Old Gods

The Old Gods are creatures of unfathomable horror that dwell in Nullspace. Also called 'The Formless', 'The Old Ones' 'The Many-Angled', 'Leviathan', and millions of other names that describe creatures that are not intended to exist in the physical dimensions. They are creatures of such puissance and unchecked power that reality itself breaks around them. These tortured beings are the echoes and corpses of the First Gods who were destroyed when Oa broke the First Firmament, and found themselves displaced into a nightmare realm.

Inside their nightmare realm, the Old Gods slumber fitfully. Their consciousness projects into the Astral plane and the Dreamlord keeps their minds locked away on his skerries, as part of an ancient pact and responsibility claimed long ago.

Younger, hungrier Old Ones periodically make their presence known at the edge of our reality. They peek into the rips and tears between the universe, reaching out to feed and snack. Sometimes they gain enough of a psychic foothold to project their will, allowing cults of devout worshipers to call them forth. They may send emissaries and agents, often called Outsiders, to advance their agendas. The greatest threat to the universe is when the Old Ones assault reality in legion. When present in reality they form a physical shell of phlogiston that every mortal race instinctively abhors and fears. Otherworld is the location of the largest breach point between our universe and Nullspace, and the mighty armies of the Winter Fae secure the the Outer Gates against soldiers and infiltrators alike.

Their motivations and desires are unfathomable, beyond such simple definitions as 'hate' and 'cruelty'. Some hunger for souls, while others feed on the psychic energy of violence. Others inspire madness and feed on disorder. If the Old Gods have a single weakness, it is that they are as blind and confused in our universe as we are in theirs. The light from our universe is darkness to them. It requires great and specific effort to access Nullspace, let alone to wake an Old One and then guide it to the rift.

The least of the Old Gods is still a threat of grave magnitude. Deities of Earth, otherwise immortal, have been slain with the effort of containing such an invasion. The power of an Old God can consume entire demesnes, stripping it of power and souls alike. They threaten reality itself, seeking to undo creation. The mightiest of them are called 'Great Old Ones'. Some, such as Trigon, are born of mortal malevolence given life in the Negative Zone. Dormammu hungers for the Life Entity at the heart of Earth, seeking to corrupt all life in the universe through it. Still others, such as mighty C'thulu, Azatoth and Yog-Sothoth, are so hideously alien and repugnant that they actively damage our universe simply by venturing near it.

Ragnarok

At the fall of Atlantis, Morgana le Fay reached out and broke open the Outer Gates to try and prevent Ragnarok. Instead, her deep hatred and need for vengeance called forth the ancient alien entity C'thulu. Merlyn, the archmagi of Atlantis, and the Vishanti bound him to the sunken city and banished both into a demiplane that sits at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. There he slumbers, the Atlantean city of R'lyeh twisting around his eldritch horror. Only The Black know the true location of R'lyeh, and very few of them understand the threat lurking under the ocean.

Irktuni

In 1908 CE, insane zealots of Hastur summoned its emissary: Irktuni, Knight of the Yellow Banner. Their ritual drew the lesser Old One to a region of Russia called Tunguska. The resulting battle with the Slavic deities resulted in the death of the Primarch Deivos and many of his children, their dimension drained of energy and the souls within consumed. Surviving gods dwelt on Earth as mortals or found other realms to inhabit. Deivos' death throes levelled hundreds of acres of wood and created a blast heard around the world.

Should one of the sleeping Great Old Ones actively be summoned into reality, the response would be cataclysmic.