And they took the gifts that Nature left for them and turned those gifts to their own ends, shaping them through rites of chaos to become a teeming legion – least among their servants, but limitless in number.

This scroll describes “seething caverns of chaos, impossible in their vast expanse” and filled with “the seething terrors” that are the “least among the servitors of the Endless Sleepers”. These corrupted masses are called the Elder Brood and some are given names: Akop, tesk, marbassik spawn, tilaxic.

Attention is then paid to one of the Elder Brood in particular: “Unto the bulugon they gave the feast-lust, driving their bloated forms to obsession of corpulent excess.”

Bulugon were reptilian creatures who were gifted with an endless, insatiable appetite. This appetite fuels a limitless capacity for hate and a cruel drive for conquest. Their thick scales are stretched taut across an abdomen swelled with excess. Although bat-winged, their corpulent bodies make them clumsy fliers. (It’s actually quite remarkable that their wings can support their bulk at all.)

THE GLUTTONY

No matter how much a bulugon eats, the endless starvation in their belly continues. Their masters use their constant feeding to both grow their bloated bodies and to motivate their service, but there is no satisfaction which can be given to them.

There are many tales of lone bulugon tyrannizing isolated communities. They “enthrall those weakest of mind and will” and then seek out some isolated cave or (more blasphemously) a religious shrine. Word goes out through their newfound servitors that the devil must be fed or the community will feel its wrath. Tribute and service are demanded in the name of fear.

But its hunger cannot be satisfied. The bulugon will “feast until all the fields are bare; until all the stores are consumed; until it feeds upon starvation itself.” In just a few days, the bulugon can deplete the food reserves of the entire village. And then these malefic gluttons will turn on the locals and begin to feed on them. Horrific tales are collected here of villages reduced to grisly lotteries and bloody arenas in which desperate men and women are faced with the heinous choice of the next victim to be fed to an insatiable appetite.

THE GIFTS

Graphic depictions are given of the bulugon using their long horns to impale flying opponents, using the great bulk to send both themselves and their pinioned foe crashing to the ground.

Bulugon are also said to be able to “wreathe themselves in a mist of terror.” Although they are not very fast or agile, bulugon use this fog – and the fear which accompanies it – to disguise their approach. And then their considerable bulk – both of fat and muscle – is capable of delivering blows strong to crush plate armor.

Finally, the stomach of a bulugon possesses an acid of incredible strength. (Its enhancement is most likely the source of their appetite.) Once removed from the bulugon’s body, the acid quickly loses its strength, but the bulugon is able to spew this acid in a flesh-searing cone.

ALCHEMIC ARTS

Detailed instructions are given for extracting the acid from the belly of a recently deceased bulugon while sustaining some of its preternatural strength. With a successful DC 25 Intelligence (Alchemist’s supplies) check, an alchemist can remove 1d6+4 vials of bulugon acid. This acid deals three times the damage of normal acid (6d6 acid damage).

DESIGN NOTES

Like the akop, the bulugon were taken from Green Ronin’s The Book of Fiends to expand the ranks of the Elder Brood.

Another technique to note here is that each Book of the Elder Brood focuses on a different brood, but each volume also introduces the Elder Brood as a whole. (Since any one of these books might be the first one the PCs chance upon.) In several of them I list the names of other creatures within the Elder Brood, but notably each listing is incomplete and each listing is different-but-overlapping. This is a matryoshka techniques, with the players being able to slow correlate a list of the Elder Brood by comparing different sources of lore.

And from those teeming places of shadow and virulent beds of life and seething pits of chaos, the Natharl’nacna bent the substance of the world unto their will. From the work came the least of their servants, a swarming brood of anarchy and despite.

This slim folder of supple hide, clasped shut with a length of emerald green ribbon, contains a dozen or so individual sheets of parchment. Written in an archaic – almost alien – form of the Common tongue, they tell a sad and cautionary tale.

In a time of great strife and a war, a race of high sorcerers fled the mortal world and took refuge within “a spired realm of the Dreaming.” For long years without count this race dominated their new home – they were masters of magic and builders of wonder; they lived in peace and glory.

They were called the Akop and the years of their golden age seemed without end.

But there came a time when this proud race faced a problem they could not overcome: “Although they lived within the halls of Dreaming, yet their arts had never mastered the dream-craft. They worked marvels within dreams, but were not of the Dream themselves.”

