Leagues of Cthulhu

Codicil
by Mr. Paul “Wiggy” Wade-Williams

Contributors: Anthony Boyd, Ken Richter, Vitas Varnas

Lead Editor: Anthony Boyd
Graphic Design: Robin Elliott
Typesetting: Paul Wade-Williams
Cover Illustration: Michael Syrigos
Interior Illustrations: Andy Paciorek
Ubiquity Rules System Design: Jeff Combos

www . t r i p l e ac e ga m es . c om

First Published 2019

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Printed in the USA

This game uses the Ubiquity Roleplaying System, developed by Exile Game Studio (www.
exilegames.com). Ubiquity Roleplaying System, Exile Game Studio, and all associated logos and
trademarks are copyright, Exile Game Studio, LLC. Used with permission.

©2019 Triple Ace Games. Leagues of Cthulhu and all related marks and logos are trademarks of
Triple Ace Games. All Rights Reserved.
 Codicil Contents
Chapter One: Characters....................................................... 3
New Skill.......................................................................... 3
New Talents...................................................................... 3
New Leagues...................................................................... 4
Weird Science.................................................................... 5
New Flaws......................................................................... 6
Corruption Flaws............................................................... 6
Chapter Two: Magic & Manuscripts....................................... 7
Rituals.............................................................................. 7
Formulae........................................................................... 9
Eldritch Books................................................................. 9
Eldritch Relics................................................................ 21
Chapter Three: Where Darkness Dwells............................... 31
Africa.............................................................................. 31
The Americas.................................................................... 34
Asia................................................................................. 43
Europe............................................................................. 52
Ocean Floor.................................................................... 64
Other Worlds................................................................. 65
Chapter Four: Gods, Monsters, and Cultists...................... 67
Lesser Gods..................................................................... 67
Horrors.......................................................................... 68
Mundane Beasts............................................................... 75
Cults............................................................................... 76
Notable Persons............................................................ 111
Chapter Five: Handling the Mythos................................... 117
Chapter Six: The Mythos through Time............................. 123
Humanity....................................................................... 127
Chapter Seven: Adventure Seeds........................................ 129
Chapter Eight: Cats.......................................................... 133

2
 Chapter One:
Characters
“There are black zones of shadow close to
our daily paths, and now and then some evil
soul breaks a passage through. When this hap-
pens the man who knows must strike before
reckoning the consequences.” —H. P. Lovecraft,
The Thing on the Doorstep
This chapter details a new options for char-
acters investigating the Mythos.
New Skill
Hobby
Specialized Skill
Base Attribute: Intelligence
For game purposes, hobbies mostly cover
the collection and study of certain objects. Prac-
titioners can appraise, categorize, and where
applicable date objects in their field of interest.
Your character must focus on a specific
discipline:
* Cartography: The collection, study, and
making of maps and atlases
* Faleristics: The collection and study of
medals and decorations
* Fossil Collecting: The collection and
study of fossils
* Genealogy: The study and tracing of fam-
ily trees
* Numismatics: The collection and study of
coins, paper money, and other forms of cur-
rency
New Talents
Bloodline: LeBlanc
Unique; Only available at character cre-
ation
Prerequisites: None
The ancestors of the LeBlanc family were
members of the Royal House of Blois, fought
alongside William the Conqueror in 1066, and
served as Masters of France with the Knights
Templar. Of course, not every LeBlanc went on
to become notable—many slid down the social
ladder as time passed. The character’s branch
of the family has long been engaged in politics.
Members of the family settled in Canada in the
17th century and in the United States during
the 18th century.
Benefit: The globetrotter begins play
with Con 0 and Diplomacy 0 and Contacts 1
(Politics). These are in addition to the regular
four 0-level Skills and two 0-level Resources all
characters receive.
Normal: Your character receives no addi-
tional free Skills or Resources.
Bloodline: Northam
Unique; Only available at character cre-
ation
Prerequisites: None
Able to trace their ancestral line back to the
Roman occupation of Britain, at least accord-
ing to family lore, the Northams have been
3
Cthulhu Codicil
aristocrats since the first Baron Northam was
invested by King Edward III of England.
Their ancestral seat, supposedly built from
blocks taken from Hadrian’s Wall, is located on
the wild Yorkshire coast.
Benefit: The globetrotter begins play with
Diplomacy 0 and Intimidation 0 due his aristo-
cratic bearing and Status 1 (Gentry). These are
in addition to the regular four 0-level Skills and
two 0-level Resources all characters receive.
Normal: Your character receives no addi-
tional free Skills or Resources.
Bloodline: Van der Heyl
Unique; Only available at character cre-
ation
Prerequisites: None
Of Dutch descent, the van der Heyl family
arrived in America in 1638, eventually settling
near Attica, New York. Scions of the family are
privately educated, before being sent to pres-
tigious European universities to finish their
schooling. Many elect to remain in Europe,
and recent generations have put down roots
across the continent.
Benefit: The globetrotter begins play with
Academics 0, Linguistics 0, and the Well-Edu-
cated Talent (ignoring the Intelligence prereq-
uisite). These are in addition to the regular
four 0-level Skills and two 0-level Resources all
characters receive. The character also speaks
Dutch, as well as his native tongue.
Normal: Your character receives no addi-
tional free Skills or Talents, nor do they speak
a second language.
New Leagues
The Elder Club
Requirements: Rank (military or another
League) or Status (academic, aristocrat, or
reporter) 1
Should the existence of the Mythos be-
come known to the world at large, it is likely
humanity’s collective sanity will shatter. The
Elder Club is determined the people must
4
be protected from the truth, even if it means
destroying reputations or having those who
speak publicly of the Mythos committed to
asylums for the rest of their lives. As the Club
motto reads, “All for the greater good.”
The Elder Club only accepts members with
sufficient position or status to keep the truth
concealed. Among its members one can find
senior police and military officers, alienists,
politicians, academics, and even editors of
major newspapers. Junior members (Rank 2
or lower) wear a silver ring embossed with an
Elder Sign. Senior members sport a gold ring
with the same design.
Starting Skill List: Pick two from Bureau-
cracy, Con, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Linguis-
tics, Spying
The Elder Race Society
There are many Leagues with an interest in
the history of humanity. Some, like the Society
of Antiquarians, have a general view. Others,
such as the New Argonauts, Old Testament
Society, and Sumeria Club, are more focused
on certain cultures or periods. While there are
some scholars and antiquarians who believe
in the existence of Atlantis, most accept the
standard version of history—Atlantis is a myth.
Not so the Elder Race Society.
The Society holds that human civilization is
far older than suggested. Atlantis, in their eyes,
was only the most recent civilization among
the elder cultures. Unfortunately, all they have
to prove their theories are stories of dubious
origin and a handful of artifacts of arguable
date. This does not prevent them from holding
public lectures and organizing expeditions to
the far-flung reaches of the globe.
Starting Skill List: Academics: History,
Anthropology, Expeditions, Investigation, Lin-
guistics
The Non-Linnaean Society
Several Leagues have an interest in odd
creatures. The Challenger Club quests for
living dinosaurs, for instance, the Yeti Club
seeks proof of the supposed Himalayan wild
man and his kin, and there are members of the

Society of Aquanauts endeavoring to find sea
serpents and monsters.
These creatures, whether real or fabled,
conform to the classification laid down by
Carl Linnaeus (1707-78) in his seminal work
of 1735, Systema Naturae. The Non-Linnaean
Society believes that there are creatures whose
existence defies the standard structure and
classification of beasts. Some have hypoth-
esized that these entities may, in fact, be of
unearthly origin, though most accept they are
merely relics from an earlier epoch.
The Society is interested in collecting live
specimens and fossils, as well as studying the
biology of these unusual creatures.
Starting Skill List: Pick two from Expedi-
tions, Investigation, Linguistics, Science: Biol-
ogy, Science: Geology, Survival
Weird Science
Substratum Visualizer
Artifact 3
An enhanced combination of the Substra-
tum Cartographic Engine (see Weird Science
Compendium) and X-Ray Box Camera, the
Substratum Camera allows geologists to peer
into the earth without the need for digging.
A viewing screen allows for real-time explora-
tion. Turning one of two dials determines the
focal length (the depth the scanner sees) and
width (the area of effect) respectively. Pressing
a button activates a single frame camera that
captures the image on the screen.
The device is heavy (12 lbs.) and focus
rapidly diminishes with depth. Perception and
Art: Photography rolls suffer a –2 penalty for
each 50 feet of depth. Using the scanner at its
maximum focal width allows one to quickly
scan a wide area, but small objects may be lost
at such resolution.
Enhancements: Extra Sense: X-Ray (+2
Enhancements), Increased Area of Effect: 10
feet (+4 Enhancements), Increased Range: 50
feet (+6 Enhancements)
Limitations: Increased Weight: 300% (–6
Enhancements)
Characters
Mythos Languages
Certain Mythos tomes, such as the Véren-
drye Runestone and Yothic Manuscripts,
are written in truly ancient or utterly
alien scripts. Translating them requires
an Elder Lore: Tomes roll as opposed
to a Linguistics: Translation roll. Such a
roll would also be necessary to decipher
other forms of writing, such as glyphs in-
scribed on a Mythos-related statue.
As an option, a Gamemaster may wish to
make the language barrier more prob-
lematic for the globetrotters. Two op-
tions are given below.
New Elder Lore Discipline
This option introduces the Elder Lore:
Languages Discipline. While Elder Lore:
Tomes permits a globetrotter to recog-
nize the name of an eldritch volume, re-
call its general history, and have a vague
comprehension of its contents, Elder
Lore: Languages is required to translate
ancient and alien languages.
This Discipline doesn’t ever allow for
exact word-for-word translation. Instead,
the reader grasps a rudimentary compre-
hension through certain keywords.
Specific Languages
With this option, globetrotters who wish
to understand eldritch writings require
knowledge of a specific language. In
place of a language group, a character
with at least one Level in any Elder Lore
Discipline can learn one language from
those listed below when they next im-
prove their Linguistics Skill.
Aklo: Cursive script native to Serpent
Men and certain cults of Yig.
Pnakotic: A series of dots used by the
Elder Things.
R’yhehan: The pictographic script of
Cthulhu, the Deep Ones, and many cults
of great antiquity.
Senzar: Atlantean runic system.
Yithian: Curvilinear mathematical de-
signs used by the Great Race.
Yuggothan: A geometric script employed
by the Fungi from Yuggoth.
5
Cthulhu Codicil
Manias
“Mania” is a generic term among Victo-
rian alienists for a variety of mental disor-
ders. In the Leagues world, many can be
handled by the Obsession Flaw, though
some overlap with other Flaws.
Addiction Flaw
Dipsomania: Consuming alcohol
Etheromania: Inhaling ether fumes
Toxicomania: Drug addiction
Obsession Flaw
Ablutomania: Washing oneself
Arithmomania: Counting things
Bibliomania: Collecting books
Choreomania: Dancing
Dermatillomania: Picking one’s skin
Dromomania: Wandering
Ergomania: Compulsive worker
Graphomania: Impulse to write
Hydromania: Drinking water (may also
be an Addiction)
Klazomania: Shouting
Kleptomania: Stealing steal
Logomania: Talking
Metromania: Writing verse
Micromania: Self-deprecation
Morsusmania: Biting (often people)
Necromania: Having sex with corpses
Nymphomania: Having sex
Oniomania: Compulsive shopping
Onychotillomania: Picking or tearing at
finger or toe nails
Plutomania: Acquiring excess, such as
wealth, status, power, or food
Pyromania: Setting fires
Rhinotillexomania: Picking one’s nose
(may also be Repulsive Flaw)
Theomania: Belief one is a god
Trichotillomania: Pulling out own hair
New Flaws
Mental
Blabber Mouth: Your character couldn’t
keep a secret if their life depended on it.
6
They aren’t boastful or malicious—they just
doesn’t know when to stop talking. You earn
a Style point whenever your character reveals
information that comes back to haunt them or
causes trouble for them or their allies.
Fainter: Whether it is caused by the sight of
blood (especially one’s own), startling revela-
tions, or sudden shocks, the character is prone
to fainting at the most inopportune times.
When a Horror check is failed, fainting is au-
tomatic for a number of combat turns equal
to the Horror check’s Difficulty. During this
time they are incapable of taking any actions.
You earn a Style point each time your fainting
causes you or your allies trouble.
Screamer (Severe): Your character isn’t
necessarily faint-hearted or highly strung, but
can’t help unleashing a piercing scream when
startled. Whenever forced to make a Horror
check, or the Gamemaster considers they have
been suitably startled, they must spend the
next combat turn screaming. This counts as
an attack action. Two Style points are earned
each time this fainting causes trouble for the
character or an ally.
Corruption Flaws
Unless otherwise stated in individual en-
tries, the following Flaws may be taken only
by globetrotters who have succumbed to Cor-
ruption.
Physical
Dry Skin (Bloodline: Marsh): Your
character’s skin is easily dehydrated and they
must submerse in water regularly. You suffer
one point of lethal damage for each day you
cannot bathe for at least an hour. You earn a
Style point whenever your character is harmed
by the need to keep moist.
Mange: Your character has a non-infectious
skin disease that causes their skin to be scabby
and their hair to grow in unsightly clumps. You
suffer a –2 penalty to all rolls where appearance
is a factor. You earn a Style point whenever
your character is shunned or rejected because
of the condition.
 Chapter Two:
Magic & Manuscripts
“Words have a force far beyond that of ink
stains on pages or spoken sounds... Whether
written or spoken, language found in forbid-
den books can warp space-time and tear the
fabric of reality.”
—Daniel Harms, The Necronomicon Files:
The Truth Behind Lovecraft’s Legend
Rituals
Drain Life
Rank 3
This ritual drains the life out of an ene-
my and heals the caster’s wounds. Make a
Casting roll modified for range and area of
effect versus an opponent’s Passive Defense.
Because the Attack is invisible, the opponent
does not get to use their Active Defense. Each
success inflicts one point of lethal damage on
the target and heals one nonlethal wound (or
downgrades one lethal wound to nonlethal)
on the caster.
Mark of (Deity)
Rank 3
The mortal cultists of the Great Old Ones
may be insane, but they are not stupid. When
threatened, they are likely to retaliate, but in
order to do that they must first know their
enemy. This ritual magically brands an enemy
of the deity named in the ritual.
The sorcerer makes a Casting roll with a
Difficulty equal to the victim’s Willpower rat-
ing. With success, any followers of the same
deity as the Mark automatically recognize them
as an enemy of the Great Old One in question.
Note that each avatar of Nyarlathotep is
considered a separate deity for the purpose of
this ritual. Thus, there are separate rituals for
Mark of the Black Man, Mark of the Black Sun,
and Mark of the Yellow King, for example.
Mark of (Deity) is subject to Range modifi-
ers, as well as the modifier below.
Mark of (Deity) Modifier
One hour +2
One day +0
One week –2
One month –4
One year –6
Mark of Madness
Rank 4
While the Fear ritual can cause a sudden
onset of madness, the Mark of Madness inflicts
a gradual erosion over a period of days.
The magician makes a Casting roll with a
Difficulty equal to the victim’s Willpower rat-
ing. The victim loses one point of Sanity imme-
diately and another 2 points each day for every
additional success on the Casting roll. Range
modifiers apply to the Mark of Madness ritual.
The Mark of Madness appears as a faint
physical blemish on the victim’s forehead. De-
7
Cthulhu Codicil
Avatars of
Nyarlathotep
You’ll notice several references to spe-
cific avatars for Call or Commune Nyar-
lathotep rituals in this book. Although
Leagues of Cthulhu lists just a single Call
or Commune ritual for the Crawling Cha-
os, he has myriad forms. Some are specif-
ic to human cults, while other guises he
favors when dealing with intelligent alien
races. It may yet be that each avatar has
no knowledge of the others’ schemes.
His avatar in the tomes of elder lore de-
tailed in Leagues of Cthulhu have no ava-
tar attached. This is deliberate, as it gives
the Gamemaster the final say.
In some instances, those eldritch texts
may actually include multiple rituals
dedicated to Nyarlathotep, each invoking
a distinct avatar. The Al-Azif, for example,
might contain Call Nyarlathotep (All-See-
ing Eye avatar), Call Nyarlathotep (Black
Pharaoh avatar), and Call Nyarlathotep
(Haunter of the Dark avatar). Each is a
specific ritual and must be learned sepa-
rately.
tecting it requires a Perception roll (Difficulty
3), while recognizing it for what it is requires
an Elder Lore (any Discipline) roll.
Mark of the Hound
Rank 3
The various horrors of the Mythos often
summoned by cultists to harass their enemies
are far from omnipotent. Without knowing the
location of their foes, the caster is stymied un-
less they possess the ability to invoke this ritual.
During the casting, the magician must write
a sentence of arcane runes on a strip of paper
using their own blood for ink. These need not
name the intended victim. The magician then
makes a Casting roll. In order to be effective,
the runes must be passed to the victim. For
obvious reasons, this is usually done surrep-
titiously.
Once magically charged, the runes can
be detected by any creature conjured by the
8
magician through the Summon (Horror) ritual
anywhere on the same planet. Instead of its
usual reaction to being summoned, the crea-
ture automatically tracks down and attempts
to slay the possessor of the runes.
The runes have a maximum duration, de-
termined during their creation. See the table
below. Once the duration ends, the paper
crumbles to dust, negating its power to attract
Mythos entities.
It is worth mentioning that using Mark of
the Hound is not a guarantee of success. The
paper, if discovered, can be destroyed or dis-
carded, thus rending it impotent.
Mark of the Hound Modifier
One hour +2
One day +0
One week –2
One month –4
One year –6
Mark of Withering
Rank 4
The magician makes a Casting roll with a
Difficulty equal to the victim’s Willpower rating.
The victim suffers 2L damage (no Defense)
immediately and another 2L damage each day
thereafter for every additional success on the
Casting roll. Range modifiers apply to the Mark
of Withering ritual.
The Mark of Withering appears as a faint
physical blemish on the victim’s forehead. De-
tecting it requires a Perception roll (Difficulty
3), while recognizing it for what it is requires
an Elder Lore (any Discipline) roll.
Sign of Koth (R)
Rank 2
Pumping hot lead or thrusting finely-honed
blades into Mythos beasts rarely produces the
desired result. In order to escape with their
lives intact, if not their minds, a globetrotter
often needs time to turn tail and run, buying
time until he can find a more permanent
solution. That time can be bought using the
mystical Sign of Koth
 Magic & Manuscripts
A potent warding symbol, the Sign must must make a Willpower x 2 roll. The Difficulty
be carved over a doorway, cave entrance, or depends on the strength of the ward. With suc-
similar portal through which eldritch horrors cess, the protection is breached and the vile
might seek to pass. The Sign of Koth only creature free to assault its intended victims. On
affects creatures in Leagues of Cthulhu books a failure, the Hound cannot pierce the arcane
listed under Great Old Ones or Horrors. magic, resulting in it giving up the chase and
The symbol exists in two forms. The Lesser returning to its native dimension—at least for
Sign provides a temporary reprieve, warding now.
a portal for no more than a few days at the The ritual is subject to area of effect modifi-
most. The Greater Sign permanently seals the ers, and those below.
entrance against the passage of elder abomina- Sign of Tindalos Modifier
tions. The potency of the Sign is only as good
as the caster, though. Minor sign (Difficulty 3) +0
To enchant a carved sign, the magician Major sign (Difficulty 4) –2
must make a Casting roll. Mythos entities with Superior sign (Difficulty 5) –4
a Willpower rating lower than the caster’s
number of successes cannot pass beyond the
Sign until the ritual ends (which may be nev- Formulae
er). Great Old Ones have a Willpower rating of
10 for this purpose. In addition to dread rituals, eldritch tomes
The Sign of Koth ritual uses the modifiers may contain one or more formulae. Whether
below. ultimately powered by means arcane or scien-
Sign of Koth Modifier tific principals far beyond the ken of conven-
tional science, they enable mortals to construct
Duration certain eldritch relics. Each formula relates to
One combat or scene +0 one specific relic, and must be learned in the
Permanent –10 same manner as rituals in Leagues of Cthulhu.
Having learned a formula, the character
Maximum Width of Portal
may create it in the same manner as weird sci-
5 feet +0 ence gadgets, with two differences. First, the
10 feet –2 design phase is ignored—the globetrotter is
25 feet –4 using an existing formula, not creating some-
thing entirely from scratch. Second, regardless
50 feet –6 of the relic’s nature, the construction roll is
100 feet –8 always Elder Lore: Artifacts.
250 feet –10 Globetrotters can learn only formulae for
the construction of the eldritch relics in this
volume marked “*” and Essential Saltes and
Sign of Tindalos (R) Powder of Ibn Ghazi from Leagues of Cthulhu.

