The Primordial

The Primordials are said to predate the creation of our universe and their natural form is that of a gigantic, cosmic monsters. These beings are so far beyond human experience and their psychology is so alien that any attempt to communicate with them is doomed to fail. Most Primordials are inactive, lying deep in sleep for untold thousands of years, but every now and then one of them awakens and the world trembles for it.

Origin Story:
The exact origin of the Primordials is unknown. Many believe they are older than our universe but beyond that, their nature and history is occult, obfuscated and largely unknown. There are various races of 'lesser' Primordials, genetically altered slave races that serve individual Greater Primordials. These lesser races may have been manufactured by their Primordial 'god' or they may be mutated members of naturally occurring species.

Facts:
-Primordials are extremely powerful, even in their inactive and hibernating forms. They are powerfully psychic creatures and they usually work through a network of lesser pawns who they keep enthralled to themselves.

-HP Lovecraft was said to have had an unusually high degree of experience in dealing with Primordials. His fictional stories were based on far more truth than they should have been.

-In their true form, a Primordial is a colossal being that towers over mountains and strides the planet like a being of a lost Realm. Even the mightiest of Pagan Gods would be hard pressed to defeat such an opponent.

-There are few Primordials left alive, it appears most of them died in ancient battles against each other.

-Primordials are associated with the sea and other areas of the world where they can slumber deep within the earth.

Greater & Lesser:
The Primordials are categorized into two groups - lesser and greater Primordials. The Greater Primordials are clearly the beings who predate our known cosmos. But the Lesser Primordials seem to have been created or morphed into slaves by the Greater Primordials in order to serve them.

The Lesser Primordials serve the Greater Primordials devotedly and worship them as 'gods.' It appears much of this crazed fanaticism is due in no small part to the Greater Primordial's psychic powers. The Lesser Primordials are fashioned from the essence of their parent 'god' and this leaves a mental connection that allows the Greater Primordial to mentally influence its slave stock.

Insanity Inducing:
Primordials are beings of the Great Beyond, and their thought processes are wholly alien to our own. Given their incredible psychic might, it should come as no surprise that to merely be in the presence of a Primordial will often induce bouts of psychosis and hallucination in lesser beings.

This feature should not be underestimated! Primordials don't even have to actively do this, their mere presence is enough to unhinge most minds. Only those with a true grip on reality can hope to withstand such a power.

Mindflayers:
There is a specific race of Lesser Primordials who are worthy of mention. These are the Mindflayers, they serve the Greater Primordials but are far more independent and cognitive than your average, slavish Lesser Primordial. They retain much more of their individuality and they appear to exist as managers of their fellow Lesser Primordials.

They also serve as priests, leading the other Lesser Primordials in worship. They will always be found in positions of leadership among their own kind.

Mindflayers are powerful psychic creatures. They can never pass for human, because their skin is often pale-green to purple. They have amphibian features mixed with that of sapien physiology, but the biggest and most definitive characterstic they have is their tentacled face.

Mindflayers feed on psychic energies, which means they can only feed on the thoughts and emotions of other creatures. Mindflayers are highly arrogant and view all other races as chattel to be used, consumed, and discarded by the Mindflayers as they see fit.

Mindflayers are superior psychics by far. They can read minds, steal thoughts, edit memories, and influence other people up to and including outright mind control. Mindflayers can 'program' the minds of others to carry out commands, often times without the target even being aware of their own brainwashing. Worse yet, a Mindflayer can live up to its namesake and tear apart a person on a purely psychic level, leaving them nothing more than an empty shell in a comatose state.

Mindflayers are not perfect, mind you, only the strongest of them will have all of these powers. And even Mindflayers have their weaknesses - for some reason Mindflayers never learn magick. At least not magick that is psychic in origin. This is because Mindflayers exist to exert the will of their Eldritch Gods (ie, the Greater Primordials), and their gods don't want the Mindflayers slipping their leash by gaining new sources of power. In order to keep the Mindflayers dependent on them, the Greater Primordials forbid the Mindflayers from learning any kind of magick other than psychic powers.

Naturally, anything that counteracts psychic power will be highly effective against Mindflayers.