by Daniel Harms
The Chronicles deals in some detail with Yidhra and ‘Ymnar, and it includes a technique to contact Ngyr-Khorath.
(“The Barrett Horror”, DeBill; “From the Sea”, DeBill (O); “Where Yidhra Walks”, DeBill.)
CHRONIKE VON NATH
See Chronicles of Nath.
CHTHONIANS
See cthonians.
CHTHONIC REVELATIONS
Laotian or ancient Thai book by Thanang Phram. Only three copies of the original have survived. Graf von Könnenberg, author of Uralte Schrecken, translated it into German and added notes of his own. This edition was in turn translated into English later.
The Revelations includes discussions on Yidhra and disembodied entities called the Dark Ghosts, as well as a variation on the infamous elemental theory.
(“Twilight of the Elder Gods”, Clore; “The Changeling”, DeBill; “What Lurks Among the Dunes”, DeBill (O); “Where Yidhra Walks”, DeBill; Call of Cthulhu Rulebook, Petersen and Willis.)
CHTHONIOI
See Great Old Ones.
CHURCH OF STARRY WISDOM
See Starry Wisdom cult.
CIMMERIA
Land of northwestern Hyperborea to which descendants of the Atlanteans fled after their continent’s destruction. Its inhabitants in turn gave rise to the Gaelic people of Ireland and Scotland. It is this country from which the famous warrior Conan originally came. Today, most of Hyboria lies beneath the ocean. Only the portions that are now north-eastern England and southern Scandinavia lie above the waters.
[A group called the Cimmerians dwelt in Anatolia around the eighth century B.C., and it is likely Howard appropriated their names and used them in his fiction.]
See Conan; Crom-Ya; Lh-Yib; Testament of Carnamagos. (“The Hyborian Age”, Howard; “The Phoenix on the Sword”, Howard (O); Beneath the Moors, Lumley.)
CIRCLES OF THAOL
Diagram consisting of three concentric circles. It can be drawn on the ground or turned into an amulet and held aloft. When used in conjunction with the star-stones of Mnar, the Circles can be used to imprison a summoned creature. The Vach-Viraj incantation can add further strength to the binding.
See star-stone of Mnar. (“Nothing To Fear but Dust”, Henderson; “Andalous and the Chimera”, Hjort (O).)
CITY OF THE SINGING FLAME
See Ydmos.
CLITHANUS
See Confessions of the Mad Monk Clithanus.
CLOTTON
Village located on the Ton River, a tributary of the Severn. Clotton has declined greatly since its heyday and cannot be found on most maps. Following events in 1931 of which the townspeople are disinclined to speak, the people of Clotton tore down many of the riverfront buildings and erected a huge concrete pillar on the Ton’s bank.
(“The Horror from the Bridge”, Campbell (O).)
COBRA CROWN
Artifact made by the serpent people. A conical golden piece wrought in the shape of a serpent and encrusted with diamonds, the Crown became the chief agent of the serpents’ conquests. According to legend, the Crown allowed its user to read the thoughts of anyone nearby and to control the minds of men and animals. The Crown’s power varied with that of the one who used it; one of weak will might control one man, while a mighty magician could command thousands with it.
After the fall of the serpent people’s kingdom, the survivors concealed the Crown in a shrine on an Atlantic isle. During the Hyborian Age, a pirate bore it away, and for a short time it came into the possession of Thoth-Amon. Before he could use it to build his own empire, it was wrested from him and drained of its power. The Crown has not been seen since.
(Conan the Buccaneer, Carter and de Camp (O).)
CODEX DAGONENSIS
Book which bears a striking resemblance to the Codex Maleficium (now at the Vatican), the Codex Spitalsk (Uppsala, Sweden), and the Cthaat Aquadingen. All of these were first seen in the towns of northern Germany around the year 400, and each of them contains similar material, such as the Nyhargo Dirge, a set of Tsathogguan rituals, and information on the Elder Sign. The original compilers, and their reasons for creating these books, are unknown.