Rank 3
This rare ritual provides protection against Eldritch Books
the dreaded Hounds of Tindalos. It takes the
form of a pentagram, the lines of which are
curved. Drawn on the ground, its curved sides
The Assassins’ Creed: An Exposé
ward those inside against intrusions from
creatures native to angular space. Once drawn of the True Hashshashin
and enchanted, the ward remains active for the
remainder of the combat or scene. Language: French; Author: Christophe
In order to pass through the ward, a Hound de la Croix; Published: 1632; Complexity: 3;

9
Cthulhu Codicil
Alternate Versions
Not every copy of an occult or Mythos tome
is identical. Over time, individual copies
may have been edited, subjected to damp,
book worms, or mishandling, rescued
from fire or stained with blood, and had
pages ripped out, poorly printed (blurry
text or illegible handwriting), or even
enhanced with marginalia. Whatever the
cause of the differences, the Gamemaster
can apply modifiers to the various tomes.
Some suggestions are given below.
* Increase Complexity: Something has
happened to make the tome harder to
understand. This may be editing, dam-
age, or encryption of the text.
* Decrease Complexity: Additional mar-
ginalia or explanatory notes, or the book
has already been partially translated by a
previous reader.
* Increase Horror: Additional images,
color plates, or even photographs added
at a later date; book bound in human
skin or the hide of an elder being.
* Decrease Horror: Editing, damage, or
missing pages have removed some of the
more horrific descriptions or images.
* Decrease Mythos: As above.
* Remove one or more rituals: As
above.
* Add one or more rituals: Added by a
previous scholar.
Other Changes
Additionally, the book may be modified
in a way that does not alter its base sta-
tistics.
* The book has been fitted with a lock.
Opening it without damaging the con-
tents requires a Larceny: Lockpicking roll
(Difficulty 3).
* The book contains a letter written by
a previous reader or a photograph of a
person, place, or thing.
* The binding contains a small key.
* The opening page contains a list of
previous owners. It lists noted historical
figures or even a globetrotter’s relative.
* The book is extremely fragile and crum-
bles to dust after being read. The reader
has one chance to learn the rituals before
the knowledge is lost.
10
Horror: 3; Mythos: 2; Contents: Commune
Nyarlathotep (Old Man avatar)
De la Croix (1582-1638), a minor French
aristocrat, declares at the start of the volume
that the primary source of his information
comes from a lengthy diary penned by Jean de
la Croix, a Crusader ancestor. Discovered after
a small fire in the family library, the original
document records information gleaned while
the knight was a prisoner of Saladin’s forces.
The diary, written after the Crusader’s even-
tual release, retells several conversations held
with an Egyptian imprisoned in the adjoining
cell for idolatry. He learned that the Assassins
secretly worshipped a devil, known as the Old
Man of the Mountain and worked fell incan-
tations to slay their victims. The dialogue be-
tween the captives ended unexpectedly, when
the mad Arab was found strangled in his cell.
De la Croix ended his book with the claim
that the devil worshiped by the Assassins was
named Baphomet, and that his image was also
venerated by the Knights Templar. No research
into the subject was ever conducted, for de la
Croix was murdered in a barroom brawl two
years after his only book was published.
Book of Hidden Things
Language: Latin; Author: Attributed to
Marco Polo; Published: c. 14th century; Com-
plexity: 3; Horror: 2; Mythos: 1; Contents:
Alter Visibility, Formula: Powder of ibn-Ghazi,
Spirit Sense, Voorish Sign
Supposedly discovered in a house in Venice
in 1637, the Book of Hidden Things is, accord-
ing to the manuscript itself, the work of famed
explorer Marco Polo. Despite it stressing that
Polo learned of strange and secret things from
wise men in the Far East, no serious scholar
attaches any veracity to the alleged authorship
of this manuscript. For a start, Polo knew very
little Latin, and certainly not enough to pen a
manuscript.
The Biblioteca Marciana (Library of Saint
Mark) in Venice holds the only known copy.
Book of Sothis
Language: Ancient Greek; Author: Man-
 Magic & Manuscripts
thon; Published: c. 3rd century BC; Com-
plexity: 3; Horror: 2; Mythos: 2; Contents:
Commune Bokrug, Commune Nyarlathotep
(Black Pharaoh avatar), Summon Denizen of
the Nameless City, Summon Serpent Man, True
Name of Azathoth
Knowledge of this nonextant manuscript is
mostly known from the 9th century Byzantine
chronicler George Syncellus. Scholars accept
that the scroll did once exist, and copies may
still exist somewhere, but claim its authorship
is falsely attributed.
Regardless of who wrote it, the manuscript
speaks of monuments and cities located in
the “Siriadic land.” Various modern scholars
have pointed at Assyria, Arabia, and Egypt as
the location for this otherwise unknown land.
While the descriptions match those in other
Mythos tomes, none are actually named. The
author claims the sites he witnessed were truly
ancient, having been constructed long before
the Biblical Deluge, and that the strange writ-
ing found within was subsequently translated
by Egyptian scholars and stored in the “great
temples of Egypt.”
Chants of the Greenland Inuit
Language: English; Author: Professor
Thaddeus Mayberry; Published: 1882; Com-
plexity: 2; Horror: 2; Mythos: 1; Contents:
Commune Cthulhu, Commune Rhan-Tegoth,
Elemental Protection, Summon Ghoph-keh,
Summon Feaster from the Stars
Following the publication of the Webb Ex-
pedition Report in 1863 (see Leagues of Cthul-
hu), a second expedition followed in Webb’s
footsteps with the aim of recording native
Greenland Inuit chants. Several of the songs,
acquired from tribes inhabiting the harsh
northern coasts, are in an unknown language
and their reproduction is phonetic.
As an aside, Mayberry found no evidence of
the degenerate tribe mentioned by Webb, but
commented that worship of “Tulu”­ —which
Mayberry believed was a corruption of Agloolik,
an evil sea god who wrecked canoes, rather
than a separate entity—was evidenced in two
other primitive and barbaric tribes. The scholar
noted with interest that those tribes were found
on opposite sides of the glacier-ridden interior
and thus had no direct communication.
Professor Mayberry returned to Greenland
in 1883, supposedly in search of a lost city men-
tioned to him by several Inuit elders, and has
not been seen since. His manuscript was pub-
lished by his daughter, Abigail, herself a noted
anthropologist a year after his disappearance.
Chou-shih Ming-t’ung Chi
Language: Chinese; Author: Chou
Tzu-liang; Published: 517; Complexity: 3;
Horror: 4; Mythos: 3; Contents: Commune
Yog-Sothoth, Summon Child of the Fire Mist,
Summon Great Race of Yith
Chou Tzu-liang (497-516) was just 19 years
old when he wrote A record of Master Chou’s
communication with the Unseen World, a
record of his conversations with beings from
outside of our reality.
History records that Master Chou volun-
tarily consumed poison. Heeding a summons
from the Unseen World, he believed he would
be given a position of power within the “Un-
seen bureaucracy of the Perfected” once his
mortal shell was abandoned.
The book, a diary of his dreams and med-
itations, was presented to the Imperial court
in 517 by Master Chou’s mentor, T’ao Hung-
ching. The last recorded mention of the diary
was in the 13th century, shortly before the
Imperial library was destroyed by the Mongols.
The Chronicle of Nath
Language: German; Author: Rudolf Yer-
gler; Published: 1624; Complexity: 3; Hor-
ror: 2; Mythos: 1; Contents: Voorish Sign
Penned by a German mystic and alchemist,
is a record of Yergler’s “astral travel” using an
“Oriental drug of much potency.”
One section seemingly recalls a distant
event—the descending of a terrible beast
spawned in the limitless gulf of space to the
earthly realm of Nath in the Year of the Black
Goat. A profane entity, it feasted on human
souls by means of inflicting nightmares that
erased sanity and prevented sleep, thus caus-
ing its victims to wither and die.
11
Cthulhu Codicil
Invisible to the human eye, it could be wit-
nessed only by looking through the multi-fac-
eted Gem, and only one who could see it
(assuming the sight of the fiend did not cause
them to drop dead in fright) could slay it. Alas,
the fabled item has been lost, for it was held
by the hero Phrenes, who set forth to slay the
creature but never returned.
Thus, writes Yergler, while the beast with-
drew after sating its hunger, it will return to
Earth again when the heavens once again
assumed the pattern of the Year of the Black
Goat.
Confessions of Form, Being the
Guises of Satan as Presented by
the Adversary in Person
Language: Latin; Author: Bartholomew;
Published: 1328; Complexity: 4; Horror:
4; Mythos: 4; Contents: Commune Nyarla-
thotep (Black Man avatar), Summon Black
Winged One, Summon Fungus from Yuggoth,
Summon Night-gaunt, Summon Spawn of
Shub-Niggurath
Known to history only as Bartholomew,
a Cistercian monk, the author of this book
described and drew images of Satan’s many
forms. When his activities were discovered, the
monk proclaimed he was doing God’s work,
for in trafficking with Satan he was unearthing
the many guises of the Devil so that others
would know them. His superiors thought
otherwise. Bartholomew was tortured before
being burned at the stake as a heretic.
His account of his dealings with Satan was
thought to have been consigned to the flames
with him. However, a letter discovered in 1554
reveals that the book vanished, presumed to
have been taken to Hell by Satan.
Consort of the Green Man
Language: English; Author: Henry Dubois;
Published: 1740; Complexity: 3; Horror:2;
Mythos: 2; Contents: Control Weather,Raise
Dead, Summon Spawn of Shub-Niggurath
Originally penned in French under the title
“épouse de l’homme vert” by Henri Dubois,
12
self-proclaimed leader of “The Druids of Gaul,”
this manuscript deals with not only early Dru-
idic fertility rites but with odd and previously
unknown funerary practices as well. Dubois
and his followers were forced to flee France
due to religious persecution in 1730 and were
believed to have settled in Northern Scotland.
Although all the French manuscripts are said to
have been destroyed, there are rumors of the
cult also splintering into Germany and from
there possibly into Pennsylvania.
Cultele Preistorice din Muntii
Carpati
Language: Romanian; Author: Adrian
Craciun; Published: 1799; Complexity: 2;
Horror: 1; Mythos: 2; Contents: Commune
Nyarlathotep (Great Wolf avatar), Control
Animal (wolves only), Form of the Beast (wolf
only), Summon Hound of Tindalos
As yet not translated into other languages,
this scholarly work, the name of which name
translates into English as “The Prehistoric
Cults of the Carpathian Mountains”, espouses
the theory that a barbaric cult existed among
the peoples of the Carpathian Mountains.
Beginning in prehistory, the cult remained
small and confined to remote valleys. During
the rise of the Dacians it came out of the
shadows to emerge as the state religion. It was
allegedly purged in 106 AD, when the Romans
under Trajan conquered the region, though
Craciun hints remnants may still exist today in
the remote mountains.
Cult activities focused around worship of
a great wolf, a monstrous entity who granted
his most devout followers the magical ability to
transform themselves into wolf form. A glutton-
ous deity, it demanded frequent human sacri-
fice lest it turn on and devour its worshippers.
De Äldre Runorna
Language: Swedish; Author: Richard Sjun-
nesson; Published: 1787; Complexity: 4;
Horror: 2; Mythos: 3; Contents: Elder Sign,
Mark of Madness, Mark of Withering, Sign of
Koth, Sign of Tindalos, Voorish Sign
 Magic & Manuscripts
Already a pariah in the Scandinavian scho-
lastic community for his view that the Temple
of Uppsala was dedicated to a nature deity far
older than those of the Norse pantheon (see
below), Sjunnesson (1723-89) continued his
exploration into alternate Scandinavian history
by self-publishing a work concerning the runes.
Entitled The Elder Runes, it proposed that
the runes were not originally an alphabet.
Rather, they were arcane signs of unimag-
inable age brought to Earth by a race of alien
beings in prehistory. Sjunnesson continues by
claiming that the story of how Odin gained
knowledge of the runes through self-sacrifice
is actually the race memory of an ancient sor-
cerer, Wuotan, who was sent them in a dream
by an extraterrestrial entity he calls Kutlu.
Den Gamla Troen Avslöjade
Language: Swedish; Author: Richard Sjun-
nesson; Published: 1784; Complexity: 3;
Horror: 3; Mythos: 2; Contents: Commune
Shub-Niggurath, Summon Black Winged One,
Summon Spawn of Shub-Niggurath
Professor of the History of Religions in the
Faculty of Theology at Uppsala University until
his dismissal following the disappearance of
two students during a field trip and the con-
tinuing irrational nature of his scholarly work,
Sjunnesson spent many years excavating at the
Temple of Uppsala.
Dismissing the conventional history of the
site as a temple to the Norse gods, Sjunnesson
shocked Swedish scholarly circles by insisting
that the site was, in fact, dedicated to an an-
cient nature deity whose cult had existed at
least 30,000 years ago.
In place of the accepted triad of gods wor-
shipped at Uppsala, those being Thor, Odin,
and Freyr, he proposed a new set of figures
who sat on three wooden thrones atop great
mounds mentioned in historical records. The
center throne, the so-called High Seat, was
vacant, for the god it honored could not be
given form or name. Seated left was the Great
Mother, the female aspect of nature, and on
the right the Black Goat, her male counterpart.
Sjunnesson continues by examining the
writings of Adam of Bremen (c. 1050 - c.1081),
Books and Rituals
Although they are considered as rituals
for game purposes, the content of Mythos
books are not necessarily magical formu-
lae. They may exist as chants or songs,
mathematical formulae, or weird glyphs
that are activated by tracing them with a
finger (or merely by viewing them!).
Looking through the list of books, two con-
tain no rituals— The King in Yellow and The
Wars of the Heavens, Being a Discourse on
the Myths of Celestial Strife. These are not
an oversight on our part. No book needs to
have rituals in order to count as a Mythos
book. All it requires is knowledge relating
to the Mythos (i.e., a Mythos rating).
For example, a scientific treatise on mete-
orites might have a small chapter discuss-
ing reports of strange meteorites that dis-
solve in air and exhibit colors that defy
description. In other words, the author
is talking about a Colour Out of Space,
even though they have no comprehen-
sion of such things.
While that chapter inadvertently imparts
limited Mythos knowledge, it’s hardly like-
ly to contain the Summon Colour Out of
Space ritual in any form. In the same vein,
given the vagueness of the discussion, the
book probably has a Horror rating of zero.
who wrote of Uppsala. Adam told how every
nine years nine males of every species were
sacrificed to the gods, their corpses left to hang
on a sacred tree with widespread branches.
Sjunnesson claims that the translation is erro-
neous, and that the sacrifices were “devoured
by the sacred tree.” He also tells that the
“disgusting songs” mentioned by Adam were
actually chants verbalized in an elder tongue.
Sjunnesson’s body was found on the west-
ern mound at the Temple of Uppsala. The offi-
cial verdict was heart attack, though witnesses
claim his face was contorted in a grimace of
utter terror.
Dhol Chants
Language: Tibetan; Author: Unknown;
Published: c. 14th century; Complexity: 4;
13
Cthulhu Codicil
Tomes & Teamwork
A globetrotter who has read and fully un-
derstood a Mythos tome may use the vol-
ume to gain a Teamwork bonus when mak-
ing an Elder Lore roll. Two caveats apply.
The first is obvious—the globetrotter
must have access to the book in order to
flick through its damnable pages to re-
acquaint himself with the lore he seeks.
Second, the tome in question must relate
to the roll. Thus, The Serpent in History,
for example, is of no use for rolls other
than relating to Yig and the Serpent Men.
The Gamemaster has the final say in
whether a book is relevant or not.
This done, the globetrotter gains a
Teamwork bonus equal to the volume’s
Mythos rating.
Horror: 3; Mythos: 1; Contents: Call Nyarla-
thotep (The King in Yellow avatar), Commune
Nyarlathotep (The King in Yellow avatar), Gate
Although the only known copies of this
work are written in Tibetan, folklore hints
these are translations of much older scrolls.
If the stories passed down by generations of
monks are true, the original Dhol Chants were
scrolls brought to Tibet by the survivors of an
expedition of holy men who had dared travel
to the dread Plateau of Leng. Each “chapter” is
a prayer, intended to be chanted rather than
simply read aloud.
Poor translation of the original alien tongue
means that only a few chants have any true
power. Were a copy found in the language of
the foul semi-human inhabitants of forbidden
Leng, it would contain more rituals.
Genies in Arabian Folklore
Language: English; Author: Michael Gru-
ber; Published: 1889; Complexity: 4; Hor-
ror: 3; Mythos: 3; Contents: Summon Black
Winged One, Summon Child of the Fire Mist,
Summon Flying Polyp, Summon Fungi from
Yuggoth, Summon Night-gaunt
Gruber, a member of the Society of Anti-
quarians and dedicated Arabophile, spent a
14
decade travelling the Middle East searching for
stories concerning the jinn (sing. jinni), enti-
ties better known in English as genies. During
that time he conversed with imams and story-
tellers, and browsed scrolls written before the
Great Sphinx was carved from stone.
The work is fragmentary, being comprised
of detailed notes, sketches, and photographs
sent back to Great Britain by the author during
his sojourn. Gruber’s last message, dated
1885, indicated he was planning to enter the
Arabian Desert in search of Iram of the Pillars.
Having received no further correspondence,
the Society of Antiquarians compiled his notes
and published the book in his memory.
Certain sections have been amended
with comments by the editor. For instance,
when Gruber declares that he saw a “winged,
faceless genie with skin of midnight black”
summoned before his eyes, the editor explains
with self-imposed authority that the author
was either hallucinating as a result of heat
stroke or subject to a con artist’s trick.
The Hound in Myth and Legend
Language: German; Author: Jonathan
Friebel; Published: 1808; Complexity: 2;
Horror: 1; Mythos: 1; Contents: Summon
Black Dog (see Leagues of Gothic Horror),
Summon Hound of Tindalos
This slim volume looks at the presence of
canines in myths and legends. Topics include
wolves and dogs in Egyptian and Norse my-
thology, with especial attention on how they
are associated with the underworld; the Wild
Hunt of Northern Europe; temple dogs of the
Orient; ghostly black dogs in English folklore;
and supposed spectral hounds that inhabit
other dimensions.
The Ingá Stone
Language: Unknown petroglyphs; Au-
thor: Unknown; Published: Unknown; Com-
plexity: 5; Horror: 2; Mythos: 3; Contents:
Commune Shub-Niggurath, Commune Yog-So-
thoth, Nature’s Embrace, Summon Flying
Polyp, Summon Shoggoth, Summon Spawn of
Shub-Niggurath (Thousand Young only)
 Magic & Manuscripts
Rising from the waters of the Ingá River
in the northeast of Brazil, the Ingá Stone is a
natural rock formation. Deeply incised on the
surface are hundreds of petroglyphs.
The existence of the stone remains un-
known to all but the indigenous tribes, who
have nothing to do with the site. In their lore,
the glyphs were carved by a hostile tribe “when
the stars looked different” who worshipped
unknown gods and spilled the blood of human
sacrifices on the top of the rock.
Translating the markings requires an Elder
Lore: Languages or Tomes roll, as opposed to
a Linguistics: Translation roll.
Kitab al-Asnam
Language: Arabic; Author: Hisham Ibn Al-
Kalbi; Published: 8th century; Complexity: 3;
Horror: 3; Mythos: 3; Contents: Commune
Azathoth, Commune Bokrug, Commune Gha-
tanothoa, Commune Yog-Sothoth, Elemental
Fury, Spirit Binding, Summon Night-gaunt
A scholarly work, the author of the Book
of Idols (the English title) names the gods and
describes the rites of pre-Islamic Arabia before
rebuking the Arabs who worshipped them.
He is especially scornful of the citizens of
Mecca, where Abraham and Ishmael construct-
ed the Kaaba, the first House of Worship. After
Ishmael’s death, the inhabitants reverted to
idolatry and worship of pagan deities, sealing
their turning their back on God by erecting
statues to their 360 deities in the city. It as
only in 629, after having captured the city, that
Mohammed torn down the idols and brought
back Mecca back to holiness.
A single copy of the complete manuscript
exists in Damascus, though edited copies may
be found elsewhere in the Islamic world.
Kitab al’iisharat
Language: Arabic; Author: Faisal ibn-Al-
gol; Published: 766; Complexity: 5; Horror:
4; Mythos: 3; Contents: Arcane Ward, Elder
Sign, Formula: Powder of ibn-Ghazi, Sign of
Koth, Sign of Tindalos, Voorish Sign
Writing a generation after the death of Abdul
Alhazred, author of the Necronomicon, ibn-Al-
Trapped Tomes &
Self-Activating Spells
Mythos books are never benign, for even
the least horrific of them opens the read-
er’s mind to the suggestion that horrors
beyond description have haunted the
universe since before our Sun was born
in a blaze of light. Some are truly danger-
ous, for reading certain passages or ritu-
als actually invokes those dread rites.
For example, the tome may cast a Com-
mune ritual. At some point in the near
future, the deity in question contacts the
reader through his dreams. Summon
rituals call forth a creature of the Mythos,
which attends the reader at a convenient
(for it) point.
Creatures such as Deep Ones may attend
in the mistaken belief that the inadver-
tent caster is a cultist seeking their assis-
tance or inviting them to a ritual to hon-
or dread Cthulhu or Dagon. Woe betide
the unfortunate soul who accidentally
invokes Summon Dimensional Shambler
or Hound of Tindalos, though!
At the Gamemaster’s discretion, a suc-
cessful Elder Lore (any Disciple) roll with
a Difficulty of the ritual’s Rank alerts the
reader to the danger before the ritual is
completed.
Tomes do not have Casting rolls, nor do
they require them. Rather, the spell au-
tomatically succeeds. When extra success
produces additional results, the Game-
master must decide the final effect.
Ultimately, the aim is not to punish the
character (or player) for his choice in
reading a tome, but to liven up his life
and present an unforeseen challenge.
gol communicated with the so-called Mad Arab
several times before his death. Filled with dread
at the blasphemous entities of whose existence
Alhazred wrote, ibn-Algol The Book of Signs.
Its pages are filled with various mystic signs
and wards by which the creatures of the Mythos
may be weakened, held at bay, or driven off.
Unfortunately for the reader, the scholar pro-
vides stark descriptions of the various horrors
against which the signs are effective.
15
Cthulhu Codicil
The Name Nephren-Ka
Of the few Mythos tomes containing
the name Nephren-Ka, many were com-
posed many centuries after the time of
the pharaohs. With knowledge of how
to read hieroglyphs lost, spellings were
based on oral lore and were subjected to
translation errors.
As written, Nephren-Ka combines Greek
and Egyptian elements. Living long before
any Greek influence on Egypt’s language
or culture, the Black Pharaoh would have
possessed a uniquely Egyptian name.
Fortunately, there are plentiful clues for
modern scholars. Two variations have
the strongest claim, though neither can
be confirmed without the discovery of a
cartouche bearing the royal name.
First, the pharaoh’s true name may be
Nefer-ren-ka. This translates as “Good is
the name of the spirit.” It might be that
“spirit” relates to Nyarlathotep, although
neter (god) would be a better fit than ka
(spirit) as the latter usually refers to a hu-
man spirit.
Second, his name might have been Neb-
ren-ka, or “Lord (or master) of (the)
word and (the) spirit.” If the various sto-
ries concerning the Black Pharaoh are
true, then such a name likely relates to
his mastery of Mythos rituals.
Of course, either may yet prove to be an
epithet or title rather than a true name.
No copies of the book are known to exist.
Such was the furor that accompanied its pub-
lication that all available copies were ordered
immediately set to flame. It is said that a lone
copy existed in the great library of Constantino-
ple, but this was stolen by Crusaders in 1204.
Ibn-Algol fared little better than his work.
Thrown into jail, he was torn apart by his fel-
low inmates three years later. Vague hints sug-
gest his death was far from natural, the scholar
being rended limb from limb by a genie not
his cell mates.
* Libro Signis
