Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

by Harms, Daniel

  See Danforth; Dyer, William; Elder Things; Leng; Miskatonic University; Starkweather-Moore Expedition. (Alone Against the Dark, Costello; “At the Mountains of Madness”, Lovecraft (O).)

  PALLID MASK (also known as the PHANTOM OF TRUTH). Entity connected with the King in Yellow. In the play of the same name, the Pallid Mask acts as Hastur’s messenger to the city of Yhtill. The Pallid Mask comes to cities filled with decadence and depression to decide whether they should be incorporated into Carcosa. Other references cite the Pallid Mask as the semblance the King in Yellow puts on when dealing with mortals.

  See Carcosa; King in Yellow; Yhtill. (“The Yellow Sign”, Chambers (O); Delta Green: Countdown, Detwiller et. al.; “Tatterdemalion”, Love, Ross, and Watts.)

  PAPYRUS OF THE DARK WISDOM. The third section of the Book of Eibon. In this portion of his magnum opus, the Hyperborean wizard gives the history of the many different alien beings who came to earth before the coming of humanity. Von Junzt later paraphrased this material in his Unaussprechlichen Kulten.

  See Book of Eibon; Unaussprechlichen Kulten; Von Junzt, Friedrich. (“Something in the Moonlight”, Carter (O); “Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom”, Carter and Smith.)

  PARANORMAL INTELLIGENCE SECTION FOR COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE, ESPIONAGE, AND SABOTAGE. See PISCES.

  PARCHMENTS OF PNOM. Volume written by Pnom, Hyperborea’s leading genealogist and seer, in his homeland’s “Elder Script”. Pnom of Mnardis was a great archivist and magician, and Eibon credits him with saving the town of Urcheeth from an invisible monster. One section of Eibon’s Book suggests that his mentor Zylac left the only known copy of Pnom’s work in the astral realm’s City Misery Ruined.

  The Parchments give the lineage of Tsathoggua, instructions for making a triple circle of protection, and many exorcisms, both minor and powerful, intended especially for use against the spirits of the cold north. Some parts of it hint that humanity’s origin was more unpleasant than we would like to think. It also states that invisible creatures cast a shadow by the light of the moon.

  See Nug and Yeb; Tsathoggua; Zylac. (“Dreams of the Black Lotus”, Carter; “The Madness out of Time”, Carter; The Life of Eibon according to Cyron of Varaad, Carter; “The Demon of the Ring”, Cornford; “The Face from Below”, Cornford; “The Ritual of the Outer Void”, Pulver; “The Coming of the White Worm”, Smith (O); “The Family Tree of the Gods”, Smith.)

  PARG, FOREST OF. Forest of the Dreamlands. The people here are known for their ivory carvings, though more often the people themselves are captured and sold to the merchants on the black galleys at Dylath-Leen. Parg is the home of the monstrous fireworms and many other magical, dangerous creatures.

  (“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft (O); S. Petersen’s Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands, Petersen et. al.)

  PARTRIDGEVILLE. Town in the Hudson River Valley, near Brewster, and the site of numerous paranormal happenings. Despite its locale, Patridgeville appears much as a small New England town, with its Congregational church and village green. In this century, the Patridgeville Chemical Laboratories have become the town’s major industry.

  Patridgeville was the home of Halpin Chalmers (and was the site of his 1928 murder) and Fred Carstairs. Some claim that a horror from outer space was nearly destroyed in a fire in nearby Mulligan Wood.

  [Despite the other states in which authors have placed Patridgeville, Long’s description makes it clear that it is in New York state.]

  See Morton, James. (“The Wild Hunt”, Ballon; “The Hounds of Tindalos”, Long; “The Space-Eaters”, Long (O).)

  PEASLEE, NATHANIEL WINGATE (1871-1940?). One-time professor of political economics, and later psychology, at Miskatonic University. Peaslee was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts and became a professor of political economics at Miskatonic in 1895. He married Alice Keezar in the following year, and they had three children.

  In 1908, Professor Peaslee underwent a mysterious seizure followed by a bout of amnesia and a severe change in personality. For the next five years, the professor embarked upon a study of history, anthropology, and mythology, undertaking voyages to all parts of the world to consult esoteric information in an apparent attempt to regain his memory. During this period, his wife divorced him, and all of his children, save for his son Wingate, refused to have anything to do with him. Many psychologists studied him, but confessed that his condition baffled them. This state of affairs concluded in 1913, when Peaslee inexplicably returned to health. At this time Wingate was returned to his custody.

