Shub-Niggurath

Shub-Niggurath is one of the most loathsome Outer Gods of the Mythos. Indestructible and far-reaching, she is a fertility goddess gone wrong, and a number of cosmic beings (notably the mi-go, also called the fungi from Yuggoth) serve her for the foul gifts she bestows. Even other gods find her city-crushing final manifestation daunting. Her form can change from manifestation to manifestation, but she usually has the body of a massively pregnant headless beast with tentacles, rows of teeth, and sometimes spawning pods vomiting from her mouth or sides. When Shub-Niggurath's avatar emerges from a cultist, she retains aspects of that form (humanoid feet, for example), but always sprouts tentacles and mouths.   Shub-Niggurath is a far more passive entity than many of her peers, despite the fact that she inspires emotion, violence, and action rather than cerebral cogitation. As such, she must be coaxed through each of her influence levels. If a group is not actively worshiping, chanting, and carrying out a ceremony, her influence levels stay where they are. Her inertia also works the other way: once she has reached a particular level, it is extraordinarily difficult to cause her to step back.   She focuses always on maintaining her worship and conquests at the current level, so she can spawn her young and keep her empire. Unlike many Great Old Ones she is not expansionistic, for she instinctively knows caution will lead her to greater conquests and powers over the long term. Her cult maintains a higher degree of acceptability and can thus spread more easily if it is not seen as a threat to society as a whole or if it is viewed as "controllable." Shig-Niggurath cares nothing for societal control but rather for rampant growth and hyperactive emotions, so this makes for a perfect blend.   Shub-Niggurath's fertility covers a vast area, inspiring her cultists and driving others to dementia. Her followers become frenzied, with enhanced strength, instincts, and heightened senses, while other individuals who tend toward lustfulness or criminal activity tend to degenerate into maniacs. Even the upright feel her escalating presence. As her presence grows, surging hormones spark waves of crimes of passion. In addition, animals are stimulated into their breeding behavior, which can be useful for farmers or those who want to repopulate wildlife in an area. This inspired fecundity combined with the comparative ease of controlling her presence makes her appeal as a goddess to so many.   When her manifestation spawns monstrous offspring, they emerge full-sized, fully-mature, and able to act. They are theoretically friendly to her and her cult, though these "children of the goddess" are known to feed on cultists, treating them more as resources than allies.
Outer Goddess of natural abundance, forests, and monstrous life; chaotic-evil
Favored Weapon: Dagger   Symbol: Three goat heads attached at the neck with horns pointed outward while curving inward to form a circular shape   Temple: Remote forest clearings, standing stones   Worshipers: Alchemists, debased fey creatures, scientists, thos who seek the secret of life   Servitors: Dark young of Shub-Niggurath, Mi-Go, Mythos Satyrs.


Cover image: Moon Phases by Unknown

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