Language: Latin; Author: Unknown;
16
Published: c.13th century; Complexity: 5;
Horror: 3; Mythos: 2; Contents: Elder Sign,
Formula: Powder of ibn-Ghazi, Sign of Koth,
Voorish Sign
Experts agree that the Latin translation of
the Kitab al’iisharat was penned by a priest or
knight some time after the Fourth Crusade—it
being very unlikely the author had access to
the copy in Constantinople before this time.
The only known copy of this manuscript is
held in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
* Signs
Language: English; Author: Dr. John Dee;
Published: 1610; Complexity: 6; Horror: 2;
Mythos: 1; Contents: Voorish Sign
Published a year after the death of John
Dee (1527-1609), likely by someone else using
Dee’s name, this poor translation is strewn
with errors to the point that it is virtually use-
less for students of the Mythos.
King James I of England (1566-1625) con-
sidered the book to be nothing more than
“pagan witchcraft” and ordered all copies
destroyed. One copy survives in the library of
Edinburgh University, though it is likely more
copies survive in private collections.
Lost Kings, the Missing
Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt
Language: English; Author: Douglas
Roundpond; Published: 1857; Complexity:
2; Horror: 1; Mythos: 1; Contents: Commune
Nyarlathotep (Black Pharaoh avatar)
Through the media of ancient scrolls and
inscriptions, such as the Abydos, Karnak, and,
Turin king lists and Manetho’s Aegyptiaca,
Egyptologists have pieced together a rudimen-
tary chronology for the pharaohs of Egypt.
Roundpond’s (1796-1854) scholarly work,
completed and published by his daughter, Rosa-
lind (1838-1932), focused entirely on pharaohs
for which there was no other corroborating evi-
dence at the time of publication. Among the “lost
kings,” as he called them, were names such as
Narmer, Scorpion, Tutankhamun, Thamphthis,
and Baka. Of the many names and suggested
 Magic & Manuscripts
biographies, two are of interest to Mythos schol-
ars—Queen Nitocris and King Nephren-ka.
Historical Note: The Narmer Palette, which
depicts the pharaoh, was unearthed in 1897,
as was the Scorpion Macehead that names King
Scorpion. Since Roundpond’s day, further king
lists such as the Palermo Stone (1859) and
Saqqara Tablet (1861) have helped further
refine the chronology.
Music of the Spheres
Language: German; Author: Octavius Hes-
sel; Published: 1792; Complexity: 3; Horror:
2; Mythos: 1; Contents: Gate, Summon Court-
ier of Azathoth, Summon Hound of Tindalos;
Special: Casting any of the rituals in this book
requires a Performance: Musical Instrument
roll instead of the normal Casting roll
A little known German composer, Hessel
was convinced he could summon angels
through music. His discordant compositions
were declared unplayable by his peers. Hessel
was incarcerated in an asylum in 1801 and
died a year later.
New England Folklore
Language: English; Author: Eli Davenport,
Published: 1839; Complexity: 2; Horror: 3;
Mythos: 1; Contents: Summon Fungi from
Yuggoth
A monograph of extreme rarity, Davenport’s
work collects oral folklore from New England.
It focuses on a supposed race of monstrous
creatures that inhabit the dark wood, narrow
valleys, and rounded peaks where men seldom
tread. Descriptions from across the region are
similar in their details, describing the entities
as winged crabs.
The earliest stories tell that the creatures
had no traffic with mortals, being content to
remain in the wilderness. Later stories speak
of strange marks found on window sills,
footprints outside houses, and buzzing voices
heard on the wind. One section concerning
Indian myths suggests the winged beings came
from the stars to mine a type of stone found
nowhere else in the heavens, which they carry
back to the stars.
Notes Concerning The Ancient
One Across the Continents
Language: English; Author: Sir Richard
Francis Burton; Published: written 1890;
Complexity: 3; Horror: 2; Mythos: 2; Con-
tents: Commune Cthulhu
Sir Richard Burton (1821-90) was a Vic-
torian Renaissance man—a cartographer,
diplomat, explorer, fencer, linguist, orientalist,
poet, soldier, translator, and writer. Among the
Leagues, of which Burton was a member of
many, he was regarded in high esteem, though
not above scandals and controversy.
In the last months of life he became fixat-
ed on writing about the various cults he had
encountered during his travels in Africa, Asia,
and the Americas, and how they shared great
similarities in their worship of a god Burton
referred to only as “the Ancient One.”
Burton died of a heart attack on 19th Octo-
ber 1890. According to his wife, Isabel (1831-
96), Burton was working late in his office when
she heard chanting in a “foreign tongue.” After
a time of silence, Isabel entered her husband’s
office to find him dead.
Burton’s unfinished manuscript on the cult
of the Ancient One lies among his papers. In
the months to come, Isabel burns a great many
of her husband’s papers. Whether this one
survives the purge is in the laps of the gods.
Observation on the Several
Parts of Africa
Language: English; Author: Sir Wade
Jermyn; Published: 1761; Complexity: 2;
Horror: 1; Mythos: 1; Contents: Commune
Tsathoggua, Summon Black Spawn of Tsathog-
gua, Summon Black Winged One, Summon
Courtier of Azathoth
One of the first white men to venture into
the Congo, arguably the dark heart of Africa,
Sir Wade Jermyn wrote at length about the
flora and fauna, geography, and inhabitants.
While his earlier papers brought him scho-
lastic praise, the publication of Observations
brought him nothing but ridicule.
Writing with a mania largely unknown
17
Cthulhu Codicil
among academics, Sir Wade proposed not only
that the antiquities of the Congo were of much
greater age than previously realized, but that
there existed a prehistoric Congolese civiliza-
tion whose denizens were white skinned. Four
years after the book was published, Sir Wade
was confined to an asylum.
Of False Angles
Language: Ancient Greek; Author: Euclid
of Alexandria; Published: 3rd century BC;
Complexity: 5; Horror: 3; Mythos: 1; Con-
tents: Gate, Summon Hound of Tindalos
Although several fragments of Euclid’s key
works survive, much of what is known about
the “father of geometry” is later hearsay. Modern
scholars poor scorn on the 6th century claim
that he penned a work entitled Of False Angles,
in which the mathematician wrote of angles
that could not possible exist and of architecture
which used these unfathomable principles.
According to the 7th century Arabic scholar
Haroun ibn Mizanur Al-Dimashqi, Of False
Angles was Euclid’s first work on geometry.
Much of the mathematician’s life was fixated
on creating standardized laws for geometry.
Haroun’s work is dismissed as pure fantasy,
especially the section concerning the death of
Euclid, in which he claims the Greek scholar
“was consumed by masonry that, although
acute, had the properties of the obtuse.”
The rituals in this book are complex math-
ematical formulae rather than spells, and are
activated by concentrating on the respective
formula. Neither has a name with Mythos or
occult connotations, but are rather listed as
“The Convergence of False Angles within a
Single Point” and “Of False Angles and their
Relationship with the Curve.”
On the Transmutation of the
Ancient Fertility Cults into the
Witch-Cult of Western Europe
Language: English; Author: Sir John R.
Davis; Published: 1769; Complexity: 3;
Horror: 1; Mythos: 1; Contents: Commune
Nyarlathotep, Commune Shub-Niggurath,
18
Nature’s Wrath, Summon Spawn of Shub-Nig-
gurath, Summon Black Winged One, Summon
Courtier of Azathoth
The first half of this lengthy tome (it con-
tains over 700 pages) describes the nature and
practices of ancient fertility cults in Europe. The
second half espouses on the author’s opinion
that these mystical traditions evolved into the
witch-cult persecuted by the Catholic Church.
The book was banned shortly after its pub-
lication—not because of the text, but because
it contained several paintings deemed to be
excessively licentious. Dozens of copies still
exist, though most are found in private col-
lections. The British Museum Reading Room
contains a copy, the art has been expunged.
A keen scholar and leading member of
the Society of Antiquarians, Sir John was last
seen on Anglesey (see p. 59), where he was
conducting research concerning the survival
of the witch-cult in the present day. His disap-
pearance, never fully investigated at the time,
remains unsolved.
Rituals of the Ancients
Language: English; Author: Charles Mer-
riweather, Published: 1787; Complexity: 2;
Horror: 2; Mythos: 1; Contents: Commune
Shub-Niggurath, Nature’s Embrace
Written at the start of the druidic revival, a
cultural rather than spiritual view at that time,
the volume combines the work of William
Stukeley (1687-1765) with the more blood-
thirsty accounts of Roman chroniclers and the
10th century Commenta Bernensia.
Merriweather opinions that the true druid-
ic faith was comprised of just two deities—a fe-
male mother goddess and a horned male god.
These, he continues, were misunderstood by
later Christians, who equated the horned god
with Satan while the female aspect became
synonymous with witches.
Sanguinary Cults and the
Birth of the Myth of Vampires
Language: Latin; Author: Sanguinus,
Published: 1779; Complexity: 2; Horror: 4;
 Magic & Manuscripts
Mythos: 1; Contents: Commune Ghatanoth-
oa, Summon Feaster from the Stars
The 18th century “vampire epidemic” in
Eastern Europe spawned several academic vol-
umes on the nature of vampires. Penned under
a pseudonym, Sanguinary Cults differed from
the others in that the author espoused the
view that vampires were nothing more than
racial memories of ritualistic activity practised
by ancient cults.
The author proposes that these cults devel-
oped from a single source, slowly spreading
across the globe in prehistory. Tracing the
route to its source, Sanguinus concluded that
the cults were founded on the lost continent of
Mu, and that their veneration was focused on a
primordial god known as Tanotah. The author
notes that the name existed as late as the Hel-
lenic Period, when it had become Thanatos.
The Serpent through History
Language: English; Author: Sir Reginald
Grosvenor; Published: 1818; Complexity: 2;
Horror: 2; Mythos: 1; Contents: Commune
Yig, Summon Child of Yig, Summon Serpent
Man
This scholarly work looks at snake cults
and deities throughout history. The author, a
noted academic and herpetologist, writes of
the Voodoo loa Damballa, the snake in ancient
Egypt, Mesopotamia, Rome, and Mesoamerica,
of the various snake spirits known to American
Indians, and of the nagas of Indo-China.
Grosvenor (1756-1833) makes it clear that,
in his opinion, the presence of snake cults in
every corner of the globe is no coincidence.
Rather than bowing to the accepted view that
early man worshipped animals native to his
homeland, creating myths to explain their
existence and peculiarities, Grosvenor relates
certain ancient myths that tell of a race of
serpent people who inhabited the earth long
before man descended from the apes and of a
universal cult dedicated to an entity he names
only as the Father of Serpents.
The Snaefell Stone
Language: Unknown Author: Unknown;
Making a Will
Globetrotters investigating the Mythos
have a greater chance of permanent in-
sanity or death than ordinary citizens
leading ordinary lives. Those who wish
to pass on money, land, or property need
to ensure they have a valid will.
In order to be legal, a will must be writ-
ten and signed by the testator or by a per-
son directed by him in his presence plus
two or more witnesses present at the
same time as the above signature. Wills
made by persons under the age of 21 are
not valid.
Any alteration to a will requires the for-
mation of a new document, signed as
above. Only the latest will is considered
legal—previous wills are null and void.
A person who dies without making a
will is intestate. Without clear division
of the estate, family members are usu-
ally required to go through the courts
to claim a share, a process that can take
many years if there are multiple poten-
tial heirs squabbling over their believed
inheritance. Hiring a solicitor, or having
levels in Academics: Law, will certainly be
of great help in resolving the estate.
Published: Unknown; Complexity: 5; Horror:
3; Mythos: 1; Contents: Summon Shoggoth
The story of the Lidenbrock Expedition into
the bowels of the earth by means of the crater
of Mount Snaefell, Iceland, is well-known to
the Leagues of Adventure. Few scholars in any
field are aware of the Pedersen Expedition,
which entered the crater in 1885 under the
leadership of Hans Pedersen (b. 1834).
Whereas Lidenbrock and his party almost
died at the start of their epic journey, having
taken a dead-end tunnel that led through a
coalfield, Pedersen and his comrades sought to
excavate a section of coal and test its composi-
tion in the hope of being able to exploit the re-
source. Having dug a short tunnel, the miners
stumbled across a massive slab of coal marked
with strange triangular striations. Soon after
they uncovered a green stone marks with odd
patterns of dots (the written language of the
Elder Things).
19
Cthulhu Codicil
Returning home to little fanfare—the coal
being deemed of too poor quality to mine
commercially—Pedersen presented the green
stone to several notable geologists. Certainly
it was extremely old, but it was considered an
interesting freak of nature rather than an artifact
with any historical value. The stone was donat-
ed to the Mineralogisk Museum (Geological
Museum) in Pedersen’s native Copenhagen in
1888, where it remained on display as a geolog-
ical curio until its disappearance a year later. A
blurred photograph of the stone has taken its
place.
Translating the markings requires an Elder
Lore: Languages or Tomes roll, as opposed to a
Linguistics: Translation roll. Once translated, it
speaks in general terms about Shoggoths and
their many uses.
The Star Gods
Language: English; Author: Unknown,
Published: 1869; Complexity: 3; Horror: 2;
Mythos: 1; Contents: Commune Yog-Sothoth
Presented anonymously to the Royal Society,
the author of this thin volume put forward the
theory that mathematics and astronomy were
imparted to mankind by “Star Gods.” Rather
than metaphysical constructs, these gods were
actual beings, elder entities from an unknown
part of space that had visited Earth long ago.
The book is divided into three sections. The
first is concerned with the stone circles of early
man, who, far from being a savage, possessed
great astronomical knowledge. The section cov-
ers the Sumerians, whose use of a sexagesimal
system governs time today. Finally, the author ex-
plores the history of the zodiac and ancient un-
derstanding of the precession of the equinoxes.
The author concludes by saying that this
knowledge was imparted so that humanity
could determine when the “stars were right,”
a time in the near future when the Star Gods
would return ot Earth.
The Toledo Fragments
Language: Mayan; Author: Unknown; Pub-
lished: Unknown; Complexity: 4; Horror: 3;
Mythos: 1; Contents: Commune Nyarlathotep
20
(Haunter of the Dark avatar), Summon Animal
(bats only), Summon Black Winged One
A collection of fragments from a much
longer Mayan codex, the document was un-
earthed in a library in Toledo, Spain, in 1715.
It currently resides in the British Museum
Reading Room, having been stolen by British
soldiers during the Peninsula War (1807-14).
The fragments relate the story of Camazotz,
a Mayan deity whose name translates as “death
bat,” the House of Bats in which he dwells,
and the hideous bats that serve as his mortal
messengers.
The Wars of the Heavens, being
a Discourse on the Myths of
Celestial Strife
Language: French; Author: Henri DuBose;
Published: 1772; Complexity: 2; Horror: 1;
Mythos: 1; Contents: None
A theologian and historian, DuBose (1738-
1773) was fascinated by the stories of heavenly
strife found in the myths and legends of many
cultures. Four large chapters are devoted to
the war between the gods of Olympus and
the Titans, the Norse Ragnaraok, the rebellion
of Lucifer, and the epic wars fought between
Hindu deities and demons.
The last few pages, written shortly before Du-
Bose’s premature and unexplained death, speak
of strange deities that exist beyond the stars and
who, in ancient times, fought with the gods of
earth for supremacy. These pages, replete with
near-unpronounceable names but no correlating
references, are widely considered by literary ex-
perts to be the result of undiagnosed madness.
The Woodman Diary
Language: English; Author: Dr. Leland
Woodman; Published: 1875; Complexity: 4;
Horror: 3; Mythos: 1; Contents: Commune
Yog-Sothoth (a Tibetan chant), Formula: Liao
A cartographer and fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society, Woodman (1823-78)
was a member of the ill-fated Rothman Expe-
dition (1869) seeking to establish diplomatic
ties with the Tibetan government. Woodman,
 Magic & Manuscripts
the only survivor of the expedition, was found
half-starved and wild-eyed in northern India
in 1871. He never spoke about the fate of his
peers, though he begged others never to enter
the land of Tibet.
In 1875, Woodman suddenly attempted to
publish his journal, which detailed the truth
concerning his time in Tibet. Although several
Leagues expressed interest, they were dis-
mayed to discover the work was only garbled
descriptions of strange visions gained through
the use of a previously unknown narcotic, Liao.
The official conclusion from the Leagues was
that Woodman, having witnessed the death of
his fellows, lost his mind.
Having been removed from his post due to
an unspecified medical condition, Woodman
died in 1878, bleeding to death after hacking
off his ears, cutting out his tongue, and pluck-
ing out his own eyes.
The handwritten diary is housed in the
Bodleian Library in the University of Oxford.
Yothic Manuscripts
Language: Unknown; Author: Unknown
Published: Unknown; Complexity: 4; Hor-
ror: 4; Mythos: 2; Contents: Alter Visibility,
Call Tsathoggua, Commune Tsathoggua, Sum-
mon Black Spawn of Tsathoggua
Written in an age before humans by the
reptilian inhabitants of Yoth, the manuscripts
speak of that elder race’s descent in the black-
lit caverns of N’kai and of the terrible things
they discovered there.
They tell of ancient Tsathoggua, the slumber-
ing Great Old One born eons ago, of his formless
servants, and of the many ruins that littered the
immense caverns whose walls had never been
touched by the light of the sun. Translating the
markings requires an Elder Lore: Tomes roll, as
opposed to a Linguistics: Translation roll.
Eldritch Relics
Aladdin’s Lamp
Unique Artifact 4
While the story of Aladdin and his magic
lamp is certainly of ancient origin, it is an 18th
century addition to the Arabian Nights. Despite
its inclusion in modern versions of that august
work, the tale has its origins in China.
Most modern readers know the story of
how Aladdin was recruited by a North African
magician to recover a magic lamp, summoned
a genie, and, after some adventures and mis-
fortunes, lives happily ever after. A fine story
with many fantastic elements that appeal to au-
diences, but very few are aware that the story is
based on actual events.
The magical lamp was constructed by King
Solomon, who in Islamic lore possessed pow-
er over genies and demons. While stories of
genies bound into jars or copper vessels are
not uncommon among Muslims, they are a
corruption of the king’s ability to summon the
unearthly beings through an enchanted gold
lamp inscribed with strange signs. One story
tells how the lamp was gifted to Solomon by
the Queen of Sheba, whose lands were located
in southern Arabia. The lamp, so it is told, was
discovered in Iram of the Pillars.
Taken as plunder from Solomon’s Temple
by the Babylonians in the late 6th century BC,
the lamp eventually made its way to China via
the Silk Road.
No genie is actually bound inside the lamp.
Rather, the magic contained within it causes a
Flying Polyp to be summoned. When the lamp
is rubbed, it automatically casts the Summon
Flying Polyp ritual. The lamp’s user uses his
own Charisma + Willpower or Elder Lore roll
(caster’s choice), but gains a +10 dice bonus.
The entity is not obedient to its summoner,
despite what the stories might imply.
Enhancements: Ritual: Summon Flying
Polyp (+4 Enhancements), Skill: +10 dice for
Casting roll (+5 Enhancements)*
* Only for the purposes of casting Summon
Flying Polyp through the lamp.
Apparatus of Yith*
Artifact 1
Leagues: —
The Great Races’ ability to transfer their
consciousness across time and space is a
21
Cthulhu Codicil
matter of advanced science, not mental acuity.
Performing this feat requires a strange assem-
bly of mirrors, rods, and wheels constructed
around a circular, concave mirror. The entire
mechanism measures around two feet tall, one
foot wide, and one foot thick.
Only a member of the Great Race can use
the machinery to transfer its mind to another
body—no human can use the device to inhabit
the alien flesh of a member of that race, nor in-
deed any other species. A human can, howev-
er, employ it force a member of the Great Race
possessing a human to involuntarily abandon
its host and transfer its mind back to its natural
body (assuming its body is alive, of course).
Note that the minds of the Great Race are
alien intelligences, not spirits, and thus cannot
be expelled using the Banish Spirit ritual.
However, for the purpose of this item, it works
exactly as the Banish Spirit ritual.
Enhancements: Ritual: Banish Spirit (+2
Enhancements)
Black Bottle
Artifact 4
Leagues: Ghost Club, Magicians Circle
Sorcerers versed in the darkest of the hell-
ish arts know arcane formulae that allow them
to steal a soul and capture it in a black bottle.
This blasphemous ritual denies the victim any
hope of entering either heaven or hell.
Often, the magician buries his still-living
victim, condemning him to an eternity of
imprisonment guaranteed to shred whatever
sanity remains. Each black bottle can store but
a single soul.
Effectively immortal, the victim can be slain
only by smashing the bottle holding his soul,
an act which releases a blue flame and intense
sulfurous odor. Should the victim have lived
beyond his natural span, he rapidly withers
and crumbles to dust. A less drastic option is
to master a second ritual, one which restores
the soul to its owner.
Note that nothing prevents a sorcerer from
stealing and storing his own soul. As long as he
protects the vessel, he is an immortal.
Enhancements: Special: Store Soul (+8
Enhancements)
22
The Clock of All Time and Space
Unique Artifact 5
Crafted by unknown hands in the arcane
city of Yian-Ho, this coffin-shaped timepiece
is of little use in keeping conventional time.
Its dial is marked not with numbers, but with
hieroglyphs of unknown nature, and its four
hands move in strange patterns.
Where one might expect to hear a steady
ticking, there is an arrhythmic series of long
and short beats, like the coded noise of a
telegraph machine. Oddly, the interior of the
clock, a void large enough to accommodate a
standing adult, has no obvious workings.
By itself, the clock is nothing more than a
curiosity. To those who know the Gate ritual,
the clock is a potent boon. Within its cramped
interior, a magician stands at a nexus where all
time, space, and alternate dimensions touch.
With a mere thought, the caster can travel not
only to anywhere, but to anywhen.
Users should note that the clock itself does
not move through time or space—only whoev-
er is inside it travels. As such, its boon is good
for a one way trip.
Enhancements: Skill: +10 Casting roll
dice (+5 Enhancements)*, Special: Time Trav-
el (+5 Enhancements)
* Only when invoking the Gate ritual
while inside the clock.
Conch of Dagon
Unique Artifact 2
When the merchantman Elizabeth Jane set
anchor on a remote island in the South Pacific
in search of pearls, the coastal-dwelling na-
tives, a strange people with bulbous eyes and
wattled necks, fled inland from the strangers.
While investigating the hastily abandoned
village, the ship’s captain, Daniel Martins,
found a magnificent conch of unusual size
and color engraved with images of aquatic life
and strange glyphs. Despite the warning from
the ship’s chaplain that no good would come
from stealing a heathen object, Martins took
it back to the ship. As history records, the
Elizabeth Jane was discovered derelict several
months later by the crew of the whaling ship
Betty. The last entry in her log was a single
word written in a shaking hand—Dagon.
The conch was taken back to America,
where it was sold to an Arkham resident
and donated to the Miskatonic University, in
whose museum it now resides. Used by the
natives in their religious ceremonies, blowing
the horn within sight of the ocean automati-
cally casts the Summon Deep One ritual using
8 Casting dice. Blown elsewhere, it has no
powers.
Enhancements: Ritual: Summon Deep
One (+4 Enhancements), Skill: 8 dice Casting
roll (+3 Enhancements)*
Limitations: Special: Works only when
within sight of the ocean (–4 Enhancements)
* Applies only when casting Summon
Deep One.

