Flying Polyp

Flying Polyps are a race of extraterrestrial creatures. The creature first appeared in H. P. Lovecraft's "The Shadow Out of Time."
==Overview==
To humanity, these strange species are (mostly) known as Flying Polyps, although their true name is unknown. They traveled across space and found Earth around 750 million years ago. On arrival, they constructed bizarre basalt cities wherein numerous high and windowless towers were raised. Rumours speak of the Polyps also raising cities on three other planets in the solar system, with speculation pointing to Mars, Neptune, and Venus.
Having arrived on Earth, the Polyps warred with the Great Race of Yith but were eventually defeated and driven underground. Around 70 million years ago (during the Cretaceous era), the Polyps rose from their subterranean haunts to exact revenge by exterminating the Yithians in one fell swoop.
In the intervening years to the modern era, the Polyps left the planet en masse, although many remained and again sought out deep places to dwell, and seem content to remain there, annihilating anything that chanced upon their rest. The entrances to their dwellings are mostly below the ground, sometimes within ancient ruins or great wells now sealed over with stone, while others have taken to the deep oceans. For what purposes or reason these polyps remained on Earth is unknown, with numerous tomes speculating on a variety of factors. Such tomes also tells of the Polyps' great powers concerning the manipulation of the elements, particularly the wind and air, which can be brought to bear upon enemies and cause terrible devastation.
==Summary==
The precise nature of the Flying Polyps is unclear; the records kept by the Great Race of Yith are notably evasive, making fearful references but shying away from actual description. They are capable of flight, although they lack wings or other appendages to facilitate this, and they were capable of controlling air currents for offensive and manipulative purposes. Although airborne, they seem to make some contact with the ground during movement, as they leave behind five-toed radial footprints wherever they go.
==History==
The Flying Polyps first colonized the Earth about six hundred million years ago, predating the arrival of the Great Race of Yith. They built vast cities of basalt, their defining architectural features being tall windowless pillars or towers. They were an aggressive and predatory species, and when the Great Race transferred their minds to the indigenous organisms that would harbor them for aeons to come, they came into conflict with the Polyps. The Great Race prevailed at first due to their superior technology, forcing the Polyps back to the subterranean catacombs that lay beneath their cities and sealing off the tunnels with reinforced trap-doors.
==Gallery==
Category:Species Originating From Lovecraft Circle Works
Category:Sapient Species
Category:Extraterrestrial Species