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.

Regions

Deep Ones dwell in the deeps, though they sometimes walk the shores in search of human prey. There are a vast number of subraces, yet, very little is known of most of them. Broad stone steps lead from the deeps up to shoreline shrines and subterranean temples where the Goblyns worship their masters. The Deep Ones have vast undersea palaces and labyrinths throughout Ambar, many of which were once below the seas but were thrown ashore by the movements of continents or the Breaking.

The Great Goblyn Empire to the south is ruled by hordes of Goblyns. While the Goblyns worship the Gobbah, they leave governance to the Great Goblyns, or Hobgoblyns, who are the Goblyns champions.

Personality

Fearsome creatures and the darkest of Warlocks, Deep Ones are as ancient as they are evil. Various noble houses of Deep Ones have bred their dark armies of Goblyns for thousands of years to war on humans or elves, but usually fight among themselves for control of the empire. The Deep Ones style themselves as nobles but they are often as base and cruel as the Goblyns they created.

It is thought that the Deep Ones feed on raw magical energies found in the Astral Sea, powerful magic, and young life. Some restrict their feeding to non-sentient life and have even been friendly to humans, but most see no reason to discriminate on what they consider to be lesser beings.

Physical Appearance

Similar to the faeries of Earth legend, countless varieties and seemingly-conflicting descriptions are found in the legends of Ambar. The only consistencies are descriptions of horrid watery daemon creatures, evil and cruel, and far too alien to fully comprehend. Although bipedal and vaguely humanoid, there is little other constancy--they might have scales, rubbery skin, tentacles, horns, webbed claws, or even multiple limbs. There are also many tales of the Deep Ones (and Great Deep Ones) appearing in disguise, though humans are usually said to have retained an instinctual fear of them. The consequences of ignoring such intuition is a frequent cautionary tale in seaside cultures.

There are apparently an unlimited number of varieties, subraces, and unique individuals that all appear strangely different. Variations are common even with those of the same ancestry. Nevertheless, there are some consistencies within particular bloodlines and subspecies. Thousands of often-interchanged names have emerged from this confusion, such as: Deep Ones, Deep Ones, Sea Devils, Deep Deep Ones, Aboleth, Fomorians, Illithid, Kessrith, Kuo-Toa, Slaadi, and Sahuagin. Little is known about these beings, and the human names do little justice to their true horror. Whether they are factions in a greater race of Deep Ones or separate subspecies is unknown. There is even speculation that the Deep Ones, Great Deep Ones, and Kha'din are somehow interrelated.

Equally numerous are the slaves of the Deep Ones. There appears to be a very complex hierarchy of Deep Ones enslaving each other and members of various species, creating or enlightening new races when necessary. Some are merely thralls, but in most cases the Deep Ones leave their slaves with a vestige of free will, but somehow limit their ability to escape or turn upon their masters. The best known example is the Gobbah and their Goblyn minions. The Goblyns can do as they please so long as they worship and obey; their fear of water is a safeguard against rebellion.

At the top of this vast master-slave hierarchy are the Great Deep Ones, beings of tremendous godlike power who are worshiped and obeyed by the Deep Ones. Just as the Deep Ones elevate slaves that please them, so oft do the Great Deep Ones.

Relations

Deep Ones are little known, for they are almost never seen on the surface of the earth. They prefer to act in secrecy. The Gobbah direct their Goblyn hordes strike against the cities of men in order to capture slaves to build their great expanses, caverns and tunnels ever larger. However, the Deep Ones know of each other, and continuously struggle for dominance. Some Kessrith work in secrecy to undermine the machinations of the Deep Ones, leading to odd alliances with Elves, who share a common foe.

In spite of being mainly marine creatures, they can survive for some time on land and will sometimes come up to the surface to make deals with humans. In exchange for human sacrifices and various gifts the humans receive gold jewelry and abundant fish in their waters, herded nearby by the Deep Ones.