Dagger of Solomon
Unique Artifact 3
Supposedly wielded by King Solomon in
his battles against demons and genies who
refused to bow before God, the dagger that
bears the king’s name is made of a light gray
metal that fell to earth in a meteorite. Accord-
ing to legend, the meteorite destroyed the
city of Ubar (often mistaken for Iram of the
Pillars).
The blade, thanks to its unearthly material
and the glyphs inscribed along its length, has
a damage rating of 7L against alien entities,
such as Children of the Fire Mist, Fungi from
Yuggoth, and Spawn of Cthulhu.
Enhancements: Increased Damage: +6L
damage (+3 Enhancements)*, Special: Deals
damage to alien entities (+4 Enhancements)
* Only against alien entities.
Deep One Tiara
Artifact 1
Leagues: Aeon Club, Hounds of Nodens,
Society of Antiquarians, Society of Aquanauts
Made from gold alloyed with a lighter
metal as yet not identified through science,
the tiaras (for more than one exists) are taller
at the front and shaped for an elliptical head.
Presented in bas-relief are various designs.
Some are geometrical, whereas others clearly
represent marine creatures. The latter are of
unknown creatures, with semblance to both
frogs and fish.
Only one tiara is on public display, though
others may reside in the hands of private
collectors, cultists, and certain Leagues. It
was pawned in 1873, whereupon it was pur-
chased by the Newburyport Historical Society.
Despite study by eminent archaeologists and
anthropologists, it has not been successfully
attributed to any culture or school. Little won-
der, given that it was crafted by Deep Ones as a
gift to an important human follower.
The tiara is a piece of mundane, if highly
unusual, jewelry. It facilitates more peaceful
interaction with Deep Ones, but only because
they assume the wearer is a cultist and a friend
to their species.
Enhancements: Increased Attribute: +1

