Respect the Crawling Chaos

NOTE: To view this at it's highest quality, I recommend reading it in blog form.

Recently, I've been dwelling into H.P. Lovecraft's works(excellent, I highly recommend them), and all of it's tie-in materials and have decided to make a Respect Thread for some of the most intriguing characters from the series. The Black Pharaoh, in particular, is extremely interesting in the fact that he's the only Outer God and one of the few entities in general to actually take notice of humans in the grand scheme of things. So, without further delay: respect the Crawling Chaos, the Emissary of Azathoth, the Black Pharaoh... Respect Nyarlathotep.

Power

As an Outer God, the Crawling Chaos has so much power that even his (subdued) presence has a devastating effect. When Nyarlathotep first appeared in Egypt, every single fellahin had knelt before him, yet could not understand why, implying it was because of his sheer power:

And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why.

Nyarlathotep

Simply speaking the Black Pharaoh's name can cause men to shudder, and whenever he came, rest left and everyone in the city he was in, or just people who saw him in general, were plagued by nightmares and could not sleep:

Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished, for the small hours were rent with the screams of nightmare. Never before had the screams of nightmare been such a public problem; now the wise men almost wished they could forbid sleep in the small hours, that the shrieks of cities might less horribly disturb the pale, pitying moon as it glimmered on green waters gliding under bridges, and old steeples crumbling against a sickly sky.

Nyarlathotep

Nyarlathotep's presence has deformed a city after he became enraged at the humans. Out of three towers, he has destroyed one, and severely damaged two, and has created several columns which lead to several vortexes of the unimaginable:

And when I, who was colder and more scientific than the rest, mumbled a trembling protest about imposture and static electricity, Nyarlathotep drove us all out, down the dizzy stairs into the damp, hot, deserted midnight streets. I screamed aloud that I was not afraid; that I never could be afraid; and others screamed with me for solace. We swore to one another that the city was exactly the same, and still alive; and when the electric lights began to fade we cursed the company over and over again, and laughed at the queer faces we made.

I believe we felt something coming down from the greenish moon, for when we began to depend on its light we drifted into curious involuntary marching formations and seemed to know our destinations though we dared not think of them. Once we looked at the pavement and found the blocks loose and displaced by grass, with scarce a line of rusted metal to show where the tramways had run. And again we saw a tram-car, lone, windowless, dilapidated, and almost on its side. When we gazed around the horizon, we could not find the third tower by the river, and noticed that the silhouette of the second tower was ragged at the top. Then we split up into narrow columns, each of which seemed drawn in a different direction. One disappeared in a narrow alley to the left, leaving only the echo of a shocking moan. Another filed down a weed-choked subway entrance, howling with a laughter that was mad. My own column was sucked toward the open country, and presently I felt a chill which was not of the hot autumn; for as we stalked out on the dark moor, we beheld around us the hellish moon-glitter of evil snows. Trackless, inexplicable snows, swept asunder in one direction only, where lay a gulf all the blacker for its glittering walls. The column seemed very thin indeed as it plodded dreamily into the gulf. I lingered behind, for the black rift in the green-litten snow was frightful, and I thought I had heard the reverberations of a disquieting wail as my companions vanished; but my power to linger was slight. As if beckoned by those who had gone before, I half-floated between the titanic snowdrifts, quivering and afraid, into the sightless vortex of the unimaginable.

Nyarlathotep

Nyarlathotep has snatched up and trapped the gods of Earth(Nodens included), implying he is their superior, even collectively:

And vast infinities away, past the Gate of Deeper Slumber and the enchanted wood and the garden lands and the Cerenarian Sea and the twilight reaches of Inquanok, the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep strode brooding into the onyx castle atop unknown Kadath in the cold waste, and taunted insolently the mild gods of earth whom he had snatched abruptly from their scented revels in the marvellous sunset city.

The Dream Quest of Unknown Kaddath

This is noteworthy as just the servants of one of these gods, Nodens' Nightgaunts in particular, have frightened even the Great Ones(think Cthulhu and Hastur):

He had met those silent, flitting and clutching creatures before; those mindless guardians of the Great Abyss whom even the Great Ones fear, and who own not Nyarlathotep but hoary Nodens as their lord.

