Our Mythos Solar System - Part 1

De LONGNEZ, Laurent, L’Histoire des Planetes, Paris France, 1792

Quarto; full calf, decorated in blind with blind rules and blind-stamped spine titles between six raised bands, with two brass hasps; 320pp., on laid paper, with a decorated title page and 16 engraved plates, one folding.

French; Laurent de Longnez; 1792; 1D2/1D4 Sanity Loss; Cthulhu Mythos +10; 17 weeks to study and comprehend

An enigmatic book. It contains a wealth of information about the planets of our Solar system, much of it fanciful and mired in mythology and legend. A lot of the occult detail derives from sources which are plainly not of the Western mystical tradition and is said to have been generated by some unknown access to Hyperborean sources. It’s noteworthy that several planets listed in the outline were not known of at the time of writing, specifically Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, although the planets spoken of are not identified by those terms.

De Longnez’s book suffers from poor editing and is riddled with errors of grammar and punctuation, indicating that its production suffered from an excess of haste. Modern readers incur a -15% penalty to their Read Language: French rolls when engaging with this text if their level in that skill is below 60%.

There is a consensus of opinion that de Longnez’s book incorporated the material presented in an earlier work, Zur Geschichte der Himmelskörper, written by Eberhard Ketzer – a monk working as a tutor at the court of Prussian ruler Georg Wilhem, Elector of Brandenburg. Ketzer was born in Geispitzen in the Alsace region of France, but relocated to the German city of Kiel soon afterwards, where he spent most of his life. Surrounded by, but largely immune to, the horrors of the Thirty Years War at the Ducal court, he wrote his overview of the solar system. He drops out of history around the time of the signing of the Treaty of Königsberg in 1627. His book was not published until after his death, in Nuremberg in 1679, and then only in limited quantities.

German; Eberhard Ketzer; c.1620, published Nuremberg, 1679; 1D4/1D6 Sanity Loss; Cthulhu Mythos +12; 20 weeks to study and comprehend

(Sources: "The Recurring Doom", S.T. Joshi & "Saucers from Yaddith", Robert M. Price)

*****

Much of de Longnez’s work follows standard Western mythological and astrological concepts, ideas found in common treatises of astrology and such works as Ovid’s Metamorphoses. For the seeker after Mythos wisdom, there is not much to be gained from the work until the later sections which focus upon planets unknown at the time of writing. The strange material begins to intrude when the planet Saturn is discussed.

Saturn has been observed by humanity since prehistoric times and goes by various names in different cultures. The Babylonians accurately charted the movements of Saturn as did the Greeks and Romans. In Hindu astrology, there are nine “navagrahas”, astrological entities which influence the Earth, and Saturn is known as “Shani”, a judge of the dead. In Hebrew lore Saturn is “Shabbathai” and in Arabic-speaking cultures it is known as “Zuhal”. However, in de Longnez’s work, it is referred to by an alternate name – Cykranosh. This word is credited as the term given to the planet by humans in the Hyperborean Age, and it makes appearances in other Mythos tomes.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius about nine times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth, but with its larger volume Saturn is over 95 times more massive. Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture; its astronomical symbol (♄) represents the god's sickle.

Saturn's interior is probably composed of a core of iron–nickel and rock (silicon and oxygen compounds). This core is surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an intermediate layer of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium, and finally a gaseous outer layer. Saturn has a pale yellow hue due to ammonia crystals in its upper atmosphere. Electrical current within the metallic hydrogen layer is thought to give rise to Saturn's planetary magnetic field, which is weaker than Earth's, but has a magnetic moment – the quantity that determines the torque it will experience in an external magnetic field - 580 times that of Earth. Saturn's magnetic field strength is around one-twentieth of Jupiter's. The outer atmosphere is generally bland and lacking in contrast, although long-lived features can appear. Wind speeds on Saturn can reach 1,800km/h (500m/s), higher than on Jupiter, but not as high as those on Neptune.

The planet's most famous feature is its prominent ring system that is composed mostly of ice particles, with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. At least 62 moons are known to orbit Saturn, of which 53 are officially named. This does not include the hundreds of moonlets in the rings. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, and the second-largest in the Solar System, is larger than the planet Mercury, although less massive, and is the only moon in the Solar System to have a substantial atmosphere.

