Great Race of Yith
The Great Race of Yith, or simply known as Yithians, are a race of sentient extraterrestrial beings. They are capable of projecting their consciousnesses across time, inhabiting the bodies of individuals of other species and swapping their minds with their own.
Overview[]
The Yithians' original purpose was to study the history of various times and places, and they have amassed a "library city" that is filled with the past and future history of multiple races, including humans. Due to their scholarly work which spans across space-time they were associated with the Wandsmen who regard the Yithians as "freelancers". It is unknown if there are Yithians working with Wandsmen but their works can be found in their offices.
They are able to transfer their minds into other beings, taking their bodies for their own when the original one outlived its usefulness; the effect, when seen from the outside, is similar to spiritual possession. However, the transference of the minds is usually against whatever being's they exchange minds with against their will; these "captive minds" were queried by skilled inquisitors while the Yithians using their bodies learned as much as possible about the societies in which they dwelt.
Description[]
They are giant, cone-shaped beings, with iridescent, rugose skin covered in ridged, "semi-elastic" scales. Their conical bodies stand about ten feet (3 meters) tall and are also ten feet wide at the base. From the apex of the cone protrude four flexible appendages, each of which about 30 centimeters thick, which can be contracted at will, or extended up to ten feet in length. Two of these terminate in crustacean claws that can produce sounds by clicking and scraping, which constitute their language.
Another one is equipped with four red trumpet-like mouths, and the fourth one ends in a globular yellowed head, about 60 centimeters in diameter, and possessing three dark eyes arranged along its circumference. Above these eyes, the head also possesses four grey stalks with flower-like structures, which are used for hearing. From the lower part of the head dangle eight greenish tendrils which can be used to handle objects, such as writing pens.
History[]
Background[]
The Great Race of Yith came from a planet called Yith, escaping the planet by swapping minds with a cone-shaped species on Earth that existed over 200 million years ago during the late Triassic period. The appearance of their original bodies are unknown and how they came to be is also unknown but according to the records found in their vast library they evolved naturally with the changing climate of their planet as the universe continued to grow. They were also closely associated with the Anunnaki.
Arrival to Earth[]
The Yithians were forced to abandon their home planet and their original bodies as their sun was beginning to dim and turn into a red giant, which later identified Cthugha, one of the Ogdru Hem, as the cause as it was feeding off the solar body of their sun. They managed to transfer their consciousness to a species of prehistoric creatures which the Yithians would be identified as for years to come. As it turns out, these creatures were the result of an evolutionary process that branches off from the main line of naturalism, all in part of the Elder Things' experimentations.
The Elder Things in question immediately recognized the odd behavior of the Yithians' hosts to which they grew hostile towards them for daring to infiltrate their works. The Yithians were somewhat pacifistic and wanted no conflict with the Elder Things and so they migrated to the continent of Australia, where they built a citadel known as Pnakotus, located in Australia's Great Sand Desert. Pnakotus holds the Pnakotus Manuscripts, Yith's history. It is implied that the Yithians communicated with the Martians and in the process the latter learned how to speak through telepathic communication.
They also managed to coexist with the Yowie, a species of primal hominid that made their dwelling in Australia and are part of the Sasquatch lineage thus being a product of the Elder Things' experimentation. It is said that the Great Race would teach the Yowie methods of survivability while maintaining their endurance throughout the harsh primeval climate of the planet. According to Kate Corrigan of the B.P.R.D., the Yithians would share their powers with the Yowie, giving the hominids glimpses of how their descendants would advance in the far future specifically around the time of the Neolithic period.
Disappearance[]
Due to their connection with the passages of time, they are able to glimpse events that have occurred in the past and future but they cannot fully grasp a clear picture of the future, something which irked them. However, upon mastering this ability, they did not use it sparingly and peered "too far" beyond the coming of present ages (they were believed to have accidentally made contact with Yog-Sothoth himself), and the Yithians were horrified by the revelation of the inevitable End of Days which they refer to as the Great Collapse. They saw the impending rise of the Ogdru Hem, the release of Yog-Sothoth by Nyarlathotep, and darkness follows forth.
Afterward, the Great Race were visited by a Rainbow Serpent who told them of the coming of man, one which they made to inherit the Earth and in the case of the would-be Australian deities are the Aboriginals, and must leave their post. The Yithians requested that their history remain intact to which the Rainbow Serpent agreed, but on the condition that it be buried beneath the Earth where in the coming untold thousand years, mankind would one day discover their existence.
When the Yithians asked of the 'coming final conflict' the Serpent gave no straightforward reply only to "prepare themselves" and their warnings to man would not go unheeded. The Yithians complied but not before one of them would send a psychokinetic distress signal to the Anunnaki, pleading for them to aid mankind in advancing their capabilities to defend themselves. After entering a dormant state, the Rainbow Serpent "encircled the landmass" creating massive ridges that hid their society deep beneath the confines of the continent.