Various Academic Papers Concerning Aspects of the Cthulhu Mythos

The following is a list of academic writings culled from many sources. They vary in length from large tomes to small articles but they all cover observations of the Mythos at work, from minor observations of Dreamlands culture to full-blown manifestations of Lovecraftian horrors.

Keepers may feel free to add these articles and monographs to lists of material culled from Library Use rolls, or to pad out the libraries of their Mythos villains.

*****

BILLINGTON, A.P., (1945), “Growth-Rate Delays and Timing in Manifestations of Azathoth”, Medieval Metaphysics Journal 38:314-336

BLACKWELL, Nigel, (1922), “Africa’s Dark Secrets”, Harvard University Press,

BLAKE, R., (1935), “Seven Solutions to Invisibility”, Symposia Hypermetaphysica 33:111-143

BRIDGEMAN, Samuel R., (1896), “A World of Cold Gods”, Harvard University Press

IBID., (1903), “The Source of the Ice: A Correlation of Northern Mythology”, Harvard University Press

IBID., (1909), “Ithaqua – Walker of the Wastes”, Harvard University Press

BUDGE, E.A. Wallis, (1894), “The Mummy: a Handbook of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology”, Cambridge University Press

IBID., (1899), “Egyptian Magic”, Cambridge University Press

[CARNACKI, Thomas], (1902), "Addenda to Harzan’s Monograph on Astral and Astarral Co-ordination and Interference", Journal of the Society for Psychical Research

CARTER, Randolph, (1924), “Phraseology and Intonation in the Tongue of the Zoogs”, Medieval Metaphysics Journal 17:88-104

IBID., (1939), “Memoirs”, Random House, New York NY, USA

CHOIRS, Anne Scoa. (1972), “Psychoreactive Properties of Three Dreamlands Aerosols”, Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society 30:25-42

IBID., (1978), “A Survey of Pseudoplasmic Super-Entities Common to Population II Stars” Symposia Hypermetaphysica 84:334-380

COPELAND, Harold Hadley, (1902), “Prehistory in the Pacific: A Preliminary Investigation with References to the Myth-Patterns of Southeast Asia”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

IBID., (1906), “Polynesian Mythology, with a Note on the Cthulhu Legend-Cycle”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

IBID., (1907), “The Ponape Scripture”, Journal of the Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Studies

IBID., (1910), “The Ponape Figurine”, Journal of the Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Studies

IBID., (1911), “Prehistoric Pacific in the Light of the Ponape Scripture”, Prehistoric Area Archaeological Association Journal

IBID., (1926), “The Zanthu Tablets: A Conjectural Translation”, Journal of the Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Studies

DEE, DR. John, (1564), “Monas Hieroglyphica”, Antwerp

DANNSEYS, Peter, (1971), “Disturbing Irregularities in Lunar Photographic Files”, Master’s Thesis, Provo State College

IBID., (1978), “Reassessing Anomalous Servitor Behaviour” Medieval Metaphysics Journal 71:280-311

IBID., (1978), “The Life of the Haemophore”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

IBID., (1981), “Dhole Dispersal via Interdimensional Dreamlands Connexions”, Annals of the Innsmouth Society 114:114-131

IBID., (1983), “Asterisms and Azathoth”, Proceeding of the Society of North American Astrographers 14:27-31

IBID., (1986), “Letter Remembering Barton and Doherty”, Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society 44:3-4

IBID., (1986), “The Hunter Which Will Not Hide”, Dreamlands Studies 11:181-204

IBID., (1986), “A Natural History of the Ghoul”, Harvard University Press, New York NY, USA

IBID., (1987), “Selected Hyper-Geometrical Principles as Illustrated by the So-Called ‘Hunting Horror’”, Fallworth Festschrift, 189-207

IBID., (1987), “Early Research Results from the N’Kai Excavations”, Publications of the Arkham Biophysical Institute 40:21-25

IBID., (1988), “Elegant Symmetry: Inversion and Reversion in Dark Dimension Demi-life”, Houghton & Mifflin, New York NY, USA

IBID., (1988), “Tracking Symmetrical Graviton Repressions” Annals of the Innsmouth Society 121:44-46

