The book discusses Iod, the Shining Hunter, Vorvadoss, and the being

  Zuchequon. Its philosophy seems to have much in common with that of the

  Gnostics.

  See Pott, Johannes; Von Junzt, Friedrich; Vorvadoss. ("Bells of Horror" (O),

  Kuttner; Letters to Henry Kuttner, Lovecraft; "Beneath the Tombstone", Price;

  "The Mythos Collector", Sammons; "The Looking-Glass", Worthy et. al.)

  3 0

  T H E CTHULHU MYTHOS ENCYCLOPEDIA

  T H E B O O K O F H I D D E N T H I N G S T O B O O K O F T H O T H

  BOOK OF KARNAK. Tome of occult knowledge. From its title, it may consist

  of rituals taken from the Egyptian temple complex of Karnak. The book also

  contains information regarding Iod, the Hunter of Souls.

  ("The Hunt", Kuttner; "Hydra", Kuttner (O).)

  BOOK OFK'YOG. Work that was old even in the age of Eibon. It has been lost on

  Earth for millennia, but supposedly tells how Tsathoggua was brought to earth

  from Yuggoth by an alien species that built a city now beneath the waves.

  ("The Haunting of Uthnor", Cornford; "The Old One", Glasby (O).)

  BOOK OF NIGHT (also NOCTUARY OF VIZOORANOS). Dangerous work

  on necromancy written by the Hyperborean wizard Vizooranos. Eibon is the

  only one known to have seen a copy, and he quickly rid himself of it.

  ("Annotations for the Book of Night", Price (O).)

  BOOK OF SKELOS. Grimoire written by the blind sage Skelos and preserved by

  his devotees, though some attribute it to the serpent-people wizards of Valusia.

  There has been considerable disagreement as to whether "Skelos" penned one

  or several books, but wizards throughout the world have put great stock in his

  reputation. In the Hyborian Age only three known copies existed, and none of

  these is known to have survived until today. Although all of Hyboria's mages

  coveted this book, we only know it contains information on an artifact called

  the Hand of Nergal and an isle on which monsters guard a great treasure.

  (Conan the Buccaneer, Carter and de Camp; "Black Colossus", Howard; "The

  Hour of the Dragon", Howard; "The Pool of the Black One", Howard (O); "The

  Hand of Nergal", Howard and Carter.)

  BOOK OF THOTH (or SCROLL OF THOTH-AMMON). Volume supposedly

  written by Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom and magic who is said to have

  written thousands of books on occult subjects. Current scholarship holds that

  Thoth-Ammon, a powerful Stygian wizard and priest of Set, was actually the

  author. After the destruction of that continent, the Book of Thoth was preserved

  by the high priests of Egypt in their temple at Alexandria. The Roman emperor

  Caligula took this volume from Egypt for his own experimentation, but it was

  destroyed shortly before his death. Abdul Alhazred :is known to have perused

  another copy, and others may exist in Tibetan monasteries, but no outsider

  has seen the book for many years.

  The Book of Thoth discusses the being known as Tawil at'Umr, as well as the

  Great Old Ones and the history of Hyboria. It also contains a spell that confers

  life to the dead (of a temporary nature), extensive astronomical data, hints on the

  nature of Ngyr-Khorath, and the secret of humanity's creation. The third volume

  of the Book may deal with the opening of gates. One spell claimed to be within is

  the Rite of Abomination, which supposedly can plunge the world into darkness.

  T H E CTHULHU MYTHOS ENCYCLOPEDIA

  3 1

  BOREA TO BRAN MAK M O R N

  [Though many different books that Thoth is said to have written have sur-

  vived, there is not one specifically called the "Book of Thoth". Many occultists

  use the term as another name for the Tarot deck, though in Mythos stories it

  is an actual text. The Mythos "Book of Thoth" should not be confused with

  Aleister Crowley's treatise on the Tarot of the same name.]

  See 'Umr at-Tawil. ( The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky; "Ngyr-Khorath", DeBill;

  "The Dweller Beyond the Gate", Glasby; "Through the Gates of the Silver Key",

  Lovecraft and Price; "The Lord of Illusion", Price (O); The Gardens ofLucullus,

  Rahman and Tierney; "The Ring of Set", Tierney; "The Scroll of Thoth", Tierney;

  "The Soul of Kephri", Tierney; The Winds of Zarr, Tierney.)

