Tsathoggua.
| “ | [In] that secret cave in the bowels of Voormithadreth... abides from eldermost eons the god Tsathoggua. You shall know Tsathoggua by his great girth and his batlike furriness and the look of a sleepy black toad which he has eternally. He will rise not from his place, even in the ravening of hunger, but will wait in divine slothfulness for the sacrifice. | „ |
| ~ Clark Ashton Smith |
Tsathoggua, also known as Zhothaqquah, Sadu-Hem, Saint Toad or the Sleeper of N'kai is one of the Old Ones.
Overview[]
Tsathoggua is often found asleep. He is incredibly lazy and refuses to leave his chambers unless mortally threatened. If disturbed, he will eat him unless the awakener has a sacrifice to offer; in which case, Tsathoggua will eat the sacrifice instead and then fall back into hibernation. However, there are exceptions. When the wizard Ezdagor sent the Hyperborean Lord Ralibar Vooz as a sacrifice, Tsathoggua refused him and bound Ralibar Vooz to a geas, sending him to be eaten by another denizen of Mount Voormithadreth (the next five likewise did the same).
Tsathoggua dwells deep beneath the earth in N'kai. Tsathoggua once dwelt inside Mount Voormithadreth in Hyperborea, but left after the continent was iced over by Apollo who also banned the worship of the Toad God. Tsathoggua is stated to originally reside in the ruined underwater city of Yuth near the Bahamas, although this may be from a wrong source.
Description[]
It is likely that Tsathoggua can alter his shape, the better to adapt to whatever environment he is in. When he dwelt on Cykranosh (a planet we know today as Saturn), he probably had a much different form, probably looking more like his paternal uncle Hziulquoigmnzhah , whose head dangles underneath his spheroid-like body.
Black Ooze[]
Tsathoggua's will is carried out by the formless spawn, polymorphic entities made of black goo. According to the Department of Eldritch Research in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, they are revealed to be a variant of the Tiphon, extraterrestrial shapeshifting creatures also made out of of a black tar-like substance. One theory in regards to how Tsathoggua came about the "weaponization" so to speak of the Tiphon to be under his own will was that the Toad God would feast upon the Night Gaunts that attacked his followers. This angered the Toad God as they were only his to torment and feed upon so he opted to devour the Night Gaunts. And the Night Gaunts are known for suckling the black substance from the innumerable breasts of Yibb-Tstll, which they then carry, and upon being eaten by Tsathoggua, he molds them into his own variant with his own will.
They are extremely resilient and very difficult to dispatch. These formless oozes can take any shape and can attack their targets in nearly every conceivable way. They are surprisingly flexible and plastic, and can quickly flow into a room through the tiniest of cracks. They attack by trampling their targets, biting them, or crushing them with their grasp. Formless spawn often rests in basins in Tsathoggua's temples and keep the sanctuary from being defiled by nonbelievers.
Cult of Tsathoggua[]
It is believed that a race known as the Voormi began dwelling underground after hearing the call of Tsathoggua. The Voormi made their way to Hyperborea and settled there under the leadership of the eponymous Voorm. Although they became enslaved by the Reptilians encountered there, the Voormi would later consider Tsathoggua to be responsible for their liberation, and worship him with even more fervor. However, after the subsequent collapse of the Voormi civilization at the hand of the Humans, it is believed that Tsathoggua abandonned the Voormi and retreated to the Black Pit of N'kai, where he remains in slumber to this day.