Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

by Harms, Daniel

  ZHOTHAQQUA. See Tsathoggua.

  ZHOU TEXTS. Work by Fu-Shen, a wizard from Mongolia of the twelfth century BC. He is known to have traveled to Alaozar, where he learned their inmost rites. Only one copy, owned by a collector in Bangkok, is known to exist. The Texts deal with the cult of Kassogtha.

  See Kassogtha. (Nightmare’s Disciple, Pulver (O).)

  ZIN, VAULTS OF. Tunnel complex that lies both beneath Yoth and in the Dreamlands’ Underworld. Some claim that one known as G’Waatn created the Vaults for an unknown purpose. Within the red-lit caverns of Yoth, the Vaults may be found beneath the ruins of Yoth’s largest city. The men of K’n-yan found the Yothian manuscripts within the Vaults.

  In the Dreamlands, the outer portions of the Vault seem to have been carved into the shape of some titanic building. They may be entered in the Underworld through a passage near the gugs’ city, or possibly also through a shaft in a monastery on Leng. Ghasts, a race of white skinned, partially-human monstrosities, live within these vaults, feeding upon lone gugs and each other.

  Though they may serve as a connection between the lands of dream and the waking world, the Vaults of Zin are best avoided. Some say that a hideous spawn of Azathoth, which may only be called to life through a spell in the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan, dwells somewhere in the vaults, as do many other unpleasant creatures.

  See ghasts; gugs; gyaa-yothn; Yothic Manuscripts. (“Headsman”, Fantina; Spawn of Azathoth, Herber; “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft; “To a Dreamer”, Lovecraft (O); “The Mound”, Lovecraft and Bishop; “To Walk Free among the Harms of Zin”, Pulver.)

  ZIULQUAZ-MANZAH. See Hziulquoigmnzhah.

  ZKAUBA. Wizard of Yaddith remembered for bearing the Ghorl Nigral from the burrows of the dholes beneath his world’s surface. He aided his fellows’ attempt to find the rituals to save their world from the worm-like beings. During this effort, Zkauba disappeared on a trip to a nearby star in his light-wave envelope, leaving his Yaddithian brothers to their fate.

  The Incense of Zkauba, though no connection with the wizard is known, is often burned in the rites to the Old Ones.

  See Ghorl Nigral. (“Dreams in the House of Weir”, Carter; “Zoth-Ommog”, Carter; The Necronomicon, Hay, ed.; “Through the Gates of the Silver Key”, Lovecraft and Price (O).)

  ZO-KALAR. Great One worshiped in Sarnath, and later throughout the Dreamlands and Hyperborea. He was thought of as the god of birth and death, being responsible for providing healthy children and peaceful deaths. A sigil called the “Rune of Zo-Kalar” was employed on the bonds of necromancers to prevent them from using their powers.

  (“Star-Spawn of Hyperborea”, Fultz; “Wizards of Hyperborea”, Fultz and Burns; “The Doom that Came to Sarnath”, Lovecraft (O).)

  ZOBNA. Land from which the people of Lomar fled when it became cold. The Lomarians still put great faith in the wisdom of their ancestors at the time of that land’s destruction.

  See Book of Eibon; Gnophkeh; Lomar; Pnakotic Manuscripts. (“Polaris”, Lovecraft (O).)

  ZON MEZZAMALECH. Wizard of Mhu Thulan mentioned in the Book of Eibon. According to Eibon, Zon Mezzamalech’s mastery of magic allowed him to rule Mhu Thulan from his tower of copper. He is reputed to have trapped the moon in an iron sphere, pushed back the ocean to reveal the treasures of the deep, and levitated mountains. In the ruins of a prehuman civilization from Polarion, he found a crystal that enabled him to see through time and space whenever he desired. He reputedly disappeared while attempting to use this crystal to gaze upon the wisdom of the Elder Gods kept by Ubbo-Sathla.

  See Hyperborea; Mhu Thulan. (“The Sphinx of Abormis”, Cornford; “Ubbo-Sathla”, Smith (O).)

  ZONE OF THE THIRTEEN FAVEOLATE COLOSSI. Region beyond which Yuggoth lies. Humans manifest there as purple gas, and visions of other times and places may be seen there. The Zone might contain the archetypes of which all the objects of our world are reproductions.

  (“The Mine on Yuggoth”, Campbell (O); “Acute Spiritual Fear”, Price; “The Green Decay”, Price.)

  ZOOGS. Rodent-like creatures native to the Dreamland’s Enchanted Wood. In appearance, a zoog resembles a cat-sized mouse with a row of tentacles between its nose and mouth.

