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Cthulhu Mythos deities

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In the Mouth of Madness
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« on: December 17, 2012, 10:58:13 pm »

Cthulhu Mythos deities


Writer H.P. Lovecraft created a number of fictional deities throughout the course of his literary career, including the "Great Old Ones" and the "Outer Gods", with sporadic references to other miscellaneous deities (e.g. Nodens). The Elder Gods are a later creation of writers such as August Derleth, who is credited with forming the Cthulhu Mythos.[1][2]

Great Old Ones

An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of mankind in the face of the cosmic horrors that apparently exist in the universe, with Lovecraft constantly referring to the "Great Old Ones": a loose pantheon of ancient, powerful deities from space who once ruled the Earth and who have since fallen into a death-like sleep.[3]

Lovecraft named several of these deities; Azathoth, Cthulhu, Ghatanothoa, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep and Yig. With the exception of Cthulhu, the remainder of this loose pantheon apparently dwelled in deep space. Worshipped by deranged human cults, these beings are currently imprisoned (beneath the sea, inside the Earth, and in distant planetary systems) and apparently eagerly await the time of their release. Although Lovecraft did establish this premise in his 1928 short story, The Call of Cthulhu with reference to the eponymous creature, it was Derleth who applied the notion to all of the Great Old Ones.
Table of Great Old Ones

This table is organized as follows:

    Name. This is the commonly accepted name of the Great Old One.

    Epithet(s), other name(s). This field lists any epithets or alternate names for the Great Old One. These are names that often appear in books of arcane literature, but may also be the names preferred by cults.

    Description. This entry gives a brief description of the Great Old One.

    References. This field lists the stories in which the Great Old One makes a significant appearance or otherwise receives important mention. Sources are denoted by a simple two-letter code from the Cthulhu Mythos reference codes and bibliography and the Cthulhu Mythos alphanumeric reference code and bibliography. A code appearing in bold means that the story introduces the Great Old One. If the code is given as comics or rpg it means that the Great Old One first appeared in the Call of Cthulhu Role playing Game or are mentioned/depicted in comics rather than novels.
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In the Mouth of Madness
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« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2012, 10:59:27 pm »

Great Old Ones Name    Epithet(s),
other name(s)    Description    References
Ammutseba    Devourer of Stars    A dark, cloudy mass with tentacles which absorbs falling stars.    LO, SK
Aphoom-Zhah    The Cold Flame,
Lord of the Pole    Appears much like Cthugha but grey, and cold.    AF, HG, LP
Arwassa    The Silent Shouter on the Hill    A humanoid torso with tentacles instead of limbs, and a short neck ending in a toothless, featureless mouth.    AY4
Atlach-Nacha    The Spider God,
Spinner in Darkness    A giant spider with a human-like face.    PS, AT,SG
Ayi'ig    The Serpent Goddess, Aeg, Aega    Daughter of Yig and the Outer Goddess Yidhra, appearing as a gigantic octopus-like horror with serpentine eyes and detachable tentacles which may move independently. She dwells in the cavern of a deep canyon somewhere in Texas.    ME
Aylith[4]    The Widow in the Woods, The Many-Mother    A tall, shadowy humanoid figure with yellow glowing eyes and strange protrusions like the branches of dead trees. She serves Shub-Niggurath.    TT13
Baoht Z'uqqa-Mogg    The Bringer of Pestilence    A huge, flying scorpion with an ant-like head.    MT4[5]
Basatan    Master of the Crabs    Not described, probably a humanoid crab or a gigantic crab.[6]    MC
B’gnu-Thun    The Soul-Chilling Ice-God    Appears as a cyanotic humanoid followed by an eerie blizzard.    CC2, SS2
Bokrug    The Great Water Lizard,
The Doom of Sarnath    Appears as a gigantic water lizard.    DC, SC
Bugg-Shash[7]    The Black One,
The Filler of Space,
He Who Comes in the Dark    Appears as a black, slimy mass covered in eyes and mouths, much like a Shoggoth.    DI, EL, KB, RS
Byatis    The Berkeley Toad,
Serpent-Bearded Byatis    Appears as a gigantic, multicolored toad with one eye, a proboscis, crab-like claws, and tentacles below the mouth.    BY, RC, SF
Chaat    The Dark Water God    A formless mass of shape-shifting water.    PS4, DV
Chaugnar Faugn    Horror from the Hills,
The Feeder,
Caug-Narfagn    A vampiric elephant-like humanoid with a mouth on the end of its trunk.    HF, HM, FO, RH
Cthaeghya    

   (Half-)sister of Cthulhu, which spawned the Star-Spawn of Cthulhu.    OO
Cthugha    The Living Flame,
The Burning One    Appears as a living conflagration.    DD, EL, HC, LM
Cthylla    Secret Daughter of Cthulhu    Appears as a huge winged octopus-like creature with six eyes.    ID, TC
Ctoggha    The Dream-Daemon    No description available.    GD4
Cyäegha    The Destroying Eye,
The Waiting Dark    Appears as a gigantic black mass of tentacles with a single green eye at the centre.    DM
Cynothoglys    The Mortician God, She Whose Hand Embalms    Appears as a formless mound with one arm-like appendage.    PR
The Dweller in the Gulf    Eidolon of the Blind    Appears as a huge, eyeless, black, soft-shelled tortoise with a triangular head and two whip-like tails, and suckers on the end of each tail.    WL
Dygra    The Stone-Thing    A jewel-facetted, semi-crystalline entity, with geodic tentacles.    CC2, SS2
Dythalla    Lord of Lizards    A gigantic saurian creature similar to Bokrug but with a mane of tentacles.[8]    LD5, BB3, SS2, TH4
Eihort    The Pale Beast,
God of the Labyrinth    Appears as a huge, pallid, gelatinous oval with a myriad legs and multiple eyes.    BS, FP
Ei'lor    The Star-Seed    A plant-like, parasitic horror dwelling on a jungle planet revolving around the green star Yifne and the dead star known as Baalblo (perhaps a white dwarf, a neutron star or another kind of stellar remnant).    CC2, EO, SS4, SS8
Etepsed Egnis[9]    

   A formless monstrosity with a huge, arm-like appendage.    EE, GS2
Ghadamon    A Seed of Azathoth    A bluish-brown, slimy monstrosity riddled with holes, and an occasional malformed head.    CD2
Ghisguth    The Sound of the Deep Waters    A titanic mass of jelly material.    PN, OO
Glaaki    The Inhabitant of the Lake,
Lord of Dead Dreams    Appears as a giant three-eyed slug with metallic spines, and tiny, pyramid-like feet underneath.    GL, IB, IL
Gloon[10]    The Corrupter of Flesh,
Master of the Temple, Glhuun    Usually manifests through a Dionysian sculpture, but its true form is that of a gigantic wattled slug-thing.    TE, MM, II
God of the Red Flux    

   A vaporous red entity haunting the rainforest of Central Africa. It has the power to turn humans in zombie-like servants, the Tree-Men of M'bwa.    MW
Gog-Hoor    Eater on the Insane    A giant entity dwelling in some reverse dimension, resembling a huge bullet with a long proboscis.    SC6
Gol-goroth    Golgoroth,
Gol-Goroth,
The Forgotten Old One,
God of the Black Stone, Golgoroð    Appears as a gigantic, black, toad-like creature with an impossibly malevolent glare, or a tentacled, scaled, bat-winged entity.    BP, FO, FR, GB
Golothess    

