Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

by Daniel Harms

  (“Night and Water”, Detwiller; Project Rainbow, Detwiller; “From Beyond”, Lovecraft (O); “The Jennifer Morgue”, Stross.)

  TIME-CLOCK

  Alien artifact resembling an ornately carved, coffin-shaped grandfather clock with four hands which move around its dial in seemingly random patterns. The clock operated without any outside power source whatsoever. Only rumors relate what those who opened the clock found within. It is believed that this is merely one device out of many, but this is the only one of its kind encountered on Earth.

  The Yogi Hiamaldi supposedly brought back the time-clock (as it was later called) from the alien city of Yian-Ho. He presented the clock as a gift to Etienne-Laurent de Marigny, the famous French mystic, who kept the object at his New Orleans retreat. It was here that the clock played an important role in the disappearance of Swami Chandraputra, an elderly Indian who had come to provide evidence that Randolph Carter survived. After de Marigny’s death, a wealthy Frenchman purchased the clock and vanished soon thereafter. Titus Crow later bought it at an English antique auction. The clock remained in Crow’s possession for years, until it vanished along with him and his friend Henri-Laurent de Marigny during a freak windstorm in 1969.

  According to notes discovered in Crow’s demolished manor, the clock operated as a gateway and a vehicle to other places, times, and dimensions. The user would open the clock, step inside, and immediately be able to utilize the device’s powers of transportation. The clock was supposedly a tool of the Elder Gods, however, and the time-clock’s powers could be dangerous if misused.

  (“Through the Gates of the Silver Key”, Lovecraft and Price (O); The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley; The Clock of Dreams, Lumley; “De Marigny’s Clock”, Lumley; The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley.)

  TINDALOS

  World which may exist on earth far in the past, on a faraway world near a black hole, or even floating throughout time, contemporaneous with all space yet unable to intrude upon it. Its towers shaped like corkscrews are the homes of the hounds of Tindalos. It is whispered that an awful deed done here aeons ago caused the hounds to be created.

  [In Melanesia, the word “tindalo” refers to a spirit of the dead who possesses magical power. What this has to do with the hounds is unknown, and it could be a simple coincidence.]

  See hounds of Tindalos. (“The Book of the Gates”, Carter; “The Hounds of Tindalos”, Long (O); “The Statement of One John Gibson”, Lumley; The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley; “The Sound of a Door Opening”, Webb.)

  TIND’LOSI HOUNDS

  See hounds of Tindalos.

  TOK’L

  Metal used on Tond and Yuggoth as part of a process that bestows immortality. Every thirty-five years, the creature’s brain must be transferred from one body to another. During this process, the brain must be kept in a container made of tok’l-metal during the transition between bodies. It has been suggested that the metal may also be used for other ritual purposes. The nearest source of this mineral is the planet Yuggoth.

  See Ghooric Zone; Yuggoth. (“The Mine on Yuggoth”, Campbell (O); “The Return”, Smith.)

  TOMB-HERD

  Beings mentioned in the Necronomicon that feed upon the occupants of tombs. They come from another dimension, possessing the bodies of other creatures to enter our own space-time continuum and feast upon the dead.

  The tomb-herd has the limited ability to warp space; for example, a chosen victim might be unable to escape from an area where the tomb-herd waits, as every road circles back on itself and returns to the dwellings of the herd. Outside assistance may be of some help in eluding the tomb-herd, but they often catch their victims in the end despite all precautions.

  The tomb-herd may be allied to the Great Old One Glaaki, and they are said to serve Yog-Sothoth. Some cults focussing around the tomb-herd exist; the worshipers allow the herd to possess them, in return for certain benefits.

  These beings are probably not connected with ghouls, who are not allied with Yog-Sothoth, and who have material bodies in this dimension.

  (“The Church in High Street”, Campbell; “The Inhabitant of the Lake”, Campbell; “Through the Gates of the Silver Key”, Lovecraft and Price (O).)

  TOND

  Planet which some say circles our sun, but which, according to most authorities, revolves the dark star Baalbo and the green star Yifne. Tond is mentioned in works such as the Necronomicon and the Revelations of Glaaki. On this planet live the yarkdao, who have built curious cities of black stone and bluish metal. One of these cities is Derd, beneath which lies an avatar of Azathoth.

