Yig-Tsathoggua, Great Old One, Lord of Reptiles and Amphibians, as an Anti-Archetype. Part of a CoC/UA crossover.

Yig-Tsathoggua, The Cold Blooded, The Two Face, The Forked Tongue, The Twin Obscenity.

Nicknames: Snake Handlers, Serpent Men, Tricky Ickys (after David Icke)

“Sweet are the uses of adversity
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.” Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II scene I

“This stone was known to Pliny and also to the medieval alchemists, who named it draconites, dracontias, or drachates. It was reputed to be a precious stone, which could be obtained by cutting off the head of a sleeping dragon. But it becomes a gem only when a bit of the dragon’s soul remains inside, and this is the ‘hate of the monster as it feels itself dying.'” Jung, AION, p.138

Of all the Qelipothic Archetypes recognised by Scholars both sane and foolish enough to discuss them, Yig-Tsathoggua is perhaps the most enigmatic. One claims that the Archetype is misclassified and is in fact a human Avatar like any other, pointing to Yig-Tsathoggua’s many appearances and complex resonances in human culture, and contrasting this to the primitive and brutal survival instincts incarnated by other Anti-Archetypes. Another claims that the Archetype is indeed a pre-cosmic survivor, pointing to the characteristic mutations of his Avatars. The complexity, in this view, is due to the fact that Tsatthoggua and Yig were once separate entities, which have somehow melded to gather the strength to intrude into our universe. A third claims that in fact Yig-Tsathoggua was created in this Universe, but an epic experiment in Cliomancy by the Serpent Man race went disastrously wrong and resulted in them negating their entire existence, allowing humans to arise in their place; the Archetype is a survival from a restart of this universe, not from the abortion of a previous cosmos. A fourth claims that this termination was in fact an act of Yig himself, when, in the universe’s greatest case of “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face”, he destroyed almost all of his children (and thus himself) in anger when they turned from him to Tsathoggua. In a situation of true cosmic irony, he was then forced to merge with Tsathoggua and various other entities from the Serpent Man pantheon (Notably Lloigor-zhar and Chaugnar-faugn) to maintain a place in the Invisible Clergy.

No Serpent Man (and they are almost all male) has so far stepped forward to confirm or deny any of these cosmic histories. The rumoured existence of Serpent Men who are millions or even billions of years old would tend to confirm one of the latter two theories, if it could be verified, but the obsessive secrecy Avatars manifest makes this unlikely.

The true relationship between the two is best explained not by cosmology but by archetypal psychology. Serpent Men, the avatars of Yig, despise fleshy, mammalian feeling and emotion. Neurologically speaking, they seek to connect their conscious, reasoning mind (the human neocortex) directly to their bodily instincts (the reptilian brainstem) and bypass the (mammalian) cortex and its troubling primate instincts. But as any good Psychoanalyst, Jungian or Freudian, would tell you, the repressed and avoided will return. Having cut themselves off from integrating instinct and desire within, these things return to the Serpent Men in the shape of the toad god of gluttony, secrets and slothfulness, Tsathoggua, before whom, having rejected their own capacity to resolve emotion and desire, they can only submit.

Many proto-Serpent Men are fanatical libertarians, as the ideology of the “invisible hand” allows them to rationalise the society-wide unleashing of their base desires within an abstract logical framework. Aversion to the natural processes of birth, reproduction, aging and death is also common, replaced with an obsession with immortality, particularly in a non-mammalian form (eg uploading). This aversion is the main reason so few women are attracted to the Archetype.

Taboos: Avatars of Yig-Tsathoggua do not incorporate emotion or pleasure into their thinking. They seek to force everything into a cold, logical framework in which desire plays no part. Usually, they direct this framework towards the attainment of immortality or some other, suitably abstract goal. Alternatively, they may succumb to Tsathoggua and become overwhelmed with crude, simple, gluttonous desires. No middle ground is possible. For example, a Serpent Man might reject all things to do with sex or the opposite sex, except occasionally when he spends all his money on an orgy of plasticised hookers with breasts like those of comic-book characters. He would be incapable of forming a loving, meaningful relationship with a real, emotional, flawed, normal woman.

Yig-Tsathoggua is not a forgiving god. After the second Channel is gained, significant backsliding – enough to drop the Avatar rating below a Channel Threshold – triggers the Curse of Yig. The Avatar must fail an Avatar: Yig-Tsathoggua roll, or rapidly devolve into either a snake or a freakish, reptilian homunculus.