The Codex Dagonensis came into the possession of Obed Marsh, who used it in the rituals of the Esoteric Order of Dagon. Following the disbanding of the cult in 1928, the volume was granted to Miskatonic University, where members of the Order still consult it occasionally.
Aside from the material mentioned above, the Codex also contains magical protections against summonings, along with the Third and Eight Sathlattae.
See Codex Maleficium, Codex Spitalski, Cthaat Aquadingen. (Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley (O).)
CODEX MALEFICIUM
Volume very similar in content to the Codex Dagonensis, the Cthaat Aquadingen, and the Codex Spitalski. The only known copy is kept at the Vatican, which does not allow access to it. It contains a copy of the First Sathlatta.
See Codex Dagonensis; Codex Spitalski; Cthaat Aquadingen. (Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley (O).)
CODEX SPITALSKI (“Leprous”)
Volume very similar in content to the Codex Dagonensis, the Cthaat Aquadingen, and the Codex Maleficium. It is believed to be the oldest of these codices. It is kept somewhere in Uppsala, Sweden (most likely in the library of the University of Uppsala) and contains the Second Sathlatta.
See Codex Dagonensis; Codex Maleficium; Cthaat Aquadingen. (Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley (O).)
COLD WASTE
Region to the north of the Dreamlands in which the mountain of Kadath may be found. Kenneth Grant has connected this with the other side of the Kabalistic Tree of Life where the qliphoth, or the remnants of a former destroyed creation, may be found.
See Carter, Randolph; Dreamlands; Kadath; Leng; Yr-Nhhngr. (Nightside of Eden, Grant; “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; “The Other Gods”, Lovecraft (O).)
COLOUR OUT OF SPACE
Being from outer space that appears to be a color of no known spectrum (though it may take on a more material form after some time on earth). The Colour’s life cycle in space is unknown, as the only encounters with it so far have been made on earth. The Elder Things seem to revere these beings, while other species, including the mi-go and shan, fear them.
The Colour’s embryonic stage is that of a small sphere three inches in diameter. When it enters a planet’s atmosphere, the sphere is broken and the Colour larva emerges. It then begins to exert a subtle influence over life in the surrounding area, feeding first on the lower levels of the food chain and working its way up to animals and humans. Affected lifeforms often grow to abnormal sizes and mutate, though soon after they crumble into dust. When the Colour has gained enough energy, it drains the surrounding area and flies off into space, leaving a blasted area devoid of all life behind it.
The best-known Colour appearance was near Clark’s Corners, Massachusetts in 1882, on a site now covered by the new Arkham reservoir.
See S’ngac. (“The Killer out of Space”, Barton; Hive, Curran; “The Colour out of Space”, Lovecraft (O); “A Little Color in Your Cheeks”, Minnis; The Color out of Time, Shea.)
COLUM, NAYLAND
Author from London who became known for his novel The Watchers on the Other Side. Colum was planning to follow up this novel with another, but he vanished from a ship on his way home from a vacation in Arabia.
(“The Keeper of the Key”, Derleth (O).)
COMMORIOM
One-time capital city of Hyperborea. Some say that the White Sybil of Polarion prophesied that Commoriom would be destroyed. Upon hearing these words, the entire population of the doomed city fled, leaving Commoriom to the jungle, and set up the new capital of Uzuldaroum a day’s journey away. However, other accounts state that the city was deserted due to the depredations of a criminal whose execution proved especially troublesome.
Klarkash-Ton of Atlantis preserved the myth-cycle of Commoriom, which included tales of Tsathoggua and other deities.
See Satampra Zeiros. (“The Wh
isperer in Darkness”, Lovecraft; “The Tale of Satampra Zeiros”, Smith (O); “The Testament of Athammaus”, Smith.)
COMTE D’ERLETTE
See D’Erlette, Comte.
CONAN OF CIMMERIA
The most famous hero of the Hyborian Age. Conan was born to a tribe in northwestern Cimmeria during a battle between his people and the Vanir to the north. By the time he reached young adulthood, Conan had distinguished himself in war many times. Soon thereafter, he set out for adventure, and traversed a great deal of the world working as a thief and mercenary.
