Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

by Daniel Harms

  See Armitage, Henry; Aylesbury; Aylesbury Pike; Azathoth and Other Horrors; Billington’s Wood; Bolton; Brown Jenkin; Carter, Randolph; Cult of the Skull; Derby, Edward Pickman; Dewart, Ambrose; Fowler, Goody; Gilman, Walter; Hoag, Wilbur; Kingsport; Mason, Keziah; Meadow Hill; Miskatonic River; Miskatonic University; Phillips, Ward; Shrewsbury, Laban; Smith, Morgan; S’ngac; Thaumurgatical Prodigies; Themystos’ Island; Theron Marks Society; Upton, Daniel; Wilmarth, Albert; Witch-House. (Arkham Unveiled, Herber; A Resection of Time, Johnson; “Season of the Witch”, Launius; “The Dreams in the Witch-House”, Lovecraft; “The Dunwich Horror”, Lovecraft; “Herbert West — Reanimator”, Lovecraft; “The Picture in the House”, Lovecraft (O); The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley; “The Fall of Cthulhu”, Nelson.)

  ARMITAGE, HENRY (1855–1939/1946?)

  One-time head librarian at Miskatonic University, and the author of Notes toward a Bibliography of World Occultism, Mysticism, and Magic (Miskatonic University Press, 1927), and Devils and Demons in the Miskatonic Valley.

  Armitage’s childhood remains a mystery; scurrilous rumors have circulated that he came from Innsmouth and that his parents were killed in the government raid on that town. Armitage attended Miskatonic University (Class of 1881), later obtaining his doctorate at Princeton and his Doctor of Letters degree at Cambridge. The young man first became interested in uncanny subjects in 1882 when he heard of a mysterious meteor which had landed near Arkham. This occurrence led him to obtain a copy of the Necronomicon for the library and consult it for the first time. Later, Armitage returned to this volume to solve the mysterious death of Wilbur Whateley, a correspondent of his who lived in Dunwich and had been killed in the library. With the aid of Professors Rice and Morgan, he put an end to the horror that had ravaged Dunwich. His health failed thereafter, and he was relieved of his station in favor of Cyrus Llanfer sometime before 1936, though he appears to have continued at the library in some capacity.

  The circumstances around Armitage’s death remain unclear. One source states that he perished while trying to save the Rare Book collection from a fire in 1939, though others maintain he worked for U. S. intelligence during World War II. Another says that he died in 1946 of a heart attack brought on by being knocked down by the guard dogs outside the library.

  See Dunwich; Llanfer, Cyrus; Morgan, Francis; Whateley, Wilbur; Wilmarth, Albert. (“The Seven Cities of Gold”, Burnham; “The House of Azathoth”, Cannon; “Zoth-Ommog”, Carter; Arkham Unveiled, Herber; A Resection of Time, Johnson; “The Terror from the Depths”, Leiber; “The Dunwich Horror”, Lovecraft (O); “The Black Brat of Dunwich”, Sargent; Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley; “Stacked Actors”, Worthy.)

  ATAL

  High priest of the Elder Gods in Ulthar. Atal was born the son of an innkeeper but apprenticed to Barzai, Ulthar’s priest of the gods of Earth. He accompanied Barzai on his climb of Mount Hatheg-Kla. Atal himself is now High Priest there and still presides over worship, though he is over three hundred years old. He keeps many secrets but is known to divulge them when in his cups.

  See Barrier of Naach-Tith; Barzai; Hatheg-Kla; Ulthar. (“The Cats of Ulthar”, Lovecraft (O); “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; “The Other Gods”, Lovecraft.)

  ATLACH-NACHA

  Great Old One which appears as a huge spider with an anthropoid head, and on rare occasion as a beautiful, multi-armed woman. Atlach-Nacha was said to have come to Earth from Saturn along with Tsathoggua; in other version of the myth, the spider god spun a web between the two planets that allowed Tsathoggua to arrive.

  The spider-god lives within a great chasm beneath Mount Voormithadreth in Hyperborea, though reports of the god have also come from Siberia and Peru. Atlach-Nacha spends all its time bridging a bottomless chasm between the waking world and the Dreamlands with its web, a task which will keep it occupied until the end of the world.

