Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

by Harms, Daniel

  Various types of social organization exist among the ghouls. The main colony in the Underworld is fairly disorganized, though they may at times follow one of their species whom they respect. Alhazred’s account of the ghouls of the Empty Quarter, with whom he lived for several months, describes them as bands that dwell in caves near hidden oases and stalk caravans for prey. More recently, a colony beneath Providence, Rhode Island has taken to kidnapping human infants, raising them, and using them as their servants and enforcers above ground.

  Ghouls are allied with the nightgaunts, who serve them as mounts and for reconnaissance.

  Though individuals of the species may make deals with the Great Old Ones—especially Nyogtha—ghouls as a whole have not committed themselves to any spiritual practice save a vague reverence for Mordiggian. Many Russian ghouls who saw the bounty of Stalin’s purges came to revere him as the great provider. Recent years have seen the ghouls of New York split into two factions: the Traditionalists, who worship Mordiggian and believe in conventional graverobbing, and the Renegades, who may serve Nyarlathotep and are not averse to kidnapping to satisfy their cravings.

  Ghouls are not necessarily unfriendly to humans who know them and take the time to learn their language of gibberings and meepings, or who present the sign of the ankh to them. On the other hand, they can be quite unfriendly to those who enter their delvings unbidden.

  The exact origins of the ghouls are unknown, but it has been proven that over time a human can transform into one of these creatures. Proximity of other ghouls and a radical change in diet seem to bring about this metamorphosis. (Some have speculated that this transformation is a result of a prion-based neurological disease.) At times, ghouls have stolen human infants and replaced them with young of their own kind, so that they might induct their hostages into their species.

  A few variant ghouls have been reported. Some say these creatures have a more advanced and human-like subspecies that serves as the priests of Mordiggian. Also of note are the “hu-ghouls”—offspring of humans and ghouls that never develop into one or the other—who are considered the bottom of the ghoulish hierarchy.

  [Ghuls were originally monsters of Arabian folklore who dwelt in the desert and graveyards, preying on hapless passers-by. Lovecraft encountered them through The Arabian Nights and Vathek. The ghoul’s dog-like appearance and their habit of substituting human babies as their own are probably original to Lovecraft.]

  See ghasts; Hydra; Mordiggian; Naggoob; Ngranek; nightgaunts; Nyogtha; Pnath; Rhydagand of the Brush; Shunned House; tomb-herd; wamps. (Realm of Shadows, Crowe; Delta Green, Detwiller, Glancy, and Tynes; Delta Green: Countdown, Detwiller et. al.; “Pickman’s Student”, Herber; Daughter of Hounds, Kiernan; Low Red Moon, Kiernan; “Identity Crisis”, Kruger; “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; “Pickman’s Model”, Lovecraft (O); Alhazred, Tyson.)

  GHROTH. Outer God known as the Harbinger. This being appears as a dark object the size of a planet with one huge red eye (which Ghroth often closes when it wants to remain inconspicuous). When the stars are right, Ghroth will travel through the universe, visiting each world where the Great Old Ones reside to awaken them. Ghroth has visited our world in the past, thereby initiating the cycles of extinction usually believed to have been caused by meteors or comets.

  See Revelations of Glaaki; Shaggai. (“The Tugging”, Campbell (O); Spawn of Azathoth, Herber.)

  GILMAN, WALTER (?-May 1, 1928). Student of mathematics from Haverhill, Massachusetts. Gilman attended Miskatonic University, spending the last months of his life living in Arkham’s “Witch-House”. Though he displayed brilliance in his chosen field, his professors forced him to cut back on his work due to his nervous temperament. Over the spring of his last year, Gilman became more and more nervous, experiencing strange dreams and bouts of sleepwalking culminating on May-Eve. Ironically enough, his death seems not to have been due to his nervous deterioration, but to a rodent attack.

  See Ellery, Dewart; Upham, Hiram. (“The Dreams in the Witch-House”, Lovecraft (O).)

  GLAAKEEN. Undead servitors created by Glaaki (see).

  (“The Inhabitant of the Lake”, Campbell (O); Cthulhu Live: Lost Souls, Salmon et. al.)

  GLAAKI. Great Old One resembling a slug with three eyes on stalks, small pyramids on its underside, and innumerable metal spikes rising from its back. Glaaki dwells in a lake near Brichester. (Recent sightings suggest that it may be manifesting itself in other bodies of water throughout the world, such as New Britain Island in New Guinea, Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks, or even in the London sewers.)