   An entity cut in ten pieces by Yig during a time of great battle (one of these pieces is an alabaster dish found in Egypt, dated back 1,300 BC). It resembles and has a similar domain as Greek god Bacchus.    YV
The Green God    The Horror Under Warrendown    A sentient plant-entity dwelling in subterranean caverns where it is always served by mutant rabbit-like worshipers.    HW2
Groth-Golka    The Demon Bird-God, The Bird-God of Balsagoð    A monstrous bird-like fiend with sharp teeth, dwelling beneath Antarctica, vaguely resembling an extinct Pterosaur.    FO, BP
Gtuhanai    The Destroyer God of the Aartna    A destructive entity manifesting as a ravenous metallic vortex. He seems to be another half-brother of Cthulhu like Hastur and related to the slug-like Glaaki too. He dwells somewhere in the Pleiades stellar region and when summoned he brings devastation.    FN
Gurathnaka    Eater of Dreams, Shadow of Night    A shadowy incorporeal entity dwelling in Dreamlands.    PV
Gzxtyos    

   The consort of Othuyeg, very similar to her bridegroom.    SD14, GS2
Han    The Dark One    A being made of cold, howling mist, bound to Yig's worship    SF
Hastalÿk    The Contagion    A microbial entity, responsible for plagues.    rpg
Hastur    The Unspeakable,
He Who is Not to be Named,
Lord of Interstellar Spaces,
The King in Yellow    Its true form is unknown, but usually manifests either as a polypous, ravenous floating mass endowed with tentacles, drills and suckers or, more frequently, as the King in Yellow, a humanoid being wearing tattered, yellow clothes and a mask hiding the face. It is said to be Cthulhu's (half-)brother.    FA, HS, LT, RH, SS, WD, YS
H’chtelegoth    The Great Tentacled God    A towering greenish trunk with a crown of tentacles, a row of multiple eyes and a couple of additional, lateral grasping appendages.    HL
Hziulquoigmnzhah    The God of Cykranosh, Ziulquag-Manzah    Has spheroid body, elongated arms, short legs, and a pendulum-like head dangling underneath. It is the brother of Ghisguth, and uncle of Tsathoggua.    DS, PN, TA, DR14
Idh-yaa    Cthulhu's Mate, Xothic Matriarch    A gigantic, pale, worm-like horror dwelling beneath the crust of star Xoth. She has been Cthulhu's first bride, which spawned the three main sons Ghatanotoa, Ythogtha and Zoth Ommog.    O
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« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2012, 11:00:17 pm »

Iod    The Shining Hunter    A levitating, sinuous, glowing creature.    HU, IN, SZ
Istasha    Mistress of Darkness    A cat deity similar to Bastet. Her sister is the sylvan Lythalia.    SS2, SS4
Ithaqua    The Wind Walker,
The Wendigo,
God of the Cold White Silence    A gigantic, corpse-like human with webbed feet and glowing red eyes.    BW, CD, IM, IQ, SW, TW, WE
Janai'ngo    Guardian and the Key of the Watery Gates, The Lobster of the Deep    A crustacean-like tentacled, half-amorphous marine horror which serves Cthulhu, dwelling in the depths of the Bay of Rhiiklu, somewhere in USA East coast.    TL
Juk-Shabb    God of Yekub    Appears as a great shining ball of energy.    CF
Kaalut    

   Likely a gigantic, larva-like horror. It dwells on the distant ammonia planet of K'gil'mnon.    GI, HG3
Kag'Naru of the Air[11]    

   Mentioned in American comics "Challengers of the Unknown" (1977) as sister of M'nagalah.    Comics
Kassogtha    Bride of Cthulhu, The Leviathan of Diseased    A huge mass of coiled, writhing tentacles. She is Cthulhu's sister and mate, who bore him two twin daughters (Nctosa and Nctolhu)    NH
Klosmiebhyx    

   Sister of Zstylzhemghi.    OO
Kurpannga    The Devil-dingo    A giant hairless dingo-like fiend living in Dreamlands (or the Dreamtime of Aboriginal myths).    DL
Lythalia    The Forest-Goddess    Appears as a female humanoid entity covered in vines and vegetal parts.    SS2
M'Nagalah[12]    The Devourer    A mass of entrails and eyes, or a massive blob-thing.    TU, NH
Mnomquah    Lord of the Black Lake, The Monster in the Moon    A very large and eyeless lizard creature with a "crown" of feelers.    MD, MQ, SB
Mordiggian    The Charnel God,
The Great Ghoul,
Lord of Zul-Bha-Sair    A shapeshifting cloud of shadow.    CG, IC, RE
Mormo[13]    The Thousand-Faced Moon    Mormo appears in many forms, but three are most common: as a mocking vampiric maiden, as a tentacle-haired gorgon, or as a hunched toad-like albino with a mass of feelers instead of a face. This last is the form of her servitors, the Moon-beasts.    HR2, TR5, BX
Mortllgh    Storm of Steel    A lustrous orb floating at the centre of a whirling vortex of razor-sharp, metallic looking blades, similar to Gtuhanai.    KN2
Mynoghra    She-Daemon of the Shadows    A succubus-like fiend with alien traits and tentacles in place of the hair. She is mentioned as cousin of Nyarlathotep in the O’ Khymer Revelations and worshipped in witch-cults of Salem, Oregon.    WN2
Nctosa & Nctolhu    The Twin Spawn of Cthulhu    Twin daughters of Cthulhu, imprisoned on Jupiter. They appear as huge shell-endowed beings, with eight segmented limbs and six long arms ending with claws, vaguely resembling their "step-sister" Cthylla.    NH
Ngirrth’lu    The Wolf-Thing, The Stalker in the Snows, He Who Hunts, Na-girt-a-lu    A ferocious and towering wolf-like humanoid with bat wings. He is served by werewolf servants known as the Lupine Ones.    SS2
Nssu-Ghahnb[14]    The Heart of the Ages, Leech of the Aeons    Sort of a gigantic beating heart secluded in a parallel dimensions. It would have spawned the monsters of all the times.    rpg
Nug and Yeb    The Twin Blasphemies    Somewhat like Shub-Niggurath.    BF, EH, LA, OA, TO
Nyaghogghua    

   A blurry, dark, kraken-like entity mentioned in the Song of Yste.    AB, NY7
Nyogtha    The Thing which Should Not Be,
Haunter of the Red Abyss    Appears as an inky shadow.    AF, HG, SH, SR, SY4
Ob'mbu    The Shatterer    A giraffe-like reptilian monster.    NH
Oorn[15]    Mnomquah's Mate    Appears as a huge, tentacled mollusc.    MD, HW10
Othuum    The Oceanic Horror    A twisting, ropy-tentacled mass with a single alien face somewhere in the center of the slimy squirming mass.    RS, OT
Othuyeg    The Doom-Walker    Appears as a great, tentacled eye (similar to Cyäegha). It dwells in the subsoil of Kansas.    DF, VC, SP
Pharol    Pharol the Black    A black, fanged, cycloptic demon with arms like swaying serpents.[16] The entity normally dwells in another dimension—a "seething and sub-dimensional chaos" beyond the mundane universe.[17] The wizard Eibon of Hyperborea sometimes summoned Pharol to query him for arcane information.[18]    AF
Quachil Uttaus    Treader of the Dust    Appears as a miniature, wrinkled mummy with stiff, outstretched claws.    KU, RU
Quyagen[19]    He Who Dwells Beneath Our Feet    Worshiped as a deity in a lost continent located in southern Atlantic Ocean. It appears related to the Outer God Nyarlathotep and its form is likely octopoid, with myriads of horns along a maddening body.    TT5
Q'yth-az    The Crystalloid Intellect    A towering mass of crystals, residing on the lightless planet Mthura.    EF
Raandaii-B'nk    

   A shark-like humanoid native to the Bermuda Triangle, possibly similar to Cthulhu's avatar the Father of All Sharks.    FD
Ragnalla    Seeker in the Skies    A titanic raptorial fiend with a huge, single eye and a crown of tentacles.    RA, CC2, SS2
Rhan-Tegoth    Terror of the Hominids, He of the Ivory Throne    A three-eyed, gilled, proboscidian monster with a globular torso, six long, sinuous limbs ending in black paws with crab-like claws, and covered in what appears to be hair, but is actually tiny tentacles.    HM, AF, LT, RR, PD
Rhogog    The Bearer of the Cup of the Blood of the Ancients    A dead-black leafless oak tree, hot to the touch, with a single red eye at the centre.    RG
Rh'Thulla of the Wind[20]    

