H P Lovecraft, page 16
even human servants of the Mythos, others from the non-human followers of
the Great Old Ones only, and still others hold that it provides no measurable
defense whatsoever in such cases. A single stone holding off a Great Old One
for even a few seconds is very unlikely.
One reference cites the Elder Sign as setting free the imprisoned forces of
darkness. The meaning of this is unclear, though, and may refer to another
design entirely. The people of the Dreamlands believe that only a human can
make the Elder Sign, using this to discover whether suspicious individuals are
demons in disguise. At least one reference states that an Elder Sign made in
the mind can be sufficient to oppose the Old Ones.
[Lovecraft himself seems to have had no consistent idea of what the Elder
Sign was supposed to mean, though later authors decided it was a protective
sign. HPL once drew the Elder Sign in one of his letters, reprinted in Selected
Letters III (p. 216), making it look like a short branch. Derleth did not see this
letter before he came up with his own conception of the Elder Sign, the more
familiar star-sign that is known today.]
See Book of Dzyair, byakhee; Codex Dagonensis; cthonians; Elder Gods;
G'harne; Mnar; Necronomicon (appendices); nightgaunts; N'tse-Kaambl; R'lyeh;
Saaamaaa Ritual; Shudde-M'ell; Kish, Sign of; star-stone; T'sman Manuscript;
Wilmarth Foundation; Yog-Sothoth; Ythogtha. ("The Lurker at the Threshold",
Derleth and Lovecraft; "Spawn of the Maelstrom", Derleth and Schorer; The
Necronomicon: The Book of Dead Names, Hay, ed.; "The Descendant", Lovecraft
(O); "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", Lovecraft; "The Messenger",
Lovecraft; Selected Letters III, Lovecraft; The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley; Spawn
of the Winds, Lumley; "The Snout in the Alcove", Myers; Nightmare's Disciple,
Pulver; Necronomicon, Tyson.)
ELDER THINGS (or PRIMORDIAL ONES; see also OLD ONES). 1) Alien
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E I . D E R T H I N G S
creatures whose features included elements of both the animal and vegetable
k i n g d o m s . An Elder Thing resembled a cylinder that tapered at either end.
From the top of this cylinder sprouted a starfish-shaped head with an eye at
the end of each appendage, a set of cilia which enabled the Thing to sense its
surroundings without light, and five tubes for eating. Five muscular tentacles
tipped with paddles sprouted from its base, five sets of tentacles protruded at
regular intervals around the cylinder's center, and five retractable wings rounded
out the creature's anatomy. The Elder Things preferred to live beneath the water,
but they could dwell on land or fly with equal ease.
The Elder Things came to our planet when it was still young, flying to our
world through outer space, possibly from Uranus or Neptune. Previously, they
had conquered and seeded hundreds of other worlds with life. They built a
great city near the South Pole, and migrated from there to settle much of the
planet. While performing these feats of colonization, they may have created
Ubbo-Sathla, the source of all earthly life, a servitor race, the shoggoths, and
many forms of earthly life, including humans.
The culture of the Elder Things was highly developed. Their art is best
manifested in their bas-reliefs, which depicted their history and lives in stunning
detail. Their architecture allowed them to create stupendous stone buildings,
often showing a five-pointed pattern in imitation of their anatomy. This same
pattern could be found in their writing, appearing as dots in concentric circles
along five radii, and their coinage, made of green soapstone. They appeared to
have no religion, though they feared an unknown entity lurking beyond their
city and revered the DNA helix as the source of all life.
During their heyday, these beings fought wars with a wide variety of races,
including the spawn of Cthulhu, the mi-go, and the Great Race of Yith. They
also experienced an insurrection of their shoggoth servants that was brutally
put down. Though they often triumphed, the conflicts took their toll, and the
Elder Things eventually abandoned most of their cities. Their science and art,
however, remained as great as ever.
As the cold crept over their Antarctic home, the Elder Things decided that
they wanted no more to do with the outer world. They removed themselves to a
vast underground lake beneath their first and greatest city in the mountains near
the pole. No traces of them have been discovered since, unless Professor Gordon
Walmsley's research and the reports of the Pabodie and Starkweather-Moore
expeditions are to be believed.
Recent reports from Kharkhov Station have attributed spectacular psychic
abilities, including psychokinesis, telepathy, and the domination of others, to
the Old Ones. These abilities may be strong enough that they manifest even
after the Old Ones in an area have passed on. They also suggest that these
creatures created humanity for their mental potential, which will be harvested
in the near future. This is the only report this time that suggests such abilities
and goals, however.
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JBLDIN T H E W A N D E R E R T O Ü L T D O W N S H A R D S
[In "At the Mountains of Madness" Lovecraft uses the term "Elder Things"
to refer to these beings, but he uses "Old Ones" more often in that story. The
"Elder Things" in "The Dunwich Horror", on the other hand, seem much more
akin to the Great Old Ones. Chaosium applies the term "Elder Things" to these
creatures so as not to confuse them with the other "Old Ones".]
See Atlantis; Colour out of Space; Cthulhu; Elder Sign; Elder Things; Elt-
down Shards; flying polyps; G'harne Fragments; mi-go; Mu; Nath; Nyogtha; Old
Ones; Pnakotic Manuscripts; proto-shoggoths; R'lyeh; Shining Trapezohedron;
shoggoths; Spheres of Nath; star-spawn of Cthulhu; Ubbo-Sathla; Winged Ones;
Yian-Ho; yuggs. (Hive, Curran; Beyond the Mountains of Madness, Engan and
Engan; "An Item of Mutual Interest", Glancy; "At the Mountains of Madness",
Lovecraft (O); "In the Vaults Beneath", Lumley; Deities and Demigods Cyclo-
pedia, Ward with Kuntz.)
2) The creatures known more commonly as flying polyps. ("The Shadow
out of Time", Lovecraft (O).)
ELDIN THE WANDERER (?-1979). Hero of the Dreamlands. In the waking
world, Eldin was Leonard Dingle, a professor of psychology and anthropol-
ogy and a lecturer on the significance of dreams. He had been a well-travelled
dreamer during his lifetime, and he took up residence in those lands per-
manently following his death. With his partner David Hero, he has been on
journeys throughout the dream world. He currently serves King Kuranes as
a special agent.
See Hero. (Hero of Dreams, Lumley (O); Mad Moon of Dreams, Lumley;
Ship of Dreams, Lumley.)
ELEMENTAL THEORY. Classification system that links each Great Old One
with one of the four elements. This system first appears in the works of the
Comte d'Erlette, and Professor Shrewsbury later advocated the system. These
classifications are as follows:
Air: Hastur the Unspeakable, Ithaqua, Lloigor, Zhar
Earth: Azathoth (?), Cyáegha, Nyarlathotep (?), Nyogtha, Shub-Niggurath,
Tsathoggua, Yog-Sothoth (?)
Fire: Aphoom Zhah, Cthugha
Water: Cthulhu, Dagon, Ghatanothoa, Hydra, Zoth-Ommog
While this theory looks workable at first glance, it falls apart upon scrutiny.
For example, if Cthulhu is indeed a water-elemental, why is he currently impris-
oned under the ocean, where the water blocks his telepathic signals? And how
can Yog-Sothoth, the Outer God who exists in all times and places, be connected
with any certainty to the element of earth? (Some have attempted to solve this
problem by classifying Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Shub-Niggurath, and Yog-
Sothoth as "aethyr" elementáis, but this does little to alleviate the confusion.)
Also, traditional thought holds that the forces of earth and air were opposites,
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Ü L D I N T H E W A N D E R E R T O E L T D O W N S H A R D S
aS were those of fire and water. In this cosmology, however, the fire beings op-
pose their counterparts of earth, as the air beings fight those of water.
In short, the elemental theory does appear to apply in some cases (especially
in the use of the Vach-Viraj incantation on "earth" beings), but in others it
easily leads to confusion and is not particularly useful.
See Cthugha; Cthulhu; Vach-Viraj. ("Darkness, My Name Is", Bertin; "The
Book of Preparations", Carter; "Zoth-Ommog", Carter; "The Thing that Walked
on the Wind", Derleth (O); Keeper's Compendium, Herber; "Those Who Wait",
Wade.)
E L L E R Y , (PROFESSOR) DEWART. Professor in the Miskatonic University
Department of Metallurgy who analyzed the metallic structure Gilman found
in the witch-house. He later joined with other faculty members of Miskatonic
to investigate the Mythos.
See Emeritus Alcove. ( Arkham Unveiled, Herber et. al.; "To Arkham and the
Stars", Leiber; "The Dreams in the Witch-House", Lovecraft (O).)
ELTDOWNSHARDS. Pottery shards found near Eltdown in southern England
in 1882 (though one source maintains that they were found in Greenland in
1903). Psychic evidence from Professor Turkoff of Beloin College suggests
that the Elder Things inscribed these ceramics and buried them when Great
Britain was part of Pangaea. Lin Carter speculates that the original authors of
the work were instead the Great Race of Yith. Comparisons of these shards to
similar documents, however, suggest that the Elder Things were the authors,
so any Great Race copies were probably translated later.
The shards, which were discovered in a Triassic rock stratum, are inscribed
with many strange markings of unknown meaning. The first two scholars
to examine the Shards, Doctors Woodford and Dalton, hastily pronounced
them to be untranslatable. Since the discovery of the Shards, however, several
manuscripts purported to hold the true secrets of these artifacts have been
circulated among certain occult groups. Around 1912, the Sussex clergyman
Reverend Arthur Brooke Winters-Hall made an attempt to decipher the frag-
ments and in 1917 published a thick pamphlet including the results of his own
translation. The pamphlet was seen as being much too long to be a translation
of the relatively small amount of writing found on the Shards. Nonetheless,
it has been quoted in the works of many occult writers since its publication.
(Gordon Whitney's The Eltdown Shards: A Partial Translation confirms much
of Winters-Hall's work, as does Dr. Everett Sloan's translation.)
The book refers to the planet of Yith, from which the Great Race came to
Earth, the entity known as the Warder of Knowledge, and the imprisoned mist-
being PneephTaal. It also tells of the Yekubian's colonization attempts. Many
sections of this book bear a striking resemblance to the Pnakotic Manuscripts,
though further work in this direction must wait for the discovery of more of
T E CTHULHU MYTHOS ENCYCLOPEDIA
9 3
the original Shards.
Recently, another version of the Eltdown Shards was discovered inscribed
on metal plates in a proto-Semitic tongue. These plates supposedly date back
millions of years, but no comparison between them and the more-accepted
version of the Shards has yet been attempted.
See Avaloth; Celaeno Fragments; Pnakotic Manuscripts; Warder of Knowl-
edge; Yekub. ("Wrath of the Wind-Walker", Ambuehl and Price; "Zoth-Om-
mog", Carter; Keepers Compendium, Herber; Selected Letters V, Lovecraft; "The
Shadow Out of Time", Lovecraft; "The Diary of Alonzo Typer", Lovecraft and
Lumley; "The Challenge from Beyond", Moore et. al., "The Guardian of the Pit",
Searight; "The Warder of Knowledge", Searight (O); "Mists of Death", Searight
and Searight; Ex Libris Miskatonici, Stanley.)
ELTON, BASIL (c. 1870-?). Keeper of the North Point lighthouse near King-
sport. Basil Elton was one of the Dreamland's greatest travellers, until he lost
his dream-self in the pursuit of lost Cathuria. He was also a friend of Randolph
Carter. His grandson Nathaniel continued his quest.
See Cathuria. ("The Return of the White Ship", Breach; "The Dream-Quest
of Unknown Kadath", Lovecraft; "The White Ship", Lovecraft (O).)
ELYSIA. Home of the Elder Gods. Elysia is a seemingly infinite land in which
the chosen of the Elder Gods from many different worlds and dimensions live
together in harmony. Only those whom the Elder Gods deem worthy may
enter Elysia, and the journey there is long and difficult, even with the help of
Elysia's lords themselves.