  BOREA. World in a parallel universe upon which Ithaqua was at one time

  imprisoned. The world has three moons, Dromos, Numinos, and another

  unnamed satellite. Due to the physics of this particular dimension, however,

  none of these bodies turns around another, and the planet itself does not circle

  the sun. Thus, parts of Borea are left in perpetual cold, while others enjoy an

  eternal tropical summer.

  Legend has it that the Elder Gods confined Ithaqua in a plateau near Borea's

  southern pole following the revolt of the Great Old Ones. After many years, the

  Wendigo obtained his freedom and traveled to other worlds and dimensions,

  yet he still returns to Borea from time to time.

  Ithaqua's habit of taking away with him those who have stirred his displea-

  sure is well known. Though Ithuaqua usually drops these victims from the sky

  after weeks or months, others are taken to Borea. Over the years, Ithaqua has

  brought many sorts of life to this world and its moons, including various sorts

  of plants, bats, wolves, bears, whales, and even humans. These unfortunates are

  altered so that not even the bitterest cold may affect them; this trait, however,

  also makes them somewhat vulnerable to the same forces that repel the Great

  Old Ones.

  Upon their arrival, most of the humans are inducted into the Children of

  the Winds, Ithaqua's cult on Borea, which boasts hundreds of thousands of

  members. Some, however, rebel against the Wind-Walker; colonies of these

  outcasts may be found in the plateau in which Ithaqua was imprisoned, as

  well as upon the Isle of Mountains on Numinos. These colonies are a consis-

  tent irritation for Ithaqua, but his cult's forays against them have never been

  completely successful in eradicating them.

  See Elder Sign; Ithaqua; Khrissa; Numinos; Silberhutte, Hank. (In the Moons

  of Borea, Lumley; Spawn of the Winds, Lumley (O).)

  BORELLUS. Writer on science and mysticism, most likely Petrus Borel (1620-

  1689), who wrote the following passage:

  The essential Saltes of Animals may be so prepared and preserved, that an

  ingenious Man may have the whole Ark of Noah in his own Studie, and raise

  3 2

  THE CTHULHU MYTHOS ENCYCLOPEDIA

  BOREA TO BRAN MAK M O R N

  the fine Shape of an Animal out of its Ashes at his Pleasure; and by the lyke

  Method from the essential Saltes of humane Dust, a Philosopher may, without

  any criminal Necromancy, call up the Shape of any dead Ancestour from the

  Dust whereinto his Bodie has been incinerated.

  [Borellus is a real-life figure. The passage quoted above comes from Cotton

  Mather's Magnolia Christi Americana. It has yet to be found in any of Borellus'

  works.]

  ("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", Lovecraft.)

  BOWEN, (PROFESSOR) ENOCH (1795?-1868). Noted occultist and archae-

  ologist from Providence, Rhode Island. He taught at history and philology at

  Brown University, though another source states he taught at, and donated a

  valuable Biblical manuscript to, Miskatonic University. His most memorable

  accomplishment was his excavation of the crypt of the forgotten pharaoh

  Nephren-Ka in 1843. The following year, Bowen inexplicably stopped his ex-

  cavations and, upon returning to Providence, established the infamous Church

  of Starry Wisdom. His books include Description of Excavations at Tell-Basta

  (1833), Sacrificial Cults in Ptolemaic Egypt (1839), Excavations of Early Dynastic

  Egypt (1842), and the secret manual of the cult, The Pathway to the Darkness.

  In 1927, another individual named Enoch Bowen headed a branch of

  the Starry Wisdom cult in Arkham, but this can hardly have been the same

  person.

  See Starry Wisdom cult. ("Coming of Age", Ballon; "The Shadow from the

  Steeple", Bloch; "Cults Exposed!: The Starry Wisdom Church", Harms; "The

  Haunter of the Dark", Lovecraft (O); "Acute Spiritual Fear", Price; Sherlock

  Holmes in the Adventure of the Ancient Gods, Vaughan.)

