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Is there a type of "Blood God" in the Lovecraft "Universe"?
Something like a creature that is heavily connected with blood in any kind of form.

I need it for a backstory of a character who is a Cultist and I want to have him worship a "God" who he constantly sacrifices blood to.

TheLethalCarrot
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Reitô
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  • If you're looking for anything then this is too broad and should be closed as such, limiting it to the Lovecraftian universe is perfectly fine though so I have edited that part out. – TheLethalCarrot Mar 04 '19 at 09:00
  • I don't think "any kind of Blood God" is too broad. But i do know what you mean i just don't want people to hold back when they know something, because i asked for a Lovecraft thing. – Reitô Mar 04 '19 at 09:03
  • It wouldn't be unheard of for writers who can't find an "old one" that precisely matches their requirements to instead create their own, or simply use an existing one to serve another purpose. The option is there if none can be found. –  Mar 04 '19 at 09:36
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    Would your cultist also be required to collect skulls for some sort of furniture? – Josh Mar 04 '19 at 09:51
  • @Kozaky Jeah i thought of that because for some "old gods" i practically found nothing more than a name and a brief description. – Reitô Mar 04 '19 at 10:04
  • @Josh Well i did not have that in mind but technically its possible i guess xD – Reitô Mar 04 '19 at 10:04
  • What would you define as "the Lovecraft universe"? Because some limit this to the works of Lovecraft himself, others include other works by contemporaries of the author. Third include anything any author claims to be "Lovecraftian". And there ARE differences. One author (at least) decided to introduce a hard classification of what is what in Lovecraft's works that Lovecraft's works themselves never allude to and sort of contradict in some cases. – VLAZ Mar 04 '19 at 10:34
  • @VLAZ Oh my, ehhh. I have not thought about that. I an not that "into" the Lovecraftian works. So technically i would say H.P. Lovecraft and contemporaries are ok but overall i'm ok with anything really. – Reitô Mar 04 '19 at 10:40
  • @Paul I'm just asking for a specific type of "Monster" from the Lovecraftian universe. – Reitô Mar 04 '19 at 12:11
  • @Paul This question is perfectly on topic here, could it also be rephrased and be on topic elsewhere? Sure, but that doesn't mean it isn't on topic here. And FWIW I think the question in its current form would actually be a poor fit on worldbuilding. – TheLethalCarrot Mar 04 '19 at 12:23
  • @Paul uh, no, certainly not. OP is looking for something that exists, not exactly a worldbuilding (character-building is a bit narrow, and not exactly on-topic on WB, I think). Plus it's perfectly on-topic here on SFF, and not to broad. Voted to leave open. – Jenayah Mar 04 '19 at 12:23
  • @Paul how exactly is this about worldbuilding the slightest? This is very specifically about fiction. A worldbuilding question would be "How do I make a blood god" (although that would be too broad but can be narrrowed down) or "Does it make sense for my blood god to do X when he already does Y and Z." or maybe even "Having a blood god doing X, Y, and Z what elements of worship make sense". Asking for a blood god from a specific established body of work is off-topic for worldbuilding. – VLAZ Mar 04 '19 at 15:07
  • This has gone twice to close vote queue, once for off-topicness (which it isn't), and now for being "too broad" (which the very first comment states isn't). Once again, voted to leave open, this is on-topic, not too broad, and answerable. – Jenayah Mar 04 '19 at 16:58
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    Hello sir, would you have a moment to talk about Khorne, our Lord and saviour? Also, would Star Vampire - straight from the Mythos - count? – Yasskier Mar 04 '19 at 19:31
  • @Yasskier Wow finally someone who has something xD Khorne does sound like what i was looking for, the Star Vampire does sound good but as i said i am looking for something/someone that my character would worship and sacrafice blood to but those seem more like a "common" creature. But thank you anyways. Could you maybe make your comment into an awnser so i can mark it as an "awnser"? Khorne does really sound good. Although im still curious what else kind of "blood gods" there are. – Reitô Mar 05 '19 at 08:27
  • @Reitô Josh was actually jokingly suggested the same answer ("Blood for the blood god! Skulls for the skull throne!") - Khorne is from the Warhammer/Warhammer 40k universe, not from the Cthulhu mythos – Yasskier Mar 05 '19 at 08:44
  • @Yasskier ouhhhhh i get it now xDDD Jeah i guess you're right. Still it's a good awnser ^^ – Reitô Mar 05 '19 at 08:53

1 Answers1

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There are lots of Cthulhu Mythos deities that could be related to blood, although neither of them is indeed called "the blood god", but let me try describing a few that would come close:

Yibb-Tstll - the Patient One

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Yibb-Tstll (The Patient One) is an obscure god, said to watch at the center of all time as the universe revolves. Because of this insight, only Yog-Sothoth is said to be wiser. Its blood, the Black, is a weapon which takes the form of black snowflakes that stick to and smother a victim. The god's touch causes an instant change in the person affected—this change is usually fatal but occasionally brings some benefit.

It is also said, that he is constantly feeding some vampire-like creatures.

Nyarlathotep - the messenger of the Gods

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Nyarly is a bit of a do-it-all god, since he is an acting will of all other Outer Gods and many of the Great Old Ones. Contrary to them, he actively walks among humans since in one of his thousand forms looks like an ordinary, although very black (yeah... HPL was a bit of a xenophobe) human, often associated with Christian Devil. It is not hard to imagine, that he would be quite happily posing as some sort of a blood good

Y'golonac - The Defiler

While Nyarlathotep is a bit of a trickster kind of a devil, Y'golonac is evil with capital "E", to the point that even other Mythos creatures shun him:

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Similar to demonic possession, in that the entity wants to wallow in an orgy of extreme sensory input: savage violence carried out for the wild thrill of it. Torture to create suffering – pain, subjugation and absolute domination – for no other reason than to glut on the energy released in the quiver of nerve endings and pulsing emotions. Bestial acts based on exploring perversion. Yet Y’golonac takes these things to a whole new order of magnitude.


Now, since the OP asked also about Warhammer/WH40k gods lets mention them too. But first of all - for (the most of) them it is not as much the blood itself, but the intention behind the blood offering - if you kill for pleasure - Slaanesh is your guy, if for desire of power - check up with Tzeentch.

But let's focus on the main guy here:

Khorne

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Khorne IS the blood good - he is the god of slaughter, war and murder. His domain covers the most basic and brutal of sentient emotions and actions, such as hate, anger, rage, war and killing. Every act of killing or murder in the material universe gives Khorne power; the more senseless and destructive, the better. However, though Khorne is the god of bloody slaughter, he is also the god of martial pride and honour, of those who set themselves against the most dangerous foes and earn victory against the odds.

His code is simple: blood and more blood. His only temple is the battlefield, his sole sacrament the spilled blood of nations.

Yasskier
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  • Wow this is more than i hoped for, really nicely done. I really think Y'golonac and Khorne are pretty much what i wanted to know. Thank you. – Reitô Mar 05 '19 at 11:26