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Template:InmythosThis subject contains information from the Expanded Cthulhu Mythos, and not based on H.P. Lovecraft's works directly.

This subject contains information from the Derleth Cthulhu Mythos, and not based on H.P. Lovecraft's works directly.

🔀 This is an article about the "shoggoth" species from "At the Mountains of Madness. For the ones from "Notebook Found In a Deserted House," see Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath
Formless protoplasm able to mock and reflect all forms and organs and processes - viscous agglutinations of bubbling cells - rubbery fifteen-foot spheroids infinitely plastic and ductile - slaves of suggestion, builders of cities - more and more sullen, more and more intelligent, more and more amphibious, more and more imitative! Great God! What madness made even those blasphemous Old Ones willing to use and carve such things?
~ HPL , "At the Mountains of Madness"


Shoggoths are amorphous, shapeshifting beings. They were genetically engineered by the Elder Things as a race of servant-tools, but eventually rose up against their masters and drove them to extinction. Shoggoths are now found in isolated locales across Earth.

Description

A shoggoth is a sentient blob of self-shaping gelatinous flesh, something like a giant amoeba. A shoggoth is some fifteen feet in diameter if it shaped itself into a sphere, but larger and smaller versions exist. A shoggoth is capable of shaping itself into whatever organs or shapes it finds needful at the moment; however, in its usual state it tends to sport a roiling profusion of eyes, mouths, and pseudopodia. 

A curious behavior of the shoggoth is their repetitive cry of "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!"  This is believed to be a phrase uttered by the Elder Things during the Shoggoth's aeons of enslavement, possibly intended to spur the Shoggoth on with their given tasks.

History

The shoggoths were originally bred as servitor creatures by the Elder Things, who used them for underwater construction. Their ability to shape their bodies as needed made them ideal living construction machinery. Although created to be mindless, the shoggoths mutated through the aeons and slowly developed consciousness, and even became periodically rebellious. Eventually, they overthrew the Elder Things and killed them, and built their own cities (HPL: "At the Mountains of Madness")

Though rare, some shoggoths have managed to survive into the modern era, most notably in Antarctica and in the deepest parts of the world's oceans. The race of humanoid amphibious beings known as the Deep Ones are known to ally with or make use of shoggoths, sometimes referred to as "Sea Shoggoths" (EXP: The Burrowers Beneath [Brian Lumley]).

The Mi-go also conducted their own Shoggoth experiments, performing "mind-grafts" on the Shoggoths to produce a tamer-breed easy for the Mi-Go to control telepathically. The resultant Mi-Go & Shoggoth hybrids are called 'ghol' or ghol-things.(EXP:"The Perilous Legacy" [Walter C. DeBill Jr.])

One notorious shoggoth is Mr. Shiny (Albert Shiny) who takes the form of a human (EXP:At Your Door RPG Module)

Trivia

  • The shoggoth's cry of "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" is directly taken from The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) by Edgar Allen Poe, which was an influence on Lovecraft. In the tongue of the natives that live in Antarctica, "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" is used as an exclamation of woe and suffering. It is derived from the call of the white birds that flock around what is heavily implied to be a cosmic horror that resides at the South Pole.
  • The Brain of Mensis in Bloodborne was inspired by Shoggoths.
  • In the book by Dean R. Koontz, Phantoms and the film based on it, the Monster that empties an entire Ski-resort town is recognizable as a Shoggoth. 
  • There is a children's book called Where is my Shoggoth?
  • There is a mobile game called Shoggoth Rising.
  • A champion in the online game League of Legends, Cho'Gath, is named after Shoggoth.
  • The Smooze, a villain who appears in the 1986 my little pony movie, appears to be partially inspired by Shoggoths.
    • The character was recreated for the later incarnation of the show, but much tamer, and less like a Shoggoth.
  • The main villain in the Legacy of Kain game series is a monster inspired by Shoggoth.
  • In The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim the daedra, Hermaus Mora, has a physical representation inspired by Shoggoth.
  • The "Gibbering Mouther"  from the tabletop RPG Dungeons and Dragons are inspired by Shoggoth.

Gallery

References

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