  It has been said that Glaaki spent some time upon this world on his way to Earth. The only way a human can behold Tond is through the use of the Crystallizer of Dreams.

  [Ramsey Campbell’s Far Away and Never includes more tales set on Tond, though that world seems quite different than the one described in his Mythos tales.]

  See Crystallizer of Dreams; Daoloth; Glaaki; tok’l. (“The Inhabitant of the Lake”, Campbell (O); “A Madness from the Vaults”, Campbell; “Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom”, Carter.)

  TOWER OF KOTH

  See Koth, Tower of.

  TREADER OF THE DUST

  See Quachil Uttaus.

  TREGARDIS CRYSTAL

  See Eye of Ubbo-Sathla.

  TRONE TABLES

  Set of highly abstruse mathematical equations connected with the Great White Space. They are presented in some sources as a book unto themselves, and in others as a section of The Ethics of Ygor.

  (The Great White Space, Copper (O); “The Dreaming City”, Johnson.)

  TRUE MAGIK (or TRUE MAGICK)

  Book written by a sorcerer named Theophilus Wenn (most likely a pseudonym). The book is often dated to the 17th century, though research indicates that it might have turned up at the University of Salamanca in medieval times. One copy, published in 1872 by Oakley Press, may be found at the Miskatonic University Library, and other manuscript copies have also been circulated.

  In addition to the usual references to demons, vampires, and the like, the book also contains seven incantations of great power. Three of these are for the creation of various protective charms, and another three may be used against the wizard’s enemies. The seventh, which summons a hideous demon, is especially perilous, as it requires a blood sacrifice made at an altar to the Great Old Ones in exchange for great wealth. Wenn’s curious distinctions between black, white, and grey magic will also be of interest to students of the occult.

  [This book is not to be confused with Amber K’s paperback manual of the same name.]

  (“The Seventh Incantation”, Brennan (O); Devil’s Children, Conyers, Godley, and Witteveen; Miskatonic University Graduate Kit, Petersen et. al.)

  TRU’NEMBRA

  Outer God also known as the Angel of Music, manifesting itself as an unearthly melody. Tru’nembra only comes to Earth when a master musician has somehow come to the god’s attention. The musician hears music that no one else may perceive, and these melodies become more captivating. Eventually, Tru’nembra manifests to bear the musician back to Azathoth’s court, to play there for all eternity. This might have been the fate that befell Erich Zann.

  See Zann, Erich. (Ye Booke of Monstres, Aniolowski (O).)

  TSAN-CHAN

  Oriental empire that will come into being three thousand years in the future. It may be that by this time the return of the Great Old Ones will have occurred, and that non-human masters will rule this empire.

  See Yiang-Li. (“Beyond the Wall of Sleep” (O), Lovecraft; “The Shadow Out of Time”, Lovecraft.)

  TSANG, PLATEAU OF

  Region in Asia inhabited by the Tcho-Tcho people. Some maintain that this place is identical to the Plateau of Leng; perhaps Tsang is a point where Leng intersects our own dimension. In a cavern on Tsang rests Chaugnar Faugn, the Tcho-tcho’s god. Here he waits for the time when he shall journey west and devour the world.

  The mountains beyond Tsang, according to Harold Hadle
y Copeland, were at one time the home of a group of refugees who fled the destruction of Mu. The great wizard Zanthu led the survivors, who later buried him in an ancient graveyard somewhere in this region.

  [Tsang, or Hou-tsang, is a province in the south of Tibet. Its major city is Shigatse or Xigaze. Whether Long knew this or not is unknown.]

  See Chaugnar Faugn; Copeland, Harold; Miri Nigri; Tcho-tchos; Zanthu Tablets. (“The Curse of Chaugnar Faugn”, Barton; “The Dweller in the Tomb”, Carter; “The Horror from the Hills”, Long (O).)

  TSATH

  Capital city of the subterranean land of K’n-yan. The people of this land named their capital in honor of the Great Old One Tsathoggua before they banned his worship.

  See K’n-yan; Tsathoggua. (“The Mound”, Lovecraft and Bishop.)

  TSATH-YO (possibly also ELDER SCRIPT)

  Primal language used in the land of Hyperborea millions of years ago.

