Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

by Daniel Harms

  On one of his early trips, Captain Marsh stumbled across a group of Polynesian islanders who possessed a large number of golden ornaments. According to Walakea, the tribe’s chieftain, a race of fish-beings had brought these to them in exchange for human sacrifices. For a few rubber and glass trinkets, Marsh procured a large amount of the natives’ gold.

  In the following years, Obed visited the islanders many times, trading for more gold and listening to their legends. When Marsh journeyed to this island in 1838, however, he found that natives from the surrounding isles had killed his trading partners, and that his source of revenue was lost. The repercussions of this disaster were felt throughout Innsmouth, and the town soon plunged into a depression.

  It was then that Marsh began to preach a new religion based on the Polynesian’s beliefs. If the people of Innsmouth followed the gods of his islander friends, he proclaimed, they would become rich and the nets of the fishermen would always be full. After a while, Marsh’s Esoteric Order of Dagon became so popular that all of Innsmouth’s churches were forced to close down due to lack of worshipers (or the Order’s strong-arm tactics). During the chaos instigated by the plague of 1846, in which half the town’s people died, Marsh became the town’s de facto leader, a post that he held until his death in 1878. Following his demise, the Marsh family kept its hold on local power until the government raids of 1928.

  See Book of Dagon; Codex Dagonensis; Devil’s Reef; Esoteric Order of Dagon; Innsmouth; Marsh, Obadiah. (“The Shadow over Innsmouth”, Lovecraft (O); Escape from Innsmouth, Ross.)

  MARTIN’S BEACH

  Oceanside village located a few miles northeast of Kingsport. Its only notable landmark is the Wavecrest Inn, a popular resort site. In 1922, Martin’s Beach was scandalized by the inexplicable drownings of several men in the same night.

  (“The Horror at Martin’s Beach”, Lovecraft and Greene (O); Kingsport, Ross.)

  MARVELLS OF SCIENCE

  Book written by Bertrand Morryster and published in 1790. Morryster claimed to obtain knowledge from voices that spoke to him in his sleep, an assertion that did not hold well with the scientific community. After he died in 1799, most of his discoveries were lost.

  Most of the book provides instructions for creating a perpetual motion machine, but it also deals with other discoveries, including the supposed hypnotic powers of snakes. Some say that this book describes a procedure for calling up angels or demons, and fanciful topographies of heaven and hell. However, this set of details appeared in a hoaxed copy created by bookseller Louis Gold.

  (“The Man and the Snake”, Bierce (O); “Call of Duty”, Detwiller; Peace, Wolfe.)

  MASON, KEZIAH

  Supposed witch from Arkham, Massachusetts, apprehended during the witch-scare of 1692. Keziah Mason confessed freely to her crimes, saying that the Devil had given her the secret name of Nahab and taken her to secret rites at various isolated locations. To aid her mischievous deeds, he had given her a familiar named Brown Jenkin. She had also discovered certain combinations of lines and angles allowing travel through the dimensions.

  After she gave the names of her fellow coven members, the judges condemned Keziah to death — an unusual sentence, since most witch-trial participants who confessed were not killed. Shortly thereafter, she escaped from her cell, leaving nothing behind but a mysterious drawing upon the wall of her prison. When the judges went to arrest her co-conspirators, they found them gone and the same markings in their homes. Rumors of long standing in Arkham maintain that the ghost of the witch and her familiar are seen occasionally.

  See Arkham; Meadow Hill; Themystos’ Island; Witch-House. (“Idiot Savant”, Henderson; “The Dreams in the Witch-House,” Lovecraft (O).)

  MASSA DI REQUIEM PER SHUGGAY (“Requiem for Shaggai”)

  Italian opera written in 1768 by Benvento Chieti Bordighera. Bordighera, a gifted young composer, was born in Rome in 1746, and made many travels throughout Europe. Only one performance of the opera was made, but this was enough for Pope Clement XIII to ban it in 1769. Bordighera was imprisoned for heresy in 1770 and executed in the following year.

