Aboleth are a powerful, aquatic race which constantly plots byzantine schemes from their underwater cities.
Originally from the terrifying "Far Realm" of Charos, the Aboleth came to the world of Oris eons ago and settled in the Underdark. It is said, these ancient, horrifying creatures predate the Gods.
Appearance
The appearance of the Aboleth is alien and bizarre; the closest analog would be some sort of nightmarish, prehistoric fish that has grown to huge proportions.
The creature's outline is fish-like, with a powerful tail at one end and a pointed head at the other. The head bears no resemblance to any sort of known fish, having three huge, alien, red eyes located at its very front.
The creature seems to have no other facial features, lacking even a mouth. Behind this hideous head is a slime-covered body. Further back it has a fish-like dorsal fin that helps with movement, but instead of the fins one would normally find on the side of a fish.
The creatures have two long, grasping tentacles on each side. From head to tail, an Aboleth is around 25 feet long and their bulky bodies weigh well over 6,000 pounds.
The Aboleth are fish-like amphibians of immense size, often reaching twenty feet in length, and weighing up to 6,000 pounds, though they continue to grow as they age and some fantastically ancient specimens might reach forty feet in length.
Aboleth underbellies are often grayish-white, while their topsides are typically sea-green. A little bit back from the head are four long tentacles, two sprout from across each other on the top, and two more of the same on the underbelly.
Their heads are roughly triangle shaped, with a spherical, somewhat beak-like nose. Above the nose are their three eyes, each one set atop the other. Tendrils and a few shorter tentacles dangle from the bottom of the head.
Four blue-black slime-secreting orifices line the bottom of their bodies. Aboleth blood is green and thick, oozing like sap.
History
The known history of the Aboleth stretches all the way back into the Age Before Ages, into the time of ancient Iskari Empire, and even before that, into the mythical Age of Creation.
Aboleths claim to have had a thriving civilization on the oceans' floor before even the gods took notice of the world. These claims cannot be substantiated, as no record of this time has survived the intervening millennia.
They themselves claim that they were among the first creations in the multiverse to gain intelligence and develop their own civilization. They ruled the oceans, while the land was the domain of the mysterious Vault Builders.
What is known is that during the Age of Legends, the Aboleth raised the native Iskari humans from barbarism, teaching them their control of magic.
The primary interactions took place between early Iskari humans and a group of Aboleth known as the Veiled Masters.
These Aboleth were masters of illusion, and used their magical disguises to walk among humanity in the role of powerful wizards. Eventually the veiled masters decided that the humans had become too proud and needed to be taught a lesson.
When their punishments failed to restore the proper level of slavish devotion, but in fact strengthened humanity's resolve to eclipse their teachers, the veiled masters decided to end their experiment and destroy the Iskari Empire.
In the year 1137/3, they used their magic to reach out into the darkness of space and draw down a large meteor from the heavens known as the 'Star-stone,' and obliterate the human civilization living on the continent of Ikharos.
This catastrophic event became known as Skyfall. The meteor shower impacted Iskandar, completely obliterating the continent and plunging it into the Age of Darkness.
After Skyfall
To the Aboleths' great alarm, however, they had miscalculated the destructive power of the Starstone's impact. For, not only did it destroy the Iskari Empire, but it also lead to a severe downturn of the Aboleth's own advanced society on the ocean's floor.
Aboleths are known to have rescued a number of humans from the destruction of Skyfall for their own reasons. Through their flesh-warping abilities, they were able to adapt them to the undersea environment, eventually creating the race known as the "Skum."
Habitat and Society
Untouched by sunlight, Aboleth dwell in the deepest, darkest depths of the Wyn Myr and Vhan Myr oceans. The creatures dwell in vast, alien cities whose buildings are supported by water pressure, and which dwarf almost every human structure. These cities are hideous to look upon, as they are created with strange, alien designs which bear no resemblance to human architecture. The largest and most well-known of these underwater cities was Sarnath.
For eons, the Aboleth dominated the watery expanses of the Underdark, claiming rule over the Sunless Sea, the Obsidian Sea, and the Sea of Night; the three great underground oceans of Corwyn. For unknown reasons, these massive underwater cities largely were abandoned long ago. Today, the Aboleth remain in far smaller numbers, dwelling in small isolated, underground caverns, haunted ruins, deep lakes, or abandoned temples. These lairs are always underground and adjacent to a water source.
Language
Aboleth generally speak "Aquan," their own bizarre language, along with Undercommon. When translated into the common tongue, the word "Aboleth" literally means "owner", "master", or "god". They refer to themselves as "alghollthu", a term which also includes the more dominant veiled masters.
Religion
Aboleth society is strictly atheistic, as it is thought to have existed long before the gods took an interest in the Material Plane. To them the deities worshiped so fervently by the land-dwellers are nothing but young upstarts, unworthy of Aboleth attention.
