Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia Read online

  The Order was decimated in the government raid on Innsmouth in 1928. Other secret branches of this church still exist elsewhere, and a charitable organization with the same title might be affiliated with the cult.

  [This particular organization must not be confused with two other groups of the same name, one of which is a small amateur press club and another an organization of Lovecraftian magical practitioners.]

  See Allen, Zadok; Atlach-Nacha; Codex Dagonensis; Dagon; deep ones; Devil’s Reef; Innsmouth; Marsh, Obed; Ponape Scripture. (“The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, Lovecraft (O); Escape from Innsmouth, Ross; Arkham Horror, Launius, Willis, and Krank.)

  THE ETHICS OF YGOR. Book written in Latin by an unknown author. The Ethics gives the meanings of such things as the Magnetic Ring and the Great White Space. It also possibly provides a map of the route leading to the latter.

  See Great White Space. (The Great White Space, Copper (O).)

  EXHAM. English town near Anchester and east of the Severn River Valley. Despite its large number of used bookshops and other antiquarian attractions, Exham receives very few visitors.

  The town’s most famous landmark was Exham Priory, a place of great architectural interest inhabited at one time by the Barons Exham but deserted during the reign of James I after one of the family’s sons massacred all his kin. Three months later, a horde of rats emerged from the place, eating two people and numerous livestock before dispersing.

  The Priory was bought by a descendent of the family in 1918 and restored, but a hideous murder and the heir’s insanity led to the senseless dynamiting of the structure. The area is now the corporate park of a Fortune 500 company.

  See de la Poer. (“The Moon-Lens”, Campbell; “The Rats in the Walls”, Lovecraft (O); Cthulhu Live: Lost Souls, Salmon.)

  EXIOR K’MOOL. Former apprentice of Mylakhrion and Theem’hdra’s third most powerful mage, after his former master and Teh Atht. At first a mere fortune-teller and philter-manufacturer, Exior was inexplicably made Mylakhrion’s apprentice and took over his master’s advisory post to the King of Humquass when Mylakhrion left to pursue immortality. After a while, Exior too made his search for eternal life, making the same bargain Mylakhrion had made with the Great Old Ones. Exior thought he could avoid his former master’s fate, but in the end he was overwhelmed when Nyarlathotep came to deal with him personally, destroying the wizard’s home and the ruined city of Humquass in the process.

  See Mylakhrion; Theem’hdra. (Elysia, Lumley; “The Sorcerer’s Book”, Lumley (O).)

  EYE KILLERS. See Ossadogwah.

  EYE OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS. Sigil created only on the night of the full moon. At moonrise, the pupil of the Eye must be filled with the blood of an innocent, and a chant must be maintained by a large group of people until the morning. When properly enchanted, the eye will protect the land within ten miles from the forces of evil. This sigil may be removed, but it requires the discovery of another enchantment individual to each Eye created.

  The formula for creating the Eye of Light and Darkness can be found in a complete edition of the fifth scroll of the Cryptical Books of Hsan.

  See Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan. (Masks of Nyarlathotep, DiTillo and Willis (O).)

  EYE OF SITAR (also DAEMON HEART). Ruby of 78 carats that some say is cursed. The explorer “Buck” Shott brought it out of Central Africa in the 1850s. After his murder in 1874, an English jeweller bought the gem, but was killed shortly thereafter. A German businessman bought it in 1910, but it disappeared in San Francisco while on tour in 1922. It later turned up at a Los Angeles museum, but vanished from there as well. It is said to have the power to return the dead to life.

  (“The Wild Hunt”, Ballon; “The Eye of Sitar”, Tschida (O).)

  EYE OF TSATHOGGUA. Mystical gem or gems mentioned in the Book of Eibon. The Eye can be found in an underground temple of Tsathoggua. The toad-god spent many aeons staring at its beauty, thereby infusing the gem with its essence. A human who places the Eye in an empty eye socket becomes a focus for the power of Tsathoggua, either being able to take in the blood of sacrifices and exert its power upon the world.

  (Selected Letters IV, Lovecraft (O); “The Baleful God”, Pugmire; “O, Baleful Theophany”, Pugmire.)

