Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

by Daniel Harms

  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 rarer 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.

  In January of 1964, Franklyn published his cult’s doctrine in the book We Pass from View. Most of the copies were stolen shortly after publication, however, so Franklyn’s ideas did not receive as great a circulation as he had hoped. Franklyn died on July 3, 1967, and was buried in the Mercy Hill cemetery.

  See Brichester; Eihort; Mercy Hill; Undercliffe; We Pass from View. (“Cold Print”, Campbell (O); “The Franklyn Paragraphs”, Campbell; “Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock”, Price.)

  FREEBORN, TYLER M

  Professor of anthropology at Miskatonic University and expert on the cultures of the Pacific. He received his bachelor’s from the University of New Mexico and his doctorate from Princeton. He worked at the University of New Mexico, studying the cliff-dwellers of the region, before gaining his appointment to Miskatonic. Freeborn accompanied Nathaniel and Wingate Peaslee on the Australian expedition of 1935.

  (“The Spawn”, Cleaver; “The Shadow Out of Time”, Lovecraft (O); “Stacked Actors”, Worthy.)

  FRONTIER GARRISON (originally PRAESIDIA FINIUM)

  Volume written in 183 by Lollius Urbicus, a Roman scholar living near present-day York. (Some scholars say this was the Roman governor Q. Lollius Urbicus, but occult scholar Titus Crow insists they are different.) An English translation was published around the beginning of the eighteenth century in London. Of the two originals, the more complete one is kept at the Wharby Museum, while a fragmentary copy may be found at Miskatonic University.

  This tome documents many mysterious events that took place during the Roman occupation of Britain, including an explosion a few miles from Urbicus’ home and the assault made upon the vicious Yegg-Ha near Hadrian’s Wall.

  See Yegg-ha. (“An Item of Supporting Evidence”, Lumley (O); The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley; Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)

  FTHAGGUA

  Being which appears as a huge mass of blue-tinged lightning. Fthaggua has dominion over the fire vampires. These beings seem to have a hive mentality, and Fthaggua could be the nerve center of all the vampires.

  Fthaggua and his minions dwell upon a comet known as Ktynga, the trajectory and speed of which are controlled by Fthaggua. The fire vampires travel between the stars on this comet, seeking out worlds inhabited by intelligent
beings. Whenever they find such a planet, they return at periodic intervals, demanding the sacrifice of thousands of the world’s natives to appease their hunger. They will arrive at our world in four hundred years.

  The relationship between Fthaggua and Cthugha remains unclear. Cthugha seems to have some control over the “fire vampires”, as does Fthaggua, though their minions take different forms. Some have speculated that Cthugha and Fthaggua are the same, but the two entities seem dissimilar in their manifestations, and Cthugha is usually thought to be imprisoned somewhere near Fomalhaut. Fthaggua might serve the Great Old One, or could possibly be one of Cthugha’s avatars.

  See Cthugha; fire vampires; Fthaggua; Ktynga. (“Zoth-Ommog”, Carter; “The Fire-Vampires”, Wandrei (O).)

  FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH

  See mi-go.

  G

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  GALVEZ, JOSEPH D

  Officer of Spanish descent present at Inspector Legrasse’s 1907 raid on the Cthulhu cult. He claimed to have seen something huge and winged in the swamp during the raid. Despite being labeled “excitable,” he went on to achieve the rank of Lieutenant and often called upon his former supervisor’s expertise in handling difficult cases.

  (“The Call of Cthulhu”, Lovecraft (O); “Locked Room”, Henderson; “Nothing to Fear but Dust”, Henderson.)

  GARDNER, NAHUM (c. 1832–November 1883)

  Farmer near Clark’s Corners on whose property a mysterious meteorite fell in 1882. Gardner was a respected local man who had worked on his farm with his wife and three sons for many years. After the fall of the meteorite, the vegetation on his land mutated and eventually crumbled. His family members died, vanished, or disappeared. Gardner himself succumbed to this mysterious malady shortly thereafter. His farmland later became the center of the Blasted Heath.

  (“The Colour Out of Space”, Lovecraft (O).)

  GEOFFREY, JUSTIN (1898–1926)

  Poet who wrote the collection The People of the Monolith. Accounts of Geoffrey’s early life conflict. Some say he was born John Ernest Tyler, with Justin Geoffrey being a pseudonym the young man adopted after travelling from his home in Texas to New York at the age of nineteen. (This is probably due to confusion between Geoffrey and his friend John Tyler, who some claim wrote Geoffrey’s poems.) Others assert that he came from the Geoffrey family of merchants who came to New York in 1690. In this version, he was inspired to become a poet after a strange experience he had in the Catskills when ten years old. Whatever his origins, his career as a poet was brilliant, prompting correspondence with such colleagues as Edward Derby, but largely unsuccessful.

  While travelling in Europe in 1921 or 1922, Geoffrey made a stop at a place called “Xuthltan” that is believed to have affected him greatly. He vanished shortly after his return to the States, turning up years later in Chicago, half-mad, addicted to alcohol and drugs, and holding the finished manuscript to his book The People of the Monolith. (His exact whereabouts during this time remain a mystery, but in 1922 he published a very limited edition of Secrets of the Hanged Man, a treatise on the symbolism of a tarot card.) Soon after he reappeared Justin Geoffrey was committed at an Illinois asylum, in which he died under strange circumstances.

