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Fighting: |
Shift-X |
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Agility: |
Am |
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Strength: |
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Endurance: |
CL1000 |
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Reason: |
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Intuition: |
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Psyche: |
Shift-Z |
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Health: |
1350 |
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Karma: |
800 |
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Resources: |
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Popularity: |
-1000 |
Real Name: Chthon
Occupation: God
Legal Status: Inapplicable
Identity: Unknown to public
Place of Birth: Earth
Marital Status: Inapplicable
Known Relatives: Gaea (“sister”)
Base of Operations: Chthon’s dimension
Known Powers:
Note: In his own dimension, Chthon possesses all powers and magical spells at CL1000 rank. However, he is trapped there and can only use the following powers in the Earth dimension.
Possession: Unearthly rank
Mind Control: Unearthly rank
If he gains Possession or Control of a person, that body gains these powers:
Levitation: Unearthly rank
Mind Blast: Unearthly rank
Plasma Generation: Unearthly rank
Telekinesis: Unearthly rank
Teleportation: Unearthly rank
Talents:
Chthon is one of the writers of all occult lore.
Contacts:
Gaea, Morgan Le Fay, Modred the Mystic
Role-Playing Notes:
Since Chthon is trapped, he must content himself with being a strategist working through proxies. He only acknowledges his fellow Elder Gods as equals, but he will converse with mortals of sufficient magical power to resist him.
History:
Chthon is one of the major Elder Gods who first materialized in Earth’s biosphere shortly before mankind appeared on Earth. He and his sister god Gaea were among those who inhabited the land masses of the Earth (as opposed to the sea or skies), and may have had something to do with forming certain geological patterns. When Gaea gave birth to the first of the newer gods, Chthon perceived that his sister’s progeny would eventually supplant the Elder Gods. A scholar by nature, Chthon inscribed a parchment with the mystical knowledge of the world he had thus amassed. This parchment would later be known as the Darkhold. Chthon intended the Darkhold to be his touchstone with the Earthly dimension. As he surmised, Gaea’s son Atum was a god-slayer, dedicated to the consumption and elimination of the evil which the Elder Gods had wrought in their degradation into demons. Chthon managed to escape to a nether dimension before Atum could slay him. When the Darkhold passed into the hands of intelligent beings at some later date, Chthon would have an indestructible medium through which to manipulate Earthly pawns as well as a talisman that could one day be turned into a dimensional portal for his return to Earth.
The Darkhold was first discovered by human sorcerers of pre-Cataclysmic Atlantis who managed to remove it from the doomed island-city before it sank. They founded a cult called the Darkholders and used the spells contained in the book to create vampires. The book passed through a succession of hands through the next millennia, including Babylonian savants, Egyptian priests, and Hebrew scholars. Who ever employed the knowledge contained within did so at the cost of the corruption of their soul. This earned the Darkhold the name “Book of Sins.”
In the 6th century A.D., the parchments found their way to Britain where the sorceress Morgan Le Fey had them bound into book form for the first time. Morgan used the book to summon Chthon to the Earthly plane for the first time, but discovered Chthon was far too powerful to do her bidding. It took the sorcerous might of Morgan and her new band of Darkholders to repel Chthon from the mortal plane. A renegade Darkholder named Magnus stole the Darkhold, placed it in a tower and wove an intricate spell whereby no one of evil intent could enter. An apprentice sorcerer named Modred misguidedly entered the tower and had his soul corrupted by Chthon. Centuries later he would serve as Chthon’s agent.
Eventually the Irish monk St. Brendan removed the Darkhold from the tower, believing it to be a temptation to evil, and scattered the various indestructible pages throughout Europe. In the 12th century, a corrupt Spanish monk named Aelfric used occult means to reassemble the scattered pages of the Darkhold. The parchments continued to pass through various hands, although few were skilled enough to employ the spells within to real effect. Transylvanian scholar Baron Gregor Russoff bound the parchments back into book form and used the blank pages he placed in the back as a diary for his occult experiments. The possession of the Darkhold triggered Russoff’s hereditary tendency toward lycanthropy and turned him into a werewolf.
Russoff had inadvertently brought the Book close to where the Earthly essence of its demonic author had been imprisoned, Wundagore Mountain. Chthon made his second major bid to return to the Earthly plane, but was repulsed by the forces of the High Evolutionary and the spirit of the 6th century sorcerer Magnus. When Russoff died, an American named Miles Blackgar bought his estate and acquired the Darkhold. Aware of the danger inherent in the book, Russoff’s son Jacob stole it and entrusted it to the care of Father Joaquez, a priest.
From there, it came into the temporary possession of Dracula, Lord of the Vampires, who was looking for a means to restore his flagging powers. The spirit of Morgan Le Fey also renewed her interest in the Darkhold, and gained as a mortal enemy the original Spider-Woman.. who had been befriended by the ghost of Morgan’s former colIeague Magnus. Morgan once used her magic to simulate the aspect of Chthon in an attempt to defeat the Spider-Woman. When Modred the Mystic was released from suspended animation, Chthon commanded him to fetch the Darkhold so he could be released on Earth. In an elaborate scheme, Chthon took demonic possession of the mutant Scarlet Witch, who had been born atop Wundagore Mountain. The Avengers managed to dispossess the Scarlet Witch and imprison Chthon’s earthly essence in Wundagore Mountain.
Finally, Dracula sought the Darkhold once more, realizing that the spell to destroy all vampires was contained therein. Earth’s sorcerer supreme Doctor Strange managed to use the Darkhold to destroy all vampires on Earth and create a spell by which vampires could no longer exist on Earth. Due to his vast power, Strange was the only person to ever use the Darkhold without forfeiting. his soul to Chthon. The Darkhold is currently in the custody of Doctor Strange. Chthon is still in his nether dimension, patiently awaiting a fourth attempt to return to Earth.