111 II

. 1 : '

■ . ' 4,1.,
tit les oi llie id.tier Ma

m
papyrusol tlie Dari
w&m
It
Out of the sea-horizoned north, where ships from Cemgoth were wont to play
among the arctic islands, a galley came drifting luith idle oars and aimlessly veering
helm. The tide beached it among the boats of the fishermen, which fared no longer
to sea but were drawn up on the sands below. . . . Thronging about the galley in
aive and wonder, the fishers beheld its oarsmen still at the oars and its captain at
the helm. But the faces and hands of all were stark as bone, and were white as the
flesh of leprosy; and the pupils of their open eyes had faded strangely, being
indistinguishable now from the whites; and a blankness of horror was within them,
like the ice in deep pools that are fast frozen to the bottom."
—Clark Ashton Smith, "The Coming of the White Worm"

The Book of Eibont the creation of Clark Ashton Smith, ranks behind Lovecrafts Necronomicon as a
shunned repository of mystical horrors surviving blasphemously from elder eons. Not content with his
own and Lovecraft's citations of the Book, Smith actually wrote two chapters of it, his famous stories "The
Door to Saturn" and "The Coming of the White Worm." Lin Carter knew a good thing when he saw it
and decided it would be fun to write and to read the remaining Eibonic chapters. So he took in hand to
write a number of them, intending to finish the book one day. This he did not live to do, but others took
up the fallen banner, supplying more of the droll yet frightening episodes, as well as various liturgical and
magical arcana the Book of Eibon was said to contain. The result is truly impressive, much more so than
any previous attempt to compose such a Mythos grimoire, a work of horror, humor, and genuine poetic
power. Many will be seriously tempted to use this volume as a working occult resource.
—Robert M. Price

ISBN 1-56082-193-X
The Book of Eibon
Histories of the Elder Magi,
Episodes of Eibon of Mhu Thulan,
the Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom,
Psalms of the Silent,
and the Eibonic Rituals
 Call of Cthulhu® Fiction

The Book of Eibon

By

Lin Carter

More Titles from Chaosium Michael Cisco

Laurence J. Cornford
Call of Cthulhu® Fiction
Michael Fantina
The Antarktos Cycle
The Ithaqua Cycle John R. Fultz

Made in Goatswood Robert M. Price

The Necronomicon
Joseph S. Pulver
Singers of Strange Songs
Ann K. Schwa der
Song of Cthulhu
Tales Out of Innsmouth Stephen Sennitt
Lin Carter's The Xothic Legend Cycle Clark Ashton Smith
R. W. Chambers’ The Yellow Sign (his complete weird fiction)
Richard L. Tierney
Arthur Machen's The Three Impostors & Other Stories
Arthur Machen's The White People & Other Tales (forthcoming)
The Book of Dzyan Edited and Introduced by Robert M. Price

Cover Art by Harry Fassl

Interior Art by Thomas Brown, Laurence J. Cornford,
Jason C. Eckhardt, and Joseph S. Pulver

A Chaosium Book
2006
The Book of Eibon is published by Chaosium Inc. Flame,” "The Black Litany of Nug and Yeb," "To Call Forth Tsathoggua to Smite
Thy Enemy," “To Summon and Instruct Zhogtk, the Emanation of Yoth, and To
This book is © 2001 as a whole by Robert M. Price; all rights reserved. Walk Free Among the Harms of Zin" © 2001 by Joseph S. Pulver. “The Night of
"History and Chronology of the Book of Eibon" © 1984 by Lin Carter. "The Life of the Night" © 2001 by Michael Cisco. “The Acolyte of the Flame” © 1985 by Lin
Eibon by Cyron of Varaad” © 1988 by Charnel House, publishers. "Eibon Saith, Or, Carter for Crypt of Cthnlbn #36, Yuletide 1985. “From the Archives of the Moon” ©
The Apophthcgmata of Eibon” © 1997 by Edward P Berglund for Night napes 1988 by Cryptic Publications for Crypt of Cthnlhn #54, Eastertide 1988. "The

Volume L, number 3, September 1997. "The Double Tower" © 1973 by Weird Tales Incubus of Atlantis" © 1997 by Robert M. Price for Cosmic Visions vol. 2, #7,

for Weird Tales, Winter 1973. “The Devouring of S’lithik Hhai” © 1997 by John R. September 1997. "The Epistles of Eibon" © 2001 by Robert M. Price and Laurence

Fultz for the cyberzine NetherReal. June 1997. "The Scroll of Morloc” © 1975 by J. Cornford.
Ultimate Publishing Co., Inc., for Fantastic. October 1975. "The Descent into the Cover arc ©2001 by Harry Fassl. Interior art ©2001 by Thomas Brown and Joseph
Abyss” © 1980 by CASiana Literary Enterprises, for Weird Tales #2, Zebra Books S. Pulver. Map of Mhu Thulan ©200 L by Laurence J. Cornford. Ubbo-Sathla illus¬
1980. "The Secret in the Parchment” © L9SS by Cryptic Publications for Crypt of tration ©200 L by Jason C. Eckhardt. Cover layout by Charlie Krank. Interior layout
Cthnlhn #54, Eastertide 1988. “The Face from Below,” “The Sphinx of Abormis,” and editorial by David Mitchell. Editor-in-chief Lynn Willis.
“The Alkahest,” “The Haunting of Uthnor,” “The Offspring of the Tomb," and "The
Similarities between characters in this book and persons living or dead are strictly
Demon of the Ring" © 2001 by Laurence J. Cornford. "The Coming of the White
coincidental.
Worm" © 194 L by Albing Publications for Stirring Science Stories, April 1941. "The
Light from the Pole" © 1980 by CASiana Literary Enterprises for Weird Tales #1, Reproduction of material from within this book for the purposes ot personal or cor¬
Zebra Books, 1980. "The Stairs in the Crypt" © 1976 by Ultimate Publishing Co. porate profit, by photographic, digital, or other means of storage and retrieval is pro¬
Inc., for Fantastic. August 1976. “The Feaster from the Stars" © 1983 by Lin Carter hibited.
for Crypt of Cthnlhn #23, Hallowmas 1984. “The Green Decay" © 1997 by Edward Our web site is updated monthly; see www.chaosium.com.
P Berglund for Nightscapes volume l, number 2, August 1997. "The Utmost
Abomination" © 1973 by Weird Tales for Weird Tales. Fall 1973. “Utressor" © 2001 This book is printed on 100% acid-free paper.
by Clark Ashton Smith, Laurence J. Cornford, and Richard L. Tierney. "Annotations
for the Book of Night" © 1997 by Peter Worthey for Mythos Online #2, July 1997.
“The Burrower Beneath" © 1997 by Fungoid Press for Fungi #16, Fall L997. “In FIRST EDITION

the Vale of Pnath” © 1975 by April Derleth and Walden W Derleth for Gerald W. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Page (ed.), Nameless Places, Arkham House, 1975. "Shaggai” © 197 1 by August
Chaosium Publication 6026. Published in June 2006.
Derleth for Dark Things. Arkham House, 1971. "The Door to Saturn" © 1931 by
The Clayton Magazines, Inc., for Strange Tales. January 1932. “The Un begot ten ISBN 1-56882-193-X
Source” © L984 by Cryptic Publications for Crypt of Cthnlhn #23, St. John’s Eve,
Printed in the USA.
1984. “The Polar Ones," “The Elder Beings," “The Great Race of Yith," “The City
of the Archives,” and “The Coming of Cthulhu” © 1988 by Lin Carter for Crypt of
Cthnlhn #54, Eastertide 1988. “Petition: To Tsathoggua,” “To Atlach-Nacha,” "The
Prayer of Yzduggor the Apostate," “Prayer to Lord Yok-Zothoth," “The
Appeasement of Ghizguth," “The Summoning of Pharol," “The Unresponding
Gods,” “The House of Haon-Dor," “The Dark Sorcerer," “The Contemplative God,"
“The Door to Cykranosh; or, Eibon’s Lament,” “Hyperborea; or, Eibon's Prophecy,"
"The Minions of Zstylzhcmgni," and “Ycnagnnisssz” © 2001 by Richard L. Tierney.
“Ubbo-Sathla," “Azathoth,” and “Tsathoggua" © 2001 by Michael Fantina. "Rede
of the Gray Weavers (fragment),” “Mhu Thulanesc Invocation to Abhoth," and
"Voormi Hymn of Deliverance" © 2001 by Ann K. Schwader. "The Supplication of
Cxaxukluth” © 2001 by Robert M. Price. “The Green Decay,” “The Disgorging of
the Pit," "The Yggrr Incantation,” “The Execrations of Glorgne,” “The Adjuration
of Pnom,” “The Litany of Xastur,” “The Hnaa Formula," and “The Warding of
Rivashii" © 2001 by Stephen Sennitt. "The Exorcism of Iagsat," “The Black Rite of
Yaddith," “The Forgotten Ritual of Mnar,” “The Kynothrabian Dirge," “The Ritual
of the Outer Void,” “The Grey Rite of Azathoth," “The Adoration of the Black
Ultima Thule and Mhu Thulan
by Laurence J. Cornford
 Contents Contents
Map op Mhu Thulan by LaurenceJ. Comfonl.xi
Thl Green Dlcay: The History of Nabulus the Wonder-Worker
Thp Ebony Book: Introduction to Tin: Book oi: Eiiion by Robert Af. Price.150
by Robert Af. Price , .
J ..
Book Two: Episodes of Eibon of Mhu Thulan
History and Chronology op Tin: Book or Eiiion by Lin Carter.3
Thl Utmost Abomination by Clark Ashton Smith and Lin Carter. ... 159
Thp LlPE op ElBON ACCORDING TO Cyron OF Vara AD by Lin Cartel-. ... 9
UTRiiSSOR by Clark Ashton Smith, Laurence J. Com ford, and
Eibon Saith; OR, Thl Apophthlgmata OF Eiuon by Robert M. Price. . . 20
Richard L. Tierney.171

Book One: Histories of the Elder Magi Annotations for thl Book of Night by Robert Af. Price.184

Thl Double Tower: The History ofZloigm the Necromancer

Thl Burrowur Blnlath by Robert Af. Price.191
by Lin Carter. ^
In thl Vall OF Pnath by Lin Carter.199
THii Dlvouring of Slithik Hhai: The History of X’hyl the Shaggai by Lin Carter.205
Apothecary by John R. Fultz. 34
Thl Haunting of Uthnor by Laurence J. Cornford.211
Thu Scroll of Morloc: The History of the Shaman Yhemog
by Lin Carter. ^ Thl Offspring of thl Tomb by Laurence J. Cornford.218

The Descent into the Abyss: The History of the Sorcerer Haon-Dor Thl DlmON of THL Ring by Laurence J. Cornford.227
by Lin Carter. ^
Thl Door to Saturn by Clark Ashton Smith.235
Thl Secret in thl Parchmlnt: The History of the Thaumaturge
Ptomeron by Lin Carter. ^
Book Three: Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom

Thl Facl from Below: The History of Pnom the Exorcist About “Papyrus of thl Dark Wisdom” by Robert Af. Price.257
by Laurence J. Comfonl. 79
I. Thl Unbugottun Sourcl by Lin Carter.258
Thl Sphinx of AbormiS: The History of the Wizard Hormagor
by Laurence J. Com for cl. gI II. Thl Polar Onls by Lin Carter.26 l

Thl Alkahlst: The History of Enoycla the Alchemist III. Thl Elder Blings by Lin Carter.263
by Laurence J. Comford. gg
IV. The Great Race of Yith by Lin Carter.264
Thl Coming of thl Whitl Worm: The History of Evagh the
V. The City of thl Archives by Lin Carter.265
| Warlock by Clark Ashton Smith .
VI. Thl Coming of Cthulhu by Lin Carter.266
Thl Light from thl Poll: The History of Pharazyn the Enchanter
by Lin Carter and Clark Ashton Smith. ^5
Book Four: Psalms of the Silent
Thl Siairs in thl Crypt: The History of the Necromancer Avalzaunt
by Clark Ashton Smith and Lin Carter. About “Psalms of the Silent” by Robert Af. Price.273

Thl Flastlr from thl Stars: The History of Yzduggor the Eremite Petition: To Tsathoggua by Richard L. Tierney.274
by Lin Carter.. ^^
To Atlach-Nacha by Richard L. Tierney.276
 Contents Contents
Thu Adjuration of Pnom by Stephen Sennitt.
Thu Prayur of Yzduggor thu Apostatu by Richard L. Tierney.277
2 AQ

Prayur TO Lord Yok-ZothotH by Richard L. Tierney.278 Thu Litany or Xastur by Stephen Sennitt.

3 10
Thu Appuasumunt of Ghizguth by Richard L. Tierney.279 Thu Hnaa Formuua by Stephen Sennitt.

Thu Summoning of Pharou by Richard L Tierney.280 Thu Warding of Rjvashii by Stephen Sennitt.^ ^
2 ] 'J

Thu Unrusponding Gods by Richard L. Tierney.281 Thu Exorcism of Iagsat by Joseph S. Pnlver.3

Thu Housu of Haon-Dor by Richard L. Tierney.283 Thu Buack Rjtu or Yaddith by Joseph S. Pnlver.315

Thu Dark Sorcurur by Richard L. Tierney.284 Thu Foroottun Rjtuauof Mnar by Josephs. Pnlver.318

Thu Contumpuativu God by Richard L Tierney.285 Thu Kynothrauian Dircu by Josephs. Pnlver.321

Thu Door to Cykranosh; or, Eibon’s Lamunt Thu Rjtual of thu Outur Void by Joseph S. Pnlver.323

by Richard L. Tierney.286
Thu Gruy Rjtu of Azathoth by Joseph S. Pnlver.326
Hypurborua; or Eibon’s Prophucy by Richard L. Tierney..287
Thu Adoration of thu Buack Fuamu by Joseph S. Pnlver.334
Thu Minions of Zstyuzhumgni by Richard L. Tierney.288
Thu Buack Litany of Nuc and Yuu by Joseph S. Pnlver.337

YcnAgnnisssz by Richard L. Tierney.289

To Cauu Forth Tsathoggua to Smitb Thy Enumy
339
Ubbo-Sathla by Michael Fanlina.290 by Joseph S. Pnlver.

Azathoth by Michael Fantina.291 To Summon and Instruct Zhogtk, thu Emanation of Yoth

by Joseph S. Pnlver.
Tsathoggua by Michael Fanlina.292

To Walk Fruu Among thu Harms of Zin by Joseph S. Pnlver.346

Rum Shaikorth by Michael Fantina.294
24 O

Thu Night of thu Night by Michael Cisco.■>

Rudu of thu Gray Wuavurs (Fragmunt) by Ann K. Schwader.295

Thu Banishing Sual of Ystu by Thomas Brown.351

Mhu Thuuanusu Invocation to Abhoth by Ann K. Schnvader.296
Thu Ninu Puntaclus of Sgandrom by Thomas Brown.352
Voormj Hymn of Duuivurancu by Ann K. Schwader.297
353
Thu Scaruut Sign by Thomas Brown.
Thu Suppuication OF Cxaxukuuth by Robert M. Price.298

Thu Trirly Drawn Circuu of Powur by Thomas Brown.354

Book Five: The Eibonic Rituals

Appendices
About ‘Thu Eibonic Rjtuaus” by Robert M. Price.301

Thu Acolytu of thu Fi.amu by Lin Carter.357

Thu GRUUN Ducay by Stephen Sennitt.302

From thu Archivus of thu Moon by Ltn Carter.366

Thu Disgorging of thu Pit by Stephen Sennitt.303

Thu Inculsus of Atlantis by Robert M. Price.380

Thu Yggrr Incantation by Stephen Sennitt.305
THU EpISTLUS of ElUON by Robert M. Price and LaurenceJ CornfonL ... 387
Thu Exucrations of Guorgnu by Stephen Sennitt.306
 The Ebony Book:
Introduction to The Book of Eibon

Bind up the testimony,

Seal the teaching among my disciples.
—Isaiah 8:16

Ebony and Ivory

I t is safe to say that, next to his own Necronomicon, Lovecraft’s most oft-
thumbed Elder Grimoire was Clark Ashton Smith’s Book of Eibon. As we
will see in a bit more detail below, Lovecraft peppered his stories with tan¬
talizing references to it. Of course he was undeniably fond of Bloch’s
Mysteries of the Worm and Howard’s Nameless Cults, too, but he checked Eibon
out of the Miskatonic Library more often than the rest.

It is interesting to note that, just as Lovecraft introduced Abdul

Alhazred (in "The Nameless City") before he created the Necronomicon (in
"The Hound"), so Smith introduced Eibon as a character in "The Door to
Saturn” (Strange Tales, January 1932) before he introduced Eibon’s Book (in
"Ubbo-Sathla,” Weird Tales, }u\y 1933).

But whence did Smith derive the name of both book and mage? I found
the clue in a comic book story called “H.PL.” by Nicolett in the October
1979 issue of Heavy1 Metal (pp. 45—47). A ghoul professes, “Through the
aeons, the Necronomicon of Abdul Alhazred, the Ebony Book, and Von Jumzt’s
[sic] Linassprecblichen [sic] Kulten have been my only companions,” Based on
the spelling errors, I’m guessing that Nicolett was drawing on fading mem¬
ories, and thus the transformation of “Book of Eibon” into “Ebony Book” was
fortuitous. Nicolett was probably half-remembering that Howard nick¬
named his Linaussprechlichen Kulten “The Black Book” and confusing it with
the Book of Eibon. But it is one of those felix culpas. Smith often uses the
adjectives "ebon” and "ebony.” Surely Nicolett is right: The Book of Eibon is
supposed to resonate as "The Ebon Book.” Lovecraft knew this: he has
Alonzo Typer refer to "the blackest chapters of the Litre d'Eibon."

Lovecraft did more than cite the eldritch tomes his friends created in
flattering imitation of his own Al Azif He made them his own. As is well
known, he supplied, without invitation to do so, "original” titles for the
blasphemous tomes in their supposed original languages. Nameless Cults
became Unaussprecblichen Kulten (though Lovecraft, not versed in German,
got Derleth to come up with this one). Mysteries of the Worm became De
Vermis Mysteriis. The Book of Eibon became both Liber Ivonis (Latin) and
Livre d'Eibon (Norman French). It is important to see that when he
 xlx
xviii The Book of Eibon [ntrod uction

Original Notes upon the Necronomkon, or the Sussex Manuscript). The book is
renamed others’ fictive books, he was doing the same thing he did in “The
black, but when translated becomes white.
Challenge from Beyond” by supplying his own conception and background
for Richard F. Searight's Eltdown Shards. (HPL blatantly contradicted
Searight’s own preempted version, in his story “The Warder of Baleful Myths and Liturgies
Knowledge,” which Lovecraft hadn’t yet seen—and which did not see With Smith, the facts of the case are simple and straightforward: Eibon
print till my 1990 Fedogan & Bremer anthology Tales of the Lovecraft wrote a book called the Book of Eibon. It is never called anything else. But
Mythos.) He was essentially usurping his colleagues’ creations. Lovecraft luxuriated in pseudo-pedantry. So not only did he make up two

This becomes all the more evident when we remind ourselves that, e.g., alternate names for the Book, he also kept switching conceptions of the

Bloch virtually never called his grimoire anything but good old Mysteries of book. Let us briefly trace his references to the shape-shifting volume.

the Worm in any of his stories. And Smith made very little use of Eibon, com¬ Smith had written all he was going to write concerning Eibon and his
pared with Lovecraft, mentioning the hoary volume in a grand total of three tome by the time Lovecraft made his first reference to it. This is in The

stories (and that’s counting the fragment The Infernal Star). He never used Dreams in the Witch House" (January-February 1932), where we read that

either of Lovecraft’s fancy titles. "Gilman had some terrible hints from ... the fragmentary Book of Eibon . . .
to correlate with his abstract formulae on the properties of space and the
We see here a phenomenon akin to the Revision Mythos that J have dis¬
linkage of dimensions known and unknown." It would seem, then, that only
cussed elsewhere. Just as Lovecraft constructed a parallel Mythos for use in
fragments of the book survive. This might mean chat only literal scraps of
stories ghost-written for clients, featuring a new brood of Old Ones that
papyrus survive (as with the Oxyrhynchus Papyri which later turned out to
ordinarily did not appear in his acknowledged stories (Yig, Ghatanothoa,
have been fragments of the Gospel according to Thomas, once a complete
Rhan-Tegoth, Nug and Yeb), it seems that he took some trouble to change
manuscript of that ancient book was discovered at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in
the creations of his friends just enough to sound genuinely Lovecraftian in
1945) or that we know the book only from quotations of it from ancient
the context of his own tales, whatever the books’ originators might want to
authors who had access to it (like the Gospel according to the Hebrews).
do with them in their own Fiction. Accordingly, Lovecraft has even, in effect,
But in the “The Man of Scone," written the same year, 1932, for Hazel
supplied new authors for his versions, as if to replace Smith’s mage Eibon
Heald, Mad Dan Morris has far more than fragments at his disposal. He
altogether! Philippus Faber is the translator of the Latin Liber Ivonis (letter
speaks’ simply of the Book of Eibon and refers to page 679- Among other
to Smith, January 28, 1932), while Gaspard du Nord is the renderer of the
hexes, it offered the recipe for a nasty treat called “The Green Decay,” the
Livre d'Eibon. Admittedly, du Nord comes from Smith’s “The Colossus of capitalized proper nouns implying that he was reading an English transla¬
Ylourgne,’’ where however he has no connection to Eibon. Lovecraft also tion, even though he says it came from Holland. We cannot rule out the
used du Nord as one of the signatories on the death warrant for himself that possibility that he was reading the Norman French Livre d’Eibon since
he sent to Robert Bloch, who was gunning for him in “The Shambler from Alonzo Typer found a copy of that edition which had also been brought
the Stars.” from Holland to New York State, the locale of both “The Man of Stone
I feel tempted toward a punceptual analysis of Lovecraft’s title versus and “The Diary of Alonzo Typer” (October, 1935). The Van der Heyl copy

Smith's. If Smith’s “Eibon” punningly reminds us of the black of ebony, was also a whole, intact book, since Typer speaks of “the blackest chapters

Lovecraft’s Latinized “Ivonis” may suggest the white of ivory. This is why of the Livre d’Eibon.”
every once in a while one runs across a typo that makes the tome into "Liber The Latin title was not used in "The Man of Stone simply because
Ivoris. ” Here is the tip of a Kabbalistic iceberg as big as that which razed Lovecraft had apparently not yet come up with this bit of trivia, which

Olathoe. Here is a hint of the magical coincidence of opposites, nor is the occurs first in a December 13, 1933 letter to Smith: “[Flavius] Alesius has

doctrine of the Trace absent, whereby Mythos grimoires are sparingly some fascinating references to a terrifying set of tablets—the Liber looms—

quoted, since their evocative sorcery is more potent in suggestion than in in the possession of the Averones, which was said to have been brought by

display. Here is the germ of the pseudobibliographic device of the variant them from that lost ancient land [in the western ocean which had sunk
beneath the waves] whence they came. Whether this could be identical
version of a grimoire which becomes more and other than its counterpart
with that infamous Livre d'Eibon which in the twelfth century the wizard
(e.g., Winters-Hall’s conjectural translation of the Eltdown Shards or Feery’s
 _The Book of Eibon Introduction xxi

Gaspard du Nord translated From some (so far) unascertained language Confusion only multiplies when, in “The Haunter of the Dark” (1935),
into the French of Averoigne, is a problem with which scholarship must
Robert Blake discovers “the sinister Liber Ivonis” as a bound book standing
sooner or later wrestle.” Of course they are the same book. The note of
on a shelf alongside other tomes. This is our first reference in a story to a
uncertainty Lovecraft injects is a typical distancing device used throughout
Latin text called Liber Ivonis. Lovecraft then decides that Gaspard du Nord’s
his work, as when the explorers of the Antarctican city of the Crinoids
Litre d'Eibon may be a rendering of the Latin text of Philippus Faber rather
make a vague and conjectural reading of the wall carvings. “Don’t hold me
than of the inscribed tablets of the Averoni. In a 1937 letter to Fritz Leiber
to it, now, but here’s what I think it says!” It’s a gimmick to keep the door
he harmonizes: “Gaspard du Nord’s translation of the Liber Ivonis (whether
propped open to some possibility of a mundane explanation, so the reader
from the corrupt Latin text or from the accursed Hyperborean original we
will retain a vestige of wonder: but what if they’ve got it right? (see
Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic). cannot be sure—his accomplishments were dark and obscure) into medieval
French in the L2th century brought about frightful consequences.”
Notice that Lovecraft here makes no reference to a codex, a bound
book, or even of scrolls bearing the title Liber Ivonis. Despite the fact that a
January 28, 1932 letter already mentions “the Book of Eibon— . . . the The Analogy of Scripture
medieval Latin version of Philippus Faber [in] the library of Miskatonic
When we come at last to the text of the Book of Eibon presented in this vol¬
University,” he does not refer to this in the letter passage about Flavius
ume, we widen our circle from the conceptions of Eibon’s book held by
Alesius (nor does he call the Miskatonic’s Latin version the Liber Ivonis). No,
Clark Ashton Smith and H. R Lovecraft to that of Lin Carter, who wrote the
Flavius Alesius knew only a set of inscribed tablets, like the Ten Command¬
lion’s share of it. “It is divided into several parts, the latter sections consist¬
ments, the EltJown Shards, Enmna Elish, or the Book of Mormon. And it would
ing of recipes and formulae, liturgies and incantations, spells, pentacles and
appear that the title is Flavius Alesius’, rather than that used by the
the like. I envision the first book as ‘Histories of the Elder Magi,' that is,
Averones, who would not have spoken Latin. We don’t know, from this pas¬
precautionary accounts of wizards who lived before Eibon’s time. Since these
sage, what their tablet version of a "Book of Eibon would have sounded like.
usually came to a rather sticky end, I presume that he used them as para¬
At any rate, the implication in the December 13, 1933 letter is that
bles in teaching his students . . . The second part I call ‘Episodes of Eibon
Gaspard du Nord translated from these clay/stone tablets, which had them¬
selves been brought, like the Tables of the Law, with the Hyperboreans and of Mhu ThuJan,’ and these are narratives of Eibon’s own life, told in the first

Atlanteans in their wanderings. Presumably Lovecraft at this time thought person . . . The third part is called ‘Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom’ and is an

of Eibon as cutting glyphs into tablets, not writing on parchments, though extended mythological treatise describing the creation of the Old Ones, the
Smith always depicts sorcerers writing on scrolls. causes of their rebellion against the Elder Gods, how Earth came into the

There is nothing to suggest that the Averonian tablets were fragmen¬ universe, and capsule histories of‘the nine ultra-telluric races’ who domi¬

tary, and in Out of the Aeons” (written, again, for Hazel Heald, 1933), nated the earth in turn before the evolution of humankind.”

savants consult an apparently complete and intact "Book of Eibon, reputed to You will shortly see for yourself how Lin Carter fleshed out this scheme,
descend from forgotten Hyperborea." In the same sentence the Pnakotic but for the present, let us note two things from his description. First, the
Manuscripts are called the “Pnakotic fragments,” implying a contrast to a business about the nine ultra-telluric races smacks of Madame Blavatsky,
nonfragmentary Eibon. But in “The Shadow out of Time" Wingate Peasley whom Lin, following Fritz Leiber, rightly lauded as one of the chief influ¬
consults “the surviving fragments of the puzzling Book of Eibon" (1934). ences on pulp fantasy. It is easy to demonstrate the wide influence the ideas
So Lovecraft was by no means striving for a uniform representation of contained in Blavatsky’s eccentric volumes Isis Unveiled and The Secret
the book’s physical state. The contradictory images he uses for it are simply Doctrine had on Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. R Lovecraft, and Henry Kuttner,
variant tropes for accentuating the hoary antiquity of the work. To call ir among others. Her various “root races” and “Children of the Fire Mist”
fragmentary is one way of saying how old it is: it has just barely survived to appear in weird fiction as the Martian Tharks, the Lemurian Rmoahals, and
our day. Only enough remains of the texr to hint at its mostly lost secrets. the Coneheads of primal Australia. Second, the “Papyrus of the Dark
An analogous device is to speak of the unidentified language in which the Wisdom,” a tirle derived from Smith’s Black Book of plot germs, names, and
Eibonic tablets were written. Something is written there, but all the enig¬ story ideas, no doubt appealed to Lin because of its echo of the various
matic glyphs tell us is that we don’t know what they tell us.
ancient Egyptian papyri (e.g., The Papyrus of Ani, aka The Egyptian Book of
 xxiii
XXIL The Book of Eibon Introduction__■_

favorite themes. He is the author of the moving and mysterious Servant

the Dead) he mined for chapter epigraphs in his novella Curse of the Black
Songs, of which chapter 53 is the most famous. He is the greatest satirist of
Pharaoh (see The Nyarlathotep Cycle).
the Bible, lampooning idolaters who chop down a tree to sculpt and gild half
I have found that the conceptual tools of biblical "Higher Criticism"
of it for an idol, while using the rest as kindling (44:9-20)1
can be surprisingly helpful in understanding even fictive ancient texts such
as the Book of Eibon. This is possible because of the great verisimilitude Smith Chapters 56-66 are a mixed bag, apparently an anthology of many

and Lovecraft attained in their intuitive and erudite characterizations of post-exilic Isaianites, collectively known as Third Isaiah, or Tnto-Isaiah. As
their spurious tomes. It was the same sense of the poetics and composition Paul Hanson (The Dawn of Apocalyptic) has shown, they were champions of
of ancient texts that led both to the Higher Critics’ analytical paradigms democratic popular faith, rehabilitating the ancient myth of Yahve slaying
and to the fictioneers’ convincing simulations. To illustrate my point, several the dragon to aim as a polemic thunderbolt against the arrogant priests
critical New Testament scholars believe the Secret Gospel of Mark ostensi¬ who, with the backing of the Persian government, usurped the running of
bly discovered by Morton Smith was actually a hoax perpetrated by him. He the temple (the priestly side of the dispute is found in Numbers 17).
knew so well what an ancient text ought to look like that he would be able
The thing to see is that what we call the Book of Isaiah was in itself and
to fabricate one damn well (unlike the inane drivel that tries to pass for an
by itself a canon of scripture for a Jewish sect, the sect of Isaiah. Every
ancient text in The Cellophane Prophecy). Joseph Smith was a good bit more
prophetic text added to it over the centuries was a prophecy of Isaiah. In
successful, even if the result is, as Mark Twain said, "chloroform in print.”
precisely the same way, the Bible contains numerous law codes, dating from
So is the Book of Numbers! To put the shoe on the other foot, Lovecraft
various centuries, most of them gathered in the Pentateuch. All ate Actively
would have made an excellent biblical critic had he been so inclined.
attributed to Moses. Jewish Law simply was “Mosaic” Law. And for the sect
The Book of Eibon you are holding can be illuminatingly compared with
of Isaiah, prophecy simply was “Isaianic” prophecy. Hence a single, very
the Book of Isaiah. Modern scholarship has convincingly divided the Book
long "Book of Isaiah.”
of Isaiah into three basic sections, each primarily the work of a different
author or group of authors. First Isaiah is the Prophet Isaiah ben Amoz of The entire scenario is implicitly paralleled in the case of the Book of

Jerusalem, who lived in the time of Kings Hezekiah, Uzziah, and Ahaz. He Eibon. First, as Lovecraft informed Richard F. Searight (February 13, 1936),

is the greatest poet among the biblical prophets. His oracles blaze with fire the Book of Eibon was “preserved ... by a secret cult.” These are the sons of

as well as light. His plaints against acquisitive agri-business barons fore¬ the Prophet, the disciples of Eibon, for whom Lin Carter reasons he wrote
closing on small farmers sound as if they were written in the 1980s. His blis¬ down the "Histories of the Elder Magi,” as well as many of his own autobi¬
tering denunciations of religious hypocrites who oppress the poor have lost ographical episodes, since some of them are cautionary tales, too. Such tales
none of their edge. He is the kind of man who would attract both enemies are precisely paralleled, not in Isaiah, but elsewhere in scripture, where we
and disciples. Tradition/legend says he was sawn asunder by his persecutors. are shown the dangers of flouting the Sabbath laws (Numbers 15:32-36),
But his disciples kept his fire alight. They passed down his oracles in oral challenging the unique prerogatives of the priestly hierarchy (Numbers 16:1
and written form. This material can be found, albeit interwoven with ff.), using the wrong incense recipe (Leviticus 10:1-3), touching the Ark of
numerous interpolations great and small, in Isaiah chapters 1-39- the Covenant without proper ritual preparation (2 Samuel 6:6-7), daring to
These "sons of the prophets,” i.e., disciples of the prophets, were guilds ridicule a prophet (2 Kings 2:23-25), welshing on one’s church pledge (Acts
of prophets themselves, and at length they issued their own prophecies, and 5:1-11), and taking the eucharist lightly (1 Corinthians 11:28-32).
the best of them were placed alongside those attributed to their master. Since
Just as the Book of Isaiah can be apportioned among three principal
the axiom of the ancient world was “The disciple is not above his teacher, but
authors, so can the Book of Eibon. The first Eibon is, of course, Clark Ashton
when fully trained will be like his teacher,” the disciples and successors
Smith, author of “The Coming of the White Worm,” chapter IX. Deutero-
sought to remain in the shadow of Isaiah; thus their oracles were attributed
Eibon is Lin Carter, who wrote by far the bulk of the book. The Trito-
to him. The greatest of these echoes of Isaiah was the anonymous prophet
Eibonic strarum is the work, primarily, of Laurence J. Cornford, who had,
whom we call the Second Isaiah (or Deutero-Isaiah), the author of Isaiah
purely as a hobby, ventured over many years to fill in some of the gaps in
chapters 40-55. Deutero-Isaiah prophesied on the eve of Cyrus’ conquest of
the Book as Carter had outlined it. Other Trito-Eibonic writers include John
Babylon and the end of the Babylonian Exile. He is scarcely less a poet than
Isaiah of Jerusalem, though his style is quite different, and he has his own R. Fultz and yours truly.
XXIV The Book of Eibon

J am proud to take a role analogous to that of Zayd ibn-Thabit, the

Muslim savant charged by the Caliph Abu-bekr to collect the various indi¬
vidual Surahs of the Koran for the first time into a book.

—Robert M. Price

Redactor of Mhu Thulan

History and Chronology of The Book of Eibon 3

About “History and Chronology

of The Book of Eibon"
O bviously modeled upon Lovecraft’s 1927 pamphlet “History of the
Necronomicon" and taking its title from August Derleth's edition of
HPL's work (“History and Chronology of the Necronomicon ’), this biblio¬

graphical pseudohistory pretends to provide the translation and publication

history of the Book of Eibon. As such, it parallels my brief survey in the
Introduction of Lovecraft’s developing concept of the Book of Eibon. But
whereas I have sought to trace the (by no means unilinear) evolution of the
concept in HPL’s mind, Lin Carter provided a harmonized account inter-
textual with the published stories themselves, part of their narrative uni¬
verse, the history of the book occurring implicitly in and between the sto¬
ries, not lying behind them in the minds of HPL and CAS.

It is obvious that a bibliographic pedigree such as this (or that given by

Robert E. Howard for Von Junzt’s Unaussprechlichen Kitlten in “The Thing on
the Roof”) has the function of supplying verisimilitude. It makes the Book of
Eibon seem more like a real book. But that is not its only function. Such a
“history and chronology” also serves as a distancing device. It prevents the
reader from too soon or too easily accepting the emerging character of the
grimoire as an actual revelation of arcane truth. Such a conclusion must
develop only gradually, as the reader is at first encouraged to maintain his
mundane disbelief and then weaned away from it by slow degrees. Only so
can dread and ominous unease mount. If the supernatural be taken for
granted at the start we are dealing with a fantasy, like The Lord of the Rings,
where the supernatural is defined into the ground rules of the narrative
world and cannot awe us. Thus the horror author wants to seem to discredit
the magic book first, make it appear like some old scrap book of supersti¬
tions, and later surprise us when it really works.

Let me provide an analogy, a perfect one, I think. In my teaching of bib¬

lical studies, I find students are regularly dismayed when I use historical crit¬
icism to disenchant the Bible. They have learned to take the Bible as the
Word of God, infallible and inerrant, as a given. For them it is practically a
fact of nature. What criticism does is to penetrate the holy guerdon of pious
propaganda and restore the Bible from the category of nature to that of his¬
tory. As I like to put it, criticism shows that the Bible did not simply fall out
of the sky one day. The marks of its origin among real human beings, not
gods, are everywhere evident, once one removes the dogmatic blinders.
Almost every biblical writing, for example, can be shown to be a patchwork
of traditions and interpolated texts having accumulated over the centuries.
These texts were hand-copied over many ages, suffering textual corruptions
 4
The Book of Eibo:

and corrections" which can now never be certainly restored. Even the choice
of which belong to the canon of scripture is hardly self-evident, and the table
of contents was many centuries under dispute and remains so today. History and Chronology of
All this, however, makes the spiritual riches of the Bible (or the Koran
or the Upanishads, of which the same things may be shown) all the more The Book of Eibon
wondrous, seeing that they break forth from pages which are entirely sub¬
ject to the vicissitudes of all merely human writings, which is just what they by Lin Carter
are. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Even so
with the Book of Eibon (or the Necronomicon). The books are shown to have
trickled down the centuries by hook and by crook, sometimes almost hap¬
hazardly, becoming garbled in translation, bowdlerized, corrupted, like
Wilbur Whateley's incomplete “Dee copy,” which nonetheless is able to tell
A I. The History

ccording to the traditional account, the so-called Book of

Eibon was originally written in the forgotten Tsath-yo lan¬
him how to “open to Yog-Sothoth.” Here the revelations are anything but guage somewhat more than a century before the onset of the
edifying, but the trick is the same, Despite the fact that these books are last Ice Age by the wizard Eibon of Mhu Thulan in a prehistoric polar
revealed to be mere human books, just as Wizard Whateley and Eibon and
land which the Greek and Roman writers, ages later, knew as
Alhazred are not gods but eccentric old men, the black truths they relate
“Hyperborea/’
surprise us by turning out to be all too real.
This “primordial manual of sorcery” was a “collection of dark
History and Chronology of the Book of Eibon' was originally published
and baleful myths, liturgies, rituals and incantations both evil and
as a Charnel House Chapbook by Lin Carter in 19S4.
esoteric.”1 Also, it preserved “the oldest incantations, and the secret,
man-forgotten lore of log-Sotot (Yog-Sothoth) and of Sodagui
(Tsathoggua).”2
After the death (or disappearance) of its original author, the text
was compiled, from manuscripts and treatises found amongst his
papers by Eibon’s favorite disciple Cyron of Varaad. Cyron himself
wrote an account, the Vita Ivonis, of his Master's life, and something
of his last days (which became chapter ix of book 11)9
A century or so later, when Hyperborea was abandoned before
the advance of the glaciers, a copy or copies of the Book were saved
from the collapse of Hyperborean civilization and were carried to the
mainland of Europe by the members of a secret brotherhood of sor¬
cerers, who revered Eibon’s memory/1
Copies of the Book probably existed in the first post-
Hyperborean settlements of Zobna, and Lomar, and in the later cities
of Sarnath in the southerly land of Mnar.
Many centuries later, followers of the great Prophet Kish (who
foretold the destruction and Fall of Sarnath) rendered the Book into
the language of their epoch, either shortly before or at some period
after their flight from Sarnath the Doomed/ The Book of Eibon is “said
to have come down through a series of manifold translations from
6 The Book of Eibon History and Chronology of The Book of Eibon

(the) prehistoric original/' and this is the first of these of which we covens, it failed to extirpate the circulation of Eibon’s malefic and
have any record/1 nightmarish tome.
The tradition asserts that a Punic translation from the Kishite Only in this century, so far as we know or may presume, has any
was made, about 1600 B.C., by the Syro-Phoenician scholar, Jmilcar attempt been made to put du Nord’s Norman-French into English:
Narba. There are faint traces of a Byzantine-Greek (or Graeco- however the version whereof I speak has only, as yet, appeared in
Bactrian—the authorities differ widely) version made at some date part, and is not yet completed.
subsequent to the Punic by an unknown writer, but we have merely
rumors of this and scant evidence. II. The Chronology

tury
Still later, perhaps as early as the ninth or as late as the tenth cen¬
A.D., the Medieval Latin translation of C. Philippus Faber, a copy
I append here an outline of the chronology as given by the famed
German occultist, Friedrich-Wilhelm von Junzt:
of which is preserved in the Library of Miskatonic University,7 was
written. From Die Unaussprechlichen Kulten,
At some period before the year 1200, it is thought most likely, Appendix ix (Dusseldorf, 1839)
the notorious necromancer Nathaire (whose name was raised fre¬
1. Written by the wizard Eibon in the Tsath-yo language in
quently and censoriously in the later witchcraft trials in the ancient
French province of Averoigne) discovered a copy of the Greek version Hyperborea before the Ice Age.

in, it was rumored, the tomb of an ancient wizard. (Some have spec¬ 2. Arranged and edited into its present form by Eibon’s pupil,
ulated that it was the same Graeco-Bactrian tomb in which the Cyron of Varaad, who contributed the Vita Ivonis and the text of
Testaments of Camamagos, to which Hyperborean origins are also
lib. II, ch. x.
ascribed, was uncovered about 935 A.D.)*
It was probably during the closing years of the 13th century that 3. Carried to Zobna and, later, to Lomar and Sarnath when

the celebrated alchemist and occult scholar, Gaspard du Nord of Hyperborea was abandoned to the advancing glaciers.
Yvones, made his famous translation of the Book into Norman-
4. The Kishite Recension. Translated into the tongue of Mnar by fol¬
French, calling it the Livre cl'Eibon. He had for his text not the Latin
lowers of the Prophet Kish, probably after their flight from the
version of Caius Philippus Faber, the Liber Ivonis, but the Greek. It
doomed city.
would almost have to have been the same copy excavated by Nathaire,
since du Nord had studied diabolism and necromancy, or so it was 5. The Punic Version. Made by the Syro-Phoenician writer, Imilcar
later testified, from Nathaire, and only quit the coven of Nathaire Narba circa 1600 B.C. All copies of the original Tsath-yo text
about a year before the commencement of the shocking event (called probably lost by this time.
the “Ylourgne Horror”) which brought about the downfall of his for¬
6. Liber Ivonis. Latin version by C. Philippus Faber. (10th Century
mer mentor, and which began in the spring of the year 1218.1,1
A.D.?)
* * *

7. Livre cl'Eibon. Translated into Norman-French, late 13th Century,

Insofar as scholarship knows, throughout its long history, the Book of by M. Gaspard du Nord.
Eibon has never been printed, only circulated in manuscript among
the secret cults of Europe and America. Even during the persecutions, 8. Copies of the du Nord translation were circulated in secret

when ecclesiastic authorities mistakenly (but understandably) sup¬ throughout Europe during the Medieval period. The book, in

pressed such cults, believing them all Satan-worshippers or witchcraft any version, is not known to have ever been printed.
 8
The Book of Eibon

(Note that the Herr Doktor seems unaware of the rumored Greek
translation.)

T he purpose of ancient documents like this one was to serve as succession

charters for the author who was or posed as the disciple of the saint he
111. Notes to the History
eulogized. Who better to lead the community in the Master's absence? One
1 Clark Ashton Smith, “Ubbo-Sathla.”
ancient example is The Life of Saint Anthony by Athanasius. He wrote it in

Smith, “The Holiness of Azederae.” tl|j£ midst of his contest with Arius over the issue of the divine nature of the
Christian Logos. The point was to claim the legacy of the great hermit for
' That is, “The Door to Saturn.” Athanasius, and so to claim the ascetic’s sanctity on behalf of Athanasius’
theological opinions. Another well known example would be the Gospel of
Exact data regarding the Pnakotic Mss. are lacking. They were John. As the Logosljesus “who is in the bosom of the Father” is the only one
brought down from Hyperborea by a secret cult (allied to that to have seen the Father and made him known (John 1:18), so the “Beloved
which preserved the Book ofFibon) & are in the secret Hyperborean Disciple” who lies “in Jesus’ bosom” (13:23) at the Last Supper is the priv¬
language.” H. R Lovecraft, in a letter to Richard F. Searight, dated ileged channel of access to the Risen Christ. The ancients did not sit in chairs
February 13, 1936, Selected Letters, vol. V to dine but lay on couches or on the floor, propping themselves on one
elbow. With thirteen men reclining around a low table, they would all be
Lovecraft, “The Doom that Came to Sarnath.” Carter, "The Stone pretty much “in each others’ bosoms,” and the Beloved Disciple reclines
from Mnar,” (unpublished). next to Jesus. Just as one must come to the Father through Jesus (14:6), so
Peter, if he wants to ask Jesus something (13:24-25) or follow Jesus in his
Smith, “Ubbo-Sathla.”
Passion, must go through the Beloved Disciple (18:15-16). Just as Jesus is
the Door to the Father (10:9; 14:6), i.e., one’s only access to him, and as the
According to Lovecraft in a letter published in Dreams and Fancies.
Babs (doors) to the Hidden Imam functioned as his visible spokesmen to the
According to Smith in “Ubbo-Sathla," Gaspard du Nord trans¬ Shi ite community, so does the Beloved Disciple function as the destined
lated the Etbon from a Greek version. Paraclete (16:7-15) for the Johannine community, hence the crisis ensuing
upon his death (the presupposition of the Johannine Appendix, chapter 2 1).
" For the histories of Gaspard du Nord, of the infamous Nathaire So in the present case: by writing this hagiography of the wizard Eibon,
and the “Ylourgne Horror,” see Smith’s story, “The Colossus of Cyron sought to position himself as the caliph of the group of Eibon’s disci¬
Ylourgne.” ples, playing Elisha to his master’s Elijah. As the writer of such a document,
Cyron (like the Beloved Disciple or Athanasius) established himself as the
10 The presumed date of du Nord’s translation—“late 13th cen¬
bearer of the official, canonical picture of Eibon that would continue to
tury”—is argued because Smith, in “Ylourgne,” informs us that guide the faithful.
du Nord, who obtained the manuscript in 1281, "lived in much
“The Life of Eibon by Cyron of Varaad” was first issued as a Charnel
honor to a ripe age.” In his published letters, H. R Lovecraft per¬ House chapbook in 1988.
sistently refers du Nord to the 12th century, which is incorrect. *
 0f Mhu Thulan, the province being at that time barren and unin¬
habited of men. There did he study the arts of necromancy and the
The Life of Eibon according three kinds of magic under the tutelage of that savant who was
accounted the foremost in all of Hyperborea during his age. And
to Cyron of Varaad there in the house of Zylac did Eibon bethink himself secure forever
from the vengeance of the inquisitors of Yhoundeh, for that he dwelt
by Lin Carter
afar from the customary habitations of men.

T
When that it came to pass, in the fullness of time, that Zylac per¬
I.
ished from his imprudent uses of the Zloigmish rituals, as Eibon hath
he sorcerer Eibon, son ofMilaab, was born in the city of Jqqua related in his Chapter the First, the youthful sorcerer rose up and fled
in the Year of the Red Worm. In that same year the doom therefrom, leaving behind him the house of black gneiss on its solitary
whereof the White Sybil had spake a century before came headland which overlooketh the cold waters of the boreal main. This
down upon the famous city of Commoriom and the king thereof, I consider to have eventuated in the thirteenth year that Pharnavootra
Lorquamethros, and all his folk, rose up and fled into the south to reigned in Uzuldaroum. Thus did Eibon commence his wanderings
establish the city of Uzuldaroum amidst the jungles of Zesh in the through many lands, at the first alone, but later in the company of a
land of Pharnath, abandoning forever splendid Commoriom to the certain Zaljis whom he encountered in Oggon-Zhai. This youth was a
abnormality Kyngathin Zhaum. fellow-seeker after dubious and occult knowledge, and together this
This Milaab had been Keeper of the Archives to Xactura, prince twain sought wisdom wherever it might be found, whether in the
of Iqqua, and long had he been high in the favor of that monarch. eldritch fanes of age-forgotten Utressor or amongst the shadow-
But when that the child Eibon had attained to his second lustrum, haunted tombs of Ulphar. Of the many and uncanny perils encoun¬
which was about the time of the death of King Lorquamethros, the tered by the twain beneath the purple spires of Mnardis, and of that
ecclesiarchs of the goddess Yhoundeh drave forth the family of curious affliction which befell the aged king of Zaroul, I shall say
Milaab into exile amidst the wilderness of Phenquor with their per¬
naught: for of these matters hath Eibon himself aforetime writ.
secutions, wherefrom the father of Eibon died not long thereafter and
the homeless and orphaned child sought refuge with a friendly
II.
enchanter, one Zylac, to whom he was apprenticed in the year that
King Pharnavootra succeeded to the throne of Uzuldaroum. I t was in that year wherein the Empress Amphyrene was crowned that

Now this Zylac was a celebrated magician who was then well- the sorcerer Eibon returned from his travelings to that drear and des¬

entered into the second century of his life, which by his art he had olate promontory of Mhu Thulan which fronted upon the sea, and

extended to an inordinate length as did Eibon himself in Iris own time. abode once more in the black house of Zylac which time had cleansed

The mage was then in his one hundred eleventh year, having been of its horror as all things are cleansed by the passage of the years.

born a year before the Sybil came into these parts out of the drear and And therein did he abide thereafter for all of the years of his life

frozen wastes of Polarion to prophesy concerning that which would in upon this Earth, as is well known amongst men. For by this time he

time befall great Commoriom, which is to say the Doom thereof. In waxed exceeding great in his fame, and was accounted as eminent as

his own youth the eminent Zylac had been the foremost of the disci¬ had been the thaumaturge Zylac before him. Throughout the one-
ples of Hormagor, the wizard of Abormis, whose curious history was and-thirty year reign of that empress did Eibon strive mightily to per¬
writ down by Eibon in his Chapter the Seventh. fect himself in his science; and it was in the Year of the Green Spider,
From his tenth into his three-and-twentieth year did Eibon dwell when the old empress succumbed and the prince consort ascended to
in the black house of Zylac, which arose on the westernmost shores the throne as Emperor Charnametros, that I, Cyron, did become
 12
The Book of Eibon Xhe Life of Eibon According to Cyron of Varaad 13

apprenticed to the celebrated Eibon. 1 was then at the terminus of my co purchase their charms and spells, their periapts and divinations,
fourth lustrum and from my natal city of Varaad in the land of from the wizard Cyron that had learnt his craft from none other
Phenquor had 1 come to study at the feet of the master, for that all of than the celebrated Eibon,
my life had I heard sung the famousness of Eibon. But no more shall I narrate in this vein, lest that it be said of me
He was then in his five-and-sixtieth year and by that time was that I wrote more of the pupil than of the teacher.
he reckoned the most potent and sagacious of the sorcerers of
Hyperborea. For twenty years thereafter did 1 serve as his lowly III.
apprentice, studying the arts of necromancy and the three kinds of
magic, and ever did 1 find him to be the kindliest of men, as he was
V ardanax was the last of the Dynasty of the Uzuldarines to name
himself by the name of emperor. When he died in the tenth year
the wisest of teachers and the most accomplished of magicians.
after his coronation and his sister, Queen Cunambria, succeeded to
In his person the Master Eibon was slight of build and sallow of
the throne, it could be seen throughout the land that the cultus of
complexion, with a round face for ever beardless, his lips adorned
Yhoundeh was grown vast and prodigiously powerful, for the hiero¬
with thin and silken and drooping mustachios. His eyes were
phant and grand inquisitor of the elk goddess, one Morghi by name,
thoughtful and hooded and amused, and he held himself fastidiously
didst proclaim it far and wide to the faithful that my master Eibon
aloof from the ways of men; however, he possessed a whimsical cast
was a depraved and infamous heretic; the which he would else have
of mind and a mocking humor, and was much given to ironic drol¬
forborne to do, in fear of Eibon, had he not felt himself secure and
leries. 1 bethink me that few things mattered aught to him, and
confident in the preeminence of his authority.
fewer still he cared for overmuch; and little of life or of the world did
The inquisitor Morghi further caused it to be bruited about that
he take very seriously, the least of all himself.
my master was given to worship in secret and by stealthy ways the
1 can see him now, as oftentimes I saw him a-strolling in his gar¬
Abomination Tsathoggua, an obscure and suppressed divinity which
den of curious trees, his slight form attired in thin robes of silk,
had formerly enjoyed the celebrance of the aboriginal Voormis in pre¬
bepatterned rose-and-golden after the manner of weavers of Pnar.
human cycles. These grunting and furry troglodytes, a dwindling
With his hands clasped behind his back he would saunter to and fro
vestige of primal eons, yet lingered as survivors of a forgotten age in
the length of his pleasaunce, all the while discoursing with subtle
the mountainous or remote or bejungled parts of Hyperborea which
wisdom and wry wit upon some deep and arcane topic, his brows were by the children of men shunned for that same reason.
wrapt in the immense and voluminous, bescarfed tarboosh which he Thus spake the inquisitor Morghi. But it was whispered abroad
affected after the fashions of the days of his youth.
that the persecution of my master was due to other reasons than
Pull many were the disciples of Eibon who came to the house of merely the theological lapse into heretical practices whereof he stood
black gneiss to study thaumaturgy at the master's feet. But of them accused. For this Morghi was himself become a thaumaturge of some
all I believe that it was I, Cyron, was the dearest to his heart; and renown; but as he ascended in the mastery of the penumbral arts,
this belief 1 cherish within mine own. Throughout the empery of ever he found to his disgruntlement that the great Eibon had tran¬
Charnametros, and the first years of Saphirion which followed, J scended his every achievement. Whether from pious horror at the sin
abode in the tall house of Eibon. But in the eighth year of of daemonolatry, as he so vociferously claimed, or from the simple
Saphirion’s empery, when that I was attained to the age of forty, did jealousy of a lesser magus for one who hath excelled him in the mas¬
1 part in amicable fashion from my master and eloigned myself tery of the uttermost arcana, it was indubitable that the hierophant
hence to the city of Varaad where 1 dwelt ever after, devoting my would never rest until Eibon had expiated his iniquities in a manner
years to the practice of wizardry. Many were the merchants and arti¬ sufficiently sanguinary and gruesome as to prove exemplary to all
sans of that city, aye, and the lords and burghers, as well, who vied others who wavered withal in their rectitude.
 The Life of Eibon According to Cyron of Varaad 15
14 The Book of Eibon

In the fullness of time I came to fear for my master, for all too the fronded calamus, dipt in the inky exudations of the squid, one

well didst I know the somber truth of the imprecations spewed forth 0f Ixeera's small and supple feliclae rubs its round and silken head

upon his name by the fanatical Morghi. In those lustrums which had athwart my knee with many affectionate slumbrous purrings. Not

followed upon the demise of Zylac, during his wanderings through for such as I, the worshipping of Tsathoggua!

many lands, Eibon had in sooth become a devotee of the obsolete and
interdicted cultus of Tsathoggua, as he himself hath writ in his IV
Chapter the Fifteenth. This demon dwells in the gloom of subter¬ -P) Ut to return to my History: in ordinary times 'twould have been
ranean N’kai, a cavernous region situate beneath the roots of Mount of scant concern to such as Eibon of Mhu Thulan, did the fren¬
Voormithadreth in the high Eiglophians. And thither did Eibon zied zealots of Yhoundeh rave against him spitefully, for he dwelt
descend in the daring and valor of his youth, led by Phraaponthus, afar off at the uttermost extremity of Mhu Thulan, and all that
the shaiUak-bxtd, the which beckoned him on, deep and ever deeplier, region from Pnar to the polar sea hath never been subject to the
into the Abyss. magistracy of Iqqua.
Thereinto he descended in search of such tenebrous and demon- But in the past hundred year or such, the cult of Yhoundeh had
guarded lore as might only be had from the vile and unspeakable lips risen to ascendancy; not only in Iqqua, where it first displaced and
of That which abideth from the eldermost beginnings of the earth then drave out the antique worship of quaint, ichthyoidal little
unto this very hour amidst the putrescence ol the Pit. And what he Qualk, the kindly god of fishermen; but also in the great city of
sought, he gained: for the Abomination Tsathoggua is equivocal and Oggon-Zhai, where of old the folk thereof made homage to
ambiguous of mind, and doth not invariably view all mortal men Kathruale, whose fanes be now neglected overmuch; in Zuth and
with malign or anthropophagic intent, but taketh, betimes, an odd Naroob, too; until at length all of the land of Zabdamar which fronts
quirksome liking for some of they who descend thither to the place upon the sea groaned beneath the dominion of the ecclesiarchs of the
whereat He wallows, in quest of Elder Lore. elk goddess.
Thus had I cause enough and more to entertain fears for my And ever since Prince Tuluum followed his aged grandsire,
master, knowing that like his father afore him he had hearkened to Xactura, to the throne of Iqqua, have the priests of Yhoundeh
the whisperings of the Black Thing that squatteth in the gloom of wielded both the power temporal and the power spiritual over that
N’kai. Oft, indeed, had he urged upon me that I should betake sea-affronting realm: and in the reign of Raanor, who succeeded
myself thither and do likewise, for only thus (he would solemnly Tuluum, the princedom of the Iqquasians laid claim to Mhu Thulan,
reiterate) are the Ultimate Mysteries to be plumbed. But ever, and or to those parts thereof the which bordered upon their country to
that steadfastly, did I decline to do this: for I am of Varaad, and from the north, which is to say the westernmost portion of the province,
that day, now ages gone, when first our ancestors came hither into and established jurisdiction and authority over that desolate region
these parts from dreamy Kamula amidst the Hills of Zalgara in formerly untenanted by men, if not in sooth dominion thereover. The
time-forgotten Thuria, fled before the coming-down of the war-like present prince, Pharool, second of that name, had yielded supinely to
Atlanteans, have we Varaadishmen worshipped the tribal goddess of the encroaching usurpations of the hierophant as meekly as ever did

our forefathers. From that far day to this have we staunchly adhered the four sovereigns which preceded him. Thus had Morghi not only

to our tutelary totem, which be, as all men know, Ixeera the cat god¬ the sanctions of law but also the royal prerogative to indict the

dess. Mayhap it be true that the goddess be naught more than the Master Eibon, the which authorities he was not overlong to employ

primal fetish of my race, as mine own master hath oftentimes against him.
admonished; but ever have I devoutly numbered myself among her It was in the vernal month of the Year of the Black Tiger, in the

celebrants. Even now, as I indite these words with reed-pen cut from third lustrum of Queen Cunambria’s reign, when my master came
16 The Book of Elbon The Life of Eibon According to Cyron of Varaad 17

suddenly and in secret during the nocturnal hours unto my lapis nightmare pages contain much that is suggestive of an authorship in
minaret which overgazeth the glories of Varaad. Seven-and-forty no wise to be considered remotely human nor even mammalian; and
years had transpired since last I clasped his hand, or looked into his chose of the Rituals of Yhe which survive into our epoch to preserve
smiling and hooded and cynical eyes, or heard his wry, humorous, chose black myths which are the terrible legacy of elder Mu; and the
oncc-familiar mode of speech; but in all that time, whilst I had Parchments of Pnom, containing both the Greater and the Lesser
grown grey and infirm and was much stricken in years, he had not Exorcisms of that magus, together with his unwholesome specula¬
altered by a whit. Albeit that he was then attained unto the prodi¬ tions into the true origin of man, with disturbing hints of a parent¬
gious age of one hundred and two-and-thirty, having thence eclipsed age cosmical, awesome, blasphemous and, happily, unproven.
by no fewer than eight years the span achieved by the venerable There were amongst these full many of the profound and incom¬
Zylac, he seemed nonetheless still nimble and slim, unbent by old mensurable writings of Eibon himself, and treatises upon the super¬
age, his sly and mocking visage smooth and unlined, and his deep mundane sciences, together with a scripture of inordinate length con¬
sardonic eyes undimmed. cerning the Descent of Tsathoggua and His Brethren out of the ven¬
With him he bore a plentitude of books and scrolls, of graven erable Pnom; which is to say naught of the veritable and unques¬
tablets and folios, the which 1 recognized to be the choicest and most tioned Grimoire of Eibon, into whose more tenebrous pages I have
valuable tomes and treatises from his librarium; and these he looked but once, then nevermore: for an old man needeth his rest and
beseeched me to preserve against theft or harm and to keep safe there be that within the testaments of Eibon which would render for
against the occasion of his return. There were amongst this trove ever unendurable the dreams of a mere Cyron.
many a tome or document of sorcerous lore most precious and His folios contained redactions of that which his abstruse and
exceeding rare—aye, precious beyond the dreams of avarice and rare recondite studies into antiquarian matters had uncovered concerning
above the keenest aspirations of the bibliophile. And when I inquired the lives and times of the primal magi of former cycles. Well and
of Eibon wherefore J shouldst ward these books and scriptures, he but fondly do I remember these fables from the years I knelt at the mas¬
grimly smiled and answered, saying, So that they fall not into the ter’s feet imbibing wisdom; for it had ever been his wont to relate
hands of Morghi! And, these admonitions having spake, he said these to his students in the nature of parables or cautionary tales, in
naught more, but bade me a brief farewell. And never again obvious hope that we might learn from the several quaint and,
thenceafter did I look upon his face, or leastwise not with the eyes of betimes, gruesome ends which had befallen these unfortunate
the flesh. For not long after this did there come down upon him the savants, to exhibit in our own practice of sorcery a restraint and a
ireful Morghi, and the henchmen of Morghi, whereupon befell the
prudence superior to theirs.
strange and full marvelous evanishment of Eibon from the bourns of It became in time apparent from a scrutiny of these parchments
men, and with him Morghi, too, whereat the world still wonders. that he had been in the midst of assembling them into a sequential
narrative, which labors were interrupted by the untimely persecu¬
V. tions of Morghi. I betook upon myself the tasks of completing that
I n the years which followed upon the heels of these events, have 1 which had been begun.
Time passed, as wast ever time’s way, and my master returned not
toiled over the scrolls and volumes of Eibon, and perused the dark
and terrible volumes of equivocal lore thus bequeathed into my keep¬ to resume his customary habitation in that house of black gneiss upon
ing. Not the least amongst the which were the Voormish Tablets, its drear and solitudinous promontory whose steep and precipitous
whereon of old the dreadful arcana of the troglodytes wast engraven shores are washed-about by the cold waves of the ultimate polar sea.
by uncouth and bestial paws; and that which is still decipherable by Nor would he return ever again from whence he had fled, for at length
men of the Pnakotic Manuscripts; and the Kadath Record, whose did I ascertain by mine art the curious and unlikely termination of his
 ^li^Life of Eibon According to Cyron of Varaad 19
18 The Book of Eibon

career, in penumbral spheres remote from our own, and that which cjie task, this poor account of the life and times of the Master Eibon,

transpired in the far and fabulous bourns which lie beyond the ill- 50 chat his name shall not be forgotten on the lips of men.
And into the hands of mine own pupil, Alabbac, shall I deliver
rumored tablet of ultra-telluric metal whereof the elder magi whisper
jn the hour of my death this very Book of Eibon which I have at length
much, and little that be wholesome, and the which wast known of old
iind in the fullness of time compiled from amongst his scrolls and
as the Door to Cykranosh.
scriptures, so that the wisdom of Eibon may survive my time to the
This uncanny Portal had been a gift made unto Eibon by the
enlightenment of generations yet unborn. This is as my master would
dark divinity whose votary he had long accounted himself, even the
have wished; and so I discharge my trust to him.
dire and dubious Tsathoggua; the daemon had made present of it,
saying, in a manner sly and cryptic, that in the uttermost extremity
VII.
of his need my master should find it as a Door the which leadeth to
a far haven of safe repose. But what the Black Abomination spake H ere endeth the Life of Eibon according to Cyron of Varaad,
which Alabbac of Mnardis had from his teacher in the hour of
not of, was that once a man passeth therethrough, he can never
return thereby again. Of these mysteries did I inquire of my master’s his death, and the which was passed on to me, Harood of Kalnoora,

own spirit, conjured by mine art into a wizard’s speculum of black m the time of the death of King Pharapha in the three-and-twenti-

steel as he himself had taught me aforetime, therefore 1 know ech year of his reign, and of the coronation of Thaarapion; the which
shall I also bequeath to the wisest of mine own disciples when that
whereof 1 speak; but of these matters I shall speak no more in this
my last hour draweth nigh, so that this lore and wisdom shall not be
place, for 1 have elsewhere writ an account of the latter days of Eibon,
and of that Door to Cykranosh, and the prodigies thereof, in a nar¬ lost to men.
This true and veritable copy of the Book of Eibon was set down in
rative set down in mine own poor words, the which have 1 added
mine own hand in the sixteenth year of the reign of King Rhastazoul,
herein as Chapter the Twentieth.
the fourth monarch of the Cerngothic Dynasty to hold the throne of
Uzuldaroum, the which was even the one hundredth year since the
VI.
vanishment from this Earth of the great sorcerer Eibon. In this same
T he old queen hath died, and with her the dynasty of the year was the Coming of the Great ice whereby was the province of
Mhu Thulan whelmed under the eternal snows and thereby rendered
Uzuldarines is ended, as well; and it be rumored amongst men
that her nephew, Zorquus, prince of Cerngoth, will reign hencefor¬ forever uninhabitable by men. #
ward in Uzuldaroum, and his son, Pharapha, after him. But these are
matters which concern me little, for I doubt me that ever shall 1 live
to see them come to pass.
This very eve did 1 raise Charnadis from the shadows, even
Charnadis the Daemon of Time, to whom the ages past and ages yet
to come are as one, for such is the fullness of the vision of Charnadis.
And from the daemon did I inquire after the manner of my demise,
and from the lips of Charnadis did I learn that erelong and in the first
year of the empery of Zorquus shall I journey hence into that vast and
mysterious Enigma the which lieth beyond Death’s black and
ineluctable gates. But ere mine eyes grow dim and my hand loseth his
cunning, have 1 set down, in words however cursory and unequal to
20 The Book of Eibon

About “Eibon Saith”

M odern histories of philosophy attempt to catalogue the evolving sys¬
Eibon Saith;
tems of thought spun out by the great thinkers. Ancient philosophers or, The Apophthegmata of Eibon
and sages were many of them no less systematic in their thinking than their
modern heirs, as witness Plato and Aristotle. But a number of the ancients
saw that they could communicate best by means of aphorisms pointed like
by Robert M. Price
arrows into the bad consciences and befuddled consciousnesses of their con¬
temporaries. Like the Hasidic masters of East European Jewry, sages and 1. When asked why he preferred the company of demons to that of
sophists like Diogenes of Sinope and Socrates were best enshrined in the
men, Eibon replied, “Because demons are not hypocrites.”
genre of apophthegmata, anecdotes, or pronouncement stories (also called
chreia). These were bare stories supplying just enough in the way of setting 2. Once when Morghi the Inquisitor accosted Eibon the mage in the
and characters to set the reader/hearer up for the punch line: a right- marketplace, saying, “O Eibon, how long wilt thou worship false
between-the-eyes saying from the Master. This might be a proverb or a joke;
gods^” he is said to have replied, “Until someone showeth me a true
in any case, it would be memorable and brief. If it could, a pronouncement
one to worship.”
story would be only a pronouncement, not a story, but sometimes the rocket
needs a launch pad. 3. One of his disciples asked him why a wizard must never take a
There are many, many collections of such apophthegmata the world over. wife. Eibon said to him, “For a wizard must needs silence the demons,
The gospels contain many. Diogenes Laertius relied upon them for his stock
and a wife can no man silence.”
in trade in his Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. There were many making the
rounds, because in the Hellenistic age, students of rhetoric were commonly 4. A certain rich man said unto Eibon, “O mage, what profiteth thee
assigned to show how well they understood a figure like Socrates by mak¬ thy learning, when thou hast no possessions from it?” Eibon
ing up anecdotes to depict him saying what one would expect Socrates to
answered, saying, “He who knows the world owns the world.”
say to a given question, in a particular hypothetical situation. Thus we can¬
not tell in many cases which if any such anecdotes actually go back to the 5. A devil mocked the sorcerer Eibon, saying, “O mortal, pitiful is thy
sage whose name they bear, even when they seem to ring true. lot! For thy knowledge can never make thee aught but mortal!” But
J have here adopted the technique of Diogenes Laertius who summa¬ Eibon answered him, “I am not the vapour that strains to fill the sky
rized what he could of the life of each thinker he chronicled, and then
and is lost; rather, I am the empty jar that seeketh but to be filled.”
appended a list of apophthegms to bring the figure to life for the reader.
Lin Carter’s Cyron of Varaad has told us the life of his master Eibon. I have 6. A youth came and said to him, “Eibon of Mhu Thulan, men say
merely appended some of the great mage’s pearls of wisdom. J will not thou art very evil.” The magus smiled upon him and answered, “It is
hide the fact that Eibon of Mhu Thulan, as he spoke to me, partakes more
that they lack the word for a greater good.”
than a little of Diogenes of Sinope the Cynic, of Jesus as we meet him in
the Sufi sayings tradition, and of Nietzsche’s Zarathustra. He who has ears, 7. One day Eibon sat teaching his disciples of the ways of magic, say¬
let him hear. ing, “Suppose I say unto you, the sum of two and two is three. Would
^ny of you believe it? Rightly not.” He then took in his hand a ball
of iron. “Now if I tell you the sum of two and two is three and I make
the ball to vanish—” and here, before all their eyes, the ball did van¬
ish—“what have I thus proven?”
And one ventured, “My lord, thou hast proven that the sum of
two and two is indeed three!”
22 The Book of Eibon kibon Saich 23

“Nay," said Eibon, “I have but proven that I am able to make the [4. Eibon saich, “If the Lord of the world offer thee the world with
ball to vanish, and nothing more.” the right hand and knowledge with the left, choose knowledge; for

the world not known is vain.

8. Eibon of Mhu Thulan was said to be expert in the atts of necro¬ “If he offer thee everlasting life with the right hand and knowl¬
mancy. They say how once he held converse with a mummy many edge with the left, choose knowledge; for better is it to know oneself
centuries dead. The mummy said to him, ‘‘I envy thee, for that thou dying than to live forever heedless.”
still knowest thy joys.” But Eibon answered, ‘‘And J envy thee, for
15. A comely succubus appeared unto Eibon and sought to tempt
that thy sorrows are all behind thee.”
him, wooing him with honeyed tones: “Come and take me, O Eibon,
9. In elder times the land did suffer much on account of the ill-will for am I not delightsome?” Eibon looked up from his scrolls, saying,

between the wizards who little trusted one another, and each did “Nay, but 1 should say thou art the most exceedingly wretched
among creatures, for that, being but the semblance of flesh, thou
begrudge his fellow his own secrets. When asked why he stood aloof
hast nonetheless a carnal mind, forfeiting the blessings both of flesh,
from such feudings, Eibon answered, “My quarrel is with ignorance,
which thou art not, and of spirit, which thou art.”
not with the ignorant.”
16. Some approached Eibon, having been warned by the Sybil that all
10. A fearful man besought the mage Eibon to give him some talis¬
of Hyperborea should one day fall prey to the creeping ice. “Whither
man to protect him against demon possession. But Eibon said, “O
shall we flee, O Eibon?” He answered them, “What, think ye there is
man, are devils greater fools than men, that they should seek to pos¬ some country wherein the Grim Reaper shall not find a man at last?
sess that which hath no value?”
17. When asked what advantage he found in serving Zhothaqquah
11. One day as the sorcerer Eibon made his way through the coun¬ the sleeping god, Eibon replied, “Rather would 1 believe in a god that
tryside, a swine did speak to him with the voice of a man, saying, sleepeth than that the travails of the world should be the will of a
“Have mercy, gentle Eibon! 1 am in truth Beliarnoth the merchant, waking providence.”
and a witch hath imprisoned me in the body of a swine!” Whereupon
18. Once Eibon sat in the drinking-house when one began to calum¬
Eibon did answer, “Rather, O pig, J should say the crone did but
niate the Voormis and to urge war be made against them.
restore thy true form, freeing thee from the false seeming of a man.” Whereupon quoth Eibon, “Wherefore? What evil have they done

12. Of all the disciples of Eibon, one found it harder than the rest to thee, O man?”
The man smote the table and answered, “They are little more
comprehend the magical precepts, so that oft had the mage to repeat
than beasts, with their shambling gait and shaggy pelts!'
himself. One day, in that disciple's absence, the others gathered
And Eibon laughed, saying, “Just yesterday 1 sat among the
round their master and asked him, “Lord Eibon, wherefore bearest
Voormis, and much sport did they make of you men, piebald and lep¬
thou with such obtuseness?” And he did rebuke them, saying, “For
rous as you seem to them.”
in another life, 1 am he.”
19. Eibon saith, “Better to die from ignorance than to kill from
13. A drought wasted the land, and many died, both men and beasts. ignorance.”
And most of the villagers looked unto Eibon’s tower and said it was
20. When asked why he kept no slaves, he replied, “For the spirit
even his doing. Reporting these things to him, his servant asked why
within man is a wild beast, and if one spend all his time taming a
his master sought not to vindicate himself. He answered, “Tor it is
beast, he hath no time left to ride the beast.” #
better that men should blame than that they should despair.”
 Double Tower 27

About “The Double Tower”

W hat exactly is going on in this story? The tower is double because it
is temporarily in two places at once, and this happens because
Zloigiri cries a bit too hard to get his unwilling guest to spill the beans. “So
you won’t talk, eh? We have ways of making you talk!” He causes a space
warp and, finally a body-switcheroo between himself and the tight-lipped
(actually no-lipped) mildew-man. It may be poetic justice for Zloigm to be
trapped within the fungoid form of his torture victim, but how are we to
understand the plot as issuing in this outcome? There really must be some
logical progression, or we are going to be forced to conclude Lin just ran out
of gas and fell back on his threadbare device of having the shifty sorcerer
turn into the monster he invokes (“The Scroll of Morloc," “The Utmost
Abomination").
It isn’t as clear as it should be, but it seems to me that Lin ptepared the
way for the irony of the end by making such a big deal of how Zloigm took
a perverse delight in causing alien intelligences to take up temporary resi¬
dence in moldering corpses to interrogate them. And he himself was soon
trapped in a body of mold, period! And mute mold at that!
So it balances out that he should wind up as he does, but is there nar¬
rative motivation for it? Has something happened that accounts for it, or is
it just a case of arbitrary authorial fiat? Zloigm was trying to get blood from
a stone, failing to realize his prisoner couldn’t speak. He kept pouring on
the juice, upping the voltage. As if to find some way to get around the
impasse and relieve the pressure, karma or nature or something contrived a
way to give the mold-man a voice after all, the only set of vocal cords avail¬
able being those of Zloigm himself. And if he’d still been there, he could
have heard the answers to his questions.
One question I'd like answered is how the hell Zloigm knew about
“radioactivity” in ancient Hyperborea? What word of Eibon’s did Carter
translate thus? But, what the hey, anachronisms are all part of the fun when
it comes to spurious ancient scriptures, as in Woody Allen's “The Scrolls"
Without Feathers, 1976 p. 25): “The authenticity of the scrolls is currently in
great doubt, particularly since the word ‘Oldsmobile’ appears several times
in the text."
“The Double Tower" (not to be confused, mind you, with Smith’s “The
double Cosmos" or “The Double Shadow”) appeared first in Weird Tales,
Winter, 1973.
 The Double Tower 29

immemorial necropolis, by powerful genii bound subservient to his

And many the frightful secret of an age-forgotten demonology
The Double Tower: word.

was hoarsely whispered to him by the dry, worm-fretted lips of some

withered lich, wrapped in dusty cerements redolent of ancient spices
The History of Zloigm the Necromancer and the sharp mineral stench of tomb-natron, which housed the cap¬
tive ghost of some prehistoric wizard of repute. On yet other such
by Lin Carter

R equiring solitude wherein to pursue his study of the antique

goeties, Zloigm, premier archimage of the race of sentient
occasions, a spirit thus conjured up from the depths of time was
forced to vivify a cunningly-contrived automaton of sparkling brass,
or grotesque idols of rough-hewn and porous lava, magically ren¬

. ophidians which immediately preceded man in the dominion dered capable of audible speech.
Over the lapse of interminable years, having by these means
of this planet, turned from the teeming, basaltic warrens of his kind
to the desolate and uninhabitated plateaux of the interior of the pri¬ exhausted the arcana of the purely mundane sorcerers of extinct civ¬

mordial continent of the serpent-men. There, among steep scarps of ilizations of the forgotten prime, Zloigm eventually came to cast his

glittering obsidian, cleft by vertiginous chasms whose silence was questing spells yet further afield. And into his conjurational circle he

riven only by the intermittent spouting of geysers, he found at last summoned the spiritual essences of weird and monstrous beings
the solitude which he desired. Where fuming volcanic peaks soared ultra-telluric magi which dwelt on distant planets remote in either

to pierce the zenith, on a flint-strewn plain which shuddered ever to time or space, or made their abode in the husks of burnt-out stars,

interminable subterranean convulsions, he caused to be raised his or within the radioactive nuclei of certain far-wandering comets. So

lonely tower of ebon glass by the bitter shores of a black tarn, and adept had the ophidian magus become by this time in the tedious
commenced his studious inquiries into the most abstruse and recon¬ and exacting art of the invocation of spirits, and to so adroit and sub¬
dite of the elder thaumaturgies. tle and profound a magistry had he attained, that it was not only
Fundamental to the acquisition of this wisdom was the forbidden within his power to summon up the apparitions of the dead, but of
science of necromancy, and in the practice of this penumbral and grue¬ the living as well, whose astral or spectral counterparts he could
some craft had Zloigm become proficient to a superlative degree. force to him even across the untold distances of interstellar or trans-
From the indistinct lips of the spectres of the most celebrated of pri¬ galactic space. And many and unthinkably alien were the bizarre
mordial mages, conjured hence by his art from remote and fabulous abnormalities he called to his circle for due questioning. Some there
bourns, he wrung the most jealously-guarded formulae and litanies, were who, in their normal sphere, were accustomed to go about on
and the secrets of the most legendary of the pentacles and sigils of lost two legs, or four, or six; and some that lacked the pedal extremities
antiquity which had lapsed from mundane knowledge aeons before. entire, and slithered on their bellies in the quaking slime like unto
Those phantoms which proved stubborn or disobedient to his will he gigantic worms, or swam in the perpetual night that reigns in the
cowed with the threat of certain spiritual rigors and torments, or else uttermost depths of nameless seas, or drifted aloft forever on the
prisoned within the surface of a mirror of black steel where they must eternal winds of storm-lashed worlds upon untiring and rigid pinions
dwell forever, trapped in a hell of two dimensions only, until they °f animate crystal.
repented of their obduracies and yielded up to Zloigm the cantrips or With one extra-terrestrial intelligence in particular did the
invocations or liturgies of which he required knowledge. naagus desire to hold converse. He had learned of its existence from
Betimes, for greater convenience, he fleshed such phantasms a race of sagacious arthropods who dwelt in caverns beneath the crust
within gaunt and umber mummies transported to his lone and soli¬ uf a frozen satellite which revolved about the double star Pornox in
tary abode from many a hidden crypt, or buried vault, or lost and die constellation of the Mantichora. The insectoid sages spoke of this
 31
30 The Book of Eibon Th* Double Tower

being (whom they knew by the unpronounceable name, Crxyxll) in intless inquisition, Zloigm uttered the Greater Dismissal, and,

the most enthusiastic terms, for they held its attainments in the ^b l iterating the nine pentacles of Sgandrom and extinguishing the

arcane philosophies in the highest esteem. They described it to gUI1cruinary luminance of the seven lamps of hollowed ruby, he broke

Zloigm as an intelligent crawling white mould, which was the lone four cardinal points the triply-drawn circle of phosphoric

and solitary denizen of an otherwise deserted world circumambulant powder, and closed his book.
to a dim and nigh-extinguished sun called Kir, which was situated in Fatigued to the extremities of his vigor by his unremitting thau-

the very remotest of the spiral nebulae, in those regions adjacent to maturgical labors, the ophidian necromancer glided from the conju-

ominously-rumored Shaggai which lies near the ultimate verge of rational chamber and sought to recreate himself by a stroll through

angled space. rhe gardens adjacent to his tower. This pleasaunce, however, to his

The sentience Crxyxll, however, proved obdurate in the extreme surprise and consternation, he discovered no longer to exist. Instead

and Zloigm was forced to employ the most dire and stringent modes of his topiary garden of bizarre Mesozoic flora, he found himself

of persuasion at his command; but the philosophic mould succeeded amidst a foetid grove of loathsome and tumescent fungi, whose

in resisting every conjuration in the grimoire of the necromancer. At swollen and phallic and hooded crests soared swaying to every side,

length, grown frustrated by the obstinacy of the mould-entity, exuding a singularly vile and noxious putrescence, even as their glis¬

Zloigm cast aside all prudence and sonorously intoned a ritual of such tening and spongy boles were stained and blotched with the rancid

supernal and transcendent authority as to command even the pres¬ cankers of oozing and liquescent decay.
ence of one of the Elder Gods. As he enunciated the monstrous Unable to easily account for this cryptic phenomenon, Zloigm

cacophonies of this frightful incantation, the heavens darkened omi¬ traversed the fungus-grove with the boneless and undulant grace of

nously; the ivory moon veiled her pallid visage in mist, as if reluctant his kind, fastidiously avoiding the slightest contact with the pustu-

to attend the ultimate blasphemy, and the wan and timid stars fled, lant and sickening growths. He sought instead the peaceful shores of

one by one, from the nocturnal zenith. Beneath the audacious necro¬ the bitter and lonely tarn, where it was oft his wont to stroll the crys¬

mancer the earth shuddered and the very foundations of his tower talline strand in melancholy reverie. But the tarn, as well, had inex¬

groaned aloud as if in protest: but naught deterred the ophidian from plicably vanished, and in its place he found himself gliding the giddy

the consummation of the ritual. verge of a precipitous chasm. And within the depths of this abyss he

There soon materialized before Zloigm a dim luminance, a haze glimpsed scarlet horrors of indefinite shape that writhed and slith¬

of light, a blur of phosphoric ectoplasm which floated, insubstantial ered in the most noxiously suggestive manner amidst miasmic and

as a vapor, within the triply-drawn Circle of Power. But albeit his bubbling slime.
endeavors at invoking the spirit of the mould-savant had at last even¬ It became indubitable that some malign transformation had

tuated in success, naught Zloigm could do would force the apparition been worked upon Zloigm s solitary demesne, doubtless through the

into speech. To his several attempts to extract from the recalcitrant enchantments of an insidious and vindictive rival. Turning from the

Crxyxll the ultimate arcana of his magistry, the phosphorescent spec¬ bp of the shadowy gulf, wherein whose deeps the half-glimpsed hor-

tre preserved a truculent and adamantine silence. tors had not ceased from their repugnant and profoundly disquieting

In vain did the ireful necromancer threaten the entity with the Gigglings, the necromancer sought again the sanctuary of his lone

Yggrr Incantation, the Nn’gao Elixir, and with nine periapts carven and solitary citadel—only to find a further encroachment of the

from the ivory teeth ol pterodactyls. Likewise did it remain obdu¬ metamorphosis, which he now saw to be progressive. For in the place

rately silent before the Scarlet Sign, the Z Light, and the Chian °f his somber and majestic tower there now rose an atrocious struc¬

Games. Even the curse-litany of Glorgne, which he recited in the ture of virulent and nauseous hues, constructed according to the hap¬

Xu language, failed to excite it to speech. Wearying at last of his hazard principals of some weird and prodigiously alien geometry. The
 33
32 The Book of Eibon ^Doubl£ Tower

aht that the sequential transformation was now, presumably, com-

eye-wrenching colors and dizzying, impossible curves and angles ol
Sfet;e- and that he had/itW/become interchanged with the being of
the architectural abomination were utterly repugnant to one of his
’^e recalcitrant Crxyxll, and was now become a squirming and dis-
race and temperament.
usting thing like unto a white and crawling mould.
As he contemplated the loathsome spire with commingled
SU The matrix of space and time shimmered and then grew stable
bewilderment and ire, there slowly rose into view behind it an
rTain but the alien panorama remained unchanged. He realized by
immense and dimly luminous orb of ghastly and leprous hue. Zloigm
this that the innate resilience of space had, as anticipated, re-asserted
at once recognized the mottled and ebbing luminary for that wan,
icself the unnatural simultaneity of the double tower had termi-
demising star about which the insect-sages had informed him the
natecl_but that he remained trapped in this hideous travesty of a
else-deserted world of the philosophic mould revolved. And there
form, while, presumably, the mind and spirit of the mold-philosopher
came to him there, as he stood amidst the festering grove of stalked
currently resided in his own superior and comely body^ doubtless
and nodding fungi, some intimation of the extent of his predicament.
even at this moment sampling the elaborate spectrum of sensuous
It was not, as he had first conjectured, the malison of some iniquitous
and aesthetic pleasures the unique accomodations of his tower
rival sorcerer which had worked this malevolent metamorphosis—but
afforded.
bis oivn temerity in uttering the forbidden and blasphemtc ritual.
Even before the whelming realization, Zloigm did not deign to
Indeed, so titanic had been his efforts to force the obdurate
yield to despair: for the metamorphosed ophidian knew that to give
Crxyxll hither, that he had bent awry the very fabric of space itself,
utterance to the name of but one of the potent genu who served him
and his own somber spire and the garish and atrocious abode of the
would undo this dreadful and nightmarish transmutation.
alien entity now simultaneously occupied the same point in space and
He thought, therefore, to open his lipless mouth in order to cry
time. The fullest implications of this uncanny simultaneity did not at
aloud, in the hissing and sibilant speech of his kind, upon Marbas or
once dawn upon the cold intelligence of the ophidian: neither did he Focalor or Zepar or Bifrons. But no outward physical manifestation
suffer undue dismay or perturbation at the ominous tendency of this accompanied the mental command. Then, and then only, did the
sequence of transmutations, for he knew that the texture of space is misfortunate necromancer taste the full bitterness of despair and hor¬
pliable and resilient only to a degree, and that this unnatural condi¬ ror, and savor the gall of the knowledge of his peculiar doom.
tion could not long endure and would soon terminate, the superim¬ For the sentient crawling white mould, whose body he now
posed towers returning each to its customary coign at opposite poles inhabited forever, quite naturally, alike all of its extinct kind, pos
of the universe. As well, his memory retained spells and cantrips of sessed no slightest vestige of the organs of audible speech. #
prodigious and transcendent magnitude, the very utterance of which
would summon to his aid, across the breadth of the cosmos itself if
need be, daemons and genii and elemental of awful and terrific
mightiness, bound to his servitude by unsunderable vows.
Therefore it was with a certain chill amusement rather than with
any trepidation that he traversed the loathsome garden towards the
alien spire of revolting configuration and nauseating hues, but, of a
sudden, found the undulant, gliding perambulation of his serpen-
tkind now altered to a mode of peculiar and unseemly locomotion. In
a word, he now moved forward by a singular crepitation ol innumer-
ous segmentations, and, turning his astounding vision upon his own
person, he saw, by a sense of perception in no wise identical with
34 The Book of Eibon

About “The Devouring of S’lithik Hhai”

