Names and Titles
Primary: Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath (often shortened to Dark Young)
Others: The Thousand Young (collective), Proxies of the Black Goat, Tree-Like Horrors
Classification
Servitor race/greater independent race in the Cthulhu Mythos. Offspring and earthly manifestations of the Outer God Shub-Niggurath. Not true shoggoths (despite early confusion); distinct entities linked exclusively to Shub-Niggurath.
Description
Horrifying, pitch-black, tree-sized monstrosities resembling twisted, ropy tentacles formed into a trunk-like body. Supported on stumpy, hoofed legs (often 4-6, ending in hooves). Upper mass branches into writhing black tentacles; no distinct head. Flanks covered in puckered, slime-dripping mouths/orifices that emit bleating/goat-like sounds. Smell strongly of open graves/earthly decay. Silhouette mimics a grotesque tree for camouflage in woods. Size: Up to 12-40 feet tall (varies by source; enormous in RPG stats). Aquatic variant (Dark Sargassum) in some expansions.
Abilities and Behavior
Proxies for Shub-Niggurath: Appear during rituals to accept blood sacrifices, devour outsiders, grant boons to cultists.
Drain life force via tentacles/mouths; crush/grapple victims.
Camouflage as trees; move silently through forests.
Indifferent/destructive: Prey on fauna, spread mother's influence via unnatural growth/fertility.
Summonable: Via specific rituals in deep woods on new moon; stone altar required.
Origin and Family
Direct progeny of Shub-Niggurath ("The Black Goat with a Thousand Young").
Spawned asexually (fission) or via mating with worshipers/other entities.
Not individually named; collective "Thousand Young" implies vast numbers.
Appearances in Mythos Works
Indirect: H.P. Lovecraft's "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1931) — implied via Shub-Niggurath's title.
First detailed: Robert Bloch's "Notebook Found in a Deserted House" (1951) — described as tree-like "shoggoths" with hooves, mouths, tentacles; roam woods, devour sacrifices. (Narrator calls them shoggoths, but later distinguished.)
No direct Lovecraft description; concept expanded post-Lovecraft.
Expansions and Canon Development
Call of Cthulhu RPG (1981 onward, Sandy Petersen): Named "Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath"; established as tree-mimicking tentacle horrors, summonable servitors. Iconic artwork (e.g., Tom Sullivan) depicts multi-hoofed, mouth-covered forms.
Later authors/RPGs: Ramsey Campbell (indirect links via Black Goat hex), Brian Lumley (general Mythos spawn), Chaosium supplements (stats, variants).
Modern: Appear in games (Quake boss, Overlord summon), fiction (as forest guardians/devourers).
Cult and Role
Serve Shub-Niggurath cults: Preside over orgiastic rites in remote woods; consume sacrifices to empower mother.
Worship sites: Deep forests, ancient groves; linked to druidic/fertility cults.
Non-cult encounters: Mistaken for trees until attack; cause madness via appearance/smell/sounds.
Themes: Perverse nature/fertility; inversion of forest life (carnivorous plants, endless hunger).
Key Descriptions/Quotes
Standard (CoC/CoC-inspired): "The monsters roughly resemble trees in silhouette—the trunks being the short legs and the tops of the trees represented by the ropy, branching bodies. A congregation of these abominations smells like an open grave."
Bloch (paraphrased): Hoofed, tentacled things that bleat, suck blood, mimic trees in woods.
Notes for Reference
Origin debate: Bloch's creatures retrofitted as Dark Young by Petersen; not Lovecraft's shoggoths (which are amorphous Elder Thing creations).
Visuals: Often depicted with colorful tentacle tips for tree mimicry; green slime, multiple eyes in some art.
In play: High STR/CON; drain attacks; loyal to Shub-Niggurath's goals.