   Mentioned in American comics "Challengers of the Unknown" (1977), as brother of M'Nagalah.    Comics
Rlim Shaikorth    The White Worm    A gigantic, whitish worm with a huge maw and eyes made of dripping globules of blood.    CW, HG, LP
Ruhtra Dyoll    The Fire God    Not described, likely the opposite of his sibling, B'gnu-Thun.    CC2, SS2
Saa'itii    The Hog    A gigantic, ghostly hog.    H5
Scathach    

   One of Hziulquoigmnzhah's daughters.    OO
Sebek    The Crocodile God    A crocodile-headed reptilian humanoid, equal to the Ancient Egyptian god Sobek.    EK
Sfatlicllp    The Fallen Wisdom    The granddaughter of Tsathoggua, an amorphous mass which mated with a Hyperborean Voormi and spawned the legendary thief Knygathin Zhaum. In Chaosium's Dead Leaves Fall RPG supplement she appears as a fiend with oily, snakey skin and prehensile dreadlocks like a Gorgon.    PN, BT11, ES4, VH
Shathak    Mistress of the Abyssmal Slime, Death Reborn    Not described, likely an amorphous mass.
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« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2012, 11:00:44 pm »

Shaurash-Ho    

   Mysterious entity mentioned in Howard Phillips Lovecraft's letter to James F. Morton[21] as descendant of Cthulhu which spawned other two horrid descendants (K'baa the Serpent and Ghoth the Burrower). The latter would have sired with a Roman noblewoman Viburnia the legendary ancestor of Lovecraft himself in a fictional family tree. The appearance of Shaurash-Ho has never been described.    S4
Sheb-Teth[22]    Devourer of Souls    An eyeless, alien humanoid entity massively overgrown with strange flesh and machinery.    MN3
Shlithneth[23]    

   A gigantic, slimy worm with a mass of black tentacles surrounding its maw.    CT4
Shterot[24]    The Tenebrous One    A starfish-like horror spawned by the Outer God C'thalpa. It has been cut in pieces but individual fragments live independently.    AF2
Shudde M'ell    The Burrower Beneath,
The Great Chthonian    Appears as a colossal worm with tentacles for a head.    BU, BT3, CS, TC, WU, LO.
Shuy-Nihl    The Devourer in the Earth    A dark blob of darkness endowed with tentacles.    CC2, SS2
S'tya-Yg'Nalle    The Whiteness    An invisible entity made of snow and chill, servitor of Ithaqua.    WT2
Summanus    Monarch of Night,
The Terror that Walketh in Darkness    A mouthless, grotesque human with pale tentacles protruding from underneath a dark robe.    FH, WG
Swarog[25]    

   A hideous being appearing as a dark gigantic, legless swan-like horror swathed in dark flames, with its long neck topped by a black lump, half of which endowed with a big glowing eye and the other being covered in innumerable tentacles. It was revered by Slavic and Viking folks as the Solar god Svarog, though sharing almost nothing with the traditional deity.    JS
Tharapithia    The Shadow in the Crimson Light    Slavic and Ugric God-like creature, photophobic and burrowing fiend awed in Middle Ages. It cannot endure the light of the sun and eludes it by tunnelling deep under the roots of the oaks.    CL2
Th'rygh[26]    The Godbeast    A monstrous entity manifesting as a horrible patchwork of flesh and soil and alien matter.    VT
Tsathoggua    The Sleeper of N'kai,
The Toad-God,
Zhothaqqua, Sadagowah    Appears as a huge, furry, almost humanoid toad, or a bat-like sloth.    BC, DS, PN, IU, OL, RT, SG, TZ
Ut'Ulls-Hr'Her    The Great Horned Mother, Black Glory of the Creation    A huge faceless creature with various appendages sprouting from its head, a beard of oozing horns, and many reddish teats and fish-like fins sprouting from an egg-shaped body.    NH
Vhuzompha    Mother and Father to All Marine Life, The Hermaphroditic God    An amorphous monster of prodigious size, covered in a multitude of eyes, mouths, projections and both male and female genitalia.    BV, CC2, SS2
Vibur    The Thing from Beyond    A huge furry and rapidly shifting entity casting radioactive stones.    MT3
Volgna-Gath    Keeper of the Secrets    A slimy shape-shifing mass, which can be summoned with mud and the blood of the invoker.    SC2, SS2
Vthyarilops    The Starfish God    A tentacled horror similar to a Sun star but endowed with branching tentacles, spines, myriads of blue glaring eyes and gaping maws.    KN6
Vulthoom    The Sleeper of Ravermos,
Gsarthotegga    May appear as a huge, unearthly plant.    VU
The Worm that Gnaws in the Night    Doom of Shaggai    A massive, worm-like fiend, similar to a Graboid from Tremors.    AG
Xalafu    The Dread One    A titanic, globular mass of various dark colours, endowed with a huge, single eye in the middle of the alien bulk.    ZS
Xirdneth    Maker of Illusions, Lord of Unreality    An illusion-making entity with no true form.    SS4, SS2, TH4
Yegg-Ha    The Faceless One    A 10 foot-tall winged being.    IE
Y'golonac    The Defiler    Appears as a naked, obese, headless human with a mouth in the palm of each hand; other features are nebulous.    CP
Yhagni    

   A hideous female or hermaphroditic entity of tremendous power, cousin of Cthulhu and Hastur imprisoned by the Great Old Ones being themselves awe of her powers. She dwells in Temple of Pillars in the depths of Kyartholm, located somewhere in Northern Hemisphere. Her appearance is never described, but likely formless, larva-like and tentacled as the minion-spawn which serve her parasitizing human victims.    PS6
Yhashtur    The Worm-God of the Lords of Thule    A worm-like monster.    SC4
Yig    Father of Serpents    A giant snake with human arms covered in scales.    CY, SJ, VY
Y'lla    Master of the Seas    A monstrous, barrel-shaped sea worm with tentacles and lamprey-like mouth.    CC2, DR12
'Ymnar    The Dark Stalker    A shape-shifting entity spawned by the Outer God Ngyr-Korath. It may grant great powers to whoever chooses to serve it and its master but its final aim is the destruction of all sentient and intelligent life in the Cosmos.    HW3, FS4
Ysbadadden    

   One of Hziulquoigmnzhah's daughters.    OO
Ythogtha    The Thing in the Pit    Appears as a colossal Deep One, with tentacles surrounding its one eye.    OA, PD, TC, TP
Yug-Siturath    The All-Consuming Fog    A vampiric vaporous entity which adsorbs vital forces.    DY
Zathog    The Black Lord of Whirling Vortices    A festering, bubbling mass that constantly churns and whirls, putting forth vestigial appendages and reabsorbing them. Bubbles burst on its surface to reveal hate-filled eyes, and slobbering mouths form and close randomly about his horrible body.    FB, WZ
Zhar and Lloigor    The Twin Obscenities    Both appear as a colossal mass of tentacles.    SA, LS, TP, SX, MT11
Zoth-Ommog    Dweller in the Depths    A gigantic entity with a cone-shaped body, a reptilian head, a beard of tentacles, and starfish-like arms.    HG, OA, TC
Zstylzhemghi    Matriarch of Swarms,
Zystulzhemgni    Spawn of the Outer God Ycnàgnnisssz, she is described as a living, alien swarm. She has a sister named Klosmiebhyx.    PN, TA, ZY, OO
Zushakon    Dark Silent One,
Old Night,
Zul-Che-Quon,
Zuchequon    Appears as a swirling, black vortex.    BH, KD
Zvilpogghua    Feaster from the Stars,
The Sky-Devil,
Ossadagowah    A bat-winged, armless toad with tentacles instead of a face.    LT, RM, SV