Their world was dying. And in its slow decay, it had become severed from the mortal realm from which the Akop had first come. “From the fraught-prison of their own creation, there was no flight.”

In their desperation they turned to a creature referred to in the text only as the Kindred. The Kindred had the power to free them from their self-inflicted prison, but he demanded a high price: “Through his gates they would pass, but once passed they would blood-bind their hearts to serve him for unto a generation of their race.”

Faced with obliteration, the Akop agreed. But the Kindred was treacherous: The gates which took the Akop from their world were foully enchanted. As they emerged into the “deep eurl-realms of chaos”, the Akop were transformed into insubstantial creatures of living shadow, bereft of mortal form. “Of the flesh, they could not be harmed. But nor could they breed of the flesh. There would be no passing of their generations and upon their oath the Kindred had bound them for all eternity. And so the Kindred became the Enslaver of Races.”

In their new form, the akop became members of the Elder Brood – a foul mixture of twisted races that are described as “servitors of the Kindred and the kindred of the Kindred”. There they “took their place among the essyat and gadacro; the nintha and the obaan”. Over the years that followed, the akop degenerated – losing first their magic and then their sanity.

“In their madness, the Kindred found he could not command them; could not control them; could not rule them. But yet, in madness, they ever-serve the mad-mind of the Kindred and work unto his ends.”

THE NAUGHT-FLESH OF THE AKOP

The akop are incorporeal beings of shadow. “And they loathe those luck-fated to still wear their flesh. They blood-boil to battle-lust and long to bring all those of their former kindred into their madness of the cur-kin. But in this the curse of the Kindred tightens, for with each akop who passes in the battle-fraught, their race-pride is brought one step closer to its end-utter.”

THE TOUCH OF THE AKOP: “Fear the shadow-flesh which is not, for in its touch the madness of a dying race shall seep through pore and blood into the bone and brain. Those afflicted by the touch of the akop shall be driven to their Dream of madness.”

It seems that those driven insane by the akop are thrust into dreams of apocalyptic vision. There seems to be a shared quality to these dreams (among those whose shattered minds have recovered enough to communicate), and it is believed that they are the race memories of the Realm in which the akop once lived – twisted through the memory of its destruction and their own madness.

At this point, in a separate hand, there is a report of many such visions collated from various sources. Some are not given any textual authority, but seem to have been gathered first-hand (and perhaps deliberately so). They conjure strange visions of ruptured towers of obsidian; cascades of shattered stone glittering with chaos-tossed magicks; of great forests ripping apart in silent desolation; of rivers plunging into ourobouric self-destruction.

SUMMONING THE AKOP

A final selection of papers details the particular details of the summoning ritual necessary to “summon a brood-swarm of akop to give the truest service of chaos”.

Using these notes, a summon fiend spell can be modified in one of two ways.

First, it can be cast using a 1st-level spell slot, in which case it will temporarily call forth an akop for 1 hour. Due to the madness of the akop, however, the control of the spell is not perfect. The akop is allowed to make a Wisdom saving throw when summoned. On a success, the control of the spell is broken and the akop is free to act in whatever manner their madness dictates. (When in doubt, have them act as if under the effects of a confusion spell.) On a failure, the akop is controlled normally, but may retry the Wisdom saving throw once every 10 minutes.

Second, it can be cast using a 6th-level spell slot to permanently bring a swarm of 1d6+2 akops to the caster’s location. These are not summoned creatures, but have been brought from the Elder Brood into the mortal plane. These akop, too, are difficult to control, although the rites involved in summoning them give them disadvantage on their saving throws. If these akop fail their saving throw, they can reattempt it once per day.

DESIGN NOTES

Although the elder brood are described as being teemless in their variety, only three varieties can be found in the Chaositech sourcebook. So I cracked open one of my favorite bestiaries — Green Ronin’s The Book of Fiends — and started scavenging some of those fantastic monsters, like the akop, to fill out the ranks of the elder brood. The Book of Fiends has been updated for D&D 5th Edition, so it’s quite easy to add these to your own Ptolus campaign, regardless of which edition you’re using.

Back to Chaos Lorebooks

They were the least of those that served. They were corruption given flesh; a corpulence of festering death and decay. Rebellious in spirit, yet forever bound to the power of their masters.

