Blood gushes fresh in the mouth. Blood beats in the vein. Blood pours from the wound.  Blood roars through the brain. Blood flares in the scent. Blood thickens in death. Blood fills the throat. Blood cleanses the hunger.

Blood burns.

He is the personification of Rage. He is the Beast lurking in the heart of all men. He is the powerful, pulsing lust for domination and conquest which is coupled to every defiant breath of life. His howls are the primeval song of discord that belies all tongues.

He is Ravvan.

THE ROAR OF THE BEAST: “Though he is caged by the Sleep of the Faithful, the Beast’s rage beats upon the formless walls of that eternal prison just as the hot blood of passion beats through his veins. In spurts of rage, his will becomes manifest; whispers of the Beast that pulse through the red veils of the primal, holy fury.”

THE BLOOD OF RAVVAN: “Let his Blood be joined to your own. Let the Beast pulse through your veins. In Ravvan there is strength. In Ravvan there is life. In Ravvan there is truth. Take of his strength. Lust of his life. Heed his truth.”

THE IDOL OF RAVVAN: “And in the days of broken wisdom, we gathered the whispers of Ravvan and listened to his pulse in the many corners of the world. And we wrought of them an idol to give focus to his words that his pulse might deafen the world.”

Here the text describes – in loving, rapturous terms – a squat statue of obsidian depicting a demonic beast with slavering fangs; folded, bat-like wings; serrated horns; and long, vicious claws. “And through his eyes of ruby blood, the voice of the Beast rang true.”

THE SONG OF DISCORD: The “song of discord” appears to refer to both the “whispers of Ravvan” which can be heard “echoing through the chambers of the blood” and also to a prayer-chant:

The blood, the hunt
The dance, the fire
Return, return, return.

DESIGN NOTES

In the original Ptolus sourcebook, Ravvan appears as a beast god. I decided to slide him over into the ranks of the Galchutt because (a) it seems like a pretty good fit and (b) the Idol of Ravvan appeared in one of the adventures I was using in Act I of my campaign. I knew that the chaos cults would be featured heavily in Act II, and the connection would let me foreshadow what was coming. After the fact, the players could (and did!) look back and realize they’d been hearing whispers of the Galchutt for months before truly learning of their existence.

The song of discord is actually a secret deep cut. When I started running my first long-term D&D 3rd Edition campaign, I kicked things off with John Tyne’s Three Days to Kill. That adventure also features cultists, who put in appearance at the Festival of Plenty and sing a song:

The wine, the song
The dance, the fire
Return, return, return.

When I ran the adventure, I rewrote the lyrics. At the time, this had nothing to do with Ravvan, but as I was writing up Ravvan’s lore I felt a resonance with those older lyrics and so I incorporated them here.

I enjoy doing this sort of thing just for my own pleasure (and deep worldbuilding can turn up all sorts of interesting interconnections), but In the Shadow of the Spire also originally featured one of the players from that earlier campaign. This would have been a cool easter egg for them. Unfortunately, the player left before the group ever encountered this lorebook or heard the song’s encore.

Back to Chaos Lorebooks

In the days when the Masters had passed and the Long Quiet had fallen upon all the Caverns of the Galchutt, still within the deepest clefts of the earth there labored the truest of their servitors. Within the depths of Eurl-kallat Dath – the Cavern of Dripping Darkness – the Shepherd of Malignancy tended the vile works which had been left to his care.

This slim volume – bound in a white volume sheened with a silver-grey which is slick and greasy to the touch – tells the legend of the “youngest of the Galchutt”, a shambling creature given the name of Merihim.

THE CAVERN OF EURL-KALLAT DATH: “Within the Caverns of the Galchutt there was a place where pestilence hung thick in the air. In that place of kallat dath, the Galchutt set the crafty mind of Merihim to work. There cancerous mutations were given motile form and demonic phages waged wars of fecund prosperity.”