The Dream Quest of Unknown Kaddath

Nyarlathotep destroys a planet, it's moon and causes the sun to start dying:

There was not any pounding now, but only the unearthly roaring and hissing of waters tumbling into the rift. The smoke of that rift had changed to steam, and almost hid the world as it grew denser and denser. It seared my face and hands, and when I looked to see how it affected my companions I found they had all disappeared. Then very suddenly it ended, and I knew no more till I awaked upon a bed of convalescence. As the cloud of steam from the Plutonic gulf finally concealed the entire surface from my sight, all the firmament shrieked at a sudden agony of mad reverberations which shook the trembling aether. In one delirious flash and burst it happened; one blinding, deafening holocaust of fire, smoke, and thunder that dissolved the wan moon as it sped outward to the void.

And when the smoke cleared away, and I sought to look upon the earth, I beheld against the background of cold, humorous stars only the dying sun and the pale mournful planets searching for their sister.

The Crawling Chaos

Dark Psalms confirm that Nyarlathotep can and will reduce the world to dust and blow that dust away:

And at the last from inner Egypt came

The strange dark One to whom the fellahs bowed;

Silent and lean and cryptically proud,

And wrapped in fabrics red as sunset flame.

Throngs pressed around, frantic for his commands,

But leaving, could not tell what they had heard;

While through the nations spread the awestruck word

That wild beasts followed him and licked his hands.

Soon from the sea a noxious birth began;

Forgotten lands with weedy spires of gold;

The ground was cleft, and mad auroras rolled

Down on the quaking citadels of man.

Then, crushing what he chanced to mould in play,

The idiot Chaos blew Earth’s dust away.

Fungi from Yuggoth XXI: Nyarlathotep

Nyarlathotep is one of the Outer Gods, thus sharing a similar title as the likes of Yog-Sothoth:

Go now—the casement is open and the stars await outside. Already your shantak wheezes and titters with impatience. Steer for Vega through the night, but turn when the singing sounds. Forget not this warning, lest horrors unthinkable suck you into the gulf of shrieking and ululant madness. Remember the Other Gods; they are great and mindless and terrible, and lurk in the outer voids. They are good gods to shun.

Hei! Aa-shanta ’nygh! You are off! Send back earth’s gods to their haunts on unknown Kadath, and pray to all space that you may never meet me in my thousand other forms. Farewell, Randolph Carter, and beware; for I am Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos!

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

Nyarlathotep defeats Nodens, displaying superior power:

Gallery

This is noteworthy as Nodens is a hunter of gods and daemons, who has originally entombed Cthulhu(who, when properly awakened by a ritual can dim and cool the sun itself) and is also capable of reducing Nyar's hunting horrors to dust easily(these critters are all capable of enduring universes dying around them):

Shapeshifting

Nyarlathotep is a horror of infinite shapes:

It is Nyarlathotep, horror of infinite shapes and dread soul and messenger of the Other Gods, that the fungous moonbeasts serve; and Carter thought of the black galley that had vanished when the tide of battle turned against the toadlike abnormalities on the jagged rock in the sea.

The Dream Quest of Unknown Kaddath

Nyarlathotep can turn himself into a human being and his most famous form is that of a black pharaoh:

Then down the wide lane betwixt the two columns a lone figure strode; a tall, slim figure with the young face of an antique Pharaoh, gay with prismatic robes and crowned with a golden pshent that glowed with inherent light. Close up to Carter strode that regal figure; whose proud carriage and smart features had in them the fascination of a dark god or fallen archangel, and around whose eyes there lurked the languid sparkle of capricious humour. It spoke, and in its mellow tones there rippled the wild music of Lethean streams.

The Dream Quest of Unknown Kaddath

And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger.

Nyarlathotep

Nyarlathotep can turn himself into a normal man, and then into a demonic bat-like creature:

Nyarlathotep can turn into a normal human, and then return back to his true form:

Nyarlathotep turns into a more monsterous version of the Black Pharaoh:

Farsight/Precognition

Nyarlathotep has prophesied that which only someone like he can prophesy:

My friend had told me of him, and of the impelling fascination and allurement of his revelations, and I burned with eagerness to explore his uttermost mysteries. My friend said they were horrible and impressive beyond my most fevered imaginings; and what was thrown on a screen in the darkened room prophesied things none but Nyarlathotep dared prophesy, and in the sputter of his sparks there was taken from men that which had never been taken before yet which showed only in the eyes. And I heard it hinted abroad that those who knew Nyarlathotep looked on sights which others saw not.