DANNSEYS, Peter & MARSH, S. Robert, (1972), “Neuroendocrine Structures and Functions in Select ‘Lotogs’”, Abstracta Bestialis 78:101-131

DAVENPORT, Eli, (1839), “Legends of New England”, Miskatonic University Press

DOSTMANN, Otto, (1809), “Remnants of Lost Empires”, Der Drachenhaus Press, Berlin, Germany

d’ERLETTE, (1959), “The Shuttered Room: Longevity and Resorption in Branchanthropus”, Annals of the Innsmouth Society 92:257-289

FALLWORTH, E. C., (1922), “Moon-Beasts: Merchants of the Dreamlands”, Brown University Press, Providence RI, USA

IBID., (1927), “Fifi: the Reclamation of a Ghoul”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

IBID., (1928), “Wilbur Whateley, 1913-1928”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

IBID., (1936), “Nutrition and Opacity in Interstellar Bdelloids”, Medieval Metaphysics Journal 29:38-44

IBID., (1939), “Mercantilism in Dylath-Leen”, Symposia Hypermetaphysica 37:18-26

IBID., (1944), “Tsathogguan Periodic Metamorphosis and the Hemimetaboloids”, Symposia Hypermetaphysica 42:324-379

FROBENIUS, Leo, (1898), “Die Masken und Geheimbünde Afrikas”, Nova Acta. Abh. Kaiserlichen Leopoldino-Carolinischen Deutschen Akademieder Naturfoerscher, Band LXXIV, Nr. 1, Germany

GARDER, Prof. W., (1882), “Experiments with a Medium”, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research

IBID., (1891), "Astarral Vibrations Compared with Matero-involuted Vibrations Below the Six Billion Limit", Journal of the Society for Psychical Research

IBID., (1895), "False Re-Materialisation of the Animate-Force through the Inanimate-Inert" Journal of the Society for Psychical Research

GILLMAN, W. Duin., (1979), “Minion-Induced Fibrillation in Humans: Case Studies”, Annals of the Innsmouth Society 119:192-221

IBID., (1982), “Identities in Ibite Dentate Emboliform, Globose and Fastigial Nuclei and in Vestibular Structure”, Publications of the Arkham Biophysical Institute 35:21-59

IBID., (1984), “Ghoul Reproduction in the Northeastern United States”, Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society 42:41-59

IBID., (1986), “Negative Phototropism and the ‘Solar Censor’ Problem”, Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society 44:220-281

HARZAN, Q., (1884), “On Induced Hauntings”, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research

IBID., (1886), “Astral and Astarral Co-ordination and Interference”, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research

HIKE, Herbert, (1979), “Lamp-eft Anatomy and Physiology”, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor MI, USA (reprinted 1981)

IBID., (1983), “A Preliminary Celaeno Catalogue”, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor MI, USA

IBID., (1983), “A New Hound of Tindalos Chronology”, Symposia Hypermetaphysica 81:22-48

HUTCHINSON, Edward, (1864), “The Opener of the Way”, Buzrael Press, Liverpool

ISINWYLL, L. N., (1975), “Yog-Sothoth in the Eastern Pacific”, University of California Press, Berkeley CA, USA

IBID., (1981), “A New Family Tree: Dark Young and Human Dreams”, Medieval Metaphysics Journal 74:55-89

IBID., (1985), “Cladistic Incongruities in Gyaa-Yothn”, Abstracta Bestialis 91:41-43

IBID., (1986), “Recorded Incidence of Dark Young on Earth”, Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society 44:180-219

IBID., (1987), “Larvae Log-Phase Modulations”, Annals of the Innsmouth Society 120:34-37

IBID., (1987), “Perception in Forty-One Investigators of the Bizarre”, Fallworth Festschrift, 122-143

IBID., (1987), “The Shadow in the Wood: A Description and Natural History of the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath”, Oxford University Press, New York NY, USA

IBID., (1988), “Abhoth: Its Hypothetical Parameters”, Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society 46:412-444

IBID., (1987), “Fallworth Festschrift – Recent Investigations: a Festschrift Honouring E. C. Fallworth, Fifty Years of Scholarship”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

