[Cthulhu] What Does Glaaki *Do*

[StephenO]

So, I've read his entry in the rulebook, and Campbell's original short story "The Inhabitant Of The Lake". But the question is still there: what is Glaaki's objective? Just to be worshipped? Why is he in the lake? In short, what does Glaaki actually *do*?

Have people done interesting things with Glaaki in their games?

[dalek repairman]

The cool thing about Glaaki is that he creates zombies and has the potential to screw with the dreams of those near the lake he inhabits. I used him as the first monster of the week in my Buffy game set at Misk U. A diabolical frat was trying to summon him in the lake behind their frat house until the Slayer showed up.

[Chris, Waffle King]

He trows a mean tupperware party and makes a mean humuus.

...

what?

[cappadocius]

Campbell's "Great Old Ones" are pretty bush league as far as the GOO go. They're almost all psychosexually understandable.

Glaaki wants to pierce you with his "spine" and you'll worship him forever.

Eihort wants to rape you, and then have his "little men" return to him.

Y'Golonac wants to touch you in your bad places.

I suppose it make for good horror, but I don't know if it's good Lovecraftian horror.

[Halloween Jack]

The thing about the Great Old Ones in most Cthulhu Mythos literature is that they don't "do" much. They don't need to engage in complex, fragile schemes, they just have to wait around until "the stars are right" and they can come back in force.

Call of Cthulhu games usually involve characters stumbling onto the existence of the supernatural, and possibly some little activities they or their agents engage in as a matter of routine, rather than getting drawn into complex, time-critical plots along the lines of "In two weeks, the ritual will take place and we will CONQUER THE WORLD OVERNIGHT! MWA-HA-HA-HA!"

[StephenO]

Call of Cthulhu games usually involve characters stumbling onto the existence of the supernatural, and possibly some little activities they or their agents engage in as a matter of routine, rather than getting drawn into complex, time-critical plots along the lines of "In two weeks, the ritual will take place and we will CONQUER THE WORLD OVERNIGHT! MWA-HA-HA-HA!"

Oh of course, but but what "little activities" will Glaaki's agents be performing for him? He doesn't seem to need much.

[Monsieur Meuble]

Oh of course, but but what "little activities" will Glaaki's agents be performing for him? He doesn't seem to need much.
Moslty, they shout to each other "WOW, have you seen THIS ? It's a disembodied giant pink mouth with giant spike that it want to shove in you ! It's a giant symbolic vagina AND giant multiple symbolic penises ! It's must be some kind of god or whatever have the Real Ultimate Power ! Let's bring it people to put in its giant symbolic vagina and to put on its giant symbolic penises, it will perhaps give us a biger penis and help us to get all the chicks ? "

[Halloween Jack]

Oh of course, but but what "little activities" will Glaaki's agents be performing for him? He doesn't seem to need much.Keeping unwelcome outsiders away from the village around the lake he inhabits, and occasionally killing the more troublesome ones, or taking them to Glaaki for possession. His minions may occasionally go out to kidnap replacements for themselves when Glaaki needs new servants.

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

The thing about the Great Old Ones in most Cthulhu Mythos literature is that they don't "do" much. They don't need to engage in complex, fragile schemes, they just have to wait around until "the stars are right" and they can come back in force.

Exactly. They just LURK. And occasionally get summoned by insane nutters who get slaughtered pretty quickly. And then they go back to LURKING. :)

[Nero's Boot]

You're making the assumption here that Great Old Ones, sanity-blasting horrors from beyond Space and Time As We Know It, would do anything we could recognize as worthy of effort. These creatures are non-Euclidian horrors, and expecting rational action or goals out of them is just plain stupid.

--hell, a ton of the Outer Gods are basically mindless cosmic animals NB

[iamtim]

Oh, this is easy.

What Glaaki actually *does* is beyond your frail, human mind to understand.

:-)

Tim.

[Imperator]

Kills people and take their stuff.











aw, c'mon, somebody had to do it :D

OK, OK, I agree with other posters. Old One don't have to make sense. Human mind can't comprehend their motivations and goals

[Dan Davenport]

You're making the assumption here that Great Old Ones, sanity-blasting horrors from beyond Space and Time As We Know It, would do anything we could recognize as worthy of effort. These creatures are non-Euclidian horrors, and expecting rational action or goals out of them is just plain stupid.

Well said!