  Zoogs dwell in the Enchanted Wood, the forest in which those who enter the Dreamlands first find themselves. These woodland dwellers have a taste for flesh and attack travellers in or near the forest at night. If a dreamer avoids the wood at night and stays on the paths in the day, the zoogs should give them no trouble. For those lucky enough to learn the fluting speech of the zoogs, great opportunity for friendship with these shy creatures exists.

  A council of sages rules the zoogs in the Enchanted Wood. These wise old zoogs are quite well informed, as their kind have many agents throughout the nearer realms of dream. Those who deal with the zoogs may learn much interesting information, but they should be careful afterward, since the zoogs often send their spies after their “friends” to keep track of their doings.

  In the two places where the Enchanted Wood intersects with the waking world, zoogs may enter our world and have been responsible for many disappearances. Fortunately, no human knows where these two locations are.

  See Dreamlands; Enchanted Wood. (“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, Lovecraft (O); Hero of Dreams, Lumley; “To Sleep, Perchance to Dream”, Okamoto.)

  ZOTH (possibly XOTH?). Star from which Tsathoggua’s mother Zstylzhemghi came. It may be near a black hole which serves as a portal to other universes.

  See Xoth; Ycnagnnisssz. (“The Family Tree of the Gods”, Smith; “Ycnagnnisssz”, Tierney (O).)

  ZOTH-OMMOG. Great Old One with a conical body topped with a serpent-bearded lizard head and four starfish-like arms. Zoth-Ommog is the “son” of Cthulhu and is believed to sleep in the section of R’lyeh which is just off the coast of Ponape.

  This Great Old One is able to call out to humans through its dreams, much as its master Cthulhu. Zoth-Ommog’s ability, however, is able to manifest itself only through its statues. When a person keeps one of these artifacts, he or she is visited in dreams with visions of the glory of Zoth-Ommog. Through these means, Zoth-Ommog is able to gain new devotees and spread its cult.

  The primary center of Zoth-Ommog’s worship is Ponape, but other cults revering it may be found as far away as New Zealand and South Indochina. In its tomb, Zoth-Ommog is also served by the mysterious yuggya.

  See Cthulhu; elemental theory; Gloon; Idh-yaa; Mu; Ponape Figurine; Ythogtha; Yuggya. (“Out of the Ages”, Carter (O); “Zoth-Ommog”, Carter; The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley.)

  ZOTHIQUE. The last continent upon which humans will live eons in the future. It roughly corresponds to northern Africa, the Middle East, and southern Asia. Zothique will rise when all other continents have sunk beneath the waves.

  In Zothique, humans will rediscover many of the gods revered in past civilizations and worship them once more. Also, some of the world’s most powerful wizards will live during this age. The magical energies present in this entire continent as the result of experiments with time travel will cause fluxes to form in the space-time continuum, leading to the formation of interdimensional gateways in which the unwary might become caught.

  At least one portal between our time and that of Zothique has been discovered, and others may exist.

  See Mordiggian; Thasaidon; Tsathoggua; Yhoundeh. (“Slow Boat”, Jeffrey and Morrison; “The Black Massif”, Sargent; “The Dark Eidolon”, Smith; “The Empire of the Necromancers”, Smith (O); Letter to H. P. Lovecraft, Smith; Letter to L. Sprague de Camp, Smith.)

  ZSTYLZHEMGHI. Mate of Ghisguth and mother of Tsathoggua. It was spawned by the fission of Ycnagnnisssz, a being from the dark star Zoth. It is hailed as the ruler of swarms and insectoid pests, and it may reside on Uranus.

  See Ycnagnnisssz. (“Family Tree of the Gods”, Smith (O); “The Minions of Zstylzhemghi”, Tierney; “The Throne of Achamoth”, Tierney and Price.)

  ZUCHEQUON (al
so ZULCHEQUON or ZUSHAKON). Entity that was the child of Ubbo-Sathla and described as being the last scion of old Night. This could be one of those “black spirits of earth” referred to by Castro. Chants or certain deep-toned sounds may summon forth Zuchequon, which makes itself known through earthquakes. When it comes, Zuchequon brings darkness and cold with itself.

  The people of K’n-yan and Mu worshiped Zuchequon with the ringing of bells and chanting. The West Coast Native American tribes once knew how to summon it, but such information has probably been lost. Zuchequon is served by the “Hidden Ones”, whose leader is Tsunth.