The Hyperborean civilizations arose – according to available sources – around two millions of years ago. The citizens of that world battled intensely against an ancient intelligent species known as the Voormis. At that time, the entity known as Tsathoggua relocated to Earth from Cykranosh and took up residence beneath an ancient mountain known as Mount Voormithadtreth. Several hard metaphysicians – prime amongst them, Eibon the Unfathomable – gained great power from forging connexions with the sleeping Great Old One.

Unfortunately, the Hyperborean citizenry turned from the worship of Tsathoggua and began to worship an antlered sea deity called Yhoundeh. In time, the priests of the Goddess expunged the worshippers of Tsathoggua and burned its temples. Eibon was able to escape the purge by creating a mystical door of strange metal which transported him to Cykranosh. Thereafter, the inability of the followers of Yhoundeh to destroy all of Tsathoggua’s worshippers caused a backlash which saw the Goddess driven out in favour of the Sleeper in N’Kai. Unfortunately, this was shortly before the Polar ice crawled across Hyperborea, destroying the continent forever.

Tsathoggua and its ilk are not native to Cykranosh. The creatures were spawned by an entity named Cxaxukluth, an offshoot of Azathoth, which fell on Yuggoth. This being generated two other entities – Ghisguth and Hziulquoigmnzhah. Ghisguth sired Tsathoggua upon Zstylhemghi, a creature from Xoth, birthed by the fission of an intelligence known as Ycnagnnisssz. This extended family abandoned Yuggoth for Cykranosh, due to the rampant cannibalism of Cxaxukluth. From there, Tsathoggua journeyed onwards to Earth, while its “uncle” – Hziulquoigmnzhah – went to Yaksh (the Hyperborean name for Neptune); however, the ritual observances of the race of entities living upon that planet displeased it and it returned later to Cykranosh where it stayed.

Recorded in the Book of Eibon, that worthy once foresaw a cataclysm which would destroy the Earth if it came to pass. Accordingly, he summoned enormous interstellar webs of power stretching from Earth to Cykranosh and back. These powerful constructs averted the disaster. Interestingly, Cykranosh is also reported as the original home of the enormous spider entity, Atlach-Nacha. Given that Great Old One’s connexions to notions of fate and the weavings of destiny, could Eibon’s actions have halted a predestined calamity – and have provided Atlach-Nacha a gateway to Earth?

It is known that all planets where sentient life exists create their own Dreamlands analogues, and that these alternate worlds are connected in some discrete fashion. On Earth, the feline species are capable of actively moving between the Waking World and the World of Sleep, inhabiting quite different bodies when venturing across the Veil. Research undertaken by Dreamers reveals that the cats of Earth wage bitter wars with a feline species which inhabits the Dreamlands of Cykranosh and which has the capacity to leap from their reality onto the dark side of the moon of Earth’s Dreamlands.

These creatures are only designated “cats” in the loosest sense. They are largely composed of freely-flowing colourful arabesques of some unguessable substance, surrounding large eyes. They move by extruding their malleable forms forward in a desired direction, creating limbs as they go. At any one time they may have as few as three, or as many as six legs. They are known to enter into contracts of alliance with the Moonbeasts of Earth’s Dreamlands.

Shortly after its discovery, Neptune was referred to simply as “the planet exterior to Uranus” or as “Le Verrier’s planet”, after its official discoverer. The first proposed suggestion for a name was “Janus”. In England, the name put forward was “Oceanus”. Claiming the right to name his discovery, Le Verrier quickly proposed the name “Neptune” for this new planet, falsely stating that this had been officially approved by the French Bureau des Longitudes. Later, he sought to name the planet “Le Verrier”, after himself, and he had loyal support in this from observatory director, François Arago; however, the suggestion met with stiff resistance outside France. French almanacs quickly reintroduced the name “Herschel” for Uranus, after that planet's discoverer Sir William Herschel, and “Leverrier” for the new planet. At a symposium before the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1846, a consensus was reached to call the planet “Neptune” and it soon became the internationally accepted name.

