Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos
The following tables and lists feature elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, that are often shared between works within that fictional setting.
The Cthulhu Mythos was originally created by writer H. P. Lovecraft in his horror short stories, although the term itself was coined later by August Derleth. Many writers, both during Lovecraft's lifetime and after, have added stories and elements to the Mythos. There is no central co-ordination of these stories, nor any oversight of the Cthulhu Mythos in general. Becoming part of the Mythos can be based on personal opinion and inclusion of these elements.
Overview
Tables appearing under these entries are organized as follows:
- Name. This is the commonly accepted name of the being or mythos element.
- Epithet(s), Other name(s). This field lists any epithets or alternate names. These are names sometimes mentioned in books of arcane literature, but may also be the names preferred by cults.
- Description. This entry briefly summarizes the being or mythos element.
- References. This field lists the sources in which the being or mythos element makes a significant appearance or otherwise receives important mention. A simple two-letter code is used—the key to the codes is found here. If a code appears in bold, this means that the reference introduces the being or mythos element.
Beings
Great Old Ones
(includes a table listing all the Great Old Ones in the mythos)
The Great Old Ones are powerful, ancient creatures worshipped by deranged human cults. Many of them are made of an unearthly material with properties unlike normal matter. A Great Old One's influence is often limited to the planet where it dwells. If it is based on a planet outside the solar system, it can only extend its influence to Earth when the star of its planetary system is in the night sky. In such cases, the help of cultists performing various rituals may be required.
Outer Gods
(includes a table listing all the Outer Gods in the mythos)
The Outer Gods have unlimited influence, unlike the Great Old Ones, and function on a cosmic scale.[1] They include a subgroup known as the Lesser Outer Gods, or Other Gods.
Elder Gods
(includes a table listing all the Elder Gods in the mythos)
The Elder Gods oppose both the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones. Many consider them to be non-Lovecraftian, because they introduce a good versus evil dichotomy into the cosmic indifference of Lovecraft's fiction.[2] However, others argue that these beings have no more concern for human notions of morality than the beings they oppose, and that humanity and the human world are beneath their regard.[3]
Great Ones
The Great Ones are the so-called "gods" of the Dreamlands, but they are not as powerful as the Great Old Ones and are not even as intelligent as most humans. However, they are protected by the Outer Gods, especially Nyarlathotep.[4]
Other supernatural beings
Name | Epithet(s), Other name(s) |
Description | References |
---|---|---|---|
Armandra | |
Daughter of the Great Old One Ithaqua. She resembles a beautiful redhead woman with webbed feet, whose membranes were cut down by surgeons, so now they look human but with square nail-less toes. She is a powerful sorceress, and one of the greatest acolyte of Ithaqua. | SW |
Beast of Averoigne | |
A seemingly supernatural-being, which is recorded as having descended upon the French principality of Averoigne, particularly both Vyones and Ximes, from an ominous red comet which appeared in the sky in 1369. It has no true body of its own, but needs to take possession of the body of another to feed, while transfiguring and horribly reshaping the host's body. Its resulting form is that of a pitch-black, semi-humanoid figure surrounded by a hellish nimbus of changing fiery-light, dimly revealing its shape. The limbs sway and writhe like boneless serpents, and grow sharp, harden claws. The neck similarly extends to a serpentine length and flexibility, whereas the head suddenly turns flat, reptilian, earless, and noseless. | BA |