In Joseph S. Pulver's novel Nightmare's Disciple several new Great Old Ones and Elder Gods are named. The novel mentions T'ith and Xu'bea, The Teeth of the Dark Plains of Mwaalba. Miivls and Vn'Vulot, are said to have fought each other in southern Gondwanaland during the Cretaceous period.[27]
Outer Gods

The Outer Gods are ruled by Azathoth, the "Blind Idiot God", who holds court at the center of the universe. A group of Outer Gods dance rhythmically around Azathoth, in cadence to the piping of a demonic flute. Among the Outer Gods present at Azathoth's court are Lesser Outer Gods, the entities called "Ultimate Gods" in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, and possibly Shub-Niggurath, the "Black Goat of the Woods". Yog-Sothoth, the "All-in-One", co-rules with Azathoth and exists at all places and in all times in the cosmos, yet is somehow locked outside the mundane universe. Nyarlathotep, the "Crawling Chaos", is the avatar and soul of the Outer Gods, and serves as an intermediary between the deities of the pantheon and their cults. The only Outer God to have a true personality, Nyarlathotep possesses a malign intellect and reveals a mocking contempt for his masters.[28]
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« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2012, 11:01:03 pm »

List of Outer Gods
Abhoth

See Clark Ashton Smith deities.
Aiueb Gnshal

Aiueb Gnshal (The Eyes Between Worlds, The Child-Minded God)[29] is a mysterious Outer God which has his abode in a forgotten temple located somewhere in Bhutan. He appears as a formless black void with seven pulsing orb-like eyes and is mainly worshiped by ghouls which tribute him a defiled cult described in the mysterious Cambuluc Scrolls of the wizard Lang-Fu, dating back 1295 AD. Peering through the eyes of this god, after a hideous and devastating ritual, allows to see straight into Azathoth's court. It is rumoured that the power of Mongolian warlord Temujin had the favour of Aiueb Gnshal.
Ref     
 ET9
Azathoth

See Azathoth.
Azhorra-Tha

Azhorra-Tha[30] is an Outer God imprisoned on planet Mars as it fled from Earth after the imprisonment of the Great Old Ones. Its appearance is that of an insectoid to toad-like squid, but its shape continuously changes emitting an awful buzz. The Mi-Go discovered the prison of Azhorra-Tha millennia after and made everything to not reveal its location to any human being.
Ref     
 FS11
The Blackness from the Stars

The Blackness from the Stars is an immobile blob of living, sentient darkness, torn from the primal fabric of the cosmos at the center of the universe. It is distinguishable in darkness only as vaguely shimmering oily pitch. Although intelligent, it speaks no known language and ignores attempts to communicate.
Ref     
 KC
The Cloud-Thing

A man-eating, cloudy mass, unnamed Outer God at the court of Azathoth.
Ref     
 KC
C'thalpa

C'thalpa[31] (The Internal One[32]) is a huge mass of living, sentient magma, located in Earth’s mantle. She is mother of the Great Old One Shterot and other five unnamed hideous children. The Outer God is served by a race of mole-like humanoid burrowers named Talpeurs.
Ref     
 PR6
Cxaxukluth

Cxaxukluth (Androgynous Offspring of Azathoth) is one of the Seeds or Spawn of Azathoth, grown to adulthood and monstrous proportions and power. In appearance, Cxaxukluth resembles something of a cross between Azathoth and Ubbo-Sathla: an amorphous, writhing mass of bubbling, nuclear protoplasmic gel. It normally dwells alone in some unnamed place beyond time and space, unless disturbed or summoned away.
Ref     
 UG
Daoloth

See Ramsey Campbell deities.
D’endrrah

D'endrrah[33] (The Divinity) is sort of blurry female entity of supernatural beauty living inside a dark palace located on Mars' Moon Deimos. She lives in a hall with myriads of mirror altering her actual image, which is that of a tentacled dark abyss. This Mythos entity is somewhat inspired to C. L. Moore's Shambleau, illusionary Martian she-vampires of lust.
Ref     
 TR6, SM5
Ghroth

See Ramsey Campbell deities.
Gi-Hoveg

Gi-Hoveg (The Aether Anemone) is a cosmic entity manifesting as a gigantic spongy and fleshy mass covered in myriads of eyes and spines. It is said to be the archenemy of the Outer God Uvhash, usually summoned to contrast this deity.
Ref     
 AD, CC2, SS2
Haiogh-Yai

Haiogh-Yai (The Outsider) is a monstrous, amorphous, whirling thing living on a wandering black hole named Vix’ni-Aldru, which also hosts a monstrous city made of titanic blocks at its center. There is served by strange, crawling creatures which resemble worms or lizards.
Ref     
 TR10, CC2, SS2
Huitloxopetl

Huitloxopetl (The Haunter of Dreams) is part of the innumerable spawn of Azathoth but for some reason it has not taken part to the battle between the Outer Gods and the Elder Gods and has chosen to live in Sygroth, a dark-laden galaxy located at the outermost rim of the universe. It usually manifests in dreams. This entity has been introduced in a round-robin story so far composed of 15 or more chapters and probably yet to be finished.
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« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2012, 11:01:28 pm »

The Hydra

See Henry Kuttner deities.
Ialdagorth

Ialdagorth (The Dark Devourer) is cousin and servant of Azathoth and appears as black, shapeless, malevolent cloudy thing.
Ref     
 SC4
Kaajh'Kaalbh

Kaajh'Kaalbh[34] is a lesser Outer God servitor of Azathoth but secluded in a parallel chaotic dimension where everything is instable. The god itself is constantly formed and disrupted and has no true form at all. Anyway whoever attempts summoning this entity needs the aid of a Dimensional Shambler and the deity may manifest in variety of forms, often as an immense lava lake or a vast pool of solidified quicksilver.
Ref     
 FM4
Lu-Kthu

Lu-Kthu (Birth-womb of the Great Old Ones or Lew-Kthew) is a titanic, planet-sized mass of entrails and internal organs. On closer examination it appears a wet, warty globe, covered with countless ovoid pustules and spider-webbed with a network of long, narrow tunnels. Each pustule bears the larva of a Great Old One.
Ref     
 CC2
Mh'ithrha

An invisible wolf-like fiend similar to Fenrir of Norse mythology (if not coincident). Mh'ithrha (Arch-Lord of Tindalos) is the lords of the Hounds of Tindalos and the most powerful. Although not an actual Outer God as such, its form and awesome powers defy standard classification. Mh'ithra's eternal battle with Yog-Sothoth is said to be legendary.
Ref     
 WN4
Mother of Pus

A Lesser Outer God composed of slime, tentacles, eyes, and mouths. The Mother of Pus was spawned through an obscene mating between a human and Shub-Niggurath. When summoned to Earth, the Mother of Pus seeks refuge in pools of stagnant, foul water.
Ref     
 BM7
The Nameless Mist

The Nameless Mist (Nyog' Sothep?) is a misty, shapeless thing.
Ref     
 AS, SF, HF, S2, WD
Ngyr-Korath

Ngyr-Korath (The Ultimate Abomination or The Dream-Death) is a dark blue-green mist which causes a sense of terror as it approaches. Once close, an eye of flame forms within. It spawned by fission the Great Old One ‘Ymnar and its nemesis is the Elder God Paighon. It may coincide with the entity known as the Magnum Tenebrosum.
Ref     
 NO, FS2, HW3, HX
Nyctelios

Once an Elder God, Nyctelios[35] has been punished by his peers - especially Nodens - for having created a race of foul servitors. He has been permanently banned from the Elder God's olympus and imprisoned beneath the eastern Mediterranean Sea, near Greece, in a dark, basalt-built citadel named Atheron. However the exiled deity is not dead, but just sleeping and one day he will rise again from his abyss manifesting himself as a dark blue, 6-meters tall cyclops-like monstrosity with the bulk of his body entirely covered in crawling worms.
Ref     
 LD4
Shabbith-Ka

