Great Old Ones
Great Old Ones
Great Old Ones
seemingly normal human woman possessed of extraordinary power: the ability to shape reality itself as
if casting a wish spell at will. The extent to which she has altered reality is unknown. All that her
warlocks know about her is that she was defeated by a small strike team who found a way to reverse the
effect of her ability. Currently in a coma in an undisclosed military hospital, Amy’s consciousness still
reaches out to many, begging them to find her and release her so the world might again know peace.
Bune, the Eternal Danse —Bune is a creature out of the darkest bogey stories, and most people in Azlas
Vrayne are blissfully unaware that Bune is indeed real and lurks in the darkest forests, the deepest pits
and the deadest deserts. Bune is a conglomeration of corpses, some with flesh and some mere
skeletons, grafted together by some unknown force into an unseemly shape, usually that of a large
mammal with multiple legs and several tentacle-like appendages (though its appearance changes as new
corpses are added to it). It is forever swaying and dancing to some music only it can hear, shaking the
earth with its heavy footfalls. Some occult scholars say that Bune is really what happens to people after
they die, others say it is merely a very powerful monster, but whatever the reason, it hungers for more
souls, promising great power to those who aid it in this task, as well as eternal bliss in its danse macabre.
Gaap, the Emperor of the Deeps —Gaap’s name is a swear word that emerged among sailors, and one
only must witness the terror of a storm at sea to know that Gaap is still very much active. He finds
worshipers and warlocks near his watery domain, and he appears before them as a gigantic male
cecaelia composed entirely of jet black water. Ships and ruins churn through the ever-shifting tides of his
body. He desires nothing more than to sink the surface world into himself, and those few supplicants he
finds on land worship him out of a terrible fear and the hope that he might spare them his floodwaters.
Gusion, the Eternal Mire—a massive growth of rot and ooze resembling a humpbacked baboon, some
say Gusion is the waste that the universe leaves behind as its many epochs have risen and crumbled.
Gusion represents the eternal inevitability of decay, and those few who venerate it have found it
uncaring and willing to part with its power. It doesn’t actively attempt any destruction (it doesn’t need
to) and only contacts its warlocks when something in the natural order is gravely wrong.
Janus, the Gatekeeper—Appearing as he does in classical mythology, Janus purports to guard the gate to
a realm of madness and chaos deep within the Otherness. He is uncaring of concepts such as good and
evil and works to accomplish things that “must be” in order to keep the gate closed. He’s often very
draconian in his methods of doing so.
Murmur, the Herald in the Wind—people in some regions of Azlas Vrayne say that “Murmur’s in the air”
when a period of great change or upheaval takes place. This is because Murmur is an eternal shaker,
mover and executioner of society’s foundations. When she deems to come among mortals at her
capricious whims, entire nations may crumble in her wake. Murmur is invisible most of the time but
occasionally manifests as a humanoid creature covered in a hard carapace, with each of her joints
disconnected and held together by streams of pink, yellow and orange ribbon, which causes her to move
with disturbing grace and flexibility. Those who venerate Murmur do so out of desire for change in their
societies, uncaring of the bizarre changes she might bestow.
Orobas, the Dealer—Orobas appears as a spherical mass that looks like a black serpent’s coils, but to his
worshipers he lets his coils out in the middle to reveal four giant hooved arms with three hands each
grasping out from the hollows. He governs fate and fortune, as the hands in his hooves will often draw
tarot cards that predict the best course of events for Azlas Vrayne. His warlocks work tirelessly to see
these events come to fruition.
Pursan, the Wealth that Watches—Pursan is an interesting creature, and perhaps the newest on this list.
Pursan is a savings bond that was left to grow. No one knows who first put it in the bank, but as its value
grew and grew, it began to take physical form, drawing paper money around its nucleus until it took on
the bizarre form of a creature with six ursine paws made of gemstones, a spined crest made of valuable
sculptures, legs from the foundations of expensive buildings and a bas-relief leonine face. It then
disappeared into the depths of the earth. Simply put, it wants loot. Pursan is obsessed with increasing
itself, and it will stop at nothing to obtain this goal. Its supplicants are taken in by its promises of great
wealth, but they are often deceived. Pursan is greedy and often destroys dead weight.
Phenex, the Muse—Phenex has lurked for centuries in the corners of countless pieces of art, and from
each one wreaks havoc and chaos (what it refers to as mischief). It currently resides in a copy of an
award-winning arcade game, having recreated the game world to its liking and set itself as the final boss.
Luckily, the game has been contained and vaulted, and no one has heard anything from Phenex in thirty
years. It has begun psychically reaching out to people, however, promising them “the time of their lives”
if they can free it. Phenex appears in all of its media as a ruddy mass of feathers and blubber with a long
serpentine neck ending at what appears to be a Greek comedy mask. Several holes dot the blubber, and
strange flying creatures fly in and out of them at random.
Raum, the Great Defiance—Raum is the embodiment of the Otherness’s chaos, breaking any rule the
Material Plane surmises about her appearance or nature. Occult scholars often deem Raum to be
“frustrating” and “tempestuous”. The only concrete fact about Raum is that she is apparently female,
stating on at least four occasions “Ew gross! I am so not a boy” in a record-breaking deep voice when
addressed as male. Raum seems only to want to be left alone, having little care for any environment
she’s in, but she will grant powers to those who ask her, if only to get them to stop pestering her. She
changes her form often, usually after someone tries to describe her on paper, but—being ever
unpredictable—has remained for the last four years in the form of a winking smiley on the top of a large
fleshy corkscrew-shaped object. Upon further investigation this was revealed to be a duck’s penis. She
states her current form as one of her favorites.
Valu, the Sky Serpent—Valu is said to roam far above the clouds and have a gift for avoiding air traffic
(much like the Loch Ness Monster of the sky), but this is often seen as tall tales and merchandising for
the airborne nations of Azlas Vrayne. Certainly Valu has come to mean something a freedom symbol. Its
warlocks especially know this to be true as for them, the decidedly neutral Valu is a source of power and
freedom. Though Valu is sentient, it requires nothing of those who seek it and freely gives them the
eldritch might they desire, but Valu’s warlocks have recently become worried. About once a month (and
for some even more frequently), they have been waking up in strange places with no idea how they got
there, often with strange wounds, substances and objects on their person. Valu is planning something,
and likely Azlas Vrayne will not be the better for it.
Vapula, the Door to Dreams—the thought that Vapula might exist terrifies even the most erudite of
scholars, but those who have seen her know she isn’t all that bad. You’ll probably go a little bit crazy
under her influence, but it’s a small price to pay for being able to access the depths of knowledge
available in other universes. Vapula is a large creature that superficially resembles a mushroom with
phosphorescent neon strands hanging down from her, forming a shimmering curtain. Being in her
presence (even in dreams) is often calming, and she speaks in peoples’ minds with a soft, welcoming
feminine voice. Those who worship her say Vapula gives people their dreams, all of which are visions of
different universes across time and space. Vapula’s servants work to unlock gates to these worlds and
spread Vapula’s influence further than the Otherness.
Zepar, the Father of the End—No one knows what Zepar was before he became pregnant. Perhaps he
always was. He certainly will never tell. In any case, Zepar manifests as a grotesquely fat man with light
blue, strangely translucent skin. Something moves within the mass of Zepar’s body, bursting against the
walls of his stomach, aching to break free. Zepar tells his followers that the thing inside him will herald
the end of reality, and those who wish to have a place in the new one must serve him and aid him in
preparations for his child. These preparations are often at the grave expense of the material plane.