The Primordial Ones.
The Old Ones.
The Elder Things.
Another well-known species from Lovecraft's mythos,
the Elder Things only feature majorly
in a single story by Lovecraft,
but hold quite a bit of importance
in the grand scheme of the mythos on Earth.
The Elder things are an extraterrestrial species,
including features from both the animal
and vegetable kingdoms.
They stood roughly six feet tall,
barrel-shaped, but tapering off at the ends,
with appendages not unlike starfish.
The top of their bodies featured five stalks,
with an eye on each end;
five eating tubes;
and a set of cilia for seeing without light.
On the bottom of the creatures body,
there were five muscular tentacles,
tipped with paddles,
which they used for motion.
Around the midsection,
there were five sets of tentacles placed in regular intervals,
as well as five retractable wings.
Elder Things could swim as well as they could walk or fly.
but they preferred to live underwater.
This was also aided by the incredible toughness of their bodies,
able to withstand great pressure.
It is believed they reproduced through spores,
although they were very careful about the multiplication of their numbers.
Elder Things were supposedly the first
extraterrestrial species to come to Earth,
potentially coming from Uranus or Neptune,
Upon arriving on the planet;
they built a great city near the South Pole;
and populated much of the planet.
During this time, they also warred with a number of different alien races,
notably Cthulhu and his Star Spawn,
the Mi-Go,
and the Great Race of Yith.
Though technically they were often victorious,
mostly due to their highly advanced technology,
the wars did slowly take their toll on the species,
and they eventually started abandoning some of their cities.
The Elder Things' culture and technology
were both highly advanced and extensive;
their art mostly appeared as stunning bas-reliefs,
depicting their history and society in incredible detail.
Their architecture allowed them to create stupendous stone buildings,
often showing a five-pointed pattern in imitation of their anatomy.
The same pattern could also be found in their writing.
appearing as dots and concentric circles along five radii.
And they also had their own currency made of green soapstone.
There is no evidence of them widely supporting any form of religion.
As for their technology,
we don't know a great deal about the extent of their advancements,
but we do have some clues.
It's possible that they had some form of directed energy weaponry,
which would have helped them a great deal in their wars,
they also likely had an understanding of cosmology and physics equivalent or greater than our own,
but most interestingly, they had an incredible command of biology and genetic engineering
to the point where they created entire new species.
Notably, they created their own servitor race -
the Shoggoths.
Shoggoths are massive creatures, made of some alien black slime,
and able to form organs and limbs as necessary.
Elder Things taught and used the Shoggoths using hypnosis
however, the Shoggoths eventually rebelled against their masters
The Elder Things suppressed this rebellion,
but were always wary of their servants afterwards.
Their other notable creation, although never likely able to be confirmed,
was a sentient bipedal species that have come to be known as "Humans".
It's unclear for what purpose the Elder Things would have created Humans,
but I believe it was certainly within their ability and interest to do so.
However, it seems we are nothing but a discarded lab project,
as we continued on to populate the planet
while the Elder Things slowly disappeared.
It seems that it was an Ice Age, combined with their numerous conflicts,
that eventually led the remaining Elder Things to remove themselves to a vast underground lake
beneath the Antarctic.
It is unknown how many - if any - remain underneath the frozen land.
If some reports are to be believed, there exists some unknown entity
near the great Elder Things city, that even that powerful species feared.
Whatever the case,
the Elder Things have been replaced as the ruling force on this planet
by one of their own creations.
But if they could create humans on a whim,
I wonder what else they made...