  EYE OF UBBO-SATHLA (also TREGARDIS CRYSTAL and MEZZAMALECH STONE). Cloudy sphere with flattened ends discovered by the wizard Zon Mezzamalech of Hyperborea. The London occultist Paul Tregardis may have purchased this crystal from a curiosity shop. If so, it disappeared at the same time he did. The Washington Museum of Natural History kept it on display for decades, its true nature unknown, until it was stolen recently. It might have turned up in another shop in London where it was destroyed by fire.

  Looking into the Eye brings visions of the past, though it is important not to go too far back into time, lest the person vanish into the past. Tsathoggua might have some influence over this device, using it to cause mysterious blazes near the Eye.

  (“The Sphinx of Abormis”, Cornford; “The Source and the End”, Jones; “Fire”, Larson; “Ubbo-Sathla”, Smith (O).)

  EYE OF ZEUS. See Polar Star.

  F

  FABLE OF NYARLATHOTEP. The history of Nyarlathotep’s rise to power, the forgetfulness of his worshipers, and his eventual return. The high priests of Egypt’s orthodox faiths suppressed this fable, but it has survived until the present nevertheless.

  (“The Faceless God”, Bloch (O); “The Grinning Ghoul”, Bloch.)

  FACELESS GOD. See Nyarlathotep (Faceless God).

  FALCON POINT. Peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean a few miles south of Innsmouth, and named for the large number of raptors that may be seen there. This place was the home of the fisherman Enoch Conger before his disappearance, and his ruined house may still be seen there.

  (“The Fisherman of Falcon Point”, Derleth and Lovecraft (O).)

  FALLWORTH, (PROFESSOR) ELIPHAS CORDVIP. Professor-Emeritus at Miskatonic University, and founder of modern medieval metaphysics. Fallworth has been conducting work on occult subjects since the early 1920s. Those interested in the impact of Fallworth’s scholarship are advised to consult Fallworth Festscrift (1987, Miskatonic University Press), a collection of essays in his honor.

  [Those who study Professor Fallworth’s full name may come to a startling conclusion.]

  (“Miskatonic University Graduate Kit”, Petersen and Willis (O); S. Petersen’s Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands, Petersen et. al.)

  FATE, THE. Criminal organization based in New York City. The Fate began as a club of spiritualists headed by parapsychologist Otto Schmidt and the mysterious Madame A. After a murder on their premises in 1930, Schmidt and Madame A went underground, using magic to establish a foothold in the New York crime scene. Their fame and reputation grew until they were seen as a threat, and in 1951, Madame A was rubbed out in a Mafia hit.

  Two years later, the Fate appeared again, with the mysterious Stephen Alzis at its head. When the dust cleared, Alzis and his cadre of wizards were the effective heads of organized crime in New York, though they rarely made their influence felt. The Fate is headquartered at the city’s most notorious nightspot, Club Apocalypse, where almost anything can be had—for a price.

  (Delta Green, Detwiller, Glancy, and Tynes (O); The Fate, Detwiller with Ivey.)

  FAVEOLATE COLOSSI. See Zone of the Thirteen Faveolate Colossi.

  FEASTER FROM THE STARS. See Yomagn’tho.

  FEERY, JOACHIM (?-1934). Son of Baron Kant and noted researcher of the occult. Feery published many limited-edition books containing quotes from such books as the Cthaat Aquadingen and De Vermis Mysteriis. His most famous works were his Notes on the Necronomicon, Notes on the Cthaat Aquadingen, and A Study of the Book of Dzyan. Though the author said he had taken his quotes for his books from the original works, there are often many discrepancies between Feery’s versions and the originals. When readers called these contradictions to his attention, Feery declared he had gained this “extra” occult knowledge through
his dreams. Because of this, his books have fallen into scholarly disfavor.

  See Kant, Ernst; Necronomicon (appendices); Notes on the Cthaat Aquadingen; Notes on the Necronomicon; Original Notes on the Necronomicon; Study of the Book of Dzyan. (Keeper’s Compendium, Herber; “Aunt Hester”, Lumley; “The Fairground Horror”, Lumley; “An Item of Supporting Evidence”, Lumley (O).)

  FERENCZY. Family that dwelt for centuries in a fortress in Halmagiu, a region of Transylvania. The legends of the cruel depredations of this family, especially those of Faethor and Janos Ferenczy, may still be heard there today. After the last Ferenczy died, the castle was abandoned.

  Hundreds of years later, another man took up residence in the castle, claiming to be the lineal descendant of the Ferenczys. He began a new line of barons who lasted for almost two hundred years and became as infamous as those of old. The last Baron Ferenczy was about to be summoned by the Rumanian government to account for his actions when an explosion leveled the castle.