THE WORKS OF MERIHIM: From the incubation vats and wild proving fields of Eurl-kallat Dath, Merihim perfected all manner of diseases and mutations. He “wrought the arts of Jessuk to fungal life” and “exercised the corruption of nature’s order with its own hand”.

THE CORRUPTION OF MERIHIM: Merihim was also said to bear the “touch of Abhoth”. His right arm was shriveled with palsy, for his “very essence had become unbalanced in the equations of life” – and so his left arm had grown to immense, twisted proportions.

His hunched back is described as “miasmic fecundity” and from it sprouted six prehensile, fleshy stems that ended in toothy maws. Each of these stems was a direct conduit to fetid and corrupted organs which served as the breeding ground for foul diseases. From these “maws of cancerous life”, Merihim could expel the smotherfume – a cloud of noxious, polluted disease.

THE ASCENSION OF MERIHIM: “In the time when the Princes were drawn into their web and the Masters in their chains were taken into their slumber, Merihim still labored within his cavern. And for long years thereafter, he labored still. And the Princes, though caught still in their web, looked out upon the world and saw this mighty service. And they reached out to the Shepherd of Malignancy. And in that time Merihim answered their call and fulfilled the rites of fealty unto their name.

“So he became the one who willingly entered the Slumber, pledging the vows of the Natharl’nacna even in the Time of Loss and binding himself to a servitude of oblivion. But when the Time of Dissolution comes, the truth of his service shall be remembered.

“Let all who would serve the will of Chaos think of the Shepherd. Reflect upon the Faith of Anarchy and covet only that deepest of all communions in which the will of Gods shall be forsaken as tyranny and the will of Demons hold resplendent liberty.”

DESIGN NOTES

Merihim is from The Book of Fiends. I’ve spoken many times before about how fantastic this bestiary is. This is another example of how much use I’ve gotten out of it over the years.

Back to Chaos Lorebooks

This codex is a collection of lore describing one of the Galchutt: Jubilex the Shapeless. The Faceless Lord. The End of All Forms.

Jubilex is revered as the dissolution of structure and form. The strictures of society are unjust and he will unmake them. The limitations of our fated physical form are unfair and they can be undone. In all substance and form and structure there is an inherent separation and, thus, inequality. In the end of all substance and form, all things shall be made as one and all things shall be made equal and all things shall be made just.

THE SLIME OF ALL ENDS: The manifestation of Jubilex is that of a thing of slime and ooze – disgusting, loathsome, and said to be shunned even by the other Galchutt. Its foul and nauseating body is without set from – it can appear as a vast pool of slime or rise up into a towering column of disgusting ordure. In many texts, however, it is described as a tall, cone-like heap, striated in disgusting blackish-greens, foul browns and yellows, and sickly translucent grays and ambers.

THE RED EYES: No matter what description of Jubilex is given, however, mention is always made of the pulsating, red eyes that “look in all directions from his undulating form”. These eyes are said to “see the making and unmaking of all things”.

THE EFFLUENCE OF CHAOS: Jubilex is also described as “spewing forth the verdigris ichorous”. The remnants of this loathsome effluence – a green, slimish ichor – is said to still lurk in the dark places of the world, shunning forever sources of light and heat (which are anathema to it).

THE DARKNESS GIVEN HUNGER: Jubilex is said to be served by the Darkness Given Hunger – a “black and pulsing creature of nether destruction”. Depending on the texts being referenced, the Darkness Given Hunger was either “ripped from the depths of the Formless Form” (exuded from his own undulating body); created through a demonic infusion; or independently spawned in “stygian pits of ever-dark”.

DESIGN NOTES

I added Jubilex to the ranks of the Galchutt partly because it just makes sense and is an easy way to expand their number, but mostly because I adapted a published adventure featuring Jubilex and used it in my Ptolus campaign. It’s a good example of the campaign stitch.

Back to Chaos Lorebooks

And at his touch, the black oil of his thought passed from one mind unto the next until all served unto his image and his purpose. And where the Touched went, so the mind and might of Kihomenethoth followed.

