Elder Thing

Elder Things are a race of strange ancient aliens from the Cthulhu Mythos. They were first introduced in Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.

Description

One of the strangest of Mythos creatures, when explorers first found hibernating elder things, they were uncertain whether or not they were plants of animals.

There physical depiction is summarized in Mountains of Madness.

"Six feet end to end, three and five-tenths feet central diameter, tapering to one foot at each end. Like a barrel with five bulging ridges in place of staves. Lateral breakages, as of thinnish stalks, are at equator in middle of these ridges. In furrows between ridges are curious growths – combs or wings that fold up and spread out like fans. . . which gives almost seven-foot wing spread. Arrangement reminds one of certain monsters of primal myth, especially fabled Elder Things in [the] Necronomicon."

-H. P. Lovecraft

The elder things were radially symmetrical and dark gray in coloration. Their wings, which originally allowed them to fly, became useless after thousands of years of disuse. Eyes were located at the end of the arms of the organism's starfish-shaped head. Elder things can survive both in and out of water, and once had cities across the world.