Shabbith-Ka appears as a shapeless, roughly man-sized purplish aura, spitting and crackling with powerful electrical arcs. A sense of power, malignancy, and intelligence accompanies it and persons able to gaze at its form long enough can see a rudimentary face or faces within the glowing mass.
Ref     
 WJ
Shub-Niggurath

See Shub-Niggurath.
Star Mother

The Star Mother appears as a chunk of yellow-green stone about the size of an infant. Its shape suggests a plump, huge-breasted, faceless female figure. From it extend dozens of pencil-thin root-like strands. It is one of the Larvae of the Other Gods and has no cult, although served by zombie slaves.
Ref     
 DR13
Tru'nembra

Tru'nembra (The Angel of Music) is the name given in Malleus Monstrorum Call of Cthulhu roleplay game guide to the entity described in Howard Philips Lovecraft's novel "The Music of Eric Zahn". It has no shape, but manifests as a haunting music.
Ref     
 MZ
Tulzscha

Tulzscha (The Green Flame) is the name given in Malleus Monstrorum Call of Cthulhu roleplay game guide to the entity described in Howard Philips Lovecraft's story The Festival. Tulzscha appears as a blazing green ball of flame, dancing with its Lesser Outer Gods at the court of Azathoth. Called to our world, it assumes a gaseous form, penetrates the planet to the core, then erupts from below as a pillar of flame. It cannot move from where it emerges.
Ref     
 FE
Ubbo-Sathla

See Clark Ashton Smith deities.
Uvhash

Uvhash (The Blood-Mad God of the Void) appears as a colossal, vampiric, red mass of tentacles and eyes. It dwells in the realm of Rhylkos, which matches with the red planet Mars and whoever summons Uvhash witnesses an atrocious doom. It seems having affinities with the star vampires and is rumoured to have been one of mad emperor Caligula's eldritch sponsors too. There is enmity with the Elder God Nodens and the Outer God Gi-Hoveg.
Ref     
 AD, SS4
Xa'ligha

Xa'ligha (Master of the Twisted Sound or Demon of Dissonance) is an entity made of maddening sound, somehow similar to Tru'Nembra. There is some affinity with the Great Old One Hastur[36]
Ref     
 CC2, WT2
Ycnàgnnisssz

Ycnàgnnisssz is a black, festering, amorphous mass that constantly blasts and erupts violently, spewing out bits of churning lava-like material. It spawned the Great Old One Zstylzhemgni by fission.
Ref     
 YC, ES4
Yhoundeh

See Yhoundeh.
Yibb-Tstll

A gigantic, bat-winged humanoid with detached eyes, wearing a green robe. This horrible deity sees all time and space as it slowly rotates in the centre of its clearing in the 'Jungle of Kled', in Earth's Dreamlands. Beneath its billowing cloak are a multitude of nightgaunts, suckling and clutching at her breasts. She has close connection to the Great Old One Bugg-Shash.
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« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2012, 11:01:50 pm »

Yidhra

Yidhra (The Dream Witch) usually appears as a youthful, attractive, earthly female, though her shape may vary.

Yidhra has been on Earth since the first microorganisms appeared and is immortal. To survive in a changing environment, she gained the ability to take on the characteristics of any creature that she devoured. Over time, Yidhra split herself into different aspects, though each part shares her consciousness.

Yidhra is served by devoted cults found in such widely separated places as Burma, Chad, Laos, Sumer, New Mexico, and Texas. Members of Yidhra's cult can gain immortality by merging with her, though they become somewhat like Yidhra as a consequence. Those who serve her are also promised plentiful harvests and healthy livestock. She usually conceals her true form behind a powerful illusion, appearing as a comely young woman; only favored members of her cult can see her as she actually is.

One of her avatars is Madam Yi, appearing as a human female dressed in beautiful white and black robes which constantly billow on some unseen wind, on which she may hover or fly. Her beautiful face is like the painted face of a porcelain doll and her bloodred lips and closed almond-shaped black eyes are forever frozen on a smooth and bone-white face. Long black hair is braided into a single ponytail. The avatar’s hands both end in very long, razor-like black fingernails.
Ref     
 WY, rpg
Yomagn'tho

Yomagn’tho (The Feaster from the Stars, That Which Relentlessly Waits Outside) is a malevolent being who wishes nothing more than the destruction of mankind for unknown reasons. It waits in its home dimension of Pherkard until it is summoned to Earth. When first summoned, Yomagn’tho appears as a small ball of fire that quickly expands to a large circle of fire with three flaming inner petals.
Ref     
 FS, SN6
Elder Gods

In post-Lovecraft stories, the Elder Gods oppose the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones. Some consider them to be non-Lovecraftian because they employ a good versus evil dichotomy which some see as contrary to the cosmic indifference of Lovecraft's fiction[citation needed]. Derleth attempted to retroactively group the benevolent deity Nodens in this category (who acts as deus ex machina for the protagonists in both The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and "The Strange High House in the Mist").

As for Great Old Ones, Joseph S. Pulver mentions in his Nightmare Disciples (2006) a series of original Elder Gods, though lacking of any description about their true form. The stories introduces entities as Adaedu, Alithlai-Tyy, Dveahtehs, Eyroix, Ovytonv, Urthuvn, Xislanyx and Xuthyos-Sihb’Bz'. Others have a cult title as Othkkartho (Sire of the Four Titans of Balance and Order), which is said to be Nodens's son, and Zehirete, who is The Pure and Holy Womb of Light. Sk’tai and Eppirfon are brothers and the former (female) has been Cthulhu's second bride who bore him a son, T'ith, now dead.

Another Elder God with no description is Walter C. De Bill jr.'s Paighon, an extra-galactic entity which now dwells in Earth's core, said to be inimical of the Outer God Ngyr-Korath and its servitor 'Ymnar.
List
Bast

Bast (Goddess of Cats or Pasht) appears as a female human with a cat's head.
Ref     
 BR, MA, SU
Drazet

Drazet[37] (The Unformed) is known only to those with access to the secrets found in the Ta’ge Fragments. It is said to be responsible for the legendary city upon which the fragments were first inscribed. Its servants are purportedly symbiotic creatures and more than likely the creatures that come down to bond with mortals in the Rite of Sacred Union.
Ref     
 PV
Kthanid
Ref     
 HP

See Brian Lumley deities.
Myrovh

Myrovh is inferred to be the great manipulator, pitting pawns against each other so that they will grow and change through conflict. Stories say that it maintains a Darwinistic view of life, believing that only the strong should survive, and that it takes a personal hand in those species to which it administers. Furthermore, they say that Myrovh is in some way linked with Yog-Sothoth.
Ref     
 PV
Orryx

Orryx[38] (The Bright Flame) manifests as a giant pillars of blinding white and purple flames. Although its expression is bright and blinding, no one feels its heat. No one can look at Orryx more than a few seconds since the first assault, the eyes of anyone who looks sore and watery.
Ref     
 LS, CC13
Oztalun

Oztalun (Golden and Shimmering One) is an Elder God introduced by James Ambuehl. It is symbolized by a seven-pointed star symbol, which is its own Seal.
Ref     
 AH, BB3, SS4,
Nodens

Nodens (Lord of the Great Abyss) appears as a human male riding a huge seashell pulled by legendary beasts. In CthulhuTech supplement Nodens is said to be the avatar of the Forgotten One Savty'ya.
Ref     
 DQ, GM, HW , NE, PN2, HH, PV
Shavalyoth

Shavalyoth (Shadowy and Shapeless One) is an Elder God introduced by James Ambuehl, supposed to be dark and formless.
Ref     
 AH, BB3
Ulthar

Ulthar (or Uldar) is a deity sent to Earth to hold vigil over the Great Old Ones.
Ref     
 GC, SX
Vorvadoss