  BOYD, CLAIBORNE. Student of Creole culture. Boyd was born in Mississippi,

  and later resided in New Orleans, from which he continued his studies. After

  the death of his grand-uncle, a former professor at Harvard, Boyd came into

  possession of his papers detailing his mythological speculations. Boyd vanished

  shortly thereafter, though not before mailing off his papers to Miskatonic Uni-

  versity. He may have been killed in 1986 in Fort Myers, Florida.

  ("The Gorge beyond Salanpunco", Derleth (O); Other Nations, Marsh and

  Marsh.)

  BRAN MAK MORN (?-ca. 210). King of the Pictish peoples of Caledonia

  (Scotland) during the Roman occupation of Britain. Bran was born as the son

  of a Wolf clan chief, but quickly gained power until he became the king of the

  Picts, who had been split into small feuding tribes for over five hundred years.

  Bran was a brave and just ruler who attempted to wean the Picts away from the

  bloody rituals that they once practiced. His most famous deed, however, was

  the summoning of the Worms of the Earth to take revenge against the Roman

  THE CTHULHU MYTHOS ENCYCLOPEDIA

  D K A V 1 N G , M I N N E S O T A T O B R O T H E R H O O D O F T H E B E A S T

  legions. Bran eventually fell in battle due to the treachery of a Roman officer,

  and his kingdom crumbled.

  Over time, the tales of Bran's deeds have become distorted, and many leg-

  ends about his abilities have been invented. In his Unaussprechlichen Kulten,

  von Junzt mentions a statue of the king that the spirit of Bran inhabited after

  his death. This effigy was hidden in a cave, which remains the focus for a

  religion centering on Bran to this day. Members of this cult, made up of the

  descendants of the Picts, are expected to make a pilgrimage to this statue once

  in their lifetimes. According to this group's teachings, one day the statue of

  Bran will return to life, and he and his people will come forth from his cavern

  to rule the world.

  [One mythological Bran was a Welsh deity of tremendous size, while an-

  other was the British hero whose severed head protected the British Isles from

  invasion after his death. Howard seems to have been unaware of this tradition,

  and named his hero after Brennus, a barbarian at the siege of Rome, and Gol

  Mac Morn, an Irish folk hero.]

  See Worms of the Earth. ("The Children of the Night", Howard (O); "The

  Dark Man", Howard; "Kings of the Night", Howard; "Men of the Shadows",

  Howard; "The Worms of the Earth", Howard; Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth,

  Inabinet; "The Whisperer in Darkness", Lovecraft.)

  BRAVING, MINNESOTA. Town in Minnesota notable for its numerous cases

  of missing persons and mysterious deaths. An uneasy air hovers over the

  town, and even Royceton University is known for the tension of its students

  and faculty.

  ("The Deep-Lord Awakens", Ambuehl; "Sculpture", Ambuehl (O).)

  BRICHESTER. Commercial hub of England's Severn River Valley. Known in

  medieval times as Bicestre, today's Brichester may be split into three parts:

  Mercy Hill to the north, Brichester proper, and Lower Brichester in the south.

  Brichester is home to Brichester University, one of the region's most respected

  institutions of learning.

  This town has been the site of many strange happenings. Brichester Uni-

  versity once held a copy of the Revelations ofGlaaki donated in 1958, but this

  has since disappeared or been destroyed. A congregation of Brichester Uni-

  versity students worshiping the Great Old Ones was broken up in the Twen-

  ties, and many of the professors at that institution also possess knowledge of

  the paranormal events in the surrounding countryside. It was in Brichester

  that the eccentric cult leader Robert Franklyn lived and published his book

  on reincarnation We Pass from View. Finally, a man living on Mercy Hill was

  induced through dream-communications to write the twelfth volume of the

  Revelations of Glaaki.

  See Devil's Steps; Eihort; Glaaki; Goatswood; Mercy Hill; Revelations of

  3 4

  T E CTHULHU MYTHOS ENCYCLOPEDIA

  B R A V I N G , M I N N E S O T A T O B R O T H E R H O O D O F THE B E A S T

  Glaaki; Sentinel Hill; Severnford; Temphill; Undercliffe; We Pass from View.