  See Ubbo-Sathla. (“Dead of Night”, Carter; “The Descent into the Abyss”, Carter and Smith; “Bells of Horror”, Kuttner (O).)

  ZVILPOGGUA. See Ossadogwah.

  ZYLAC. The mightiest mage of Hyperborea and teacher of the young Eibon. He is renowned for his role in preserving the Parchments of Pnom and his interest in the civilization of the serpent people. The latter is believed to have led to his demise. His knowledge survives in the book The Wisdom and Sacred Magic of Zylac the Mage, and the Repelling Sign of Blessed Zylac is used to ward off Azathoth.

  (“The Utmost Abomination”, Carter and Smith (O); “The Adoration of the Black Flame”, Pulver; “The Grey Rite of Azathoth”, Pulver; “The Ritual of the Outer Void”, Pulver.)

  APPENDICES: THE NECRONOMICON

  Despite the research into the Cthulhu Mythos that has been done over the past five decades, this guide still, in the words of Douglas Adams, “has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate”. This caution applies particularly to the following appendices, which are a collection of notes concerning Lovecraft’s most famous creation, the Necronomicon. The information on the next few pages is likely to leave you somewhat baffled. Don’t worry; there are many people who have studied the Necronomicon and its concepts for years and are still bewildered.

  APPENDIX A: CHRONOLOGY OF THE NECRONOMICON

  c. 1000 BC—Date on which the oldest copy of the Necronomicon appeared—at least according to one source. [1] (Evil Dead II, Raimi.)

  c. 730—Abdul Alhazred writes the Kitab al-Azif. (“History of the Necronomicon”, Lovecraft.)

  738—According to Ibn Khallikan, the famous Arabian biographer, Abdul Alhazred is torn apart by an invisible beast in the streets of Damascus. [2] (“History of the Necronomicon”, Lovecraft.)

  760—Shortly before this date, a translation of the Al Azif into Duriac, an obscure Middle Eastern dialect, was made. (“Preface” to Al Azif, de Camp.)

  850—Death of Alkindi, one of the Arab world’s first great philosophers. An alternate explanation of the Necronomicon’s origin states that it was a magical work entitled Book of the Essence of the Soul written by Alkindi. [3] (The Necronomicon, Hay, ed.)

  950—Theodorus Philetas, a scholar of Constantinople who had discovered the Kitab al-Azif in the Imperial Library in that city, translates it from Arabic into Greek, renaming the volume Necronomicon. Philetas later is forced to recant and publicly burn his translation on the book on the church steps. (“History of the Necronomicon”, Lovecraft; Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley; Necronomicon, Tyson.)

  c. 1000—Noted scholar, philosopher and alchemist Ibn Sina (or Avicenna) translates the Greek Necronomicon back into Arabic under the title Kitab al-Majmu, augmenting it with his own mystical resources. (The Fate, Detwiller and Ivey.)

  1050—Patriarch Michael [4], having heard rumors of the experiments attempted with this book, burns 171 copies of the Necronomicon. Olaus Wormius’s introduction to the Latin edition states that all Arabic editions were destroyed at this time. (“The Keeper of the Key”, Derleth; “History of the Necronomicon”, Lovecraft; Necronomicon, Tyson.)

  1099—A copy of Al Azif (possibly the original) is found in Jerusalem. It later comes into the hands of the Comte de Champagne, who forms an order of knights called the Templars to guard it. (“Glozel est Authentique”, Rawling.)

  c. 1100—An unknown scribe makes a Bulgarian translation. (Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)

  13th century—The Necronomicon is translated into French during this period, and later turns up in the collections of several monasteries in southern France. (Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley; The New Adam, Weinburg.)

  1228—Olaus Wormius translates the Necronomicon into Latin, basing his work upon three copies of the Greek. [5] (“History of the Necronomicon”, Lovecraft; Necronomicon, Tyson.)

  1232—Pope Gregory IX places both the Greek and Latin editions of the Necronomicon on the Index Expurgatorius. [6] (Selected Letters II; Lovecraft.)

  c. 1400—German (?) black-letter printing of the Latin translation of Olaus Wormius. [7] (“History of the Necronomicon”, Lovecraft.)

  1472—An Olaus Wormius translation is published in Lyons, France. [8] (The Illuminatus! Trilogy, Shea and R. Wilson.)

  1487—Olaus Wormius, a secretary in the employ of Torquemada, the church official in charge of the Spanish Inquisition, finds a manuscript version of the Necronomicon, presumably in the belongings of one of the accused. He translates and publishes it, sending a copy to Trithemius, the famous abbot and occult scholar. Horrified by Wormius’s actions, Trithemius makes the facts known to church officials, who have Wormius burned at the stake with the copies of his translation. [9] (“The Necronomicon FAQ”, Low.)

