Mi-Go

"The Outer Beings are perhaps the most marvelous organic things in or beyond all space and time—members of a cosmos-wide race of which all other life-forms are merely degenerate variants."

- A letter to Albert N. Wilmarth, attributed to Henry Akeley.

The Mi-Go; a.k.a. the Outer Ones, Outer Beings and similar monikers; are an ancient species of life forms made out of non-ordinary matter. Their intergalactic civilization encompasses multiple closely-related subspecies and spans over countless star systems.

They're notable for their brain-extracting practices and for the fact that, due to the physical properties of the matter that makes up their bodies, they cannot be filmed or photographed. They are skilled at body modification, often altering organs and body structures on a whim. Their mentality is very different from humanity's, and it is nearly impossible for Humans to understand these creatures.

Biology
The physical appearance of the Mi-Go differs depending on location, as there are actually numerous varieties, including some that are wingless. The Mi-Go that colonized the Vermont hills physically resemble pinkish crustaceanoids, about 1.5 meters in length, with multiple pairs of articulated limbs, and a pair of large membranous wings. Their heads are shaped like an ellipsoid, covered in a multitude of short feelers or antennae, and they can change the color of their heads to communicate, even though they're also capable of both vocalization and telepathy. Their blood is a green, sticky and foul-smelling fluid.

These Mi-Go are more suited to living in the dark emptiness of outer space, and their wings have developed exclusively for space flight; possibly by acting as solar sails, much in the same way as the wings of the Elder Things. They can survive in the cold airless space vacuum for seemingly indefinite periods. On a planet like Earth, the Mi-Go's wings are useful only for gliding over short distances. They seem to have a preference for hills and mountainous habitats, although whether this has anything to do with environmental preferences or being more easily concealed from Humans is not known. Earth gravity doesn't seem to bother them too much, as they're capable of walking bipedally while using their forelegs to carry objects with them, although otherwise they seem to prefer to walk on all legs. Each of their legs terminates in claw-like appendages. Their "footprints" (claw-prints) are notable in that, due to their alien conformation, it's not easy to discern in which direction the creature was walking. They're not accustomed to sunlight, which can cause discomfort and even harm them to some degree, as they feel more comfortable in the darkness lit only by starlight. For this reason, Mi-Go that are active on Earth tend to become nocturnal. They are, in fact, completely blind, and perceive the world by "subtler senses".

In terms of biology, they have more in common with vegetation and fungi than they do with animal life. Despite being often described as fungi, they differ from Earth fungi in some notable aspects, such as the presence of a substance analogous to chlorophyll and what has been described as "a very singular nutritive system". While the chlorophyll-like substance suggests that they might be capable of photosynthesis, their aversion to sunlight suggests that they'd use only starlight for that. They also bring food with them in their space travels, which presumably supplies them with nutrients.

One of the strangest properties of the Mi-Go is that their bodies are made of a different and unknown type of matter. Specifically, their electrons vibrate in a different frequency. Despite being visible to the naked eye and interacting normally with the world (e.g. leaving claw-prints on soil), their bodies cannot be photographed, and appear invisible to the camera. When they die, their bodies evaporate a few hours afterwards, leaving no traces. Another effect of their physical composition is that they cannot consume Earth food.

Culture and society
The civilization of the Outer Ones is incredibly old and spans over an enormous territory including both colonies and remote mining outposts, such as Earth. The world known as Yuggoth (believed to be the same dwarf planet that Humans call Pluto) has been fully colonized by them. Their cities on Yuggoth are described as "great tiers of terraced towers built of black stone" over the ruins of a previous, long-extinct civilization. As a sightless species, their buildings have no windows.

On Earth, the Mi-Go are present in remote locations, including the Vermont hills and the Himalayas. They're only present on the planet to mine for a certain metal, and prefer to conceal themselves from most Humans, although they have allied themselves with certain individuals that serve as their spies and agents.

Their technology and surgical sciences are extremely advanced, to the point that members of this species will casually engage in surgery for relatively trivial reasons, such as adjusting their vocal chords to become capable of speaking Human languages. Among themselves, the Mi-Go communicate either by telepathy or by changing the color of their heads.

Although their religious practices are not very well known, the Mi-Go seem to worship a large pantheon of deities, including Cthulhu, Tsathoggua, Shub-Niggurath, Azathoth, Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth; the latter known to them as "the Beyond-One". Conversely, the Mi-Go are considered blood enemies of the Human cult of Hastur, which has dedicated themselves to tracking down and exterminating the Mi-Go on Earth.

Brain Cylinders
One of the most notable developments of the Mi-Go are the brain cylinders, which are used to extract the brains of any living creature, either Mi-Go or other species, and keep them alive inside metallic cylinders, while the rest of the body is similarly preserved in stasis.