  Peaslee seemed completely normal at first, though he found he had an inexplicable knowledge of both Aklo and Classical Greek. Soon after his return, however, he was plagued by nightmares of alien creatures and tremendous stone cities. These visions forced him to abandon the professorship that the University had returned to him, and he spent the next few years attempting to discover the roots of his affliction. While searching through many other cases like his own, Peaslee found many striking parallels between his own condition and those of others in the past. These findings were published in several academic journals, and in 1922, the University awarded him a professorship in Miskatonic’s psychology department in recognition of his achievements.

  Along with his son Wingate, and Professors Dyer, Freeborn, and Tyler, Nathaniel Peaslee traveled to Australia in 1935 to aid in excavations of a supposed ruined city in the desert. A month and a half later, he left the diggings, following an attempt to cease excavations in a certain area.

  See Emeritus Alcove; Peaslee, Wingate; Wilmarth, Albert. (Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy, Detwiller; “The Shadow Out of Time”, Lovecraft (O); The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley; S. Petersen’s Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters, Petersen; “Pnomus”, Winninger.)

  PEASLEE, WINGATE (1900-1980). Son of Nathaniel Peaslee and psychology professor at Miskatonic University.

  Wingate was only eight when his father underwent his mysterious change in personality. Though the rest of his family was repulsed by the change, the young boy remained faithful to his father and was returned to the elder Peaslee’s custody when his father’s condition reversed itself. His father’s affliction encouraged Wingate to study psychology, and, after he had completed his graduate work, the young man gained a professorship at Miskatonic University.

  Wingate accompanied his father upon the Australian expedition of 1935. Despite his father’s request, he and his colleagues continued their excavations of a seemingly prehuman city. Fortunately, nothing went amiss, and the team returned to Miskatonic unscathed by the horrors Nathaniel vowed he had seen. Following the expedition, Wingate had his conclusions about his matter published as The Shadow Out of Time by Golden Goblin Press of Philadelphia in 1936.

  Peaslee served in the Army during World War II. In 1943, he is believed to have made another trip back to Australia to visit the ruins of the city. What Peaslee found there remains classified to this day.

  Following a celebrated post-war career as an instructor at Miskatonic, Peaslee took up the post of director of Miskatonic’s Wilmarth Foundation, a group dedicated to fighting the forces of the Mythos. Although he and his men had great success initially, in the end Peaslee died while engaged in a bombing operation in the waters off Innsmouth, Massachusetts.

  See de Marigny, Henry; Emeritus Alcove; Peaslee, Nathaniel; Wilmarth Foundation. (Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy, Detwiller; “The Shadow Out of Time”, Lovecraft (O); The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley; The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley.)

  PENTACLE OF PLANES. Artifact or diagram said to be useful in protection from summoned beings, especially Daoloth. It consists of many black plastic pieces which, when placed together, keep anyone inside the pentagram from harm. It is possible for the person to voluntarily let part or all of a summoned being inside.

  See Daoloth; Saaamaaa Ritual. (“Render of the Veils”, Campbell (O).)

  THE PEOPLE OF THE MONOLITH. Volume of poetry by Justin Geoffrey, a noted Baudelairean poet and correspondent of Edward Derby.
Its title poem may be connected to the author’s descent into insanity after a trip to a location in Hungary known as Xuthltan in 1921 or 1922 (sources vary). When Geoffrey appeared in New York years later, he bore with him a manuscript that was to become The People of the Monolith. Geoffrey’s book was only published due to the generous support given by his friend John Tyler, who met the young man in New York. (Some have even gone so far as to attribute the book to Tyler, but few accept this theory.)

  Erebus Press of Monmouth, Illinois, published the volume in 1926, shortly before the author’s mental decline. Other sources have it that the book was published in New York in 1923; this could be misinformation, or possibly an earlier printing made during Geoffrey’s “disappearance”. The book’s only brush with substantial fame came when noted director Corman Abbè adapted The People of the Monolith’s poetry to film in 1982. The film was never released to the public after the New York theater in which the premiere was held collapsed.