  Glaaki’s unnamed home world was a place with acid lakes and foul vapors. The Great Old One traveled on a comet to the worlds of Yuggoth, Shaggai, and Tond. Eventually, it became imprisoned behind a crystal trapdoor beneath an asteroid city. When the meteor crashed into Earth, it created the lake where Glaaki later resided. Some insist that Glaaki had come to earth before for a short time through the priests of Egypt’s use of the Reversed Angles of Tagh Clatur, as a number of hybrid mummies have been discovered with spines similar to those of Glaaki. The Great Old One’s influence on our world was negligible before the meteor’s fall.

  Glaaki’s modern worship began around 1790, when Thomas Lee led his group to the lake from nearby Goatswood. This cult built a row of houses along the shore so they could be close to their god. These people remained until the 1860s, when all of them disappeared. Some suggest that the people came to make Glaaki serve them but were caught and enslaved to him instead. Others have lived in the area since then, but few stay long, being frightened away by Glaaki’s dream-sendings. This lake was subsequently drained after complaints about missing persons, but no trace of the city or the god himself was found.

  Glaaki commanded a cult of undead slaves, or Glaakeen, which it created by driving a spine from its back into their bodies and injecting a chemical into their bloodstreams. If the spine could be severed before the fluid was injected, the victim would die but was spared from becoming Glaaki’s slave. The fluid created a network of tissue in the corpse’s body, apparently taking the place of the circulatory and pulmonary systems, which Glaaki could then manipulate so that the Glaakeen did its bidding. Although capable of independent thought and action, these creatures were forced to do Glaaki’s bidding whenever it telepathically commands them. After sixty years, a rapid rotting known as the Green Decay affected these servants whenever sunlight struck them, so most of Glaaki’s servants remained under shelter during the day.

  Glaaki used a special psychic “dream-pull” to call nearby humans to join its cult. This was usually ineffectual, as Glaaki’s power did not extend far enough to reach anyone who was more than a few miles from the lake.

  See Aklo Unveilings; Angles of Tagh Clatur; Green Decay; Revelations of Glaaki; tomb-herd; Tond; Yuggoth. (“Ghost Lake”, Burleson; “Invocation from Beyond”, Burnham; “The Inhabitant of the Lake”, Campbell (O); Delta Green, Detwiller, Glancy, and Tynes; Call of Cthulhu Rulebook, 5th ed., Petersen and Willis; “The Further Files of Prof. Grant Emerson: Report on Adirondack Cadaver”, Price; Cthulhu Live: Lost Souls, Salmon et. al.)

  GLASS FROM LENG. Cloudy type of glass said to come from the Hyades to the Plateau of Leng. To be used, the glass must be mounted in a frame so that it appears to be a window. If the owner desires to use it, he or she should draw a pentagram in red chalk on the floor before the window, sit within the diagram, and say the words “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.” The glass from Leng will turn clear and show a scene with Mythos significance. The user cannot choose the location viewed. This person must be wary, since beings on the other side might see and pass through the magical gateway if they desire.

  The glass from Leng may also be crafted into the moon-lens used in Shub-Niggurath’s worship.

  See moon-lens. (“The Gable Window”, Derleth and Lovecraft (O); “Dark Harvest”, Ross.)

  GLEETH. Moon-god and advisor to the other divinities who the people o
f Theem’hdra and the Dreamlands revered. He is often said to be identical to Mnomquah, but in fact Gleeth is almost entirely blind and deaf to the prayers of his worshipers, unlike the other god. As such, only the Suhm-Yi people of Theem’hdra worshiped him, and he had no formalized cult or priests elsewhere.

  See Mnomquah. (“The House of Cthulhu”, Lumley (O); “Isles of the Suhm-Yi”, Lumley; Mad Moon of Dreams, Lumley.)

  G’LL-HOO (or GELL-HO). Deep one city in the ocean north of Britain, close to the isle of Surtsey.

  See deep ones. (The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley; “Rising with Surtsey”, Lumley (O).)

  GLOON. Lesser Other God appearing to be a handsome youth wearing a laurel wreath while in his temple, though his true form is that of a wattled, slug-like horror. Gloon is bound to a temple beneath the Atlantic Ocean, having been imprisoned there long before the sinking of Atlantis.

  Gloon may only interact with the outside world through the agency of small Atlantean statuettes made in his image. When someone discovers one of these statues, they have strange dreams of a sunken city dominated by a huge basalt temple with a glowing light inside. These dreams become more and more vivid as time progresses. The dreamer is also doused with salt water, and sometimes seaweed, while asleep. This result is insanity, as the person’s soul is taken back to the temple where Gloon may torture it until the life-force dissolves completely.