Glaaki could be in the process of doing any number of things beyond human comprehension while he appears to just be lurking. And as I suggested might be the case regarding Nyarlathotep's seeming "interest" in humanity, it may well be that any action Glaaki takes that seems directly malevolent to humans is something less than a subconcious thought on his part.

[wokuma]

Oh, that. He hides in the bathroom and contemplates the universe using his spine thing making odd sounds. Then he get's mad at people who disturbs him and then uses that spine thing on them. He's a spine thing kind of guy that waits until the "stars are right" and then he "comes" out and uses his spine thing out in the open.

[Halloween Jack]

Exactly. They just LURK. And occasionally get summoned by insane nutters who get slaughtered pretty quickly. And then they go back to LURKING. :)No, I'm pretty sure Cthulhu posts in Tangency on a frequent basis. But that place is a constant churning non-Euclidian shitstorm and I mostly stay away from it.

[Qusoor]

As said above. You might ask what Yog-Sothoth does out Beyond Space and Time. Wanking about? Making sure all of time and space are ordered so that horrible things can make money in Hollywood? Making time with Shubby-Baby?

Do whatever fits your campaign.

[wokuma]

Well.. see this Glaaki dude, is like... cosmic and really, really, powerful. But not. Until the "stars are right." Therefore they are secretly silly lame astrology freaks.

Cultist: Um... can Glaaki come out and play?
Glaaki: The stars are not right. *snif*
Cultist: Um... aren't you supposed to be cosmic.
Glaaki: Well... yeah.
Cultist: ...and you can't come out because the stars are not right!
Glaaki: Yup.
Cultist: That's lame!
Glaaki: *I poke him with my spine!*
Cultist: *gibbers*

[Nero's Boot]

Remember, Azathoth, the Daemon Sultan of the Cosmos, God of Gods, most powerful entity in the ever-expanding Mythos....has the brain power of a paramecium. He has zero sentience to speak of. In essence, God is a giant cosmic amoeba.

--if God is an amoeba, then his cohorts and servants will be just as incomprehensible NB

[Nero's Boot]

Well.. see this Glaaki dude, is like... cosmic and really, really, powerful. But not. Until the "stars are right." Therefore they are secretly silly lame astrology freaks.

Cultist: Um... can Glaaki come out and play?
Glaaki: The stars are not right. *snif*
Cultist: Um... aren't you supposed to be cosmic.
Glaaki: Well... yeah.
Cultist: ...and you can't come out because the stars are not right!
Glaaki: Yup.
Cultist: That's lame!
Glaaki: *I poke him with my spine!*
Cultist: *gibbers*

You're obviously ignoring centuries upon centuries of real world religious doctrine. "Jesus will return in power and glory....but only when the time is right!"

--"the stars are right" is just the same sort of religious-speak that real world religions have been using for millennia NB

[Frank Sronce]

I did use Glaaki in my Children of the Worm CoC Dreamlands campaign. I put a Dreamlands version of him in a lake on one of the islands. His cult was strong there.

Basically, a bit like Cthulhu, Glaaki couldn't survive outside of his carefully prepared lake shelter for long... until the stars were right, which was way overdue because the Outer God whose release was to trigger the change had been imprisoned by the Elder Gods and was trapped beneath the house of the Jailor... where the PCs all lived. They were his apprentices. :D

I had a rationale that Glaaki's undead servants couldn't travel very far away without dying again, so he needed a few living agents to speed stuff up. So Glaaki conspired with some mortal mages (former co-apprentices of the Jailor himself who were jealous of his special status) and they arranged to assassinate the PCs' master and free the Devouring Worm (the God imprisoned in their basement). He also protected them from scrying... you couldn't probe into their evil activities without attracting Glaaki's attention... and then he'd use his hypnotic eye powers on you.

So Glaaki was one of my major villains.

Amusingly, the actual prophecy just said that Glaaki would rise from his lake shortly before the end of the world. There WAS one PC who had a forbidden spell that might have been able to kill Glaaki... if it had ever gotten used (the PCs didn't dare test it) I figured I'd just have Glaaki crawl out of the lake, dying, trying to escape, and say that fulfilled the prophecy. :D

[Darkness]

Kills people and take their stuff.
Or hit them up Glaaki-style in the bathroom.

[wokuma]

You're obviously ignoring centuries upon centuries of real world religious doctrine. "Jesus will return in power and glory....but only when the time is right!"

