hibernation. Once the temperate drops below 0, they will awaken.
Mind Control: can force another living being to obey its commands by winning an Opposed POW roll and spending 5 Magic Points. A caterpillar can control multiple people as long they have the Magic Points to do so. Victims remain under the alien’s control for 6 hours.
Lights: can produce a display of lights that terrifies and disorients a human. Anyone witnessing these lights must make a successful POW roll or lost 1D4 Sanity.
People of the Light, bringers of the apocalypse
| char | roll | average |
| STR | 1 | 1 |
| CON | 1 | 1 |
| SIZ | 1 | 1 |
| DEX | 1 | 1 |
| INT | (5D6) X 5 | 85 |
| POW | (5D6) X 5 | 85 |
Average Hit Points: 1
Damage Bonus: None
Build: -2
Magic Points: 17
Move: 1
ATTACKS
Attacks per round: None
People of the Light have no fighting ability. They can, however, command others to fight for them.
Fighting: N/A
Dodge: N/A
Armor: None. Sanity Loss: 1/1D2 to encounter a person possessed by People of the Light.
Bruce is a sociology student and co-host of The Crypt Keepers podcast