ISINWYLL, L. N., with WILBHAM, Ian, Ed., (1989), “The Awesome Bnazie – 15 Tours for the Casual Dreamer”, Bantam Books, New York NY, USA

JACKSON, Elias, (1910), “Skulls Along the River”, Prospero Press, New York NY, USA

IBID., (1912), “Masters of the Black Arts”, Prospero Press, New York NY, USA

IBID., (1913), “The Way of Terror”, Prospero Press, New York NY, USA

IBID., (1915), “The Smoking Heart”, Prospero Press, New York NY, USA

IBID., (1918), “Sons of Death”, Prospero Press, New York NY, USA

IBID., (1920), “Witch Cults of England”, Prospero Press, New York NY, USA

IBID., (1921), “The Black Power”, Prospero Press, New York NY, USA

Von JUNZT, Friedrich Wilheim, (1819), “The Origin and Influence of Semantic Magical Texts”, University of Wurttemburg Press, Germany

IBID., (1827), “Les Vampires”, University of Wurttemburg Press, Germany

IBID., (1828), “Les Lupines”, University of Wurttemburg Press, Germany

IBID., (1848), “Necronomicon, Das Verichteraraberbuch”, Das Drachenhaus Press, Berlin, Germany

KYLTON, Dana C., (1979), “Is there a South Edge to the Dreamlands?”, Symposia Hypermetaphysica 77:104-141 (with a tipped-in map after page 256)

LARKHAN Eric K. (1982), “F. Saturnius and Lunar Territorial Propitiations”, Abstracta Bestialis 88:18-82 (see supplementary letter 88:343)

IBID., (1985), “Theorems from Matrix Mechanics Explicate N-Dimensional Beings”, Unpublished: presented before the Histos Fellows of Mathematics, Miskatonic University, April 11^th

IBID., (1987), “The Role of the Voonith in Marshland Ecosystems”, Dreamlands Studies 12:244-254

LOCHERT, Robb (1983), “Capturing the So-Called ‘London Entity’ (with Interview)”, Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society 41:85-92

MARK, Rafer R., (1987), “Behaviour and Diet of pseudo-Rhinogradentia”, Dreamlands Studies 12:235-243

IBID., (1989), “A Survey of Preternatural Dangers of the Dreamlands”, Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society 47:18-108 (with tables)

MARSH, S. Robert, (1976), “Extension and Resorption in Nubes raptus (Robson)”, Abstracta Bestialis 82:39-78

IBID., (1980), “Chthonian Embryology and Larval Development”, Annals of the Innsmouth Society 113:7-89

MEEB, Ronno, (1979), “The Natural History of the Leng Spider”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

IBID., (1986), “Quantitative Studies in Dreamlands Motor Forms”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

IBID., (1988), “Caged Magahs Lead to a Despicable Trade”, Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society 46:390-397

MILBUE, Ryan, (1965), “An Examination of Cryptographic Process in Linguistic Interpretation using African Models”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

MORIARTY, James, (1872), “The Dynamics of an Asteroid”, [publication details missing]

MUSTOLL, Ivan, (1984), “Emergency Procedures During Controlled Obsession of Yog-Sothoth”, Annals of the Innsmouth Society 82:317-324

IBID., (1985), “An Analysis of Divergent Musculature and Enervation in Gyaa-Yothn”, Typographical Journal 5:34-47

IBID., (1987), “‘The Way and the Gate’ to the Lesser Moons of Jupiter”, Fallworth Festschrift, 150-156

IBID., (1988), “The Buopoth Proboscis”, Dreamlands Studies 13:140-167

PEASLEE, Wingate, (1936), “The Shadow Out of Time”, Golden Goblin Press, Philadelphia PA, USA

PELTON-d’EST, H.M., (1958), “The Mathematics of the Pnakotic Manuscripts”,  University of Miskatonic Press, Arkham MA, USA

RATSEGG, F, Ford, (1969), “Wandering the Plains of Sydathria”, Medicine Bag Press, Berkeley CA, USA