  At least one copy of The People of the Monolith was bound in the skin of a monstrous creature of the inner earth, but the bindings of most of the other copies are more conventional. The poems are arranged in chronological order, save for the last, “Rending the Veil”, which seems to have been included as an afterthought. The known poems from this collection include “People of the Monolith”, “Out of the Old Land”, “Dark Desires”, “Star Beast”, “Strutter in Darkness”, and “The Mirror of Nitocris”.

  See Black Stone; Geoffrey, Justin. (Masks of Nyarlathotep, DiTillio and Willis; “The People of the Monolith”, Harris; Keeper’s Compendium, Herber; “The Black Stone”, Howard (O); “The Thing on the Roof”, Howard; “The Thing on the Doorstep”, Lovecraft; “The Mirror of Nitocris”, Lumley; “Dark Shapes Rising”, Shoffner.)

  PHANTOM OF TRUTH. See Pallid Mask.

  PHAROL. Dangerous and powerful god worshiped on Mars who appears as a black, fanged being with one eye and tentacles in place of arms. Eibon sometimes summoned this being to answer questions about occult lore.

  (“Shaggai”, Carter; “Hydra”, Kuttner; “Shambleau”, Moore (O); “The Summoning of Pharol”, Tierney.)

  PHAROS OF LENG (also BLACK TOWER OF LENG). Building in the heart of the Plateau of Leng which is near (and may be identical with) the fabled black monastery of that region. The Pharos often emits a bluish light that can be seen for miles. The Great Old One Nyogtha has appeared beneath it at times. The Necronomicon states that the Pharos of Leng will give the signal for the Great Old Ones to re-emerge, but this will only happen after the earth is cleared off.

  (“The Salem Horror”, Kuttner; “The Elder Pharos”, Lovecraft (O); “To Clear the Earth”, Murray.)

  PHELAN, ANDREW (c. 1910-1938?) One-time secretary of Professor Laban Shrewsbury. Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, Phelan’s abilities led him both to study philology at Harvard and to learn boxing and jujitsu. These qualifications impressed Shrewsbury enough that the older man took him on as his secretary. Following the disappearance of Shrewsbury, Phelan returned to his native Boston, from which he vanished shortly thereafter.

  See Keane, Abel. (“The House on Curwen Street”, Derleth (O).)

  PHILETAS, THEODORUS (also PHILETOS). Scholar of Constantinople who translated the Kitab al-Azif from Arabic into Greek in the year 950, bestowing upon it the title “Necronomicon.” Shortly after he recanted, his family died in a plague and he lost both property and good name. He is also believed to have made an attempt to reconstruct the Book of Eibon and render it in medieval Greek at some point before 960. It has been suggested that Philetas might be a corruption of the Greek “Philetos”, or “heretic”.

  See Al Azif; Alhazred, Abdul; Book of Eibon; Necronomicon (appendices). (“History of the Necronomicon”, Lovecraft (O); Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley; Necronomicon, Tyson.)

  PHILLIPS, WARD. 1) First president of what was to become Miskatonic University. Phillips was well respected, having come from a line that modern genealogists record back to 1670, if not earlier. Phillips was also one of the three teachers at the institution and in 1693 donated the nucleus of what was to become the University Library. He proved to be an instrumental figure in the Arkham witch-trials, both in prosecuting the alleged witches and suspending the proceedings when the injustice of the trial became evident. (“The Winfield Heritance”, Carter (O); Miskatonic University, Johnson et. al.; Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)

  2) Great-grandson of the first Phillips and author of Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New-English Canaan. Phillips was also the pastor of the Second Church (later First Baptist Church) of Arkham and became the librarian of Miskatonic University in 1805. He is better known, however, for his feud with Alijah Billington, which took quite a toll on him and might have led to his death soon after. See Billington, Alijah; Hoadley, Abijah; Phillips, Winfield; Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New-English Canaan. (“The Lurker at the Threshold”, Derleth and Lovecraft (O); Arkham Unveiled, Herber et. al.; Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)

  3) Elderly author of Providence, Rhode Island. Phillips was a writer of tales for the pulps and friend of Randolph Carter, and he was a party in the dispute over Carter’s will. He eventually vanished, though no serious investigation of his disappearance was made. Some dreamers say he lives on in Ennon, the Dreamlands’ land of poets.

  [“Ward Phillips” was actually a fictionalized version of Lovecraft himself.]

  See Lamp of Alhazred. (“The Return of the White Ship”, Breach; “The Lamp of Alhazred”, Derleth and Lovecraft; “Through the Gates of the Silver Key”, Lovecraft and Price (O).)

