Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

by Daniel Harms

  See Aphoom Zhah; Gnoph-keh; Hyperborea; Knygathin Zhaum, Pnakotic Manuscripts; Sfatlicllp; Tsathoggua; Ubbo-Sathla; Voormithadreth. (“The Acolyte of the Flame”, Carter; “The Scroll of Morloc”, Carter and Smith; “The Trail of Tsathogghua (sic)”, Herber; “The Seven Geases”, Smith; “The Testament of Athammaus”, Smith (O).)

  VOORMISH TABLETS

  Tablets written by the Voormis during their heyday. Their lore is considered to be powerful, and both Eibon and Haon-Dor consulted them during their researches. The tablets mention Aphoom Zhah, the Fishers from Outside, and how the Voormi wizard Hurun succumbed to the Curse of Rhan-Tegoth, but most of their contents are unknown.

  (“The Shadow of the Sleeping God”, Ambuehl; “The Acolyte of the Flame”, Carter (O); The Life of Eibon according to Cyron of Varaad, Carter; “The Descent into the Abyss”, Carter and Smith.)

  VOORMITHADRETH, MOUNT

  Highest peak of the Eiglophian Mountains of Hyperborea. This mountain was volcanic in origin (though the wizard Eibon insisted it was artificial) and named for the Voormis who inhabited the tunnels which honeycombed it. The braver of the Hyperborean nobility hunted these creatures on the mountain’s slopes.

  The toad-god Tsathoggua lurked in deep caverns beneath this peak, and because of this the Hyperborean cultists of Tsathoggua turned toward Mount Voormithadreth during their worship of the Great Old One. There were darker rumors that even more hideous beings dwelt under Voormithadreth.

  See Abhoth; Atlach-Nacha; Eibon; Haon-Dor; Shub-Niggurath; Sss’haa, Tsathoggua; voormis. (“Shaggai”, Carter; “The Seven Geases”, Smith (O).)

  VORVADOSS

  Entity known as the Flaming One, the Troubler of the Sands, or the Lord of the Universal Spaces. Vorvadoss appears as a cloaked and hooded figured surrounded by green flames, and has a face veiled in silver mist and black eyes with tiny flames dancing inside. Vorvadoss sometimes referred to as Vorvadoss of the Gray Gulf of Yarnak (or Bel Yarnak), where law decreed that only the Sindara of Bel Yarnak might worship him. The people of Mu revered Vorvadoss at the peak of the mountain Nergu-K’nyan, and many considered him to be the mightiest of earth’s gods.

  The Book of Iod mentions that Vorvadoss is neither a Great Old One nor Elder God, leaving his position to be decided on a case-by-case basis. In one invocation of Vorvadoss, the being seemed to be beneficent toward humanity, though in such matters, it is difficult to be certain.

  See Book of Iod. (“The Star-Seed”, Ambuehl; “Wizards of Hyperborea”, Fultz and Burns; “The Eater of Souls”, Kuttner (O); “The Invaders”, Kuttner.)

  VULTHOOM

  Being said to be one of Yog-Sothoth’s sons. Vulthoom resembles a many-rooted plant with a gigantic trunk and a huge blossom at the top holding the semblance of a tiny fairy-like creature. Vulthoom dwells in the cavern of Ravormos on Mars.

  Millions of years ago, Vulthoom fled to Mars in its ether-ship from a conflict with more powerful entities. Upon its arrival on the red planet, it subjugated the natives of that world using its vast knowledge of science and technology. After a while, Vulthoom tired of its worshipers, and retired beneath the ground into the caverns of Ravornos. Over several centuries, the people forgot the true nature of the extraterrestrial visitor, eventually believing that Vulthoom was the devil and his home in Ravornos was actually the underworld. Soon, the majority of the Aihai people had dismissed Vulthoom as a legend.

  A cult dedicated to Vulthoom managed to survive among the lower classes. According to this group, Vulthoom still lives; though the creature is not immortal, its lifespan is immeasurable. The monster dwells within the caverns of Ravornos, where it undergoes a cycle of a thousand years of activity, followed by a thousand years of rest. Vulthoom may bless those who are especially faithful with the same longevity, falling asleep when Vulthoom does so and awakening at the same time as their master. When awake, these servants plot to expand the worship of their master across Mars and to other worlds.

