Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

by Daniel Harms

  (“Zoth-Ommog”, Carter; “The Black Island”, Derleth (O).)

  IOD

  Being which is partly animal, vegetable, and mineral. Iod came down to earth in the days of our world’s youth. He was worshiped in Mu as the Shining Hunter, and the Greeks and Etruscans knew him in the guise of Trophonius and Vediovis, their respective gods of the underworld. Beings beyond the farthest galaxies revere him as Iod the Source.

  Some wizards have been able to summon Iod to do their bidding. Such conjurations are perilous, as the entity may hunt the wizard in order to devour their soul if not properly contained. No known volume contains the complete ceremony for calling up Iod, however.

  See Book of Iod; Book of Karnak; Ixaxar. (“The Hunt”, Kuttner; “The Invaders”, Kuttner; “The Secret of Kralitz”, Kuttner (O).)

  IOD, BOOK OF

  See Book of Iod.

  IOG-SOTOT

  See Yog-Sothoth.

  IREM (also IRAM or UBAR)

  Lost city somewhere in the depths of the Arabian desert. Irem is the City of a Thousand Pillars, and is called “many-columned” in the Koran. That text states that it was destroyed because of the sins of its inhabitants.

  Various myths have been told about this city’s origins. One tells of Iram being built by creatures of great size and colossal strength. With our knowledge of the creatures of the Mythos, this should not be lightly dismissed.

  Another tells of Shaddad and Shaddid, two brothers and the joint rulers of the great city of Ad. After they had ruled Ad for a time, Shaddid died. Following this tragedy, Shaddad became more egotistical, deciding to create an imitation of the celestial paradise on earth. He gave orders to build a great city and garden in the desert of Aden, and named this new paradise Iram, after his great-grandfather Aram. When the garden was completed, Shaddad traveled with his entire entourage to view his new creation. A day’s journey from the site, a “noise from heaven” destroyed him and all his courtiers.

  This is hardly the only tale of the city’s destruction. Some tell of creatures from the sky, which remain in the city to this day, that killed or drove out all of the garden’s inhabitants. Some have said that Irem was actually built by minions of Shudde-M’ell, who had the city destroyed due to its inhabitants’ ignoring his commands. Still others believe that the men from Irem journeyed beneath to fight the creatures from the Nameless City who ate their inhabitants.

  Abdul Alhazred opened up the first gate to allow the Great Old Ones’ minions into this world in the ruins of Irem. Ludwig Prinn placed the beginnings of the cult of the worm-wizards in these ruins, and some suggest that an inhuman “Supreme One” who dwells here sends out orders to the cults of Cthulhu around the world. Travelers lost in the deserts of Arabia have been known to stumble upon this city, later bearing their delirious tales back to civilization.

  Over the gateway to Irem, a tremendous hand is carved, which is said to reach for the artifact known as the Silver Key. A myth much like this is connected with the Alhambra in Granada. When a carved hand above a doorway in that palace grasps a long-lost key again, the palace will be instantly destroyed. This might have derived from an older myth relating to Irem. Seekers after wisdom on this and other points might seek the witch I’thakuah in the caverns beneath, provided she does not strangle them first.

  [The actual ruins of the city of Iram, or Ubar, were found in 1992, though some scholars dispute this identification. Those who hope for a thousand-pillared city will be disappointed, as it seems to be only a small fortress surrounded by tents.]

  See Abdul Alhazred; Black Litanies of Nug and Yeb; Cthulhu; De Vermis Mysteriis; Lamp of Alhazred; Nameless City; Nephren-Ka; Nug and Yeb; Saracenic Rituals; Silver Key. (“The Lamp of Alhazred”, Derleth and Lovecraft; “The Lurker at the Threshold”, Derleth and Lovecraft; “The Call of Cthulhu”, Lovecraft; “The Nameless City”, Lovecraft (O); “Through the Gates of the Silver Key”, Lovecraft and Price; “Lord of the Worms”, Lumley; “What Goes Around, Comes Around”, Moeller; “The Lord of Illusion”, Price; Necronomicon, Tyson; “Those Who Wait”, Wade.)