Around the age of forty, Conan seized the throne of Aquilonia, the most powerful kingdom in the Hyborian lands. What happened after this is only conjecture; some say he conquered a vast empire, while others hold that he placed his son on the throne and went west to battle a great evil.
[Given the vast amount of contradictory material on Conan and his marginal use in the Mythos, I will leave a full account of his life for others to compile.]
See Acheron; Cimmeria; Hyborian Age; Quy; Set; Stygia. (Letter from Robert E. Howard to P. S. Miller, March 10, 1936; “The Phoenix on the Sword”, Howard (O); The Illuminatus! Trilogy, Shea and Wilson.)
CONFESSIONS OF THE MAD MONK CLITHANUS
Name bestowed upon an untitled volume written by Clithanus circa 400.
Clithanus had read a great deal of the Necronomicon, and used this information to free a “follower of mad Cthulhu” which was imprisoned within the tunnels beneath an abbey at Lynwold, on England’s northeastern coast. After seeing what he had done, Clithanus became afraid and went to St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, for assistance. (Why and how he consulted the bishop in Africa is not known.) Through the use of a star-shaped symbol, Augustine returned the monster to its prison. The saint then sent Clithanus, who had been driven out of his mind, to Rome.
The Confessions was printed in a Latin edition in 1675, most likely in Milan. The British Museum, the Field Museum in Chicago, and Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan hold copies of this book.
This book contains the formulas for calling a lesser being much like Cthulhu, another for sending the creature back on its original summoner, and the signs of protection needed to avert its wrath. One of the chants within may be the one required to enchant the star-stones of Mnar. Clithanus also tells of a time when a large number of Cthulhu-spawn were called out of the deeps, ravaged the land, and were imprisoned once again in a faraway land by priests from Central Europe.
(“The Incantation of the Elder Sign”, Carter, Derleth, and Schorer; “The Passing of Eric Holm”, Derleth (O); “Something from Out There”, Derleth; “The Horror from the Depths”, Derleth and Schorer; “Fischbuchs”, Ross; “The Mythos Collector”, Sammons.)
COPELAND, HAROLD HADLEY (c. 1860–May 15, 1926)
Leading anthropological authority on Pacific cultures, as well as co-founder and president of the Pacific Area Archaeological Association. Copeland studied at Cambridge and graduated from Miskatonic University in 1881. He traveled extensively in Asia during the 1890s, and his travelogues gained a small measure of popularity. Copeland’s first scholarly work, Prehistory in the Pacific: A Preliminary Investigation with References to the Myth-Patterns of Southeast Asia, established his reputation in the field of anthropology when it was published in 1902.
In 1906 Copeland completed his second volume, Polynesian Mythology, with a Note on the Cthulhu Legend-Cycle. Even here, Copeland’s material remains on solid scientific ground, but this book also shows the first signs of what was to become an obsession with obscure myth-cycles, manifested even more strongly in his translation of the Ponape Scripture (1907).
Copeland’s preoccupation with lost civilizations came to the fore in his next two works, The Ponape Figurine (1910) and The Prehistoric Pacific in Light of the ‘Ponape Scripture’ (1911). The former dealt with a mysterious statuette the Professor had come across in his travels, while in the latter he asserted that the continent of Mu, which occultists believe to lie sunken beneath the Pacific, had actually existed. To support his hypothesis, Copeland cited the colossal stone ruins found on many Pacific islands, the similar myth-patterns of the widely-scattered people of the region, and the Ponape Scripture, a work discovered on the isle of Ponape in 1734 by Captain Abner Ezekiel Hoag. The Prehistoric Pacific was derided in the scientific community, and Copeland was forced to step down from the presidency of the Pacific Area Archaeological Association.
