For
quite a few years now (more than I care to think about, really), I have been
compiling a list of Mythos tomes, pinning down their game stats and recording
their histories. The worldwide history of publishing is a very specific one and
many authors who create blasphemous tomes aren’t always privy to its quirks;
thus, we have R.E. Howard imagining a book dating from the late Nineteenth
Century with lockable iron hasps on its covers, a thing that would never have
happened in reality. To this end I have massaged the backgrounds of these works
where necessary, smoothing them into a background of real publishing activity
whilst not ever trying to undo what the authors and creators have established.
Sometimes it’s not entirely possible: two different authors may come up with
different backstories for the same volume. However, with a solid knowledge of
publishing history and an eye on the possibilities presented by a Mythos
element, it’s possible to make a coherent narrative to describe a book of evil
magic circulating in the world.
Along
with the individual books themselves, there are fields of interest, arcane
alphabets, publication trivia, author biographies and other material touching
upon the contents of a particular book, or range of books, and I have attempted
to insert information about these as well where they may be of help
understanding a certain volume of ancient lore.
This
is the first selection then: books starting with the letter ‘A’.
*****
“Abominations
Africaines”
“Count
Allessandro di Cagliostro” was the alias of the Italian fraudster and magician
Guiseppe Balsamo (1743 to 1795). He was a showman and con artist who gravitated
to the French and English courts and made a living from fortune-telling,
psychic healing, scrying and alchemical demonstrations, which were actually
early examples of stage magic. He became notorious for his involvement in The
Affair of the Diamond Necklace a scandal which maligned the French queen
and which almost brought down the monarchy. He later attempted to found a new
order of Freemasonry which saw him run afoul of the Inquisition who arrested
and imprisoned him in Rome, where he later died.
Balsamo
was a highly talented forger and often turned his hand to falsifying documents
and creating facsimiles of mystical works with which he attempted to lend
credence to his supernatural ambitions. Often, he dabbled in translation work
just to pay the bills, when times were hard and the marks for his schemes were
thin on the ground. Inevitably, he turned his hand to translating several
Mythos works and these are notorious for being practically worthless (he often
“translated” from languages with which he was utterly unfamiliar). His
best-known and most accurate work of this kind was the extract of Antonio
Pigafetta’s “Relazione del Primo Viaggio
Intorno Al Mondo” which he luridly
re-named “Abominations
Africaines”.
Pigafetta’s
work was monstrously handled during its early years, with publishing houses
brutally editing and abridging it according to local tastes. A central section
concerning the Congo region was often redacted due to its horrific content and,
as often, published separately as a standalone work for select buyers. The most
famous version of this excerpt is the Regnum Congo, especially the
Frankfurt version of 1598 illustrated by the Brothers de Bry. Balsamo turned
his hand to a French version of this material and managed to produce two
manuscript copies of the book which was never subsequently printed. The
whereabouts of these drafts are unknown.
French: Abominations Africaines; Translation by Giuseppe Balsamo, “Count
Cagliostro”; Manuscript only, 1782, only two copies known to have been made;
Sanity loss: 1d3/1d6; +5 percentiles to Cthulhu
Mythos; average 4 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: "Moyens de prolonger la vie" (Food of Life); "Ratatinez-vous le membre" (Wither Limb)
*****
Africa’s
Dark Sects
“As the priestess whirled around the
fire-lit circle, chanting dim words from an ancient spell, the cult
executioners busied themselves with their screaming sacrifices. As the blood
flowed, a chill wind sprang up, and I felt a flash of fear: the wind had become
visible, a black vapour against the gibbous, leering Moon, and slowly my terror
grew as I comprehended the monstrous thing taking form. The corrosive stench of
it hinted at vileness beyond evil. When I saw the great red appendage which
alone constituted the face of the thing, my courage died, and I fled unseeing
into the night.”
Blackwell was a pioneer in the study of
cults, particularly those of the African variety. In this way, he was the
logical successor of Sir Wade Jermyn and the inspiration for other contemporary
researchers such as Leo Frobenius and Jackson Elias. He conducted many
expeditions into outlying areas of the British holdings in the African
continent and the fruits of those studies were distilled into his only book – Africa’s Dark Sects - which was edited
and published in 1922, after his death.
Blackwell’s observations are best when they
are taken at first hand: the strongest elements of his compiled notes are those
which he directly observed. The book opens with references to Jermyn’s Observations on the Various Parts of Africa
and discusses various phenomena of the Congo Basin, including ancient cities of
proto-human white apes, the pygmy worship of ancient monsters lurking in the
jungle, and a vicious sect entitled the “Spiraling Worm Cult”. None of these
matters were ones that he directly observed, and so his treatment of them is
often vague and ill-formed.
Subsequent chapters which deal with various
leopard and lion cults of British East Africa (now Kenya), Rhodesia and the
Sudan – and which hypothesize unexplored connexions with Egypt – are more
successfully dealt with, vividly revealing how Blackwell was able to infiltrate
some of these cults for a short time before exposing them to local authorities.