Vorvadoss* (The Flaming One, Lord of the Universal Spaces, The Troubler of the Sands, Who Waiteth in the Outer Dark) appears as a cloaked, hooded being, enveloped in green flames, with fiery eyes. It is son of Nodens and the Great Old One Lythalia and has a twin brother, Yaggdytha.
Ref     
 EA, IN, AE, WH
Yad-Thaddag

See Brian Lumley deities.
Yaggdytha

Yaggdytha (The Incandescent One) is an Elder God introduced by James Ambuehl, manifesting as a great amorphous, incandescent ball of cyan living energy, spread itself into a web of giant talons of light. It is twin brother of Vorvadoss.
Ref     
 SS4, AH, BB3
Great Ones

The Great Ones are the "weak gods of earth" that reign in the Dreamlands. They are protected by Nyarlathotep.
Great Ones Name    Description    References
Hagarg Ryonis,
The Lier-in-Wait    Usually appears as a huge, reptilian monster.    DL, WH
Karakal    An elf-like humanoid.    DL, WH
Lobon    Appears as ivy-crowned youth bearing a spear.    DC, DL, WH
Nath-Horthath    Chief god of Celephaïs.    CE, DL, DQ, KA
Oukranos    River god    DQ
Tamash    Appears as a short, silver-skinned, ebon-haired, and bearded man.    DC, DL, MG, WH
Zo-Kalar    God of birth and death.    DC, WH
See also

    Cthulhu Mythos
    Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture

References

    ^ Bloch, "Heritage of Horror", p. 8.
    ^ Price, "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", Crypt of Cthulhu #35, p. 5.
    ^ Harms, "A Brief History of the Cthulhu Mythos", p. viii.
    ^ This entity is introduced as a Great Old One in Call of Cthulhu roleplay game scenario "Twilight Memories" (2005), by Clint Krause.
    ^ Scott D. Aniolowski, "Mysterious Manuscripts" in The Unspeakable Oath #3, John Tynes (ed.), Seattle, WA: Pagan Publishing, August 1991. Periodical (role-playing game material). Baoht Z'uqqa-Mogg first appeared in this gaming supplement.
    ^ It does not appear in Chaosium's Malleus Monstrorum
    ^ When Brian Lumley read David Sutton's short story "Demoniacal", he wrote a sequel entitled "The Kiss of Bugg-Shash". Lumley expanded Sutton's tale and gave his unnamed entity its name—Bugg-Shash—which effectively tied Sutton's creation to the mythos. (Price, "Introduction", The New Lovecraft Circle, pp. xx–xxi). The name "Bugg-Shash", however, appeared earlier in Lumley's short story "Rising with Surtsey" (Harms, "Bugg-Shash", Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, p. 41).
    ^ As in James Ambuehl's short poem "Dythalla", featured in Etchings & Odysseys, issue #7 (October 1985). Available online at http://www.oocities.org/area51/rampart/4059/jamb03.html
    ^ He is first mentioned in Dawid Lewis' short novel "Etepsed Egnis" and cited again in Cthulhu Cultus #11, in the novel A Core Unto Itself.
    ^ This entity is introduced in the role-play game Call of Cthulhu. The name is fictional, H.P. Lovecraft has not described it in the original story "The Temple".
    ^ Kag'Naru of the Air and Rh'Thulla of the Wind are mentioned in the comic book Challengers of the Unknown #83 (which also added "the Eternal" to M'Nagalah's name).
    ^ M'Nagalah first appeared in the comic book Swamp Thing #8 (1974) in a story by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson (Harms, "M'nagalah", Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, p. 196). The being has since shown up in stories in Challengers of the Unknown, The Trenchcoat Brigade, and The All-New Atom. His siblings, Rh’Thulla of the Wind and Kag’Naru of the Air, debuted in Challengers of the Unknown #83 (which also added "the Eternal" to M'Nagalah's name).
    ^ Mormo is informally introduced in H.P. Lovecraft's "Horror at Red Hook". Kenneth Hite's "Trail of Cthulhu" RPG material lists her as a Great Old One and relates her to the Moon-beasts.
    ^ This Great Old One has been created for Call of Cthulhu French role-play game website Tentacles.net. URL at http://www.tentacules.net/toc/toc/tocyclo_fiche.php?type=crea&id=402
    ^ This entity has been mentioned in R.H. Barlow and H.P. Lovecraft's "The Hoard of Wizard-Beast" (1933).
    ^ Carter, "Shaggai", The Book of Eibon, p. 206.
    ^ Carter, "Shaggai", The Book of Eibon, 207.
    ^ Harms, "Pharol", p. 238, The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana. Daniel Harms believes that Pharol was invented by C. L. Moore, Henry Kuttner's wife, since the being appears in many of her stories.
    ^ It is mentioned in Eldritch Tales issue #7, in Crispin Burnham's Temple of the Demon.
    ^ Kag'Naru of the Air and Rh'Thulla of the Wind are mentioned in the comic book Challengers of the Unknown #83 (which also added "the Eternal" to M'Nagalah's name).
    ^ "Selected Letters vol. 4", 633rd letter, April 2th, 1933
    ^ This entity is introduced as a Great Old One in Call of Cthulhu roleplay game scenario "Once Men" (2008), by Michael Labossiere.
    ^ This entity is introduced as a Great Old One in Call of Cthulhu roleplay game scenario "Cthulhu Britannica: Avalon - The County of Somerset" (2010), by Paul Wade-Williams.
    ^ This entity is part of Call of Cthulhu RPG French edition.
    ^ This entity is introduced in German Pegasus Press roleplay game magazine Cthulhu. Berlin. Im Herzen der großen Stadt. Rollenspiel in der Welt des H. P. Lovecraft, in Jan Christoph Steines' scenario "Jahrhundertsommer" (i.e. "The Millennium Summer").
    ^ This entity features in Gareth Hanrahan Warpcon XII Call of Cthulhu supplement "Verboten: Operation Faust"
    ^ Pulver, "Nightmare's Disciple"
    ^ Harms. The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, "Azathoth", pp. 16; "Nyarlathotep", pp. 218; "Shub-Niggurath", pp. 275; "Tulzscha", pp. 304; Yog-Sothoth, p. 346.
    ^ This entity is introduced in "Eyes Between the Worlds", roleplay game scenario featuring in Kevin T. McKinnon and Dylan K. Sharpe's Call of Cthulhu RPG monograph "Tales of Dread and Wonder #1"
    ^ This entity is a creation of TOC website (http://www.tentacules.net) and officially employed in Call of Cthulhu RPG supplement "Cthulhu Rising"
    ^ This entity is part of Call of Cthulhu RPG French edition.
    ^ Translated from French Le Interieur, referring to her location in the depths of Earth's mantle
    ^ This entity is part of Call of Cthulhu RPG French edition.
    ^ This entity is introduced in "Full de Drames", a French "Call of Cthulhu"-type role-play game scenario available at http://www.tentacules.net/toc/toc_/scen/full_de.pdf.zip
    ^ This entity is introduced in "Le Regard Dans L’Abime", a French "Call of Cthulhu"-type role-play game scenario available at http://www.tentacules.net/toc/toc_/scen/cb_leregard.pdf.zip
    ^ See James Ambuehl & E.P. Berglund's "Whiteout" (2006).
    ^ This entity is treated in CthulhuTech RPG supplement as one of the "Forgotten One" along with Myrovh, entities likely coinciding with the Elder Gods
    ^ This entity has been introduced without name in August Derleth's "The Lair of the Star-Spawn" (1932). The name Orryx is given in Call of Cthulhu RPG suppelement "The Creature Companion"

Bibliography

    Harms, Daniel (1998). "Heritage of Horror". The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (21nd edition ed.) (21st ed. ed.). Oakland, CA: Chaosium. ISBN ISBN 1-56882-119-0.
    Lovecraft, Howard (1982). The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre (1st edition ed.) (1st ed. ed.). Ballantine Books. ISBN ISBN 0-345-35080-4.
    Price, Robert M. (1996). The New Lovecraft Circle. New York, N.Y.: Random House. ISBN ISBN 0-345-44406-X.
    Thompson, C. Hall (1946). Spawn of the Green Abyss (3rd ed. ed.). Robert M. Price, Fedogan & Bremer, 1992. ISBN 1-878252-02-X.
    Myers, Gary (1975). "Xiurhn". The House of the Worm. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-9789911-3-3.
    Pulver, Joseph S. (1999). Nightmare's Disciple. Chaosium. ISBN 1-56882-118-2.
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« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2012, 11:02:26 pm »

The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.