IBID., (1988), “Exploring the Outer Alpha Centauri System”, unpublished NASA document, 88.3.21/889912

ROSHENPLATT, Dieter M., (1922), “The Pnakotic Manuscripts: A New Revised Study”, Cambridge University Press

SCHWARZWALDER, Dr. J.T., (1895), “Analysis of the Manuscript of the Pnakotoi”, Heidelberg University Press

SHREWSBURY, Laban, (1913), “An Investigation into the Myth-Patterns of Latter-Day Primitives with Especial Reference to the R’lyeh Text”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

IBID., (1929), “Cthulhu among the Victorians”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

IBID., (1939), “Cthulhu in the Necronomicon”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

SMITH, C. A., (1931), “The Dream of the Spider and the Awakening”, Golden Goblin Press, Philadelphia PA, USA

IBID., (1931), “Saturnian Relation and Status”, Sons of Dunwich Quarterly 107:45-63

IBID., (1932), “Examining Tomes of Knowledge”, The Occult Librarian, March: 23-29

IBID., (1934), “The Spider, in Four Ancient Texts”, The Occult Librarian, June: 39-52

STANTON, Hilary, (1922), “A Partial Translation of Dostmann’s Remnants of Lost Empires, with a Commentary”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

IBID., (1925), “Cult Artefacts in Eastern Europe”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

STÜMKE, Harald, (1964), “Bau und Leden der Rhinogradentia”, Mutwillig Verlag, Hamburg, Germany

THROCKMORTON, Prof. Thaddeus, (1898), “Superstition & Folklore in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

TREER, Tamlan, (1984), “A Preternatural Bestiary”, in 6 volumes, Harper & Row, New York NY, USA

TRIPLETEN, T.E., (1931), “Aphasiological Considerations of the Pnakotoi”, Johns Hopkins Press

TYPER, Alonso Hasbrouck, (1880), “Anmerkungen über Vampire”, Der Drachenhaus Press, Berlin, Germany

IBID., (1881), “Ein Katalog von Vampirism”, University of Heidelberg Press, Heidelberg, Germany

IBID., (1883), “Macabre Feast”, Der Drachenhaus Press, Berlin, Germany

IBID., (1896), “Quietus – The Noisy Ghost Explained”, Onyx Sphinx Press, Arkham MA, USA

VARSON, Michael, (1988), “A Terrestrial Network? Asymmetrical Hilbert Spaces Detected”, Astrography News, October 17^th 11-14

WALMSEY, G., (1935), “Notes on Deciphering Codes, Cryptograms and Ancient Inscriptions”, self-published

WASLING Noah, (1964), “Zoog Colonies around the Cerenarian Sea”, Annals of the Innsmouth Society 97:157-191

IBID., (1971), “A Proof of Parallel Neurohemal Organs in the Leng Spider”, Unpublished: presented during the 1971 School of Medieval Metaphysics conventicler, Miskatonic University

IBID., (1982), “Defeating the Hound of Tindalos”, Proceedings of the International Metaphysics Society 40:101-110

IBID., (1984), “A Preliminary Survey of Formless Spawn Crustal Zones”, Sons of Dunwich Quarterly, 160:21-38

WEBBER, Karl, (1973), “The Role of Acetylcholinesterase in Lamp-eft Body Economy”, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco CA, USA

WILBHAM, Ian Mill, (1988), “Annual Dimensional Shambler Appearances, 1970-1985”, Abstracta Bestialis 94:8-14

WINDROP, A., (1934), “A Translation of Engravings found near G’Harne in Africa”, The Imperial Archaeological Journal, London

WOODFORD, B.A, & DALTON, F.G., (1901), “An Examination of Pottery Fragments Discovered near Eltdown in England”, Proceedings of the Antiquarian Society of Great Britain, June vol.2, London

WYDATEM, Zoranski, (1990), “Categorical Imperatives and Primordality: Logical Proof in Emergence Myth”, Miskatonic University Press, Arkham MA, USA

Occult Texts in 1920s China

A Note on Journals & Periodicals: Some occult magazines listed herein give bonuses per issue to a reader’s Occult score; some may see this as a means of ‘maxing-out’ their Occult stats in a short space of time: this is not the case.