  See Book of Dzyan; Testament of Carnamagos. (“Through the Gates of the Silver Key”, Lovecraft and Price.)

  TSATHOGGUA (also SADOGUI, SAINT TOAD, or ZHOTHAQQUAH)

  Great Old One whose amorphous body usually takes the form of a furry toad-like being with sleepy eyes and a toothy grin, or a combination of bat and sloth. The genealogist Pnom maintains that Tsathoggua, the offspring of Ghisguth and Zstylzhemghi, came with them and its grandfather Cxaxukluth from a distant galaxy to Yuggoth when it was still an infant. Secreting itself in deep caves on Yuggoth to hide from its grandsire, Tsathoggua later made its way to Saturn. According to other myths, the inhabitants of a dark planet at the edge of our system brought Tsathoggua to Earth from Saturn.

  Some insist that the toad-god remained in an alien species’ ruined city of Yuth in the stone desert of K’li-Phon-N’yah after his arrival on Earth. Nonetheless, most authorities agree that after its arrival it left Yuth to take up residence in the black caverns of N’Kai. It lived beneath Mount Voormithadreth for a brief while, retreating to its former home when his worship declined and the ice whelmed Hyperborea. A few heretics insist that it lies in a cavern beneath Averoigne, but they are probably incorrect. At some point Tsathoggua mated with Shathak, who begat Ossadagowah, and a serpent person with which it sired Kzadool-Ra, whom it destroyed later in a fit of jealousy.

  The serpent-men of the “red-litten cavern of Yoth” were the first to worship Tsathoggua. From Yoth its worship spread to K’n-Yan, and thence to the arctic land of Lomar and the outer world. First the Voormis and later the human invaders of Hyperborea revered the toad-god. The Atlantean high priest Klarkash-ton revived its cult, and the dark Averones who fled Atlantis for Averoigne took its worship with them. The Druids of Averoigne revered the god’s utterances, voiced through a slowly devolving oracle. A French cult of Tsathoggua was powerful into medieval times and still survives today. The Narragansett and Wampanoags of Massachusetts worshiped it at one time, but they later gave up this adoration. The people of Zothique will know him as Zathogwa the Outcast, but his cult will be outlawed in those distant times.

  Tsathoggua’s cult may survive in underground sanctuaries in major cities, gaining power from orgies and sacrifices. Some say that Tsathoggua gains sustenance from human war and instability. Others claim that the god has had such little worship that most of his physical substance has dispersed. Those who attend his rites may degenerate, gaining animalistic characteristics due to their proximity.

  The beasts of the wood held a special reverence for Tsathoggua, and cats were known to guard its shrines in Averoigne. In addition, it is served by formless black entities called his spawn, though the exact degree of relationship between the two is unknown, and the reanimated dead. Only one of Tsathoggua’s ritual chants is known:

  N’ggah-kthn-y’hhu! Cthua t’lh gup r’lhob-g’th’gg lgh thok!

  G’llh-ya, Tsathoggua! Y’kn’nh, Tsathoggua!

  It hath come!

  Homage, Lord Tsathoggua, Father of Night!

  Glory, Elder One, First-Born of Outer Entity!

  Hail, Thou Who wast Ancient beyond Memory

  Ere the Stars Spawned Great Cthulhu!

  Power, Hoary Crawler in Mu’s fungoid places!

  Iä! Iä! G’noth-ykagga-ha!

  Iä, Iä, Tsathoggua!

  Tsathoggua’s high rites are performed on May-Eve and Halloween. Lesser festivals are held on the nights of the new moon between midnight and 3 a.m.

  Rumor has it that Tsathoggua has been cast out from his brethren among the Great Old Ones for a truly terrible and revolting act. One authority maintains that he is identical with Chaugnar Faugn, though this is unlikely.

  [As Robert M. Price observes, Lovecraft and Smith’s versions of Tsathoggua are quite different in their appearances, histories, and relations to Cthulhu.]