  ("13 Place of Interest in Brichester", Brownlow; "The Church in High Street",

  Campbell (0);"Cold Print", Campbell; The Darkest Part of the Woods, Campbell;

  "The Franklyn Paragraphs", Campbell; The Horror from the Bridge", Campbell;

  "The Mine on Yuggoth", Campbell; "The Plain of Sound", Campbell; "Behold,

  I Stand at the Door and Knock", Price.)

  BRICK CYLINDERS OF KADATHERON (also CYLINDERS OF KADATHER-

  ON). Seven artifacts brought out of the Middle East by an expedition led by a

  Mr. Angstrom. They were translated through use of the late Gordon Walmsley'

  work, but the characters are so archaic that only a few scholars can read them.

  The Cylinders are currently kept at the British Museum. The Dreamlands city

  of Kadatheron holds another set.

  The Cylinders deal primarily with the history of the land of Mnar, especially

  as it relates to the pre-human city of lb. They also include information on the

  Sarnath-sigil and tell the tale of the wizard Ilathos who went to speak with the

  high priest of Leng (though the ending of that story has been effaced). Another

  section provides the history and ruling dynasties of Kadatheron itself.

  See lb; Kadatheron; Lh-yib. ("The Book of Dismissals", Carter; "The Book

  of the Gates", Carter; "The Lure of Leng", DeBill; "The Doom that Came to

  Sarnath", Lovecraft (O); Beneath the Moors, Lumley; "Passing of a Dreamer",

  Myers.)

  BRINGER OF PESTS. See Nyarlathotep (Bringer of Pests).

  BROKEN COLUMNS OF GEPH. Monuments located within the coastal

  jungles of Liberia. No one knows how old the columns of Geph are, but they

  are mentioned in the writings of Teh Atht, a great wizard from the primal land

  of Theem'hdra. Upon these pillars the elders of the Ptetholites carved warn-

  ings against those who would use black magic against their foes, as well as the

  images of the Great Old Ones. Though the followers of the Old Ones have

  struck out some inscriptions and attempted to destroy the Columns themselves,

  these monuments have survived to this day, and are thought to be the center

  of worship for the natives of that region. With the help of Professor Gordon

  Walmsley of Goole, the characters upon these monuments were deciphered

  several years ago.

  See Geph Transcriptions; Ptetholites; Walmsley, Gordon. ("The Caller of

  the Black", Lumley (O); "The Return of the Deep Ones", Lumley; "Rising with

  Surtsey", Lumley; "The Sorcerer's Dream", Lumley; The Transition of Titus

  Crow, Lumley.)

  BROTHERHOOD OF THE BEAST. Organization founded in the twelfth

  century by a Chinese sage and a Romanian noble, so that the prophecy of

  T H E CTHULHU MYTHOS ENCYCLOPEDIA

  3 5

  B R O T H E R H O O D OF THE BLACK P H A R A O H TO B U G G - S H A S H

  Nophru-Ka, an Egyptian priest of the XIV Dynasty, might be fulfilled. The

  Brotherhood's founders led the followers of Nophru-Ka from their exile in

  G'harne and brought them to Europe to intermarry. As this assimilation of

  Egyptian blood into the European population progressed, the Brotherhood

  kept detailed genealogical records of these matings. They hoped that one day

  a child would be born who would fulfill the high priest's prophecy and aid

  Nyarlathotep in returning to Earth.

  Over the centuries, the Brotherhood has gained a great deal of power and

  has greatly expanded its membership as it continues to strive toward its goals.

  It has failed in several of its schemes, however, such as an attempt to found a

  country in Eastern Europe in the territory of the Teutonic Knights. More re-

  cently, the Brotherhood, having realized that the time of the Old Ones' return

  is approaching, has begun preparations for a great globe-spanning operation

  calculated to destroy much of human civilization.

  See Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh. ("The Brotherhood of the Beast",

  Herber (O).)

  BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLACK PHARAOH. Cult devoted to the return of

  the Black Pharaoh avatar of Nyarlathotep. The group's leadership has remained

  primarily Egyptian, but in recent years its branches have been attracting mem-

  bers from all backgrounds and nationalities. This group has known affiliations

  with the Cult of the Bloody Tongue, the Starry Wisdom church, and the Broth-

  erhood of the Beast. One sub-cult of this group, the Children of the Sphinx, is

  dedicated to the production of animal-headed composite mummies.

 

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