Grioth Cultist

Grioth cultists represent the lowest tier of their remorseless cult-worshippers of the Elder Mythos tasked with leading scouting missions into new worlds. Though ranked above scouts in the chain of command, they occupy a lowly place in the overall religious hierarchy. Though whispered rumors describe the legendary rituals needed to wrench worlds from their suns, these cultists don't learn this potent magic. Such secrets are left to grioth high priests, who are always the last to arrive in a colonized world.

Most grioths worship the Outer God Nyarlathotep in one of his many incarnations, although some worship other entities of the Elder Mythos such as Azathoth, Nhimbaloth, or Yog-Sothoth. In the highly rare cases where a grioth is cut off from their society and given the opportunity to explore other religions, they still lean into faiths associated with the stars or the night, such as Desna or Zon-Kuthon. However, these grioths are loathed by others of their own kind, who view them as dangerous heretics.

Planets that drift out of orbit from their stars grow cold and lifeless as they float through the Dark Tapestry. Such dead worlds are coveted by the horrific creatures known as grioths, who endure the awful cold on these wandering worlds and convert them into planetary temples devoted to the dark gods of the Elder Mythos. From these bastions of frozen darkness, grioths seek out warm, living worlds to tear away from their respective suns through forbidden rituals, a process that often takes numerous generations.

A single cultist typically leads a grioth scouting party, and the group seeks out a disused or forgotten location on the fringe of rural settlements as their initial invasion point. Over several generations, a grioth settlement grows powerful and conquers the surrounding cultures, and eventually, powerful grioths descend from the stars to begin the next stage of planetary conquest.

Grioths speak a language composed of trills and clicks. While capable of speaking other languages, they do so in dry, raspy voices. As grioths have wings, wriggling tails, and four-eyed, bat-like visages, many cultures mistakenly associate them with the evil Outer Planes, but they very much belong to this reality.