The Galchutt

The Galchutt
Many-pointed arrow, green spiral, or broken square
Aliases	The Chaos Gods, Lords of Chaos
Alignment	Chaotic Evil
Divine Rank	Demon Princes
Pantheon	Praemal
Portfolio	Chaos, destruction
Domains	3E: Chaos, Destruction, Evil 5E. Death
Home Plane	Prime Material Plane (Caverns of the Galchutt, Praemal)
Worshippers	Aberrations, chaositech users, the insane, members of House Vladaam, nihilists, the psychotic, ratmen, rhodintor, wintersouled

The Galchutt are the beings of deep chaos, and the equivalent of the Chaos Gods, which is actually an alias for them, in Monte Cook's Ptolus.

History

The Galchutt were ancient beings even before Praemal was created. They originally ruled over the Lower Planes, and they went from one world to another, destroying and corrupting them in an attempt to end all existence. Eventually the god Praemus created Praemal as a prison for them, and lured them there by disguising it as a regular world. The Galchutt, realizing they were trapped, tried to escape by first attempting to corrupt the wardens of their prison, the mortal races, creating the Vested, two of whom would later ascend to godhood, and then attempting to kill the wardens of the world's soul with a disease. In a final bid, they tore the veil between life and death apart, creating the first undead, but a group of heroes, with the aid of the elder gods, use a chunk of the Vallis moon to fix the veil, catapulting the moon, and the soul of the world in it, to the outer reaches of space.

The Galchutt, furious at their situation, instructed their servants to go and destroy all civilizations they came across, and gave them chaositech, think Dark Mechanicus items in a fantasy setting, to use as was fit. Eventually however the servants turned against each other, with the zaug rebelling against their masters, and eventually the Galchutt themselves decided to bide their time and dissolved their physical forms and melded with the caverns they settled in. There they wait for the Night of Dissolution, when the soul of the world returns and they can once again attempt to escape, whilst corrupting those close to their resting place. (Or for some idiot to get to the Dread One's Path.)

In The Banewarrens, they were the Natharl'nacna; "Galchutt" is (implicitly) the name of their prison. But nobody liked to remember or pronounce "Natharl'nacna" so "Galchutt" it is.

The Galchutt themselves

The Galchutt can be divided into two categories: the unique, and the Galchutt races. The unique are rather self-explanatory and they're usually on par with Demon Princes, and the races are just those Galchutt of whom there are groups of.

Abhoth

Abhoth, the Source of All Uncleanliness, is one of the deities from Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea cycle. Here he's the patron of the zaug and revered by The Plagueborn. The ratmen of Ptolus worship him in the guise of the Rat God.

Baalhazor

Baalhazor, the Demon God of Technology, is the one who holds dominion over chaositech. Originally he was one of the Vested of the Galchutt, but managed to gain divinity of some sort afterwards. Beings intrigued by chaositech often worship him. In 3rd edition, clerics have access to Technology domain instead of destruction, and in 5th edition they have access to Death and Technology.

Bhor Kei

Bhor Kei, the Eye of the Legion, is an entity of rage, power, and tireless destruction. Some believe that it represents the destructive thoughts of many beings, while others say that all beings slain by it are bound to follow it forever as ghosts from which it draws its terrible strength and power. It appears as humanoid with flesh that shimmers like polished steel, four massive arms that end in huge claws that resemble serrated cleavers, and a long, pointed face, with eyes that glisten deeply green.

Gorgoth-Lol

Gorgoth-Lol was also originally one of the Vested of the Galchutt, but eventually became the goddess of dark elves of Praemal.

Kihomenetoth

Kihomenethoth, the Writhing One, is the only one of the Galchutt still mainly aware what's happening around them. He was the one in charge of their mortal followers when the Galchutt were active. He appears a massive pillar of writhing tentacles and serpents with eyes.

Nyogtha

Nyogtha, the Thing That Should Not Be is one of the Great Old Ones from Lovecraft's writings.

Shallamoth Kindred

Shallamoth Kindred, the Dweller in the Darkness, is the closest thing the Galchutt have to a leader, as it's often described leading the other races in battle. Most describe it as the act of mutilation and destruction given life, and some say that it was born from the end of another universe, and that this is merely it trying to continue its reproductive cycle. It has two forms, both of which are completely emotionless. In the first form, it appears as a tall and lithe, completely black humanoid, with dagger-shaped eyes that are yellow-brown. The second form is that of a squirming mass of ropy tendrils covering an obese, pox-ridden, bulbous, decaying, vaguely humanoid body with vestigial, bat-like wings hanging limply behind it.

Slaachma'jur

Slaachma'jur, the Touch of Mutation, and the One Who Is Many, is only mentioned by name, but may be affiliated with the Ebon Hand.

Sothoth

Sothoth, the Key and the Gate, is just an obvious reference to Lovecraft.