  ISHAKSHAR

  See Ixaxar.

  ISHNIGARRAB

  See Shub-Niggurath.

  ISINWYLL, L. N

  Associate professor of medieval metaphysics (M.A., Oral Roberts U., Ph.D., University of North Dakota) at Miskatonic University. His works include Yog-Sothoth in the Eastern Pacific (1975, University of California Press) and The Shadow in the Wood (1987, Oxford U. Press). Professor Isinwyll currently heads the Miskatonic University Pacific Basin Studies Group in Fiji.

  [See E. C. Fallworth.]

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

  ITHAQUA (also WIND-WALKER, DEATH-WALKER, and WENDIGO)

  Great Old One whose domain includes most of the northern regions of Earth. Ithaqua appears as a tremendous anthropomorphic shape with glowing red eyes and webbed feet that walk through the air as if on solid ground, or as a cloud of mist or snow with eyes. The Wendigo often emits eerie howling noises, but seeing the creature is worse; any that gaze upon Ithaqua are doomed to be taken by him.

  Like many of his fellow Great Old Ones, Ithaqua seems to be limited or imprisoned in a certain area. It originally rested beneath a plateau on the world of Borea, until it was able to escape. (Much of its lifeforce may still be held in the Temple of the Winds at the North Pole, which only appears on the night of the winter solstice.) On our own planet, Ithaqua is unable to leave the area between North Manitoba and the North Pole, though in certain circumstances the Wind-Walker may travel further into temperate climates. Whether Ithaqua may also manifest itself in the Antarctic is uncertain, as few humans have spent much time in that region. Ithaqua is not confined to our own world, however; it possesses the ability to fly through space, and is known to travel often to the world of Borea. The Great Old One returns from its journeys elsewhere to earth for one year in every five, when his cult experiences a stunning revival among the peoples of the north. Those in warmer latitudes who consider themselves safe from the Wind-Walker’s wrath should beware, however; the Arctic boundaries do not constrain the servitor winds and other minions of Ithaqua, who may be sent anywhere in the world at their master’s command.

  Ithaqua has been worshiped worldwide, with scholars drawing parallels between the Great Old One and the gods Quetzalcoatl, Thor, and Enlil. In the north where his true nature is known, Ithaqua is more widely feared than worshiped, and most of his cults died out in the early 19th century. Centers of this cult existed in the town of Stillwater, Manitoba, the inhabitants of which all vanished in the space of one night, and Cold Harbor, Alaska. In all instances, these cults involved human sacrifice and kidnapping of those opposed to their worship.

  The Wind-Walker is also responsible for a series of disappearances in Canada and the North. In most of these cases, a person vanishes and nothing is heard of them for months or even years. Later they are found encased in a shroud of downy snow with evidence of having fallen from a considerable height. Such victims may also be alive, babbling of the glories of Ithaqua, and have in some cases carried strange items that have plainly originated in widely-removed parts of the world. Those who have been in close physical proximity with the Wind-Walker are often able to endure the coldest temperatures without discomfort, or even transform into a creature physically resembling Ithaqua. None survive long after their return.

  Some say that Ithaqua serves the Great Old One Hastur, but there seems to be little hard evidence to support this.

  Ithaqua is probably one of a race of similar beings, as at least one encounter between Ithaqua and another wendigo has been reported. If this is true, Ithaqua is still the only wendigo to visit Earth regularly.

  [See the entry on wendigo for background information on the mythological basis for Ithaqua.]

  See Avaloth; Borea; Elder Sign; eleme
ntal theory; Gnoph-Keh; Great Old Ones; Hastur; Khrissa; Numinos; Ptetholites; Remnants of Lost Empires; Silberhutte, Hank; voormis; Wendigo. (“The Wendigo”, Blackwood; “H. P. Lovecraft: The Gods”, Carter; Walker in the Wastes, Crowe; “Ithaqua”, Derleth; “The Thing that Walked on the Wind”, Derleth (O); “Born of the Winds”, Lumley; Clock of Dreams, Lumley; In the Moons of Borea, Lumley; Spawn of the Winds, Lumley; Alone against the Wendigo, Rahman; Deities and Demigods Cyclopedia, Ward with Kuntz.)