Firstly, each issue of a magazine takes awhile to read and understand – at least a day or more where such esoteric philosophising is concerned; Secondly, the bonus is not automatic: after each issue is read, the player must roll above their current Occult score before adding the bonus, just as if they were rolling for experience. This reflects the period of study required and the fact that most periodicals have political or ideological agendas which must be sifted through, as well as distracting material which is rather beside the point (such as advertising). In any case, no-one can raise their Occult score above 50% in this fashion since periodicals are, by their very nature, reiterative.

*****

Bardo Thodol (‘The Tibetan Book of the Dead’)

This is an exoteric textbook for ensuring the safety and positive reincarnation of dead souls. The work describes the process of entering the afterlife, the encounters that a dead soul will experience and the means to obtain a beneficial existence after reincarnation. Specific chants and incantations are designed to ward off monsters and other hazards which could prevent the soul from reincarnating; exercises prepare the reader for the experience, shortly after death and ready them for these encounters. To Western readers the work is dense and largely incredible, much like being given instruction in operating the tools in the ‘workshop of the afterlife’.

Tibetan (Lhasa / Ü-Tsang dialect); Author & date Unknown; 1/1d3 Sanity loss; Occult +10 percentiles

Spells: None

English; W. Y. Evans-Wentz: The Tibetan Book of the Dead; 1927; 0/1 Sanity loss; Occult +8 percentiles

Spells: None

De Situ Orbis (Chorographia)

“There is a fixed time for each Neurian, at which they change, if they like, into wolves, and back again into their former condition.”

-Pomponius Mela, Chorographia

Pomponius Mela was a Roman geographer of Spanish birth, writing around the year 43 AD. His summation of the known world is largely inferior to Pliny’s work on a similar subject, which cited Mela as a source, but it is notable for its use of Latin which has a pleasing and poetical cast. The work takes the form of an extended travel monologue travelling the coastlines from Roman occupied Spain around the Mediterranean, along the coasts of Africa and Asia and northwards around the coasts of Europe and Britain. Mela’s language during this extended itinerary is playful and engaging: he focuses not upon the famous structures and accomplishments of various countries but rather, concentrates on subjects anthropological, cultural and supernatural.

The book is of interest as an occult text due to the many apocryphal references said to be contained within its pages. Mela begins his narrative by describing the world as a ‘puzzle’ to be solved and invites the reader to embark upon a tour to ‘solve’ it with him. This, along with an extended passage describing a massive labyrinth in Egypt, seems to imply that the book is a key in and of itself to the discovery of some great revelation. It is said that this text makes reference to the Ixaxar Stone, mentioning its sacred meaning to degenerate races in the Libyan heartland; it is said also to locate the lost city of Niya in Western China: in actual fact the earliest publication of Mela dates from Milan in 1471 and makes no reference to either subject. Unless some other, earlier and unexpurgated text appears, these legends will no doubt pervade.

*****

Of course the above details are just so much hooey. A close reading of the source of this entry – “The Novel of the Black Stone” by Arthur Machen – reveals that the crucial text of that tale was not the Chorographia but was another text bound in with it, along with yet another geographical tract. This is a further instance where Mr Harms has read widely of his sources but not closely, whilst compiling the Encyclopedia Cthulhiana. Nevertheless, I include the spurious reference here for those Keepers who enjoy taking their players down tortuous and byzantine hallways of research.

Latin; Pomponius Mela: Chorographia; 43 AD; Sanity loss: 1/1d4; Cthulhu Mythos +4 percentiles; Occult +8 percentiles

Spells: None

Latin; Pomponius Mela: De Situ Orbis; 1471; No Sanity loss; Occult +8 percentiles

Spells: None

Latin; Pomponius Mela: De Situ Orbis; Publisher: Vadianus, Basel, 1522; No Sanity loss; Occult +6 percentiles

Spells: None

English; Pomponius Mela (Arthur Golding, trans.): De Situ Orbis; 1585; No Sanity loss; Occult +4 percentiles

