Octopus Overlords

[FroMagnum]

About the Octopus Overlords religion; was it just a coincidence or was it intended for the religion to be reminiscent of the Lovecraftian Cult of Cthulhu? Just thought it was kind of awesome especially considering the actual symbol of Cthulhu for the religion.

 

[thewyrm]

If it was just a coincidence, then that would be one HELL of a coincidence.

 

[Darksaber1]

they even have the Necromiton as it's shrine/relic.

 

[JustinianVII]

Some Lanun cities (Innsmouth, Dunwich, Kingsport) are taken from the Mythos as well.

 

[DuckAndCower]

Hrm, I might as well mention this here...

I'm playing as the Lanun with Octopus overlords and I'm a member of the Council. Apparently, I can use the slave trade to buy a slave for around 30g, then upgrade the slave to a lunatic for around 67g. That's unlimited lunatics for less that 100g each. Is this a bug?

 

[Zechnophobe]

Probably a feature. Consider the Mercenary Guild also lets you get units for ~roughly that cost. Mercenaries are generally better too, since they don't go crazy.

Interesting to know though, might try that at some point as a strategy for Hannah.

 

[DuckAndCower]

I thought mercs were around 270 gold... that would be almost 3 times what you can get lunatics for. The Crazed promotion is actually pretty nice on offense, since they get +20% attack and +1 move, it only has a 3% chance of turning them barbarian per turn, and it goes away for a while after a fight.

Also, the mercenary guild is kind of a special thing; under normal circumstances, only one civ in the world has it. It seems that any neutral or evil civ with OO can just pump out the lunatics.

 

[Ahriman]

I don't bother with normal mercs, but Hippus horse-mercs-of-doom are 120 gold. For a 5 strength 3 move unit that gets bonuses from metals and takes 0 construction time. So imba its sick.
They need to take the metals bonus away, or at least reduce their strength by a point.

 

[Spaghetti_Ninja]

The Octopus Overlords religion is awesome. The name, the icon, the music, the story behind it, all of it.

 

[A_Hamster]

About the Octopus Overlords religion; was it just a coincidence or was it intended for the religion to be reminiscent of the Lovecraftian Cult of Cthulhu? Just thought it was kind of awesome especially considering the actual symbol of Cthulhu for the religion.

No, it was intentional. Perhaps the Magister can give you the exact post where Kael confirmed this, but I don't know where that post is.

 

[FroMagnum]

Yeah, I found it official since at the end of a game the whole 'leadership abilities' stuff; it has Cthulhu on that list at number 1. Awesome!

 

[abculatter2]

who is Cthulhu? An evil octopus overlord from a book?

 

[Darksaber1]

Here:He's a Giant god ting hat lies at the bottom of the Pacific.

 

[FroMagnum]

Actually its the Atlantic Ocean. Cthulhu sleeps in his home at Ryleah near Antarctica. He is a descendant of the Old Ones. Cultists pray to him in hope one day that the Old Ones return to ultimately destroy the planet and enter another era of man.

 

[WCH]

Of note: Cthulhu isn't a god, he's just an unusually powerful example of the Old Ones, the species that dominated the earth before humans.

The emphasis in Lovecraftian mythology is on the futility of human existence... there were dominant species before us, and there'll be others after us, our current success is doomed to be shortlived, and the end will be painful.

Actual Lovecraftian gods... Yog-Sothoth has been banished to another plane but is enlisting the help of various wizards to bring him back, which if he does, humanity will be instantly wiped out by the corrupting influence of his mere presence in our universe. My favourite, though, is Azathoth, about whom I'll simply include a quote...

“...that last amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the centre of all infinity—the boundless daemon-sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin, monotonous whine of accursed flutes; to which detestable pounding and piping dance slowly, awkwardly, and absurdly the gigantic ultimate gods, the blind, voiceless, tenebrous, mindless Other Gods whose soul and messenger is the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep.”

Compared to Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath or Azathoth, Cthulhu is pretty insignificant. I mean, sure, he can still drive us insane by possessing our dreams, and when the stars are right he'll come back to rule over us, but, in a universe where something like Azathoth lurks, being driven insane and eaten by Cthulhu is really the merciful option we should be striving after and hoping for.

 

[rocklikeafool]

You guys all realize that a lot of stuff is taken from D&D (and similar sources) for this game. So, the answer to any "Is it jus a coincedence that..." question is usually gonna be no; it was usually changed slightly and put in FfH. Fantasy writers do it all the time.

 

[Darksaber1]

Actually its the Atlantic Ocean. Cthulhu sleeps in his home at Ryleah near Antarctica. He is a descendant of the Old Ones. Cultists pray to him in hope one day that the Old Ones return to ultimately destroy the planet and enter another era of man.

No, Rh'lyeh was in the South Pacific, in the Zone of inaccessability at 47° 9' S, 126° 43' W, south East of Easter Island.