M r. Fultz, editor of the on-line magazine Cosmic Visions, has unearthed
The Devouring of S’lithik Hhai:
the following tale, a hitherto unknown chapter of the Book of Eibon,
which he has taken time out from his editorial duties to translate painstak¬ The History of X’hyl the Apothecary
ingly from the original tablets which he stumbled upon (literally) while on
a skiing expedition to Greenland. His downhill slalom was rudely inter¬ by John R. Fultz
rupted and his trajectory of smooth descent altered to one of swift ascent
when he saw, too late, the stony text protruding from the slope in front of
him. While in traction, he pored over the ancient artifact, first thinking it
to be an early draft of the Book of Mormon, but at length recognizing that
M uch has been written of the legendary serpent-men who
ruled this earth before the rise of mankind to preeminence

more money might be made should it turn out to be from the Book of Eibon among the terrene species. Deeply versed in the arts of
instead. And a momentous find it is, as it discloses for the first time the facts eldritch science, alchemy, and sorcery, the cold-blooded savants
leading to the descent ofTsathoggua to this planet. reigned unchallenged beneath the youthful sun. And in these days,
But seriously, folks, you’ll note that, though Fultz has gone with they all but vanished. How came so great a fall to so mighty a race?
Lovecraft's toad version of the god instead of Smith’s diminutive bat-sloth,
Of the demise of their empery divers tales are noised. There are
he has nonetheless gtafted his tale directly onto Smith’s original concept of
those among the erudite who are wont to tell of man s early mastery
Tsathoggua’s advent on ancient Hyperborea right from Cykranosh, disre¬
garding Smith’s later cumbersome (one might even say Derlethian) harmo¬
of the arts of warfare, and to dote upon the righteous savagery of our
nization with Lovecraft’s ‘‘The Mound.” And why shouldn’t he? After all, hirsute ancestors who did put the wicked serpent-folk to the sword
we’re dealing with a set of myths, aren’t we? And as Lovecraft pointed out and cleansed fair Hyperborea of their venom. There are aged schol¬
Jong ago, you come to expect irreconcilable contradictions between myths, ars, too, who claim the breed of walking serpents did bring about
as they represent the varied speculations of different priests and story tellers,
their doom, by the heedless practice of uncouth sorceries and
as well as local variants spun out independently of one another, (Take a look
alchemies, unleashing dread powers that even their craft could not
at Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths sometime.) The same phenomenon per¬
sisted in the generation of the fictive Cthulhu Mythos and Commoriom master. And still others maintain that it was the shifting of the great
myth-cycle, since Lovecraft, Smith, Searight, and others felt free to develop sun that robbed the serpents of the baking heat needful unto their
each other’s concepts as ideas struck them, not waiting to check them out kind, as continental jungles dried and became fertile plains or cool
with each other before rushing to the typewriter. mg tundras. But of these none knoweth the truth of the affair, and
for that it is known unto me, Eibon of Mhu Thulan, it behooves me

to recount it.
Like unto the Oroboros, the mouth of which seizeth upon the
tail of which, did their dominion encompass the whole disk of Earth,
slithering out across the young world from its black heart in the bub¬
bling fens of the new-made Hyperborean continent. The seat of their
great, swampy kingdom was named S’lithik Hhai, a forest of serpen¬
tine towers whose pinnacles rose to heights beyond the cloying
clouds, into the uppermost air of the world, where unknown beasts
out of the starry void sometimes alighted on fluted spires, gazing
down upon the massive works of those who dwelt below.
36 The Book of Eibon flic Devouring of STithik Hhai 37

Now there abode among the highest ranks of the serpent-folk, discovered far off in the mountains of the East: a smallish race of thin
those called the Hith, an apothecary of surpassing renown, even and furry ape-men, and possessed of rudimentary intelligence. It was
X’hyl the Wise. X’hyl was master of a sky-stabbing tower in the l gutter of great amusement that the simple cave-dwellers should
midst of the capital city, and his breweries and distilling vats pro¬ make to resist the raiding sorties of the Hith, their stone-fashioned
duced many of the poisonous draughts beloved by the Hith during Spcars and flint axes proving useless against the hunting demons
their feasting revelry. And so his frequent entrances upon the courts which served the serpent-men. No retreat, however deep, into their
of the ancient serpent king were causes for glad rejoicing, and joy¬ inmost catacombs preserved them from capture by their reptilian
fully was he ever hailed by the royal retinue, who seldom roused their overlords. And ever the Hith returned, having discovered a marvelous
torpid forms from their finely-inlaid sunning stones arrayed semicir- delicacy, which they transported in ever greater numbers back to their
cularly about the high throne. All would rise with one accord to greet great city to await a hideous doom in the king’s banqueting chamber.
X’hyl the Wise and his cadre of apprentices as often as these should On a certain night of feasting in the royal court, X'hyl the Wise
appear, bearing with them casks of delicious, venomous vintages took notice of an odd sound among the fervent screams of the
fresh concocted. squirming bipeds, as they were being lazily devoured. It had occurred
Oftimes the reptile king’s celebrations began with a sporting to no one that the soft-furred mammals might possess any sort of
round of philosophic discussion as to the nature and purpose of language, but the keen ear of X’hyl, used as he was to all manner of
Hithian existence, moving on at length to scientific or sorcerous prin¬ obscure vocables, took note. At length, he felt sure he was right, as
ciples. When the ruby-crowned monarch grew tired or bored with incredible as it seemed. A word now became clear to him amidst the
such discourse, various colorful demons might be summoned forth to keening wails of the ape-things, repeated again and again by various
rant and caper before his gleaming couch-throne, to the high amuse¬ of the tasty morsels. He was careful to mark the discovery, then fin¬
ment of the languid nobles of S' lit hi k Hhai. And when even these ished the sumptuous repast in a contented torpor.
rare delights had smoldered down to ashes, the royal chamber would Even so, the old apothecary had forgotten his startling discovery
witness great feasts the like of which the mammalian mind can scarce until he chanced to hear it again as he made his way through the
conceive. nitrous shadows of the fattening pens in the dungeon beneath his
Nor was the feasting of the Hith an altogether wholesome thing palace. There remained no doubt in the cold, keen mind of X’hyl that
for the warm-blooded to contemplate, for the custom of the serpent- these little beasts possessed some sort of primitive tongue, a crude
folk was to devour their sustenance while it yet lived. To enjoy the language which had seemingly evolved in the space of less than a sin¬
struggling of one’s chosen meal as it was swallowed and drawn slowly gle generation. For many long years now had the Hith been dining
into the expanding stomach was essential for the true epicure. Once upon the mammalians, and this evidence of language was a new
engulfed in the gullet of a Hith, the prey would expire slowly and thing. Always these days, it seemed, while being consumed, the crea¬
horribly as the digestive process began, the corrosive juices inscribing tures screamed the single word which had first caught X’hyl’s atten¬
a filigree of silent torment on the wasting flesh of the still-conscious tion, some chanting it repeatedly like an infantile prattle.
morsel. And though the bouts of feasting were long, the aftermath "Zothoqqua!” spoke the dying bipeds, almost pleadingly, as if in sup¬
was longer still, as bloated nobles lay about the pillared hall quiver¬ plication. ■■Zothoqqua!”
ing with unholy ecstasy at each fading death-spasm of their dissolv¬ As to the possible meaning of the cave-dwellers’ chant, X’hyl
ing provender. And then all drowsed until, their prey assimilated, fould assign none, though neither could he ignore the importance of
their elastic frames returned once more to singular slimness. the mystery it implied. Before long he sought audience with the ser¬
The jaded reptiles prized most highly that prey which screamed pent king. Informing the yellow-eyed monarch of his discovery, the
the most heartily as it was devoured. And just such a viand had they eloquent X’hyl finished by begging a cadre of guards to accompany
38 The Book of Eibon - | c Devouring of S’lichik Hhai 39

himself and a dozen of his fellow sorcerers for an expedition into the t|lC underground realm, with orders for the capture of any cave-
mountainous eastern jungles. “We must document this swift develop¬ dwellers who happened upon them.
ment of thought and language processes in the lower species,’' said the By the blue light of sorcerous flames the Hithians explored the

apothecary. “For how may we hope to halt what we do not fully under¬ moss-grown labyrinths, searching always for sign or spoor of the

stand? And halt it we must, lest the natural order of things one day be cave-dwellers. Yet it seemed that constant raiding of the furred race’s

upended and the sublime status of the Hith be undermined. In truth, home had driven them ever-deeper into the bowels of the earth, and

great lord, an uncouth word from the furry lips of filthy mammals may Jure did the gladsome heat preferred by serpent-folk return, arising
from the molten depths of the planet itself. At last, evidence of habi¬
seem as insignificant as it is unintelligible, but it may be a seed to
tation was found: guano, bones, rude stone implements and tools,
sprout into an unsuspecting doom. We cannot be too careful.’’
though still no sound or sight of living creatures. Thus things con¬
Because of his high standing with the king and his wide esteem
tinued till, at length, the echoes of a deep chanting drew the Hithians
among the savants of the Hith, X’hyl’s request was granted, on the
toward their prey. A mass of synchronous voices grew in volume as
condition that the expedition return with an hundred fresh speci¬
X’hyl led the scaly questers onward, now with renewed vigor, as the
mens for the king’s larder, “Go forth, wise X’hyl,” hissed the regal
prospect of prey and the molten breath of inner earth combined to
lord of serpents, “and take with you a full legion of our finest soldiers.
lend new life to their stiffening limbs.
Too, shall they accompany you who are the greatest in the arts of wiz¬
Emerging at last on a narrow shelf of basalt above a deep-floored
ardry, and twenty demon thralls shall guide thy path. So do I invest
cavern, X’hyl at the head of the Hithian party observed in the fire-lit
in thee all needful authority to rid my kingdom of any threat thou
depths the objects of their long search. Thousands of the cave-
mayest discern. Go forth with the grace of Holy Yig upon thee and
dwellers writhed and chanted in unison before a great stone idol,
thy company.”
whose massive bulk rose almost to the height of the vaulted dome.
So it was that with the rising of the next sun, X’hyl and his
Like unto the shape of a great, bloated toad was the vast eidolon
party set out, serpent banners flying atop raised Hithian lances, and
before which they prostrated themselves in feverish adoration. Its
a mass of crimson-hued demons tearing apart the jungle growth to great, heavy-lidded eyes were boulder-sized lumps of gleaming
make way for the expedition’s passing. Leaving behind the lofty ebony, and its ears were long and pointed, A great fanged maw
black towers of S’lithik Hhai, the Hith troop moved slowly east¬ stretched nearly from shoulder to shoulder below its cavernous nos¬
ward, crossing vast leagues of primeval swamplands thick with pri¬ trils. Fascinated by the monolithic creation, X’hyl could only watch
mordial ooze. Among the towering vegetation of prehistoric wilder¬ in bewilderment as the lowly race worshipped its abominable god.
ness they traveled, and over steaming ranges of volcanic residue Who would have thought them capable of even so rudimentary a
which would one day play host to undreamt-of nations and empires. faith? For the savages to utter a true word was troubling enough to
In time they arrived at the tall, lush mountains wherein lay the war¬ X’hyl; this was distressing in the extreme. The contagion of incipient
rens of the little mammalian race. Among the soldiers were many intelligence had proceeded farther and faster than even he had feared.
experienced hunters of such game, and soon they discovered a net¬ All the greater the urgency he felt to stamp it out at once, even if it
work of cavern entrances on a thickly forested mountainside over¬ meant the supply of the court’s favorite treat be cut off.
looking a great heated waterfall which filled the deep ravine below One there was who stood closest to the great idol, his apish face
with mist and thunder. X’hyl himself, flanked by two demon hidden behind a fanged skull mask bearded by a mass of gaudy feath¬
guards, led the way into the lower burrows, traveling ever-deeper ers. A riny infant of his own kind he held aloft above his head, its tiny,
into the uncomfortable coolness of the sunless region. The greater snuggling form mewling and wailing against the reverberating
majority of the soldiers had remained on guard at the entrance to ehant whose powerful timbre caused the stony ground to tremble.
40 The Book of Eibon

And X’hyl recognized the manner of their chant, and knew now the ] is high tower in S’lithik Hhai. Time enough to ponder these strange
name of their dark god. 1' scovcries once he had fine venom to quaff, and a hearty meal within
“Zothoqqua! Zothoqqua! Zotboqqua!" cried the dancing worship¬ his scaled stomach. For X’hyl was indeed wise enough to know that
pers. Without warning, the masked one dashed the tender infant not all questions are well to have ultimately answered.
against the monolith’s toad-like foot, where the stains of previous [t was on the third day of their return journey that the sky
sacrifices spoke of a long history of dire ceremonies. The little corpse became dark as of a coming storm, angry thunderheads sweeping
was then thrown into the midst of the writhing mob, who tore it oss the firmament, raining strokes of dry lightning down into the
apart with their bare fingers, devouring madly the unripe flesh of jungles. X’hyl and three of his sorcerers topped a low hill, better to
their own murdered offspring. v;cw the darkened heavens, and saw then a thing like a great comet
“Sacred scales of Yig!” declared the amazed apothecary. “Not plummeting from the black mountains of cloud, burning a great hole
even among beasts can such loathsome depravity be tolerated!” He in the thick atmosphere and dropping beyond the western horizon.
waved a taloned hand, and a score of terrible demons descended upon Moments later the earth shook as with ague, and the serpent-folk
the senseless worshippers, cutting through their midst as a fierce were flung from their mounts to the slime of the jungle floor, many
wind through gentle palms, trampling to grist beneath their clawed crushed in a moment by toppling conifers. For a short while the
feet the frenzied mammalian throng. As the little race met with hor¬ reverberations of the great shaking rang through the ground, finally
rible slaughter beneath the dripping talons of the demons their giving way to an exhausted, all-pervading silence.
trance was rudely broken, and they began to scatter, fleeing into X’hyl arose from where the earth's convulsions had deposited
crevices and tunnels too small for the great demons to follow. Yet the him, his gold and scarlet robes splattered with clinging muck. “1 like
dancing shaman near the idol remained lost in his alien incantation not the import of these dire omens,” said the apothecary to his col¬
until the Hithian sorcerers cast bolts of baleful flame against the mas¬ leagues. “1 bid you, therefore, brethren, make haste to summon the
sive toad-like idol, and its great pieces smashed down upon its last great flight demon to carry me this night to far S’lithik Hhai, that 1
worshipper in a smoking heap of blasted stone. may give to the king word of all that we have seen and heard.
When the slaughter had ended, and the demons were lapping up As they were bid, the sorcerers did weave a great conjuring,
the fresh blood, X’hyl commanded them to abeyance once more, and offering up the souls of several wounded cave-dwellers as enticement
made hastily for the open air of the surface world. Many of the hir¬ to the requisite demon. Their incantations brought forth at length a
sute little worshippers had escaped; but that was not to be regretted. formless monstrosity whose flesh grew at their command into sky-
He would send hunters back in to gather their quota of captives for blotting wings. X’hyl climbed aboard its glistening back and took to
the king’s pleasure. Dut for the whole duration of the long march the dark skies. Those milling forms below him became tinier and
home, the dangling threads of mystery irritated the apothecary. How tinier as he raced on past the looming moon faster than the great
had the small race fashioned so massive and lifelike an image of their wmds of storm season.
totem? From whence came such a strange and disturbing supersti¬ Soon the flying demon brought him near the land of S’lithik
tion, with its attendant horrors? Who or what was the entity they Hhai, yet he saw on the horizon none of the twisting spires of his
twisted their barking voices to invoke? home city. Drawing nearer atop the flapping monstrosity, the
And more he feared that his questions would now never be Hithian witnessed now a sight which his reptilian brain, usually so
answered. For surely most of the cave-dwellers must be dead, the Culmly analytical, could not credit. “’Tis some foul sorcery, an impos-
greater part of the rest soon to be devoured by reptilian decadents less s*bte illusion of the unthinkable!” And again, “Such a thing cannot
scientifically curious than he. X’hyl felt a great weariness grow within have come to pass,” he heard himself vacantly muttering. His mount
I f
him, and desired only to return to the comfort and reflective peace of ^gan to circle, then to descend.
42 The Book of Eibon

“Tis no vision, I fear,” hissed X’hyJ the Wise, as if silencing him¬

self in debate, “but cursed reality called out of the starry void. . .
Below the windborne savant lay a shattered panorama of ubiq¬
T ins tale, which originally appeared in Fantastic, August 1976, is funda¬
mentally a reshuffling of the deck, whether consciously or not, of the
uitous destruction, for the infallible towers of vast S' 1 ithik Hhai lay
elements of the T’yog sub-narrative from Lovecraft’s “Out of the
in black, tumbled mounds ofcyclopean rubble. From horizon to hori¬
Aeons.” This story, ghost-written for Hazel Heald, was one of Lin Carter’s
zon the great city was naught but crumbled ruins, as if trampled favorites. He appropriated the title for one of his Xothic Cycle stories, Out
beneath the feet of angry gods. Already the great, cracked blocks of , rhe Ages,” while he retold the T'yog tale starring his own heretic
magic-wrought masonry sank slowly into the mire which had but priestling Zanthu in “The Thing in the Pit.” Here is another version. First,
recently supported their petrific bulk. The great palace of the serpent note how Lovecraft made the whole T’yog sequence a paraphrase of part of
king was nowhere to be distinguished among the leagues of piled p W. von Junzt’s Unanssprechlichen Knlten, and Carter makes his tale a lit¬

debris. Nor did any sign of the Tower of X’hyl present itself to the eral transcription from the Book of Eibon. Second, Carter’s disillusioned

apothecary’s horrified eyes. shaman Yhemog is a retooled T’yog. Where T’yog was a rebel trying to
assassinate Ghatanothoa for the greater glory of his own deity Shub-
“S' 1 it hi k Hhai is no more,” muttered the Hith, and the queer
Mig^urath, Yhemog has abandoned faith in Tsathoggua and prays through
hissing sigh which took the place of weeping among the Hith
the rites of an alien cult just to get his goat. But both “-ogs” invade the
escaped the lipless muzzle of the hovering wizard.
sanctum of one god in the name of another, however much their motives
A great rumbling came from below, and the vast sea of rubble
for doing it may differ. Third, both employ a scroll to wreak their religious
shifted. A massive, black-furred toad-thing emerged, lifting its great- sabotage, but it backfires on them. T’yog is petrified by the gaze of a liv¬
mawed head high into the air, and a long, slime-coated tongue ing Old One, while Yhemog faces a stone image of another, but is himself
snaked out like the swift East wind to wrap itself around the flying turned into a monster.
mote which had intruded upon its attention. And in that brief Carter also plays on the vague similarity, never quite harmonized by
moment X’hyl the Wise fully understood the meaning and object of Lovecraft or Smith, between Smith’s hirsute Voormis and Lovecraft s shaggy
the cave-dwellers’ strange chant, as great Zothoqqua drew a tasty Gnophkehs, both groups of degenerate/pregenerate humanoids, and so it is

morsel into the black canyon which was its mouth. no accident that the semi-divine Gnophkeh Morloc takes his name from H.

A brief swallow, and the far-traveled god settled back into its G. Wells’s race of far-future troglodytes in The Time Machine, the Morlocks.

place among the mountains of rubble, drifting eventually into a deep Finally, we should note that the Book of Eibon has once again managed

and sated sleep, oblivious of the feeble struggles of that which it had co spontaneously recapitulate another characteristic feature of ancient scrip¬
ture legend. Sectarian polemic has again and again employed the weapon of
already forgotten it had devoured. Thus ended the dominion of the
character assassination as a cheap substitute for substantive refutation. One
once-mighty serpent-folk. For so have I heard the tale from the one
of the standard favorites is the “sour grapes” rumor. Again and again we
surviving witness of the events. #
hear how So-and-so heretic renounced the true faith because of some
thwarted ambition or spurned love. The Ebionites alleged that Paul was a
pagan who converted to Judaism merely as a ploy to be able to marry the
High Priest’s daughter. His Holiness saw through the ruse and sent Paul
packing, whereupon he chucked the Torah and went on the war-path
against Judaism, starting Christianity just to make trouble! Marcion of
^°ntus, supposedly, was frustrated in his bid to become bishop of Rome,
picked up his marbles, and went home to start his own church as a result.
Smiilar stories were told about the Prophet Muhammad. And of course
every Catholic “knows” how the Protestant Reformation was just a gimmick
for getting Henry Vlll a divorce. “The Scroll of Morloc” is cut from the
44 The Book of Eibon

same doth, attributing the birth of Freethoughc among the simian Voormis
to the passing over of Yhemog for the pontificate seven times running!
Well, I’ll show them! The Scroll of Morloc:
The History of the Shaman Yhemog
by Lin Carter

T he shaman Yhemog, dejected by the obdurate refusal of his

fellow Voormis to elect him their high-priest, contemplated
his imminent withdrawal from the tribal burrows of his furry,
primitive kind to sulk in proud and lonely solitude among the icy
crags of the north, whose bourns were unvisited by his timorous,
earth-dwelling brethren.
Seven times had he offered himself in candidacy for the coveted
headdress of black ogga-wood, crowned with fabulous plumes,
and now for the seventh time had the elders unaccountably denied
him what he considered his just guerdon, earned thriceover by his
pious and reverent austerities. Seething with disappointment, the
rejected shaman swore they should have no eighth occasion whereon
ro bypass the name of Yhemog in bestowing the uncouth hierarchial
mitre upon another, and vowed they should erelong have reason to
regret the ineptitude of their selection of an inferior devotee of the
Voormish god over one of his unique and excessive devoutness.
During this period many of the clans of the subhuman Voormis
had fled into warrens tunneled beneath the surface of a jungle-girt
and mountainous peninsula of early Hyperborea which had yet to be
named Mhu Thulan. Their shaggy and semi-bestial forebears had
originally been raised in thralldom to a race of sentient serpent-peo¬
ple whose primordial continent had been reft asunder by volcanic con¬
vulsions and which had submerged beneath the oceans an aeon or two
earlier. Fleeing from rhe slave pens of their erstwhile masters, now
happily believed almost extinct, the ancestors of the present Voormis
had wrested all of this territory from certain degenerate, cannibalistic
Subhumans of repellent appearance and loathsome habits, whose few
survivors had been driven northwards to dwell in furtive exile amid
die wastes of bleak and glacier-encumbered Polarion.
Of late, their numbers inexplicably in decline, their warlike
Prowess unaccountably dwindling into timidity, and the surly and
46 The Book of Eibon n-he^ScroU of Morloc
47

vengeful descendants of their ancient foes growing ever more omi¬ himself preferred to wallow in the gulf of N'kai beneath a mountain
nously populous and restive in the north, many of the Voormish the south considered sacred by the Voormis. This dogma the ven¬
tribes had sought refuge in these underground dwellings for safety erable Voorm had pronounced shortly before himself retiring into
and protection. By now the furry creatures were accustomed to the hasms adjacent to the aforesaid N'kai in order to spend his declin-
comforting gloominess and the familiar, pervasive stench of their ;ntr aeons in proximity to the object of his worship.
warrens, and seldom if ever did they venture into the upper world, The tribal elders unanimously revered the opinions of this patri¬
which had grown strange and frightening to them in its giddy and arch as infallible, especially in the matters of a purely theological
disquieting spaciousness of sky, lit by the intolerable brilliance of nature, for it was commonly believed that their supreme pontiff and
zenithal and hostile suns. common ancestor had been fathered by none other than Tsathoggua
In contemplating self-imposed exile from his kind, the disgrun¬ himself during a transient liaison with a minor feminine divinity who
tled shaman was not unaware of the dangers he must surmount. This rejoiced in the name of Shathak. With this ultimate patriarchal
particular region of the peninsula would someday be known as reaching the tribal elders now, somewhat belatedly, concurred; to
Phenquor, the northernmost province of Mhu Thulan. During this obey the last precept of their spiritual leader was, after all, a reason¬
period of the early Cenozoic the first true humans were only just able precaution when you considered the profound and disheartening

beginning to seep into Hyperborea from southerly regions of tropical desuetude into which the fortunes of the race had so recently, and so
jungles whose climate had grown too fervent for them to comfortably abruptly, declined.
endure, and all of Phenquor was a savage and primal wilderness, In reaching his eventual decision to henceforward shun the dank
uninhabited save for the cavern-dwelling Voormis. Not without peril, and foetid burrows of his tribe in favor of a radical change of resi¬
therefore, would the shaman Yhemog traverse the prehistoric jungles dence to the giddy and vertiginous peaks which arose along the
and reeking fens of the young continent, for such were the haunts of northerly borders of Phenquor, overlooking the frigid wastes of drear
the ravening catoblepas and the agate-breasted wyvern, to cire only Polarion, the shaman Yhemog discovered himself ineluctably sliding
the least formidable of the denizens of the prime. into dangerous heresy. Unable to reconcile his private inclinations
But Yhemog had mastered the rudiments of the antehuman with the several pontifical revelations handed down by the epony¬
thaumaturgies and had gained some proficiency in the arts of mous patriarch of his race, he was soon implicitly questioning the
shamanry and conjuration. By these means he thought himself quite actual validity of the teachings, a tendency which resulted in his
likely to elude the more ferocious of the carnivora, thus achieving the eventual denial of their infallibility. Now rejecting as essentially
relative safety of the Phenquorian mountains hopefully unscathed. worthless the very patriarchal dogmas he had earlier reverenced as
By dwelling subterraneously, it should perhaps be noted here, sacrosanct, he lapsed from the most odious condition of heresy into
the Voormis were but imitating the grotesque divinity they wor¬ the lamentable and blasphemous nadir of atheism.
shipped with rites we might deem excessively sanguinary and revolt¬ Thus disappointment soured into bitter resentment and resent-
ing. As it was an article of the Voormish faith that this deity, whom mcnt festered into vicious envy and envy itself, like a venomous
they knew as Tsathoggua, made his abode in lightless caverns situ¬ canker, gnawed at the roots of his faith, until the last pitiful shreds of
ated far beneath the earth, their adoption of a troglodytic mode of his former beliefs had utterly been eaten away. And naught now was
existence was to some extent primarily symbolic. The eponymous left in the heart of Yhemog save for a hollow emptiness, which became
ancestor of their race, Voorm the arch-ancient, had quite early in hhed only with the bile of self-devouring rancor and a fierce, derisive
their history promulgated a doctrine which asserted that their contempt for everything he had once held precious and holy. This con-
assumption of a wholly subterranean habitat would place them in a Cernpt cried out for expression, for a savage gesture of ultimate affront
special relationship of mystical propinquity with their god, who calculated to plunge his elder brethren into horrified consternation
48 The Book of Eibon TllC Morloc 49

and dismay. Yhemog hungered to brandish his new-found atheism jn 0rder for the Scroll of Morloc to be thieved away by Yhemog, ere

like a stinking rag beneath the pious snouts of the tribal fathers. ]ie quit forever the noisome and squalid burrows wherein he had

At length he determined upon a course of action nicely suited to cd the tedious and unrewarding centuries of his youth, he must,

his ends. He schemed to steal into the deepest and holiest shrine of of necessity, first enter the most sacred and solemn precincts of the

Tsathoggua and to purloin therefrom an antique scroll which con¬ innermost shrine itself.

tained certain rituals and liturgies held in the utmost degree of reli¬ For a shaman of his insignificance, but recently graduated from
gious abhorrence by the members of his faith. The document was jilS n0vitiate a century or two before, to trespass upon the indescrib¬
among the spoils of war carried off by his victorious forefathers from able sanctity of the most forbidden and inviolable sanctuary was a

the abominable race which had formerly dominated these regions at transgression of the utmost severity. By his very presence he would
the time of the advent of the Voormish savages into Mhu Thulan. profane and contaminate the sacerdotal chamber, and this horren¬

The papyrus reputedly preserved the darkest secrets of the occult dous act of desecration he must perforce do under the cold, unwa¬
wisdom of the detested Gnophkehs, which name denoted the repul¬ vering scrutiny of dread, omnipotent Tsathoggua himself, for therein

sively hirsute cannibals whom Yhemog’s ancestors had driven into had stood enshrined for innumerable ages the most ancient and

exile in the arctic barrens. This scroll contained, in fact, the most immemorial eidolon of the god, an object of devout and universal

arcane and potent ceremonials whereby the Gnophkehs had wor¬ veneration.

shipped their atrocious divinity, who was no less than an avatar of the The very thought of thus violating the sacred adyts of the shrine
cosmic obscenity Rhan-Tegoth, and was attributed to Morloc himself, to perform a vile and despicable act of burglary in the awesome pres¬
the Grand Shaman. ence of the deity he had once worshipped with such excessive vigor
Now the Voormis had, from their remotest origins, considered was sobering, even disquieting. But fortunately for the inward seren¬
themselves the chosen minions of Tsathoggua, the sole deity whose ity of Yhemog, the fervor with which he had embraced his new¬
worship they celebrated. And Tsathoggua was an earth elemental found atheism enormously transcended the fervor of his former pious
ranged in perpetual and unrelenting enmity against Rhan-Tegoth devotions. His iconoclasm had hardened his heart to such an
and all his kind, who were commonly accounted elemental of the air adamantine rigor that he despised his own earlier temerities, and
and were objects of contempt to those of the Old Ones, like now disbelieved in all super-mundane or ultra-natural entities far
Tsathoggua, who abominated the airy emptinesses above the world more than he had ever believed in them before. The venerable

and by preference wallowed in darksome and subterranean lairs. A eidolon was but a piece of worked stone and naught more, he
similar degree of mutual and irreconcilable animosity existed thought contemptuously to himself, and the arch-rebel, Yhemog,
between those races which were the servants of Tsathoggua, among fears no thing of stone!
whom the Voormis were prominent, and those who served the Thus it befell that the traitorous and atheistical Yhemog slunk
avatars of cosmical and uncleanly Rhan-Tegoth, such as those noxious 0ne night into the deeplier5 and nethermost of the shrines sacred to
protoanthropophagi, the Gnophkehs. The loss of the Scroll of Morloc Tsathoggua, having prudently charmed into premature slumber the
would, therefore, hurl the Voormis into the very nadir of confusion, s^mitar-wielding eunuchs posted to guard the inviolability of the
and contemplation of the horror wherewith they would view the loss Sanctuary. By their obese, stertorously-breathing forms, sprawled
caused Yhemog to tremble with vile and delicious anticipation. recumbent on the pave before the spangled curtain which concealed
The Scroll had for millennia reposed in a tabernacle of mam¬ innermost adytum from the chance of profanation of impious
moth-ivory situated beneath the very feet of the idol of Tsathoggua eVcs, he crept on furtive, three-toed, naked feet. Beyond the glitter-
in the holy-of-holies, its lowly position symbolic of the Voormis risen In8 tissue was discovered a chamber singularly bare of ornamenta-
triumphant over their subjugated and thoroughly inferior enemies. Cl0n> in dramatic contrast to the ostentation of the outer precincts. It
50 The Book of' Eibon

contained naught but the idol itself, throned at the farther end, |elinum of exultant joy. But in the next moment dire melancholy

which presented the repellent likeness of an obscenely corpulent, gowned his heady mood; for he realized now for the first time the

toad-like entity. Familiar as he was with the crude images roughly fullest extent of the vicious hoax the preceptors of his cult had per¬
hacked from porous lava by the clumsy paws of his people, the orated upon him. To so delude an innocent young Voormis-cub, so
shaman was unprepared for the astonishing skill whereby the name¬ Out the noblest aspiration it might conceivably dream to attain was
less sculptor had wrought the eidolon from obdurate and frangible the ogga-wood mitre of the hierophant, was an action of such per¬
obsidian. He marveled at the consummate craft whereby the chisel of verted and despicable odium as to excite within him a lust to dese¬
the forgotten artisan had clothed the bloated, squatting form of the crate, with a blasphemy transcending all his prior conceptions of
god with a suggestion of sleek furriness and had blent together in its blasphemy, this sacred place.
features the salient characteristics of toad, bat, and sloth, in a dubi¬ Ere spurning forever the moist and gloomy tunnels to seek a new
ous amalgam subtly disturbing and distinctly unpleasing. The pon¬ and solitary life amongst the steaming quagmires and cycadic jungles
derous divinity was depicted with half-closed, sleepy eyes which of the upper earth he would commit a desecration so irremediable as
seemed to almost glitter with cold, lazy malice, and it had a grinning to defile, pollute and befoul for all aeons to come this innermost
and lipless gash of a mouth which Yhemog fancied was distended in citadel of a false and cruelly-perpetuated religion. And in his very
a smile redolent of cruel and gloating mockery. dutches he held at that moment the perfect instrument of triumphant
His new contempt for all such supernatural entities dimmed, and absolute revenge. For how better to desanctify the temple of
fading, somewhat, in its originally febrile intensity before a rising Tsathoggua, than to recite before his most venerable eidolon, and
trepidation. For a moment he hesitated, half-fearing the hideous and within his most sacred and forbidden shrine, the abominable rituals
yet exquisitely lifelike eidolon might stir suddenly to dread wakeful¬ formerly employed by the hated enemies of his minions in the cele¬
ness upon the next instant, and reveal itself to be a living thing. But
bration of their obscene and atrocious divinity, his rival.
the moment passed without any such an untoward vivification, and
With paws that shook with the intensity of his loathing and
his derision and denial of the transmundane rose within him, trebled
wrath, Yhemog unfolded the antique papyrus and, straining his
in its blind conviction. Now was the moment of ultimate profanation
weak, small eyes, sought to peruse the writings it contained. The
upon him; now he would metaphorically renounce his former devo¬
hieroglyphics were indited according to an antiquated system, but at
tions by abstracting from beneath the very feet of the supernally
length his scrutiny enabled him to deduce their meaning. The dark
sacred image its chiefest treasure, the papyrus wherein were pre¬
lore of the Gnophkehs was generally centered upon the placation and
served the blackest of the arcane secrets of the elder Gnophkehs.
appeasement of their grisly and repugnant divinity, but erelong the
Summoning the inner fortitude his atheistical doctrines afforded,
shaman found a ritual of invocational worship which he judged would
thrusting aside the last lingering remnants of the superstitious awe
be exceptionally insulting to the false Tsathoggua and his self-delud¬
he had once entertained towards the divinity the idol represented,
ing servants. It commenced with the uncouth and discordant phrase
Yhemog knelt and hastily pried open the ivory casket and drew
Wza-yeU Wza-yei! Ykaa haa bbo-ii, and terminated eventually in a
therefrom the primordial scroll.
series of mindless ululations for the enunciation of which the vocal
Whereafter there occurred absolutely nothing in the way of
apparatus of the Voormis was inadequately designed. As he com¬
preternatural phenomena or transmundane acts of vengeance. The
menced reading the liturgical formula aloud, however, he discovered
black and glistening statue remained immobile; it neither blinked
that the farther he progressed therein the more easily his pronuncia¬
nor stirred nor smote him with the levin-bolt or the precipitous
tion came. He also was surprised to find, as he grew near the termi-
attack of leprosy he had almost expected. The relief which upsurged
within his furry breast was intoxicating; almost he swooned in a nus of the ritual, that the vocables he had earlier considered jarring
52 The Book of Eibon ^ c.JQescenr into the Abyss_

and awkward became curiously, even disquietingly, musical and About “The Descent into the Abyss”
pleasant to his ears.
Those ears, he suddenly noticed, had unaccountably grown larger
A s Steve Behrends notes ("The Carter-Smith ‘Collaborations,’” in my col¬
lection The Horror of It All: Encrusted Gems from the Crypt of Cthnlhn),
and now were not unlike the huge, flapping organs of the ill-formed
,.T|ie Descent into the Abyss” is essentially Lin Carter’s rewrite of Clark
and ridiculously-misshapen Gnophkehs. His eyes as well had under¬
Ashton Smith’s “The Seven Geases.” What he has done is to create a Mythos
gone a singular transformation, and now bulged protuberantly in a midrash of Smith’s original. The process is precisely the same as that at work
manner which resembled that of the revolting inhabitants of the jn genuine ancient texts, when a later redactor undertakes to rewrite an ear¬
polar regions. Having completed the final interminable ululation he lier text to bring it into line with the redactor’s theological or institutional
let fall the Scroll of Morloc and examined himself in growing con¬ .nda. One need only compare the tendencial history of 1 and 2 Chronicles

sternation. Gone was his sleek and comely pelt, and in its place he with portions of the Deuteronomic History on which it is based (1 and 2

was now covered with a repulsive growth of coarse and matted hairs. Samuel; 1 and 2 Kings) in order to see this. Rabbinic midrashes (homileti-
cal retellings) and Targums (paraphrased vernacular versions) of biblical
His snout, moreover, had in the most unseemly and impertinent
tales do the same thing.
manner undertaken an extension of itself beyond the limits consid¬
A good case in point would be Genesis 6:1—6, an ethnological myth
ered handsome by Voormish standards, and was now a naked, pro¬
seeking to account for the towering height (six feet!) of warriors like Goliath
boscidian growth of distinctly and unmistakably Gnophkehian pro¬
of Gath, Nimrod, and Gilgamesh by making them the hybrid offspring of
portions. He cried out, then, in an extremity of unbelieving horror,
die Sons of God and mortal women, just like the demigods Hercules,
for he realized with a cold and awful panic that to tuorship as a Theseus, etc. The robust polytheism of the tale proved to be too much for
Guophkeh must, under certain circumstances, be defined in terms the more refined theological sensibilities of later redactors, such as the writ¬
absolutely literal. And when his hideous lamentations succeeded in ers of the Book of Jubilees, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and l
rousing from their charmed drowsiness the gross and elephantine Enoch. There the story has been retold in accord with later Jewish theology,
eunuchs beyond the sequined veil, and they came lumbering in haste resulting in the Sons of God becoming, first, mere angels, and second, evil.

to discover a detested and burglarious Gnophkeh squirming on its Their lust for mortal females introduced sin into the world and taught

obscene and hairy belly, gobbling guttural and incomprehensible women all manner of evil arts!

prayers before the smiling, the enigmatic, and the lazily malicious In just the same way, Lin Carter viewed Smith s The Seven Geases as
a pivotal canonical tale for the Cthulhu Mythos, in that it introduces Atlach-
eyes of Tsathoggua, they dispatched the malodorous intruder with
Nacha, brings Ubbo-Sathla back for an encore performance, and puts
great thoroughness and righteous indignation, and in a certain man¬
Tsathoggua righr on stage for the first and only time in a Smith story! But
ner most acceptable to the god, but one so lingering and anatomi¬
the tale was not satisfactory as it stood, at least not in the eyes of Carter the
cally ingenious that the more squeamish of my readers should be
systematic theologian. For one thing, Ubbo-Sathla s depiction as Abhoth
grateful that I restrain my pen from its description. & rhe Unclean did not quite match that in the original Ubbo-Sarhla, so
Garter plugs the “orthodox” Ubbo-Sathla into his new version of "The Seven
Geases." Similarly, to provide a foothold for his own elaborate assignment of
serviror races to various Old Ones, he decided to rewrite Smith s
Archetypes” as his own "Prototypes,” and to make them into a representa¬
ble zoo of his Lesser Old Ones, and all on Smith’s tab.
In the story’s initial appearance (Weird Tales #2, Zebra Books, 1980),
The Descent into the Abyss” is billed simply as by Clark Ashton Smith,
w‘th a small-print footnote "Completed by Lin Carter." The Smith content
ls pretty minimal: "In this story I was working from a scrap of an idea found
among Smith’s papers, which went, as 1 recall, A sorcerer discovers the
54 The Book of Eiboi

Cavern of the Prototypes beneath a shunned mountain in Hyperborea,

wherein reside the originals of every kind of monster or hybrid.' ... I
thought at the time that this was possibly an early plot-seed for what even¬
The Descent into the Abyss:
tually became ‘The Seven Geases,’ but the notion of the Prototypes
intrigued me and I wrote the story, anyway” (“A Response” to Steve The History of the Sorcerer Haon-Dor
Behrends, “The Carter-Smith ‘Collaborations/” Crypt of Ctbidhu #36,
Yuletide 1985, p. 33). So the Smith by-line is a cloak for Carter, and the
by Lin Carter
effect is to attribute Carter’s taxonomy to Smith. Even this gimmick exactly
parallels the ancient scriptural practice of pseudepigraphy whereby a later,
undistinguished writer, would hide behind the name of a greater figure of
the past, claiming venerable authority for his own innovations. Many bibli¬
cal writings are simply anonymous, but most biblical authorship claims are
T I. The Quest of Haon-Dor

he inexorable passage of the ages has left but little record of

the strange quest of the antehuman sorcerer, Haon-Dor.
However fragmentary and doubtful remain the traditions
probably spurious.
thereof which survive, I deem it my duty to set them down in these
So when we find ourselves like Wilbur Whateley in the Miskatonic
pages for the edification of future generations.
University Library, puzzling over how to correlate what appear to be two
This sorcerer resided in certain boreal kingdoms which flourished
versions of the same original text, we are in the position of biblical and
Talmudic scholars who are quite used to weighing up doublet versions of the in the world’s extremest youth, before the first men arose from the
same stories. In short, the presence of such Carterian rewrites of Smith (and bestial murk. Some consider him contemporary to the repellent and,
this isn’t the only one!) do not mar the Book of Eibon but rather tend to happily, now extinct serpentmen who ruled from their primordial
authenticate it with the verisimilitude of a genuine ancient compilation, continent before the descent hither of Aphoom-Zhah from remote
with all its odd loose ends, repetitions and contradictions. and glacial Yaksh; others place him in that dim epoch when the furry
Voormis contended with the cannibal Gnophkehs for dominion.
Whichever his era, it was the aspiration of Haon-Dor to tran¬
scend the magisterium of all other wizards by acquisition of the ulti¬
mate secrets rumored to lie hidden in the depths of Y qaa, that sub¬
terranean gulf of fabulous antiquity concerning which neither the
serpentmen nor the prehuman Voormis recorded aught that was
wholesome.
Ancient compendia of myth relate of gray-htten Y qaa that it is
multidimensional, coterminous with many worlds and planes of
existence: an abyss whose fissures ope to distant realms, not only of
this planet but many more. One such has its terminus on triply-
mooned Yarnak, where for eons dwelt the blasphemy Mnomquah,
the Eater of Souls, ere he was driven from his odious throne by the
flaming One. And Yarnak is known to be circumambient about a
star which reigns beyond Betelgeuse and the giant suns: yet even
that far and fabulous bourn is weirdly congruent with ambiguously-
Slcuated Y’qaa.
Of the abyss itself and the way thither little was known to the
sorcerer, but such vague rumors as were adumbrated in the grimoires
56 The Book of Eiboi , pcscenc into che Abyss

Xhe first of such which Haon-Dor encountered was that which

of his race were long since in his possession. There was, ic seems, a
|lC Elder Hierophant Yogmosh-Voth names the Dark Silent One,
certain crevice which yawned in the black, basaltic flanks of
^ushakon, whom the quasi-humans of primal Mu formerly cele¬
Voormithadreth, least reputable and most shunned of the Eiglophian
brated with shuddersome rites better left undescribed. Zylac the
Mountains of central Hyperborea, and thereunto did Haon-Dor
Archinrage referred to this being as Zulchequon, for under the latter
direct his path.
-o<Tnornen was he worshipped in blue-litten K n-yan by the ringing
For an interminable time, the sorcerer descended through the
purely mundane levels of those catacombs which volcanic forces had of certain small, terrible bells.
With some trepidation did Haon-Dor draw nigh unto the place
hollowed within the mountain. Ever was he wary and vigilant against
where Zulchequon abided, for all that he had anticipated this meet-
the expected assaults of the formidable catobleps which lairs within
inu cognizant of the fact that K’n-yan was but one of the least dubi¬
those caverns, in the anticipation of whose attack he went armed
ous regions which border upon multi-dimensional Y qaa. Yet he
with a wand of lethal Upas-wood whose tip bore the eye of a Gorgon,
could not help but regard the interview with some temerity, for older
before which withering and intolerable glare no mortal entity was
believed immune.
by uncountable eons than even the Old Ones themselves was dark
Zulchequon, the Bringer of Darkness, and his shape was swathed
Whatever creatures did in sooth inhabit the upper levels, none
behind veils of impalpable glooms impenetrable alike to light and
dared assault so potently-armed a sorcerer, and he passed unscathed ’
vision, and from this shape of blackness there exuded a breath of
Soon his vigilance lapsed, and he commenced musing upon the
object of his quest. Now, the Abyss into which he descended was super-arctic rigor.
Summoning his courage, Haon-Dor approached the motionless
reputedly the abode of Ubbo-Sathla, the primordial divinity which
shape of darkness, and addressed it thusly: “Lord of Darkness! Permit
was the source of all terrene life. And there in the pit of Ubbo-Sathla
me to pass into the presence of your mighty Sire, the Unbegotten
reposed the guerdon of his search: certain inconceivably precious
tablets of star-quarried stone, thieved from the Elder Gods before One, 1 beseech you!”
These words having been uttered, he thereupon displayed a sigil
time began and englyphed by Them with the profoundest of cosmic
of extraordinary potency known to the antehuman magi as the
secrets.
That theft, incidentally, They had punished most horribly, for Elder Key.
Whether or not the nexus of gloom enshrouding Zulchequon
now Ubbo-Sathla was bereft of all intelligence and was reduced to a
flinched before the piercing radiance shed by the sigil, or whether
mindless idiocy and wallowed in the primal ooze, cursed and con¬
Zulchequon himself- chose to defer in favor of his Sire the pleasures of
demned to endless and squalid fecundity.
devouring this rash intruder, cannot with certitude be known. Suffice
it to relate that Zulchequon without further ado silently withdrew his
II. The Dark Silent One

T his lore was not unfamiliar to Haon-Dor, and the antehuman

savant had cause to presume that the Elder Records (as they were
somber presence from the path of Haon-Dor, and left his way unen¬
cumbered—to the enormous relief of the sorcerer.

called) yet reposed undisturbed in the slimy bed where Ubbo-Sathla

III. The Cavern of the Prototypes
forever spawned the squirming prototypes of earthly life.
Now, by reason of this divine prolificacy, the path followed by
A fter traversing the labyrinthine, descending ways of the cavern
for an indeterminate period, Haon-Dor at length found himself
the sorcerer could scarcely be termed untenanted. Indeed, of the
entering upon a vast hollow space of domed rock whose flinty walls
myriad spawn begotten by Ubbo-Sathla through the uncountable
were maculated with niches marked in such a manner as to suggest
kalpas of Its imprisonment below, more than a few of Its dread off¬
[hey had been gnawed into che scone by indescribable ceech.
spring yet lingered in familial proximity to their Sire.
58 The Book of Eibon ^Oejccnt into the Abyss_59

Each space so hollowed out was occupied, and the nature of the f loping atrocities who deem themselves the minions of Nyogtha.
occupant of the nearer of these the sorcerer was able to ascertain by Very dreadful of aspect was Nug, and Haon-Dor very much dis¬
reason of the peculiar stench which breathed therefrom. But a single trusted the hungry glint in his surly and febrile eyes, yet in reply to
glance at its apterous and semi-avian form confirmed him in his |ie challenge of the ghoul-thing, he could but reiterate again the for-
assumption that it was even a shantak-bird, one of those malformed cnula by which he had passed unscathed the lairs of Zulchequon and
monstrosities which the Voormish Tablets call the “Fishers from Quumyagga.
Outside.” Aaain—for some reason he scarce dared to conjecture—the for-
Erelong, however, there was discovered to his scrutiny that the nuila succeeded, and the gaunt and furtive Feaster Among the Tombs
loathsome abnormality was not just any shantak-bird, but that which but slunk aside, retreating further into the noisome recesses of its lair
the Voormis name Quumyagga. For by that appellation the furry pre¬ with a sly, mocking, backwards glance and a thick and ominous
humans are wont to denote the elderborn and foremost of the shan- chuckle, whose sound the sorcerer did not at all care for.
taks which serve Golgoroth, and which reputedly lair in the more Now, from the presence of Quumyagga and Nug in this place,
inaccessible of the peaks which guard shunned and frightful Leng, the sorcerer guessed it to be naught less than the Cavern of the
The swollen bulk of the befeathered and bescaled monstrosity Prototypes, that infernal region closely adjacent to the slime-pit
squatted motionlessly in its niche, towering in the uncertain and wan wherein resided Ubbo-Sathla. Herein, at certain intervals, abide the
luminosity which pervaded the cavern like a singularly repulsive eldermost and first-born of the several races which serve the Old
eidolon of black obsidian. Yet though the one-legged and hook-
Ones on this plane. And, indeed, erelong he was able to discern more
beaked creature remained immobile, its single horrible eye burned
clearly the strange forms which slouched, coiled, perched or squatted
greenly through the dimness like a sickly moon through pestilential
within the many niches gnawed into the walls of flinty stone.
vapors.
Amongst them he recognized the obscenity Sss'haa, leader of the ser-
Albeit though it regarded him with its malign and menacing
pentmen who serve Father Yig, and Yeb who is the first and foremost
eye, there was naught else for Haon-Dor to do but to repeat unto
of the Unclean Ones who are the minions of Abhoth, and the many¬
Quumyagga the identical request wherewith he had curiously gained
legged form of Tch’tkaa, leader of the Gray Weavers who attend
an unmolested passage by the lair of Zulchequon. And he displayed
Atlach-Nacha.
before that one, terrible eye the sigil which he bore.
Absent from their niches (he was informed by the dry and rasp-
Here, again, naught deterred his way, for the loathsome avian
ing but not-discourteous tones of TclVtkaa) were Tsunth, the veiled
shape scuttled deeper into its niche, and closed sleepily upon him
leader of the Hidden Ones who serve Zulchequon, and the leaders of
that glaring and cyclopean gaze, which it mercifully lidded.
the Miri Nigri and the Dark Ones, which are, respectively, the min¬
Breathing easier, the sorcerer strode further into the cavern.
ions of Chaugnar-Faugn and Ghatanothoa.
In the second niche there crouched a gaunt-ribbed, canine-muz¬
Beyond the niche occupied by the Gray Weaver, Haon-Dor
zled thing of scaly and leprous gray, from whose mould-encrusted
cspicd the immense and faceless figure of Yegg-ha who leads the
form the redoubtable Haon-Dor guessed the occupant to belong to
night-gaunts in the service of the Crawling Chaos and his awful son,
the race of the ghouls. And when it turned upon him gelid eyes ol
sullen rubescence and accosted him, inquiring the motive of his ^bb-Tstll, and also E-poh, chief of the dreaded Tcho-Tcho people,

intrusion into its burrow (and speaking, all the while, in slurred and ^ith neither of these did the sorcerer care to converse, for in none

glutinous syllables), the accuracy of his supposition was proved. °f the lore available to his perusal had he ever found aught concern-

Indeed, the lean grotesque was no other than Nug the grandfa¬ ing these two that would permit the reader to sleep soundly of

ther of all ghouls on the earth-plane, ancestor and leader of that pack nights.
 6L
60 The Book of Eibon lf Descent into the Abyss

By now it had occurred to Haon-Dor that he had incautiously r|.L r than the first-created and most feared of all its kind, even the

penetrated into regions of grim and dreadful peril. For such abomi¬ S| me-Thing itself, K’thugguol, which the Voormish Tablets term
nations as Quumyagga and Nug and Yegg-ha and the others of their !",the Grand Shoggoth.”
brethren are among the Lesser Old Ones, and were to be considered These abominations, lingering in the depths of Y qaa, were the
only slightly less powerful than their Masters, and no less to be feared Kst surviving horrors of their age, and Haon-Dor knew from his
by such as Haon-Dor. For even the dark gods of the Abyss enjoy their studies that they had been the cause of the ultimate doom of the
privacy, which mortals may intrude upon only at direful and portcn- polar Ones, as the archaic star-headed vegetable carnivores which
tious risk. Indeed, should they turn to rend him asunder, the ante- |ric| formerly dwelt near the southern pole were known, and who
human savant deemed it questionable that it remained with his abil¬ were deemed the first inhabitants of this planet. It had been the
ity to fend them off, even with the Upas wand fixed with its gorgonic implacable, the virtually indestructible shoggoths whereby the Polar
eye, nor even by the brandishment of the Elder Key. Ones had met their fabulous doom, whereof the earlier fragments of
There was no other recourse for him but to repeat again the the Pnakotic Manuscripts are so fearfully explicit. He had good
request whereby he had thus far won clear passage through the cav¬
cause, then, had Haon-Dor, to fear for his life from this jellied mon¬
erns. And, having loudly uttered forth the formula, it greatly relieved
strosity which was, it eventuated, the guardian of the entrance to the
Haon-Dor that the entities remained motionless within their niches
pit wherein Ubbo-Sathla wallowed.
and did nothing to thwart his hurried passage through the remain¬
However, and unaccountably, K’thugguol, too, withdrew from
der of the cavern.
his way, before even he had completed the recitation of his request or
had time to show forth the Elder Key. However, the vast and quak¬
IV. The Guardian of the Portal
ing mass of putrescent jelly, as it slithered aside, turned upon the sor¬
rom thence he emerged at length upon the brink of an enormous cerer the cold and inscrutable gaze of several stalked visual organs
gulf of seething vapors, arched by an iron bridge. Traversing the obtruded for that purpose upon the moment from its liquescent,
narrow way and safely gaining the further side of this bottomless amoeboid bulk. There was in that gaze a glint of icy and sardonic
chasm, the sorcerer approached the dimly luminous portal of a stone
mockery ... or did Haon-Dor but fancy it?
chamber wherefrom breathed a shocking putrescence, and stationed And thus did the antehuman savant approach the ultimate goal
athwart this entrance as if on sentry-go he beheld an abnormality
of his quest, for he had penetrated into the uttermost and secret ady¬
transcending in its horrific lineaments all that he had already seen.
tum of gray-litten Y’qaa, and beyond that luminous portal lay the
It was a vast and ghastly mass of lucent, quaking jelly which
Pit of the Shoggoths itself, the veritable lair of Ubbo-Sathla. . . .
crawled with naked, glistening eyeballs, several score of which even
But it must be noted that, with the sole exception of
at that very moment regarded him fixedly, their coldly multi-plex
Zulchequon, a demon of prodigious might and of the spawn of
gaze redolent with awful menace. With an uncontrollable shudder of
Shub-Niggurath herself, Haon-Dor had encountered in his descent
loathing, he at once recognized the gelatinous horror as a shoggoth,
into the abyss naught but the Lesser Old Ones, who are but the
one of those things of elder myth which tend Ubbo-Sathla in Its lair.
slaves and servitors of Those incalculably more dangerous than they.
For, although the Unbegotten One was not the progenitor of their
And this thought occurred to Haon-Dor, as he paused and lingered
grisly kind, the shoggoths regard the divinity as their mentor and
serve as the minions of their chosen god. upon the portal.
And, mindful of having but recently encountered the proto¬ Little (he thought to himself, with a certain vanity) hath a thau¬

types of the shantaks, the night-gaunts, the Miri Nigri, and many maturge of power such as mine own to fear even from such as

other races, Haon-Dor guessed this particular shoggoth to be none Quumyagga or Nug or Yeb!
62 The Book of Eibon

Thus-and-so his ruminations ran, but we shall not reconstruct , ,nP hack with Them to the stars. But no, for here they lay, idly
bo rut.
them here, for vanity is a sin all men share, neither is the present sed about like the toys a growing child discards . . . and even in

author immune to it. But had, perchance, our trepidatious wizard midst of his triumphant moment, it occurred to the sorcerer to

met with the Old Ones themselves, the tale might well have found ponder—why.

another, and swifter, and less pleasant ending. For there be Those At that precise moment, the squirming mass that was Ubbo-

of the lineage of Ubbo-Sathla, and of Azathoth as well, which few Sichla heaved and shuddered in the convulsions of Its unending

sentient beings of any world can face without madness . . . and ancj continuous proliferation, and in so-doing one tilted slab was

even Abhoth or Shub-Niggurath are not the most to be dreaded of thrust momentarily above the stinking ooze, so that the uppermost

Their kind. 0f the complex glyphs it bore deeply-graven was, however briefly,

to be seen.
And in that flashing and transient glimpse, Haon-Dor saw and
V. The Ultimate Revelation

A nd thus came the sorcerer Haon-Dor to the abode of Ubbo-

comprehended the meaning of the glyph, and the intolerably blasphe¬
mous, the ultimately shocking revelation, as but one of the titanic
Sathla, and he entered therein.
secrets of the cosmos exploded upon his frail, mundane conscious¬
Now this Ubbo-Sathla is accounted the eldest of all living things
ness and was seared deep into his, albeit prehuman, yet still mortal,
upon this planet, and he is destined, say the Parchments of Pnom, to
brain. . . .
be the last living inhabitant of the earth, as well, for Ubbo-Sathla is
Back from the brink of that ghastly pit of ever-spawning and
the source and the end. Before the coming of Tsathoggua or Yog-
mindless fecundity he reeled, shrieking in the extremity of horror at
Sothoth or Cthulhu from the stars, Ubbo-Sathla dwelt in the steam¬
the unthinkable and loathsome cosmic implication implicit in that
ing fens of the new-made Earth: a mass without head or members,
single bit of arcana he had absorbed in one fleeting glimpse.
spawning the gray, formless efts of the Prime, and the grisly proto¬
Back up the winding stair he sraggered, lurching, falling, tram¬
types of terrene life; and although there be many of Its spawn that
pling heedlessly underfoot the squeaking small wriggling lives that
joined with the Begotten of Azathoth in that war the idiot Chaos
had crept mewling from the slime-pits below . . . on he flung him¬
raised against the Elder Gods, Ubbo-Sathla knoweth naught of wars
self, past the enigmatic gaze of the several godlings he had earlier,
nor of change, nor even of time itself, being changeless and eternal.
and with much trepidation, accosted . . . and up, up through the
He abideth in the teeming slime-pits of lower Y’qaa, and all earthly
multitudinous levels of the cavern-world of Y’qaa he lurched, dazed,
life, it is told, shall go back at last through the great circle of time to
wild-eyed, shrieking with incredible horror at what he now knew, the
Ubbo-Sathla.
blood within his reeling brain virtually congealing with the impact of
And, as Haon-Dor stepped forth into the nethermost nadir of
that terrible and unbelievable cosmic insight . . . and out at last, out
Y’qaa and gazed down upon the headless, limbless, slithering and
of that abyss of dread, gray-htten Y’qaa, whereof neither the ser-
ceaselessly fissioning Mass that was Ubbo-Sathla, he glimpsed as
pentmen of old nor the furry and prehuman Voormis recorded aught
well those massive and glyphic tablets of immemorial and adaman¬
tine stone which were the guerdon of his labors. They lay tumbled that was wholesome.

carelessly about in the wriggling and nauseous slime, just as the * * *

Gods had left them for some unknowable and unguessable reason of
h is said that the antehuman sorcerer took refuge in those tene¬
Their own.
Haon-Dor had dreaded in the secret places of his heart that brous cavern-gulfs immediately beneath Voormithadreth and reared

when the Elder Gods had come down from Their domain of Glyu- strange House therein, forever afterward shunning with unspo¬

Vho to punish Ubbo-Sathla’s crime, the Elder Records had been ken fear the light of day, and the clear and laughing blue skies, the
 65
et in die Parchment
64 The Book of Eibon

innocent glitter of the stars, and the immemorial surging of the About “The Secret in the Parchment”
green salt sea.
t.Je, which debuted in the Eastertide 1988 issue of Crypt of Cthulhu
For Haon-Dor knew, as no other thaumaturge before or after TYY), seeks to integrate into the Eibonic sub-mythos the lore Arthur
him hath ever or will ever know, the nature of that immense and hor¬ -*• seated in “The White People,” a tale which had a profound influ-
rible and ultimately absurd jest of the mocking Gods we mortals con¬ ^Tlong with “The Great God Pan," on Lovecraft's “The Dunwich
ceal behind the meaningless term “Reality.” enL£' r- It incorporates the Machenisms, however, nnerely by citation. And
There, in his curiously-environed and thousand-pillared manse, Ts is something of an allegory of reading, in that Carter apparently hoped

reputedly coterminous with certain far-scattered regions of this world 'l ' simple invocation of the Machenesque items would work the old b ac

and of others, because of the contamination of that awful secret t1,? ;c Machen's own use of them, sublimely suggestive of far, far more than
shown, did conjure up ineffable shudders, but in “The Secret m the
which he cannot ever for one instant forget, the sorcerer Haon-Dor
Parchment” the Aklo Letters, the Voorish Domes, Deep Dendo, etc. are
hath dwelt from before the coming of men, and, it well may prove,
• ‘ r more items in an over-crowded list of gibberish. Carter has identified
dwelleth to this day; far from the abominations which crouch in grim
the voor as the Little People of “The Shining Pyramid” and The Novel of the
Y’qaa at the nadir of the world he reposes, in communion with
Black Seal. Machen’s Z Light becomes just an X Ray.
beings somewhat more wholesome and sympathetic than the
What is especially strange is how Carter locates the action in Ultima
denizens of Y’qaa, such as his neighbors, the eremite Ezdagor, the
Thule and among the relics of the voorish people, with no apparent aware¬
archeopteryx Raphontis, the spider-god Atlach-Nacha, and ness that his mentor Smith had already used both the ancient Greek Ultima
Tsathoggua. & Thule as the basis for his own Mhu Thulan (“Mhu" coming from
Churchward’s The Lost Continent of Mu, a book he mentioned to HPL) and
Machen’s Kingdom of Voor as the basis for the Voormis and Mount
Voormithadreth (Smith waxes eloquent in his praise for Machen s T e
White People” to Lovecraft, ca. January 27, 193 U-
 ! the Parchment

,jnCl it fascinated Ptomeron to puzzle over the nigh-indecipher-

of such of their scrolls or tablets as were still occa-
The Secret in the Parchment: ’ clraractry

ilv unearthed amongst their low, unwholesome tombs and

51on^uy
sepulchres. . , ,
The History of the Thaumaturge Ptomeron Niot far from his tower, in fact, was one such necropolis ot the
• dial denizens of Thule to be found, in a desiccated region
by Lin Carter

F
Chcre broken tombs tottered amidst the soft cinnabar sands of
deserts beyond the river Zendish. Here was he often wont to prowl
ailing to win the heart of the maiden Zeetha, the youthful
amonast the crumbling fanes and sepulchres which the voors had left
thaumaturge, Ptomeron, determined henceforth to avoid the
behind them when they vanished from the world. But even one of so
companionship of his kind, and eloigned to a desert in the
morbid a disposition as Ptomeron did not like the grim appearance
remoter parts of the island of Ultima Thule. There, he erected for his
of these mausolea, for they were squat and humped like crouching
abode a tower of harsh corundum on the giddy verge of a precipice
toads and decorated with the most repulsive and hateful bas-reliefs
in whose depths lived only crawling scarlet horror. His tower stood
imaginable. Neither did he at all care for the manner in which each
amidst a bleak wilderness uninhabited of men and shunned even by
tomb was furnished with a stone stair that descended into ebon
the beasts, which suited perfectly the melancholy moods of
depths below the earth’s crust, wherefrom there blew unceasingly a
Ptomeron. Therein he pondered a philosophy too arduous and com¬
cold and hissing wind of exceeding foulness.
plex for the intelligence of lesser mages, concocted his astonishing
Betimes he wondered, did Ptomeron, whither the stairways of
elixirs, and by necromancy wrung a fearful lore from cadavers whose
each crypt led, as they wound down into unguessable caverns at the
rotting visages were pullulating with maggots.
bowels of the world, and for what purpose they had been builded,
This Ptomeron possessed a sardonic humor, and his morbid dis¬
whereconcerning his perusal of the voorish lore gave cryptic hints
position, only natural in a student of necromancy, was rendered even
which roused horrified revulsion within his heart. He hoped his fears
gloomier than before, by reason of his disappointments in love. It
unfounded, for nothing in the elder texts he had aforetime scanned
afforded grim amusement to Ptomeron, therefore, to furnish his
hinted at aught that was comfortable to the sanity of men concern¬
citadel in somber yew and ebony, and he hung the walls with
ing that dark and dubious subterranean realm.
draperies of funereal browns and blacks and purples. Save for the
It was amongst the relics of an antehuman sorcerer named
entry-way, no apertures broke the flinty walls of his tower; the var¬
Haon-Dor that the thaumaturge found his first knowledge of the
ious suites and chambers thereof were illuminated only by weeping
mysterious fate of the voors. This sorcerer had belonged to a little-
tapers of corpse-tallow, set in nine-branched candelabra cunningly
known race which had formerly inhabited this island, driven hence
fashioned from the bones of hanged men. By these, and the curdled
by the unpleasant voorish-folk ages before the coming-hither of
light of clarified phosphorous caught in globes of clear glass, he pur¬
Ptomeron’s own people. On frayed, decaying parchments made of
sued his study of less-than-wholesome recipes and of the interdicted
the tanned membranes of pterodactyl-wings, the antehuman mage
rituals of the more equivocal divinities of vanquished theologies, by
had written cryptically of “the kingdom of the voors beyond the end
few save he remembered.
of the world,” and hinted frightful things concerning the “White
The wilderness whereover he perforce ruled was known to the
pre-glacial geographers as the Desolation of Voor, by reason of the Ceremonies” and the “Scarlet Ceremonies” whereby the voors had

queer folk that had dwelt hereabouts before the coming of the first Worshipped unguessable divinities happily left unnamed.

human settlers into this island from the adjacent continent of Ptomeron discovered these clues by sheerest chance, for he had

Hyperborea. They had been delvers into a dark lore, these voorish- bec'n at considerable pains to secure a copy of the Testament of
 69
T) l the Parchment
68 The Book of Eibon

jns. And it was known that these domes were unaccountably

Haon-Dor, as it reputedly contained the sorcerer’s own redaction of
lV*L j even by tomb-robbers, by the ghouls, and by the tribes of
the Voorish Rituals, of which Ptomeron had recovered from the
; md furtive jeelo that betimes infest such regions.
wastage of time only baffling and contradictory fragments. Alas, the
Finally, the passage hinted that the voors, driven from their nox-
antehuman sorcerer had written of the voors in the difficult Aklo
s haunts by the antehumans, had taken refuge in those black and
writing, wherein Ptomeron was less than proficient.
'^caverns beneath the earth's crust known as Deep Dendo, about
Crouched night after unsleeping night over the mouldering
hich so much was whispered but so little was known.
parchments, propped before him on a tall lectern of coffin-wood, the
thaumaturge tirelessly perused the cryptic pages, striving with all the
arcana of his magistry to deduce the secrets hidden behind the dark
To construct the intricate mechanism which would project the Z
symbolism employed by Haon-Dor. What, for example, was meant
Light into the subterranean depths was no simple task, and one that
by the “Mao Games,” or “Voolas,” or by “the Dark Flame,” or “the
required of Ptomeron that he make several visits to Ith and the towns
Green Ceremonies,” or “the Xu Language,” or “the Dirka Song,” or
of Yazra and Thul, where he succeeded at length in procuring the
“the Nug-Soth Runes,” or “Zulchequon”? And many were the times
necessary supplies of quartz and lead and other materials. It was dur
when the exasperated thaumaturge wished, and that most heartily,
ing his brief stay in 1th that he bethought him to visit once again his
that those hunched and squalid tombs which the voors had left
former sweetheart, Zeetha, but inquiries at the manse of her parents
behind to lapse to shards amidst the cinnabar sands were not
divulged the peculiar and disquieting fact that she had vanished
deserted and untenanted, so that he could vivify their remains by his
some days before, from which knowledge the necromancer sourly
command of the arts of necromancy, to wrest from the sere and with¬
deduced the wanton had run away with a lover. Returning to his dark
ered lips of voorish mummies the secrets of that occultry whose keys
tower, he fell into a frenzy of labor and, in the fullness of time, his
eluded him.
But alas—and unaccountably—the uncouth and elusive voors apparatus was fully assembled.
Ptomeron selected for the night of his experiment one on which
had taken even their dead with them. . . .
the planets were auspicious, with Ylidiomph in the ascendant and dim
Yet in these studies he persevered, and at length the rigor of his
Yaksh low on the horizon. The uncanny and flickering radiance from
interminable labors bore fruit, for Ptomeron, with a febrile eagerness
the lamp he had constructed cast weird shadows in three directions as
curiously unlike his former sardonic calm, unriddled a passage in the
it was caught in prisms of vitrified lead, blazed through lenses of glit¬
Testament of Haon-Dor which had heretofore defied every analysis.
tering quartz, reflected from polished mirrors of black steel, from
Coupled together in the most meaningful proximity he found a refer¬
thence projected against the agate flagstones of the flooring.
ence to “the Z Light” and the ominous and even sinister phrase, . . .
The light sizzled and flashed as it penetrated the stone floor,
heavy and grey and sad, like a wicked voorish dome in Deep Dendo.”
shedding a wavering penumbra of shuddering luminance in which
The causes for the excitement his deciphering of this passage-
the thaumaturge perceived nine hitherto-unnamed colors. And then,
aroused within the breast of Ptomeron were several. For one thing,
before his fascinated gaze, the solid earth seemed to melt away, to
he had earlier mastered the usage of the Z Light during his appren¬
vaporize, and to waft into insubstantial mists, invisible as was the cir-
ticeship in the city Ith, which stood on the eastern coasts of the island
and was commonly accounted its premier metropolis. For another, Cumambient air itself.
The scintillant beam bored into the depths of the earth, and,
those mean, low, ill-reputed structures called “voorish domes” were
vvith rapt enchantment, Ptomeron observed scenes and vistas
still to be found in certain of the remoter parts of the island of Thule,
heretofore unglimpsed by men—caverns thronged with stalagmites
such as those hostile and desolate wildernesses long uninhabited by
ar>d stalactites, like the fangs of dragons, veins of strange minerals
men, among the which were the Woodlands of Llorn and the Yurga
70 The Book of Eib(on . tlie Parchment

and pockets of peculiar gems and crystals unknown to purely ter¬ qTcy crawled and slithered in an obscene, tangled heap; and
lie mound of squirming bodies parted, and Ptomeron dis-
rene jewelers.
tlicn | thiU upon which the loathsome crawlers writhed. It was the
Through hitherto impenetrable regions of utter darkness the ray
cern^bent body of a veritable giantess, or so it seemed, until the
pierced, disclosing to his gaze fugitive glimpses of uncanny subter¬
rttU cCtive oriented itself and the necromancer realized the small-
ranean cataracts, of gushing torrents hurtling through Stygian dark¬
f /of the puny forms in proper relation to that upon which they
nesses, of black lakes swarming with bleached and eyeless fish, of
enormous worms grown larger than Leviathan, of seething volcanic „rjllowed.
He staggered back from the lenses with a choked cry as horror
lakes of fiery lava, and other marvels beyond name and number.
be ,0nd belief enveloped him. And at last he knew the most abysmal
At length the Z Light, having penetrated to a depth of many
0/he secrets of Deep Dendo, and in an helpless paroxysm of fury and
leagues, disclosed a vast hollow space, an immense, seemingly limit¬
loathing he smashed his apparatus asunder and mindlessly trampled
less region otherwise submerged in abysmal gloom. Therein, his
the bent and broken fragments underfoot.
vision magnified by a clever arrangement of powerful lenses, And thereafter the thaumaturge Ptomeron confined his studies
Ptomeron observed innumerable shallow domes which broke the to philosophies too arduous and complex for the intelligence of lesser
muddy surface of the cavern floor like swollen pustules on a cadaver’s mages, to the concocting of his astonishing elixirs, and to the con¬
bloated visage. versation of rotting cadavers, striving to erase from the tablets of his
Colorless and grimy were these low protuberances in the livid memory the features that he had seen upon the naked giantess upon
and piercing light, and between them trickled sluggish rivulets of whose hamstrung and helpless body the puny and repugnant voors
viscous black mud encrusted with multitudinous, seemingly gnawed had so lasciviously writhed. For in that face, despite its drooling and
bones of all manner of living creatures. Among these charnel mindless idiocy, he had recognized the lineaments of his lost love, the
remains, Ptomeron uneasily noted the unmistakable bones and skele¬ maiden Zeetha. %
tons of men, women and children of his race—but how such osseous
remnants could have penetrated to this enormous depth below the
earth the thaumaturge could not—or would not—conjecture.
With fingers that trembled just a trifle, he adjusted the dials of
the mechanism, impelling the beam of Z Light to sink through the
porous substance of the larger and central-most of the repellent
domes. Drenched in unutterable blackness was the interior of that
foul edifice, but, by imperceptible degrees, the livid radiance reluc¬
tantly alleviated the gloom, and with growing consternation
Ptomeron perceived a writhing mound of bleached and glistening
white bodies, beslimed and pulpy as putrescent worms. Yet they
were not worms, no, not with those swollen and infantile heads,
those bloated and hairless limbs . . . and with a thrill of even intenser
revulsion, Ptomeron now saw that the puffy embryonic faces atop
those squirming naked shapes bore no slightest vestige of eyes,
naught but smooth pulpy swellings, nostril-slits, and wet, working
sphincter-like mouths.
 Below
73

About “The Face from Below”

W e learn two seemingly disparate bits of information about the savant
Pnom from Smith and Carter. He was an archivist and an exorcist
No story tries to harmonize the apparent discrepancy. How would a man be
both? Actually, the answer is quite simple once you know something about
ancient and medieval exorcistic technique. It seems chat faith healers and
exorcists kept files of traditional healing and exorcism stories. Some they
used as guidebooks, e.g., Mark 9:29, “This kind cometh not out save by
prayer and fasting.” Others they would recite in their entirety as a liturgy of
exorcism/healing. (This is why the actual healing words of Jesus are retained
in his native Aramaic even though the rest of Mark 5:22-24, 35 —3 and
7:32-35 is in Greek—you must use the magic syllables themselves, not
some equivalent. As Origen of Alexandria says, you dare not tamper with
the actual sound. See also Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess, 1978, pp. 188
ff., for a medieval exorcism entailing the full repetition of Elijah’s exorcism
of the demon queen Matromt.)

Thus we must imagine Pnom cataloguing ancient tales of magical con¬

tests which he would employ in his rituals, either as a database (Hmm . . .
how did they get rid of Ossadogowah last time he made a nuisance of him¬
self?) or as ritual scripts. We can even explain why he should have compiled
the sort of theogony Smith derives from the Parchments of Pnom. Exorcism, as
the very word implies (derived from the Greek exonsia, “authority”), is a
matter of “pulling rank” on a demon, as when Jesus bound the power of
Beelzebui, prince of demons, and forced him to send his subordinates, the
lesser demons, out of their victims. This is no doubt why medieval exorcists
sought with great precision to delineate the exact chain of command of what
C. S. Lewis (in The Scretctape Letters) called “the Lowerarchy”; they needed to
know which devil could and could not be pushed around by which other
devil, [n the same way, Pnom the exorcist would have wanted to chart out
the seniority and relationships of the Old Ones as in the genealogical chart
Smith provides by courtesy of the Parchments of Pnom.

It will come as no surprise, then, that the present tale is itself no doubt
intended as a paradigm for would-be exorcists in the tradition of Pnom. If
it was unable to provide a sure-fire method, it at least helped set the limits
of what might be too perilous a job to undertake.

Eibomc scribe Laurence J. Cornford has pointed out a certain resem¬

blance between this episode and a remarkable experience related by Clark
Ashton Smith in The Fantasy Fan for November 1934: “About 19 IS I was in
ill health and, during a short visit to San Francisco, was sitting one day in
the Bohemian Club, to which I had been given a guest’s card of admission.
Happening to look up, I saw a frightful demonian face with twisted rootlike
 , from Below 75

Once there, he would determine the true state of things, and

her he might do aught to aid their plight. To show how pleased
The Face from Below: isitors were at this proclamation they broke open another case of
>c nrh wine to toast him as the premier exorcist of the age.
The History of Pnom the Exorcist Pnom iji- c
50 on the morrow Pnom gathered up the equipment ot exorcism,
the sighs and charms, the potions and rare potted chemicals of his
by Laurence J. Cornford

M any centuries agone, in the clays of the sage Pnom, he who

was the chief genealogist as well as a noted prophet and
,rC and

rd
loaded them upon the pack animals that waited in the court-
below his manse and, leaving the property and the tutelage of
his apprentices to his steward, Ravleth Gilon, he set out in the com¬
pany of the greatly cheered villagers. None too surprisingly, the jour¬
exorcist, there fell upon the region of Asphagoth a fright¬
ney took even longer than the first trek of the embassy from
ful series of horrors. Weird tales and omens abounded concerning the
Urcheeth to visit Pnom, since now especial care must needs be taken
fate of men and women caught after sunset or on lonely roads. Such
on account of the magical accouterments, some exceedingly fragile,
reports reached even to the spired city of Mnardis, which at that time cl¬
^ vnlnrilp So rhe /~r\rr\ r\o r\ i r
was the dwelling place of that famous prophet. The rumours
over hills turned unseasonably autumnal, through marshlands where
intrigued that noble archimandrite, and he noted down these quaint
insects of an unpleasant size bit and harried the travelers and their
rumours for later reference. He thought no more of them until one
mounts, and into woods where the trees twisted and coiled above
afternoon when his servant announced the arrival of a party of visi¬
overgrown paths to block their way.
tors from none other than the haunted region of Asphagoth.
As they drew close at last to the troubled province, they encoun¬
They had journeyed many days from the village of Urcheeth,
tered processions of refugees fleeing from the region, their worldly
through darksome forests where lurked the furtive jeelo, over water-
belongings piled upon carts and caravans, cutting ruts into the gray
meadows babbling with springs and insects, and among domed hills,
mud. Occasionally at night they would be joined round their fire by
seeking Pnom by reason of his fabled reputation as vanquisher of
some ot these fugitives, and from these they gathered the latest intel¬
malign spirits. The visitors talked long with Pnom, who sought first
ligence. Hushed voices spoke falteringly of animals and people alike,
to verify what he might of the many curious tales which had reached
utterly vanished, their passing marked by naught but their blood
his ears, for even when events partake of the preternatural, rumor
stains and a curious disturbance of the ground, or scratching upon
will make them more fantastic still, and he would separate strange
truth from stranger fancy. Had any of his suppliants seen aught of the the rocks.
So it was on the last night of their journey, when the refugees had
pestering demons with his own eyes?
The venerable Pnom was by no means loathe to come to their grown few and straggling, that Pnom and his clients espied from the

aid, but the winter would soon be setting in, and he liked not to ven¬ brow of a hill the town of Urcheeth whose few remaining people ran

ture far from his cheery hearth unless a case be dire indeed. about in manifest panic, though for what cause they could but spec-

Determined to win his aid, the villagers doubtless stretched what ulate. Then, as the company drew nearer, they observed a house fold-

facts they knew. Nor did they neglect to flatter the invincible Pnom, lng and splintering as if from some mighty impact, though no siege

citing with much praise his many victories over the spirit-world. As engtne or battering ram could be seen. Nearer still they heard the vil-

for Pnom, he did not recognize several of these latter tales, so greatly tagers call out that they suffered assault by some unseen monster

had rumour transformed them into the veriest absurdities. which had ravaged the whole land, falling on farms and towns, all
At the last, and not before the convivial consumption of a large Caken unawares. The learned Pnom had heard enough. He stepped
quantity of spiced amber wine, Pnom consented to pay a visit to the forth and, unlimbering his sigil-sword from its damasked scabbard,
 ice from Below

went forth on foot into the village, warning his companions to await . , in the woods east of Urcheeth all his life. He abode there
his return. None of these last registered any protest. he |, hs brother, Margh-Tsoth, their mother having passed away
By sword and magic craft Pnom confronted the beast, which he their father absent for many a year. When asked about late
alone seemed able to behold, facing down his vast and howling foe in a°ents in Urcheeth, Vash-Tsoth expressed entire ignorance, then
the midst of a dismal meadow. With many oaths and conjurations did tV eared bemused and upset hearing of the ravages and eventual

he adjure the unseen behemoth until at length, when the sun hud death of the monster. He regarded all he had heard in silence
long since fled in terror, lo, he slew it with the mighty and shudder- momentarily, then spoke.
some Eighth Word of the Litany of Xastur, so that the very hills Some miles from the woodland shelter he shared with his

echoed to its death-cries and a chorus of birds took up the calling in brorher, there stood a cromlech of gray stones, raised by some
a mocking lament, fluttering frenzied in their skeletal trees. At last ancient! unknown hand. One night (as it happened, the very night of

all fell silent. chat equinox when Pnom had noted a peculiar conjunction of stars)
The villagers greeted Pnom as a fair hero. They took him by the the cwo brothers had sighted a great fire blazing in the center of the
arms and spun him in jigs to the music of simple pipes and drums. stones. Vash-Tsoth had approached to observe a robed figure con¬
They patted him endlessly and called all at once for him to tell what ducting a strange ceremony, changing the fire from red to green,

desires he had that they might fulfill. But for all this, Pnom felt lit¬ from yellow to blue. Soon the man was joined by several others, like¬
tle inclined unto rejoicing. His victory, arduous as it must seem to wise robed. And all as one commenced to dance about the queer
helpless mortals, yet seemed too easily wrought to Pnom, and he flames in the limping fashion of the ancients. No more than a dance
could not but feel that the true menace was lying low. The villagers, it seemed, yet it was after this night that the beasts of the forest
celebrating prematurely as he felt, were made garrulous by reason of became affrighted and departed for more wholesome climes. After no
drink, and wise Pnom took the occasion to make further inquiries. great space of days, the villagers, too, had fled, so that the brothers
The villagers agreed, as if seeing no significance in the fact, that the found no one with whom to barter as formerly. Next came the noises
banished thing had come from the forest to the east, and Pnom sur¬ in the night, and on these was Vash-Tsoth reluctant to elaborate. At
mised this to be the true source of the terror. The exorcist located the first the brothers weathered these hardships, being themselves hardy
group of villagers who had come to enlist his aid and informed them men, but one morning Vash-Tsoth awoke to discover his brother had
of his darksome suspicions, then bade them seek out their beds, since fled in the night. So it was that Vash-Tsoth now came to be abroad

they must be underway again on the morrow. searching for his brother.
Rising later than he liked and having managed little rest due in Pnom gravely considered the tale, and pondered for long
no small part to the boisterous celebrations of the villagers, ill-suited moments upon its meaning. He assured the young man that they
to the temperament of so studied a scholar, Pnom and his band had met no-one traveling the road who matched the appearance of
departed from the town, walking quickly to make up for the hours the missing brother, and that he feared the evil influences in the
squandered. Near dusk, they settled near the outskirts of the dark and w°od might have captured him. The old exorcist bade the woods¬
fearsome forest, when they were approached by a sole figure. man show him the location of the stones, and to this Vash-Tsoth
The newcomer cut a striking figure, standing a full head taller tcadily agreed. Pnom warned that it would be better if he went
than the average native of the region, and uncommonly broad of" alone into the woods, which he now most certainly knew for the
shoulder. His craggy, weathered face, with its tangle of beard and source of the ills plaguing the region. So he set out, accompanied
twisting, upturned mustaches, and lump-nose, bespoke the woods¬ °nly by a pack-mule and Vash-Tsoth as guide. None seemed averse
man rather than the burgher. The man hailed the group, showed to his council, and all waited by the campfire, breaking out the
open, empty hands, and named himself Vash-Tsoth. He had dwelt, Wineskins. As for Pnom, he was happy enough not to have to play
nursemaid to the faint-hearted. He should have his old hands fu)[ ■‘pass me now the Samitar of Nothvair. He waited, then

with the devils of the place. danced again at the other man. Vash-Tsoth made not the slightest

Together the two men trudged through the woodland. They Effort to comply, and, believing him paralyzed with fear, Pnom
were a strange pair, seen side by side. Vash-Tsoth was a great bear of .ached out for the ornate blade. Then, happening to look up, he saw

a man, shambling and dirty, while Pnom, in his violet robes, frightful demoniac face with twisted root-like eyebrows and oblique

trimmed with ermine, was half the height of his comrade and a third pery-$litted eyes, which seemed to emerge in a moment from the air

the width. about nine feet above him. It bore, nay, it was an ineffable expression

The air smelt of damp earth, fungi, and the herbal aroma of of malignity, horror, and loathsomeness. The face faded as it

crumbling tree-bark. At last he came upon the stones. Great they descended, and in a moment Pnom beheld Something manifesting at

were, built on a scale unsuited to the familiar theriomorphic the center of the circle. A protective fog hid the form within, but

godlings of Hyperborea, and they bore runnels dyed rusty brown swinging talons made to slash at the fabric of the mist, and Pnom

with the dried blood of man and beast. In the midst of the stones liked not the little he could see. A shuddering came over him, for he

the earth was dark and the meager vegetation black, not in the knew this manifestation for no less than the Angel of dread Yok-

aftermath of flame, but by some alchemical process Pnom could not Zothoth!
readily determine. The old savant was silent for a time, while the Yet, he faltered not, trusting to the power of the Pnakotic

young giant waited by his side uneasily. Pnom carefully retrieved Pentagram, and spoke, inquiring of the fate of Vash-Tsoth s brother.

from his pouch three metal tubes and removed from them as many Then a liquid voice echoed from the chilly gulfs beyond all time:

parchments, which he unrolled with a surgeon’s touch, for that they “Margh-Tsoth is slain!”
were very ancient. These he studied one by one and restored to their “Tell how, foul spirit!” screamed Pnom, to be heard above the

place. At last he raised his head and addressed Vash-Tsoth. It would gathering vortex.
be a grim business, but would the woodsman aid him in the slaying “Yott slew him!”

of the menace? “Not I!” began the exorcist, when from the corner of his eye he

“I am minded to summon up the malign spirit,” quoth Pnom, chanced to see the foot of Vash-Tsoth about to smudge away the anti-

“thereupon to bind it to my will. Once this is done, and before the valent powder of the mystic circle. Gasping at the peril threatened by

ultimate banishment of the fiend, we shall inquire of it concerning the idle foolishness of the yokel, Pnom cried out and dashed forward

your brother, should you aid me.” to restrain him. But the woodsman, hardly ignorant of the meaning

“Very well, mighty Pnom,” answered the woodsman with a note of the act, let fly his great right arm and smote the elderly Pnom,

of sullen resignation, his voice muffled by his mustaches. Pnom put who collapsed upon the brink of the circle, his snowy, red-beaded

this seeming reluctance down to the general dread, not unwarranted, head toward Vash-Tsoth and the chuckling demon.
with which mere mortals regarded the beings from Beyond. Unaccustomed as he might have been to the common violence of

The twain set about laying out a perfect circle of sulfurous pow¬ ruffians like Vash-Tsoth, Pnom was yet a blade tempered by trials

der over which Pnom chanted and gestured. For many hours in this Ho^ny and extreme, and he did not lose consciousness. He could

wise Pnom prepared the summoning and binding of the presence scarce credit what he saw as Vash-Tsoth made to scrub out yet more
which pervaded the region. His shrill, cracking voice called the Hnaa °f the circle, whereupon did That within pulse loathsomely in unholy
Formula, and the great Cloirgne Ritual. Power crackled within the anticipation of release from the strictures of Pnom. Then, most hor-
binding circle, and the forces of the Outer Spheres pulled at Pnom’s nbly 5 Vash-Tsoth looked down at him.
flimsy flesh. He knew the summoning was near, and he spoke again The craggy features of Vash-Tsoth, when viewed from below and
unto Vash-Tsoth, he who stood silently at his shoulder. ‘nverted thus, took on their true form—a veritable twin to the face
 , of Abormis

he had seen in the air above. What had first seemed upturned mus¬ About “The Sphinx of Abormis”
taches were in truth the root-like brows of the demoniac visage; he
saw fire leap deep in the slit eyes of Vash-Tsoth; and what he hac|
taken for brows when the face was viewed from the front, were noth-
A 5
Carter planned it, this episode connects up rather closely with the
Tons of Smith’s “Ubbo-Sachla” involving Zon Mezzamalech (a
Thich ought to mean “Mezza is my king,” a theophonc name or tide
ing more than nostril hairs of a wide and abominable nose. Then a 0111116 Hchizedek, “Zedek is my king"). But this much gives us little notion
wrinkled, lipless mouth opened in what had lately passed for a fur¬ Hk! TCareer would have justified the appropriation of the unused Smith
rowed forehead, and from it issued a monstrous voice. °f |h°The Sphinx of Abormis." To supply this element, Laurence J. Cornford

“Father, here lies the slayer of thy son, my brother! We have him now!” nC 6 , , Upon Robert Bloch's Nyarlathotep legendry, identifying the
h“f. ,,f Nyarlathotep from “The Faceless God” with “Faceless Byagoona”
Jn panic Pnom rolled over and regained his feet. All thought of
magic fled from his stupefied brain. His mouth dried and his voice me! of course, with the Sphinx of Abormis.
^ Tlu- tale spatkles with the true Smith wit, showing how even.the most
departed him, nor could he have uttered a single word of- the Liturgy
astounding prodigies of thaumaturgy, if they were possible, would in no
of Xastur, had he thought of it.
vjse cause the pettiness of human nature and human ambition to elevate a
Pnom turned and burst from the ruined protective circle and ran
h* it is a perfect parable of Smith’s amused contempt (much like that of
with a speed belying his years, as if the hosts of hell were at his back,
Nietzsche’s Zarathustra) for priestcraft. The priestly claims to control mira¬
as indeed they were. He passed the encampment of his former com¬ cles and the God of miracles merely serve to fortify their own position,
panions, though they knew it not, having passed the whole time in which they will use any trick, any stratagem, to safeguard, from the pious
drinking. Neither did he stop when he had gained the road to pur¬ fraud to the inquisitory thumb-screws.
ple-towered Mnardis in the south. Having seen the face from below,
he concluded he had more than discharged his duty to the people of
Urcheeth, having slain one of the twin sons of the Old God Yok-
Zothoth. If the cowering villagers wanted the other slain, too, well,
they could see to it themselves. #
 : of Abormis

|ir well be imagined, shortly surpassed his rival to become the sin-

The Sphinx of Abormis: ^supreme sorcerer of that bygone age, much to the annoyance of
vl(,0r who had no such artifact to his advantage.
\X/hen taunted on the point by some mocking arreet or cacodae-
The History of the Wizard Hormagor m0n Hormagor would feign indifference; a mage’s power, he would

by Laurence J. Cornford ve/was scarcely proven superior by the happenstance turning up of

S ome two hundred years agone lived the wizard Hormagor, in

the town of Abormis, high in the southeastern foothills of the
old rocT. Superior luck he granted Zon Mezzamalech might

indeed have, but luck is a man’s master, and not his servant, as is true

sorcerous power. Any man, even an idiot, could possess such a thing

and gam the same benefits, whereas Hormagor’s own magic derived
Eiglophian Mountains. Jn those days Hormagor was counted
the mightiest sorcerer of the southern half of Hyperborea, the which from his long and arduous study of the secret arts. Whether any who

being divided in three by the mighty Eiglophian range. From his heard this well-rehearsed answer believed it, within his own heart

stone keep in Abormis he would send forth his disciples on divers Hormagor raged at the very thought that men should reckon him

errands and missions such as astounded the populace. And yet he was inferior. But it must be said of him that his disgruntlement only

by no means the only mage held in such esteem, for north of the spurred him on to greater efforts and greater accomplishments.