In Roman mythology, Neptune was the god of the sea, identified with the Greek Poseidon. The demand for a mythological name seemed to be in keeping with the nomenclature of the other planets, all of which, except for Earth, were named for deities in Greek and Roman mythology.

Most languages today, even in countries that have no direct link to Greco-Roman culture, use some variant of the name “Neptune” for the planet. However, in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, the planet’s name was translated as “sea king star”, because Neptune was the god of the sea. In Mongolian, Neptune is called “Dalain Van”, reflecting its namesake god’s role as the ruler of the sea. In modern Greek the planet is called Poseidon. In Hebrew the planet is called “Rahab”, from a Biblical sea monster mentioned in the Book of Psalms, and was selected in a vote managed by the Academy of the Hebrew Language in 2009. In Maori, the planet is called “Tangaroa”, named after the Maori god of the sea, while in Nahuatl, the planet is called “Tlaloccitlalli”, after the rain god Tlaloc. In Thai, Neptune is referred both by its Westernised name “Dao Nepjun” and is also named “Dao Ketu” (“Star of Ketu”), after the descending lunar node Ketu who plays a role in Hindu astrology. In Hyperborean times, the planet was known as “Yaksh”.

Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times the mass of Earth and slightly larger than Neptune. Neptune orbits the Sun once every 164.8 years at an average distance of 30.1 astronomical units (4.50×109km). It has the astronomical symbol ♆, a stylised version of the god Neptune's trident.

Neptune is not visible to the unaided eye and is the only planet in the Solar System found by mathematical prediction rather than by empirical observation. Unexpected changes in the orbit of Uranus led astronomer Alexis Bouvard to deduce that its orbit was subject to gravitational perturbation by an unknown planet. Neptune was subsequently observed with a telescope on the 23^rd of September, 1846, by Johann Galle within a degree of the position predicted by Urbain Le Verrier. Its largest moon, Triton, was discovered shortly thereafter, though none of the planet’s remaining known 13 moons were located telescopically until the 20th century. The planet’s distance from Earth gives it a very small apparent size, making it challenging to study with Earth-based telescopes. Neptune was visited by Voyager 2, when it flew by the planet on the 25^th of August, 1989. The advent of the Hubble Space Telescope and large ground-based telescopes with adaptive optics has recently allowed for additional detailed observations from afar.

Like Jupiter and Saturn, Neptune’s atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, along with traces of hydrocarbons and possibly nitrogen, but it contains a higher proportion of “ices” such as water, ammonia, and methane. However, its interior, like that of Uranus, is primarily composed of ices and rock, which is why Uranus and Neptune are normally considered “ice giants” to emphasise this distinction. Traces of methane in the outermost regions in part account for the planet’s blue appearance. In contrast to the hazy, relatively featureless atmosphere of Uranus, Neptune’s atmosphere has active and visible weather patterns. For example, at the time of the Voyager 2 flyby in 1989, the planet’s southern hemisphere had a Great Dark Spot comparable to the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. These weather patterns are driven by the strongest sustained winds of any planet in the Solar System, with recorded wind speeds as high as 2,100 kilometres per hour (580m/s; 1,300mph). Because of its great distance from the Sun, Neptune’s outer atmosphere is one of the coldest places in the Solar System, with temperatures at its cloud tops approaching 55 K (−218 C). Temperatures at the planet’s centre are approximately 5,400 K (5,100 C). Neptune has a faint and fragmented ring system (called "arcs"), which was discovered in 1982, then later confirmed by Voyager 2.

Not much is mentioned by de Longnez concerning Yaksh, but what he says is significant: he says that the population of the planet is a species of humanoid mushrooms and provides an engraved plate, above – “Les gens de champignon de Yaksh sont ballottés par les vents”. Other Mythos sources mention that Hziulquoigmnzhah, after leaving Yuggoth, went to Yaksh but found no favour with the ritual observances with the fungoid creatures who lived there. Does this mean that Neptune was, at one time, an outpost of the Mi-Go? Or is there a second fungal species dwelling upon the planet or its moons?