Lands

Deep Ones are thought to build their kingdoms far below the ocean's surface in eerie palaces hewn from living coral. Deep Ones ruins are often found on the shores--eerie temples and shrines on the surface with steps leading down into the sea. These ruins abound are unsettling to humans, for the stones are strange in design and contain great power. The temples are typically hewed from green stone and carved with ancient glyphs that instruct the lesser races on wizardry or rites worship of the Great Deep Ones.

Religion

Just as they have thousands of subraces, so do the Deep Ones worship thousands of aquatic gods, whom they call the Great Deep Ones. Little is known of these gods, but it is suspected that they are actually Deep Ones who are more powerful and ancient (i.e. "Ancient Ones") than the others.

History

The Deep Ones are aquatic daemons born of old magic in the darkness of the Astral Sea, where they took many forms and warred against one another for eons before the coming of the Eldar.

Language

The Deep Ones tongue is known as the Black Speech by humans and Eldar. Probably better spoken underwater, this ugly language has been taught to a host of dark races by the Deep Ones, primarily the Goblyns.

Equipment

In their watery domains they wear no clothing, only a harness for their weapons and a small amount of personal gear--any other garments would hinder their swimming. With few belongings, Gobbah prefer to show their wealth openly to awe and impress others, and often decorate themselves in elaborate tattoos.

Their weapons are often crafted from substances dredged from the bottom of the sea. Strange corals, obsidian, bone and other natural but hitherto unknown materials. They often carry elaborate shields constructed of gigantic seashells, and various polearms with trident tines or barbed hooks upon which to mount a poisonous urchin or fish spine. Deep Ones warriors cannot wear armor, but usually carry elaborate shields constructed of gigantic seashells. They prefer scimitars, javelins, and bladestaffs.

Dueling and gladiatorial combat with the quarterstaff and more dangerous "bladestaff" is popular and honorable in Deep Ones society. A bladestaff is similar to a quarterstaff, but with a deadly blade mounted on each end. Some bladestaffs have tines resembling tridents, or barbed hooks upon which to mount a poisonous urchin or fish spine. Some say that staff weapons are likely popular simply because they like keep slaves at a distance.

Adventurers

Deep Ones rarely venture from their empire, and outcasts are usually slain, making adventurers rare. Since Goblyns are typically killed on sight in human or elven lands, Deep Ones adventurers must rely on illusory magics to stay alive.

Illithid (Mind Flayers)

  gallery: Illithid 

Aside from the Fomorians, the "Mind Flayers" are the most dreaded of the "Deep Ones". They are thought to be the race responsible for corrupting Dwur to create the Zuhls of the "Zirakzigil Dwurdelf".

Kessrith

  gallery: Kessrith 

Little is known of the Kessrith, save they are one of the few races of "Deep Old Ones" who opposed the evil of the Fomorians and Illithid. They are largely extinct, but occasionally surface to confront a greater evil. Wizards who practice Kessrith magic often call themselves "White Wizards".

Slaadi

The Slaadi have a reputation amongst the "Old Ones" as enormous frog-like monstrosities that are willing to eat pretty much anything or anyone. Slaadi have a strict hierarchical society; each member of a caste can be distinguished by the colored tattoos on its forehead. Individual Slaad can advance up the ladder of Slaadi ranking by fighting and beating a member of a higher caste. However, the Slaad have never been able to fully understand the idea of working as a group; three red Slaadi would never dream of ganging up on a blue Slaad. Since the blue Slaad is stronger, he has the right to push around the lesser Slaadi as he wishes. The Slaadi apply the same principle to combat with other beings; against one attacker, a group of Slaadi will line up and fight one at a time. The Slaadi don't care much about anything except individual strength, and roam the deeps in packs, taking whatever they want and eating whatever looks good. The Slaadi have frog-like minions called Tsathar that play a role similar to the Gob [ more... ]

gallery: Deep Ones

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