  PHILLIPS, WINFIELD (1907-1937). Descendant of the Reverend Ward Phillips and personal secretary to Dr. Seneca Lapham. Phillips attended Miskatonic University, earning a degree in American literature and specializing in the works of the Decadents. He assisted Lapham in the scandalous case of Ambrose Dewart. He then left Lapham’s services in 1936 to live on the estate of his late uncle, Hiram Stokeley, where he died a year later.

  (“Zoth-Ommog”, Carter; “The Winfield Heritance”, Carter; “The Lurker at the Threshold”, Derleth and Lovecraft (O); “The Soul of the Devil-Bought”, Price.)

  PH’NGLUI MGLW’NAFH CTHULHU R’LYEH WGAH’NAGL FHTAGN. Rough phonetic rendering of a R’lyehian phrase often spoken in the rites of Cthulhu. It may be translated as, “In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”

  See Glass from Leng; Seal of R’lyeh. (“The Call of Cthulhu”, Lovecraft (O).)

  PICKMAN, RICHARD UPTON (1884-1926?). Salem painter of remarkable skill who is especially remembered for his works depicting strange bestial monsters in graveyards and cellars.

  Pickman was a naturally gifted artist, and his study at Minneiska University in Wisconsin, a center for decadent artists, only enhanced his own morbid instincts further. Pickman’s ghastly realism set him apart from many of his fellow decadents. Although the public received his works coolly, certain collectors prized them highly. Pickman spent much of his life in poverty, occasionally giving lessons to aspiring painters to supplement his income. He is said to have kept a hidden studio in Boston’s North End, though no trace of it has been found. For a brief time he attempted to create more mainstream works to gain the backing of the Boston Art Club. He eventually was forced to leave under pressure from most of the Club’s members.

  In the year 1926, Pickman disappeared from his home in Boston, along with most of his unsold works. Some assert that he committed suicide, but others believe that he dwells somewhere in the Dreamlands. From what we know of that magical land, both of these theories may be true. A few artists imitated Pickman’s work for a few years thereafter, but on the whole Pickman represents merely a footnote in the history of American painting. The art community quickly forgot him, and many of his works are kept in private collections or have simply vanished.

  See Necronomicon (appendices). (“Huitloxopetl IX: Pickman’s God”, Ambuehl; Strange Eons, Bloch; “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; “Pickman’s Model”, Lovecraft (O)
; “Principles and Parameters”, Patterson; “The Minneiska Incident”, Rahman and Rahman; “Pickman’s Model”, Sapinsley; “Unfinished Business”, Shiflet.)

  PISCES (Paranormal Intelligence Section for Counter-intelligence, Espionage, and Sabotage). UK government organization founded on June 26, 1940, placing Great Britain’s occult intelligence expertise under a single group reporting directly to the prime minister. They proved invaluable during the war, fighting the Karotechia and pursuing an informal relationship with Delta Green that was soon disrupted after an Australian operation in 1943.

  PISCES has survived into the present day with its mission intact, though it has privatized some portions of its operations and limited itself to domestic operations.

  See Ahu-Y’hloa. (Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy, Detwiller; Delta Green: Countdown, Detwiller et. al. (O).)

  PLATEAU OF LENG. See Leng.

  PLATEAU OF SUNG. See Sung, Plateau of.

  PLATEAU OF TSANG. See Tsang, Plateau of.

  PLUTONIAN DRUG. See Liao.

  PNAKOTIC. Language mentioned in passing in an obscure reference. It may be this tongue in which the first parts of the Pnakotic Manuscripts are written, and thus might be Yithian in origin. Linguists have divided Pnakotic into at least two sub-varieties, Pnakotic A and Pnakotic B.

  See Pnakotic Manuscripts; Yellow Codex. (Dagon, Chappell (O); “Call for Papers!!”, Wessel.)

  THE PNAKOTIC MANUSCRIPTS (also the PNAKOTIC FRAGMENTS). Book of uncertain age and origin. It has been said that the Great Race of Yith wrote the first five chapters and preserved them at their City of the Archives known as Pnakotus, from which the book derived its name. Others have given the Elder Things the credit, due to the similarities between the Manuscripts and the Eltdown Shards. What is certain is that the people of Lomar preserved this knowledge and passed it on to Hyperborea. There it was rewritten in the tongue of that land, and a secretive cult preserved it until historical times.