#Ghantanothoa

[macabrecabra]

LOVECRAFTOBER: DAY TWENTY-FIVE: GHATANOTHOA; the Dark God, The Demon God, The Thing on the Mount

Affiliation: Court of Shug-Niggurath

The offspring of Cthulhu, Ghatanothoa always feels like they have a lot to live up to and often that stress causes them to try and over compensate on the Great Old One power scale. Also given the fact mortals ALWAYS seem to show up when they are sitting down, most depictions of them as a writhing mas of only worm-like things has really damaged their self-confidence.

They are a hot lava baby, making them able to melt as they walk, one of the few beings that can put up with Ithaqua's cold...so not surprising the two like to hang...when their parents aren't looking. Secret friendship.

Ghatanothoa tends to be a lot of bark and little bite if someone pushes back more as they just want to make Cthulhu proud by being strong and powerful... but they actually have other interests that they keep secret. However when it comes to a fight, Ghatanothoa does not hold back and will quickly defend themselves, which has helped them avoid the worse of elder god encounters.

[monstersdownthepath]

I'm interested to see how Paizo will stat out Chaugnar Faugn once they get to him. The elephantine horror has caught my attention and won't let go. Chaugnar is notable for being one of the few Great Old Ones that has been canonically beaten, having been utterly destroyed by a marvelous invention in his very own introductory story, The Horror From The Hills.

In Pathfinder, Chaugnar is a demigod of patience, and exhibited it in the original work. For weeks or months he sat as the centerpiece of a museum, having been stolen away from his people by researchers thinking him a statue to a primitive god, simply twiddling his thumbs and occasionally sending out a wicked dream that lured some poor fool to his feet to be devoured. Sometimes he even got up and left the museum to grab a midnight snack or six before going back for some reason (maybe he enjoyed the exhibits?). Spooky stuff, and his self control is admirable... but by god, when his patience finally ran out? He carved a bloody swath through Manhattan in one of the least subtle emergences of an eldritch power to date. No hiding in the shadows, no ambushes, no clever tricks, just a warpath through civilization that saw him killing and devouring everything and everyone he came in contact with.

Furthermore, he was invincible. Nothing that anyone did to him had any effect beyond alerting him to where they were, and granted, they were a bunch or lvl 3~5 npcs facing down a CR 25+ threat, and there wasn't time enough to get tanks, warplanes, and proper missiles aimed at him, but some of them should have at least been able to cause a scratch. In the end, Chaugnar was felled by an "anti-entropy ray," a device constructed by a madman apparently made for scenarios exactly like this one. The ray de-aged everything it was trained on, and eventually the protagonists managed to lure Chaugnar into a mire, gluing him in place just long enough for the ray to sap the majority of his strength away and trapping him in the mud.

and then they kept firing. It took the ray fifteen minutes to work all the way (for reference, several SECONDS of sustained fire shaved between 60 and 80 years off the target), but eventually he was reduced to a puddle of quivering slime, which itself was further reduced into vapor that went spiraling into the atmosphere. The demigod of patience is going to take a long time to come back.

Chaugnar has enough in common with Rhan-Tegoth (statues that feed on life fluids, typically sleeping for ages until It Is Time) that I'm afraid Paizo may not stat him out for ages for fear of repeating themselves, but I hope they bring him in anyway. I'm mostly amused by the fact he's the smallest of the Great Old Ones, standing at barely 8 feet tall. He's a much more personal threat than the towering form of Cthulhu or the mountainous Ghantanothoa and deserves a place in the spotlight!

[macabrecabra]

Slowly working through asks! Been devoting time to getting small answers out while I work on the bigger renders. Working on the last aether dragon commission, two separate gift arts, and environment art for my webcomic series. Also got my aasimar lass concept art I need to update and get done before Friday for the Secret Satan even and once I get my person for it, will have that take priority!

Also fanfics...they will be updated and finished >8I looking to dedicate an entire day this Saturday to just writing and editing! >8E

BUT THEN. WHEN ALL THAT IS OFF THE TABLE... I AM DOING THE ART FOR THE LOVECRAFT POPULARITY POLL! In no particular order of who will face of who first, I've gotten down the falling horrors:

Nyarlthotep, Azathoth, Nameless Mist, Darkness, Cthuhlu, Gobogeg, Hastur, Umr At-Tawil, shub niggurath,Gloon, Nug and Yeb (Package deal!), Yig, Tsathoggua, Ghantanothoa, Dagon, Hydra, Bokrug, Chaugnar Faugn, yog sothoth, and Tru' Nembra

If there is a named Great Old One or Outer God I missed, let me know! I tried to go for ones with either interesting designs and enough lore to form a comprehensive picture/personality and are created within Lovecraft's lifetime/mentioned by Lovecraft/ or acknowledged by Lovecraft. Also avoided "OP" ones that are just made long after and sort of go against established core lore (the Elder Gods and Great Ones are exempt to be done in their own poll as they fall in a different category of beings in my mind!)