  Many professional musicians have declared the score to be unplayable, since certain parts have been written for unknown instruments and notes that cannot possibly be rendered. Copies of the opera are kept at the British Museum, Bibliotheque Nationale, and the Vatican Library, and others are held by private collectors in India, Japan, and the United States. The German band Knochen Maschine adapted the piece into a modern format; the two singers hired to perform the main portions died shortly thereafter.

  The opera tells the story of the destruction of Shaggai, and the journeys of its former inhabitants throughout space, a tale filled with death, incest, and rape. It also details the insects from Shaggai’s worship of Azathoth and a being known as Baoht Z’uqqa-Mogg, the Bringer of Pestilence. Performing the entire opera will result in the summoning of Azathoth.

  See Shaggai; shan. (“Fade to Grey”, Aniolowski; “Mysterious Manuscripts”, Aniolowski et. al. (O); Keeper’s Compendium, Herber, Nightmare’s Disciple, Pulver.)

  MASTERS OF THE SILVER TWILIGHT

  Organization founded in 1657. Its primary goal is to raise the corpse-city of R’lyeh from the ocean and to bring Cthulhu from his tomb, so he may slay all of humanity. No link between this organization and the charitable society “The Hermetic Order of the Silver Twilight” has ever been proven.

  See Stanford, Carl. (“The Coven at Cannich”, Clegg; “The Hermetic Order of the Silver Twilight”, Hutchinson (O).)

  MAZE OF THE SEVEN THOUSAND CRYSTAL FRAMES

  Concept alluded to by Abdul Alhazred, but whose true meaning is unknown. Some cults are believed to have traveled its ways nonetheless. Traveling through the frames may give access to a new level of reality that gives the traveler more occult knowledge, yet this also makes him more likely to be subjugated by the Great Old Ones. The 3333rd frame is supposed to consist of many mouths that moan and gibber, and this frame is very hard to pass.

  (“The Inhabitant of the Lake”, Campbell (O).)

  MEADOW HILL

  Prominence near Arkham that seems to attract uncanny events. Nearby is the burned-down Chapman farmhouse where Herbert West performed his earliest experiments. In a valley nearby is a large white stone. No vegetation grows around the stone, and it was reputed to be a site for witch-cult meetings in Keziah Mason’s time and the present. Randolph Carter and Joel Manton were once found nearby, with curious and inexplicable wounds.

  (“The Dreams in the Witch-House”, Lovecraft; “Herbert West — Reanimator”, Lovecraft (O); “The Unnamable”, Lovecraft.)

  MERCY HILL

  Area of Brichester deriving its ironic nickname from the town gallows which were located here at one time. Mercy Hill is now primarily lower-class tenements built with the rise of industrialization. It is distinguished by a hospital at the peak of the hill. This area is considered a rough part of town, and is avoided by all “respectable” people.

  Folk legend holds that unpleasant dreams afflict some children who dwell on Mercy Hill, and this serves to keep many potential homebuyers away from this area. The author of the twelfth volume of the Revelations of Glaaki lived in this area, and the reclusive cult leader Roland Franklyn had his headquarters at the base of Mercy Hill.

  See Brichester. (“13 Places of Interest in Brichester”, Brownlow; “Cold Print,” Campbell; “The Franklyn Paragraphs,” Campbell; “The Inhabitant of the Lake,” Campbell (O); “Return of the Witch,” Campbell.)

  MEZZAMALECH STONE

  See Eye of Ubbo-Sathla.

  MHU THULAN

  Utmost northern portion of Hyperborea. Connected with the rest of Hyperborea by a peninsula, Mhu Thulan is supposedly an early name for Greenland. The great wizards Zon Mezzamalech and Eibon both lived in Mhu Thulan.

  See Aphoom Zhah; Cykranosh; Eibon; Hyperborea; Zon Mezzamalech. (“The Door to Saturn,” Smith; “Ubbo-Sathla,” Smith; “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan”, Smith
(O).)

  MI-GO (or FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH or OUTER ONES)

  Beings with a vast empire reaching beyond the stars, with its closest outpost on Pluto, otherwise known as Yuggoth. These beings resemble winged crustaceans with egg-shaped heads that constantly change color, their chief means of communication.