  See Hutchinson, Edward. (“The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”, Lovecraft (O); Deadspeak, Lumley.)

  FIRE OF ASSHURBANIPAL. Gem found in the ruins of Kara-Shehr in the hands of a long-dead king. Legend has it that the wizard Xuthltan brought the gem out of Hell. Evil befell the land, and the king blamed the sorcerer, torturing him to death. With his last breath, his victim called the vengeance of the stone’s guardian down upon that land. Wanderers in the desert tell of finding the palace’s throne room with the mummified king sitting in his throne, the stone in his hand.

  The gem could be used to scry the future, but only by a powerful magician who could bind the demon who guarded the stone.

  (“The Wild Hunt”, Ballon, “The Fire of Asshurbanipal”, Howard (O).)

  FIRE VAMPIRES (also FLAME CREATURES OF CTHUGHA). 1) Beings resembling thousands of pinpoints of firelight who serve the Great Old One Cthugha. Fire vampires come to earth when Cthugha is summoned, forming an escort for their ruler. They may be called up individually when Fomalhaut is in the sky and a flame moved in a prescribed manner. When summoned, they attempt to ignite any flammable materials present. See Cthugha; Lesser Old Ones. (“The Dweller in Darkness”, Derleth (O); Call of Cthulhu Rulebook, Petersen and Willis.)

  2) Creatures resembling red flashes of lightning. They dwell with their lord Fthaggua on the planetoid Ktynga, on which they travel through the cosmos, seeking out intelligent life from which they may draw energy.

  The attack of a fire vampire is heralded by a flash of crimson lightning, and leaves the victim destroyed by what appears to be spontaneous human combustion. Not only does this attack provide the fire vampire with the energy it requires to survive, it also bestows upon the victorious creature all of the target’s memories. Fire vampires seem to possess a hive mentality, so that all other vampires, as well as Fthaggua, gain knowledge whenever someone is killed by the vampires. Using this information, Fthaggua and his minions plot their strategy for subjugating worlds to provide themselves with a ready source of energy. See Fthaggua; Fthagguans; Ktynga. (“Zoth-Ommog”, Carter; “The Fire-Vampires”, Wandrei (O).)

  [The fire vampires originally appear in Wandrei’s story as the lightning-like servants of Fthaggua. The Call of Cthulhu game uses the name to refer to the servitors of Cthugha in Derleth’s “The Dweller in Darkness”, the interpretation with which most readers are familiar.]

  FISCHBUCH. Book written by Konrad von Germer and published in 1598. It deals mostly with mundane marine life, but the author also expresses his belief in aquatic beings called “the deep ones”.

  (“Name and Number”, Lumley (O); “Fischbuchs”, Ross.)

  FISCHER, GEORG REUTER. See Tunneler Below.

  FISHERS FROM OUTSIDE. Creatures from outer space which the explorer Slauenwaite credited with building the ruins of Zimbabwe. These beings presumably at one time had a great interstellar empire, of which the Zimbabwe cities are only the merest outposts. The Fishers may serve Tsathoggua and Cthulhu. Some have stated that the Fishers are shantaks, though these are usually considered to be unintelligent and thought to live only to the Dreamlands. Whatever the true nature of the Fishers, the natives realize the danger of such places, and shun them whenever possible.

  See Gol-goroth; Remnants of Lost Empires; Voormish Tablets; Winged Ones. (“The Fishers from Outside”, Carter; “The Outpost”, Lovecraft (O); “Winged Death”, Heald and Lovecraft.)

  FLAME CREATURES OF CTHUGHA. See fire vampires.

  FLY-THE-LIGHT. See Nyarlathotep (Haunter of the Dark).

  FLYING POLYPS (also ELDER BEINGS, ELDER THINGS or POLYPOUS RACE). Species which teleported to Earth, Yaksh, Tond, and one other planet in our solar system around six hundred million years ago from the Ogntlach solar system. Details of this race are sketchy, but they seem to be able to make themselves invisible at will, leave five-toed tracks, and are able to control winds in some way not fully understood. (The latter has suggested an alliance between the polyps and the Zarrians.)

