Maddened Aberrant (Basic Lore)

Maddened Aberrant (CR 19)
True Chaotic - Large - Humanoid (Outsider, Aberration)
It is widely accepted among most intelligent creatures, at a very general level, that the world we all live in is balanced upon the surface of a much larger, darker, and far more terrible reality called the Outer Madness. Most people have little understanding of Planes, and in the minds of most people, Demons, Devils, Aberrations, and most 'weird' monsters are part of this terrifying background reality. However, there are always those who think that 'larger and more terrible' means, 'a convenient way to get power'. As a result, all over the world, in every race, creed, and culture, civilized or not, there are those with far too much greed and far too little wisdom who seek out this Deep Darkness and pledge themselves to it. The Creeping Madness is easy to access, easy to draw upon...and insanely dangerous. A fair number of those who attempt this foolish act are consumed utterly by their very first sup of that dark well, their lives, essence, souls, and flesh consumed entire. Many of those luckless fools do not quietly disappear, however. Maddened Aberrants are those creatures, with the Spark or without, who have reached out to the Madness, and not only survived, they have grown exalted. Aberrants are abominations, horrifically twisted, warped, and mutated, their minds filled with the ecstasy of the Great Void. Some Maddened Aberrants are likely to be Maddened Reavers or Maddened Fanatics who have survived and grown and been granted greater gifts by the Deep Dark. Other Aberrants were created new and whole, as their exposure to True Thought tears them from humanity to Other in one horrible, ecstatic wrench. Aberrants have warped and grown awful due to their corruption, as evidenced by their vast, misshapen bulk. They are far too large to pass as any civilized race, but they can still sometimes mask their deformities with large enough obstacles, or large, shapeless clothing, to blend in at least a little with some races of Giants, or pass (poorly) as a beast of burden...in the dark...from a distance. Maddened Aberrants are often drawn from the Civilized Races, people who should have known better, but many large 'monstrous' races are also commonly sources for Aberrants. It is possible for Ogres, Hobgoblins, and Giants, among others, to be subsumed by the Outer Madness, and thus become Maddened Aberrants. Maddened Aberrants, like all of the Maddened, are united in their allegiance to the Endless Night, the Dark Sweet Depths that lie Outside. They are not terribly organized, but they act, vaguely and constantly, to tear down civilization, destroy all the structures of the world, material and social, for good and for ill. They lurk and plot, they poison, murder, and ruin, they steal and burn, everything. Maddened Aberrants are terrible juggernauts of bleak, writhing woe, and they will attack anything, civilized or monster, if they think it will lead them to the Final Truth: All things must fall to the Dark, sooner or later. Maddened Aberrants are far more introspective than other Maddened, although their allegiance to the Pure Bleak Woe is absolute. Aberrants seek to always press forward the end of all, but they are not talkative, even with other Maddened, and they tend to be 'deep thinkers', although the paths their thoughts roam are unknowable to the sane. Aberrants are able to transform themselves into completely inhuman pools of deadly, wriggling palps, scutes, and tentacles, and their power is vast. Aberrants tend to allow Fanatics, Mavens, Magnates, or even Reavers to choose where their attacks will be directed, being far more interested in sowing destruction and contemplating their internal landscapes than plotting.