A portal to Azathoth's throne.
In the time before mortals, Ge and Ouranos fell into an eternal slumber leaving their children; the gods, to shape the world they had created. Though apart from the world in their sleep, the great Aeons were still bound to that which they had created and in their dreams they wept as their children battled against the Titans.==
With the allegiance of the angels and others, the gods finally won their war and they crafted a prison called Thartharus deep within creation and there chained the greatest of the Titans. Their malice corrupted all around them and made their own prison far worse than ever would it had been. For countless eons, Thartharus has grown and swelled with its own corruption as a cancer deep within the earth.
This malignant blight crept slowly into the dreams of Ge and Ouranos, turning them into nightmares. The Aeons dreamt of such twisted and demented horrors, such intense agony, hatred and malice, that they stirred in their slumber, and forced the nightmare away.
Beyond Elysium; far away from the mortal realm, in the place of Ge and Ouranos’ own creation, Azathoth was born. The nightmare given form, Azathoth was thrust into a new world, a world that was painful to him in its difference, and so he reached out his tentacles and spread his madness, reaching into the minds of any life he found and enslaving it to his own. This way he learned of creation, and he desired it.
Azathoth, though thoroughly evil in his madness, is a patient entity. It saw the power that other life could posses and so he crept slowly from star to star, twisting them to his will. So as Azathoth spread his insanity and horror, That Which is Far came into being.
Involvement in Adventures[]
The Power of Knowledge - While researching some mysterious runes that have been branded on ill Dauntonian citizens, the Dragonborn adventurer Skalisss discovers an damaged ancient Allarian tome called "The Dream Quest; and languages therein discovered" by H. P. Adorskill that contained the following passage:
"[O]utside the ordered universe [is] that amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity—the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time and space amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes."[1]
Children of Azathoth[]
Azathoth created children of his own to reach out beyond what he had claimed into Elysium and Herebos and to the Shifting Seas.
First of his children was made to Behold the world so that Azathoth could see was would one day be his, and she became known as the Great Mother for she had many offspring with Azathoth. Each of their children had many eyes so that Azathoth’s vision could spread far.
Second was Gibberath, a seemingly unending broiling mass of nightmarish flesh and eyes under who's banner Azathoth's first invasion of Elysium was staged and almost won. While the Gods were taken by surprise and floundered, Merkari; not truly a god at the time, rallied the hosts of angels in time to make a counter attack and at the vanguard he plucked each and every one of Gibberath's eyes blinding Azathoth's horde and sealing their defeat.
Third was Bolbothan, Azathoth’s favourite child who he sent deep under the shifting seas to raise an army in secret for the day when he finally took his rightful place as master of all. To Bolbothan first of the Aboleths, Azathoth gave some of his essence to spread his madness.
It’s most likely that Azathoth has many other children, each subtly infiltrating reality working toward his end goal of twisting everything to it’s own madness and sitting upon a throne at the centre of creation.Section heading
Bolbothan, the Dread-Child[]
Bolbothan is the eldest aboleth that slipped into the world from the That Which is Far eons ago after the gods have began their creation. He remained and lurked in the underworld’s lakes, hunting the creatures that inhabited the place until he grew to enormous size, then he spat out bit of himself creating more aboleths (though lesser than himself). Bolbothan being the eldest, wanted to rule over them, and he did, with a fairly big proportion of the Aboleths.
His minions contructed a palace for their lord in the bottom og Tal Modan lake, one of the biggest in the underworld. The other aboleth hunted for him, brought him enthralled creatures to act as servants, and treasure. Bolbothan had a strange desire for shiny objects, which was strange due to the fact that he lived in the dark reaches of the Depthworld.
As the drow descended into the Depthworld led by the dragon Akneth, the confrontation was inevitable. As the drow empire grew, the limits of each realm clashed in war. The aboleth realm of Tal Modan sent armies composed of the large aboleth overseers with hundreds of enthralled minions, and the drows send their armies of disciplined soldiers led by the female priests. The odds were even, and each side lost and won several battles. However, after each battle lost by the drows, the aboleth gained many servants. Akneth foresaw a grim future for her children, and conceived a cunning plan to get rid of Bolbothan and his empire. She instructed her drows to poison the waters of the Tal Modan lake. Many creatures depended from that source of fresh water, so the casualties were the highest the Depthworld had seen.
All the aboleths’ minions were killed by the venom, and many aboleths were also slain when escaping frantically from the poison to the surface by a drow strike team.
Bolbothan was forced to emerge as well after centuries of slumber in his chambers. The huge aboleth raised over the drows and over his kin. He laid waste over the assaulting drows, but when Akneth showed up, the power of the deep dragon forced the aboleth to retreat. Bolbothan needed to escape, and enthralled the mind of one of Akneth’s most powerful priestess, and made her attack the dragon from behind. The distraction was effective, and the sluggish amphibian disappeared from sight in a blink.
After his defeat, the drow empire continued it’s expansion without any other rival to stand in their way. The remaining aboleth hide in the dark corners of the underdark alone or in small groups; but some followed Bolbothan to the surface. The elder aboleth had a plan, a plan that could take him centuries to fulfill, but he had that kind of time.
Stats: An Aboleth overseer of level 25 at least, with all that this implies. He can probably dominate other creatures apart from humanoids.
Theme[]
Thralls: Most of Bolbothan’s minions are thralls dominated by the aboleth Lord. The only willingly loyal servants of Bolbothan are other aboleths and Kuo Toas.
Vengeance: Bolbothan wants to see every drow dead, and every surface dweller on their knees before him in order to exterminate the drows. Although he has his priorities, if there is a chance to kill drows, Bolbothan will take it.
Water please: As his army is composed mainly by amphibious creatures, Bolbothan will establish his outposts around the transitive islands where water is abundant, and will try to dominate port cities or cities with lakes and rivers close to them.
Dominate with words: At this stage, Bolbothan will try to subdue populatins through manipulation of their leaders and with political moves. He will have secret agents bring him information and with it he’ll plan a scheme to put a puppet in the power in order to slowly control the population. Bolbothan will rarely rely on raw military power.
It’s just a thrall: Every time that a sacrifice of a thrall will rely on a benefit to an aboleth or to the general scheme planed by them, do it. It’s just a thrall after all.
Reckless combat tactics: When there comes the time to fight, the abolths will send all their minions forward, and dominate/nuke the players from safety. Kuo Toas are to be sacrificed later, if the aboleths need to withdraw from battle, they will use them as curtain.
Forces: Bolbothan has a personal army composed by several Aboleth with their respective Aboleth servitors, and hosts of Kuo Toas and Bolbothan’s Aboleth servitors which can survive well away from their master. Bolbothan prefers to exert direct control over his forces. He also have agents of several races operating underground in thieves guilds and secret organizations; these are either voluntary of dominated.