He also describes a bloodthirsty cult based in Nigeria whose rituals show
strong links to the Voodoo religions practiced in Haiti. In drawing this
connexion he painstakingly describes a process for creating zombies which he
witnessed a Nigerian sorcerer perform.
The bulk of the book concerns itself with a
particular cult which Blackwell dogged across the continent and which he named
“The Cult of the Bloody Tongue”. Blackwell details several instances where
retaliatory murders were carried out against tribal people who opposed the
covert actions of the Cult: a particularly gruesome murder was enacted in the
heart of a village outside Nigeria in which British police troops were based, a
telling indication of the Cult’s power and connexions. In all cases where such
killings took place, a symbol was carved into the victim’s forehead and
Blackwell provides an engraving of this device.
Blackwell comes to refer to the god of the
Cult as “The God of the Black Wind” and provides many details of the cult’s
belief structure, admitting as he does so however, that much of this material
is conjectural, taken as it is from terrified villagers whose knowledge may
well be suspect. He also reveals his deep frustration with the British
authorities who seem keen to relegate the Cult’s nightmarish activities to the
notion of “tribal infighting” and concern themselves wholly with the
territorial incursions of neighbouring German holdings.
Finally, Blackwell describes a journey he
undertook in 1916 from Nairobi north into the Rift Valley, escorted by a
handful of Kikuyu guides, there to observe a locale held sacred by the Cult.
This location, which he calls “The Mountain of the Black Wind”, is
well-described in the text. Upon their arrival at this scene, they were able to
witness a large and complex rite, involving several murderous sacrifices,
before being forced to abandon their post and flee retribution.
The text of the book was edited together
after the author’s death and finally submitted for publication in 1922. The
print run was halted by a court injunction issued by the Blackwell Estate
before being completed; however, review copies had already been sent out to
various researchers across the globe for their input and comments. These
thirteen copies are the only ones to have survived, as the proofs, galleys and
standing type of the first edition were all broken down and pulped before the
run was completed. Of these review copies, one is held by the library at
Harvard University, another resides within the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and
a third is held by the McMillan Collection. Another copy, which was bequeathed
to the Bibliotheque Nationale d’Haiti
in Port-au-Prince, has been stolen and recovered on several occasions and now
rests within that institution’s Restricted Collection. The remainder are
thought to be still held by private individuals.
English;
Nigel Blackwell, London, 1922; Sanity Loss: 1D5/1D10; Cthulhu Mythos: +6
Percent; Average 1 week to study and comprehend
Spells: “Unwavering Servant” (Create Zombie)
(Source: “Masks of Nyarlathotep” by Larry di Tillio & Lynn Willis)
*****
AKLO
Tablets
What little is known about this text comes
from two sources – E. A. Hitchcock’s Remarks
upon Alchemy and Alonzo Typer’s Diary.
Hitchcock refers to the “secrets” contained on the tablets as “now
unattainable” but provides no further elaboration as to why. Typer mentions
seeing several “Aklo formulae” in his 1908 notes on the examination of the van
der Heyl Mansion in New York State; this begs the question that the whereabouts
of the AKLO Tablets, or at least
their text, may be recorded in the Book
of Hidden Things. Until these questions have been resolved however, the ‘Tablets must be considered lost.
Some metaphysical researchers have noted
that there is a similarity between texts considered to be penned in Aklo and
the Enochian language used by John Dee in his magical writings. This link is
tenuous at best but does shed interesting light upon Dee’s role as a translator
of the Necronomicon. Typer claims that, of the handful of texts he
witnessed, one of these was a means whereby invisible enemies may be revealed.
This creates an interesting connexion between New York magickal practice at the
beginning of the Twentieth Century and the work of the Arabic alchemist
Abdullah ibn-Ghazi centuries earlier.
(Source: “The Diary of Alonzo Typer” by HPL & William Lumley)
“Aklo
Sabaoth” (or, “Aklo for the Sabaoth”)
A
formula found in the Necronomicon, and other places, which is used to
invoke extra-dimensional beings. Specifically, it summons spirits which are
“answerable from the hill”, a phrase of uncertain meaning within the writings
of the wizard Wilbur Whately which has led to much speculation. The spell is
said to only work when the moon is in its first phase and the night is clear.
Some have linked the ritual with certain incantations penned by Elizabethan
wizard John Dee, used to call spirits from the air, and have thus decided that
the “Aklo Sabaoth” is a lesser variant of his more puissant, Enochian,
format. The word ‘sabaoth’ is Hebrew for ‘lord of hosts’ but this may well be
speculation based upon a spelling error in the text penned by the semi-literate
Whately, as discovered by Dr. Henry Armitage of Miskatonic University.