  IUKKOTH

  See Yuggoth.

  IXAXAR (also ISHAKSHAR, IXAXAAR, or SIXTYSTONE)

  Artifact mentioned by Pomponius Mela in his De Situ Orbis. According to this authority, the Ixaxar is a black stone with sixty characters in an unknown tongue inscribed upon it. Bestial people of Libya’s interior hold the Ixaxar sacred, and it is present at their sacrificial rites. Stones such as this, however, have shown up in Wales and other sites around the world. The stone’s inscription deals with Iod, the Hunter of Souls.

  The stone sounds similar to the “Black Stone” found in Roman Britain. Occultist Kenneth Grant says it is the same as the Stele of Revealing, an Egyptian tablet which inspired Aleister Crowley’s workings, but the description of the actual Sixtystone is vastly different.

  [De Situ Orbis is a real book, but no scholar has found the passage that appears in Machen.]

  See Black Seal; Black Stone; Zegrembi Seals. (Hecate’s Fountain, Grant; “The Hunt”, Kuttner; “The Novel of the Black Seal”, Machen (O).)

  J

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  JADE HOUND

  See Amulet of the Hound.

  JEELOS

  Shy beings that lived in the wastes of Ultima Thule, an isle somewhere near Hyperborea.

  (“The Secret in the Parchment”, Carter; “The White People”, Machen (O).)

  JERMYN, (BARONET) ARTHUR (?–August 3, 1913)

  Ethnologist and poet. The Jermyns were a decayed line of English nobility, its most notable member being the explorer Lord Wade Jermyn. Arthur Jermyn’s mother was a music-hall singer, and his father Alfred left his family to join the circus when Arthur was still young. Arthur graduated with honors from Oxford, and set out to corroborate the research of his ancestor Sir Wade Jermyn. He travelled to Africa, where he was able to confirm some of Sir Wade’s findings, but then set himself on fire after receiving a mummy that a group of natives worshiped.

  (Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy, Detwiller; “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and his Family”, Lovecraft (O).)

  JERUSALEM’S LOT

  Religious community founded on the coast of Massachusetts in 1710. Its people were a splinter group of Puritans led by James Boon, a young charismatic preacher around whose meeting house the small town was constructed. The doctrines taught by Boon were strange even by modern standards; his sermons were filled with talk of demons, and Boon asserted his right to take any woman in the community to himself whenever he desired to do so. As a result, Jerusalem’s Lot became a town filled with insanity and degeneration.

  In 1789, when James Boon, now an old man, was still the head of the community, the aged pastor gained a copy of Prinn’s De Vermis Mysteriis. He incorporated this book into his services, and on Halloween of that year he and his congregation attempted a ceremony contained within that volume. On that night, all of the people of Jerusalem’s Lot vanished and were never seen again.

  [Though Stephen King also uses a town called ‘Salem’s Lot in the novel of the same name, the two are not the same.]

  See De Vermis Mysteriis. (“Jerusalem’s Lot”, King (O).)

  JOHANSEN, GUSTAF

  Sailor from Oslo who served as the second mate of the ship Emma. On March 22, 1925, during a voyage between Valparaiso, Chile, and Auckland, New Zealand, the Emma was set upon by the ship Alert, resulting in the deaths of the captain and first mate. Johansen took command and pushed on, landing on an island the next day where six of his crew were killed. Rescuers found Johansen, the only survivor of the Emma’s crew, on April 12. An enquiry at Sydney turned up very little, and Johansen and his wife moved from Dunedin back to Oslo. Shortly thereafter, Johansen died in a dockside accident.

  See Johansen Narrative. (“The Call of Cthulhu”, Lovecraft (O).)

  JOHANSEN NARRATIVE

  Diary written by Gustaf Johansen in which he tells of his accidental journey to the risen corpse-city of R’lyeh on March 23, 1925, and what he encountered there. The anthropologist Francis Thurston bore it away from Johansen’s widow, and it has since become an important document for investigators of the Cthulhu Mythos.