Spells: None

Latin; Pomponius Mela: De Situ Orbis (in seven parts); Publisher: Tzschucke, Leipzig, 1806-7; No Sanity loss; Occult +6 percentiles

Spells: None

Latin; Pomponius Mela: De Situ Orbis; Publisher: G. Paithey, Berlin, 1867; No Sanity loss; Occult +7 percentiles

Spells: None

The Equinox – The Review of Scientific Illuminism

A semi-regular journal launched by Aleister Crowley and a major organ for the dissemination of his theories on Thelema and ‘magick’. First published in 1909, the work contains essays, discussions, and theoretical articles of import to Crowley’s magickal order, the A∴A∴, or ‘Silver Star’, the Thelemite organisation he created after leaving the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The journal is also of interest to members of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), the sister organisation of the A∴A∴.

The first volume of the Equinox took Crowley from 1909 to 1913 to complete; it was released in a series of 10 issues containing many treatises on subjects ‘magickal’, most of them written by Crowley himself under a bewildering variety of pseudonyms. It also contained short fiction and poetry, not only by Crowley and his Thelemite brethren, but also by such luminaries as Lord Dunsany and Katharine Susannah Pritchard. The completion of this first volume seriously drained Crowley both emotionally and financially and he declared the second volume would be a journal of “silence”.

The first issue of the third volume was printed in 1919 and released as a single hardbound tome. Printed under subscription, it was of primary interest to the OTO and further codified Crowley’s aims in his Thelemite teachings and explorations into ‘sex magick’. Due to its striking blue cover, it was commonly referred to as the Blue Equinox. Later issues from this volume trickled out sporadically in a more typical magazine format. Volume four contained only two issues and was largely compiled by Crowley’s adherents. After Crowley’s death other individuals took over the journal and it was still in print as of 1998.

*****

If, like me, you consider Crowley to be nothing more than the basest of hacks and charlatans, you may wish to pepper the libraries of your own similar crank NPCs with copies of this drivel, as an indicator that the individual is a snake-oil salesman of a similar stripe. Alternatively, if you’re convinced that Crowley, and Blavatsky like him, are the real deal, then copies of the Equinox might lead on to something far more sinister...

English; Aleister Crowley & other contributors; 1909-1930; No Sanity loss – although an Idea Roll might cause shudders when the player realises how much time they’re wasting; Occult +2 percentiles/issue

Spells: None, unless the Keeper deems otherwise

Les Jardin des Supplices (‘The Torture Garden’)

A product of the literary offshoot of the Symbolist art movement known as the Decadent Style, this book is moody and ethereal, filled with blood and nightmares. The narrative follows the journey of a jaded Parisian office worker who, sick of the casual corruption of the department for which he labours (a thinly-veiled metaphor of the Dreyfus Affair), escapes to China and meets a decadent woman journeying to the eponymous Garden where she hopes her craving for sadistic sexual fulfilment will be achieved. Octave Mirbeau wrote the book as a savage indictment of capitalist bureaucracy and the stultifying ennui of office drones finds an extended metaphor in the form of a garden divided into enclaves wherein torture victims and their tormentors carry on a daily round of hideous abuse in a similar bored vein. This is a work of penetrating psychological insight with brilliant flashes of Orientalist indulgence and is certainly not for the fainthearted.

French; Octave Mirbeau; 1899; 0/1 Sanity loss; Occult +0 percentiles

Spells: None

The New Revelation

With this title Sir Arthur Conan Doyle announced his belief in Spiritualism to the world. In it he describes the process whereby he moved from a sceptical viewpoint to one of acceptance of a life after death. He discusses the process of conducting a séance and the means of debunking fraudulent practitioners; he cites many cases of definitive spiritualist phenomena naming sources and locations of these events. This is a reasoned and logical analysis of the progress from scepticism to belief with much critical evaluation along the way.

English; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; 1918; No Sanity loss; Occult +3 percentiles

Spells: None

Ostara - Briefbücherei der Blonden und Mannesrechtler

A monthly magazine devoted to the teachings of Guido von List, Helena Blavatsky and their interpretations by Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, the editor and creator of the journal. Begun in 1905, the magazine ran in three series up until 1930 after which it was banned by Adolf Hitler, himself an avid collector of the material before his rise to power. Depending upon sources, there were either 110 or 121 issues in total.

