No matter what his nature, Nyogtha is relatively easy to drive off. Use of an ankh, the Vach-Viraj chant, or the Tikkoun Elixir will cause Nyogtha to return to the caverns from whence it came. Since these three items are all connected with life and purity, it may be that other chants or items with the same connections might be useful as well.
See elemental theory; ghouls; Naggoob; Pharos of Leng; Tikkoun elixir; Ubbo-Sathla; Vach-Viraj. (“The Acolyte of the Flame”, Carter; “The Book of Dismissals”, Carter; “Zoth-Ommog”, Carter; “The Stairs in the Crypt”, Carter and Smith; “Castle Dark”, Herber; “What Every Coin Has”, Henderson; “The Salem Horror”, Kuttner (O); The Thing at the Threshold, McConnell; Call of Cthulhu Rulebook, 5th ed., Petersen and Willis.)
O
OAKDEENE SANITARIUM. English mental institution located near Glasgow. Despite the high quality of care given to the patients, the Sanitarium is best remembered for the scandal caused by the death of five inmates and one attendant on the night of January 1, 1936.
See Cthaat Aquadingen; Spellman, Martin; Visions from Yaddith. (The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley; “The Horror at Oakdeene”, Lumley (O).)
OATHS OF DAGON. Vows taken by worshipers of Dagon to ensure loyalty to their god and his cult. All members take the First Oath; this vow ensures that the person will not allow the Order to come to harm. The second is intended for more devoted members and calls that person to actively aid the deep ones in their projects. Only a few take the third Oath, as it couples the oath-taker with a companion deep one, with whom the person must have children to perpetuate the deep one race. Some say that the Third Oath will also awaken the deep one blood in a person. Knowledge of the deep one tongue is also expected of those who take the third Oath. Evidence suggests that there may be even higher levels of oaths taken by deacons and priests in the Order.
(“It was the Day of the Deep One”, Cannon; “A New Beginning”, Hicks and Jantsang; “The Shadow over Innsmouth”, Lovecraft (O); “The Transition of Zadok Allen”, Price; Escape from Innsmouth, Ross.)
OBSERVATIONS ON SEVERAL PARTS OF AFRICA. Book by Sir Wade Jermyn, an explorer who made three trips to the Congo, published in 1768. Jermyn is best remembered not for his discoveries, but for his eccentricities. After his second trip, for example, he brought back a Portuguese wife who he kept in seclusion and left in Africa on his third trip. After a while, Jermyn’s eccentricity turned to mania, and he was committed in 1765.
Observations on Several Parts of Africa tells of Jermyn’s discovery of a prehistoric white civilization within the Congo, its ruined city, and the survivals which inhabit it.
(Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy, Detwiller; “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family”, Lovecraft (O).)
OCCULT FOUNDATION, THE. Book published in the late 1980s by the eminent occultist J. Cornelius Wassermann. Wasserman describes his beliefs on the “Primal Ones” and their eventual goals as they relate to humanity. The books sold well in the darker occult circles, but several other groups banned its author from their meetings.
The book contains much information about the Great Dying, how this will be brought about, and the benefits that will accrue to the Primal Ones’ worshipers when this event occurs.
See Liber Damnatus. (The House of the Toad, Tierney; “The Price”, Tierney (O).)
OCCULTUS. Book written by Hieriarchus around 150 AD.
(“The Secret in the Tomb”, Bloch (O); Keeper’s Compendium, Herber.)
OF EVILL SORCERIES DONE IN NEW-ENGLAND OF DAEMONS IN NO HUMAN SHAPE. Anonymous pamphlet printed in colonial times that may be a section of a larger work by Alijah Hoadley. It deals with reputed sorcerers and mysterious events in New England, especially the case of Richard Billington of Dunwich, Massachusetts. Stories of the same events might also be found in Cotton Mathers’ Magnalia Christi Americana, though each author highlights different details.
[In the fragment which Derleth incorporated into “Lurker”, Lovecraft mentioned “Of Evill Sorceries” as being part of Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New-English Canaan. Derleth removed this reference, separating the two works.]
See Hoadley, Abijah. (“The Lurker at the Threshold”, Derleth and Lovecraft (O); “Acute Spiritual Fear”, Price; “The Round Tower”, Price.)
O’KHYMER. Town in Oregon (Oklahoma, according to one source) near the South Umpqua River. It is home to the University of Nyingtove. Its buildings are incredibly dilapidated, and few people are visible on the streets.
