Chthon (person/deity)

**Chthon** is one of the Elder Gods of Earth and the planet's first master of black magic. Like his brother Set, Chthon degenerated into a demon and was forced to flee the Earthly plane due to the Demogorge. He wrote the Darkhold to serve as the link between the Earth and the Flickering Realms to which he escaped.

Chthon and his worshipers, the Darkholders cult, sought to return the Elder God to Earth. He created many demonic races to serve him, including the N'Garai, Ape Lords, Man-Bats of Ur-Xanarrh, Harpies, Goblins, Troids, Broodlings of Chthon, Nightgaunts; and his magics were used on Earth to create the Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies, and presumably Aqueos as well.

One of Chthon's schemes involved bestowing an infant girl in Wundagore Mountain with the latent ability to use chaos magic so that he could use her as his future vessel.

## Chthon

### Aliases

God of Chaos, Dark God, He Who Sleeps, He Who Holds the Darkness, What Walked Once, Who Has Slept Since Before Man Crawled From the Sea, What Dwells Beneath, the Sleeper, Sleeper Beneath, "Sleeping God", the Dark Elder, Dark Majesty, the Dark Master, Dark Mystic, Demon of the Darkhold, the Great Shadow, The Other, Cthon (alternative spelling), Keku; possibly "Satan"

### Relatives

Demiurge (father), Isuus, Gaea, Oshtur (sisters);Hyppus, Set (brothers)Children:Victoria Montesi (daughter);"Offspring"/Creations: Darkhold Dwarf, Dragonus, Hellhound, Kierrok, Midwife, Nezaral, Monstrosity, the N'Garai (including Y'Bsgloth, Y'Garon, Y'Griarth), Ape-Men, Ape Lords, Wolf Men, Man-Bats of Ur-Xanarrh, Harpies, Goblins, Troids Shadow demons, unnamed mother of Diabolique, Van Ripper's Demon, Whisperer, Wish-Demon, Broodlings of Chthon, Nightgaunts, Other Elder Gods offsprings (relatives)

### Affiliation

Elder Gods, Great Old Ones, Hydra's Avengers, Aelfric, Blade (as Switchblade), Darkholders, DeGuzman, Diabolique, Harvestor (Johnny Farmer), Mr. Hayward, Lilith, Mercy (Norman Zachos), Modred the Mystic, Vittorio Montesi, Dr. Michael Morbius, Nezaral, Aurora Poule, Sagbata, Sarrah Roberts, Spider-X (Brian Kornfeld), Reverend Styge, Morton Thurnton, Clarisse Van Ripper, Varnae, Verdelet Donald J. Walsh Lt. Frank West

### Occupation

Demon among Demons, Arch-Demon, God of Chaos

## Biographical information

### Place of birth

Sol-3 (Earth), Sol system, Space Sector 2814

## Physical description

### Species

Deity, Elder God degenerated into a Demon, Great Old One

## History

### Origins

Four billion years ago, shortly after the formation of the Earth, the Demiurge, the sentient life force of Earth's biosphere, seeded the young planet with its essence, creating a race of Elder Gods, the foremost of which were Chthon, and his siblings Set, Gaea, and Oshtur. The Elder Gods proliferated across the planet and ruled it for a million years. Chthon spent his time studying the mystical forces of the universe and eventually became the Earth's first master of black magic.

### Elder Gods degeneration

Over time, at least 1 billion years ago, almost all of the Elder Gods degenerated and turned into demons, preying on one another for power. Gaea, who had not been corrupted, feared for the safety of the new life brewing within the Earth's oceans. She went to the Demiurge and asked it to conceive in her a means in which to vanquish the demons. She entered the depths of the Earth and gave birth to Atum, the first of a race of new gods. Atum went around the Earth, slaying the demons and absorbing their energy. Atum then took on a monstrous appearance and became Demogorge, the God-Eater.

Chthon managed to escape the God-Eater by creating another dimension, the Flickering Realms (also known as K'lay or Other-Realm). Along with his "brother" Set's Serpent's Sea, the Flickering Realms were the first two Inner Planes, dimensions located in the close vicinity of Earth.

Before he left, in the Darque Hold (a chamber among the caverns inside the mountain that would be known as Mount Wundagore, Transia, eastern Europe), Chthon wrote the Darkhold, inscribing all his arcane knowledge on scrolls made from indestructible parchment and left them behind to serve as a physical link between Earth and his new home should he ever choose to return. It was theorized by the Logomancer that the Darkhold was originated from etchings carved on the walls of the city of R'llyeh by ancient and hideous "things", the Great Old Ones, among which Chthon was allegedly the greatest, despite being usually recognized as an Elder God.