Ostara deals with Lanz’s theories of racial purity and his model for a new Aryan society. Many of his theories (which he called ‘Theozoology’) are based upon Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine, wrapped up in the new ‘science’ of Eugenics and von List’s visionary call for a return to a Teutonic German past (spiced with a whiff of homoeroticism). Many of Lanz’s plans for a return to ‘genetic purity’ were implemented by the SS, despite the ban placed on the organ by Hitler; SS officers and other enthusiastic Nazis still carried copies of the journal with them.

German; Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels (Ed.); 1905 – 1930; No Sanity loss; Occult +2 percentiles/issue

Spells: None

*****

Prolegomena zu Einer Geschichte der Magie (Preliminary Remarks on the History of Magic)

A problematic text. Shortly before being released for sale, the entire print-run of this work was seized and destroyed by the Nazis. However, the standing type was left intact and it is presumed that a handful of copies, maybe as few as one or two, were quickly printed and hurried out of Europe. Hinterstoisser’s notes, draughts and galley-proofs were all destroyed in a mysterious fire thus preventing him from resurrecting the work after the War. Little is known of the book’s history apart from a reference to it being sought by covert US forces at the end of World War Two; many believe however that certain passages shed light on the Margary Affair of the previous century.

(Source: “Necronomicon: the Book of Dead Names”, George Hay, Ed.)

German; Dr Stanislaus Hinterstoisser; 1943; No Sanity loss; Occult +8 percentiles

Spells: None

Das Geheimnis der Runen (The Secret of the Runes)

Guido Karl Anton List (October 5^th, 1848 to May 17^th, 1919) was a kind of German Aleister Crowley. Known more widely as Guido von List, he occupied a series of different roles before settling down as an occultist and the leader of the Teutonic Revival that was to cause so many nasty aftershocks after his death.

Von List’s focus was a blend of Blavatsky’s mystical blathering, notions of former Teutonic greatness and the feeble theories of the pseudo-science of Eugenics. He blended these all together into a philosophy that, on the one hand, inspired Richard Wagner to pen some of his greatest musical works, and, on the other to bring about the Nazi Holocaust. His main claim to fame was in resurrecting a magical system of runic lore which he derived from extant carvings and various bits of mystical impedimenta. So if you’ve ever tried “casting the runes” using a set of marked pebbles bought from your local New Age ‘hippy’ store, I’m afraid you’ve been messing about on the fringes of Nazi mysticism.

List’s book, Das Geheimnis der Runen (The Secret of the Runes), formed the core of a syllabus of study required by members of the SS and the Hitler Youth. List’s theories of ‘Teutonic greatness’ informed the ‘body culture’ of Germany in the 1920s and ‘30s, promoting lots of naturist calisthenics and camp-outs – again, much of this ritually-channelled sexuality was inherited wholesale into the mystically-based activities of the SS. It was here that Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels ran into trouble when he tried to subvert these impulses into a homoerotic vein.

Das Geheimnis der Runen was initially published as an article in a magazine entitled “Neue Metaphysiche Rundschau” in 1906; it was later published as a standalone book in 1908. Players may encounter it in either form. The text outlines the nature of a runic system which List called the Armanen Futharkh which he reveals was based upon the Norse writing known as the Younger Futharkh along with some elements which List was “inspired” to incorporate. It’s possible that List had some Mythos help in this regard, either from doses of the Plutonian Drug, or by contacting some monstrous intelligences in his dreams.

Keepers who are keen to invest their campaigns with some Nazi mysticism should leave copies of this book littered about. There’s not a lot to it apart from grubby, outmoded theories about the ‘fitness of the Aryan race’ but then some small-minded people are easily amused.

German; Guido von List; “Neue Metaphysische Rundschau” Vol. 9, Issue No. 13, 1906; No Sanity loss; Occult +3 percentiles

Spells: None

German; Guido von List; Das Geheimnis der Runen, 1908; No Sanity loss; Occult +3 percentiles

Spells: None

*****