  Atlach-Nacha may be summoned from its chasm to possess one of its statues, though it hates to leave its spinning. A few cults devoted to Atlach-Nacha have existed at various times. The Phoenicians held this Great Old One in reverence, and small groups of worshipers are known to have existed in India and the Andaman Islands. The Esoteric Order of Dagon speaks of Atlach-Nacha as a being who dwells on a “Tree of Death” and punishes those who do not breed with the deep ones and each other. Atlach-Nacha deals mostly with sorcerers, however, who contact it in exchange for arcane knowledge and visions of other dimensions. She has even acted as an emissary for Atlach-Nacha.

  Atlach-Nacha is said to control all spiders, and was at one time the lord of the Children of Atlach-Nacha, arachnid beings that lived during the early Mesozoic Era and which now exist only as curious fossils found at a few sites around the world. Atlach-Nacha’s most devoted priests know arcane procedures that may return these remains to life. Some say that these Children are identical to the purple spiders of Leng.

  There has been one major attempt to find the dwelling place of Atlach-Nacha, the Barton-Doherty expedition. This brave band of explorers set out around 1985 for the Andes to attempt to locate the Great Old One, wearing fiberglass armor so that it would be too difficult for Atlach-Nacha to devour them. Unfortunately, nothing has been heard of them since.

  See Cykranosh; Gray Weavers; Tcho-tchos; Tsathoggua. (“The Andaman Islands”, Herber; “Heterodox Churches in Innsmouth”, Marsh; A Guide to the Cthulhu Cult, Pelton; S. Petersen’s Field Guide to the Creatures of the Dreamlands, Petersen; “Rede of the Gray Weavers”, Schwader; “The Seven Geases”, Smith (O); “Web of Memory”, Szymanski; “The Letter”, Vance; The Complete Dreamlands, Williams and Petersen; The Philosopher’s Stone, Wilson.)

  ATLANTIS

  Lost continent in the Atlantic Ocean.

  Much of Atlantis’ history remains shrouded in mystery. The first kingdom of Atlantis, Caiphul, was founded by Valthoth, the Prince of the Last Days known later as the god Thoth, who led the refugees from the destruction of Lemuria. This first kingdom eventually fell (possibly due to battles against monsters from the depths of the sea), and there was confusion for quite some time. (It may have been during this time that the Atlantean warrior Kull conquered the land of Valusia.)

  The Second Empire was established by a dynasty springing from Cleito and the sea-god Pazadon, or Poseidon. These two had ten children, each of whom established a kingdom on Atlantis. The oldest of these, Atlas, was placed as king of the City of the Golden Gates, a beautiful place arranged in a circular pattern and filled with waterways and defensive walls.

  The Atlanteans excelled in the fields of science and magic, but much knowledge was lost after the fall of Lemuria. Its pantheon was diverse, including such gods as Daoloth, Gloon, Bast, and Ghatanothoa. As time went on, the forces of Chaos became powerful once again, and many Atlanteans practiced black magic. The cult of Dagon became strong, and the deep ones mingled their blood with that of the Atlanteans.

  Twenty thousand years ago, at the beginning of the Hyborian Age, a great portion of Atlantis sank beneath the waves. The causes behind this are unknown, and may range from geologic catastrophe to a failed sorcerous experiment to the wrath of the gods. Some say that their magical might became so great that Thelatha the Demon King, who served the agents of Chaos, was able to conquer the City of the Golden Gates. In the end, these wizards’ magical experiments went horribly awry, and the City sank into the sea. Others say that the same disaster came about when the hybrid children of the deep ones sought to overcome the nobility, who fought back with crystal-powered weaponry.

  The ensuing cataclysm destroyed the surrounding continent and made much of the rest uninhabitable. As a result the Atlanteans lost much of their knowledge and reverted to barbarism. They did manage to conquer some land on other continents, but their glory had faded.

  Some isles, including Poseidonis and Bal-Sagoth, survived the inundation, but most of these eventually sank beneath the ocean. The survivors of the disaster fled to such far-flung locales as the Sahara, Averoigne, and the Caribb
ean. Atlantis’ lore, as preserved by the high priests Klarkash-Ton and Luveh-Kerapht, has survived in fragments kept by the priests of Sais in Egypt. The ruins of Atlantis itself may survive beneath the waves, but if so no one has seen them and lived.

  One alternate tradition is that of Beloe’s Wonders Witnessed, which holds that Atlantis, or “Alanhati”, was inhabited by the Elder Things who caused it to vanish to avoid the eyes of men. This information contradicts much of the other information we have on this period, however.