  According to the Revelations of Glaaki, Vulthoom only a child of the race upon which the legends of vampires are based.

  See Yog-Sothoth. (“The Inhabitant of the Lake”, Campbell; “Zoth-Ommog”, Carter; “Vulthoom”, Smith (O).)

  VYONES

  See Averoigne.

  W

  * * *

  WAILING WRITHER

  See Nyarlathotep (Wailing Writher).

  WAITE, ASENATH (1905–1932)

  Daughter of Ephraim Waite and an unknown mother. Asenath Waite grew up in the Innsmouth home of her father. Following his madness and death, she became a ward of the principal of Kingsport’s Hall School and later attended Miskatonic University.

  It was at Miskatonic that Asenath met Edward Derby, poet and author of Azathoth and Other Horrors. The two became attracted to one another and married shortly thereafter. During their marriage, Asenath became Derby’s tutor in the magical arts. Although on the surface their union was happy, those close to Derby noticed a shocking change in his personality during this period.

  Around three years after the marriage, Asenath disappeared; Derby insisted that his wife had gone on an extended vacation, and no one thought anything amiss. Later, after her husband had been confined to an asylum, her body turned up just outside the house of Daniel Upton, Derby’s close friend, presumably having been left there by persons unknown.

  See Cult of the Skull; Derby, Edward Pickman; Upton, Daniel; Waite, Ephraim. (“The Thing on the Doorstep”, Lovecraft (O).)

  WAITE, EPHRAIM

  Resident of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, who many considered to be a wizard of some power. Waite is an old Innsmouth name, but according to rumor, Ephraim Waite was originally Khemosh Ephraim ben-Daniel of New York, a young man interested in diabolism, who changed his name and moved to Innsmouth. Ephraim supposedly could control the weather and perform other mystical feats, and he often traveled to Miskatonic University to consult that institution’s occult holdings. He was known for solving many minor crimes among the locals and participated in rites of the Cult of the Skull.

  In his later years, Waite took a wife whose face no one ever saw and who disappeared shortly after she bore his daughter Asenath. When his daughter was in her early teens, Ephraim lost his mind, and Asenath confined him in the attic of their Innsmouth residence. Ephraim died not long following his imprisonment. Some suspected poison, but most of Innsmouth’s residents had no misgivings about Asenath, and no one ever charged her with his death.

  See Derby, Edward; Waite, Asenath. (“The Thing on the Doorstep”, Lovecraft (O).)

  WALL OF NAACH-TITH

  See Barrier of Naach-Tith.

  WALMSLEY, GORDON (OF GOOLE)

  One-time Professor-Curator of the Wharby Museum in Yorkshire, and author of the landmark work Notes on Deciphering Codes, Cryptograms, and Ancient Inscriptions. His aid in deciphering such inscriptions as the Phitmar Stone and the Geph Columns Characters proved invaluable. This famous expert on cryptography was murdered in his rooms near the museum, a crime that remains unsolved. Walmsley is best remembered for his work at translating the G’harne Fragments, an effort which was at first considered ludicrous but which has aided later scholars immeasurably.

  See Book of Dzyan; Brick Cylinders of Kadatheron; Broken Columns of Geph; Geph Transcriptions; G’harne Fragments; Spheres of Nath. (“The Fairground Horror”, Lumley; “In the Vaults Beneath”, Lumley; “Rising with Surtsey”, Lumley; “The Sister City”, Lumley (O); The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley.)

  WALTERS, HARVEY

  Reporter for Enigma magazine during the 1920s. Walters obtained a master’s in journalism from Miskatonic University, after which he moved to New York City. Walters was involved in the investigation of the mysteries of Castle Kriegs and possessed a gem that summoned a Hound of Tindalos when examined.

  (“Juggernaut”, Henderson; Call of Cthulhu Rulebook, Petersen and Willis (O).)