(Source: “The Dunwich Horror” by HPL)
Aklo
Aklo
(sometimes written more emphatically as “AKLO”) is a pre-human language that
arose with the Serpent People of Valusia. It was perhaps a sacred writing form
reserved only for ritual purposes and, as such, it is often found as the
vehicle for magical or ritual workings. Representatives of the Great Old Ones
are often taught the language by their masters and consequently, the idiom can
be discovered in the grimoires of many Mythos practitioners; this is especially
seen in the worship of Gla’aki, where a ritual initiatory progression entitled
the “Aklo Unveilings” is often referenced. Where a supernatural or
spiritual tradition is encountered, the ancient quality of its duration can be
ascertained by the presence of the Aklo format, whether it be in alchemical
sources or legendary Welsh folklore, to highlight two examples.
Some
writers claim that the term Aklo refers rather to a time period and not to a
linguistic system at all. Many sources state that certain Aklo rituals “no
longer work” which implies that somehow these magical effects are prevented
from operating outside of a particular cosmic format, specifically exact
cosmological places and times. This further implies that knowledge of such a
magic system allows practitioners to create various time-specific rituals which
would be unavailable to future researchers, or to sorcerers from the past for
whom the ability to move through time was unavailable.
(Source: “The White People” by Arthur Machen)
*****
al-Azif (Kitab al-Azif)
“That is not dead which can Eternal lie
And with strange eons, even Death may die.
The dreamer, dying, faces death with scorn,
And in his seed will rise again reborn!”
The
original Arabic title for the Necronomicon, as written by Abdul Alhazred
in 730 AD. The word is of uncertain origin and meaning, and some have suggested
that it is onomatopoeic, an attempt to transliterate the sound of desert demons
– or djinn - calling in the darkness. Alhazred may have been influenced
in his writing by one ibn Schacabao - an earlier wizard and writer, who may also
have instructed Alhazred - and he may have cribbed some parts of the Kitab
al-Azif from Schacabao’s Reflections. As well, there are points of
similarity between this work and Alkindi’s Book of the Essence of the Soul,
which implies that either author may have been borrowing heavily from the
other.
Little
is known of the life of Abdul Alhazred and what is known is due to the efforts
of his 12th Century biographer, ibn Khallikan. He was born around
655 AD at Sanna in Yemen and became a well-known and comfortably well-off poet
and mystic from an early age. It is said that he travelled to Egypt where he
studied under a wizard named ‘Yakthoob’ and later, after his master’s death,
led his fellow disciples to Memphis and from there to Irem, where a freak
accident killed many of them. He travelled widely and is on record as having
attempted to rid the Black Mosque in Alexandria of an evil presence: his
failure to do so saw him make a rapid exit from that city. He made the Black
Pilgrimage to Chorazin during which he fell into a trance for eight years and
from which he awoke to write the Kitab al-Azif, published in Damascus in
730. A year later, he was torn to pieces by an invisible beast in broad
daylight in the main bazaar of that city.
Arabic;
Abdul Alhazred; Damascus, 730 AD; 1d10/2d10 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +18
percentiles; 68 weeks to study and comprehend
A
later translation was made from the standard Arabic used by Alhazred into the
more obscure Duriac idiom. Each copy was laboriously hand-written and
circulated secretly, with the result that very few copies were produced and
even fewer remain to this day... if at all.
Arabic
(Duriac); unknown translator; Duria, 760 AD; 1d10/2d10 Sanity loss; Cthulhu
Mythos +17 percentiles; 68 weeks to study and comprehend
(Sources: “History of the
Necronomicon” by HPL; “The Last
Test” by HPL & Adolphe de Castro; al-Azif (Introduction) by L.
Sprague de Camp; and Ex Libris Miskatonici by Joan Stanley)
*****
Alonzo
Typer’s Diary
This hand-written notebook was discovered – along
with many other of Alonzo Typer’s effects – in the possession of the occupants
of the degenerate northern village of Chorazin in the state of New York.
Rumours that an old edifice located in that region – the Van Der Heyl mansion
–had collapsed under the ministrations of a huge storm on the 12th
of November 1935, proved accurate and a subsequent investigation by state
troopers unearthed many of Typer’s belongings, including the Diary, in
the keeping of one, John Eagle. He claimed to have found it within the rubble
of the old demesne, towards the top of the wreckage, indicating that it
had lain in an upstairs chamber.
English;
Alonzo Typer; 1908; 1/1d4 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +3 percentiles; 1
week to study and comprehend
Spells: None
The
notebook is made from tough paper between metallic covers and measures 6 inches
by 3½. Typer’s estate was contacted as to its disposal and, in the end, it was
given to the American Society of Psychical Research (ASPR) where it
remains to this day. A pamphlet outlining its contents was prepared by William
Lumley in 1935 and re-released in 1937.
English;
Alonzo Typer (edited by William Lumley); ASPR Press, 1935 & 1937; 0/1d2
Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +1 percentiles; 1 week to study and
comprehend
Spells: None
Alonzo
Hasbrouck Typer (1855-1908?)
