The Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign Vs. the Mi-Go

[1d8+DB]

So I'm playing with the idea of a steam-punk COC campaign/alt. history campaign.

The main plot-pivot will be the war between the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign and the Mi-Go (mentioned in

"The Whisperer In Darkness" and some of the Delta Green stuff).

The Brotherhood is sponsoring the Western Empires (England, France, and the United States), while the Mi-Go are patrons of the absolute monarchies of the East (Russia, China, and Japan).

The "permissive" democracies of the west allow for more individual alienation and nihilism, to be exploited by the Brotherhood.

The problem I'm having is the ultimate motivations of the Mi-Go. They're here to mine and stick brains in Mi-Go cannisters. There are very few minerals on earth that aren't abundant in space, so why are the Mi-Go here? What exactly are they fighting the Brotherhood for?

I'm thinking that human gray matter is the resource they're most interested in exploiting, but to what purpose? What are they going to do with all those brains?

Anybody out there use the Mi-Go regularly? What ultimate motives do you ascribe to them (granting that they're profundly alien in outlook)?

[rust]

I'm thinking that human gray matter is the resource they're most interested in exploiting, but to what purpose? What are they going to do with all those brains?

In Chaosium's old Dreamlands box was an adventure named Pickman's Student

where the Mi-Go use human brains to feed a Seed of Azathoth in order to cre-

ate another Great Old One named Ghadamon. The Brotherhood of the Yellow

Sign might well want to prevent the creation of this Great Old One, because

such a powerful servant or ally would make the Mi-Go almost invincible.

[1d8+DB]

OK. What I've come up with is the Mi-Go planning to use human brains as living grimoires. This, along with their attempts to 'tame' the remaining Shoggoths, threatens the existing balance of power on earth.

[Darius West]

I have always loved this part of the Mythos and it is a heavy part of my current campaign.

I play that the Mi-go winged crustacean body is just one of many they use, but a versatile one good for space exploration.  I also make the Mi-go infectious rather like John Carpenter's "The Thing", and able to mind control people via ear slugs a la "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".  They are skilled doctors and happily transfer each other's nervous systems from body to body.  The actual "fungi from Yuggoth" is their base form and is a sort of naturally occurring nanotech  stem cell derived from the remains of Ubbo Sathla.

I play the Brotherhood as morally degenerate individuals from the technologically advanced but deeply disgusting society of Kn'yan, who are like the Aztecs and the Romans combining their worst cultural traits with the added bonus of super science/magic/ Old ones.  My Brotherhood have infiltrated the US government, and are the "men in black".  Strangely, the Bavarian Illuminati barely know who they are and are very scared of them.  They use a series of technologies in the field based on globes.  They have an internet based on globe relays optimally spaced about 1 mile apart.  If you kill them their bodies turn into blue-gray dust in a suit.  They also have low powered sonic disintegrators, but they aren't great weapons and they are primarily used for disposing of bodies.  Of course their best weapons vs the Mi-go are their gas globes, that disrupt Mi-go sufficiently to permanently kill them... not like Akeley's poor dogs... ever wonder why the Mi-go keep coming in that story?... ever wonder why they leave the bodies and they just decay into nothing?  Fungal nanotech.  And the Brotherhood has tried to create a human spin on these technologies.  Most Brotherhood members spend their off-time observing gladiatorial dinosaur fights which they are totally addicted to.  They also can't die because they are just in downloaded powder matrix bodies.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Darius West

[auyl]

I've always liked to think that what the Mi-go are mining is a mineral that can for now only be found on Earth that is critical to Mi-go survivability. This mineral is worthless to humans but for purpose of your alt. history maybe the greatest deposits of said mineral are in North America making the Mi-go wanting to displace the Brotherhood.

[Darius West]

In terms of what Mi-go mine, the two substances mentioned are Blue john (from The Fungi from Yuggoth Campaign), and Tokl (from Ramsey Campbell).  They also conduct investigations into Ubbo Sathla sites on Earth (from Return to Dunwich).  I am inclined to think that they taught human beings the resurrection spell and that it involves Blue John as the blue powder mentioned in the Disturbing Case of Charles Dexter Ward.  That is a syncretic assumption though.

[Mike M]

Wikipedia:

Blue John (also known as Derbyshire Spar) is a semi-precious mineral, a form of fluorite with bands of a purple-blue or yellowish colour. In the UK it is found only at Blue John Cavern and Treak Cliff Cavern at Castleton in Derbyshire. During the 19th century, it was mined for its ornamental value, and mining continues on a small scale. Deposits of fluorite have been recently found in China with colouring and banding similar to the classic Blue John stone.

A "lost" deposit was rediscovered in Treak Cliff Cavern in 2013, and in 2015 a new vein, the first for 150 years, was discovered close to the tourist route in the same cavern.

 

I live down the road from Derbyshire. Despite best attempts, I've not yet encountered a mi-go there ; )

 

[Darius West]

You raise a good point and I am aware of fluorite Derbyshire Spar ( I think there is also some in China from memory), as I have looked up Blue John before.  I suspect that rather like "the crow" or "duelech" or "the eagle", it is alchemical shorthand for something else.  It is a pretty material though, and it might be the Mi-go have a sense of aesthetics...or it could be that you are working for them...