In addition, if a critical failure is ever rolled on the Avatar roll, the Avatar has attracted the hungry gaze of Tsathoggua. Tsathoggua lazily uncurls his tongue across dimensions, effortlessly snags the hapless fuckup, and swallows him whole. After a few days of digestion, the Toad God excretes him as one of his Formless Spawn (Unspeakable Servitors), to be assigned as a servant to a more worthy follower or to guard his Holy places. The Spawn retains the memories of his life before digestion, but attaches no significance to them.

All Avatars of Yig-Tsathoggua gain access to the magical school of Vaccinomancy (qv). It does not have to be their Obsession skill, and thus they can learn it in addition to another school. If Vacccinomancy is taken as the Obsession skill, they can add a bonus of one-quarter of their Avatar rating (rounded down) to their skill for the purposes of any relevant roll.

Of other magical schools, Narco-Alchemy and Epidiromancy are perhaps the most common among Serpent Men, as they complement Vaccinomancy well. Cryptomancy, Bibliomancy and Authentic Thaumaturgy are also very popular. Mechanomancy is popular among those with strong insight into their avatar, for they can use it to strip away their mammalian emotional ties.

Cliomancy is almost unheard of, for only sites connected with Serpent Man history will work; there are very few of these known, and they are taken. Therefore, any Serpent Man encountered practicing Cliomancy is likely to be millions of years old, and about to kill you for disturbing him. Serpent Men abhor the deliberate loss of emotional control accompanying such schools as Dipsomancy, Entropomancy, Annihilomancy, Pornomancy, etc, so are most unlikely to practice them.

Masks:
The classic Mythic representations of this archetype are Asclepius the Healer and Medea. Asclepius was the son of the Sun god Apollo, who delivered him with the first surgically assisted birth. Asclepius adopted the Snake shedding its skin as his personal symbol. He was gifted by Athena (knowledge) with the blood of Gorgons in his veins, which he could draw forth either as a deadly poison or cure-all, according to which side of his body he took it from. He was struck down by Zeus after he compounded sacrilege with impiety by first bringing the dead back to life, and then charging money for the service. “Why not give me a nice paper cut and then pour lemon juice on it”, as the Father of the Gods probably didn’t say.

Medea, daughter of King Aetes of Colchis, was a priestess of Hecate renowned for her skill in sorcery and potion-making. She assisted Jason to steal the Golden Fleece from a dragon by drugging it, and killed her own brother to assist his escape. Later she would convince the daughters of King Pelias, Jaosn’s uncle, to kill their father by teaching them a false method to cause him to be reborn young. Tiring of her cruelty, Jason deserted Medea for Princess Glauce, whom Medea then poisoned, along with her own children by Jason. She would later attempt to poison the hero Theseus, but was thwarted. After this defeat, she returned to Colchis, where she killed her usurping uncle and returned her father to the throne (in distinct contrast to Hamlet). She was granted immortality by Hera after she successfully resisted being seduced by Zeus, the only woman ever to do so.

Non-Western representations include Quetzacoatl, the feathered serpent of knowledge, Tlaltecuhtli, the Toad God of the Aztecs, the Naga of South-East Asia, and various Native American gods and mythical peoples, particularly Uktena of the Cherokee and the Sheti reptilians remembered by the Hopi. The extinct Adena culture, probable builders of the Great Serpent Mound, probably venerated Yig.

More modern representations include Dr Charriere from the Derleth & Lovecraft story “The Survivor”, Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter books, Dr Lazarus from season 3 of the new Doctor Who and Dr Gregory House from the eponymous medical drama series.

The Archetype in History:
The obsessive secrecy, self-imposed isolation and hidden nature of most Serpent Men means that identifying avatars is difficult at best. Dubious myths allegedly dating to forgotten civilisations speak of the Archimage Zylac of Hyperborea, who taught the great Magus Eibon, as one who embodied the Avatar of Yig-Tsathoggua. Other myths speak of the wizards Thoth-Amon and Thulsa Doom of Valusia.

In more modern times, industrial tycoons Howard Hughes and his almost forgotten contemporary Arthur Hunt, and snake-handling evangelist George Went Hensley, are likely candidates. The Extropian movement is dominated by avatars of Yig-Tsathoggua, who promises the gift of cool, reptilian immortality to his most faithful followers.

Practitioners of Vaccinomancy are easier to identify, but this school is not confined to Serpent Men.