Eiglophians, where but few knew of Hormagor, another was deemed Night and day he studied and strove by means of recondite disci¬
supreme sorcerer, even one Zon Mezzamalech. Among his disciples, plines and asceticisms. Nor did his efforts return unto him void.
this Zon Mezzamalech was hailed as the greatest wizard of that or Hormagor turned water to wine and raised the dead from their
any age. From his tall tower of beaten copper all the lands of Mhu tombs. He forced back the outpourings of the volcano of
Thulan lay beneath his sway. Krathkolgauth when its eruption had threatened to engulf in ash the
Powerful wizards do not long thrive, or even survive, without village of Balsain. Yet tidings came from Oggon-Zhai telling how
being well apprised of the competition. Thus the two great wizards Zon Mezzamalech had parted the northern sea and led King
were hardly unaware of each other and, in time, wizards being more Pharogill’s army there to plunder the treasures of a thousand sunken
like mortal men than the latter suppose, each became covetous of galleys which lay decaying upon the seabed. They told how he spoke
the high regard and awe accorded the other in his respective sphere ^ith ancient demigods as they slept in their moldering sarcophagi,
of influence. And as these things go, it was not long before a rivalry
and raised the mountain of ingados to hover moments in the sky.
had arisen between the two sorcerers, for that neither relished that
And how one night he trapped the moon within a sphere of solid
any doubt should exist as to who was the greatest thaumaturge of
‘ton, as the king looked on amazed (although Hormagor, who knew
the era.
something of astrology, suspected that a recent lunar eclipse
Their stalemate continued, each mage possessed of his secrets,
accounted for this last prodigy). So it was that the rivalry of the two
powers, and admirers, for some years when Zon Mezzamalech made
grew ever stronger.
an important discovery. While excavating the ruins of a prehuman
One warm summer night, in his silk-sheeted bed high in his
shrine on the abandoned shores of Polarion, he chanced upon a cloudy
stout stone keep, Hormagor shooed away the amorous attentions of
stone, orb-like and somewhat flattened at the ends, in which he
his twin succubi and rolled over to sleep. He dreamed that he was
learned to scry many visions of the terrene past, even to the earth’s
Hsited by a great dark, faceless sphinx who crept unbidden like a
beginning, when Ubbo-Sathla, rhe unbegotten source, lay vast and
swollen and yeasty amid the vaporing slime. Thus able to unlock the khne shadow to half-sing, half-speak unto him in a voice of liquid

secrets of bygone ages and unknown worlds, Zon Mezzamalech, as amber, saying, “Hail, O Hormagor, second mightiest wizard of all
84 The Book of Eiboi : of Abormis

Hyperborea! I have tidings for thee. A gift of power 1 will bring to J the thought of what the gifts might be which this faceless one
thee.” j^ht bring did haunt him and vex his mind.
“Second mightiest?” muttered the wizard in his slumber, irked Parly in the morning Hormagor rose and ate what he could

that he could not be supreme even in his own dreams. pLfore mounting his horse and setting out at a fair canter into the

“Second indeed,” replied the sphinx, “for that thou possessest no Pills nearby. There he sought for a suitable piece of onyx from which

scrying stone like unto that of Zon Mezzamalech. It is the very Eye u0 construct the sphinx. Finding a massive block of the same, he

of Ubbo-Sathla, plucked from the swampy expanse of the bc^an constructing, with his own hands, which were scarce accus-

Unbegotten, through which one may gaze upon all space and time, u0med to the labor, an elaborate track of pulleys and runners with the
from the very first unto the very last; as the eye of Ubbo-Sathla shall which to transport the boulder back to his house. To one of his meta¬

at last look upon the All.” physical accomplishments, it would have been but the merest child’s

“What of this stone?” cried Hormagor, angered the more that play to send the thing sailing lightly through the midmorning air to

his dream should cogently argue his rival’s case. “Is a man a wizard its destination. But he feared that the employment of aught more

because he has a stone? I have no need of baubles!” than his native intelligence might forfeit him the promise of the

“Very well,” sighed the sphinx, “then neither hast thou need of divine sphinx. By late afternoon, he had the great chunk of rock
the boon of Byagoona, which is greater even than the Eye of Ubbo- where he wanted it and, its ebon stolidly limned by the flaming rays
Sathla.” of sunset, Hormagor stood before it with a note of pious awe, as if he

“Prithee not put words in my mouth, O apparition. It ill befits a could already glimpse within the stone the sublime outlines of his

wizard of my calibre not to suffer graciously the votive gifts of his divine patron.
admirers. Give me this boon then, O dark one.” The next dawn he set to work on it within the great courtyard,
“I cannot do any such, alas. I am but a dream. Thou must make hammering with chisels of various sizes. He did not pause to eat or

for my soul a body wherein it may reside, and then I may shower gifts sleep for four days, and each day the sharded bits of onyx piled higher

aplenty, the which shall raise thee up above all men, and magnify about the base of the stone, and each night the shape grew more and
thee as befits thy station. Here is the subtlety of the matter: with more like the lion-bodied thing. And all the while was Hormagor

thine own hands must thou fashion me a worldly body, with thine filled with greater urgency. He finally decided that it would not vio¬
own sweat and blood and with thine own will shalt thou fashion it. late the spirit of the conditions laid upon him if, for the sake of unin¬
Thine effort shall be reckoned an efficacious offering to the Powers terrupted labor, he should magically draw nutrient from sunlight and
which I do serve. Lest thou be said to have merely stumbled upon thy send his soul to take its slumber upon astral planes whilst his body

gift, all men shall know thou hast achieved it through thine own mrxhanically continued on. As peddlers and messengers saw the

works. A work shall it be such as all men for all time shall marvel at. advancing work of the sweating Hormagor, word spread till soon all
To overpass thy rival thou must needs cast aside thy petty rivalry and men eulogized of the wonder of it: Zon Mezzamalech might have his

thy petty rage therat. Otherwise shalt thou show thyself unworthy of st:one, but Hormagor would have his sphinx.
the boon I shall bring. Serve me utterly and I shall reciprocate. Thou So it was, for a time, that the world heard no more of the two
shalt live forever and men shall think always of thy name when they mightiest wizards: Hormagor hard at his ceaseless toil, while Zon
speak of the embodiment of the god Byagoona.” ^e'^anvalech absconded within his lofty tower to plumb the very
So saying the sphinx departed from the dreams of Hormagor, ^epdis of the Eye of Ubbo-Sathla. But of that which he beheld, Zon
and his night was henceforth dreamless. But restful it was not, lor ^le'zzarnalech left no record; and men say that he vanished presently,
Hormagor was keenly curious, as is the wont of sorcerers and cats, ln a ^ay that is not known; and after him the cloudy crystal was lost.
86 The Book of Hib<Jh nW Abormis_S?

On that fateful day when a messenger arrived at the keep with s ^listening surface. So the acolytes and servants dismissed the
the news of Zon Mezzamalech’s traceless disappearance, Hormagor U1>)11 lered village folk and prayed a prayer for forgiveness to the

was as usual in the courtyard, chiseling away at the sphinx, now very •nt of Hormagor wherever it might now reside, and they departed
near completion, and contemplating what manner of face he might spl chc keep. And more, by the first light of dawn, every living

finally cut into the smooth onyx oval beneath the pleated mane. 1 fearing the dark advent of some terrible misfortune, had fled the

Hormagor laid aside his tools, for the first time in months, as the news . ,,f Abormis, one and all, abandoning it to crumble into the
village ,
of his rival’s disappearance began to dawn upon him. With terrible dust As for Zylac, he gathered up such of his late mentor’s magical

intuition he feared it could be no mischance that had claimed the artifacts as he could carry and traveled north to a certain promontory

northern wizard, but only the intervention of an ultra-human Power. f r0Ck overlooking the boreal sea.

Was this, then, the boon of Byagoona? That Hormagor should But the sphinx endured.
No man will sleep in the ruins of Abormis, among the crumbling
win the preeminence by mere default? The victory, if such one might
cowers and halls. The track to Abormis is overgrown with rank-weed,
call it, was a hollow one, even a mockery. Of a certainty Hormagor
for wise travelers take the northern path and will not even halt for a
now counted as the greatest of wizards, but none should ever see it
moment’s rest in that valley by night. Too many have never been
so! For would not every man say that Hormagor owed his position to
seen again after a respite within that village, and of those few who
Zon Mezzamalech’s mere absence? And, worse yet, would not this be
have passed through safely by day some say that the sphinx no longer
the plain truth of the matter?
stands in the courtyard of old Hormagor’s keep, but they differ as to
Rocked by despair, Hormagor threw down his chisel and wan¬
where exactly it did stand.
dered forlornly to his bed, where the weariness of many days fell
Why did the villagers depart as one that day long agoi*
upon him, and there he remained, leaving the sphinx complete save
Wherefore did they abandon their farms and crops, their shops and
for its face. When Zylac, the foremost of his disciples, rapped upon
temples? My master Zylac whispered the truth of the matter to me
his door and solicitously inquired as to his health and whether he
one dark night when we had both partaken liberally of the wine of
would not go on to complete the statue, Hormagor swore that he
ancient Commoriom: when they found Hormagor lying prone as in
would never finish it. Nay, when he had rested he meant to take his
dead worship before his sphinx, men saw that the eidolon was at last
chisel to it and shatter it altogether. Nor cared he aught for the hol¬
complete after all. Byagoona had a face where only featureless onyx
low gifts of cheating dreams.
had been the night before. A pale, ill-suited face, to be sure, and one
That night he fell asleep, only to be aroused soon after by the
which, despite the incongruity, bore a knowing, mocking smile; and
whispering words of the sphinx which sang softly to him a tale of the
the body of Hormagor, wizard of Abormis, the second greatest wiz-
ancient time when all space was in Chaos. The wind made the silks
ard of" that bygone age, had but a ragged mess of blood and bone
billow at his tower window, and the chill of ultra-cosmic voids seeped
where a lace should be. #
into his bones as a shadow stalked with tread lighter than its bulk
should grant.
In the morning Hormagor was found dead, not in his bed, but
lying between the forepaws of the statue of the sphinx Byagoona,
chisel and mallet in his palsied hands. With hammers and axes the
people of Abormis sought to destroy the sphinx, in keeping with
their master’s last wish, but the onyx resisted their every effort.
Reinforced by some unknown sorcery, its surface shattered their
hardest mallets and sharpest tools before ever they made one scratch
S8 The Book of Eibon

About “The Alkahest”

T he character of the wizard mixing his potions is so familiar to us from
The Alkahest:
fiction and legend that it almost comes as a surprise to recall that such
tales are based on genuine practitioners of the arcane arts. While only those The History of Enoycla the Alchemist
with no exacting standards of evidence will believe that the alchemists and
necromancers of old actually achieved objective, physical marvels through by Laurence J. Cornford
their conjurations, no one ought to doubt that characters very like Eibon
and his sorcerous brethren existed. One of the most notable of these was
the magus Auroelius Philippus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von
Hohenheim (1493-154 I). Paracelsus, as he was known, was the son of a
I n recounting the Histories of the Elder Magi, I, Eibon of Mhu
Thulan, have told of many dooms. Here is another, also a tale of
a victory over forces too terrible to contemplate.
medical doctor and trained to follow in his footsteps. Medicine was in a
sorry state, consisting chiefly in therapeutic horrors such as bleeding and With the passing of Hormagor, the title of master mage fell to
purging. Paracelsus repudiated the ancient traditions, publicly burnt the one Verhadis the Black, an unlovely sorcerer, if truth be told, dark of
works of Galen and Avicenna, and determined to establish medical science heart and evil of mind, for that he had delved into the Necromantic
anew on a sound chemical and philosophical basis. To this end he traveled Arcs more deeply than any other man for a thousand years. What
widely, consulting the wizards of Egypt, Arabia, and India, even appearing
foul deeds he had done in the sepulchres of Ulphar, I cannot tell. Nor
before the Cham of Tartary. The AMA was no more forgiving then, so to
of the demons he called forth from the chill void is it lawful for me
speak, than it is today where medical heresy is concerned, and it is sus¬
to speak. Suffice it that, despite the wide renown of his knowledge
pected that Paracelsus’ untimely death was the result of poisoning by his
venerable colleagues. and his power, none sought him out to undertake apprenticeship, so

Paracelsus, in modern terms, was more the alchemist than the chemist, vile and terrible were his deeds. It was widely whispered that
laying great store by the supposed rejuvenating and therapeutic properties Verhadis distinguished insufficiently between disciples and subjects
of the distilled “quintessences” of plants and minerals, for the extraction ot for experimenting. And he could regard other wizards only as rivals,
which he stipulated complex methods. He believed that “resolute imagina¬ never as colleagues. It will therefore come as no surprise to learn that
tion” was capable of great feats: “It is possible that my spirit, without the
at length several of the eminent wizards of Hyperborea came
help of my body, and through an ardent will alone, and without a sword,
together to consider how they might put an end to the blasphemies
can stab and wound others. It is also possible that 1 can bring the spirit of
of Verhadis, yea even to Verhadis himself, before he in turn aimed sor-
my adversary into an image and then fold him up or lame him at my plea¬
sure.” He also pretended to have attained the Philosopher’s Stone, an Elixir cerous death at them. So something of a wizardly war ensued over all
of Life, though no one has yet made sense of the recipe he provided. He Hyperborea, something never wholesome for any land.
believed an artificial homunculus might be given life in the manner of the But for such hostilities was Verhadis well armed, Jacking the
Kabbalistic Golem, and he conceived the idea of a universal solvent, which scruples which prevented his pious opponents calling upon the most
he called the Alkahest.
^re of dooms. He had in truth bound to his evil service devils with
Lin Carter had planned to put a story to a title bequeathed by Clark whose like none other dared hold truck. For even to know of the
Ashton Smith, “The Alkahest,” but never got around to it. Laurence J.
Hounds of Tindalos is to invite their gaunt and slinking shapes to
Cornford has, again, done his best to read the Akashic Records and supply
kesec one’s dreams as the dog doth harry the rodent. Yet such was the
the lack. Not only does the story treat of the Alkahest of Paracelsus; its
descriptions of wizardly wars and plots also comes uncannily close to the
Power of Verhadis the Black that even this was not beyond his dar-
actual acrimonies and intrigues between Paracelsus and his enemies, all of ln8> It was rumored that, among his extensive store of periapts and
them little better than magicians by modern standards, which finally cost annulets, he cherished most a singularly flawless stone, the which he
Paracelsus his life. employ as a lens to plumb the deepest gulfs of space. The gem
90 The Book of Eibot* 91

had been fashioned in elder times by the astrologer Jhrelth of ,-kie thief- With scant difficulty he captured brave Yydway and deliv¬
unknown species. ered him up to his most expert torturers, a select band of demons
With his arts, which were both the envy and the terror of his fel¬ jrired away from Hell itself by allurements too terrible to mention.
low necromancers, did Verhadis open the very Gate to that Realm Xhey set about tormenting the unfortunate Yydway for many long
which is not time or space, neither aethyr nor matter, but lies ever months. As long as the wretch’s sanity held, he would not reveal
backwards before such things were. And from that realm, summoned where the stone was hidden, for he had easily foreseen this eventual¬
by the scent of lively flesh, there stalked a demon hound. The ity the which no man required preternatural clairvoyance to foresee,
moment his new pet was through the Gate crafty Verhadis drew the ind had used his magic to cause himself irretrievably to forget the
portal closed, with a slam that resounded through nine dimensions. hiding place. Before his red madness had ended he was cursing him¬
The beast which had only lately ranged at will among the vortices of self and his stratagem, wishing most urgently he might betray the
infinity now found itself confined, like the merest cur within its ken¬ hiding place, but finding it no longer possible to do so. For this, too,
nel. Well was the erudite Verhadis aware that such demons shun the he had anticipated.
curvature of space, being able to scent and pursue naught but the And so it was that the power of Verhadis the Black waned and
razor-sharp angles of space, treading the acute as if obtuse and other sorcerers, who had most grudgingly served Verhadis, moved
launching themselves from the tight-strung hypotenuse as it were a against him. In the ensuing contest of magicks were most of the
bow. Thus the being raged all impotent within a metal sphere. Its remaining wizards terribly slain, to say nothing of mere mortals,
only recourse lay in the subtle facets of the gem which was the only whose streaming blood turned glaciers red, and hapless Voormis,
other object in the sphere. And so Verhadis the Black imprisoned in whose matted fur flew like dandelions before the summer breeze. But
the stone of Jhrelth a being of great power, even that Rrhar’il whose at last the wasting power of the Green Decay was unleashed upon
task beyond the time-plane is to run fleeing souls to ground lest they Verhadis, and against such even he stood no hope. And it is said that
reach salvation. None might escape him, for that his hideous snuf¬ with the passing of Verhadis the greatest age of the magicians passed
fling revealed the slightest spoor impressed upon the aethyr. also, for such was the ravaging of his spite that many secrets were lost
Indefatigable was its pursuit; the jungles of Commoriom and the to the acolytes who mourned long the passing of their masters.
glacial shores of Polarion were one to Rrhar’il, and neither provided Now, among the few remaining in the line of succession to the
the slightest hiding place for its quarry. mantle of supreme sorcerer, it was the alchemist Enoycla who won
The Black One lost no time setting his demoniac ally upon his the honor by simple virtue of seniority. His partisans noised it about
enemies one by one, until, save for his own, the necromantic Arts had that Enoycla had with great craft eluded all the attempts of
all but perished from the land. Thus unchallenged did he reign over Verhadis to ferret him out, while others grumbled that the humble
Mhu Thulan for many a year, sparing only a few of the mightiest wiz¬ Enoycla had been beneath Verhadis’ notice, unable to pose him any
ards, who had known better than to conspire against him, to act as c'onceivable threat.
his servants and assistants. Alas, the land of elder Hyperborea was not fated to enjoy but a
But one of these had Verhadis, in his invincible arrogance, under¬ ^rief respite from sorcerous contention. Black Verhadis’ malevolence
estimated. One day he sought for his stone, only to find it missing. extended even beyond the grave to haunt the land like a disquieted
He knew not that it had been stolen by Yydway of the Five who Phantom. For the sudden elevation of the lacklustre Enoycla to the
dared not attempt to employ its terrible power himself, thinking it archimagery did not sit well with the Brotherhood of the Five, who
best to hide it away, where it should do its master’s nefarious will no feared, or claimed they feared, that the alchemist’s new prestige
longer. But the gem was by no means the sole source of Black might overcome him with conceits of his own greatness, and that he
Verhadis’ powers, and he was not long in discovering the identity of ^fght emulate the tyranny of his unlamented predecessor.
 93

Now it will be remembered that the martyr Yydway had been ^jow it happened that Enoycla had been working on a particu-
numbered among the Five, and it was his remaining brethren who concoction, even the fabled Alkahest, which was an extremely
la*
saw, amid great mourning, to the fit disposal of his earthly remains, potent acid. In truth, potent is too small a word for it—Alkahest
which retained little recognizable semblance to humanity once the consumed all it touched, so that Enoycla must needs contrive a ves-
infernal torturers of Verhadis had done with him. Not even the fel¬ se| 0f solidified magnetic force for the containment of the liquid. Nor
lowship of the Five had been vouchsafed the secret of the ensorcelled was the discovery thereof without danger to Enoycla and his acolytes;
gem’s hiding place—till now! For when they made ready the corpse some eight dozen had succumbed to the corrosive vapors of the liq¬
for anointing and interring, to!, the gore-begrimed stone was discov¬ uid as it boiled, and small spillages had wounded numerous others
ered among the shredded entrails of the blessed martyr! It was a mar¬ and burned deep trenches into the floor of the laboratory, the depths
vel that his interrogators had not chanced upon it. Whether it had of which none might guess. Nor was Enoycla quite certain that the
been Yydway’s intent to bequeath the most potent of amulets to his acid should not some day completely cut through the disk of the
brethren, we cannot know, but he had in effect done so, and now that earth itself.
awesome power was theirs, though none was confident he knew the J So Enoycla was keen at the prospect of gaining a new disciple,
right use of it. and Ghottrum had little difficulty entering the order. Feigning an
So it came about that the new owners of the Stone planned to expertise less than that of his new master, Ghottrum proved to be an
curtail the new pontificate of the despised Enoycla and to place excellent student. He seemed instantly to learn every tenet of elder
instead one of their own number in his vacated place. Tradition was sorcery. Never had Enoycla to repeat himself to his new votary, even
not to be flaunted lightly, but, the Five reasoned with themselves, in the difficult matter of the Zhaan-Energies, or that of the Thousand
times were perilous, and to have a piddling alchemist sit the throne Crystal Frames. Soon the two were inseparable, no longer so much
of thaumaturgy was but to invite a usurper who would have even less master and apprentice as fellow workers.
regard for tradition than they. The only way to forestall such an even¬ Ghottrum learned with difficulty to bear with the older man’s
tuality was, of course, to take such usurpation in hand themselves. patronizing, as he could not act at once. His pre-emptive vengeance
But, being knowledgeable of such matters, the Brotherhood knew required preparation and thought. First he ferreted out a rarely used
that they dared not simply send the ghost-hound against the chamber and transformed it into a small laboratory in which he could
alchemist, for what wizard, even the most humble, lacks apotropes safely summon the beast. Then he pilfered rare minerals from the
and prophylacts to turn back hexes cast his way? Should Enoycla, storeroom and secured freshly cut herbs from the garden of the com¬
who after all, like themselves, had been a student of magic arts for pound. It came to pass of a night that Ghottrum and Enoycla were
some centuries, manage to rebuff the demon, it was apt to turn upon working alone in the alchemist’s chamber when Ghottrum professed
the senders. Besides which, it was not easy to send something into a ro have forgotten one of the ingredients needful to the experiment,
place unknown and expect it to arrive without falter. The beast and making apologies, scurried off to his prepared chamber to release
would need to get the scent of its victim before death was assured. So rhe demon. Nor was it in Ghottrum’s plan to return,
it was that one of their number, one Ghottrum Vizpal, was sent, in Enoycla was bent over a tripod when he became aware of a flick-
disguise, to ingratiate himself with the new archimage, and thus to ering shadow at the edge of sight, shifting like a candle flame in the
infiltrate his inner sanctum. The reward of Ghottrum should be that, Wlr|d. Turning his head slowly he perceived a thin, ravenous hound-
as the pupil of Enoycla, he would be in line to inherit the Alchemist’s stvape stalking across the stone paves of the laboratory floor, slink-
property and title. So Ghottrum Vizpal made the necessary arrange¬ ln£ in the deep shadows cast by the carmine flames of the
ments and traveled south, toward the mansion of Enoycla. Chemist's furnace.
94 The Book of Eib0f| 95

His mind raced, knowing full well what this sight portended, j cy labored a full twenty years at the task before giving it up as use-
and he prayed to his patron demon, sure now that his inescapable 1 ss And some say c^e Sem c^eare<^ a Pat^ t0 itself, and
doom was at hand. The beast bunched itself, as if ready to pounce. hat upon certain nights, Hell’s denizens mount up that tunnel to

Instinct came to the fore, as Enoycla’s hands scrabbled across the mischief on the sons of men. But the jewel, and the hound-
wrea
workbench vainly, searching for some object with the which to demon. have never been seen again.
defend himself. The horror sprang, snarling, and Enoycla threw up As for the Brotherhood of the Five: their power was broken by

his hands to cover his face: why should he suffer the double distress fins second loss and also by the loss of the gem. And, disgraced by

of seeing as well as feeling his demise? these setbacks, they were forever barred from the highest offices of the
]and and dwindled from all records. And, by an act of providence, did
Instantly a howl like no other burst upon his ears. He waited a
Enoycla, arch-alchemist of that age, become the only man in known
moment, half fearing to look. At last, when he realized that he was
history to survive the loping advance of a Hound of Tindalos. %
not after all the object of attack, he lowered his arms and gazed for¬
ward. Of the fiendish hound there was no sign. Instead a series of
great pits and craters had opened in his laboratory floor, at his very
feet. Had some divine intervention caused the earth itself to open its
maw and swallow that which menaced him?
Then a piercing scream echoed through the halls of Enoycla’s
palace, rousing his sleep-befuddled servants and chelas, then sank
into the depth of the night. All rushed in the direction of the sound,
and when they burst open the doors to an abandoned storeroom,
they fell back at the sight of the beslimed and hideously mangled
body of Enoycla’s perfidious pupil, Ghottrum Vizpal, lying twisted
on the floor of a veritable wizard’s sanctorum. In the tightJy clenched
fist of his out-splayed arm was a large silver-white gem, in which
flickered a strangely animate shadow whom none but Enoycla dared
scrutinize.
At once Enoycla realized what had befallen: when he had swept
his arms up to fend off the hound, he had also swept the open vessel
of the Alkahest from the bench, splashing the contents over the lab¬
oratory floor and the hell-hound itself. Something in the mixture had
negated the physical manifestation of the demon, and it had reap¬
peared inside its angled abode. But apparently not before taking its
vengeance upon its captor and sender.
Enoycla took the lesson to heart: the gem was too powerful f°[‘
him or any future arch-magus of Hyperborea to wield. So he buried
the Stone of Jhrelth, and he did so in this wise: spilling a few drops
of the Alkahest on the soil, he dropped the gem down the great shaft
that began in a moment to tunnel its way through the earth. H*s
laborers took shovel in hand to refill the hole, and legends tell that
96 The Book of Eil>0n

About “The Coming of the White Worm”

T his is the seed from which the present volume grew. Smith was work.
The Coming of the
ing on it when he wrote to Lovecraft in early September, 1933, “From
that dome in the floating ice-mountain Viki 1th, where the White Worm White Worm:
Rlim Shaikorth, weeps eternally from his eyeless orbits those eye-like glob¬
ules of blood-coloured matter that form purple stalagmites as they full.” He The History of Evagh the Warlock
reports, “I have not yet completed the IX Chapter of Eibon, but expect to
bring it to some sort of conclusion before long. J have renamed it ‘The
Coming of the White Worm'.” (It had been “The Temptation of Evagh”;
(Chapter IX of The Book of Eibon)*
one must wonder if the new title was suggested by Bram Stoker's The h/ir
of the White Worm.) The story takes its text from that saying of the prophet
by Clark Ashton Smith
Lith, which no man had understood: “There is One that inhabits the place
of utter cold, and One that respireth where none other may draw breath. In
the days to come He shall issue forth among the isles and cities of men, and
E vagh the warlock, dwelling beside the boreal sea, was aware of
many strange and untimely portents in mid-summer. Frorely
shall bring with Him as a white doom the wind that slumbereth in his
burned the sun above Mhu Thulan from a welkin clear and
dwelling.”
wannish as ice. At eve the aurora was hung from zenith to earth, like
He finished it on September 15 and mailed a copy to Lovecraft who
an arras in a high chamber of gods. Wan and rare were the poppies
immediately waxed enthusiastic. “Nggrrrhh . . . what a revelation! Thank
God you spared your readers the worst and most paralysing hints—such as and small the anemones in the cliff-sequestered vales lying behind
the secret of Yikilth’s origin, the reason why it bore certain shapes not of this the house of Evagh; and the fruits in his walled garden were pale of
planet, and the history of Rlim Shaikorth before he oozed down to the solar rind and green at the core. Also, he beheld by day the unseasonable
system and the earth through the void from_. . . but / must flight of great multitudes of fowl, going southward from the hidden
not utter that name at which you, and Gaspard du Nord, and Eibon him¬
isles beyond Mhu Thulan; and by night he heard the distressful clam¬
self grew silent! Altogether, this is a stupendous fragment of primal horror
our of other passing multitudes. And always, in the loud wind and
and comic suggestion; and J shall call down the curses of Azathoth Itself if
crying surf, he harkened to the weird whisper of voices from realms
that ass Pharnabazus [= Farnsworth Wright, editor of Weird Tales] does not
print it” (October 3, 1933). of perennial winter.
Smith called it “a tale 1 am inclined to favour in my own estimation. Now Evagh was troubled by these portents, even as the rude
He remembered it as being “hard to do, like most of my tales, because of fisher-folk on the shore of the haven below his house were troubled.
the peculiar and carefully maintained style and tone-colour, which involves Being a past-master of all sortilege, and a seer of remote and future
rejection of many words, images and locutions that might ordinarily be things, he mac]e Lise of his arts in an effort to divine their meaning.
employed in writing.”
^ur a cloud was upon his eyes through the daytime; and a darkness
thwarted him when he sought illumination m dreams. His most cun-
m"g horoscopes were put to naught; his familiars were silent or
aoswc*red him equivocally; and confusion was amid all his geomancies
and hydronvancies and haruspications. And it seemed to Evagh that
unknown power worked against him, mocking and making rnnpo-
such a fashion the sorcery that none had defeated heretofore.

tendered fro m rhe old French manuscript of Gaspard du Nord.

 . r^.ninM of the White Worr
—--
Js and ashes. And the captain of the galley stood upright still in
And Evagh knew, by certain tokens perceptible to wizards, that the
^ |,1CC: though the burnt helm had fallen beside him. Naught but
power was an evil power, and its boding was of bale to man.
'"Tiiment of the corpses had been consumed; and they shone white
Day by day, through the middle summer, the fisher-folk went
'^moon-washed marble above the charrings of wood; and nowhere
forth in their coracles of elk-hide and willow, casting their seines.
But in the seines they drew dead fishes, blasted as if by fire or n them was there any blackness from the fire.
UPl Deeming this thing an ill miracle, the fishers were all aghast, and
extreme cold; and they drew living monsters, such as their eldest
captains had never beheld: things triple-headed and tailed and they fled swiftly to the uppermost rocks. There remained with Evagh
only his two servants, the boy Ratha and the ancient crone Ahilidis,
finned with horror; black, shapeless things that turned to a liquid
foulness and ran from the net; or headless things like bloated moons
,|10 had both witnessed many of his conjurations and were thus well
inured to sights of magic. And, with these two beside him, the sor-
with green, frozen rays about them; or things leprous-eyed and
bearded with stiffly-oozing slime. ccrcr awaited the cooling of the brands.
Quickly the brands darkened; but smoke arose from then still
Then, out of the sea-horizoned north, where ships from
throughout the noon and afternoon; and still they were over-hot for
Cerngoth were wont to ply among the arctic islands, a galley came
human treading when the hour drew toward sunset. So Evagh bade
drifting with idle oars and aimlessly veering helm. The tide beached
his servants to fetch water in urns from the sea and cast it upon the
it among the boats of the fishermen, which fared no longer to sea
ashes and charrings. And after the smoke and the hissing had died, he
but were drawn up on the sands below the cliff-built house of Evagh.
went forward and approached the pale corpses. Nearing them, he was
And, thronging about the galley in awe and wonder, the fishers
aware of a great coldness, such as would emanate from trans-Arctic
beheld its oarsmen still at the oars and its captain at the helm. But
ice; and the coldness began to ache in his hands and ears, and smote
the faces and hands of all were stark as bone, and were white as the
sharply through his mantle of fur. Going still closer, he touched one
flesh of leprosy; and the pupils of their open eyes had faded
of the bodies with his forefinger-tip; and the finger, though lightly
strangely, being indistinguishable now from the whites; and a blank¬
ness of horror was within them, like the ice in deep pools that are pressed and quickly withdrawn, was seared as if by flame.
Evagh was much amazed: for the condition of the corpses was a
fast frozen to the bottom. And Evagh himself, descending later, also
thing unknown to him heretofore; and in all his science of wizardry
beheld the galley’s crew, and pondered much concerning the import
there was naught to enlighten him. He bethought him that a spell
of this prodigy.
had been laid upon the dead: an ensorcelling such as the wan polar
Loath were the fishers to touch upon the dead men; and they
demons might weave, or the chill witches of the moon might devise
murmured, saying that a doom was upon the sea, and a curse upon
m their caverns of snow. And he deemed it well to retire for the time,
all sea-faring things and people. But Evagh, deeming that the bod¬
lest the spell should now take effect upon others than the dead.
ies would rot in the sun and would breed pestilence, commanded
Returning to his house ere night, he burned at each door and
them to build a pile of driftwood about the galley; and when the pile
window the gums that are most offensive to the northern demons;
had risen above the bulwarks, hiding from view the dead rowers, he
and at each angle where a spirit might enter, he posted one of his own
fired it with his own hands.
familiars to guard against all intrusion. Afterwards, while Ratha and
High flamed the pile, and smoke ascended black as a storm-
Ahilidis slept, he perused with sedulous care the writings of Pnom, in
cloud, and was borne in windy volumes past the tall towers of Evagh
which are collated many powerful exorcisms. But ever and anon, as
on the cliff But later, when the fire sank, the bodies of the oarsmen
he read again the old rubrics for his comfort, he remembered omi-
were seen sitting amid the mounded embers; and their arms were
n°usly the saying of the prophet Lith, which no man had understood.
still outstretched in the attitude of rowing, and their fingers were
Therc is One that inhabits the place of utter cold, and One that
clenched: though the oars had now dropped away from them- in
LOO The Book ot 12ib(oil

respireth where none other may draw breath. In the days to come He |i0LlSC> but left still in shadow the wall of that upper chamber from
shall issue forth among the isles and cities of men, and shall bring ,vhiJi he looked.
with Him as a white doom the wind that slumbereth in His He thought that the beam poured from a pale cloud that had

dwelling.” mounted above the sea-line, or else from a white peak that had lifted
SL-^ ward in the night; but of this he was uncertain. Watching, he saw
* ■+ V
char it rose higher in the heavens but climbed not upon his walls,

Though a fire burned in the chamber, piled with fat pine and tere¬ pondering in vain the significance of the mystery, he seemed to hear

binth, it seemed that a deadly chill began to invade the air toward ;n the air about him a sweet and wizard voice. And, speaking in a
tongue that he knew not, the voice uttered a rune of slumber. And
midnight. Then, as Evagh turned uneasily from the parchments of
gvag'h could not resist the rune, and upon him fell such a numbness
Pnom, and saw that the fire blazed high as if in no need of replen¬
of sleep as overcomes the outworn watcher in a place of snow.
ishment, he heard the sudden turmoil of a great wind full of sea-birds
eerily shrieking, and the cries of land-fowl driven on helpless wings, * *

and over all a high laughter of diabolic voices. Madly from the north
Waking stiffly at dawn, he rose up from the floor where he had lain,
the wind beat upon his square-based towers; and birds were cast like
and witnessed a strange marvel. For, lo, in the harbour there towered
blown leaves of autumn against the stout-paned windows; and dev¬
an ice-berg such as no vessel had yet sighted in all its sea-faring to
ils seemed to tear and strain at the granite walls. Though the room’s
the north, and no legend had told of among the dim Hyperborean
door was shut and the windows were tight-closed, an icy gust went
isles. It filled the broad haven from shore to shore, and sheered up to
round and round, circling the table where Evagh sat, snatching the
a height immeasurable with piled escarpments and tiered precipices;
broad parchments of Pnom from beneath his fingers, and plucking at
and its pinnacles hung like towers in the zenith above the house of
the lamp-flame.
Evagh. It was higher than the dread mountain Achoravomas, which
Vainly, with numbing thoughts, he strove to recall that counter¬
belches rivers of flame and liquid stone that pour unquenched
charm which is most effective against the spirits of the boreal quar¬
through Tscho Vulpanomi to the austral main. It was steeper than
ter. Then, strangely, it seemed that the wind fell, leaving a mighty
the mountain Yarak, which marks the boreal pole; and from there fell
stillness about the house. The chill gust was gone from the room, the a wan glittering on sea and land. Deathly and terrible was the glit-
lamp and the fire burned steadily, and something of warmth returned tenng, and Evagh knew that this was the light he had beheld in the
slowly into the half-frozen marrow of Evagh. darkness.
Soon he was made aware of a light shining beyond his chamber Scarce could he draw breath in the cold that was on the air; and
windows, as if a belated moon had now risen above the rocks. But tbe light of the huge ice-berg seared his eyeballs with an exceeding
Evagh knew that the moon was at that time a thin crescent, declin¬ fineness. Yet he perceived an odd thing, that the rays of the glitter-
ing with eventide. It seemed that the light shone from the north, lng fell i ndirectly and to either side of his house; and the lower cham¬
pale and frigid as fire of ice; and going to the window he beheld a ps, where Ratha and Ahilidis slept, were no longer touched by the
great beam that traversed all the sea, coming as if from the hidden bcum us ;n tjie n|g[lt; anc] upon all his house there was naught but
pole. In that light the rocks were paler than marble, and the sands tbe early sun and the morning shadows.
were whiter than sea-salt, and the huts of the fishermen were as On the shore below he saw the charrings of the beached galley,
white tombs. The walled garden of Evagh was full of the beam, and dnd amid them the white corpses incombustible by fire. And along
all the green had departed from its foliage and its blossoms were like tbe sands and rocks, the fisher-folk were lying or standing upright in
flowers of snow. And the beam fell bleakly on the lower walls of his St‘b> figid postures, as if they had come forth from their hiding-places
102 The Book of Eih<on ^ Coming of die White Worm L03

to behold the pale beam and had been smitten by a magic sleep. And jqc would have risen to confront the Eye; but his swoon held him like

the whole harbour-shore, and the garden of Evagh, even to the front a P'^y-
threshold of his house, was like a place where frost has fallen thickly After that, he slept again for a period. Waking, he found in all

over all. j^s limbs their wonted strength and quickness. The strange light

Again he remembered the saying of Lith; and with much fore¬ was still upon him, filling all his chamber; and peering out he wit¬

boding he descended to the ground story. There, at the northern win¬ nessed a new marvel. For, lo, his garden and the rocks and sea-sands

dows, the boy Ratha and the hag Ahilidis were leaning with faces below it were visible no longer. In their stead were level spaces of ice

turned to the light. Stiffly they stood, with wide-open eyes, and a about his house, and tall ice-pinnacles that rose like towers from the

pale terror was in their regard, and upon them was the white death broad battlements of a fortress. Beyond the verges of the ice he

of the galley’s crew. And, nearing them, the sorcerer was stayed by beheld a sea that lay remotely and far beneath; and beyond the sea

the terrible chillness that smote upon him from their bodies. tbc low looming of a dim shore.
He would have Red from the house, knowing his magic wholly Terror came to Evagh now, for he recognized in all this the work¬

ineffectual against this thing. But it came to him that death was in ings of a sorcery plenipotent and beyond the power of all mortal wiz¬

the direct falling rays from the ice-berg, and, leaving the house, he ards. For plain it was that his house of granite stood no longer on the

must perforce enter that fatal light. And it came to him also that he coast of Mhu Thulan, but was based now on some upper crag of the

alone, of all who dwelt on that shore, had been exempted from the ice-berg. Trembling, he knelt then and prayed to the Old Ones, who

death. He could not surmise the reason of his exemption; but in the dwell secretly in subterrene caverns, or abide under the sea or in the

end he deemed it best to remain patiently and without fear, waiting supermundane spaces. And even as he prayed, he heard a loud

whatever should befall. knocking at the door of his house.

Returning to his chamber he busied himself with various conju¬ In much fear and wonder he descended and flung wide the por¬

rations. But his familiars had gone away in the night, forsaking the tals. Before him were two men, or creatures who had the likeness of

angles at which he had posted them; and no spirit either human or men. Both were strange of visage and bright-skinned, and they wore

demoniacal made reply to his questions. And not in any way known for mantles such rune-enwoven stuffs as wizards wear. The runes

to wizards could he learn aught of the ice-berg or divine the least were uncouth and alien; but when the men bespoke him he under¬

inkling of its secret. stood something of their speech, which was in a dialect of the

Presently, as he laboured with his useless cantrips, he felt on his Hyperborean isles.
face the breathing of a wind that was not air but a subtler and rarer “We serve that One whose coming was foretold by the prophet

element cold as the moon's ether. His own breath forsook him with Lith,11 they said. “From spaces beyond the limits of the north he hath

agonies unspeakable, and he fell down on the floor in a sort of wak¬ c°me in his floating citadel, the ice-mountain Yikilth, to voyage the

ing swoon that was near death. In the swoon he was doubtfully aware mundane oceans and to blast with a chill splendour the puny peoples

of voices uttering unfamiliar spells. Invisible fingers touched him °f humankind. He hath spared us alone amid the inhabitants of the

with icy pangs; and about him came and went a bleak radiance, like broad isle Thulask, and hath taken us to go with him in his sea-far-

a tide that flows and ebbs and flows again. Intolerable was the radi' ln8 upon Yikilth. He hath tempered our flesh to the rigour of his

ance to all his senses; but it brightened slowly, with briefer ebbings; abode, and hath made respirable for us the air in which no mortal

and in time his eyes and his flesh were tempered to endure it. Pull man may draw breath. Thee he hath spared and hath acclimated by
upon him now was the light of the ice-berg through his northern spell$ to the coldness and the thin ether that go everywhere with
windows; and it seemed that a great Eye regarded him in the light- 'HbiLth. Hail, O Evagh, whom we know for a great wizard by this
token: since only the mightiest of warlocks are thus chosen and [smites, purple and dark as frozen gore, which had been made by

exempted/’ the ceaseless dripping of the globules.

Sorely astonished was Evagh; but seeing that he had now to deal Qooni and Ux Loddhan prostrated themselves before the being,

with men who were as himself, he questioned closely the two magi¬ d Evagh deemed it well to follow their example. Lying prone on

cians of Thulask. They were named Dooni and Ux Loddhan, and he ice, he heard the red drops falling with a splash as of heavy tears;
were wise in the lore of the Elder Gods. The name of the One that j chen, in the dome above him, it seemed that a voice spoke; and
they served was Rlim Shaikorth, and he dwelt in the highest summit che voice was like the sound of some hidden cataract in a glacier hol¬
of the ice-mountain. They told Evagh nothing of the nature and low with caverns.
properties of RJim Shaikorth; and concerning their own service to "Behold, O Evagh," said the voice, “i have preserved thee from
this being they avowed only that it consisted of such worship as is che doom of thy fellow-men, and have made thee as they that inhabit
given to a god, together with the repudiation of all bonds that had the bourn of coldness, and they that inhale the airless void. Wisdom
linked them heretofore to mankind. And they told Evagh that he was ineffable shall be thine, and mastery beyond the conquest of mortals,
to go with them before Rlim Shaikorth, and perform the due rite of if thou wilt but worship me and become my thrall. With me thou
obeisance, and accept the bond of final alienage. shalt voyage amid the kingdoms of the north, and shalt pass among
So Evagh went with Dooni and Ux Loddhan and was led by the green southern islands, and see the white falling of death upon
them to a great pinnacle of ice that rose unmeltable into the wan sun, them in the light from Yikilth. Our coming shall bring eternal frost
beetling above all its fellows on the flat top of the berg. The pinna¬ on their gardens, and shall set upon their people’s flesh the seal of
cle was hollow, and climbing therein by stairs of ice, they came at last that gulf whose rigour paleth one by one the most ardent stars, and
to the chamber of Rlim Shaikorth, which was a circular dome with a
putteth rime at the core of suns. All this thou shalt witness, being as
round block at the center, forming a dais. And on the dais was that
one of the lords of death, supernal and immortal; and in the end thou
being whose advent the prophet Lith had foretold obscurely.
shalt return with me to that world beyond the uttermost pole, in
At sight of this entity, the pulses of Evagh were stilled for an
which is mine abiding empire. For I am he whose coming even the
instant by terror; and, following quickly upon the terror, his gorge
gods may not oppose."
rose within him through excess of loathing. In all the world there was
Now, seeing that he was without a choice in the matter, Evagh
naught that could be likened for its foulness to Rlim Shaikorth.
professed himself willing to yield worship and service to the pale
Something he had of the semblance of a fat white worm; but his bulk
worm. Beneath the instruction of Dooni and Ux Loddhan, he per¬
was beyond that of the sea-elephant. His half-coiled tail was thick as
formed the sevenfold rite that is scarce suitable for narration here,
the middle folds of his body; and his front reared upward from the
aod swore the threefold vow of unspeakable alienation.
dais in the form of a white round disk, and upon it were imprinted
Thereafter, for many days and nights, he sailed with Rlim
vaguely the lineaments of a visage belonging neither to beast ol the
Shaikorth adown the coast of Mhu Thulan. Strange was the manner
earth nor ocean-creature. And amid the visage a mouth curved
°f that voyaging, for it seemed that the great ice-berg was guided by
uncleanly from side to side of the disk, opening and shutting inces¬
sorcery of the worm, prevailing ever against wind and tide. And
santly on a pale and tongueless and toothless maw. The eye-sockets
always, by night or day, like the beams of a deathly beacon, the chill
of Rlim Shaikorth were close together between his shallow nostrils;
and the sockets were eyeless, but in them appeared from moment to splendour smote afar from Yikilth. Proud galleys were overtaken as

moment globules of a blood-coloured matter having the form of eye¬ c^eY fled southward, and their crews were blasted at the oars; and

balls; and ever the globules broke and dripped down before the dais. °hen ships were caught and embedded in the new bastions of ice that

And from the ice-floor of the dome there ascended two masses like formed daily around the base of that ever-growing mountain.
 ,,;n» of the White Worm
, rorninp ---

hun and the others. At intervals that were regulated by the

The fair Hyperborean ports, busy with maritime traffic, wert
stilled by the passing of Rlim Shaikorth. Idle were their streets an<) L° L s 0f the circumpolar stars, the eight warlocks climbed to that

wharves, idle was the shipping in their harbours, when the pale lig|lt nl0tl°chamber in which Rlim Shaikorth abode perpetually, half-coiled

had come and gone. Far inland fell the rays, bringing to the fields arid 10 ^is dais of ice. There, in a ritual whose cadences corresponded to
gardens a blight of trans-Arctic winter; and forests were frozen, and °° filling of those eye-like tears that were wept by the worm, and

the beasts that roamed them were turned as if into marble, so that crenuflections timed to the yawning and shutting of his mouth,
men who came long afterward to that region found the elk and bear diey yielded to Rlim Shaikorth the required adoration. Sometimes

and mammoth still standing in all the postures of life. But, dwelling worrn was silent, and sometimes he bespoke them, renewing
upon Yikilth, the sorcerer Evagh was immune to the icy death; and, vaguely the promises he had made. And Evagh learned from the oth-
sitting in his house or walking abroad on the berg, he was aware of ers^that the worm slept for a period at each darkening of the moon;
no sharper cold than that which abides in summer shadows. and only at that time did the sanguine tears suspend their falling,
Now, besides Dooni and Ux Loddhan, the sorcerers of Thulask. and the mouth forbear its alternate closing and gaping.
there were five other wizards that went with Evagh on that voyage, At the third repetition of the rites of worship, it came to pass that
having been chosen by Rlim Shaikorth. They too had been tempered only seven wizards climbed to the tower. Evagh, counting their num¬
to the coldness of Yikilth, and their houses had been transported to ber, perceived that the missing man was one of the five outlanders.
the berg by unknown enchantment. They were outlandish and Afterwards, he questioned Dooni and Ux Loddhan regarding this
uncouth men, called Polarians, from the islands nearer the pole than matter, and made signs of inquiry to the four northrons; but it seemed
broad Thulask; and Evagh could understand little of their ways; and the fate of the absent warlock was a thing mysterious to them all.
their sorcery was foreign to him; and their speech was unintelligible; Nothing was seen or heard of him from that time; and Evagh, pon¬
nor was it known to the Thulaskians. dering long and deeply, was somewhat disquieted. For, during the cer¬
Daily the eight wizards found on their tables all the provender
emony in the tower chamber, it had seemed to him that the worm was
necessary for human sustenance; though they knew not the agency
grosser of bulk and girth than on any prior occasion.
by which it was supplied. All were united in the worship of the white
Covertly he asked what manner of nutriment was required by
worm; and all, it seemed, were content in a measure with their lot,
Rlim Shaikorth. Concerning this, there was much dubiety and dis¬
and were fain of that unearthly lore and dominion which the worm
pute: for Ux Loddhan maintained that the worm fed on nothing less
had promised them. But Evagh was uneasy at heart, and rebelled in
unique than the hearts of white Arctic bears; while Doom swore that
secret against his thralldom to Rlim Shaikorth; and he beheld with
Us rightful nourishment was the liver of whales. But, to their knowl-
revulsion the doom that went forth eternally from Yikilth upon
edge, the worm had not eaten during their sojourn upon Yikilth, and
lovely cities and fruitful ocean-shores. Ruthfully he saw the blasting
both averred that the intervals between his times of feeding were
of flower-girded Cerngoth, and the boreal stillness that descended on
Unger than those of any terrestrial creature, being computable not in
the thronged streets ofLeqquan, and the frost that seared with sud¬
hours or days but in whole years.
den whiteness the garths and orchards of the sea-fronting valley of
Still the ice-berg followed its course, ever vaster and more prodi-
Aguil. And sorrow was in his heart for the fishing-coracles and the
Uous beneath the heightening sun; and again, at the star-appointed
biremes of trade and warfare that floated manless after they had met
which was the forenoon of every third day, the sorcerers con-
Yikilth.
Vened in the presence of Rlim Shaikorth. To the perturbation of all,
Ever southward sailed the great ice-berg, bearing its lethal win¬
he‘t number was now but six; and the lost warlock was another of
ter to lands where the summer sun rode high. And Evagh kept H5
own counsel, and followed in all ways the custom of Dooni and U* °utlunders. And the worm had greatened still more in size; and

I
108 The Book of Eib<

the increase was visible as a thickening of his whole body From head So Evagh was still apprehensive of the worm’s treachery; and he
to tail. rc*solved to remain awake on the night preceding the next celebration
Deeming these circumstances an ill augury, the six made Fearful 0f the rites of worship; and at eve of that night he assured himself
supplication to the worm in their various tongues, and implored him rhat the other warlocks were all housed in their separate mansions, to
to tell them the Fate of their absent Fellows. And the worm answered; rhe number of five. And, having ascertained this, he set himself to
and his speech was intelligible to Evagh and Ux Loddhan and Dooni watch without remission the entrance of Rlim Shaikorth's tower,
and the three northrons, each thinking that he had been addressed in which was plainly visible from his own windows.
his native language: Weird and chill was the shining of the berg in the darkness; for
“This matter is a mystery concerning which ye shall all receive a Jiglu as of frozen stars was effulgent at all times from the ice. A
enlightenment in turn. Know this: the two that have vanished arc moon that was little past the full rose early on the orient seas. But
still present; and they and ye also shall share even as 1 have promised Evagh, holding vigil at his window till midnight, saw that no visible
in the ultramundane lore and empery of RJim Shaikorth.” form emerged from the tall tower, and none entered it. At midnight
Afterwards, when they had descended from the tower, Evagh there came upon him a sudden drowsiness, such as would be felt by
and the two Thulaskians debated the interpretation of this answer.
one who had drunk some opiate wine; and he could not sustain his
Evagh maintained that the import was sinister, for truly their miss¬
vigil any longer but slept deeply and unbrokenly throughout the
ing companions were present only in the worm’s belly; but the oth¬
remainder of the night.
ers argued that these men had undergone a more mystical translation
On the following day there were but four sorcerers who gathered
and were now elevated beyond human sight and hearing. Forthwith
in rhe ice-dome and gave homage to Rlim Shaikorth. And Evagh saw
they began to make ready with prayer and austerity, in expectation
that two more of the outlanders, men of bulk and stature dwarfish
of some sublime apotheosis which would come to them in due turn.
beyond their fellows, were now missing.
But Evagh was still fearful; and he could not trust the equivocal
One by one thereafter, on nights preceding the ceremony of wor¬
pledges of the worm; and doubt remained with him.
ship, the companions of Evagh vanished. The last Polarian was next
Seeking to assuage his doubt and peradventure to find some
to go; and it came to pass that only Evagh and Ux Loddhan and
trace of the lost Polarians, he made search of the mighty berg, on
Dooni went to the tower; and then Evagh and Ux Loddhan went
whose battlements his own house and the houses of the other war-
aDne. And terror mounted daily in Evagh, for he felt that his own
locks were perched like the tiny huts of fishers on ocean-cliffs. In this
time drew near; and he would have hurled himself into the sea from
quest the others would not accompany him, fearing to incur the
the high ramparts of Yikilth, if Ux Loddhan, who perceived his inten-
worm's displeasure. From verge to verge of Yikilth he roamed unhin¬
tl0n> had not warned him that no man could depart therefrom and
dered, as if on some broad plateau with peaks and horns; and he
live again in solar warmth and terrene air, having been habituated to
climbed perilously on the upper scarps, and went down into deep
crevasses and caverns where the sun failed and there was no other che coldness and thin ether. And Ux Loddhan, it seemed, was wholly

light than the strange luster of that unearthly ice. Embedded here in °blivious to his doom, and was fain to impute an esoteric significance

the walls, as if in the stone of nether strata, he saw dwellings such as t0 che ever-growing bulk of the white worm and the vanishing of the

men had never built, and vessels that might belong to other ages or wizards. ■;

worlds; but nowhere could he detect the presence of any living crea¬ So, at that time when the moon had waned and darkened wholly,
ture; and no spirit or shadow gave response to the necromantic evo¬ [t °ccurred that Evagh climbed before RJim Shaikorth with infinite

cations which he uttered oftentimes as he went along the chasms and trepidation and loath, laggard steps. And, entering the dome with
chambers. ^^ncast eyes, he found himself the sole worshipper.
L10 The Book of Eibo(1

A palsy of fear was upon him as he made obeisance; and scarcely verily we are part of RJim Shaikorth, but exist only as in a dark and
he dared to lift his eyes and regard the worm. But soon, as he began noisome dungeon: and while the worm wakes we have no separate or
to perform the customary genuflections, he became aware that the conscious being, but are merged wholly in the ultraterrestrial being
red tears of RJim Shaikorth no longer fell on the purple stalagmites; 0f RJim Shaikorth.
nor was there any sound such as the worm was wont to make by the "Hear then, O Evagh, the truth which we have learned from our
perpetual opening and shutting of his mouth. And venturing at last oneness with the worm. He has saved us from the white doom and
to look upward, Evagh beheld the abhorrently swollen mass of the has taken us upon Yikilth for this reason, because we alone of all
monster, whose thickness was such as to overhang the dais' rim; and mankind, who are sorcerers of high attainment and mastery, may
he saw that the mouth and eye-holes of RJim Shaikorth were closed endure the lethal ice-change and become breathers of the airless void,
as if in slumber; and thereupon he recalled how the wizards of and thus, in the end, be made suitable for the provender of such as
Thulask had told him that the worm slept for an interval at the dark¬ Rlim Shaikorth.
ening of each moon; which was a thing he had forgotten temporar¬ "Great and terrible is the worm, and the place wherefrom he
ily in his extreme dread and apprehension. cometh and whereto he returneth is not to be dreamt of by living
Now was Evagh sorely bewildered: for the rites he had learned men. And the worm is omniscient, save that he knows not the wak¬
from his fellows could be fittingly performed only while the tears of ing of them he has devoured, and their awareness during his slum¬
RJim Shaikorth fell down and his mouth gaped and closed and gaped ber. But the worm, though ancient beyond the antiquity of worlds,
again in measured alternation. And none had instructed him as to is not immortal and is vulnerable in one particular. Whosoever lear-
what rites were proper and suitable during the slumber of the worm. neth the time and means of his vulnerability and hath heart for this
And, being in much doubt, he said softly: undertaking, may slay him easily. And the time for this deed is dur¬
“Wakest thou, O RJim Shaikorth?” ing his term of sleep. Therefore we adjure thee now by the faith of
In reply, he seemed to hear a multitude of voices that issued the Old Ones to draw the sword thou wearest beneath thy mantle
obscurely from out of the pale, tumid mass before him. The sound of and plunge it in the side of RJim Shaikorth: for such is the means of
the voices was weirdly muffled, but among them he distinguished the His slaying.
accents of Dooni and Ux Loddhan; and there was a thick muttering “Thus alone, O Evagh, shall the going forth of the pale death be
of outlandish words which Evagh knew for the speech of the five ended; and only thus shall we, thy fellow-sorcerers, obtain release
Polarians; and beneath this he caught, or seemed to catch, innumer¬ from our blind thralldom and incarceration; and with us many that
able undertones that were not the voices of men or beasts, nor such the worm hath betrayed and eaten in former ages and upon distant
sounds as would be emitted by earthly demons. And the voices rose Worlds. And only by the doing of this thing shalt thou escape the wan
and clamoured, like those of a throng of prisoners in some profound and loathly mouth of the worm, nor abide henceforward as a doubt-
oubliette. ghost among other ghosts in the evil blackness of his belly. But
Anon, as he listened in horror ineffable, the voice of Doom ^n°w, however, that he who slayeth RJim Shaikorth must necessarily
became articulate above the others; and the manifold clamour and pensh in the slaying.”
muttering ceased, as if a multitude were hushed to hear its own *:vagh, being wholly astounded, made question of Dooni and
spokesman. And Evagh heard the tones of Dooni, saying: tlv answere<^ readily concerning all that he asked. And oftentimes
“The worm sleepeth, but we whom the worm hath devoured arc voice of Ux Loddhan replied to him; and sometimes there were
awake. Direly has he deceived us, for he came to our houses in the 'Htelligible murmurs or outcries from certain others of those foully
night, devouring us bodily one by one as we slept under the enchant¬ es . . eV/e<^ phantoms. Much did Evagh learn of the worm's origin and
ment he had wrought. He has eaten our souls even as our bodies, and nce; and he was told the secret of Yikilth, and the manner
112 The Book of Eih(ln of the White Worm 113

wherein Yikilth had floated down from trans-Arctic gulfs to voyage , :se diminished thereby. And still the black liquid came in an evil
the seas of Earth. Ever, as he listened, his abhorrence greatcnefl: flood' and it rose swirling about the knees of Evagh; and the vapours
though deeds of dark sorcery and conjured devils had long indurated j/iflicd to take the forms of a myriad press of phantoms, wreathing
his flesh and soul, making him callous to more than common horrors. bscurely together and dividing once more as they went past him.
But of that which he learned it were ill to speak now. as he tottered and grew giddy on the stair-head, he was swept
At length there was silence in the dome; for the worm slept y and was hurled to his death on the ice-steps far below.

soundly; and Evagh had no longer any will to question the ghost of
* * *

Dooni; and they that were imprisoned with Dooni seemed to wait
and watch in a stillness of death. That day, on the sea to eastward of middle Hyperborea, the crews of
Then, being a man of much hardihood and resolution, Evagh cectain merchant galleys beheld an unheard-of thing. For, lo, as they
delayed no more but drew from its ivory sheath the short but well- sped north, returning from far ocean-isles with a wind that aided
tempered sword of bronze which he carried always at his baldric. cheir oars, they sighted in the late forenoon a monstrous ice-berg
Approaching the dais closely, he plunged the blade in the over¬ whose pinnacles and crags loomed high as mountains. The berg
swelling mass of RJim Shaikorth. The blade entered easily with a slic¬ shone in part with a weird light; and from its loftiest pinnacle poured
ing and tearing motion, as if he had stabbed a monstrous bladder, an ink-black torrent; and all the ice-cliffs and buttresses beneath
and was not stayed even by the broad pommel; and the whole right were a-stream with rapids and cascades and sheeted falls of the same
hand of Evagh was drawn after it into the wound. blackness, that fumed like boiling water as they plunged oceanward;
He perceived no quiver or stirring of the worm; but out of the and the sea around the berg was clouded and streaked for a wide
wound there gushed a sudden torrent of black liquescent matter, interval as if with the dark fluid of the cuttlefish.
swiftening and deepening irresistibly till the sword was caught from The mariners feared to sail closer; but, full of awe and marveling,
Evagh’s grasp as if in a mill-race. Hotter far than blood, and smok¬ they stayed their oars and lay watching the berg; and the wind
ing with strange steam-like vapours, the liquid poured over his arms dropped, so that their galleys drifted within view of it all that day.
and splashed his raiment as it fell. Quickly the ice was a-wash about They saw that the berg dwindled swiftly, melting as though some
his feet; but still the fluid welled as if from some inexhaustible spring unknown fire consumed it; and the air took on a strange warmth,
of foulness; and it spread everywhere in pools and runlets that came and the water about their ships grew tepid. Crag by crag the ice was
together. tunneled and eaten away; and huge portions fell off with a mighty
Evagh would have fled then; but the sable liquid, mounting and splashing; and the highest pinnacle collapsed; but still the blackness
flowing, was above his ankles when he neared the stair-head; and it poured out as from an unfathomable fountain. The watchers
rushed adown the stairway before him like a cataract in some steeply thought, at whiles, that they beheld houses running seaward amid
pitching cavern. Hotter and hotter it grew, boiling, bubbling; while rhe loosened fragments; but of this they were uncertain because of
the current strengthened, and clutched at him and drew him like those ever-mounting vapours. By sunset-time the berg had dimin¬
malignant hands. He feared to essay the downward stairs; nor was ished to a mass no larger than a common floe; yet still the welling
there any place now in all the dome where he could climb for refuge.
blackness overstreamed it; and it sank low in the wave; and the weird
He turned, striving against the tide for bare foothold, and saw dimly
bght was quenched altogether. Thereafter, the night being moonless,
through the reeking vapours the throned mass of RJim Shaikorth.
lc was lost to vision; and a gale rose, blowing strongly from the south;
The gash had widened prodigiously, and a stream surged from it like
tlnd at dawn the sea was void of any remnant.
waters of a broken weir, bil lowing outward around the dais; and yet,
as if in further proof of the worm's unearthly nature, his hulk m/s in
Concerning the matters related above, many and various legends
About “The Light from the Pole”
have gone forth throughout Mhu Thulan and all the extreme
Hyperboreal kingdoms and archipelagoes, even to the southmost isle s-y rcve Behrends, whom Lin Carter recognized as among the most insight-

of Oszhtror. The truth is not in such tales: for no man has known the J,’L1| students of his own work as well as Smith’s, says that the only rea-

truth heretofore. But I, the sorcerer Eibon, calling up through my 13 'The Light from the Pole” seems to exist at all is that Carter found por¬
tions of an early draft of what would become Smith’s “The Coming of the
necromancy the wave-wandering specter of Evagh, have learned
White Worm” and just could not stand to let a substantial chunk of
from him the veritable history of the worm’s advent. And I have
Smith's prose go to waste. "I . . . strove mightily ... to salvage every scrap
written it down in my volume with such omissions as are needful for
prose which Smith eliminated from his original when he rewrote the
the sparing of mortal weakness and sanity. And men will read this
rale” (Lin Carter, “A Response,” p. 33). There is a certain fascination, as the
record, together with much more of the elder lore, in days long after
true literary cultist knows all too well, in the prospect of variant versions,
the coming and melting of the great glacier. #
alternate drafts, director's cuts, and lost episodes. If an early draft was cast
aside so the author might begin again and take things in another direction,
it is no less intriguing to wonder how the original might have come out
than to speculate about what the author would have done with a fragment
he dropped and never finished in any form at all. So Carter’s desire to fin¬
ish what would have been a parallel version of “The Coming of the White
Worm” is entirely natural.

Cut does it make sense for “The Light from the Pole” to appear in the
Book of Eibon side by side with “The Coming of the White Worm”? As much
sense as ir makes for Matthew’s Gospel to be elbow to elbow with Mark's,
of which it is an expanded version. Or for Ephesians to precede Colossians
even though it is essentially a rewrite of it. Ditto for 2 Peter whose third
chapter is simply a bowdlerized and plagiarized version of Jude. But perhaps
the closest analogy would be 2 Timothy on the theory of P N. Harrison (The
Problem of the Pastoral Efts ties). Vocabulary statistics indicate that all of I
Timothy and Titus are spurious, non-Pauline, but there appears to be a faint
residue of genuine Pauline material in 2 Timothy. Harrison says that prob-
aLly some latter-day admirer of Paul chanced upon some fragments of an
otherwise lost epistle and decided to work them into a new epistle built
ar°und them, even though that epistle turns out sounding a bit too much
like Phi Iippians and Titus. That’s “The Light from the Pole.”

Incidentally, there’s a sly little in-joke which I slipped into the text of
The Light from the Pole.’ The central character Pharazyn: Tom Cockcroft
as tor many years lived on ‘Pharazyn Street’ in New Zealand. It seemed
al3Propriate, in light of‘Luveh-Keraph’ and ‘Klarkash-Ton’ and similar jest-
references here and there” (Lin Carter, “A Response,” p. 33). Thomas G.
' ^-°ckcroft supplied Lin with a typed copy of Smith's Black Book years
Cl°rc ‘r was made available through Arkham House. Tom Cockcroft is the
^0111 pi let of the absolutely indispensable Index to the Weird Fiction Magazines
rn° Press reprint, 1975) and Index to the Verse in Weird Tales (I960).
116_The Book of Eih0n

"The Liglu from the Pole" first appeared in Weird Tales #1 (Zebra
Books, 1980). Lin’s own candid appraisal of it was that it "wasn’t much of
a story, sad to say” (ibid.). The Light from the Pole:
The History of Pharazyn the Enchanter
by Clark Ashton Smith and Lin Carter

P harazyn the prophet abode in a tall house of granite builded

on the heights above a small fishing-village on the northern¬
most coasts of Zabdamar, whose rock-bestrewn shores are
unceasingly washed by the cold black waters of the polar main. It
was quite early in the reign of the Emperor Charnametros, in that
year known to the chroniclers as the Year of the Green Spider, that
Pharazyn first became aware of the imminence of his singular and
ineluctable doom by certain small signs and presagings. His dreams
were perturbed by malign and shadowy shapes, which ever
remained half-glimpsed; cold auroras flamed and flickered unsea¬
sonably in the nocturnal heavens, although the season was midsum¬
mer; and always, in the loud wind and crying surf, it seemed to
Pharazyn that he harkened to the weird whisper of voices from
realms of perennial winter.
Now, from atop the granite towers of his high house, it was the
wont of Pharazyn to observe the wheeling constellations over-head
and to peruse those starry omens which appertain to events yet
unborn in the dark womb of time. Of late, these nocturnal portents
had been strangely ominous, as well, and yet imprecise: it was as if
they prefigured the encroachment of some curious manner of doom
so unique as to stand without precedent in the annals of the astro-
^°gic science, which could thus be only hinted at in vague, ambiguous
terms. This, as well, was troubling to the serenity of Pharazyn.
As to the relevance of the approaching event, it seemed in some
Wlse to bear upon the destiny of the prophet himself; for the stellar
^mens were occultly consonant to his own natal house, wherein
^°malhaut was ascendant; and also to that zodiacal sign the
astronomers of this epoch termed The Basilisk. But in no degree
c°uld the prophet discern with precision or clarity the lineaments of
r^e impending event which would seem to impinge so particularly
LlPon his own personal fate.
 And this was the cause of increasing perturbation and unrest Thereafter, for the span of seven days, each time the timid folk
within the heart of Pharazyn: that, strive as he might, he coulc| i ] rmier^e from their huts and sail forth to draw provender from
Vv'OUKl on c i i- ■ a

acquire no certain foreknowledge of that which would soon eventu¬ waves, naught filled their nets but unnatural malignancies. At

ate, nor even an inkling thereunto. Being a past-master of all magic lenath, ancl ail aShast> they tarried not but fled to the upper-
and divination, and a seer of remote and future things, he made use ^ost rocks and thence to an island village which lay hard by, wherein

of his arts in an effort to divine their meaning. But a cloud was upon he ^eater number of them could find haven and refuge from these

his eyes through the diurnal hours, and a darkness thwarted his rjs|y marvels among their kin. There remained with Pharazyn only

vision when he sought illumination in dreams. His horoscopes were his two servants, the boy Ratha and the crone Ahilidis, who had both

put to naught; his familiars were silent or answered him equivocally; witnessed many of his conjurations and were thus inured to sights of

and confusion was amidst all his geomancies and hydromancies and maaic. And with these two beside him, the prophet felt less alone

haruspications. And it seemed to Pharazyn that an unknown power against whatever the night would bring.
worked against him, mocking and rendering impotent in such fash¬ Reascending to his towering abode, he ignited before every por-

ion the sorcery that none had defeated heretofore. And Pharazyn cal such suffumigations as are singularly repulsive to the boreal

knew, by certain tokens perceptible to wizards, that the power was demons; and at each angle of the house where a malign spirit might

an evil power, and its boding was of bale to man. enter, he posted one of his familiars to guard against all intrusion.

Through the middle summer the fisher-folk who dwelt in wattle Thereafter, while Ratha and Ahilidis slept, he studied with sedulous

huts below the tall towers of Pharazyn went forth daily in their cor¬ care the parchments of Pnom, wherein are collated many strong and

acles of hide and willow and cast their nets in the accustomed man¬ potent exorcisms. He bethought him that a dire spell had been laid

ner of their trade. But all that they gathered from the sea was dead upon the land of Zabdamar: an ensorcelling such as the wan polar

and withered as if in the blast of great coldness such as would demons might weave, or the chill witches of the moon might devise

emanate from trans-Arctic ice. And they drew forth from their seines in their caverns of snow. And he deemed it well to retire for a time,

living monsters as well, such as their eldest captains had never lest the spell should now take effect upon others than the clammy

beheld: things triple-headed and tailed and finned with horror; denizens of the oozy-bottomed sea.
black, shapeless things that turned to liquid foulness and ran from But albeit the exorcisms of Pnom were many and mighty, and

the net like a vile ichor; or headless shapes like bloated moons with stood strong against those entities sinister and malign, such as

green, frozen rays about them; or things leprous-eyed and bearded might yearn to work evil upon the like of Pharazyn, he derived lit¬

with stiffly-oozing slime, it was as if some trans-dimensional and tle easement of heart from their perusal. For ever and anon, as he

long-blocked channel beneath the known, familiar seas of Earth had read again for his comfort the old rubrics, he remembered ominously

opened suddenly into the strange waters of ultra-mundane oceans, the saying of the prophet Lith, which heretofore no man had ever

teeming with repulsive and malformed life. understood: “There is One that inhabits the place of utter cold, and

in awe and wonder at what had come out of the sea-horizoned One that respireth where none other may draw breath. In the days

north, the fisher-folk withdrew into their huts, abandoning their t0 come He shall issue forth among the isles and cities of men, and

wonted pursuits of the season; their boats, which fared no longer to shall bring with Him as a white doom the wind that slumbereth in

sea, were drawn up on the sands below the tall towers of Pharazyn his dwelling-place.”
on the cliff. And Pharazyn himself, descending later, also beheld the And he remembered, as well, the grisly and horrific doom which

rotting and unwholesome monsters drawn dripping from the tainted had befallen his sorcerous colleague, the warlock Evagh, in Yikilth the

waters, and pondered much concerning the import of this prodigy- 'Ce~island. There, in the frozen realm of the worm Rlim Shaikorth,

For this ill miracle was, he knew, in sooth a sure prodigy of evil. bvugh dad suffered a metamorphosis so terrible that few savants have
dared be specific in their redactions of the tale. But Pharazyn and porch, pale and frigid as fire of ice; and going to the window he
Evagh had been students of the same master, and following upon the beheld a great beam that traversed all the sea, coming as if from the
demise or enchantment of the warlock, Pharazyn had been moved to hidden pole. In that light the rocks were paler than marble, and the

interrogate the wandering spirits of wind and wave until at length he sands were whiter than sea-salt, and the huts of the fishermen were

had learned in every dread particular that which had befallen his for. aS white tombs. The walled garden of Pharazyn was filled with the
mer comrade. And the portents which had presaged the coming of the piercing light, and lo! all of the green had departed from its foliage,

white worm and the discarnation of Evagh were not unlike the omens and all of the color had been leached from its blossoms until they

and portents which Pharazyn had observed, and which he knew were like deathly flowers of snow. And the beam fell bleakly upon the

related to his own doom. lower walls of his house, but left still in shadow the wall of that upper

Therefore, he pored long over the exorcisms of Pnom and the chamber from which he looked.

prophecies of Lith, and peered as well into the doom-fraught pages of He thought that the beam poured from a pale cloud that lay
the Pnakotic Manuscripts, wherein there were of old indited much lore athwart the sea-line, or else from a white peak in the direction of the
both abstruse and recondite, and otherwise forgotten among men. pole, which had never before been visible by day, but seemed to
have lifted skyward in the night—of this he was uncertain.
Watching, he thought he saw that it rose higher in the heavens, that
Although the fire of fatty conifer blazed fiercely upon the marble beam of frigid light, but clomb no higher upon the walls of his
hearth of his tower-top chamber, it seemed that a deathly chill tower. At length the ice-mountain, wherefrom it seemed that ray of
began to pervade the air of the room about the midnight hour. As cold light shone, loomed mighty in the boreal heavens, until it was
Pharazyn turned uneasily from the parchments of Pnom, and saw higher even than the dread mountain Achoravomas, which belches
that the hearth was heaped high and the fire burned bright, he rivers of flame and liquid stone that pour unquenched through
heard the sudden turmoil of a great wind full of sea-birds eerily Tscho Vulpanomi to the austral main; nay, steeper still it seemed to
shrieking, and the cries of land-fowl driven on helpless wings, and him, until it towered above the house of Pharazyn like unto far and
over all a high laughter of diabolic voices. Madly from the north the fabulous Yarak itself, the mountain of ice that marks the site of the
wind beat upon his square-based towers; and birds were cast like veritable pole.
blown leaves of autumn against the stout-paned windows; and dev¬ Scarce could he draw breath in the cold that was on the air; and
ils seemed to tear and strain at the granite walls. Though the room's the light of the mountainous iceberg seared his eyeballs with an
door was shut and the windows were tight-closed, an icy gust went exceeding froreness. Yet he perceived an odd thing, that the rays of the
round and round, circling the table where Pharazyn sat, snatching glittering light from the pole fell indirectly and to either side of his
the broad parchments of Pnom from beneath his fingers, and pluck¬ house; and the lower chambers, where Ratha and Ahilidis slept, were
ing at the lamp-flame. bathed in the strange luminance. It would seem that his suffumiga-
Fruitlessly, with sluggish brain, he strove to remember that ^ons and other precautions had served to preserve at least this cham-
counter-charm which is most effective against the spirits of the boreal ber of his house from the full fury of the beam of freezing Light.
quarter. Then, strangely, it seemed that the wind fell, leaving * Then the beam swerved from the tall towers of Pharazyn, and
mighty stillness about the house. fussed his house by, questing the night. The chill gust was gone from
Soon he was made aware of a light shining beyond his chamber cbe room; the lamp and the fire burned steadily; and something of
windows, as if a belated moon had now risen above the rocks. But VVarnath returned slowly into the half-frozen marrow of Pharazyn.
Pharazyn knew that the moon was at that time a thin crescent, Pondering in vain the significance of the mystery, he then

declining with eventide. It seemed that the light shone from ch e Seeoned to hear in the air about him a sweet and wizardly voice. And,

P
122 123
The Book of Eibon che Po[e

speaking in a tongue that he knew not, the voice uttered a rune of endows, the boy Ratha and the hag Ahilidis were leaning with
slumber. And Pharazyn could not resist the rune, and upon him faces upturned to the direction wherefrom the icy beacon-light had
there fell such a numbness of sleep as overcomes the outworn shone. Stiffly they stood, with wide-open eyes, and a pale terror was
watcher in a place of snow. n their regard, and upon them was the white death such as had
stricken his garden in the night. And, nearing them, the prophet
* * *
was stayed by a terrible chillness that smote upon him from their

Waking stiffly at dawn, he rose up from the floor where he had lain bodies, which were pallid as the flesh of leprosy and white as moon-
and found himself alive and unharmed by the ordeal: it was as if all washed marble.
which had befallen him during the nocturnal hours had been naught Gazing beyond them through the window, Pharazyn perceived
but the phantasmagoria of a dream. along the sands and rocks of the shore, certain of the fisher-folk as had

Striding to the window, the prophet threw wide the casement crept back to their homes were lying or standing upright in stiff, rigid
and gazed with fearful trepidation upon the north. But there was postures, as if they had emerged from their hiding-places to behold

nothing which met his eye that he had not beheld a thousand dawns the pale beam and had been struck into an enchanted slumber, or else
aforetime: the bleak and barren wastes of Mhu Thulan, culminating turned to stone by the Gorgon’s glare of the polar light. And the

in a rocky promontory which thrust out into the dark sea; and the whole shore and harbor, and the cliffs, and the garden of Pharazyn,

white wilderness of northernmost Polarion beyond the snowy bas¬ even to the front threshold of his house, was mailed in crystal armor

tions of the wall of mountains which stood athwart the horizon. of perdurable frost, as had been the walls of his house.
Nowhere in his range of vision could Pharazyn perceive that wanly He would have fled from thence, knowing his magic wholly inef¬
glittering, that sky-ascending spire, of soaring ice wherefrom had fectual against this thing. But it came to him that death was in the
shone the frigid ray. direct falling of the rays from the ice-mountain, and, leaving the
For all that it was no longer within the scope of his perception, shelter of the house, he must perforce enter that fatal light when next
the prophet knew with grim certainty what it had been that he had it shone questing down the darkling skies from the ultimate north.
surely seen. No captain, faring out to sea, had espied its like in the And yet not totally unprotected was he if he remained, for the wards
boreal main; no legend had told of it among the dim Hyperboreal he had erected against supernatural intrusion had in sooth protected
isles; no seer or sage had recorded it from his seething and phantas¬ him from the doom which had befallen the hapless fisher-folk, and
mal visions: but Pharazyn knew. die boy Ratha, and the crone. Or was his inexplicable survival due
Deathly and terrible had been that glittering pinnacle, hung like 0fdy to the efficacy of his suffumigations and familiars?
a djinn-reared tower in the zenith; and he knew with sure and cer¬ Now terror crept into the heart of Pharazyn, for it came to him
tain knowledge the source of the light he had beheld in the darkness rhat he alone, of all who dwelt on that shore, had been exempted from
like a far beacon, and that it shone not from any earthly coast, but che white death. He dared not surmise the reason of his exemption;
from remote and trans-telluric gulfs profound. but he realized the futility of flight, and in the end he deemed it best
For the uncanny glittering of a frost harder than diamonds sheathed the 1:0 remain patiently and without fear, awaiting whatever should befall
walls of his tower in nnmeltable crystal. Yet the walls of the tower were him with the coming of another night.
no longer touched by the beam as in the night, for it had passed on Returning to his chamber he busied himself with various conju-
many hours since; and upon all his house there was naught but the radons. But his familiars had gone away in the night, forsaking the
early sun and the morning shadows. aa&les at which he had posted them; and no spirit, human or demo-
Again he remembered the saying ofLith; and with much fore¬ niacal, made reply to his querying. And not in any way known to
boding he descended to the ground story. There, at the northern Wl*ards could he learn aught of the mountain of ice and of its frigid
ray, or divine the least inkling of its secret, to confirm the dreadful peak would fully enter into his casement window, and his doom

surmise that had seized upon him. would be upon him everlastingly.
Deeply immersed in his sorcerous labors, he was unaware of the Terror seized upon Pharazyn then, for he saw in all of these phe¬

passage of time and only realized that night was upon him when nomena the insidious workings of a wizardry plenipotent and tran¬

presently, as he labored with his useless cantrips, he felt upon his face scendental, and beyond the skill of any terrene sorcerer. All that third

the breathing of a wind that was not air but a subtler and a rarer ele¬ jay he searched the blood-writ runes of mouldering scrolls of ptero-
ductyl-parchment, and scanned the writings of the elder sages,
ment cold as the moon's ether. His own breath forsook him with ago¬
searching in vain for the means to combat the eerie menace from the
nies unspeakable, and he fell down on the floor in a sort of waking
pole which close-compassed him and which would, he knew, with the
swoon that was near to death. And again he recalled the hideous
coming of night, drag him" down to a doom so profound and unut¬
metamorphosis that had befallen the unfortunate warlock, Evagh,
terable that from its frigid bourn he might never escape.
and his transformation upon Yikilth into a being able to endure the
For it had come to Pharazyn, in the trance-like slumbers of his
rigors of super-Arctic cold, to whom even the frigid and insubstan¬
spell-induced swoon, what secret lurked behind the cryptic sayings of
tial ether was rendered somehow respirable.
Lith. For he had found amongst the enigmatic utterances of the
Jn the swoon he was doubtfully aware of voices uttering unfa¬
prophet yet a second passage whose meaning had heretofore eluded
miliar spells. Invisible fingers touched him with icy pangs; and about
the comprehension of the sages: “But even He, who reigns among
him came and went a bleak radiance, like a tide that flows and ebbs
the lords of death, is made vulnerable by His coming-hence into the
and flows again. Intolerable was this luminance to all his senses; but
world of mortality. Beware, then, the wrath of that Other One which
it brightened slowly, with briefer ebbings; and in time his eyes and
is His Master and far more terrible than He; and Who abideth for¬
his flesh were tempered to endure it. Almost fully upon him now
ever in His cold caverns beneath His mountain, beprisoned there by
shone the mysterious light from the north, blazing through his win¬
the Elder Gods. For if that Other seek ye out, Him there is no escap¬
dows; and it seemed that a great Eye regarded him in the baleful
ing save in death itself.”
light. He would have risen to confront the Eye, but his swoon held Now it seemed to Pharazyn that the One whose coming was
him like a palsy. foretold by the prophet Lith was the white worm, Rlim Shaikorth;
After that, he slept again for a certain period. Waking, he found from beyond the limits of the north had he come in his floating
in all his limbs their wonted strength and quickness. The light was citadel, the ice-island, Yikilth, to voyage the mundane oceans and to
still upon his house, its pallid luminance glimmering through his blast with a chill splendor the puny peoples of humankind. And
chamber. Then, with inexplicable suddenness, it was gone; but ^hen Evagh the warlock had been transformed into a being for
whether it had died at its source or merely turned away to bathe ^hom was made respirable the air in which no mortal man may draw
some other place in the freezing regard of its Gorgon-eye, he did breath—even that coldness and the thin ether that go everywhere
not know. vvbh Yikilth—he was brought face to face with that being whose
advent the prophet Lith had foretold obscurely, and who had vaguely
* * *

cbe lineaments of a visage belonging neither to beast of the earth nor

Morning lit the east and the second night was ended of this siege- °Ctan-creature.
And, peering out, he witnessed a new and more ominous marvel: And unto him Rlim Shaikorth had spake: “Wisdom ineffable
lo! the adamantine frost had uoiu crept nigh /into the very sill of his ect^' sbah be thine, and mastery of lore beyond the reach of mortals, if
meut. And he was aware of a bleak certainty: that on the third t^°u wilt but worship me and become my thrall; with me thou shalt
night—should he live to see it—the cold and pallid beam from the VcYage amid the kingdoms of the north, and shalt pass among the
126 The Book of Eih0n . i iohr from the Pole L27

green southern islands, and we shall smite the fair ports and cities ■nlplored him to enlighten them concerning the fate of their erstwhile
with a blight of trans-Arctic winter: for I am he whose coming even fellows. But the reply they received was equivocal at best: sometimes
the gods may not oppose.” worm was silent, and sometimes he bespoke them, renewing
Thereafter, Pharazyn knew, Evagh had dwelt upon Yikilth, and v,l(rueJy the promises he had made. And Ux Loddhan, it seemed, was
beneath the instruction of Dooni and Ux Loddhan, captive sorcerers wholly oblivious to the doom which overtook them slowly, one by one,
ofThulask, who had as well been tempered to the coldness of Yikilth> and was fain to impute an esoteric significance to the ever-growing
together with certain outlandish and uncouth men called Polarians, bulk of the white worm and the vanishing of the wizards. At length
he performed the sevenfold rite that is scarce suitable for narration pvagh had perceived that his evanished brethren were now merged
here, and sware the threefold vow of unspeakable alienation. wholly in the ultraterrestrial being of RJim Shaikorth, had been
Thereafter for many days and nights, he sailed with RJim Shaikorth devoured by the wan and loathly mouth of the worm, and abode
adown the coast of Mhu Thulan and the province of Zabdamar, the henceforward in the evil blackness of his belly, whereto he himself was
great iceberg being guided by the sorcery of the worm, prevailing doomed to dwell, if he did not foreswear his dreadful vows and strike
even against the wind and tide. By night and day, like the beams of during those infrequent periods of slumber when even the mighty
a deathly beacon, the chill splendor smote afar from Yikilth to freeze RJim Shaikorth was vulnerable. And strike he did, effecting the disso¬
flowery Cerngoth and sea-affronting Aguil with boreal stillness. lution both of the white worm and of the ice-isle, Yikilth, itself; while
Proud triremes were overtaken as they fled southward, their crews his own spirit was borne shrieking into the boreal solitudes, there to
blasted at the oars; and often ships were caught and embedded in the bide forever.
new bastions of ice that formed daily around the base of that ever¬ Now it seemed to Pharazyn that the white worm was even that
growing mountain. But, dwelling upon Yikilth, the sorcerer Evagh One whereof the prophet Lith had forewarned the world; and that if
and his fellow-wizards were immune to that icy death, even as the this was so, then even the terrible RJim Shaikorth was but the emis¬
worm had promised them. All were united in the worship of the sary of another and far more potent and dreadful Being, whose wrath
white worm; and all, it seemed, were content in a measure with their was a peril to all the world, as the prophet Lith had foretold.
lot, and were fain of that unearthly lore and dominion which the In his perusal of the parchments of Pnom, Pharazyn had found
worm had promised them. certain vague references to an entity of supra-polar cold who had
But Evagh rebelled in secret against his thralldom to RJim come down from dim Fomalhaut when the world was young, taking
Shaikorth; he beheld with revulsion the doom of cities, and sorrow as his abode the icy and cavernous bowels of Yarak, the ice-mountain
was in his heart for the fishing-coracles and the biremes of trade and which stands upon the ultimate and boreal pole, bound there forever
warfare that floated manless after they had met Yikilth. Ever the ice- Llnder the sigil of those eldermost and benign divinities which guard
isle followed its southwardly course, growing vaster and more prodi¬ rl^‘ world and are reputedly disposed to be friendly towards man. All
gious by accretion; and ever, at the star-appointed time, which was °f this seemed to agree with that against which the sayings of Lith
the forenoon of every third day, the sorcerers convened in the pres¬ ^acl so cryptically warned. And in this the dread name of Aphoom
ence of RJim Shaikorth to do him worship. To the perturbation of alb ^hah, concerning whom even the Pnakotic Manuscripts dare only
their numbers unaccountably dwindled, warlock by warlock, first took on a grim and frightful relevance.
amongst the outlandish men from Polarion. And ever, ominously, the For if that which Pharazyn now dared to dream was true, then
worm greatened in size; and the increase was visible as a thickening °f Shaikorth was only the minister of that Polar One of whom the
j J
his whole body from head to tail. e§cndries of anterior cycles whisper fearful things; and the white
Deeming these circumstances an ill augury, the sorcerers made Splrits of the boreal wastes—the Cold Ones who obey the behests of
fearful supplication to the worm in their various tongues, an^ worm, and haunt perpetually the frozen wilderness, and shriek
L2S The Book of Eibon from the Pole 129

upon the nightwind like damned, tormented souls—they were but ■ ||aSrc of Zuth came to return to their frost-whitened huts, they
the minions and servants of Aphoom Zhah, and RJim Shaikorth their found the high house of Pharazyn the prophet empty of life.
leader. And of this Aphoom Zhah, the Pnakotic Manuscripts allude first they were timid and trepidatious, and lingered athwart
to him as a flame of coldness which shall someday encompass the lands cjie threshold; later, when naught betid, the younger and bolder men
of men, from wintry Polarion in the ultimate north, through all the amongst them ventured into the house, but cautiously: for it is never

Hyperborean kingdoms and archipelagoes, even to the southmost prudent to enter the houses of sorcerers unbidden. In the lower parts

isle of Oszhtror. And was it not a very flame of coldness which Pharazyn 0f the house the young men found the bodies of the boy Ratha and

had seen falling adown the nighted skies, from a mountain of ice very the crone Ahilidis stark as bone; they gathered their courage and

like remote and terrible Yarak? approached the pale corpses, finding them frozen and stony.

