Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

by Harms, Daniel

See Kadath. (“The Thing under Memphis”, Carter; “The Lurker at the Threshold”, Derleth and Lovecraft; “The Dunwich Horror”, Lovecraft (O).)

  YSTE, SONG OF. See Song of Yste.

  YTHOGTHA. One of Great Cthulhu’s supposed “sons”, along with Ghatanothoa and Zoth-Ommog. Ythogtha appears as a bipedal creature with webbed hands and feet tipped with suckers and whose head is covered with tentacles radiating from a single eye. It is currently imprisoned beneath an Elder Sign within the Abyss of Yhe, located in the sunken land of Mu far to the south of R’lyeh. It is served by the yuggya.

  Ythogtha’s cult was powerful in Mu for many years, gradually losing influence as Ghatanothoa’s worship gained ascendancy. The last Muvian priest of Ythogtha, Zanthu, conceived of a daring plan to raise his god up from its chasm and regain his religion’s former power. Ythogtha’s ascent, however, set a series of catastrophic events in motion that destroyed the land of Mu.

  From time to time, statues of Ythogtha have come into the possession of humans. Through these idols, Ythogtha can manifest himself through the dreams of the owner. Madness is the most common result of this contact.

  It is said that Ythogtha is the manifestation of a force that brings about confusion in the thought processes of those it contacts.

  See Cthulhu; Ghatanothoa; Idh-yaa; Rituals of Yhe; Yhe; Yuggya; Zanthu; Zanthu Tablets. (“Out of the Ages”, Carter (O); “Perchance to Dream”, Carter; “The Thing in the Pit”, Carter; The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley; Other Nations, Marsh and Marsh.)

  YUGGOTH (also IUKKOTH). Trans-Neptunian planet usually said to be identical with Pluto, but which is sometimes described as a huge world beyond the nine known planets which rotates perpendicular to our solar system’s orbital plane.

  This world serves as a base for the mi-go. From those humans who have traveled to or viewed Yuggoth, we hear that it is a planet of cities filled with black, windowless towers beneath warm seas and great mines of tok’l and other strange minerals. Glaaki stopped for a time on this world on his way to Earth, and it is here that the mi-go constructed the Shining Trapezohedron. Yuggoth served as a home for Rhan-Tegoth before it came to earth, and Tsathoggua’s grandfather Cxaxukluth may still dwell beneath its surface. Some even claim that all of the life in this solar system originated on Yuggoth.

  The mi-go were not the first creatures to live on Yuggoth. A previous species built massive bridges over the planet’s black rivers. A city of green pyramids rests on a ledge in a cleft near one of the fungi’s metropolises, and the mi-go take care to desert that particular town at certain times of the year. They also have a particular horror of the large moon that hovers overhead, prohibiting all travel to it lest the individual be destroyed. Aside from these precautions, though, the mi-go are the undisputed masters of Yuggoth.

  See Book of K’yog; Cxaxukluth; Daoloth; Ghatanothoa; Ghisguth; Ghooric zone; Glaaki; Hziulquoigmnzhah; Nithon; Nyarlathotep (Haunter of the Dark); Rhan-Tegoth; Shining Trapezohedron; Thog and Thok; tok’l; Tsathoggua; Yaddith-Gho; Zaman; Zaoth; Zone of the Thirteen Faveolate Colossi. (“The Mine on Yuggoth”, Campbell; “The Haunter of the Dark”, Lovecraft; “Recognition”, Lovecraft (O); “The Whisperer in Darkness”, Lovecraft; “The Horror in the Museum”, Lovecraft and Heald; “Out of the Aeons”, Lovecraft and Heald; “The Discovery of the Ghooric Zone”, Lupoff; “Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley”, Lupoff; A Guide to the Cthulhu Cult, Pelton; “Family Tree of the Gods”, Smith; “The Throne of Achamoth”, Tierney and Smith; Necronomicon, Tyson.)

  YUGGOTH, FUNGI FROM. See mi-go.

  YUGGS. Servitors of Ythogtha and Zoth-Ommog that resemble huge white worms. Yugg biology is simultaneously like that of annelids and molluscs. Some of their more unusual anatomic traits are the ability to intake sulfides without suffocating and the presence of iacula, small organic darts which may be fired into another creature and allow for exchange of genetic information between them. Yuggs form a single collective mind that shares information with their leader and parent Ubb. The yuggs can live in any earthly environment, though they spend most of their time burrowing beneath the crust or living in the ocean depths. A subspecies of yuggs bears wings and dwells in tunnels beneath the Pacific.