--"the stars are right" is just the same sort of religious-speak that real world religions have been using for millennia NB

Of course! This isn't Tangency after all.

P.S. I poke you with my spine.

[Shining Dragon]

Glaaki is unhappy people make fun of him and his spine. Don't make fun of Glaaki. The Stars Could Be Right Tomorrow and then Glaaki will come out of Glaaki's Lake, go around to your house and throw bricks through your window.

- Glaaki, Lord of Dead Dreams

[Random Nerd]

Do not taunt Happy Fun Glaaki.

[wokuma]

I am imagining the superhero or god type game from hell...
Gm: Okay what's everyone's characters like?
A: I got Azathoth.
GM: I like the name. So tell me about your character.
A: I got inconvenient size.
GM: Okay how many levels?
A: Two hundred levels of inconvenient size.
GM: *Sputter* Star size!!??
A: Yeah and I needed the points so I bought down my IQ and appearance.
GM: How much?
A: Azzie's as smart as an Ebola! And I bought my appearance as an attack to cause insanity!
GM: So what does your character do?
A: I teleport to the center of the universe and gibber!
GM: Um... so, B um, what did you make?
B: I poke people with my spine.

So the game proceeds with Glaaki's player mostly sleeping and talking on his cell phone coming alive when someone bothers it so he can "poke it with his spine." And azzie just smashing everything including his cultists with the excuse "my character not smart enough to recognize them" or listening to music and ignoring the game. Meanwhile Narly is handing out religious literature about the others and laughing seeing how high the body count will rise to.

[Robotron666]

So, I've read his entry in the rulebook, and Campbell's original short story "The Inhabitant Of The Lake". But the question is still there: what is Glaaki's objective? Just to be worshipped? Why is he in the lake? In short, what does Glaaki actually *do*?

Have people done interesting things with Glaaki in their games?

Yes, in my Call of Cthulhu Game glaaki is also known as Uwe Boll...



What?

[Nero's Boot]

Of course! This isn't Tangency after all.

P.S. I poke you with my spine.

It's a valid statement, that the whole "not until the stars are right" statement is stolen blatantly from real-world religions and mythologies.

--granted, most real-world religions don't center upon mind-blasting horrors from beyond space and time :p NB

[Monsieur Meuble]

--granted, most real-world religions don't center upon mind-blasting horrors from beyond space and time :p NB
Which is another example of why real-world sucks.

[wokuma]

Which is another example of why real-world sucks.

So poke them with your spine!

See, Glaaki has a great philosophy. Problem's in life? Poke them with your spine or gibber! Seductive isn't it? That's how he gets cultists.

[Travis Beck]

He's the Encylopedia Salesman of the Elder Gods.

[David J Prokopetz]

--granted, most real-world religions don't center upon mind-blasting horrors from beyond space and time :pDude, have you ever read Revelations?

[Dr.Bubonicus]

Possibly a Delta Green spoiler:


Have you checked out the Delta Green character "Belial"? He's a member of the Fate with more than a passing tie to Glaaki.

[RemyDuron]

Glaaki is planning his next move, which will take place when "the stars are right" in the big cosmic chess game of the GOOs.

BTW, the Outer Gods aren't really animals so much as raw natural forces. Summoning Azathoth and setting off a massively powerful nuke isn't that different. He's entropy. Shub'Niggurath is creation and Yog Sothoth is time/order.

Nyarlathotep is H.P. Lovecraft saying, "Fuck, I really want to write a story with the devil in it, but I don't want people to think I believe in Christianity..."

[Dr.Bubonicus]

Glaaki is planning his next move, which will take place when "the stars are right" in the big cosmic chess game of the GOOs.

BTW, the Outer Gods aren't really animals so much as raw natural forces. Summoning Azathoth and setting off a massively powerful nuke isn't that different. He's entropy. Shub'Niggurath is creation and Yog Sothoth is time/order.

Nyarlathotep is H.P. Lovecraft saying, "Fuck, I really want to write a story with the devil in it, but I don't want people to think I believe in Christianity..."

Eh...

I'd say Azathoth is the generative ego of chaos and would consider Hastur the embodiment of entropy on all levels (check out J. Tynes's Hastur Mythos material in Delta Green).

[wingedcoyote]

BTW, the Outer Gods aren't really animals so much as raw natural forces. Summoning Azathoth and setting off a massively powerful nuke isn't that different. He's entropy. Shub'Niggurath is creation and Yog Sothoth is time/order.


