Old Ones (Palladium Books)

For other uses, see Old One.

The Old Ones (sometimes referred to in Palladium Books publications as the Great Old Ones or the Unnameable Beings) are a fictional race of Alien Intelligences within the megaversal setting of Palladium Books' game module PFRPG. The Old Ones are the most powerful forces ever to have existed in the various Palladium game settings, and their power dwarfs that of 'ordinary' Alien Intelligences, beings which are in general far more powerful than the gods themselves.

The Old Ones' creator, Kevin Siembieda, named them so as an hómage to the fictional characters of the same name by H. P. Lovecraft.

Despite their origins in Palladium Fantasy - the first and oldest of Palladium Books' Game Settings -they are hated and feared throughout the different dimensions of the Palladium Megaverse by those beings who remember them, even those beings who have great power and are evil themselves.

"Society" and achievements

The Old Ones' physical and mental natures were such that to pass the time (and to feed themselves), they each seized upon a specific aspect of pain and suffering to study, psychically feeding on the emotions and suffering that would follow; for example, Ya-blik was the symbol of pestilence, betrayal, and pain, and would spread pestilence and foment those dark emotions where they did not already exist. Netosa was another of the Old Ones; its "portfolio" was that of darkness and death, who kept sentient beings in never-ending, unreasoning fear of same to drink up the emotions that such terror generated. And Xy, greatest amongst their number, was the Great Old One of Power Incarnate, and fed upon the chaos and suffering brought by the other Old Ones as they conquered planets, galaxies, and entire dimensions in his name.

These creatures, whose origins are unknown (and who may have, in fact, always existed), were the first beings to discover the megaversal energy source known as Potential Psychic Energy (PPE), and develop the "science" of Magic to manipulate it.

They are responsible for the creation of such magic 'schools' such as Diabolism (the use of symbols to create temporary, semi-permanent, and permanent magical effects such as spell wards), Invocations (spells performed by words and gestures on the part of a mage or shaman), Rituals (adavaced and more powerful magics involving a protracted series of actions and/or sacrifices on the part of one or more mages and/or shamans), Shifting (the summoning of creatures from other locales, worlds, or dimensions for the purpose of doing the summoner's bidding), and were the creators of the first Rune Artifacts (specially designed, indestructible weapons and artifacts created by the mystical merging of a weapon with the life forces of sentient beings).

Rebellion

At the end of a titanic battle some 50,000 years ago in the Palladium Dimension (and an undefined, but likely even greater longer period of time in the past relative to the other Game Settings, due to the differing ages and origins of the respective universes that make up the Palladium Megaverse), the Old Ones were finally defeated by the combined efforts of hundreds of races consisting of billions of sentient beings across the Megaverse; ironically, one of the most critical factors in the defeat of the Old Ones was a powerful magic spell by a 'former' Old One himself (who was by that time amnesiac, a primary member of the Forces of Light, and entirely unaware of his own origins and true nature). The aftermath of that battle saw many of those species rendered extinct.

Unfortunately for the Megaverse, however, the Old Ones could not be destroyed -it was feared that the destruction of entities that powerful would cause a chain reaction roughly analogous to a nuclear one, but mystical in nature, and an "explosion" that would destroy all universes -so instead were put into an eternal mystic slumber and hidden away between dimensions beyond the reach of all but the most powerful gods and (good) Alien Intelligences. Constant vigilance and effort is required to keep these beings asleep, and various members of the Great Powers of the Palladium Megaverse cooperate with one another to ensure that they never again awaken.

The leader of the Old Ones is/was a Great Old One once called Xy -who, through a series of circumstances and betrayal, forgot his own past and now believes himself to be Thoth, the ancient Egyptian god of Wisdom. It was he, as Thoth, who helped to fashion the super-spell that would finally force the Old Ones into mystic slumber.

Powers and abilities

The Old Ones possess the standard range of powers common to nearly all Alien Intelligences, only on a scale orders of magnitude more powerful than the "average" Alien Intelligence. These beings are each said to have millions of points of Mega Damage Capacity Rifts (role-playing game)#Damage and firepower, powerful enough to inflict many thousands of Mega Damage points per attack, and are believed to be capable of destroying entire dimensions unaided.

(Within the context of Palladium's Game Settings, the Old Ones are not given physical stats, they are mystically confined and kept asleep in an intradimensional void inaccessible to all in the Megaverse except a very tiny handful of ultra-powerful beings, and are effectively indestructible).

Potential threats to the entire Palladium Megaverse such as Nxla, the Four Horsemen, the Lord of the Deep, Tikilik, and the Dweller Below, were considered "minor" threats relative to the Old Ones despite their own vast powers, and were therefore spared the fate of eternal slumber placed on the Old Ones by the Forces of Light.

The Old Ones were sufficiently powerful enough to keep legions of lesser Alien Intelligences, Gods, and even dragons -usually solitary, vastly powerful creatures in their own right that call no one master -as servants and slaves.

References

Palladium Books Presents: Palladium Fantasy RPG

Palladium Books Presents: The Old Ones

Palladium Books Presents: Dragons and Gods

Palladium Books Presents: Rifts: Pantheons of the Megaverse