The Old Ones, Gods of the Astral Seas

  Gobbah (Deep Ones, Great Goblyns)    Kha'din (Kaeden, Nameless Old Ones)) 

The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be...

The Old Ones are immortal races who have dwelled in the Astral Seas since time immemorial. Few of the Old Ones have ever visited Ambar, and most such perished during the cataclysm known as the Breaking or the Battlesong Wars.

Most of the Old Ones seem completely alien to humans, for their ancient cultures and long lives set them apart in ways we cannot fathom. Humans often feel a sense of profound fear or wariness around these ancient beings, as if their presence awakened racial memories deeply ingrained in their history. The Fomorians in particular are well known for their propensity to subjugate the lesser races in bloody conquest and slavery.

Gobbah (Deep Ones, Great Goblyns) (updated 2008/10/27)

  Illithid (Mind Flayers)    Kessrith    Slaadi    gallery: Deep Ones 

The Gobbah are the mythological aquatic daemons that dwell in the inscrutable dark waters beneath the mountains, ocean deeps, and Astral Seas. For eons, they have warred against each other for control of the Astral Seas before they came to Ambar and began their wars against the Eldar and all surface dwellers. The Eldar slew most, but not all of what they called the "Deep Ones".

Ancient and terrible, these beings are loathed and feared as no other except perhaps the Kha'din, for they are the source of wizardry, masters of the Goblyns, and terror that stalks from inscrutable ocean deeps. Human history is rife with stories of Deep Ones creeping out of the waters and stealing away people quietly in the night. The rabid hordes of Goblyns who worship the Gobbah are believed to be bred from human captives long ago.

A Gobbah is said to look like a commingling of Goblyn and fish, presenting a cold and horrid appearance. A typical specimen looks much as if a paunchy body had been covered with scales and topped with a fish's head. The huge fish eyes of the head tend to swivel in different directions when observing an area or creature. At the sides of their thick necks are palpitating gills, and their long paws are webbed. They are mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs are scaly, concealing the stamina and strength inherent in their piscine ancestry. Coloration varies between grayish-black, gray, and red, though they have white bellies. Their croaking, baying voices, clearly used for articulate speech, hold all the dark shades of expression which their staring faces lack. Gobbah tend to hop irregularly, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four. [ more... ]

Kha'din (Kaeden, Nameless Old Ones)) (updated 2007/11/07)

  Akuma (Taint-Bearers, Kha'din Sorcerers)    Secrets: Kha'din Forms    Taint (Kaeden Corruption)    gallery: Kaeden 

In the end times, the silent enemy will arise again, and in its wake it shall bring oblivion.

The Kha'din are ancient spirits of unspeakable evil and eldritch power. These alien beings are said to exist outside time and space, slipping silently and unseen through the spaces parallel to our world.

The Kha'din are astral spirits that largely defy description and have no place within our reality. They have no mind or physical form as we understand such things. When a mortal perceives this nothingness his mind lends the Kha'din a shape of his own imagination, lest he go mad. In our attempt to place meaning upon the formlessness, we draw from primal and subconscious fears. Thus, some stories describe the nearly-formless shapes as gigantic squids, vine-wrapped trees, or insects of hideous size, although they are warped and distorted in nightmarish ways. Even if two men saw the same creature, each would likely describe it in his own horrifying way.

Not only are Kha'din alien to our world, but their prese [ more... ]