  [Atlantis first appeared in Plato’s dialogues Timaeus and the unfinished Critias. Debates as to whether Plato’s tales were allegories or re-tellings of actual legends or events have gone on for millennia. Some have claimed that Atlantis did exist (though they often describe it in terms of their own political, national, and racial utopia), while others say that another cataclysm, such as the volcanic destruction of the isle of Thera in 1500 B. C., served as its model. The modern fascination with Atlantis began with Ignatius’ Donnelly’s Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882), and shows no sign of abating.

  [Lovecraft and his fellow authors took much of their Atlantean lore from Theosophy. The most famous Theosophical book on the subject is W. Scott-Elliot’s The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria (1925).]

  See Bal-Sagoth; Book of Dzyan; Book of Eibon; Bugg-Shash; Cimmeria; Commoriom; Hyborian Age; Hyperborea; K’n-yan; Lemuria; L’mur-Kathulos; Nodens; Shining Trapezohedron; Tsathoggua. (The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky; “The Mannikin”, Bloch; “The Render of the Veils”, Campbell; The Black Star, Carter; “The Seal of Zaon Sathla”, Carter; Conan of the Isles, Carter and de Camp; The Hyborian Age, Howard; Selected Letters V, Lovecraft; “The Strange High House in the Mist”, Lovecraft; “The Temple”, Lovecraft; “The Whisperer in Darkness”, Lovecraft; “The Last Test”, Lovecraft and de Castro; “Out of the Aeons”, Lovecraft and Heald; “In the Vaults Beneath”, Lumley; The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley; Critias, Plato; Timaeus, Plato (O); The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria, Scott-Elliot; “The City in the Sea”, Thomas and Willis; Necronomicon, Tyson.)

  AVALOTH

  Being referred to in the fifth Eltdown Shard, and known for its voracious appetite. Avaloth created a great sheet of ice that crept south and threatened to cover the entire world. The wizard Om Oris pitted his might against Avaloth, and presumably caused its destruction by means of a tremendous source of heat. Some have said that “Avaloth” is actually the secret name of Ithaqua.

  See Eltdown Shards. (“Wrath of the Wind-Walker”, Ambuehl and Price; Selected Letters V, Lovecraft; “The Warder of Knowledge”, Searight (O).)

  AVEROIGNE

  South central French province more commonly known as Auvergne, and considered the most witch-ridden in the entire country. The Annales of Flavius Alesius state that the land was settled in the time of the Gauls by the Averones, a people who originally dwelt in a western land which sank beneath the ocean. During the Roman period, the towns of Simaesis and Avionium (known later as Ximes and Vyones, respectively) were greatly feared due to the presence of cults dedicated to a god called Sadoqua. The Church attempted to suppress this worship, but by the eleventh century many highly placed churchman of the region had taken up these older practices and little could be done.

  Undoubtedly the most famous inhabitant of Averoigne was Gaspard du Nord of Vyones, a reputed wizard who translated the Book of Eibon into Norman French in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. This volume, when put into such an accessible form, resulted in a resurgence of sorcery for the region that never quite came to an end.

  [Auvergne is indeed a French province; though not lying within it, it is possible that the nearby cities of Lyons and Limoges became Vyones and Ximes, respectively, in Smith’s imagination. Lyons was the site of a witch-trial, and Auvergne itself has at least one werewolf legend to its credit.]

  See Book of Eibon; Chateau des Faussesflammes; Du Nord, Gaspard; Ring of Eibon; Tsathoggua. (Selected Letters V, Lovecraft; “The Colossus of Ylourgne”, Smith; “The End of the Story”, Smith.)

  AYLESBURY

  Town in north central Massachusetts. An Arkham industrialist, Elihu Beckworth, founded the town on the site of the former village of Broton in 1802. Beckford built a town based on his vision of a utopian factory community and funded construction of the Aylesbury Pike.

  Beckford’s ideal community perished with him, but the town continued to grow, primarily due to the textile industry. By the end of the century, most of the production of these goods had moved south, and Aylesbury’s economy slumped. Today, there is little to distinguish Aylesbury from any number of small manufacturing centers in New England.

  See Aylesbury Pike; Dean’s Corners; Dunwich. (Return to Dunwich, Herber, “The Dunwich Horror”, Lovecraft (O).)

  AYLESBURY PIKE

  Road built by industrialist Elihu Beckford which runs from Arkham and follows the Miskatonic River west to Aylesbury. Travelers along the Pike should be careful near Dean’s Corners not to take the wrong fork that leads to Dunwich.

