“ | At any rate, when the men of K'n-yan went down into N'kai’s black abyss with their great atom-power searchlights they found living things—living things that oozed along stone channels and worshipped onyx and basalt images of Tsathoggua. But they were not toads like Tsathoggua himself. Far worse—they were amorphous lumps of viscous black slime that took temporary shapes for various purposes. | „ | |
~ H. P. Lovecraft & Zealia Bishop , "The Mound" |
The Formless Spawn are fictional creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos, originally created by Clark Ashton Smith for his short story "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros".
Description[]
These black, protean beings may be found in temples dedicated to the Great Old Ones or in deep sunless caverns, often acting as guardians and protectors of secrets. They may accompany or herald the arrival of a Great Old One or stand in the god's stead, or simply lie motionless for years at a time, like some quiet dark pool waiting to be disturbed by the unwary. Whether they are born of a specific entity or magically created is unknown.
True to their name, Formless Spawn are polymorphic entities made of black ichor and look like amorphous goo. Similarly to Shoggoths, they have the ability to change their form and shape into any conceivable form. Being a living viscous liquid, they can ooze through small cracks, usually finding a way through any obstacle, while also able to cast spells, and can form vocal organs to issue strange sounds - no record exists suggesting they have ever communicated with words a human could understand.
Background[]
The Formless Spawn were found resting in a great basin beneath an idol of their god Tsathoggua by the thief Satampra Zeiros and his companion Tirouv Ompallios. Described as "a torrent of black quicksilver" and "an undulant ophidian form which immediately developed more than a dozen short legs", the creature attempted to devour the interlopers. (CIRCLE: "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros")
The people of the subterranean world of K'N-Yan had once worshipped Tsathoggua, until a scientific expedition exploring N'Kai encountered the Formless Spawn. Those who escaped had all the images of Tsathoggua destroyed, and his temple re-dedicated to Shub-Niggurath. (HPL: The Mound)
It was also stated that "[a] few daring mystics have hinted at a pre-Pleistocene origin for the fragmentary Pnakotic Manuscripts, and have suggested that the devotees of Tsathoggua (including the Formless Spawn) were as alien to mankind as Tsathoggua itself." (HPL: At the Mountains of Madness)
In Other Media[]
- In the Demonbane series, Vespasianus has the ability to summon the Formless Spawn. They attempted to consume Daijūji Kurou and Al Azif but were ultimately destroyed by Laban Shrewsbury.
- The Formless Spawn makes an appearance in the mobile game The Simpsons: Tapped Out, under the name "Formless Terror".
- The Formless Spawn appears in the trading card game Z/X Zillions of enemy X, under the name "Eldritch Spawn".
- The Formless Spawn appear as adversaries in the video game Quake. Their design was based on an illustration from S. Petersen's Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands.
Gallery[]
- Main article: Formless Spawn/Gallery