But wherefore was the wrath of the Dweller at the Pole turned In the upper parts of the tower, which were untouched by the

against Pharazyn; or, if not from vengeance, for what ulterior purpose (flittering frost, the fisher-folk discovered the corpse of the prophet

did the flame of coldness seek out his high house, night upon night? himself, seated in his throne-like chair carved of the ivory of mam¬

Here, too, the wisdom of Pnom yielded a clue upon perusal. For had moths. Upon his thin red lips was a cold smile, and therebeneath was
another smile, thinner and yet more red; for he had slit his throat
not the sage written thusly: “Neither the Old Ones nor their minions
from ear to ear, had Pharazyn, heedful of the less cryptic of the two
dare to disturb the sigil of the Elder Gods; the hand of mortal man
sayings of the prophet Lith, that only by death can a man elude the
alone may touch their sign unblasted”; and in another place, “Power
clutches of Aphoom Zhah the Lord of the Pole. $
the star-born Ones possess over those hapless mortals in whose natal
hour the star of Their origin be ascendant.” And well knew Pharazyn
that both he and the unhappy Evagh were birthed in the hour when
dim Fomalhaut is risen over the edges of the world.
Therein lay the reason whereby had RJim Shaikorth power to
transmute the flesh of Evagh, and to temper it so that the warlock
might endure the harsh rigor of Yikilth; therein, too, it might be, was
the cause wherefore the light from the pole had sought out the tall
towers of Pharazyn, among all the residences of men. For only bis hand
could dislodge the sigil the gods had set upon the portals of Yarak: only
Pharazyn the prophet could loose the Cold Flame upon the world!
And thus it came to pass that Pharazyn knew the extremity of
horror, and knew himself damned beyond all other dooms eternal: for
it is a strange and fearful doom, to know that by your hand shall be
set upon the flesh of men the seal of that gulf whose rigor paleth one
by one the most ardent stars, and putteth rime at the very core of
suns—the unutterable coldness of the profound and cosmic deeps!

* #

When that the sun rose upon the morning of the third day after the
blight of coldness had first touched the coasts of Zabdamar, and the
fisher-folk who had fled inland to abide the unseasonable chill in the
 About “The Stairs in the Crypt”
T his time out, the title is not the only tip of the turban to “Robert
The Stairs in the Crypt:
Blake/’ since Lin quietly smuggles a couple of paragraphs of Blake’s
morbid ruminations from “The Shambler from the Stars” into the maggoty 'phe History of the Necromancer Avalzaunt
mouth of anti-hero Avalzaunc. Other salutes to Weird Tales writers include
the business about the secret portal opening on every tomb, a detail drawn by Clark Ashton Smith and Lin Carter
from E. Hoffman Price’s Necronowicon passage in the Price-Lovccraft collab¬
oration “Through the Gates of the Silver Key,” and the reference to Henry
Kuttner’s Old One Nyogtha (“The Salem Horror”), whom Lin gratuitously
I t is told of the necromancer Avalzaunt that he succumbed at
length to the inexorable termination of his earthly existence in
makes king of the ghouls.
the Year of the Crimson Spider during the empery of King
The pivot of the elaborate joke in this story is a genuine bit of ancient
Phanol of Commoriom. Upon the occasion of his demise, his disci¬
spook lore on the point of whether the undead may eat and digest. Though
ples, m accordance with the local custom, caused his body to be pre¬
one can find exceptions (as HPL knew, genuine myrh cycles abound in con¬
served in a bath of bituminous natron, and interred the mortal
tradictions), biblical legend holds that angels may not eat, not having, so
remains of their master in a mausoleum prepared according to his
to speak, the stomach for it! Thus the incognito angel Raphael in the Book
of Tobit (L2: L9), like the angel of Yahve himself in Judges (l 3:16), cannot dictates in the burying-grounds adjacent to the abbey of Camorba, in

eat, nor the docetic Jesus of the Acts of John (93; cf. Gospel of John the province of Uthnor, in the eastern parts of Hyperborea.
4:3 1-3d). This is also the point of the otherwise ridiculous detail of having The obsequies made over the catafalque whereupon reposed the
Jesus tell Mr. and Mrs. Jairus to give their newly resuscitated daughter mummy of the necromancer were oddly cursory in nature, and the
something to eat (Mark 5:43), and of the resurrected Jesus asking for a fish encomium delivered at the interment by the eldest of the apprentices
sandwich (Luke 24:4 L —43). It’s to prove the newly revived are not ghosts;
of Avalzaunt, one Mygon, was performed in a niggardly and grudg¬
they couldn’t eat if they were. Over in India and Tibet, one particular caste
ing manner, singularly lacking in that spirit of somber dolence one
of the wicked returns as a Preta, or “hungry ghost.” These miserable crea¬
should have expected from the bereaved disciples gathered to mourn
tures have a pin-hole sized mouth and a big, empty tummy. Now you know
their deceased mentor. The truth of the matter was that none of the
why linguini was invented over in the Orient.
former students of Avalzaunt had any particular cause to bemoan his
“The Stairs in the Crypt" is surely the broadest in its outrageous humor
demise, for their master had been an exigeant and rigorous taskmas¬
in the whole Eibonic canon. The cartoonish character of the horror makes it
in no wise less hideous. It first appeared in Fantastic, August 1976. ter and his cold obduracy had done little to earn him any affection
from those who had studied the dubious and repugnant science of

oecromancy under his harsh and unsympathetic tutelage.

Upon their completion of the requisite solemnities, the acolytes
of the necromancer departed for their ancestral abodes in the city of
^Tnzonga which stood nearby, whilst others eloigned themselves to
rtlore distant Cerngoth and Leqquan. As for the negligent Mygon, he
repaired to the remote and isolated tower of primordial basalt which
rose from a headland overlooking the boreal waters of the eastern
rnain, from which they had all come for the funereal rites. This tower
^ad formerly been the residence of the deceased necromancer but was
ntnv> by lawful bequest, devolved upon himself as the seniormost of

apprentices of the late and unlamented mage.

 Jf the pupils of Avalzaunt assumed that they had taken their kr- or trivial whim had Avalzaunt in his youth embarked upon
i m Pu ^
last farewells of their master, however, it eventuated that in this ■ tucly of the penumbral and atrocious craft of necromancy, but from
assumption they were seriously mistaken. For, after some years of fervid and devout fascination with the mysteries of death. In the
repose within the sepulchre, vigor seeped back again into the brit¬ ^ vollen pallor of a corpse in the advanced stages of decomposition
tle limbs of the mummified enchanter and sentience gleamed anew had he ever found a beauty superior to the radiance of health, and in
in his jellied and sunken eyes. At first the partially-revived lich lay chc mephitic vapors of the tomb a perfume headier than the scent of
somnolent and unmoving in a numb and mindless stupor, with no summer gardens.

conception of its present charnel abode. It knew, in fine, neither Oft had he hung in rapturous excitation upon the words which
what nor where it was, nor aught of the peculiar circumstances of its fej| slow and sluggish, one by one, from the worm-fretted lips of del¬
untimely and unprecedented resurrection. iquescent cadavers, or gaunt and umber mummies, or crumbling
On this question the philosophers remain divided. One school liches acrawl with squirming maggots and teetering on the sickening
holds to the theorem that it was the unseemly brevity of the burial verge of terminal decay. From such, rendered temporarily animate by

rites which prevented the release of the spirit of Avalzaunt from its his necromantic art, it had been his wont to extort the abominable
clay, thus initiating the unnatural revitalization of the cadaver. Others yet thrilling secrets of the tomb. And now he, himself, was become
posrulate that it was the necromantic powers inherent in Avalzaunt just such a revitalized corpse! The irony of the situation did not elude
himself which were the sole causative agent in his return to life. After the subtlety of Avalzaunt.
all, they argue, and with some cogence, one who is steeped in the “Once I yearned to know the terrors of the grave, the kiss of
power to effect the resurrection of another should certainly retain, maggots on my tongue, the clammy caress of a rotting shroud
even in death, a residue of that power sufficient to perform a compa¬ against my tepid flesh,” soliloquized the cadaver in a croaking whis¬
rable revivification upon oneself These, however, are queries for a per from a dry and shrunken throat crusted with the salts of the bit¬
philosophical debate for which the present chronicler lacks both the ter natron. “I thirsted for the knowledge that glimmers in the pits of
leisure and learning to pursue to an unequivocal conclusion. mummied eyes, and burned for that wisdom known only to the
Suffice to say that, in the fullness of time, the lich had recovered writhing and insatiable worm. Tirelessly I perused forbidden tomes
its faculties to such a degree as to become cognizant of its interment. by the wan and feeble luminance of guttering tapers of corpse-tallow
The unnatural vigor which animated the corpse enabled it to thrust to master the secrets of mortality, so that should ever the nethermost
aside the heavy lid of the black marble sarcophagus and the mummy pits disgorge their crawling vermin I might aspire to dominion and
sat up and stared about itself with horrific and indescribable surmise. empery over the legions of the living dead—among the which I, now,
The withered wreaths of yew and cypress, the decaying draperies of myself, am to be henceforward numbered!”
funereal black and purple, the sepulchral decor of the stone chamber Thus it may be seen that the mordant humor in its present cir¬
wherein it now found itself, and the unmistakable nature of die cumstances was readily perceived by the unblunted wit of the revi-
tomb-furnishings, all served alike to confirm the reanimated cadaver talr^ed corpse.
in its initial impressions.
It is difficult for we, the living, to guess at the thoughts which
seethed through the dried and mould-encrusted brain of the lich as it ^mong the various implements of arcane manufacture which the
pondered its demise and resurrection. We may hazard it, however, l^pils of Avalzaunt had buried in the crypt beside the mortal remains
that the spirit of Avalzaunt quailed before none of the morbid afltl their unlamented master there was a burnished speculum of black
shuddersome trepidations an ordinary mortal would experience upon smcl wherein presently the cadaver of Avalzaunt beheld its own repul-
awakening within somber and repellent environs. Not from shaikh SlVe likeness. It was skull-like, that sere and fulvous visage which
134 The Book of Eif>0n the Crypc 135

peered back at the necromancer from the ebon depths of the magic j;na down to black, profound, abysmal deeps beneath the earth
Nvinmiio
mirror. Avalzaunt had seen such shrunken and decayed lineaments oft ^crC vast, malign and potent entities reside. The Old Ones they are
aforetime upon prehistoric mummies rifled from the crumbling fanes and among these inimical dwellers in the tenebrous depths
of civilizations anterior to his own. Seldom, however, had the reani¬ (-here was a certain Nyogtha, a dire divinity whom Avalzaunt had
mated lich gazed upon so delightfully decomposed and withered avis- oftentimes celebrated with rites of indescribable obscenity.
age as this bony and wizened horror which was its own face. This Nyogtha had for his minions the grisly race of ghouls, those
The lich next turned its rapt scrutiny on what remained of its lean jank and canine-muzzled prowlers among the tombs; and from the
and leathery body and tested brittle limbs draped in the rags of a rot¬ favor of Nyogtha the necromancer had in other days won ascendancy
ting shroud, finding these embued with an adamantine and a tireless over the loping hordes. And so the mummy of Avalzaunt waited
vigor, albeit they were gaunt and attenuated to a degree which may patiently within the crypt, knowing that in time all tombs are vio¬
only be described as skeletal. Whatever the source of the supranonnal lated by these shambling predators from the Pit, who had been the
energy which now animated the corpse of the necromancer, it lent the faithful servants of Avalzaunt when he had lived, and who might still
undead creature a vigor it had never previously enjoyed in life, not
consent to serve him after death.
even in the long-ago decades of its juvenescence. Erelong the cadaver heard the shuffle of leathery feet ascending
As for the crypt itself, it was sealed from without by pious cere¬
rhe secret stair from the unplumbed and gloomy foetor of the abyss,
monies which rendered the portals thereunto inviolable by the
and the fumbling of rotting paws against the hidden portal; and the
mummy in its present mode of existence as one of the living dead.
stale and vitiated air within the vault was, of a sudden, permeated
Such precautions were customary in the land of Uthnor, which was
with a disquieting effluvia as of long-sealed graves but newly opened.
the abode of many warlocks and enchanters during the era whereof I
By these tokens the lich was made aware of the ghoul-pack that
write; for it was feared that wizards seldom lie easy in their graves
pawed and whined and snuffled hungrily at the door. And when the
and that, betimes, they are wont to rise up from their deathly som¬
portal yawned to admit the gaunt, lean-bellied, shuffling herd, the
nolence and stalk abroad to wreak a dire and ghastly vengeance upon
lich rose up before it, lifting thin arms like withered sticks and
those who wronged them when they lived. Hence was it only pru¬
clawed hands like the stark talons of monstrous birds. The putrid
dent for the timid burghers of Zanzonga, the principal city of this
witchfires of a ghastly phosphorescence flared up at the command of
region of Hyperborea, to insist that the tombs of sorcerers be sealed
the necromancer, and the ghoul-herd, affrighted, squealed and grov¬
with the Pnakotic pentagram, against which such as the risen
eled before the glare-eyed mummy. At length, having cowed them
Avalzaunt may not trespass without the severest discomfiture.
sufficiently, Avalzaunt elicited from the leader of the pack, a hound-
Thus it was that the mummy of the necromancer was pent
muzzled thing with dull eyes the hue of rancid pus, a fearful and
within the crypt, helpless to emerge therefrom into the outer world.
And there for a time it continued to sojourn: but the animated lie'h prodigious oath of thralldom.

was in no wise discommoded by its enforced confinement, for the It was not long thereafter before Avalzaunt had need of this lop-

bizarre and ponderous architecture of the crypt was of its own ing herd of grave-robbers. For the necromancer in time became

devisal, and the building thereof Avalzaunt had himself supervised- a^are of an inner lack which greatly tormented it and which ever

Therefore it was that the crypt was spacious and, withal, not lacking reTiuined unassuaged by the supernatural vigor which animated its

in such few and dismal amenities as the reposing-chambers of the f°rm, Jn rime this nebulous need resolved itself into a gnawing lack
dead may customarily afford their ghastly habitants. Moreover, the sustenance, but it was for no mundane nutriment, that acrid and
living corpse bethought itself of that secret portal every tomb jS ruSmg thirst which burned within the dry and withered entrails of
known to have, behind the which there doubtless was a hidden stair lich. Cool water nor honey-hearted wine would not suffice to sate
136 The Book of Eih0n the Crypt 137

that unholy thirst: for it was human blood Avalzaunt craved, but why nJ its preternatural pallor, they guessed it that he had fallen victim
or wherefore, the mummy did not know. sorne abominable and prowling vampire in the night.
Perchance it was simply that the desiccated tissues of the lich Again and again thereafter the ghoul-herd went forth by the

were soaked through with the bituminous salts of the bitter natron secrct stairs within the crypt of Avalzaunt, down to those deeps far

wherein it had been immersed, and that it was this acid saltiness beneath the crust of the earth where they and their brethren had

which woke so fierce and burning a thirst within its dry and dusty anciently tunneled out a warren of fetid passageways connecting

gullet. Or mayhap it was even as antique legends told, that the rest¬ romb and burial-ground and the vaults beneath castle, temple,

less legions of the undead require the imbibement of fresh gore tower and town. After nine such grisly atrocities had befallen, some
vague intimation of the truth dawned upon the ecclesiarchs of
whereby to sustain their unnatural existence on this plane of being.
Zanzonga, for it became increasingly obvious that only the former
Whatever may have been the cause, the mummy of the dead necro¬
apprentices of the dead necromancer, Avalzaunt, suffered from the
mancer yearned for the foaming crimson fluid which flows so prodi¬
depredations of the unknown vampire-creatures. In time the priests
gally through the veins of the Jiving as it had never thirsted for even
of Zanzonga ventured forth to scrutinize the crypt of the deceased
the rarest of wines from terrene vineyards when it had lived. And so
enchanter, but found it still sealed, its door of heavy lead intact, and
Avalzaunt evoked the lean and hungry ghouls before its bier. They
the Pnakotic pentagram affixed thereto undisturbed and unbroken.
proffered unto the necromancer electrum chalices brimming with
The night-prowling monsters who drained their hapless victims dry
black and gelid gore drained from the tissues of corpses; but the cold,
of blood, whoever or whatever they might prove to be, had naught
thick, coagulated blood did naught to slake the thirst that seared the
to do with Avalzaunt, surely; for the necromancer, they said, slept
throat of the mummy. It longed for fresh blood, crimson and hot and
still within his sealed and shutten crypt. This pronunciamento given
foam-beaded, and it vowed that erelong it would drink deep thereof,
forth, they returned to the temple of Ymboth, in Zanzonga, pleas¬
again and again and yet again.
antly satisfied with themselves for the swift and thorough fulfillment
* * >> of their mission. Not one of them so much as suspected, of course,
the very existence of the stairs in the crypt, whereby Avalzaunt and
Thereafter the shambling herd roamed by night far afield in dire obe¬ his ghouls emerged in the gloaming to hunt down the unwary and
dience to the mummy’s will. And so it came to pass that the former
abominably to feast.
disciples of the necromancer had cause to regret the negligent and And from this vile nocturnal feasting the sere and withered
over-hasty burial of their unlamented mentor. For it was upon the naummy lost its aforetime gauntness, and it waxed sleek and plump
acolytes of the dead necromancer whom the ghoul-horde preyed. and swollen, for that it now gorged heavily each night on rich, bub¬
And the First of all their victims was that unregenerate and niggardly bling gore; and, as is well known to those of the unsqueamish who
Mygon who still dwelt in the sea-affronting tower which once had ponder upon such morbidities, the undead neither digest nor elimi-
been the demesne of the necromancer. When, with the diurnu l light, ■aacc che foul and loathly sustenance whereon they feed.
his servants came to rouse him from his slumbers, they found a Erelong the now bloated and corpulent lich had exhausted the
blanched and oddly-shrunken corpse amidst the disorder of the bed¬ bsc of its former apprentices, for not one remained unvisited by the
clothes, which were torn and trampled and besmirched with black sbamblerS from the Pit. Then it was that the insatiable Avalzaunt
mire and grave-mould. Naught of the nature of the nocturnal visi¬ thought him of the monks of Camorba whose abbey lay close by,
tants to the chamber of the unfortunate Mygon could his horror- n‘Sh unto the very burial-ground wherein it was supposed he slept
stricken servants discern from the fixed staring of his glazed and Ir) che fetid solitude of his crypt. These monks were of an order
sightless eyes; but from the drained and empty veins of the corpses 'vWh worshipped Shimba, god of the shepherds, and this drowsy,
13S The Book of UihHjri Tht. Sour* m the Crypt 139

rustic little godling demanded but little of his celebrants; wherefore per the bloated and swollen paunch of the walking corpse burst
they were an idle, fat, complacent lot much given to the fleshly plea¬ open hke an immense and rotten fruit, spewing forth such stupen-

sures. 'Twas said they feasted on the princeliest of viands, drank |0LlS quantities of black and putrid blood that the silken robes of the

naught but the richest of vintages, and dined hugely on the juiciest abbot were drenched in an instant. In sooth, so voluminous was the

and most succulent haunches of rare, dripping meat; by reason jefoge of cold, coagulated gore, that the thick carpets were saturated

thereof they were rosy and rotund and brimming with hot blood. At with stinking fluids, which sprayed and squirted in all directions as
che stricken cadaver staggered about in its throes. The vile liquid
the very thought of the fat, bubbling fluid that went rivering
splashed hither and yon in such floods that even the damask wall¬
through their soft, lusty flesh, the undead necromancer grew faint
coverings were saturated, and, in no time at all, the entire chamber
and famished: and he vowed that very night to lead his loping tomb-
was awash with putrescent gore to such an extent that the very floor
hounds against the abbey of Camorba.
was become a lake of foulness. The liquescent vileness poured out
* * *
jnco the hallways and the corridors beyond when at length the other
monks, roused by the shriekings of their horror-smitten abbot, rose
Night fell, thick with turgid vapors. A humped and gibbous moon
from cot and pallet and came bursting in to behold the ghastly abba-
floated above the vernal hills of Uthnor. Thirlain, abbot of Camorba,
tial chamber floating in a lake of noisome slime and Thirlain himself
was closeted with the abbey accounts, seated behind a desk lavishly
crouched pale and gibbering atop his ivory desk, pointing one palsied
inlaid with carven plaques of mastodonic ivory, as the moon ascended
hand at the thin and lean and leathery rind of dried and desiccated
towards the zenith. Rumor had not exaggerated his corpulence, for,
flesh that was all which remained of Avalzaunt the necromancer, once
of all the monks of Camorba, the abbot was the most round and rubi¬
the vile fluids his mummy retained had burst forth in a grisly deluge,
cund and rosy; hence it was from the fat jugular that pulsed in his
and drained him dry.
soft throat that the necromancer had sworn to slake his febrile and
This horrendous episode was hushed up and only distorted
unwholesome thirst.
rumors of the nightmare ever leaked beyond the abbey walls. But the
In one plump hand Thirlain held a sheaf of documents apper¬
burghers of Zanzonga marveled for a season over the swift and inex¬
taining to the accounts of the abbey, the which were scribed upon plicable resignation from his fat and cozy sinecure of the complacent
crisp papyrus made from calamites; the pudgy fingers of the other and pleasure-loving Thirlain, who departed that very dawn on a
hand toyed idly with a silver paperknife which had been a gift from barefoot pilgrimage to the remotest of holy shrines far-famed for its
the high priest of Shimba in Zanzonga, and which was sanctified with wonder-working relics, which was situate amidst the most hostile
the blessings of that patriarch. and inaccessible of wildernesses. Thereafter the chastened abbot
Thus it was that, when the long and becurtained windows entered a dour monastic order of stern flagellants, famed for their
behind the desk burst asunder before the whining, eager pack of SCr'et adherence to a grim code of the utmost severity, wherein the all
hungry ghouls, and the swollen and hideously bloated figure of the but hysteric austerities of the zealous Thirlain, together with his over-
mad-eyed cadaver which led the tomb-hounds came lurching toward porous chastisements of the flesh, made him an object of amaze-
the abbot where he sat, Thirlain, shrieking with panic fear, blindly mcnt and wonder among even the harshest and most obdurate of his
and impulsively thrust that small blunt silver knife into the dis¬ krethren. No longer plump and soft and self-indulgent, he grew lean
tended paunch of the lumbering corpse as it flung itself upon him- and sallow from a bleak diet of mouldy crusts and stale water, and
What occurred in sequel to that instinctive and, ordinarily, ineffcC' not long thereafter in the odor of sanctity and was promptly
tual blow is still a matter of theological debate among the eccfo' Glared venerable and beatific by the grand patriarch of
C■nni n^oriom, and his relics now command excessive prices from the
siarchs of Zanzonga, who no longer sleep so snugly in their beds.
dealers in such ecclesiastical memorabilia. As for the remains of the
About “The Feaster from the Stars”
necromancer, they were burnt on the hearth of the abbey at Camorba
and were reduced to a pinch of bitter ash which was hastily scattered hen “The Feaster from the Stars” premiered in Crypt of Cthnlhn #26
(Hallowmass 1984), Lin Carter appended some interesting annota-
to the winds. And it is said of the spirit of the unfortunate Avalzaunt
jonSj which I reproduce here for your edification.
that at last it found rest in whatever far and fabulous bourn is the
final haven of perturbed and restless spirits. -$■ The story itself derives from a plot-idea of Smith's
which is not in The Black Book but was discovered by
myself scribbled on the back of one of Smith’s holograph
manuscripts: “When a magistrate, condemning to death
the members of an illicit cult of devil-worshippers, gra¬
tuitously shatters the idol of their god, he incurs its
wrath. When all of the cultists are executed, the demon
must exact its own vengeance on the magistrate.” Note
that J have only slightly altered this, making the lead
character a High Constable, rather than a magistrate, in
order to avoid too close a parallel to “The Seven Geases.”
“Yzduggor” and “Vooth Raluorn” are names coined
by Smith, which appear in his notes for the story even¬
tually published as “The Seven Geases.” In his final ver¬
sion of the text these names were changed to “Ezdagor”
and “RaJibar Vooz.” 1 hate to let good names go to waste.
It was Lovecraft who came up with the notion of a
“Child of Tsathoggua” in his excerpt from Of Evill
Sorceries, one of the fragments incorporated into The
Barker at the Threshold. HPL failed to specify its gender.
In his “Genealogical Chart” excerpted from a 1934 letter
to [Robert] Barlow and published in Planets and
Dimensions, Smith gives “Zvilpogghua” as the name of
Tsathoggua’s only listed child. He also adds the informa¬
tion that the child was begotten on a female entity
named Shathak upon the planet Yaksh (Neptune) by
Tsathoggua, before he descended to this earth. In lieu of
contradictory data, I presume Zvilpogghua to be male.
“Luthomne,” “Yrautrom,” “Ysabbau,” “Zongis
Furalor,” “Yanur,” etc.: all of these names were coined by
Smith and listed in his notes for future use. Please note
that of the twenty-four proper nouns in this story, only
one (“Abbith”) was invented by myself.

^eyond these essentials, it remains only to point out two ambiguities

r^e text and how they might be resolved. First, we are told, in the old
rrn*t s confession to his god, that it was he who strategically omitted the
142 The Book of Eib0n

ingredient which would have effectuated the protective spell, but only scant
lines later we learn that it was Vooth Raluorn’s cousin who had shorted hj^
on one ingredient, so as to supplant him and inherit his cushy niche. There
The Feaster from the Stars:
is no hint of collusion between the two. Any biblical critic worth his salt
would immediately suspect the dual explanation to denote a dangling
The History of Yzduggor the Eremite
thread, an accidental vestige of an earlier version of the story in which the
cousin did the deed by himself, with the introduction of the eremite
by Lin Carter
Yzduggor being a later substitution. And this in fact would be my guess.
Lin’s manuscripts frequently contain a first word choice, followed by a bet¬
ter afterthought, yet with the first one not erased. In the same way, I sus¬
pect he added the Yzduggor episode, meaning to completely efface the bit
about the cousin, but forgot to.
T I.

he Lord Vooth Raluorn, a member of the minor nobility of

Hyperborea and twenty-ninth hereditary high constable of
Commoriom, succeeded to his inheritance at an unusually
Second, we are told that “the obscene black shape swept down on the
premature age, when his father, an inveterate huntsman, suc¬
huddled, shrieking form on the headland, and bore it aloft in webbed claws.
cumbed to the fangs and claws of one of the lesser dinosauria. As
Nor was it ever again seen by mortal men.’’ Which “it”? The “obscene
his official duties were largely ceremonial, Vooth Raluorn enjoyed
shape” or the “shrieking form”? Grammatically, it would more naturally
both the leisure and the income to indulge in his principal enthusi¬
refer to the monster, but the context requires a reference to the utter disap¬
pearance of Vooth Raluorn (especially as Zvilpogghua does indeed return to asm, which was the perusal of antique grimoires and the mastery of

be seen once more by men in Carter’s “Strange Manuscript Found in the the arts of wizardry. In this hobby, he was assisted, albeit posthu¬
Vermont Woods,” which makes a nice matching pair with “The Feaster from mously, by his grandsire, for the twenty-seventh hereditary high
the Stars”). Still, one wonders. constable had been unremitting in his persecution of the interdicted
The same teasing possibility occurs in Mark 15:21 ff, where all the cultus of the demon Tsathoggua and his loathly ilk, and his tireless
“he”s and “him”s surely must refer to Jesus—even though the last individ¬ persecutions had resulted in the accumulation of an enviable library
ual named was Simon of Cyrene, pressed into service to uphold Jesus’ cross of sorcerous tomes.
for him. Some ancient interpreters took this to mean that, a la /Monty His leisure thus divided between scholarly pursuits and the las¬
Python s Life of Brian, Simon was stuck with the cross and crucified with it,
civious pleasures of his rank, Vooth Raluorn luxuriated in the best of
while Jesus escaped: “It’s not my cross . . . I’m only looking after it for some¬
both the intellectual and the voluptuous spheres, and from these
body . . . Er, will you let me down if he comes back?” Of such grammatical
studies and pleasures he was but infrequently roused by the call of his
lapses are wondrous heresies serendipitously made.
constabulary duties. One such occasion took place early in the reign
°f Queen Luthomne: a conventicle of demon-worshippers having
been discovered in the southernmost suburb of the capital, Vooth
Raluorn was forced to extricate himself from the embrace of his
Rman, the supple-limbed and sable-tressed Ysabbau, in order to

respond to the call of duty.

The demon-worshippers, it seemed, had ensconced themselves
1Q an abandoned manse which reared its terraces on the esplanade of
Yrautrom canal, where they engaged furtively in their unlawful
ritcials during those seasons of the year when the star Algol is in the
dScendunt. Accompanying the constabulary troop, in order to lend
legality of his office to their nocturnal raid, Vooth Raluorn was
144 The Dook of Eil^ ter from the Stars_N5

among the first to gain entry to the semi-ruinous edifice, and while liable for his perusal, but Zongis Furalor abstracted from his folios
the robed celebrants were bound and searched, he examined wi^ ^ inted likeness of the demon which the high constable shudder-
interest the altar-like tablestone which stood at the centremost p0N ■n. '.y recognized as identical with the shadow-shape which had for
tion of the vault in which they had conducted their liturgical blas¬ njhts rendered his dreams unspeakably noxious.
phemies. It was strewn with a number of interesting ritual objects Alas, his wizardly colleague either knew little concerning the
unique among these being a singularly abhorrent eidolon hewn from j^yion or refused to impart his knowledge thereof; he had, however,
glinting obsidian, which depicted a swag-bellied and corpulent xVorJ of advice for the hapless Vooth Raluorn. It seemed that the
entity with bat-like wings and the splay-footed hind-legs of a mon¬ [t which had worshipped Zvilpogghua (until such time as the sur¬
strous toad. Face it had none, save for a grisly beard of slithering viving members of the conventicle had perished by impalement, due
tentacles which obtruded from the frontal portions of its repellently to the swift justice of Queen Luthomne’s ecclesiastical courts) had
mis-shapen skull. formerly counted among their number a renegade named Yzduggor,
Before accompanying his raiding-party and their prisoners to the who, for whatever reason, had quitted their body some years agone,
nearest gaol, Vooth Raluorn revoltedly shattered the eidolon to ring¬ to take up the life of a penitent eremite among the steeps of the black
ing shards with the bronze-shod maul of his office. Figlophiun Mountains. Of the wise Yzduggor, whom the wizards of
This action, as it eventuated, was exceedingly unwise. Commoriom held in the highest repute, it was rumored that he, as a
Returning at length to the arms of his concubine, the high consta¬ former devotee of the obsolete and interdicted cultus of Zvilpogghua,
ble found himself unable to rekindle the fiery ardour he had known was privy to the sacerdotal lore of that entity, and moreover, that
earlier on that memorable evening, and became increasingly aware Zvilpogghua, as firstborn of the spawn of dreaded Tsathoggua,
of a curious mixture of listlessness and uneasy excitation which nei¬ begotten by the Black Thing upon a female entity named Shathak on
ther the honeyed lips of Ysabbau nor the bitter lees of the winecup far and frozen Yaksh the seventh world, was a demonic personage of
could seemingly assuage. the most primordial lineage, and very greatly to be feared.
Nightly thereafter were the dreams of Vooth Raluorn made Thereupon, and without dalliance, did the dream-haunted Vooth
hideous by an umbral apparition of menacing aspect which resem¬
Raluorn forthwith eloign to the Eiglophians, in search of the remote
bled in every detail the repellent idol he had so imprudently riven
and secluded dwelling of this Yzduggor.
asunder. None of the wizardly volumes in the library of his grand-
sire served to render again wholesome his slumbers, and even
though Vooth Raluorn dared employ the redoubtable exorcisms of
Pnom, at first the Lesser and then in turn the Greater, he found no I n these central regions of the continent, the land grew wild and

means whereby to extirpate the shadowy and obscene apparition perilous, and it was only prudent of the high constable to venture

from his dreams. thither accompanied by two stout guards of his retinue, Yanur and

With despair and more than considerable trepidation, Vooth "Isangth. They journeyed, clad in garments of saurian-leather with

Raluorn at length consulted those of his colleagues in the Art accouterments of bronze, and both warriors bristled with blades and
Sorcerous with whom his relations were mutually friendly. One such, harbs, for fear of the furry and prehuman Voormis who haunted the
a saintly septuagenarian yclept Zongis Furalor, succeeded in identify¬ Peaks, to say nothing of the monstrous catobleps of the mires.
ing the cult-object as an image wrought in the likeness of a demonk Indeed, the unlucky Tsangth fell prey to the scythe-clawed cato-
entity whose name among men was Zvilpogghua; so obscure was the ^cps during their traversal of a swampy region, and the doughty
repute of this demon, that Vooth Raluorn had never heretofore ^lnur perished in combat with the furtive Voormis, leaving the
encountered aught concerning him in the grimoires and testaments V°ung noble with naught to depend on save his own wizardry and
146 The Book of Eih0n
■—.

the strength of his adamantine scimitar, whose tang was sunk in a ^ened his leathern wallet and produced those gifts he had hopefully

grip carved from mastodonic ivory. lSsumed one so long sequestered in this wilderness, far from the habi¬

Alone and unaided did Vooth Raluorn assail the glassy scarps 0f tation of men, might covet above all else: dried meats, sweet jellies,
volcanic obsidian, the scoriae cliffs of time-riven basalt, avoiding the npe swamp-fruits, a fat black bottle of fire-hearted brandy from
fumaroles and crevasses wherein might well lurk not only the savage Uzuldaroum, and a bag of fragrant snuff. One by one he laid these
Voormis, but the cockatrices and basilisks rumored to favor such offerings before the bare, and bony, and very dirty, feet of the
darksome lairs. eremite.

Above him as he toiled upwards towards the cell of the repen¬ His choices proved apt and quite welcome, for the claw-like
tant eremite, the cloudless blue ascended to a zenith of flawless sap¬ hands snatched and tore at the luscious delicacies, and while
phire. With difficulty, he made safe crossing of beds of black lava like Yzduggor guzzled and slobbered in the most disgusting of manners,
motionless rivers of stony knives, and, entering upon a scruffy stand the young wizard explained the reason which had prompted this visit
of gnarled junipers, which meagerly flourished from patches of fetid and implored the assistance of the former devotee of Zvilpogghua.
black loam, he entered a narrow cleft between vast, tumbled blocks His appetite appeased, the eremite at length yielded grudging
of levin-shattered basaltic boulders, huge as the toy blocks aban¬ reply to his entreaties, and erelong did the young Commorian learn
doned by the careless hands of Titan-children. from Yzduggor’s reluctant lips that presently Zvilpogghua resided
Through this winding and tenebrous labyrinth he went, finding on far and frozen Abbith, a world circumambient about the green
himself at last upon a flat and level tableland where a tongue of rock star Algol, and may be called down to this world by his worshippers
thrust out over a vertiginous and bottomless abyss. Thereupon he
during those months of the year when the constellation Perseus is in
spied a hovel whose walls were made of boardings hewn from Jurassic
the heavens, whereupon it is his grisly wont to feed upon the flesh
conifers, roofed over by the palm-like fronds of cycads. Before this
and to drink the blood of men, wherefore is he known to sorcerers as
miserable hut, upon a bed of sanguine coals, a cauldron of black iron
the Feaster from the Stars.
steamed and bubbled.
“Very malign and unforgiving is Zvilpogghua,” quoth Yzduggor
And crouched upon the door-stoop, he spied a gaunt and
in harsh and ruminative tones to the young wizard, “and beware lest
wretched figure, mummy-thin to the point of emaciation, wrinkled
you incur his wrath or ire, for he is wise and old and cunning, and not
flesh umber of hue between patches of ancient filth, wearing naught
of a charitable nature.”
but the reeking hide of a Voormis knotted about skeletal loins. With
Therefollowing, he advised his visitor to do thus-and-so which
a friendly halloo, the high constable approached the eremite and
might avert the vengeance of the Son of Tsathoggua. Or might not,
addressed him by name. But to this friendly greeting, the lean hermit
tidded the hermit with an enigmatic chuckle.
returned no reply, not even deigning to recognize the approach of a
fellow-human. Thin lips revealing all-but-toothless gums, where yet * * #

remained the discolored stump of a worn fang or two, mumbling

^‘s return from the Eiglophian range was more difficult and haz-
prayers or adjurations in a hoarse and croaking voice, the eremite con¬
arclous than had been the way hither, lacking his two stalwart guards.
tinued at his devotions, ignoring the very presence of the young noble>
^°°th Raluorn was forced to lone battle against the beasts of forest
and all the while with talon-thin fingers he counted the beads of an
uncouth rosary seemingly fashioned from human knuckle-bones. and swamp, with his wizardry and his swordsmanship, and fortu-
^ely Iie came ouc of each contest the victor. Returning home to the
At length, his devotions concluded, Yzduggor, for it was in sooth
he, granted his supplicant the benison of a sour glance of unwelcome dn°ent house of his ancestors, he dispatched pages and servitors to

from yellow eyes bleared with rheum. Undaunted, Vooth Raluorn hmchase the requisites for the formula recommended by the eremite.
148 The Book of Hih0r|

This involved considerable expense, as it required rare spices

costly perfumes, expensive chemicals, dangerous narcotics, and such
valuable admixtures as powdered dust of opals and the tears of the
hippogriff; fortunately for his coffers, Vooth Raluorn was enabled to
procure several of these constituents at cost, as his closest relative, hjs
nephew and heir, Nungis Avargomon, had been reduced by poverty
to trading in rare substances required by wizards.
With all ready to hand, the sun westering, Perseus in the ascen¬
dant and Algol a fervent eye of green fire in the firmament, the
young wizard repaired to a hilltop in the precincts athwart his manse,
hitherto occupied only by tombs and sepulchres, and prepared to
exorcise forever the demonic entity whose disapproval he had, how¬
ever accidentally, incurred.
He traced the circles and built the fire and cast thereinto the
required substances. Vapors occulted the moon’s cold eye, but Algol
glared burningly down upon the scene. With cold globules of per¬
spiration bedewing his furrowed brow, Vooth Raluorn intoned the
versicles recommended by the eremite. A silence fell upon the
gloom-enshrouded eminence; the wind died; cold stars leered down
from above.
A black shadow descended.
Swag-bellied, toad-like, with bat-wings and splayed, webbed
feet it was; entirely lacking in forelimbs, the head featureless, a
writhing mass of tentacles or feelers, the obscene black shape swept
down on the huddled, shrieking form on the headland, and bore it
aloft in webbed claws. Nor was it ever again seen by mortal men.

* *

And far to the south, beyond jungle and swamp, foothills and moun¬
tains, on a spar of jutting rock where stood a crude hovel, a gaunt
and famished eremite grovelled before a crude image.
“Yet one more offering, Lord Zvilpogghua,” the mummy-thin
hermit whined. “I eliminated one precious ingredient from the for¬
mula, to thy power and glory. Grant me forgiveness for having
deserted thy coventicle: there will be other offerings, I vow . . .”
And, months later, in Commoriom to the north, a certain impov¬
erished scion of the lesser nobility, one Nungis Avargomon,
delighted beyond belief to learn that he was declared by the courts
150 The Book of Eib0h

About “The Green Decay”

L ovecraFc allows us an intriguing glimpse into the pages of the Book of
The Green Decay:
Eibon as he conceived it in the Hazel Heald revision “The Man of Stone ”
when the Wizard Whateley analog Mad Dan Morris considers his options 'phe History of Nabulus the Wonder-Worker
for revenging himself upon his unfaithful wife and her lover. He briefly toys
with inflicting something called the Green Decay on them, but finally picks by Robert M. Price
some other hellish recipe from an odd page inserted into the book, like
favorite recipes tipped into Gramma's cookbook. But what was the Green
Decay? A ritual, a voodoo hex, a spell. What follows is an etiological myth
a type of legend ubiquitous in ancient lore and scripture.
I n the elder days of fair Hyperborea, when all things were possi¬
ble for that men deemed them so, did one Nabulus win wide
acclaim by a feat of thaumaturgy undreamt of and unmatched,
An etiology is a story supplied, long after the fact, to provide an expla¬
even the infusing of warm life into a carving of bronze. And it hap¬
nation for some puzzling ceremony, kosher law, holy place, whatever. A typ¬
ical ritual etiology from the Bible is the story of Jacob wrestling with the pened on this wise.
river god Jabbock (Genesis 32:24-32). It provides an explanation for two Nabulus, a solitary figure of indeterminate age and arrayed, like
things: why Israelites considered the muscle of the hollow of the thigh to be any magus, with floor-length braided beard and flowing robes,
unclean and why they performed an ancient limping dance before the face lacked neither arcane power nor considerable renown. Unlike many
of God at the holy site Penicl (“Face of God”). Rituals persist even when wizards before and after him, he neglected not the simple mortals
their rationale is forgotten (or suppressed by new orthodoxies), so new sto¬
who abode in the settlements nearby, instructing them in such sim¬
ries must be told to answer children's questions (“And when in time to come
ple marvels of science as he deemed them capable of mastering,
your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say ...” Exodus
L3H4). This story, “The Green Decay,” attempts to provide an etiology tor
among which were the arts of medicine and irrigation, together with
che dread ritual mentioned by Lovecraft. It draws upon both the Kabbalah some rudimentary mechanical implements. Weapons he refused to
and Gnosticism in the process. grant, knowing that in this one sphere, increased knowledge made
men more like unto the beasts, not less.
For these and many like boons was Nabulus worshipped by the
humble of the land, nor did he lack apprentices drawn from among
those astute enough to grasp that it is superior knowledge, and not
divine fiat, which masters nature's secrets. By patient instruction and
issuance of judicious challenges did Nabulus test his pupils’
^sources, for he knew that even wizards must one day perish, and he
Was desirous that knowledge not expire with him.
Vet for all his benefactions and the gratitude of his people, Great
^abulus suffered a loneliness rendered the more grievous by reason
°f the very veneration in which he was held. For no man seeketh
^ghtly to befriend a living god, and as such was he regarded. True,
did hold converse with extradimensional entities who regarded
somewhat more as a peer, but such fellowship held little of com-
r^°n human warmth. And most of all did Nabulus pine for the
Sxveetness of the female.
 Now the path of the mage is a solitary one, requiring the seeker -n t)ie task and at length fell into a sound slumber, a natural con-

to keep the strictest oath of chaste celibacy, lest his life-force flow into _ nitant of one’s presence at an epiphany of the Other. Butf he

the wide and undistinguished river of mundane mortality. The sor¬ rred afterward, when he awoke it was to behold his master

cerer must needs apply his begetting desire unto ethereal and ecto¬ jling the naked, statuesque form, for whom he requested his

plasmic works, and to expend one’s energies in the pleasures of the young assistant to fetch a robe, for the metallic homuncula forsooth

flesh is to bind oneself to the way of all the earth. Even so had mighty \rdd taken on living vitality. Great Nabulus had succeeded in causing

Nabulus thought long ago to have cast out every sentimental pang |ie ultramundane Female Archetype to enter into a prepared vessel.

for the gentler sex. But of late did his mind more and more repair to Seeing her thus living and vivacious, the youth Aimoth at once found

a forbidden notion: would not his triumphs be much the sweeter if his code of chaste impassivity a great vexation.

he possessed a heart's companion with whom to share them? Was this The feat of Nabulus the Wonder-Worker spread swiftly, both

too great a boon, in return for his many sacrifices? And might there among his sorcerous brethren and among the common people. The

not be some apt way to sate his longing, meet unto a wizard? latter rejoiced in their simple, good-hearted way, while the former

Upon the matter did Nabulus ponder much, turning a silent cook in the news with astonishment and some perturbation. For,

answer to those among his pupils with sufficient wits to detect his chough none sought to belittle the phenomenal magnitude of their

consternation. At length he arrived at a solution and charged his ser¬ colleague’s feat, they liked not the notion of his casting aside so basic

vants and apprentices to leave him undisturbed in his laboratory till a tenet of the wizardly code as celibacy.

his latest work should be fulfilled. Of his disciples he would require For his part, Nabulus deemed himself in no wise to have

the assistance only of the eldest, Aimoth the Acolyte, who should infringed on the ancient ways of the magi, as he sought naught but

attend his supine form as his spirit vaulted high into the ultratelluric the spiritual love of a noble and chaste goddess. Besides, he liked not

Zone of the Colossi, that akashic realm of eternal primotypes of which, the hypocrisy of some of his detractors who were widely known to

Atlantean savants teach, all earthly things are material mirrorings. cavort with succulent succubi, keeping within the letter of the

Venturing thus into the dimension of pure essence, he resolved to ancient law only by reason that their affections were lavished upon

capture a direct vision of the Eternal Female, the Divine Wisdom, lor beings with no true flesh.
his own companion, then return with her to solid earth. His devotion Alas, there were others of Nabulus' great household whose

to such a mate would be a love more celestial than the empyrean intentions were not so pure as his. For one evening, Nabulus having

heavens, and no mere coupling of human breedingstock. taken to his bed in exhaustion after a greatly taxing feat of exorcism

Nabulus lay upon a straw mat spread within a chalk pentagram in the village below, Aimoth the Acolyte, he who had of late found it

of many hues, having placed at his head a full-sized brazen statue of more and more burdensome to pursue his studies with a single mind,

a naked woman, flawless in every point. The mage had straightly chanced to espy the heart-shaking beauty of Nabulus mate, the fair

instructed the youth Aimoth what he must do to aid in the ritual Akhamot, as she stood at the railing of the balcony gazing down

ascent. Many times he circumnavigated the mandala, uttering words upon the countryside of a world of matter to which she was still

of ancient Senzar and forming elaborate patterns with hand-held Mostly a stranger. Aimoth waxed bold to approach his mistress and

banners and veils in a prescribed order. All these were aids to his mas¬ Co speak.

ter’s meditations. The apprentice showed his skill in a flawless per' 'Of a truth did my master capture the very essence of beauty and

forming of the rite. ^nn8 it back to our poor earth, the which is scarce worthy of thy

Of the astral journey Nabulus would thereafter vouchsafe little, ckarms, my lady.”

but it was soon known that he had not returned alone from his expe' The Lady Akhamot craned her sleek neck a few inches to face

dition into arcane realms. The Acolyte Aimoth had finished his share impertinent youth. But she did not rebuke the unaccustomed
 Th, Green Decay L55
154 The Book of Eib0n

forwardness, that an underling and a youth should speak uninvitCcj y\kh'irn0t- was t0° n°ble for the world nor could any act of hers
to a goddess. For in truth she did regard him with silent mouth and ^ clone with wickedness, but with Nabulus' tricky former appren-
wide, awaiting eyes. Little was she accustomed to the ways of nior- ceS now traducers, it was another story. And, most unfortunate for
tals, so far from ordinary mortality was her mate Nabulus, Nabulus was bv no means above the human lust for
Emboldened that she had not at once rebuffed him, Aimoth vengeance-
advanced to further outrages, mayhap misapprehending her silence Naive he might have been, indeed, very nearly so naive as his
Nor did she resist when the lustful youth abruptly grasped her beau¬ y\kham°t, but an utter fool he was not. So he planned a plan and
teous form and ravished her perfect mouth and breast with hot continued in seeming obliviousness, making no one the wiser. What
kisses. Even so she did not thrust him from her, though her bronze- he did at last was to weaken, day by day, the binding spell that held

born strength was sufficient to the need, for she yet observed events the sky-born spirit of beauteous Akhamot captive to the material

in pure puzzlement. All was new to her as noble Nabulus had not vessel into which he had contained it, so that little by little the cord

laid warm hand upon her form. linking soul to body was played out longer and longer. To her lovers
Akhamot's rounded body had been fashioned from molten was the process but dimly perceived as a slow lessening of her fleshly
bronze, forsooth, but now it was flesh, and flesh, too, hath a molten suppleness and a gradual ebbing of the tide of her ardor. But at first
fire. The profaner Aimoth knew little of the alchemical art, but he the decline was scarcely to be noticed. Nabulus would by this means

did know how to awaken the flame within his mistress, and ere long at length unfetter her spirit and send it aloft again to that realm of
she was returning his passion measure for measure. And no great dis¬ pure possibility from whence he had unlawfully seized it.
tance away the cuckolded Nabulus slept his sleep. But that alone was not his plan. If he had sinned in overpassing
Weeks and months passed on, and from his love did Nabulus the bounds between the worlds, his iniquity was light when weighed
detect no sign of evasion nor of deception, for truly all she did was against that of his betrayers. For their doom's sake did he prolong
done in naive innocence. Naught would she have kept back from the process. They must not suspect their awful plight till much too
Nabulus, had not Aimoth the betrayer warned her, with some cheap late, and to this end did the bitter Nabulus apply a second conjure,
deceit, not to speak of it. But, being a vain and foolish fellow, Aimoth a mighty apotrope to turn away, for a time, the desultory effects of
himself showed no similar discretion, boasting in secret, as he Akhamot’s decline and to send them instead upon those who dallied
believed, of his conquest to some fellow apprentices, and even to a with her, quite in the manner of the savage Voormi shamans and
few of the household servants. their hexes.
Not the lightest of Aimoth’s sins was that his boastings fired the Thus, while fair Akhamot appeared to grow no worse, her suit¬
latent lusts of the other youths, yet new to the discipline of chastity, ors all alike commenced to mark a queer stiffness of the joints, a wor-
and many became corrupted in mind. And so the betrayer became risome heaviness of limb, and a dismaying sluggishness of digestion.
the betrayed, for in no great space of days, several of his fellow-pup^5 Akhamot seemed to have recovered all her vigor, but the wretched
had applied unto their mistress and enjoyed the same forbidden Aimoth and the rest sank deeper into deadening paralysis. And yet
intercourse with her. For once ignited, her carnal fire, being arche- w°uld they have traded much to retain even this sorry state, for as
typically perfect, could not be quenched. weeks progressed, their very flesh did crumble away most loath-
How these degeneracies at length reached the ears of the cuck- s°rnely into patches of seeming verdigris, until at length naught
old Nabulus is not known, though there is no mystery to it. Hc remained of them but greasy piles of noxious green detritus.
required no scrying crystal to learn what all else knew, down to the The servants in the house of Nabulus the Wonder-Worker stolidly

lowliest milk-maid. Deeply did he grieve for the betrayal of his l°vC Set about disposing of the heaps of filth the color of jealousy, but never
J c
and trust, but more for the defilement of the heavenly purity 0 they apprised of the true cause of these astonishments, as, about
156 The Book of Eih0n

the same time, the chief steward discovered the loss of both his mas
ter and his mistress. The mortal body of the wizard was found on his
laboratory floor, by the looks of it, in the midst of an experiment that
had gone wrong. But of the lady Akhamot there survived not a trace
nothing in fact but a curious life-like bronze statue of her. #

Book Two

Episodes of Eibon of Mhu Thulan

 jcmost Abomination

About “The Utmost Abomination”

/~i0me critics have maintained that Lin Carter's "The Utmost
^Abomination” (Weird Tales, Fall 1973) pretty much adopts the plot of
SinidLs "The Double Shadow” wholesale. Carter countered: "this opinion
always baffles me, because 1 did not copy the plot of The Double
Shadow.’ What 1 did was to make the prose my model for ‘Abomination,’
pretending that Smith had written it at the same time. The only other sim¬
ilarity 1 notice between the two is that both involve a writing left over from
rhe pre-Valusian serpent-people. But the serpent-race is simply part of
Smith’s Hyperborean apparatus, after all, and to touch upon that element
is only natural and proper” ("A Response,” p. 33).

Another point at which the story has been criticized has to do with
the way Libon freaks out with snakeophobia and blasts his erstwhile men-
ror with a handy can of Raid. 1 think this criticism misses a subtlety
implied in the early mention of Zylac’s wrinkled skin and yellow eyes. The
eye color serves to clinch the fact of his identity at the last, precisely as in
Lovecraft's "The Lurking Fear,” but there is something else happening.
The odd fact that Zylac should have yellow eyes from the start recalls
Robert E. Howard’s “The Children of the Night,” in which the character
Kemck bears the taint of the Mongol-Turanian blood of Machen’s pre-
Ccltic Little People. Howard calls them "snake”-like, "reptilian,” and
Kctrick’s identifying racial stigma is his yellow eyes. Realizing this, the
narrator leaps upon him to eradicate this vestige of the hereditary enemy
°f bis own race. The enmity is explicitly portrayed as instinctual,
Darwinian, short-circuiting rational thought and civilized conventions.
Eibon’s ruthless extermination proceeds from the same source, as it is just
as clear in the Hyperborean tales that the serpent-men are the dire ene¬
mies ofhu manity, and the very existence of the former is a threat that can-
nor go unchallenged.

The serpentine trinity of Yig, Han, and Byatis (the second and third
^Cmg Robert Bloch's never-developed creations) are said in this tale never
Co have been worshipped among human beings. This hardly comports
w‘th Lovecraft’s "The Mound,” but, again, such contradictions are what
cxpecc m “ancient” legendry, right? Yig is the subject of a surprising
aLlmber of stories. For more on Byaris, see Ramsey Campbell’s "The
°0rn ‘n the Castle” (in The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants,
^rkkam House 1964; Cold Print, Scream Press 1985; Grafton and TOR
°°ks 1987; 2nd ed. Headline Books 1993) as well as my own "The
Beard of Byatis” in Scorr David Aniolowski's anthology Made jn
Goatswood.
The Utmost Abomination
by Clark Ashton Smith and Lin Carter

M y name is Eibon, the son of Milaab, the son of Uori. Jn the

city of Iqqua was 1 born, in the four-and-thirtieth year of
the reign of King Xactura, which monarch my father
sCrvcd as keeper of the archives as had his father before him. This

office should doubtless have devolved upon me in my turn, but the

inscrutable fates decreed otherwise, and the fortunes of our house

lapsed into desuetude and my hapless father was driven into lonely
exile and an early grave through the malefice of the fanatic and
inquisitorial priests who served the goddess Yhoundeh.
The temporal authority of this hierarchy was in the ascendant in
fqqua, for the king thereof, grown decrepit and senile with the pas¬
sage of years, had fallen under the sway of the archpontiff, whose elo¬
quent oratory had inflamed the senescent monarch to the persecution
of all those whom were deemed heretical. My father had incurred the
ire of this high-priest by reason of his innocent and antiquarian
researches into the interdicted ceremonials of Tsathoggua, an obscure
divinity whose worship had flourished in former cycles but which was
now extinct. The zealots who serve Yhoundeh regard this godling as
an abomination and had long since succeeded in extirpating all traces
his loathed cult within the borders of those territories whereover
Xactura held suzerainty.
fhus orphaned in my extreme youth, I was fortunate to become
aPprenticed to a magician of immense and fabulous renown named
Zylac, whose pentagonal house of black gneiss—later to become my
°Wn by heritance—rose atop a desolate headland overlooking the
shores of the boreal sea. Here I felt myself secure from any persecu-
tl0*s the inquisitors of Iqqua might wish to wreak upon the only
child of the heretical archivist, for as yet the priesthood exerted no
^°minance over the bleak moors and solitary crags of Mhu Thulan,
whose barren and secluded fastnesses my master and I were at this
tlrne the sole inhabitants.

Uus Zyl ac the archimage was of tall and imposing stature, tend-
to gauntness. His flesh, hued a sallow umber, was meshed with
L 62 The Book of gib^ flu' Uunost Abomination 163

innumerous fine wrinkles, for his vigour was supranornvally prolonged jiur same Tsathoggua for the study of whose neglected liturgies my

beyond the measure of years commonly accorded ro the ordinary rUr[ lcss parent had suffered the fatal wrath of the hierophant.

of humankind. Bearded like a patriarch, his saturnine visage was wiSe j\s well, I pored over the primordial tablets of bright and imper¬
and sombre, and his brilliant and piercing eyes, of an unusual yellow ishable metal whereon vertical columns of strange cuneiform were

pigmentation, were penetrating in the extreme. In demeanor he was jnascd as sharply as if etched with the blades of adamantine pens

affable and serene but aloof, and his kindness towards me w clipped m a mordant venom. Hereupon, my master gravely informed

unwonted, for in common with most thaumaturgists he held himself me, were preserved against the decay of geological eras the occult

apart from the company of his fellow men and dwelt among the des¬ wisdom of the pre-human serpent-people, whose forgotten continent

olate wastes, preferring the communion of transmundane spirits and was reft asunder by volcanic cataclysm and sunken into the abyss
indeterminable ages before the land of Hyperborea emerged from the
the unearthly denizens of remote spheres to that of men.

But in his capacity as supreme archivist, my father had oftentimes primal ooze.
Upon the magical sciences of this evanished species, in particu¬
accommodated the archimage by procuring for his usage certain rare
lar, my master had long lavished his most profound studies; for it was
scrolls of precious volumes or obscure codices of elder lore. Wherefore,
his firmest conviction that the serpent-folk had attained to a superior
in acquiescing to my proffer of apprenticeship, the savant Zylac may
knowledge of the forces which compose the matrix of the Plenum of
be said to have but made his recompense for many past favors.
space and time, and that their mastery of this wisdom had, in very
Now the profound and preternatural attainments of Zylac had
great measure, surpassed the more rudimentary arcana of the semi-
won for the archimage the commingled envy and respect of his col¬
bestial Voormis or the antehuman habitants of ultimate and glacier-
leagues who practiced the arts of goety in those more populous
wlulmed Thule.
realms meridional to his own; and for which superior magistery he
For innumerable years my mentor had sought out antique
was most generally deemed pre-eminent among the magicians of
inscriptions which dated from the elder aeon of the serpent-race,
Hyperborea. Under his patient tutelage 1 pondered many a fulvous
their cuneate tablets of perdurable metal, their weirdly ophidian
scroll of pterodactyl-parchment whereon the prehistoric mages of
eidola and glyph-encarven monoliths. In his gradual acquisition of
immemorial Mu had indited the most abstruse of demon-wrested
their science my master admitted to certain insuperable difficulties,
formulae.
foremost among the which was the nigh impossibility of subordinat-
Far into the night, by the sallow luminance of tall tapers of
lng the preconceptions and inclinations of a merely human cognitive
corpse-tallow, I perused ivory plates retrieved from the paths of
faculty to the cosmical and distinctly alien philosophies of the ser-
advancing glaciers in forgotten Thule, from whose blood-writ runes pent-people. These barriers to the complete mastery of the ophidian
I learnt a frightful and blasphemous lore thought to have perished S°otia he believed he would in time transcend.
with the lapse of aeons. From hieroglyphic bricks of baked red clay, For mine own part, while 1 willingly repressed my innate revul-
fetched from the trop isles of Antiilia, whereon barbaric shamans had SlQn at the reptilian alienage of this lore, and facilitated the experi-
preserved their antique and else-forgotten rituals, I mastered the H^nts of Zylac with every ability at my command, I confess to a pro-
suppressed litanies of the Old Ones. f°ond and instinctive loathing of these ophidians, whose coldly mhu-
At length my mentor opened to me the sealed chronicles of thos* rTlan sentience aroused within my breast a shuddering abhorrence,
penumbral and mythic civilizations which had flourished innumer¬ ^fiat they had been votaries of the abominable cultus of Father Yig
able epochs before the advent of man. Shudderingly I explored the arid dark Han and serpent-bearded Byatis was intrinsic to their racial
elder theurgies of the befurred and quasi-human Voormis who hfldt °riSins, these dreadful entities having never enjoyed the worship of
in anterior cycles, celebrated with quaint and grotesque ceremonies lans upon this planet.
 Abomination

abandoning me to my preordained studies, Zylac carried this

I cannot rationalize my sense of horror and disgust, hut some
thing in their dispassionate and contra-mammalian philosophy . ,rdial manual of sorcery into the innermost adyts of his private

awoke a prodigious unease within me, together with disquieting artmenrs and for a period of seven nights and seven days 1 saw

trepidations and certain premonitions of impending dangers I coujj '''' hr of him, as he unwearyingly studied the prehuman codex,

not with surety detail. These vague and ominous adumbrations [ "'riving to render the first of the appalling goetic ceremonies it con-

vainly sought to communicate with my mentor, but, in the abstrac¬ Srrned from the cryptic cuneiform of the serpent-people into our own

tion and fervour of one whose researches have enticed him beyond C e_ At length emerging from the seclusion of his chamber, my

the ultimate verge of permissible human knowledge, he shrugged faster Zylac announced the success of his endeavours, having

aside my inarticulate forebodings, ascribed them to the superstitions achieved_-as he then assumed—a tentative but complete transliter-

of immaturity, and unwisely persevered in his cabalistic studies. anon of the initial incantation preserved in the Zioigmic grimoire.

The natal continent of the ophidian race having succumbed to a This litany, it eventuated, was no less than an invocation of the
convulsion of nature in the remotest aeons of recorded time, the national genius or tutelary demon of the serpent-race itself. Upon the
archimage had perforce to search out their remains and records in the termination of the rite, the karcist could anticipate the actual mani¬
jungled depths of the abandoned meridional continent of Thuria. festation in human form of this spiritual entity thus conjured from its
There, where mausoleum-cities of riven stelae and aeon-vanquished shadowy bourn in some higher dimension of space, or from whatever
fanes lapsed shard by shard into mouldering detritus, he found cer¬ recondite and supramundane plane of being it customarily occupied.
tain of their eldritch and unwholesomely-reputed ruins coexisting in On this second occasion, 1 strove yet again to arouse my master’s dor¬
disquieting proximity with the wreckage of the earliest of human mant sense of caution, arguing that the full implications of an alien
habitations, which were those of the umbrageous and mythical
spell of such unusual and unknown usage and highly dubious pur-
Valusians, an extinct culture some savants theorize as remotely ances¬
pose were far from explicit.
tral to our owr).
Again, however, his perfervid enthusiasm rendered him oblivious
In the eleventh year of my novitiate, the archimage returned
to the arguments of caution. And that night his sealed and private
from one such solitary expedition into the trackless depths of the
sanctum resounded to the frightful cacophonies of the antique cere
Thurian Jungles bearing with him a peculiar artifact fraught with
mony. With the direst of forebodings, I tried to shut my ears against
dire and dreadful portent. This object was a repellent and prehistoric
the mouthings of the uncouth and atrocious vocables of a mode of
volume of archaic cypher, salvaged from the crumbling necropolis of
speech so wholly alien that the human tongue was never shapen to
a prediluvian city where for geological epochs it had reposed, sealed
utter its sibilant ululations. But the Zloigmish liturgy wailed on, and
in a tabernacle of bronze against the erosion of time.
perforce I listened albeit, to the verbal abominations.
This codex he displayed before me in a state of intensest excite¬
With dawn my master reappeared, trembling with fatigue, his
ment, for the ponderous tome, with its cuneiform-indited pages of
P'ercing yellow eyes febrile with exultation, his stamina seemingly
sheeted metal, bound in the tanned leathern hide of the extinct
unimpaired by the rigors of the nocturnal ordeal. The conjuration, he
diplodocus, he believed to be none other than the veritable grimoire
Informed me, had eventuated in failure, and the essence of the ophid-
or magical testament of the sagacious and celebrated Zloigm, a pri¬
lan race had declined to accept a human manifestation; but the rash
mal magus of the serpent-race who had been as pre-eminent among
and incautious Zylac remained confident of his ultimate achievement
the thaumaturgists of his remote and dubious era as was my master
of the visitation. With a more exhaustive scrutiny of the grimoire he
among the magicians of our own time, and whose legendary acconv
f'ad at length isolated a missing factor he now deemed essential to
plishments in the art of necromancy my master had frequently nar¬
successful performance of the invocation, and this was a certain
rated to me.
166 The Book of Eih0 * Utmost: Abomination 167

elixir whose recipe he had somehow overlooked during his former me in linguistic and grammarian labours both tedious and exacting,

perusal of the codex. but without, however, discovering any key element in either the per-

It seemed that the necromantic conjurations of the serpent-folk forniance of the ritual or in the preparation of the elixir by which we

weirdly differed in profound and elemental modes from those cere¬ coUld account for the failure of the conjuration.

monials employed by the merely human magi of more recent civi¬ During these shared diurnal labours, I could not refrain from

lizations, and that they required the imbibement of rare and curious noticing certain tokens of rapidly-advancing physical deterioration in

drugs or potions, through whose ingestion a peculiar condition of master’s appearance, the which at first I consigned to the rigors

narcotically-induced receptivity might be attained. Only in the 0f our arduous and unremitting toil. His visage, commonly gaunt

trance-like state he assumed would result from the usage of this nox¬ and swarthy, became oddly bloated and gradually faded from its cus¬

ious opiate could Zylac expect to perceive the desired visitation or tomary umber tint to a peculiar glaucous pallor; and the texture of

descent of the astral genius of the sentient ophidians, which were else his epidermis, normally supple and elastic, despite his supernaturally-

too subtle to be descried by the coarse senses of the flesh. excended longevity, became oddly and disquietingly roughened and

Again my most urgent and desperate warnings went unhear- scabrous, displaying ere long, the stigmata of an unusual squamosity

kened-to, and the archimage busied himself among the athanors and for which no degree of fatigue could account.

thuribles and cucurbits, the bubbling vats and seething crucibles of A natural reticence forebade my bringing these overly-personal

his alchemic laboratory, preparing a malodorous decoction, the less comments on his appearance to the attentions of Zylac himself. But

obscene and hazardous of whose ingredients were the tears of the the nauseously greenish pallor of his countenance became distinctly

mandrake-root, the bile of basilisks, the juice of the deathly upas- pronounced in time, as did the rugous and scaly condition of his skin.

tree, the ichor of the elusive and mountain-inhabiting catobleps, and As well, I soon noted a curious slurring and sibilance in his

the boiling urine of wyverns. This unspeakably vile liqueur he impru¬ speech, and a tendency to intone the vowels with a prolonged susurra¬

dently drained to the lees upon the very instant of its completion, tion thoroughly alien to his customary accents. These signs of physi¬

thereupon retiring into his sanctum to repeat the cacodemoniacal cal degeneration did not, however, extend to his stance or stride, for

litany and to await the materialization of the serpent-demon in that therein I observed no slightest impairment of his faculties. Indeed, he

condition of narcosis which the grimoire required. seemed to glide about the suites and chambers of the tower with an

But when the first shafts of dawn ensanguined the topmost tiers unwonted suppleness and an almost juvenescent grace, and his very

of his tower, and he arose from the silken catafalque he employed as gesture became informed with a curious pliancy, a boneless fluidity of

his divan, he was pale and wan and downcast of spirit, for again the lotion, which I found as repellent as it was peculiar.

ritual had terminated in utter failure, and no occult personage had During this interval I began to develop an indescribable revul-

descended into the circle of conjuration during Zylac's tranced and Sl°n towards his touch. The most casual handclasp or other familiar

dreamless nocturnal slumbers. contact awoke within me a shivering abhorrence which seemed vir-

In the days that followed I toiled at the side of my mentor and ccau11y instinctive and which I could neither explain nor pretend to

together we strove to reinterpret with a greater degree of accuracy ignore. I soon found myself avoiding his very presence whenever pos¬

the archaic charactery wherewith the metallic leaves of the prehis¬ able, and, as there chanced to befall during this interlude a rare con¬

toric grimoire were inscribed. Our knowledge of the cypher of the duction of the planets Ylidiomph and Cykranosh—by which names

pre-Valusians was imprecise and in certain aspects highly conjectural, cbe Hyperborean astrologers are wont to term Jupiter and Saturn—

and it was to this imperfection in our acquaintance with the ophid¬ opportunity to evade his company entirely was at hand.

ian language that my master ascribed the negative results of the I pled the unusual horoscopic significance of this infrequent

invocation and of the narcotic potion. Thus we busied ourselves for a planetary configuration required my attentions during the nocturnal
L6S The Book of Cih0h . Utmost Abomination L 69

hours, and that, as 1 would therefore have to slumber through the n ;ns vigour—to drive hence some nameless and transmundane entity

diurnal periods, my total absence from his side was thus necessitated not only deemed undesirable but apparently dreaded with a violent

Deep in his grammatical studies, the archimage absently gave his loathing and terror whose desperate intensity 1 could not understand,

permission, and thus dismissed I fled from the discomfort of his prox¬ but which awoke within me the most grim and horrible premonitions.

imity with vast relief. When several days had thus transpired since Zylac had so mys¬

At the terminus of this celestial conjunction, 1 had no recourse teriously sealed himself from my scrutiny within the seclusion of his

but to rejoin the archimage, but found, to my indescribable relief adytum, not once emerging therefrom for sustenance or recreation, 1

that he had taken to locking himself within his sanctum in the inter¬ summoned up my temerity and rapped upon the portals of his cham¬

val and no longer required, or even, for that matter, desired, my fur¬ ber, solicitously inquiring into the condition of his health. Naught

ther assistance. bur silence came to me from the room beyond—that, and a peculiar

For many days thereafter I saw him not; but oft 1 heard, above and inexplicable scraping sound. Reiterating my anxious queries, 1

the interminable turmoil of the waves which drove in shattering bil¬ succeeded at length in eliciting a reply from within, but to so slurred

lows and seethed in roiling foam about the base of the cliff whereon and sibilant a state had the speech of Zylac decayed during the period

our residence was builded, the muffled chanting of certain rituals just elapsed that it was only through repetition that 1 managed to

which reverberated from within the sealed portals of his private sanc¬ comprehend his words, which were a strict admonition to refrain

tum. And by night 1 glimpsed the flaring of sacrificial or invocation^ from entrance and to cease disturbing his sorcerous experiments, as

fires which flickered within the gothic arches of his narrow windows he required naught.

like the phosphorescence of decay within the dark eye-sockets of a And again there came to my hearing that hideously suggestive

skull. Betimes 1 thought 1 scented on the sea-wind the acrid fumes of sound of scraping or grating, as of some large and clumsy and rugose

inexplicable suffumigations blown to my nostrils from his chambers, bulk slowly and painfully dragging itself over the mosaic-paven floor

or sensed the ponderous beating of strange and unseen wings about ot the chamber beyond the portal.

the topmost tier wherein he resided, which denoted the arrival from It occurred to me then that the bodily degeneracy whose signs 1

distant stars of potent and ultra-telluric genii. had previously discerned in the countenance and deportment of the

What intrigued and puzzled my baffled cognizance concerning archimage had perhaps advanced during his prolonged and furtive

these curious phenomena was that they differed wholly from his for¬ avoidance of my presence, and that the degenerative process had

mer magical ceremonials, which had been devoted solely to the mayhap affected his mentality even to the unbalancing of his sanity.

attempted reconstruction of the dire invocation of the elemental spirit Whereupon, disregarding his prohibitions to refrain from entry and

of the race of sagacious ophidians. These rites, however, were other in to leave him to the privacy he desired—the which were communi¬

purpose and nature; and amongst the droning of half-heard litanies 1 cated m such a revolting travesty of human speech, with a weirdly

thought 1 recognized certain of the most awesome and rigorous of the hissing lingering over the aspirates, as to be no longer recognizably
famous exorcisms of Pnom, while the odors of incense wafted to mc human—I forced asunder the double doors.

by the howling winds savoured of those several perfumes of antidc- 1 stared down at That which writhed and slithered with horrid

monic potency usually employed to repel or to enforce the dismissal and serpentine grace over the tessellated pave, and, with a great cry

of unwanted visitants from the astral or the etheric planes. unbelieving horror, 1 shrank from the sight of the Thing—the

It would seem that, for some reason which eluded my comprc' kfiefost and most evanescent glimpse of this utmost abomination

hension, the entire substance and direction of Zylac’s labours had Seurmg itself for all time upon my palpitating brain. Snatching up a

recently altered from an attempt to invoke a certain supernal ^assy carboy filled with the all-devouring Alkahest, 1 impulsively

Presence, to a striving—which soon became frenzied and even hysteric emPbed its corrosive contents over the nameless abnormality that
170 The Book of Hib0n

writhed and slithered upon its belly; and, with an unearthly and sub. About “Utressor”
human hissing cry it vanished in the seething and foetid vapours.
And I knew that naught which lived could for an instant endure
M ost scriptural books are not the work of a single author, but rather
palimpsests containing several successive layers of rewriting and
the baptism of that potent acid; but still I turned and fled from th(
I i(_n0n. Subsequent editors and scribes feel obliged to "correct the text
tall house of black gneiss where it towered atop its cliffy height above
|L'way of harmonization with other authoritative texts, to add explanatory
the thundering billows of the northern main; and, ignoring the per¬ iy.tteri or ro bring the text into conformity with “orthodox” theology as it
ils implicit in the potential vengeance of the priests of Yhoundch, J developed since the last stage of the text’s composition (see Bart
turned my steps to the more wholesome and southerly realms and to thrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture). The present text of “Utressor”

the familiar modes of normal human intercourse for a season. |S a case in point. The kernel of the tale is an extensive synopsis from Clark

And when, in the fullness of time, 1 returned to take up residence 'As|llon Smith's Black Book. Smith never got around to writing it up. There
js no reason to think Smith intended “Utressor to have anything to do with
again in the pentagonal tower which rose on the desolate headland of
Cibon or The Book of Eibon, but Lin Carter saw that it would make a good
the ultimate peninsula of Mhu Thulan which now was mine own
chapter of the Book. He had planned to write it up as such but never got
demesne, and to resume my occult studies, it was with the unshak¬
around to it. Many years later, Laurence J. Cornford composed a rough
able determination to eschew forever all practice or perusal of the
draft, and then Richard L. Tierney collaborated on the final version. And the
abhorrent and atrocious rituals of the sentient ophidians of prehuman
composite authorship of what will appear a seamless garment, as you will
Valusia . . . remembering that green, bescaled and slimy Thing which see, reflects the very point of the tale itself, though let me reveal no more!
had uncoiled across the sill of the inner chamber, lifting towards me He that hath ears, let him hear.
from an elongated and undulant neck that wedge-shaped and wholly
inhuman cobra-head of horror . . . from beneath whose deformed
brow-ridges had gazed so piteously into mine own the unmistakable
yellow eyes of Zylac the archimage.
 173

I ere (ay a valley which some said was ever untouched by snow,

Utressor hicklcd from the eyes of mortals by walls of illusion. In this half-fab-
S |ous vale bay a wondrous realm wherein were said to dwell wise and
jolVrdived philosophers, and at its heart lay a strange, many-towered
by Clark Ashton Smith, Laurence J. Cornford,
-Jirine ruled over by a mighty archimage. This land, called Utressor
and Richard L. Tierney
b thc elders of Polarion, had long ago, before the coming of the
inexorable and all-entombing ice sheets to that region, been much
We sought, where unrecurning suns descend,
frequented by pilgrims. Now, however, no one ventured in that direc¬
That shrine and fortress at the world's dark end—
The raven-circled towers of Utressor. tion, for travel there had at first been ridiculed and warned against
by the reigning latter-day cults and was now forbidden entirely.

A I.

fter mine hurried departure from the black gneiss house of

Zylac the mage, on the shores of Mhu Thulan overlooking
While Zaljis and I excitedly exchanged information, I remem¬

bered that one of the prophecies of the White Sybil had hinted at a
way into that valley of eternal spring. Resolved to discover more about
this matter, we conversed with old fur trappers who had worked the
the boreal main, I turned my face southward and chose to
snows of Polarion in their youth, and consulted the ancient maps of
wander awhile in those warmer and more hospitable lands, passing
the master cartographer Gnymon. So it was that, combining our
eventually beyond the realm of King Xactura and even venturing
forces and our knowledge, we finally set out northward in search of
south of the ultimate austral spurs of the Eiglophian Mountains.
that age-hidden vale and its half-fabulous shrine.
Despite the gruesome doom of my mentor Zylac, my thirst for
for many days we traveled toward the northern mountains of
the secrets of the universe was not quenched, albeit now somewhat
Zabdamar which held in check the ice and formed a barrier between
tempered with caution. During my peregrinations 1 sought out new
Mhu Thulan and Polarion. Here an arduous climb ensued and a
mysteries, and in time, after I had wandered for some moon-cycles, l
painful trek along the old traders’ trails, after which we found our¬
again desired to walk the blustery north and therefore fared up the
selves upon the ice flow which now forms a bridge from Mhu Thulan
eastern coast of Hyperborea so as to avoid the city of Iqqua. Upon
to the formerly insular Polarion—for, in warmer clays the latter had
reaching the port of Cerngoth 1 ventured upon an inland trek to
been but part of the boreal archipelago, yet had lain so close to the
Oggon-Zhai, which at this time did not lie under the theocratic heel
mainland across a shallow strait that the glaciers had easily sealed the
of the priests of the vengeful goddess Yhoundeh.
It was in many-spired Oggon-Zhai that I first encountered the gap, even as the White Sybil had once prophesied. Now, having

dreamy, fine-featured youth Zaljis, kneeling in contemplative vener¬ crossed this rugged expanse of ice, we proceeded to climb upon the

ation before the obsidian idol within the incense-misted black tem¬ plateau of the island itself. It was, we had heard, largely untenanted

ple of Zhothaqquah. This young but learned scholar of alchemic lore by man or Voormi, although some maintained that tribes of the hairy

proved to be a kindred seeker after occult gnosis—kindred in soul, Gnophkehs yet dwelt amid its tundra, as did black foxes and snow

yet at the same time an enigma to me. Our mutual interests led os, bears. Most of all, though, we hoped not to encounter the hideous

after a brief acquaintance, into an exciting intellectual rapport and Slant snow serpents, dreaded for their legendary ferocity.

eventually a deep friendship, and yet there remained always some Our hopes were doomed, however, for near evening, as high

deeper levels of Zaljis’ mind which I could never quite fathom. aurorae flowed and shimmered like luminous veils over the gray

Zaljis had, it chanced, been seeking information in the ancient fountains, a hissing to one side brought us round—to see, hanging

texts of temple-hidden lore pertaining to the exact location of age' directly over us, the wedge-shaped head of one of the hideous white

forgotten Utressor, and had discovered that northward in far PolarioO Serpents. Spellbound by the auroral glories, we had nearly stumbled
174 The Book of 175

into the lair of the beast! Instantly that head shot out, the ga*ut . . j 0nly air to obstruct him. This, then, was a portal through that
founu ]
ermine-white body uncoiling after it. I dove to the ground, the heavy |vintom wall into the vale of lost Utressor!

padding of my bear-fur wraps fortunately protecting me from the 1 prom an icy twilight wasteland we stepped through into an

impact, barely avoiding the venom-dripping fangs. Zaljis drew his ,pos-forested vale, as balmy and humid as were ever the austral jun-

blade, a streak of bright blue in the arctic air, and slashed at the (,|cS of Zcsh. Immediately we divested ourselves of our coats of bear

coarse hair of the serpent’s neck as it passed. The keen steel barely bjt fur and secreted them near a tree to be recovered on our return.

through the fur to the scales below. 1 scrambled for my bag, whipped Ahead over the treetops we saw, half through mist, the towers of
Utressor about which many dark birds wheeled, and at this sight our
from it a rolled palm leaf in which were wrapped a flammable pow¬
vjjr0r returned and we pressed on apace. Presently a figure, tall and
der around a magnesium core to which a taper ran; then, while Zaljis
swathed in a brown monkish robe, appeared through the trees walk¬
nimbly avoided the beast, slashing at it again and again, I hastily
ing sedately toward us from the direction of the edifices. The head of
uttered a cantrip to make a small flame spring into being at the end
this apparition was closely cowled so that the face lay deep in shadow,
of the taper. Rising, I shouted and waved my arms until the titan
but the long pale fingers, graceful hands and noble bearing suggested
snake turned my way, fanged mouth menacingly agape, and fixed me
to us a person of high dignity and station.
with its mesmeric stare. Almost I hesitated, but shook off the hyp¬
“Welcome,” spoke the robed one in a deep and commanding
notic influence as the monster surged toward me and, with all my
voice which possessed a vibrant quality I could not quite define. “1
strength, hurled the leaf-wrapped bundle deep into its open maw.
am the Mysteriarch and Custodian of Utressor.
Again 1 dove, this time behind a virgin ice mound, and when I rose
“Honored are we to be in thy presence, Wise One,” quoth Zaljis;
1 saw smoke fuming thickly from the serpent’s mouth as it writhed
for the Mysteriarch was scarcely unknown to us, being a nigh-leg¬
and lashed, while the acrid smell of burning befouled the air.
endary entity and even alleged by some to be ageless, preterhuman,
Even with its scorched innards the creature clung tenaciously to
possessing supermundane powers.
life, but at last it expired. I then cautiously looked into the lair in
‘‘Then have ye the happy desire to learn the mysteries of the
which it had dwelt—and found, pressed into the smooth ice walls by
universe?”
the body of the serpent, many hundreds of rare gem stones, both
“We have, O Lord of Utressor,” said 1.
topazes and sapphires. These were of little interest to Zaljis and me
‘Then eftsoons ye shall.”
at the time, however, so we contented ourselves by collecting but a
So saying, the Mysteriarch turned and walked solemnly back
handful of them — more as souvenirs than with any thought of pecu¬
toward the towers. We followed, and as we came through the trees
niary gain—and then pressed on.
we beheld the ancient glory of Utressor. The complex consisted of
a dozen dark-walled fanes and two dozen sky-lancing towers, thin
II.