This tome describes the zaug – one of the “servitors of the Galchutt”. Physically the zaug were grossly obese humanoids with no hair. They had wide mouths full of teeth, claws for hands, and short horns on their heads. Some are described as possessing vestigial, rotting wings. A few passages describe their bodies as “corrupted receptacles”. Sores and oozing pus and bile covered their fat flesh. And much of their skin hung loose in rotting folds, pocked with holes from which intestines and other guts hung out – spurting vile fluids.

Several passages are given over to describing festering poisons and other vile alchemical substances that could be created from the “bile of the zaug”, although no true details of the required procedures are given.

The flesh of the zaug itself is ever-regenerating – allowing it to survive despite the diseases, poisons, and parasites that teem through its body. They are said to never eat or drink or breathe, and to speak only telepathically.

THE SOULHARVESTERS

Some among the zaug were transformed by the Galchutt and “turned to a new purpose”. As the zaug were made living receptacles for manifest corruption, the zaug soulharvesters became living prisoners for captured and tormented souls.

“Their very flesh burned with the fire of the souls which screamed within them.”

“Their hunger was without end, fed eternally by the torment of those who seared their flesh.”

Where the flesh of the zaug festered, the beruned and corpulent flesh of the soulharvesters was glistening and taut. And pressing out against the green-veined and pallid skin of their guts were the screaming faces of those imprisoned within them.

The “soulfire flesh” of the zaug soulharvesters is described as an immense, living power source.

THE LORE OF THE LATTER YEARS

And while their masters slept, the labors of the zaug were endless.

Later lore describes the zaug working with the “titans of the Purple City” in labors of “the technology of the taint” as they worked to “perfect the crafts gifted from beyond the Demonweb”.

Other passages refer to the zaug working in the laboratories of Ghul the Skull-King. “And their works turned to the binding and changing of the flesh, and the lesser races were turned into weapons of dark might.”

KASTRALATHAKASAL

And in the sleep of the Galchutt and the sealing of the Vaults of the Rhodintor, the zaug at last found their freedom. And in their caverns of the deep, their works turned inward.

Deep beneath the surface of the earth, it is said that Kastralathakasal – the City of the Zaug – “stands citadel upon the Throne of Darkness”. The city itself is described as a stronghold of alien metals and living, organic components.

DESIGN NOTES

The zaug originally appeared in the Chaositech sourcebook and play a significant role in Monte Cook’s Ptolus. The Soulharvesters, however, were originally Solamith demons created for the D&D 3rd Edition Monster Manual V. (They made the leap to 4th Edition, but there doesn’t appear to be an official adaptation for 5th Edition, which is unfortunate in my opinion.)

Given the great plentitude of monsters available for D&D, this is a technique I frequently use. It’s similar to The Campaign Stitch, but rather than melding adventures it takes monsters and asks: What if these are the same monster?

It’s kind of like palette shifting, but rather than taking one stat block and using it to model a multitude of creatures, this technique — monster melding — takes a bunch of different stat blocks and brings their lore together. I like it because it transforms a vast-but-shallow funhouse filled with an incomprehensibly huge variety of beasties and instead uses it for depth. The zaug and the solamith are both interesting in their own right; but their sum, in my opinion, is greater than the sum of their parts: By putting them into a relationship with each other, both of them become more interesting and versatile.

Back to Chaos Lorebooks

Let all substance be taken from. Let all order of the world be stripped from you. Let even the bones that tie you to the tyranny of the flesh dissolve within you. Only then, veiled in grey from mortal sight, shall you serve the true Lords of Man.

This small book wrapped in grey cloth – its text copied in a small, cramped hand using a dark green ink – speaks of the Vreeth, one among the “servitors of the Galchutt”.

The book describes those of the “true faith,” who give up the entirety of their mind and body to the service of chaos. Taken away bodily from the mortal realms (“through the great sieves of Sessural’s dream and the void of Dhar Rhyth”), these cultists are altered irrevocably – becoming “things of naught, forever doomed to sing the hymns of chaos and chant the litany of destruction”. They can think of or do nothing beyond serving and worshiping the higher concept of Deep Chaos.

According to The Grey Veiled, the vreeth are the center of a cult’s veneration – they are the ultimate bridge of communion between the mortal and immortal servitors of chaos, trapped in the nether regions between the two. Thus, for the vreeth to be seen by any who are not truly servants of chaos is a blasphemous sacrilege. Any who would so profane the holy sight of the vreeth should be purged.