  See Atlantis. (“The Temple”, Lovecraft (O); “The City in the Sea”, Thomas and Willis.)

  GLYU-UHO (also GLYU-VHO or K’LU-VHO). Naacal title for the star commonly known as Betelgeuse. According to those who believe in the Elder Gods, these beneficent beings came down from Glyu-Uho to battle the Great Old Ones. The Elder Gods may dwell in an alternate dimension known as Elysia; if this is true, there may be a gateway leading to this place near Glyu-Uho.

  Glyu-Uho was also at one time the home of a race of amphibian beings that journeyed to earth and built their stone cities here. Strangely enough, when the Elder Gods battled the Great Old Ones, they also imprisoned these creatures.

  [Lovecraft suggested this word to Derleth as an alien name for Betelgeuse, though he never used it in his own fiction.]

  See Elder Gods; Great Old Ones. (“The Horror in the Bridge”, Campbell; “The Thing in the Pit”, Carter; “The Lurker at the Threshold”, Derleth and Lovecraft; “The Lair of the Star-Spawn”, Derleth and Schorer; Selected Letters IV, Lovecraft (O); “The Throne of Achamoth”, Tierney and Price.)

  GNOPH-KEH. Horned, furred monsters from Greenland that walk on two, four, or sometimes six legs. The Voormis pushed the Gnoph-keh into the polar wastes when the beast-men broke free of the Valusian serpent-men and established their own kingdom. These creatures are intelligent and adept at stalking prey across tundra and ice, calling up storms to immobilize their victims.

  Sometimes Gnoph-Keh is also said to be an avatar of Rhan-Tegoth. Others maintain that these creatures are worshipers of Ithaqua.

  See Aphoom Zhah; Rhan-Tegoth; voormis. (“The Scroll of Morloc”, Carter and Smith; Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game, Cook and Tynes; “The Lurker at the Threshold”, Derleth and Lovecraft; “The Horror in the Museum”, Lovecraft and Heald (O).)

  GNOPHKEHS. 1) Tribe of cannibals who dwelt in the north. The inhabitants of Zobna destroyed them when they established the empire of Lomar. Whether there is any link between this tribe and the non-human Gnoph-keh remains a mystery; the beast Gnoph-keh may be a totem animal for this group. See Aphoom Zhah; Lomar. (“Polaris”, Lovecraft (O).)

  2) Reptilian species of Azathoth worshipers responsible for the destruction of Lomar. Fleeing the cold, they later migrated to the south, where they built the Nameless City. How they fit in with the Gnoph-kehs and Gnophkehs is anyone’s guess. (“The Nameless Tower”, Glasby (O).)

  GNORRI. Bearded sea-dwellers of the Dreamlands who have a long prehensile tail in place of legs and two, three, or four arms. They spend much of their time building the intricate underwater mazes in which they live. Their most famous colony is at the base of the glass cliff of Ilek-Vad, though a larger abandoned city may be seen at the Bight of Benna east of Sarkomand. The gnorri are generally peaceful in disposition.

  See Ilek-Vad. (“The Silver Key”, Lovecraft (O); S. Petersen’s Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands, Petersen et. al.)

  GOATSWOOD. Village in England’s Severn River Valley, southwest of Brichester. Much like its neighbor Temphill, former Templars founded Goatswood in the first years of the fourteenth century. The people of the surrounding towns usually avoid Goatswood, as visitors there were known to vanish without a trace. Many of the town’s inhabitants were members of a strange religious cult which centered around goat-worship and held a special glass-topped pylon known as the “moon-lens” as holy.

  The forest near Goatswood also has an evil reputation. In the 17th century, a coven met in a clearing there, where they worshiped a stone which had fallen from the sky. After a while, the people of the surrounding countryside grew nervous about this activity and called in Matthew Hopkins, the infamous witch-hunter, who put all of the coven’s members to death.

  Goatswood may have been destroyed in a government raid in 1968, though others maintain it has survived.

  See Glaaki; moon-lens. (“The Church in High Street”, Campbell (O); “The Insects from Shaggai”, Campbell; “The Moon-Lens”, Campbell; “The Curate of Temphill”, Cannon and Price; Delta Green: Countdown, Detwiller et. al.)

  GOD OF THE BLOODY TONGUE. See Nyarlathotep (God of the Bloody Tongue.)