Since other species are not capable of traveling through space by themselves like the (winged) Mi-Go, they commonly use this procedure to enable their associates of other species as well as their wingless brethren to travel to other worlds and star systems. The brains kept inside the cylinders are connected to special equipment that allows them to experience sensations such as (in the case of Human brains) sight and hearing, as well as to produce speech. When the cylinder is disconnected, the brain enters a sleep-like state of unawareness.

History
The Mi-Go arrived on Earth during the Jurassic period, fighting off attacks from the Elder Things and eventually settling in the northern hemisphere. They have gradually lost terrain, and today they inhabit the Andes, Himalayas, and Appalachians.

Appearances

 * The Whisperer in the Darkness, by H.P. Lovecraft
 * At the Mountains of Madness, by H.P. Lovecraft
 * Through the Gates of the Silver Key, by H.P. Lovecraft
 * S. Peterson's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters, by Sandy Peterson
 * Eldritch Skies (Savage World Edition) Roleplaying Game, by Battlefield Press
 * Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, by Paizo Press
 * CthulhuTech Roleplaying, by Sandstorm Productions
 * Delta Green Roleplaying Game, by Pelgrane Press

Pathfinder Mi-Go
In Paizo Publishing's "Pathfinder" universe, countless worlds throughout the galaxy have been colonized by the Mi-Go and their numbers are endless. Masters of both magic and technology, the Mi-Go have merged them to create impossible devices that shape reality. Any world that possesses sentient life of interest to the Mi-Go, is infiltrated by the Mi-Go who manipulate the species to better serve the agenda of the Mi-Go. The ultimate goal of the Mi-Go is to become the masters of the universe.

Eldritch Skies Mi-Go
In Savage Worlds' "Eldritch Skies" universe, the Mi-Go are the Milky Way's dominant spacefaring power and control hundreds of worlds within 1,200 light years of Earth. The Mi-Go oppose the Great Old Ones, considering them a destructive force in the cosmos and therefore constantly monitor their dimensional prison, to make sure the Old Ones don't get out. It's because of their fear and hatred of the Old Ones that the Mi-Go maintain relations with mankind and have even provided them with technology, due to the fact that R'lyeth is located on Earth.

Delta Green Mi-Go
In Pelgrane Press' "Delta Green" universe, mankind has been manipulated by the Mi-Go for millennia. It's not known why the Mi-Go have been manipulating human society, its governments and corporations, and so on. At present they control the United States via an alliance with Majestic-12, a secret government organization. Majestic-12 itself knows very little about the Mi-Go, but they are aware that they are active elsewhere in the cosmos.

When it comes to the Great Old Ones, the Mi-Go are in opposition to the eldritch entities. They envy the power the Old Ones have over energy but despise them as the Mi-Go are a force for Order while the Old Ones are a force for Chaos. It's the goal of the Mi-Go to learn how to manipulate all types of energy, including magic. Over time they have become quite skilled at manipulating energy but their ability pales in comparison to that of the Old Ones. The ultimate goal of the Mi-Go is not be become transcendent beings like the Old Ones but to continue evolving and one day become gods.

CthulhuTech Mi-Go
In Sandstorm Productions' "CthulhuTech" universe, the Migou control a vast intergalactic empire. In the solar system, the Mi-Go have a worldship, that mankind knows as the dwarf planet Pluto. The Migou are at war with mankind, both with its colonies in the solar system and with Earth itself. In the mid 21st century, they attempted to enslave it with a genetically engineered human slave army in an earlier war. In which Earth was devastated and approximately 40% of its population killed, until the slave army revolted and defected to the humans.

A decade later, the Migou decided to conquer Earth themselves and started another devastating war. In the process conquering the polar regions, Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, Scandinavia, Tasmania, most of Russia, and a good chunk of Canada. Unfortunately for the Migou, within a few years of the campaign everything changed. The return of the Great Old Ones had begun, with the Hastur-controlled "Rapine Storm" and the Cthulhu-controlled "Esoteric Order of Dagon". The insane murderously sadistic hordes of the Rapine Storm have ravaged Central Asia, China, northern South Asia, and most of Southeast Asia. In turn the alliance of cultists and Deep Ones of the Esoteric Order of Dagon now controls the seas and most of the world's coastline. Mankind controls the rest, territory which is steadily shrinking in size, while the Nyarlathotep-controlled Chrysalis Corporation (the world's most powerful megacorp) undermines mankind from within. The Migou hate and fear the Old Ones, and realize what is happening, unfortunately due to the Migou and humans being completely different, they are unlikely to join forces against the Old Ones.