  The mi-go arrived on our world earth during the Jurassic period. They fought off attacks from the Elder Things in order to settle in the Northern Hemisphere, where for the most part they have remained ever since. On occasion, they have fought on the side of Cthulhu and his spawn, due to the god of R’lyeh’s influence in the cult of Yog-Sothoth.

  The fungi show a great deal of interest in our planet, because Earth contains deposits of certain minerals that are not found in other parts of the universe (or at least gates to other dimensions with these deposits). These substances are used to grow the fungi that they use as food. To obtain these minerals, the fungi have set up mining bases in the Andes, the Appalachians, and the Himalayas. Such bases are usually hidden, with the mi-go recruiting members of the local population to help them keep their activities secret. Word of their actions usually spreads despite this secrecy, and references to these curious creatures are often found in the legends of the countryside surrounding the creatures’ lairs. Their bodies sometimes appear after floods, as mi-go drown if submerged in water, adding substance to the local folklore. Myths ranging from those of the callikanzaros of Greece to the nagas of India and Tibet have been attributed to contacts with these beings.

  The mi-go eat a variety of fungus that does not grow on earth, passing a metal capsule containing this substance through their bodies. Reproducing may only be performed through rites to Shub-Niggurath. In some cases, the young grow in pods on the ground in special incubator chambers, but otherwise they nest in the bodies of dead mi-go who sacrifice themselves for that purpose. Through consuming their forebears, the new mi-go can access their memories and knowledge.

  A recent development is the appearance of different castes of mi-go, including soldiers, workers, and scientists. Some breeds are able to fly to other worlds, stars, and realities, though others must use magical gateways and other means to attain this goal. All these physical attributes, however, may be changed at a whim, for the fungi are masters of surgery who can attach or remove body parts, or even outfit a mi-go with organs capable of creating a buzzing human speech.

  One of the mi-go’s most amazing feats of body alteration involves a device known as a brain-cylinder. Through their surgery, the fungi can remove the brain of any being and transplant it into a curious metal cylinder, leaving the body in a state of suspended animation until the mind’s return. The brain can observe and interact with its surroundings via certain apparatuses connected with the cylinder. The device may be taken by the mi-go on trips back to Yuggoth, other stars inhabited by the fungi, and even other dimensions and times. This procedure is usually reserved for those whom the mi-go especially favor or despise.

  The mi-go mentality is nearly impossible for humans to understand. A mi-go purges its memory of any information that is not necessary for its immediate purposes. This keeps out irrelevant information, but leaves some facts, such as the species’ origins, a mystery to the mi-go themselves. A mi-go’s thought processes operate on a strictly cause-and-effect basis, with none of the intuitive leaps that allow humans increased creativity and quick technological advancement. At one time the mi-go performed experiments on humanity to reduce their psychic and creative potential, but today they are studying humans in hope of discovering how they can develop the same faculties.

  The mi-go living in the Himalayas have been known to cover their bodies with the pelts of various animals. According to some, this is the source of the legends of the Abominable Snowman. The mi-go’s surgical propensities also suggest that they may be responsible for the ongoing cattle mutilations reported in the southwestern U. S.

  Possessing a pragmatic attitude toward the Old Ones, the mi-go single out both Shub-Niggurath and Nyarlathotep for worship. They worship Yog-Sothoth as the Beyond-One and perform rites of devotion to other deities as necessary.

  [The name “Mi-go” does appear in Tibetan folklore, though the beings it describes bear little resemblance to Lovecraft’s.]

  See Black Seal; Brothers of the Yellow Sign; Colour out of Space; Elder Things; Ghadamon; Ghatanothoa; Ghisguth; Ghooric Zone; Hastur; Lesser Old Ones; N’gah-Kthun; proto-shoggoths; Seed of Azathoth; Shining Trapezohedron; shoggoths; Shub-Niggurath; Winged Ones; Yog-Sothoth; Yuggoth. (“The Temple of the Moon”, Aniolowski and Szymanski; “The Dweller in the Tomb”, Carter; Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game, Cook and Tynes; Machinations of the Mi-Go, Detwiller; Delta Green, Detwiller, Glancy, and Tynes; Outer Gateways, Grant; Keeper’s Compendium, Herber; “At the Mountains of Madness”, Lovecraft; “The Whisperer in Darkness”, Lovecraft (O); “Through the Gates of the Silver Key”, Lovecraft and Price; “Convergence”, Tynes; Necronomicon, Tyson.)