In full control over his dimension. Chthon created the N'Garai, whom he sent to another dimension set within his own.

### Continued influence on Earth

Trapped in his dimension, Chthon then went to slumber, intending to one day return. He granted powers to the Darkhold's users, who forfeited their souls. Chthon led a faction of evil Gods in a war against another group. Chthon's side was defeated and banished from Earth and to the other-realm by their opponents.

Over the centuries, humans would find the scrolls and other writings left by Chthon, eventually bounding them together in a single volume: the Darkhold.

Chthon's new dimension was close enough to continue influencing Earth. A pact was struck between the surviving Elder Gods (Chthon, Set, Gaea, and the returning Oshtur) that each would occupy their own realms and not directly interfere with each others' territory. Earth was the realm of Gaea, and so Chthon was banned from ever returning there, or else face the wraith of the Demogorge. Still, he found ways to intervene indirectly, through the demon races he created, which were not bound by his oath.[*citation needed*]

#### Father of many monsters

Chthon created or spawned (his spawns are said to be creations, while there is nevertheless a distinction between spawns and magical creation) several Elderspawn,[*citation needed*] elder races as such as the N'Garai, the Ape Men, the Ape Lords, the Man-Bats of Ur-Xanarrh, the Harpies, the Goblins, and his most infamous success, the Wolf Men of Valusia, whose Wolf Lords Garmr "the Hellhound", Lycaon "Bloodhound", Gaueko "the Night Beast", and Varcolac "the Wolf Demon" held the world in terror. He also created the "first who crawled out of the mud" to worship the Great Old Ones: the Broodlings of Chthon, as well as the Nightgaunts.

Darkhold Dwarf, Dragonus, Midwife, Monstrosity, Nezaral, Whisperer, and Wish-Demon could be Chthon's spawns, or simply magical creations.

#### Pre-Cataclysmic Age

Meanwhile, the Darkhold scrolls found their way to Pre-Cataclysmic Atlantis. The first vampires were created there using Chthon's power, including their Lord Varnae, by an Atlantean cult of Chthon-worshping Darkholders.

Chthon made contact with Varuna of the Bird-Men of Akah Ma'at, a race created by Chthon's sister Oshtur, and lied to him making Varuna and other Bird Men suspicious of the other "lower races". Varuna formed the Asura which went to war with the other faction of the Bird Men, the Seraphim.[*verification needed*]

#### 11th Century BC

Working via Keku Chthon tempted and broke the sorcerer Heka-Nut turning him into his servant. Under the service of Chthon Heka-Nut tried to retrieve the Sword of Bone, but was stopped by a time-travelling Magik.

#### Medieval Times

In medieval times, Morgan Le Fay formed a cult of mystics around the power of the Darkhold, and attempted to summon Chthon to do their bidding. Being invited back to Earth by its residents was a loophole in Chthon's pact with the other Elder Gods, although he was under no obligation to obey his summoners. Realizing their mistake, Morgan's cult could not fully banish Chthon from Earth as he was in primordial times. Instead, they bound him to a single location on Earth, Mount Wundagore in what would become the Eastern European nation of Transia.

Morgan's tower became the resting place for the Darkhold itself, bound by spells to prevent it from being used for evil. A mystic from the Age of Camelot known as Modred entered the tower, intending to harness the power of the Darkhold for good. The Other, a manifestation of Chthon, appeared to Modred and tried to bargain for his soul. Modred refused to give up his soul to the demon, but when his lady love Janice entered the tower (and Chthon's field of influence) Modred sacrificed his soul to spare Janice's.

When the Other and his forces attacked, Merlin and Brendan combined their forces to banish them, and Brendan scattered the Darkhold pages across the world. However, the monk Aelfric came to worship Chthon and assembled the pages once again.

Chthon formed a pact with Sagbata for his own dark reasons and created an army of undead reanimated corpses, the first Zombies.

### Modern Era

In modern times, the High Evolutionary built his citadel on Mount Wundagore, and unknowingly came under Chthon's watch. His associate Jonathan Drew was possessed by the spirit of Magnus, one of Morgan le Fay's old disciples, and warned against the threat of Chthon. After evolving his New Men from animals, the High Evolutionary trained them with a code of honor like the knights of old, preparing them to face Chthon should he ever rise again. Indeed he did, and so Magnus and the Knights of Wundagore drove Chthon back into his mountain slumber.