  The yuggs may be working in concert with Ubb to free their imprisoned masters. They do have relations with Deep Ones at times, but these are often strained due to religious differences. Yugg interaction with humans is usually short and violent. They will sometimes work with humans nonetheless, bestowing great wealth in exchange for continued human sacrifice. A formula for summoning one of these beings may be found in the Zanthu Tablets.

  Some say that the yuggs burrowed beneath Kadath and were the beings who struck fear and awe into the Elder Things, even inspiring the shoggoths to rebel.

  See Ubb; Worms of the Earth; Ythogtha; yuggya; Yuggya Chants; Zoth-Ommog. (“Out of the Ages”, Carter (O); “The Winfield Heritance”, Carter; Other Nations, Marsh and Marsh.)

  YUGGYA. 1) Plural of “yugg”; used interchangably with “yuggs”. (“Out of the Ages”, Carter (O).)

  2) Crossbreed offspring of a yugg and a Deep One. The result of the union is a being that can pass as human but possesses great strength and resiliency. Its thought processes are alien, and it often has trouble understanding human emotions and motivations upon first contact. The yuggya are empathic, however, and can form friendships and use their enemies’ fears and desires against them. They can also inject pleasure-inducing chemicals into others’ bodies and gain understanding of another species by imbibing its DNA or RNA. They are part of the yugg collective, and their weaponry is said to be considerably advanced. (Other Nations, Marsh and Marsh (O).)

  YUGGYA CHANTS. Volume only known to scholars by rumor. It is said that the eccentric anthropologist Henry Hadley Copeland purchased a copy of this manuscript from a sailor in San Francisco shortly before his demise, though no such manuscript turned up in a search of his library.

  See yuggs, yuggya. (“Out of the Ages”, Carter (O).)

  Z

  ZAMACONA Y NUÑEZ, PÁNFILIO DE (c. 1512–?). Conquistador whose name has become connected with a curious document found in Caddo County, Oklahoma. A younger son of Pedro Guzman y Zamacona and Ynés Alvarado y Nuñez, Zamacona left his native port of Luarca for the New World at the age of twenty. He accompanied Coronado on his expedition into what was to become the western United States, but he continued on his way when Coronado turned back in 1541. He then descended to the underground caverns of K’n-yan, where he spent the rest of his life and from which he was attempting to escape when killed.

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

  ZAMAN. According to some sources, one of Yuggoth’s moons.

  (“The Ancient Track”, Lovecraft (O); “Discovery of the Ghooric Zone”, Lupoff.)

  ZANN, ERICH (c. 1865?–c. 1925). Mute German violinist who ended his life in the Rue d’Auseil in Paris. Some say he played at the Paris Opera House, where an accident in 1897 left the young musician permanently deaf. After this he moved to Stuttgart, married, and had at least one child. Around 1924, he unaccountably left his family and returned to Paris.

  In another version of his history, Zann was born in 1834, and became one of Europe’s greatest violinists. He built his Theater of the Clowns in Rome between 1859 and 1860. This was in honor of the woman he loved, and when she died at a performance, he swore off music. Moving to Paris in 1872, he became a drug addict and a curiosity of that city’s artistic scene.

  In Paris, Zann joined an orchestra at a cheap theater to provide himself with income. He became known to the tenants of his apartment because of the strange unearthly violin music that he played at night. He is believed to have vanished while performing one of his “experimental pieces” in his garret apartment one night. The police were baffled by the lack of clues, and soon afterward called a halt to their search.

  Zann may have been connected in some manner with Hastur or Tru’nembra. The loss of a manuscript detailing his phi
losophy has made this determination difficult.

  See Rue d’Auseil; Tru’nembra. (“La Musique de la Nuit”, Aniolowski; “Suicide Watch”, Dembo; Miskatonic University, Johnson et. al.; “The Music of Erich Zann”, Lovecraft (O); “The Silence of Erika Zann”, Wade.)

  ZANTHU. Last high priest of Ythogtha on the continent of Mu. Zanthu had wanted this post from an early age, and through his acquisition of the powerful Black Seal of Iraan, he was able to achieve his dream. He was one of the most powerful wizards of all time, even outwitting the Great Race itself on one occasion. By the time Zanthu took up this office, the priests of Ghatanothoa had been consolidating their power for the last ten thousand years. Just after Ythogtha’s priest had accepted the priesthood, the priests of Ghatanothoa banned the worship of all gods except their own throughout the lands of Mu.

  Zanthu could not accept this affront. Searching through the annals of his predecessors, he discovered a formula which would call forth Ythogtha from his home in the Abyss of Yhe. When he and the other priests of Ythogtha used this formula, however, something went wrong, and a cataclysm took place that in the end was to destroy the entire continent. Zanthu and his fellow priests escaped in their sky-chariots to the Plateau of Tsang in central Asia, where Zanthu carved the stone plaques known to modern scholars as the Zanthu Tablets. Zanthu died on the Plateau, and his followers buried him with his Tablets in a stone mausoleum.