Bgnghaa-Ythu-Yaddith | A gigantic Dhole worm tortured by the Denizens of Yaddith, in the Shrine of Nug, located within the Temple of Infra-Red Vapour on the Doomed Nebula Zlykariob (or Zlykrarlor, according to transcriptions). | S4, ES4 | |
Broodlings of Eihort | Gestalt Servants of the God of the Labyrinth | The Broodlings of Eihort are gestalt beings' made up of the millions of tiny white spidery-brood of the Great Old One Eihort. A broodling looks like a deathly-pale, totally-hairless human. | BS, rpg |
Brown Jenkin | A mysterious rat-like creature, with a human-like face. The being was said to be the familiar of Keziah Mason. Probably a Rat Thing - see below. | DW, PY | |
Desh (Lesser and Greater) | Desh is the name given by Hyperboreans to creatures living within a near, but alternate dimension. Existing in many different forms, these creatures float through the invisible spaces around us, and are unaware of our presence as we are of theirs. Although the varieties of the Desh may be unlimited, only two forms are described (Lesser and Greater). Although of solid matter, they are semi-transparent, continually fading in and out of view. | rpg | |
Domaag T’eel | Servitor of the Great Old Ones | An alien-mass, made up of pseudopods, dwelling within the Moon, and capable to altering its orbital motion. | BM2, ET2 |
Droom-Avista | The Jester | True form not described, but likely a great demon to be invoked as a genie | JD |
The Dunwich Horror | Son of Yog-Sothoth, Bugg-Shaggog | An invisible egg-shaped monster of a gelatinous consistence, covered in tentacled suckers and "feet like hogsheads", with a mostly human face. | DH, LC |
Father Dagon and Mother Hydra | |
Both appear as abnormally large Deep Ones. | DA, DB, RD, SI |
Fthaggua | Lord of Ktynga | Appears as a bluish ball of energy. Fthaggua is both the lord and leader of the fire vampires, and dwells with them, and their god Cthugha, on or near the star Fomalhaut. | FV, HG |
Fishers from Outside | The Fishers from Outside are much more avian in appearance than shantaks, though having one leg and a glaring Cyclopean eye and hideous, hooked, fang-lined beak. They are the servitors of the obscure Great Old One Groth-Golka, acting as proxies for their sire, by accepting both human sacrifices and worship by cultists. Fishers brood in caverns on the Moon, and are also sometimes connected with worship of the lunar Great Old One Mnomquah. Their sire is the hideous Quumyagga. | FO | |
Fosterlings of the Old Ones | The Fosterlings of the Old Ones are the mutant offspring of matings between human females and Outer Gods or Great Old Ones. Through a special ritual, the Outer God or Great Old One sends a dream which reaches into the womb of a pregnant woman, altering the genetic structure of the unborn fetus. Once born, the child spends many years as a normal human being, until one day it transforms into something more closely resembling its alien parent. | FC | |
