Qlippoth

Overview

Cosmic Horrors

Qlippoth is a generic term for nightmarish aberrations of extraterrestrial origin. Such creatures come from dark places between the stars, worlds contaminated by alien influence, and far-flung realities beyond the known planes. Most of the bizarre stuff associated with the Cthulhu Mythos falls under this category. Due to their innate wrongness, it is proper to use the rules for sanity loss and madness liberally when introducing Qlippothic creatures as foes.

Psionics

Most Qlippoth possess psychic powers. Those with civilization often develop sophisticated psionic technologies on par with humanoid magic, and bizarre bio-organic artifacts powered by mental energy. Telepathic Qlippoth also commonly possess powers of domination or mesmerism, making them highly frightening to humanoids.

The Unknown

A dominant theme of most Qlippoth is that they represent fear of the unknown. Qlippoth do not fit into the natural world, and the distant realms they hail from are nightmarish places where the laws of nature are different. When narrating aberrations, it is important to avoid normalizing them. Focus instead on their alien appearance, behavior, and intelligence.

Alien Biospheres

The blood of Qlippothic creatures is rife with alien spores, fungi, and parasites. When such a creature establishes a lair or hunts an area for too long bizarre insects appear, healthy plants fall prey to alien parasites, grasses become tentacle-like, slimy bulbs release ectoplasmic spores, and so forth. Druids are particularly hostile to Qlippothic creatures for this reason. When alien life begins to infect the world, druidic circles usually rally to purge the corruption with fire.

Old Ones

Many Qlippothic species were created by alien divine beings to act as servitor races. These bizarre deities are collectively known as Old Ones. One duty of the gods is to prevent the Old Ones and their minions from encroaching upon civilizations under their patronage. Qlippothic creatures, in turn, consider these deities and their servants bitter enemies.