  WAMPS

  Creatures living in the graveyards and necropoli of the Dreamlands’ surface world. A wamp ha
s an egg-shaped body and nine pale legs that appear to be splashed with scarlet. A wamp’s head features two large ears, a short wrinkled snout, and blank spaces where eyes should be.

  Wamps spontaneously generate from the same rotting corpses on which they feed. Their practices are hideous in the extreme, so much so that ghouls do not feed from the graveyards of the upper Dreamlands, for fear of encountering these monstrosities.

  [The Call of Cthulhu game wedded Smith’s creation with the wamps mentioned, but never seen, in Lovecraft’s “Dream-Quest”.]

  (“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; H. P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands, Petersen et. al., S. Petersen’s Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands, Petersen et. al., “The Abominations of Yondo”, Smith (O).)

  WARD, CHARLES DEXTER (1902–1928?)

  Young antiquarian of Providence, Rhode Island. Ward received his high school education from the Moses Brown School, but was at the same time a self-trained historian of prodigious ability who spent most of his time researching his ancestor Joseph Curwen. To further his ends, he skipped college, instead spending a great amount of time traveling among the libraries of Europe. After his return to the United States, Ward became more and more eccentric, eventually being committed in early 1928. On April 13 of that year, Ward vanished from his room at the institution and was never heard from again.

  (“The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”, Lovecraft (O).)

  WARDER OF KNOWLEDGE

  Being mentioned on the nineteenth Eltdown Shard. The translation is somewhat garbled at this point, but seems to contain a ritual for summoning this entity. It seems that the proper procedure for returning the Warder to its home spheres is missing from the Shards, so caution is advised.

  See Eltdown Shards. (“The Warder of Knowledge”, Searight (O).)

  WARREN, HARLEY

  South Carolina occultist and friend of Randolph Carter. He first came to distinction in the years 1916–18, when he was a member of a Boston society dedicated to the investigation of psychic matters. Following the first World War, Warren took up occult studies of a more personal nature, accompanied by the Boston mystic Randolph Carter. In December of 1919, Warren vanished while on an expedition in the Big Cypress Swamp of Florida. The police held Carter, who had accompanied him at the time, but they allowed him to go free when no definite evidence linking him to Warren’s disappearance could be found.

  See Carter, Randolph; Hiamaldi. (“The Statement of Randolph Carter”, Lovecraft (O); “Through the Gates of the Silver Key”, Lovecraft and Price; The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley.)

  WATCHERS ON THE OTHER SIDE

  First novel by Nayland Colum. Colum’s book met with some success in the popular market during the Forties, and the author was writing a sequel when he vanished.

  What exactly this novel contained is unknown, but Colum may have had some sort of link through his dreams to the Great Old Ones, adding unusual concepts to his work.

  (“The Keeper of the Key”, Derleth (O).)

  WE PASS FROM VIEW

  Volume published by True Light Press in 1964. Its author and publisher, Roland Franklyn, was the leader of a small cult based in Brichester, England. Rumor has it that most copies of the book disappeared from Franklyn’s house before they could be distributed. In the years following the author’s death in 1967, many of the remaining copies have also gone missing.

  In his book, Franklyn set forth the dogma of his sect. One of his strange doctrines was that a reincarnated soul could exist in more than one body at a time. To get in touch with these other incarnations, the author instructs the initiate to use hallucinogenic drugs and chants to such beings as Daoloth and Eihort. Furthermore, for the soul to be reincarnated after death, a person’s body must be cremated, lest the burrowers of the graveyards drag the corpse below to the feast of Eihort.

  See Brichester; Eihort; Franklyn, Roland. (“The Franklyn Paragraphs”, Campbell (O).)

  WEBB, WILLIAM CHANNING

  Professor of Anthropology at Princeton who contributed to the study of the Cthulhu cult.

  Webb made a tour of Greenland in search of runic inscriptions in 1860. There he found a cult dedicated to a squid-god to which they chanted and made human sacrifices. In 1908, when Legrasse visited the American Archaeological Society meetings in Saint Louis, Webb was able to confirm the similarity between the cults Legrasse investigated in New Orleans and those he observed in Greenland.