In 1913, Copeland, accompanied by his colleague Ellington, set off for the mountains beyond the Plateau of Tsang in central Asia. The Copeland-Ellington expedition met with disaster; Ellington died in the first few days, most of the group’s bearers perished or deserted, and Copeland was not heard from until three months later. When he was discovered in Mongolia, he raved about the things he had seen and carried ten stone tablets that he vowed had been inscribed with the words of the Muvian high priest Zanthu. Three years later, he released the Zanthu Tablets: A Conjectural Translation. Shortly after its release Copeland was confined to a San Francisco sanitarium, where he later slit his throat. He left his estate, including all his notes and a sizable collection of Polynesian artifacts, to the Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Antiquities.
See Blaine, Henry; Hodgkins, Arthur; Lesser Old Ones; Polynesian Mythology…; Ponape Figurine; Ponape Scripture; Prehistoric Pacific in Light of the “Ponape Scripture”; Prehistory in the Pacific; R’lyeh Text; Sanbourne Institute; Tsang; Yuggya Chants; Zanthu Tablets. (“The Dweller in the Tomb”, Carter (O); “Out of the Ages”, Carter; “Zoth-Ommog”, Carter; A Resection of Time, Johnson; Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)
CORDELIA
Possible character in the play The King in Yellow. Some accounts of the play give her a prominent role, while others do not mention her at all.
(“In Memoriam”, Johnson and Price; “Cordelia’s Song from the King in Yellow”, Starrett (O).)
CORSI, BARTOLOMEO (c. 1176– c. 1274)
Florentine monk of the Franciscan Order who lived during the twelfth century. During a bout of insanity following a Yithian mind transfer, Corsi was imprisoned by the local authorities, who believed him to be supporting the Holy Roman Emperors. Having received a message from an eastern envoy calling for leniency for Corsi, Pope Innocent IV freed and exiled him to the isle of Stromboli. Corsi returned to Florence in 1266, where he wrote the Harmaticon, a book which displayed his unorthodox views on the nature of sin. It is possible that he might have met the young Dante Alighieri while there, as some portions of the Inferno bear some resemblance to what is known of the Harmaticon.
(“The Shadow out of Time”, Lovecraft (O); Other Nations, Marsh and Marsh.)
CRAWLING CHAOS
See Nyarlathotep.
CREGOIVACAR
See Stregoicavar.
CROM-YA
Cimmerian chief who lived seventeen thousand years ago and worshiped Tsathoggua. He may have become the Cimmerian god Crom.
[“Crom-Ya” may be a reference to Robert E. Howard’s “Crom”, an indifferent god of the mountain revered by Conan. The name Crom is derived from Crom Cruach, “The Lord of the Mound”, a Celtic god to whom human sacrifices were reputedly made.]
(“The Shadow out of Time”, Lovecraft (O); The Sussex Manuscript, Pelton.)
CROW, TITUS (1916–1969?)
British occultist and psychic who dedicated his life to the study of the paranormal, especially the Cthulhu Mythos.
Titus Crow was born on December 2, 1916, into a well-to-do London family. He inherited his love of learning from his father, an archaeologist of some note, and attended the University of Edinburgh. He seems to have been well-known enough, even at an early age, that the young Henri-Laurent de Marigny was sent to England by his father with only a letter of introduction to Crow.
During World War II, the War Department hired Crow as an adviser on the occult and the Third Reich, and asked for his help in breaking the German military’s codes. After the war, the occultist Julian Carstairs employed Crow as h
is private secretary for a brief while. Though Carstairs would vanish shortly thereafter, he was nonetheless impressed enough with the young Crow to leave most of his estate to him.
Using these funds, Titus Crow purchased a country estate, Blowne Manor, and began his probing into the occult in earnest along with de Marigny. The two of them investigated the runestone of Ragnar Gory-Axe, the death of the industrialist Sturm Magruser, and the whereabouts of a certain Transylvanian nobleman. He became one of the country’s greatest occultists and the possessor of a noteworthy occult library. In his last years, Crow joined Miskatonic University’s Wilmarth Foundation in their assault upon the Great Old Ones, and for a brief while became the head of the Foundation’s British operations.