The Galchutt Races

The daemons to the chaos gods above, they are:

• Carach (both singular and plural) are the assassins and enforcers of the Galchutt. They have an insectoid body from which a long, muscular neck that ends in tentacles grows. The tentacles surround a mouth full of teeth, with two small eyes on the sides, and four of the tentacles are particularly long and end in spikes.
• Dhar Rhyth are sentient holes that lead to a dimension filled with squirming worm-like beings, intent on reducing all to nothingness. They're usually vaguely man-shaped, and sometimes mistaken for humanoids covered in tendrils or made of worms.
• Shaadom (both singular and plural) are the closest equivelant to the lords of change, in that they are powerful chaos spellcasters and plotters. They represent individuality taken to the utmost extremes of obsession and selfishness, to the point where they see only enemies and rivals. They appear as floating, hulking humanoids with two muscular, three-fingered arms, an arachnid-like head, and short, wide tentacles below its torso.
• Vreeth are what remain of powerful chaos cultists after they were taken from the mortal realms and altered by the Galchutt. Unable to do nothing but serve and worship the higher concepts of deep chaos, they sometimes serve as the masterminds behind chaos cults, but they mainly spend their time performing continuous rituals and ceremonies to bring the end of the world. At first they look like empty, tattered, hooded cloaks floating in the air, but closer inspection reveals numerous tentacles hanging from beneath the cloaks edge.
• Zaug are the equivalent of Great Unclean Ones, massive, disease-ridden, rotting humanoids with horns and rotten, vestigial wings who love spreading disease and decay. Most zaug rebelled when the Galchutt shed their forms, seeking to rule over existence rather than destroy it. The only way to hurt them is by casting healing magic on them.
• The Elder Brood are the daemonic beasts of the Galchutt that comprise at least half a dozen different beings. Only two are known, the obaan, bat-winged clumps of tentacles with beaks born from the blood of shaadom, and the sscree, toad-like beings with two clawed feet and tentacles that end in mouths.

The Cults of Chaos

The cults of chaos are what you would imagine them as if you've ever glanced at the Chaos Cults page. Here they all believe that the all of creation being a creation of order and structure makes it fundamentally flawed, as it lacks what living creatures need. And what they need is murder, rape, anarchy, destruction, and all equally nice things that the Galchutt bring. Doing this will make everything right again by bringing an end to all that is wrong, with the faithful being rewarded with the coming realm of utter chaos. Of course what they don't know is that the realm is a lie, and everyone will be rewarded with death and destruction like all others.

The Brothers of Venom

Poisons and venoms are their main bread and butter, using them to slowly and quietly kill important individuals, especially those who have influence over laws and order. They are mainly found in cells of half a dozen and prefer to stay hidden from everyone. Their rituals often include substance abuse, sexual perversions, and acts of cruelty and violence. Their symbol is a shadowy, coiled serpent.

The Crimson Coil

Mainly manifesting as sudden torches & pitchforks mobs or groups of murderers, wearing all red and hiding their faces, that commit random acts of destruction and death. The Crimson Coil is one of the harder cults to destroy, as they often build their temples in hidden places, fill them with traps and, if found, they will fight to the last man. Even after being rooted out, they often come back stronger.

Deathmantle

Also known as Death's Grimace, they worship death and the act of murder, and more specifically slaughter, with their main goals often being the slaughter of an entire town, city, nation, or race. The members wear copper, bronze, or skull-white death's head masks and often associate with necromancers and the undead. They also associate with an assassin's guild called Vai, whose member believe that the path to power and enlightenment is found through killing others. Their symbol is a skull.

The Ebon Hand

The cult of the Ebon Hand worships deformity, and often its members are deformed or mutated in some way, while those who aren't seek mutation, or the touch of the Ebon Hand as they refer it. They are found in small cells and often kidnap adolescents to magically deform and mutate. While most die, those that survive become slaves to the cult. They tend to make their temples in difficult to find places, and are ready to abandon them the moment they arouse suspicion, making some liken them to cockroaches. Their symbol is a black hand.

The Order of the Blooded Knife

The Order of the Blooded Knife is a cult that performs blood sacrifices to the Galchutt while posing as followers of other gods. They often either claim to follow a god who's harmless but distasteful enough to make other leave them alone, or infiltrate the faiths of other gods and turn them to fronts for their faith, while using them for prostitution, black marketeering, extortion, and gambling to make money for the cult. Their symbol is a curved knife dripping blood.

The Plagueborn

Not!cult of Nurgle, is a good description for them. They seek elegance and artistry of destruction through disease, pestilence, and vermin. They often hang around in trash heaps, sewers, and other places of filth and vermin, trying to harbor diseases in themselves and spread them, promote the accumulation of filth, rot, and decay, and help vermin infestations foster wherever they are. Rats are important animals to them, with the rat often being their totem animal, wearing ratskin rags, and using them as symbols. They often leave hunks of rotten meat on hooks as their calling cards and markers.

The Tolling Bell

The most straightforward cult in that they want the apocalypse to come, and for this they research to find ways to create disasters that would bring greater disasters and eventually the apocalypse. Though found in small numbers, members of other cults seem to eventually "graduate" to members of this cult. Their name comes from ancient texts where the apocalypse is described as coming like the "tolling of a bell". Their symbol is a bell filled with cracks on the surface.