23
Cthulhu Codicil
Charisma (+1 Enhancements)*, Talent: In-
spire (+1 Enhancements)*
* Applies only when interacting with Deep
Ones.
Dimensional Stabilizer*
Artifact 4
Leagues: —
Several Mythos horrors are either native to
dimensions other than our own or have the
ability to warp in and out of dimensions. The
Dimensional Stabilizer produces rays that fix
their form or hinder their ability to shift into
alternate dimensions.
Externally, the Dimensional Stabilizer has a
similar form to a metal box with an ear-trum-
pet attachment. Internally, the device has com-
ponents and circuitry utterly alien to human
science. When fired, a simple enough action
using a trigger, the device emits an energy ray.
Targeted against a Flying Polyp, it renders
the fiend visible to the human eye for a limited
time. Fired against a Dimensional Shambler,
the monster cannot shamble through the
dimensions. Again, this has only a short dura-
tion. In either case, there is no requirement
to keep the ray trained on the target—a single
shot is enough to stabilize it.
Enhancements: Increased Range: 25 ft.
(+4 Enhancements), Special: Dimensional
Stability (+4 Enhancements), Touch Attack
(+2 Enhancements)
Limitations: Reduced Duration: One
minute (–2 Enhancements)
Electricity Gun (Great
Race)*
Artifact 4
Leagues: —
Created by the Great Race of Yith in their
wars against the Flying Polyps, Electricity
Guns are a product of science far beyond the
understanding of conventional technology,
even that known to weird scientists—hence
why manufacturing them requires Elder Lore:
Artifacts rather than Craft and Science.
Enhancements: Improved Damage Type:
Caustic (+2 Enhancements), Increased
Damage: 4L (+4 Enhancements), Increased
Range: 100 feet (+8 Enhancements)
Limitations: Increased Weight: 20 lbs,
Strength 3 (–4 Enhancements), Special:
Requires unusual components (–2 Enhance-
ments)
Fungi Brain Cylinder
Artifact 3
Leagues: —
The technologically-minded and scientifi-
cally advanced Fungi from Yuggoth have, on
occasion, taken humans to visit their main
colony on that distant world. With humans
being unable to cope with the destructive
nature of the ether, they must first be made
ready for the long voyage.
 Magic & Manuscripts
The passenger’s brain is removed using
advanced surgical techniques and placed in
an ether-tight, fluid-filled metallic cylinder.
This drastic method is not fatal to either brain
or body, for both can be kept alive indefinitely
so long as vital fluids are topped up regularly.
Electrodes connected to the brain attach
to three sockets arranged in the form of an
isosceles triangle on top of the cylinder.
Through secondary devices, the brain can
be provided with sight, hearing, and speech
facilities in any combination. Each of these
three extraneous devices is an individual Ar-
tifact 1 with a single ability—to remove one
of the sensory Flaws induced by having one’s
brain extracted and stuffed into a jar of alien
manufacture.
Enhancements: Life Support: One Month
(All; +16 Enhancements)
Limitations: Flaw: Blind (–2 Enhance-
ments), Flaw: Deaf (–2 Enhancements), Flaw:
Mute (–2 Enhancements), Flaw: No Limbs (–4
Enhancements)
The Gem
Unique Artifact 1
Leagues: —
Crafted long ago in the land of Nath, whose
name none now remember, the Gem—which
had no other name—was housed in a great
temple and watched over by the high priest.
The Gem was taken from the temple in
the reign of High-Priest Ka-Nefer by the hero
Phrenes, who carried it against a terrible en-
tity that plagued the land. Neither Gem nor
hero were ever seen again.
By peering through the Gem, one can see
things otherwise invisible to the human eye.
This includes certain monsters, spirits, and
the stains left by the various Mark rituals.
Placed in front of a camera lens, it allows one
to capture invisible things in photographs.
Enhancements: Extra Sense: Invisible
objects (+2 Enhancements)
Gnoph-Keh Horn Dagger
Artifact 3
Leagues: —
The elders of the Northern Greenland In-
uits still recall the words of their forefathers,
who spoke of the “white horned devil” that
haunts the lands beyond their traditional
hunting grounds. Anthropologists dismiss
the tales of a horned, polar-bear type creature
inhabiting the ice, arguing that it is a mythical
creature born, perhaps, of witnessing a polar
bear attacking a narwhal.
Among the tools used among the remote
tribes are daggers with blades made of point-
ed horns. Again, anthropologists claim these
are nothing but narwhal tusks, though none
have ever bothered to put the daggers to sci-
entific tests. Were they to do so, they would
quickly learn the horns come from no species
known to science.
The daggers are actually made from the
horns of Gnoph-Kehs. Few Inuits have ever
seen the strange creatures in many gener-
ations, and certainly none have killed one
in at least 100 years. Thus, the weapons are
heirlooms, handed down from generation to
generation.
As well as being especially sharp (4L dam-
age total), the horn inflicts normal damage on
creatures with alien biology, such as the Fungi
from Yuggoth.
Enhancements: Increased Damage: +2L
(+2 Enhancements), Special: Treated as a
magic weapon (+4 Enhancements)
Incense Cone, Type I*
Artifact 0
Leagues: Aeon Club, Hellfire Club,
Hounds of Nodens, Magicians’ Circle, Ministry
of Unusual Affairs
The burning of incense is commonplace in
many religions. Sometimes it is burnt because
the aroma is pleasing to the deity, while in oth-
ers it aids meditation.
Created from rare herbs and minerals,
some of which do not originate on earth, these
small, colored cones, burn for one minute
(10 combat turns) once ignited with a simple
flame. During that time they release a cloud of
pungent smoke. The smoke alters the inhaler’s
state of mind, making it easier to commune
with one of the Great Old Ones.
25
Cthulhu Codicil
The cones can be extinguished before
burning to a pile of gray ash, but cannot then
be reignited. Burning multiple cones does not
produce a cumulative effect (though it does
produce more smoke).
A batch contains five doses, each of which
is good for a single use.
Enhancements: Skill: +4 dice Casting roll
(+2 Enhancements)*
Limitations: Reduced Duration: One min-
ute (–2 Enhancements)
* Applies only when casting Commune
(Deity).
Incense Cone, Type II*
Artifact 3
Leagues: —
Although similar in size and form to the
above mentioned incense, these cones are
more potent, not to mention dangerous to
one’s sanity if misused.
When ignited, they cast a Commune (Dei-
ty) ritual. Each cone is specific to a given Great
Old One. Thus, a cone containing Commune
Cthulhu will only ever allow mental commu-
nication with that most dread deity. Each cone
burns for just 10 combat turns. During that
time, the cone rolls 6 dice each combat turn.
If the required 20 successes are gained within
that time, communication from the deity is in-
stantly established. On the off-chance not enough
successes are garnered, the incense burns down
without producing the desired effect.
A batch contains five doses, each of which
is good for a single use.
Enhancements: Ritual: Commune (Deity)
(+5 Enhancements), Skill: 6 dice Casting roll
(+4 Enhancements)
Limitations: Reduced Duration: One min-
ute (–2 Enhancements)
Jade Hound
Artifact 2
Leagues: —
Carved from jade, the amulet takes the
form of a crouching winged hound or cyno-
cephalic sphinx. The figure is repellent, and
speaks silently of bestiality, malevolence, and
26
death. Carved around the base in no tongue
known to man are a string of hieroglyphs.
Carved in an Oriental fashion, the amulet
originated on the accursed Plateau of Leng,
where the winged hound is a symbol of the
barbaric cannibal cult that inhabits the deso-
late and windswept wasteland. This vile cult is
described fully in both the Necronomicon and
Unaussprechlichen Kulten.
Normally, a magician offering a blood
sacrifice when casting a ritual must use the
bonus dice during the invocation of that ritual.
The Amulet, however, allows him to store the
dice from a single sacrifice and make use of
them at a later date. How many dice from the
maximum available the caster elects to add to
a Casting roll is up to him. The Amulet cannot
be refilled until all the bonus dice from the last
sacrifice have been drained.
Jade Amulets are cursed. If one is taken
from an owner, rather than received as a gift,
the thief is terrorized by a ghastly abomination
- the much-feared Hound (see p. 72).
Enhancements: Special: Store blood sacri-
fice dice (+8 Enhancements)
Limitations: Special: Haunted by the
Hound (–4 Enhancements)
Liao*
Artifact 5
Leagues: Pharmacopoeia Society
First formulated and used in China many
centuries ago, the drug Liao is all but unknown
in the Western world. Even in the East it is rare,
found only in twisting unmapped alleys in the
oldest sections of ancient cities. According to
legend, Lao-Tse regularly partook of the nar-
cotic. It was through its use that he envisioned
Tao, the mysterious force that surrounds and
binds all things.
Theories on the nature of time are many-
fold, and numerous ones have been put for-
ward by the Temporal Society. Users of Liao
claim that past and future events exist in an
alternate dimension—the fourth dimension—
and that the drug allows one to cross into
those otherwise unknowable dimensions. This
is one theory the Temporal Society refutes, of
course.
 Magic & Manuscripts
Injected into the blood, Liao truly does al-
lows those with an understanding of complex
mathematics to travel in time, but only men-
tally—physical transportation through time re-
mains as elusive as ever (see Clock of All Time
and Space above for one noted exception).
As the drug takes effect, the user perceives
everything simultaneously. Only through con-
centration can he direct his mind through the
swirling maelstrom of images that constitutes
the ever-changing time stream.
It is advisable to take the drug in the com-
pany of others. There is a risk of becoming
lost in time, and only a severe shaking (inflicts
1N damage) can recall the user’s mind to the
here and now. There is a far worse danger than
forever being trapped in time, though. Gaze
back far enough or for too long and one might
be spied by an ever-hungry Hound of Tindalos.
To gain any benefit from Liao, the user
must make a Willpower + Mathematics roll at
Difficulty 2. Each additional dose grants a +2
bonus, to a maximum of 10 dice. The number
of successes determines how far forward or
back in time they may see and make any sense
of the imagery. Exactly what they see, and how
clear the visions are, is ultimately up to the
individual Gamemaster. For the most part, the
visions come thick and fast, with centuries,
millennia, and even greater periods of time
flowing and merging into a confusing mass.
Enhancements: Special: Time travel (+10
Enhancements)
Successes Time in Years
0 Decades
1 Centuries
2 Millennia
3 Tens of millennia
4 Hundreds of millennia
5 Millions
6 Hundreds of millions
7+ Billions
Loki’s Glass
Unique Artifact 5
Named after the Norse trickster god, this
mirror appears quite ordinary. Occasionally,
one might glimpse what appears to be move-
ment, as of something momentarily reflected
in the Mirror. Viewed from specific angles, and
in the right light, whorls and corrugations that
radiate outward from a single point appear on
the apparently smooth surface. If stared at, the
whorls begin to swirl in a hypnotic pattern,
literally drawing the entranced victim into its
surface.
The Mirror and the intended victim make
opposed Willpower x 2 rolls. If the Mirror
wins, the victim is marked and suffers an over-
riding desire to touch the glass. If touched, no
matter how much time has passed since the
initial interaction, victims are pulled through
to the world beyond the Mirror’s surface.
Victims trapped in the pocket dimension
behind the Mirror can communicate with
those in the real world, but only through their
dreams, and then only if they are reasonably
close by (within 100 feet). Trapped in a mirror
universe, they appear in reversed form—blues
become yellow, reds are viewed as green, and
they speak backward. Spatial relations are also
reversed, meaning that if the trapped soul
seeks to walk toward the Mirror’s surface he
actually moves further away.
Much like a camera, the Mirror stores
images of places previously reflected in its
surface. Anyone trapped within can journey
to the stored image with a mere thought.
Unfortunately, the image is a two-dimensional
backdrop and utterly intangible.
Any trapped globetrotters find they are not
alone. Already ensnared by the Mirror’s foul
enchantment are a corpulent man who speaks
English with a noted Scandinavian accent, a
beautiful young girl, two Africans, three young
men, one young woman with a child, and Axel
Holm.
A talented magician and glassblower, Holm
(b. 1612) despaired at the limited knowledge
of humanity. Through studying elder lore, he
learned that reflections provided a possible
means of venturing beyond the three di-
mensions in which humans exist. Seeking to
preserve his life for eternity, Holm created the
Mirror, working into it the strange whorls and
corrugations that are the source of its dread
27
Cthulhu Codicil
power. In 1867 he stepped through it and van-
ished from the pages of history.
His plan was not entirely without success,
though not in the manner he anticipated.
Within the confines of the Mirror, there is no
need for food or drink, no one grows tired or
ages. Alas, the Mirror provided no doorway to
other dimensions, but only to a truly monot-
onous existence. Desperate, he lured others
into his self-made trap.
Escape is possible, but it requires outside
assistance. The center of the Mirror, wherein
lies the origin of the whorls and corrugations,
must be cut out. This creates a portal through
which prisoners may step. Whether a victim
survives the ordeal depends on the amount of
time spent in the trap, for time rapidly catches
up with them. For most, their existence ends
as they crumble to dust.
Even in survival, the victim is not un-
touched by their experience—internal organs
are switched to their mirror side, as is the
handedness of the freed prisoner. That is, a
right-handed person emerges left-handed, and
vice versa.
Enhancements: Increased Attribute: +4
Will (+8 Enhancements), Special: Dimension-
al Trap (+2 Enhancements)
Mythos Idol
Artifact 1
Leagues: Aeon Club, Ghost Club, Holy
Brotherhood, Hounds of Nodens, Ministry of
Unusual Affairs, Society of Antiquarians
When they descended from the stars in
time immemorial, the Great Old Ones brought
with them carved idols in their own images.
Varying in shape from a foot to several feet in
height, the statues are of no rock known to
modern geologists, nor do they conform to
any accepted school of art.
Since the dawn of time, cultists honoring the
abominable alien gods have danced and chanted
and sacrificed in front of these unholy idols.
These stone fetishes are not simply representa-
tions of the deities, but are psychically attuned
to them and their servants, making certain rituals
easier to cast. Idols dedicated to all the Great Old
Ones exist, so some are rarer than others.
28
All idols grant a bonus to cast Call and
Commune rituals specific to the deity they
depict. Note that in the case of Nyarlathotep,
only the ritual specific to the avatar depicted
by the idol gains the modifier. Other rituals
that benefit from the presence of an idol are
listed below.
Enhancements: Skill: +4 Casting roll dice
(+2 Enhancements)*
* Only when invoking appropriate rituals
while within 25 feet of the idol.
Azathoth: Summon Courtier of Azathoth
Cthulhu: Summon Father Dagon, Sum-
mon Deep One, Summon Spawn of Cthulhu
Rhan-Tegoth: Summer Feaster from the
Stars
Shub-Niggurath: Nature’s Embrace, Sum-
mon Spawn of Shub-Niggurath
Tsathoggua: Summon Black Spawn of
Tsathoggua
Yig: Form of the Beast (snake), Summon
Animal (snake), Summon Child of Yig
Yog-Sothoth: Gate, Seal Portal, Summon
Dimensional Shambler
Prima Materia
Artifact 5
Leagues: —
Early and medieval alchemists believed in
prima materia. They described it as primeval
matter, a formless, fifth element that is the base
of all things and that purifies the impure. Some
texts refer to it as the Body of God, from which
the infant Earth was formed. The Theatrum
Chemicum states that it “begets itself, con-
ceives itself, and gives birth to itself.”
Prima materia exists, but is not the benevo-
lent substance alchemists thought. A gelatinous
slime that contains all the colors and minerals
in the universe, it is the protoplasmic ooze from
which the Elder Things spawned the Shoggoths
and which they used to create life on Earth. In
their appendages, it is a powerful tool. In the
hands of others it is a deadly and powerful mu-
tagenic inimical to all terrestrial life.
A single drop on exposed skin, scales, or
whatever is enough to transform any living
creature into a mature Shoggoth in a matter
of minutes, the gel flowing across the victim’s
 Magic & Manuscripts
body. As one might expect, the process is ago-
nizingly painful and guaranteed to break even
the strongest resolve. Only the Elder Things
know how to use it to create other life.
Enhancements: Special: Creates a single
Shoggoth (+10 Enhancements)
Sea Glass Amulet
Artifact 4
Leagues: —
It takes a certain type of person, or tainted
bloodline, to willingly mate with a Deep One.
Made of gold and green gemstones mined from
the sea floor, and engraved with tiny images of
cephalopods, these enchanted amulets, when
worn by a human, induce an unearthly lust to
copulate with Deep Ones.
The effect of the amulet lasts for one
month, after which time its power ends. Deep
Ones know rituals to recharge the jewelry, but
it requires first recovering the object.
Enhancements: Increased Duration: One
month (+6 Enhancements), Induce Flaw:
Lusty (+1 Enhancements)*
* Only with regard Deep Ones.
Shining Trapezohedron
Unique Artifact 3
The Shining Trapezohedron is a roughly
spherical polyhedron around 4” across. It
appears nearly black, but in the right light
displays red striations. It is housed in an asym-
metrical metal box with a hinged lid.
The Trapezohedron is not of this world. It
is recorded in certain books of elder lore that
it was fashioned on Yuggoth in an age long
before the Fungi made it their home. None can
say who brought it to earth, but it was greatly
treasured by the Elder Thing inhabitants of
Antarctica. Indeed, it was this ancient race who
fashioned its protective casing.
Legends tell how the Serpent Men of long-
lost Valusia discovered it among the ruins of
that elder city, and how later it came to be
admired in sunken Lemuria. It found its way to
doomed Atlantis, and from there into the net
of a Minoan fisherman. Sold in the markets of
Egypt, it eventually came into the possession
Bloodlines: An
Additional Source
of Corruption
As it stands, Corruption points are earned
only for committing, or encouraging
others to commit, evil acts. Leagues of
Cthulhu globetrotters with a Bloodline
Talent may suffer Corruption simply for
poking their noses too deeply into their
ancestry.
Whether it is the monstrous cannibalism
of the Delapores, the abominable heri-
tage of the Jermyns, or the ghastly blood
that flows in the veins of the Marshes, ev-
ery Bloodline has a terrible secret hidden
in the family closet.
Learning the truth, in part or whole, war-
rants Corruption. The more a globetrot-
ter learns, or the more profane the reve-
lations, the more Corruption they earn. A
small, shocking discovery may demand 1
or 2 Corruption points, whereas learning
the full truth is definitely worth 5 points,
and potential higher amounts if the facts
are particularly horrendous. Thus, even
the most righteous soul may find the
family taint taking hold of their body and
mind simply because they learned too
much.
Of course, such revelations may also war-
rant a Horror check!
of Pharaoh Nephren-Ka. Today, it sits forgotten
in the abandoned Church of Starry Wisdom in
Providence (see p. 35).
The Trapezohedron is a window on time
and space, albeit one whose use by the uniniti-
ated comes with terrible risk. The stone holds
a curious and alarming fascination to any who
gaze upon its uncovered form. Images of alien
vistas, distant in both time and space, flash
through the gazer’s mind, drawing him in ever
deeper. Stare too long, though, and something
alien stares back!
After five rounds of continuous viewing, the
Haunter of the Dark, an avatar of Nyarlathotep,
stares back at the unlucky globetrotter who
must now make a Horror roll at Difficulty 8.
29
Cthulhu Codicil
Intimidating
Mythos Entities
An angry face, threatening words, or wav-
ing a weapon at an opponent is usually
enough to cower a human, or at least
give them thought for pause before they
attack you. All it requires is an Intimida-
tion roll. Not so most Mythos entities.
Sure, a Blacked Winged One or Deep One
might, being of ordinary matter and the
weakest of the Mythos creatures, be intim-
idated by standard means. Fungi from Yu-
ggoth, Shoggoths, and Spawn of Cthulhu,
among others, have nothing to fear from
pitiful creatures like humans.
No matter how their high Intimidation
Skill or the Talents they have, globetrot-
ters simply cannot intimidate such hor-
rors without proving they can cause se-
rious harm to the creature. Usually this
means having to cast a ritual such as
Harm, but the delay in doing so often
means the globetrotters ends up as the
fiends’ lunch.
Gamemasters should never allow globe-
trotters to cower most Mythos entities
under any circumstances, regardless of
what the rules say is possible and the
creatures’ Willpower rating.
Averting one’s gaze requires intense concen-
tration. If trying to look away, the globetrotter
must make a Willpower x 2 roll. The Difficulty
begins at 1 but increases by 1 for each successive
combat turn (6 seconds) the globetrotter has
been staring. The roll can be attempted again
after each additional combat turn up until the
point where the victim, for such they now are,
cannot possibly match the Difficulty.
At this juncture, they become lost, con-
demned to stare into the alien stone until he
either dying of dehydration or is snapped out of
the trance by someone plunging the Trapezohe-
dron into darkness (such as by shutting the box
lid). Alas, this last act seals the victim’s fate, for
it releases the Haunter of the Dark, an avatar of
Nyarlathotep, to claim their soul. The manifes-
tation is not immediate—the victim usually has
two or three days to get their affairs in order.
30
The gem’s true purpose is to aid those
who seek to travel through space by means
of a Gate ritual. Each successive combat turn
spent staring into the Trapezohedron grants
him an automatic number of successes equal
to his Elder Lore: Locations rating to learn of
the shown destination.
This greatly narrows down the time a magi-
cian must spend in research, though it comes
with the aforementioned dangers for those of
low intellect or who are ignorant of elder lore.
There are myriad locations across the universe,
not to mention in other dimensions, and rarely
is the same place shown twice.
Enhancements: Skill: +4 Casting roll (+4
Enhancements)*, Special: Gate ritual Research
bonus (+5 Enhancements)
* Applies only to Call Nyarlathotep
(Haunter of the Dark avatar) or Commune
Nyarlathotep (Haunter of the Dark avatar)
The Stone of Alhazred
Unique Artifact 4
Leagues: —
If the Necronomicon is to be believed,
Abdul Alhazred not only encountered many
Mythos entities, but was able to escape their
presence by means of an enchanted stone that
he presented forcefully at them. The exact
nature of the stone is uncertain, but it fell
from the stars on the eve of the third day of
the Creation, was said to feel oily to the touch,
and gave pious people who touched it severe
headaches. Engraved in the stone was a single
glyph. The mad author of that most dread
book never described the glyph nor where he
learnt of it.
Using the stone requires an attack action
and its power is solely that of the Fearsome
Talent. At best, it keeps a creature cower for a
few combat turns (6 seconds per turn). After
that, the specific entity is forever immune to
the stone’s power.
Enhancements: Skill: Intimidation 10 dice
(+4 Enhancements)*, Special: Can intimidate
Mythos entities (+4 Enhancements), Talent:
Fearsome (+2 Enhancements)
* Only for the purposes of using the Fear-
some Talent through the relic.
 Chapter Three:
Where Darkness
Dwells
“I have an odd craving to whisper about
those few frightful hours in that ill-rumored
and evilly shadowed seaport of death and
blasphemous abnormality.”
—H. P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Inns-
mouth
Africa
Cavern of the Green Flame
Location: Central Africa
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
Legends of fire that sprouts from the earth
are, so scholars insist, nothing more than
pockets of natural gas that have been ignited,
usually by lightning. Sustained by an unending
source, they give rise to superstitious beliefs
among technologically-primitive peoples. If
only all such stories were as easy to explain by
scientific means.
Deep in the brooding hills of central Africa,
in a land of festering jungle and dank swamps
inhabited by swarms of plague-ridden mosqui-
toes, stands a small clump of weathered hills.
A narrow cleft, easily missed by passers-by, cuts
through the living rocks and spirals downward
to a cavern on whose shores lap gentle waves
from some unexplored ocean, as foul and
blighted fungi grows.
A jet of greenish fire belches forth from
the barren earth, illuminating the cavernous
region with its unearthly and sickening hue.
Carved on a nearby stone is a single word in
an unknown tongue—Aelologgtho. The de-
generate natives who inhabit the region bow
low before the flame, offering prayers and sac-
rifices to their living god. As their ceremonies
near their bloody climax, they howl the name
of Aelologgtho repeatedly.
Whether or not the word is actually the name
of the living flame is, of course, unknown—it
might just as easily refer to the cavern or the
ocean, if indeed it has many meaning at all. To
the natives, that is entirely irrelevant.
Adventure Seed: When a member of the
Prospectors’ Club discovers a 17th Portuguese
journal describing an ever-burning flame in
the wilds of Africa, he decides it is worth a
trip, especially since the flame is supposedly
green. Individuals wishing to put up funding
in return for a share of the rewards are being
sought among the Leagues of Adventure.
The City Without Men
Location: Congo Free State
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Stories of the City Without Men are as old
as the hills, a tale known to even the earliest
European explorers and merchants. Many his-
torians claim that, if it exists, it is merely an an-
cient ruin, its name merely implying that men
live there no longer. Others of more fanciful
imagination claim the city literally has no men,
being inhabited only by beautiful maidens. In
fact, men never occupied the site.
Little is known of the city save that it sits
31