Ecology
Aboleth are all hermaphroditic, possessing both male and female reproductive organs. When the creatures breed, they do so in private, laying roughly three to nine eggs once every five years. When laid, the eggs gestate for the same five years before hatching into fully-functional Aboleth. Although these young are, for all intents and purposes, adults in all but size, they typically remain with their parent for roughly a decade, obeying their elders without question before setting out on their own.
Aboleth breathe through a thick gray mucus-like substance, which covers their bodies and is excreted from four pulsating organs as they move. If robbed of the ability to extrude this slime, the creatures will eventually suffocate.
Because of this condition, all Aboleth must preserve their mucus. Out of the water, an Aboleth's membrane-like skin dries out quickly, but this does not prove fatal in and of itself. Instead, the Aboleth will eventually enter a state of suspended animation, called "Long dreaming." During this process the affected Aboleth forms a tough, waterproof shell around its body. However, if this membrane is pierced, liquid floods out and death is usually not far off for the creature.
Slavery
One of the most dangerous powers of Aboleth is their ability create new races and dominate others as slave to suit their needs. Many aquatic races of Corwyn were originally created by the Aboleth, including the Skum, who made up the majority of their armies in ancient times. The Aboleth have also long dominated other aquatic races, including the Chuul, the Kopru, and the Ko-Toa.
Special Powers & Abilities
The Aboleth are masters of mind-affecting magic; they are able to weave illusions to confuse, or simply crush the will of those who oppose them. Aboleth have several unique abilities: their tentacles are covered in slime that weakens the flesh of those it touches. They also have the ability to release a cloud of mucus that removes a creature's ability to breathe air and instead make it breathe water. Aboleth normally use this to capture and make use of air-breathing slaves; it also ensures the controlled person's loyalty, as the effect only lasts a few hours and must regularly be renewed.
Aboleth also have powerful psionic powers and are natural psions like mind flayers and many other denizens of the Far Realm. However, Aboleth have a much more fearsome ability, the capacity to secrete a viscous gray fluid, much like mucus, which brings about a terrible transformation in air-breathing creatures so unfortunate as to come in contact with the substance.
If so affected, the skin of the victim is transformed into a membrane which allows it to breathe in water, and changes the creatures consciousness to that of a mindless servant's. This allows Aboleth to keep slaves, known as "servitors," which they dominate and keep as captives. Only the most powerful Aboleth can do this, however, completing the process through a powerful ritual.
Another strange feature of the Aboleth is their memory. An Aboleth is born with a racial memory, each individual inheriting the memories of its ancestors. Furthermore, it assimilates the memories of those it consumes. Each creature's memories are stored within an ever-growing part of its brain which extends down its back as it ages. Aboleth enjoy spending time lost in particularly fine memories of their ancestors, and if they have nothing better to do, they may relive entire portions of their forebears' lives.
Aboleth are both extremely cruel and highly intelligent. As a result, they are among the most dangerous foes that exist in the multiverse. Holders of many terrible secrets due to their unique racial memory, aboleth are born fully aware and with all the memories of their ancestors, making even the youngest aboleth a frighteningly deadly predator. They are well aware of their weaknesses, however, and will not attack land-bound foes if they consider it to their disadvantage.
Aboleth are utterly self-centered as a race; they know they were among the first beings in existence, and see all else as theirs, having a particular loathing for land-dwelling creatures. Their enmity towards other races stems in part from their perception that these "upstart" races have stolen what is rightfully the aboleth's. All that stops them from conquering the surface is their weakness on land (though an aboleth is always a fierce opponent) and the fact that they would rather enjoy themselves than waste time subduing feeble creatures such as humans. By contrast they are greatly unsettled by the similarly powerful mind flayers, in part because they lack knowledge of the race's precise origins.
Wholly alien but dangerously intelligent, Aboleth are among the most powerful creatures in all of the known multiverse and, although often removed from human affairs, do not hesitate at any point to kill or use any unfortunate mortals who cross their path. Aboleth also have the ability to inscribe powerful magical runes called "Glyphs."
Culture
Aboleth society is utterly alien in many ways to that of more familiar races, in part due to the racial memory all Aboleth exhibit as well as their generally bizarre psyche. Some Aboleth form clusters known as broods, ruled over by powerful "overseers." These broods are often accompanied by servitors or other minions, such as the Ko-toa who are known to often serve the creatures.
Aboleth worship no known gods. While they acknowledge the presence and power of deities, they have memories of a time long before any modern gods were worshiped and recall such gods' birth and often demise within their own lifetimes. They are not concerned with an afterlife since their perspective on death is to consider it a failure and they intend to live forever. Aboleth do, however, have a certain respect that sometimes approaches reverence for the powerful beings known as elder evils.