  See Copeland, Harold; Ghatanothoa; Ponape Scripture; Shamballah; Tsang; Ubb; Ythogtha; Zanthu Tablets. (“The Dweller in the Tomb”, Carter (O); “The Offering”, Carter; “The Thing in the Pit”, Carter; Other Nations, Marsh and Marsh.)

  ZANTHU TABLETS. Ten (or twelve) black pieces of jade inscribed in hieratic Naacal by a high priest of Mu named Zanthu. This Zanthu, who, according to some, brought down the wrath of the gods upon Mu and caused its destruction, fled to the Plateau of Tsang in central Asia, where he later died.

  In 1913, the controversial anthropologist Harold Hadley Copeland, following the instructions given in the Ponape Scripture, mounted an Asian expedition to discover the tomb of Zanthu and reclaim the tablets. Three months after he set out, Copeland walked into an outpost in Mongolia, raving of the things he had seen and having no idea of the other members’ fates. Following his recovery from this ordeal, Copeland worked on his translation of the tablets. He published his findings at San Francisco in 1916 in a privately-published thirty-two page pamphlet, The Zanthu Tablets: A Conjectural Translation. Both the public and the scientific community denounced this work. Two years after its publication, Copeland was committed to an asylum.

  The original tablets were held at the Sanbourne Institute in California until stolen in 1933. Copies of Copeland’s pamphlet may still be found in various collections. Scholars have noted the similarities among them, the Celaeno Fragments, and the Pnakotic Manuscripts.

  The Tablets contain the writings of Zanthu, including how the great wizard destroyed the continent of Mu through his summoning of Ythogtha.

  See Copeland, Harold; Naacal; Yuggya. (“The Dweller in the Tomb”, Carter (O); “Out of the Ages”, Carter; “Strange Manuscript found in the Vermont Woods”, Carter; “The Thing in the Pit”, Carter; A Resection of Time, Johnson; Miskatonic University Graduate Kit, Petersen et. al.)

  ZAOTH. World in the same star cluster as Abbith, Xoth, and Ymar. Like Abbith, it is inhabited by metal brains who possess a considerable archive of Yuggothian books. Some of the refugees from Yaddith fled to this world after the destruction of their own.

  (“The Book of the Gates”, Carter; “Out of the Ages”, Carter (O), Visions from Yaddith, Carter.)

  ZARNAK, (DOCTOR) ANTON. Mysterious occult detective who took on many cases with his faithful Rajput servant Ram Singh. Some have said Zarnak came from the mysterious Plateau of Sung. Zarnak studied at the Sorbonne and obtained a doctorate in philosophy there. At other institutions, he obtained doctorates in medicine, psychology, theology, and metaphysics, among other prestigious awards, and became fluent in eleven languages. Despite his learned background, he contented himself with practicing medicine in the Balkans. While there, a “werewolf” killed his wife and infant son. Zarnak destroyed their slayer and devoted himself to tracking down supernatural beings. Possibly this was his reason for spending decades at the monastery of A’alshirie, learning the means to fight back the forces of the Mythos.

  Zarnak’s training came to the fore in 1922, when he moved into 13 China Alley, a location that teleported between New York and San Francisco, after the demise of his predecessor, Professor Guicet. Having met his servant Ram Singh, he disrupted the summoning of the god Yamath and faced a horror bought by Professor Legrasse within a single day. In later adventures, he fought off the Myrdstone Witch-Cult, the Black Pharaoh’s Mummy, weretigers, vampires, and the god K’thun.

  Though scientists derided Zarnak’s papers on vampirism and lycanthropy, he was an antiquarian and collector without peer who lived in opulent quarters in cities across the world. For a while, he studied at the Sanbourne Institute, composing his classic dissertation A New Scrutiny of the Polynesian Genesis according to the Cthaat Aquadingen. After living for several years at 13 China Alley, Zarnak dropped out of sight after taking on one of the Tongs, but he returned to the fight against supernatural evil. After the death of Ram Singh, he moved to an apartment on Eight Avenue in New York City. In the end, Zarnak vanished while fighting a horrible evil with the aid of the god Yamath.

  [Due to confusion in R. E. Howard’s Steven Harrison stories, the setting of Zarnak (and John Grimlan) may at times be read as New York and at others as San Francisco. This has affected the placement of both Zarnak and John Grimlan (which see).]

