Wednesday, November 5, 2014

The Black Book



In his search for ultimate knowledge did not the sorcerer Tellaborabi sign his name in the Black Book of Azathoth? And later, when his frightened acolytes broke down the door to his sanctum they found not an all knowing sage but instead a drooling madman who had clawed out his own eyes.
(from the confessions of Psylacheus the Heretic)




Sunday, November 2, 2014

Revenant from the Bog


Those sorcerers of old Hyperborea would cast the bones of a man into a swamp and command elementals to inhabit them. In time those bones would rise covered in the substance of the bog, a shape vaguely like a man but a thing of horror and an affront to the spirits of the earth .
(from the Scrolls of Vecra Tutthoon)


Tuesday, July 8, 2014

The Primal Giants

Far to the frozen north sailed At'amdra, and there he found an island where dwelt a race of  monstrous giants amid the ruins of a once great city. These savage giants were called the Ith'uuklim by the primitive people who lived on nearby islands and it is said long ago the monsters sought to conquer the young tribes of man. But Nodens had witnessed the vileness of the Ith'uuklim and sent a mighty earthquake to destroy their city, then he caused strange foul vapors to rise from the earth to rob them of intellect. Now the giants roamed the fallen city as animals devouring any living thing they might find and even preying on their own kind when food was scarce.

At'amdra considered a landing on the isle of the Ith'uuklim, for no doubt great treasures remained in the ruins. But wisely sailed on as the place had been cursed by the gods.

 (from the Lemurian Codex)


Thursday, May 15, 2014

Innsmouth


 The rotten fish smell of Innsmouth no longer sickened him. A part of him loathed the town and it's vile inhabitants. That part of him, the human part, was weak and frightened, it begged him to run screaming into
the rain until the town was far behind.
    In the street below his open window a priest read from a scroll. The words were older than mankind and
not meant to be voiced by men but the words came easy to the priest. The flabby, drooling, lips spoke with
authority, rising above the din of the storm.
  "Pha'tgn Uig'liu Dagon"
  "Ia Ia Mg'nui CTHULHU"
  "Dagon yath'lei"
  "Ug'liu DAGON"
 They were coming up the stairs. Shambling, bleating, many crawled on limbs more suited to the slimy sea floor. The door opened. No, he would not run from Innsmouth, he would take Dagon's sacrament and reveal his true self, then he would live forever amid the terrible beauty of the Deep Ones.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Skarl the Drummer


OF SKARL THE DRUMMER
When MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI had made the gods and Skarl, Skarl made a drum, and began to beat upon it that he might drum for ever. Then because he was weary after the making of the gods, and because of the drumming of Skarl, did MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI grow drowsy and fall asleep.
And there fell a hush upon the gods when they saw that MANA rested, and there was silence on Pegana save for the drumming of Skarl. Skarl sitteth upon the mist before the feet of MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, above the gods of Pegana, and there he beateth his drum. Some say that the Worlds and the Suns are but the echoes of the drumming of Skarl, and others say that they be dreams that arise in the mind of MANA because of the drumming of Skarl, as one may dream whose rest is troubled by sound of song, but none knoweth, for who hath heard the voice of MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, or who hath seen his drummer?
Whether the season be winter or whether it be summer, whether it be morning among the worlds or whether it be night, Skarl still beateth his drum, for the purposes of the gods are not yet fulfilled. Sometimes the arm of Skarl grows weary; but still he beateth his drum, that the gods may do the work of the gods, and the worlds go on, for if he cease for an instant then MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI will start awake, and there will be worlds nor gods no more.
But, when at the last the arm of Skarl shall cease to beat his drum, silence shall startle Pegana like thunder in a cave, and MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI shall cease to rest.
Then shall Skarl put his drum upon his back and walk forth into the void beyond the worlds, because it is THE END, and the work of Skarl is over.
There may arise some other god whom Skarl may serve, or it may be that he shall perish; but to Skarl it shall matter not, for he shall have done the work of Skarl.

"The Gods of Pegana" by Lord Dunsany