(“The Deep-Lord Awakens”, Ambuehl; “Feast with a Few Strangers”, Berglund (O); “The Feaster from the Stars”, Berglund.)
OLATHOE. Capital city of Lomar. This town’s buildings were all of marble, and the images of men with beards adorned the peaks of pillars set throughout the city. Olathoë was a center for culture and learning, until the Inutos came from over the mountains and destroyed the people of Lomar.
See Lomar; Noton and Kadiphonek. (“Polaris”, Lovecraft (O).)
OLD ONES. Term often applied to the Great Old Ones, or the Elder Things. Some say that they are an entirely different type of being which contact humans through possession, but so little is known of them that making this distinction may be impossible.
[Lovecraft used the term “Old Ones” to mean, at different times, a group of beings associated with Yog-Sothoth, the people of K’n-yan, the Antarctic aliens known as the Elder Things, beings whose magic warded off the Deep Ones, and the Great Old Ones. The two definitions given above are the most popular ones.]
See Black Brotherhood; Book of Eibon; Broken Columns of Geph; Brotherhood of the Beast; Elder Gods; Elder Things; Great White Space; Nyarlathotep; Quy; Rhan-Tegoth; stars are right, the; Yaddith-Gho; Zkauba. (Keeper’s Compendium, Herber; “At the Mountains of Madness”, Lovecraft; “The Dunwich Horror”, Lovecraft (O); “The Horror in the Museum”, Lovecraft and Heald;
“The Shadow over Innsmouth”, Lovecraft; “The Mound”, Lovecraft and Bishop.)
OLMSTEAD, ROBERT MARTIN (1906?-?). College student from Toledo who was instrumental in bringing about the government raid on Innsmouth. Olmstead, a junior at Oberlin College, visited this town on July 15, 1927. Following a harrowing experience with the townsfolk, he fled the town and convinced the government to begin an investigation of the town. In 1930, Olmstead and a cousin who had been committed to an asylum both vanished, and it is believed that agents from Innsmouth spirited him away.
[Lovecraft never mentions the name “Olmstead” in his story, but it does turn up in his notes. Derleth used the name “Williamson” for this character, but “Williamson” was the maiden name of HPL’s character’s mother. The only time the name has appeared in fiction, to my knowledge, is in the Sargent story.]
See Allen, Zadok. (Delta Green, Detwiller, Glancy, and Tynes; “Discarded Draught: The Shadow over Innsmouth”, Lovecraft (O); “Live Bait”, Sargent.)
ON THE SENDING OUT OF THE SOUL. Pamphlet which appeared in Salem in 1783 and which circulates secretly through the occult community. The author’s name was never discovered, but this document was involved in a series of murders immediately after its publication. It is now so rare that very few booksellers will acknowledge that it exists at all.
On the Sending Out of the Soul is only eight pages long. The first seven contain only vague mystical language, but the eighth contains a formula for astral travel. One who uses this spell will be successful, but will also contact Hydra at the same time.
(“Hydra”, Kuttner (O).)
OORN. Great Old One who dwells in the ruins of Sarkomand. It is said to be the mate of the moon-god Mnomquah, who will come to earth to join Oorn when it breaks free of its lunar prison.
See Mnomquah; Sarkomand. (Mad Moon of Dreams, Lumley (O).)
OOTH-NARGAI. Valley in the Dreamlands in which King Kuranes constructed the timeless city of Celephaïs.
See Aran; Celephaïs; Serranian. (“Celephaïs”, Lovecraft (O).)
ORDER OF THE SWORD OF SAINT JEROME (also BROTHERS OF SAINT JEROME?). Orga
nized created by the Catholic Church to battle supernatural threats, including the Cthulhu Mythos.
Pope Clement V founded the Order in 1303, at the request of the French king who required help in revealing the corruption of the Knights Templar. It might be that this was the consolidation of a previously-existing organization of the same name, but the records are not clear on this topic. The order received its name because of its chief asset: a collection of books left to the Vatican Library by Saint Jerome, a fourth-century scholar and Biblical commentator. The Order was successful in discrediting the Templars, obtaining a number of the knights’ books for their library. After the Order’s head, Renaldo Sinibaldo, went insane and was executed in 1315, the group restricted access to these books save in extreme cases.