The Great Old Ones resent your attempt to categorize them using narrominded human "sane" logic. :)

[David J Prokopetz]

Eh...

I'd say Azathoth is the generative ego of chaos and would consider Hastur the embodiment of entropy on all levels (check out J. Tynes's Hastur Mythos material in Delta Green).I figured that with his mindless, implacable nature, Azathoth was a pretty clear personification of cold, uncaring force of natural law in a scientific cosmos - especially given Lovecraft's vocal distaste for the scientific thought of his day. It has his notion that if science were right about how the world worked, then God could be nothing but a mindless and ultimately destructive force, rather than a sentient entity.

[Monsieur Meuble]

And you have to remember that somme of the monsters from the D&D Epic Level Handbook can beat Azatoth from Cthulhu D20 ! (or at least can bring Xp if killed...)

[DMH]

Spoilers for Nocturnum

The thing about the Great Old Ones in most Cthulhu Mythos literature is that they don't "do" much. They don't need to engage in complex, fragile schemes, they just have to wait around until "the stars are right" and they can come back in force.

The problem with that is the number of senarios written that end with the destruction of Earth. Why would the rest put up with the destruction of their home?

When I bought Nocturnum (the 3 booklets), I thought that the aliens (forgot the name) were treading very dangerous ground. The portal to their home plane would destroy the universe and they knew it. So I came up with an alternate ending where Yog moves the asteroid to somewhere else (dinosaurs?) and then an army of mythos servitor races (those in the books and some new ones) led by the 3 intelligent Outer Gods would spend a hour or so doing unspeakable things to the aliens. Then they would take all the aliens on Earth do that they could feed them to Azathoth. Of course viewing all those mythos beings would drive any human to -1000 SAN :D

[Ithaeur]

Dude, have you ever read Revelations?

Revelations of Glaaki or the better known and much more SAN-friendly Revelation of St. John?

[CosmicCowboy]

Do not taunt Happy Fun Glaaki.

Haven't heard that line in years!

Here's another obscure commercial spoof, that is oddly fitting: "Do not stick in mouth or rectum."

[David J Prokopetz]

Revelations of Glaaki or the better known and much more SAN-friendly Revelation of St. John?If you think the Book of Revelations is more SAN-friendly, try reading it with a literalist eye. :p

[Brandi]

If you think the Book of Revelations is more SAN-friendly, try reading it with a literalist eye. :p

Or just look at Basil Wolverton's visual interpretation. (http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/wolverton01.htm)

[David J Prokopetz]

Or just look at Basil Wolverton's visual interpretation. (http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/wolverton01.htm)Far, far too mundane compared to the descriptions that accompany them. ;)

[Shining Dragon]

Glaaki does not like people releasing Spoilers for Glaaki's plans. Glaaki has to keep making changes to avoid copyright issues. When the Stars Are Right Glaaki has something special planned for all those people guilty of making Glaaki work harder at cosmic domination (it involves mutilple spine probes in case you are wondering)...


- Glaaki, Lord of Dead Dreams

[wokuma]

The Great Old Ones resent your attempt to categorize them using narrominded human "sane" logic. :)

Yeah! Use non-sane logic... that means that Glaaki is a bored jaded munchkin that pokes people or things with his spine! Fear the spine for it is... uh... happy fun spiny!

[Shining Dragon]

Yeah! Use non-sane logic... that means that Glaaki is a bored jaded munchkin that pokes people or things with his spine! Fear the spine for it is... uh... happy fun spiny!

Glaaki uses non-euclidean logic. And undead cultists, of course. Unfortunately Glaaki finds that "braaaaaains" is not a good plan so usually just the non-euclidean logic.

- Glaaki, Lord of Dead Dream

[JohnBiles]

More seriously, some ideas for things to do with Glaaki:

First, you have to ask why Glaaki makes servitors. Unlike, say, Cthulhu, whose cult just worships him without him having to do anything, Glaaki actively makes undead servitors. Therefore, they must serve some useful purpose to him.

My own take is that the cult's job is basically to run protection on his lake and keep away things which could cause him trouble. The whole area around the lake ought to be controlled by people who have been turned into his servitors, who keep watch to keep other cults out as much as possible.

The cult also spends its time amassing sources of occult power which will be used when 'the stars are right', and Glaaki is ready to come out of his lake and resume a more active lifestyle.