Scion of an
ancient Ulster family, Typer was educated privately as a youth before attending
Columbia University and the University of Heidelberg, where he
studied under the noted anthropologist Victor Gibson. His research pushed the
envelope of what was considered acceptable in his academic niche and thus, many
of his – admittedly bizarre – papers were printed privately. He travelled
extensively in his lifetime, visiting India, Tibet and Indo-China; most of 1899
he spent alone on Easter Island. In 1902, after a series of heated arguments
with his fellow-members of the American Society for Psychical
Research, he quit that institution and began investigations of psychic
phenomena on his own. He was last seen and identified leaving the Hotel
Richmond in Batavia New York, on the 17th of April 1908; his diary
was later recovered from villagers of the upstate town of Chorazin in New York
on the 16th of November in 1935. His whereabouts remain obscure.
(Source: “The Diary of Alonzo Typer” by HPL & William Lumley)
*****
Alphabet
of Nug-Soth
The version of the Necronomicon
produced by George Hay and Colin Wilson is a text which purports to be John
Dee’s translation of that book, as
encoded within his transliteration of Alkindi’s Book of the Essence of the Soul, and entitled the Liber Logaeth, held in the British
Museum; after an involved computer decryption process, the hidden text was
revealed and printed by the authors in this edition. The result is a work
completely at variance with what research understands to be included in the Necronomicon, with missing quotes that
ought to be present and other information known to be erroneous. The likelihood
is that, like the initial attempts to translate the Voynich Manuscript, the researchers have been led along a spurious
trail of breadcrumbs and have deluded themselves as to the value (and validity)
of their discoveries. Regardless, those who have an interest in Alkindi’s work
could do worse than start here.
An indication of the questionable value of
the information provided in this reissue is the attribution of a code system as
belonging to the Nug-Soth race. The code is a simple replacement one and is relatively
easy to crack (as well as being tied to the Roman Alphabet, with the cute
omission of the letter “K”, in order to lend a touch of authenticity) and so is
unlikely to have been the product of an alien civilization. Nevertheless, it is
said by Wilson and Hay to have been intrinsic to Alhazred’s ability to write
talismans that allow the wearer to travel through time and space, abilities
often attributed to members of the Nug-Soth race.
George
Hay & Colin Wilson, The Necronomicon: The Book of Dead Names,
Neville Spearman Ltd., Letchworth UK, 1978.
(Sources: “The Shadow Out of time” by HPL and “Through the Gates of the
Silver Key” by HPL & E. Hoffman Price.)
*****
Ancient
Ways of the Vrykolakas
"The
vrykolakas, like other vampires,
is an undead being who subsists on the blood of the living. Like the others of
its family, it is supposed to find the cross repulsive…"
"Unlike
in the myths of the Balkans, the vrykolakas lies not in his coffin during the day. This
horror may freely traverse the waking world, but fortunately it is weaker and
less energetic in the light of day."
"While
the vrykolakas feeds upon the blood of its victims, it also has a singular method of
finishing its dining. When the victim is at last slain, the vrykolakas devours the entire corpse. The noted German
metaphysician Hasselberg speculates that the creature does this to prevent the
creation of a competitor. He speculates that a victim slain by a vrykolakas will rise again as a vampire. Other sources
state that vrykolakas are created
from the bodies of people who were vicious beyond the pale of humanity in
life."
"While
the tales of the Balkans state that a vampire might be slain by a wooden stake,
by decapitation or by the use of silver bullets, the vrykolakas proves to be unaffected by such attempts to
end its existence. The only thing that has proven to be a reliable means of
scourging the creatures is the use of fire."
"Like
other vampires, the vrykolakas has an unusual appearance. The skin is like ancient papyrus, the face
features unusual growths of hair, and the body seems to be starved. The eyes,
like those of other vampires, are hypnotic. The creature has a great and
terrible ability to sway the minds of men, especially those who are feeble,
inexperienced or tainted with evil."
"A
final mark distinguishes the vrykolakas from other vampires. Whereas most vampires
will simply select a victim based on his whims and set to feeding, the vrykolakas must present his intended victim with a
physical item that creates the foul spiritual link between victim and
victimizer. The victim must freely take this item, but once it is in the
victim's possession it proves to be indestructible and unavoidable. It has been
speculated that the item is not, in fact, a physical object at all, but a
manifestation of the creature itself."
-Excerpts
This 1863
work in Greek, by Aristotle Pappas, contains a detailed discussion of the vrykolakas (the Greek vampire). The book
discusses the Greek vampire and, peripherally, other vampires. Its matter-of-fact
style and lucid approach to the subject conveys that the writer is working from
actual experience and not simply rehashing old legends (hence the potential for
Sanity loss). The book details how to destroy a vrykolakas.