A
as needles. Almost every cubit of the masonry of the temples was
non, through the menacing snow-swirls of an oncoming storm, covered with ornate carvings of gods and demons, demigods and
we saw ahead of us what seemed to be a crack in the world, a heroes, exotic plants and animals both actual and fabulous, all

luminous gap from which spilled a warm summery sheen, and as've Cxquisitely captured in stone by some unknown master artisan. But

made our way thither we found a curious, shimmering veil of chrO' che Mysteriarch passed indifferently by these objects of his every-

matic light overlaying the deathly grays and whites of Polarion- clay life and ascended the steps to one of the eldritch fanes, bring-

Wordlessly we stood and examined this wonder for awhile. Then, lri8 us eventually to the center of that edifice where there was a

Zaljis reached out and attempted to lay his hand on the luminescent Tittered quadrangle open to the sky. In the middle of the cloister

surface to determine whether it was some manner of mirror—but W'as a stone-rimmed well, and to this he led us and signaled that we
176 The Dock QfUiK^ 177

should peer in. Yet when we did so we did not see the sky speckled [ie whispers of the many vegetation spirits who had hitherto existed
with its circling birds reflected on the shining surface of the \vattr nSuspected around us, and at the same time we became exquisitely
but the tiny glint of stars in the ultramarine field of cosmic night rire of the life-giving warmth of the sun, the cool stirring of the
The stars were unlike any which I had charted during my astro log, ^recze and the moist, comforting enclosure of soil about roots, i shiv-
ical studies under Zylac. ercCl as a tiny insect ran across a leaf and nibbled at a corner of it.
“When last I looked,” said the Mysteriarch, “the well showed the jqcre was a whole existence of simple experience which I had not
three suns and six planets of Xiccarph. Yet 1 perceive that it now hitherto considered worthy of my attention.
points its ever-searching gaze toward Yifne and the dead star of "What is the meaning of this mystery?” I asked our host.
Baalblo.” "These fruits confer on the eater the gift of psychic participation
Even as we fixed our attention upon the scene in the pool, so it in their vegetable life and sentience. As long as one remains a
seemed to grow closer, and we could see features upon the surface of stranger to the day-to-day, moment-to-moment experience of life,
the planetary orb circling those light and dark suns. how can one master the secrets of that life? This is the meaning of
“In time,” said our robed guide, “you will learn to direct this this garden, for a garden is but a model of the world: It has its sea¬
image with such refinement that you may read the words from a scroll sons; it has its deserts and its lakes, its islands and its mountains.
held in the paws of an inhabitant of one of these other worlds. Here Here are predator and prey, zest and pain, life and death.”
may the secrets of all the physical cosmos be made apparent.” So our lessons continued. When we awoke the following day to
That night Zaljis and I retired to our assigned lamplit quarters the deep, croaking caws of ravens among the mausolea, the
with an awe and an exultation that would scarce allow us to sleep. Mysteriarch was standing at our chamber entrance. He beckoned to
Our quest for cosmic knowledge seemed about to be successfully us, and we followed him through the temple, down cold damp steps
consummated. Moreover, it appeared that our goetic mentor would to a verdigris-etched bronze grill set into the floor.
be able to devote himself exclusively to our instruction, for so far we “Below lies a maze at whose heart hides a great mystery. But the
had seen no other acolytes—nor, indeed, any other human beings—- labyrinth is guarded by a fearful monster and all who enter do so at
in all that dark and silent complex of ancient fanes. their dire peril. Do you wish to enter now, or shall I show you a lesser
mystery?”
III. In our youthful enthusiasm we judged that a day spent on a
T he next day the robed and cowled Mysteriarch led us to a garden lesser mystery would be a day wasted, and so in unison we demanded
of our mentor that he open the gate to the maze forthwith. The
whose lush trees and bushes were laden with ripe fruits of many
colors and configurations. He took a seat upon a stone bench and Mysteriarch gave one quick, decisive nod of his cowled head and
watched silently for awhile as Zaljis and I wandered like fascinated drew from his abundant robes a talisman which glowed with the
children through the verdure. Then he began pointing out to us the brightness of a candle but with a steady, unflickering light. This he
various rare plants and calling out their essential names suitable f°r handed to Zaljis; then, at his mere gaze, the grill swung open and
use in spells and incantations. Anon, when the heat of the day began Emitted us.
to wax oppressive and we took refuge under the thick boughs of a The feeble light of the talisman showed a dank and umbrous
tree, he said: st°ne dungeon whose coal-black walls glistened with water and algae.
“Eat of the fruit, O Eibon. Eat, O Zaljis.” ~lhe air had the taint of an animal den or the malodorous burrows of
This seemed to us an excellent suggestion, so we plucked succu- che subhuman Voormis. Suppressing our sudden misgivings, we hur¬
lent fruit from an overburdened bough and began to eat. Almost aC l'd forward, using our knowledge ol mazes to choose our path, the-
once a curious sensation began to infuse us. We felt, more than heard! °ri'zing that it were best to advance as far as we might towards the
 179
178 The Book

center ere the beast scented us. Yet an encounter, we knew, \Vus ■ > Was my own mortality to be flaunted as a wonder and mystery?

inevitable, and ail too soon we became aware of growlings and shuf pipped the lid and raised it. The coffin was filled to the brim with

flings from the tunnels about us. Such were the echoic properties of 1 "bituminous tarry fluid. Presumably this was some form of archaic

the place that we could not rightly tell from whence the sounds canx ' ^servative. But then I thought of that oily black monster of the

and for a moment we gazed about in fearful uncertainty; then we P ,ize and in the same instant the tar in the sarcophagus began to

moved as one resolutely deeper into the winding maze. bubble and shift. Instantly 1 realized the truth and slammed down

The noises of pursuit now unmistakably grew closer, and we tbe coffin lid, pressing my full weight upon it lest the thing escape,

turned lest the beast fall upon us from behind. As we did so, brac¬ -pbe mass pressed forcefully against the lid and I called to Zaljis to
euickly bind round the sarcophagus with the coil of rope he fortu¬
ing ourselves to repel the thing, a huge and vague shape visibly
nately carried. This he did, and at last I climbed off the lid and
detached itself from the darkness. It was as inky as tar, an animated
stepped back, shaken, watching the black substance begin to slip
shadow, yet hulking so large that it could move through the tunnels
slowly from beneath the hair-thin gap between lid and coffin . . .
only by stooping. Its flesh had the quality of fur sleeked down with
"Zaljis,” 1 gasped, “let us hasten from this place! The monster of
liquid pitch; from its oily maw great razor fangs protruded, and at
the maze and the great secret of the maze are one and the same. For
the end of its simian arms stubby fingers ended in long, poisonous-
chat substance in the coffin, I now realize, is one of the spawn of
looking claws.
Zhothaqquah, such as have for aeons dwelt in subterranean N’kai.
As the thing drew close I cast a prepared spell, loosing a bolt of
barker it clothed and animated the skeleton of a former unfortunate
elemental energy which smote the creature thunderously. Fire
with its own dark flesh. Here, then, is the lesson of this labyrinth,
bloomed in an aureole about the beast, confining it in its tracks.
that not all mysteries are as they seem and not all quests are safely
Then, with a barrage of such bolts, Zaljis and 1 soon blasted the oily
accomplished by the most obvious means. Let us be gone. We have
flesh from the thing until it was nothing but bones.
With the monstrous troglodyte thus vanquished with seeming
ease, we advanced toward the center of the maze and suddenly found
IV.
ourselves in a circular chamber some forty ells in diameter, possess¬
ing a high domed ceiling of lapis lazuli and parchment-thin metallic O n the morrow, the Custodian of Utressor was again waiting the
leaves. Nine other entrances opened from the room into darkness. Set moment we awoke and ushered us to a crumbling mausoleum
in the wall between each two entrances were four upright alcoves about which an ancient vine entwined. Again the aged doors parted
only a few cubits deep and with circular arches about six cubits above at our mere approach with a grumbling protest against years of accu¬
each threshold, and in each of these, save for two, stood a strange mulated grit and rust.
antique sarcophagus cameoed with runes and symbols. In the center “Eibon, this tomb is for you. Zaljis, yours is the neighboring one.
of the room stood a low stone dais on which a thirty-ninth sarcoph¬ Herein ye twain shall remain for one whole day. What may hap to ye
agus lay, its lid slightly ajar. in that time shall depend upon thine openness to gnosis. Resist not
Seeing that we were in no immediate fear for our lives, yet sur¬ vvhat befalls.”
rounded by many exits from which another beast might come up°n At first 1 was cautious of the chamber, rendered utterly black by
us, we paused here and looked cautiously about. For my part, 1 vvaS the closing of the tomb door behind me. 1 feared that 1 might be
a bit uneasy at the fact that there were exactly two vacancies among faring it with some animate cadaver or hungering ghoul; but, upon

the ambient sarcophagus-niches. Then, when we stepped up to the Heling my way about its confines, 1 found that it was utterly

central sarcophagus 1 was shocked to see that it bore on its lid the ^tenanted. Its coolness after the heat of the morning sun worked a

name EIBON written in Aklo characters. What was the meaning subtle influence upon me, and I soon lay down on the dry soil to rest.
As I drifted on the edge of sleep, 1 seemed to feel my soul departing l^ch demanded that the viewer look long to see what was reflected
gently from my reposing body. . . . ^ t[lCir depths, and as we peered intently into one the image changed
I became aware of a subtle dissolution of my flesh as, at the samc inbcjy; s0 that 1 was no longer looking at my own reflection but the

time, 1 also became more than usually aware of my breathing and of f^rm of Zaljis. Without quite knowing why, I suspected that Zaljis

the blood coursing through my veins. Then my body seemed to lose aS likewise beholding my own spare frame. Yet, the sensation was

all weight and to separate into its constituent tissues and organs, as c t]ran merely the one observing the other, as we had every day

if 1 had been painlessly dissected by some master surgeon. Even these nee our first meeting, for 1 noticed that Zaljis talisman to

sundered parts then subdivided into the fibres which composed mus¬ Zhothuqquah was reversed. I was looking at a reflection of myself in
cle and flesh, each hair, even, falling from its pore and then dissolv¬ Zaljis’ body, 1 knew, and knew also that this realization was somehow
ing into dust, until I was a mere mist of motes hovering in loose asso¬ related to my experience and insight in the tomb. In the reflection of

ciation, a vapor which the merest wind would have dissipated. 1 saw the mirrors the personalities of any two beholders were evidently

the primal particles from which all things are made, spinning around capable of being transposed or exchanged.
each other like clouds of infinitesimal planets and constellations. 1 To inhabit another’s mortal flesh was as curious a sensation as

felt the tug of one particle against the next, felt flashes of energy any that had been offered me by the Mysteriarch. But I soon realized

spark from one particle to another. Here I was—my substance could with some disquiet that 1 might easily choose to reside permanently

perhaps be a chair or a fox or a loaf of leavened bread, and 1 would in this new body if I did not soon return, and so I again concentrated

not know the difference. But it was not; in that moment, this con¬ on my own form. . . .
glomerate of innumerable particles happened to be Eibon of Mhu Then, at the moment of returning from this exchange with

Thulan. It might be that they would form other alliances once I was Zaljis, 1 saw for the first time the uncowled visage of the Mysteriarch

deceased, but for now 1 knew more surely than ever 1 had before that reflected behind me in the glass. It was the face of a god with strong

1 was Eibon and that just this was my rightful time and place in the aquiline features, lofty brow, weary eyelids beneath which glowed

ever-changing cosmos. soul-piercing dark eyes, and the pointed, long-lobed ears of a super¬

Suddenly I felt, rather than heard, a mighty knocking which human. It was a countenance in which was reflected an equal mea¬

seemed to be a summons back to corporeal flesh, and as 1 reassem¬ sure of weariness, irony, and the mockery of a god grown tired of his

bled myself and sat up the tomb door creaked opened and the own miracles—a thaumaturgist who mocks and derides both himself

Mysteriarch informed me that I had spent a full day here and that my and the initiates of his mysteries and marvels of the universe. A being

test was over. 1 at first doubted him, for it seemed to me that very for whom oblivion remained the only, but unattainable, desire.

little time had passed, but as 1 emerged the sight of the setting sun For a moment I thought that perhaps this half-divine being had

assured me that it was indeed as he had said. been gaining some sad pleasure from sharing with us our naive won-
her. for these past few days we had perhaps enriched a melancholy
■jf. ■>.
bfe grown stultified by aeons of cosmic knowledge and experience.

On what proved to be our final day at Utressor the Mysteriarch 1 knew now that 1 could not remain in Utressor, the pet of this

brought us to a hall of tall mirrors, each in an ornate frame. I had faster of cosmic legerdemain. 1 would not perform more tricks to

heard of such mirrors before: the sailors of Cerngoth told tales they relieve the ennui of a being grown too wise, who would place us both

had heard of the Mirrors of Tuzun Thune, which were employed by ^ danger, knowing the outcome but desiring to feel our sensations

a wizard of that name in the land of Valusia on the Thuria*1 ^ar and wonder. Even as I thought these things, the Mysteriarch

Continent. Slowly we strolled from mirror to mirror, looking at each briew those very thoughts; he pulled up his cowl, turned and

image as we moved. The glass surfaces had a misty quality to then1 s°lemnly withdrew a few paces.
182 The Book of Eib, 183
'on L,TirSV

1 heard the ravens croaking as they circled the dark towers 0f ever,, that some meaning beyond these ephemeral things may be
]iO'vC'
Utressor. Birds of wisdom circling hallowed places? Or, birds 0f fou ne¬.-] in existence. Had I not so hoped, 1 would long ago have given
doom drawn hither by the scent of spiritual death . . . ? hunt for knowledge; aye, on the day 1 left Utressor forever,
ap
“We have learned all that we may here, O Eibon,” spoke Zaljjs fc I wonder still if all things are ultimately but illusions, cre-
but o
mrge. *
as if he, too, could read the thoughts in the head he had so recently a tee-1 by the fancies of a sardonic and aeon-weary dem
vacated. Then, turning to our cowled mentor: “Return us, O vener¬
able Demiurge, to our rightful world.”
The shrouded figure raised his hand slowly and intoned: “Let it
be even so, then.”
Suddenly 1 found myself standing by that tree where Zaljis and
I had earlier ensconced our bear-fur cloaks—only now, there was but
one cloak, mine! Nor was Zaljis any longer with me. And yet, I real¬
ized instantly, he was still with me—inside me, in fact, as insepara¬
bly a part of me as mine own psyche, and 1 knew then that it had
always been so. Then 1 began to feel the chill of boreal winds and,
turning, saw that the towers of Utressor were slowly fading from
sight, heard the croaks of the dark birds circling them growing dim¬
mer and dimmer. . . .
Stooping, 1 snatched up my cloak and donned it, feeling with
some satisfaction the hard rasp of the several gems 1 had taken from
the serpent den. At least I would not be without means when 1
returned to the outer world.
So it came about that 1 made my way back across the perilous
snows of Polarion and traveled southward, ever southward, choosing
to continue my wanderings throughout many lands, seeking dark
wisdom wherever it might be found. But never again did 1 seek for
that land of Utressor. Perhaps by now the ice has taken it. Or, per¬
haps it was never more than the fancy of that sad demigod—and 1
too, and all this world, but his idle daydreams.
Or, conversely, is he and all else in this unstable and uncertain
world but the result of mine own vague dreaming . . . ?
For, on passing again though the city of Oggon-Zhai J discovered
that no one there remembered Zaljis at all, nor could I find in the
archives any evidence whatsoever that he had ever dwelt there.
1 have often wondered on those days, while 1 have sat alone with
my scrolls as the chill winds rattled my casement and the waves
crashed and gnawed at the cliff beneath my tower. One day diaC
cliff, this tower and all else will be gojie and forgotten. I still hope*
 About “Annotations for the Book of Night”
H ere is another story written to fill in a niche in Lin Carter’s projected
Annotations for
edition of the Book of Eihon. It has grown from a bare title left by Clark
Ashton Smith. Carter would have used the title, but he left no notes as to the Book of Night
the turn things might take, nor even what might be meant by “The Book
of Night." But Smith left another unused title which seemed possibl by Robert M. Price
related or relatable, “The Noctuary of Vizooranos." That seemed an apt can¬
didate for the eponymous Book of Night. But then how might “annotations"
be central to the story? Who would have made them, and to what effect?
Let’s find out.
H ere is the true account of the rediscovery and restoration of
the long lost Noctuary of Vizooranos, an ancient parchment of
great sorcerous potency by the testimony of the wizards of
olden times. And though I, Eibon of Mhu Thulan, may justly claim
credit for the exhumation of the scroll, the restoration was even the
labor of another, for which I mean now to relate as a wholesome cau¬
tion to whatsoever scribes may in future take in hand the transcrip¬
tion of these, mine own testaments.
Long had I searched among the libraries of what palaces and
monasteries I might gain access to, and moreover inquired among
my necromantic colleagues, in quest of a half-fabulous volume of
occult lore, even the aforesaid scroll of the mighty Vizooranos, mage
of elder days. Little was known of the exact contents of the writing,
but legend held that the scroll bore revelations of a kind so black that
Vizooranos must needs write them by night shrouded in the utter
dark of the New Moon, with not a candle burning in the house.
These oracles did he receive from certain devils of the Outer
Darkness, the which did send his pen curling and swerving in all
manner of- eldritch hieratic scripts, yet supplying withal the arcane
sentience wherewith to unriddle the same when he should peruse the
Sc'reed in the dawn of wholesome daylight.
It was whispered that the revelations contained in this Noctuary of
Vizoorauos had been wrung from the fraying lips of damned souls
^Pped screaming into the magma pits of the Eleven Scarlet Hells of
anuent myth. Such dread oracles were said to concern the secrets of
Iakrna[ torture and how they might be wrought upon still living flesh,
as w<dl as a catechism of the inconceivable lecheries and blasphemies
^°r which these damned had been consigned to the boiling Jakes.
Pot a time 1 set my search aside, for that no success appeared
^°rthcoming, and other, more urgent tasks did press upon me. And so
1C VVas quite by chance some years later that, in the process of collating
 c,ons for the Book of Night 187
186 The Book of E;u
-
divers manuscripts treating of the deposition of vvizardly relics, I f0Un^ i(r niy widening eyes deceived their master not, the faded glyphs
for L 1 J ~

a clue. It is not exceptional that two or three sites may claim to be t)le > forth the name Vizooranos. Claiming this treasure as the price
guvt ■ ■
final resting place of a sorcerer or sage of renown; nor is it rare for a|| ^ niy service, I hesitated not in solemnly assuring the anxious

these asseverations to have some merit, as the bones and possessions 0f 1 v<rs that it was indeed the earthly detritus of the master sage
priest J _ , , . , i
such men are often divided and distributed among their followers, wh0 hondriel who drowsed away the ages under their gentle care, and

build shrines in divers places. But when it chanceth that two shrines j was on my way again.
Having returned again to mine own tower of solitude, I made to
should each aver to guard the whole of a great one’s mortal bequests
the scholar must suspect either pious fraud or simple error. Haply may open the cylinder, having first dismissed the guardian demons who,

it eventuate that two ancient ones of similar names or epithets become |orV7 since bored with their duties, were glad enough to depart and

confused as the memories of men, even of attendant priests, do fade. put up no resistance. Removing the cap, I tapped the antipodal end

And thus had I identified twain mausolea professing to house the com¬ and gingerly took hold of the parchment roll within. Sanding away

plete remains of the mage Lithondriel of Uzuldaroum. Some inner thc waxen seal, I set about unfurling the scroll, mindful of its brit¬

voice whispered unto me that more might lie at the root of the conun¬ tleness that it not shatter like the fallen egg of an archaeopteryx.

drum than mere error and misclassifying. And so I set out on pilgrim¬ But to my dismay I saw how the parchment book lay already in

age to one site, then the other. tatters, veritably riddled with lacunae. Manifestly, someone had

At the first shrine I besought the priests of the crypt to permit sought not so much to preserve the Noctuary of the wizard Vizooranos

me to apply certain tests to the entombed remains of the supposed as to inter its forlorn remains along with those of its owner! It had

Lithondriel, and at this they seemed somewhat affronted, as if they suffered ruinous damage before being deposited with the corpse of

themselves feared it might not be the venerable Lithondriel in truth the mage. I was no stranger to ancient and fragmentary texts, and I

who lay within. And should such prove out, they liked not the knew that with ingenuity and intuition, the clever scribe might make

prospect of the fact being noised abroad and their livelihood wither¬ ample progress toward restoring what had been lost.

ing even as the body within the tomb, whomsoever’s it might be. But And yet what held true for ancient records and annals might not

with appropriate pledges of silence I persuaded them, and much were avail for such a text as this terrible Book of Night, for that the matters

they relieved when the trial did corroborate the tradition of their treated of in the parchment required adamantine certainty. One

shrine. This left me the task of determining who might repose in the dared not trust to approximation and conjecture when in their zone

second tomb, as it were, of Lithondriel, and to this I now hastened, of indeterminacy lay the difference between commanding a fiend and

seeking out the second crypt in a village not far from the former. being devoured horribly by the same. One likes not to wager his

Myself now being well apprised that the occupant of this second 'mmortal essence upon a vowel point.
mausoleum was anyone but the dead Lithondriel, I was not such a iool The hour was late, and mine eyes grew red and sore from much

to vouchsafe these tidings to the custodians of that fane, but rather scrutiny by the green flame of my tallow, so I snuffed it out and

repeated those things I had formerly told the priests of, as it chanced, retired. Mayhap, methought me, I should approach the task upon

the true Lithondriel. These, too, gave assent with no great difficulty, die morrow with clearer mind and quicker wits.
and, with their help did I contrive to open the great sarcophagus. And even so it seemed to eventuate, for, having completed my
The supine form of the one within was even one wi th the dust Mundane chores, from which even a wizard be not exempt alto-
of the ages, the merest shards of brittle bone remaining unto hur*1- gether, such as feeding mine basilisk, reinforcing anew the warding

But there in the sacred casket lay a metal tube, which I knew f°r cbarms containing the seven headache demons which would miser-
the repository of a tight-rolled scroll! The corroded cartouc'hc ably afflict me if I kept them not at bay thus wise, and suchlike, I
thereof gave me to think that my olden quest had borne fruit at rctUrned to the tattered scroll of Vizooranos, and I rubbed mine eyes
 The Book of Hih0 ,, aaons for the Book of Night

in astonishment. Had senility in truth crept up so stealthily? p0r rrorS which would shortly have spelled my doom had I proceeded to

before me lay a scroll noticeably less decrepit than it had seemed the conjurc on ^dsis c^em-
preceding night! But, faugh!, I chided myself and my errant imagj, I pored over the scroll, what had formerly teased me became

nation: it could be naught else than a mischievous memory which |,nn at last: the writing in which the corrections had been made was

had overmagnified the plight. In the light of mid-morn the difficulty precisely like unto mine own! With this I did set quill and ink pot

simply appeared less daunting to a refreshed spirit, and that was aside, resolving to wait till the next dawn when mayhap the scroll

doubtless the whole truth of it. should have been altogether restored to its first state, whether by

Though the text was after all fearfully torn and decomposed, it mine own hand or another’s.

did seem plainer to my gaze that these rare hieroglyphs concealed And forsooth, by the bulging belly of Zhothaqquah, it was! 1

blasphemies which ancient rumor had not greatly exaggerated. A sat, slowly and full of awe, before my reading stand, the fully intact

weight deposited itself upon the shoulders of my soul, and I com¬ Noctnaiy of Vizooranos spread out before me. Here was the fruit of

menced to musing that mayhap it were not so grave a tragedy as 1 long searching, won through despite the naysaying of rivals and

had deemed it for such secrets as the mad Vizooranos had set down brethren alike, who averred the Book of Night no longer lay anywhere

here to have perished. Almost 1 hoped that the remainder of the text upon this terrestrial disk. Now it was mine to delve into the disqui¬

might refuse to yield up its enigmas, though not once did 1 make to eting secrets of mummified devils and aeon-perished nephilim. But

leave off my task. For knowledge must be preserved, its nature was it in truth a cup of poisoned wine I sought to quaff, however

notwithstanding, and any who doth not what he may to prevent its sweet its vinous taste? For a time 1 dared not let mine eyes sink to

perishing is surely a murderer and rightly so judged. the Gorgonic sight that might forever damn them to look upon

On the next day of my studies in the Book of Night of Vizooranos. steaming infernos of bubbling gore.

I marked again the unmistakable reaugmentation of lost portions of And softly did a whisper intrude upon my fear. Without articu¬

the text, almost as if some scribe had secretly penetrated mine own late sound it bade me trace with pointing finger, as if another guided

inner sanctum, bearing with him a more perfect copy, and filled in it (and 1 bethought me of the manner in which the scroll had first

what was lacking here and there, so that, while much remained in been transcribed by devilish afflatus), till 1 came upon a necroman¬

fragments, substantially more might now be read. It was evident to tic litany, even the frightful Disgorging of the Pit. As I read with

me, reading the newly recovered passages, that by far the blackest silent trepidation its loathsome vocables, I began to sense the gath¬

and most foul pericopae had been anciently effaced, and that not by ering of ectoplasmic atoms and knew that so potent was the invoca¬

chance. And, moreover, though the script be mostly alien to me, 1 tion that it had no need of being enunciated aloud! By doing naught

fancied that the scribal hand was somehow familiar. Verily, the mys¬ but reproducing the words in my mind I had caused them to work

tery of the repristination of the Noel nary had become even one with tbeir wizardry!

the secrets the text did purport to vouchsafe, though 1 confess 1 was 1 staggered back, upsetting my heavy chair, as a Being material-

no closer to solving the one than the other. Ued before me. Having never seen his likeness, I nonetheless knew

On the fourth day I found more of the missing text had been cbe visage for that of old Vizooranos himself, smiling evilly.

filled in, and even rents in the very parchment repaired in some wise A Voice issued forth, investing all things nearby with an ultrap-

not apparent. And I went back through those portions I had conjec¬ °^t chili. “Thou hast freed me, O Eibon, with the commendable zeal

tural ly restored. Where once I had thought to find gaps and erasures thine erudition. Such was mine own in my day that I plumbed

at crucial junctures, and speculated accordingly, I now found lines ^ ^‘Pths undreamt of before or since in gaining the ultimate knowl-

script clearly and boldly legible. Moreover, on comparing mine o'vn for all that it did forever blast my soul. Yet I have abided, all

notes with the veritable reading of the text, I saw most dreadfi1^ Cse ages, trapped in my mortal dust with the gaoler’s key almost
^90_The Book of 'pK Borrower Beneath 191

in reach. For the spell thou hast read ought to have called me forth
About “The Burrower Beneath”
save that the dead cannot raise himself, and my disciples to whom J
had entrusted the Book proved unworthy, letting it fall prey both to ,n Carter had first decided to write a Book of Eibon story for each of the

natural desuetude and to the violations of the faint-hearted and the ftve titles Lovecraft had coined for the stories of Robert Blake, the anti-
|iCffo of “The Haunrer of rhe Dark." These were “The Stairs in the Crypt,"
inquisitor, till at last the potency of the thing was lost. But thou hast
■‘The Feaster from the Stars," “In the Vale of Pnath," “Shaggai,” and “The
found the Noctuary and, bearing it away, thou hast borne me with
Borrower Beneath.” He must have realized Blake would not have been writ-
thee also, and now I have caused thee to rise each night unknowing
jnq fictitious chapters of Eibon! One might imagine it would be more appro¬
and restore what was lost, so that in the end, the spell might be there
priate to supply stories such as young Blake might have writren, and these
to be read again, as thou hast read just now, unto the freeing of my w0uld have been pastiches of the young Robert Bloch, upon whom the
essence from this mortal sphere.1' Blake character (as everyone now knows) was based.
His translucent form began to drift away as mist in the face of But in another sense there was no need even for this, since at least three
the rising sun, but before it was entirely dispersed, of a sudden, I had of‘'Blake’s" stories were friendly spoofs of actual stories Bloch had written.
scooped up the scroll and held it out to the vanishing spectre. And "The Stairs in the Crypt" is surely Bloch’s “The Grinning Ghoul” crossed
thus was the Noctuary of Vizooranos restored unto its owner and unto with “The Secret in the Crypt," while Blake’s “The Feaster from the Stars"

the Elder Night from whence it had first come. And J count myself is equally obviously Bloch's “The Shambler from the Stars" (itself a title

in no wise poorer for the loss. ^ Lovecraft suggested). “The Burrower Beneath" corresponds to “The
Blasphemy Beneath," an early tale which Bloch had sent to Lovecraft for
comment, it seems to have been an early draft of “The Druidic Doom.” But
the substitution of “Burrower” for “Blasphemy” and the title “In the Vale
Li.c., Valley] of Pnath” reflect playful references in Lovecraft’s letters to
Bloch during this period, when he pretended to be penning his epistles in
the pitted terrain of Pnath at the Hour of the Rearing of the Sand-
Burrowers. But Lin Carter probably realized that, to carry through the gag
thoroughly, one would simply have to paraphrase Bloch’s real tales just as
Lovecraft had paraphrased their titles. And what was the point of that? Not
willing to let good, juicy titles go to waste, Lin figured he might as well use
diem for a different sort of story altogether. Hence the Eibon chapters.

Of the Blake titles, one in particular has garnered quite a bit of inter-
esc- There have been, by my reckoning, no less than four versions of “The
Furrower Beneath.” The first to reach print was Brian Lumley's novel The
BHirowen Beneath (DAW Books, 1974). The Burrower was Shudde-M’ell,
nav*gator of the sinuses of the earth’s crust.

Fritz Leiber had toyed with the title, too. “As you know, I was briefly
Cauglu up in the Mythos Game ... At the same time I wrote four or five
c^°usand words of something [ called ‘The Lovecraftian Story’—really an
cff°rt to write ‘The Burrower Beneath' mentioned in ‘Haunter’" (to
^vard Paul Berglund, July 7, 1974). Berglund urged him to finish the
COrV dut pointed out that Lumley had already used the title, so Leiber
^ 1Cched to “The Tunneler Below,” then finally ro “The Terror from the
Mfois (April L3, 1975). The story appeared in Berglund’s 1976 DAW
ntHology Disciples of Cthnlhn and again in James Turner’s revised edition of
the Arkham House Tales of the Cthidhu Mythos (1990). Leiber’s Burrow
was a nameless “winged worm."

But in a letter to Berg lund dated December 29, 1972, Lin Carter h
The Burrower Beneath
already laid claim to the title, mentioning a novella he then had in draf
called The Burrower Beneath." 1 am convinced that this is what he la3
by Robert M. Price
expanded into The Winfield Heritance." I have restored what I believe
be a very close approximation of the original Carter “The Burrow^
Beneath,” with an introduction explaining these matters at greater length
I t is said that immortality is for the gods alone, and with this pre¬

cept I, even Eibon of Mhu Thulan, am devoutly inclined to agree.

in Cthidhu Cult us # 6. Carter’s Burrower would have been loathsome Ubh
But it was not always thus with me. For in earlier days, ere I
Father of Worms. But Carter, too, abandoned the title once Lumley notified
learned it were possible to grow weary of life, I dared to know if per¬
him of the impending appearance of his own Burrottiers Beneath.
chance mortal man might attain unto the immortal durance of the
Carter could not have intended his modern-day “novella” version of
gods. Nor was I daunted in this quest, save only by the fulfillment
“The Burrower Beneath” to serve as a chapter of the Book of Eihort, but a Jist
of contents for his projected edition of Etbon still showed a slot for “The thereof. But I speak in paradoxes and had best retrace my steps that

Burrower Beneath. Was he then planning to write an Eibonic version after my meaning may become manifest, for ’tis a lesson I would deposit
alf On the assumption that he was, and to fill the gap in any case, 1 have here for the pondering of others.
undertaken to supply what Lin might have written.
It was in the first flower of my mastery of the esoteric arts that I

did injudiciously reckon myself capable of any marvel I might con¬

ceive if only the proper technique be found, nor lacked I the boldness

to fancy I might find or fashion the means to accomplish any task I

set upon. Moreover, well knew I that much was discovered by the

elder magi which has since been suffered to lapse into forgetful obliv¬

ion by those of too timid a disposition to pay the price of a glimpse

Beyond. But I was possessed of no such qualms; hence I dared barter

with certain unclean fiends, paying a fee I like not to name, for the

recovery of long-interdicted screeds penned by devils in inks of

Molten blood.

Of these mayhap the foulest blasphemies lurked in that papyrus

railed The Black Rituals of Koth-Serapis, an enchanter dire who vexed

r^e earth in the lost days of Acheron. For it was whispered in the
banned and shunned circles of nether adepts that the unholy Koth-
^trapis had contrived forever to cheat death. And, foolish novice that
^ was, despite my scholarly and thaumaturgical achievements, 1
determined to uncover the sand-blown path trod in elder days by
dark Koth-Serapis. My reasoning was thuswise: if in truth that mage
attained unto the very secret of unending life, it must still, even
Wlrb passage of uncounted centuries, be feasible for one such as
seIf to make contact with him. That the attempt should not prove
Us7 deterred me not a whit, and thus did I embark, defying the sage
\94 The Book of Eib0n Hl,n-qwer Beneath 195

cautions of brother wizards my elder in years and much my superior [n the wave-beaten kingdom of Serendip I was cordially received

in wisdom. l^y the ruler of the island who kindly put at my disposal all manner

None of my sorcerous brethren had any clue to aid me had they ^provisions 1 should require for this last earthly stage of my quest,

wished to do so. Thus I knew I should have to seek what help 1 might py way of gratitude I enlivened the evening’s feasting with a number

through other, less dependable channels. I reasoned that, of a[[ 0f simple conjurer’s tricks which all present received with unbridled

beings, the ones likeliest apprised of the whereabouts of a man childish delight.

immortal would be those whom mortality had already claimed Parly on the morrow, accompanied by a small party of dusky-

skinned bearers, who did not cease to remark to one another upon my
Whether from envy or not, the dead might be supposed to know
sun-paled Northern coloration, I set forth into the jungled recesses of
somewhat of one who had cheated the fate that had overtaken them
r|ie island. The unaccustomed heat I kept at bay by use of a cantrip
in like manner to earthly prisoners who lionize their cleverer brethren
learned from the dwarves of Hyperborea who spend much time amid
who have escaped the dungeon that still holds the rest of them. But
subterranean magmic fires forging rune-inscribed arthame-swords
1 must needs seek the spirit of one who shared the earth with the
like the one that even now slapped my hip as I walked.
ancient Koth-Serapis, and one who himself knew sufficient of the
After we had covered some distance amid the gorgeous jungle
necromantic arts to guide me unto my hoped-for mentor.
luxuriance, the like of which is not to be found in my own land, I
At length I fastened upon the far-distant isle of Serendip for my
directed my companions to depart from the well-trod pathways
most profitable goal, for that it did constitute one of the last-remain¬
known to them, keeping to that course vouchsafed me by the scaly
ing fragments of sundered Lemuria, that primal continent from the
Dagonites. But at this suggestion, they were sore afraid, as the pro¬
dawn age of the earth, from whence the primordial Dragon Kings
posed detours must take us through certain zones anciently forbid¬
did reign before the fabled Mahathongoya did drive them forth, as is
den them under pain of dire retribution. 1 assured them they need
written in the hoary pages of the Upa-Puranas, after which they did
not fear so long as they remained close in my presence, but some
take refuge, some in Valusia, some in mine own land of Hypcrborea.
begged leave to camp where they were and await my return, seeing
There I hoped to find the ruins of the much-legended Tomb of
that I professed not to fear aught that might eventuate. For a prim¬
Shahrajah, greatest of the magi of the pre-Cataclysmic age.
itive people their logic was quite sound, even though they might
So I did book passage on a slaver's vessel embarking from the
exercise it in the interest of base superstition, and in the end I insisted
southern harbors of Atlantis and headed east. The adventures I
that they all linger there together and await me. In truth, the ruined
encountered on the voyage may be told in their own place, but I fane of the Lemurian mage lay not much farther away, and I gained
must needs be on with my tale. Suffice it that I contrived, once or the goal before the sun had set. In the slanting rays of the tropical
twice, to lure up from the deep in the lightless hours of New Moon Sun 1 came upon what remained of the elder temple, which old scrolls
some few of the finny children of Dagon, who assured me that the t^ade both mausoleum to the great wizard and altar of sacrifice unto
Temple of Shahrajah still stood and told me of the most auspicious his spirit. The weight of history bore heavily upon me as I stood m
route there. th c presence of a mighty shadow from the epic past. Almost I felt
After many days our ship reached the shores of the island I that no ceremony should be needful, so powerfully did I feel his
sought, and I bade my companions farewell. Most sorry were they t0 ehdritch presence. Nonetheless I hastened to observe the ancient pro-
lose me, too, for that my command of certain elemental spirits h'a(^ c<*ol prescribed for such solemn occasions, drawing forth from my
more than once proved valuable in providing fair weather for sailin£’ baggage the brazen tripod for the offering of incense. Slowly 1
and they should henceforth have to rely upon Nature’s caprices aS Wanted the Great Necromantic Invocation and breathed deep the

hitherto. °racular fumes. The sense of time slipped from me and at some point
196 The Book of l£ib0n ^-|ie purrower Beneath 197

I was made aware of a Personage standing before me, radiant with a ^oUr us every hour, and which it is a mercy to have hidden from us.
strange penumbral fire. Likewise, a glance over to the stairwell leading from my chamber

“Why hast thou disturbed my rest, O man of the latter days?” rCvculed what daylight obscured, even the onyx staircase of seven

1 fell to my knees before the mighty apparition and averted my thousand steps to the Underworld of Deep Dendo.

gaze from the brow which seemed a darksome thundercloud Down these 1 rapidly made my way until 1 saw stretching before

“Great Lord Shah raj ah! I bid thee hear me out! 1 have come a great mc the baleful expanse of the Vale of Pnath, a wasteland like unto the
distance . . S1lvered sands of the Moon, where evil Mnomquah holdeth foul sway.
“I have come a greater!” { liked not what I saw and knew that even in mine astral form 1
“Yea, Lord, forgive my effrontery. 1 pray thee, tell me how I may i^ighr meet with untold dangers in such a place. Like a drifting spec¬

find the undying Koth-Serapis!” In all this 1 dared not look into the ie 1 passed over the desolate and much-cratered face of Pnath, seek¬
face of That One I had dared summon. ing a certain Pit, named in suppressed legends as the Abyss of Noth,
“Thou wouldst call up a dead mage to find a living devil? His is whereunto the cryptic whispers of dead Shahrajah had directed me. 1

a path no sane mind shall follow. I give thee this warning, O Eibon. lingered a moment upon the Precipice of Noth to gaze at the fearful
Moreover, I shall grant thy boon, for that I see thou hast not in thee spectacle outstretched in the shifting infra-red vapors below me. For

to take that which thou seekest once thou find it. And if the blas¬ there lay none other than the blighted Necropolis of Nug-Hathoth
phemy of Koth-Serapis hath again become a lure unto mankind, it of which the ancient lore-masters record naught that is wholesome.
may be profitable for the truth of it to be revealed.” 1 must needs take care to arrive no sooner than the fateful Hour

1 returned to my faithful bearers, offering my regrets for having of the Opening of the Under Burrows, the which I should know by

delayed them overlong, though in truth 1 had no sense for how much the noxious Rising of the Black Wind which would bear up unto my
time had transpired. They gazed at me as at one mad, saying how 1 cars the terrible gruntings of the dholes as they issued forth in blind
had left them but moments before, and that scarce had they sat to fumblings to commence their charnel feastings. I deemed it best to
wait for me. We turned and made our way back to the palace of the settle down upon the crest of the upthrust Tower of Narghan, and
prince of the island in uneasy silence. 1 kept my counsel all the long there to await the emergence of the eyeless slugs from their curiously

months of my journeying back to the Hyperborean shores, assured asymmetrical burrows.

now that my path lay clear before me, yet with a foreboding sense it was the sudden tortured wailing of unseen hounds that her¬

that the fulfillment of my desire would nevertheless not satisfy me. alded the arrival of those unclean Ones whom 1 awaited. 1 made
Little had I yet learned from the enigmatic oracle of the shade of ready to descend to the nitrous tunnel mouths below when, of a sud¬

Shahrajah. But all would soon become clear. den, there arose before me a jetting column of viscid loathsomeness,
Back among the familiar surroundings of mine own sorcerous the titan form of the greatest of charnel behemoths, fully as tall as

sanctum where fuelless flames and bubbling potions surrounded me thar high tower on whose pinnacle 1 stood! Its face, if such it may be

with comforting warmth, 1 made ready again, with a weariness of cal led, betrayed no sign of sentience, its only true feature a sticky and

soul, to take flight to a distant shore, though this time it be one Undean maw which yawned hideously and worked unceasingly,
supramundane, for that Shahrajah’s revelation indicated no less a drooling with unspeakable poisons.
destination than the dread Vale of Pnath, the which 1 had not yet vis¬ Great was my affrighted shock when the thing spoke in human
ited so early in my magickal career. accents! “Name thyself, mortal man, that 1 may know whom 1 am
I made ready the needful preparations and in no time floated abour to digest.”
freely above my fleshly vessel. Freed thus from the blinders of ^ “Nay, king of the dholes, thou mayest not feast upon my ecto-
flesh, I now saw all manner of hidden things which circulate invisibly ^asrn, as I am not the soul of one dead, but only on a journey, seeking
198 r)lL. Vale of Pnath 199
The Book^b^

for nighted wisdom and the mysteries of the worm. In truth, I seek f0r About “In the Vale of Pnath”
the undying wizard Koth-Serapis; knowest thou aught concerning
him, O Burrower Beneath?"
T ^is early Eibon tale (Gerald Page, ed., Nameless Places, Arkham House,
1975), along w*th its predecessor “Shaggai,” predates Lin Carter’s
At this, something perhaps intended as mirth escaped the fangecj
rcinpt to ape Smith’s style, ‘“in the Vale of Pnath’ and ‘Shaggai’ do not . . .
hole. “And wherefore wouldst thou find that one, O morsel?"
resemble Smith’s prose. The reason for this is that at the time I wrote those
I liked his converse less and less and hoped he might unveil the ,0 (at Derleth’s request for some short Mythos stuff, commercial or un-) I
knowledge l sought before I must endure more of his soul-upheav¬ no notion that I would eventually write the posthumous collaborations
ing stench, which even the senses of the astral body may detect. and had made no serious study of Smith’s highly individual and baroque style.
“For that legends say he alone of all mortals hath attained unto When these two chapters appear in the eventual book version of the Book of

immortality, and this secret 1 would know. Now I bid thee in the gibon, I intend revising and rewriting them” (‘‘A Response,” p. 32). Well, that

Bond of Pnath to tell me of the whereabouts of that Koth-Serapis, if was not to be. I present them here in their original form. “The . premise .
that all these chapters have come from Eibon, we would naively think
indeed thou knowest.”
demands a continuity of style throughout the chapters, i.e., that we see
That living pillar of cosmic foulness did commence fairly to
Eibon’s hand in every tale. But bear in mind that these are also supposed to
quake with uncontrolled hilarity till methought its hideous bulk
be translations into English from sundry elder languages . . . Carter need only
would shudder asunder.
claim that different individuals have acted as the translators of various chap¬
“Know then that Koth-Serapis the mage learned that in no wise ters" (Steve Behrends, “The Carter-Smith ‘Collaborations,’” in The Horror of It
may the flesh of mortals retain a hold upon life forever. But it may All: Encrusted Gems from the Crypt of Cthidhu, p. 115).
yet cheat death by embracing the same the more fully. By force of "In the Vale of Pnath” is an exercise in hideous hilarity, humor black
adamant will may the wizard, if he but maintain the mindfulness and broad. Its ghoulish savant Shuggob (a name perhaps suggested by C. S.
thereunto at the moment of death, endure through the defilement of Lewis’s demon Slubgob from The Screwtape Letters) reads like a stray charac¬
his carcass by the maggot’s tongue, till he passeth with the last shred ter from The Addarns Family. The terminal revelation of “a living brain’

of fleshly sustenance into the conqueror worm, whereupon may he conus right out of Lovecraft’s “Out of the Aeons,” one of the most influen¬

bend the brainless vermin to his will, instructing the very worm that tial of HPL’s tales on Carter. When 1 once charged him with merely repeat¬
ing such items from Lovecraft, he said he was trying to use the same themes
gnaws till he find himself reborn, new and oddly embodied.
in a new way, counting on the reader recognizing their Lovecraftian origin
Having gained the awful knowledge for which 1 had dared so
and redolences but hearing them played a new way as in a fugue.
much, I turned and fled in the most disgraceful fashion, leaving the
mocking laughter of my informant echoing telepathically in my
stricken brain. The shocking truth thus revealed to me cut short my
journey, and 1 did start awake back in my chamber in the black tower
of Mhu Thulan. Then well did I perceive the wisdom of Shahrajah,
that only in learning the secret of immortal durance should I resolve
never to pursue it more, and, though 1 have since not scrupled to pr0'
long my earthly sojourn by certain esoteric means, when death at last
does come to claim me, I shall look upon his visage as that of a friend
and join him gladsomely. For in the last moment I knew the incon¬
ceivable price paid by ancient Koth-Serapis, in that it was his own toUJ'
enng, maggoty b?dk which spoke to me!
 ,, V(ile of Pnath

who dwelt on anterior worlds or the planets circumambient

In the Vale of Pnath ,

ubouL
,,r remote stars. From one of these more distant colleagues, a cer-

in Miial Dweb, dominant thaumaturgist of a world known as

by Lin Carter Xiccarph, I first heard of a deeply-learned sage who dwelt alone in a

N ight after night, tall corpse-fat candles burned slowly to the

socket in the narrow, pointed windows of my old house of
-urious

was
house below the Peaks of Throk. My ultra-telluric colleague

-adamant in his contention that if this individual, by name

S|lUggob, did not possess the secret of the Glund, then it was known

black gneiss on its lonely headland above the northern c0 none other in this aeon.
I entertained some reluctance at the thought of journeying to
main, as I studied the wrinkled scrolls of pterodactyl vellum, search¬
ing the crabbed and ancient hieratic script for the secret of the that far-distant and somewhat dubious realm, of which elder texts

Ygthar elixir: but J sought in vain. whisper unhappy things, and of which the praeceptor under whose

Thus had I, the necromancer Eibon, reached an impasse in my tutelage my youth had been spent had uttered stern warnings. Alas,
studies. The trove of antique scrolls, wherein I had first learned of the had I but paused ... but lingered, to consult more deeply the librams

remarkable properties of the Ygthar elixir, came from an icelocked and folios of my sorcerous archives, ere my rash and impulsive nature
and aeon-crumbled tomb in the desolate wastes of Mhu Thulan. This drove me thence into the shadowy and repellent Vale of Pnath! But
sepulchre and the ancient scrolls it contained were reputedly those of a lust to achieve the final secret of the wondrous elixir impelled me
the great Zon Mezzamalech himself, a potent and terrific sorcerer with irresistible force; and I reflected upon the apothegm that a faint
whose thaumaturgical accomplishments were common legendry. heart wins naught.
This Zon Mezzamalech had flourished in elder and remote cycles, And thus, by a mode I shudder to recall and shrink from
and J can only assume that in his long-forgotten epoch the ingredi¬ describing in detail, I came to the Seven Hundred Onyx Steps,
ents, whose subtle admixture lent astounding powers to the elixir, wheredown I ventured, and to the Gate of Deeper Slumber,
were familiar; while the knowledge thereof had decayed with millen¬ wherethrough I passed, and set out through the Enchanted Wood.
nia, and by the dawning of our own benighted era had lapsed from
Cloaked in somber gloom was this ominous wood, where prodigious
the sapience of we lesser and later-day mages.
and malformed oaks twine groping boughs overhead while furtive
With slow and painstaking toil I had one by one deciphered the
small unblinking eyes like chip rubies glitter from the depths of the
nature and name of the several curious components of the precious
nemorai umbrage at their gnarled and intertangled roots. These
Ygthar; one alone eluded my knowledge, and that was the substance
woods, I knew, were the haunt of the sly and secretive Zoogs—con-
bafflingJy referred to by the enigmatic Zon Mezzamalech as the Gluud
cetning whom legend whispers naught that is remotely whole¬
fluid. In vain I searched my encyclopedias of enchantment, my die-
some—and thus an hearty relief was mine when once I had passed
tionaries of demonology, my compendiums of cantrips. Nowhere in
therethrough without challenge or obstacle.
the writings of the mightiest magicians of all Hyperborea could I fin<^
By the dim and daemonic flickering of far aurorae (whose vague
a single reference to the maddening and elusive Glund fluid. Names
phosphorescent luminance included nine tints unknown to any tel-
evolve from epoch to epoch: common usage obliterates one ter
^ric spectrum), I at length espied the distant serrations that were, I
replacing it with a neologism: I was taunted with the chance that the
knew, the fabulous Peaks of Throk. I went by cautious ways now, for
mysterious fluid might lie close to hand, hidden behind a variant cog'
these shadowy regions were haunted by obscene and monstrous
nomen. And I was determined to achieve the secret at any cost.
Fruitlessly I consulted my sorcerous brethren, but they too kne^ things which shambled squealing from my path, driven hence by the

naught of the enigmatic Glund. Through a powerful crystal I queried P°ten,t runes etched by acids distilled from the slobber of basilisks,
202 The Book£Hih^ 203

wherewith my arthame (or wizard’s sword) was rendered repellent to To my unutterable delight the ghoul quietly acknowledged his
That which dwelleth in these vales. ^niiliurity with the elusive fluid of the Glund: in fact, he informed
1 went on, across rolling hummocks of beslimed and colorless c |1C had even at this moment a decoction of the rare liquid brew-
lichen which crunched into oozy smears beneath the tread of ^ pa in the vaults beneath his ancient low house. He discussed the
mastodon-hide sandals. All was utterly black about me now, save f0r (Tund fluid at some length, but in slurred liquescent syllables whose
the skyey banners of vaporous illumination which flared and flickered meaning was most difficult to ascertain, such was the state of decom¬

far overhead. The Peaks ofThrok rose grey and towering above me position advanced age and a questionable diet had brought him to. 1
now, like a wall builded by mad Titans, and peak by peak loomed liked not the clammy darkness of the room, the faint creaking of the
against the dark, licked by the faint flames of the fantastic aurora. f]0or behind my chair, the stench which at intervals arose from the
in the dimly-litten fields wherethrough my path led me I came qistant cellars; and as the gluttonous, slobbering speech of the ghoul

at length to a curious cottage, whose thick opaque windows leered Shuggob droned on 1 became faint with an eagerness to be gone from

from under low roofs like a madman’s glazed eyes glaring from rhis low strange house of ancient stone and from the Vale of Pnath
beneath a glowering brow. All of grey crumbling stone was the low irself. So 1 did not prolong my stay by requesting him to elucidate
strange house: of very ancient stone was it builded, dry, powdery, those of his remarks which had escaped my understanding, but with
porous, and flaking. For a lawn the old low house drew around it some abruptness begged to view the precious fluid.
scabby patches of mould and lichen: for hedges it had swollen clumps He led me from the room and through gloom-drenched apart¬
of hideous and mottled fungi. ments, cobwebbed with neglect, whose floors were littered with
The door was a coffin-lid of black, worm-eaten wood, and the gnawed bones, and raised a trap-door whose mould-encrusted stone
door-knob was a rondure of polished white ivory which I knew shud- slab was loathsomely reminiscent of a tombstone. Down slimy steps
deringly for the skull of a human being. into frigid blackness we descended by a curving stair, and all the
Natheless, 1 knocked—and my flesh crawled at the touch of the while there blew unceasingly in our faces a cold wet wind of unspeak¬
wet, rotten, coffin-wood—and at length my host welcomed me and able foul ness from the unknown depths—the dank breath of the Pit
bade me enter. This Shuggob was an elderly and gentlemanly ghoul itself.

of quiet, scholarly habits, tall and lean, grey-skinned, and somewhat We came at last into a bare stone vault whose velvet gloom was
the worse around the nostrils, the eyelids, and the corners of the dimly-litten by the greenish pallor of a ghostly light, a sourceless
mouth, for the depredations of maggots. He greeted me with mod¬ and unhealthy luminance that was like the phosphorescence of
est words, offering his hand (which was cold and rubbery and terri¬ udvanced decay.
bly strong) and ushering me into his parlour where cold meats that by this disgusting glow 1 perceived something like a huge
lay carven on a platter and gelid wine in lead goblets made a mild found cauldron of slick white stone, which held cupped and quiver-
repast, whereof he bade me sate the hunger and the thirst occasioned Infi a swollen and monstrous bloated thing of grey jellied slime,
by my journey hither. But the wine, cold and sluggish, darkly crim¬ ^bar it was J knew not, but it was loathsome to the sight: glisten-
son and bescummed, bore resemblance to congealing gore drained llVb moist, pulsating with hidden life. And the rounded surface of it
from the arteries of a putrifying corpse; and the cutlets of cold whitc XVas a mass of wrinkled, twisting, worm-like convolutions, which all
meat, finely textured and delicately crisp, in their curve and contour while leaked a cold, oily slime whose stench was unbearably vile.
might have been sliced from the flanks of human infants; so, restrain' ^ saw that cruel hooked knives were thrust in the thing and that the
ing a small shudder of revulsion, 1 declined to sup, and pressed Unoeasing irritation they caused occasioned the slow dribble of the
conversation to the matter of my business. Sl'my leakage.
204 The Book of £ih0rj 205

Mastering my revulsion, i leaned closer to the quaking mass 0f About “Shaggai”

swollen matter, while the ghoul Shuggob in his slurred and sloblx*r
c lS tempting to speculate whether both “Shaggai” (August Derleth, cd.,
ing speech informed me that the oily trickle I observed was none
\pe/t-k Things, Arkham House, 1971) and “In the Vale of Pnath” (see
other than that fluid wherewith the testaments of Zon Mezzamalech
. nV) might have been inspired by Clark Ashton Smith’s idea for a story,
claimed the Ygthar elixir could only be made. . redeveloped: “Hamilton, consarn him, has ruined an idea somewhat
Closer and closer to the bloated grey thing whose wrinkled and - 'in plitr to one that I had in mind, for a tale to be called ‘The Lunar Brain,
pulsating surface oozed repulsive ichor I leaned, and suddenly by the [vised on the notion that there is a vast living brain in the center of the
ghostly faint light I thought 1 glimpsed—could it be true?—O Lord vto()n“ (letter to Lovecraft, March 1932). Or maybe Carter was inspired by
Tsathoggua!—I screamed, sickened to the very roots of my soul- chc Edmond Hamilton story Smith refers to, “The Earth-Brain” ( Weird Tales,

screamed, and fled madly up that coiling stair and from that horrible April 1932). In any case, “In the Vale of Pnath” features a climactic revela¬

low house in the Vale of Pnath; and in all of the innumerable cycles tion of “a living brain,” while “Shaggai” has a vast living creature inside an

of my sorcerously-prolonged existence from that hour to this, never alien world.

again have I dared visit the dubious and disquieting shadowy fields This last theme, that of a gargantuan worm gnawing away at the bow¬
els of an alien planer, also occurs in Carter’s “The Dreams in the House of
of the Vale of Pnath; and to this hour my dreams are made hideous
VVcir” (in The Xothic Legend Cycle) and the poem “visions from Yaddith” (see
by my memories of that which I glimpsed in the dim green phos¬
The Shab-Niggnrath Cycle), where it was derived in turn from Lovecraft’s por¬
phorescence of ultimate and abominable decay ... of that naked,
tion of the Price-Lovecraft collaboration “Through the Gates of the Silver
glistening, swollen, obscene living brain—tortured beyond endurance
Key.” The question 1 am left asking about “Shaggai” is, given the premise
and not able ever to die—whose vile and slimy effluxion is the lost of the story, why was this tale not titled “The Burrower Beneath”?
secret ingredient of the horrible elixir which I now shall never brew,

and of whose remarkable properties J shall now never be certain. $

 Wearying at length of his obduracy I broke the conjurational

Shaggai .jrc|c and permitted the black, fanged, cycloptic thing to return to

tS 0wn seething and sub-dimensional chaos, while I threw myself

by Lin Career pto my goetic labours in a vain effort to find surcease from the mys¬
tery which taunted and eluded my comprehension. But the riddle of
We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of a black sea pharol continued to haunt my brain and I could find no relief in my
of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.
sterile and fruitless studies. Until I found the secret to that enigma
—H. R Lovecraft
[n the cryptic pages of the Pnakotic Manuscripts, I could no more

Editor’s Note: In regard to the following account, Lin Carter advance in my quest for the Ultimate Magisterium. At length I

writes—doubtless with tongue firmly in cheek—“I have recently resolved to search out this Dweller in the Pyramid—whomever or
obtained a copy of the Gaspard du Nord translation of the Hibon whatever it might be!—and toward that end I sought the seclusion
(by a transaction so shuddersome that I will spare you the details), of my chamber, wherein I brewed a decoction of the Black Lotus,
and in comparing the text against other versions, have noted to which 1 steeped in the bile of mantichores and the spittle of ghouls
my surprise that even the Atlantean high-priest, Klarkash-Ton,
taken by stealth in nighted gulfs below the Peaks of Throk, and,
dared not include the following episode in his redaction of the
focusing my consciousness upon the abhorrent and dreaded Sign of
Commoriom myth-cycle; hence I have rendered it from the
Koth, I detached my astral body from its mansion of clay and hurled

T
antique French as follows.”
my being into infinity.

hrice had I, the necromancer Eibon, summoned the demon My house of black gneiss dwindled beneath me on its headland

Pharol from his remote ultra-cosmic gulfs beyond angled above the northern main; the boreal peninsula of Mhu Thulan

space, and thrice had he materialized within the sealed and shrank; in a flashing instant the hoary and primal continent of

subterranean chamber, and each time had he assumed the form of a Hypcrborea itself grew small; and in another instant the very planet

black, fanged, cycloptic thing with arms like swaying serpents. had become lost in the star-strewn immensitudes.

Each time had I demanded of Pharol the meaning of that obscure 1 traveled first to nighted Yuggoth on the rim, and there, in a

and cryptic phrase in the Pnakotic Manuscripts—that haunting and noxious citadel above a chasm of scarlet and slithering horrors, I
baffling enigma whose secret had so long eluded me—“Beware lest consulted briefly with a potent archimage, one of the crustaceans
thou call up That which is greater than thyself; remember the Doom who infest that dim and horrid world. But my colleague knew, or
of those who summoned the Worm that Gnaws in the Night." dared reveal, naught of the Dweller in the Pyramid, and at his
Until I had achieved the solution of this puzzling and cryptic behest 1 next directed my flight to remote Kthynil which circles the
text I knew that 1 could progress no farther in my mastery of the crimson orb of Arcturus. There I begged of a certain fungoid intel¬
Pnakotic lore, hence my impatience when the demon Pharol proved ligence if it knew aught of the Dweller, but it as well would not or
obdu rate when he replied each time to my query with the same c°Ldd not speak.
oblique and meaningless reference—“Of that you must question the Swifter than thought 1 then traversed the awful immensity of the
Dweller in the Pyramid.” ahyss between Kthynil and lightless, ill-rumoured Mthura, where a
In vain did I threaten the recalcitrant Pharol with the Yggrf Sentient crystalloid directed me to the very rim of the transdimen-
incantation and the Nn’gao elixir and even with the awful power of Sl°nal gulfs. There, at last, I learned from an entity of luminous gas
the Scarlet Sign, but to no avail. To each threat he reiterated the same whoSe name was Zzhryii that the Thing I sought dwelt upon Shaggai,
maddening reply whose mockery tormented me— tvc*n nightmarish and doom-fraught Shaggai, the ultimate world in
“Of that you must question the Dweller in the Pyramid.” ^gled space whose green-litten surface even the most valorous of
 209
208 The Book ofEj^

voyagers dares not visit. I had heard of weird and dreaded Shaggy ^ icaire reared by intelligence on any planet known to me. From its

the most disturbing legends are whispered concerning that haunts SrrL^ planes radiated a cold menace before which my soul quailed in

world of terrible gloom, but never in my wildest dreams had I envi Shf|rcad, yet I dared not hesitate like some fearful neophyte on the

sioned the necessity of venturing thither. But there was no further 'Cy ' threshold of the Mystery which had for endless cycles perplexed

recourse but that I now project my innermost being across the infini¬ VL? and gathering my courage and uttering a silent prayer to

tude of time and space to dubious Shaggai. Ts-i'thoggua I projected my bodiless being into the interior of the

<■ *
pyramid.
* 'M *

As I approached the environs of Shaggai it lay bathed in the intoler¬

able glare of twin suns of emerald flame—a bleak and desolate orb Through walls of incredible thickness, fashioned of a perdurable

of naked grey stone, heaving seas of black liquescence, and hellish me:al unknown to me, 1 passed to hover in utter blackness above a

continent-spanning jungles of crawling and vampiric mould. There colossal gulf. The interior of the metal mountain was one vast echo¬

in strange metropoli of cold grey metal dwell a sinister race of intel¬ ing emptiness above a pit of such incredible dimensions as to seem

ligent insectoids, concerning whom even the Elder Records preserve depthless . . . and even in the extremity of my dread, 1 wondered at

naught that is wholesome. the thickness of those walls of ultra-telluric metal built to contain . . .

For a time 1 floated above vast avenues of harsh metal thronged nothing^ . . .
by immense, chittering, multi-legged hordes that surged about the There blew from beneath a dank, chill wind upon whose invisi¬

base of colossal and featureless pylons and globular domes that lay ble wings was borne to my astral senses a foetor rank as the breath

naked and sterile under the piercing brilliance of the green suns. of grinning ghouls or the stench of scaly and leprous shantaks which

Betimes, the numberless horde ofchitinous arthropods would spread feed upon unmentionable substances. This charnel reek was more

immense glittering wings like lucent vans of sheeted opal and swirl horrible that that which exudes from the bubbling black slime

in vast clouds about the orifice that served as portal in the upmost wherein loathsome and primordial shoggoths bloat and wallow, and

surface of the globes, vanishing therein in streaming multitudes. my senses sickened before the wind from the pit.

At the center of each metropolis rose the angled planes ol a At length, by a faint luminance such as that shed by rotten and

metallic pyramid. Some whim or intuition told me not to pause to necrophagic mould, I perceived monstrous and uncouth pictographs

seek that which lay within these lesser pyramids, for the one 1 sought wherewith the interior walls of the titanic Pyramid were inscribed.

lay not here in the swarming cities. So 1 flew on across leagues of By this dim blue phosphorescence I discovered to my surprise that I

slithering lichen and pulsing seas of black and glistening ooze. At could half-comprehend the immense symbols, for they bore a degree

length, 1 perceived a structure immeasurably more vast than any I of similitude to the primal Thuu-yaaa glyphs wherewith certain of

had yet observed on Shaggai. It rose lone and solitary on a dead die Elder Records preserved on guarded Celaeno are inscribed.

plateau in the regions of the boreal pole, and from its singular and I saw ... 1 read . . . and I shrank shuddering from the incredi¬

incredible immensity, which was that of many mountains, I knew at ble horrors told of in those sprawling and monstrous glyphs revealed

once that it was the dwelling of That which I sought—the House of the wavering and uncertain glow shed by Something in the depths

the Worm—the secret of the blackest mystery the obscure pages of °f the pit below ... I shrieked soundlessly as I now glimpsed That

the Pnakotic Manuscripts conceal. which squirmed at the remote bottom of the world-deep abyss . . .

On a granulated plain of frigid black crystals I descended. That whose gelatinous bulk of quivering white slime was itself the

mighty bulk of the Pyramid loomed above me like a geo met source of the charnel phosphorescence . . . That whose quaking jelly

mountain, but vaster than Voormithadreth itself, the most monstrous dueled the hideous foetor which blew endlessly on the cold winds
from the gulf . . . Id! Tsathoggua! but a Worm should not grow th
size of a mountain . . . nor gnaw for aeons against the foundations 0p
a world till it has burrowed out a pit a thousand miles deep! . . . Jn thar
hellish instant 1 saw and knew that the cold insectoid intelligences of
accursed and hideous Shaggai had once summoned up That which no
power could command or slay but only contain within a hollow and
monstrous mountain of eternal and imperishable metal, while ]r
gnawed forever at the very core of the planet . . . and would gnaw
through all time to come, till blasphemous and elder Shaggai was
consumed by the mindless and slobbering and insatiate hungers of
that mountainous Worm From Beyond . . . and as 1 hurled my astral
self shrieking up from that world-deep charnel pit of nightmare
where a titanic Thing of bubbling slime fed ever upon the very planet
whose rash inhabitants had once dared call it from the Deeps, I knew
at last why the dwellers in the star worlds shrank shuddering from
any mention of doomed and terror-fraught Shaggai, and why its
secret had been buried in the most cryptic pages of the Pnakotic
Manuscripts. . . .

These things 1, the necromancer Eibon, saw and record here in my

Book lest ever again any Seeker after Mysteries dare the terrors of
that black abyss ... be warned, and let That which is hidden remain
forever hidden, and ponder the doom of the wretched intelligences of
horrible Shaggai, who in their pride and arrogance once called up

That which even the Elder Gods dared not evoke. ^

 , Mauling of Uthnor 213

Moving to the edge of the village, we set up the lensed instru¬

The Haunting of Uthnor cts and opened our notebooks. We watched the hemisphere of
r|lt transcribe its course until it over-arched the sky. So we bent our

by Laurence J. Cornford to the instruments, for that very night the comet was to reach
eyO

T he Year of the Golden Rat had abdicated in favor of the

Vermilion Ox when the Haunting came to Uthnor, that
jenhclion and pass closest to the earth. The night was chill and clear,
l^e stars glittering like diamonds overhead, and I was wrapped

tightly m a thick brocade robe trimmed with black-fox fur, while

Cyron had a many-layered robe of saffron and turquoise silks through
province which lay along the eastern coast of central
which the stiff winds could not penetrate.
Hyperborea, south of the Eiglophians. The Haunting coincided with
As we observed the comet moving before the star, my hair prick-
a particular stellar occultation involving the approach of a comet
jed and I shivered from a chill not caused by the wind, but by the
which could not have passed the earth more frequently than once in
approach of some preternatural agent. From the ground, like morn-
a hundred millennia. My astrological charts and calculations told me
ing mists, rose wispy pale columns and a gossamer veil of mist which
that this stellar event would be best observed from the land of
seemed to shimmer and glow over the houses of Spathain, changing
Uthnor, and so 1 had gathered up my astrological works and set out
them from the humble abodes of farmers to the curious stone
to the warm climes of Varaad where my old pupil, Cyron, dwelt,
dwellings of an earlier age. Gradually the smoky columns resolved
being careful to bypass the land of the hierophants of Yhoundeh who
themselves into the lanky, milk-pale shapes of the now extinct ante-
had grown more bold in those years. J took a boat down the coast to
humans who had once had a colony on this very continent. The
Zaroul and from there headed through the pass into central
streets thronged with the tall, thin antehumans who strolled about
Hyperborea and thence to Uzuldaroum and out onto the plains,
bearing parcels of scrolls from building to building, or who sat on
fields and hills of Uthnor, and despite my delay around the lake of
benches to discuss philosophy or art. The whole vision glowed, such
Ondoar, I arrived wearily in Varaad before the occultation had
that it appeared daylight. As we observed the apparition, one of the
occurred.
But J did not find Cyron in anticipation of that stellar event, for figures stopped and looked skyward towards the comet, with his glit¬

his mind was occupied with the tales of hauntings which had come tering eyes, like two polished djals. Then another and another looked

to him from the farmsteads and villages between Varaad and up. Then males and females of that race emerged from their houses

Zanzonga. It seemed that by night travelers would encounter ghostly to stare up at the comet as it grew larger against the sky.

figures walking and acting much as they must have done in life. The We observed with much interest how the two villages were

counsellors of Varaad had charged Cyron with the task of resolving Merging, one on top of the other. All at once, and without warning

this problem by whatever means he could, and so he suggested that from the star, Five bright fragments fell, arching across the sky, flashi¬

we combine our missions and head out of the city into the sparsely ng like false dawns around the skyline. But one had clearly fallen

habited lands of Uthnor. I consented, for those easterly hills would near at hand, and one of the philosophers rose from his marble seat

provide us with excellent clear night skies in which to observe the and strode purposefully from the town. In an instant he had returned

stellar spectacle. ^oaring with him a large oval of dark crystalline metal, somewhat

So it was that we traversed the heather-scented hills of Uthnot bke an egg in shape, and raised it aloft in his wiry arms. At the sight

to the village of Spathain, which proved to be a focal point for these thus thing a madness possessed the antehuman ghosts and they

apparitions. Here we were greeted by the burghers, and they related tUsslecl with each other and, to our mounting horror, fell to a fren-

their tales to us. Duly we agreed to stand vigil that night and the sev' fighting and ripping at one another, while the bearer of the stone

eral nights after and to see what we could see. Seated demonically. Fires sprang up from the houses and madness
 -^uniting of Uchnor

descended. Soon the whole scene was obscured by smoke whi^ \ fear. We wept openly when we observed what had transpired. 1

turned to night mist hovering in the valley. ^ not know how we had survived while so many had died, but per-

Then as our horror abated we again became aware of a shifty cjne rigors of wizardly training had stood us in good stead

in the mist. We saw a new town, quite unlike any we had seen before \ nSt that fearful night, or else those talismans we bore about us

solidify from the vapors. A scene of strange Babelian towers anc| h id prevented the intrusions of spirits. We two could not do much to

minarets of obsidian surrounded by an abundance of the ancient ferns pury so many people and so, after repeating what rites we could, we

and upas trees of primal Hyperborea. The doors of these buildings traveled dejectedly back to Varaad and to the minaret of Cyron which

were too tall and narrow for any human to pass comfortably through held a fine library of arcane books.

them. Indeed the streets of this ancient settlement were thronged [n Cyron’s chamber paneled in ivory of mammoth and lit with

with the ophidian inhabitants of elder Hyperborea, with their goat¬ nine lamps of hollowed amethyst, we sat reading at tables cluttered

like servants who hopped to-and-fro on unaccounted errands and with grimoires, thuribles, arthamer and other magical paraphernalia.

duties. In pens, like cattle, stood great brutish, mailed dinosauri, At once 1 set to work consulting the books concerning the nature of

some saddled for riding by their serpentine masters. the visions we had seen and of the omnipresent stellar body.

Not far from us stood two of these bald, pie-skinned serpent With meticulous accuracy we plotted the course and speed of

folk, dressed in royal red velveteen robes trimmed with gold thread. this comet based upon our observations and upon the writings of the

One held in its supple forelimbs a curious crystalline device through ancient astrologer Jhrelth- and collated these with the obscurer

which it peered at the night sky. The two conversed, heatedly, to genealogical details of Pnom’s exegesis.

judge by their hissings and lashings of their long tails. Again the sub¬ Then 1 turned to the most paleologean chronicles available to

ject of their discussion was evidently the approaching comet which man, to see if any of the ancients had spoken of this comet of ill-for¬

was radiating a number of glowing spikes like a bearded face. But tune. We consulted the Prophecies of Lith, the dark Book of Kyog, and

this time the comet was much larger than it had ever been. Then the Testament of Haon-Dor. 1 even had cause to look in the pages of

once more the strange madness overcame these ophidian ghosts and those prehuman-scripted Pnakotic Manuscripts.

they fell into blind panic as we watched the comet split into two and At length we discerned that the comet pursued an eccentric,

the one piece inexorably descended on the earth. My body quaked as crooked orbit. Twice it had collided with stellar bodies, and this had

that island of stone descended toward us and would at any moment knocked it away from the earth, but over the centuries it would draw

smash the whole province of Uthnor to fragments. We could not close again, until at last it should work its evil over all mankind and

have escaped it had we tried. A roar filled the air, and clouds boiled not just over a few.

about it as if it had burned the sky brown. Its shattering collision Nor was that all we learned, for in the oldest portion of the Book

ended the vision in a holocaust of flame, ash, and lava. We two °f lod we found a reference to the Seeds of Chaos, the effluvia of

swooned in utter fear for our lives. Azathoth, the animating demon of that all-encompassing Space

When dawn came we were amazed to find ourselves unharmed ^'hich is ever devouring the material universe. For from that chaos-

and lying on dew-speckled grass in our damp robes. We were throne about which Nyarlathotep perennially pipes the dire music of

exhausted by our ghost-vigil and wandered down to the village only chaos and destruction, the slumbering god had vomited particles

to discover that no man still lived in Spathain. The disconcerting *nto the void of its own creation. These Seeds drift through the roil-

stench of burnt wood warned us of a tragedy. The village was in lng infinity of aethyr until some fall into the influence of planets.

ruins. The ghosts had done more than merely manifest here; they h^ Sonic say that one Seed came to earth in the days of Shub-

possessed the unfortunates of Spathain and worked them like pup' ^iSgurath in Arkand. But others still roam the voids. One such was

pets in that nightmare conflagration. All had succumbed to madness c^nt evil comet.
 j jo0ked on strange cities of metal and glass and light in strange
The suggestion of any relationship or connection with Azathotf,
is c0 the south, thronged with many thousands of hurrying souls.
even of the remotest, vestigial sort, was simply overpowering in
terror. A desire burned in me to discover what would become of ^ llllU v man shoot out spears at the stars and comets, as they came
1 irl their cycles, but to no avail. Ever that Seed returned, and
comet now it had passed beyond our sphere and if any action coulj

be taken against it before it should next return to haunt the earth h time closer to the earth.
£JL Then the weight of ages fell one upon another: the cities were
with madness. So it was that J took from my trusty pouch of tanned
vepr away and men again grubbed in the soil for food as they had
sloth-leather a lump of ancient glass. This was the glass which men
of old. Again emperors and kings flaunted their cruel might over the
say came from Mho-Lhun, the citadel of the primal gods of doom and
°casantry. Again the lightning flashes of sorcery were to be seen.
into which once the Old Ones had peered. By it a man may steal a
g£,lS came and swallowed the lands; armies watered the sands with
glimpse of other times and places.
h^r blood. Again man declined into brutehood and again clawed
We carried that sacred glass to the furnace and lay it in a cru¬
his Way back to civilization on that grim archipelago of islands not
cible of iron-hard /^/?-metal and fanned the flames to white hotness
yet taken by the sea. This then was that ultimate land the prophets
with the bellows. When the glass flowed like honey wc carefully
name Zothique, and its sorcerers were wise with the wisdom and
bore it over to a bed of quicksilver which we had formerly prepared,
decadence of those intervening millennia, yet not even they could
and spread it so that it formed a single sheet of brittle glass with a
stop the comet from returning, from raising up the waves against
smooth face where it touched the quicksilver. When this sheet was
rhem, of setting man against man, until he vanished utterly from
cool we squared it and placed it in the frame of waxed apha-w'ood.
the world.
Then we used the prescribed enchantments to empower and activate
Here then J made to turn away from the glass in utter, horrified
the properties of that unique glass. And through the window so con¬
despair, knowing that even the sorcerers of that remote age should
structed 1 beheld, first, the prehistoric destruction of the major
not avert the ill-wrought Seed of Chaos. I had beheld the squalid
planet Antanok, which once revolved between Aihai and Ylidiomph
Doom of Man. Yet as the image shifted, I did see yet some creatures
and which was riven to fragments many thousands of years before
moving among the ashes of Man s deeds. A small black beetle
our time by the influence of that dark Seed of Chaos. Then the Seed
crawled over the crumbling land, seeking a rare feast of human flesh,
returned again and again once, unobstructed by that shattered
such as it had tasted in its youth. And from it descended another race
planet, it could venture ever closer to our own world, and at each
of oddly-bodied intelligence to rule the man-vacated Earth.
passing it destroyed the glories of the earth which had taken root
Then, finally, I do not know how many eons into the future—
during its absence. Its passing called the star demons from the void when the circle was complete and the seas covered the earth with
to harry the Old Ones in their cities and shook the primal conti¬ protoplasmic swamps, all that had once lived and breathed and
nents. The realm of the serpent men was shattered, as we had seen, fought and spawned became once more one with Ubbo-Sathla. The
by its own effluvia. The civilization of the Voormis sank into brute- Tragedy of Earth would be played out, and forgotten like a night-
hood under its malign influence. Likewise the antehumans and the
maTe upon awakening.
early dynasties of man. The haunting of Uthnor was at an end for the time being, but I
Then the glass turned forward in time and I saw the great Ic'e confess 1 knew not which haunting was the more dolorous, that of
Sheet shifting forward over the face of Hyperborea. I witnessed my che shades of the dead past or that of the unborn future’s visions. $
descendants fleeing to the four corners ol the world before that resist¬
less wall of ice. Then I beheld the ice whelm and sunder Hyperborea
carving it into shards and suffocating the works of man under lt5
thick, silent pall.
 About “The Offspring of the Tomb”
C lark Ashton Smith left a fairly long and detailed synopsis for a tale t0
The Offspring of the Tomb
be called “The Offspring of the Tomb,” but it was set in the rnoclern by Laurence J. Cornford
period and had nothing to do with Eibon or Hyperborea. Laurence J
Cornford has written a very different tale than Smith might have, but he
—- yell into my second century of life, 1 had come to leave my
quite likely written a tale very close to what Lin Carter would have written
for Cornford is following Carter’s lead rather than Smith’s. Lin had decided \/ I tower of black gneiss, upon this high promontory of
to borrow the title for a projected chapter of the Book of Eibon which he never yV Mhu Thulan, but rarely, if only for that all I might desire
got around to writing. %vas brought me by my chelas and disciples. And even those earliest
What Cornford (and other Trito-Eibonic scribes) have done is to supply 0f mine apprentices, now themselves accomplished wizards, would
lost episodes (actually never-written episodes), and in doing so he has reca¬ n0w and again apply to me when mystified at some stubborn
pitulated yet another genuine ancient process of scriptural pseudepigraphy enigma, so that 1 had little need even to venture forth in search of
whereby the bare mention of a lost text inspires some enterprising soul to
new occult puzzles to solve. Yet by no means had 1 entered upon my
take the opportunity to fill that abhorrent vacuum! Ancient examples are
dotage (nor have 1 yet, despite the slanders of some), and of a season
legion. Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 refers to revelations vouchsafed him
I must needs go forth alone to collect some rare and potent substance
on a visionary journey to the third heaven, but he neglects to disclose them.
for mine experiments, and this task 1 may in no wise entrust unto
Someone else was not so reticent; eventually there emerged at least three
Apocalypses of Paul purporting to tell what he heard in Paradise. Early another. Then, too, an old man relishes an occasional stroll in the

Christian apologists like Tertullian and Justin imagined that the Roman countryside while he is still sufficiently spry.
archives must contain court transcripts of Jesus’ trial before Pilate. If they Thus it was that I set out from my tower, leaving all things in
did, Christians must have later destroyed the damaging evidence, but in any the capable hands of my steward, and walked where i had fled in ter¬
case, all we have is the fourth-century forgery called the Acts of Pilate. The ror so many years before, down the road towards Iqqua. From there
ancient Book of Jasher quoted in Joshua and Second Samuel was lost, and
I bought a place on one of the frequent trading caravans heading
two texts, one medieval, the other modern, arose to play the role. In
southwards, and within a week, memorable solely for the reminder of
Colossians Paul mentions an epistle he had written to the neighboring
how uncomfortable is the horse saddle over a great length of time, 1
Laodiceans, but which did not survive—until somebody cobbled together
arrived in the town of Rimniath.
the pseudepigraphical Epistle to the Laodiceans.
Our arrival was timed to coincide with the town s market day,
Several stories in the present volume were written to fill gaps in Lm
and the place was filled with strangers from the outlying lands. As
Carter’s projected contents of the Book of Eibon, and for the same reason. A
chance to sneak one’s own work into the canon of scripture! Who can resist? che merchants with whom I had traveled set up their stalls of rich

But Cornford’s ingenuity is greater still: again in the spirit of Lin Carter, he spices and perfumed woods, silks and sparkling crystals from disrant
has in this tale supplied a context for passages excerpted from The Book oj Valusia, 1 wandered the narrow alleys between the stalls, pausing
Eibon by Keith Herber in the Chaosium Cali of Cthnihn role-playing module n°^ and again to scrutinize the wares of a seller of parchments (Had
Dreamlands. 1987. chere in truth been a fifteenth Pnakotic Fragment? 1 judged the script
as °f too recent vintage), or to barter and haggle with an herbalist
cbinnmg to have rare supplies of extinct herbs thawed from the pri¬
mordial ice floes of Thule and vital to the magicks of the ante-human

silamuns.
Strangely i fell into a reverie, suddenly mindful of an old friend,
°ne Yhok-Omi, whom 1 had met in the days afrer my flight from the
 22 I
220 The Book ofEj^ of the Tomb
TllC Offspring

Yhok-Omi grew gravely apprehensive. He admitted as how he

tower of Zylac and ere my first meeting with Zaljis. Nor cou^ j 1avc i - - -
account why I should suddenly think of him after so many years, 4^
ductant to return alone to his dwelling. The mention of lodg-
-as rc
as 1 traced his features in my memory, all at once there emerged frorT1 brought me up short, fot I had not yet sought out any shelter for
ing
the throng a visage very like unto the long and youthful bearded face nd at this time of night, especially on market day, 1 was
If, *
j-yiyscc.,
with whose owner 1 had spent so many pleasant hours. As if a ghost 'likely to find a room to rent. At once Yhok-Omi proposed I stay

had stepped forth from the past, 1 quite shivered with cold there in , „ maht under his own roof, and so we might continue our conver-

the baking sun. lC)on to our hearts’ content. Besides, had he not advanced in the eso-

Shrugging off the untoward chill, 1 continued with my pleasant ^ric arts himself over the years? He might have many things to

meandering, glancing among my fellow browsers in case that face Yttrest me in his chambers. How could I refuse his hospitality?

should appear again. At length 1 had all but forgotten the incident We stumbled, 1 confess, a mite tipsily, into the chill square out-

when 1 stopped at a drinking-house in the Street of the Snow Bear - lo rUr- lv-:ir of the dav havinc long since retreated. My friend
to refresh myself after many hours in the stifling air of the cramped tugged at my arm and whispered in my ear.
streets. 1 had purchased a bottle of imported Antillian ale when I “We must be away, O Eibon!”
chanced to turn and espy a dejected figure seated alone across the Then he tugged me off kilter so that 1 nearly stumbled headlong.
crowded tap room. If not for that earlier vision 1 might not have After this 1 followed his rapid steps through a veritable maze of alleys
recognized the fellow, for the years, over an hundred by my count, winding between rickety wooden tenements. Looking skyward inter¬
had not worn so well upon his muchly-lined features. And yet, mittently, one might see but a thin strip of starry blue and white
notwithstanding his snowy wisp of hair, dipped eyebrows and the above. The next thing I knew, Yhok-Omi had halted abruptly.
wrinkled mouth of a man heavily burdened, by his moustacheless
Looking back the way we had come, he breathed, “Think you we
beard and his blue eyes 1 knew him for the same Yhok-Omi, not
have at last eluded him?
young as 1 had pictured him that morning, but gray and bent.
‘‘Eluded whom?” quoth I.
Seeing that he looked in need of cheering and that his table was the
“Why, the furtive-seeming fellow lurking outside the ale-house
only one not crammed with roisterers, 1 made my way over to greet
when we left.”
my old comrade.
I peered down the street, but all was thick blackness to my gaze,
His eyes widened with surprise, and his welcome was ebullient
but then, with a shiver of apprehension, 1 thought 1 could discern a
as he bade me be seated and called for another drink. We questioned
movement. Yhok-Omi sensed it also and pulled me back into the
each other long over what had transpired with us in the intervening
shadows of an alleyway which led ofl the main street. So black was it
years. 1 listened in amazement as he related some fanciful tales told
that one might not behold one’s own hand before one s face.
of me in the outside world. Soon we were laughing and reminiscing
But a moment later, a cloaked and hooded figure advanced
in the old manner, and as he smiled, methought for the first time in
healthily up the street, moving his head to and fro in some strange
months or even years, the lines seemed to smooth away from his hag'
manner suggestive more of his smelling than looking for us twain. As
gard face, and 1 was once more put in mind of my remarkable vision
die man passed by our place of concealment and was limned for a
earlier in the day. 1 recounted the incident, thinking to amuse him?
foment in the starlight from a thin shaft of sky, he looked to be
and little expecting the result, for the tale deadened his good humor
faring mittens on his hands. 1 was mightily relieved when the pur¬
straightway.
suing figure continued on his odd way. Yhok-Omi, too, let out his
Only then did 1 notice the lateness of the hour and how the tap'
trapped breath and led me round to his abode by what I took to be
room was all but empty. When 1 said that the landlord was shower
signs of wishing to be off to his bed and that we might best take <)Lir u circuitous route.
 223
222 -The Book ofEjj^ , nhMiring of the Tomb

The house of Yhok-Omi had suffered a sad decline, leaning f0r rhcr monks, who aver the realm to be as veritable a reality as that

support against the brittle shell of a neighboring hovel. Once we hUcj '’'IhtH you and I now sojourn. And legends cell of Rhyagand of the

entered, he began an elaborate ritual of bolting and barring the 1(1 h he who needed but t0 Paint a P‘CClire whithersoever he

flimsy door, peering every few seconds through a tiny spy-hole to the ^/shccl to journey, to find himself there, for all that his gift proved

street without. The door being as secure as mortal implements could Wl .,llv his doom. Heedlessly had he sketched in the likeness of one
gqQan)

make it, he then measured out a modicum of bluish powder and 0f rhe dog-snouted ghouls who plague the place, and it met him

shook out a line of it across the threshold, all the while mouthing the there, greeting him hungrily upon his arrival.

syllables of, methinks, the Rivashii Warding. This done, he led me T was there in the deeper realm of Dreamfancy that 1 beheld

through to his laboratory. liC i0veliest of the dreams of a lonely man, even my fair Zophomlsa.

“My good friend Eibon,” he said at last, “of a truth 1 did not rel¬ for many dream-years did we live in a bliss surpassing any I had
known either hitherto or thereafter. Ere long a son was born to us,
ish passing the night alone in this house tonight, or for the matter,
on any night. 1 have lingered many a night in that or another village the fair Euphorion. But within me the fearsome certainty began to

ale-house vexing the patience of one barkeep after another till they tluwn that I should not be able forever to abide in the land of Dream.

fairly threw me over their threshold. Nor have 1 dared to sleep save So at the last, despite every soporific stratagem I could devise, I must
needs take my leave. And, upon awakening in this present world, as
by daylight. 1 doubtless seem a madman to you, and 1 ask your par¬
don for the same.” I feared, 1 found 1 could never again return to my beloved. 1 know

“But, tell me, Yhok-Omi, what is the cause of so terrible distress?" not why. Mayhap my long use of the chemicals of sleep and vision
nr l„cr rpnApreA mv sleen too troubulous to attain again the far
“I shall surely tell you,” he said with an anxious glance this way
and that, “for the night still hath some hours left to it, and 1 fear 1 shore of Dream.

will not reach the dawn alive. 1 can think of no better way to spend "I mourned long and deeply, you may be sure. And I accepted

the time remaining than in conversation with you. It is a comfort the hard fact that I should never again know that brighter life. And

that someone should know the reason of my passing, and only you withal 1 sought to make a fresh start. But, alas, friend Eibon, it was

could credit it.” So we sat us down, and in conspiratorial whisperings not to be. Many years had passed when one night, whilst sleeping the

he related a tale of many years agone, not so long after our parting sleep of exhaustion, I found myself again in that long-lamented

company. realm, only dream had turned to nightmare for me. About me

“When I had journeyed the length and breadth of holy yawned a darksome cavern, and in its shadows waited one who ques¬

Hyperborea and felt confident I knew what was to be known of this tioned me with hard words and many blows, waxing ever more

sublunar realm, I resolved to seek out higher and more exotic spheres wroth with me, 1 knew not wherefore. Whereupon did he reveal him¬

in which my soul might wander unfettered. Through the aid of divers self as mine own dream-son! Now come of age, he had sought me out

herbs and potions did I visit distant stellar worlds, and there I did to exact revenge for, as he believed, my callously forsaking his late

hear things which it is not lawful for man to utter. Of the wisdom of toother and himself. And there, thankfully, the nightmare ended.

the nug-soth savants of Yaddith did I drink deep, and what other "In the days following, I sought to dismiss what I had seen, but

hath not hesitated to enter into the passionless thoughts of the metal to little avail, until one day a strange traveler knocked at my door,

brains of Abbith? saying he had news from a far land that might interest me. Once

“And one realm above all others held me fast by reason not ofltS lns‘de, he related a curious tale of one who called himself Ghadamon,

magic arcana, but simply for the exceeding splendor thereof, even thc a foul thing fattened on the flesh of human brains and secreted for

Empire of Dream. By many modes may a man journey thither. Tf|C years beneath a great lake in a fearsome world of darkness. The

archpriests of Zyhume tell of dream-meditations achieved by c^c °ld fellow warned in tones most dire of the soon coming of this
 225
224 The DooUfe^ , offspring of the Tomb

Joor on utter silence. Within the disheveled bed lay the lifeless
Ghadamon. I deemed him mad, yet half-suspecting his tale rnig|)[;
‘hY, of Yhok-Omi, vacant eyes wide and protruding, limbs tangled
bear some riddling meaning if only one could guess it. 1 thanked \ylV[)
for his tidings, fed him, and sent him on his way. b°Yc bedding as though he had frantically struggled before his

“But that very night the gossips rumored how an old traveler ine.ith. But of any visible marking or violence there was none.

had met with a terrible death at the hands of the Oriental One a Seemingly he had expired of fear alone.
My solemn vow to guard his body was now no mere promise for
stranger said to hail from Yanaidar on far Thuria. At once 1 suspected
this Oriental One to be one and the same as my son. And now I fCar someday, but a present duty. So I composed the corpse and wrapped

1, too, am close to death at his hands, and 1 can see no escape/’ S°in t|ie bed sheet, then carried my ungainly charge down to the cel-
Y of the house, where it were fitting for the rites to be observed.
1 questioned the tired-eyed Yhok-Omi a bit further and elicited
Yre j was again taken aback, for 1 found an open coffin waiting and
from him his belief that the lurker along the streets was indeed his
son, and at once I knew the identity of the man I had seen that day ready. How sorely must the poor wretch have feared for -his life to

in the marketplace. l,aVe made ready his own sarcophagus!

In that vault beneath the house of Yhok-Omi I performed the
“1 have laid wardings on my portals, and it may be they shall
Death Watch in accord with ancient lore, pronouncing the liturgies
keep him from my throat for one more night." Yhok-Omi’s dire
mood disquieted me greatly, the more when he added, “If nonethe¬ over the body by the light of a single corpse-tallow. I chose the rites

less the night should claim me, old friend, 1 beg you keep close vigil prescribed in the Papyrus of Atlacb-bSacba, clothing the body in a

over my mortal clay, nor drowse a single moment. Chant over me the winding sheet to symbolize the silky chrysalis of rebirth. In the bet¬

prayers of whatsoever god you worship, that lie may haply receive my ter part of twain centuries I had ample occasion to perform the rites

sundered soul." and now knew them well by heart.