Glaaki's cult should be played not as bringers of apocalypse, but as a shadow that hangs over the region around Brichester lake, destroying those who learn too much and consolidating power for the day their master rises to take power openly.

So what is Glaaki doing? Obviously, he's been imprisoned in some manner, same as the various other GOO who basically hang around some spot and never leave. Probably in some manner, he's dependent on some cosmic cycle that hasn't come round again, but will soon, all too soon.

Probably he's mostly sleeping and laying plans for that day, while directing his cult with some part of his mind.

[Shining Dragon]

First, you have to ask why Glaaki makes servitors. Unlike, say, Cthulhu, whose cult just worships him without him having to do anything, Glaaki actively makes undead servitors. Therefore, they must serve some useful purpose to him.

People not realize Glaaki has big sense of humour and that Glaaki thinks undead cultists walk funny, giving Glaaki big laughs while waiting for the Stars to Become Right...

Glaaki, Lord of Dead Dreams

[jdrakeh]

So, I've read his entry in the rulebook, and Campbell's original short story "The Inhabitant Of The Lake". But the question is still there: what is Glaaki's objective? Just to be worshipped? Why is he in the lake? In short, what does Glaaki actually *do*?

What is any Great Old One's objective? That's part of what makes Cthulhu Mythos fiction great - we're never told. Sure, things are hinted at, but explaining what man can't fathom does a great deal to humanize the otherwise alien Mythos, thus decreasing its potential to inspire horror.

[David J Prokopetz]

What is any Great Old One's objective? That's part of what makes Cthulhu Mythos fiction great - we're never told.Well, Nyarlathotep is superficially pretty obvious; every action is calculated to make someone suffer. The deeper purpose, of course... ;)

[jdrakeh]

Well, Nyarlathotep is superficially pretty obvious; every action is calculated to make someone suffer.

I'm not sure that is his purpose, per say - merely a descriptive quality of his actions. A purpose denotes ultimate intent, and Mythos canon strongly suggests that Nyarlthotep doesn't merely exist to 'hurt people'.

[JohnBiles]

Well, Nyarlathotep is superficially pretty obvious; every action is calculated to make someone suffer. The deeper purpose, of course... ;)

Not exactly, I think. Nylarathotep is the 'Herald of the Outer Gods' and their 'Soul'. His purpose is to bring the power of the Mythos; he is an evangelist of the Outer Gods, bringing the enlightenment that human morality is a sham and has no weight in the universe, that all there is, is the cold mechanisms of matter. He calls upon all to cast off the shackles of morality and revel in their animal nature, because that is all they are--animals with delusions of grandeur.

At the same time, he brings power to those who follow him, for while the universe is a blind, uncaring mechanism, those who see and exploit its rules can amass vast personal power. But that power ultimately corrodes all who use it.

What is Nylarathotep? He is Science. In the Lovecraftian view, science brings us power, but also corrodes all the old faith and morality by revealing the universe as a giant, soulless machine with no purpose. He is the Herald of the Outer Gods, revealing their truth to us--that there is no Truth, just cold facts.

This merely causes suffering as a byproduct.

[Frank Sronce]

I look at it more this way. Nyarlathotep is the slave of the Outer Gods. He exists to fulfill the every whim of Azathoth (and, to a lesser extent, the other Outer Gods). He has intelligence because he has to... without it, he couldn't perform his function.

And this bugs the heck out of him. His masters are, for the most part, mindless drones whose "whims" are totally random and often contradictory. And Nyarlathotep is stuck fulfilling them. He can't not fulfill them.

Small wonder that he loves to inflict small and petty vengeances on minor civilizations and mortals who have wandered where they shouldn't. It's a pretty crappy existence.

[David J Prokopetz]

The flip side, of course, is that Nyarlathotep may be calling the shots, in a weird, co-dependent sort of way - meaning that the ruler of the universe is actually an effeminate, faintly geeky pretty-boy with enormously pretentious fashion sense and a sick sense of humour. :D

[Random Nerd]

Y'know, you can envision Nyarlathotep as a exceedingly competant and arrogant personal assistant to Mister Azathoth, a guy with no real ambition or work ethic who pretty much signs all the documents Nyarlathotep hands him...

[jdrakeh]

Y'know, you can envision Nyarlathotep as a exceedingly competant and arrogant personal assistant to Mister Azathoth, a guy with no real ambition or work ethic who pretty much signs all the documents Nyarlathotep hands him...

That's pretty much how I see him... but I could be wrong.