The Following refers to @Dark Young Spawn @Grown Dark Young @Formless Spawn @Grasping Spawn of Shub-Niggurath
In the fetid glades and shadowed groves where mortal footsteps seldom tread, the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath manifest as the most visible and terrestrial progeny of the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. These colossal abominations serve as her earthly avatars and enforcers, birthed in endless profusion to spread mindless fertility and devour all that stands in the way of her teeming proliferation. To witness a Dark Young is to gaze upon a living blasphemy—a fusion of arboreal grotesquerie and ravenous flesh—that tramples forests and altars alike beneath hooved limbs, its sucking maws ever hungry for sacrificial blood.
The Dark Young are direct offspring of Shub-Niggurath, the Outer God of perverse life and unchecked reproduction. Known as the "Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young," Shub-Niggurath exists as a vast, cloudy mass of tentacles, hooves, and gaping orifices, perpetually birthing new horrors in a cycle of mindless generation. Unlike conventional reproduction, her spawning requires no mate; she extrudes progeny spontaneously or in response to ritual invocation, often during frenzied woodland ceremonies where cultists offer blood, seed, or living sacrifices.
The "Thousand Young" is no mere epithet—Shub-Niggurath produces Dark Young in prodigious numbers, sometimes singly but more often in writhing broods that burst forth from her form or from consecrated clearings soaked in gore. These spawn are not immature versions requiring growth; each emerges fully formed and monstrously capable, ready to serve her will. Lesser spawn—goo-like "goats with a thousand young" or formless protoplasmic masses—may also issue from her, but the towering Dark Young represent her primary terrestrial manifestations, embodying her fecund horror in a form suited to rampage upon the material plane.
No other entity in the Mythos is known to produce true Dark Young; they are exclusively Shub-Niggurath's brood, though cults may summon similar tree-like horrors through corrupted druidic rites or misinterpretations of her lore.
A Dark Young resembles a nightmarish perversion of an ancient oak or eldritch tree uprooted and animated by demonic vitality. Standing fifteen to twenty feet tall (with larger specimens reported in deep wilderness), its central mass is a thick, rugose trunk of black or mottled green-brown bark-like flesh, split by vertical slits that serve as dripping, tooth-ringed maws. From this trunk erupt dozens—sometimes hundreds—of ropy tentacles, flexible and whip-like, ending in sucking orifices or barbed tips capable of grasping and draining victims.
At the base, the entity tapers into a cluster of powerful, hooved legs—often four to six—resembling those of a gigantic goat, allowing thunderous movement that shakes the earth and crushes undergrowth. Eyeless yet perceptive, Dark Young sense prey through vibration, scent, or eldritch means, their forms exuding a musky, fertile odor mingled with the stench of rot. In moonlight or ritual torchlight, they glisten with viscous sap-like ichor, and their maws emit wet, bleating calls that mimic distorted goat cries or human screams.
Variants exist: some appear more fungal than arboreal, with cap-like protrusions; others incorporate elements of local flora, blending seamlessly into forests until they stir.
Dark Young are engines of destruction and consumption:
Physical Might: Immensely strong, they uproot trees, topple structures, or entangle multiple victims simultaneously with tentacles, draining blood and vitality in seconds.
Regeneration and Resilience: Wounds close rapidly through prolific growth; only fire, acid, or potent eldritch wards cause lasting harm.
Camouflage and Ambush: In woodlands, they mimic motionless trees, erupting in sudden frenzy when prey draws near.
Fertile Corruption: Areas trampled by Dark Young sprout unnatural growths—twisted saplings, carnivorous vines, or lesser spawn—that spread Shub-Niggurath's influence.
Ritual Conduit: During ceremonies, they channel her power, bestowing temporary vigor or mutations upon faithful cultists.
Behaviorally, Dark Young lack individual intelligence, acting on instinctual directives from their mother: protect sacred groves, punish intruders, and propagate through sacrifice. They roam in small herds or lone sentinels, drawn to sites of ritual excess.
Worshippers of Shub-Niggurath—scattered in remote forests, rural communes, or hidden urban groves—summon Dark Young as guardians and objects of veneration. Rituals involve circular dances, drummed chants ("Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods!"), and offerings poured into central altars, from which the entities emerge amid gouts of ichor.
Notable Mythos appearances:
"The Whisperer in Darkness": Implied in forested rites attended by Mi-Go allies.
"The Dunwich Horror": Echoes in degenerate Whateley practices, with woodland summonings.
Expanded Lore: Investigators in New England woods or Haitian jungles report tramplings and drained corpses, linking to Shub-Niggurath cults.
The Dark Young embody the Mythos' horror of boundless life: not benevolent nature, but a devouring overgrowth that subsumes all individuality. To summon one invites ecstasy for the faithful—and obliteration for the unwary. In the deep woods, where shadows lengthen and bleats echo unnaturally, remember: the Black Goat's Young are never far, and they are always hungry.