above a high plateau and that warriors who go
there never return. From a distance, the tower-
ing, partial walls that encompass the plateau’s
edge give the appearance of battlements raised
by some gigantic race to protect them against
a mightier foe.
The city was born in a distant epoch, long be-
fore the ancestors of man crawled from the sea.
The original builders were the Elder Things, that
ancient race who were driven from their land-
locked territories by the arrival of the Fungi from
Yuggoth. Forced into hiding beneath the ground
by their enemy, the Elder Things slumbered as
countless stars were born and died.
Only millions of years later did the crea-
tures stir from torpor. Then, one or more of
the inquisitive scientists took animals, and
later men, for anatomical study, adding to the
growing collection of specimens. It was these
32
raids that gave rise to the natives’ fear of the site
and its name. For now, the Elder Things sleep
once more, but the time of their next awaken-
ing is due soon, for the stars are almost right.
Adventure Seed: A globetrotting explorer
gives a presentation at which he displays a five-
sided, flat greenish soapstone inscribed with
strange sets of dots. Gifted it by a tribal elder
whose life he saved, the globetrotter believes it
suggests a previous unknown culture living in
the wilds of central Africa.
The Genie’s Tomb
Location: Central Africa
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
Long before the first Europeans sought to
crush Africa beneath their imperial heels, King
Solomon’s lands were plagued by devils and
genies. The king, having defeated the vast army
of godless creatures, offered them a choice.
Those who would bow before God and ac-
cept his grace would be free, while those who
continued to deny Him would be cast out.
According to legend, the latter were bound
into bottles, copper jars, and stone buildings,
where they would remain imprisoned until the
end of time. Merchants traveling between the
lush jungles of the south and the harsh deserts
of the north speak of one such structure.
It lies within the dense, unexplored jungle
somewhere east of German West Africa and
north of the Congo Free State. The exact lo-
cation has never been mapped, for the mer-
chants venture near it only by accident. Even
the jungle, which seeks to consume all things,
dreads the site. The trees form a perfect circle
some 50 yards from its center and within that
area nothing grows and nothing lives.
There sits a mass of gigantic stones with
walls ripe with palpable evil. That the build-
ing was intended as a prison for something is
clearly evident, for the great doorway is sealed
by a metal door on which are inscribed Hebrew
characters decreeing the door warded by the
order of King Solomon and through which no
man shall pass. Alas, the great lock which held
the door closed has long been broken.
The tribes who live closest to the site claim
that slavers defied the will of God by sunder-
 Where Darkness Dwells
ing the lock long ago, but a white man, who
also bore the name Solomon, slew the genie
within. The creature the white man slew was
not a genie, but a shoggoth, that most dread
abomination of eldritch lore that Alhazred
feverishly denied existed on Earth.
No natives have ever plundered the tomb,
fearful that any treasure within is cursed.
There is, in fact, no material wealth within the
chamber. All that exists is a worn set of stone
steps that circle ever downward to unknown
depths. What lies in that dark abyss that King
Solomon, a powerful magician, saw fit to bind
a guardian shoggoth inside?
Adventure Seed: A member of the Old
Testament Society, searching western Africa for
King Solomon’s Mines, learned of the genie’s
tomb from a wizened native elder. Although
he has only a rough idea of where the site is
located, now that he has returned home he is
determined to fund an expedition.
Library of Alexandria
Location: Egypt
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Founded by the Ptolemaic Dynasty (305-50
BC), and dedicated to the Muses, the Royal Li-
brary of Alexandria was the greatest repository
of wisdom in the world. Scholars under the pa-
tronage of the pharaohs traveled far and wide
to purchase and copy ancient works, while all
ships berthing at the harbor were searched for
texts, which were then confiscated and cop-
ies returned to the owners. Through this, the
Library acquired a vast amount of lore—some
scholars claim as many as 400,000 scrolls were
amassed in the collection.
Among those works were many Mythos
tomes. Most were minor and obscure works,
their contents known to modern scholars as
vague rumors and hints in other works, but
records suggest the Library held a copy of a
Greek translation of the Pnakotic Manuscripts
and a Chinese version of the Seven Cryptical
Books of Hsan.
History records that the Library suffered
extensive damage during the time of Julius
Caesar. Although recorded as an accident, the
inferno originating with sparks from the de-
struction of Caesar’s fleet, the destruction oc-
curred when soldiers loyal to Caesar attempted
to seize the elder works for their commander,
who intended to use the knowledge contained
within to secure total control of the empire.
The final act of destruction came in the
reign of Emperor Theodosius in 391 AD. Sick-
ened by what he had learned of the Library’s
contents, the emperor declared paganism
banned and all works referencing to such
things put to the torch.
Adventure Seed: When papyrus scrolls
thought to be lost in the destruction of the
Library turn up in an Alexandrian auction
house, the Leagues are quick to send agents
to purchase them. Among the works is a minor
scroll of eldritch lore, a scroll that a cult will
risk much to possess.
Mountains of the Moon
Location: Central Africa
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
The Mountains of the Moon were first
named by Diogenes, a Greek merchant living
in the 1st century AD. Blown off course while
traversing the Indian Ocean, his ship was
wrecked on the west coast of Africa. Believing
that the great river that entered the sea close
to where he had landed might lead to the then
unknown source of the Nile, the merchant
set off west. After a voyage of many months,
all he had discovered of any note was a range
of colossal mountains whose high peaks were
permanently covered in snow.
Although unable to explore their dizzying
heights, Diogenes did make mention that atop
the ridge line was clear evidence of fortifica-
tions—immense walls and towers that, in his
opinion, were clearly the work of gods. Dio-
genes had, in fact, stumbled upon one of the
unimaginably old cities constructed by the
prehistoric Elder Things. Smaller in scope than
the city at the Mountains of Madness, it none-
theless stretched for over a hundred miles.
Henry Stanley (of Dr. Livingstone fame) dis-
covered snow-capped mountains in 1889, but
made comment in his diary that these were not
the fabled Mountains of the Moon, for they lay
“further to the east, as informed by my guide.”
33
Cthulhu Codicil
Adventure Seed: Stanley’s mountains, the
Ruwenzori Range, lie along the border of the
Congo Free State and Buganda (the British
Uganda Protectorate after 1894).
Although he has retired from exploring and
set his sights on the world of politics, Stanley
still retains a keen interest in Africa. Still believ-
ing the Mountains of the Moon exist somewhere
in the Congo, he is prepared to help sponsor an
expedition to find and map the peaks.
The Americas
Akakor
Location: Brazil/Peru
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
Only a handful of non-natives have ever
explored the deepest parts of the Amazon, and
even fewer have ever heard of Akakor.
Indian legends are notoriously vague, for
no tribe knows where the city lies, save that it
is somewhere near the border between Brazil
and Peru. Stories passed down by their ances-
tors speak of a subterranean city of enormous
size entered only by thirteen narrow gates, of
the city being founded by survivors of a sunken
continent (possibly Mu) over 12,000 years ago,
and that the people worshipped gods that
came from “beyond time and space.”
A second city, Akanis, built by the same mys-
terious peoples, is supposedly located “where
the two seas meet.” This may be in the region
of Panama. A third conurbation, Akahim, is said
to lie on the Brazilian border with Venezuela.
All three cities are supposedly little more
than ruins, the buildings being destroyed in
a great and terrible war when the people lost
favor with their unearthly deities.
Adventure Seed: Lord Lazenby, a keen
amateur archaeologist and sponsor of sev-
eral expeditions, invites the globetrotters to
dinner. Over a fine meal, he relates how his
daughter, Eliza, a psychic, received a message
from her South American Indian spirit guide
concerning a lost city called Akakor. Lazenby is
prepared to fund an expedition to locate and
explore the city.
34
Aramu Muru
Location: Peru
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Native legends speak of Aramu Muru, a T-
shaped indentation carved into a worked rock
face, as a “gate to the land of the gods.” It is
said that in ancient times priests of the Seven
Rays Cult could unlock the stone gate through
use of a golden disc known as the Key of the
Seven Rays God. Through this wondrous de-
vice, they could pass beyond the portal and
into a subterranean world.
Locals still speak of the site with a mixture
of awe and fear. Many have heard the tales of
the elders, who tell of balls of light hovering
the site or people who have passed through
the gateway never to return.
Depending on the Gamemaster’s view of
the above, the site might be a portal to K’n-yan
(see Leagues of Cthulhu), a ceremonial site
where priests wise in eldritch lore continue to
summon Children of the Fire Mist (see p. 68),
or a site devoted to Yog-Sothoth, who is both
the Key and the Gate.
Adventure Seed: A spate of recent deaths,
each described in lurid detail by a less than
savory newspaper, have been recorded as
spontaneous combustion. The globetrotters
discover that the victims share one thing in
common—they all recently returned from an
expedition to Peru.
Bishop’s Corner
Location: New York, USA
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Located in upstate New York State, Bishop’s
Corner was established in 1684 by Puritan set-
tlers led by Huxley Bishop. Ignoring the warn-
ings of the native Oneida people (“People of
the Upright Stone”)—who considered the land
cursed—as primitive superstition, the settlers
raised their homes and barns and began plant-
ing corn and pumpkins in the rich, dark soil.
It didn’t take long for the settlers to learn
that the Indians’ stories were true. Something
lurked in the ground, a something that required
blood offerings. Any sensible person would
have vacated immediately, but Bishop was a
 Where Darkness Dwells
man learned in arts others would think ungod-
ly. A bargain was struck with the entity—human
blood in return for continued prosperity.
The horror that lurks in the fields has given
the inhabitants long life and good harvests, but
it has stunted their social evolution. Dressed in
garb redolent of Puritans, speaking an archaic
version of English, and tilling the land as they
did hundreds of years ago, the people of Bish-
op’s Corner are trapped in time.
Every year, after the harvest has been
gathered, the villagers make an offering to the
Green Maiden (an avatar of Shub-Niggurath).
When possible, they offer up strangers so as
not to deplete their own numbers. When none
are available (which is quite often given that
Bishop’s Corner is far off the beaten track), a
local is chosen by random lot. To be chosen is
a great honor, as the person’s sacrifice ensures
the continued survival of the community.
In the middle of one of the pumpkin patch-
es stands a solitary stone, weathered by time
and stained dark with centuries of offerings.
Here, the sacrifice’s throat is slit and their blood
collected in a bowl. After a little is daubed on
the stone, the blood is poured on the ground.
Adventure Seed: Investigating a disap-
pearance in upstate New York, the globetrot-
ters follow the trail to Bishop’s Corner, just
as the locals are planning their next sacrifice.
With so many strangers in town at one time,
the cult has its pick of offerings.
Church of Starry Wisdom
Mythos Tale: The Haunter of the Dark
Location: Providence, Rhode Island
Eerie Atmosphere: –2
On the upper heights of Federal Hill, in
the town of Providence, stands a large, dark
church. At dusk, its immense tower and tall
steeple are clearly highlighted against the red
glow of the darkening sky. One might presume
the tower and steeple would make an ideal
roost for birds, and yet no animals venture
near the church.
Reaching the church is more difficult than
one might think. The narrow, climbing streets,
bordered on both sides by tall buildings that
mask the view of the higher slopes, form a
labyrinth that never quite brings one to the
summit of Federal Hill. Questioning the locals
brings little aid, for they either shake their
heads in feigned ignorance or hurriedly mut-
ter something beneath their breath in a foreign
tongue before crossing themselves or making
other such protective gestures.
Persistence, though, is eventually rewarded.
There, surrounded by rusting railings in a cob-
bled courtyard, stands the abandoned and de-
crepit focus of the search. Despite the building’s
general poor condition, the fragile windows are
intact, as if mischievous boys saw breaking them
as no sport—or something best avoided.
The stout doors are padlocked against ca-
sual intrusion, and so rusted are the locks that
picking them is an arduous task. Fortune ex-
tends her hand toward those seeking ingress,
for toward the back of the church is an open
basement window. From here, stairs lead to
the ground floor.
The furnishings of the immense nave are
much as one would expect to find in a church—
altar, pulpit, and pews. Oddly, the cross above
the altar takes not the standard form of Chris-
tianity, but the loop-topped ankh of ancient
Egypt. The only oddity. A thick layer of dust and
ropy strands of cobwebs lie over everything.
That the church was used for something
other than accepted Christian services is
evidenced in a rear vestry room. Close to
disintegrating through neglect are copies of
such forbidden books as the Latin edition of
the Necronomicon, the Comte d’Erlette’s infa-
mous Cultes des Goules, Von Juntz’s abhorrent
Unaussprechlichen Kulten, and the dread Pna-
kotic Manuscripts. (The volumes are so badly
damaged that following modifiers apply to all
of them: +2 Complexity, –1 Horror, –1 Mythos;
reduce number of spells by half.)
Ascent of the tower, replete with the hard
work of countless spiders, brings one to the
upper chamber. In the center of the room
stands a short pillar of strange geometry and
cut with indecipherable hieroglyphs. Atop it
lies an asymmetrical metal box. Within lies the
Shining Trapezohedron (see p. 29).
After 1893, a skeleton lies slumped in one
corner of the attic. It is the physical remains
of Edwin Lillibridge, a reporter who goes
35
Cthulhu Codicil
missing in that year. He can be identified from
his reporter’s badge, which states he is an
employee of the Providence Telegraph. In his
jacket pocket is a small notebook, the contents
of which outline basic information concerning
the Church of Starry Wisdom cult and its even-
tual downfall. (Gamemaster’s looking to re-
produce Lillibridge’s notes as a player handout
will find a complete transcript in Lovecraft’s
story The Haunter of the Dark.)
Adventure Seed: In late 1892, Edwin
Lillibridge contacts a globetrotter known to
have an interest in the occult with regard a
potential story. The reporter invites the globe-
trotter to Providence. By the time they arrive,
Lillibridge has disappeared leaving only one
clue behind—the words “Federal Hill church”
scrawled on a piece of paper.
Detwiller Mansion
Location: Pennsylvania
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
The Detweiler family left Switzerland un-
der a dark cloud after Anna Göldi (1734-82)
named them as cohorts while under torture.
Ostensibly tried as a witch, Göldi’s confessions
were considered so profane in nature that the
official records were burned soon after.
Settling in rural Pennsylvania in 1786 after a
brief stay in Arkham, Massachusetts, the family
soon fell under suspicion by their neighbors,
who accused them of partaking in “Indian rit-
uals” at certain standing stones on their land
and “entertaining persons of dark character.”
Never ones to stray far from the family
tree, their descendants bred extensively only
with the degenerate hillfolk and Indians who
farmed their lands. The last known scion of
the family, Ivy Detwiller (1802-72), vanished
during a thunderstorm in 1872. Although the
house has been vacant for almost two decades,
neighbors report seeing bonfires on the sur-
rounding land during the fall months, when
Algol the Demon Star is high in the night sky.
Adventure Seed: Henry Ivey, a noted
bibliophile and occult scholar, believes the
Detwiller mansion contains several rare tomes.
He hires the globetrotters to locate a surviving
member of the family (or, failing that, a family
36
lawyer) and convince them to sell any volumes
of “historical interest.”
Hell’s Acres
Mythos Tale: The Tree on the Hill (H. P.
Lovecraft & Duane W. Rimel)
Location: Oregon, USA
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
Parts of the rugged Pacific Northwest have
defied the will of homesteaders to tame the
land and bring wealth out of the wilderness.
One particularly inaccessible region, known
as Hell’s Acres, is shunned by the indigenous
New Perce Indians and the nearest settlers
alike, for the Indians have impressed on them
the belief that enormous devils frolic here
when the “stars are right.”
Atop one oddly-shaped hill is a large,
barren patch of black soil. The surrounding
region appears to have been seared away by
some immense heat, yet no evidence of fire
exists. None of the usual sounds of animal
life disturb the air, nor the wind the one tree
that stands solitary vigil in miles of desolation,
rooted atop a high summit.
Strange visions assail those who rest beneath
the boughs of that gnarled tree with its round
leaves. An immense stone temple rises from a
ghastly ocean of primordial ooze, its unusual
blue-violet color glittering with the red light
of triple suns. Around the temple’s lofty spires
circle strange creatures with scaly wings.
The scene is unsettling, but to cross the
threshold into the temple interior is to court
madness. Within the roiling shadows that oc-
cupy that damned edifice built by no human
hands can be seen the three flaming eyes of
some otherwise invisible, tenuous monstros-
ity (possibly the Haunter of the Dark, one of
Nyarlathotep’s many forms). Dreamers awaken
screaming at this juncture, though not all do
so with their reason intact.
Adventure Seed: Having accidentally
stumbled upon Hell’s Acres while on a nature
ramble, a friend of a globetrotter made the
mistake of taking a nap under the solitary tree.
Since then, they have dreamed continually of
the great temple and its profane inhabitant.
Having written the globetrotter a strange let-
 Where Darkness Dwells
ter, in which they speak of “the temple,” “the
three-lobed eye,” and “the Black Goat,” the
rambler vanishes from the house.
The King House
Location: Maine, USA
Eerie Atmosphere: –1 (–2 at night)
There has been a grand house overlooking
the sleepy town of Edwin’s Lot since the early
18th century. The current building dates from
1846, the previous structure burning down
three years earlier after being struck by light-
ning. Not that anyone from the Lot rushed to
save the structure.
Built by woodmill owner Bachman King,
the house had an unsavory reputation even
before work on it was started. Local folklore
claimed a number of Indians were murdered
on the hill after refusing to give the land to
King’s great uncle, Bartholomew, and that
their spirits lingered on the site. Numerous
workers reported strange lights and odd hap-
penings during the construction, with several
carpenters refusing to return to work.
While not ugly to behold, the house
instilled a shudder in those who set eyes on
it. Folk said they disliked the strange angles
employed in its construction and the eye-
shaped window with yellow glass that gazed
impassively across Edwin’s Lot and shone with
a baleful glow whenever a lantern was lit in the
spacious room beyond.
King’s son, Elijah, murdered his wife in
that attic room after coming to believe she was
unfaithful. He then committed suicide. The
house then passed to a different branch of the
King family, though with equally bad results.
Nicodemus King, although never charged
with any crime, was believed to have murdered
several of his slaves after first torturing them.
Henry King was suspected of dabbling in black
magic, though John King, his nephew and heir,
was considered far worse in his excesses. John
was the last King to reside in the ancestral
home. Officially, he perished during the Fire of
‘44. A total of nine skeletons were discovered
in the charred remains, but none could be
readily identified.
With the house in ruins, the inhabitants of
Edwin’s Lot breathed a sigh of relief, at least
for a short while. A new house was erected two
years later after the land was bought by Isaac
Marsh, a Bangor industrialist. Marsh was found
babbling incoherently in the attic just a year
later. The Wilkes family lasted two years before
abruptly selling up. The Droods disappeared
without a trace, leaving all their possessions
behind. The last owner, Constance Makepeace,
an eccentric who collected curios and antiques
was discovered dead in the attic room, a look
of utter terror on her face.
Aside from Old Man Matthews, who
maintains the exterior for Makepeace’s Bos-
ton-based executor but never ventures inside
and always heads home long before dusk, no
one goes near the house, despite the rumors
that the furnishings are worth a small fortune.
Adventure Seed: An antiques dealer
known to the globetrotters has been hired by
Constance Makepeace’s executor to appraise
the furnishings in the King House. The dealer
has not been in contact in several weeks. His
wife, who also has not heard a word, asks the
globetrotters to investigate.
Kingsport
Mythos Tale: The Festival
Location: Massachusetts
Eerie Atmosphere: 0 (–1 old town)
Founded in 1631 and named in honor of
King Charles II of England by hardy seafarers
from rugged Cornwall, Kingsport always been
associated with the sea. From its roots as a
small fishing village it grew into a prosperous
town thanks to its deep harbor and shipbuild-
ing industry. Larger ports further along the
coast have reduced much of town’s wealth, but
the industry remains strong.
The oldest parts of town, where the steeply-
pitched buildings are nestled together along
cobbled narrow streets and lanes, straddles the
coast and around the base of Congregational
Hill, the highest point. Until recently, the old
Congregational Church was torn down and
replaced with a hospital.
Talk of tunnels running through the hill and
down deep into the earth are commonplace, but
none have ever been unearthed. Most stories
37
Cthulhu Codicil
relate to British soldiers hiding payrolls beneath
the hill, but older denizens hint that odd ceremo-
nies were held in the gloomy catacombs beneath.
Likely these are half-forgotten memories of the
four witches hanged on the hill in 1692.
Adventure Seed: While clearing out the
clutter from its archives, the Kingsport Histori-
cal Society unearths a parchment. If the contents
are to be believed, they prove the existence not
only of tunnels beneath Congregational Hill,
but a natural cave system. The Speleological
Society is keen to locate and explore the system,
as are numerous antiquarians.
- The Strange House
Kingsport lies in a defile bordered by high
cliffs. Over the centuries, Kingsport’s inhabit-
ants have given the bluffs names, such as The
Causeway and Father Neptune, for their physi-
cal appearance.
Atop the lofty cliffs stands a lone house, a gray
cottage that has withstood wind and rain since
the town’ foundation and the sight of which
causes mariners to cross themselves and avert
their eyes. Often visible above the sea-fog that
frequently sweeps through the town, the house
bears a sinister reputation. Older residents recall
the night that a brilliant bolt of lightning shot
heavenward from that strange house and of the
unusual shapes that flap out of the mists.
None visit the house, but Kingsport’s resi-
dents know it is occupied because of the yel-
low light that shines forth from the windows at
night. Stories claim that the same person has
dwelt there for centuries and that he or she
can be seen on the cliff ’s edge when the morn-
ing mists rise, staring vacantly into space.
Lake Ontario
Location: Canada
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
In the Huron tongue, ontario means “Lake
of Shining Waters.” In the folklore of the indig-
enous peoples who still live along its shoreline,
the water is home to Gaasyendietha, a dragon
that fell to the earth leaving a trail of fire that
burned across the sky. At night, when the sky
is dark and the air still, they say that the fires of
38
Gaasyendietha, still burning after many eons,
can be seen blazing beneath the surface. Remote
parts of the forested shore have been the center
of religious practices since time immemorial, as
evidenced by clusters of standing stones aligned
to unusual configurations of the stars.
The descendants of the Americans who
settled the area after the Revolutionary War
still live in isolated farms and cabins. They
are widely shunned by their neighbors in the
larger towns and villages, who accuse them of
having adopted strange customs.
Adventure Seed: In 1893, Lake Ontario
freezes over. Several Leagues hastily plan to winter
over on the ice in order to better study the lake
beneath, and the globetrotters are invited to join
their ranks. One evening, a lone man staggers into
their camp. Before he succumbs to the biting cold,
he tells of how their expedition saw lights beneath
the ice and drilled down in order to investigate.
His last words are “we awoke the dragon.” With
that, a fierce blizzard blankets the lake.
Merrymount
Location: Massachusetts
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Founded in 1625 as Mount Wollaston by
one Captain Wollaston, the small settlement
came under the guidance of Thomas Morton
when Wollaston left for Virgina a few years
later. Morton was a native of a “dark corner of
Devon” of strange appearance and held beliefs
that were far older than the Christian faith he
proclaimed to follow.
Within months, the colony had gained an
unsavory reputation, with excessive drunken-
ness and dalliances with the bulging-eyed, flab-
by-lipped Indians who lived in the vicinity. To
honor his true faith, Morton renamed the site
Ma-re Mount (“Hill by the Sea”), pronunced
Merrymount by outsiders.
Christianity was soon replaced with an older,
darker religion, to which the neighboring Puri-
tans remarked, “They set up a May-pole, drinking
and dancing about it many days together, invit-
ing the Indian women for their consorts, dancing
and frolic together (like so many fairies, or furies
rather) and worse practices.”
The cult did not last long. Morton was
 Where Darkness Dwells
arrested in 1627 and banished to England, Adventure Seed: While prospecting on
where he died in 1647. As for the settlement, Mount Shasta, JC Brown, a British prospector,
it was renamed Braintree in 1640, though the discovered a cave system that extended for 11
original site retained the name Merrymount. miles into the earth. On his return, he spoke of
In 1792 it was given yet a new name—Quin- an abandoned village in which he found gold
cy—which it retains to this day. objects, metal shields, and numerous 10-foot
Adventure Seed: The citizens of Ma-re tall mummies. While the Leagues hastily try to
Mount were chastised for their wicked ways fund an expedition, news reaches them that
and brought back into the Christian fold, but Brown, the only man who knows where the
the religion taught them by Morton could cave lies, has disappeared.
never be expunged from their hearts. [Historical Note: This seed is supposedly
During a raid in the dockside slums, police historical record, although the events take
searching for missing children recovered a place in 1905 and 1935.]
strange idol. Photographs of the idol circulated
in the locals newspapers, eventually catching National Library
the eye of an antiquarian. Intrigued by the un-
usual artform, he contacted the Leagues. Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
The National Library owes its origins not to
Mount Shasta
Location: California
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Located in the Cascade Range, Mount Shas-
ta is a 14,000 feet high semi-active volcano. Vis-
ible on a clear day from over 120 miles away,
its steep conical shape has inspired artists and
authors and attracted geologists.
Local tribal lore states the mountain is
home to the Spirit of the Above-World, an
entity that descended from the heavens long
ago. A more recent story, developed by Euro-
pean settlers, claims that refugees from sunken
Lemuria founded a city inside the mountain.
Stories of natural caves which developed into
worked passageways and sightings of strange
men and women clad in white robes are com-
monplace in the nearby mining towns.
Frederick Oliver (b. 1866) claimed that a
spirit being named Phylos the Thibetan (aka
Yol Gorro) imparted to him information that
proved the claims were real, but that the
refugees actually came from Atlantis. He has
recorded his account of the story in A Dweller
on Two Planets, a book that has yet to be pub-
lished (and historically won’t be until 1905).
If the stories are indeed true, they are
perhaps a distortion of subterranean K’n-yan.
Given that the heart of K’n-yan lies in Oklaho-
ma, it would appear that the realm extends far
greater distances than previously imagined.
Cthulhu Codicil
a wealthy benefactor, but to a natural disaster
thousands of miles distant.
In 1755, the Portuguese capital, Lisbon,
was wracked by a devastating earthquake. The
Portuguese Royal Library, at that time one of
the most impressive collections of its kind in
Europe, was moved to Brazil in 1810 as a safe-
guard against it being destroyed by another
earthquake. Since that time, the collection has
steadily grown. While many of the texts may
be of interest to globetrotters, Manuscript 512
stands out for its unusual content.
Supposedly penned in 1753 by João da Sil-
va Guimarães, a noted Portuguese adventurer
and treasure-hunter, the worm-eaten manu-
script describes the discovery of an ancient city
deep in the Amazon jungle.The explorer tells
of encountering a ridge of ominous mountains
whose lofty peaks scraped the heavens and
whose weathered stone glowed like fire in sun-
light. Within the mountains they discovered a
narrow defile clearly worked by intelligent
hands—the sides were hacked smooth and
stones were neatly laid to form a pathway.
At the end of the ascent, the defile opened
into a wide valley. Seated in the center was a
magnificent city of indeterminable antiquity.
The manuscript speaks of it being constructed
on a grand scale, with open terraces, large,
windowless buildings devoid of any remnants
of furniture, and of destroyed temples bearing
the likeness of bearded youths crowned with
laurel. In one square rose a black monolith
that caused unease in the expedition. Atop it
stood the statue of a man, his right index finger
pointing at Polaris, the Pole Star.
Much of the city lay in ruins, apparently
from an earthquake. Nothing grew in the dam-
aged portions, in which were found “hideous
openings in the ground.” Beyond the city
flowed a wide river. Following it downstream
for three days, the explorers turned back in
fear after finding several “underground hol-
lows and hideous pits.”
The manuscript also includes copies of
inscriptions found in the main temple, on a
stately manor house, and on numerous bro-
ken slabs. These have yet to be deciphered.