And even so did my concentration waver by reason of the
Well did I see that no greater solace could 1 bring him than to
solemnly accept his ultimate charge, withal assuring him that he renewed scratchings as of a great rodent, seemingly just above, which

should outlive me by a century. Smiling wanly, Yhok-Omi bade me shook the dust from the beams and caused the door to rattle its bolt.

good morrow and we both retired. I felt the clinging grasp of unwholesome spirits to crush my soul and

Sound did I sleep, for that journey and the exertions of the day to efface the warding sigils and holy charms with which I had

had taxed me thoroughly. Yet in the small hours 1 awoke, sitting endowed the makeshift mortuary chamber. So 1 lifted up my voice

upright to listen for the repeating of some sound J could not remem¬ and intoned yet louder the sacred canticles, which faith imbues with

ber. After a few moments there crept to my ears an insidious scurry¬ a power more than a thousand bolts and locks. Yet the tumult did

ing, as of many mice running under the floorboards. This was noth¬ seem to rise to match me, for now there came a rending sound, a

ing unusual, so 1 lay back down and turned over to sleep again. But splintering of wood and as it were the smashing of toppling crockery.

then the noise grew in loudness. Did 1 hear more mice, or as seemed
Involuntarily I glanced up at the ceiling of the vault.

more likely, a troop of corpulent and loathsome rats? Nay, the longer My first thought was that Yhok-Omi’s vengeful son, be he called

1 did listen the surer J felt that it was some verminous creature larger Euphorion or Ghadamon or whatever name, had contrived to breach

still, scuttling up through the wall cavity. Then at once the sounds the barriers his father had set in place, and that he was smashing all

did cease, to be replaced by one altogether more dreadful: the terri¬ his eye fell upon while searching for his father. To reassure myself, 1

fied screaming of a man. Paused in my litany, bent over and opened the casket to glance at the

Coming to myself, 1 leapt from the bed and ran for the door, °LlC supine form of my ill-fated friend, who at any rate had escaped the

onto the rickety landing, and up the shuddering stairs to Yhok' lre of his offspring. To my utter horror my eyes beheld a coffin empty

Omi’s garret chamber. The cacophony died in my ears, and 1 opened save for the bloodied tatters of the winding sheet!
 227
226 The Book
oF rhe _

Drawing forth the sheet with one great motion, 1 saw revea[Ccj About “The Demon of the Ring
the smashed-in bottom of the coffin, and I cursed myself for ^
_,|rtrl< Ashton Smith’s references to Eibon are fewer and farther between
senile wits, for the gaping blackness of a fresh-dug burrow lay plainly
beyond the hole in the floor of the casket. I had failed in my sacred
C chan you might imagine. And not every reference to Eibon is a refer-
e t0 the Book of Eibon. But if one is going to reconstruct the Book of Eibon,
duty, and as far as lay within my power 1 now felt myself obliged co 6 hard to resist taking every mention of the mage as a clue to the book,
recover his mortal remains lest they be defiled even more abominably '^instance, in Smith's “The Beast of Averoigne" we read of a legendary tal-
So, with no thought of my own safety, I squeezed my spare frame °r.,nic ring into which Eibon had locked a powerful demon. How does
into the nitrous burrow. In only a few more yards, it joined a verita¬ ,one know this? It seems doubtful on the face of it that Eibon would have
ble warren of tunnels crisscrossing beneath the unsuspecting village Mentioned a particular relic like this in his book, simply because the Book

of Rimniath. I pressed on further to find the earth above me tangled w0Uld seem most naturally to consist of material intended for general appli¬
cation, and the mention of a particular magical weapon in his own arsenal
with thick plant roots and bits of funerary masonry. Surely I had
would have no other result than to set covetous competitors on the trail of
reached the underside of the village graveyard. And I shivered with
the thing, in short, to invite trouble. Thus it must have been an oral tradi¬
loathing to think of that unseen portal every tomb is said to have,
tion known to its inheritor Luc le Chaudronnier that connected a magic ring
and of what might pass through.
with the great sorcerer Eibon, whether correctly or incorrectly. His is the
As I approached a corner and made ready to turn it, my gorge sort of name one will borrow when trying to establish or invent a pedigree.
rose instinctively. And there greeted my stricken gaze that which Like the pope claiming Peter and Paul established his franchise.
crystallized all the unspeakable horrors of the night. For crouching This means the identification of the ring as that of Eibon is something
on the mouldy under-earth before me was a ravening ghoul ripping like the hacltth of the Prophet Muhammad. These were oral traditions of
voraciously at the flowing entrails of the late Yhok-Omi. Shaking off how the Prophet said this or did that, preserved or fabricated (as they often
my initial paresis, 1 strode boldly forward, an ozone nimbus already were) and passed down for the instruction and edification of the faithful.
beginning to form about my gesturing hand, when the carrion thing The hadith supplemented the Koran as an authority for Islamic practice. If
turned its muzzle towards me. And I knew 1 had seen this slavering a matter was not explicitly addressed (and thus settled) in scripture, then a

visage before. The tuft of beard looked too familiar, and 1 grieved convenient tradition of the Prophet s table talk might settle the question. In
time there arose the notion that Abu-bekr, the first Caliph after the
that 1 had utterly failed to forestall the hideous necrophagical
Prophet, had commissioned Zayd ibn Thabit to collect all the Prophet s rev¬
vengeance my old friend had feared. For the feasting ghoul now
elations anyone had memorized or jotted down. Thus these, too, the future
mocked me with the same piercing blue eyes as his father. ^ Surahs of the Koran, originated as oral traditions. The collection was made,
much as the Brothers Grimm covered the countryside collecting various ver¬
sions of renowned tales. But then it developed that there were various local
collections that had textual differences. So the new Caliph, Uthman,
recalled Zayd ibn Thabit and had him standardize the text. Or did he?
John Burton {The Collection of the Qur'an, 1977) has suggested that the
whole story is a scribal fiction designed to enable Muslim savants to claim
diat a particular practice they supported was not merely a matter of hearsay.
They would claim that, before the Uthmanic standardization of the Koran,
d'lere used to be a copy in So-and so’s possession that contained a verse man¬
ning their favorite practice. Just like when the preachers say, “It ain’t in
d^c Bible but it oughta be!”
If the collection of the Book of Eibon is envisioned as being at all like that
offihe Koran, we might expect the same sort of phenomenon. In the present
case, we might suspect chat Luc de Chaudronnier received the tradici0n ()p
Eibonic origin along with the ring itself and, to secure the pedigree for ^ t
relic, interpolated the present episode into a copy of the Norman French
The Demon of the Ring
Litre d'Eibon of Gaspard du Nord. The Islamic scribes could not hope tQ by Laurence J. Cornford
interpolate their invented traditions of vanished Koranic Surahs into the
canonical tcxr; it was too late for that. Cut there would obviously have been
no analogous authority structure controlling the text of the Book, of Eibon
We must suppose that, like all magic books of antiquity, it continued to
I t happened, in the Year of the Golden Rat, that 1, Eibon of Mhu
Thulan, had cause to pass through the southern lands of

receive interpolations and redactional alterations. Thus l have located it Hyperborea with the intention of spending some months in the

among the Trito-Eibonic stratum. land of Varaad where my old pupil dwelt. I was making my way

Translator Laurence J. Cornford notes curious parallelisms between among the snow-capped and pine-cloaked mountains of Nlan when

"The Demon of the Ring” and three seemingly interrelated entries in I dipped down into the valley towards the cedar-fringed lake of
Lovecraft’s Commonplace Book: "Enchanted garden where moon casts Ondoar on whose northern bank stood the town of Kozath, where 1
shadow of object or ghost invisible to human eye.” "An odd wound appears
would sojourn.
on a man’s hand suddenly & without apparent cause. Spreads.
In Kozath, late evening talk turned to the temple of Mekkaram
Consequences.” "Daemons, when desiring a human form for evil purposes,
which lay on the far side of the lake, and which was in olden days
take to themselves the bodies of hanged men.” If indeed the present episode
dedicated to the minor divinity called Zarbanoth by the people here¬
of Eibon has been woven together from these cryptic hints, we have yet
about, and by other names among the hill folk of ice-peaked Nlan.
another specimen of an intriguing phenomenon found in genuine ancient
texts: the harmonization midrash. Midrash is a way of explaining a story by It seemed that the temple was the haunt of a frightful fiend which

retelling it, embellishing it. once had stood as door warden and guardian of the temple's wealth,

When the attempted explanation is a harmonization of disparate or but which in time had grown so zealous in its task that it would not

contradictory data the result can be something like the Lilith myth. Here permit so much as a single pilgrim to cross the threshold or priest to
goes: the Seven Day creation story in Genesis chapter 1 through chapter depart, lest they should carry off some hidden trinket from the
2:2a has God create man and woman simultaneously, whereas the Garden hoard. So, year by year, bereft of both thankful worshippers and a
of Eden creation story in Genesis chapter 2:2b through chapter 3 has God fresh novitiate, the priesthood of Zarbanoth decayed into old age
create the man first, then all the animals, then finally the woman. The
and finally to death. Yet over all the lustrums since the last priest
ancient rabbis puzzled over the inconsistency. Hindered by the erroneous
expired, their star-summoned demon kept his vigil at the gate and
tradition of Mosaic authorship of Genesis, they did not consider that the two
tales came from two different sources and have nothing to do with each stalked the pillared halls.

other, simply being placed side by side by the compiler ol Genesis- This old tale had gained new currency by means of recent reports

Approaching it as a single story, their solution was ingenious. They posited of lights seen on the lakefront and of brave men who, venturing forth

the demoness Lilith as the first woman, the wife of Adam in chapter 1- She to seek the source thereof, never returned. The tale was of two-fold
was too much the feminist, though, insubordinate to Adam, so she left h'111 interest to me, for in truth wealth such as the temple might still har¬
to shack up instead with Samael the devil, and God thereafter created thc bor permits a certain leisure conducive unto higher preoccupations.
more docile Eve to replace her. Voila! "The Demon of the Ring” is a classic'
Besides, the rumored fiend itself, once tamed, might serve a man well
and ingenious case of harmonization via midrash.
in far-off icy bournes where even so great a sorcerer as I might shrivel

before the abominable blast of ultratelluric night.

Thus did 1 choose to take the long path round the lake back to
Varaad. Weeds grew on the track and hid the trail with patchy
growth, but the line of the lakefront ensured that I lost not my way.
 of the Ring 231
230 The Bookof^
The 1^1

Ondoar is a large lake and its circumference may not be traversed jn le figure collapsed into an undistinguished heap of dust and bone

the space of a single day, and so it was approaching dusk when ] 'V | rotting fibre. And from a boney finger slipped a ring, which
glimpsed, through the straight boughs of the trees, the glow of larnp jn -k the floor and rang one beautiful note before rolling a little
lit windows, I pressed on apace and soon came before the great tem ay whereat the gem weighed it down and it came to rest.
pie of Mekkaram with its stout and steel-bound doors and thick Wa||s ’[ kent down to pick up the ring, and, straightening, 1 brought it
of weathered granite inlaid with agate and beryl. Behind them I into the light. The gem was a deep and milky regal purple, yet litten
knew I should find the extensive gardens in which the silent priests by miniature flashes of intermittent opalescence. It rested in a clasp
of Zarbanoth once paced their mournful and penitent lives away. ; of gold so pure it could only have come from the goldmines of
But for what cause, I wondered, might lamps burn in this long Shamballah in the East. Impulsively 1 slipped this wondrous ring
abandoned refuge? Had some pilfering thieves heard also of the tale upon my finger to see whether it fit and was just considering remov¬
and risked the demon as a fancy? Or had, as seemed more likely, the
ing it when 1 heard the sound of footfalls upon the stone in the vault¬
demon grown frustrated at the lack of victims and set a trap to lure
ing chamber. 1 lifted my eyes, in case a figure should appear, but
hither hapless interlopers?
there was none.
1 resolved now to end the matter and pit my sorcerous powers
Then, without warning, I felt my arm tugged. Helplessly I
against this dweller from afar. Up the steps of granite lined with lead
watched the weave of my robe part and my newly revealed flesh
I went and pushed at the great portal of dark seasoned wood. At
burst into bloody lacerations. 1 gaped at the sight of mine own bright
once it yielded on surprisingly well lubricated hinges. Within I per¬
blood coursing through the air and funneling as if constrained by
ceived by the flickering light of the wind-shifting lamps that 1 stood
in a great pillared hall, whose high roof was hidden in the shadows some monstrous gullet, then spreading in a moment into the arteries

of on-coming night. Only the wind stirred the veils of Pnar-woven of vapour to vanish utterly!
silk, and within the great fastness the wide charcoal-hungry and tri¬ At once I perceived my terrible plight. 1 had designed to banish
pod-mounted braziers stood unlit, surrendering to the reign of shad¬ this star-begotten devil in the manner of the ancients of Arkya, by
ows. the use of the Seal of Yste. But to ensnare the beast in such a trap i
Cautiously, so cautiously, I stepped inside and looked with trep¬ must needs determine its location, and I lacked any of the requisite
idation from side to side, as up the central aisle I moved, past pillars powders by the which to render my nemesis visible, save only for the
of granite inlaid with jasper and copper. Towards a graven statue of yielding up of mine own life’s blood! And of this I could not spare the
a neglected god I moved, listening hard to the wind and the night copious quantities which should likely prove needful.
and the soft flapping of my sandals on the polished stone. Like the tame street cats of Uzuldaroum toying with the rodents
Zarbanoth stood ominous and cold, with eyes of sightless glint¬
of the canal docks, the beast seemed content to relieve its tedium by
ing opal. His blockish, cloven feet trapped between them a richly
talking me through the corridors and silent halls. Mayhap it fed in
wrought papal throne, and on it sat, slumped as in infinite weariness,
some nefarious way upon the dread of its prey, anticipating its attack
the cowled skeleton of an arch-priest. Around both statue and throne
moment by moment. But should I make a concerted effort to leave,
lay heaps of treasure sufficient to jade the greed of a thousand kings
would surely fall upon me with all the violence it could muster, lest
or minor gods. Zarbanoth’s great and crested back was arched ^
^ escape and its oath be broken, I paused to listen for any sound made
to suggest a creature frozen to stone in the act of snatching the priesf
bV the passing of the thing, but naught greeted my ears. At last I
from the chair, for what purpose I could only guess.
And, of a sudden, as if my mere presence had in some wise diS' br°ke the silence myself, reasoning that the thing might possess more

turbed a delicate tension holding the tenuous cadaver together, rhc dvan mere animal cunning.
 elll0n of the Ring

tilings invisible, according to ancient lore, must cast a shadow

“O demon,” I cried at last, “give up thine ancient watch! TH0
that disturbed thy rest are dead. Their treasure is bequeathed C |cr true, full moonlight.
moth and rust. Wherefore tarriest thou?” Unt The garden was uncommonly overgrown and gone to seed, its

Then spake the demon in a shrill voice that was like the singly !, sprouting fruit the divers skulls and bones of long-dead priests

of fire: “The treasure of my guarding remaineth nonetheless, and I °n | Sieves, cast here and there amid the grounds by the violent fury

cannot break faith. 1 am bound by dreadful pacts and oaths, as thou jrhe avenging demon. As 1 stepped into the moonlight, the voice of

knowest, O Eibon of Mhu Thulan. Nor remaineth any man to release lnC unwelcome companion sounded, most disconcertingly, at my
me. But thou mayest aid me, and in return I shall spare thy life.” elbow, crackling like a roaring flame. It reminded me to look
Now parlay with a daemon is a dangerous thing, for never can 2out for a rope, saying that I should doubtless need such to scale the
their word be trusted save only they be bound by some potent adju¬ warden wall. And from this I now fathomed something of the
ration such as still held this fiend in thrall. demon’s plan, for it is said of old that demons, when desiring a
“And how, O demon, am I to break so adamantine a pledge?” human form for evil purposes, take to themselves the bodies of
“It is simplicity itself, O Eibon. Choose for thyself of the treasure hanged criminals. Yet this fiend was bound to the grounds of the
that lieth about and depart with it thence from this holy ground. I temple, and so could not seek for itself such a grisly host. Thus I saw
will stand idly by, preventing thee in no wise. Then I shall have failed that by some crafty method it was the plan of the demon to end my
and be flung into the pitiless icy depths of Nastrond, by the terms of life and also break the curse, whereupon it should assume my mortal
the binding spell.” flesh like a garment in which to hide and run amok.
“How then shalt thou walk the earth henceforth?” Arriving at the outer circumference of the gardens, 1 paused and
“Alas I shall not, till again haply summoned by such a master scrutinized the ancient stonework, which had so fallen into desue¬
mage as thou, but better the frigid elder night than a purgatory of tude that a man might easily employ the jutting blocks as stepping
boredom in this accursed mausoleum.” stones in the manner of a stair, hence the utter gratuity of a rope for
The demon plainly undersold poor mortal wits, by reason,
the purpose. But 1 did mutter somewhat about the likely danger of
doubtless, of having dealt hitherto with none but credulous priests.
dislodging the precarious stones and breaking my old bones. In this
For had its vow been so easily broken, it must have done so long ere
fashion, I found piddling fault with wall after wall, except that one
now. Nor could 1 credit his penitent utterance, for no demon would
on which the moonlight shone most strongly. Now the devil’s
ever favour the Abyss of Nastrond to the warm delights of the ver¬
shadow, which was of form most unpleasant to behold, was plainly
dant Earth. But, if I may say so, 1 was not without a bit of guile of
limned upon the wall before me, though he himself appeared to find
mine own.
nothmg amiss.
Feverishly did 1 plot and plan as I took as much time as I dared
"What knowest thou of the canonical law of Zarbanoth, O
in selecting from the sacred treasury ofZarbanoth. Having at length
Eibon?” asked the demon, its great and hideous shadow passing over
both formed a plan and filled a capacious sack with rubied goblets,
me as it levitated up the wall to fix the length of rope, most oblig¬
priestly pectorals of fine electrum, and suchlike baubles, I turned to
ingly, to an overhanging tree branch.
depart, sure that the devil watched my every move with interest. BllC
"Naught do I know of Zarbanoth’s code,” 1 said, steeling myself
instead of leaving by the great columned entranceway, I made for t
against the fetid breath of the demon as I grasped the rope and began
portico opening onto the orchard garden of the priests. Here under
t0 climb. Gaining the top of the thick monastery wall, I crouched,
the bright full moon and the stars 1 trod still within the temple 5
inching over with feigned panting, and frantically worked at the
sacred ground, and thus in safety. For I had remembered from the
ancient Parchments of the venerable Pnom the opportune fact th'Jc lo,)p end of the rope.
 “The commandment of Zarbanoth is innocent of latter-day jnn^ About “The Door to Saturn”
vations such as swift and clean beheadings for thieves and profaners
but mandates rather—summary execution by hanging!"
H v ironic that the sorcerer Eibon should be introduced in his own swan
song! Smith finished this one on July 26, 1930. He had this to say con-
In an instant 1 plunged into the massy black shadow of the gar
■ ;r “This tale is one of my favorites, partly on account of its literary
den wall, letting drop the treasure sack, the which J had bound cern'n6 ’ , . . , r
,|c “ Attain, “I take out the manuscript and read it over, when 1 am too
closed with the rope intended for mine own neck. 1 plummeted clear 5° J to read anything in my book-cases!” ‘“The Door to Saturn' . . . seemed
giving forth some convincing gurgling and choking cries as J fell: inusnally successful to me in its unity of‘tone/ Probably the light ironic
then, crouching in silence, I looked up at the demon, who, satisfied couch helped to make it seem ‘unconvincing’ to Wright. ’ Thus, it appeared,
with the weight at the end of the rope, hoisted it up within the n0t in Weird Tales, but in Strange Tales, January 1932.
bounds of the temple once more. As for the tone of the story, one wonders if “light irony” truly charac-
As the thick-witted devil realized he had been tricked, he howled renzcs it. “The Door to Saturn” seems more of a broad farce. And no won¬

most fearsomely with rage, peering futilely into the dark. der “the profoundest satire is that which is directed at intolerance of all
kinds" (to HPL, December 10, 1929). And as for style, many readers will
“Treacherous Eibon,” it roared, like a furnace when the bellows
perhaps agree with one who shared his opinion with Smith: “I was told the
are at work on it, “thou hast escaped with thy life, but not with the
other day that my ‘Door to Saturn’ could be read only with a dictionary (to
treasure. I must count us even and take pleasure only from the
HPL, mid-December 1930).
knowledge that within another century thou shalt be no more.”
Though 1 put forth a different theory of the origin of the name Eibon
“Not so, O demon,” said I, stepping from my shadowy hiding
in the introduction, let me note here the possibility of Smith’s having
place and holding up my left hand so that the large purple gem of
derived it from the name of “Ebion,” the imaginary heresiarch whom church
the ring caught the light of the moon. At this the demon hissed, and fathers posited as a founder for the Ebionite sect of Jewish Christians.
1 thought of a fire quenched with water. ‘Tor 1 have taken this ring, Actually, their name, “Ebionim,” is simply the Hebrew for “the poor,” which
and claim it justly by finder’s right. What is more, 1 have escaped had become synonymous with “the pious. If the sect had a single notorious
from holy ground with a treasure, and so your binding weird is bro¬ founder, it would have to be Jesus or his brother James the Just, since the
ken also. Since, as 1 think, in truth you are the demon of this magic Ebionites seem to have been the more or less direct descendants of the

ring and thus my rightful servant, therefore get you into it.” Jerusalem Church. But could Smith have known about this? Well, he sure
knew about another early Christian “heresy, the Manichaeans, as witness
With a second shriek the demon flashed from the wall and fell
his story “The Devotee of Evil.” Smith is said to have educated himself by
feet first into the tiny confines of the ring. With yet more binding
reading through a dictionary and a set of encyclopedias!
spells I bolted its gaol and, with much snarling protest, it agreed
once more to aid the wearer of the ring at all times in the future, an
oath made on the Secret Name of Azathoth, which no fiend dare
retract. And many indeed are the sorcerous feats 1 have wrought by
means of the ring in the intervening years.
 P^rcoSatun^
Th
knowledge so awful that it could only have been brought from
J
The Door to Saturn ^ *| in" planets coeval with night and chaos.
lUt The house of Eibon was built in the form of a pentagonal tower,

by Clark Ashton Smith j possessed five stories, including the two that were underground.
in f course, had been searched with painstaking thoroughness; and
All orcoui:> ’ r- o v

W hen Morghi, the high priest of the goddess Yhoundeh

together with twelve of his most ferocious and efficient
| e three servants of Eibon had been tortured with a slow drip of
[oilinc-hot asphaltum to make them reveal their master's where-
i
abouts
rc Their continued denial of all knowledge, after a half hour of
about*- • i ■ -\T •
hJs wllS taken as proof that they were genuinely ignorant. No sign
underlings, came at morning twilight to seek the infa¬ this, w
of a subterranean passage was unearthed by delving in the walls and
mous heretic Eibon in his house of black gneiss on a headland above
the northern main, they were surprised as well as disappointed to floor of the lower rooms; though Morghi had even gone so far as to

find him absent. Their surprise was due to the fact that they hat) remove
remove the flagstones beneath an obscene image of Zhothaqquah

fully thought to take him unaware; for all their tribunals against which occupied the nethermost. This he had done with extreme

Eibon had been carried on with meticulous privacy in underground reluctance, for the squat, fur-covered god, with his bat-like features
vaults with sound-proof bolted doors; and they themselves had made and sloth-like body, was fearsomely abhorrent to the high-priest of

the long journey to his house in a single night, immediately follow¬ the elk-goddess Yhoundeh.
ing the hour of his condemnation. They were disappointed because Returning in renewed search to the highest room of Eibon s
the formidable writ of arrest, with symbolic flame-etched runes on a tower, the inquisitors were compelled to own themselves baffled.
scroll of human skin, was now useless; and because there seemed to There was nothing to be found but a few articles of furniture, a few
be no early prospect of trying out the ingenious agonies, the intri¬ antique volumes on conjuration such as might be owned by any sor¬
cately harrowing ordeals which they had devised for Eibon with such cerer, some disagreeable and gruesome paintings on rolls of ptero¬
providential forethought. dactyl parchment, and certain primitive urns and sculptures and
Morghi was especially disappointed; and the malisons which he totem-poles of the sort that Eibon had been so fond of collecting.
muttered when the emptiness of the topmost room had revealed Zhothaqquah, in one form or another, was represented in most of
itself, were of truly cabbalistic length and fearfulness. Eibon was his
these: his face even leered with a bestial somnolence from the urn-
chief rival in wizardry, and was acquiring altogether too much fame
handles; and he was to be found in half the totems (which were those
and prestige among the peoples of Mhu Thulan, that ultimate penin¬
°f sub-human tribes) along with the seal, the mammoth, the grant
sula of the Hyperborean continent. So Morghi had been glad to
tiger and the aurochs. Morghi felt that the charges against Eibon
believe certain malignant rumors concerning Eibon and to utilize*
were now substantiated beyond all remaining doubt; for surely no
them in the charges he had preferred. These rumors were, that Eibon
°ne who was not a worshipper of Zhothaqquah would care to own
was a devotee of the long-discredited heathen god Zhothaqquah,
Cv<m a single representation of this loathsome entity.
whose worship was incalculably older than man; and that Eibon 5
However, such additional evidence of guilt, no matter how sig¬
magic was drawn from his unlawful affiliation with this dark deity,
nificant or damnatory, was of small help in finding Eibon. Staring
who had come down by way of other worlds from a foreign universe,
from the windows of the topmost chamber, where the walls fell sheer
in primeval times when the earth was still no more than a steaming
morass. The power of Zhothaqquah was still feared; and it was said t0 the cliff and the cliff dropped clear on two sides to a raging sea

that those who were willing to forgo their humanity by serving hi111 f°ur hundred feet below, Morghi was driven to credit his rival with

would become the heritors of antemundane secrets, and the master5 SuPerior resources of magic. Otherwise, the man’s disappearance was
 ■ ro Saturn

altogether too much of a mystery. And Morghi had no love for , vh sonorous clang that seemed to fall from an incomputable dis-
teries, unless they were part of his own stock-in-trade. 11 e Beyond it, Morghi saw that there was neither sky nor sea nor,
He turned from the window and re-examined the room fact anything he had ever seen or heard of, or even dreamt of in
minutely careful attention. Eibon had manifestly used it as a sort of his most outrageous nightmares . . .
study: there was a writing-table of ivory, with reed-pens and various j_|e turned to his companions. The look on his face was half
colored inks in little earthen pots; and there were sheets of paper amazement, half triumph.
made from a kind of catamite, all scrabbled over with odd astronom¬ “Wait here till 1 return,” he commanded, and leapt headlong
ical and astrological calculations that caused Morghi to frown through the open panel.
because he could not understand them. On each of the five walls
there hung one of the parchment paintings, all of which seemed to II.
be the work of some aboriginal race. Their themes were blasphemous
and repellent; and Zhothaqquah figured in all of them, amid terms
T he charges that had been brought against Eibon were indeed
true. The sagacious wizard, in his long-life study of laws and
and landscapes whose abnormality and sheer uncouthness may have
agencies, both natural and supernatural, had taken account of the
been due to the half-developed technique of the primitive artists.
myths that were prevalent in Mhu Thulan regarding Zhothaqquah,
Morghi now tore them from the walls one by one, as if he suspected
and had thought it conceivably worth while to make a personal
that Eibon might in some manner be concealed behind them.
investigation of this obscure pre-human entity. He had cultivated the
The walls were now entirely bare; and Morghi considered them
acquaintance of Zhothaqquah, who, in the desuetude of his worship,
for a long time, amid the respectful silence of his underlings. A queer
was now driven to lead an existence wholly subterranean; he had
panel, high up in the south-east side above the writing-table, had
offered the prescribed prayers, had made the sacrifices that were most
been revealed by the removal of one of the paintings. Morghi’s heavy
acceptable; and the strange, sleepy little god, in return for Eibon s
brows met in a long black bar as he eyed this panel. It was conspic¬
interest and his ex-votos, had confided to him certain information
uously different from the rest of the wall, being an oval-shaped inlay
that was more than useful in the practice of the black arts. Also he
of some reddish metal that was neither gold nor copper—a metal
that displayed an obscure and fleeting fluorescence of rare colors told Eibon some autobiographical data that confirmed the popular

when one peered at it through half-shut eyelids. Cut somehow' it was legends in more explicit detail. For reasons which he did not specify,

impossible even to remember with open eyes the colors which com¬ he had come to earth in former aeons from the planet Cykranosh (the

posed this fluorescence. name by which Saturn was called in Mhu Thulan); and Cykranosh

Morghi (who, perhaps, was cleverer and more perspicacious itself had been merely a way-station in his travels from remoter

than Eibon had given him credit for being) conceived a suspicion worlds and systems. As a special reward, after years of service and

that was apparently baseless and absurd, since the wall containing burnt-offerings, he presented to Eibon a large thin oval plate of some

the panel was the outer wall of the building, and could give only on ult ra-tell uric metal, instructing him to have it fitted as a hinged

the sky and sea. Panel in an upper room of his house. The panel, if swung outward

He climbed upon the w'riting-table and struck the panel with h]S froni the wall on open air, would have the peculiar property of giv-
fist. The sensations which he felt, and the result of the blow, were lng admittance to the world Cykranosh, many million miles away in
alike astounding. A sense of icy cold so extreme that it was hardly space. According to the vague and somewhat unsatisfactory explana-
distinguishable from extreme heat ran along his hand and arm iin<^ tl°n offered by the god, this panel, being partly wrought from a kind
through his whole body as he smote the unknown reddish met^' matter which belonged to another universe than man’s, possessed
And the panel itself swung easily inward, as if on unseen hinges, wid1 ^common radiative properties that served to ally it with some
240 241
The Duok

higher dimension of space, through which the distance to astrono^ cruna into Cykranosh with an agility that was quite juvenile
chc op c
ically remote spheres was a mere step. . a wizard of mature years.
Zhothaqquah, however, warned Eibon not to make use of ^ jt was only a step; but turning he saw that all trace of the panel
panel unless in time of extreme need, as a means of escape from oth £ |llS dwelling had now disappeared. He was standing on a long
erwise inevitable danger; for it would be difficult if not impossible t0 declivity of ashen soil, down which a sluggish stream that was not
return to earth from Cykranosh—a world where Eibon might find ' but some liquescent metal resembling mercury, ran from
w a t e 1>
anything but easy to acclimate himself, since the conditions of ljfe rernendous unscalable shoulders and horns of the mountain-heights
were very different from those in Mhu Thulan, even though they did above, to debouch in a hill-surrounded lake of the same liquid. The
not involve so total an inversion of all terrene standards and norms as slope beneath him was lined with rows of peculiar objects; and he
that which prevailed in the more outlying planets. Some of could not make up his mind whether they were trees, mineral forms
Zhothaqquah’s relatives were still resident in Cykranosh and were or animal organisms, since they appeared to combine certain charac¬
worshipped by its peoples; and Zhothaqquah told Eibon the most teristics of all these. This preternatural landscape was appallingly dis¬
unpronounceable name of the most powerful of these deities, saying tinct in every detail, under a greenish-black sky that was over-arched
that it would be useful to him as a sort of pass-word if he should ever from end to end with a triple cyclopean ring of dazzling luminosity.
need to visit Cykranosh. The air was cold, and Eibon did not care for its sulphurescent odor,
The idea of a panel that would open on some remote world or the odd puckery sensation it left in his nostrils and lungs. And
impressed Eibon as being rather fantastic, not to say far-fetched; but when he took a few steps on the unattractive-looking soil, he found
he had found Zhothaqquah to be in all ways and at all times a most r K rl r UciA rKp rlicmnrprrlnp frinbilirv of ashes that have dried
veracious deity. However, he made no trial of the panel’s unique
more after being wetted with rain.
virtues, till Zhothaqquah (who maintained a close surveillance of all
He started down the slope, half-fearing that some of the equivo¬
underground doings) had warned him of the machinations of Morghi
cal objects around him would reach out their mineral boughs or arms
and the processes of ecclesiastic law that were being instituted in the
to arrest his progress. They seemed to be a kind of bluish-purple obsid¬
vaults below the temple of Yhoundeh. Knowing as he did the power
ian cacti, with limbs that ended in formidable talon-like spines, and
of these jealous bigots, Eibon decided that it would be injudicious to
heads that were altogether too elaborate for either fruits of blossoms.
the point of folly if he were to let himself fall into their hands.
They did not move as he passed among them; but he heard a faint and
Bidding a short and grateful farewell to Zhothaqquah, and collecting
singular tinkling with many modulations of tone, that preceded and
a small fardel of bread and meat and wine, he retired to his study and
followed him along the slope. Eibon received the uncomfortable idea
climbed upon the writing-table. Then, lifting aside the crude picture
that they were holding converse with each other; and were perhaps
of a scene in Cykranosh with which Zhothaqquah had inspired some
^bating what should be done with him or about him.
primeval half-human artist, he pushed open the panel it had served
However, he reached without mishap or hindrance the end of the
to conceal.
Acclivity, where terraces and ledges of decomposing trap, like a
Eibon saw that Zhothaqquah was indeed a god of his word: M
eighty stairway of elder aeons, had rimmed the sunken lake of
the scene beyond the panel was nothing that could ever find a leglC'
imate place in the topography of Mhu Thulan or of any terrescri^ hquescent metal. Wondering as to the way he should now take,

region. It did not altogether appeal to him; but there was no ^lhon stood irresolute on one of the ledges.

native, save the inquisitorial cells of the goddess Yhounde^ His train of conjecture was broken by a shadow that fell suddenly

Envisaging in thought the various refinements and complications 0 atTwart him and lay like a monstrous blot on the crumbling stone at

torture which Morghi would now have, prepared, he sprang through ^is feet. He was not prepossessed by the shadow: it was outrageously
 ro Saturn 243

defiant of all known esthetic standards; and its malformation and d|s The topsyturvy being opened its eyes a trifle more, and again

tortion were no less than extravagant. Jnooriished him, uttering the word Zhothaqquah with an indescrib-

He turned to see what manner of creature had flung the shadow [ \j[c abbreviation of vowels and thickening of consonants. Then it

This being, he perceived, was not easy to classify, with its ludicrously U ci regarding him for a while as if in doubt or cogitation. Finally

short legs, its insanely elongated arms, and its round, sleepy-looking 5 raised one of its ell-long arms from the ground and pointed along

head that was pendulous from a spherical body, as if it were turning ‘ |ie silore, where the mouth of a low valley was discernible among the

a somnambulistic somersault. But after he had studied it awhile and hills- h said distinctly the enigmatic words: “Iqkmi cllosb odbqlonqb”\
had noted its furriness and somnolent expression, he began to sec a und then, while the sorcerer was pondering the significance of this

vague though inverted likeness to the god Zhothaqquah. And unusual locution, it turned away from him and started to re-ascend

remembering how Zhothaqquah had said that the form assumed by rhe higher steps, toward a rather spacious cavern with columned

himself on earth was not altogether that which he had worn in opening, that he had not heretofore perceived. It had hardly passed

Cykranosh, Eibon now wondered if this entity were not one of from sight into the cavern, when Eibon was greeted by the high-

Zhothaqquah’s relatives. priest Morghi, who had readily followed him by this tracks in the

He was trying to recall the almost unarticulable name that had ashen soil.
been confined to him by the god as a sort of pass-word, in “Detestable sorcerer! Abominable heretic! I arrest you!” said

Cykranosh, when the owner of that unusual shadow, without seem¬ Morghi with pontifical severity.
ing to note Eibon’s presence, began a descent of the terraces and Eibon was surprised, not to say startled; but it re-assured him to

ledges toward the lake. Its locomotion was mainly on its hands, for see that Morghi was alone. He drew the sword of highly tempered

the absurd legs were not half enough for the steps it had to take. bronze which he carried, and smiled.
Arriving at the lake-edge, the creature drank of the fluid metal in a “I should advise you to moderate your language, Morghi," he

hearty and copious manner that served to convince Eibon of its god- admonished. “Also, your idea of arresting me is slightly out of place

ship; for surely no being of an inferior biologic order would quench now, since we are alone together in Cykranosh, and Mhu Thulan and

its thirst with a beverage so extraordinary. Then, re-ascending to the the temple-cells of Yhoundeh are many million miles away.”

ledge where Eibon stood, it paused and appeared to notice him for Morghi did not appear to relish this information. He scowled

the first time. and muttered:

Eibon had finally remembered the outlandish name for which he “I suppose this is some more of your damnable wizardry.”

was groping. Eibon chose to ignore the insinuation.

“Hziulquoigmnzhah,” he sought to articulate. Doubtless the “I have been conversing with one of the gods of Cykranosh, he

result was not wholly conformable to Cykranoshian rules; but Eibon said magniloquently. “The god, whose name is Hziulquoigmnzhah,

did the best he could with the vocal organs at his command. His audi' has given me a mission to perform, a message to deliver, and has indi¬

tor seemed to recognize the word, for it peered at Eibon a little less cated the direction in which I should go. I suggest that you lay aside

sleepily than before, with its inversely situated eyes; and even deigned our little mundane disagreement, and accompany me. Of course we

to utter something which sounded like an attempt to correct his pr0' could slit each other’s throats or eviscerate each other, since we are

nunciation. Eibon wondered how he was ever to learn such a language* both armed. But under the circumstances I think you will see the

or, having learned it, how he was ever to pronounce it. However, lC puerility, not to mention the sheer inutility, of such a proceeding. If

heartened him a little to find that he was understood at all. both live we may be of mutual use and assistance, in a strange

“Zhothaqquah,” he said, repeating the name three times in h|S ^orld whose problems and difficulties, if I mistake not, are worthy of
°Ur united powers.”
 \

Saturn_^2

Morghi frowned and pondered. with serrate branches that were like sheaves of darts and dag-
“Very well,” he said grudgingly, “1 consent. But J warn y0Ll t| ers of sword-blades and needles.
matters will have to take their course when we return to r Eibon and Morghi soon noticed that the road was full of large
Thulan." footprints, all of them circular in form and rimmed about with the
That,’’ rejoined Eibon, “is a contingency which need not trou ^arks of protruding claws. However, they did not communicate
ble either of us. Shall we start?” chcir misgivings to each other.
After an hour or two of progression along the yielding ashy thor¬

oughfare, amid the vegetation that was more horrent than ever with

T he two Hyperboreans had been following a defile that wound

knives and caltrops, the travelers began to remember that they were
hungry. Morghi, in haste to arrest Eibon, had not breakfasted; and
away from the lake of fluid metal among hills whose vegetation
Eibon, in his natural hurry to evade Morghi, had committed a like
thickened and grew more various as their height decreased. It was
the valley that had been indicated to the sorcerer by the topsy-turvy omission. They halted by the wayside, and the sorcerer shared his

biped. Morghi, a natural inquisitor in all senses, was plying Eibon fardel of food and wine with the priest. They ate and drank with fru¬

with questions. gality, however; since the supply was limited, and the landscape

“Who, or what, was the singular entity that disappeared in a about them was not likely to prove a source of viands that were suit¬

cavern just before I accosted you?" able for human sustenance.

That was the god Hziulquoigmnzhah." With strength and courage revived by this little refection, they

And who, pray, is this god? 1 confess that I have never heard continued their journey. They had not gone far when they overtook
of him." a remarkable monster that was plainly the originator of the numer¬
“He is the paternal uncle of Zhothaqquah.” ous footprints. It was squatting down with its armored haunches

Morghi was silent, except for a queer sound that might have toward the travelers, filling the whole road for an indeterminate dis¬
been either an interrupted sneeze or an exclamation of disgust. But tance ahead. They could see that it was possessed of a myriad short
after awhile he asked: legs; but they could form no idea of what its head and forequarters
And what is this mission of yours?" were like.
“That will be revealed in due time," answered Eibon with senten¬ Eibon and Morghi were much dismayed.
tious dignity. I am not allowed to discuss it at present. I have a mes¬ “is this another of your gods?" asked Morghi with attempted
sage from the god which I must deliver only to the proper persons.”
Morghi was unwillingly impressed. The sorcerer did not reply. But he realized that he had a reputa-
Well, I suppose you know what you are doing and where yt>u tl°o to sustain. He went boldly forward and cried out: “Hziul-
are going. Can you give me any hint as to our destination?" ejuoigmnzhah” in the most resonant bellow that he could summon,
That, too, will be revealed in due time.” the same time he drew his sword and thrust it between two plates
The hills were lapsing gently to a well-wooded plain whose flora the horny mail that covered the monster’s hindquarters.
would have been the despair of earthly botanists. Beyond the last hill* Greatly to his relief, the animal began to move and resumed its
Eibon and Morghi came to a narrow road that began abruptly and Progression along the road. The Hyperboreans followed it; and
stretched away in the distance. Eibon took the road without hosier whenever the creature slackened its pace Eibon would repeat the for¬
tion. Indeed there was little else to do, for the thickets of mineral mula which he had found so effective. Morghi was compelled to
plants and trees were rapidly becoming impenetrable. They lined the rc&ard him with a certain awe.
246 The Book of [t,^

They traveled on in this manner for several hours. The grea £,bon strode valorously forward, with Morghi following dis-

luminous triple ring still over-arched the zenith, but a strangely smu|| jer|y The torso-headed beings ceased their objurgation of the

and chilly sun had now intersected the ring and was declining towUrcj Owning monster and peered at the earth-men with expressions that
^re difficult to read on account of the odd and baffling relationship
the west of Cykranosh. The forest along the way was still a high wa||
of sharp metallic foliage, but other roads and paths and byways were 0f rheir features.
“H'ziulquoigmnzhah! Zhothaqquah!” said Eibon with oracular
now branching off from the one that the monster followed.
solemnity and sonority. Then, after a pause of hieratic length: “Iqbm
All was very silent, except for the many-footed shuffling of dyls
jjosh odhqlonqh!"
uncouth animal; and neither Hibon nor Morghi had spoken for miles
The result was indeed gratifying, and was all that could be
The high-priest was regretting more and more his rashness in pursu¬
expected even from a formula so remarkable; for the Cykranoshian
ing Eibon through the panel; and Eibon was wishing that
beings dropped their goads and bowed before the sorcerer till their
Zhothaqquah had given him the entree to a different sort of world.
featured bosoms almost touched the ground.
They were startled out of their meditations by a sudden clamor of
“[ have performed the mission, 1 have delivered the message
deep and booming voices that rose from somewhere in advance of the
given me by Hziulquoigmnzhah,” said Eibon to Morghi.
monster. It was a veritable tintamar of unhuman guttural bcllowings
and croakings, with notes that were somehow suggestive of reproof
IV.
and objurgation, like shrewish drums, as if the monster were being
scolded by a group of unimaginable entities.
F or several Cykranoshian months the two Hyperboreans were the
honored guests of this quaint and worthy and virtuous people,
“Well?” queried Morghi.
who called themselves the Bhlemphroims. Eibon had a real gift for
“All that we are destined to behold will reveal itself at the proper
languages and made progress m the local tongue far more readily
time,” said Eibon.
than Morghi. His knowledge of the customs, manners, ideas and
The forest was thinning rapidly, and the clamor of termagant
beliefs of the Bhlemphroims soon became extensive; but he found it
bellows was drawing closer. Still ensuing the hindquarters of their
a source of disillusionment as well as of illumination.
multipedal guide, which was crawling on with reluctant slowness,
The armored monster that he and Morghi had driven before
the travelers emerged in an open space, on a most singular tableau.
them so valiantly was, he learned, a domestic beast of burden that
The monster, which was plainly of a tame and harmless and stupid had strayed away from its owners amid the mineral vegetation of the
sort, was cowering before a knot of beings no larger than men, who desert lands adjoining Vhlorrh, the chief town of the Bhlemphroims.
were armed only with long-handled goads. These beings, though The genuflections with which Eibon and Morghi had been greeted
they were bipeds, and were not quite so unheard-of in their anatomic were only an expression of gratitude for the safe return of this beast,
structure as the entity which Eibon had met by the lake, were never¬ and were not, as Eibon had thought, an acknowledgment of the
theless sufficiently unusual; for their heads and bodies were appar¬ divine names and the fearsome phrase “Iqbui dlosh odhqlonqh. The
ently combined in one, and their ears, eyes, nostrils, mouths, and cer¬ being that Eibon had met by the lake was indeed the god
tain other organs of doubtful use were all arranged in a somewhat Hziulquoigmnzhah; and there were dim traditions of Zhothaqquah
unconventional grouping on their chests and abdomens. They were in certain early myths of the Bhlemphroims. But this people, it

wholly naked, and were rather dark in color, with no trace of hair on kerned, were most regrettably materialistic and had long ceased to
any of their parts or members. Behind them at a little distance were offer sacrifice and prayer to the gods; though they spoke of them

many edifices of a kind which hardly conformed to human ideas of with a sort of distant respect and with no actual blasphemy. Eibon
architectural symmetry. Tamed that the words “lqhui dlosh odhqlonqh doubtless belonged to
 a private language of the gods, which the Bhlemphroims no l0rii n endless succession of raw and boiled and roasted mushrooms, var-
understood; but which, however, was still studied by a neighborly ■cd only by the coarse and flabby meat of tame monsters. And this
people, the Ydheems, who maintained the ancient formal worship^ people, though they were always polite and respectful, did not seem
Hziulquoigmnzhah and various related deities. be greatly awed by the exhibitions of Hyperborean magic with
The Bhlemphroims were indeed a practical race, and had few jp allied Eibon and Morghi favored them; and their lamentable want of
any interests beyond the cultivation of a great variety of edible fungi religious ardor made all evangelistic endeavor a thankless task. And,
the breeding of large centipedal animals, and the propagation of their being fundamentally unimaginative, they were not even duly
own species. The latter process, as revealed to Eibon and Morghi, Was impressed by the fact that their visitors had come from a remote
somewhat unusual: though the Bhlemphroims were bisexual, only ultra-Cykranoshian world.
one female in a generation was chosen for reproductive duties; and
“I feel,” said Eibon to Morghi one day, “that the god was sadly
this female, after growing to mammoth size on food prepared from a
rnistaken in deigning to send this people a message of any sort.”
special fungus, became the mother of an entire new generation.
It was very soon after this that a large committee of the
When they had been well-initiated into the life and customs of
Bhlemphroims waited upon Eibon and Morghi and informed them
Vhlorrh, the Hyperboreans were privileged to see the future national
that after long consideration they had been selected as the fathers of
mother, called the Djhenquomh, who had now attained the requisite
the next generation and were to be married forthwith to the tribal
proportions after years of scientific nourishment. She lived in an edi¬
mother in the hope that a well-headed race of Bhlemphroims would
fice that was necessarily larger than any of the other buildings in
result from the union.
Vhlorrh, and her sole activity was the consumption of immense
Eibon and Morghi were quite overcome by the proposed eugenic
quantities of food. The sorcerer and the inquisitor were impressed,
honor. Thinking of the mountainous female they had seen, Morghi
even if not captivated, by the mountainous amplitude of her charms
was prone to remember his sacerdotal vows of celibacy and Eibon to
and by their highly novel arrangement. They were told that the male
take similar vows upon himself without delay. The inquisitor, indeed,
parent (or parents) of the forthcoming generation had not yet been
selected. was so overwhelmed as to be rendered almost speechless; but, with
rare presence of mind, the sorcerer temporized by making a few
The possession of separate heads by the Hyperboreans seemed to
lend them a remarkable biologic interest in the eyes of their hosts. queries anent the legal and social status which would be enjoyed by

The Bhlemphroims, it was learned, had not always been headless but Morghi and himself as the husbands of the Djhenquomh. And the

had reached their present physical conformation through a slow naive Bhlemphroims told him that this would be a matter of brief

course of evolution, in which the head of the archetypal concern; that after completing their marital duties the husbands were

Bhlemphroim had been merged by imperceptible degrees with the always served to the national mother in the form of ragouts and other

torso. But unlike most peoples, they did not regard their current culinary preparations.
stage of development with unqualified complacency. Indeed, their The Hyperboreans tried to conceal from their hosts the reluc¬
headlessness was a source of national regret; they deplored the tance with which they both regarded the coming honor in all its
retrenchment of nature in this regard; and the arrival of Eibon and Phases. Being as usual a master of diplomatics, Eibon went so far as
Morghi, who were looked upon as ideal exemplars of cephalic evolu¬ Co make a formal acceptance on behalf of himself and his companion,
tion, had served to quicken their eugenic sorrow. but when the delegation of Bhlemphroims had departed, he said to
The sorcerer and the inquisitor, on their part, found life rather Morghi:
dull among the Bhlemphroims after the initial quaintness and fee*' “I am more than ever convinced that the god was mistaken. We
ing of exoticism had worn off. The diet was tiresome for one thing"" ^sc leave the city of Vhlorrh with all feasible dispatch, and continue
 250 The Book of *■« ^j^oor ro Sarurn 251
-
our journey till we find a people who are worthier to receive his c0rri unjjehr but also the ring-light, and who have never yet been seen by
munication." ()1 the surface-dwellers.
an)
It did not seem to have occurred to the simple and patriot' By sunset, however, Eibon and Morghi had crossed the domains
Bhlemphroims that the fathering of their next national litter was 0f all the afore-mentioned, and had even clomb the lower scarps of
privilege that anyone would dream of rejecting. Eibon and Morghi those mountains which still divided them from the land of the
were subjected to no manner of duress or constraint, and their move ydheems. Here, on a sheltered ledge, their weariness impelled them
ments were not even watched. It was an easy matter to leave the 0 halt; and since they had now ceased to dread pursuit from the
house in which they were domiciled, when the rumbling diaphrag Bhlemphroims, they wrapped themselves more tightly in their man¬
mic snores of their hosts were ascending to the great rings of tles against the cold, after a meager supper of raw mushrooms, and
Cykranoshian moons, and follow the highway that led from Vhlorrh fell asleep.
toward the country of the Ydheems. Their slumber was disturbed by a series of cacodemoniacal

The road before them was well-marked; and the ring-light was dreams in which both thought they had been recaptured by the

almost as clear and brilliant as full day. They traveled a long distance Bhlemphroims and were forced to espouse the Djhenquomh. They
awoke shortly before dawn, from visions whose details were excruci¬
through the diversified and always unique scenery which it served to
illumine, before the rising of the sun and the consequent discovery of atingly vivid, and were more than ready to resume their ascent of the
mountains.
their departure by the Bhlemphroims. These single-minded bipeds,
The slopes and cliffs above them were desolate enough to have
it is likely, were too sorely perplexed and dumbfounded by the loss of
deterred any travelers of inferior hardihood or less cogent fears. The
guests whom they had chosen as future progenitors to even think ol
tall woods of fungi dwindled ere long to alpine size; they lessened to
following them.
forms that were no bigger than lichens; and after these, there was
The land of the Ydheems (as indicated on an earlier occasion by
nothing but black and naked stone. The wiry and slender Eibon suf¬
the Bhlemphroims) was many leagues away; and the tracts of ashen
fered no great inconvenience from the climb; but Morghi, with his
desert, of mineral cacti, of fungoid forests and high mountains inter¬
sacerdotal girth and bulk, was soon winded. Whenever he paused to
vened. The boundary of the Bhlemphroims (marked by a crude
get his breath, Eibon would say to him: “Think of the national
sculpturesque representation of the tribal mother beside the way) was
mother,” and Morghi would climb the next acclivity like an agile but
passed by the travelers before dawn.
somewhat asthmatic mountain-sheep.
And during the following day they journeyed among more than
They came at noon to a pinnacle-guarded pass from which they
one of those unusual races who diversify so widely the population ol
eould look down on the country of the Ydheems. They saw that it
Saturn. They saw the Djhibbis, that apterous and Stylitean bird-peo¬
svas a broad and fertile realm, with woods of mammoth mushrooms
ple, who roost on their individual dolomites for years at a time and
and other thallophytes that excelled in size and number those of any
meditate upon the cosmos, uttering to each other at long intervals
°ther region they had yet traversed. Even the mountain-slopes were
the mystic syllables yop, yeep, and yoop, which are said to express an more fruitful on this side, for Eibon and Morghi had not descended
unfathomed range of esoteric thought. fur when they entered a grove of enormous puff-balls and toad-stools.
And they met those flibbertigibbet pygmies, the Ephiqhs, who They were admiring the magnitude and variety of these growths,
hollow out their homes in the trunks of certain large fungi, and are ^hen they heard a thunderous noise on the mountains above them.
always having to hunt new habitations because the old ones crumble ^ he noise drew nearer, gathering to itself the roar of new thunders,
into powder in a few days. And they heard the underground croak" hibon would have prayed to Zhothaqquah, and Morghi would have
ing of that mysterious people, the Ghlonghs, who dread not only Supp[icated the goddess Yhoundeh, but unfortunately there was no
252 253
TV..poor to Saturn

time. They were caught in a mighty mass of rolling puff-balls anc| ie smaller eikons of lesser though allied deities, and a very

toppling toad-stools overthrown by the huge avalanche that hU(.| S°nient-looking idol which both Eibon and Morghi recognized as

started on the heights above; and, borne with increasing momentum ;in^in^ a resemblance to Zhothaqquah. Others of the Ydheems
with vertiginous speed and tumult amid an ever-growing heap 0p brought their household goods and furniture forth from the
shattered fungi, they finished their descent of the mountain in lCss jwellings; and, signing the Hyperboreans to accompany them, the
than a minute. whole populace began to evacuate the town.
pibon and Morghi were much mystified. And it was not until a

V nCw town had been built on the fungus-wooded plain at the distance

E ndeavoring to extricate themselves from the pile of thallophytic

0f a full day’s march, and they themselves had been installed among
che priests of the new temple, that they learned the reason of it all
debris in which they were buried, Eibon and Morghi noticed that
and the meaning of: “Iqhni dlosh odhqlouqh.” These words meant
there still seemed to be a good deal of noise, even though the
merely: “Be on your way”; and the god had addressed them to Eibon
avalanche had stopped. Also, there were other movements and heav-
as a dismissal. But the co-incidental coming of the avalanche and of
ings than their own in the pile. When they had gotten their necks
Eibon and Morghi with this purported message from the god, had
and shoulders clear, they discovered that the noise was being made
been taken by the Ydheems as a minatory injunction to remove from
by certain people who differed from their late hosts the
their present location. Thus the wholesale exodus of people with their
Bhlemphroims in possessing rudimentary heads. These people were
idols and domestic belongings.
some of the Ydheems, on one of whose towns the avalanche had
The new town was called Ghlomph, after the one that the
descended. Roofs and towers were emerging from the mass of boul¬
avalanche had buried. Here, for the remainder of their days, Eibon
ders and puff-balls; and just in front of the Hyperboreans there was
and Morghi were held in much honor; and their coming with the
a large temple-like edifice from whose blocked-up door a multitude
message *7qhui dlosh odhqlonqh” was deemed a fortunate thing, since
of the Ydheems had now tunneled their way. At sight of Eibon and
there were no more avalanches to threaten the security of Ghlomph
Morghi they suspended their labors; and the sorcerer, who had freed
himself and had made sure that all his bones and members were in its new situation remote from the mountains.
The Hyperboreans shared the increment of civic affluence and
intact, now took the opportunity to address them:
well-being resultant from this security. There was no national mother
“Harken! I have come to bring you a message from the god
among the Ydheems, who propagated themselves in a far more gen¬
Hziulquoigmnzhah. 1 have borne it faithfully on ways beset with
eral manner than the Bhlemphroims; so existence was quite safe and
many hazards and perils. In the god’s own divine language, it runs
tranquil. Eibon, at least, was really in his element; for the news which
thus: 'Iqhui dlosh odhqlouqh.’”
he brought of Zhothaqquah, who was still worshipped in this region
Since he spoke in the dialect of the Bhlemphroims, which dif¬
fered somewhat from their own, it is doubtful if the Ydheems alto¬ of Cykranosh, had enabled him to set up as a sort of minor prophet,

gether understood the first part of his utterance. But even apart from the renown which he enjoyed as the bearer of the

Hziulquoigmnzhah was their tutelary deity; and they knew the lan¬ divine message. Morghi, however, was not entirely happy: though

guage of the gods. At the words: “Iqhni dlosh odhqlouqhthere was a the Ydheems were religious, they did not carry their devotional fer¬

most remarkable resumption and increase of activity, a ceaseless run¬ vor to the point of bigotry or intolerance; so it was quite impossible

ning to and fro on the part of the Ydheems, a shouting of guttural ^ start an inquisition among them. But still there were compensa¬

orders, and a recrudescence of new heads and limbs from thc tions: the fungus-wine of the Ydheems was potent though evil-tast¬

avalanche. Those who had issued from the temple re-entered it, an^ ing; and there were females of a sort, if one were not too squeamish.
came out once more carrying a huge image of Hziulquoigmnzhah^ $o Morghi and Eibon both settled down to an ecclesiastic regimen
which, after all, was not so radically different from that of
Thulan or any other place on the planet of their birth.
Such were the various adventures, and such was the final lot 0f
this redoubtable pair in Cykranosh. But in Eibon’s tower of black
gneiss on that headland of the northern sea in Mhu Thulan, the
underlings of Morghi waited for days, neither wishing to follow the
high-priest through the magic panel nor to leave in despite of his
orders. At length they were recalled by a special dispensation from
the hierophant who had been chosen as Morghi’s temporary succes¬
sor. But the result of the whole affair was highly regrettable from the
standpoint of the hierarchy of Yhoundeh. It was universally believed
that Eibon had not only escaped by virtue of the powerful magic he
had learned from Zhothaqquah, but had made away with Morghi
into the bargain. As a consequence of this belief, the faith of
Yhoundeh declined, and there was a wide-spread revival of the dark
worship of Zhothaqquah throughout Mhu Thulan in the last cen¬
turies before the onset of the great Ice Age. ^
Book Three

Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom

'[lie PapyrLlS °1 Dark Wisdom 257

About “Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom”

by Lin Carter

T :,c third part of the Book of Eibon is entitled “Papyrus of the Dark

Wisdom/' and consists of a treatise of considerable length on theogony

(or, perhaps, “demonology1’ would be the mot juste). It discusses the hidden
origins of the earth, the creation of the first of the Old Ones, the cause of
rebellion against the Elder Gods, the war between the two groups of
divinities, the flight into this dimension of space/time by the Old Ones, and
s0 on ... a capsule history of the Elder World, no less.

That Clark Ashton Smith had intended to translate this section, in

whole or part, from the XIII century Norman-French of Gaspard du Nord,
seems evident from his inclusion of the title “Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom”
among a list of future literary projects. That he did not do so is regrettable,

but he did render one passage, consisting of seventy-six words in his slightly
abridged version, and incorporated it in his story “Ubbo-Sathla.” (The pas¬
sage which he eliminated, by the way, is marked in that story by ellipses.)

My work in translating Book HI of the Eibonic text is, as yet, unfin¬

ished. But here is the first chapter.
 f[,c ?mTliS of Dark Wisdom 259

rhe mewling prototypes of all earthly life. And all earthly life, it is
Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom cold, shall go back at last through the great cycle of time to Ubbo-
Sathla.

by Lin Carter Mow, upon remote and terribly-guarded Celaeno lie hidden
those glyph-engraved tablets of star-quarried stone which the
. . . But now I would speak of the nine ultratelluric races that have Azathoth-spawn rashly thieved from the citadel of the Elder Gods,
infested this Earth from the Prime, and the first to come voyaging
whieh was the first of their acts of rebellion against Those that had
hither were the star-headed crinoid things we call the Polar Ones,
created their progenitor: yet even those immemorial Records contain
for that they reared their monolithic cities in regions contiguous to
little concerning the source and creation of Ubbo-Sathla. But as con¬
the Austral Pole.
cerns the secret origin of this Earth they preserve a dreadful secret,
I. The Unbegotten Source rhat untold vingtillions of aeons ago, ’twas Ubbo-Sathla, very twin to

nthinkably more ancient is this Earth than we dare to Azathoth, and with Its twin brother Chaos very first of all the Old

dream, and innumerable are the marvels and the mysteries Ones whom the Gods shaped from nothingness by concentration of

of her shadowy and forgotten prime. Race upon race has Will alone, who wrested this planet from its coign.

arisen from her teeming fens, or descended upon her from beyond the It is written that among the Records stolen from the Gods were

stars, and each has reigned over the primordial Earth in its turn. But certain tablets of ultratelluric stone which, even unto this very hour,
in the flux of unmeasurable ages each has gone down at length into doth Ubbo-Sathla preserve and guard in the depths of Y’qaa, and for
the dust, and strange and terrible are the legends whispered of their the theft thereof was Ubbo-Sathla bereft of wit and reason, when the
doom. In truth, it has been writ that many are the newly-founded Gods rose up in Their wrath. It is said that these tablets are none-
cities whose foundations are reared upon the sundered shards of for¬ other than the Elder Keys, and that they are graven with the secrets
gotten cities crumbled into dust, and by the world forgot. of the power of the Gods Themselves, and that by the use merely of
Of all Earth-dwellers, none is more ancient than that frightful a single Key was Ubbo-Sathla able to cause this Earth to fall into our
abomination whose enigma is mercifully hidden from the knowledge Universe far from that unthinkably alien plane beyond the cosmos of
of men behind the name of Ubbo-Sathla, as a ghastly visage may hide matter and of time, where the Elder Gods reign and rule forever. And
its lineaments behind a mask. It is said that the Unbegotten One lay the secret of this power had the Unbcgotten One imparted to Its
wallowing in the bubbling slime of Its lair from the Beginning, as It brother Chaos, whereby were the first of the Old Ones able to flee
shall wallow at the End, and that Ubbo-Sathla is destined to be the hom rhe wrath of the Gods, and, entering this Universe, traverse its
last of all living things upon this Earth as It was the first; for Ubbo- starry abyss so that they might again join forces with Ubbo-Sathla;
Sathla is both the source and the end. Before the coming of but the Gods pursued Their rebellious servants and defeated them at
Tsathoggua or Yog-Sothoth or Cthulhu from the stars, Ubbo-Sathla ^cngth, in that conflict whereof I will hereafter speak. Yet this is the
dwelt in the steaming fens of the new-made Earth: a mass without reason why the Old Ones, although scattered afar and prisoned in far
head or members, spawning the gray formless efts of the prime, and P^ces by the Gods, have for ages sought, as they seek to this day, the
the grisly prototypes of terrene life. And though there be many of Rs Conquest and dominion of the earth, for within its depths Ubbo-
spawn that leagued with the Begotten of Azathoth in that war the Sathla guardeth the Elder Keys, whereby even the Gods may be
idiot Chaos raised against the Elder Gods, Ubbo-Sathla knoweth ^helmed and trodden down.
naught of contention nor of change, nor even of Time itself, being Thus it was that even in the dim, forgotten aeon of the Dawn, it
changeless and eternal. From the very Beginning, Ubbo-Sathla abides ts s'aid Ubbo-Sathla writhed in hideous and unceasing fecundity in
in the teeming slime-pits of gray-litten Y’qaa, ceaselessly casting-forth gray-listen Y’qaa, forever guarding the Elder Keys. And there have
 rus of Dark Wisdom 261
260 The Book of

been chose of humankind who have betimes unwisely and possibly, Eibon was hinting at some enigma concerning Ubbo-
lrnpru
dently sought to penetrate into the fastnesses of Its abode, which ,U^hla which, for whatever reason, he did not wish to discuss.
ies
Another element in the text which rather baffles me is the pre-
beneath Mount Voormithadreth in the central provinces 0f
r0le played by Ubbo-Sathla in the rebellion. If It “knows naught”
Hyperborea, to steal from Ubbo-Sathla even that which It once stole
from the Gods. V contention, then It obviously played no part in the rebellion. If
L)rlt is so, then why were the Elder Keys hidden in the gulf of Y’qaa?
Of one such, the antehuman sorcerer Haon-Dor, I have afore¬
perhaps because they were the most precious of all the thieved Elder
time writ; this mage formerly dwelt in dim boreal kingdoms whose
Records, and the Azathoth-spawn sought a well-concealed place in
very names have been forgot, and rashly did the ill-advised Haon-
Dor make his descent into the abyss of Y’qaa, where the mindless vdrnh tohide them?
And another question: if Ubbo-Sathla is “bereft of reason and of
Demiurge lay vast and swollen amidst the rolling and miasmic slime
wit” (that is, the senses), how could the entity have made use of the
and from one horrific glimpse of That which he sought, recoiled
power of the Keys to remove this planet from the universe of the
shuddering. And he abides yet beneath Voormithadreth, as doth
Gods, or possibly have “imparted” the secret of interdimensional
Ubbo-Sathla, and shuns the companionship of men and the mockery
travel to Azathoth and the others? Frankly, it makes no sense to me!
of the light of day.
Keep in mind that the text of Eibon, originally written in the
But now I would speak of the nine ultratelluric races that have
Tsath-yo language of Hyperborea, went through numerous transla¬
infested this Earth from the prime, and the first to come voyaging
tions into emerging tongues—the Kishite Recension, made shortly
thither were the star-headed crinoid things we call the Polar Ones,
after the doom of Sarnath, the Punic version, the lost Latin transla¬
for that they reared their monolithic cities in regions contiguous to
tion by Phillipus Faber, the Graeco-Bactrian, and, finally, du Nord’s
the austral pole.
own Norman-French. As with any ancient text rendered from lan¬

Translator’s Comment guage into language something gets lost in the translation, or elided,

A t first glance, at least, there seem to be certain puzzling contra¬

or omitted.
1 suspect the text of Eibon as we now have it is to one degree or
dictions in the text, one of which can easily be resolved. This is,
another corrupt and filled with omissions or scribal errors.
Eibon clearly names Ubbo-Sathla as “the Unbegotten Source,” but a
ways further on explains that the Elder Gods created the two broth¬
II. The Polar Ones
ers, Ubbo-Sathla and Azathoth by sheer willpower, concentrated
thought-waves, perhaps. But this apparent inconsistency is merely a
A billion years ago or more they came down from stars and galax¬
ies and universes remote and by us unknown, to certain regions
matter of vocabulary: “begotten” and “created” do not at all have the
about the Pole. All of the Elder World was but one limitless ocean in
same meaning. The actual meaning of the word “begotten lS
that age, and the Moon herself was but recently torn from the womb
“fathered,” and to be created out of nothingness is not the same as
of the Pacific; nascent and uninhabited was this Earth in those dim,
being fathered.
forgotten days, for the terrene life had not as yet advanced beyond
A more curious and baffling internal contradiction is that in one
mere plastic clusters of cells cast forth from the primordial Being we
place Eibon states that from the beginning (i.e., from the moment of
Call Ubbo-Sathla.
being created), Ubbo-Sathla was a witless and mindless thing, while
Weird and unearthly hybrids were these Polar Ones, sexless
in another passage he tells us that the Elder Gods destroyed Its intel'
Stmivegetable carnivores with cylindrical and pentalobular bodies,
ligence—the powers of rational thought—for Its part in the acts ()f
fofot starfish heads abristle with cilia of brilliant prismatic hues. They
rebellion. This may have been a careless slip by du Nord, or even a
^Produced by means of spores and conversed by musical pipings;
scribal error in the Graeco-Bactrian text he was working from; of’
 f Dark Wisdom 263
262 The Book of F;k
-
man-tali and claw-footed were they, with ribbed membranous wi^ perchance simply through an aloof and impersonal scientific
t!ltn ru and thus the Elder Records assert that the Polar Ones
like unto those of enormous bats, and the which beat somehow -LiflOSlty • ■ -1 1

against the very fabric of the aether itself, by which mode couldSt ■(■j ited all terrene life, either in jest or in terrible error.

they traverse even the trackless gulfs between the very stars.
Upon the oozy sea-bottoms of the Elder World they dwelt f0r III. The Elder Beings

interminable epochs, raising their colossus submarine cities of cycl0 dwelt the crinoid race undisturbed beneath the teeming
pean stone through the forced slave-labor of certain primitive life_ J^oceans of the Prime; but with the passage of millions of years the
forms which the Polar Ones had molded in their breeding-vats: f0r first dry land uprose from the deeps, and that eventuated in the
tradition credits the crinoid things of paleologean Antarctica with regions of the Austral Pole; and erelong this was followed by the
the secret of shaping and directing the evolution of life, from primal upheaval of even newer lands in the southern seas, aye, even primor¬
cellular conglomerates into the higher forms. dial iMu. And the earth shuddered in these cataclysmic convulsions of
The first entities that slithered from these vats were even those nature, and many of the eldermost of the marine cities of the Polar
frightful and abominable nightmare-things of Elder myth which the Ones were thrown down in ruin.
Pnakotic Manuscripts term shoggoths. Huge and viscous multicel¬ Two hundred fifty million years after their first advent upon this
lular creatures of black protoplasmic slime were these shoggoths of planet was the earth invaded by yet a second wave of creatures from
horrid legend, and the Polar Ones employed them for reason of their the depths of cosmic space, when a horrible race of half-polypous
vast, untiring strength and for their curious abilities to extrude and utterly alien monstrosities, who became known to the sages as
limbs and sensory organs at need from their quaking and jellied the Elder Beings, journeyed hither to this world from immeasurably
loathsomeness. distant universes, to dominate for a time the new land surfaces of the
At first were the shoggoths used as mere brutes of burden and earth and to infest three other solar planets, the which the Elder
perchance, as fragmentary records fearfully hint, for food. But the pri¬ Records leave unnamed, but surely among the which were Yaksh
mordial shoggoths as well possessed a surprising capacity for intelli¬ and Tone).
gence and for independent thought, which in the beginning went Now, these Elder Beings were only in part composed of solid
unsuspected among their Masters, whom, it would seem, had matter as we understand the term, and they were of an order of con¬
wrought more cunningly than even they knew. sciousness, of a medium of perception, and of a texture of mind vastly
The ancient records hint that all terrestrial life is the product of differing from any other terrene life-forms, then or since. They were
evolutionary forces working at pure random on the life cells created also the masters of enormous forces, and raised tremendous window¬
in the breeding-vats of the star-headed dwellers in the Austral Sea, less cities of black basaltic towers, and probed deep into the limitless
and in particular from those cells which the Polar Ones had carelessly caverns beneath the earth’s crust. So long as they remained content
or unthinkingly let escape beyond the radius of their attention, which to dominate merely the raw new land surfaces of the Elder World and
cells thereupon developed unchecked; and these things the PoIar to prey upon the newly-risen race of rugose cone-entities, they came
Ones foolishly did not notice, or if they did, held a matter of but triv¬ noi into friction with the Polar Ones, who still abode in their under-

ial consequence. SL'a cities about the Pole.

Once, however, the rampant evolution of these cellular group' But when at length the Elder Beings rashly intruded into the

ings had been brought to the attention of the star-headed beings, thc seas, contention occurred and the Polar Ones were quick to unleash

Polar Ones permitted them to continue to develop towards higher their frightful engines of destruction upon the intruders. These

and even higher levels of animal and vegetable life, for some Mechanisms channeled and directed the forces of molecular and even

unknown and unguessable reason; or if not entirely unguessubk’ atomic disruption, and thus it came to pass that the Polar Ones and
 265
264 The Book of ri,c P^py rus of Dark Wisdom

the Elder Beings battled in the inky depths of the world-ocean, anj ,nll-elastic matter, who bore their visual and manipulative organs

at length from this conflict the Polar Ones emerged the vict0rs jie termini of distensible, cylindrical members which branched

against their adversaries, who erelong chose never again to venture their apex; they conversed, after a fashion by the clicking and

into the marine realm of the star-headed ones. scraping-together of their claws, and they effected locomotion by
jlC expansion and contraction of their viscous bases.
Although these new host-bodies were of crude and primitive
IV The Great Race of Yith

E relong was this world submitted to yet a third invasion from the
anatomical complexity, they possessed rudimentary brains of enor¬
mous latent capacity and intellectual potential, and sensory organs
stars, when those enormously evolved and bodiless entities of
capable of certain modes of perception unequaled by any other of the
pure mentation called the Great Race, projected their entire race in a
primal life-forms: wherefore their eventual domination of the planet
stupendous migration of mind across the sidereal gulfs, quitting for¬
cf-emed only a matter of time.
ever that black and lightless, dying orb of Yith whereupon had they
first arisen measureless aeons earlier, and descending upon this Earth,
V The City of the Archives
usurped the bodies of those cone-headed things which had in recent
cycles evolved from the primordial slime, and upon which the Elder S ucceeding in their usurpation of the primordial land surfaces of

Beings preyed. the Elder World, the mental entities from far and fabulous Yith

The rudimentary minds of the cone-headed beings the Great constructed enormous stone cities amidst the jungles of the Triassic,

Race thrust back across the infinitude of space and time, perforce to wherefrom to extend their burgeoning empire. Greatest of these was

inhabit their own abandoned bodies on the barren surface of frigid that vast central metropolis mentioned in the Pnakotic Manuscripts

and waning Yith, lost forever in the black vastnesses of the void. as Pnakotis, the City of the Archives. This City was a prodigious sys¬

With their advent upon this planet, the Great Race warred first tem of terraced towers of dark granitic masonry, whose massive and

against those Elder Beings who shared with them the primal conti¬ monolithic walls were broken by colossal, oddly circular windows

nents, not at all caring to dwell in close proximity to those horrid latticed with metallic bars, and whose broad, flat roofs bore care¬

and windowless cities of black stone towers and turrets, and liking fully-cultivated gardens of abnormally overgrown and pallid fungi,

even less the unwholesomely carnivorous behavior of the semi-poly¬ upon the which were the host-bodies of the Yithian mind-entities

pous race, whom at length they drave down into those cavernous wont to feed.
gulfs hollowed for some unknown purpose beneath the basalt cities. These megalithic structures were divided into vast vaulted stone

The entrances thereunto the Great Race sealed with mighty slabs of chambers and their several levels were connected the one to the other

ponderous and adamantine metal: but ever thereafter did they have by the simple media of sloping ramps, since the cone-beings were not
cause to dread the eventual emergence and the horrendous constructed so as to be able to employ stairs for the purposes of
vengeance they feared the Elder Beings would someday wreak upon ascending or descending from one level to another. The titanic build¬

their conquerors, wherefore they went ever in an unholy dread of ings were themselves connected by subterranean passageways: herein

the black basaltic cities, which, with the passage of innumerable the cone-bodies of their hosts swarmed busily about their inexplica¬

millennia, lapsed to ruin, and of the sealed trapdoors which led ble tasks, for they were engaged upon curious experiments into the

down and down to unguessable regions of nighted horror far below' nature of time itself, experiments which involved a monstrous trans-

the daytime world. ferral of intelligences from the remotest of aeons and from worlds
The conoid beings whose bodies the migrant mental entities galactically distant from the earth of the Prime. The lofty stone
from Yith had possessed with their advent upon the earth were in gtomings of the vaulted chambers and the huge sloping passageways
the likeness of enormous, tapering, iridescent cones of ridged and which connected the mighty turrets bore curious curvilinear glyphs
 267

which resembled mathematical or geometrical designs, but in Sys mC|1 the advent upon the world of the abomination Cthulhu, and of
terns of weird and unthinkable alienage. yjjs dreaded spawn, the first of the Old Ones came to Earth at last.
As for the Central Archives of the Great Race, they in time came Long had Cthulhu lingered upon dim Xoth, that double star
to repose in a colossal subterranean structure builded beneath the q^t glares like the eye of green fire from the star-deeps beyond
middle portion of the City; there, in tiers of rectangular vaults, folios ^bbith of the metal brains; and there had He begotten the firstborn
of tenacious and durable cellulose fabric bore inscribed upon their md mightiest of His spawn upon the quasi-female entity Idh-yaa:
surfaces the strange annals of innumerable worlds and of aeons and now was He come down to this Earth at last, and His Sons born

beyond the numbering—the most impressive repository of Elder of that awesome and terrific mating with Him, and all of His cosmic

Wisdom this universe has ever possessed. spawn of ultratelluric cephalopods . . . down to the steaming swamps

Over uncounted millions of years, the Great Race refined the and quaking bogs and fern-forests of shadowy and primordial Mu to

intellectual organs of their host-bodies through programs of selective do war against the star-headed Polar Ones for the empire of the

breeding and by surgical means, in order to achieve new levels of Pacific. And for untold ages did they war, until at length, with nei¬

sapience and to scale new heights of abstract cognition; but ever they ther side gaining the ascendancy, for it seemed that neither held true

remained bound, by habit or by custom, to fleshly habitations of sin¬ supremacy the one over the other, a truce was made, and the lands of

gularly rudimentary cellular structure. Sexless and sporogenous, Mu were given over to the intruders and thus fell under the dread

limbed with complex tentacular systems, the conoidae that housed domination of Great Cthulhu and His awful spawn.
As for Himself, the Mighty One claimed the land of R’lyeh, and
the free intelligences from Yith were vaguely akin to the star-headed
they that serve Him ever, and who are called the Deep Ones, raised
Polar Ones—the vegetable carnivores who dwelt afar in paleogean
thereupon that stone metropolis of the Old Ones whose very name
Antarctica, against whom over the ensuing aeons the Great Race
has been a whispered legend of black terror from time s dawn to this
intermittently warred.
day. And to the firstborn of His sons, even Ghatanothoa, was
But all of these doings eventuated long before the descent of
bequeathed the volcano-shaken region of mountainous K naa,
dread Cthulhu from beyond the stars, and of the coming-hence of
wherein demon-possessed Yaddith-Gho lifts her black peaks against
His fearsome and loathly spawn.
the cold, uncaring stars. To His secondborn son, even the abomina¬
tion Ythogtha, was given all of the primal land of Yhe. And the third
VI. The Coming of Cthulhu

T he broad and teeming oceans of the Elder World, which rolled in

and last of the Spawn, Zoth-Ommog, took for his domain the Island
ol the Sacred Stone Cities, as it is called by us today.
mighty surges from pole to pole, were the unchallenged domin¬ And, as for the Polar Ones, they began to find in this epoch rea¬
ion of the Polar Ones by the waning of Earth's eldermost aeons. For sons for a gradual retreat from the ocean deeps and emerged there¬
ages past they had ruled their dim and aqueous demesne from vast from to take up new places of their abiding upon the newly-risen dry
submarine cities of cyclopean masonry, builded by the horrible shogi lands about the southern Pole. Thereupon did they uprear new stone
goths which they had molded from the primal slime, and they were oh ties to replace those eldermost metropoli which had been whelmed
for the most part content to leave the Great Race of Yith in lone and and shattered asunder in that war with the first-come of the Old
uncontested mastery of those young continents which were but Ones, in whose battlings had been unleashed frightful energies.
newly uplifted from beneath the waves; but with the arrival of the And thus it was that the earth was divided between the star-
next wave of invaders from Beyond was their age-old dominion chal' dueled Polar Ones of Antarctica, the Great Race, whose host-bodies
lenged in very truth. For there seeped down from behind the stars ^ abode in the primal jungles of Australia, and the Cthulhu-spawn,
brooding and tremendous horror which had long impended, and which held the great continent of Mu.
268

And for a time the Elder World was at peace. 0f Nan Matal, which inspired A. Merritt, who used them as part

But only for a time. 0f the setting for his remarkable scientific romance, The Moon
Pool, which Lovecraft, by the way, admired. Mount Yaddith-Gho
appears in the story “Out of the Eons, which was, as you well
The Notes
know, virtually written completely by Lovecraft. In that tale it is
1. All terrestrial life . . . Note that the second-to-last paragraph of also the haunt of Ghatanothoa.
chapter 11 states that terrestrial life was created, by accident or
The remaining chapters of the third part of the Book of Eibon are
by jest, in the breeding-vats of the Polar Ones, while only a few
in the laborious process of translation from the Norman-French
paragraphs earlier we are told that terrestrial life originated from
into English, and will in time, 1 trust, appear in print. Hopefully,
Ubbo-Sathla. 1 know of no means to reconcile these different
in the not-too-distant future, the entire text of “Papyrus of the
statements which occur, as it were, virtually side by side in the
Dark Wisdom” will be published, perhaps in pamphlet form. *
same text.
The text at times seems almost hopelessly corrupt—proba¬
bly due to having been copied and recopied by scribe alter scribe.
Errors creep into the text of such ancient works which are and
must be reproduced by hand in the days before the happy inven¬
tion of the printing press . . . and we must remember that the
Book of Eibon has been copied and recopied since the beginnings
of the Ice Age.

2. That Lovecraft had access to portions of this material seems

unquestionable—perhaps in hastily-translated versions, since
lost, or a rather copious digest of the Norman-French text in
Smith's hand, also unfortunately lost—for much of this informa¬
tion regarding the Great Race and the Polar Ones (Lovecraft—■
or, perhaps, his editors—calls them the “Old Ones”) appears,
almost word for word in places, in such of his stories as “The
Shadow out of Time” and At the Mountains of Madness.

3. UItratelluric cephalopods; Deep Ones. 1 have not the slightest idea

what these “cosmic octopi” were, and they are barely mentioned
in Lovecraft’s stories. They do not seem to have been the Deep
Ones, for that race ol minions were fish like and toadlike, not at
all octopoidal, and 1 have never found anywhere the slightest
whisper of a suggestion that the Deep Ones originated elsewhere*
than on this world.

4. Sacred Stone Cities. Professor Harold Hadley Copeland, in more

than one of his books, identifies this otherwise-unknown place
with the Pacific island ol Ponape, famous for its megalithic ruins
 Book Four

Psalms of the Silent

 |
it'!
C Jark Ashton Smith cells us char che Book of Eibon is a collection of,
among other matters, "baleful myths and liturgies." Myths, of course,
re stories, and the bulk of the Book of Eibon as presented here is narrative in
Cut there must be liturgical material, or ours cannot claim to be the
ljrre d'Eibon. Liturgy is, of course, ritual. Liturgical texts are the scripts and
rubrics of worship. The Anglican Book of Common Prayer is a worship book,

@ collection of liturgy. So is the Sama Veda. Such repositories contain chants

of invocation, i.e., formulae intended to attract the attention of divine pow¬
ers, as well as tried-&-true petitions to persuade the divine to do one’s bid¬
ding. Usually the suppliant will recount the past deeds of the god so as to
hotter him up and incline him to be similarly magnanimous in the present
case. There will be prayers for various occasions, as well as charms and even
hexes on one’s enemies or rivals. The Book of Psalms and the Vedas contain
materials of this type. So do magical grimoires, which constitute but a vari¬
ation on the same theme. Thus it is a safe bet that Eibon’s book would have
contained traditional hymns of praise as well as magic incantations. Keep in
mind that Eibon was a worshipper ofTsathoggua and the Old Ones, not just
a clever thaumaturge seeking to manipulate hidden powers for selfish ends.
The hymns included here are addressed to uniquely Klarkash-Tonian deities,
those appearing in Smith's stories, as well as those he supplied in his
genealogical chart of the Old Ones.

Our “translators" of the Eibonic lyrics include three of the most gifted
poets in the Lovecraft-Smith tradition, Richard L. Tierney, Michael Fantina,
and Ann K. Schwader. And of course, I have borrowed the title “Psalms of
die Silent” from the master mage Thomas Ligotti.
 Possess our foes with terrors thanatopic
And draw their shrieking souls down from the light
Petition: To Tsathoggua Into eternal night

by Richard L. Tierney To pine for aye in silence nyctalopic. ¥

All Praise to thee, Tsathoggua, dark lord

Of darksome realms! Before thine ebon throne
Lost wraiths bewail their fate
With many an echoing groan
And wander sightless through the frightful glooms
Of sub-Eiglophian caves. Thou didst reward
Their unrepentant insolence, displayed
Before thy toadlike templed eidolons,
With monstrous dooms.
From them thy vengeance was not stayed,
Nor shall their horrid punishments abate
Till all the peaks of high Voormithadreth
Are ground to grit in icy eschatons.

O lord of foulsome life and fearsome death,

To thee our fealty
Repays thy gift of necromantic arts
With offerings of red and pulsing hearts
Given in thanks on thine ensanguined altar;
And, to avenge all crass impiety,
Our serpent-venomed dirks will never falter.

Now hear our plea,

O lord of black encaverned spaces,
Whose jet-dark orbs, though night-enmired, yet see
Into all secret subterranean places,
And whose black-furred, bat-subtle ears
Detect the faintest sound
Of all who plot in chambers underground:
Fulfill our hopes, allay our direst fears.
Grant us the gift of swift nocturnal stealth;
Reveal to us each hidden jeweled hoard
Of kingly wealth;
And most of all, Dark Lord,
 277
276

To Atlach-Nacha
by Richard L. Tierney

In hellward realms wherein all hope expires The Prayer of Yzduggor

Beyond the reach of noontide’s brightest ray,
In caverns carved by ancient igneous fires
Beneath Eiglophian mountains bleak and grim,
the Apostate
The ebon-bodied Spider-God holds sway by Richard L. Tierney
And spins from rim to rim,
Athwart a chasm vast and bottomless, O great Zvilpogghua, dark overlord
His endless web of raddled bands Of worlds that circle Algol’s greenish glare,
Like to the tangled woof of dooms decreed Hear now the wretched plea
For all who moil in mortal pointlessness Of thy most all-repentant apostate:
And clutching, mundane greed. O Feaster from the far Persean stars,
Withdraw thy withering hate,
O Atlach-Nacha, sapient Lord of Fate,
Beneath thy taut-stretched trembling strands And grant thy pardon unto me
That I into thy fold might be restored
Dark dooms await
And know again the feasts I once did share
Where gape those black, submundane hells
Gathered with thine adoring acolytes
Down which, with dreadful shrieks,
To sacrifice with rune-graved scimitars
Plunge multitudes of souls whose proud desires
At thy crepuscular conventacles.
Enthralled them to thy luring spells
O unforgiving son of dark Tsathoggua,
And drew them down beneath the frowning peaks
Forgive thy slave who didst thy trust betray.
And towering needle-spires
Let him again, O dread Zvilpogghua,
Into thy darksome, deadly regions;
Share in thy worship’s ardent, dark delights.
To thee they swarmed with greedy, grasping hands
Grant this, Black Lord, and I thee will repay
In foredoomed lemming-legions.
With human victims lured most subtilely
Spin on eternally, O Spider-King Unto thy throne by spells of sorcery
Destined to weave thy webs of Destiny To be devoured in thy dark tentacles. &
O’er sullen gulfs sub-Hyperborean,
Till all Earth’s souls, of every land and sea
From Mhu-Thulan to isles Antillian,
Are drawn into thy strands and feel thy deadly sting. #
 The Appeasement of Ghizguth
by Richard L. Tierney
Prayer to Lord Yok-Zothoth
In sub-Yuggothian caverns cold and black
by Richard L. Tierney
Dwells hideous Ghizguth, cosmic wanderer
Who in lost aeons raged across the voids,
O Cosmic Sire in realms beyond the skies,
Leaving within his wake the flaming wrack
All-consecrated be thine appellation.
Of shattered suns and crumbling planetoids.
Let soon arrive thy reign,
To Yuggoth he did plunge on night-black vanes,
Let all be subject to thine ordination
Where to this day he dwells and darkly reigns
On this dull sphere as in thine own dimension.
In caves where sentient vapors shift and stir
Grant us our sustenance at each nocturnal feast,
Like spectral wraiths raised up to do his will.
And stay thy wrath at our inept offences
And now, his wrathful urges to defer,
Whenas our blades we fail to stain
His fungoid, crablike minions chant and shrill,
With blood of those who once have thee offended.
Offering many a dreadful sacrifice
Draw not our souls down perilous paths alluring,
With frantic rituals dark and sinister
But rescue us from enemies malefic,
Before his hulking form on its black dais.
For thou dost rule in cosmic empery,
In vast puissance and fulsome fulgury, O Mighty Ghizguth, black Tsathoggua’s sire,
Through endless kalpas evermore enduring. 1, Eibon, terrene wizard, give to thee
la! Wgah'naglfhtagn! Victims awrithe within thine altar’s fire
That thou might stay awhile the devastation
Which thou hast strewn across eternity
On worlds whose scorn drew down thine indignation. ^
280 281
_The Book oT&!^ | _

The Unresponding Gods

(from the Fragmentary “Genealogies of
The Summoning of Pharol pnom” Preserved by the Wizard Eibon)
by Richard L. Tierney by Richard L. Tierney

Pharol, black demon of trans-terrene spheres,

Hark to the rune of Pnom, mage of past ages
Of ultra-cosmic gulfs that lie beyond
Vanished in mists of dim antiquity,
The suns and worlds of mundane, angled space,
Who, on his lost tome’s dragon-vellum pages,
I summon thee by dark Pnakotic rites
First chronicled how all things came to be:
From whatsoever sun or alien world
How that mad AZATHOTH, vast Lord of All,
Wherein thou currently dost hap to dwell,
Burst from the bonds of virtuality,
Whether in Ares, Yaksh or Cykranosh,
Causing the myriad motes ephemeral,
Or ev’n transstellar Yith, Xiccarph or Tond.
Unspaced, unformed and ante-temporal,
Then, when within my pentacle appears
To fall from their sublime and rightful state
The flame-limned lineaments of thy dark face
Into the durant Chaos that we know.
Ascowl with menacing cycloptic eye,
Thus Azathoth begat the expanding gulfs
Seek not with frightful mind-deluding spell
Of sable spaces that enshroud the suns,
Nor gnashing fangs and threatening serpent-arms
And, too, the motes which do those suns compose
Nor sensual, distracting dream-delights,
And swirl to form the worlds innumerable
To swerve me from my gnosis-seeking course.
But know, O Pharol, that no information Whereon the simmering pits of life begin

Would 1 of thee by thaumaturgic force To foam, birthing all beings that breed and moil

Extort with either Yggrr incantation In the unending stews of strife and pain.
Or Scarlet Sign—save with extreme regret. Some chant to Azathoth their litanies;
For thou and J, Black Demon, share the strange, The Idiot Lord of All ignores their pleas.
Fell destiny of all who wend their way
Now, while this new unbounded Universe
With willful course inexorably set
Sundered to clusters of vast starry swirls,
(Without approval of the Elder Ones
Each swirl a swarm of myriads of suns,
Who over this vast universe hold sway)
The Idiot God, by likewise fissioning,
For the black gulfs that separate the suns
Dissolved into uncounted entities,
To seek those darkling worlds wherein lie hidden
Each one a sole, supreme and sovereign Lord
The ancient secrets gods have long forbidden. ^
O’er one such cluster. That which rules our own
Is known as CXAXUKLUTH, the monstrous Thing
That spawns in plastic androgynity,
Gobbling its self-birthed monstrous progeny
282 Putins of the Silent 283
_The Book °£Hib^

As much as it is able, though some few

Win free to breed fell monsters of their own.
Some fools to Cxaxukluth presume to pray;
The Lord of Suns hears not the ass’s bray.