  MIGHTY MESSENGER

  See Nyarlathotep.

  MILLION FAVOURED ONES

  Beings said to be Nyarlathotep’s spawn, although this relationship is likely only symbolic. These Favored Ones are said to come from all the worlds of the universe and serve their lord Nyarlathotep unswervingly.

  (“The Million Favored Ones”, Carter; “The Whisperer in Darkness”, Lovecraft (O).)

  MIRI NIGRI

  “Strange dark folk” created by Chaugnar Faugn from amphibian tissue. These beings worshiped their maker, living near his home in the Pyrenees. In Roman times, they came down from their homes to trade in the nearby town of Pompelo and kidnap sacrificial victims for their May-Eve and Halloween rites. One year the Romans sent a cohort to disrupt these rites, and the Miri Nigri destroyed them to a man. After these events, Chaugnar ordered them to leave the area, so the Miri Nigri bore Chaugnar to his new home on the Plateau of Tsang. The intermingling of Miri Nigri with normal humans created the Tcho-tcho people.

  [The name “Miri Nigri” came to Lovecraft in a dream. “The Very Old Folk”, another version of this story published elsewhere, does not include this name.]

  See Chaugnar Faugn; Tcho-tchos. (“The Curse of Chaugnar Faugn”, Barton; “The Horror from the Hills”, Long; Selected Letters II, Lovecraft (O).)

  MISKATONIC RIVER

  Body of water that springs from the hills to the west of Dunwich, Massachusetts. The river flows east past the town of Dunwich and continues in that direction for many miles before turning to the southeast a few miles south of Bolton. Next, the Miskatonic runs through the town of Arkham and empties into the sea two miles to the south, just northeast of Kingsport.

  The Miskatonic’s name may have originated from a Native American tribe known as the Misqat, an offshoot of the Massachusetts Indians who lived within this valley.

  [Lovecraft described the word “Miskatonic” in a letter as “simply a jumble of Algonquin roots” that he had invented.]

  See Arkham; Aylesbury Pike; Dunwich; Kingsport; Themystos’ Island. (“With Malice Afterthought”, Anderson and Lehmann; Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, Aniolowski et. al.; “Dreams in the Witch-House”, Lovecraft; “The Dunwich Horror”, Lovecraft; “The Picture in the House”, Lovecraft (O).)

  MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY

  Educational institution located in Arkham, Massachusetts. The origins of this university remain shrouded in obscurity. One history holds that this school began as the Salem Academy in 1690, which moved to Arkham in 1776 and renamed the Miskatonic Liberal Seminary. Another states that “the College of the Miskatonick Vallye”, or Arkham College, was founded in 1690 and reinvigorated in 1765 with a bequest from Jeremiah Orne, one of Arkham’s foremost merchants. (It is possible that this college merged with the Salem Academy in 1776, thus accounting for the discrepancy.)

  At first, classes were held in only one building, but Miskatonic College grew so quickly that soon after the Revolutionary War, the people of Arkham presented their former town common to the school in recognition
of its achievements. In 1861, Miskatonic College combined with Elder Faith Seminary to become a university, and in 1880, its world-famous medical school opened.

  Over the years, Miskatonic University has gained a great deal of prestige and is often considered to be one of the Ivy League schools. Even now, over two hundred years after its foundation, Miskatonic remains at the fore in scholarship and research. Its expeditions into the far parts of the world, such as the Pabodie expedition of 1931 and the later Australian excavations of 1935, though not entirely successful, have earned the university acclaim from the scientific community.

  Of especial note to the visiting scholar is the University’s library, which includes the largest collection of rare occult material in the Western Hemisphere. Also of interest is the Miskatonic University Exhibit Museum, which is known to hold some intriguing artifacts of an unknown culture, and the Nathaniel Derby Pickman Nuclear Laboratory.

  [Much recent Mythos fiction has depicted Miskatonic as a place where magic and witchcraft are taught as a matter of course. Lovecraft himself, on the other hand, depicted Miskatonic as a bastion of rationality and scientific thought.]