Signs: Avatars act in a “cold-blooded” fashion. They have no interest in tasteful pleasures. They often keep reptiles or amphibians as pets. A pet tuatara is a dead giveaway. A Rod of Asclepius is a commonly used symbol.

Channels:
1-50%: Serpentine Grace. With a successful Avatar roll, the Avatar can add one-quarter of their avatar rating to any one mundane skill that is associated, symbolically or otherwise, with reptiles or amphibians. The effect lasts one day and can only be invoked once per day. If the roll is failed, you have to wait until tomorrow (a few hours after sunrise, when your blood warms up). Whenever the effect is channelled, an illusion of a reptilian attribute appropriate to the effect appears briefly, though a Soul, Adept or Avatar roll is required to perceive it clearly – otherwise, it simply creates a vague sense of unease in the perceiver, who will perceive the avatar as “sly”, “reptilian”, or “a cold fish”, for example. A critical failure means that that skill can never be used in conjunction with the Avatar again.

Avatar rolls can also be substituted for Madness meter checks against Self or Isolation caused by cold or reptilian behaviour, e.g. betraying your friends.

Examples:
Eye of the serpent: one quarter of the avatar rating is added to a Hypnotism or Mesmerism roll, or to perception attempts in the dark. The avatar’s pupils briefly become slits, like those of a snake.

Forked tongue: one quarter of the avatar rating is added to convince the target of a lie. The tongue briefly seems to be forked and the avatar hisses his s-es, or the avatar’s “firm, honest handshake” seems cold and scaly.

Taste the air: The avatar’s sense of smell becomes abnormally acute, which might assist in Chemistry rolls, sensing hidden enemies or drugs, or other such tasks. The avatar appears to flick their tongue in and out of their mouth like that of a snake.

Yig’s blessing: Due to the ancient association of serpents with healing, one-quarter of the Avatar rating is applied to a Medicine roll. This can only work if no empathy between doctor and patient is required for the procedure. The patient suffers a hallucination of a snake wound around the doctor’s tools (eg the scalpel or syringe), like the Rod of Asclepius.

Serpentine grace: one-quarter of the avatar is added to the skill for gymnastics, acrobatics, swimming, or the like. The avatar seems to move in an unnaturally boneless and fluid manner.

Snake Eyes: Add one-quarter of your avatar to your gambling skill as the dice seem to go against your opponent. The spots on the die or the eyes of the face card suddenly resemble the eyes of a snake.

This channel cannot be used for any roll requiring warmth, empathy, emotion, or the like, e.g. to convince your true love that you really love her, though it could be used to convince someone for whom you actually care not at all.

51-70%: Serpent’s gifts.
While the first channel enhanced existing skills, this channel gives access to supernatural reptilian or amphibious abilities which have no human equivalent. As above, only one ability can be invoked per day, and a failed roll means waiting until tomorrow.

Examples:
Fangs of Yig: Your canine teeth become fangs filled with venom. A second roll enables you to choose a special effect of the venom (e.g. paralysis, hallucinations (Bufotenin)), otherwise, it is a deadly, neurotoxic poison. For the default poison, any person you successfully bite (requiring an attack roll) must make a roll against their Body stat; if they roll both under their Body and above your Avatar rating, they have no ill effects (aside from teeth marks); if they roll under or above both, they are down until receiving antivenene, hospitalisation, etc; if they roll above their Body and under your Avatar, they die.

Tsathoggua’s Gullet (a.k.a. “Big Gulp”): You unnaturally unhinge your jaw, stretch your throat and stomach, and swallow anyone or thing smaller than you. This may take you some time, and does not protect you from the consequences of swallowing anything poisonous or undigestable. Swallowing anything larger than your stomach will grotesquely bloat your body, and result in you becoming extremely torpid until you digest it, at your usual rate of digestion.

Skin of Toad (also a Vaccinomancy effect): Your sweat becomes hallucinogenic, containing significant levels of bufontenin. Skin-to-skin contact or remaining in close proximity to you for several minutes will cause others to suffer hallucinations. Repeated exposure may produce permanent paranoid schizophrenia. A side effect is that the Avatar is accurately perceived as a serpent person. Some speculate that David Icke is a victim of this power.

Cold Blooded: You can equalise your core temperature to that of your surroundings without ill effects, enabling you to survive extremes of natural heat and cold, or to fool temperature-sensitive security sensors or IR goggles. If the temperature is below freezing, you enter a comatose state until it warms up. You can adjust your temperature a number of degrees equal to your Avatar rating (in Farenheit).