  Webb later joined Legrasse on his later delvings into the Cthulhu cult, and he met his end while accompanying his friend to Nepal in 1925.

  (“Nothing To Fear but Dust”, Henderson; “Patiently Waiting”, Henderson; “The Call of Cthulhu”, Lovecraft (O).)

  WENDIGO

  1) Title of the Great Old One Ithaqua. In one reference, the Wendigo is referred to as Ithaqua’s cousin. (“The Windigo”, Blackwood (O); “The Thing that Walked on the Wind”, Derleth; “The Seal of R’lyeh”, Derleth.)

  2) Hypothetical species of which Ithaqua is a member. It is believed that by mating with humans, a wendigo can beget others of its own kind. Two wendigos were once sighted together, but the creatures engaged in a tremendous battle that ended only when one of the combatants perished. The existence of other such beings may explain the reference in which the Wendigo who controls the shantaks is called the “cousin” of Ithaqua. See Ithaqua. (“Born of the Winds”, Lumley (O); S. Petersen’s Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters, Petersen et. al.)

  3) Transformed servitor race created by Ithaqua out of those he captures. These appear much like Ithaqua himself, but are of lesser size and power. (“The Windigo”, Blackwood (O); Alone against the Wendigo, Rahman.)

  [The Wendigo comes from the tales of the Cree and Ojibwa of the Great Lakes region, who call the spirit the witiko or windigo. These monsters are human-like spirits who are taller than the mightiest trees and live at the North Pole, coming south to catch and devour humans. According to legend, when two Wendigos meet, they join in a titanic battle that ends in the destruction of one or both of the monsters. The myths also say that the windigo sometimes touches the mind of a human. Such people usually become obsessed with cannibalism, becoming so dangerous to their family and neighbors that they are often slain by their tribe. There has been considerable debate as to whether “windigo psychosis” ever existed, as no European has witnessed a case demonstrating these symptoms.

  When Derleth felt that the Mythos needed Great Old Ones of all four elements, he included the Wendigo Ithaqua as one of them. Since then, it has been popular to circumscribe Ithaqua’s range to the far north – though the mythical windigo’s range was further to the south.]

  WENDY-SMITH, SIR AMERY (?–1937)

  Archaeologist who was well known in his field as the author of On Ancient Civilizations and the inventor of the Wendy-Smith test for the dating of artifacts. His title is a matter of some controversy; some say he was knighted in 1901, while others hold that he was actually a baronet. Wendy-Smith’s earlier accomplishments, however, have been greatly overshadowed by his eccentric behavior later in life.

  Near the end of his career, Wendy-Smith worked to translate the G’harne Fragments, a set of writings taken from the jungles of Africa by the explorer Windrop. His research in this direction culminated with a journey to the lost city of G’harne, during which the other members of the expedition were killed in an earthquake and only Wendy-Smith escaped to civilization. It is believed that this tragedy affected Sir Amery’s mind, this condition forcing him to retire after his return. Wendy-Smith died in 1933 when his cottage on the Yorkshire moors collapsed. His nephew, Paul, wrote an account of the scientist’s last days that was discovered after his own house in Marske, Yorkshire was destroyed.

  See G’harne; G’harne Fragments. (Keeper’s Compendium, Herber; Beneath the Moors, Lumley; The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley; “Cement Surroundings”, Lumley (O); “In the Vaults Beneath, Lumley.)

  WEST, HERBERT (c. 1880–1921)

  Brilliant doctor and humanitarian. West
attended Miskatonic University Medical School and rendered Arkham great service during the typhoid epidemic of 1905. West went on to establish a clinic for the poor factory-workers of Bolton, Massachusetts, and even volunteered for medical service with the Canadians in World War I. His disappearance from his home in Boston is still unsolved.

  Rumors of Doctor West’s experiments with the revivification of the dead have been matters of popular rumor, but the author wishes to assure his readers that these are only scurrilous efforts to impeach a dead man’s character.

  See Meadow Hill. (“Herbert West – Reanimator”, Lovecraft (O).)