Nyarlathotep

Nyarlathotep shows the future of the world at the time of what is supposedly the rise of Cthulhu and the images created sparks and lights around the spectators:

It was in the hot autumn that I went through the night with the restless crowds to see Nyarlathotep; through the stifling night and up the endless stairs into the choking room. And shadowed on a screen, I saw hooded forms amidst ruins, and yellow evil faces peering from behind fallen monuments. And I saw the world battling against blackness; against the waves of destruction from ultimate space; whirling, churning, struggling around the dimming, cooling sun. Then the sparks played amazingly around the heads of the spectators, and hair stood up on end whilst shadows more grotesque than I can tell came out and squatted on the heads.

Nyarlathotep

Healing

Nyarlathotep can heal his spawn:

Note: if the Spawn isn’t killed in one blow, Nyarlathotep arrives, heals the spawn and harasses the investigators.

Masks of Nyarlathotep Campaign Guide

Telepathy

An avatar Nyarlathotep traps a man in a form of stasis, where he will eternally dream of him:

An avatar of Nyarlathotep returns Abdul's memory:

Gallery

An avatar of Nyarlathotep makes several people go insane and commit suicide:

Gallery

Necromancy

Nyarlathotep returns Abdul Alhazred to life:

Gallery

Physical capabilities

Nyarlathotep's avatar easily twists a man's head 180 degrees:

Nyarlathotep can easily smash or crush humans:

On a roll of 2, the investigator is scooped up by Nyarlathotep and either crushed or smashed.

Masks of Nyarlathotep Campaign Guide

Nyarlathotep is unharmed by Nodens' attack:

Nyarlathotep restrains Nodens:

Nyarlathotep throws Nodens a vast distance:

Nyarlathotep has physically ragdolled the Harlot, the Keeper of Secrets with powers comparable to Nodens':

She was so badly damaged that Lucifer couldn't look at her. Keep in mind that Lucifer is mostly unphased by the horrors of the Dreamlands:

Energy Projection

Nyarlathotep's blasts open ripples in reality and open a portal between our world and the Dreamlands:

Nyarlathotep blasts back Nodens:

Matter Manipulation

Nyarlathotep twists a city:

And when I, who was colder and more scientific than the rest, mumbled a trembling protest about imposture and static electricity, Nyarlathotep drove us all out, down the dizzy stairs into the damp, hot, deserted midnight streets. I screamed aloud that I was not afraid; that I never could be afraid; and others screamed with me for solace. We swore to one another that the city was exactly the same, and still alive; and when the electric lights began to fade we cursed the company over and over again, and laughed at the queer faces we made.

I believe we felt something coming down from the greenish moon, for when we began to depend on its light we drifted into curious involuntary marching formations and seemed to know our destinations though we dared not think of them. Once we looked at the pavement and found the blocks loose and displaced by grass, with scarce a line of rusted metal to show where the tramways had run. And again we saw a tram-car, lone, windowless, dilapidated, and almost on its side. When we gazed around the horizon, we could not find the third tower by the river, and noticed that the silhouette of the second tower was ragged at the top. Then we split up into narrow columns, each of which seemed drawn in a different direction. One disappeared in a narrow alley to the left, leaving only the echo of a shocking moan. Another filed down a weed-choked subway entrance, howling with a laughter that was mad. My own column was sucked toward the open country, and presently I felt a chill which was not of the hot autumn; for as we stalked out on the dark moor, we beheld around us the hellish moon-glitter of evil snows. Trackless, inexplicable snows, swept asunder in one direction only, where lay a gulf all the blacker for its glittering walls. The column seemed very thin indeed as it plodded dreamily into the gulf. I lingered behind, for the black rift in the green-litten snow was frightful, and I thought I had heard the reverberations of a disquieting wail as my companions vanished; but my power to linger was slight. As if beckoned by those who had gone before, I half-floated between the titanic snowdrifts, quivering and afraid, into the sightless vortex of the unimaginable.

Nyarlathotep

Nyarlathotep turns a man into a cat:

Nyarlathotep morphs a man's face, covering his eyes and mouth with another layer of skin: