The Eltdown Shards...

The Eltdown Shards is a Mythos text that was created by Richard F. Searight in his story “The Sealed Casket”. Like many Mythos elements, divers hands have worked upon it over time with the result that a confusion of details has occurred and a complex knot of information needs to be teased apart in order to make sense of it. In this instance there is a confusion as to the date of the text’s discovery and whether it took place in England, Greenland, or the American Midwest. There is also a question as to the original authorship. A main issue is that the ‘Shards have been conflated with Brian Lumley’s G’Harne Fragments (also known as the Sussex Fragments) and this has caused massive confusion. As I do every time I approach one of these dissections, I start from a position where every published fact becomes canon and I try to massage that information into a sequence that is logical and which rings true.

There is an argument that the Eltdown Shards should be considered as part of the Pnakotica and I touched on them in this context in a previous post. This overview slightly modifies that earlier information and rounds it out more fully. Most online discussions of the ‘Shards play coy with the Wisconsin academic institution which houses the original shards, calling it “Baloin”, or “Beloin College”; there is a college in Wisconsin – Beloit College – which is obviously the archetype for this place and so I have restored it correctly (along with its Logan Museum of Anthropology) to the narrative. I hope the community at Beloit approve of suddenly attaining a bit of Mythos notoriety!

Finally, I would like to point out that this information is not canon, just my interpretation of a bunch of (sometimes incompatible) details. If it works for the purposes of your storytelling then by all means use it; if not, then just think of it as an interesting intellectual exercise.

History.

The history of this text has been obscured by an egregious instance of wilful academic misconduct. Two researchers, Doctors Woodford and Dalton, encountered the shards whilst in Britain, preparing for a geological expedition to Greenland. They discovered the fragments while staying in the Sussex village of Eltdown. From their discussions with the locals there, they determined that the pottery pieces had been unearthed from nearby fields and other construction works dating back to around 1882. The local townsfolk referred to them as “fairy pieces” and many families in the area kept them as tokens of good luck. Woodford and Dalton arranged to privately purchase as many pieces of the text as possible from the locals and smuggled them back to Beloit College in Wisconsin, their base of operations. Initially, Dalton was quoted in a London newspaper article as having discovered the fragments in Greenland during their 1903 investigation; later, publishing their findings in an initial paper, they both declared that the pieces had been found in a gravel pit within a stratum of earth dating from the Triassic Period near the small town of Eltdown in Illinois.

The Eltdown Shards – an overview

This monograph – given the shenanigans going on in the background – is terse and summarily executed. It provides a catalogue of all 23 fragments returned to Beloit College, giving their weight and dimensions with a rudimentary summation of the various characters depicted upon them. This listing is not of any particular use to translators as the characters need to be read in relation to each other to provide meaning. There are several engraved depictions of a few of the pieces, but these are small and not particularly detailed. In summation, the authors pronounced the shards to be “untranslatable”.

English; Drs. Woodford & Dalton; 1908; 0/1 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +0 percentiles; 1 week to study and comprehend

Spells: None

In the wake of the paper’s publication, the fragments went on show at the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College where they attracted some passing interest. The two ‘discoverers’ of the pieces seemed unusually willing to remove themselves from any involvement with the find and left the college soon after to pursue other avenues of research. While on display, many outside individuals took sketches and photographs of the pieces and soon a plethora of manuscript ‘translations’ of the hieroglyphs began to appear along the eastern seaboard of the USA, claiming to have interpreted the writings. Most of these documents circulated exclusively through various occult communities with unknown effectiveness, while a few made it into print as catchpenny pamphlets claiming to give the purchaser the ability to find buried treasure or to summon the dead.

English; manuscript, unknown transcribers and translators; 1908-1915; 1/1D2 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +1 percentiles; 3 weeks to study and comprehend

Spells: 20% chance of Contact Yithian being present

English; cheaply-printed pamphlet, unknown transcribers and translators; 1908-1915; 0/1 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +0 percentiles; 1 week to study and comprehend

Spells: None of any effectiveness

In the wake of the appearance of these grimoires, a Professor Turkoff, in residence at Beloit College from Miskatonic University at the time, was given permission to perform a “psychic evaluation” of the fragments. This was a fairly regular occurrence during this period when Spiritualist notions flourished, although not considered entirely rigorously academic – even Percy Fawcett consulted a mystic before setting off on his expedition to South America. Through the agency of a medium, Turkoff was able to determine that the pottery shards had been manufactured by an alien race resident upon the Earth in the eons before the rise of humanity. He arranged for five of the shards – numbers 1, 3, 5, 19 and 23 - to be sent to Miskatonic University in order that the text could be compared against various writings held in the restricted section of the Orne Library. With these pieces removed to that other institution, the Logan Museum pulled the rest of the shards from public view – the display had been attracting too much attention of a decidedly unsavoury nature.

Meanwhile, in England, prompted by discovery of one of the cheaply-produced grimoires and memories of the London Times newspaper article in which Dalton had claimed to have discovered the shards in Greenland, cleric and amateur antiquarian Rev. Arthur Brooke Winters-Hall began to investigate the source of the pottery fragments. A Sussex resident himself, he had heard stories about the village of Eltdown and its “fairy pieces” and so he went there to talk about them with the townsfolk. He soon cottoned-on to what Woodford and Dalton had been up to, and began a new investigation, organising the local people into an informal archaeological dig which lasted from 1908 until after the Great War. He unearthed another 42 fragments of pottery from deep within Triassic Era soil strata and began his efforts to translate them, a task which took him from 1912 to 1917 to accomplish.

On Fragments Discovered in Sussex, also called the Eltdown Sherds

This work was self-published by Winters-Hall as a thick quarto pamphlet in a print run of only 350 copies. It provides detailed analysis of each fragment found by the author and a complex dissection of the hieroglyphs and their translation. The translated text discusses certain pre-human races dwelling upon the Earth in past times as well as giant worm-like creatures called the “Spawn of Yekub” and their use of strange cubes to project their minds across the universe. The text also tells of the Great Race of Yith and of their origins.

Upon its release, the Reverend’s efforts were met with general disdain from academia, a common sticking-point being that the translated text was much longer than the original collection of hieroglyphs. Winters-Hall’s insistence upon calling the shards “The Sussex Fragments” also meant that his efforts became confused with another work of that title, along with the “Sussex Manuscript”, a notorious translation of the Necronomicon. The Reverend finally walked away from the project altogether, donating his collection of fragments to the British Museum where they reside to this day.

English; Rev. Arthur Brooke Winters-Hall (trans.); 1917; 1d4/1d8 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +11 percentiles; 6 weeks to study and comprehend

Spells: Contact Yithian

In the wake of the translation’s publication, a linguist at Miskatonic University named Gordon Whitney, a specialist in ancient scripts, stumbled upon the pieces contained in the Orne Library which had been left there after Professor Turkoff’s investigations. Whitney travelled to Beloit College to examine the rest of the collection; while there, he discovered a copy of Winters-Hall’s publication and began to examine the shards in detail.

In the course of his studies, Whitney created the cataloguing system which now organises the fragments. The pieces located in Wisconsin and Massachusetts are numbered 1-23; those held by the British Museum in London are numbered 24-51; where the fragments contain duplicated information, the London pieces are identified with a lower-case ‘s’ for ‘Sussex’. Thus, fragment 8 of the Wisconsin collection is mirrored by fragment ‘s.8’ of the London set. In total, there are seven replicated shards: numbers s.2, s.5, s.8, s.10, s.17, s.20 and s.21.

It should be noted that Whitney’s focus upon the shards was not to discover what information was contained on the fragments, but to unlock the written language upon them. He returned to Arkham and concentrated his efforts upon the largest shards kept there – numbers 5 and 19 – and, in translating them, corroborated much of Winters-Hall’s work.

Whitney’s published work on the Eltdown Shards, while not comprehensive, provides an exhaustive overview of the hieroglyphs on the fragments and the manner in which they work to convey meaning. The translations which he provides outline a terrible entity named “Avaloth”, some discussion of the Great Race of Yith and incomplete information concerning a being entitled “the Warder of Knowledge”, including a fragmentary spell for summoning it – the dismissal component of the ritual is missing. After its publication by the Miskatonic University Press in 1920, Whitney retired prematurely to South Africa where he later died.

The Eltdown Shards – A Partial Translation

English; Gordon Whitney; 1920; 1d2/1d4 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +4 percentiles; 4 weeks to study and comprehend

Spells: Summon “Warder of Knowledge” (incomplete)

With the publishing of Whitney’s work, increasing attention was focused upon the shards and their background. Inevitably, the fact of Woodford and Dalton’s academic misconduct came to light and Beloit College resident Dr. Everett Sloan was charged with getting to the bottom of things. He travelled to Eltdown in Illinois, discovering only a ghost town without a gravel pit to its name, and then went to the British Museum to see the fragments held there, from which he took extensive rubbings and photolithographic renderings. Sloan’s concerns were primarily with examining the conduct of Woodford (now deceased) and Dalton (departed to parts unknown), and the validation of Whitney’s work; in his zeal, and thrown off by the reference to Winters-Hall’s work as The Sussex Fragments, he was unaware of Winters-Hall’s previous work until his own book went to print; a second-state issue of the title in the same year contains a revised Introduction which incorporates the Reverend’s observations.

In the final analysis, Sloan was able to show that Woodford and Dalton had falsified their discovery in order to keep the fragments to themselves, later to try and walk away from the whole situation and the potential scandal it would inevitably invoke. He combed-through Whitney’s work in translating the text and found it to be everything required of such an enterprise, and a worthy effort in linguistics. Later, in the revised Introduction, he was also able to praise the work of Arthur Brooke Winters-Hall and remove years of acrimony levelled at the cleric.

As to the text contained upon the fragments themselves, Sloan doesn’t go into the material too much, except to corroborate Whitney’s findings. He does provide a gloss of the material contained on each fragment, prefaced with an image of the shard in question and a collation of the hieroglyphs written upon it. There is also a revised History of the finding of the shards and a distancing of Beloit College from the actions of Woodford and Dalton.

A Re-evaluation of the Eltdown Shards

English; Dr Everett Sloan; 1922; 1/1d4 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +3 percentiles; 3 weeks to study and comprehend

Spells: None

Content.

So much for the history of the Eltdown Shards discovery. The shards themselves are iron-hard fragments of pottery of a dark grey colour, incised with hieroglyphs seemingly contained within an engraved border. All of the pieces are broken, and some are mere chips; their original shape has been hypothesised as being pentagonal, but there is no longer any way to be sure. The border occasionally cuts across the text in a blank band; the text sometimes meets the border at ninety-degrees; sometimes the text abuts the border at an oblique angle. There is little consistency.

The size of the individual shards varies widely. While many pieces are unreadably small - containing only one or two - sometimes partial – hieroglyphs, or sections of the border - the larger pieces range from the roughly rectangular Shard 5 (10cm x 20cm) to the largest piece, Shard 14, a triangular slab 51cm across. Shard 19 is vaguely square – about 31cm – but with the lower portion sheared off.

The text contained on the shards discusses matters pertinent to the early formation of the planet and the races who throve there before the rise of humankind, or rather, this current iteration of humankind. There are references to the Lemurians, Serpent People and the Tsathoggua-worshipping Voormis. Shard number 2 (and s.2) talk at length of the Great Race of Yith, their arrival on the planet Earth and their battles with the Flying Polyps. Related to this piece is Shard 19 which contains a spell for summoning an entity called “The Warder of Knowledge” which would seem to be of Yithian origin; however, the spell’s dismissal component is missing and the spell – as far as is known – has never been cast.

Shard number 5 outlines the distasteful behaviour of a voracious demonic entity entitled “Avaloth”. The being is not physically described, but it is revealed that the creature can cover vast territories with “living ice and snow”. Some esoteric groups have read this as indicating that Avaloth is an avatar of, or a secret name for, Ithaqua. There is mention also of another demon named “Zubnian” contained upon the shards held in the British Museum; these sections reveal how both Zubnian and Avaloth were opposed by the Lemurian wizard Om Oris and driven off for a time.

Shards number 43, 44 and 47, in the British Museum, discuss the Spawn of Yekub and the means whereby they exchange consciousnesses with other races. The information tells of members of the Great Race of Yith discovering one of the small, transparent cubes which the Yekubians use to effect this exchange, learning of its function and then locking it away in a great basalt city where it will cause no danger. The text reveals that the cube was subsequently lost when the Great Race fled the Earth and that its whereabouts are currently unknown. Shard number 17 (and s.17) tells of the Great Old One Ossadogawah, under the name “Zvilpoggua”.

Question as to the authorship of the Eltdown Shards is ongoing and largely confined to various esoteric and occult communities outside of mainstream academia. A prevailing theory is that the ‘Shards were compiled by members of the Elder Thing race, and there is evidence to support this idea; others – notably the shadowy Fraternal Order of Librarians - claim that the Great Race of Yith wrote the text and that the work should therefore be included within that body of knowledge called The Pnakotica. Occam’s Razor would seem to side with the latter position but the case for Elder Thing involvement is quite compelling:

First, where the text mentions the Great Race, the tone is distant and detached, as if the writer were taking an observer’s position from outside of that culture. Second, the hieroglyphs are arranged in a fivefold grid across the shards rather than being written side-by-side or one under the other in series. The notion that the shards were originally pentagonal also underscores the idea of authorship by the quinquepedalian Elder Things. The crucial point, however, is the language of the text.

While Winters-Hall, Whitney and Sloan all succeeded in translating the text to a degree, they were all unaware that this form of writing had already been identified earlier, although not necessarily in academic circles. The text of the ‘Shards is that system of encoding information known as “Pnakotic B”. This code was invented by the Great Race of Yith as a means of recording information in any language which they might encounter in their explorations. There are two versions of the code: “Pnakotic A” is reserved for writing in the Yithian idiom and only by members of the Great Race; “Pnakotic B” is a form of the code usable by other races who lack the Yithian’s peculiar neurological makeup. Research (by Drs. Schwarzwalder, Roshenplatt, Tripleten and Pelton-d’Est – see below) has shown that the human mind is incapable of reading Pnakotic A without encountering serious neural damage and this begs the question that the author of the Eltdown Shards was, therefore, not a Yithian, or that the text was written for non-Yithian readers. Taken with the other peculiarities mentioned above, the idea of Elder Thing authorship – while not conclusively proven - holds up.

Analysis of the Manuscript of the “Pnakotoi”

German; Dr. J. T. Schwarzwalder; 1895; 1/1d4 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +3 percentiles; 30 weeks to study and comprehend

Spells: None

The Pnakotic Manuscripts: A New Revised Study

English; Dr. Dieter M. Roshenplatt; 1922; 0/1 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +0 percentiles; 12 weeks to study and comprehend

Spells: None

“Aphasiological Considerations of the Pnakotoi”

English; Dr. Thomas E. Tripleten; 1931; 1/1d4 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +1 percentiles; 20 weeks to study and comprehend

Spells: None

The Mathematics of the Pnakotic Manuscripts

English; Harriet M. Pelton-d’Est, PhD; 1958; 0/1d2 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +1 percentiles; 30 weeks to study and comprehend

Spells: None

(For further information concerning these texts, see my previous post “The Pnakotica”)

Spells.

Call Deity Spells:

Call spells bring the avatar, god, or Great Old One before the caster. Casting this type of spell is perilous indeed, even for cultists. Only cult priests or desperate people should choose to call a Mythos deity. A group can assist by adding power to Call spells, with the caster acting as the focus for the group. Everyone present expends 1 Magic Point. Those who know the spell can sacrifice any number of Magic Points (including by burning Hit Points). The total of the Magic Points spent is the percentage chance that the spell works. For each Magic Point spent, the group must chant for a minute, but never for more than 100 minutes. On a roll of 100 the spell will always fail with all Magic Points sacrificed for the spell lost. The caster also loses 1D10 Sanity points in casting the spell. Everyone present loses Sanity points if the deity appears. Mostly, when a Mythos deity arrives on Earth, it wants to stay and is usually hungry.

“Invoke the Ice Demon, Avaloth” (Call Deity: Ithaqua)

Cost: 1+ magic points per person; 1D10 Sanity points (caster only)

Casting time: 1-100 minutes

Focuses the attention of Ithaqua; however, the presence of the Great Old One may be noticed only as a whirlwind or strong icy wind. The spell must be cast on an enormous mound of snow (minimum 10 feet high). Legend states that the spell may only be performed in the far north of the world, when temperatures are below freezing. Some wizards conjecture that Ithaqua might be invoked from any high, snowy mountain, even those in the South Pole.

“Bring Forth Zvilpoggua” (Call Deity: Ossadogawah)

Cost: 1+ magic points per person (min. 13); 1D10 Sanity points (caster only)

Casting time: 1-100 minutes

Creates a channel to Ossadogawah. Must be cast at night under an open sky when the star Algol is above the horizon. Thirteen casters are required to perform the spell. Ossadogowah will wing down from above. A suitable sacrifice (alive and equal to 30 points of SIZ) must be offered in order to placate it.

“The Forbidden Lure of Zubnian” (Call Deity: Rhan Tegoth)

Cost: 1+ magic points per person; 1D10 Sanity points (caster only)

Casting time: 1-100 minutes

Attracts the attention of Rhan Tegoth. The spell must be cast before an image of the deity upon which the caster must drip some of their blood. The spell only works in sub-zero temperatures. If the contactor fails a Luck Roll at the end of the spell’s casting, Rhan Tegoth sends a gnoph-keh to the caster instead.

“Evoke the Sleeper of N’kai” (Call Deity: Tsathoggua)

Cost: 1+ magic points per person; 1D10 Sanity points (caster only)

Casting time: 1-100 minutes

Opens communication with Tsathoggua. The caster chants the spell while burning rare incense. Tsathoggua may appear in spirit form as a hazy and translucent projection of his real self, to which normal Sanity losses apply. There is always a 50% chance that Tsathoggua will be hungry. He usually visits only if the caster is alone but will speak audibly to the caster.

Dismiss Deity Spells:

A deity who does not want to leave Earth may be Dismissed. Every Dismiss spell differs; the caster must know the specific Dismiss spell for the particular deity. First, allot 1 Magic Point per 25 POW (round down) possessed by the deity. This grants an initial 5% chance to Dismiss the god and it opens the way for the deity’s disappearance.

Once the way is prepared, the sacrifice of more Magic Points can tempt the deity into departure. In this, the second stage, each new Magic Point sacrificed increases the chance that the deity leaves by 5 percentiles. Sacrificing 10 more Magic Points adds 50 percentiles to the chance. As with the Call Deity version of the spell, a group of people can assist one another to cast Dismiss Deity. Roll 1D100 against the total chance for the dismissal. As with Call Deity, the caster is the focus of the spell; other members of the group can contribute Magic Points. Dismiss Deity costs no Sanity points. Call Deity spells always require special conditions and rituals; however, the Dismiss portion of the spell can be cast anytime, anywhere.

“The Curse of Om Oris” (Dismiss Deity: Ithaqua)

Cost: 1 or more Magic Points per person.

Casting time: 1 minute plus 1 extra round per participant who donates Magic Points

Requires a source of flame which will flare up dramatically towards Ithaqua as the Curse is completed

“To Banish Zvilpoggua” (Dismiss Deity: Ossadogawah)

Cost: 1 or more Magic Points per person.

Casting time: 1 minute plus 1 extra round per participant who donates Magic Points

A bolt of lightning from the heavens strikes Ossadogawah, obliterating its corporeal form.

“The Sigil of Om Oris” (Dismiss Deity: Rhan Tegoth)

Cost: 1 or more Magic Points per person.

Casting time: 1 minute plus 1 extra round per participant who donates Magic Points

The Sigil is traced upon the ground in blood by the caster; as it vanishes, so too does the deity.

“Repudiate the Great Toad!” (Dismiss Deity: Tsathoggua)

Cost: 1 or more Magic Points per person.

Casting time: 1 minute plus 1 extra round per participant who donates Magic Points

If this Dismissal fails, Tsathoggua will be extremely angered and will attack the caster immediately.

Contact Spells:

Contact spells allow a metaphysical practitioner to get in touch with monsters and alien races, perhaps to learn about magic, gods, or alien species. The caster should have a definite goal in mind; bargains might be struck and plans negotiated. Contact spells do not give the caster the upper hand though; the spell is merely a method of establishing contact. This is distinctly different from Summoning spells that have the potential to allow casters to bind the Summoned beings to their will. Procedures are much the same for each Contact spell, though particular conditions, or requirements, may be unique. Knowing one Contact spell is of no help in casting another. Many versions of Contact spells exist.

Cast properly this spell always works, unless there are no such things living within a convenient distance (Flying Polyps might journey from the City in the Sands to some other part of Australia but might ignore a call to fly to North America). A Contact spell takes five to ten rounds to cast. The thing reached by the spell may appear in a game hour, or take a game day or more, to show up. For a random appearance in hours, roll 1D100. Entities living nearby will walk, swim, dig, or fly to the spell point. If the trip is too long, the thing called by the spell never shows up. Things from other dimensions can appear in any characteristic or evocative manner.

The spell brings a random member of the species, presumably with its own motives. The caster should try to be alone, or to be with no more than a small group, in order not to seem threatening. Once the Contacted thing appears, it is free to depart, so if the caster has something to offer it, the chances for an extended meeting greatly improve. If a Contacted species is large, such as a Flying Polyp, only one will likely appear. If it is human-sized or smaller, the Keeper may determine if several representatives arrive as a group.

There is no guarantee that a Contacted entity would rather bargain with, or devour, the caster. It will have an alien motivation; however, if further interaction seems of advantage to both sides, then some interesting roleplaying may emerge. As mentioned, each version of the spell requires certain conditions to be in place for it to work.

“Chant of the Five-fold Ones” (Contact Elder Thing)

Cost: 3 Magic Points

Sanity cost: 1D3 (plus more to view the monster)

Casting time: 1D6 + 4 rounds

Unless there are no Elder Things nearby, the chanting succeeds automatically. The most likely locations are along the southern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge or over the geological trenches nearest Antarctica.

“Call of Ophis” (Contact Serpent Person)

Cost: 3 Magic Points

Sanity cost: 1D3 (plus more to view the monster)

Casting time: 1D6 + 4 rounds

Unless there are no Serpent People nearby, the chanting succeeds automatically. Serpent People may be encountered anywhere, but usually in remote, warm locales.

“The Song of Voormithadreth” (Contact Voormi)

Cost: 5 Magic Points

Sanity cost: 1D3 (plus more to view the monster)

Casting time: 1D6 + 4 rounds

Unless there are no Voormis nearby, the chanting succeeds automatically. Voormis are incredibly rare in the modern Waking World, but they can be found in remote parts of Earth’s Dreamlands.

“Speak to the Masters of Time” (Contact Yithian/Great Race of Yith)

Cost: 5 Magic Points

Sanity cost: 1D3 (plus more to view the monster)

Casting time: 1D6 + 4 rounds

Unless there are no Yithians nearby, the chanting succeeds automatically. The caster of this spell creates a psychic beacon that extends from their locus out the horizon in all directions: any member of the Great Race within this compass – either in its native form or in possession of another creature - will detect the call and may, if they so choose, home in on its source.

If cast while under the influence of the drug Liao, the summons can also extend through time, either ahead to the future, or back into the past. This requires the expenditure of POW: 1 POW creates a ‘radius’ of 1 year, ahead or back; 2POW encompasses 10 years; 3 provides a range of 100 years, and so on, in a logarithmic progression. When establishing a new office, the Fraternal Order of Librarians normally cast this spell to attract the attention of any Yithians in the vicinity. Of course, standard protections against attracting the attention of the Hounds of Tindalos should be observed.

Summoning Spells:

Such spells concern themselves with alien races and attendants - those monsters that commonly serve greater monsters, or wizards. The general procedures for these spells are the same, but conditions may vary from spell to spell. Knowing one such spell is of no use whatsoever in attempting to cast another. Unless the Keeper wishes otherwise, the Summon and the Bind portions of each spell are learned together.

These spells require the sacrifice of 1 Magic Point per 10 percentiles chance for success. For example, 3 Magic Points gives a 30% chance for the spell to succeed. In general, for each Magic Point spent, the caster must spend five minutes chanting - the greater the chance for success, the longer the spell takes to cast. A result of 96-100 is always a failure - a rolled result of 100 should always have bad consequences for the wizard concerned. The caster also loses 1D4 Sanity points per spell cast, whether the spell succeeds or not.

If a success, one being appears per spell, 2D10 game minutes after the chant concludes. the thing appearing may also require a Sanity loss to see it. As the Keeper wishes, the thing arrives Bound, or the Keeper may ask that the caster make an opposed POW roll versus the Summoned being. With a success, the thing is Bound; with a failure, it attacks the caster and then returns from whence it came. Bound, the thing must obey one command from the caster, even to attacking its own kind, after which it is freed and returns from whence it came.

Form of the Command:

The caster’s command to the thing must be specific and limited in duration: “protect me from harm forever,” would not be a valid command; however, “slay that man in the corner,” would be. The thing is bound to the caster until it fulfills a command. Orders might include carrying someone somewhere, presiding at some ceremony, being especially docile while being examined by a group of professors, appearing somewhere as a warning to those assembled - whatever can be imagined.

Keep commands simple. The best rule of thumb is that a command has no more words than one-fifth of the thing’s INT. Simple gestures such as pointing will be understood. Assume that the thing is always able to understand a straightforward command, whether spoken in English or Urdu.

“Call the Wind Demon!” (Summon Flying Polyp)

Cost: variable magic points; 1D4 Sanity points

Casting time: 5 minutes per magic point spent.

Rising winds and nauseating whistling sounds accompany the appearance of the Polyp. The spell can be cast anywhere, although there should be sufficient space to accommodate the creature. The caster must tie seven feathers along a length of string made from a natural fibre (hemp, jute, cotton, etc.) while chanting; the creature appears as the last knot is tied.

“Evoke the Child of the Sleeper!” (Summon Formless Spawn of Tsathoggua)

Cost: variable magic points; 1D4 Sanity points

Casting time: 5 minutes per magic point spent.

The Formless Spawn materialises out of thin air. This spell must be cast before an altar consecrated to the Great Old One, Tsathoggua.

“Song of the Mind Stealers” (Summon Spawn of Yekub)

Cost: variable magic points; 1D4 Sanity points

Casting time: 5 minutes per magic point spent.

Clicking, twanging sounds herald the appearance of the Yekubian. This spell must be cast outside at night in a natural setting. The caster must chant while peering through a crystal lens which has never been exposed to direct sunlight. An image of the creature appears in the crystal and, when it is fully in focus, the Yekubian will appear.

Binding Spells:

Binding and Summoning are two sides of the same coin. Sometimes they are learned as one spell, sometimes not. At the Keeper’s discretion the effects may be combined, or two separate rolls might be asked for, one to Summon and a second to Bind. If a monster arrives unBound or is come upon unexpectedly, it may be Bound on the spot. The caster must know the Summon/Bind spell for that type of thing and must spend a round chanting before the thing can be Bound. For the spell to take effect the caster must succeed in an opposed POW roll with the target. Each cast of the Binding costs 1 Sanity point and variable Magic Points. A Binding works on only one creature at a time. One option open to the caster is to invest a number of Magic Points equal to one-fifth of the summoned creature’s POW to gain a bonus die on the opposed POW roll to Bind the monster (of course, the caster will not know the POW of the creature, thus must take a gamble on how many Magic Points to sacrifice).

An attacking creature cannot be Bound by the person it is fighting; however, it could be Bound by a person able to hold back from the fray. A creature presently Bound cannot be re-Bound until its present command is completed. A creature to be Bound must be visible to the caster and within 100 yards. Binding requires an opposed roll and opposed rolls cannot be pushed.

“A Snare for Wind Demons” (Bind Flying Polyp)

Cost: 1 Sanity point

Casting time: 1 round

A string with seven feathers knotted along its length is tied into a circle; if successful, the creature is Bound until the string is un-knotted, or its task is fulfilled.

“Confine the Dark Child” (Bind Formless Spawn of Tsathoggua)

Cost: 1 Sanity point

Casting time: 1 round

A bowl, or trough, large enough to accommodate the Formless Spawn must be present for the Binding to work; luckily, these are a common feature of most temples dedicated to Tsathoggua.

“The Prison of Crystal” (Bind Spawn of Yekub)

Cost: 1 Sanity point

Casting time: 1 round

The caster focusses upon the creature through a crystal lens which has never been exposed to direct sunlight; as the chanting concludes, the lens is smashed, and the creature becomes Bound.