Before he left this world, however, Chthon reached out and touched an infant girl being born on Wundagore that night, marking her as a potential vessel for the future. That girl would be called Wanda. Maria Russoff and Margali Szardos sought to enlist Wanda into their group, when they began sensing the presence of the Gypsy Queen's coven, and Taboo, under the directions of Chthon, used a copy of the Darkhold to prevent Wanda from coming under the influence of Set. Taboo enlisted the help of Damballah to fight against the coven. While they battled, Wanda's powers emerged for the first time which allowed Chthon to pass across the dimensional barriers and banished both the Gypsy Queen's Serpent Crown and Damballah in order to prevent Set to establish his influence. Before retreating he told the people involved that they would bear children of occult.

Modred resurfaced in the modern era, awakened from his long sleep, but he continued to resist the influence of the Other.

## Attributes

### Powers

**Elder God Physiology:** Chthon is one of the most powerful Elder Gods of Earth, who has degenerated into a demonic state. He has the vast ability to manipulate magical energies for nearly any effect. He has manifested himself in humanoid form, but can take various forms; his true form, if he has one, has not been revealed.

* **Dark & Chaos Magic Mastery:** Chthon is a being of unimaginable mystical power, specifically that which can be called Black Magic & Chaos Magic. This magic can manipulate, warp and reconstruct the very fabric of existence and reality to the user's very whims and bring about total destruction to the cosmos.
* **Other-realm Control:** In the dimension he has created for himself he controls every aspect of reality.
* **Telepathy:** This ability enables him to read, control, and communicate with the minds of others, even across dimensional barriers.
* **Mystic Patron:** He can also send his power out of that dimension when invoked to do so by a spellcaster, though when this is done the spellcaster's soul is forfeit to the Elder God.
* **Other Connection:** Until Chthon finds a way to truly free himself from his other-dimensional realm, he can operate on Earth through his elemental host, known as the Other, which is summoned when someone uses the Darkhold. The Other can manifest itself in any appearance it wants, but its actions on the Earthly sphere are generally limited by the demands of the user of the Darkhold.
* **Demonic Possession:** If the proper rituals are performed, Chthon can also take over mortal host-bodies on Earth, but he can not easily transfer all of his totality to these forms, and often even the fraction he can is too much for the form to contain.

### Abilities

Chthon has an extraordinary knowledge of the dark mystical forces of the cosmos, and cataloged the evil spells of the demonic Elder Gods of Earth in the Darkhold. He is the original author of the Darkhold, an indestructible collection of evil mystical knowledge and spells that he intended to serve as the medium through which he could return to Earth. The Darkhold can apparently change its form, since Chthon created it millions of years before the rise of humanity, to whom it appeared as a set of scrolls with human writing upon them. Most people who use the Darkhold's spells fall under Chthon's mental control as a result. Only humans with great spiritual strength (or aided by great mystical expertise), like Doctor Strange and the members of the Montesi family can successfully resist this mental enslavement. The Darkhold's power is so vast it took the combined strength and will of both Merlin (the most accomplished Earth sorcerer of all time) and Brendan to contain it, and even together, they were unable to destroy it or its power. Mordred also seemed to believe that use of the Darkhold would grant him sufficient strength to challenge Merlin himself. It is later revealed that the aforementioned Darkhold is actually a mere copy of a copy of the original Darkhold, the true Darkhold.

**Genius Intelligence**

### Weaknesses

**Dimensional Entrapment:** Without the Darkhold, Chthon is unable to move freely through dimensions and is trapped in his own because it would take an enormous mystical rift to convey the immense mystical power of the Elder God. Moreover, Gaea has erected magical screens, reinforced over millennia by hundreds of human sorcerers, which prevent him from traveling to Earth unless he undertakes highly elaborate preparations.

**Dependency on Extra-dimensional Living Vessel:** As shown during several of Chthon's summonings on Earth, though the occupation of a human would enable Chthon to share the human's abilities, he would also be left more vulnerable, in both mind and body, even magically augmented. For example, it is through a physical mind that a human processes information and which a human mystic can utter incantations and thus cast spells to work magic; if the physical mind or its processes were somehow disrupted, even through non-mystical means, Chthon would be temporarily deprived of spell-casting ability.

**Wundagore Mountain:** Wundagore is Chthon's source of power, making him vulnerable to its destruction. However, the mountain is filled with uranium and its explosion would obliterate Transia.

**Eldritch Magic:** Chthon and those augmented by his power are vulnerable to eldritch magic, including that of the Darkhold itself.

**True Darkhold:** The true Darkhold allowed Scarlet Witch to defeat and absorb Chthon.