Greek;
Aristotle Pappas; 1863; 0/1d2 Sanity loss; Occult
+3 percentiles; 3 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells:
None
(Source: “The Amulet of Hell” by Robert Leonard Russell)
*****
“The
Angell Compilation”
George
Gammell Angell (1857-1926) was Professor Emeritus of Semitic Languages at Brown
University in Boston. In his later years he began to perceive a worldwide
fraternity of cult activity and began to compile evidence from various
disparate sources in order to advance his theory. His compiled materials stem
from the dream diaries of local artists, to accounts of criminal activity in
the Louisiana swamps. His findings are largely only hinted at, with few firm
conclusions; however, many other investigators have taken his research and
extended their implications into new and more disturbing frontiers.
The
compiled notes of Professor Angell were left to the collection of the Orne
Library at Miskatonic University by his grand-nephew, Francis Wayland Thurston
and may be seen upon application by written request.
English;
Professor George Gammell Angell; 1925; 1d2/1d4 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos
+3 percentiles; 4 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: None
(Source: “The Call of Cthulhu” by HPL)
*****
Angles
of Tagh Clatur
A
set of ritual incantations which seem to be time-limited, in much the same
fashion that Aklo might be restricted to a certain cosmological configuration.
Some have said that the spells will only work once “the stars are right” and
the Great Old Ones are ready to be summoned to the earth by means of these
rituals. It is said that the Angles were once used by Egyptian priests
to summon a manifestation of Gla’aki to Earth in the distant past, prior to its
later physical arrival on this planet aboard a meteorite.
An
associated set of incantations – the Reversed Angles – can be used to
make intangible entities partially material and to summon beings from another
dimension, as well as offering some kind of protection against them. At this
time, only this reversed form of the original spells can be used.
(Source: “The Inhabitant of the Lake” by Ramsey
Campbell)
*****
Ani,
Scroll of
To ensure
that the passage to the Afterlife was guaranteed, the Egyptians arranged to be
buried with a copy of the Pert Em Hru – “The Book of Going Forth by
Day”, aka. The Book of the Dead - by their side. Producing such
copies was an expensive process and so, only the wealthiest of Egyptians were
able to be interred with their own personal version. Mostly, the text was
simply painted upon tomb walls or sarcophagi. While cheaper versions were
available, many have not survived the passage of time.
The Scroll
of Ani is a highly personalised version of the Pert Em Hru, in which
all the illustrations and the text refer specifically to the owner – the scribe
Ani – who paid for its creation. Along with all of the standard chapters and
spells, it has many charms and incantations particular to this individual,
along with a detailed (and probably hyperbolic) biography of his life and
accomplishments. When using the spells in this volume – or any other similar,
highly personalised version of the Pert Em Hru – there is a 20% chance
that the spell will fail due to errors which have crept in during
transcription.
Pharaonic,
in Cursive Hieroglyphs; unknown scribe; Luxor, c.1250 BCE; No Sanity loss; Occult
+6 percentiles; 12 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: “A Spell to Allow Ani to See as Far as the
Aten” (Augury); “A Spell so that Ani may Banish Apep” (Banish Apep);
“A Spell to Ensnare Ani’s Foes” (Bind Enemy); “A Spell to Blind Ani’s
Enemies” (Curse of Darkness); “A Charm So That Ani May See the Magic of
Evildoers” (Detect Enchantment); “A Spell to Allow Ani to Discover
Hidden Ways” (Find Gate); “A Charm so that Ani may Call the Servants of
Bast!” (Summon/Bind Cat); “A Spell so that Ani may Call the Children of
Sobek!” (Summon/Bind Crocodile); “A Spell to Allow Ani to Tear Away the
Cloak of One Hidden” (Unmask Demon); “An Enchantment to Reveal a Hidden
Way before Ani” (View Gate); “Ani’s Spell of Warding” (Warding)
After
obtaining the Scroll of Ani, Wallis Budge arranged to send it back to
England for study. In order to do this without it being damaged en route,
he cut the long length of papyrus into five equal strips, so that it could be
mailed flat. Although he made efforts to minimise the damage to the work, many
hieroglyphs and images were defaced in the process. He defended his actions in
this regard by saying that he hoped future generations would be able to invent
a way to piece the Scroll back together. In any event, his translation
is nowadays considered quite poor. As a consequence, along with the 20% base
chance of failure when casting spells from this source, Investigators must also
make a Luck Roll when using the spells listed within.
English;
E.A. Wallis Budge (trans.); London, 1895; No Sanity loss; Occult +3
percentiles; 1 week to study and comprehend.
Spells: “A Spell to Allow Ani to See as Far as the
Aten” (Augury); “A Spell so that Ani may Banish Apep” (Banish Apep);
“A Charm So That Ani May See the Magic of Evildoers” (Detect Enchantment);
“A Charm so that Ani may Call the Servants of Bast!” (Summon/Bind Cat)
Egyptian
(Pharaonic):
“I have come armed with magical spells.
Thus can I quench my thirst,
Since I am master of the Words of Creation.”