See Elder Gods; Great Trees; N'hlathi; Tiania. ( Elysia, Lumley; The Transi-
tion of Titus Crow, Lumley (O).)
EMERITUS ALCOVE. Faculty lounge on the Miskatonic University campus
that served as a meeting place for senior professors who had met with the forces
of the Mythos. Its membership has included Danforth, William Dyer, Dewart
Ellery, Francis Morgan, Nathaniel Peaslee, Wingate Peaslee, Hiram Upham,
and Albert Wilmarth. This group was known to have continued the research
which brought its members to the Mythos, and its views toward some alien
species might not have been entirely unsympathetic. By the mid-Eighties, only
Danforth and Morgan remained of this group.
("To Arkham and the Stars", Leiber (O); Other Nations, Marsh and
Marsh.)
ENCHANTED WOOD. Forest beyond the Gate of Deep Slumber through
which a dreamer enters the Dreamlands. The Enchanted Wood is relatively
safe, save for the furry zoogs that inhabit it. More dangerous creatures are
rumored to live in its depths.
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TE CTHULHU MYTHOS ENCYCLOPEDIA
E L T O N , B A S I L TO FIXHAM
See Dreamlands; Oukranos; Seven Hundred Steps of Deeper Slumber;
zoogs. ("The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", Lovecraft (0);"Kadath/The
Vision and the Journey", Winter-Damon.)
EPHIROTH. Mythical land mentioned in connection with the Cthulhu myth-
cycle.
[Lin Carter used this as a synonym for Lh-Yib at one point, but this was
most likely a mistake.]
(The Burrowers Beneath, Lumley; "The Sister City", Lumley (O).)
ESOTERIC ORDER OF DAGON. Cult devoted to the worship of Dagon, Hydra,
and Cthulhu. Captain Obed Marsh, who had learned a great deal in Polynesia
about Dagon, founded the Order around 1840 in Innsmouth, Massachusetts.
The new religion he preached included elements of the native tales intermingled
with Holy Scripture and the doctrines of Middle-Eastern fertility cults. The
Esoteric Order of Dagon drove out all other churches and fraternal orders in
Innsmouth and set itself up as the only religious center in the community.
The Order was decimated in the government r aid on Innsmouth in 1928.
Other secret branches of this church still exist elsewhere, and a charitable or-
ganization with the same title might be affiliated with the cult.
[This particular organization must not be confiused with two other groups
of the same name, one of which is a small amateur press club and another an
organization of Lovecraftian magical practitioners.]
See Allen, Zadok; Atlach-Nacha; Codex Dagonensis; Dagon; deep ones;
Devil's Reef; Innsmouth; Marsh, Obed; Ponape Scripture. ("The Shadow Over
Innsmouth", Lovecraft (O); Escape from Innsmouth, Ross; Arkham Horror,
Launius, Willis, and Krank.)
THE ETHICS OF YGOR. Book written in Latin by an unknown author. The Eth-
ics gives the meanings of such things as the Magnetic Ring and the Great White
Space. It also possibly provides a map of the route leading to the latter.
See Great White Space. (The Great White Space, Copper (O).)
EXHAM. English town near Anchester and east of the Severn River Valley.
Despite its large number of used bookshops and other antiquarian attractions,
Exham receives very few visitors.
The town's most famous landmark was Exham Priory, a place of great
architectural interest inhabited at one time by the Barons Exham but deserted
during the reign of James I after one of the family's sons massacred all his kin.
Three months later, a horde of rats emerged from the place, eating two people
and numerous livestock before dispersing.
The Priory was bought by a descendent of the family in 1918 and restored,
but a hideous murder and the heir's insanity led to the senseless dynamiting of
T E CTHULHU MYTHOS ENCYCLOPEDIA
9 5
t A i u n IV »1 u u L i tj Ii r t U Ir ¿ t u s
the structure. The area is now the corporate park of a Fortune 500 company.