  See Billington’s Wood. (Return to Dunwich, Herber; “The Dunwich Horror”, Lovecraft (O).)

  AZAG-THOTH

  See Azathoth.

  AZATHI

  Children of Azathoth formed from thermonuclear energy. Periodically in his mindless writhings, Azathoth disgorges one of these creatures. Most of these births result in the death of the child, as it is unable to control its body and explodes. Only a few are able to hold their internal energies in check and thus remain alive to leave the court of their father. Three Azathi, the beings titled Azatha, Azathe, and Azathu, still exist somewhere within the cosmos.

  See Azathoth. (Elysia, Lumley.)

  AZATHOTH (also AZAZOTH or AZAG-THOTH)

  Outer God also known as the Primal Chaos and the Daemon Sultan. Azathoth normally is a shapeless chaotic mass, but has been known to take on other forms when he has been summoned.

  Azathoth sits in his court at the center of Ultimate Chaos (others say the center of the universe, or even caverns beneath the earth), mindlessly bubbling and blaspheming as he presides over the dance of the Other Gods. A veil of colors seals off the rest of the universe from the court of Azathoth where conventional laws of space and time break down. Azathoth may only leave his throne if summoned through incantation or through one of the special portals located in the temples of the insects from Shaggai.

  Legend has it that Azathoth gave birth to the universe, and will destroy it in the end. Some modern thinkers have equated Azathoth with the Big Bang; this corresponds with the Greek and Norse creation myths, which hold that the universe was created out of primal chaos. He may also be a personification of radioactivity; in fact, the formula in De Vermis Mysteriis for calling Azathoth requires a large quantity of fissionable material. Azathoth has also been given credit for the Tunguska explosion of 1908, though most scientists credit this destructive event to an asteroid impact.

  Some scholars have drawn parallels between Azathoth and the Gnostic Achamoth, the mother of the Demiurge who created the universe, or the Egyptian cult of Aten the sun-disk. Overall, however, worship of Azathoth in his normal guise seems rare. The only true earthly cult was that of the Gnophkehs, but isolated madmen have served him more recently. Azathoth also has a large following among the shan, whose temples hold an image of his avatar Xada-Hgla. The rites the shan perform for Azathoth are wholly abominable.

  The utterance of Azathoth’s name gives one great power over beings from outside, and his unknown secret name gives even more influence and may permanently damage one who hears it. This respect has its limits, though, and not even the Necronomicon contains Azathoth’s secret name.

  Some assert that the Daemon Sultan was not always an Idiot Chaos; instead, he lost his intellect and body in a great intercosmic battle, in which he may have been thrust entirely outside this dimension. This interpretation is only found within a few works, though. Azathoth has also been said to be merely the puppet of something infinitely more horrible.
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  See Azathi; Azathoth and Other Horrors; Book of Azathoth; Cxaxukluth; elemental theory; Gnophkehs; Great Old Ones; Grey Rite of Azathoth; Hounds of Tindalos; Kuranes; L’gy’hx; Massa di Requiem per Shuggay; Nameless Mist; Nyarlathotep (Dark Destroyer); Other Gods; Outer Gods; Shaggai; shan; shantaks; Shub-Niggurath; S’ngac; Sothoth; Stygia, Thyoph; Tond; Tulzscha; Ubbo-Sathla; Vach-Viraj; Xada-Hgla; Yog-Sothoth; Yoth; Zylac. (Strange Eons, Bloch; “The Insects from Shaggai”, Campbell; “The Mine on Yuggoth”, Campbell; “The Nameless Tower”, Glasby; “Mandelbrot Moldrot”, Gresh; Spawn of Azathoth, Herber; “Hydra”, Kuttner; “Professor Peabody’s Last Lecture”, Laird; “Azathoth”, Lovecraft (O); The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley; Elysia, Lumley; “The Last Night of Earth”, Myers; Call of Cthulhu, Petersen and Willis; The Philosopher’s Stone, Wilson.)

  AZATHOTH AND OTHER HORRORS

  Book of Edward Derby’s poetry, and the only one to be published within his lifetime. The identity of the publishers remain unclear; some say that it was put out in 1919 by Onyx Sphinx Press of Arkham, Massachusetts (possibly Derby’s own imprint), while others maintain that a Cambridge firm published it in 1916, putting out several more editions before it went bankrupt in 1931. More recently, Bagdasarian’s imprint Azathoth House put out a new edition in the spring of 1946.