-Texts of the Sarcophagi, Chapter 644
Egyptian
hieroglyphic text is a formal script which is logographic (that is, each ‘letter’
stands for a word) and also alphabetic (combinations of images making words
phonetically); this is similar to the way in which the Chinese written text
works. To the ancient Egyptians, images carried the nature and power of the
things they described, so to depict an object was to capture its essence. For
this reason, hieroglyphs were used mainly for sacred and ceremonial occasions.
Throughout Egyptian archaeology, there are instances where the hieroglyphic
names of rulers or other famous individuals have been effaced from texts, an
act which was thought to cause them harm, or even destroy them, in the
Afterlife.
It is
usually thought that the hieroglyphs were the original form of the written
language; however, this is not the case. The form of Pharaonic known as
‘Hieratic’ is older than the hieroglyphs and it is more likely that hieroglyphs
were developed from this earlier script. Hieratic (from the Greek, meaning
“priestly”) is a form of the language which is easier to write on papyrus as
well as myriad other substances including leather and wood; in some regions
which were notably lacking in vegetation, hieratic has also been found carved
in stone and incised into clay. Hieratic has many abbreviated and alternate
forms to the hieroglyphs and contains ligatures, or joining lines, much like
our cursive writing. Unlike every other form of Egyptian written script,
Hieratic is always written from right to left. Research has shown that scribes
were taught Hieratic and that only those destined for higher levels of work –
such as court duties or funerary work – were taught the hieroglyphs.
Hieroglyphs,
themselves, have a cursive form reserved for writing on papyrus. Examples of
this writing style are normally encountered on scrolls or books meant to
accompany the dead in their tombs; the style is notable for its abbreviated
symbols and ligatures. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, as
exemplified by the Scroll of Ani, is written in this style.
Of course,
hieroglyphic images are time-consuming to write, and scribes were often
required to note down the utterances of individuals at meetings and other
gatherings and convey those records to other parties. For this kind of writing,
another style of non-hieroglyphic script appeared – Demotic – abbreviated
hieroglyphs that could be quickly painted onto wood or papyrus with a brush and
ink. Demotic came into use during the Graeco-Roman occupation of Egypt and
exemplifies a shift towards Hellenistic styles and thought; it survived until
being replaced altogether by Greek. Demotic eventually evolved into the style
of writing used by the Coptic peoples, those Egyptians who moved elsewhere in
the Greek empire, and its survival into the modern era was what allowed us to
translate the original Egyptian hieroglyphs.
In the following
table, the difficulty of identifying and translating a work that is in Egyptian
Hieroglyphs (where no previous familiarity is present) is based on an Idea
Roll at -10%; familiarity with Coptic, Demotic or Hieratic script lends
bonuses to this roll. Translating Hieroglyphics receives bonuses where the
translator has access to certain works in the language which allow reference to
be made; having access to the Rosetta Stone, gives a base 50% chance of
translating successfully.
Language
- Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Pharaonic):
Difficulty:
Very Hard (Idea Roll to recognise at -10%)
Modifiers
to translation skill rolls:
Working
Knowledge of Coptic (+30%); of Demotic Script (+25%); of Hieratic Script (+15%)
Works
in this Language which aid in translation:
Pert Em Hru (The Egyptian Book of the Dead):
+20%
The Palette of King Narmer: +20%
Linguistic
Key:
The Rosetta Stone:
+50%
About
Papyrus:
The Ancient
Egyptians preferred to use papyrus upon which to write. This was made by
stripping the stalks of the papyrus plant and laying the lengths of pith
alongside each other. Another layer of these stalks was then placed atop them
but at right angles to the first layer. The mat thus formed was then beaten
flat to mash the stalks together into a flat surface which was then left to dry
and later polished by a smooth stone. The limits of this product were that it
could be uneven to write upon – some examples have been found where the writing
follows the stalk layers on either side of the sheet, at right angles to the
words on the opposite side – and that it did not stand up well to the rigors of
damp and humidity.
*****
The
Annals of Leng
Not a text
as such, the Annals are a massive series of frescoes attached to the
walls of an ancient ruined building atop the eponymous, cacodaemonic Plateau;
the exact location cannot be pinned down more exactly than this. Finding the Annals
is one thing; staying with them long enough to obtain any benefit is another:
Leng is not a place to which one travels lightly. It’s possible that the
narrative power and potency of the works was once more puissant than at
present; the ruinous state of habitation atop the Plateau has effaced much that
was once meaningful here.
None;
unknown Lengite artist; Leng; 1/1d4 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +0 percentiles;
Dream Lore +5 percentiles; 1 week to study and comprehend
Spells: None
*****
“Arkham Advertiser”
“Haec Olim Meminisse Juvabit”
(“This Will Help You to Remember”)
“The
Arkham Advertiser” started
life as the “Arkham Bulletin” in 1821. New owners took over in 1828 and
changed the newspaper’s name to “The Miskatonic Valley Gleaner”; it
remained under this title for four years before being sold once more and
re-titled the “Advertiser”. It has become the pre-eminent newsprint
journal in the city since that time. A full archive of the “Advertiser”
is held at the newspaper offices and is available for review upon request;
however, the new owners tossed all of the editions from the “Bulletin”
and “Gleaner” years, and these reports now only exist in a partial
collection at the Orne Library in Miskatonic University.