  See Legrasse, John Raymond; Necronomicon (appendices). (“The Case of the Curiously Competent Conjurer”, Ambuehl and Bucher-Jones; Curse of the Black Pharaoh, Carter; “Dead of Night”, Carter; “Perchance to Dream”, Carter (O); “The Deep Cellars”, Comtois; “Admission of Weakness”, Henderson; “The Door”, Henderson; “To Cast Out Fear”, Henderson; “Dope War of the Black Tong”, Price; “Soul of the Devil-Bought”, Price.)

  ZARR. Alien creatures with blue skin, large eyes, slit-like mouths, and unjointed arms and legs. The Zarr subjugated much of their own galaxy of Xentilx before the Great Old One Zathog contacted them. Zathog, who had taken up residence on a planet near that galaxy’s core, asked the Zarr to aid it in freeing the other Great Old Ones in exchange for providing them with a universe to conquer. The Zarr agreed, and the grateful Zathog gave them the power to travel through space and time.

  When the Zarr come to a world which they desire to conquer, they usually rain down destruction upon its civilizations using nuclear weapons and their powers of weather control. Then the Zarr take on board certain members of that planet’s civilization, so that they may use them as tools in destroying the rest of the population. Sometimes, one of these representatives has been known to halt the Zarr and keep them from destroying all of the intelligent life on the world, but even then the aliens may return at another time period to attack once again. Wherever they go, the Zarr search for the tombs of the Great Old Ones and strive to free them from their sleep.

  See flying polyps, Othuyeg; Ydmos; Zathog. (“The Color from Beyond”, Cabos; “From Beyond the Stars”, Tierney (O); The Winds of Zarr, Tierney.)

  ZATHOG. Great Old One who dwells on a world at the center of the galaxy of Xentilx. Upon his arrival on this planet following the war with the Elder Gods, Zathog made contact with the Zarr, a race which had ruthlessly conquered most of their home galaxy. Knowing that it had found the perfect tool for his revenge, Zathog promised the Zarr new galaxies for conquest if they would help it free its imprisoned brothers. Zathog remains on the world to which it originally came, awaiting the time when all the Great Old Ones shall be freed.

  See Othuyeg; Zarr. (“The Color from Beyond”, Cabos; “From Beyond the Stars”, Tierney (O); The Winds of Zarr, Tierney.)

  ZEGREMBI MANUSCRIPT (also ZEGEMBRI FRAGMENTS or Z
EMBREGI MANUSCRIPT). Book originally carved in stone and taken away to an alternate dimension before humanity’s appearance. In 1663 the wizard Nicholas Zegrembi, known in occult circles as the author of the infamous book Diablerie, journeyed to this realm to seek out the book. He bore back its knowledge and transcribed the Zegrembi Manuscript, making his own copy in three languages—alien hieroglyphs, a rune-like script, and Latin. Zegrembi is believed to have taken the manuscript with his papers when he escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. After this, he lived in the village of Torpoint for several years and then vanished entirely. The local clergymen burnt his library, though it is believed that a secretive cult removed the Zegrembi Manuscript and are now in possession of it.

  The book’s contents are mostly unknown, though it is believed to contain rites to Cthugha and possibly information on the Zegrembi Seals.

  (Delta Green: Countdown, Detwiller et. al.; “The Black Mirror”, Glasby (O); “The Dweller in Darkness”, Glasby; “The Kh’yrog Tablets”, Glasby.)

  ZEGREMBI SEALS. Jet-black stones carved with many indecipherable characters. They are said to pre-date Sumeria, and the priest-kings of that ancient civilization may have used them to call down the “Dark Gods” to Earth. Certain European cults of old roots used them to summon abominations as well (a link between these objects and the Black Stone and Ixaxar is likely). They are quite rare, however, and few in the modern age have seen them.

  See Zegrembi Manuscript. (“The Haunting of Charles Quintain”, Glasby (O).)

  ZEMBREGI MANUSCRIPT. See Zegembri Manuscript.

  ZHAR. Great Old One who came to Earth from Arcturus. It now lives beneath the city of Alaozar, on the Plateau of Sung in Burma (or possibly in Tibet), but may project its Tulku, or spiritual body, elsewhere when the proper rituals are performed. It is worshiped by the Tcho-Tcho, with whom it communicates telepathically. Some say it is physically connected to the being Lloigor.

  See Bethmoora, black lotus; E-poh; elemental theory; Lloigor; lloigornos; Nug and Yeb; Sung; Tcho-Tchos; Twin Obscenities. (“The Sandwin Compact”, Derleth; “The Lair of the Star-Spawn”, Derleth and Schorer (O); Call of Cthulhu Rulebook, 5th ed., Petersen and Willis; “Dope War of the Black Ton”, Price.)