  The style of Geoffrey’s poetry varies so widely that a few critics have suggested that it was the work of several different people under the same name, but its underlying thematic unity makes this unlikely. Those who enjoy The People of the Monolith should also seek out his two other collections, Scarlet Runes and Other Poems (New York, Chimera Press) and Out of the Old Land, along with a book of fantastic fiction, Towers in the Sky.

  See Black Stone; Derby, Edward; The People of the Monolith; Stregoicavar. (Keeper’s Compendium, Herber; “The Black Stone”, Howard (O); “The Door to the Garden”, Howard; “The House in the Oaks”, Howard and Derleth; “The Key of the Poet”, Kane; “The Thing at the Doorstep”, Lovecraft; “Dark Shapes Rising”, Shoffner; The Devil’s Auction, Weinberg.)

  GEPH, BROKEN COLUMNS OF

  See Broken Columns of Geph.

  GEPH TRANSCRIPTIONS

  Translations of the glyphs on the Broken Columns of Geph, probably made with the aid of Gordon Walmsley. The only known copy could be found in the library of British occultist Titus Crow, but others are likely to exist.

  See Broken Columns of Geph. (“Name and Number”, Lumley.)

  GHADAMON

  Great Old One who lives beneath a sterile lake in the Dreamlands’ Underworld. Ghadamon is a bluish-brown slimy monstrosity covered with malformed animal heads and orifices. Its origins are uncertain; some say the mi-go created Ghadamon in their laboratories, afterward placing it in the lake. Others claim that it was the offspring of a Hyperborean wizard and a woman of the Dreamlands who sought revenge on his father for abandoning him in the world of dreams. The Old One wants to leave the Dreamlands, but it must possess a human to do so. After it escapes, deep ones will lead it to the House of Ghadamon under the sea, where it will feed and grow.

  Ghadamon’s lake is filled with its spawn — conical, wide-mouthed fish-like creatures — which guard Ghadamon’s body.

  (“The Offspring of the Tomb”, Cornford; “Pickman’s Student”, Herber (O).)

  G’HARNE

  Prehuman city located deep in the jungles of central Africa which, if the G’harne Fragments are correct, existed since the Triassic period. G’harne was most likely an outpost of the Elder Things. At a later time, the Great Old One Shudde-M’ell and his children, the cthonians, were imprisoned with the Elder Sign at G’harne until they were freed by meddling shamans and natural disasters. The cult of Nophru-Ka fled to this city after the high priest’s death, and G’harne was the objective of Sir Wendy-Smith’s last expedition, which left the noted archaeologist mentally unstable.

  [The evidence from Lumley suggests G’harne is near a Swahili-speaking area. Other sources, most notably the Chaosium books, place G’harne in northern Africa, most often in Mali.]

  See Brotherhood of the Beast; cthonians; Davies, Chandler; Elder Sign; G’harne Fragments; Nophru-Ka; Shudde-M’ell; Wendy-Smith, Sir Amery. (“Appendix B: The Brotherhood of the Beast,” Herber; Keepers’ Compendium, Herber; The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley; “Cement Surroundings”, Lumley (O).)

  G’HARNE FRAGMENTS

  Translation of shards possessed by a little-known African tribe. Where this group originally acquired the shards is unknown; according to the tribe’s legends, these prized possessions were merely copied portions of a larger work. Later examination of the originals has shown that parts of the document bear some resemblance to the characters in the Pnakotic Manuscripts. Tests performed upon the originals, which are held at the British Museum, prove that these artifacts have somehow survived since the Triassic period.

  In his expedition to the African interior, an explorer named Windrop somehow obtained the Fragments from the tribe that owned them. (The time that this occurred is uncertain; the date 1934 has been given, but since much of Sir Amery Wendy-Smith’s later career was centered on the book, an earlier date is likely.) Upon his return to civilization, he found that the curious inscribed dot-patterns could not be equated with the alphabet of any known language. His translations, when published in The Imperial Archaeological Journal in 1912, were not taken seriously. The explorer’s shards became popularly known as “Windrop’s Folly.”

  Sir Amery Wendy-Smith, the noted archaeologist who was the sole surviving member of an expedition to G’harne, was the first to make a serious effort to translate the Fragments. Wendy-Smith became interested in the Fragments and is known to have made a partial translation of them, publishing this in 1919. It may have been Wendy-Smith who dubbed Windrop’s discovery the “G’harne Fragments,” due to the reference to that city he found when he first broke the Fragments’ code. No one knows how much of the G’harne Fragments Amery Wendy-Smith translated, as his notes were lost in the collapse of his house which caused his death. Some of Wendy-Smith’s work may have survived him; the noted occultist
Titus Crow is known to have had a partial copy of the archaeologist’s translation in his library, but this version remains relatively unknown.

  Though ignored by the greater part of the scientific community, the Fragments were not entirely forgotten. The Annotated G’harne Fragments, a translation made by Ryan Millbue, was published by Miskatonic University Press in 1965. The first reputable translation of the G’harne Fragments was made in the 1970s by the Wilmarth Foundation. This work was based on the notes of Professor Gordon Walmsley of Goole, who had been ridiculed for his “spoof-notes,” which he asserted were a translation of several chapters of this work.

  The G’harne Fragments, which the Elder Things may have written, contain many references to Shudde-M’ell and his children, as well as a more-or-less accurate map of the solar system. The information within gives a history of the city of G’harne, including its eventual destruction by earthquake. Many locations mentioned within the book have been identified by some scholars as such sites as Stonehenge and Avebury, possibly hinting that the book was changed at a later date. Scholars have noted many similarities between this volume, the Pnakotic Manuscripts, and the Sussex Fragments.