The
“Advertiser” relies heavily upon advertising for its revenue and is
filled with adverts for the local businesses and other services. It releases a
daily morning edition, with extras printed as needed throughout the day, as
well as a Sunday edition which is slightly more expensive.
The
“Advertiser” is seen as an everyman publication and is largely eschewed
by readers in Arkham’s French Hill district. Current events drive the ‘paper
and its journalists and they are quick to sniff out any breaking stories.
Strangely enough, the editors are just as quick to sweep under the rug anything
too fantastic, tending to play down and soft pedal anything too lurid or
Fortean.
(Source: “The Dunwich Horror” by HPL)
“Arkham Gazette”
Founded
in response to a perception among Arkham’s upper classes that the “Arkham
Bulletin” was a “low” publication, the “Arkham Gazette” is less of a
tabloid offering and more of a broadsheet, along the lines of “The New York
Times”. The newspaper derives most of its funding from a well-managed trust
fund and an elite subscription list from among the top end of Arkham society.
The ads are fewer, the news more high-toned and there are many more feature
articles, not driven as much by current events. The newspaper produces a daily
edition during the week and a Sunday magazine edition which is glossier and more
expensive, with colour comics.
There
are some who say that the ‘paper is simply a mouthpiece of the city’s elite,
especially the Town Hall fraternity, and there is a modicum of truth in this
point of view.
(Source: “The Colour Out of Space” by HPL)
*****
Azathoth and Other Horrors
An air of mystery surrounds the publishing
of this work. The first edition remains elusive: some say that it was put out
by Onyx Sphinx Press of Arkham MA in 1919 and that this might have been an
imprint established anonymously by the author, Edward Derby; others say that
the work first appeared as a private press edition produced by an anonymous
firm based in Cambridge MA three years earlier. That same company is said to
have released several later editions before going bankrupt in 1931. The true
state of affairs remains elusive and it seems likely that Derby and his
publishers were intent on keeping things that way for reasons best known to
themselves. The most familiar edition of the book is the 1946 edition reissued
by Azathoth House.
The book is a collection of poems written
by the Arkham-born poet Edward Pickman Derby. It contains the long poem “Azathoth”
– a narrative detailing a dream encounter with the daemon-sultan – that takes
up almost half the book’s length followed by a handful of other poems including
“Charnel House”, “Dead but Not Gone”, “Medusa’s Kiss” and “Nemesis
Rising”. The book was launched at a gathering at the Miskatonic University
on the poet’s eighteenth birthday and excerpts were published irregularly
thereafter in the various journals of Arkham and Boston. It was a slow-burn
effort that took its own time to achieve public acclaim but nevertheless proved
to be very influential, being cited as an inspiration by Californian author
Georg Fischer, among others.
English;
Edward Derby; Unknown, Cambridge MA, 1916? Onyx Sphinx Press, Arkham MA, 1919?
Azathoth House, Arkham MA, 1946; 1/1d4 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +4
percentiles; 1 week to study and comprehend
Spells: None
Forever Azathoth
After a short legal tussle, the
Arkham-based imprint Azathoth House gained the rights to republish Derby’s
major work. They followed it up a year later with this collection of
lesser-known poems and other material: it is mostly a reissue of several of the
works contained in “Azathoth and Other Horrors” along with some
unpublished fragments and juvenilia. This collection also contains the
previously unpublished long poem, “To Asenath”.
English; Edward
Derby (Vartan Bagdasarian, ed.); Azathoth House, Arkham MA, 1947; 0/1d2 Sanity
loss; Cthulhu
Mythos +2 percentiles; 1 week to study and comprehend
Spells: None
Son of Azathoth
During his writing career, Derby
established a large circle of correspondents with some of whom he endeavoured
to pen items of small fiction, destined for the pulp magazines of the day. Most
of these collaborative efforts never made it to print and some were printed
without the acknowledgement of Derby’s input. Azathoth House’s owner and editor
amassed and reprinted these pieces in this volume and – in the instances where
authorship by Derby has not been attributed – has made compelling cases as why
his name should be appended to these stories.
English; Edward
Derby, et.al. (Vartan Bagdasarian, ed.); Azathoth House, Arkham MA, 1948; 0/1
Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +1
percentiles; 1 week to study and comprehend
Spells: None
The Derby-Geoffrey Letters
Derby’s
list of correspondents was vast and included many of his contemporaries as well
as long established writers much older than himself. While sales of his books
were not huge by any standard, his reach was impressive, exemplified no better
than his lengthy exchange of letters with the troubled poet Justin Geoffrey.