This lorebook collects various pieces of knowledge regarding the Galchutt known as Kihomenethoth, the Writhing One.

THE ONE WHO SLEEPS APART: In many of the texts, Kihomenethoth is referred to as the “One Who Sleeps Apart” – “not banished from the Throne of Shadow”, but “choosing to remain separate from his kin, beneath the ancient Crypt of All Crypts, where he might be succored by the souls of winter”. He is also referred to as the “Lost and Living Idol”.

THE TENDRILS OF THE MIND: Kihomenethoth is written of as the most passive of the Galchutt. “He goes not forth to work his feats, but lets his Chosen come to him, so that they might be blessed with his Touch.”

Those who are touched by the “tendrils of its thought” become “as one with the great god”, “extensions of his will left to writhe through the world”. Through these thralls “he can see with many eyes and hear with many ears”. And Kihomenethoth “shall breathe the air they shall breathe and walk where they walk”.

THE SUMMONS OF THE DISSOLUTION: “And on the night when the bonds of all bonds are broken, they shall hear the call of their Master and their footsteps shall guide them to the Path of Chaos.”

DESIGN NOTES

This lorebook is a little on the short side because, if I recall correctly, I had to write it up at the very last moment, just a few minutes before the start of a session. It was originally keyed to The Laboratory of the Beast, and then later added to The Vladaam Affair as well.

Back to Chaos Lorebooks

In his mouth the silent scream of the universal spirit became a siren of endless torment. His body was broken upon the rack of the many worlds. In that moment he became as nothing, and nothing became as him.

This tome records the lore of the Dhar Rhyth, one of the Galchutt.

According to the Lore of the Atapi – copied and translated from cuneiform shards – there is a hole in the fabric of this world. “Beyond the borders of this many-hole” lies the “broken realm of befanged worms”.

The hole acts like a portal, leading to a place filled only with squirming, worm-like creatures of utter horror. But these creatures are not the Dhar Rhyth – the Dhar Rhyth is the hole itself.

THE ENDING WITHOUT END: One myth tells that the Dhar Rhyth was once a man – a man who welcomed himself into a moment of annihilation, only to find the “existence beyond ending”. He became a personification of nullification – a broken, jagged gap between all things.

Many myths of the Dhar Rhyth, however, do not speak of such things. (Or perhaps merely do not see them in the same light.) The Dhar Rhyth is the antithesis of genesis – it has no beginning and no end. It is like the ouroboros inverted.

THE MANY OF THE ONE: “Dhar Ryth” is both noun and verb; name and genus; identity and property. There are those who believe that there is only one Dhar Rhyth in all of time. Others tell of the “times of congregation” in which more than one of the creatures has been seen at once. But then still others speak of “the fractured mirror which is yet whole”.

THE HOLE WITH NO EDGES: The very purpose of the Dhar Rhyth is annihilation and cultists who follow in its path speak of the “hole with no edges” – that all creation is like a hole with no boundaries; a nothingness with no substance.

THE HERALD OF THE SHADOW: Dhar Rhyth is often seen as the Herald of Shallamoth Kindred, another of the Galchutt. They are also known as the Harbingers of Chaos and Annihilation.

THE GATES OF CHAOS: As sentient holes in the universe, dhar rhythm can alter the connection between spaces. Through their nonexistent forms, they can serve as mobile gateways or summon to them all manner of things and beings.

Some texts speak of great temples of chaos raised above the motionless Dhar Rhyth – temples which last only until the Dhar Rhyth is suddenly given unto action, destroying and killing all those who surround it.

DESIGN NOTES

The Atapi referenced here are a desert nomad culture from the Southern Wastes which replaced the Viking-like barbarians in my version of The Night of Dissolution.

You can also compare this lorebook with The Worm of the Void, which details a cult dedicated to Dhar Rhyth. The two are designed to complement each other, regardless of which order the PCs discover them in.

Back to Chaos Lorebooks