Millennia ago, the fabled world of Shaggai was destroyed. This Map represents the struggles and events surrounding that disaster, in which entities of cosmic power feasted on the catastrophe while seeking to avoid their own oblivion.

Set up the Map in the same way you would with the Cthulhu Wars Earth Map. The oceans are organized in a single band around Shaggai’s equator and all have the words “Ocean Belt” in their titles.

The First Player places any one Worm of Ghroth figure into the Area labeled "The Worm that Gnaws in the Night". After all other Doom Phase events:

DEGRADE WORMS: Roll one Worm Degradation die for each player. Each Worm has a number on its base; each Worm whose number corresponds to a rolled result is removed from the Map & replaced with an Eradication token. If no Worm matches any rolled result, no Eradication Markers are placed. For example, in the first Doom Phase of a 4-player game, four dice would be rolled. If the starting Worm has a 3 on its base and one or more dice turned up as “3,” that Worm would be Eradicated.

In each newly-Eradicated Area:

1. Remove any Gate, Cathedral, or other game marker (such as the Ice Age Marker). If a removed Gate was Controlled by a player, that player earns 1 Elder Sign. A removed Cathedral provides 1 Doom to the Ancients’ player.
2. Eliminate all Units. Those Units’ owners receive 1 Power for each of their Units so Eliminated. Each Faction Great Old One that is Eliminated also provides its owner with 1 Elder Sign. (Since Yog-Sothoth counts as a Gate, he provides 1 Power and 2 Elder Signs if Eliminated).

PLACE NEW WORMS: Beginning with the Starting Player, each player places one Worm either adjacent to the Worm that Gnaws in the Night Area, or adjacent to any already-Eradicated Area. Only one Worm may be placed in an Area. If there are no more Worms or legal Areas by the time this segment gets around to a given player, that player and any after him do not place any Worms.

WORM EFFECTS

The Worms of Ghroth

Aside from being replaced by Eradication Markers (and effects!) at the end of the Doom Phase, the Worms by themselves do nothing. They are merely harbingers of a possible Eradication. The Worms cannot be Battled, Eliminated, or otherwise interacted with in any way.

The Cosmic Power

A player Controlling a Gate in an Area that contains a Worm can tap into the Cosmic Power. As an Action, you can place any Spellbook (including those of the Independent Great Old Ones) simply by spending 6 Power instead of meeting that Spellbook’s requirement. Thanks to the Cosmic Power, you need never fear Eradication depriving you of a potential Spellbook. It’s usually cheaper to earn Spellbooks the old fashioned way, though.

In addition, when you Control a Gate in an Area with a Worm, you may bypass Area restrictions on Awakening or Summoning your Units by paying 2 additional Power (all other Awakening or Summoning requirements must still be met).

By Controlling a Gate in a Worm’s Area, the Cosmic Power also allows the Ancients’ Cathedrals to be placed similarly. For example, you can Create a second Cathedral in an Area with by paying 2 extra Power. This also means the Ancients can earn Spellbooks via substitution. If the Ancients have not yet earned the Spellbook requirement for placing a Cathedral in an Area with , they may need to use the Cosmic Power Action of spending 6 Power to attain it.

Eradication Marker Effects

Once an Eradication Marker has been placed in an Area, no Units or gameplay pieces may be Moved or placed into that Area. Such Areas are completely gone. Spellbooks and abilities that involuntarily Move enemy Units may not Move (or Retreat, etc.) them into Eradicated Areas.

Moving Through Eradication

If you have Units adjacent to an Eradicated Area, you may Move through that Area, in effect “skipping over it” to another Area adjacent to it. However, one of the Units making the Move is Eliminated when you do this (so don’t Move a single Unit over an Eradicated Area!). You can Move any number of Units over any number of Eradicated Areas, and from multiple Areas, and still lose only 1 Unit in total for that entire Move Action.

Movement-like abilities and Spellbooks which let you relocate without passing through Areas do not cause you to lose a Unit. Thus, Submerge or Avatar do not cost a Unit to use, even if travel originates in an Area surrounded by Eradication tokens. However, Move-like abilities which do not “teleport” (such as Screaming Dead) do force the user to Eliminate a Unit.

Units cannot be Retreated into or through Eradicated Areas. If Units cannot be retreated, then one Unit is Eliminated as per the normal Battle rule.

The World’s End (fewer than 2 Areas per player)

It is possible for a Shaggai game to reach the point that the world is basically falling apart, making it difficult to win. If the total of non-Eradicated Areas ever reaches fewer than 2 per player (e.g., less than 6 Areas in a 3 player game), then the game immediately ends and the player with the most Doom wins, as long as he also has all 6 Spellbooks.

If the game ends, and no player has all 6 Spellbooks, then no one wins. Shaggai’s final catastrophe ruins it for everyone.