The Four Horsemen of Nyarlathotep[5] | These characters feature in the comic series Fall of Cthulhu as servitors of Nyarlathotep and should thus be regarded as Million Favoured Ones. They are in order: Sysyphyx: "the Scourge of Atlantis". She is a multi-eyed worm that cuts off the head of her victims, replaces their spinal cord, and shapeshifts to look like them. She was (originally) a fat, cyanotic, red-headed woman who prophesied for Atlantis. Gnruk of Vol'Kunast: "Devourer of the Royal Corpse of Thuln", he is a disembodied essence that lies within an ancient box. When the box is opened alone, his essence enters into the body of the opener, and transforms them into a corpse-eating demon. The Masked Mute: "Sister of the Lost Abyss", she appears as a young, adolescent girl with innumerable masks to display her mood. Her true face can kill even the greatest monsters of the Dreamlands. Gith: "Father of Pestilence" and "Champion of Damnation". Gith is a mindless force from the Dreamlands, who can possess a human vessel (provided certain rites be taken, including removing the Vessel of its soul and disguising the Vessel as Anubis. Nyarlathotep states that Gith will only merge with a soulless child of the jackal.). He appears as a banded man (the Vessel's shape) with purple/blue flames in place of the eyes and mouth. | ||
Fungus Vile | A kind of parasitic life form, neither really plant nor animal in nature, able to infect any organism it comes into contact with. It is suspected that this material originated on cold Yuggoth and subsequently spread through the cosmos with the mi-go. | rpg | |
Gnoph-Keh | |
Appears as a huge gnophkeh — possibly an avatar of Rhan-Tegoth or an independent entity. | HM |
Pth'thya-L'yt | |
A female Deep One, daughter of Mother Hydra who is almost 300,000 years old. For the last 80,000 years, she has lived in the city of Y'ha-nthlei, mating with Dagon, a union which many believe will result in the birth of a new species of Cthulhu's minions. | KQ, SI |
The High Priest Not to Be Described | |
Humanoid wearing a silken mask. | CE, DQ |
Knygathin Zhaum | |
Appears as a hairless, quasi-humanoid Voormi; Final form of no discernible species. | PN, TM |
K'thun (female) and Noth-Yidik (male) |
|
Abhorrent, malodorous beings whose mating spawned the Hounds of Tindalos. | HM, MT |
The Lurker in the Star Pool | One of the Million Favored Ones of Nyarlathotep, possibly one of the Outer God’s offspring. For aeons it has dwelled in the Star Pools, and today is in the servitude of the Floating Horror cult. Highly mobile, the Lurker has large membranous wings for flying and webbed appendages for swimming or walking on land. The creature's full appearance is confusing to behold, as it appears to be a mass of both multiple independent wriggling and squirming monstrosities. | AP | |
Magnum Innominandum[6] | Great Not-to-Be-Named, The Nameless Mist, N'yog-Sothep, Milk of the Void | According to H. P. Lovecraft, this being is the spawn of Azathoth (making it on par with the Magnum Tenebrosum and Cxaxukluth) and is associated with, and possibly the progenitor of, Yog-Sothoth.[7] Little is known about this god, but it is considered to be extremely dangerous to sorcerers, hence its title "the unnameable" (archaic terminology, meaning not to be summoned or ritually named in an incantation. | DR5, rpg |
Million Favored Ones | |
Beings said to be Nyarlathotep's spawn. | MF, WD |
Mlandoth and Mril Thorion | The Source, The One |
Unknown. | WY |
Mr. Shiny | Mr. Shiny (or Albert Shiny) is a shoggoth lord and an unusually intelligent and purposeful one, capable of controlling his body shape so as to pass for a human. Controlling his body in this manner requires continuous mental effort. | rpg | |
Narrathoth the Forgotten | A tall, whitish, and reptilian humanoid, larger than a man, with a single three-lobed eye. He is one of Cthulhu's servitor able to grant wishes like a djinn. | DC2, NF2 | |
N'rath-Gol | Spawn of Nyarlathotep | One of the countless minions of Nyarlathotep - likely a Million Favoured Ones - who dwells on the dark planet K'yi-Lih, embodying the Chaos. | NT11 |
Our Ladies of Sorrow | |
Our Ladies of Sorrow-or the Three Mothers-are three powerful entities, and three of Nyarlathotep’s Million Favoured Ones. They are: Mater Lachrymarum ("Our Lady of Tears"), the eldest, followed by Mater Suspiriorum ("Our Lady of Sighs") and finally the youngest Mater Tenebrarum ("Our Lady of Darkness"). They have inspired many legends, including that of the triple goddess, the fates, the gorgons, and Shakespeare’s three weird sister-daughters of darkness (witches). | VC, rpg |
Pharol the Black | |
Appears as a black, fanged demon with tentacles instead of arms. | AG, HY? |
The Shaping Tree | |
A hideous tree-like horror with branches like rat's tails and weird pustules. It is able to transform human victims into jelly amorphous vectors of strange broodlings. The Shaping Tree is located in Australia, and is likely related to Shub-Niggurath. | FS3 |
Sho-Gath | The God-in-the Box | A smoky entity with the travesty of a human face, entrapped into a box. | GO |
Sss'haa | |
Leader of the serpent people of Valusia. | HG, TH, VY |
Ubb | Father of Worms | Leader of the planarian-like Yuggs. He is a large, aquatic, chthonian-like entity, pale gray and slug-like with a large mouth full of horn-like teeth, and ringed with tentacles. Ubb dwells in the cold fastness of the Pacific Ocean, with the rest of his race. The yuggs are said to guard their god, the Great Old One Zoth-Ommog, whose tomb, legend tells, lies at the bottom of an abyssal trench near the island of Ponape. | OA, PI, UV, TP |
Ugga-Naach | Abomination of the Ancients | The result of an abominable mating between Nyarlathotep (in a tentacled avatar) and a “surrogate” human mother. Once born, it manifests as a 1.5 meters tall homunculus, slender and tanned in appearance, with a crimson tentacle in place of head, a glossy tongue, and green sharp-teeth. | ID3 |
The Five Vaeyen | |
Quintet of vulture-like statues that both guard and sequester the Great Old One Cyäegha | DM |
Wilbur Whateley | |
Mostly human twin of the aforementioned Dunwich Horror. | DH, LC |
The Worm That Walks | The Putrefied Horror | A loathsome being, looking like a human corpse decayed into tones of green, black, and blue, with dripping pieces of flesh hanging from it. Prodigious claws or talons dangle from this apparition's fingers, and from the undead monster's eye sockets stare lidless, ban, eyeballs. | rpg |
Wuthoqquan's Bane | |
A large, shapeless beast lurking in the sewers of Commoriom. | WQ |
Xathagorra | The Chaos Spawn | Vile, multiform creature with a vast wingspan. | CH |
Xexanoth | Bane of Aforgomon | Unknown. | CM |
Xiurhn | Guardian of the Dark Jewel | A sloth-like winged thing with a terrible face. | XI |
Ythth Ghuggl’ingh | Supreme Priest of the Old Ones | A once human priest of Nyarlathotep, horribly transmogrified to a vampiric horror. His face is endowed of stringy appendages, yellow eyes, and hideous beaked maws. | GY |
Zoth-Syra & Yoth-Kala | Queens of the Green Abyss | Both appear as shapeless, multi-limbed, marine horror with hypnotic beckon. The latter, Yoth-Kala, also bears a whip-like appendage endowed with a single, spherical eye. | GR |
Non-human species
Table-a (A–F)
Name | Description | References |
---|---|---|
Aartna | Metallic alien-beings inhabiting various planets located in Pleiades Cluster, acolytes of the Great Old One Gtuhanai. | FN |
Adumbrali | Extradimensional beings which appear as orbs of darkness. | AB |
Aihais | Humanoids from Mars. | VU |
Alskali | Hairless, cyclops-like hypnotic beings with dead-gray skin, huge hands, and clawed feet. They are servants of Nyarlathotep. | AL, PR5 |
Amphimultus Insects | Partly-immaterial insectoid entities dwelling within the dying planetary system of Hr’a-lath. | GI |
Antehumans | Slender, tall, gaunt proto-humans of great intelligence. | EB, SG |
Antareans | Tall, multicolored, tripod-beings with a strange crest and three eyes. They are greatly advanced space travelers with a strict caste system. | PC |
Astral Serpents | The souls and minds of advanced representatives of the Serpent People, who fled after the destruction of Mu. They have two forms: Astral Parasites, tall humanoid snakes, or Astral Hunters, spider-like reptilian horrors. They are mostly known in Japan as the Hoshi Hebi, but they are also mentioned in ancient Semitic sacred texts. | JN |
Azagoths | Hideous, formless-masses of entrails with four tentacles endowed with sharp claws and a huge, red-rimmed, cycloptic eye, plus several smaller eyes scattered along their hideous body. | RE5 |
Beings of Xiclotl | Horrifying, oddly plant-like, carnivorous giants. | IS |
Bholes | Gigantic, worm-like creatures that inhabit the Earth's Dreamlands. | DL, DQ |
Blupes | Translucent, bluish, oval-shaped creatures that can float through the air. | DL |
Brothers of Chaugnar Faugn | Beings that resemble smaller versions of Chaugnar Faugn. | HF |
Byakhee | Resemble bat-winged, hornet-like human corpses. | FE, GS, HC, WS |
Carden the Bard | A free-willed undead Celtic servant of the Great Old One Glaaki. | XT |
Cats from Saturn | Cat-like beings, from the Dreamlands, with abstract multi-hued bodies. | DL, DQ |
Cats from Uranus | Like those from Saturn, but far more hideous. | DL |
Chakota | Hideous entities composed of dozens of human faces set into a thick, cylindrical, worm-like mass of sickly, purple-veined muscle.[8] | rpg |
Children of the Sphinx | Sub-cult of the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh. | CD2, rpg, UP |
Children of the Wind | Foul entities dwelling regions susceptible to high winds. In one account, the creatures haunt a mysterious palace within the desert near Syria, known only as the City of the Seven Winds. They may also be connected with Irem, the City of the Pillars. | SS3 |
Chthonians (The Burrowers Beneath) |
Gigantic, squid-like worms. | BU, CS, YA |
Colour out of space | Appears as a shapeless, plastic-like entity glowing with the colors of an unknown spectrum. | CO, CT |
Crawling Ones (The Worms that Walk) |
Appear as humans made out of tiny worms. | FE |
Creature Atop Gables | A jet-black, gargoyle-like fiend with snake-like eyes and large membranous wings extending from each of six pairs of arms, beneath and around which dozens of long serpentine tentacle writhe. | WT8 |
Cthunund Uleths | Shapeshifting interplanetary-travellers appearing as shoggoth-like masses of semi-translucent, grayish-green ooze. They are thought to be responsible of the Great Old One Vulthoom's arrival onto the planet Mars. | ET2, FG3 |
Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath | Appear as ropy, black tentacles on a pair of stumpy, hooved legs. | MK, NF |
Deep Ones | Ocean-dwelling humanoids that appear to be half-frog and half-fish. | AW, BU, DO, GS, HC, HG, RD, SA, SI |
Dholes | Gigantic, worm-like creatures. | DR, TG, WP |
Dhraion Throl | Dark-skinned, furry humanoids native to a planetary system within the Small Magellanic Cloud who visited Earth in the Paleozoic. | CI |
Dimensional Shamblers | Dimension-traveling humanoids, with rough leathery bodies and huge claws. | HM |
Doels | Tiny, extradimensional, flesh-eating creatures. | HN |
Dreamlings of Hypnos | Sparkling, multicoloured orbs of swirling, crackling light, about the size of a cat. They pulse and tremble constantly shooting out little spears of matters. | MT4 |
Dwellers in the Depths | The Dwellers in the Depths are a race of truly horrible amphibious creatures who serve the Great Old Ones, particularly those associated with water: Cthulhu, Dagon, Hydra, Ythogtha and Zoth-Ommog. They appear as eyeless, bloated horrors with eight tentacled arms and four legs. In place of eyes, there is only one sponge-like organ in the center of the forehead and the mouth appear toothless, but endowed of tiny tentacles | RB |
Elder Things (Old Ones) |
Appear as five-sided, oval-shaped barrels with starfish-like appendages at each end. | AM, IV, PW |
Fires of Tindalos | Halfway between a Hound of Tindalos and a Fire Vampire, manifesting as infinitesimally small red lights floating through the sky, which hunt for specific mental-patterns. | AV |
Fire vampires | 1. (Flame Creatures of Cthugha) Appear as tiny points of light which ignite everything they touch. | DD |
2. (Fire Vampires of Fthaggua) Appear as bursts of crimson lightning which set fire to sentient beings. | FV, HG | |
Fishers from Outside | Enigmatic, prehistoric, flying race associated with both Gol-goroth and the shantaks. | FO |
Flying polyps | Appear as floating, semi-visible, polypous horrors capable of controlling great winds. | PW, ST, SY, WF |
Fog-Spawn | Interdimensional creatures native to tide-locked planets orbiting dark stars in nebular clouds. They have been brought to Earth by the Mi-Go, and other space-faring races. | BS3 |
Formless spawn of Tsathoggua and Knygathin Zhaum | Appear as gelatinous, shape-shifting, black goo. | MO, TZ |
Table-b (G–M)
Name | Description | References |
---|---|---|
Ghasts | Fearsome, underground-dwelling humanoids with kangaroo-like legs that inhabit the Earth's Dreamlands. | DQ |
Ghouls | Corpse-eating, canine-like humanoids. | DQ, IC, PM |
Gn'cht'tyaacht | A tree-dwelling humanoid some seven feet in height, but thin and lanky with a long pointed head, huge claws and sharp teeth. | rpg |
Gnophkeh | 1. Six-legged, furry, rhinoceros-like creatures with an affinity for cold climes. | HM, LT, SM |
2. Hairy cannibals that once dwelt in Lomar. | PO | |
Gnorri | Resemble mermen with possibly one or two additional arms. | SK |
Gof'nn hupadgh Shub-Niggurath | Transmogrified, once-human cultists of Shub-Niggurath. | ML |
Great Race of Yith | Resemble tall, rugose cones with four appendages: two claws, a trumpet-like limb, and a yellow, globe-like organ. | CF, PW, SO, ST, SY |
Gugs | Horrifying, furry giants of the Dreamlands with a mouth that opens sideways. | DQ |
Gyaa-Yothn | Quasi-human, rhinoceros-like quadrupeds used as beasts of burden by the denizens of K'n-yan. | MO |
Haemophores | Small vampiric creatures with webbed hands and feet. | DL |
Hounds of Tindalos | Extradimensional horrors that can enter our universe through any three-dimensional corner. | EL, HN, MT, TC, WD |
Hunters from Beyond | Extradimensional hazy entities appearing as vast, undulating vistas of gray plains of oozing, bubbling filth, and skies of writhing, hellish vapour. They may also have a beast-like anthropoid form, and maybe the source of Hindu legends of Rakshasa, or the African folk tales of Chemosit. | NB |
Hunting Horrors | Resemble huge, immaterial serpents with bat wings. | DQ, LT |
Hyperboreans | A race of early pre-humans. | DS, SG, TZ, UB |
'Ithria | Star-faring fungoid aliens native of Betelgeuse, who visited Earth in the Precambrian while struggling against the Rloedha. | OM |
Kadariak Kepf | A race that serves Nyarlathotep in his Egyptian avatar. These beings used to dwell in sections of ancient Egypt and other parts of the Middle East, now they are only encountered in ancient tombs or terribly isolated sections of the deepest deserts. They look like mouthless human-corpses with taloned hands and a horrid, circular mouth in the chest where the heart should be. | DC10, FG3 |
K'n-yan, Natives of | Technologically and psychically-advanced humanoids who dwell underground. | OE, MO |
Kyresh | Vicious, wolf-like creatures of the Dreamlands. | YG |
Larvae of the Outer Gods | Protean beings spawned by the Outer Gods. | DQ |
Lamp-Efts | Resemble small, flying iguanas. | DL |
L'gy'hx, Natives of | Cube-shaped, multi-legged, metallic beings that inhabit the planet L'gy'hx (Uranus). | IS |
Lloigor | Beings that may alternately appear as vortices of energy or dragon-like dinosaurs (Ghatanothoa may be a particularly powerful one). | IU, RL |
Men of Leng | Satyr-like beings that inhabit the Plateau of Leng. | DQ |
Mi-go (Fungi from Yuggoth, Outer Ones) |
Resemble human-sized, winged crustaceans with globular heads covered in cilia. | AM, DE, DT, GU, PF, OW, WD |
Miri-Nigri | Amphibious humanoids created by Chaugnar Faugn. They are the ancient progenitors of the Tcho-Tcho people. | HF |
Moon-beasts | Plump, toad-like humanoids. | DQ, MD |
Table-c (N–Z)
Name | Description | References |
---|---|---|
Nagäae | Toad-like servants of Cyäegha. | DM |
Nameless City, Denizens of | Alligator-like, seal-like humanoids. | NC |
Narrathoth the Forgotten | A tall, whitish, and reptilian humanoid, larger than a man, with a single three-lobed eye. He is one of Cthulhu's servitor able to grant wishes like a djinn. | DC2, NF2 |
New Great Race of Yith (Coleopterous Race) | Resemble human-sized beetles. | ST |
Nightgaunts | Faceless, bat-like humanoids. | DQ, HE, OK, WI |
Nioth-Korghai | 1. Extraterrestrial, carnivorous monster held in captivity by King Ossaru in Zothique. | TB |
2. Extraterrestrial, aquatic creatures that feed on the life-force of human beings. | SV2, rpg | |
Ny'ghan Grii | Luminous, spherical, cycloptic creatures from another dimension. They move by floating or crawling and are accompanied by a thick fog or an icy cold. | IN |
Parasites of Y'golonac | Fleshy spider-like horrors with gaping maws which serve Y'golonac. | SS21 |
Rat-Things | Tiny, rat-like creatures with human-like faces. | DW |
Rhygntu | A race of burrowing reptilian humanoids which resemble gila monster. They have created a net of deep underground galleries in central United States (mainly Oklahoma) and worship the destructive Outer God Yomagn'Tho. | DR15, TL |
Sand-dwellers | Appear as sand-encrusted, skeleton-like humanoids with large claws. | GW |
Serpent Men | Serpent-like humanoids. | HG, HK, IU, OW, SG, |
Servants of Glaaki | Undead zombies which serve the being Glaaki. | IL |
Servitors of the Outer Gods | Beings of varied form, which dance mindlessly around Azathoth's throne at the center of the universe. | AZ |
S'glhuo, Denizens of | Tall, bluish humanoids with blank eyes and boneless fingers; actually entities made of living sound. | PL |
The Shan (Insects from Shaggai) |
Resemble large insects. | IS, QU |
Shantaks | Elephantine, reptilian birds of the Dreamlands. | DQ, FO, RY |
Shoggoths | Resemble gigantic amoebae with numerous floating eyes. | AM, GC, NE, PG, SI, TC, TN |
The Space-Eaters | A monstrous interstellar race, appearing as shimmering columns of twisting shafts of light. | PE |
The Spawn of the Green Abyss | The Spawn of the Green Abyss appear as a bluish slime with various and shifting features: Shoggoth-like entities, but highly evolved and intelligent. They inhabit the seas and oceans of the Earth, dwell in aquatic societies ruled by their queen Zoth-Syra. | GR |
Spiders of Leng | Giant purple spiders that inhabit the Plateau of Leng. | DL |
Star-spawn of Cthulhu (Cthulhi) |
Resemble smaller versions of Cthulhu himself. | AM, PW, TC |
Star vampire (Shambler from the Stars) |
Invisible, levitating, vampiric horror with a myriad of suckers and two huge claws. | SF |
Tcho-Tcho people | Mutated humanoids descended from the Miri-Nigri. | BK, EH, LS, BH |
Thuum'ha (Beings of Ib) |
Green, toad-like humanoids with gelatinous bodies and emerald eyes | BM, DC, SM3 |
Utoruks | An ancient race which once populated a planet orbiting our Sun, while Earth was still cooling. This world is now long gone due to an unholy pact with Nyarlathotep. They appear over 10 feet tall humanoids, with a thick muscular trunk suspended on two pillar-like legs. | NT3 |
Voonith | Huge lizards of the Dreamlands. | DL |