The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu—a central figure in Lovecraft literature[1] and the focus of Lovecraft's famous short story The Call of Cthulhu (first published in pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928)—to identify the system of lore employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors. Writer Richard L. Tierney later applied the term "Derleth Mythos" to distinguish between Lovecraft's works and Derleth's later stories.[2]

Authors writing in the Lovecraftian milieu use elements of the Mythos in an ongoing expansion of the fictional universe.[3]
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« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2012, 11:02:56 pm »

History

Robert M. Price described in his essay "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos" two stages in the development of the Cthulhu Mythos. The first stage, termed the "Cthulhu Mythos proper" by Price, was formulated during Lovecraft's lifetime and was subject to his guidance. The second stage was guided by August Derleth who, in addition to publishing Lovecraft's stories after his death,[4] attempted to categorize and expand the Mythos.[5]
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« Reply #9 on: December 17, 2012, 11:03:15 pm »

First stage

An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of mankind in the face of the cosmic horrors that apparently exist in the universe, with Lovecraft constantly referring to the "Great Old Ones": a loose pantheon of ancient, powerful deities from space who once ruled the Earth and who have since fallen into a deathlike sleep.[6] This was first established in The Call of Cthulhu, with the minds of the human characters deteriorating when afforded a glimpse of what exists outside their perceived reality. Lovecraft emphasised the point by stating in the opening sentence of the story that "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."[7]

Writer Dirk W. Mosig notes that Lovecraft was a "mechanistic materialist" who embraced the philosophy of cosmic indifferentism. Lovecraft believed in a purposeless, mechanical, and uncaring universe that human beings, with their limited faculties, could never fully understand, and the cognitive dissonance caused by this leads to insanity. Lovecraft's viewpoint made no allowance for religious belief which could not be supported scientifically, with the incomprehensible, cosmic forces of his tales having as little regard for humanity as humans have for insects.[8][9]

There have been attempts at categorizing this fictional group of beings, and Phillip A. Schreffler argues that by carefully scrutinizing Lovecraft's writings a workable framework emerges that outlines the entire "pantheon" – from the unreachable "Outer Ones" (e.g. Azathoth, who apparently occupies the centre of the universe) and "Great Old Ones" (e.g. Cthulhu, imprisoned on Earth in the sunken city of R'lyeh) to the lesser castes (the lowly slave shoggoths and the Mi-go).[10]

David E. Schultz, however, believes Lovecraft never meant to create a canonical Mythos but rather intended his imaginary pantheon to merely serve as a background element.[11] Lovecraft himself humorously referred to his mythos as "Yog Sothothery" (Mosig coincidentally suggested the term Yog-Sothoth Cycle of Myth be substituted for Cthulhu Mythos[12][13]) and at times had to remind readers his mythos creations were entirely fictional.[14]

The view that there was no rigid structure is reinforced by S. T. Joshi, who stated "Lovecraft's imaginary cosmogony was never a static system but rather a sort of aesthetic construct that remained ever adaptable to its creator's developing personality and altering interests... [T]here was never a rigid system that might be posthumously appropriated... [T]he essence of the mythos lies not in a pantheon of imaginary deities nor in a cobwebby collection of forgotten tomes, but rather in a certain convincing cosmic attitude."[15]

Price, however, believed that Lovecraft's writings could at least be divided into categories and identified three distinct themes: the "Dunsanian" (written in the vein of Lord Dunsany), "Arkham" (occurring in Lovecraft's fictionalized New England setting), and "Cthulhu" (the cosmic tales) cycles.[16] Writer Will Murray noted that while Lovecraft often used his fictional pantheon in the stories he ghostwrote for other authors, he reserved Arkham and its environs exclusively for those tales he wrote under his own name.[17]

Although not formalised and acknowledged as a mythos per se, Lovecraft did correspond with contemporary writers (Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, Frank Belknap Long, Henry Kuttner, and Fritz Leiber – a group referred to as the "Lovecraft Circle") – and shared story elements:[18][19] Robert E. Howard's character Friedrich Von Junzt reads Lovecraft's Necronomicon in the short story "The Children of the Night" (1931), and in turn Lovecraft mentions Howard's Unaussprechlichen Kulten in the stories "Out of the Aeons" (1935) and "The Shadow Out of Time" (1936).[20] Many of Howard's original unedited Conan stories also form part of the Cthulhu Mythos.[21]
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« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2012, 11:06:54 pm »

Second stage

Price's dichotomy dictates the second stage commenced with August Derleth, the principal difference between Lovecraft and Derleth being the latter's use of hope and that the Cthulhu mythos essentially represented a struggle between good and evil.[22] Derleth is credited with creating the Elder Gods, and stated:

    As Lovecraft conceived the deities or forces of his mythos, there were, initially, the Elder Gods... [T]hese Elder Gods were benign deities, representing the forces of good, and existed peacefully...very rarely stirring forth to intervene in the unceasing struggle between the powers of evil and the races of Earth. These powers of evil were variously known as the Great Old Ones or the Ancient Ones...
    —August Derleth, "The Cthulhu Mythos"[23]

Price suggests that the basis of Derleth's systemization are found in Lovecraft, stating: "Was Derleth's use of the rubric 'Elder Gods' so alien to Lovecraft's in At the Mountains of Madness? Perhaps not. In fact, this very story, along with some hints from "The Shadow over Innsmouth", provides the key to the origin of the 'Derleth Mythos'. For in At the Mountains of Madness we find the history of a conflict between two interstellar races (among others): the Elder Ones and the Cthulhu-spawn." [24] Derleth himself believed that Lovecraft wished for other authors to actively write about the myth-cycle as opposed to it being a discrete plot device.[25] Derleth expanded the boundaries of the Mythos by including any passing reference to another author's story elements by Lovecraft as part of the genre: just as Lovecraft made passing reference to Clark Ashton Smith's Book of Eibon, Derleth in turn added Smith's Ubbo-Sathla to the Mythos.[26]

Derleth also attempted to connect the deities of the Mythos to the four elements (air, earth, fire, and water), but was forced to adopt artistic license and create beings to represent certain elements (air and fire) to legitimise his system of classification.[27] In applying the elemental theory to beings that function on a cosmic scale (e.g. Yog-Sothoth) some authors created a separate category termed aethyr. Derleth matched earth against fire and air against water, which is inconsistent with the classical elements pairings.[28]
Derleth's elemental classifications Air    Earth    Fire    Water
Hastur*
Ithaqua*
Nyarlathotep
Zhar and Lloigor*    Cyäegha
Nyogtha
Shub-Niggurath
Tsathoggua    Aphoom-Zhah
Cthugha*    Cthulhu
Dagon
Ghatanothoa
Mother Hydra
Zoth-Ommog

* Deity created by Derleth.
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« Reply #11 on: December 17, 2012, 11:07:19 pm »

"Lovecraft" mythos

A lesser known term employed by the scholar S. T. Joshi to describe the works of Lovecraft.[29] Joshi identified four key elements in Lovecraft's mythos (that Price would later condense to three themes), being the fundamental principle of cosmicism (which once again highlighted the irrelevance of mankind), the imaginary New England setting, a pantheon of recurring "pseudomythological" entities and a collection of arcane books that supposedly yield insights into the mythology.
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« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2012, 11:07:36 pm »