Down from the swirling clouds of cosmic space

Settled the pulvous motes of latent life
Into the steaming seas of new-formed worlds
To stew and swell and hideously coalesce.
Thus monstrous UBBO-SATHLA came to be,
Spawning its efts in primal seas terrene
Empalled beneath volcano-blackened skies.
The House of Haon-Dor
Then did begin the frightful upward climb
by Richard L. Tierney
Through strife and pain to the complexity
Of all the milling, warring forms of life
Beneath black peaks, upon the farther shore
That swarm upon the dermis of this world;
Of that vast cleft o’er which the Spider-Lord
While Ubbo-Sathla, shrunken now, lies hid
Spins his eternal web, stands the abhorred
Within the deepest pits far underneath
Basilica of a dark mage of yore—
The black Eiglophian peaks, where still it breeds
The thousand-columned house of Haon-Dor.
And swallows its abominable spawn.
Here a huge, mottled serpent lurks to ward
Men know it now as Abhoth the Unclean,
’Gainst those who would encroach with spell or sword
The pulsing remnant of terrestrial birth,
To plunder archives of archaean lore.
Who one day will, in dim futurity,
Expand and re-engulf its far-flung brood Silent and strange, those gray unechoing halls
In seas beneath the red and dying sun. Hewn from the stone of Earth’s most ancient past
Some offer Ubbo-Sathla prayer and praise; Where faceless forms of smoke drift to and fro
The Source of Life pursues its mindless ways. $£ And monstrous statues loom along the walls,
Limned by the eerie, icy lights that glow
Starlike from the shadowed ceilings high and vast. ^
 l^jlms of the Silent 285

The Dark Sorcerer

by Richard L. Tierney The Contemplative God
by Richard L. Tierney
Rash climbers of Eiglophian steeps,
Beware the bale of Haon-Dor
If to the planet Cykranosh you stray
Who lives within the mountain’s core
Look out for pouty Hziulquoigmnzhah,
Where deathless evil never sleeps.
Bachelor uncle of Tsathoggua,
A chill of horror stalks those halls Who sucks his sustenance from lakes of gray
Where dwells the centuried sorcerer Metallic fluid, whence a rippling play
As in a nighted sepulchre Of light from alien skies refluctant falls
A deathly gloom forever palls. Upon the columns of his caverned fane.
And if, O Traveler, you’ve half a brain,
In ebon shroud and cowl he stands
You’ll not presume to linger there and pray
On his high dais empentacled,
Nor hang around and pass the time of day.
While monsters clawed and tentacled
For Hziul from godship long ago withdrew
Abase themselves at his commands.
Within his cave to contemplate and brood
Leering from walls of seamless stone, And sip at times his liquid metal brew.
A thousand demons bow before Of worshippers he long ago grew weary,
The sable form of Haon-Dor So on his ponderings do not intrude
Hunched on his high, five-pillared throne. Nor breach his philosophic solitude.
If you are lucky, he will merely view
And now from out the caverned gloom
Your bold presumption with his toad-eyes bleary,
Of towering Mount Voormithadreth
Extend his ell-long arm and gruffly say:
He sends dark messengers of death
u I q/a dlosb odhqlonqh—Be on your way!”
To blight the lands with fright and doom. &
 alflis of the Silent 287

The Door to Cykranosh

or, Eibon’s Lament
by Richard L. Tierney

He who has passed the trans-tellurian Gate Hyperborea;

Consigns himself to an unearthly fate.
Though he may yearn for Earth’s cerulean skies, or, Eibon’s Prophecy
He’ll pass his latter years
Where arching rings and alien moons arise
by Richard L. Tierney
’Neath skies of dusky green.
O Hyperborea, thy sorcerous mysteries
He who would venture to Saturnian space Are fated to remain past thine allotted time,
Must pass his days with many an alien race, And bards shall celebrate thy fame in song and rhyme,
Nor think to venture homeward once again. Chanting the vanished splendors of thy legendries.
’Neath skies where Titan leers, Then shall thy high-spired cities lie beneath cold seas—
He’ll cross the crystal-cluttered fungoid plain Cerngoth, Leqquan, tail-towered Oggon-Zhai sublime,
That guards the Ghlonghs’ demesne. Whence broad-sailed barques once ventured forth to every clime
From Muvian shores to far and fair Antillian keys.
He who has trod the threshold of that Door
Can never tread again an earthly shore. Few shall recall those austral, lush Riphean Hills
Though he may pine forever to return, North of whose slopes Commoriom in vine-clutched death
Truth shall confirm his fears: Slumbers for aye, nor grim and dark Voormithadreth,
’Neath alien skies for aye must he sojourn King of the high Eiglophian peaks, whence icy rills
With villagers Vhlorrhene. Once flowed through caverns black where now the Old Ones lie,
Awaiting that new Day when even death may die. ^
He who to Cykranosh would rashly stray
Will learn that he cannot retrace his way,
Neither with prayer nor thaumaturgic spell.
In lieu of human peers,
With Ydheems and with Djibbis he must dwell
Far from all scenes terrene.
288 of rhe Silent 2S9
The Book of Eib0 pvt I ins

Ycnagnnisssz
The Minions of Zstylzhemgni by Richard L. Tierney
by Richard L. Tierney
From sunless cosmoses beyond our own,
Madly and blackly fissioning he comes—
Mistress of Ghizguth, Matriarch of Swarms—
Ycnagnnisssz, foul Lord of realms unknown,
Zstylzhemgni, Queen of all teeming things
Coeval peer of fearsome Azathoth
That scuttle, sting and creep
Who conjures Chaos with the sound of drums.
in all their myriad, multi-legged forms,
Like burrowing worms that subtly glide and slip
i pray to thee with mighty conjurings
'Twixt subterranean caves that vastly gape,
And bid thee loose from out thy nether keep,
He doth from his vast umbrous gulfs traverse
Like ashes belched from vast volcanic peaks,
That alien Gate which is the dark star Zoth,
Thy horrid swarming legions.
Whose massiveness so warps the grain of space
Send them in all their buzzing billions forth
That light itself is helpless to escape
From out the torrid tropic regions
Its unrelenting and malefic grip,
into the insolent kingdoms of the north,
And bursts into our star-strewn universe,
Whining across the skies on rasping wings
Spewing his spawn in fell fecundity.
in sun-obscuring, crop-devouring hordes.
No mortal eye may gaze upon his face
Then shall my vengeful soul know full delight
Nor glimpse his foulness madly fissioning,
To hear those fearful shrieks
Save at the price of sight and sanity.
As all my foes—serfs, villeins, squires and lords—
Expire in dreadful frenzy, pain and fright, Whisper the name YCNAGNNISSSZ in fear
Writhing beneath thy minions’ myriad stings! $ And shield thyself with pentacle and ring,
But do not pray to him—lest he should hear. ^
 of the Silent

Ubbo-Sathla
by Michael Fantina

Back to the source, beyond the starry void;

The end of all is once more born again,
Azathoth
Enigmatical, past all mortal ken, by Michael Fantina
All that once was is once again destroyed.
Ubbo-Sathla, within the frothing steam, Then in the dimmest waning galaxies,
Squats near the stone-hewn tablets which retell Outside of space-time's furthest, blackest marge,
The heavings of the cosmic cycles' swell Your birth was as a novaed sun, writ large,
Of each uncharted star and lost demesne. To burn away all petty hopes, and freeze
With terror unborn Man upon this land.
Back down the ancient years the cycles race,
And when you came did not the awful scent
Back to the source, to him within the prime,
Of death rise up from that great continent,
Whose bale the dust of years cannot efface;
All now a riven world, Gondwannaland?
His pallid efts cull back each age, all Time!
Now is there strength or a more bitter gall
Ubbo-Sathla, the idiotic scourge,
Than knowledge of your realm in moiling dream,
The mindless deity, the demiurge.
Enthroned athwart the universe supreme,
You, the unseen flint-hearted seneschal?
While through the eons, like some mantic lynx,
Grown glutted with the gore of wizards slain,
Your potent evil now to wax, to wane,
But always with the mercy of the Sphinx!
When with the blood of innocence, the names
Of gods are writ upon the darkling scroll,
None will stand beyond your night-black toll
Of screaming terror in the yellow flames.
1, your unwilling servant, mull the wine;
With feeble hands I bear the pewter cup
To pale and trembling lips. 1 drink it up
And pray that death may be my anodyne! 0
 That black Tsathoggua was forgot,
As though poured down some dark abyss
Tsathoggua Where both god and memory rot.
The dead mage grew in height and breadth
by Michael Fantina
His eyes they shone like glowing coals,
The night wind ceased as still as death;
1 raised an antique mage one eve,
He spoke as mighty thunder rolls.
When night had fallen and the moon
“O Fool, you cannot see the sky
Threw down its light beneath the eavc;
Or hear the dark seas’ crashing roar.
There J half fainted in a swoon.
O Eibon, you should rather die
For 1 had called one long, long dead,
Than learn this truth, this arcane lore:
Who was a sorcerer supreme,
That grim Tsathoggua reigns supreme,
One who extracted gold from lead;
His tithing takes a heavy toll,
I called him from the dark extreme.
The blood of war does thus redeem
For dark Tsathoggua was his lord
His wasted temples pole to pole.
And he his final acolyte
Jn mass connivings, murder, rape,
Who offered incense and adored
The groans beneath the iron rod,
The old god now long recondite.
Cannot you see that hulking shape
The mage’s ghost was silver-hued,
Profane Tsathoggua, frog-eyed godC’
His garments of an uncouth cast;
J banished him with spells obscure
I saw his swimming eyes where brewed
And quenched the brazier's rising fumes,
Fantastic worlds from out the Past.
Laved conjure lines from off the floor,
I saw within those eyes the god,
And brooded on half-fathomed dooms.
Obscene Tsathoggua in his fane,
J, Eibon, tell this arcane tale
And tides of men who strangely trod
The paves and chanted songs profane.
1 saw for him that thousands died,
That women were his willing thralls,
That seas of blood, dark tide on tide,
Poured from his altars through the halls.
Now for twelve thousand years 1 knew
That all his fanes were empty, dead,
That only the late morning dew
Adorned his statues cast in lead.
The jungle had reclaimed the fanes
Of grim Tsathoggua and his fame;
Now kings and princes and rude swains
Avoided them, choked back his name.
J asked the dead mage why was this,
 Rede of the Gray Weavers
(Fragment)
by Ann K. Schwader

Rlim Shaikorth Fold down thy limbs & tremble, fellows ofTch'tkaa!

by Michael Fantina O clever weavers of Abyss who follow

That winding wyrd of web and pounce and prey,
Fantastical white death swept from the North, Who suck soul-marrow from thy enemies,
From that strange mythic pallid berg of yore, Who vault above the void of dying stars,
Bleak ice home, Yikilth, curse of sea and shore, Abase yourselves!
Captained by the being Rlim Shaikorth.
For all your fine-wrought weavings are as nothing
Dispatching life itself, the race of Man;
Before the glyph-web spun of Atlach-Nacha,
Southward came the iceberg, the being known
Voormithadreth’s dark dweller in the gulf
To none save his thralled sorcerers alone;
Who strains this writhing world between his strands
His quest, the death of all in Mhu Thulan.
Of adamantine law & ancient night.
The bloated monster spewed his icy breath
Recall that star-bridge strung from Cykranosh
To Northern lands and then to fairer climes,
Which Atlach-Nacha wove to bear the bulk
To make the earth one huge ice realm of death.
Of Lord Tsathoggua when They came
Evagh, it was, who slit the monster’s side;
In elder aeons—how the Voormis shrieked
1, Eibon, record it now with these rhymes,
To see that spangled scar across their sky!
Sing of Evagh, and how the monster died. $
Consider how in Voormith’s sunlost depths
The final pattern of this earth’s demise
Is worked in subtle silks hung thick with skulls:
So end as merest husks all heretic
Intruders on His dread & holy toil . . . ^
296 if the Silent 297

Mhu Thulanese Invocation

to Abhoth
by Ann K. Schwader Voormi Hymn of Deliverance
Hear us now, horror-sire hideous mother by Ann K. Schwader
Of twisted unwholesomeness laired under Voormith
Filth-spawning vortex of all this world’s foulness Hail to thee, Sfatlicllp! Great Mother-Sister
Endless eruptor esurient parent Who shared with us the primal seed of stars,
Hark to your children crept out of shadow Who lent Thy holy body to our cause,
Oast into chasms corrupted with daylight! Bestowing thus upon us one who raged
Insatiate & ravening as flame
Yours is no lately-born blight on this planet
Through all the proud streets ofCommoriom!
Blasted by purity marred with perfection
In mighty & small creatures sickening symmetry Hail to Thy spawn, Sfatlicllp Avenger
False to the Dark Truth of death & despair: Who tumbled down those jungle-vaunting walls,
Great native canker from Earth’s first convulsions Who shattered human spires of arrogance,
Flawing her countenance scarring that sweet clay. & fed Thy children well on their pale flesh
When tempest-like Thou drove them forth in hordes
Ancient you were when Haon-Dor sorcerer
To die lamenting in the wilderness!
Sought out the star-quarried secrets of'Sathla,
Impious plunderer plucking at treasures Hail to Thy might, O Sfatlicllp Merciful
Torn from the Elder Ones' ominous holiness . . . Who lurketh in Eiglophian murk forever,
Ancient you waited for wisdom to waste him Who nurtureth Thy folk in high wild places
Doom him to dwell in your deep fane forever! As cubs unto the sanguine saber-tooth!
Preserve in us Thy sure & Protean puissance,
Grant us, Supreme Spoiler Snarler of All Clews
Victory utterly over vain enemies
Serpent-sleek mockers of us Your flesh mirrors
Faithful in limb as in spirit—deliver them
Into lost places of pain never-ceasing,
Recast their images into Your eidolon.
 The Supplication
of Cxaxukluth
by Robert M. Price

O brethren of the endless night,

join your voices in praise of Holy Cxaxukluth,
He who is most Terrible to behold,
She whose countenance no flesh may look upon.
Sing of the deeds of the Father-Mother
the glories of Vach and Viraj,
who has brought forth Tulu and Ghizguth
before whom molten suns are naught! Book Five
In days of old, the Elder Night,
did Cxaxukluth come forth
from the Chaos storm that rageth The Eibonic Rituals
At the unsuspected heart of All.
Like the comet which lighteth the night
and the hammer of heaven
which descending in great flame,
shaketh the mountains in its advent!

O Cxaxukluth, Aion of Aions,

Thou who lieth upon the breast of the Daemon Sultan,
Thou art even like unto the viper coiled in the fountain
who poisoneth all that issueth therefrom
to strangle the hapless sons of men.
Remember us, Thy children,
for whom thy direst poison is the sweetest milk,
and bring swift doom upon our enemies. &
 gibonic Rituals 301
T i'-

About “The Eibonic Rituals”

O mage, the spells sec forth herein represent those to which reference is
made in the various tales in the earlier portions of the Liber bonis, for
rtjy Eibon mentioned them in the episodes in order to provide counsel on
their dangers and proper uses. So if a reference to this or that soul-shrivel-
jnl, spell intrigues you, in most cases you can page over to this section and
-jonsulr the blasphemous rubrics themselves.

We need scarcely add the caveat that no attempt to work the spells will
avail aught, since, as Origen explained long ago (Contra Celsmn 1:25), texts
of sorcery, being unique constellations of sonic vibrations, function only in
their original languages. If the incantations are spoken forth in translation,
die tumblers of the dimensional gates will not be spun. Here is a case of “the
heresy of paraphrase" if there ever was one. Sorcery is a case of sound, not
sense. The same basic logic explains why the Koran is no longer the Word
of God once you translate it from Arabic. This is why the evangelist Mark,
writing his gospel in Greek, nonetheless includes Jesus’ healing words in the
original Aramaic (Ephj) hatha, “Be opened!" in Mark 7:34; Talitha at mi,
“Little maiden, rise up!” in Mark 5:41). Otherwise the enterprising reader
would not be able to use them in his own healing practice!

The Tenderers of Eibon’s magic spells are Joseph S. Pulver, truly a wiz¬
ard with words, and Stephen Sennitt, a practicing occultist and magician
himself. The various sigils and diagrams are the work of Tom Brown, an
artist inspired like unto Bezalel and Oholiab (Exodus 31:1—6).
 The Disgorging of the Pit
by Stephen Sennitt

Hoe Necromancer stands over a freshly exhumed corpse which he hath

/tj^he ham
f prepared by Fashions and Designs of the Sacred Arte.)

Thee J invoke, Deathless One.

Thee that did depart the Earth for the Heavens and the Hells.
Thee that did quit the Day for Night.
Thou art the Sacred Star Returning!
Thou art the Master of All Good and Evil.
Thou art the Knower of All Things Hidden and in Plain Sight.

He who knoweth the Just and the Unjust.

He who hath distinguished the Truth in Matter and the Truth in
Motion.
He who hath rent the Veil.
He who hath seen Strange Aeons wane,
So that Death itself may die!

(The Necromancer taketh the Head Part of the corpse he hath exhumed and
maketh upon it the Mark of the Master, whereby the vessel for His Exalted
Spirit be created.)

By the Whirling Air!

The Rushing Fire!
I draw ye forth, O Master!

By the Raging Sea!

The Crawling Earth!
1 draw ye forth, O Master!

By the Indwelling Sun of Spirit!

I draw ye forth, O Master.
By the Dwellers Beyond the Spirit’s Rim!
I draw ye forth, O Master!

Ruler and Helper—Hear me.

Lord and Instructor—Speak Thee!
304

(The incantation spoken, the Great Master will return from Outside to
mate the chosen vessel and expound upon many secret things, whereby tL
Necromancer becometh much Enlightened.) $

The Yggrr Incantation

by Stephen Sennitt

O Spirit (naming the Spirit), Thou who art not only Inimical but
Disobedient, I curse Ye by the Name of Terrible YGGRR, by
virtue of whose being I have called Ye forth to do my bid¬
ding! If thou dost not comply with my very wishes, coming forth and
showing thyself, submissive and in peace, I will direct thy Great
Master YGGRR, whose solemn and binding pact i have signed, to
consign thee to the Lowest Depths of His Eternal Abyss, bound in
chains of fire until the Day of Great Cthulhu Himself is come!
Appear Spirit (-)! Come now, or suffer the wrath of YGGRR the
Terrible! *
 The Execrations of Glorgne
The Adjuration of Pnom
by Stephen Sennitt
by Stephen Sennitt
By the Terror of Night and the Pitiless Light.
By the Shadow of Death and the Drowning Breath.
By the Ravens of Fright and the Adders of Blight.
B y the sacred name of Great Pnom, 1 curse ye Foul Fiend and
command thee to depart this place. By the sacred sword of
By the Sins of Seth and the Abortions of Beth. PNOM, he who rended the Verminous Scurriers of the Abyss
asunder, I have been Blessed and Ordained, and by my words do slice
I curse ye in the Name of GLORGNE,
and tear at your very marrow! And my curses issue from the same
That thou shalt be found dead before the morn.
mouth, that of the mighty PNOM, whose warrior cries blasted the
I curse ye in the Demon’s Name,
soulless legions of the Abyss, setting them to fear and trembling!
That before first light ye shall be slain.
And my eyes are like unto the searing torch of Great PNOM, who
By the Hand of Shame and the Dogs that Maim. sought out the Fiends of Darkness and put them to the righteous
By the Brow of Sickness and the Deathworm's Quickness. flames!
By the Blows that Lame and the Screams of Pain. Begone, J say, from the sight of Great PNOM, depart this place
By the Dry Tongue’s Thickness and the Dead Man’s Witness. made sacred by his very Name. Leave this place protected by PNOM,
slayer of your evil kind. Begone, lest ye feel the swath of His eternal
I curse ye in the name of GLORGNE,
vengeance! Depart! Depart! Depart!
That from this life ye shall be torn.
Begone, begone in the Name of the Great PNOM.
J curse ye in the Demon’s Name,
In the Name of PNOM, it is done. &
That for Eternity shall ye feel nought but pain. #
 309
308 The Book of Eib^ j i^g')lllC Rjtuats

I adore Thee!

The Litany of Xastur Thee, O Great XASTUR,

By These—Mighty Names of Power!
by Stephen Sennitt By These—Your Brothers and Sisters!

O Great XASTUR,
Thee, O Great XASTUR, who walks beyond the stars,
Name of the Nameless,
Primal and uncontained,
World Beyond Worlds,
Thee, J adore; whose mighty feet stride
Endless and Formless and Uncontained!
Eternities and Aeons.
Thee, Great XASTUR, J adore:

in the Name of ZADAGUA,

the Stone of Saturn,
i adore Thee!

In theNameofNEMAT],
the Web of Darkness,
I adore Thee!

In the Name of VULOA,

The Soul of the Vulture,
I adore Thee!

In the Name of GENI-GEBA,

the Eye of the Ghoul,
I adore Thee!

In the Name of KHRU,

the Locus of the Night,
I adore Thee!

In the Name of DRUGHU,

the Serpent of the Void,
I adore Thee!

In the Name of ZOTMOGA,

the Spawn of the Pit,
I adore Thee!

In the Name of ULULUS,

the Self-Devourer,
 310
The Book tiibonic Rituals 311
Th<-'

The Hnaa Formula

by Stephen Sennitt
The Warding of Rivashii
by Stephen Sennitt
I f the Exorcist findeth himself faced with a recalcitrant or malevo¬
lent Spirit, let him have recourse to the following Formula: L et the doorway of the Practitioner’s dwelling place be protected
by the Hand of RIVASHII, The Dismembered One.
AD OZ, AD OZ, DA AN AT AS
Firstly, let the Left Hand of a suicide, or else a victim of a mur¬
SET AN
der, be procured under the dim light of a waning moon and in the
AD OZ, AD OZ, Name of our Lady Khekate, consort of RIVASHII, She who recov¬
SATANA AD ZO AD ered his body parts from the Blind Fiends of the Abyss, under cover
of Darkness.
AD OZ, AD OZ,
Let the said Hand be washed in pure water and purified over
HN AA, HN AA, HN AA, HN AA
flames of burning sandalwood, and then pickled in a salt solution for
SET AN, DA AN AT, fifteen days. Then let the Practitioner of these Artes hang the Hand
AD OZ, AD OZ ol RIVASHII by the wrist above his doorway, saying these words:

HN AA, HN AA, HN AA, HN AA RIVASHII, O RO EE PE

TE A A PE DO KE
This, spoken by the Mage in the Secret Language of the Spirits,
openeth the Gates of the Ultimate Abyss and showeth the Demon so that by the power of this Magick Hand, all unwelcome agents
where he must perforce return, unless he compheth with the will of nLght be seized upon entry, and take flight in Greatest Terror.
the Mage. %
 312
The Book 0f P;l I!r Cibonic Rituals 313
-—

,lin the salted-blood that speaks fire! Hear me, Unwanted Iagsat, 1

The Exorcism of Iagsat the salted-blood that speaks fire! 1 bid Thee stir and depart with
'fhy strange processions and contortions! Teteutaz eniitharl! Depart,
by Joseph S. Pulver Y! Eu Y! elkl elkl Di-t.ua elkl! Eu Y! Jagsat, transgressing-iniquity
0\ malice invited not, 1 make no Scarlet Sacrifice to keep you!
W rathful Assailant IAGSAT, see what power I lay before The-
in force!
Vdithdraw from this light to Thine own nation! Ride swift before the
words I set free to drive Thee! Feel the lash upon and within Thee as
urcat fires of venom! Flee before the word of power 1 place in the air!
ATEI ATE I
KU H

KU KU T 1

KU MSN
ATEI ATEI O T H S
A K R
Hear me, Risen Avatar of Brute Afflictions! My voice animates A L
the lore—
C

NDE 00 C/1 NDE a-GLE cAALN pH A! a-GLE cAALN pH A! a-GLE cAALN pH A!

AR-BHAB Hear it and flee!
ASL 00 PYS-A PR’ILLI a-GLE cAALN pH A! a-GLE cAALN pH AI a-GLE cAALN pH A!
NDE Hear it and flee! zO!

Vile-Troubler called up, I send Thee back— Shuddersome One, touch me not, for I am Power, and full of sea¬
water and salted meats, which leave in Thee a taste sore! Depart, O
OGTHROD AI’F Iagsat! Eu Y! Eu Y! Elkl elkl Di-tua elkl! Eu Y! Take Thy blasts and
GEB’L—EE’H rancors and tortures and fiery deliriums, and whirl through Space
IAGSAT-yog-sothoth-IAGSAT and Abyss and swirling storms uncharted, or face the harms of doom
‘NGAH’NG AJ’Y thrust by the eleven I serve and adore!
ZHRO
By the powers of ZHOTHAQQUAH,
Haunter Unseen, take thy life back to the core! Tlexaut siut sn snt By the powers of YIG,
amu! Depart, O Iagsat! Eh Y! Eh Y! elkl elkl Di-lna elkl! Eu Y! I have By the powers of ATLACH-NACHA,
followed the formulae writ true, and set the symbols, vital and By the powers of HZIULQUOIGMNZHAH,
empowered against Thee, Bold Iagsat—Smell the blood that grants By the powers of NUG AND YEB,
them power! Evoked—-p he hwe'ev, You have risen from the malodor¬ By the powers of BUG-SHAGGOG,
ous gulfs Outside the Spheres. I cast Thee back, Unwanted One! By the powers of THUSA,
Hoxevei lm zO zwlelcth hR eistemiis! Take Thy mysterious goals and tra¬ By the powers of OKKOKOKU,
verse that Space Unclean and full with the odors of the crypt pile^ By the powers of AULANIIS,
thick with that which worms, and ghouls, and daemons, and the By the powers of UBBO-SATHLA,
Earth have not taken unto themselves, and return across the thresh¬ a-GLE cAALN pH A! a-GLE cAALN pH A! a-GLE cAALN pH A!
old that stands between the worlds! Hear me. Unwanted Lurker, 1 Hear it and flee!
314 Y|1C Eibonic Rituals
The Book ofEii^ 315

a-GLE cAALN pHA! a-GLE cAALN pH A! a-GLE cAALN pnA,

Hear it and flee!
Ban oo G’uiin-mim!
The Black Rite of Yaddith
zO!
by Joseph S. Pulver
Ban oo G'uiin-mim!
zO—lA GSA T—zO! *
I n the Ninth Layer of the Dream-State of Revealing, soaring on
the Dimensional Currents, I, Eibon of Mhu Thulan, journeyed to
the final days of Yaddith. There to witness those gathered in
Holy Mass. Before the Grand Temple of She Who Is To Come in City
One, Nzoorka and Arch-Ancient Buo stood with ten-thousand and
ten-thousand ringing the temple's great pools, filled with oceans of
blood poured in offering. As one did that throng cry out until the
oround was as a turbulent mire.
O

Mighty Mother of brood scattered to the wandering stars,

Wc did not see the prelude, nor the ambush—
Night, the hard journey in foul circumstance, falls on our labors to
Thy Glories.
The ground we tread is as a sea of angers gorging,
From far and misty Ba-BenzaJa—whose enormous histories lie as
forests ravished,
And splendor-fabled Babaluma where weep wizards in towers broken,
The servants-below rise fierce—
All-Mother, our cup holds great need of thy guard and comforts!
Smite the Snout-worm—Burn its seed!
Our liberty has lost its wings. Return with miracles reprised!
Here is our gift of consecrated blood!
Iro’l ixx Tliat stt stt Ob'iaa! Aitgn Vmsse, Shub-Niggurath!
Othaag G}gn Cl'rloomn tte Vnstaa—Lvch! Lvch! Pnuir mnpo!

Mighty Mother, the Enslaving Chants—Dhol Xigl—have failed,

Web-trails scar and pock Proud Yaddith; once fair sanctuary.
Hateful-eyes peer from roiling black depths exposed.
M our learned halls—triumphs that hold the vast glory of Thy Name—
The crawling-destroyers harvest our seed.
All-Mot her, our cup holds great need of thy guard and comforts!
Smite the Snout-worm—Bum its seed!
Our liberty has lost its wings. Return with miracles reprised!
Here is our gift of consecrated blood!
 317
£ibonic Rituals

Ml ixx Tliat stt stt Ob'iaa! Aitg’u Vmsse, Shub-Niggurath! n0t The Time of Thy Return upon us?

Othaag G’gn CVrloomn tte Vnstaa—L’vch! L’vcb! Puuir mupo! plv CO US, woeful and lost to this cataclysm!
Quiet thy foulsome servants below!
The Nug-Soth are lose in a world newborn in cavorting nightshade 0 Most High and Holy Shub-Niggurath,
hunting. 'The Nug-Soth, overwhelmed, cry out!
The Temple of the Spirit of Triumphs Discovered /1//-Aiother, our cup holds great need of thy guard and comforts!
Is now an empty fortress, a funeral of sore hallucinations. Smite the Snout-worm—Burn its seed!
Color and shine fade and dim—Bright Yaddith crumbles! Our liberty has lost its wings. Return with miracles reprised!
All-Mother, our cup holds great need of thy guard and comforts! Here is our gift of consecrated blood!
Smite the Snout-worm—Burn its seed! hv’l ixx That stt stt Ob’iaa! Aitg’n Vmsse, Shub-Niggurath!
Our liberty has lost its wings. Return with miracles reprised! Othaag G’gn CVrloomn tte Vnstaa—L’vch! L’vch! Puuir mupo!
Here is our gift of consecrated blood! Here is our gift of consecrated blood!
Ml ixx Tliat stt stt Ob'iaa! Aitg’n Vmsse, Shub-Niggnrath! Iro'l ixx That stt stt Ob’iaa! Aitg’n Vmsse, Shub-Niggnrath!
Othaag G’gn CVrloomn tte Vnstaa—L’vch! L’vch! Puuir mupo! Othaag G’gn Cl’rloomn tte Vnstaa—L'vch! L’vch! Puuir mnpo!
Here is our gift of consecrated blood!
Nython and Mthura close their fearful-hearts to our cause.
Iro’l ixx Tliat stt stt Ob’iaa! Aitg’n Vmsse, Shub-Niggurath!
NZOORL slaps us with its cold nay shouted.
Othaag G’gn Cl’rloomn tte Vnstaa—L’vch! L’vch! Puuir mnpo!
Yarnak, and Ymar, and VHOORL,
Here is our gift of consecrated blood!
ZOATH and KTYNGA,
Iro’l ixx Tliat stt stt Ob'iaa! Aitg’n Vmsse, Shub-Niggurath!
Hold nothing but confirmation of Our Doom.
Othaag G’gn Cl’rloomn tte Vnstaa—L’vch! L’vch! Puuir mnpo! %
All-Mother; our cup holds great need of thy guard and comforts!
Smite the Snout-worm—Bum its seed!
Our liberty has lost its wings. Return with miracles reprised!
Here is our gift of consecrated blood!
Ml ixx Tliat stt stt Ob'iaa! Aitg’n Vmsse, Shnb-Niggurath!
Othaag G’gn CVrloomn tte Vnstaa—L’vch! L’vch! Puuir mupo!

Hungry Yaddith with her cities like pierced and ruined armor
trembles—
A million and a million flee, as a million and a million more
Are measured by silent poisons greater than mere death.
All-Mother, our cup holds great need of thy guard and comforts!
Smite the Snout-worm—Burn its seed!
Our liberty has lost its wings. Return with miracles reprised!
Here is our gift of consecrated blood!
Ml ixx Tliat stt stt Ob'iaa! Aitg’n Vmsse, Shub-Niggnrath!
Othaag G’gn CVrloomn tte Vnstaa—L’vch! L’vch! Puuir mupo!

Mighty Mother Promised To Come—

Our voices and collected-powers united are raised,
 pibonic Rituals 319

To close thyself to all but thy purposeful desire strike Messtisl’s

The Forgotten Ritual of Mnar fire. Over the bones of a male and a female infant with skulls placed
together crest to crest and the bones of the feet pointed North and
by Joseph S. Pulver South on the table of offering use the words that spark the Law of

A fter fasting and burning a red cloth. And after lighting three
wax-lights. And after naming the Seventy-Two Holy Names
fesser Creations—

HEHTEKHELEVEZ
NNARROHEMGNA
ESNOMJNJBGETA
of Aberration and Scourge in the form of litanies. At the time
SALAGADNAMA1D
when the moon has but one hour for the spell-caster, on the stone
ON 1LL AVAC ELAN NE1RT
table upon the great hill Cnaranarhod in the desert of the Ylia in
AGIDNOHLA
Mnar where sit crows and ravens as brothers in the barren rain tree
mark the name of that—be it man, or world, or god—thou wouklst When the fire rising from the skulls lives thick and cobalt-blue,
destroy. Offer three male virgins by holy burning and speak the place thy hands on the skulls. Place thumb and forefinger within the
words of consecration— eye-sockets. Feel the pain of the Flame Cold To Touch burn clean
thine own life force. And now pure and full of thy great want reach
NYOCUMII BHA FON-FON MRAABI-G'NUN
out to the Daemon-Sirens of the Pit None May Enter.
Sll B'lKA OOUV-ZOL
CE-00, CE-OO, N’BBH-00 Supernal Sisters Hidden, Daughters of Azathoth, break from Thy toils
00 Y’N 00 Y’N of fervor in the Pit None May Enter and open Thy flame-bearded wombs. Y
UEO ZDRUO SHAARN-ALVYT. Accept this which is not wanted.
And place the Signs Only Their Eyes Can See from The Wisdom
TTERRIN SWUUGN Y Y NEGR. Take it to Thy unseen pleasures.
and Sacred Magic of Zylac the Mage, painted in the blood of women,
YRES FR’PHUT MERUNMAL YR. Leaving no trace.
taken at their time of bleeding, and the fat and juices boiled from the
heads of five male infants, at each corner of the table of offering. UCHN UCHN UCHN
UCHN UCHN
UCHN

Thusa-TZA-KA! Okkokokn-TZA-KO! Aulaniis—TZA-Kl!

Terrible Angels of My Will, take that which l mark as Thine Own to the for¬
ever of Thy dismal void in Thy Pit None May Enter. K’NRRIN
G'YTROON VR AAT Q’NOET-Y-SNE. Warrior-Sisters, grasp the fate of
lhai l name, and turn it to dust and wretchedness in Thy execrable hands.
Thusa, cloud-grey cauldron-tender! Okkokokn, eldest-giantess of enmity!
Aulaniis, most wanton Death-Bringer! Sisters Ever-Uni ted, let your infalli¬
ble might and poisons and my command be of one accord! Strike—TEM-
MlRUHGl—that which offends me with the act irrevocable! Heed not reme¬
dies sent on holy smoke, and let no bargains or safeguards repel you!
Hear me, Scourging Malefactors of the Dreadful Pit, come to that 1 give.
Come through curve and gap and tangled orbs; come pass the addresses of the
320 —

dead, and the crags and chasms that consume knowledge and years and /*>,,
ends as the babe consumes his mother’s milk; come nurtured and evoked, aHc[ The Kynothrabian Dirge
raise Thy grievous storms against that which my desire dedicates to Thee.
0 Strange and Lasting Destructions Infernal, hurry to it, for it waits by Joseph S. Pulver
for Thy obdurate attentions! Open Thy hearts abominable and pour over it
■with all Thy terrible faculties. For Antas, Eibon’s seventeenth male issue,
N’GI-N’GBIL SUSSAHERRSES CHR MEBN-LURASSAAL! See shorn from the world by the Dogs ofTindalos.
my ivork! I smash the lock, andptdl open the gates!
Sci-kffh il. Sa-loeb il. Sa-lceb il.
SOSITIASLGBZES CHR SIAR YB-AKL! Ride the roadl illuminate!
\j-pacn-sul kaviiu vduL
OIITUO LV'ALVAP’R’NIR CHR HY-N’GAAV’NOS! Come heap
damnation upon that which I offer! On this long day when death resounds his unchallenged claim,
ASYLO N’GI AHGAATRRA, ASYLO N'GI AHGAATRRA. Let alJ the lofty titans in the heavens hear our hearts decanted,
ASYLO N’GI AHGAATRRA—THUSA. And let all unbecoming men stand in fear
ASYLO N’GI AHGAATRRA, ASYLO N’GI AHGAATRRA, When rings the baying clamor like raging confessions,
ASYLO N’GI AHGAATRRA—OKKOKOKU. Along the paths that surge
ASYLO N’GI AHGAATRRA, ASYLO N’GI AHGAATRRA, From the jutting spirals ofTindalos’ bitter towers black.
ASYLO N'GI AHGAATRRA—AULANllS.
In the curved beams warming this world,
ASYLO N’GI AHGAATRRA, ASYLO N’GI AHGAATRRA.
Given from the sun, bright and brighter in its span,
ASYLO N’GI AHGAATRRA—TH USA, OKKOKOKU, AULANllS,
Stand acolyte and abbess, lord and vassal,
CR’YRV'H! $
Herdsman and headsman,
Feeble and becalmed
With their dwarf wits blind.

Little do they fathom of Grand Impurity and

The ambush of line, and crack, and angle sharp,
And cavernous shades deep,
When the beacon of light bleeds to death on the horizon.

Nightfall is not a quarry,

Nor a seedbed,
For the sons of men
And divided yearnings sought.

The coming Marvels of Judgement,

The burden and the yoke unfailing—
Awash in that vessel of earth and spirit joined,
spilled and wrecked upon doom’s door—
Hunger for the salve
breathed by all the sons of men in sum.
 When iniquity’s transgressing devils cast nets unfurled
And wrathful rods of thunder and affliction,
And reap the spoils foretold,
The Ritual of the Outer Void
Taking back to the realm of nothing
by Joseph S. Pulver
The sons of men, carrying no blood to the ending,
Man shall lie as bones set in the places dark
as he was Before.
T he radiant districts of mystery beyond, home to the spirit-
essence of self—aware and breathing all the forces that create
All powerful Thou art unto all ages, O darksome Lord Zhothaqquah the clay allotted to common men—can prove loathsome and
All powerful Thou art unto all ages, O darksome Lord Zhothaqquah' dire to voyage. Yet if thou wouldst travel out and out to the edge, to
All powerful Thou art unto all ages, O darksome Lord Zhothaqquah gaze upon the court of the Deyonders in the Outer Void, follow thou
the ways of my experience. Adept, the way of knowledge is long, and
O Ebon Conqueror Eternal,
[7iay not be taken by the shell of flesh.
We pour out our praise on breath untainted and unfailing.
Fast that thou might cleanse the spirit and thrust aside the mists
To delight thee, O Great-SJumberer, Zhothaqquah,
We sculpt mountains, chat attack the Spirit Eye within. Nor should the voyager drink so he
may fully absorb the sustaining energies of the Realm of Deepest
From Diarciholn's Peak in Eabdamar to Intviilui where white webs
spiral, Understanding. On the third day of fasting breathe the vapors of

In thy toad-shaped countenance tremendous. clarity rising from a kettle boiling with salt water, Mnarian Way Root
venom, the horn dust of an Eiglophian black-horned ram, and
O Ageless Zhothaqquah, Daemon-Sovereign of N’Kai and Yoth, Ytheanu leaves. Ladle a small amount into a consecrated silver cup
Forsake us not, and vouchsafe your solicitous servants, and allow it to cool until warm to the touch. Then dip two fingers in
Barring us from eternity’s darkened torments.
this unguent and anoint thy temples and throat.
And when the office of the dead hails us,
Lie, as if the body were in a phantastic slumber, in the Third
Grant us a good end.
Posture of Supplication in a circle of Magical force consecrated by the
Li-pacn-sul kaviin vdul. Sareatas, Pnom’s First Guardian of the Exerciser, in the left hand
Sa-fab il. Sa-lceh il. Sa-lceb il. % (dutch the first feather of the right wing of a crow killed with the
headman’s stroke at moonrise. in the right hand clutch the first
feather of the left wing of a dove killed with the headman’s stroke at
sunrise.
Recite the following incantation to shield thine true self from the
hexes of death and the host of formless lurkers in darkness that like
haunting spirits consumed with great hungers lie in the first layers
beyond the physical plane.

Darksome-Hunters of the gloom-vales alien, see me not.

Outstretched Hindrance stained in the livid dialogues of evil
and saturated in vile wickedness, pass me by.
Come not for me, Ravenous Death-Birds Waiting.
As I pass, know forgetfulness and confusion.
 Indulge Thy loathsome frolics and feasts in other realms. [iccome prey for the Lurking Daemons-Sore that may seek to bar thy
And be not disobedient or find my curses forever bound to Thee. passage, or feast on the sweetest essence.
rAAtAAvAArA etcss AnAtAhAui, t A Am A A vuo Seek beyond the strange and curious citadels, scattered like
uolh m A AimA A tsAnsAUAsooppArAn sleeping sentinels, that line the shore opposite Nbras O’oboulme
rA At A AvA ArA etcss A uA tA hA in, tA A mA A vuo until thou findest the dead road of Esius that runs between the name-
uolh mA AimA A tsAnsAUAsooppArAn ]css walls and broken pillars where Argiacelasil and M’gara battled
rAAtAAvAArA etcss AnAtAhAui, t A Am A A vuo for the Star of Blue Onyx. Take the fork that leads right.
uolh mAAlmAA tsAnsAUAsooppArAn At the scree fallen from the Ring of Red-Lit Moons of Daemon-
powers descend. Flow along the Second Current of Grey Shadows
Adept, decant thy sum and substance through the Doors of cast by the Path of Nine Colors, freely embracing the ways of strange
Flesh and Earth and find on the waves within the starry-routes of motion in the Gardens of Friction until thou passest beyond the milk¬
true understanding. And with thy true and inner self in full bloom, eyed gaze of the Thirty White Stars hung in an inverted crescent, and
send forth as spread wings of fire dancing, the Neshxiba, the Sign of rhe liquid circulations of Atem, Fuani Gaane, and Siii. Continue on,
Flight and Direction Joined 1 set here from the second scroll o£ The avoiding all the harvests of entangling thickets of strange bramble
Book of the Dominion of Mysteries. painted like curtained halls of dark matter burning in the First Great
Sea Between.
In the vast Crystal Moors of Seteah colored like the dawn’s
rays-—their reflections of reflections fluttering about thee like a cloud
of butterflies o’er the velvet-petaled Fields below Voormithadreth in
high summer—Find where the yellows turn green. Seek the deepest
shades. When all before thee is pure and boundless iridescent violet
Find the crack that sits like a measureless tree on the horizon. Go
unto it. With these potent words—Eahch Zu Eahch Schae Uz Schae
Rise like the white crane soaring. After passing through the Nine Eahch Zu Eahch—create the Sphere of Shelter before thou reachest
Webs of Confusion and False Visions—thick in sight, smell, and die crack of destruction that opens on the dead court of the
sound—ease through the immortal dance of the Seven Shining Beyonders in the Outer Void.
Luminaries. From here ascend into bands of Great Noise, the four¬ There, at the brink of the Outer Void, stand thou upon the

teenth attribute of the Eternal Discords. When the clamor thins to strange ramparts thrust like wild shadows cutting, but heed my firm

dim echoes, fly to the blue horizon cut with shimmering streams of admonition and step not into the nothingness before thee. For the
Astalatsahl, the Black Essence discharged after the Great Feasting of
translucent green. There, passing all that flows about thee, in the
Btahranjngu and Scurucucua, holds a hunger of its own. Once like the
sparks, and rains, and rivulets, set against the shadows eternity casts,
spheres we move through in body and spirit, the Great Nothingness,
enter the phantom city, Nbras O’oboulme, where night is the quiet
now only an empty netherworld of Black Essence, ran thick with the
companion of all hours.
dramas of every pleasure and annihilation exchanged, but
Thou mayest not travel safely from The City Misery Ruined
Btahranjngu and Scurucucua the Ever-Gnawing Titans, whose very
where Blessed Zylac hid The Parchments of Pnom until thou capturesc
kinship to the Black Stars is parental, like grave worms slow through
one lost to the rapture of drowning from the Well of Souls in the
die body of the Outer Heavens came stealing, and devouring all left
Cavern of Sirens. While it sleeps take its skin so thou mayest travel
nothing in their wake but the Astalatsahl, their foulsome waste.
as an unseen spectre. But beware, although cloaked, you may still
326 Iiibomc Rituals 327
-The Book^HiK^

There shall be three potent Nails painted in a mixture of

The Grey Rite of Azathoth } ekrahg blood and the venom of the Mnarian Way Root plant upon
cach wall. Abreast of each other fix the first pair of the Nails of Sthal
by Joseph S. Pulver 0n the north end of the east wall, and then the second pair on the

W ith the imperishable and mighty protection of Bug-

Shaggog, the Enduring Hatred-Implacable installed as
s0uth end of the west wall. Then fix, again abreast of each other, the
third pair on the west side of the north wall, and the fourth pair on
rhe east side of the south wall. The remaining four sigils shall stand
Lord Protector of the Chaos Stone by decree of t[lc Tone in the center of each wall. Fix them in the same order as the
Daemon-Sultan, I, Eibon, Grand Mage of Mhu Thulan, seal the pairs. Each of the twelve protections shall stand at the height of the
power of the Grey Rite in this book of sacred and profane magic from Sunimoner’s eyes, and all shall be the size of a man's head.
the buffoon, the impious, the idolater, and the false and unworthy Here I set the Nailing Brand of Sthal.
who would use it to plunder and despoil. Here 1 set the sigil of the
Grim Sentinel of lld-Ryn, Bug-Shaggog. False One, know it and fear
the judgment of the executioner.

Let those gathered be sure to be appareled in grey vestments, for

none but the binding sigils and the Mage’s word should draw the
might of the Conjured One’s attentions.
Shall a time of great distress come to pass, one, needful and bold, Let the faces of those gathered be most certainly concealed by
may call forth He Who Creates Without Cause or Reason By idle
the Six-Horned Mask of Black Ulsathuis which shall bear the
1 bought and Breath with the Grey Rite. To draw down the spurting
Repelling Sign of Blessed Zylac for this rite. Paint the ebon and red
tortures of the forceful god of Chaos, heed what 1, Eibon, blessed ser¬
Mask of Black Ulsathuis grey to match the color of thy robes for this
vant of Lord Zhothaqquah, have taken from the twenty-third scroll
rite. And the Repelling Sign of Blessed Zylac shall be fixed upon the
of Iskarullantn Anaan’s Book of the Dominion of Mysteries. True and
brow ot the mask in the color of blood.
Faithful Seeker, mindful of error and the dire lesson of the Parable oi
Here I set the Blessed Zylac sign.
the Nine Who Unwisely Dared, here lies the way to direct the wrath¬
ful bolts of the Daemon-Sultan.
When darkness has spread its wings, at the Hour of the Lost Day
when the age of the moon is three nights of the Moon of Wrath’s
Realm in the Month of Ehlhaar, or the High Night of the Moon of
Red Sulmanopses in the Month of the Sylph, bring together thy
acolytes, numbering nine, in stone walls far from the resort of com'
mon men and prepared with the Nailing Brands of Sthal.
 Paint the Fettering Web of liar Thai upon the ground four times the binding Nail of Sthal in each breast that He whom thou

once for each direction of the winds, and upon the backs of both of .^est to summon shall be bound to the table’s opened feast.
thy hands. The protective signs writ upon the floor of thy enclo The Summoner shall strike his oak staff upon the floor three

shall be twice the size of a man’s head. jnies. He shall then begin the rite of drawing forth and binding,

Here 1 set the Fettering Web of liar Thai. singing low as a murmuring of soft winds.
The four acolytes flanked west shall softly tattoo the Rhythm of
Ursa on the summoning drums of the Ylia, as the four flanked to the
east bring to life the Song of Eifil on reed flutes like the whispered
funeral drone of the Lamenting Crones of Liqquan.
All gathered shall have anointed their eyes and ears with
Thlabaras Root oil from the far western jungles of Zesh for protection.
Here I set the words of law that shall conjure the Infernal. All
shall be sung and spoken in a hush, or ye shall stand alone before
Doom-Supreme. The words of law and power writ here in the lower
The sweet smoke of purple Oszhtror mossweed shall fill the rit¬
ual enclosure like a whispering mist. four lines shall only be sung in a hush.

At no time during the Grey Rite shalt thou speak the true Divine Yge Yge Yge tys did yha-na. Gon kdti kon-kon, osba kilii kou-kou. Par
Name of the Ultimate Source of All Miscreation and Abomination. T'abo.
Over an offering table painted with salted lamb’s blood and the Yge Yge Yge tys dill yha-na. Gon kilii kon-kon, osha kilti kon-kon. Par
potent omens of Isyl and Ytun writ in thy own blood, stand with thy T'abo.
staff of iron-footed oak and the left eye of a female child who has yet K'run k'run badilbiah, k'run k'run badilbiah, k'run k'run badilbiah.
to bleed. Kb run k'rnn badilbiah, k'run k'run badilbiah, k'run k'run badilbiah.
Mark the Double Seal of the Triangle Within the Circle upon the
Call forth the Divine Name of Chaos thus—
floor to pen the manifestation of the Core of All. Within the trian¬
gle place ground fire-dust from the cold hollow of Voormithadreth, O Lord of All, know the Law-Maker, I, Eibon of Mhu Thulan, who
the bud horns and beard of a Camorbian chim goat. Sprinkle the summons thee, by the name of power I mark distinct and true
fire-dust in each of the three corners of the triangle. Then place the before you.
bud horns on the east and west points of the triangle. Point the tips
of the horns inward. The beard thou shall place on the triangles
north point.
Outside the circle, the nine shall stand with their painted
totems. At the mage’s command the nine shall set their totem rods

in a brazier of Kraun wood coals. The lasr to lose its color will be the
chosen offering to the Core of All. The Chosen, the Ez’nadril, shall
remove his mask and freely lie upon the table and begin the
Estrathum Prayer of Thanks to the Divine Name of Chaos. And Yge Yge Yge tys did yha-na. Gon kiln kon-kon, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T dbo.
when the Ez’nadril has spoken it three times, the Mage will open the Y^c Yge Yge tys did yha-na. Gon kiln kon-kon, osha kiln kon-kon. Par T dbo.
disciple’s belly, from manhood to breast, that his pain may feed the Kb run k'run badilbiah, k'run k'run batliibiah, k'run k run badilbiah.
Dark God’s want. Then set the virgin’s eye deep in the bowels, anti K'run k'run badilbiah, k'run k'run badilbiah, k'run k'run badilbiah.
 O Formless Chaos, I, Eibon, Grear Mage of Mhu Thulan, for the iCruti k'ruu badiibiah. k'ruu k’run badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah.
r l • i ^ 5Pun
ot thy summoning and appointed task, call out for thy compliant aid
O Immense Corruption of All Causes and Ways, root and essence 0f
q Chaos Blind and Needful, heed my words unsheathed and sharp
jn purpose, and appear in this realm of my distress.
all the heavens and all the worlds held in their sway, hear my hushed
voice of law thou may not turn from, and come to me from the world ) Yge Yge tys diil yha-na. Gon kilii kon-kon, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T’dbo.
beyond as in a rushing wind.
Yy Yge Yge tys diil yha-na. Gon kilii kon-kon, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T’dbo.

Yge Yge Yge tys didyha-na. Gon kiln kon-kon, osha kilti kou-kon. Pa?- T'dbo K'ruu k’run badiibiah, k'ruu k’ruu badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah.

Yge Yge Yge tys dillyha-na. Gon ki/ii ko?i-kon, osha kilii kou-kon. Par T'dbo K'ruu k'ruu badiibiah, k’ruu k’ruu badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah.

K'ruu k'run badiibiah, k’ruu k’run badiibiah, k’ruu k’ruu badiibiah.

Q Fulmination-Supreme, make swift journey to the house of this
K’ruu k’run badiibiah, k'run k’ruu badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah.
chieftain of all nature’s forces. Yet come not to confront thy master,

O Chaos-Sultan, know my power to hold thee fast by the Nails of O Great Daemon-Lord, but to toil, making my enemy’s surrender a
Sthal I Jay before and about thee. shuddersome withering to ash and dust.

Yge Yge Yge tys dill yha-na. Gon kilii kon-kon, osha kilti kou-kon. Par T'dbo. Yge Yge Yge tys diil yha-na. Gon kilii kon-kon, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T’dbo.

Yge Yge Yge tys did yha-na. Gon kilii kon-kon, osha kilii kou-kon. Par Tdbo. Yge Yge Yge tys diil yha-na. Gon kilti kon-kon, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T’dbo.
K’ruu k’ruu badiibiah, k’ruu k’ruu badiibiah, k’run k’ruu badiibiah. K'ruu k’ruu badiibiah, k’ruu k’run badiibiah, k’run k’ruu badiibiah.
K’run k’ruu badiibiah, k'ruu k’run badiibiah, k’ruu k’ruu badiibiah. K'ruu k’run badiibiah, k'ruu k’ruu badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah.

O Chaos Forever-Almighty, great in thy darkness-keep, my iron Come as I bid in a whisper as damning as Doom’s roar, O Cataclysm.
whisper of law leaps over abyssal crack and nether sea; o’er green Come full in thy fever for battle and blood and souls. Come Chaos—
wood and burning orbs; o'er weeping clouds and the song of ravens, cry havoc. Bleed the powers set against me with talons honed by my
and mounds hard with blood-hate, and enchanted waters, and hay, judgment. Come rend, and shred, and mow, as do blight and plague,
and ash, and bone; or chambers set low where lurk knots of scorn and leaving but barren space for the worm.
hate; or the wandering fates like molten wax, and the balance
Yge Yge Yge tys diil yha-na. Gon kilii kon-kon, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T’dbo.
between fortunes, creeping cold, finding thy hidden nether heart.
Yge Yge Yge tys diil yha-na. Gon kilii kon-kon, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T’dbo.
Yge Yge Yge tys did yha-na. Gon kiln kon-kon, osha kilii kou-kon. Par T'dbo- K'ruu k’run badiibiah, k’ruu k’run badiibiah, k’run k’ruu badiibiah.
Yge Yge Yge tys did yha-na. Gon kilii kou-kon, osha kilii kou-kon. Par T'dbo. K'ruu k'ruu badiibiah, k’run k’ruu badiibiah, k’run k’ruu badiibiah.
K’ruu k’ruu badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah, k’run k’ruu badiibiah.
With the words true I bind thee, Core of All, that you, fettered in
Krun k run badiibiah, k’run k’ruu badiibiah, k'ruu k’run badiibiah.
obedience, walk to my voice like summer insects' siren call. Yet in my
Core of All, 1, Eibon, the Anthark of Mhu Thulan, pour apple nec¬ masterly company, held with the sigils I etch and empower, hold thy
tar, and honey, and Red Worm seed, and oils rich, and the blood of s°re afflictions tremendous, till loosed to run as free waters flowing,
bull and lamb, and the warm blood of the heart of this disciple as 1, Eibon, bid and instruct.
offered, for your thirst—Swallow and obey.
Ks'c Yge Yge tys diil yha-na. Gon kilii kon-kon, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T’dbo.
Yge Yge Yge tys diilyha-na. Gon kilii kou-kon, osha kthi kou-kon. Par Tdbo- Yge Yge Yge tys did yha-na. Gon kilii kou-kon, osha kilii kou-kon. Par T’dbo.
Yge Yge Yge tys did yha-na. Gon kilii kon-k.ou, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T’dbo. K run k’ruu badiibiah, k'ruu k’ruu badiibiah, k’run k’ruu badiibiah.
K’ruu k’ruu badiibiah, k’run k’ruu badiibiah, k'ruu k’ruu badiibiah. Krun k’ruu badiibiah, k’ruu k’ruu badiibiah, k’run k’ruu badiibiah.
O Blind Idiot God of All Powers and Victory with this burnt , . 1 |,na is done, and there and then wilt thou return to the
ptK|U O 7

I etch the Nail of Sthal in the air. Fly to it from thy abyssal hav ifHjUcnchable core burning at oblivion’s heart everlasting.

where shade was born. Come now, riding the secret road paved wi^ y Y«e Yge tys diil yha-na. Gon kilii kou-kou, osha kilii kou-kon. Par T'abo.
my tongue. Know the nail’s powers to fasten secure, woven and mas yilt yge Yge tys diil yha-na. Gou kilii kou-kou, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T'abo.
tered with stings of ice, and venom, and radiant fires, and stand quiet £rn„ k'run badiibiah, k’run k'run badiibiah, k’ruu k’run badiibiah.
till I move thee. K'ruu k'run badiibiah, k’ruu k’run badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah.

Yge Yge Yge tys dhlyha-ua. Gou kilii kou-kon, osha kilii kou-kou. Par T’abo Here thou shalt issue the task with which thou chargest the Chaos of
Yge Yge Yge tys dillyha-na. Gon kilii kou-kon, osha kilii kou-kou. Par T’abo A)l. Hear the Law-Maker, O Daemon-Sultan, depart this meeting
K’ruu k'run badiibiah, k'run k'run badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah. und attend that task I have revealed to thee with strong command.
K’run k'run badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah, k’ruu k’ruu badiibiah.
Yge Yge Yge tys diil yha-na. Gon kilii kon-kon, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T’abo.
Hear my voice, One in Perpetual Turmoil, it moves thee. While it Yge Yge Yge tys diil yha-na. Gou kilii kon-kon, osha kilii kon-kon. Par T’abo.
fills you, and gives you its sight, know it to be past, present, and K'run k'run badiibiah, k’ruu k'run badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah.

future. Know I am he who owns the voice that is the instrument, the K'ruu k’run badiibiah, k'run k’run badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah.

mountain unmovable. There is no mastery of self, O Chaos Blind and

Mage, upon sending the Lord of Chaos to his task, all light and
Wrathful, only my voice terrible in thee. Hear its hush like thunders sound in thy enclosure must quickly be extinguished, and the
surging. Lord of All, approach and grapple not with the law it pro¬ Masking Shelter of Datiiura-Cerlon, from the fifteenth scroll of
claims. Come, as if bound in ponderous chords of sharp influence, Iskarullantn Anaan’s Book of the Dominion of Mysteries, must be spoken
guided by my voice. with sure strength to hide thy presence from the Chaos-Sultan.
While the barrier of Datiiura-Cerlon blinds, burn well and through
Yge Yge Yge tys dill yha-na. Gon kilii kou-kon, osha kilii kou-kon. Par T’abo.
to ash all oblations and traces of thy rite from the enclosure, or face
Yge Yge Yge tys dill yha-na. Gon kilii kou-kou, osha kilii kou-kou. Par T'abo.
the terrible retribution of He 'Vho Creates 'Vithout Cause or Reason
K’ruu k’ruu badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah.
By Idle Thought and Breath. ^
K’run k’run badiibiah, k’ruu k’run badiibiah, k’ruu k’run badiibiah.

My need cries out like a great and terrible wind devouring all before
it. Stand fast in the law I whisper and lend the whole of your vast
powers to my desire. O Core of All, appear bound, and end the dark¬
some injustice transacted against me. Let there be victory against
those who would destroy me.

Yge Yge Yge tys did yha-na. Gon kilii kou-kou, osha kilii kou-kou. Par T'abo.
Yge Yge Yge tys diilyha-na. Gon kilii kon-kon, osha kilii kou-kon. Par T'abo ■
K’run k'run badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah, k’run k’run badiibiah.
K'run k’run badiibiah, k’run k'run badiibiah, k’run k'run badiibiah.

O Corruption-Supreme, fly as I, Eibon, the faithful disciple of the

wisdom of Blessed Zylac, bid. My word, vast as all torment5
unspeakable, deprives thee of thy powers and thy place until my
 T,lC Qibonic Rkuals 335

j with the Elder Sign shall then be struck three times and three

The Adoration of eirnes again.

All the celebrants shall make the Sign of the Blessed Zylac’s
Glorious Enterprise in the air before them with the right hand.
the Black Flame After the mage striketh his staff seven times upon the ground,
and until the mage concludeth the rite of adoration by striking his
by Joseph S. Pulver

I
staff seven times again upon the ground, the eight that attend the
mage shall sing brightly:
f thou wouldst walk amid the known and unknown dreads and Phor qturn yarazl h’gng, Uvbss-J'hon.
splendors of the Realm of True and Deep Slumber, and in thy
Uthet ugrytha sut.
journey, shouldst need to draw upon the facility of thine arts, the
Eoreq adlhir adlhir-io rgiavmn Ot-htha.
mage who seekest not to harm the pleasures and innocents protected The mage shall recite the following:
would be wise to pay tribute to the Burning Staff of Justice of the
Cvo Ch’Isesa Nsh’Cuihk!
Shatterer of Worlds, She Who Brought Forth the Elder Sign, by
Cvo Ch’Isesa Xizo-Ati-Ni-Tho!
offering a blood sacrifice to the Holy Black Flame, the living symbol I give unto thee, 0 Uvbss-J’hon, the hot rich blood of this ram.
of her accord. The mage shall open the bound offering with the ceremonial
This ceremony to seek the blessing and protection of N'tse- blade and hold its heart high above the table. The gong shall be
Kaambl needs be performed before that thou shalt employ any of the
struck trice.
Greater enchantments and conjurations and rites writ as strange ivy 1 set before thee, 0 Flame of Wonder, truth-revealed, and exalt thee with
stealing upon the pages of The Book of the Dominion of Mysteries, and gifts and prayer.
The Wisdom and Sacred Magic of Zylac the Mage, and The Book of Elders, 0 Rare and Resplendent Attribute of N’tse-Kaambl, Mistress of the
and The Pnakotic Scrolls. This rite shall take place high in an open Elder Sign, with praise in our hearts we offer unto thee.
tower or upon a hill. For greatest efficacy perform thou this rite on The mage shall set the offering ablaze.
the lower peak of Mt. Hatheg-Kla facing Thran in the east. It shall We offer blood and prayer that thou, 0 holy Black Pillar of Outstretched
be lit by moonlight only. Judgment, may light our path to knowledge.
The celebrants shall be the mage or priest who governs the gath¬ 0 Holy and Lustrous Black Flame, 1 come in reverence, not to take pos¬
ering, and eight initiates. Four shall be women and four shall be men. session of your treasures, but to discover the bounty of Thy Blessing Bestowed.
The mage will wear only black and carry his consecrated dagger and 0 Sacred Black Lamp, old in the time beyond times forgotten, 0 Both
his iron-shod staff. The women shall wear red robes and black T’nyo Charm and Disaster, we, the servants of the mysteries sacred, are assembled
masks marked on the right cheek with the Sign of the Burning upon this rock to offer tribute to thy rushing grace.
Hand. The men shall wear black robes and red Tnyo-bo masks 0 Pillar of Black Flame, mayest thou forever blaze with strange detail
marked on the left cheek with the Sign of the Burning Hand. All glowing.
shall wear black gloves with red thumbs. 0 Beacon of Justice, who buruest as a living thing, we sing the praise of
The offering table shall be covered in a mixture of crow and dove thy whorling breath that holdeth no trace of laments.
blood and ox fat. A small fire pot shall be lit to fire the fat and blood 0 Great Mural of Living Fire, who hast endured and thrived on the
when the oblation is burned in offering. traditions and sagas both grand and slight. thou who art as rare as all the
The mage shall bow to each direction of the winds and strike festivals of life, we come to thee with only praise and honor and respect.
his staff seven times upon the ground. A small silver gong marked 0 Shining Black Flame, bless us with thy protection.
336 "pie Eibonic Rituals 337
The Dook

0 Eternal Ebon-Radiance, color our journey in ease.

0 Silently-Roaring Uvhss-J'hon, Nasbt and Kaman-Thab, vigilant
guardian-priests of the Cavern of Flame, tend thee not, ye/ they reflect thy
The Black Litany
might and grandeur. Bless us who seek no harm in the lands thou protected
Bless us who offer this beast unto thee as a sign of fealty and respect.
of Nug and Yeb
0 Luminous Ebon-Titan Uvhss-J'hon, who hast bent Those Tremendous
by Joseph S. Puiver
with Hate and Greed of Fomalhaut and The Place Where the Black Star
Hangs to silent dogs quartered, we, here with open hearts true, praise thy
Am a bl-Nug ol Ama bl-Yeb!
Light—Fo rever.
Ttak els iro Ziiur.
0 Uvhss-J'hon, Black Flame Adored, we, humbled before thy might
Ttak els iro Ziiur.
bless thee for thy blessings and protection bestowed.
The mage shall strike his staff seven times upon the ground, and O Masters of the Black Fires Concealed
the gong shall be struck three times rapidly, and the nine shall bow Rise o’er the flights of dim mortals sleeping.
deeply to the east three times and three times again. Nug and Yeb, Great Dragons black and red, come prepare thy Father's
The rite of adoration to the Holy Black Flame shall close as all table!
close their eyes and make the Sign of the Burning Hand over their
O Bringers of the End of Man’s Allotted Time
heart with the right hand.
Extend thy ill-frost that here and beyond might be cleansed.
Nug and Yeb, Great Dragons black and red, come prepare thy Father s
table!

O First Issue of She Who Is To Come Bearing A Thousand Young

Now lost to thy stillness of discomfort, spark thy Doom-Engines
Black and Red.
Nug and Yeb, Great Dragons black and red, come prepare thy Father s
table!

O Great Hammers of the Scouring, arrive with thy Black Fires wild,
Clearing all spaces for the Terrible Masters Outside deprived.
Nug and Yeb, Great Dragons black and red, come prepare thy Father s
table!

O Angers Fuller Than Thunder whose concordant verdict crashes as

a wave,
The frail earth lies ripe for thine age of starry-fire.
Nug and Yeb, Great Dragons black and red, come prepare thy Father's
table!

O shadowy Nug, uncover thy cauldron-black torch at the pole boreal

That the Divine Punishment may be born in all glory.
Nug, Great Dragon black, come prepare thy Father's table!
 pibonic Rituals 339

O Servant of Abhoth, Yeb of the Whispering Mists,

Bring forth burning, thy round furnace red inhumed in the p0|
austral.
To Call Forth Tsathoggua
Yeb, Great Dragon red, come prepare thy Father's table!
to Smite Thy Enemy
O Twin-Spawn of Yog-Sothoth, in thy nightman urns bound,
Strike with thy noisome Black Essence overbrimming. by Joseph S. Puiver
Nug and Yeb, Great Dragons black and red, come prepare thy FatherV
table! On my twenty-first birthday, having come into my right and
lawful inheritance, 1 undertook a pilgrimage, by carriage and
O Sum of Destruction Complete, indulge thy Lords’ will
steamer ship, and finally, on foot, to the Abbey of Thelema near
With pact eternal cast.
Cefalu, Sicily. There had I journeyed to sit at the learned feet of
N//g and Yeb, Great Dragons black and red, come prepare thy Father's
Master Therion to accept his instruction and receive his blessing.
table!
In the vast and grand library of the Great Beast 666, among

O Both Sides of the One, the charts divined accede, the rare and exalted knowledge of the mysteries writ by himself

The heavenly facets shining, are set in the strict aspect foreordained. and many an adept of ages past, 1 was led, by the master’s spirit-
guide, Aiwass, to the grimorium of the Hyperborean mage, Eibon.
Nug and Yeb, Great Dragons black and red, come prepare thy Fathers
table! You may well imagine the delight the Blessed Therion and I expe¬
rienced upon discovering his copy of Liber Ivonis—erroneously
O Issue of those Harms Tremendous fettered to strange-time most thought to be lost somewhere between Paris and Cairo while he
abhorrent, sought after an elusive starry mystery that had beguiled him.
The Sign made and brought through all the days is as a fever risen. Thereupon, I, in a vision of outer dimensional substance, endeav¬
Nug and Yeb, Great Dragons black and red, come prepare thy Fathers oring to aid the most foully set upon initiates of my order in their
table! arduous battle for true enlightenment, did thus, with the further
guidance and aid of Aiwass, translate the 13th century French text
O Dreadful Gods, in thy cold sepulchres deep amongst the black of Nathaire’s most privileged student, Gaspard du Nord.
maze of stars, —Circe, Pamela Hay-Lloyd
Heed this appeal, made with arms spread wide in thy acolytes’ want¬ The Abbey of Thelema, near Cefalu, Sicily
ing, and arise. July 1920
Nug and Yeb, Great Dragons black and red, come prepare thy Fathers

T
table!
The Mandates of Prfparatjon

Ama bl-E’rbdnb ol Ama bl-Kdhi. hou who would’st summon forth, to bind and adjure, the
Ama bl-Nug ol Ama bl-Yeb! slumbering, and most loathsome, Lord of the Black Gulf of
N’dr Irccidgra Tchcr Urcti L'mu. N’Kai, thou, High Adept, wilt heed and comply with the
Ttak els iro Ziiiir, mandates of the rite, or thou wilt surely confront the most dire per¬
Ama bl-Nug ol Ama bl-Yeb! % ils of utter and most foul annihilation and damnation.
Only on a night when the moon hides his countenance shall thee
Execute this evocation. Thou, adept, wilt empower no flame, nor can¬
dle, nor lamp, nor sorcerous illumination, before, or during this rite.
 -phe Eibonic Ricuals_ 341
340 The

This, most holy and sacred rite, shall be inaugurated only at the hour The Summoning

of Salam when true night has fallen.

pfhe High Adept shall insistently evoke HIM thus:
No dwelling-house, nor pen, nor fence, nor wall, nor manly con¬
l,i! Id! Id! G'llh-ya, TSATHOGGUA!
struction, shall bar thee, nor HIM whom thou seeks to summon
forth, from the open black of night. The Initiates shall call to HIM as a single voice:
Only with the Staff of Yoth, carved only from the wood of the Id! fa! la! G} noth-ykagga-ha! TSATHOGGUA!
rowan tree, and anointed with thine own spittle, and thine own sex¬
The High Adept shall insistently evoke HIM thus:
ual juices, and thine own blood, taken from the finger of Jupiter, and / (name thyself adept), conjure and adjure thee, 0 TSATHOGGUA,
the gall of an adult male raven, and a broth made with one petal of
Sovereign and Lord of N’Kai and Yoth, by the binding and ancient words of
a satyr orchid, the third skin of an onion as large as the fist of a large
power! G'llh-ya! G'noth-ykagga-ha! Glu fha p’pirb lyivt aani! XiKKiFFi!
man, two roots of aconite, three drops of euphorbia milk, four hairy
RKBBo TTaK! oKH! By all manner of powers and rights, I, (name thy¬
leaves of the henbane, one quart of night rain, and a single drop of
self adept), call beyond, into the black, for thee, 0 Hoaij TSATHOGGUA,
blood from a three-legged toad, wilt thou, High Adept, make the
to come to me. Hear, and in thy hearing, obey! I, (name thyself adept), con¬
Sign of Yoth. Thou wilt touch the staff once to thine forehead, and jure and adjure thee, 0 TSATHOGGUA, conqueror of night, by the ancient
then, once to thine abdomen, and finally, once upon the ground. words of power that cam.e down from the night-vaulted caverns of Yoth!
Thou wilt then make the casting sign of the opening.
Thou, High Adept, wilt paint, in blood, the sheltering Circle of The Initiates shall call to HIM as a single voice:
HRaTT uDDaK around the Yothic Eye of Summoning, which thou la! la! Id! G'noth-ykagga-ha! TSATHOGGUA!
wilt stand within for the duration of the rite. The blood must he
The High Adept shall insistently evoke HIM thus:
taken from a freshly slaughtered, unmated adult male ox, and a vir¬
In the names of AZAT HOT H, UBBO-SATHLA, NUG, YEB, RUM
gin ewe that hast lived for no less than thirteen full cycles of the
SHAIKORTH, ATLACH-NACHA, APHOOM ZHAH, SHUB-NIG-
moon. It, the fresh blood, must be consecrated with the binding GURATH, KASSOGTHA, HTULLS-HR-EHR, and the master slum¬
words, “Id! Id! 0 TSATHOGGUA! Aaa-yayaaa G'llh-ya. G'nolh-
bering beyond death, CTHULHU, l conjure and constrain thee,
ykagga-ha!” TSATHOGGUA! By all thy names wherewith thou canst be constrained
Attended by seven initiates of thy coven, each fully enlightened, and bound, 0 SADOGUI, 0 ZHOTHAQQUAH, 0 SAINT TOAD, 0
sheltered and protected, within one of the Lesser Circles of HRaTT HOARY CRAWLER, 0 FATHER OF TRUE NIGHT, 0 SUPREME
uDDaK, wilt thou hold thy conclave. LORD AND MASTER OF THE BLACK GULF OF NfKAI, 0 TOAD
For thine own protection and power, thou, High Adept, wilt GOD, 0 SADOQUAE, 0 SADGOWAH, 0 HUNGRY SLEEPER, 0
consume a single leaf of the K’Ngiigl plant. LORD OF K’N-YAN AND LOMAR, 0 LORD OF YOTH, 0 TERRI¬
Thou wilt have marked thine enemy by having drawn thy vic¬ BLE AND FOULSOME GOD OF THE VOORMIS, 0 FIRST BORN
tim’s blood at some time within the last seven days before the rite, or OF OUTER ENTITY, 0 SLUMBERING FEASTER, 0 SADIWAH, 0
by burning a lock of thy victim’s hair one full hour before thy rite’s BLACK ABOMINATION, I, (name thyself adept), command thee to
commencement, or three nights before holding this rite, at the hour heed my binding summons! Yon, 0 hungry TSATHOGGUA, who have trod
of Agle, thou wilt have traveled to thy victim in astral form, and betwixt and amidst the blackest stars, wilt come hither, with no delay, and
there, scarred thy victim's aura with the Dark Light ofTTaB’B. submit, and thus obey, my all-powerful commands!
You, High Adept, and thine initiates shall speak your secret
names, each in right and proper order of ranking, from lowest pre¬ The Initiates shall call to HIM in full voice:
sent to highest, thus inaugurating the summoning. Hail, all-powerful, and most holy TSATHOGGUA! la! Id!
 342
—-^li^lE|hon

The initiates shall begin the ritual dance. 0/)Wit and fulfil, the commands of (name thyself adept), the caller who,
[Thou wilt stand within the Lesser Circles of HRaTT uDDaK Tj unth all power over thee, hast exorcised thee from the black depths of slumber, to
palms wilt be pressed together over thine heart. Thy legs wilt ^ mil upon and smite mine enemy, (n am e thy enemy).
straight, and thy feet wilt be parted at a distance of two feet ft,
bending thy right knee, thou shall move thine hip right and to tl^ q hc Initiates shall call to HIM as a single voice:

rear in a quarter circle. Then, thou wilt mirror the motion with thine Id! la! Id! G’noth-ykagga-ha! TSATHOGGUA!

left side. Upon one complete right and left cycle thou wilt push and The High Adept shall insistently evoke HIM thus:
extend thine arms above thine head, thy palms still held together Ere. (speak the name of your enemy), shall, therein, stand before you, and
thus forming a pyramid. This dance motion shall be repeated after a pnvailest not against the terrible judgment of your measureless hunger, 0
pause where thou wilt count to seven, until the rite is ended, and the Mighty-Lord TSATHOGGUA! Ere, (speak the name of your enemy),
High Adept taps the Staff of Yoth upon the ground three times in shall, therein, stand before thy loathsomeness, 0 TSATHOGGUA, and his
rapid succession.]
wits turned front to back, and his tongue shall be as wormwood, and his bones

The High Adept shall insistently evoke HIM thus: broken with melancholy and woe, and his skin bewildered by leprosy, and his

Lanl of K’n-Yan, Master of Lomar, Sovereign of N’Kai and Yoth, I adjure heart become a coffin of poisons aflame. Then, 0 TSATHOGGUA, wilt thou

and evoke thee, 0 TSATHOGGUA, to hear in thy dark and forbidding fully devour, mine, and thusly thine, bitter enemy. With all manner of power,

slumber, the binding command of my evocation of awakening, /, (name thy¬ /. (name thyself adept), bind and adjure thee, 0 TSATHOGGUA, to

self adept), by the words of power and command earned down from Yoth. submit, and thus, obey my command without causing any harms or injuries

unbind and emancipate thee from thy dark and lightless slumbering. Rise and to my own self or that of my initiates.

come to me. And in thy coming, 0 TSATHOGGUA, thou wilt cause no

harm or maltreatment to flesh, nor spirit, nor wits, to fall upon thy blessed The R£turning
servants. 0 TSATHOGGUA, come to your true servant, (name thyself The High Adept shall most insistently evoke HIM thus:
adept), and cause no harm, nor be pernicious, nor disobedient! 0 0 Hoary TSATHOGGUA, heed and obey my words of power, by which, l,
TSATHOGGUA, come as swift as the soaring swallow, using my words of (name thyself adept), adjure and bind thee! 0 TSATHOGGUA, now,
binding as thy beacon to this dark harbor. From the dark where thou abidest, thou wilt swiftly walk back along the black roads betwixt the stars, and
enter! Enter! Enter! Id! Id! TSATHOGGUA! Id! return to thy deep slumbers, 0 mighty and dark lord, TSATHOGGUA!

The Initiates shall speak this phrase in full voice: And in thy leaving, cause no injury, nor harm-, to thy caller and his servants.
RaTTaK! RaTTaK! TSATHOGGUA TTaK RaTTaK! oKH! uHTT
TRH'Ro TTaK SiF HePTaPaRTTaK ZN’oKH. RaTTaH TTaK
Baia uHTT! TSATHOGGUA TTak RaTTaH! oKH! ZN’oKH
TSATHOGGUA! uHTT Baia uHTT. oKH! RaTTaH TTaK
TSATHOGGUA! RaTTaK! RaTTaK! HePTaPaRTTaK SiF TTaK TRH’Ro. I, (name thyself adept), sheltered
from thine hungers, move the bamer, and therefore, and again, with all man¬
The High Adept shall insistently evoke HIM thus: ner of powers, bind and adjure thee, 0 TSATHOGGUA, be gone!
TRH'Ro TTaK SiF HePTaPaRTTaK ZN’oKH. oKH! RaTTaH TTaK FSATHOGGUA, be borne away, without pause, nor delay! By all thy
TSATHOGGUA! uHTT Baia uHTT. oKH! RaTTaH TTaK names, 0 BLACK ABOMINATION, 0 SADIWAH, 0 SLUMBERING
TSATHOGGUA! RaTTaK! Ra’TTaK! I move the barrier, and therefore. BLASTER, 0 FIRST BORN OF OUTER ENTITY, 0 TERRIBLE
and again, with all manner of power, bind and adjure thee, TSATHOG¬ AND FOULSOME GOD OF THE VOORMIS, 0 LORD OF YOTH, 0
GUA, appear without delay, and walk the earth. Come, 0 TSATHOGGUA - LORD OF LOMAR AND K’N-YAN, 0 HUNGRY SLEEPER, 0 SAD-
from your darkling corridors in the immemorial beyond! Come without mal¬ GOWAH, 0 SADOQUAE, 0 TOAD GOD, 0 SUPREME MASTER
treating thy caller, nor holy sewants! Thou, ravenous TSATHOGGUA, uud AND LORD OF THE BLACK GULF OF N’KAI, 0 FATHER OF
TRUE NIGHT, 0 HOARY CRAWLER, 0 SAINT TOAD 0
ZHOTHAOQUAH, 0 SADOGUI, 0 TSATHOGGUA, I, (name thy
self adept), fully and completely bind, and thus, return thee, 0 TSATHOc
To Summon and Instruct
GUA, to thy deep slumbers in the Gulf of N’Kat. Where thou, q
TSATHOGGUA, wilt remain mad the hour where by thou art evoked to Zhogtk, the Emanation of Yoth
come forth anew.
by Joseph S. Pulver
The Initiates shall utter this phrase in full voice:
RaTTaK! RaTTaK! TSATHOGGUA TTaK Ra'TTaK! oKH! uHTT
Bata uHTT! TSATHOGGUA TTaK RaTTaH! oKH! ZN’oKH
Z hogtk! Y'hhux nbaasmr! Mglu els iro ab-yeh-Ub'araka! N’Ne N’Neyl-
euguaatdh Tgaa N’Ne Ljikalgd! Id! N’Ne! Zhogtk! Id! N’Ne!
HePTaPaRTTaK SiF TTaK TRH'Ro.
Zhogtk, thrusting and surging specter of darkling form and terrible
The High Adept shall insistently speak:
purpose, hear my roaring of names—old when all was young—into
I have spoken the binding words, and thus conclude and close this ceremony.
the far webs and eddies of the black beyond!
Id! Id! Id! G’llh-ya, TSATHOGGUA!
Zhogtk, loathsome and foul emanation of red-lit Yoth, by all the
The Initiates shall call to HIM in full voice:
blasphemies writ in the lore shut up within the Vaults of Zin, and the
Hail, all-powerful, all-consuming, and most holy TSATHOGGUA. Id! Id!
host of nightmares icebound within the canals of Polarion, I offer

[Here let the High Adept rapidly tap the Staff of Yoth three times thee the rarest incense, and immolate this infant, so thou mayest sup

upon the ground. Then let the High Adept touch the staff once upon on the purest of human bloods!

his abdomen, and once upon his forehead.]

Zhogtk, I summon thee, and in thy hearing, wholly unclean scourge,

Thus ends thy conjuration! ^ thou shalt arise from the night-guarded fen of charnel-begrimed
Kthla, wherein thou dwellest, and attend thy caller!

With mine eyes, my mouth, and all my mortal and spiritual juices,
and the most fulsome and lawful power over thy festering and foul-
some countenance and being, granted by the blessed Black
Abomination, Zhothaqquah, thy first and only master, I conjure and
overwhelm thee to come forth, ceasing thy blind rattlings, and utterly
spellbound and obligated by the star-decreed words of authority and
influence, and therefore obedient to my will, thou shalt rain down no
harms, nor torments, nor afflictions, upon my spirit, nor mortal flesh!

Come before me, Zhogtk, and heed mine unbreakable instructions,

ancl when thou hast executed the task I set before thee, I bind and
adjure thee to return to thy darkened keep, and abide!

Foul Zhogtk, thou shalt fully bear the weight of my charge or for
always and ever endure the wrathful potency of Yig’s most ruinous
34 6 _The Book of^Eik^ ■j’|lC Eibonic Rituals 347

still as lifeless stone,

To Walk Free among and who comprehends the foul and necrophagous delights
and gestures of abominable titans,
do stand upon this sheltered rock, full of all my powers!
the Harms of Zin
I, Eibon, privileged and devoted servant
by Joseph S. Pulver of most high and blessed Lord Zhothaqquah
and Great Mage of Mhu Thulan,
I, Eibon, privileged and devoted servant charge thee, Ar-W’ytsl, Gate And Bridge Across,

of most high and blessed Lord Zhothaqquah whilst the night season blooms in the deep hours,

and Great Mage of Mhu Thulan, to span the immeasurable, the Chasm of Z’wnul,

who have been borne over the stony mounds and bear me hidden and guarded

and hell-spired dwelling-houses through the unnatural courts and harms of the grey realms,

of Cerngoth, and Utressor, and Camorba, that I may tread the labyrinthine corridors poured by G’Waatn

on wings feathered from words, within the Vaults of Zin! $

and who hast commemorated Isyl, and Ytun, and Vahm,
in the Red Circus of Iff issa,
and who hast consumed the dark-essence of stars,
and Red Worm seed;

1, Eibon, privileged and devoted servant

of most high and blessed Lord Zhothaqquah
and Great Mage of Mhu Thulan,
who comprehend all elements, all metals,
all forms of flesh, all powders and charms,
all the ways of rapture and the manners worse than death,
and all the sacred and blasphemous words;

1, Eibon, privileged and devoted servant

of most high and blessed Lord Zhothaqquah
and Great Mage of Mhu Thulan,
who have in ordained manner,
slain beast and babe in communion and petition,
and drunk their empowering essence
from the fire-cleansed skull of a ram;

1, Eibon, privileged and devoted servant

of most high and blessed Lord Zhothaqquah
and Great Mage of Mhu Thulan,
who have held the darkness and the light
 348
The B>l°k QfEjk^ yhe Eibonic Rituals 349

Tonight release us from your gaze,

The Night of the Night Resting

On the dark moon
by Michael Cisco Don’t paralyze us with your eyes,

A mong these processionals is this described as the Night of the

Night of those persons of jagged Ejve Biis whom we know
We’re escaping your seven eyes
From your silent tyranny—
No one knows
for their ancestry. The Ejve Biis receive the ambassadors of Why this night is not like the others,
their ancestors.
Why this night is night for Night,
They retire in the evening with a great show of outdoor ban¬ She sleeps—
queting finished they retire calling loudly to one another and lie still While her bloody tresses bind the veins of heaven”
until the last dimming of twilight’s lamps departing from the win¬
dows of the houses of twilight without glass windows that shine with This last line being repeated throughout for a long interval it is

the lamps of twilight and dim with twilight until the last, when there pitched higher for each word—there are preparations—

are no more embers, the oil is cold, there is no wisp of smoke but just The unknown priest who is not known for wearing the seven-eye
ashes, when there are only ashes, if all is in darkness then because the mask brings the one who put himself forward for the night of the
dark moon is in the sky, there is only the darkness to which they are Night and who is not known for wearing the sacrifice's mask, there
accustomed, just then they rise and go out to the mountain of night, is no light but what comes from the idol and that is not light, that is
come out in silence to the mountain of night hidden by the dark not light that is coming out of the idol, but shines so they can see the
moon they come out in silence and alone going along one by one masks, the priest lies on the couch and says—
where their paths meet in long lines they circle the mountain of night
“J sleep”
hidden by the dark moon and come to the peak without light and
stand as though blind, darker set against the dark sky, the idol of —the one in the mask of the sacrifice comes up to the couch
moons is there—
—except the priest they sing constantly
Beneath the gaze of the blind idol of moons they turn invisible
when the priest speaks, they come to the idol of moons and when the “While her bloody tresses bind up the veins of heaven”

dark moon has passed behind the idol of moons and is obscured by
—the one in the mask of the sacrifice lies beside the priest and he is
the idol of moons the priest comes from beneath the idol of moons
given the moon’s sour opium to drink, and when he lies on the couch
and speaks, says It is night for Night,’ they turn gale-eyed for dances
they send their voices invisible as shadows in shadow one voice to the
and sing with strident wails into the sky unheard by sleeping Night,
sky and the stars past the sleeping Night whose jealousy is also asleep
dance unseen, kiss in the dark like their young one another and each
and does not run after their calls to hem them in below the arch of
other in the dark like shadows in shadows clear as water and invisi¬
the moon—
ble, and with their priest they sing or teach others the song—
The priest rises, the white gold knife of the priest writes the lan¬
“The Night's seven eyes are fast asleep, guage of night on the body of the offering by whose blood as it comes
She’s resting they can see, until the dark moon disappears, the priest makes cuts
On the dark moon and gives admittance to the night to the body of the offering, the
Turn away your eyes, offering will know the night in every part of himself, and while the
unknown priest is cutting beneath the idol of moons the rest are Saf
and unseen to kiss in the dark and sing— The Banishing Seal of Yste
“Now they are all gaping diamond veins of heaven” by Thomas Brown
and the offering cries—

“Now my blood escaping shines through the gaze of heaven”

—in a voice that shakes the ground—the voice of the offering comes
out of the offering and speaks in all of them, the voice of the offering
disappears and for a moment there is nothing in the world, the night
for All, there is night for All, and Nothing—
And those who return see the twilight again, by twilight in the
east as the dark moon sets each takes a piece of the offering to hide
in the earth before the sun shines. ^
 The Eibonic Rituals 333

The Nine Pentacles of The Scarlet Sign

by Thomas Brown
Ssgandrom
by Thomas Brown
jIk' Acolyte of the Flame 357

About “The Acolyte of the Flame”

A new Old One (sorry for the oxymoron!) made his debut in this, one of
the First Cthulhu Mythos stories Lin wrote, taking a periodic breather
from work on his Lovecraft: A Look Behind the “Cthulhu Mythos A He intro¬
duced Aphoom-Zhah, the Cold Flame, son of fiery Cthugha. The story
exists in an earlier and a later form. The later version (which premiered in
Crypt of Cthulhu #36, Yuletide 1985) appears here. It is most certainly a tale
of Hyperborea, but not from the Book of Eibon; rather it is excerpted from
the Pnakotic Manuscripts. (By the way, Lin used to pronounce it “na-COAT-
ik,” for what that may be worth.)