Voormi | Yeti-like bipeds that inhabit Mount Voormithadreth in Hyperborea. | AF, SG, SM, TM |
Xerts | An alien race resembling writhing green mists, lit from within by an unnatural light. In this form, the Xert have the ability to shift in-between extra-dimensional regions beyond normal space-time. | SS23 |
Yaddith, Natives of | Humanoid inhabitants of the planet Yaddith that resemble a cross between mammals and reptiles. | DR, HG, TG, VI |
Yekubians | Technologically advanced, centipede-like beings that inhabit the planet Yekub. | CF |
Y'lagh | A race of aquatic swimmers endowed with flippers, tentacles, and other vaguely jellyfish-like features. They are servitors of Cthulhu, mentioned in Necronomicon as spawn of the Sisters of R'lyeh,[9] and mainly haunt the Pacific coasts of California.[10] | SY2, BS8 |
Y’nathogguans | Scaly humanoids with tiger-like faces, and tentacles in place of whiskers. They are servants of the Great Old One Quyagen, and rule over his human thralls. They once inhabited Antarctica, until the expansion of the ice-sheets, and migrated northwards in the Americas and finally in the lost continent of Quy. | TN7 |
Yuggs | Creatures that resemble white, planarian-like flatworms. | OA, WI |
Zoogs | Creatures of the Dreamlands that resemble small, elfin rodents. | DQ, HE |
Cults
Name | References |
---|---|
Black Brotherhood | SE |
Brotherhood of the Beast | n/a[11] |
Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh | n/a[12] |
Brothers of the Yellow Sign (Cult of the Yellow Sign) | IU, WD |
Chesuncook Witch Coven (Cult of the Skull) | DK, TN |
Chorazos Cult | UT, RN |
Church of Starry Wisdom | GA, HD, HI, SD, SE, DE |
Cult of Cthulhu | CC |
Cult of Bubastis | |
Cult of the Bloody Tongue | n/a |
Esoteric Order of Dagon | SI |
Arcane literature and other media
|
|
- Reference to first appearance.
Fictional locations
|
|
- Reference to first appearance.
Signs and symbols
Name | What | Ref.* |
---|---|---|
Elder Sign | A symbol that protects the bearer from some forms of attack by Mythos-related creatures | DQ |
Sign of Koth | A symbol found on sealed doors | DQ |
Yellow Sign | A symbol used to identify cultists of Hastur | KY |
- Reference to first appearance.
See also
References
- DiTillio, Larry and Lynn Willis. Masks of Nyarlathotep, Oakland, CA: Chaosium, 1996. ISBN 1-56882-069-0.
- Harms, Daniel. The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (2nd ed.), Chaosium, Inc., 1998. ISBN 1-56882-119-0.
- Harms, Daniel. "Part 2: Mythos Lore". The Official Cthulhu Mythos FAQ. Retrieved August 19, 2005.
Notes
- ↑ Harms, The Official Cthulhu Mythos FAQ, "Part 2: Mythos Lore", section 2.1, "Outer Gods".
- ↑ Harms, "Part 2: Mythos Lore", section 2.1, "Elder Gods".
- ↑ Harms. Harms writes: "Others consider their inclusion proper and fitting within their own interpretation of Lovecraft." Lovecraft views humanity as being insignificant within the universe; thus, the Elder Gods share little concern for humanity's fate.
- ↑ Harms, "Part 2: Mythos Lore", section 2.1, "Great Ones", "Other Gods".
- ↑ These characters feature in the comics series Fall of Cthulhu
- ↑ Pearsall, "Magnum Innominandum", pp. 264
- ↑ Aniolowski Malleus Monstrorum, p. 173
- ↑ These beings appear in the role-playing game supplement Masks of Nyarlathotep (DiTillio & Willis).
- ↑ Larson's Spawn of the Y'lagh, p. 56
- ↑ They likely coincide with the same beings described in Henry Kuttner and Robert Bloch's "The Black Kiss" (1937).
- ↑ Keith Herber, The Fungi from Yuggoth (1984). Role-playing game material.
- ↑ This cult appears in Masks of Nyarlathotep (DiTillio & Willis).
- ↑ Scott D. Aniolowski, "Mysterious Manuscripts" in The Unspeakable Oath #3, John Tynes (ed.), Seattle, WA: Pagan Publishing, August 1991. Periodical (role-playing game material).