It is fortunate the Portuguese did not tarry
in the city or attempt to plumb the depths of
40
the numerous pits, for they lead to dark cav-
erns in which stand statues to the Great Old
One Tsathoggua and which are inhabited by
his black and formless spawn.
Adventure Seed: Manuscript 512 is for-
gotten until a librarian accidentally stumbles
across it. Unsure of its veracity, and intrigued
by the mysterious glyphs, he contacts the Soci-
ety of Antiquarians. An expedition is arranged
and intrepid globetrotters are sought.
Gamemaster’s Notes: At the Gamemaster’s
discretion, translating one of the lines of glyphs
automatically (and successfully) casts Com-
mune Tsathoggua. The next time the translator
sleeps, the god contacts him in his dreams.
Phillipsport
Location: Massachusetts
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
It would be erroneous to say that the small
fishing village of Phillipsport ever had a heyday,
for even the times were considered good the
rewards they brought were paltry compared
to places like Innsmouth a few miles further
along the coast.
Save when the glassy-eyed, slack-jawed
locals visit the nearby markets for provisions
every few weeks, outsiders rarely set on eyes
on them, for few have need to travel the single
lane, rutted track that winds along the coast
and that ends at the decaying buildings. True,
they are not as shunned as the strange folk of
Innsmouth, but the blood that courses through
their veins is weak, with more than a few close
kin being more intimate with each other than
is considered godly.
The only reason Phillipsport is known
in the wider world is because of the Phillips
Institute. Founded in 1867 by one Warren Phil-
lips, a scion of the educated Boston branch of
the first settlers to make home in the village
bearing their name, almost nothing is known
concerning the research that took place there.
Stories abound within the scientific commu-
nity of experiments involving everything from
biology to time travel, but the few living sci-
entists who worked there are reticent to even
acknowledge their previous employment.
The Institute, which stands away from
 Where Darkness Dwells
the village proper, is a ruin. During the Great
Storm of ‘86, the building was struck by a tre-
mendous bolt of lightning. Eight people died
in the accident, as reported in the Arkham
Advertiser. Rumors of other scientists being
quietly dispatched to distant asylums surface
every now and then, but there is no support-
ing evidence.
Adventure Seed: While browsing a scien-
tific library, a globetrotter discovers a page of
scientific equations written on Phillipsport In-
stitute letterhead. Scrawled across the page in
a shaking hand are the words c’uln ebumnan-
oth ph’nglui r’uhagl (loosely translated from
R’lyehian it means “We call the native of the
pit from beyond the threshold of the secret/
hidden place.”) Were the scientists trying to
summon an extra-dimensional entity to Earth?
Does any evidence remain in the ruins of the
Institute?
Pilgrims’ Holt
Location: Massachusetts, USA
Eerie Atmosphere: –2
Pilgrims’ Holt doesn’t appear on any
modern maps. The nearest settlement is the
small, rural town of Pelton. As far as the town’s
historical society is aware, Pilgrims’ Holt hasn’t
been included on any maps since 1709. Not
that anyone has a reason to venture there or
point strangers to its location—the Holt, as it
is known locally, is universally shunned by the
inhabitants of Pelton.
Papers in the Pelton Historical Society’s
archives state that Pilgrims’ Holt was founded
in 1655 by Constitution Caine, a Puritan pas-
tor, an apocalyptic preacher hounded out of
Boston. Almost immediately official records
fall silent, although some of the antiquarians
suggest certain papers were expunged from
the archives at some juncture. Folklore has
filled the void, though few of Pelton’s citizens
welcome discussions on the topic.
Rumors rapidly spread of strange behavior
in Pilgrims’ Holt. Caine held a strange grip
on the town, permitting only a few chosen
disciples, all mutes, to venture to Pelton for
provisions, and arranging marriages between
his followers. The few Pelton citizens who at-
tended church services in Pilgrims’ Holt invari-
ably came back white-faced and speaking of
the pastor’s “que’r Psalms and prayeth’rs.”
Children born to the Holt’s inhabitants
were invariably physically deformed. Caine,
whose appearance seemed to vary little over
the decades, wed these degenerates to others
of their ilk, ensuring each generation became
more and more ungodly in appearance.
Despite shunning the church and its inbred
congregation, the inhabitants of Pelton could
not miss the weird lights that danced above the
church steeple during the nights of the new moon
or the chants that drifted on the oddly stormy air.
They remained silent until their livestock, and
later their children, began to disappear.
On October 19, 1703, following a great
storm that caused substantial damage to Pel-
ton, the citizens rose up and marched to the
Holt to bring Caine to justice as a witch. They
found the settlement abandoned. There was
no indication of violence or disease. Indeed,
folklore claims the hearths were still warm,
meals were left half-eaten, and the oil lamps
burned brightly.
Believing the villagers might have taken
shelter in the church, the wary people of
Pelton investigated. Again, folklore is the sole
source of what they discovered. The great cru-
cifix that adorned one wall and been placed
upside down, a “Satan’s Bible” was open on
the lectern, and a goat’s skull stood atop the
altar. Fearing the Devil might be present in
person, the curious onlookers fled.
The only other mention of Pilgrims’ Holt
occurred in 1775. In July of that year, a group
of American Loyalist troops from the Massachu-
setts Volunteers on a foraging mission entered
the region around Pelton. After ransacking the
town, the militia’s commanding officer, Lieu-
tenant J. H. Danforth opted to billet his men in
nearby Pilgrims’ Holt. That night the citizens
of Pelton huddled in their homes as a terrible
storm accompanied by lightning of all colors
rocked the area.
Come the morning, a posse of citizens
overcame their fear of Pilgrims’ Holt and
sought to learn whether the soldiers were still
there. It was the last time anyone from Pelton
entered the Holt. Of those five men, two lost
41
Cthulhu Codicil
their minds and were incarcerated in an asy-
lum, one committed suicide, one left Pelton,
and one disappeared from his home.
Weird lights and unearthly sounds still haunt
Pilgrims’ Holt, but the residents of Pelton have
long learned to keep their curiosity in check.
Adventure Seed: The Pelton Historical
Society invites a globetrotter (ideally an Amer-
ican with a background in history) to speak to
their members. While browsing the archives,
the globetrotter learns that one of their distant
relatives lives in town. On meeting with them
for tea, the globetrotter learns of Pilgrims’ Holt.
Roanoke Colony
Location: North Carolina
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Established in 1585, Roanoke was one of
the earliest British colonies in America. The
first settlement, left to its own devices for two
years, was found abandoned when supply ships
returned in 1587. Undeterred, the commander
of the fleet ordered the colonists who has trav-
elled with him to disembark and start a new
colony on the same site. Distracted by the war
against Spain, British ships would not return
to Roanoke for three years. Once again, they
found the settlement deserted. Despite search-
es, no trace of the missing souls was ever found.
Adventure Seed: Recently, however, an
antiquarian has uncovered a new clue in the
mystery. The best depiction of the region is
the Virginea Pars map, drawn by the colony’s
governor, John White, before his return to
England in 1587 and housed in the British Mu-
seum. The scholar noticed that the map had
been corrected in two places, the underlying
cartography overlain by patches of paper.
Surreptitiously peeling away part of the
paper, he discovered an image of “a large,
square-shaped symbol with oddly shaped cor-
ners.” No evidence of such a structure was ever
found in the vicinity of the colony. Naturally,
the Leagues of Adventure plan expeditions.
Sacsayhuamán
Location: Peru
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Overlooking the city of Cuzco, former capi-
tal of the Incan Empire, are Cyclopean ruins
whose enormous blocks are slotted together
like pieces of a giant’s jigsaw. Conventional
history insists the walls were raised by the Inca
and that the structure served as a fortress. Re-
cords penned by the Conquistadors certainly
support this view.
It is certainly true the Inca built structures
atop the extant ruins, but the gigantic stones
are far older. They are all that remains of a city
built many millions of years ago by the Fungi
from Yuggoth, who mined the nearby moun-
tains. The original city was toppled by seismic
activity during the rise of the Andes.
While the Spanish invaders demolished the
Incan buildings, they were unable to damage
the great stones, which they considered to
have been built by the Devil.
Adventure Seed: Stories of Inca gold hid-
 Where Darkness Dwells
den from the Conquistadors in labyrinthine
tunnels are still commonplace. When an
earth tremor shatters one of the huge stones
at Sacsayhuamán and reveals the entrance
to a tunnel, the Leagues decide to mount an
expedition. By the time they arrive, the locals
are already talking of a “great bat” that flew out
of the tunnel and circled the city three times
before heading north.
Seneca Lake
Location: Central New York
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
One of the 11 bodies of water that make up
the Finger Lakes, the water of Seneca Lake is
both cold and deep.
The Iroquois who settled around the other
lakes never frequented Seneca Lake. Clustered
on its shore were small villages inhabited by
a debased and degenerate people who had
long forsaken the traditional spirits of their
ancestors. Their faith was centered around the
worship of a grotesque deity that lived in the
water and required regular human sacrifice.
During the Sullivan Expedition (1779), a
contingent of Continental troops broke away
from the main force, which was tasked with
destroying Cayuga and Seneca settlements,
and headed straight for Seneca Lake. Obeying
their orders to the letter, they torched every
settlement they could find and put a bloody
end to the heathen people. Today, nothing
remains of those strange natives save for a
handful of weathered statues of interest only
to anthropologists and historians.
Now and then, the area around the lake is
subjected to cannon-like booms that reverber-
ate through both air and land. The Iroquois
once associated them with the fell rituals con-
ducted by their ungodly neighbors, but with
those people long dead, what may be respon-
sible for the eerie sounds is unexplained.
Adventure Seed: Convinced the booms are
nothing more than unusual aerial phenomena,
the Meteorological Society sent an expedition
to Seneca Lake. Six months has passed without
word, and the League is worried. Globetrotters
with experience of the wild are being sought
to mount a rescue expedition.
Summerfields Asylum
Location: South Carolina, USA
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
Constructed in 1819, Summerfields Asylum
was a privately-run madhouse. During the Civil
War, it was used as a hospital for wounded
Confederate soldiers. Local folklore claims
that Union soldiers captured the hospital and
massacred the wounded some time in 1862.
Given that this supposed event occurred
within living memory, there is no corroborat-
ing evidence. Most commentators agree any
wounded would be transferred to a Union
prison camp (where they would likely have
died due to lack of medical care).
Certainly something odd took place, but
this was in 1879. Hospital records reveal that
a specific mania took root among the inmates.
The furore started with a single patient—Eliza
King—but soon every lunatic became con-
vinced that something was stalking through
the asylum at night.
When the routine provisions wagon arrived
on September 14, the traders found the asylum
deserted. The last log written by the attendant
psychiatrist, dated three days earlier, stated only
“The inmates are vocal to the point of mania.”
A hasty police investigation concluded
only that there were no signs of foul play, a
conclusion made all the more questionable
because all the inmates’ rooms were securely
locked. Despite relatives’ many unanswered
questions, the case was closed in 1882. The
asylum never reopened and remains vacant.
Adventure Seed: Still angered at the au-
thorities’ continuing refusal to open a second
inquiry, one of the inmate’s families hires the
globetrotters to conduct a private investiga-
tion. All the asylum records are stored in the
courthouse archives in nearby Clintsville.
Asia
Baalbek
Location: Lebanon (Ottoman Empire)
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
43
Cthulhu Codicil
The majestic temple complex at Baalbek
has seen much use through the ages. The
current view is that it was originally founded
by Egyptian priests and was later reused and
rebuilt by the Phoenicians and Romans. It is
the ruins of the grand Roman temples that are
clearly evident today.
Certain records, considered of dubious
authenticity by mainstream scholars, suggest
the Egyptian priests were renegades, expelled
from their homeland for partaking in outlawed
religious practices. Given that the Phoeni-
cians worshipped Astarte, whose darker and
little-known aspects certain Mythos scholars
broodingly equate with Shub-Niggurath, here,
it is quite possible the site has long been asso-
ciated with the vile Great Old One regarded as
a deity of fertility and fecundity.
Islamic lore states that the site was once
a palace, raised by genies at the command of
King Solomon for the Queen of Sheba. Other
legends suggest it was constructed by giants or
by Cain, the first murderer, who lived here to
hide from God’s wrath.
The lowest courses of gigantic stones are
far older than any historian dares to suggest.
In time immemorial, the site was an Elder
Thing colony. For those who have delved into
the Mythos, clear evidence is found in odd
patterns of circular indentations. Antiquarians
argue these are tool marks, whereas they are,
in fact, fragments of writing inscribed millions
of years ago. The colony was destroyed during
the ancient wars with the Fungi from Yuggoth
over 200 million years ago.
Adventure Seed: In 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm
II and his wife visit Baalbek while en route to
Jerusalem. Within a month, a German archaeo-
logical expedition begins excavating. Did the
kaiser find something relating to the Mythos
during his visit? If so, what do the Germans
hope to gain from excavating here?
Biringan City
Location: Samar Province, Philippines
Eerie Atmosphere: –2
The name of this legendary city is well
known in local legend, though mentioning the
name Biringan to a local is likely to elicit rapid
44
crossing in the Catholic fashion and the utter-
ing of protective prayers or chants as opposed
to helpful directions.
According to those few who have seen Bir-
ingan, the only architecture is tall, black tow-
ers. Unfortunately, the few descriptions come
from the mouths of howling lunatics found
wandering the wilds and are thus treated as
the delusional ravings of a deranged mind
rather than an accurate recording.
Exactly where Biringan stands is a mystery.
The area where the black towers rise is moun-
tainous and heavily forested and aside from a
handful of remote villages there is no human
presence. The degenerate natives who occupy
the impoverished villages deny any knowledge
of Biringan, though their replies appear less
than sincere to the trained ear.
What manner of being may have raised
Biringan, also known as the Black City, is
never mentioned in folklore. The supposed
occupants are known only by the vague term
encantos (“enchanted ones”). Supposedly
they are shapechangers, which might explain
why the city is rumored to be filled with the
offspring of their union with humans.
Adventure Seed: A team of prospectors em-
ployed by a gold mining company has vanished
in Samar province. The company, keen to keep
this quiet lest rivals firms learn of their interest,
hires the globetrotters to locate the expedition
and recover any mineral samples and journals.
Enoch, City of
Location: Unknown
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
The blasphemous The Mythos in the Bible
claims that Cain slew his brother, Abel because
the latter learned his sibling had been dabbling
in eldritch lore, having forsaken the god of his
parents. Banished for his wicked act, Cain trav-
elled to the Land of Nod, where he founded
Enoch, the first city. Here he continued his
study into the Mythos through summoning
Children of the Mist.
The Koran seems to suggest Abel knew the
nature of Cain’s source, for Abel states, “I fear
God, the Lord of all worlds, and I would rather
you were burdened with my sins as well as yours
 Where Darkness Dwells
and became an inhabitant of the Fire: such is the
evildoers’ reward.” Ismail ibn Kathir (1300-73), a
noted historian and scholar, wrote in Al-Bidaya
wa-n-Nihaya (“The Beginning and the End”)
that Cain and his offspring indulged in fire wor-
ship, as well as various acts of debauchery.
Nothing is known concerning the location
of Nod or Enoch, save they were east of Eden.
Apocryphal tales state Enoch was destroyed
along with its wicked population during the
Flood. If any eldritch lore written in that dis-
tant age survived the cataclysm, then it would
undoubtedly be in the form of inscribed tab-
lets. Such a find would be of great value to
Biblical scholars, historians, and students of
the Mythos alike.
Another line of thought, one that would be
equally blasphemous to many followers of the
Abrahamic faiths should it become public knowl-
edge, holds that Enoch is actually a racial memory
of Sarnath, whose doom was to be submerged
beneath the lake on whose shores it stood.
Adventure Seed: The discovery of a
bundle of letters written by Elizabethan oc-
cultist Edward Kelley (1555-97) have many
Leagues excited. One of the letters, written in
Enochian (the language of angels) mentions
an expedition funded by Kelley to the city of
Enoch. Kelley’s directions are vague, but hint
at a valley in Afghanistan.
Kadatheron
Location: The Land of Mnar
Eerie Atmosphere: –2
Mentioned only in the obscure Doom that
came to Sarnath (see Leagues of Cthulhu), Ka-
datheron once stood in the lost land of Mnar
on the banks of the river Ai. Although refer-
enced in writing just once, its name appears in
several Asian oral legends.
If the stories are to be believed, the city
was famed for its brick cylinders, on which the
inhabitants inscribed the history of the region.
Among the writings is a description of the flab-
by-lipped, green-hued denizens of Ib, whose
vengeance on Sarnath forms the core of the
aforementioned play.
Although widely believed to be a myth, a
fiction invented as background flavor for the
Genies in the Mythos
Through portrayal in cinema and panto-
mime, jinn (singular: jinni) have become
little more than humanlike, wish-giving
spirits that live in brass lamps.
Pre-Islamic lore regarded them as inter-
mediaries between mortals and the gods
and the inspiration of poets and sooth-
sayers. That said, they were feared for
their power to cause madness and dis-
ease, and because they lived in the dark-
est places. Early Islamic lore placed them
above mortals but below angels. Later,
they were demoted to the status of de-
mons—enemies of Allah.
The name jinn means “to conceal/hide,”
though some scholars more poetically
interpret it as “beings that are concealed
from the senses.”
Jinn are mostly racial memories of, and
rare historical encounters with, two alien
races—the Flying Polyps and Fungi from
Yuggoth. Other possible entities named
as jinn in stories include Black Winged
Ones, Children of the Fire Mist, Court-
iers of Azathoth, Dimensional Shamblers,
Feasters from the Stars, Hounds of Tin-
dalos, Night-gaunts, and Shoggoths. Such
creatures are not found on this planet as
standard, and thus encounters must have
involved summoned horrors.
Flying Polyps
Invisible much of the time, Flying Polyps
lurk in ruins now deep beneath the sur-
face of the earth and are of monstrous
form. In some legends, jinn are said to
appear in sandstorms, a phenomenon
easy for the Polyps to manifest through
their unearthly control of wind.
Fungi from Yuggoth
The Fungi also dwell in dark places (in
caves mostly) and are hideous to the hu-
man eye, thus inspiring too legends con-
cerning the jinn. Through their buzzing
voices they may have inspired the afore-
mentioned poets and prophets, as well
as aided magicians seeking to harness
the arcane power of the Mythos.
45
Cthulhu Codicil
Xanadu
In 1797, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in-
spired by a drug-induced dream, penned
the poem Kubla Khan; or, A Vision in a
Dream: A Fragment. Although superfi-
cially describing the summer palace of
Kublai Khan, it appears that in his dream
state Coleridge actually visited K’n-yan.
He tells, for instance, of the river Alph,
which flows through immense caverns
down to a sea never warmed by sunlight.
In the next verse he mentions walls and
towers surrounded by gardens, much as
one might find in the city of Tsath. The
land is described both as savage and holy,
again something that might equally relate
to subterranean K’n-yan.
And what of the Abyssinian maid and the
man with flashing eyes who had dined
on honey-dew and drunk the milk of
Paradise? Could these not be members
of the decadent master race for whom
pleasure is all?
Coleridge could never have dreamed of
the fictional realm of K’n-yan, of course,
but this sidebar does show how easily
fact and fiction can be blended when
working with Lovecraft’s Mythos.
Greek play, some academics argue that the city
was real. They claim that rather than inventing
the brick cylinders, the play was pieced togeth-
er from actual remnants unearthed in antiquity.
Adventure Seed: While browsing a bazaar
somewhere in the Middle or Near East, a glo-
betrotter is offered a brick cylinder inscribed
with strange writing. The seller, a disreputable
looking man, claims the artifact is very old and
valuable. He adds that it was the property of
an antiquarian, whose collection was sold off
after his untimely death.
Mangazeya
Location: Siberia, Russia
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
Founded by Cossacks in 1600, Mangazeya
sits on the banks of the Taz River, which ulti-
mately flows into the Arctic Ocean east of the
Yamal Peninsula. Although never boasting a
46
large population, the town was a center of com-
merce. During the short summer months, furs
and walrus tusks harvested during the previous
fall and spring were dispatched to Archangel,
from where they would be traded with British,
Dutch, and Norwegian merchants. Its wealth,
combined with its isolated location, made it
virtually independent of the Russian tsars.
For reasons as yet unknown, access to the
city was forbidden in 1619. Anyone found sail-
ing the Northern Sea Route was automatically
put to death by imperial soldiers, navigational
logs indicating the position of the remote
town were confiscated and destroyed, maps
marking its location were changed, and armed
patrols with orders to shoot anyone attempt-
ing to reach the city were sent to surrounding
lands. The last mention of its name in official
records is in 1678, when it is said to have been
razed to the ground by fire.
No official mention of why the town was
suddenly quarantined and expunged from the
records exists in the Russian archives, though
rumors still circulate. One suggests the deci-
sion was merely to protect the location of the
trading settlement from British spies. Another
states that merchants working inland grew
jealous of the riches flowing into Mangazeya
are petitioned the tsar to weaken its power. A
third, one heard only in ports along Russia’s
northern coast, speaks of a hideous plague
or infestation that caused the inhabitants to
develop an unnatural appearance.
Adventure Seed: The British government
has caught rumors of a planned Russian expe-
dition to locate the ruins of Mangazeya. Always
prepared to get one over on the Russians, the
government immediately offers to fund its own
expedition to the wilds of Siberia. The initial
problem facing both teams is locating the lost
city, for very few records now exist.
Mount Qaf
Location: Unknown
Eerie Atmosphere: –4
In Persian lore, Mount Qaf might relate to
the highest mountain in the world, a realm
of daevas (“false gods”), or the nest of the
simurgh (a phoenix-like bird). In Arabic lore,
 Where Darkness Dwells
the mountain is said to be the “farthest point
of the earth” (located on the far side of the
world ocean) and of such monstrous height
that its summit is “known only to Allah.”
Given its unknown location and descrip-
tion, not to mention the similarity of its name,
Mount Qaf may actually refer to Mount Kadath
(see Realm of Morpheus: The Dreamlands),
which lies beyond the fabled Plateau of Leng.
Adventure Seed: Members of the Alpine
Club believe Mount Qaf describes a mountain
on the largely unexplored continent of Antarcti-
ca. They are sponsoring an expedition to locate,
and scale, the mountain, and seek globetrotters
of suitable character and experience.
Mount Yamantau
Location: Russia
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
The Ural Mountains, raised 250 million years
ago, cut Russia in twain from north to south. A
source of coal, minerals, and precious stones,
they have been exploited since the early 18th
century. Although the mining settlements remain
remote in terms of location, the largest of them
are today linked to greater Russia by railways.
Standing 5,380 feet above sea level, Mount
Yamantau is the highest peak in the southern
Urals. The Bashkirs, who inhabit the surround-
ing territory, have long treated the mountain as a
forbidden place, naming it “Wicked Mountain.”
Hunters who scoured its higher slopes would
either vanish or return a changed person.
Attempts to boost local fortunes by first
prospecting and then digging for mineral
wealth met with repeated disaster. Prospectors
would vanish without a trace and exploratory
tunnels would collapse despite being well
constructed. Sightings of strange creatures did
little to tempt miners onto the mountain.
The Bashkirs are wise to avoid Mount
Yamantau, for it is home to a declining and
degenerating colony of Fungus from Yuggoth.
Largely isolated from their kin elsewhere on
the planet, the Fungi respond aggressively to
the presence of trespassers.
Adventure Seed: The globetrotters are ap-
proached by a reporter. He presents them with
a flattened stone bearing a single hieroglyph
(an Elder Sign) and asks their opinion about
its origins. The reporter claims the stone was
smuggled out of Russia, where it had been un-
earthed inside a large piece of coal. Curiosity
should hopefully see the globetrotters arrang-
ing an expedition.
The Mountain of Genies
Location: Afghanistan
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
Bordered to the south by a branch of the an-
cient Silk Road, the mountains of southeastern
Afghanistan are inhabited by hardy and fierce
tribes who value their independence. One in
particular carries a bad reputation and is much
feared. Known by their neighbors only as the
Sky Devils, the tribe haunts a barren peak. The
tribesmen are feared for their stealth, for they
take animals and people without leaving any
trace. Most often their captives are never seen
again, but on occasion mutilated corpses are
discovered in the arid valley below.
Having heavy losses in the region during the
First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42), the British
left the tribes in peace for decades. During the
Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-80), the British
attempted to prevent a recurrence by striking
first. Two companies of the 2nd battalion of the
East Surrey Regiment supported by elements
of the 1st Regiment of Cavalry, Punjab Frontier
Force (renamed the 1st Prince Albert Victor’s
Own Regiment of Cavalry, Punjab Frontier Force
in 1890) marched into the valley beneath the
mountain. Nothing was seen of them again.
Other tribes shun the mountain, believing
it was the first peak selected by Noah but that
he sailed south when he saw that wicked ge-
nies had survived the Flood and had taken up
residence on the mountain.
Explorers seeking to map the region around
the mountain have had no success. Locals have
pointed out the peak from a distance, yet every
expedition has failed to reach it, suffering attack
from unseen opponents who strike at night and
destroy provisions and equipment, facing prob-
lems with compasses not working properly, or
becoming lost in the network of valleys.
The mountain is home to a small colony of
Fungi from Yuggoth. Having been left in peace
47
Cthulhu Codicil
for untold centuries, they have reacted badly
to the recent British incursion.
Adventure Seed: A member of an expedition
lost several months earlier has staggered back to
Kabul (Afghanistan’s capital). Raving mad, he has
spoken only of “winged devils,” “monoliths from
beyond time,” and “basalt ruins.”
Ponape
Location: Pacific Ocean
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
The island of Ponape forms part of the
Caroline Islands. Fyodor Litke, a Russian navi-
gator, was the first European to spy the island,
doing so in 1828. Since then its native inhabit-
ants have witnessed the arrival of missionaries,
whalers, and Spanish officials. Although the
island is governed by Spain for much of the
1890s, it is sold to Germany in 1899 following
the Spanish-American War.
The interior is swathed in dense jungle,
and the majority of settlements stand along
the shore. Ponape is noteworthy for the near
constant rains it endures, with annual rainfall
near the interior mountains averaging an as-
tounding 25 feet!
Off the southeast coast stand the megalithic
ruins of Nan Madol. Comprised of 100 artificial
islands and islets linked by a network of canals,
Nan Madol is a city constructed of stone “logs”
of regular length and thickness.
The natives speak poorly of Nan Madol,
claiming the site is haunted. Legends claim that
the inhabitants, a race of men who came from
across the ocean long ago, were of advanced
intelligence. One of their number, a power-
ful magician by all accounts, used his magic
to fly the stone “logs” across the ocean from
their distant quarry. The strangers ruled over
the islanders as kings, but quickly but fell to
depravity, for they began to worship an octo-
pus-like deity unknown to the natives. Within
a few generations the descendants of the kings
began to develop webbed hands and feet,
bulbous eyes, and green skin. Eventually they
became a race of “sea devils” and descended
into the ocean.
On nights of the full moon, the natives
claim their unearthly voices can be heard hon-
48
oring their fell god. Rarely, a child is born to
the natives with the taint of the “sea devils.”
The unfortunate babe is placed in a boat and
pushed out to sea, where it is believed the “sea
devils” claim it as one of their own.
No writings or art adorn the walls of Nan
Madol, and the few archaeologists who have
visited the site have labeled it as “interesting
but unwilling to reveal its secrets.”
Adventure Seed: Famed explorer Elias
Waite, recently returned from a lengthy expe-
dition in the South Pacific, has astounded the
Leagues with the rich collection of indigenous
art he brought back. One of the pieces, a rude
statuette carved from green stone, depicts a
creature that is neither human, octopus, or
dragon, but some vile blend of the three. The
globetrotters become involved when Waite
disappears from his hotel.
Rub’ al Khali
Location: Arabian Peninsula
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Dominating the southern third of the
Arabian Peninsula, the Rub’ al Khali (“Empty
Quarter”) is a hyper-arid wasteland of moun-