Upon one page, scrawled in a different hand, is a short passage: “Beneath the robes which are not there is the multitude of squamous horror…”

Back to Chaos Lorebooks

Let all who look upon them despair. For they are like unto perfection. For they are not of this world but of all worlds. Not of this life but of all lives. Their sight is without limit and through the Eight Eyes of the Magi the truth of all things is bared through the Touch of Chaos.

This blackened tome has a clasp of polished bone. Its pages are those of a spellbook which has been annotated to become a book of lore detailing the strange abominations that revealed the contorted rites of chaos magic which it describes.

“Know ye then the Nineteen Names of Their Power, chief among which is the word shaadom.”

The shaadom are consummate chaos mages. Their knowledge of both the crafts of spellsong and the weavings of chaos are reputedly without peer, and they can wed these paradoxical bodies of knowledge – the rigorous precision of spellcasting; the anarchic, spasming liberties of chaos – into a more perfect whole.

THE CREATION OF THE SHAADOM

“In the Book of the Akop Kings it was written that the shaadom were instruments of their own creation. So, too, reads the Prophecy of Ubala Dal: That the last of their race shall forever forge the first of their kind. They are the circle without end; sundered from this world at both beginning and end and neither. Unto themselves they have perfect knowledge, for of their knowledge they are unto.”

A hulking creature, a shaadom has two muscular arms that end in three-fingered hands. Its head is arachnoid with six eyes and a large, mandibled mouth. Its long torso ends in a squirming mass of short, wide tentacles rather than legs.

Shaadom are said to float just above the ground, “for their very being is repugnant unto this earth” or possibly “because they do not deign to touch a world imperfect”.

THE EYES OF THE SHAADOM

The eyes of a shaadom are said to be possessed of a “vision beyond vision”. Even in death, some of their supreme potency remains: When bound in a circlet of woven taurum and mithril, they can be fashioned into a crown which gifts the wearer with the “shaadom’s eye”.

Shaadom’s Eye: The circlet functions as a crystal ball of true seeing. The shaadom’s eye requires a Wisdom save (DC 21) to resist the scrying effect. In addition, there is a 10% chance each time the shaadom’s eye is used (and once per day that it is worn) that the wearer must make a Wisdom save (DC 21) or be afflicted as per a nightmare spell.

THE WEAVE OF CHAOS

“Through the arts of shaadom, the nature of the world is divided from itself and into an interstice of terror is driven the wedge of chaos.”

The shaadom’s greatest art is chaos-weaving. They able to transform the spells they cast even in the act of casting, infusing them with great chaotic energies. Mortal sorcerors attempting to pursue such arts find the results unpredictable and dangerous; but somehow the shaadom manage to create incantations which draw only strength from their anarchy: Their unpredictable nature only makes them more difficult to resist; their effects more terrible in their afflictions.

THE ANARCHY OF THE SELF

“Unto themselves they are a law. Unto themselves are they beholden. Unto themselves are they masters. Unto themselves are they tyrants.”

It is said that among the Chaos Lords, the shaadom represent individuality taken to the ultimate extreme of selfishness and obsession. They hate even each other as rivals and enemies – locking themselves into aeon-long machinations wrapped around their “twisted spires of silver-grey”. Fueled by hate, jealousy, lust, and greed – all centered around the acquisition of power – the shaadom are most often found on their own, individual quests, willing to bend all that they encounter to whatever suits their immediate needs and desires.

SPELLBOOKS OF THE SHAADOM

All of the spells described here have been woven with chaos using the arts of the shaadom. These versions of the spells are more difficult to dispel (disadvantage on the dispel check). In addition, there is always a 10% chance that the target of these spells will automatically fail their saving throw regardless of what their saving throw roll is.

However, there is a price: The chaos weaving of the spells touches upon the “web of the Demon Princes” itself. The process draws taint into the world, afflicting the caster as if they were using a tainted item each time a shaadom spell is prepared or cast.

• blessing of mutation**
• chaositech enslavement**
• chaositech enslavement, greater**
• confusion
• contagion
• darkness
• detect chaositech*
• detect evil and good
• detect mutation**
• dispel magic
• fear
• identify device*
• lightning bolt
• magic circle
• power word kill
• power word stun
• teleport

* This spell can be found in the Ptolus sourcebook.

** These spells can be in the Chaositech sourcebook.

Back to Chaos Lorebooks