  While on this world, the flying polyps built great basalt towers in which to live. They attempted to expand into the ocean, but the Elder Things fought them off. From then on the polyps confined their activities to land. After a few million years, however, the Great Race of Yith possessed the minds of the conical beings upon which the polyps preyed. The Race struck against the polyps, using lightning guns that played off the species’ vulnerability to electricity to drive the creatures beneath the ground. Afterward the Great Race sealed off all but a few of the entrances into the caverns. It is believed that the entire polyp race was in the middle of its mating cycle at this time, causing resistance to the Great Race to be minimal.

  (According to some sources, this was not the Great Race’s first encounter with these beings. In fact, the flying polyps might have been pursuing the Great Race in hopes of destroying them. Others, however, consider the meeting on Earth to have been the species’ first encounter.)

  The flying polyps did not require light to sense their surroundings, so their imprisonment did not unduly affect them. They built their towers in the vast chambers beneath the ground and waited for the time for their revenge. Fifty million years ago, the opportunity came. The polyps burst forth from the caverns, destroying the cities of the Great Race with their winds and massacring the Yithians. The Great Race, however, had already projected their minds forward into the future, so the flying polyps were ultimately unsuccessful in their endeavor.

  Following their triumph, the polyps returned to their caverns. Since then, this species has supposedly been in decline. In our own time, these creatures are few in number or extremely reluctant to come to the surface, though reports of increased expansion of their caverns have been made. On very rare occasions they might take control of a person’s lower nature, causing them to commit acts of violence during blackouts, but for the most part they ignore humanity. By the time the Great Race takes up residence in the insectoid intelligences of Earth’s future, the flying polyps will be extinct.

  See Elder Things; Great Race of Yith; Lloigornos; Pnakotic Pentagram. (“Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom”, Carter and Smith; Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game, Cook and Tynes; “The Horror from Yith”, DeBill; Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy, Detwiller; “The Shadow from Yith”, Gullette; “The Shadow Out of Time”, Lovecraft (O); Other Nations, Marsh and Marsh; “Beneath the Dunes”, Pons.)

  FORGOTTEN ONES. Beings that are either “entities” from Outside, or expressions of our primal subconscious needs and desires. Only by making contact with these beings, occultists say, may humanity be drawn to the next level of its spiritual evolution. It has been said that the Forgotten Ones are manifestations or microcosmic counterparts of the Great Old Ones, though their exact relationship remains uncertain.

  (“Return of the Elder Gods”, Anonymous (O); Outer Gateways, Grant.)

  FORMLESS SPAWN. Amorphous beings resembling pools of black tar. Their bodies may be manufactured from the congealed blood shed before the idols of Tsathoggua. These beings can shapeshift
to whatever form allows them to catch their prey, flowing down a stone trough at one instant and walking on huge stilt-like legs the next. If commanded, they can even take on a human-like form, though some work must be done to allow them to pass for a person. They are usually encountered in N’kai and other caverns, though they may also turn up in surface temples to their lord.

  See Kythamil. (“The Mound”, Lovecraft and Bishop; “The Tale of Satampra Zeiros”, Smith (O); “Servile”, Thomas; Necronomicon, Tyson.)

  FOURTH BOOK OF D’HARSIS. Book written by D’harsis, one of the Dreamlands’ greatest wizards. The only known copy is kept in the library of the Temple of the Elder Gods at Ulthar. The Fourth Book includes information on the entity Fly-the-Light and the evil queen Yath-Lhi, and possibly the formula for the Barrier of Naach-Tith. D’harsis wrote at least eleven books, but these are even more rare than the Fourth.

  (“A-Mazed in Oriab”, Lumley; “Dylath-Leen”, Lumley (O); The Dreaming Stone, Ross.)

  FOWLER, GOODY. Witch best known for the potions she brewed in her small cottage near Arkham. Fowler was lynched in 1704. Her ghost is said to haunt Hangman’s Hill in Arkham.

  See Arkham. (Arkham Unveiled, Herber et. al.; “The Silver Key”, Lovecraft (O); “Through the Gates of the Silver Key”, Lovecraft and Price.)

  FRANKLYN, ROLAND (?-1967). Leader of a Brichester cult in the mid-1960s. Almost nothing is known of his past. It is believed that he attended Brichester University, but if this is true he was later expelled from that institution. In 1963 he became the head of a small sect of young men from the Brichester area. The cult advocated heavy drug use, and often made journeys to places of occult power in the Severn River Valley. This organization is also believed to have stolen Brichester University’s copy of the Revelations of Glaaki around this time.