Notes

    ^ "Cthulhu Elsewhere in Lovecraft," Crypt of Cthulhu #9
    ^ Cf. Richard L. Tierney, "The Derleth Mythos", Discovering H. P. Lovecraft, p. 52)
    ^ Harms, "A Brief History of the Cthulhu Mythos", The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, pp. viii–ix.
    ^ Bloch, "Heritage of Horror", p. 8.
    ^ Price, "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", Crypt of Cthulhu #35, p. 5.
    ^ Harms, "A Brief History of the Cthulhu Mythos", p. viii.
    ^ HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu" (1928)
    ^ Mosig, Yozan Dirk W. "Lovecraft: The Dissonance Factor in Imaginative Literature" (1979)
    ^ Mariconda, "Lovecraft's Concept of 'Background'", pp. 22–3, On the Emergence of "Cthulhu" & Other Observations.
    ^ Shreffler, Phillip A. (1977). The H. P. Lovecraft Companion, pp. 156–157.
    ^ Schultz, "Who Needs the Cthulhu Mythos?", A Century Less A Dream, pp. 46, 54.
    ^ (Mosig, Yozan Dirk W. (1997). Mosig at Last: A Psychologist Looks at H. P. Lovecraft, p. 28)
    ^ "Yog-Sothothery". Timpratt.org. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
    ^ Price, "Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology'", pp. 251, 253; Mariconda, "Toward a Reader-Response Approach to the Lovecraft Mythos", On the Emergence of "Cthulhu" & Other Observations, pp. 33–4.
    ^ Lovecraft, H.P. "In Defense of Dagon" reprinted in Miscellaneous Writings (S. T. Joshi, ed.) Sauk City: Arkham, 1995; pp. 165–66
    ^ Price, "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", Crypt of Cthulhu #35, p. 9.
    ^ (Murray, "In Search of Arkham Country I", pp. 105, 107.)
    ^ Joshi, ST (1980). HP Lovecraft, four decades of criticism. Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0-8214-0577-2.
    ^ D'Ammassa, Don (1996). "Henry Kuttner: Man of Many Voices". In Darrell Schweitzer. Discovering Classic Fantasy Fiction: Essays on the Antecedents of Fantastic Literature. Wildside Press, LLC. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-58715-004-3.
    ^ Price, "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", Crypt of Cthulhu #35, pp. 6–7.
    ^ Patrice Louinet. Hyborian Genesis: Part 1, page 436, The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian; 2003, Del Rey.
    ^ Bloch, "Heritage of Horror", p. 9.
    ^ Derleth, "The Cthulhu Mythos", Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, p. vii.
    ^ "Lovecraft-Derleth Connection". Crypt-of-cthulhu.com. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
    ^ Schultz, "Who Needs the Cthulhu Mythos?", pp. 46–7.
    ^ Price, "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", Crypt of Cthulhu #35, pp. 6–10.
    ^ Derleth created "Cthugha" when fan Francis Towner Laney claim Derleth had neglected to include a fire elemental in his schema. Laney, the editor of The Acolyte, had categorized the Mythos in an essay that first appeared in the Winter 1942 issue of the magazine. Impressed by the glossary, Derleth asked Laney to rewrite it for publication in the Arkham House collection Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1943). (Robert M. Price, "Editorial Shards", Crypt of Cthulhu #32, p. 2.) Laney's essay ("The Cthulhu Mythos") was later republished in Crypt of Cthulhu #32 (1985).
    ^ Harms, "Elemental Theory", p. 101.
    ^ "The Lovecraft Mythos", H. P. Lovecraft, p. 31ff. Joshi acknowledges, however, that Donald R. Burleson independently coined the term in his eponymous article that appears in Magill's Survey of Science Fiction Literature, volume III (see References section for a detailed citation), p. 1284ff. (H. P. Lovecraft, p. 68, footnote no. 52.)

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« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2012, 11:08:01 pm »

Books

    Bloch, Robert (1982). "Heritage of Horror". The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre (1st ed. ed.). Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-35080-4.
    Bloch, Robert (1978). Strange Eons. Whispers Press. ISBN 0-918372-30-5 (trade ed); 0-918372-29-1 (signed/boxed ed.).
    Derleth, August (1969). "The Cthulhu Mythos". Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House.
    Burleson, Donald R. (1979). "The Lovecraft Mythos". In Frank N. Magill (ed.). Survey of Science Fiction Literature (Vol. 3 ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press. pp. 1284–8. ISBN 0-89356-197-5.
    Harms, Daniel (1998). The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (2nd ed. ed.). Chaosium, Inc.. ISBN 1-56882-119-0.
    Jens (ed.), Tina (1999). Cthulhu and the Coeds: Kids and Squids. Chicago, IL: Twilight Tales.
    Joshi, S. T. (1982). H. P. Lovecraft (1st ed. ed.). Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House. ISBN 0-916732-36-3; ISBN 0-916732-35-5 (paper).
    Lovecraft, Howard P. (1999) [1928]. "The Call of Cthulhu". In S. T. Joshi (ed.). The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories. London, UK; New York, NY: Penguin Books. ISBN.
    Mosig, Yozan Dirk W. (1997). Mosig at Last: A Psychologist Looks at H. P. Lovecraft (1st printing ed.). West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press. ISBN 0-940884-90-9.
    Murray, Will (January 1999). "In Search of Arkham Country I". In James Van Hise (ed.). The Fantastic Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft. Yucca Valley, CA: James Van Hise. No ISBN.
    Price, Robert M. (1996). "Introduction". In Robert M. Price (ed.). The New Lovecraft Circle. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.. ISBN 0-345-44406-X.
    Price, Robert M. (1991). "Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology'". In David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi (ed.). An Epicure in the Terrible: a centennial anthology of essays in honor of H. P. Lovecraft. Rutherford, NJ and Cranbury, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press and Associated University Presses. ISBN 0-8386-3415-X.
    Schultz, David E. (2002) [1987]. "Who Needs the Cthulhu Mythos?". In Scott Conners (ed.). A Century Less a Dream: Selected Criticism on H. P. Lovecraft (1st ed. ed.). Holikong, PA: Wildside Press. ISBN 1-58715-215-0.
    Schweitzer, Darrell (ed.) (2001). Discovering H. P. Lovecraft. Helicong, PA: Wildside Press. ISBN 1-58715-470-6 (trade paper); ISBN 1-58715-471-4 (hardcover).
    Shreffler, Phillip A. (1977). The H. P. Lovecraft Companion. Westport, CT and London, England: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-9482-2.
    Turner, James (1998). "Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!". Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (1st ed. ed.). Random House. ISBN 0-345-42204-X.
    Thomas, Frank Walter (2005). Watchers of the Light, (1st printing ed.). Lake Forest Park, WA: Lake Forest Park Books. ISBN 0-9774464-0-9 (paperback).
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« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2012, 11:08:19 pm »

Journals

    August, Derleth (Lammas 1996) [1937]. "H. P. Lovecraft—Outsider". Crypt of Cthulhu #93: A Pulp Thriller and Theological Journal 15 (3). Robert M. Price (ed.), West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press. Original publication: Derleth (June 1937). "H. P. Lovecraft—Outsider". River 1 (3).
    Dziemianowicz, Stefan (Eastertide 1992). "Divers Hands". Crypt of Cthulhu #80: A Post-structuralist Thriller and Theological Journal 11 (2). Robert M. Price (ed.), West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press.
    Price, Robert M. (Hallowmas 1985). "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos". Crypt of Cthulhu #35: A Pulp Thriller and Theological Journal 5 (1). Robert M. Price (ed.), Mount Olive, NC: Cryptic Publications.

Further reading

    Carter, Lin (1972). Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos. New York, NY: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-02427-3.
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