Scales of Yig: The Avatar’s skin becomes thick and scaly. The skin acts like light leather armour, removing the +3 damage bonus from sharp hand-to-hand weapons and reducing hand-to-hand damage by half. It has no effect on firearms.

An Avatar of Yig-Tsathoggua with a skill of 51% or above also gains the ability to speak the language of snakes, as a skill equal to their Avatar rating. This is an ancient and mystical language with an incredibly deep prehistory and mythology, but since the late ‘90s, everyone calls it Parseltongue. Normal snakes will be non-hostile to anyone who successfully speaks to them in Parseltongue. With a second roll, the snake will obey any order that is not life-threatening to it. A critical or matched success means the snake will obey any command whatever.

71-90%: Parietal Eye.
Also known as the Pineal Eye, this third eye develops in the centre of the Avatar’s forehead. When closed, it is covered by a pale, scale-like nictating membrane which looks like a crescent when shut. To cover the Eye breaks Taboo, though disguising it, e.g. in a tattoo or with a Hindu caste mark, is acceptable. Those who have developed the Eye are known as the Chosen of Yig.

At the 71-80% level, normal vision through the Eye is vague, blurred and shadowy. The eye becomes fully functional above 80%.

When open, the eye gives the Avatar the ability to see in the dark as well as they can in daylight. In addition, the eye perceives the auras of all things around it, enabling the Avatar to recognise (though not necessarily identify) all magickal items, effects, Adepts and Avatars it sees with a successful Avatar roll. Another roll enables the eye to see things normally invisible, if they are specifically looked for.

On a successful roll, any reptilian or amphibious creature with which Eye contact is made will refrain from harming, understand, and obey the Avatar to the best of their ability. This ability also works on Unspeakable Servitors, the Spawn of Tsathoggua, to a limited extent. A servitor will not disobey an order from its original master that is specifically directed against the Avatar of Yig-Tsathoggua unless the Avatar makes a matched success on an Avatar roll. (E.g. a Servitor told by its master “let no-one pass this door” would generally make an exception for Arthur Hunt, Chosen of Yig, but if specifically ordered “do not let Arthur Hunt pass this door”, would not let him pass unless Arthur rolled a matched success). A critical success means that the Servitor becomes the servant of the Avatar. The owner of a Servitor will be aware if their Servitor has made Eye contact.

Finally, the slightly improved depth perception from an additional eye gives the Avatar +5% with firearms or other projectile weapons.

At this level, the Avatar may take a first-level channel as a permanent effect, though it only functions when the Parietal Eye is open. This does not preclude the use of other first level channels as normal.

Rumour claims that, if you kill a Chosen of Yig in a manner sacred to Yig-Tsathoggua (effectively, by poison or by gluttony), you can take his Parietal eye and make an Unspeakable Servitor without having to rip out your own eye. However, there’s a good chance that this rumour was spread by a risk-taking Vaccinomancer wanting people to use exotic poisons on him.

91-98%: Shed the Skin

The ultimate promise of the Archetype. An avatar of Yig-Tsathoggua may, with a successful roll (DON’T fail this roll…) shed his skin and emerge reborn as a fully-fledged Reptilian Humanoid (Reptoid for short). A Reptoid ages at approximately 1/4th of the rate of normal humans. In addition, hibernating for a month enables a subsequent sloughing of old scales, effectively reversing a year’s worth of aging. A Reptoid who hibernates for one month a year will effectively never age. The former human overlay, now resembling an empty rubber costume, can be worn by the Reptoid at any time he wishes to appear human. However, aging resumes when the semblance of humanity is again taken on, and the shadow of the Reptoid always shows his true form.

Reptoids can acquire additional human identities by skinning a victim and then consuming his/her skin-free body whole using the second level channel Tsathoggua’s Gullet. The disguise will only be as good as the skinning (one reason Reptoids often practise Epiduromancy).

It may be possible for a Chosen of Yig to “force” this channel in combination with Epiduromancy, by completely skinning himself and using the charge thus generated to take on the Reptoid form. Anaesthetic is cheating.

A Reptoid may choose a second level channel as a permanent effect. This does not preclude the use of other second level channels.

It’s rumoured that the Godwalker, if there is one, can turn his entire body or any part thereof into any number of snakes, which can separate, rejoin, and incorporate other reptiles as he wants.