You will note Carter’s attribution of the Pnakotic Manuscripts, at least

their earlier portions, to the Australian archivists of Yith. This supposition
finds no support in Lovecraft, who merely notes (in “The Shadow out of
Time”) that the Yith race dates from those remote primordial times which
are chronicled in the Pnakotic Manuscripts. Being mentioned in the same
sentence hardly makes the one the author of the other! It’s like saying Yog-
Sothoth wrote the Necronomicon! This misconception goes back all the way
to Lin’s early glossary “H. P Lovecraft: The Books,” where he seems to be
trying to tabulate extant Mythos data, not to invent more. Thus, as an
interpretation of HPL it is an error, but as a further development of HPL’s
ideas, cross-fertilizing them, well, why not?
 'fhc Acolyte of the Flame 359

and dank and menacing is the wind that moans down into the val¬
The Acolyte of the Flame leys of the south, like unto the panting breath of some colossal and
encroaching monster.
(A Translation of Fragment MXI In the time of my grandsires had the Ice whelmed Polarion; in

of the Pnakotic Manuscripts) the days of my father Mhu Thulan had been lost to men; and now
(say the hardy travelers who have dared risk the wrath of the Cold
by Lin Carter Ones, those white spirits of the Ice, or their dread Master, the abnor¬
mality: RJim Shaikorth), even the spires of sunny Varaad are sheathed
Translator’s Note: Much confusion exists concerning the in sparkling frost, and the jungles wither, blasted by the cold.
Pnakotic Manuscripts, for which some authorities claim pre- Against the slow but inexorable advance of the Ice, the most
Pteistocene, some prehuman, and some extraterrestrial authorship.
sagacious of our sorcerers have expended their most arcane and
Tradition affirms that the older portions, those which can no
prodigious enchantments, but in vain. For neither the potent exor¬
longer be read, derive from the forgotten annals of Yith and are
cisms of Pnom nor the most celebrated spells of Eibon the Unfath¬
the work of the Great Race which preceded man’s advent on this
omable have proven efficacious to retard the stealthy slither of the
planet by millions of years. Indeed, those most ancient parts are
glaciers. Athwart the sheer and glassy ramparts they have hurled the
inscribed in curious curvilinear glyphs which Nathaniel Wingate
Peaslee has identified as virtually identical with those inscriptions most terrific cantrips and enchantments in all the compendia of thau-
found in the ruined stone city in the deserts of Australia in 1935. maturgy, but naught has ever stayed for long the gradual advance of
What emerges from the confusion of contradictory claims is that the glittering Doom.
the Pnakotic Manuscripts grew about this Yithian nucleus and As a child in jungle-girt Uzuldaroum—before the abandonment
were added to over geological epochs by successive civilizations. In of that city to the Cold—was I apprenticed to the Pnakotic Brethren,
an effort to resolve this problem of scholarship, I have here ren¬ but a blemish that from my natal hour had marked me forbade that
dered into passable English a version of the Last Pnakotic ever I should don the silver mitre and the purple robes of the Masters
Fragment, which concerns the abandonment of Hyperborea early
of this ancient Order. Yet was I ever of a studious bent and much
in the most recent period. The textual references bear directly on
given to perusal of the ancient records, and thus was a place found
the area of controversy, and the fable itself is not without charm.

O
for me amongst the Custodians of the Archives. And it was there, in
—Lin Carter
the dim adyts of the Brotherhood, that first I gained an inkling of the
f the Doom that befell the land of Hyperborea, none is more
strange and wondrous destiny set forth as mine from before the very
fit to speak thereof than I, Athlok, a minor votary of the
Beginning of All Things. . . .
Pnakotic Brethren, for the commg-hence of this Doom I
* * *
beheld and mayhap was myself the cause.
For unknown cycles of forgotten time have they who dwell in the Now, the Brethren guard, and preserve, and copy those records of
land of Hyperborea dreaded and sought to stay the coming of the the past left behind by the Great Race of Yith when they abandoned
Great Ice, whereof many prophets and sages have foretold. Like the the steaming fens and quaking swamps of the Elder World, to voy¬
crystal ramparts of some city of unthinkable titans it stretcheth age forward in Earth-time; for uncounted aeons had they sought out
across the continent to the north, and, hour by hour, day by day, the the histories of worlds and lands and ages anterior to mine own. In
inexorable advance of the Ice imperils the habitation of men as it the pages of the Manuscripts are recorded the else-forgotten chroni¬
draws ever more nigh. Small and furtive and evil lights twinkle and cles of Yith and Shaggai, of distant Yaddith of the Doles and of
glide amidst the Ice like baleful, menacing eyes ever watching. Cold Yuggoth on the Rim; therein may be found the quaint and curious
 yhe Acolyre of the Flame 361
360 The Dook of Hilw

histories of the primal serpent-folk, of the K’n-yanians, and of those Aphoom Zhah, but as a flame of utter and supra-arctic cold is he, not
furry and prehuman denizens of the Prime, even the furtive Vo0rmis uS a flame which burneth.
and the hairy and cannibal Gnophkehs who worship As a freezing blight upon the bubbling mire and fetid, dragon-

Abomination Rhan Tegoth. Down the span of measureless aeons rrampled marshes of the primal world was the presence of Aphoom

have the precursors of this Brotherhood carried on the task imposed Zlvah, for there flooded forth from the core of his being a terrible and

upon the peoples of anterior cycles by the Great Race: the gathering blasting cold as of the interstellar depths themselves. And in the full¬

and preserving of the histories of many lands and ages, even unto ness of time, but not until the waning of uncountable millennia, did

these, the latter days of Hyperborea. the Elder Gods descend to prison the Flaming One, and chained him

One day it chanced that I found a curious passage in the earliest deep in the depths of a mighty Pit at the ultimate and boreal Pole,

of those portions of the Pnakotic Manuscript that may still be read; the ere returning from thence to their starry abode on Glyu-Vho. Fearful

which told how that dread Aphoom Zhah, the Flame Thing, had beyond words was the rage and fury of Aphoom Zhah at his impris¬

descended unto this Earth from far and frozen Yaksh, eighth of the onment, and the cold that poured ever from the Lord of the Flame

planets from the Sun and nearest of them all to eldritch Yuggoth. slew all in that land and sealed it beneath the eternal ice. And in time

Now the long-dead hand that had set down this account had done so there grew up above the Pit a mighty mountain of glacial and

in an archaic variant of the Tsath-yo language so obscure as to be vir¬ adamantine ice that reared high against the frozen stars; and all of

tually indecipherable, even to one so deeply learned in the texts as that northern land became a dead and sterile waste.
was J; and long and longer still J puzzled over the crude and uncouth Now, Hyperborea was in those days uninhabited of men; but

cursives to discern their meaning. According to this scribe, it had from the blasting and terrific cold, as it consumed and devoured their

been discovered from a prolonged scrutiny of the Voormish Tablets, stone-built towns one by one, the timid Voormis and the shaggy
wherein those timid and troglodytic precursors of man preserved Gnophkehs (they who alone inhabited the continent in that epoch of

much of the lore of their prehuman era, whereamongst was found a time) fled and became homeless wanderers and, at the last, brutish
prophecy that in time to come all of the primal continent would one and grunting savages. But the last and wisest of their shamans, ere
day be whelmed and lost under the crushing weight of the Great Ice. yet they had declined to bestial subhumans, had uttered a cryptic

Hereunto was appended the reason and cause thereof, which was even prophecy, saying that after limitless ages a Savior should arise, and

Aphoom Zhah, the Cold Flame, who had been begotten on a dim that he would bear upon his breast a mark like a gray flame.
world that encircleth distant Fomalhaut, and of his monstrous birth * ^ *

in the days after the Elder Gods had defeated and imprisoned those
rash, presumptive Old Ones who had dared rebel against Them. Thus far had 1 perused the Pnakotic records when a vast and thrilling

Now it was written that the Lord of the Flame was of the spawn excitement seized my heart and the glyph-emblazoned scrolls of

of great Cthugha himself, born on that remote sphere to which megatherium-hide fell from my nerveless hand. VCfith shaking fingers

Cthugha had been exiled and chained for his role in the rising-up or didst 1 lay bare my breast, whereon from birth had 1 borne that
the Old Ones against their former Masters; but the strictures which strange blemish which precluded my entry into the higher circles of
bound his mighty Sire had no potency to stay the Spawn of Cthugha, our Order, it was a patch of scaly, leprous gray, shapen very like unto
and thus had he come hither, traversing the black gulf between the a tapering spindle of flame: and I could not but shudder with fierce

stars. First to dubious Yaksh did he come, and from thence to this elation, knowing myself the destined Savior of Hyperborea, of whose
Earth in its youth. And the ancient scribe made relation of Aphoom coming the Voormish Tablets had from of old foretold. Ihe forgotten
Zhah that in his likeness and his being he resembleth his Awful Sire boreal kingdoms of the Voormis were long lost beneath the Ice, but
in that he is a Thing of Flame: like a gray, wavering sheet of Fire is mine own land could 1 save from the impending Doom.
 362
The Book ofEib^ The Acolyte of the Flame 363

Yec 1 lingered for a time in the shadowy adytum, for I recalled to Something akin to madness seized me there on the glittering ice¬
mind those cryptic prophecies of the unknowable future which the field under the spectral aurora. Many times I slipped and fell, as my
far-seeing and all-wise Aphiroth, an Elder Brother of mine Order limbs became numb and all but senseless, and I raved and sobbed,
had graven upon plates of imperishable lagh-metal in the distant yowling aberrant blasphemies at the peering stars. At the black fissure
times of Eibon: for had he not predicted that the Great Ice would in I averted mine eyes from the frightening glyphs cut there in ancient
the fullness of time overwhelm all of Hyperborea, and even the days by the Voormis, it may be, or the hairy Gnophkehs in warning
greater parts of Thuria over-sea, grinding to dust such unborn and to the unwary traveler: and thus I entered the caverns beneath Yarak
yet-unfounded realms as Zobna and Lomar? the Ice-Mountain. Black and hoary were these labyrinthine ways,
Which of these prophets twain uttered truth, the old Vbormish hewn from the age-old ice itself; and the cavern wound down into the
shaman or the wise Hyperborean? bowels of the mountain like the passage made by some unthinkable
And so it came to pass that, an hour before dawn, I ascended to and obscene Worm; down and down I followed the way, and the cold
the height of the ziggurat wherein our Brotherhood was housed, and was pitiless and the darkness absolute. My very brain seemed frozen
drank the Golden Mead and howled forth the Litany of Hastur when within my skull, but my breast burned with feverish fires of aspiration
the cold eye of Aldebaran hung in the purple skies, and mounted the and my step was resolute and unwavering.
monstrous back of the black-winged Byakhee when it descended in After a mad eternity of blasting cold and translunar blackness I
response to my summons. Then it was that that 1 set forth to achieve came forth upon a ledge above a vast abyss. There was a spar of ice
the unique and curious destiny for which I had been born. that thrust out over the gulf and to its end I stumbled and staggered.

* * ^
All of the bottomless depth below my unsteady feet was filled with
restless and glimmering luminance, as cold and colorless as the shud¬
Of that weird flight from the frost-blighted fields and farms of dering aurorae. That wavering and charnel glow was like the foul and
Uzuldaroum and across the glittering mirror of the Great Ice, I uncanny phosphorescence that seethes within the maggot-squirming
recall but little, save that the awful winds of interstellar cold meat of some putrescent corpse, very unlike the clean fire of whole¬
numbed me to the marrow as we flew at fearful velocities under the some wood.
uncanny, pallid fires of shuddering aurorae and the cold, peering eye At the ultimate verge of that spar of adamantine ice stood a
of the mocking Moon. Ever to the north I pointed the iron beak of thing of stone, shapen in the likeness of a five-pointed star, and there
my monstrous steed, and at length, under the chilly rays of far was a Sigil cut upon it like a flamy Eye. As I knelt there at the end
Polaris, we descended upon a slick and glassy plain of perdurable ice, of that tongue of ice, in that vast and hollow space thronged with the
and I dismounted to stand at the very foot of Yarak itself, that sky- unclean radiance of the Gray Flame below, I heard a faint voice whis¬
reaching mountain of adamantine ice that marks the site of the ulti¬ pering to me; and with nerveless hands I reached out and pried loose
mate and boreal Pole. that stony star and broke it in twain. . . .
In a dim and ghastly half-light did I stumble across the frozen
* * *
plain towards the soaring mountain of glistening ice in whose base I
spied a yawning fissure like the black, gaping maw of a frozen skulk The Pnakotic Brethren decreed no punishment upon me, for my sin
I knew in my heart that this grim portal was the entrance to the Pit is of such unthinkable and prodigious horror that no suitable act of
wherein from the Elder Days had dwelt the Gray Flaming One, even retribution seems imaginable. But they have imposed upon me the
Aphoom Zhah, attended by his ghostly minions, the Ylidheem, the bitter task of setting down this account of the Doom that befell the
Cold Ones. land of Hyperborea by my hand, and this task is truly fitting. Would
364 The Acolyte of the Flame 365
The Book of Eibon

that I had perished in the womb, ere I grew to bring about the ruin Aii, fair and summery Lomar, how long will your paven ways
of my homeland in my madness and folly and dreams of destiny! escape the vengeance of the Gray Flame? For only this dawn I looked

I remember that moment above the chasm when I broke the star forth from the crest of thy tallest spire and saw the ramparts of the

of gray stone and, so-doing, loosed That which from measureless Great Ice descending remorselessly upon thy green vales!

aeons had been imprisoned in the pit thereby. The ghastly phospho¬ Note: As for the Pnakotic Brotherhood and their retrieval of the
rescence blazed high, rustling with unholy glee, and the terrific blast Manuscripts and carrying them to the mainland of Europe,

of unendurable rigor that struck forth from the stirring Flame drove Lovecraft wrote in a letter to Richard F. Seanght dated February
13, 1936: “Exact data regarding the Pnakotic Mss. are lacking.
me shrieking from my precarious perch—drove me sobbing and
They were brought down from Hyperborea by a secret cult (allied
stumbling back up the winding ways of the black labyrinth—drove
to that which preserved the Book of Eibon) & are in the secret
me forth from the grim gate and across the frigid plain to where the
Hyperborean language, but there is a rumour that they are a
Byakhee patiently crouched in expectation of my return. And I came translation of something hellishly older ... of fabulous antiquity.
back to Uzuldaroum to find it a city of the dead.
That they antedate the human race is freely whispered.” *
Few had escaped the holocaust of inconceivable cold that blew
ravening down from the boreal Pole, and those few had fled the
metropolis into the south. Now deserted Uzuldaroum stood frozen,
sheathed in ice; ice flashed and glittered on the streets and spires, the
temples and towers. Soon—horribly soon—the Great Ice would
come grinding down, and all of these parts of Hyperborea would join
Polarion and Mhu Thulan, Varaad and crumbling Commoriom, in
their glacial and eternal tombs. For Aphoom Zhah was at last set free
to wreak his awful fury on the lands of men, and it would be many
slow and tortuous ages before the Elder Gods returned to seal him
once again within his Pit.
We few who survived fled south where forests, fields and farms
yet withstood the wintry gales; but not for long. Galleys and car¬
avels bore the remnants of our people to the mainland ofThuria, to
found the young towns of Zobna and ofLomar, in whose warm and
fertile vales we now dwell. And 1 who was then in my youth am now
grown weary with years of toil, and when I have fulfilled the behest
of the last few of my brethren and have set down on these last pages
of the Pnakotic Manuscripts an account of the Doom of
Hyperborea, I shall rest.
Alas, for my pride and vanity, that in my folly I read not with
greater care the words of that old Voormish prophecy! For it has been
my evil destiny to have been the cause of destroying that which I
sought to save, and the Savior of that which I would have doomed:
for in my rash folly I became the Savior of Aphoom Zhah. not
Hyperborea.
 About “From the Archives of the Moon”
From the Archives of the Moon
H ere is surely the best of Lin Carter’s several attempts at pastiching
Clark Ashton Smith’s style, and it is not a slice of the Book of Eihon by Lin Carter
“From the Archives of the Moon” first appeared, just after Lin's untimely
passing, in Crypt of Cthulhu #54 (Eastertide 1988). It blends Lin's pseudo-
There are many marvelous tales, untold, unwritten, never to be
Smithian voice with the authentic note of Klarkashtonian world-weary
recorded or remembered, lost beyond all divining and all lmagm-
ennui, and with a good pinch of Smith's pulp sci-fi hokum.
ing, that sleep in the double silence of far-recessive time and space.
The mytho-symbolic resonances of the tale are quite apt as well. The The chronicles of Saturn, the archives of the Moon in its prime, the
central image of an advancing tide of lunar fungi perfectly catches the
legends of Antiilia and Moaria—these are full of an unsurmised or
ancient, almost archetypical association of the moon with the mushroom cap,
forgotten wonder.
the very link that allowed the ancient Aryans to make their Lord Soma the —Clark Ashton Smith
god both of the moon and of the sacred mushroom Amanita Mmearia (see R,
Gordon Wasson and Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty's Soma: Divine Mushroom of
Immortality, John M. Allegro, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross). Let me repro¬
duce part of a Rig Vedic hymn to Soma from Wendy O’Flaherty's Penguin
Classics translation. The imagery refers to the quaffing of massive amounts of
T hat the absolute heights of artistic expression and scientific
achievement had all been scaled millennia before by those of
the Soma mead by the warrior Indra to stoke up his berserker fury before his the Selenites who were their remoter ancestors, was the con¬
epic battle with the dragon Vrtra, and, for our purposes, it also hints at the sensus of opinion amongst the wisest and most cultivated of the few
celestial glories of the imaginary lunar world envisioned by Smith and Carter. who yet lingered in the half-ruinous precincts of immemorial and

Let Indra the killer of Vrtra drink soma in Saryanavat nigh-abandoned Yrimid.
[where soma is collected], gathering his strength within
Verse, the plastic and graphic arts, the concoction of illusions, the
himself, to do a great heroic deed. O drop of Soma, flow electronics of sensory stimulus, the subtle alembication of essences
for Indra. and perfumes—these arts had each been carried to the utmost degree
Purify yourself, generous Soma, master of the quarters of
of sophistication epochs before.
the sky. Pressed with sacred words, with truth and faith
What poet of today could match the exquisite, the planturous
and ardour, O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.
lyricism of Ariodh, pervaded with his delicious languors and perver¬
You speak of the sacred as your brightness is sacred; you
sities? What composer of modernity could hope to equal the gos¬
speak the truth as your deeds are true. You speak of faith,
King Soma, as you are carefully prepared by the sacrifi¬ samer tenuity and melodic fragmentation of Caluorn? What recent
cial priest. dramatist could compare with the ravishing ironies, the felicitous
Where the high priest speaks rhythmic words, O phrasing, the morbid decadence of the unfinished tragedies of
Purifier, holding the pressing-stone, feeling that he has
Helladian?
become great with the Soma, giving birth to joy through Or_to turn to another and very different branch of Selenitic
the Soma, O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.
endeavor—who, in these final lustra of the Moon’s decline, could
Where the inextinguishable light shines, the world
dream to surpass the ardor and tenacity, the daring and intrepidity of
where the sun was placed, in that immortal, unchanging
world, O Purifier, place me! the matchless Halasp, who had risked the sidereal gulfs to peregri¬
Where they move as they will, in the triple dome, in the nate upon the steaming fens and quaking bogs and dare the su-
third heaven of heaven, where the worlds are made of phurous volcanoes of the young and savage Earth, their eternal an
light, there make me immortal! enigmatic companion through the infinite void?
 368 prom the Archives of the Moon 369
The Book QfHibn.

Suffice it ro say that there were none. Time itself, perchance II.
had leached the stalwart vigor and courageousness of the Selenites
of earlier cycles from the fiber of the present race, and this fact
T utored by sentient mechanisms whose artificial memories held
recorded the whole of Selenitic science and philosophy, he still
when noted rarely, adumbrated the ultimate and disastrous decline abode in the palatial but ruinous manse of his illustrious ancestors,
of their civilization.
where—rather than sinking supinely into the mad whirl of pleasures,
Which decline was only rendered more ominous and terminal in the perfervid quest for ever more exotic sensations, more fanciful
when one paused to consider, as the Yrimidians seldom dared, the intoxications, more bizarre religions—he pursued his solitary study
inexorable advance of the dreaded and inexplicable xin . . of those technologies upon which, in his sober estimate, depended
In fine, then, there seemed naught left to the poets and artisans the very survival of Selenitic culture and civilization, and in which
of crumbling, all but deserted, Yrimid but to evolve ever more ten¬ might easily repose the last, dwindling hopes for its eventual
uous refinements and elaborations upon those arts which had already renascence.
reached their apex and henceforward could only ebb into decadence It was Kadeiron’s belief that could the encroachment of the xin
and decay; and naught for the savants and mechanicians of today but be reversed or at least halted, something of its lost vitality might
ever more trivial improvements or minor complicalities superadded return to immemorial Yrimid, as well as a major portion of its citi¬
to the technological mastery of the earlier Selenites. zenry, fled from the approach of the fungoid monstrosities, who

As Yrimid lapsed shard by shard into desuetude—as the mem¬ might be persuaded to return to the capital.

bers of the nobility and the wealthier classes of the citizenry fled the The xin, those indefatigable and murderous fungi who had crept

ancient capital in aerial contrivances perfected millennia before, forth a generation before from the fumeroles which fissured the
flanks of the extinct volcano Fulguron, due east of the metropolis,
seeking their villas and pleasaunces on the flanks or slopes of the
displayed a mindless tenacity of purpose, like iron filings drawn to a
lunar mountains, far beyond the present scope of the depredations
magnet, and an utter disregard for their own deaths which was both
of the xin—life in the decaying metropolis, among the ever-dwin¬
fearful and repellent. When first they came shambling down the
dling remnant of its inhabitants who yet remained within its
slopes of Fulguron to ravage the robotic farms and vineyards beyond
labyrinthine walls, became a perverse and feverish round of giddy
the outskirts of the metropolis, beams of atomic fire had been lev¬
pleasures, of curious and original forms of inebriation, of the
eled against their advance and they had been reduced to bitter ash.
imbibement of superb and voluptuous perfumes, of novel and
Undeterred, they continued their ponderous, lurching encroach¬
experimental lubricities.
ment, as stubborn and tireless as the tides of the Iolanthian Sea. And
There remained, however, one who had heretofore staunchly
since the fungi budded from their own spongy and tubular stalks,
resisted the almost universal surrendering of all hope in the future to
requiring no partner in the act of reproduction, even as they died
embrace a pessimism all but suicidal and, from thence, to sink feebly they gave birth to new generations of their loathly kind. At length
and unresistingly into the embrace of depravities unknown even to overwhelming the gun-emplacements, their obduracy affrighted the
the degenerates of anterior epochs. He was Prince Kadeiron, heredi¬ defenders of Yrimid, who became daunted and deserted their posts,
tary magistrate of Yrimid and the scion of a House of such immense abandoning their terrific projectors of destructive force to the
antiquity that its true origins were sunk in fable and were deemed indomitable xin.
dubious and equivocal by many. Next, impalpable barriers of magnetic force were erected against
’Tis of Kadeiron that the following tale was told—one of the them; these were deemed impenetrable by any known organic or
innumerable histories which repose forgotten and unread amongst mineral substance. But the fungi-horde merely piled, rank on rank
the Archives of the Moon. atop their own brethren, treading them down into a ghastly pulp,
370 The Book ofEib^ the Archives of the Moon

until the utmost rank achieved the summit of the force-barrier; ancj uS he declined to .turn from his interdicted rituals to a more whole¬

they then continued their inexorable advance upon the city. some adherence to the tenets of the national faith.

Over the generation since their emergence from the fissures of However, once a Selenite, always a Selenite, surely, and a full par¬

Fulguron, technique after technique had been employed to stem the don from the chief of the present-day ecclesiarchs of Yrimid should

tide of the xin. Rivers of liquid fire, gas-clouds whose corrosive vapors suffice to assuage whatever resentments might still linger in the sor¬

ate into the fungoid flesh like virulent acids, hitherto unknown ener¬ cerer’s heart after the passage of so many lustra, or so reasoned

gies which dissolved all matter into the primordial ylem. These and Kadeiron.
other novel and ingenious modes of destruction were used, and all of Donning habiliments of russet and zircon-yellow, which were in

them to no avail. Naught deterred the plodding advance of the fun¬ the latest mode, and lacing buskins of royal purple upon his feet,

goid monstrosities, although some of these defensive methods suc¬ Prince Kadeiron took up his mace of office, carven from a single
ceeded in delaying them for a year or so. gigantic opal, strung the guidon marked with the colors of his House
The most profound intelligences which yet remained in Yrimid to the flagstaff of his vehicle, and directed his aerial conveyance
exhausted the records of Selenitic history without discovery of a prior towards the mountainous abode of the sorcerer.
episode of such dire malignity. It was conjectured that the xin had This craft, which resembled a slim gondola of graceful and ele¬
their origin deep beneath the Moon’s crust, in fetid and unlitten cav¬ gant proportions, ascended at once into the afternoon sky, which was
erns where furtive hybrids lurked and festered and unspeakably irradiated with the sullen crimsons and surly golds ol incipient sun¬
interbred. What had impelled the fungi to emerge into the light of set, and floated upon its magnetic beams towards the mountains of
day, to ravage and ruin all in their path, remained unsurmisable, even the west with nimble celerity. It soared over streams of dark and
to the supreme intellects of the age. turgid waters, lnsated with glints like the hues of peacock plumes, it
That the fall of Yrimid was imminent remained beyond question. soared above immemorial forests where serpentine trees, writhing
rapaciously, sought to entrap the exotic beasts who imprudently
III. strayed into the shelter of their foliage, whose blossoms opened to

E xhausting the resources of Selenitic science, Prince Kadeiron

disclose mouths wherein rows of fangs like hollow thorns were
revealed to view.
resolved upon a bold expedition. If technology held no defense
Soon the terrain rose into hills, became mantled with heavy bosk¬
against the xin, what of the more ancient arts of sorcery and magic—
age; here and there outcroppings of nodular stone and sharded min¬
those shadowy arcana whose rituals and liturgies had been under the
eral suggestive of scoriae remains adumbrated the imminence of the
interdiction of ecclesiarchs for countless ages? In desperation,
volcano. As twilight limned the clouds with mauve and dusty gold,
Kadeiron determined to seek out a surviving practitioner of the
there hove into view, clinging to the summit of Garascus, a stony
eldritch arts. At length his mechanicals revealed the name of one
manse built in an antiquated mode, silhouetted against the gloaming.
such sorcerer, one Uthnagor, who dwelt upon the peak of Garascus—-
Unlike the severely rectilinear style popular in this age, with its per¬
like Fulguron, the cone of an extinct volcano—but unlike Fulguron,
pendicular walls and cubicular turretry, the manse was a baroque effu¬
due west of the metropolis. The prince resolved to visit the sorcerer
sion of cupolas and balustrades, plinths, belevederes, metopes,
in order to implore the assistance of his arts against the xin.
obelisks. It could be none other than the abode of the sorcerer.
True, the sorcerer Uthnagor had been driven into exile genera¬
Kadeiron brought his craft to rest within a courtyard and found
tions before by the ecclesiarchs who ruled Yrimid with rigor in that
period, long before the present laxity of morals. They had held the a portal whose massy slab of primordial and fossilized wood held a

practice of sorcery in the utmost abhorrence and had issued against knocker of verdigris-gnawed brass shapen in the likeness of a grin

the recalcitrant Uthnagor a writ condemning him to perpetual exile, ning death’s-head—as morbid an item of decor as he could imagine.
372 The Book of Hibpn Iroiri the Archives of the Moon 373

Nonetheless, he sounded the knocker, which roused a succession of Uthnagor nodded with a seeming satisfaction, and he permitted
sepulchral echoes which ebbed at length to silence. Erelong the door a slight smile to relieve the grim austerity of his features. “Then
creaked open to reveal a small and hairy imp, doubtless a familiar of come, young sir; attend me, if you will. Let us repair to my labora-
the sorcerer’s, it looked him over with slitted eyes like evil ruby torium, and we shall see . . . what we shall see.”
shards, but admitted him. One more easily daunted than Kadeiron
might have hesitated before entering so ominous a portal and ven¬ IV.
turing into the funereal darknesses that lay within, but the high and
nd with these enigmatic words, the sorcerer led Kadeiron down
noble motive of Kadeiron’s quest overrode all prudent trepidations as
through winding corridors lined most curiously with mirrors of
to personal safety.
blackest steel, reflective of naught that the prince could see, and
He found the sorcerer a lean, austere individual of middle height,
past stout pens where squeaking cambions gamboled and fed upon
clad in a narrow robe of ardent nacarat-orange and somber purple,
abominable victuals in a repulsive manner. These metallic halls
whose gaze was polite but indifferent and whose words were suave
debouched, eventually, into a high-domed chamber, in shape as cir¬
but noncommittal. That his age was preternaturally lengthened
cular as a rotunda. One wall, which was of solid crystal, gave forth
beyond the average of the race was evident from his fibrils, which,
upon a vast panorama of the landscape to the east of the villa. The
though once a luxuriant emerald, had dimmed through the passage
metal ziggurats and pylons of Yrimid were clearly visible, herded
of innumerable years until they were as pale as nacre, and from the within the encirclement of that stupendous and triple wall reared by
nodules atop his crest which were all but transparent. giant automatons against the coming of the xin, and which should
Bidding his uninvited guest seat himself in a capacious chair hewn in time serve as the last defense of the city of the Selenites. Beyond
from one enormous ivory tusk of a monster from one or the other of the city, notching the gloom of the horizon, Fulguron soared against
the poles of the Moon, the sorcerer listened with inscrutable atten¬ the wan stars.
tiveness while Prince Kadeiron described the horrendous peril which The domed chamber, Kadeiron saw, held enormous engines of
endangered the ancient metropolis. Uthnagor’s queries were few but curious and complex design and unknown and unsurmisable utility;
to the point, and Kadeiron replied to them as best he could. it were evident that this Uthnagor combined within his person both
“So, while Yrimid wallows in pernicious and luxuriant pleasure, the rigors of the scientific method and the disciplines of the sorcerous
the Selenites yet endure the puerilities of religious dominance?” mur¬ arts. Against one wall reclined a vast globe of glistening lucent mate¬
mured the sorcerer in disapproving tones, while fondling the head ol rial, inlit with a steady and unwavering luminosity. This sphere dis¬
one strix-eyed familiar. “Doubtless the veriest details of quotidian life played a vista of the great battlefield beyond the metropolis to the
are regulated by sacerdotal law, no less strict than that which dravc east. As from the balcony of some theatre, Kadeiron could look forth
me forth into exile generations ago. How, then, can you promise as to observe the numberless and shambling ranks of the fungoid mon¬
recompense for my services the negation of the writ of exile and the strosities held momentarily at bay against crumbling barricades of
restoration of those honors of which I have been bereft?” harsh corundum.
Kadeiron displayed his opal mace. “As hereditary magistrate of Atop these monolithic barriers a host of determined male
Yrimid, it lies within the scope of my authority to restore to you the Yrimidians, cumbersomely clad in protective suiting, deployed tubu¬
estates and titles forfeit by the writ of exile,” he assured the sorcerer. lar projectors which bathed the momentarily balked horde of the
“And I have little doubt, if your assistance proves significant in eradi¬ walking fungi in hostile and lethal vibrations. As he watched, stirred
cating the scourge of the xin, that the more lenient ecclesiarchs of our and excited, seething whirlwinds of impalpable dust enveloped the
own day will relent them of the stern obduracies of their predecessors." lumbering figures of the xin, as their gigantic forms flaked away to
 374
The Book of Hib0n From the Archives of the Moon 375

powder, eroded by the vibrant and corrosive frequencies to which growth and they evolve rapidly to self-mobility, although they
their spongy fungoid flesh was thereby subjected. remain too low on the scale of life to achieve sapience. The vibration,
For a few more moments the lucence of the luminous sphere if prolonged, draws them up tunnels of the dead fumeroles to the sur¬
depicted this faraway scene of mortal conflict between invader and face, like the fabled siren's song.”
invaded; then the lucence filmed, grew opaque, and the luminosity The prince turned to face the sorcerer; eyes flashing, he straight¬
faded and was gone, leaving the globe blank. The prince turned to ened as full realization burst upon him in the instant. “Yes, draws
his host, who stood regarding him with a kind of cold amusement in them towards its source, the crest of Garascus—this house, where¬
his oblique gaze. from the vibrations are beamed!” he cried. “But unfortunately for the
You will perceive that I have not remained totally ignorant of hapless folk of the doomed and besieged Yrimid, their city lies
the dire eventuations you relate,” murmured Uthnagor drily. directly between the two mountains of Fulguron to the east and
“Indeed, sir; and I am amazed that you have not volunteered your Garascus to the west!”
services to the beleaguered city that once was your home ere this,” the The eyes of the sorcerer were dulled, opaque, their gaze turned
prince exclaimed. Uthnagor smiled his thin-lipped smile. inwards, to contemplate ancient wrongs long brooded upon. “When
“That is as it may be; however, you will observe that I have not my slaves, the mindless xin, have shattered asunder the walls of
been unbusied with this matter.” With those words he indicated Yrimid and trampled the city and its peoples into the dust, I shall
another instrument, a system of aligned metallic tubes which cease producing the vibrations whose fatal attraction lures them on,
reflected some manner of penetrant light, hurling an image of the and they shall root once more . . . and the rubble of Yrimid shall
Moon's inner depths upon a mirror of glassy amalgam. Kadeiron sti¬ become but a forest of fungoid monstrosities, where once reigned
fled an exclamation and leaned forward to study the picture with haughty ecclesiarchs, too proud and disdainful to tolerate a lone and
astonished horror. It depicted a gloomy cavern of vast extent. Shallow scholarly sorcerer in their midst,”
hills rose from swampy bogs; begrown with glistening and disgusting Fury surged up within Kadeiron's breast and angry words lashed
fungoid growths were these hillocks, and from them exuded a sickly from his scathing lips. In tones of bitter mockery he derided the sor¬
and insipid phosphorescence. Even as Prince Kadeiron watched with cerer, cried that he lied, that he exerted in truth no genuine control
commingled loathing and fascination, something like a gust of wind over the xin but had, in his madness, capitalized upon some instinc¬
went shuddering through the fungous forest; the surface of the hills tive migration of their own nature. Then he would have fallen upon
undulated as before some seismic tremor. The muddy loam split open the infamous Uthnagor, but of a sudden small and fetid bodies hur¬

as, incredibly, the giant growths withdrew their biform stalks from tled upon him from all sides and bore him to the floor beneath their

the soil and stood, swaying, as bipeds. Another unseen gust went vigorous and squirming onslaught. It was the cambions bred by the

trembling through them; as one, they turned about and stumbled sorcerer, loosed from their pens for this purpose; he struggled in vain

stiffly down the hill, joining an ever-growing migration that surged against the grip of those knotted and sinewy arms, but resistance was

towards a distant portal in the rocky wall, where an inclined plane led futile. They were too numerous and too strong for his opposition to

upwards . . . towards the surface. meet with any success.

Kadeiron cried out and the sorcerer grimaced with strange,

obscene excitement. Normally, the fungus creatures are dormant V.

and docile, content to remain rooted in the putrescent loam, where¬

from they suck a ghastly nutriment,” he said. “But long ago I learned
F or some days thereafter—Kadeiron was never certain of the num¬
ber, having quite early on lost all sense of time—was the prince
that a combination of certain octaves of sonic vibration, magnified by held captive in the durance of a cell with stout and steely walls,
the acoustics of their cavern walls, stimulate them to unnatural unceasingly lit from above by luminous strips along the ceiling, whose
 376
The Book ofEibnn From the Archives of the Moon 377

door was of massive and unforceable adamant. At measured intervals The sorcerer seated himself in the prow of the aerial vessel,
he obtained nutriment and rations of water through a panel in on behind the control console; the gibbering herd of cambions with¬
wall; an opening in the floor provided for his sanitary needs. drew; erelong, obedient to the impulses of the magnetic beams
Why, he wondered, did the sorcerer bother to keep him alive? It extruded from its nether and hinder parts, the flying vehicle floated
were more than obvious that Uthnagor was quite mad; no one who aloft and headed on into the east.
yet retained a shred of sanity could dream of extirpating the very civ They flew over a volcanic landscape of tortured and riven min¬
ilization at whose breast he had been nurtured. Long years of brood¬ eral; frozen riverbeds of solidified lava flashed and glittered in the sun
ing over the injustices wreaked against him by the people of Yrimid beneath them like mirrors of burnished obsidian. Obviously, these
had obviously deranged the sorcerer. were the detritus of Mount Garascus, cast off in the long-ago days of
Pondering the mutability of life and the labilities of human des¬ its volcanically active youth.
tiny, Kadeiron gloomily moped about his cell, as the minutes and Soon the impressive ramparts of Yrimid itself clomb into view
hours and days dragged slowly and heavily by. Time stretched inter¬ and they soared effortlessly over the once-splendid suburbs of the
minably ahead, for he envisioned no conceivable mode of escape from Quarter of the Aristocrats, with their broad and tree-lined avenues
his prison and no probable alleviation of his peril, as no one in Yrimid and aerial spans linking ziggurat to ziggurat. Peering from the side,
knew or could even have guessed his whereabouts. the sight of Yrimid in all the colossal decay of its ruinous abandon¬
It was quite without warning on one such day that the ponder¬ ment seemed to pleasure Uthnagor in no little degree. Soon did the
ous valve in his cell door swung open and revealed Uthnagor stand¬ metropolis dwindle astern; now they floated above a blasted land¬
ing in the opening, beckoning with an imperious gesture. Obeying scape where soil and stone had been hideously compacted before

with celerity, for the abrasive tedium of his captivity had long since intolerable refulgences, or torn atom from atom in the grip of incon¬
ceivable forces. This was most obviously the battleground over which
frayed his nerves to the point of febrility, the prince quitted his cell
upon the instant. the Yrimidians and the shambling hordes of the xin had battled for
a generation.
“Now shall you see for yourself, O Kadeiron, the power I hold
Now they approached the mighty corundum barricades, only to
over my mindless slaves,” rasped Uthnagor. And at his command,
discover them deserted by their defenders, who had fallen back in
cambions with thick shoulders and arms swelling with thews like
confusion and had taken flight, when the ramparts were overrun by
pythons swarmed over him and bound him in such a manner that he
the lumbering fungoid invaders. The aerial conveyance remained
could stand and walk but could not employ his hands or arms to any
aloft until the last remnants of the defenders had withdrawn into the
purpose.
shelter of the city’s monolithic walls for refuge, then settled lightly
He was then forced to follow the unspeaking sorcerer up sloping
to earth.
ramps and winding stairs, past level upon level thtonged with inex¬
Kadeiron dismounted from their craft at Uthnagor’s signal, and
plicable mechanisms and terrific engines of strange design and
stood staring about him wildly. They were in clear view of the
unguessable purpose, until at length they reached a tier upon whose immense xin. Never had the prince seen the monsters at such close
broad roof rested the flying boat which had conveyed Prince range; he discovered them to be even more horrible and loathsome
Kadeiron hither to the manse of Uthnagor. At a sign from the sor¬ than he had earlier assumed, with their clumsy, spongy, bifurcated
cerer, Kadeiron clambered within the vehicle and seated himself in bodies and nodding, swollen, ichyphallic heads, their cylindrical bod¬
the rear, behind a tubular mechanism mounted upon a folding tripod ies banded or striped or splotched with ochre, pistachio, canary,
which he recognized as none other but the sonic projector Uthnagor mauve, puce, plum-purple. The rank odor of semen clung about
had shown him in the laboratorium. their stumbling, lurching forms, as if they had been morels.
 378
The Book of Hib0n From the Archives of the Moon 379

Behold, ineffectual Prince, the invincible legions that war on the fungi, now rendered harmless at a stroke, spread over the land¬
haughty Yrimid in obedience to my whim,’’ demanded Uthnagor in scape like an anthropoform forest of growths. The warriors of Yrimid
harsh and grating tones. He strutted into the path of the clumsy would find it easiness itself to now wipe the fungoid legions from the
slow-moving fungi and turned to smirk at Kadeiron, as he invited surface of the Moon, and never again should they trouble the surviv¬
the prince’s attention with a negligent gesture. Some intuition ing few of Yrimid’s inhabitants.
impelled Kadeiron to attempt a vocal diversion, although he could It was for the prince the act of very little time to return to the
never after decide what prompted the instinct to do so. villa on the upper slopes of Garascus, where he loosed the frightful
“You boast, deluded sorcerer!” said Kadeiron in ringing voice. energies pent in the terrific engines devised by the sorcerer, whose
“The creatures but obey some dumb, blind racial urge, and not your house and all that it contained were erelong reduced to smoking rub¬
vaulted will. To prove me wrong, command them to turn aside—” ble. This being accomplished, the prince unobtrusively returned to
And it was then that Kadeiron came to the realization that truly his ancestral manse in the metropolis, and was amused to learn, upon
had Uthnagor’s long brooding over the wrongs done him leached questioning his friends, that no one at all had even so much as been
away his abilities for rational thought. For full in the path of the fun¬ aware of his absence from the city, and that none of them had the
goid monsters he stepped, and gesturing them to one side with slightest intimation as to the nature or purpose of his thus absenting
emphatic movements of his arms—to which the lumbering giants himself.
paid not the slightest attention, lacking, as they obviously did, the The Yrimidians were baffled at the sudden cessation of the
organs of sight and hearing and of sapience itself—he commanded advancing horde, but it soon became patently obvious that the peril
them to turn aside in a voice of thunder. And Kadeiron stood frozen of the xin was ended; armed with tanks of virulent acid, the defend¬
as, one by one, the giants with awkward and jerking stride, came ers sprayed the now-motionless fungus forest with a corrosive mist,
ponderously up to where the mad sorcerer stood, smote him prone, which dissolved the spongy giants, and the fissures in the flanks of
and continued on their way, trampling into the mire his squeaking, Fulguron were sealed with plugs of perdurable amalgam, lest the
jiggling form. remaining hordes now pent within the volcanic cone should again
attempt emergence, to the future peril of the capital. The leading
VI. savants of the city, when queried, had several notably flimsy theories
to account for Yrimid’s miraculous salvation, but no real answers
Tt took the prince some little time to undo his bonds and spring
were ever brought forth and the mystery was consigned to the obliv¬
-Lfrom his seat to the side of the sonic projector, which he battered
ion of the historical record, as just another enigma.
to wreckage with his heavy mace of office, which the mad Uthnagor,
However, in his capacity as magistrate of Yrimid, Prince Kadeiron
on the promptings of some unsurmisable whim, had carried along
circulated a memorandum to the ecclesiarchs of the city, advising
with them on their flight. No sooner had the tubular mechanism
them in the sternest of terms to think well and long before again dri¬
ceased its functioning than the fungoid giants halted in their
ving into exile any heretic accused of the practice of sorcery. For that
remorseless march towards the west, and stood, their bloated and
the future held its unborn Uthnagors he had no reason to doubt. ^
ichyphallic heads nodding cumbersomely, as if rerooted by some
unseen enchantment in this soil so alien to their monstrous kind.
They had advanced to within a few mere feet of the gunwales of the
sky boat before the destruction of the sonic projector stopped them
in their tracks. . . .
Kadeiron caused the aerial craft to ascend again, and circled above

the immense battlefield. Ranked thousands and tens of thousands of

380 The Book of Eibon The Incubus of- Arlantis 38 t

The one shows forth the blinding light of knowledge, the other—Delirium
About “The Incubus of Atlantis”
Tremendum! ■,
lark Ashton Smith and H. R Lovecraft were in many ways a pair of kids It is evident from reading Smith’s letters to Lovecraft that he was, like
who never grew up. From that condition, I think, proceeded the orac¬ REH and HPL, “his own most fantastic creation.” He was the flax from
ular skill each possessed in weird Fiction and verse (and the same goes dou¬ which he spun his tales. What follows is a loving tribute, even an epitaph,
ble for Two-Gun Bob Howard). They enjoyed trading solemn salaams and in that spirit,Tor that spirit, who I feel sure would have been amused.
salutes in their mutual epistles, heaping upon themselves and each other
horrific honorifics and fabulous flattery. They pretended to write one
another from the Cold Waste of This and the Dark Nebula of That. Even
their mundane grouses and gripes, e.g., about the obtuseness of editors like
pet peeve Farnsworth Wright of Weird Tales, were couched in the flowery
idiom of the fantasist. Wright they excoriated as “Satrap Pharnabazus," a
mutation of the names of Oriental tyrants like the ancient Monobazus. And
from this emerging matrix of pretend-fiction grew several props and
premises each man used in his published fiction. Such items were in-jokes,
and it is interesting to speculate as to how early these were recognized
among general readers who did not have the research resources we do to dig
into such recondities.

The most famous such in-joke, naturally, was Lovecraft’s citation in

"The Whisperer in Darkness” of "the Commoriom Myth Cycle preserved by
the Atlantean High-Priest KJarkash-Ton.” It is usually assumed Lovecraft
dreamed up this alias and christened his pal with it, but this is not clear to
me. As far as I can determine, Smith used the designation for himself in a
letter written before Lovecraft’s story, and I have seen no earlier Lovecraft
letter containing the epithet. Nonetheless, it was HPL who publicly immor¬
talized CAS in his hieratic capacity. Lovecraft would also refer to him as
Eibon's seventh incarnation. Today we should certainly count Smith as
Eibon’s “channeler.” Smith also signed himself “Ci-Ay-Ess, the evangelist ot
Tsathoggua, and the archivist of Mu and Antares” (April 23, 1930).

Smith and Lovecraft were alike ill-suited for mundane work in this
world created by the demiurge Azathoth, and each struggled by as best he
could. Neither seemed particularly cut out to be an upstanding family man:
Lovecraft remained staunchly asexual despite a brief lapse into matrimony,
while Smith, if local legends speak truly, took advantage of not being
trapped in an office like those of several husbands in his neighborhood! The
two were also very different in other habits, HPL a teetotaler, CAS a devo¬
tee of Bacchus. Both writers made ample use of the premise that a redis¬
covered relic from the past might still hold the power to make that past
come present if the delver were not careful, bur compare the metaphors in
the otherwise closely analogous Lovecraftian sonnet “The Lamp” (“Fung1
from Yuggoth,” VI) and the Klarkash-tonian tale “A Vintage from Atlantis.
 The Incubus of Atlantis 383

It is the lot of priests to take their living from the offerings ren¬
The Incubus of Atlantis dered the deities they serve, and Zhothaqquah's cult having fallen
into universal neglect, Klarkash-Ton found himself obliged to take
(The History of Klarkash-Ton other work unto himself to maintain a viable living. And in this
the Hierophant) endeavor his not inconsiderable scholarly gifts served him well. It
was his sacerdotal duty to maintain the sacred lore of the myth-cycle
by Robert M. Price of ancient Commoriom, which most had long since come to disbe¬

I t is said that the great arch-wizard Eibon, heretical proponent of

the interdicted ancient faith of Zhothaqquah, had so faithfully
lieve save as merest myth, and of its literal truth not even Klarkash-
Ton might any longer attest. Few would pay a silver coin even at fes¬
tival season to hear him spin tales of ancient Hyperborea. Thus it
served his slothlike master that the deity feared he should never was that Klarkash-Ton expanded his repertoire to encompass droll
find another so zealous for his divine dignity. Hence did the Lord and ribald anecdotes of sunken Mu far across the globe, great Mu
Zhothaqquah take steps to ensure he should never lack the services which legend made the mother civilization of High Atlantis herself.
of his favorite, though death gobble his mortal flesh. As all men
Of Mu, to be sure, little positive evidence survived, but then the
know, Eibon was at the last assumed bodily into the heavenly sphere
more rousing tales might therefore be told of her with no one being
of Cykranosh whence his Lord himself had descended in ages past, so
the wiser. From here did Klarkash-Ton yet further expand his canon
that Eibon should not succumb to death upon this earth. But at
of recitals as far as the prodigies of the distant star Antares and its
length death found him, restricting not his travels to any one world.
circumambient worlds.
And yet Zhothaqquah s plan for his son Eibon had but commenced,
At length did the spellbinding talents of Klarkash-Ton bring him
for the portly divinity had arranged that Eibon's soul should continue
to the attention of the tyrant of Atlantis, grim Pharnabazus, who
in his service by dint of metempsychosis, so that he should find him¬
summoned him to an official audience. Now this news was not pleas¬
self again and again bearing a new mortal sheath when the old one
had become threadbare. ing to Klarkash-Ton, for the severity of the Philosopher King was
well-known, to wit, that he frowned upon many even of the tradi¬
In this manner, owing to the beneficence of his Master, did the
one who had borne the name of Eibon pass the ages, sometimes tional sacred myths for that they portrayed the gods and heroes in a

recalling more of his previous existences, sometimes rather less. For if questionable light as the veriest rogues and voluptuaries. He had

a man s memory begin to fade within the span of a single lifetime, even been known to imprison or exile certain of the greatest of the

how much the more over a succession of them? Much must be Muse-inspired poets. So Klarkash-Ton much feared that, by reason of
learned again and again as life passeth in succession after life, if it be his extravagant tale-telling, King Pharnabazus might have devised
relearned at all. unpleasant plans for him.
Now the seventh incarnation of Eibon the mage was as one But the truth was quite different, and exceedingly palatable.
Klarkash-Ton, he who served as high priest and sole devotee of During the royal audience did the tyrant show his guest every defer¬
Zhothaqquah in Atlantis during the ultimate generation ere her ence and did invite him, on account of his great learning, to become
foundering. Shrewdly had the god foreseen his need for the services official archivist of the capital. Knowing that his penurious worries
of the transmigratory spirit of Eibon, for had it not been for the should abruptly vanish should he accept his sovereign’s offer,
admittedly somewhat lax devotion of the priest Klarkash-Ton, Klarkash-Ton wasted nary a moment in, as he said, acceding to the
Zhothaqquah should have lacked any worship at all, and lacking king’s most generous command. With a deep and obsequious bow did
worship, even the very gods may perish from neglect. the once-impoverished priest begin his career in the king’s service.
 384 The Book of Ejbon The incubus of Aclancis 385

In truth, everything about his new station delighted him, from into the most forbidden of inner adyta, even the royal bedchamber,
the spacious apartments provided him to the scribal labors awaiting where his majesty lay all naked with his fair queen, similarly
him in the Great Library of the king. Klarkash-Ton gloried in both arrayed. It looked to their invisible observer that their loveplay had
the rich fare of the king's board and in the rare manuscripts which barely commenced, and seeing them thus, he could restrain himself
it was his happy chore to study and catalogue. Here were true no longer.
records of the ancient days and of lost kingdoms, even a priceless The old scrolls had spoken truly! Klarkash-Ton now found him¬
collection of Naacal Tablets from the court of ancient Ra Mu him¬ self behind the eyes of his lord the king and lost no time placing him¬
self! The Pnakotic Manuscripts were not unrepresented, and there self inside his lady the queen as well. And all courtesy of the cooper¬
was a curious set of inscribed plates from ancient Uzuldaroum called ative body of the king, the which he had borrowed. While after a few
The Book of Eibon, a strange name that Klarkash-Ton somehow felt attempts Klarkash-Ton found he could not after all guide the move¬
ought to mean more to him than it did. In these rare parchments ments of the body in which he sojourned, he could and did feel every
and codices the priest delved tirelessly, his sateless curiosity growing sensation of that body, and this was more than satisfactory for now.
jointly with his erudition. Perhaps later he could perfect the method and come to control any
As his command of the antique alphabets and cyphers grew, he form he might usurp.
discovered much concerning the methods of the Elder Magick, and After a night of fervid lovemaking, the priest archivist returned
of the great boons a man might gain by their use. Of these the tech¬ to his apartments to find his accustomed form ready and waiting for
nique that intrigued him by far the most was the preternatural exer¬ him. Rising a bit light-headedly, Klarkash-Ton stepped up to his pol¬
cise of soul-projection whereby the mage might set his soul-sub¬ ished looking-glass and surveyed himself. He was in truth rather
stance soaring to other worlds of cosmic revelation, or simply under¬ pleased with himself, for had he not managed to commit adultery
take secret errands here on earth. And Klarkash-Ton thought how with the queen herself and all without displacing her royal husband
he might have use for such a skill and set out in all seriousness to or infringing upon his vows of priestly celibacy? For his true bodily
master it. form had been resting quietly at home all the night.
Under kingly patronage, Klarkash-Ton lacked for no necessity Things continued in much the same manner for some months to
and, in truth, for nary a luxury. But this left what little fruit that come, as Klarkash-Ton showered his affections vicariously but no less
remained forbidden unto him seeming all the sweeter. And one passionately upon all the loveliest women of the realm. And it is to
night, having recently completed his studies of soul-projection (and be feared that, complacent in his scheme, he overstepped himself in
emboldened somewhat, perhaps, by the great quantities of wine he the end. For he ought to have taken note one evening, at the king’s
had come to consume of late, it being freely available unto him) he table, of a jaundiced eye cast steadily in his direction by one of the
resolved upon an experiment. For he had decided he could no longer most powerful of the royal counselors, even the chief mage Mozillan,
resist the alluring charms of the fairest of all Atlantis, for all that a man on whom little was lost and who had close familiarity with
these were no common courtesans, nor even peasant girls, but the every magickal manuscript housed in the Great Library. And, too, he
noble wives of the king himself and of his nobles. had a concubine of great comeliness.
It was instant death, all knew, for any man so much as to speak Nor had she escaped Klarkash-Ton’s epicurean scrutiny. Indeed,
unto them without being first spoken to. And besides, Klarkash-Ton he had oftimes sampled her charms in his sorcerous manner, and
knew well enough that none of these fair ones would likely look soon he would come round to her again when he tired of the charms
fondly upon his spindle-shanked, scholarly mien. But another thing of certain others in his secret harem. One day as Klarkash-Ton went
he knew was the art of astral travel. So upon that night he betook about his curatorial duties, he was accosted by none other than the
himself out of his fleshly body and glided upon the spring breezes Lord Mozillan, who required his assistance in locating a familiar
386 The Epistles of Eibon 387
The Book of Eibon

manuscript. He had not yet grown used to the new storage system About “The Epistles of Eibon”
instituted by the archivist, who was glad to show him to the text he
o the Epistles of Eibon considerable scholarly controversy attaches.
desired. Thanking the librarian, the mage caught him with a pecu¬
Many have questioned, some have denied outright, the authenticity of
liar twinkle in his eye. “I’ll wager you have familiarized yourself with
most or all of the letters. It must be admitted that the vicissitudes of ancient
much of the lore these scrolls contain.”
letter collections (e.g., those attributed to Paul, Plato, the Cynics,
“Verily, my lord, the better to serve you!” So he bowed and
Apollonius of Tyana, about which the same doubts are expressed), notori¬
spoke, but secretly Klarkash-Ton despised the proud sorcerer whom ously magnets for interpolation, textual corruption, and outright pseude-
he, a mere stripling in the esoteric arts, had so easily outwitted. Yes, pigraphy, may incline us to expect the worst, especially since all of these ten¬
this very night he would betake himself to the bedchamber of dencies are only magnified when it comes to the underground literature of
Mozillan, and if he were not in an amorous mood already, Klarkash- sorcery, in the case of magical texts, practitioners through the ages seem¬
Ton had honed his skills sufficiently to suggest and, if need be, impel, ingly have not been able to resist the temptation to augment their "work¬

the first move loveward. ing copies,’’ updating them, adding shortcuts and various improvements as
experience seemed to dictate. Of course, since magic works best when noth¬
The golden moon was high over the breezy streets of Atlantis
ing more than the selective perceptions of the practitioner are affected,
that night when Klarkash-Ton sent his wandering spirit forth on its
external circumstances being sadly invulnerable to the wishes of mortals,
latest erotic errand. He hovered a moment outside the window of the
the formulae of magic must have been repeatedly revised: “Back to the
high tower of Mozillan’s palace. Things were already well underway,
drawing board!" But of course what would have happened and what could
the wizard’s concubine moaning pleasurably, with the great broad have happened do not tell us definitively what did in fact happen.
back of her master, draped with the bedsheet, visible between her
And yet it must be said that the self-testimony of the Eibomc Epistles
arched legs. Delighted at the sensuous spectacle, the floating soul of is equivocal. While their many references to magical theory and to arcane
Klarkash-Ton dropped at once into the form before him. mythology do not readily fit into any historical period more recent than that
And found his essence afloat in wine! Through the heavy crock¬ fabled age in which Eibon is placed by mythographers, the very antiquity of
ery he could barely hear the triumphant shout of the cuckolded the supposed period of Eibon hinders any attempt to authenticate the texts,
Mozillan, who had of course been wise to his devices. The wizard since so little collateral evidence of that era survives. That is, we do not

swiftly lifted the weight of the tall amphora from where his mystified know enough to verify any statement of the text as authentically from the

but obedient concubine had been balancing it with some difficulty on Commorian period. And then we are thrown back from verification, impos¬
sible in this case, to falsification: can we at least discover anachronisms
her thighs. Rapping on the glazed exterior of the man-sized jar, the
which would prove the texts spurious? The challenge here is equally daunt¬
mage Mozillan mocked the errant spirit he had confined within it.
ing, since, on the one hand, any anachronisms we discovered (and some have
“I shall see to it, O Klarkash-Ton, that your vacant body is suit¬
been proposed) might attach simply to interpolated passages, identified (by
ably disposed of, for, the gods know, you shall be having no further
a bit of admittedly circular reasoning) as such by the anachronistic element!
need of it! You shall bide the ages in the confines of this ensorcelled On the other hand, we dare not underestimate the progress of ancient sci¬
wine pot, a besotted genie in a bottle, till some poor fool of future ence in a period known to have witnessed advances in knowledge and tech¬
days may chance to dredge your prison up from the wine-dark depths nique which even savants of the early Renaissance might have envied. This
where I shall shortly drop you!” factor renders, e.g., apparent references to the telescope (“the far-seeing Eye
And not long thereafter, as he felt himself falling over the rim of of Tsathoggua”) problematical. An anachronism? Or evidence of advanced

a boat and into the sea, Klarkash-Ton had cause to reflect that there ancient technology?

surely were worse ways to spend the centuries than pickled in fine Ultimately, scholarship cannot pre-empt the issue of authenticity for the
reader. But, as is often the case with documents like these, the issue of
Atlantean wine. ^
authenticity and textual integrity may prove secondary anyway, since regard¬
less of the answer one turns in on such matters, the texts are what they are.
 __The Book ofEibon

They say what they say. And as such the Epistles ofEibon have wielded con¬
siderable influence in esoteric circles for many hundreds of years (as witness
the reference to their use in Brian Lujmley's "Born of the Winds”). The Epistles of Eibon
What follows is a new translation from the Norman French of Gaspard
du Nord. (Only the merest fragments of the Hyperborean originals survive, by Robert M. Price and Laurence J. Cornford
and even the relation of these to the Norman French text is much-debated
since our knowledge of the Hyperborean tongue is so uncertain.) No I. The Epistle of Eibon to His Disciple Phanticor
attempt has been made to render the texts in anything like modern idiom,
since the antique style of the King James Bible, based as it was on a fairly Eibon of Mhu Thulan
literal translation, has long since made ancient idioms acceptable even to To the Esteemed Phanticor,
modern readers. I have translated the first four Epistles; Laurence J.
Cornford has translated the last two.
W
Hail!

hile the circumstances of mine own magical experimen¬

tations forbid my coming to thee in astral form, 1 have
sent thee my trusted servant with this missive in hand,
hoping it may not prove too untimely for thee or for me. A matter
unforeseen hath lately arisen as touching the operation thou intend-
est. It was my good pleasure to supply unto thy use a man from the
local peasantry hereabouts whose presence would not be missed, and
indeed in whose absence the many would rejoice. The drawing and
quartering of this base fellow in the manner prescribed for thine
appointed rite of augury seemed no injustice but rather payment due
for the man’s many misdeeds. Thus did all seem clear, until this very
morning when my servants brought unto me a hag from the village
who did not shrink from admitting to being the mother of the
doomed wretch. She pled not for mercy, as 1 expected, but rather
averred that her son bore the mark of Atlach-Nacha upon his rump.
In truth, she maintained, it was for the sake of this birthmark that
she durst not take the lad in hand, fearing what eldritch power he
might wield against her in his childish wrath. While thou needest
fear none such, it remaineth that the potency of the rite thou
embarkest upon may haply be adversely affected thereby. It
remaineth for thee to prove whether the wretch beareth the mark in
truth, or else whether it may be some crude device. Thus have 1 dis¬
charged my word unto the felon’s dam that I should alert thee. Alas,
what she knoweth not is that, should the mark prove out as genuine,
it meaneth but that her son shall be preserved unto the appointed
sacrifice unto Atlach-Nacha when the full moon cometh next. May
thy power increase without end, brother.
 390 The Book of Eibon The Epistles of Eibon 391

II. The Epistle of Eibon the Mage unto His I nasmuch as you have requested of me certain orders for your com¬
Brethren Malinoreth and Vajmaldon mon life, I have given much thought to the matter and propose
now to lay them down for your upbuilding. First, let every man of
Eibon of Mhu Thulan
you be mindful that the sorcerer’s path is a lonely path. The seeker
To the Thrice-Great Malinoreth
may profit much from the amassed lore of those who have trod the
and to the Anointed Vajmaldon,
path before him, and yet must he find the path himself, and none
Hail!
but he may facilitate the speed with which he shall tread it. For the
B rethren, it hath reached mine ears that the country of mortals secret of advancement into the Way of the Arcana is even the way
round about thy two fortresses doth suffer much by reason of thy of self-mortification, which some abandoning have lapsed into the
sorcerous rivalries. An embassy of the villagers hath approached me sorry state of mere tricksters and charlatans, who know but jugglery
with divers complaints, to wit, that they suffer divers ills which can with which to deceive the gullible. Such are miracle-mongers. The
have no mundane source. Loaves baking in the ovens come forth as True Mage seeketh naught of worldly enrichment, nor of the grati¬
croaking frogs, while babes emerge from their mothers' wombs with fication of the flesh. Neither thirsteth he for final salvation, reckon¬
the heads of pigs. Crops are harvested that were not planted, and in ing the riches of forbidden knowledge as of surpassing value, for
undue seasons, and little thereof is edible by men. Stores of grain for which reason doth he not hesitate to incur the damning wrath of
planting have turned into seething bladders acrawl with maggots. jealous gods in pursuit of it.
Brethren, I cannot but deduce that the twain of you lie at the root of Let him who would find a place among you first submit all his
the malignancy like a canker. Wherefore do ye afflict the innocent worldly possessions unto the common fund of the brotherhood,
thereby bringing gratuitous reproach upon our order? Or do ye lack where they shall remain through the length of his novitiate. In that
courage that ye dare not direct thy sorcerous malefactions one upon time he shall eat with the community but shall take no part in the
the other, but rather make ill use of the mortals as if they were mere deliberations of the brethren at the common board but shall hear the
chess pieces for your amusement? Brethren, I am persuaded of better rest in silence. He shall join the fellowship when they arise from sleep
things concerning you both. Henceforth aim thy negatory bolts at in the third hour before cockcrow. Let him witness the invocations of
one another, or else sheath them. For as it is, the greatest of your the first, second, and third degrees, but at the fourth and the fifth he

maledictions serves but to give evidence of your unseemly puerility. may be present but shall shield his eyes lest he emerge with senses

Be men, and receive these admonishments in the spirit in which J blasted. From all further degrees let him abstain, remembering the

offer them, for I warn thee, I am fortified against your mischief, so Parable of the Nine Who Unwisely Dared.

think not to join against me on account of my reproof. For then ye No man of less than twoscore years shall be admitted unto the

shall alike discover the true magnitude of thaumaturgical wrath such second degree of initiation, nor any who hath not mastered the

as will make your present feudings seem the veriest cockfight. Heed Pnakotic Manuscripts in their original tongue. Under the guidance of

my words and show your wisdom. a master of the seventh degree of initiation may the seeker embark
on the Visionary Journeys, but at the first he shall delve no further
than the Sphere of Cykranosh. And having accomplished this pil¬
III. The Epistle of Eibon unto the Guild of His Disciples
grimage with sound mind, let him undertake, if he wishes it, the
Eibon the Mage Impinging upon Tond. But no man shall in this life essay the
Unto the School of Mysteries of Zhothaqqua, Visitation to Shaggai. For this is reserved even unto the Elect of the
Blessings of the Toad-shaped Lord upon you! Toad in their Latter Incarnations.
 392
The Book of Eibon The Epistles of Eibon 393

None shall utilize the kinsman of a brother of the Order as a sub¬ Swiftly did we pass through the great band of the Zodiac and
ject of experiment or of sacrifice, though a kinsman by marriage may beyond unto realms hitherto undreamt of. Stars swept past as
be used.
snowflakes in an arctic wind as we neared the Ninth Vacuum of
Let none offend Those whom we serve by conducting service Negative Matter. I beheld a vast cloud of stellar mist from which a
unto more than one of Them on the same day, lest the honor due strange sentience seemed to emanate, even as light from the sun.
each be shared with another and your devotion divided. Such pleases And then did my Lord Ithaqua speak unto me, saying, “O Eibon,
no god, but displeases all alike. behold the Black Nebula of Yl’glhuh beyond the Third Cluster of
Let no man speak of the secrets of the Order to mere mortals, lest Space-Time Continua. It was even from this place that Kthulhut first
they destroy themselves by the use thereof and you bear the blame. brought the immortals of K'n-Yan.” These I knew for a legendary
race of worshippers of my own patron deity Zhothaqqua, and it was
IV The Second Epistle of Eibon unto His even of old rumor that exiles from that subterrene realm had first set¬
Disciples, or The Apocalypse of Eibon tled Blessed Hyperborea. But little time had I before we had neared
yet another celestial wonder, and I cried out, “Tell me, Mighty One,
n the month of the Sylph, in the Third Year of the Black Goat, the
what splendour is this?” And he said to me, “This is that star Xoth
Thirty-Second Cycle of the Spiral Arm, 1 stood exposed to the
from which Kthulhut first came/'
supernal winds of the Cold Flame Aphoom-Zhah upon the naked
And after much voyaging, during the which I beheld many won¬
Precipice of N Ho, in that hour when the point of the promontory
ders which mortal pen and tongue can never render, we came upon
doth seem to pierce the golden moon as the spear-point pierceth the
that shadowed sphere of which the astrologers of old have whispered
fruit. Long and loudly had 1 called upon the name of the Wind, even
as the Black Planet Yadoth. And there did I behold strange cities on
Ithaqua, for 1 would dare the journeying to the heights of which I
the Ocrathathian shore from whose triangular basalt gates the ser¬
had read in certain interdicted screeds to which many gold pazoors
pent-headed Blaphnagidae do ooze forth to hunt their brethren with
had gained me stealthy access. Many had made the voyage, none vol¬
their electric tubes.
untarily, having transgressed the sacred precincts of that Spirit. But
And then did I speed through the aethyr with the extra-cosmic
I alone of all men did seek out the lonely wilds of the Wind-Treader
comet Phphun, having descended unto the Crypt of the eternal
to seek the companionship of the same.
H'hphu-Yys-Echrr who had manifold secrets to impart to my thirsty
Sleepless I passed many days in waiting, keeping the vigil of the
ears. And in the heart of his voyaging meteor-ship we passed unnum¬
snows and becoming as one with the wind-gnawed ice which was my
bered days in this wise till at length we did approach the ill-omened
sole companion. At the last did 1 hear the uncanny piping of the
Black Sun Gnarr-Kthun in the Seventh Dimension beyond the
winds that sweep down from betwixt the Black Stars. And the moon
Utmost Rim. Thence did we embark for the Viscous Vortex of Sillhaa,
became as blood, bathed in the carmine luminosity of two new stars
well beyond the Rim, arriving there even at the frightful Hour of the
which outshone all others. These 1 knew from the Pnakotic
Shaping of the Nucleus. There, in the orange, carmine, and blue-Jit-
Manuscripts as the twin Eyes of Ithaqua which presaged the coming ten zone at the end of the angles, beyond the vague twilight abysses,
of the Wind King. And straightway I knew the chill embrace of that I did hear with the ear of the soul the sounding of the gong at the
One whose coming the Ice Deserts witness. And I beheld naught but bottom of the unplumbed pit of the shoggoths. “Hasten on, O mor¬
the shrinking image of the earth receding beneath me, but of Great tal,” spake Ithaqua unto me, “for much more must thou see!”
Ithaqua I saw naught but the traces of twain great feet with roseate And after many days did we behold the legended Shrine of Nug
glow that trod the clouds that formed our path to the daemon-kin- in the Temple of the Infra-Red Vapour on the Doomed Nebula
died auroras of interstellar space. Zlykarlor, where the unhuman priests do perform their sacred duty
 394 The Book of Eibon The Epistles of Eibon 395

torturing without ceasing the Worm Bgngghaa-Ythu-Yaddith. And ancients did call Zoth. And Ycnagnnisssz did exalt itself and did pro¬
in its dolorous moaning were great mysteries vouchsafed for those claim, “I am Supreme, and there is none other beside me!” And at
with ears to hear. It was even there that I did learn of the Primal self- this did the heavens shake with laughter as the beings of the Dark
evolving of the Divine Pleroma wherefrom all the gods and all that Pleroma did rebuff his ill-considered boasting. And so a great conflict
exist came forth in ages beyond all mortal knowing, how in the did ensue. And for many ages did the warfare endure, but at the last
beginning there was naught but the Terrible First Thought which did did Ycnagnnisssz yield, and the hosts of Darkness deigned to receive
shrink away in horror from self-contemplation. And that Thought him into the Pleroma of the Old Ones.
went mad from the implications thereof, and that One was even And Ycnagnnisssz resolved within itself, “1 am, then, not
Azathoth, the Primordial Demiurge, whose nightmare thrashings do supreme in this cosmos, nor even the eldest among Strange Aeons.
generate all the worlds that men may know and an infinity more Let me then bring forth mine own Pleroma.” And he did commence
that, for their own good, they know not. And from his fevered mind, to fissioning like unto a great amoeba, and he brought forth many
as it tottered upon the brink of endless insanity, there did emerge a like unto himself, and one among them, a virgin called
pair of desperate imaginings, the one called First Fear and the other Zstulzhemgni, did mate with Holy Ghizguth. And of these twain
Hatred of Truth, and these twain did resolve that their mighty prog¬ was born Toad-shaped Zhothaqqua, even him whom I serve. Now
enitor should never awaken to the horrors from which he had fled Zhothaqqua was the first spawn of the united Fullnesses, and he did
unto Madness' sheltering wings. Wherefore did they commence to bear both the natures of Light and Darkness, hence is he called the
piping their shrill and discordant melodies which keep Great Seal of the Black Stars. And Zhothaqqua begot Zvilpogghua, who
Azathoth drowsing, and if he should one day awaken therefrom, all begat the virgin Sfatlicllp, who is the Fallen Wisdom. These are the
the world must vanish in a mist. And thus doth he subsist in his fit¬ generations of the Old Ones.
ful coma, unheeding of the worlds his random sodden mutterings And then did the Wind Lord carry me across the Field of Ultra-
have conjured into entity. Spectral Rays, where one of his children, even the Spiral Wind from
And in the midst of fever dreams did the Chaos-Sultan shriek in Nith, bore me to the Sealed Tower of N’kung beneath the Triple Sun
such wise as to cause First Fear and Hatred of Truth to pause in their Bzlah-ech’ya. And therein did 1 endure much from those silent tor¬
playing for the merest of instants, and there came forth Cxaxukluth, mentors of all those who would break the chains of fleshly stupor.
which is the Illimitable Androgynous Desire. Now this One did share And in the spirit I spanned the leagues of space and time and in a sin¬
the selfsame essence of Azathoth in all things. And Great Cxaxukluth gle moment beheld the forbidden wonders of sunken R’lyeh and
did proclaim, I am One, but I shall be many!’' And Cxaxukluth did frozen Kadath, of shunned Mnar and lonely Gharne. 1 raced as one
sunder itself into its maleness and its femaleness, and the male was with the Hunters of Tinda4os and descended in the Plague Swarm
called Nug, the female being called Yeb. And these yokefellows did with the Host of Ekron. I did dive with the Sunken Mighty Ones and
mate each with the other and did produce Kthulhut in their own exulted in the ecstasy of the Elder Gods in the heart of the star
image, which no mortal may comprehend. And Kthulhut knew his Betelgeuse.
mate Idd-yha and she brought forth Ghatanothoa and Ythogtha, And when I did return to the castle of mortal flesh, 1 found
and Zoth-Ommog. Again did the Nug and Yeb beget and bear a myself again borne aloft by the Wind-Strider. “Know this, O Eibon
second Son, even Holy Ghizguth. Another Son did Great Cxaxukluth of Mhu Thulan,” quoth he. “Here thou shalt behold the Holy of
beget, him who is called Hzioulquoigmnzhah. And the full number Holies, even lunar Borea, where my servants ever do me homage.
of these was even the Pleroma of Darkness. Thou hast found favor in mine eyes, and I grant thee this boon, that
Elsewhere did Light shine out, and the Light called itself thou mayest abide here with me.” 1 was not disobedient to the heav¬
Ycnagnnisssz, and it took the form of an ultraviolet star which the enly summons and did spend long years in the company of the god
 397
396 The Book of Eibon The Episcles of Eibon

and his long-lived servants amid the black ice-sheets of eternal tun¬ even by the antehumans in their generations. Though the Voormis

dra, rapt in meditation upon the countless wonders 1 had seen. have sunk deep into brutehood, still do they know the true gods.

But at length [ began to think much upon my disciples and my Only when men turned away from the true gods did evil befall them.

brethren, whom [ had long since left behind, and 1 did wonder of Though the prophets warned, yet were the people deaf. Ice and wave

their welfare, for they did seem to me sheep without a shepherd, and will yet reclaim Hyperborea save that men shall repent. These things

so 1 did return to the sun-flooded paradise of Mhu-Thulan, where to I have seen for a surety, and thus I say unto you.
my wonderment, it transpired that but a year and a day had passed
by mortal reckoning. 1 took up the humble service of the Lord VI. The Epistle of Eibon to King Thaboam of Kalnoora
Zhothaqqua once more and knew now most fully the great might of
those Old Ones for whom a thousand years are as but a day, and Eibon of Mhu Thulan

before whom the life of mankind is but a dream when one awakes, as to the Great King of Kalnoora,
Blessings upon thee, and the Mandate of Zhothaqqua.
someday They shall do.
las, I am unable to journey unto Kalnoora at this juncture to

Y The Epistle of Eibon to the Xouphamites inquire into the matter your messengers have laid before me.
Therefore I send to thee my most auspicious disciple, Cyron, of the
Eibon of Mhu Thulan
town of Varaad, who shall act in my stead, with this letter bound
To Them which Venerate Xoupham
with mine own seal, the which shall provide some further guidance
My Brothers,
in the matter.
e ask of me, which god should we worship above all others? To wit, that pit to which thou makest reference is doubtless a
Therein lies the very crux of theology. The greatest of gods need remnant of that elder city which the Voormi Huran denominateth
not be the best worshipped, for what care have they for veneration? “of the Octagon" on account of its fortifications having eight walls
What artisan, having raised a great house, holds one nail in high and eight towers. I am likewise persuaded that the shadow which
regard above all others? hath been espied emerging from a well-mouth therein is even a
He Who is Not Lightly Named, Who sitteth enthroned before
remnant demon of olden time. Huran averreth that the Voormis of
the cohorts of the gods, He for Whom the very All sprang into being
the Octagon bowed the knee to “Nugoozah the Sanguine” or per¬
at his Command, He who hath assigned the planets and seasons their
haps “the Blood Thirsty,” the whom I can but conjecture to be one
courses even in his slumbers—He is not wholesome for men to know.
even with Nyokzhah, the Lord of the Red Abyss. But the wise shall
And his Emissary likewise, and of those other vague beings of whom
not too quickly dismiss the eventuality that the plaguing presence
Pnom hath spoken. Yet the Lesser Gods, before Whom the common
is to be identified with the black spawn of Knygathin Zhaum which
folk do bow, they are not always the most profitably served, for while
once overran Commoriom. Cyron, who hath lately made much
they will listen to the prayers of men, too often are they wont to
study of that Entity called The Black, even the blood of Bugg-
answer with mute indifference. And these petty gods are jealous of
Shash the Terrible, and so he hath brought with him the accouter¬
one another, ever greedy for worship. They are fashioned after the
ments whereby that One may be exorcised. In case such measures
likenesses of the beasts of the forests, the elk and the bear, for that
prove themselves vain, let Your Majesty consider well the course of
they fight and rut, as their myths do show. Have naught to do with
fleeing Kalnoora with all the populace. But we shall hope that it is
these animal gods, least of all the beasts.
a lesser demon, as evinced by the description of the bodies which
Yet there be gods which are holy in the sight of the Emperor
upon his throne, and neither are they newly minted, being served thou hast sent.
398 The Book of Eibon

AJ1 such creatures are enemies of light. Knowing this, ensure

that thy city’s fires are well fed, being cautious not to ignite the city
itself Likewise I have found the placement at portals of silver bells
washed in snake venom to be helpful if thou wouldst detect the
unwanted entrance of strange flesh. The able Cyron beareth with
him divers sigils having power over ultratelluric beings to hold them
at bay. Lastly, the burning of incense and of the fronds of certain
extinct ferns hath been known to repulse such beings in their hunt
for flesh. These, too, are included in Cyron’s panoply. Meseemeth
that Cyron shall likely find it needful to beard the creature within its
pit lair to vanquish it utterly, but until this be attempted, let these
precautions be used. Hopeful of a speedy resolution to your calamity,
1 am your humble servant. $
 ABOUT ROBERT M. PRICE

R obert M. Price has edited Crypt of Cthnlhu for twenty years. His essays
on Lovecraft have appeared in Lovecraft Studies, The Lovecrafter;
Cerebretron, Dagon, Etude Lovecraftienne, Mater Tenebrarum, and in An Epicure
in the Terrible and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. His horror fiction has
appeared in Nyctalops, Eldritch Tales, Etchings & Odysseys, Grue, Footsteps,
Deathrealm, Weirdbook, Fantasy Book, Vollmond, and elsewhere. He has edited
Tales oj the Lovecraft Mythos and The New Lovecraft Circle for Fedogan &
Bremer, as well as The Horror of It All and Black Forbidden Things for
Starmont House. His books include H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthnlhu Mythos
(Borgo Press) and Lin Carter: A Look behind His Imaginary Worlds (Starmont).
 ADDITIONAL CALL OF CTHULHU® FICTION TITLES

THE BOOK OF DZYAN

Mme. Blavatsky’s famous transcribed messages from beyond, the mysterious Book of
Dzyan, the heart of the sacred books of Kie-te, are said to have been known only to
Tibetan mystics. Quotations from Dzyan form the core of her closely-argued The
Secret- Doctrine, the most influential single book of occult knowledge to emerge from
the nineteenth century. The text of this book reproduces nearly all of Book of Dzyan
that Blavatsky transcribed. It also includes long excerpts from her Secret Doctrine
as well as from the Society of Psychical Research’s 1885 report concerning phenom¬
ena witnessed by members of the Theosophical Society. There are notes and addi¬
tional shorter materials. Editor Tim Maroney’s biographical essay starts off the book,
a fascinating portrait of an amazing woman.
5 3/8" x 8 3/8", 272 pages, $15.95. Stock #6027; ISBN 1-56882-198-0.

THE COMPLETE PEGANA

Lord Dunsany’s fantasy writing had a profound impact on the Dreamlands stories of
H. R Lovecraft. This original collection is composed of newly edited versions of Lord
Dunsany's first two books, The Gods of Pegana (1905) and Time and the Gods (1906).
Three additional stories round out the book, the first time that all the Pegana sto¬
ries have appeared within one book. Edited and introduced by S. T. Joshi.
5 3/8” x 8 3/8”, 212 pages, $1^5. Stock #6016; ISBN 1-56882-190-5.

THE DISCIPLES OF CTHULHU

Second Revised Edition
The disciples of Cthulhu are a varied lot. In Mythos stories they are obsessive, lon¬
ers, dangerous, seeking not to convert others so much as to use them. But writers of
the stories are also Cthulhu’s disciples, and they are the proselytizers, bringing new
members into the fold. Published in 1976, the first edition of The Disciples of Cthulhu
was the first professional, all-original Cthulhu Mythos anthology. One of the stories,
"The Tugging” by Ramsey Campbell, was nominated for a Science Fiction Writers
of America Nebula Award, perhaps the only Cthulhu Mythos story that has received
such recognition. This second edition of Disciples presents nine stories of Mythos
horror, seven from the original edition and two new srories. Selected by Edward P
Berglund.
5 3/8” x 8 3/8”, 272 pages, Si5.95. Stock #601 1; ISBN 1-56882-202-2.

THE DUNWICH CYCLE

In the Dunwiches of the world the old ways linger. Safely distant from bustling
cities, ignorant of science, ignored by civilization, dull enough never to excite oth¬
ers, poor enough never to provoke envy, these are safe harbors for superstition and
seemingly meaningless custom. Sometimes they shelter truths that have seeped
invisibly across the centuries. The people are unlearned but not unknowing of things THE NYARLATHOTEP CYCLE
once great and horrible, of times when the rivers ran red and dark shuddcrings ruled The mighty Messenger of the Outer Gods, Nyarlathotep has also been known to
the air. Here are nine stories set where horror begins, with a general introduction and deliver tidings from the Great Old Ones. He is the only Outer God who chooses to
individual story prefaces by Robert M. Price. personify his presence on our planet. A god of a thousand forms, he comes to Earth
3 3/8" x 8 3/S", 288 page*, $1(3.95. Stock #6010; ISBN 1-56882-196-1 to mock, to wreak havoc, and to spur on humanity's self-destructive urges. This vol¬
ume of stories and poems illustrates the ubiquitous presence of Nyarlathotep and
shows him in several different guises. Among them, his presence as Nephren-Ka, the
THE HASTUR CYCLE
dread Black Pharaoh of dynastic Egypt, dominates. The thirteen stories include a Lin
Second Revised Edition Carter novella. Selected and introduced by Robert M. Price.
The stories in this book represent the evolving trajectory of such notions as Hastur, 5 3/S" X S 3/S", 256 pages, S ld.95. Stock #6019; ISDN 1-56HK2-200-6.

the King in Yellow, Carcosa, the Yellow Sign, Yuggoth, and the Lake of Hali. A suc¬
cession of writers from Ambrose Bierce to Ramsey Campbell and Karl Edward
SINGERS OF STRANGE SONGS
Wagner have explored and embellished these concepts so that the sum of the tales
Most readers acknowledge Brian Lumley as the superstar of British horror writers.
has become an evocative tapestry of hypnotic dread and terror, a mythology distinct
With the great popularity of his Necroscope series, he is one of the best known horror
from yet overlapping the Cthulhu Mythos. Here for the Erst time is a comprehen¬
authors in the world. Devoted fans know that his roots are deep in the Cthulhu
sive collection of all the relevant tales. Selected and introduced by Robert M. Price.
Mythos, with which most of his early work deals. This volume contains eleven new
5 3/8” x 8 3/8", 320 pages, $17.95. Stock #6020; ISBN 1-56882-192-1.
tales in’that vein, as well as three reprints of excellent but little-known work by
Lumley. This book was published in conjunction with Lumley s 1997 trip to the
THE INNSMOUTH CYCLE
United States.
The decadent, smugly rotting, secret-filled town of Innsmouth is a supreme creation 5 3/8" x 8 3/8", 256 pages, $12.95. Stuck #601/i; ISBN 1-56882-104-2.

of Howard Philips Lovecraft. It so finely mixes the carnal and the metaphysical that
writers continue to take inspiration from it. This new collection contains thirteen
SONG OF CTHULHU
tales and three poems tracing the evolution of Innsmouth, from early tales by
Dunsany, Chambers, and Cobb, through Lovecraft's “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” Lovecraft's most famous portraitist was Richard Upton Pickman, whose ironic can¬

to modern tales by Rainey, Glasby, and others. vases of ghouls and humanity's relation to ghouls have become famous, even though
they existed only in Lovecraft's keen imagination. Among HPL's writers, Randolph
5 3/8" x 8 3/8", 21) pages, Si 195. Stock # 6017; ISBN 1-56882-199-9.
Carter and the tragically destined Edward Pickman Derby stand out. And of course
there is Erich Zann, the inhumanly-great violist, whose powers are detailed in "The
THE ITHAQUA CYCLE
Music of Erich Zann," included in this volume.
The elusive, supernatural Ithaqua roams the North Woods and the wastes beyond, In HPL, the artist is the detached observer of society, a cultural reporter of the
as invisible as the wind. Hunters and travelers fear the cold and isolation of the sort whose function has since become familiar. But Lovecraft also saw a deeper role,
North; they fear the advent of the mysterious, malignant Wind-Walker even more. one such as played by Henry Wilcox the sculptor in “The Call of Cthulhu”:
This collection includes the progenitor tale “The Wendigo” by Algernon Blackwood, "Wilcox's imagination had been keenly affected. [He had] an unprecedented dream
three stories by August Derleth, and ten more from a spectrum of contemporary of great cyclopean cities of titan blocks and sky-flung monoliths, all dripping with
authors including Brian Lumley, Stephen Mark Rainey, and Pierre Comtois. green ooze and sinister with latent horror. . . . [and] a voice that was not a voice; a
5 3/8" x 8 3/8", 260 pages, S15.95. Srock #6021; ISBN 1-56882-191-3. chaotic sensation which only fancy could transmute into sound, but which he
attempted to render by the almost unpronounceable jumble of letters, Cthulhu
MADE IN GOATSWOOD fkiagn."
Ramsey Campbell is acknowledged by many to be the greatest living writer of the Here are nineteen Mythos tales, melodies of prophecy and deceit. Cthulhu jhtagn'.
horror tale in the English language. He is known to Mythos fans for the ancient and 5 3/8" x 8 3/8”, 222 pages, $13.95. Stock #6032; ISDN 1-56882-U7-T

fearful portion of England’s Severn Valley he evoked in narratives such as “The Moon
Lens”. This book contains eighteen all-new stories set in that part of the Valley,
TALES OUT OF INNSMOUTH
including a new story by Campbell himself, his first Severn Valley tale in decades,
Innsmouth is a half-deserted, seedy little town on the North Shore of Massachusetts.
This volume was published in conjunction with a 1995 trip by Campbell to the
It is rarc-ly included on any map of the state. Folks in neighboring towns shun those
United States. Stories selected by Scott David Aniolowski.
who come from Innsmouth, and murmur about what goes on there. They try not to
5 3/8" x 8 3/8", 288 pages, $16.95. Stock #6009; ISBN 1-56882-197-2.
mention the place in public, for Innsmouth has ways of quelling gossip, and of tak¬
ing revenge on troublemakers. Here are ten new tales and three reprints concerning
the town, the hybrids who live there, the strange city rumored to exist nearby under
the sea, and those who nightly lurch and shamble down the tog-bound streets of
Innsmouth.
5 3/8" x 8 3/8", 294 pa/'cs, $16.95. Stock #6024; ISBN 1-^82-201-4.

THE XOTHIC LEGEND CYCLE

The late Lin Carter was a prolific writer and anthologist of horror and fantasy with
over eighty titles to his credit. His tales of Mythos horror are loving tributes to H.
R Lovecraft’s "revision” tales and to August Derleth's stories of Hastur and the R'lych
Text, This is the first collection of Carter’s Mythos tales; it includes his intended
novel, The Terror Out of Time. Most of the stories in this collection have been unavail¬
able for some time. Selected and introduced by Robert M. Price.
5 3/H" x 8 3/8", 288 p^cs, $16.95. Stock #6013; ISBN 1-56882-195-6.

All titles are available from bookstores and game stores. You can also order
directly from www.Chaosium.com, your source for Cthulhiana and more.
To order by credit card via the net, visit our web site, 24 hours a day. To
order via phone, call 1-510-583-1000, 9 A.M. to 4 PM. Pacific time.