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The Elder Things (also known as the '''Old Ones'''The term " Old Ones " should not be confused with the Great Old One s. This is a separate group and is described as being enemies of the Elder Things in ''At the Mountains of Madness''.) are fictional Aliens in the Cthulhu Mythos . The beings first appeared in H. P. Lovecraft 's Novella '' At The Mountains Of Madness '' ( 1936 ). Additional references to the Elder Things appear in Lovecraft's Short Stories " The Dreams In The Witch-House " ( 1933 ) and " The Shadow Out Of Time " (1936). SUMMARY
The Elder Things were the first alien species to come to the -like appendage at both ends. The top appendage was a head adorned with five eyes, five eating tubes, and a set of Cilia for "seeing" without light. The bottom appendage was five-limbed and was used for walking and other forms of locomotion. The beings also had five Leathery , retractable wings and five sets of tentacles that sprouted from their torsos. Both their tentacles and the slits housing their folded wings were spaced at regular intervals about their bodies. The Elder Things were vegetable-like in shape, having characteristics. Though they could make use of both organic and inorganic substances, the Elder Things were preferably carnivorous. They were also amphibious. The bodies of the Elder Things were incredibly tough, capable of withstanding the Pressure s of the deepest Ocean . Few died except by accident or violence. The beings were also capable of Hibernating for vast Epochs of time. Nonetheless, unlike other beings of the mythos, the Elder Things were made of normal, terrestrial matter. TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY Technology The technology that the Elder Things possessed was not described at length, but was described as being extremely advanced, and ''At the Mountains of Madness'' even makes an off-hand mention that they may have had Directed-energy Weaponry . They are also presumed by some characters in H.P. Lovecraft's stories as being the creators of the Shoggoth s which were either a Genetically Engineered servitor race or a type of Protoplasmic Nanotechnology (though the terms ''genetic engineering'' and ''nanotechnology'' are not used specifically). Society Because they reproduced through spores, there was little biological basis for families to form, and were thus grouped together with others whom they would get along with. Elderian "families" lived in large dwellings, where furniture and other decoration was placed in the center of the rooms, to leave the walls open for murals.
HISTORY The Elder Things built huge cities, both underwater and on dry land. They may be responsible for the appearance of the First Life-forms On Earth , including the entity known as Ubbo-Sathla (although sources differ in this regard). They Bio-engineered the dreaded Shoggoth s to be their all-purpose slave Race . Eventually, however, the shoggoths rebelled—an event that hastened the decline and ultimate collapse of their civilization. They are known to have warred against the Star-spawn Of Cthulhu , the Great Race Of Yith , and the Mi-go . Despite these conflicts, it was the gradual cooling of the planet during the last Ice Age that spelled their doom. Retreating to their undersea cities deep in the ocean, they would thereafter have no further dealings with the outer world. Their last surface city, located on a high Plateau in the Antarctic , remains frozen in ice. The ruins of this city were discovered in 1931 by two members of an Antarctic expedition from Miskatonic University . (The '' Call Of Cthulhu '' Role-playing Game features a scenario in which the Elder Thing city is rediscovered and subsequently explored by expeditions sent to " New Schwabia " by the National Socialist government of Germany during the late 1930s and 1940s .) OTHER MEDIA Elder Things (as Old Ones) were one of the species detailed in '' Barlowe's Guide To Extraterrestrials ''. The Lovecraft section of the '''' collection equated the Elder Things with the Martians from '' The War Of The Worlds ''. REFERENCES Notes EXTERNAL LINKS |
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