  1500-1550—See 1567.

  1519—Death of Leonardo da Vinci. Before his death, he had received a Latin copy of the book captured by Francois I when he conquered Milan in 1515. The famous artist’s library is scattered after his death, and the location of this copy is unknown. (Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)

  1550—An unknown scholar makes a translation of the Necronomicon into Russian, using Cyrillic characters. (Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)

  1567—Lovecraft assigns this date to the publication of the Italian edition of the Greek text. [10] (Uncollected Letters, Lovecraft.)

  1576-9—During this period, Miguel Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote is a favored slave and prisoner in Algiers. He supposedly makes a Spanish translation of the Necronomicon while in captivity, giving it the title “El Libro de los Normos de Los Perdidos.” (Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)

  1586—According to one source, it is in this year that John Dee translates the Necronomicon into English [11]. Usually, Dee is considered to have come across the manuscript while at the court of Rudolf II in Prague [12]. It is said that this translation contains material from the Latin edition of Olaus Wormius, a Greek manuscript found in the possession of a Transylvanian noble [13], and Dee’s own comments on certain subjects. Dee made use of the book’s ciphers and spells to further the Crown’s espionage. This edition is later published by a French language press in an edition of 169 copies. (“The Bookseller’s Second Wife”, DeBill; Delta Green: Countdown, Detwiller; “Eyes for the Blind”, Hallett and Isinwyll; “Castle Dark”, Herber; “The Space-Eaters”, Long; “History of the Necronomicon”, Lovecraft.)

  1590—A Latin edition is printed in Cadiz. This, supposedly the first printed edition, may or may not exist. (Peace, Wolfe.)

  1598—Baron Frederick I of Sussex, England, publishes his own English translation of the Latin Necronomicon of Wormius, entitling it Cultus Maleficarum. This edition, more widely known as the Sussex Manuscript, is very confused and is not considered reliable. [14] (The Sussex Manuscript, Pelton.)

  1623—Wormius’s translation printed once again, this time in Spain. [15] (Uncollected Letters, Lovecraft.)

  1632-1680—Portions of the book circulate widely in France, and are used as ritual material for many of the black masses of the period. (Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)

  1641—My Understanding of the Great Booke by Joachim Kindler published in the city of Buda. Within this volume, Kindler speaks of a volume of the Necronomicon written in Gothic, a tongue spoken by an ancient Germanic tribe. According to the author, this translation “offers proofs logickal and glorious” of the “stellar numbers, potentiated obj
ecks, signs and passes, probatories, phylacteries, and craftsmanly artes” required for the rituals given therein—in other words, a Necronomicon with all the allegory and obscurity banished. Fortunately for the sake of humanity, Kindler might have invented this new edition, as no copy has even been found—with possibly one exception (see 1944). (“The Lurker from the Crypt”, Miller.)

  1664—The Kaballist Nathan of Gaza circulates the Sepher ha-Sha’are ha-Daath (“Book of the Gates of Knowledge”) among his brethren. The book is a commentary on two chapters of what Nathan calls the “Book of the Alhazred”. According to Nathan, the mystic’s greatest quest was to go down to the land of the Qlipoth, the evil shards of a former creation, in order to redeem them. Nathan of Gaza later supported the would-be Messiah Shabbetai Tzevi, and was himself discredited when his prophet converted to Islam in 1666. (“The Necronomicon Anti-FAQ”, Low)

  1670—Around this date, Johann Lindenmuth of Nuremburg translates the Necronomicon into German under the title Die Totenrufen. It is never printed, and the manuscript is later lost. (“The Long-Lost Friend”, Lobdell.)

  1722—Breakup of the infamous cult of Kingsport, Massachusetts. The Necronomicon played an important role in the rituals of this group, though whether the raiders found a copy is unknown. (“The Festival”, Lovecraft; Kingsport: City in the Mists, Ross.)

  1771—A raid is made upon a farm outside Providence, Rhode Island owned by Joseph Curwen. Curwen was a reputed sorcerer who owned a Latin copy of the Necronomicon. He is supposedly killed, but little is damaged during the raid. [16] (“The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”, Lovecraft.)

  1811—A mysterious foreigner leaves a Latin copy of the Necronomicon at the Bibliotheque Nationale. He is found the next day poisoned in his squalid apartment. (“The Necronomicon”, Herber.)