  See Atlach-Nacha; Book of Eibon; Book of K’yog; Chaugnar Faugn; Codex Dagonensis; Commoriom; Crom-Ya; Cthaat Aquadingen; Cxaxukluth; Cykranosh; du Nord, Gaspard; Eibon; elemental theory; Eye of Tsathoggua; Eye of Ubbo-Sathla; Fishers from Outside; formless spawn; Ghisguth; Great Old Ones; Hyperborea; Hziulquoigmnzhah; K’n-yan; Kythamil; N’kai; Nug and Yeb; Nyogtha; Ossadogwah; Parchments of Pnom; Satampra Zeiros; serpent-people; Shathak; Temple of the Toad; Voola ritual; Voormis; Voormithadreth; Yhoundeh; Yoth; Yuggoth; Zoth; Zstylzhemghi. (“The Terror of Toad Lake”, Ambuehl; “Death is an Elephant”, Bloch; “Tsathoggua”, Fantina; “The Old One”, Glasby; “The Oracle of Sàdoqua”, Hilger; Selected Letters III, Lovecraft; Selected Letters IV, Lovecraft; “The Mound”, Lovecraft and Bishop; “The Round Tower”, Price; “Oh, Baleful Theophany”, Pugmire; Cthulhu Live: Lost Souls, Salmon et. al.; The Illuminatus! Trilogy, Shea and Wilson; The Black Book of Clark Ashton Smith, Smith; “The Door to Saturn”, Smith; “The Family Tree of the Gods”, Smith; “The Seven Geases”, Smith; “The Tale of Satampra Zeiros”, Smith (O); Necronomicon, Tyson; “The Resurrection of Kzadool-Ra”, Vester.)

  TSATHOGGUANS

  Beings that infest the minds of every person and keep them from fulfilling their whole potential. Although the name suggests the Mythos, they are totally unconnected with Tsathoggua or any other Great Old One.

  (The Mind Parasites, Wilson (O).)

  T’SMAN MANUSCRIPT

  Work of at least six volumes, each apparently written by a different author to detail the history of the Old Ones. Nothing is known of most of the authors. The writer of the fourth book was Ythth Ghuggl’ingh, a priest of Nyarlathotep, to whom an old man had passed on the duty of writing a volume. Ythth in turn chose a Scandinavian named Valdur to compose the fifth, providing him with much of the material. Nyarlathotep was enraged when he found out how much this particular volume had revealed, imprisoning Ythth and killing Valdur, but he was unable to find the fifth volume.

  An edition of this work was issued by Robert Edwards. This might be identical with one in an unknown language with an Elder Sign on the cover.

  (“The Curse of the Toad”, Hall and Dale; “The Gunfight against Nyarlathotep”, Larson; “The Spawn of the Y’lagh”, Larson (O).)

  TULZSCHA

  Being who appears to be a pillar of green flame and serves as one of the dancers at Azathoth’s court. It is worshiped in the West Indies, France, Italy, and possibly the Middle East. A cult based in Kingsport, Massachusetts disbanded approximately two hundred and fifty years ago.

  Rites of Tulzscha are always performed at solstices, equinoxes, or other astronomically significant times. It is said that the most faithful of Tulzscha’s worshipers survive death in a fashion, dwelling forever in their rotting corpses.

  [This creature is first described in Lovecraft, who does not call it a god and hints that deeper mysteries await the members of the Kingsport cult.]

  See Outer Gods. (“The Festival”, Lovecraft (O); “The Kingsport Cult”, Ross.)

  THE TUNNELER BELOW

  Book of poems by Georg Reuter Fischer, a young man from Vulture’s Roost, California. Hollywood’s Ptolemy Press published the book in 1936. Much as other writers, Fischer received the in
spiration for this volume of poems from his dreams. In addition, he acknowledged the influence of Derby’s Azathoth and Other Horrors upon his work. Unfortunately, a year after the book’s publication, Fischer perished in an earthquake which destroyed his home.

  Both UCLA and Miskatonic University own copies of this book. The poems in the Tunneler Below include such works as “The Green Deeps” and “Sea Tombs”. These two works contain references to “Cutlu”, “Rulay”, and “Nath”, though the author does not explain what these terms mean.

  See Azathoth and Other Horrors. (“The Terror from the Depths”, Leiber (O).)

  TUSCAN RITUALS

  Volume that, according to the Roman historian Pliny, contains information on the rites of Summanus. This book probably came from the Tuscany province of Italy. A copy may be consulted at the British Museum.