  GODDESS OF THE BLACK FAN. Book in classical Chinese, and the central tome for Nyarlathotep’s Cult of the Bloated Woman. The book is a series of poems by the monk Liu Chan-fang, detailing his liaison with the Bloated Woman and the hideous outcome, causing him to write the last poem in his blood after gutting himself with a sickle. A copy is in the hands of the cult’s leaders.

  See Nyarlathotep (Bloated Woman). (“Shanghai”, DiTillio and Willis (O).)

  GODS OF EARTH (also GREAT ONES). Weak deities of the Dreamlands who listen to the prayers of humanity. The gods of Earth appear much like humans, but their pointed chins, long-lobed ears, and thin noses set them apart from mortals. At times, these beings come down from their home atop Kadath to mate with human women to create demigods. It is said that wherever the features of the gods are most prominent among the people, Kadath must surely be nearby. For the most part, the Great Ones are weak and forgetful, but their attention is greatly preferable to that of the Other Gods that protect them.

  According to one author, the Great Ones are in fact the Elder Gods. Instead of defeating the Great Old Ones, these Elder Gods arrived from Betelgeuse and found the Great Old Ones already sleeping. The Elder Gods placed their seal upon their tombs and entrusted their care to Nodens. When the Great Old Ones awaken, however, the Elder Gods will be powerless to protect humanity.

  See Barzai; Elder Gods; gugs; Kadath; Nasht and Kaman-Tha; Nath-Horthath; Nyarlathotep; Ubbo-Sathla. (“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; “The Other Gods”, Lovecraft (O); “The House of the Worm”, Myers.)

  GOF’NN HUPADGH SHUB-NIGGURATH. Term applied to worshipers of Shub-Niggurath whom the goddess has found especially worthy of her favor. In a special ceremony, the Black Goat of the Woods devours the cultist, transmogrifies him or her, and regurgitates his or her new form. Following this ceremony, the person may have sprouted horns, the feet of the goat, claw-like hands, or even less human characteristics. The change also “blesses” the victim with virtual immortality. It was sightings of these transformed worshipers that inspired the classical legends of satyrs, dryads, and other fantastic sylvan creatures. Some claim that these beings have become more active in recent years, starting their own cults around the world and interacting on a limited basis with humans.

  See Shub-Niggurath. (“The Moon-Lens”, Campbell (O); Cthulhu Live: Lost Souls, Salmon et. al.)

  GOL-GOROTH. God of darkness known as the “forgotten Old One”. He is described as a being with tentac
les, scales, and ribbed wings. It is likely that Gol-Goroth presents itself in different forms to different observers.

  The people of Bal-Sagoth, a city located on an isle in the Atlantic Ocean, once worshiped Gol-goroth. At every rising and setting of the moon, the god’s priests sacrificed a victim and placed the heart upon its altar. Likewise, he was revered in Stygia in a domed temple overseen by Koth-Serapis.

  A variant species of winged deep ones known as the Golgors serves Gol-Goroth.

  [The first publication of “The Fishers from Outside” made Gol-Goroth the leader of the shantaks, ascribing many of the traits of Groth-Golka to him. Robert M. Price has since edited that story for continuity.]

  See Antarktos; Bal-Sagoth; Koth-Serapis; Stygia. (“Free the Old Ones”, Henderson; “Kolchak: The Night Stalker: The Lovecraftian Horror”, Henderson;“The Children of the Night”, Howard (O); “The Gods of Bal-Sagoth”, Howard; “Dagon Manor”, Howard and Henderson; “Black Eons”, Howard and Price.)

  GOLDEN GOBLIN PRESS. New York publishing house founded by Samuel and John Addleton in 1908 and named after a small statuette of Native American manufacture that one of the brothers owned. When founded, their intention was to republish the out of print works that they had used in composing their never-completed opera based on the history of the world. The most famous of these were von Junzt’s Nameless Cults (1909) and Bayrolles’ translation of Revelations of Hali (1913). The publishing house is believed to have closed during World War One, but restarted in Philadelphia a decade later, putting out such books as C. A. Smith’s The Dream of the Spider and the Awakening (1931) and Wingate Peaslee’s The Shadow out of Time (1936). Its most infamous work was The Dream-Script of Yeg’lalanoth, which a judge ordered to be burnt. The publishing house was still putting out books as recently as 1988.

  (“The History of Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten”, Harris; “The Black Stone”, Howard (O); S. Petersen’s Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands, Petersen et. al.; S. Petersen’s Guide to Cthulhu Monsters, Petersen et. al., “The Skull: A History”, Webb.)