Geoffrey’s tortured collection of verse - “The People of the Monolith” -
itself had a bedrock of dedicated followers, despite being a relatively obscure
tome, and one of its most avid fans was Edward Derby. As kindred spirits of the
weird despite never having met in person, they almost inevitably gravitated
towards each other and this collection, compiled from the extant documents at
Miskatonic University and elsewhere, clearly tracks the arc of their
relationship.
English; Vartan
Bagdasarian (ed.); Azathoth House, Arkham MA, 1949; 1/1d4 Sanity loss; Cthulhu
Mythos +3 percentiles; 1 week to study and comprehend
Spells: None
Edward
Pickman Derby (1890-1933)
An
Arkham native, Derby was a brilliant student who gained access to Miskatonic
University at the age of only 16. His early poetry was warmly received and he
quickly gained a following, counting among his correspondents the troubled poet
Justin Geoffrey. At the age of eighteen, he published the poetry collection “Azathoth
and Other Horrors” to general acclaim. Upon the death of his mother, Derby
felt compelled to explore new horizons and began associating with the more
bohemian elements of Arkham society and the Miskatonic student body. He joined
various psychical and spiritual organisations and, in doing so, met his future
wife Asenath Waite of the Kingsport Waites. They moved into the Crowninshield
Manor on the edge of Arkham and began their married life. During this time,
Derby penned his other long poem, “To Asenath”, which some critics have
said surpasses his better-known long work “Azathoth”. The marriage
declined, however: Asenath mysteriously disappeared, and Derby was eventually
forced to apply for a divorce after which he retired for a period of
convalescence to Arkham Asylum. He was unexpectedly shot dead upon his release by
a close friend – Daniel Upton – who had apparently suffered a strange mental
break.
Derby’s
legacy might have passed from view but for the efforts of an Armenian scholar
named Vartan Bagdasarian. Through his imprint, Azathoth House,
Bagdasarian managed to keep the work of Derby in print and before the public
eye. His efforts were only stymied by the fact that Derby’s papers are held in
the Restricted Section of Miskatonic University’s Orne Library. Bagdasarian was
allowed access in order to compile The Derby-Geoffrey Letters but was
prevented from further collaboration before his untimely death. To this day,
much of Derby’s work – published within various literary journals such as “Whispers”
magazine and the like – remains uncollected.
(Source: “The Thing on the Doorstep” by HPL)
*****
Azathoth, Book of
Whether this book actually exists as an
object is open to speculation.
This is the book which is carried by
Nyarlathotep in various of his guises in which he solicits humans to make a
compact with the Outer Gods. A person who enters the service of these beings
must sign their name in this book in their own blood. At many witch trials
throughout the years, this process is described by the accused, but the book is
never located despite great effort spent to attempt this.
The contents of the Book are unknown and may in fact change to suit the person about to
sign the contract. Some have reported that it contains wisdom pertinent to
understand the operation of the universe; others have described it as a
torrential rant against Christianity; still others have called it a grimoire
great with powers and knowledge. An attempt to codify this information is,
needless to say, fraught with danger and difficulty.
Another work entitled the Book of Azathoth was discovered in a
hotel room in Midium’s Grove, New York. This was a spiral-bound notebook filled
with a rambling and fanciful exposition as to the nature of Reality. This is
unlikely to be the book associated with Nyarlathotep and will probably not be the
last manuscript to bear this title.
(Source: “The Dreams in the Witch House” by HPL)
Unknown (All languages?); Nyarlathotep?; since the
Dawn of Time; 10d100/20d100 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +200
percentiles; 1 glimpse to study and comprehend
Spells: All. Every single one...
*****
Vaults
of Academia
[CARNACKI, Thomas], (1908), "Addenda to Harzan’s
Monograph on Astral and Astarral Co-ordination and Interference".
DANNSEYS, Peter, (1983), “Asterisms and Azathoth”,
Proceeding of the Society of North American Astrographers 14:27-31.
GARDER, Prof. W., (1886), "Astarral Vibrations
Compared with Matero-involuted Vibrations Below the Six Billion Limit".
ISINWYLL, L.N., (1988), “Abhoth: Its Hypothetical
Parameters”, Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society
46:412-444.
ISINWYLL, L. N., with WILBHAM, Ian Mill, ed., (1989), “The Awesome Bnazie – 15 Tours
for the Casual Dreamer”, Bantam Books, New York NY, USA.
MUSTOLL, Ivan, (1985), “An Analysis of Divergent Musculature
and Enervation in Gyaa-Yothn”, Typographical Journal 5:34-47.
TYPER, Alonso Hasbrouck, (1880), “Anmerkungen über Vampire”,
Der Drachenhaus Press, Berlin, Germany.
WILBHAM, Ian Mill, (1988), “Annual Dimensional Shambler
Appearances, 1970-1985”, Abstracta Bestialis 94:8-14.