The Order had a few other modest successes, including the capture and execution of Ludwig Prinn, and many of their number joined the Inquisition without that body’s knowledge of their other affiliation. The Order was disbanded at the orders of Pope Leo XIII, but it works on in secret from a monastery in the Alps, with other regional headquarters in cities such as Arkham. Its members are recruited from within the Church, often becoming wandering priests, dedicated to fighting Darkness wherever it may be found.
(“The Truth Shall Set You Free”, Ballon; Keeper’s Compendium, Herber (O); “The Enchanting of Lila Woods”, Lustig; Nightmare’s Disciple, Pulver.)
ORIAB. Large isle in the Dreamlands’ Southern Sea. Its landmarks include the city of Baharna, Mount Ngranek, and the Lake of Yath, on the far side of which sits the city of Queen Tyrrhia.
See Baharna; Ngranek; Southern Sea; vooniths. (“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft (O); “A-Mazed in Oriab”, Lumley.)
ORIGINAL NOTES ON THE NECRONOMICON. The first printing of Joachim Feery’s Notes on the Necronomicon, which appeared in 1901. It contains much material expurgated from the later version, and is considered by a few to be more complete than the Al Azif itself because of this.
See Feery, Joachim; Notes on the Necronomicon. (Keeper’s Compendium, Herber; “Name and Number”, Lumley (O); “Soul of the Devil-Bought”, Price; Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)
ORNE, JEDEDIAH. See Orne, Simon.
ORNE, SIMON. Scientist and reputed wizard of Salem, Massachusetts. At least one person at the witch-trials testified that she had seen Orne at a Sabbat, but he seems to have escaped punishment nonetheless. He was a chemist and scientist of some note, conducting extensive correspondence with his fellow researchers Joseph Curwen and Edward Hutchinson. He earned himself a permanent place in history by giving the first lecture at Salem Academy, the school that later became Miskatonic University. Orne continued to live in Salem until 1720, when his ageless appearance began to excite comment. In that year, he donated his books to Miskatonic University Library and sailed for Europe.
Thirty years later, Simon’s son Jedediah returned to Salem with documents that allowed him to take possession of his father’s estate. Jedediah, who looked exactly like his father, vanished in 1771 during an action coordinated by some of the colony’s most prominent men. Some say that Jedidiah was actually Simon, and many are also convinced that he lived on in Altstadt, Prague under the name Josef Nadek for some time. If so, he might have been slain with the destruction of his house in 1928.
[According to Stanley, Simon left America in 1700, but I have chosen to use Lovecraft’s chronology here.]
See Curwen, Joseph; Hutchinson, Edward. (“The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”, Lovecraft (O); Miskatonic University Graduate Kit, Petersen et. al.; Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)
OSSADAGOWAH (also ZVILPOGGUA). Being conceived in the mating of Tsathoggua and Shathak on the world of Yaksh. Ossadagowah appears as a great toad-like creature with bat-wings, webbed feet, and tentacles in place of a face, or a misty shape with a tentacled face. It dwells on the world of Yrautrom (or Abbith) near Algol, and can only come to earth if thirteen wizards summon it when Algol is in the sky.
He was worshiped in Hyperborea, and a complex spell involving powdered opals and hippogriff’s tears was occasionally cast to bring him to earth. The Native American tribes of Massachusetts once knew how to call down Ossadogowah, but most of these did not use this knowledge, considering it an evil act. When called, Ossadogwah cannot be banished and must leave of its own volition. Creatures called “Eye Killers” attend him.
See Misquamacus; Sfatlicllp; Shathak; Tsathoggua. (“The Feaster from the Stars”, Carter; “Strange Manuscript found in the Vermont Woods”, Carter; “The Lurker at the Threshold”, Derleth and Lovecraft (O); The Return of the Manitou, Masterton.)
OTHER GODS. Group of beings that protect the lesser gods of Earth in the Dreamlands. Their only known member is Nyarlathotep. They may be identical to the Outer Gods, or they may include other entities unknown to us.
See Azathoth; Gloon; gods of Earth; gugs; Kadath; Nyarlathotep; Outer Gods; seed of Azathoth. (“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; “The Other Gods”, Lovecraft (O).)
OTHUUM. Mythos “demon” which appears as a black monster with two pairs of legs and a fat face with one eye. He often paralyzes his victims and can only be destroyed by fire.
Othuum’s true nature is uncertain. In some references, he seems to be one of the servants of Great Cthulhu, and dwells beneath the waves striving for his master’s return. In others, Othuum is the “Great Master of Those-Who-Wait-Without”, and has been influencing sensitive individuals for millennia so that he might be freed from an alternate dimension. He is served by beings called the “Grinners at the Gate”.