  See Johansen, Gustav; R’lyeh. (“The Call of Cthulhu”, Lovecraft (O); The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley.)

  JUK-SHABB

  Great Old One resembling a shining sphere which constantly changes color and speaks with its worshipers telepathically. This being rules the world of Yekub and its centipede-like inhabitants. Though not necessarily malevolent toward humans, Juk-Shabb will protect any Yekubians who are harmed in its presence.

  See Yekub. (“The Eyes of a Stranger”, Aniolowski; “The Challenge from Beyond”, Moore et. al. (O).)

  JUNZT, FRIEDRICH WILHEIM VON

  See von Junzt, Friedrich Wilheim.

  K

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  KA-HARNE

  See G’harne.

  KA-RATH

  See Quachil Uttaus.

  KADATH IN THE COLD WASTE

  Mountain on the peak of which the onyx Castle of the Great Ones was built. Kadath usually lies in the far north of the Dreamlands, beyond the Plateau of Leng. According to other tales, it may be found on a gigantic mountain chain in the Antarctic, somewhere near Mongolia, or in ruins far underground in modern-day Turkey. Some have even gone so far as to say that Kadath was a vast city of the Elder Gods that covered our entire planet at one time.

  Kadath is the home of the gods of Earth, and there they remain, protected by the Other Gods. Kadath is a terrible place for mortals to visit, as the gods do not take kindly to anyone invading their mountain retreat, and the dreamer Randolph Carter is the only one known to have done so. Kenneth Grant equated Kadath with Kether, the Kabalistic sephiroth whose attainment leads to oneness with God.

  See Carter, Randolph; Cold Waste; Dreamlands; gods of Earth; Leng; Ngranek; Yr-Nhhngr; yuggs. (“The Seal of R’lyeh”, Derleth; “The Alchemist’s Notebook”, Hurd and Baetz; “At the Mountains of Madness”, Lovecraft; “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; “The Other Gods”, Lovecraft (O); The Mind Parasites, Wilson .)

  KADATHERON

  Town on the river Ai which is located in either the Dreamlands or the distant past, depending on which authority is consulted. Kadatheron lies near Sarnath, though it never achieved that city’s grandeur. It has seen numerous ruling dynasties over the years. It is most famous for the brick cylinders of ancient lore that are held there.

  See Brick Cylinders of Kadatheron. (“The Lure of Leng”, DeBill; “The Doom that Came to Sarnath”, Lovecraft (O); “The Sister City”, Lumley.)

  KADIPHONEK, MOUNT

  See Noton and Kadiphonek, Mounts.

  KAGWAMON K’THAAT

  Book written by Adolphus Clesteros in the 13th century. For reasons which are still unclear, Clesteros chose to write the volume in a language of own invention called W’hywi.

  Only one copy of the Kagwamon K’thaat exists. The book appeared once in France in the hands of a secretive cult, whose members annotated the pages in Latin. Its present whereabouts are unknown. The book probably deals with cthonians and other such beings.

  (“Dark Carnival”, Hargrave (O); “The Summoning”, Lotstein.)

  KAMAN-THAH

  See Nasht and Kaman-Thah.

  KAMOG

  Name by which Ephraim Waite was known to the members of a coven in Maine. It might also have been the magical name of Noah Whateley, and that of a beaked spirit evoked by the Cult of the Skull.

  (“The Thing on the Doorstep”, Lovecraft (O); “Acute Spiritual Fear”, Price; “A Mate for the Mutil
ator”, Price.)

  KANT, ERNST

  German baron and witch-hunter who lived around the turn of the century. The Baron dedicated his life to investigating the supernatural. In his later years, however, he came to believe that an alien being called Yibb-Tstll was controlling his mind. Shortly thereafter, he was confined to a Westphalian sanitarium, in which he later died. Kant was the father of Joachim Feery.

  See Feery, Joachim; Yibb-Tstll. (“Aunt Hester”, Lumley; “The Horror at Oakdeene”, Lumley; “The Mirror of Nitocris”, Lumley (O).)