See Othuum Omnicia. (“Rising with Surtsey”, Lumley (O); “Othuum”, Lumley et. al.)
OTHUUM OMNICIA. Book in Latin which details the proper worship of the being Othuum, and provides a powerful exorcism. The locations of only two copies are known: one which is located in the British Museum, and another is kept in a private collection somewhere in Hungary.
See Othuum. (“The Second Wish”, Lumley; “Othuum”, Lumley et. al. (O).)
OTHUYEG. Great Old One known as the “Doom-Walker”. It resembles an eye surrounded by innumerable tentacles, a form which bears much resemblance to Cyäegha and which may suggest a link between the two. Othuyeg and his spawn, which were created in their parent’s image, dwell beneath the ground within the fabled Seven Cities of Gold in the fabled land of Cakatomia, awaiting the time when they may issue forth to reconquer the surface world.
The Black Book of the Skull and the Necronomicon mention Othuyeg, but no other references in Mythos books have been found. Othuyeg desires to open a gate so Zathog and the Zarrians may invade this planet, but how the Great Old One hopes to achieve this is unknown.
See Zarr; Zathog. (“Demon in the Flesh”, Burnham (O); “The Seven Cities of Gold”, Burnham; “Solar Pons and the Cthulhu Mythos” DeBill and Berglund.)
OUKRAMO. See Oukranos.
OUKRANOS (also OUKRAMO). Dreamlands river that bypasses the Enchanted Wood and runs past Kiran and Thran into the Cerenerian Sea. The lands by the river are garden-like, and a stealthy traveler may see the shy buopoths who live nearby.
See Hlanith; Ilek-Vad; Kiran; Kled; Thran. (“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; “The Silver Key”, Lovecraft (O).)
OUTER GODS (possibly OTHER GODS). Group of beings who are differentiated from the Great Old Ones. Usually the Outer Gods are thought of as personifications of cosmic forces, while the Great Old Ones are immensely powerful, yet limited, alien beings.
Not all scholars recognize this distinction, and it is not always clear where an entity should be placed. Some entities who are generally categorized with the Outer Gods are Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath, and Nyarlathotep. Others who may be included in their number are Tulzscha, Daoloth, and Abhoth.
It is unknown whether there is any connection between the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods. There are close links between Shub-Niggurath and Hastur (an Outer God and a Great Old One, respectively), and Nyarlathotep has acted in the interests of th
e Great Old Ones at least twice. It was once proposed that the Great Old Ones were larval Outer Gods, but few hold this view.
[Though some authors have made a distinction between these beings and the Great Old Ones, the term “Outer Gods” has only recently appeared outside of the Call of Cthulhu game.]
See Azathoth; Book of Azathoth; Ghroth; Great Old Ones; Iä; Leng; Nyarlathotep; Other Gods; Shub-Niggurath. (Call of Cthulhu Rulebook, Petersen and Willis (O); S. Petersen’s Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands, Petersen et. al.)
OUTER ONES. See mi-go.
P
PABODIE EXPEDITION. Scientific journey to Antarctica financed by Miskatonic University and headed by Professor William Dyer of the Department of Geology. The primary purpose of this expedition was to collect fossils from Antarctic rock. To this end, Professor Frank Pabodie of the Department of Engineering invented a drill capable of boring deep underground to extract specimens.
After a period of largely unremarkable drilling, a biology professor named Lake set off on a side expedition to a site northwest of the main camp. There he hoped to find an explanation for certain strange impressions that the previous drilling had uncovered. According to reports made to the outside world, the expedition exceeded the team’s expectations; they discovered a range of mountains taller than the Himalayas, as well as the fossilized remains of creatures which seemed to be part animal and part plant.
At this point, reports to the outside world ceased. Apparently, an epidemic of madness overtook the scientists camped near the mountains, and all of them save one were killed by one another. Following this tragedy, the rest of the expedition’s members gathered what little data they had already discovered and returned to Miskatonic. Many were later diagnosed with dementia Antarctica and were confined to institutions for a brief while.
Shortly after his return, Professor Dyer published his account of the “true” occurrences of the Pabodie expedition with hopes of discouraging further scientific visits to Antarctica. The scientific community held this manuscript in low esteem, and its impact on Antarctic exploration has been minimal.
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