tainous dunes covering over 650,000 square
miles. Here there is only sand and death, and
the latter comes in many forms—dehydration,
hunger, heatstroke, serpents, scorpions, spi-
ders, and the occasional nomadic tribe.
Baked by temperatures reaching 51 °C (124
°F), the surface is waterless. Yet this was not al-
ways so. Thousands of years ago, the landscape
was dotted with shallow lakes, though they
have since evaporated. Bedouin know where
to find water in the many caves and to dig deep
in the sand after the sporadic rainfalls.
Even the bravest tribesmen are reluctant
to stray far from their campfires at night,
especially when thunder booms across the
clear, star-laden sky and faint piping is heard
on the breeze. When the sun descends, the
desert night is said to be haunted by genies
and ghouls.
The former care nothing for humans, seek-
ing only to drive them insane or rend them limb
from limb before sucking out their succulent
marrow, leaving the withered husks to bake in
 Where Darkness Dwells
the sun. Folklore says the latter can lead the cu-
rious or mad to the site of lost cities or impart
eldritch lore, but their price is high—the ghouls
demand a human corpse in return.
The nomads know the genies are tricksters.
Mirages are attempts to lead thirsty travelers
deeper into the wastes or lure them to their
deaths in dry quicksand. Yet they greatly fear
the hazy sight of collapsed walls and pitted pil-
lars sometimes seen in the desert, for these are
not illusions, but a glimpse behind the veil of
the present and into the distant past.
Within these ghost-like ruins the faint echo
of camels braying and the call of merchants
still ring out, while the scent of fragrant spices
hangs in the dry air. As the curious explorer
delves deeper into the ruins, the bones of the
city grow new flesh, transforming back to their
former grandeur, and the shades of the long-
dead inhabitants become corporeal.
To eat or drink anything from the illusion-
ary city, or to converse with the inhabitants,
never ends well. Such physical mirages never
last long before fading into nothingness. Those
who consume or converse vanish with it, never
to be seen again. Such lost persons, the no-
mads believe, become the slaves, or food, of
the genies who haunt the city.
- Lost Cities of Arabia
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Bedouin lore tells of numerous cities lost
beneath the desert sands. Names such as Ad,
Iram of the Pillars, and Ubar are also found
in the Koran and the Arabian Nights. Modern
scholars are divided as to whether these are the
same city under differing names, a multitude
of lost cities, the names of historical regions
that changed as new overlords stamped their
authority, or nothing more than tall tales.
Likewise, differing stories abound about
the ultimate fate of these fabled places. One
points to a strangely colored cloud that de-
scended from the heavens and engulfed the
city (perhaps a Colour Out of Space). A second
tells of a massive sandstorm that consumed
the land and a third of a desolating wind that
turned the once lush landscape to barren ash.
Others speak of fiery rocks that fell from the
Weird Geometry
Lovecraft’s stories make reference to
geometry that mocks the laws of math-
ematics and architecture. Acute angles
that act as obtuse ones (and vice versa),
lines of symmetry that share impossible
angles, straight lines that seem to lean
when viewed from the corner of the eye,
and parallel lines that both remain paral-
lel and intersect simultaneously exist in
many sites related to the Mythos.
For the most part, these alone do not
cause insanity. At best, they impose a Dif-
ficulty 2 Horror roll—enough to shake
a strong mind, but break only one al-
ready weakened by horrendous sights or
knowledge.
More commonly, they heighten the mys-
tery and strangeness of the area. Thus,
they should give the site an otherwise
mundane location an Eerie Atmosphere
modifier. For instance, a Roman temple
in which the columns stand upright
when seen in full sight but lean when
seen glances may warrant a –1 modifier.
A site like R’lyeh, which exhibits overt
weird geometry, might warrant as much
as a –4 penalty.
skies that caused terrible explosions and left
deep wounds in the earth, of the city sinking
intact into the sands, and even a great flood
washing across the city, scattering the masonry
far and wide. Most share that claim that the
doom was punishment for the inhabitants’
many sins.
Whether any of the cities ever existed is
open to debate. To doubt their existence in any
form is to disregard history, for ancient caravan
routes crisscross the entire region. Perhaps
the legendary cities were nothing more than
scattered trading posts abandoned when trade
routes moved, when the waters dried up, or
were swallowed by the relentless passage of
mountainous dunes, and whose importance
grew with each retelling.
Perhaps they are nothing more than cor-
rupted memories of the few desert wanderers
who have witnessed the ruins of the Nameless
City. It might well be that these stories relate
49
Cthulhu Codicil
to much older cities, such as doomed Sar-
nath, Kadatheron of the brick cylinders, and
ransacked Ib, whose flabby-lipped denizens
worshiped strange gods.
Adventure Seed: The Leagues receive an
anonymous donation of old photographs sup-
posedly taken in the Empty Quarter. Among
them are several showing ancient ruins. Do
they really show a lost city, or are they fakes or
mistakenly identified? There’s only one way to
find out—an expedition!
Shrine of the Faceless Kami
Location: Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Eerie Atmosphere: –2
Dominated by mountains, landlocked Na-
gano Prefecture is only sparsely populated by
Japanese standards. On the forested slopes of
Mount Utsugi (9,396 ft.) stands a small mori,
a Shinto shrine believed to be inhabited by a
kami (spirit). The shrine takes the form of a
derelict single wooden building known as a
honden, a structure inhabited by the spirit.
The inhabitants of the nearest villages, who
call it Kao no nai kami no jinja (“Shrine of
the Faceless Spirit”) avoid it and rarely speak
of it, especially to outsiders. The shrine has
had a sinister reputation as far back as the
17th century, when a missing samurai lord
and his retainers were found butchered inside
the shrine. Since then, dozens of others have
vanished in the vicinity.
The villagers’ ancestors said that the statue of
the kami inside the shrine was a profane, gaunt
thing, with a concave face devoid of facial features
save for a ring of needle-like teeth, and long arms
with fingers ending in wicked claws. In local
folklore it is known as Mu-men no Kurau-mono
(“The Eater With No Face”) after the flesh-picked
bones littered around the statue.
Although folklore says the slain samurai
were out hunting game, they were soldiers
sent to destroy the corrupted cult that wor-
shipped at the shrine. The cult’s veneration
was focused not on a true Shinto spirit, but
an avatar of Nyarlathotep. What happened to
the cultists is unknown—no other bodies were
discovered at the site.
Adventure Seed: A minor functionary at
50
the Japanese embassy is arrested and charged
with murder after being caught red-handed
(actually, red-mouthed) at the site of a grue-
some cannibalistic murder. He claims to have
no memory of the event, despite being caught
chewing his victim’s face. The ambassador asks
the Leagues to investigate before his function-
ary is hanged for the crime.
Soon after beginning their investigation, the
globetrotters discover that the functionary pur-
chased a jade statuette of a figure with a concave
face in an antique shop shortly before the crime.
Shrine of the Little Yellow God
Poem: The Green Eye of the Little Yellow
God (J, Milton Hayes)
Location: Nepal
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
In a remote and shunned valley to the
north of Kathmandu stands a little shrine. No
records exist of who raised it or when, though
some elders gaze knowingly toward the higher
peaks of the Himalayas and whisper quietly of
the dread Plateau of Leng and its less than hu-
man inhabitants.
Nestled within the shrine is a blasphemous
one-eyed idol. Not even the elders know what
deity is represents and they encourage younger
generations to leave the idol in peace, lest they
awaken its vengeance.
Although yellow in color, the idol is not
manufactured from gold. The main body, be-
ing made of painted wood is utterly worthless
save as a cultural curiosity. Its one eye is an-
other matter, though, for it is a large emerald
of exceptional purity and exquisite cut.
The gem has been stolen many times down
the ages, but has always been returned to its
rightful place within a few months. In every
case, perpetrators living within a few hundred
miles have been found dead, a dagger thrust
deep into their backs. Transgressors fleeing
further afield are afforded no safety from ven-
geance. Indeed, their fate is worse, for in each
and every case they have been found brutally
mauled as if by some ferocious beast.
Adventure Seed: Sir Milsom Roxby, a re-
nowned collector of cultural art, has recently
been sent a description and photograph of the
 Where Darkness Dwells
idol by an explorer friend. Desiring it for his
collection, he hires the globetrotters to travel
to Nepal and appropriate it for him.
The Tomb of Alhazred
Location: Damascus
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
What few records exist concerning the death
of the mad poet Abdul Alhazred vary widely.
The accepted story, as told by the 12th century
chronicler Ibn Khallikan, says he met a grisly
end in Damascus in 738, torn limb from limb
by an invisible monster. Another version recalls
the death as occurring in 731, while yet another
suggests Alhazred staged his own death and lived
on for many more years. Whether Alhazred was
laid to rest in a tomb is thus highly disputed.
In the narrow backstreets of the old city,
where little has changed since Alhazred’s day,
there are still a few elders who recall his name
from knowledge passed down by their ances-
tors. Most fear his name, for word of his later
writings trickled back to his homeland.
Others nod slyly and hint that an original
copy of Alhazred’s most (in)famous work,
the Al-Azif, still exists somewhere else in the
city, though they are ignorant of its location.
Certainly there are bookshops that have stood
for many centuries in which a curious browser
may find a few torn, worm-riddled, and stained
pages of that hated book.
Those who accept the view that Alhazred
had a tomb insist it must be located in or near
to Damascus, for it was in this ancient city the
poet resided during the accepted final years
of his life. Many believers share the opinion
that the version of the Al-Azif transcribed by
Theodorus Philetas of Constantinople was an
incomplete version, and that Alhazred was laid
to rest with the only complete manuscript.
Adventure Seed: A British official sends
a globetrotter friend a small parcel. Inside is
a fragment of a statue of the Phoenician deity
Ba’al. The object, which has little historic in-
terest or material value, is wrapped in a piece
of ancient manuscript. The page is a badly
stained (and mostly unreadable) previously
unknown page from the Al-Azif. Where did the
official acquire such a rare parchment?
Yemen
Location: Southern Arabian Peninsula
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Ruler: Governors Potirikli Osman Nuri Pa-
sha (1889-90), Botgoriceli Ismail Hakki Pasha
(1890-91), Hasan Edip Pasha (1891), Ahmed
Fevzi Pasha (1891-98), Huseyin Hilmi Pasha
(1898-1902)
Resistance Leader: Muhammad bin Yahya
Hamid ad-Din (1890-1904)
Yemen is an Ottoman vilayet (province) di-
vided into four sanjaks (districts). A hotbed of
strife and insurgency after 1891, the Ottoman
Empire maintains its grip here only as a curb to
British, French, and Italian expansion.
Yemen’s position on the Arabian peninsula
has made it a cultural and mercantile cross-
roads since antiquity. Believed to be the home
of the Queen of Sheba, Yemen was a major
producer of frankincense and myrrh, as well as
chalcedony, cornelian, and onyx.
Archaeological exploration of Yemen’s an-
cient ruins have unearthed around a hundred
inscriptions. Through these, they have deduced
that the earliest civilization, that of the Kingdom
of Saba’, rose in the early 8th century BC.
The great blocks of basalt found in clumps
in the mountainous interior have largely been
ignored, for the working of such hard stone,
not to mention the ability to shift blocks weigh-
ing as much as 50 tons, is considered beyond
the ken of the early civilizations. Likewise, little
attention is paid to wild stories that the basalt
blocks were once great cities raised by the jinn
(better known as genies in the West) in times
before man walked the earth.
- Temple of Awwam
Location: Central Yemen
Eerie Atmosphere: 0 (–1 at night)
Located a few miles from the city of Ma’rib, an-
cient capital of the Kingdom of Saba’, stands a row
of eight, square pillars. Few archaeologists know
it exists, and none have yet excavated beneath the
sand. Given that the Sabaeans are believed to be
the earliest civilization in Yemen, archaeologists
naturally assume it was raised by their priests.
Local folklore says that the pillars were
51
Cthulhu Codicil
raised from the sand by a malevolent spirit or
jinni when the world was young. Legends speak
of a mukarrib (priest-king) who sacrificed here
to Athtar and who “united the people and god”
through a “pact and a secret treaty.”
Athtar is something of an enigma. Despite
being known across the Middle East, its gender
and role changed from land to land. One might
presume from the name that it was Azathoth,
yet Athtar was primarily concerned with life-
giving rain and fertility, and the planet Venus.
In the Mythos, Athtar might well be Azathoth,
but it might also represent Cthulhu, Shub-Nig-
gurath, or even an avatar of Nyarlathotep.
Whatever cult held power at the temple and
in the nearby city, it was considered profane
enough for the Romans to send the prefect
Gaius Aelius Gallus and 10,000 troops from
Egypt toward Mar’ib in 25 BC.
The historian and geographer Strabo (64
BC–24 AD), a friend of Gallus, placed the crush-
ing defeat inflicted on the Romans on poor plan-
ning, the terrible heat, lack of water, a disease
unknown to the Romans, and the treachery of a
native guide. Yemeni folklore tells that the priests
summoned an army of jinn against the invaders.
Adventure Seed: Strabo was exploring
Egypt in the months before the Roman invasion
began. It is possible he discovered something of
the dark cult there (Yemen is only a short boat
journey down the Red Sea from Egypt) and
passed word to his friend. As an aside, Strabo
largely vanishes from historical records in 25
BC, only reappearing 42 years later.
Europe
Cumbria
Location: Northwest England
Eerie Atmosphere: Varies
Dominated by a central massif scoured
into steep mountains and deep radial valleys
by glaciation and dotted with numerous lakes,
the land flattening only around the coast in
the northern third, Cumbria (which was the
separate counties of Cumberland, Furness, and
Westmoorland until 1974) is one of raw, wild
52
beauty marred by the scars of mining and heavy
industry. In the mountains (also known as the
Lake District and Lakelands) one finds both the
highest point—Scafell Pike (3,209 feet)—and
largest lake—Windermere—in England.
While the interior remains mostly pastoral,
the land is marred by gypsum, lead, and slate
mines, not to mention several coalfields pro-
viding fuel for the factories belching out chok-
ing smoke as an army of workers produces
iron and steel, ships, and armaments to satisfy
the needs of the British Empire.
Evidence of humans dates back as far as the
Late Upper Paleolithic (c. 11,000 BC), a time
when the glaciers of the last Ice Age were still
in retreat. Undoubtedly these early people were
hunter-gatherers, with the formation of perma-
nent settlements, along with stone circles and
henges, taking place in the Neolithic. It was at
this time that the production of stone axe heads
became a boom industry, with early traders car-
rying the weapons across the whole of Britain.
Formerly governed by a patchwork of pow-
erful Celtic tribes, Cumbria became a frontier
realm under the Romans. Although the local
tribes had been pacified, the northern barbar-
ians remained a constant threat, forcing the
Romans to build first forts and then incorporate
the northern boundary into Hadrian’s Wall.
While the Romans brought civilization and
new religions, they failed to stamp out belief in
the old ways, even after the destruction of the
Druids. While the majority of people venerated
the Roman cults, those in the wildlands continued
to worship deities whose origins lay in the stars.
When the Romans withdrew in 410, Cum-
bria became a battleground. With no central
power, numerous warlords divided the land
up between themselves, sometimes peacefully
and other times violently. Over the coming cen-
turies the land was settled, in part or whole, by
the Angles, Norse Vikings, Strathcylde British,
Scots, and Anglo-Saxons.
The Normans slowly consolidated their
hold over the region, bringing it under English
central rule, but the area was always a troubled
frontier. The remains of fortified manors prio-
ries, and abbeys litter the landscape, evidence
of the violent struggles against the Scots and
Border reivers.
 Where Darkness Dwells
Cumbria remains a frontier county, but
today the only invasions are those of artists,
poets, writers, and mountaineers.
- Hardknott Fort
Known to the Romans as Mediobogdum,
the fort (sighted on a spur 800 feet above sea
level) provided the garrison excellent views
over the River Usk, as well as guarding the mili-
tary road that wound through the mountains
between the larger auxiliary forts at Galava
(modern Ambleside) to the east and Glanno-
venta (modern Ravenglass) on the west coast.
Historians believe the fort was constructed
during the reign of Hadrian (r. 117-138) but
abandoned a few decades later when the
Romans briefly extended their empire north-
ward. When the Antonine Wall was abandoned
in 162, the legions retreated to their previous
fortifications behind Hadrian’s Wall.
What history does not record is that the
soldiers garrisoned at the fort—a force of cav-
alrymen from the Dalmatian 4th Cohort—were
also charged with harassing degenerate Car-
vetii hill tribesmen whose profane religious
practices were proscribed under Roman law.
Adventure Seed: A recently unearthed Ro-
man tablet tells that the garrison at Mediobog-
dum had to be replaced due to “succumbing
to the temptations of a great and dark spirit.”
Naturally, various Leagues want to know more.
De Lancy Manor
Location: Central England
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
Located on Black Hill, a high and wild part
of the Peak District, the lonely manor sits on
a small island surrounded by peat bog. Only
a gravel causeway permits easy passage to the
isolated building.
The de Lancy family, whose ancestral seat
this is, have never enjoyed a good reputation.
Sir William de Lancy took part in the Fourth
Crusade (1202-04) and the Sack of Constan-
tinople. On his return, it was noted that he
spent a great deal of time consulting a book
plundered from the imperial library, calling
on scholars fluent in archaic tongues to attend
him and instruct him in the languages. It was
during this time that villagers began to whisper
of an unholy alliance with dark powers. He
disappeared while in Egypt during the Fifth
Crusade (1213-21).
Sir Frederick de Lancy traveled to Toledo,
Spain, in 1539 before venturing into the des-
erts of North Africa. It is said he consulted with
genies, spoke to priests of strange gods, and
visited accursed places old before the pyramids
were raised in Egypt. Sir Nigel de Lancy was
tried for witchcraft in 1646, though he escaped
justice by means unknown.
Although the family has retained its name
and ancestral home, rarely has the title of
baronet passed from father to son. In many
instances, the head of the household has died
childless, or disappeared without trace.
Adventure Seed: Sir Walter de Lancy has
recently inherited the manor from his uncle. Pe-
rusing the family library, he uncovered a journal
largely written in an unknown cipher. The only
sections written in English were references to
“the threshold,” “the Key,” and “the Gate.”
Since finding the book, Sir Walter has been
troubled by strange occurrences—scratching
at his door (he owns no pets) and in the walls,
foul odors, and terrible nightmares in which
rotting corpses seek to drag him through a
stone arch decorated with twisting glyphs. Be-
lieving the house to be haunted, he approaches
the Leagues of Adventure for assistance.
Dunwich
Location: Eastern England
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Visitors are hard-pressed to imagine that
the small village of Dunwich, situated on the
exposed Suffolk coast, was once a port that
rivalled London for prosperity. A center of
power since the Anglo-Saxon era, the mariners
who frequented the town during the 11th and
12th centuries came from as far away as Venice.
While the ships brought exotic cargoes, the
mariners carried with them strange religious
beliefs learned from Arabs who had ventured
far into the unknown east and sat at the feet of
masters of eldritch wisdom.
The citizens of Dunwich soon forsook their
53
Cthulhu Codicil
Christian heritage, adopting instead the east-
ern cult and its worship of aquatic beings who
brought great wealth in return for sacrifices.
By the early 13th century, the villagers had
developed an odd appearance, with visitors
speaking of bulging eyes, and flabby lips and
necks that they found most unsettling.
Dunwich’s prosperity did not last long. A
storm surge in 1286 and two the following
year destroyed much of the waterfront, sweep-
ing away wharves and houses. Subsequent
floods continued to erode both the town and
the land upon which it sat.
In 1826, Dunwich’s population was reduced
to a mere 237 and the village described as a “de-
cayed and disfranchised borough.” Despite the
best attempts of the local bishop, who ordered
the construction of a new church in 1832 follow-
ing the loss of the last place of worship to the sea,
the citizens cling to their strange customs.
Adventure Seed: A vacationing biolo-
gist discovers a strange bone in the Dunwich
museum. He telegrams various friends (one of
whom is a globetrotter) with news of his find
and urges them to visit him with all haste. The
next day, the local newspaper reports the sci-
entist was found drowned in the sea.
Malta’s Megalithic Temples
Location: Malta
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Ruler: Governors Lieutenant-General Sir
Henry Torrens (1888–1890), Lieutenant-Gen-
eral Sir Henry Smyth (1890–93), General Sir
Athur Freemantle (1893–99), Lieutenant-Gen-
eral Lord Grenfell (1899–1903)
Strategically situated in the central Medi-
terranean, the Maltese archipelago has been
occupied by various economic and military
superpowers for thousands of years. It is cur-
rently a British Crown colony.
Scattered across Malta and Gozo, the two larg-
est islands, are numerous ancient stone structures
made from coralline limestone blocks. Believed
to have been constructed as temples by Neolithic
settlers starting around 5,000 BC, some were later
built over by the Phoenicians, Romans, and early
Christians. In Maltese lore, the buildings were said
to have been erected by a race of giants.
54
As has been the case elsewhere, the orig-
inal structures are much older than suspect-
ed. Some 200 million years ago, the gigantic
blocks formed part of an aquatic Elder Thing
colony. As the Earth convulsed and buckled
some 170 million years ago, the seabed was
thrust upward to form the island chain. Severe-
ly damaged, the buildings were abandoned.
Adventure Seed: Professor Jeremiah Wat-
kins is of the opinion that other megalithic
temples can be found beneath the waves, sub-
merged by earth tremors. He approaches the
Society of Aquanauts and Society of Antiquar-
ians, both of whom are prepared to fund an
expedition to explore his theory further.
Montes Serrorum
Location: Transylvania
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Ammianus Marcellinus (325-391), a Roman
soldier and historian, wrote much concerning
the Gothic War of 367-369 fought against the
barbarian tribes living north of the River Dan-
ube. One passage describes how the enemy
were so afraid of the advancing Roman army
that they fled to Montes Serrorum (“Mountain
of the Serri”), denying the Romans the battle
they craved. Marcellinus’ text was in fact a revi-
sion of the true account.
On entering the region, the Roman com-
mander, Emperor Valens, ruler of the Eastern
Empire, announced his plans to rid the moun-
tains of the troublesome Goths. With terror in
their voices, natives allied to Rome warned the
Emperor to avoid Mount Serrorum, for it was
an accursed place, home to strange creatures
(the Serri, or “buzzing ones”) who descended
from the stars long ago to mine a certain stone.
Ignoring the advice, perhaps under the
illusion that the story was a myth created by
the Goths to hide their main camp, Valens
ordered three cohorts (approximately 800
men) to proceed up the forested slope. None
returned. Further attempts to climb the peak
were abandoned when the soldiers rebelled.
Desperate to save face, Valens concocted the
story that the Goths had fled before his legions
and then swiftly returned to Constantinople.
Modern Transylvanians still avoid the
 Where Darkness Dwells
mountain, though the reason why has long
been forgotten. As far as they are concerned, it
is simply somewhere people do not live.
Adventure Seed: An antiquarian believes
he has located the ruins of the Gothic camp on
the lower slopes of Mount Serrorum. Naturally,
he is keen to organize an expedition.
Northam House
Location: Yorkshire, Great Britain
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Overlooking the wild and tempestuous North
Sea is the drab, gray edifice that is Northam
House, ancestral seat of the barons of Northam.
Although the house has been rebuilt many times
to suit new fashions and trends, the foundations
are Roman and date from the late 1st century AD.
Family lore claims the first building, a massive
fortification if the foundations are any indicator,
was erected by Lunaeus Gabinius Capito and
survived several assaults by various “barbarians.”
What the family has forgotten over the
many generations is that the house stands atop
the cave where they ancestor performed fell
rites in the nameless of a hellish deity. None
have worshipped in that forbidden space for
countless generations, but the diabolical magic
worked there in ages past has left an indelible
mark on ancient foundations and thus the
modern building above.
Unusual for the home of a British aristocrat-
ic family, no ghosts haunt the corridors. That
said, those with sensitive natures or empathic
abilities are frequently troubled by disturbing
dreams involving half-formed strange vistas
and odd symbols.
Adventure Seed: Preparing for one of his
foreign trips, Lord Northam (see p. 112) invites a
friend to sit his house in his absence. Northam’s
friend is unavailable, but he in turn extends the
offer to a globetrotter he knows. Naturally, the
globetrotter or one his acquaintances begins
suffering odd dreams in the house.
Somerset
Location: Southwest England
Eerie Atmosphere: 0, but varies by site
Somerset is a rural county in the southwest
The Northam Family
The Northams claim their ancestral line
stretches back at least to a Roman mili-
tary tribune—said to be Lunaeus Gabin-
ius Capito of the Legion III Augusta—but
they know nothing regarding their an-
cestor or the origins of the madness that
strikes randomly down the generations.
While stationed in Britain, Lunaeus dis-
covered a community of pagans cultur-
ally and historically separate from the
Britons whose ancestors claimed to have
reached the green and pleasant shores
following the sinking of their ancient
home beneath the waves.
In a dismal cavern beneath the cliffs, they
honored strange and profane gods, into
whose worship Lunaeus was inducted.
Following the discovery of this abhorrent
religion, the tribune was expelled from
the legion. Following expulsion, Lunae-
us raised a fortress above the cave—
Northam House.
Despite the revulsion toward Lunaeus,
the Romans were unable to unseat him,
for such was the strength of his home’s
walls. Powerless as well were the Celts,
Saxons, Danes, and Normans who came
after.
Respectability was conferred to the fam-
ily only in 1373, when Richard Northam,
a bold and brazen lieutenant of Edward
the Black Prince (1330-74), was invest-
ed first Baron Northam by Edward III
(1312-77).
The story is true, save one for glaring
error—the Legion III Augusta was never
stationed in Britain. More likely suspects
are the Legion II Augusta (which was sta-
tioned in South Wales) or the infamous
Legion IX Hispania (based in York).
of England. Bordered by hills beginning in
the north and circling around to the west, the
northeastern region, known as the Levels, was
once marsh, but has since been drained to
form rich farmland.
The county has been along associated with
pagan beliefs and the occult. Glastonbury Tor,
a prominent island when the Levels were still
wetlands, has been equated with the Arthurian
55
Cthulhu Codicil
Isle of Avalon, suggested as the resting place of
the Holy Grail, and associated with the Celtic
Underworld. It is a ley line nexus, one reason
why it might have been used in pagan religious
practices since the dawn of humanity. Indeed,
the entire county is dotted with hillforts, burial
mounds, and stone circles, and folklore is re-
plete with stories of witches.
A little remembered piece of folklore relates
how the pre-Celtic inhabitants were a savage
people who regularly partook in cannibalism
and who offered sacrifices to an aquatic deity
recalled only as Lugh in corrupted Celtic my-
thology. Driven from their homes in the high
lands, they settled in the marshes, where they
subsequently made pacts with devils from the
sea. Here they became known as the Seo-mere-
saetan, or “Settlers by the sea lakes.”
Shunned by the later Iron Age tribes (the
Dobunni in the north, Durotriges in the
south, and the Dumnonii in the west), the
marsh-dwellers remained mostly isolated and
inbred until the Roman invasion. This is not
to say the neighboring Celts did not have their
dark side. Talk of gruesome ritual sacrifices,
likely to have been honoring Shub-Niggurath,
led to the slaughter of the inhabitants of Cad-
bury Castle (actually a hillfort).
Roman civilization failed to eradicate the
dark faiths still practised in the county, though
it drove them into the shadows. Certain cere-
monies were brought back by the Saxons, who
sacrificed captives under the boughs of ancient
trees or the stone circles raised by the ancients.
The ancient Saxon practise of orchard was-
sailing is actually a heavily sanitized remnant
of Shub-Niggurath worship, with blood now
substituted with cider or ale.
- Bath
Location: England
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Standing on a bend in the River Avon, the
city of Bath’s natural thermal springs have
been a site of wonder and recreation since
around the 9th century BC. Legend claims
their therapeutic powers were first noticed by
King Bladud, whose leprosy was cured after he
bathed in the hot waters.
56
Bladud, it is said, was educated in Athens,
where he studied necromancy., among other
subjects. The legend states that he constructed
a set of wings and attempted to fly to a temple
of Apollo. Alas, he smashed into a wall and
died—a strange end for a legendary king. It may
be that Bladud’s attempt to fly was actually an
ill-conceived attempt to open a gate to another
dimension, for “the temple of Apollo” may refer
to the heavens (Apollo being a solar deity).
A settlement, Sulis, was founded soon af-
terward. Supposedly a Celtic goddess whose
name stems from the ancient word for “vision”
or “eye,” Sulis is actually a corrupted form
of Cthulhu. Drinking the mineral-rich water
opened imbibers’ minds to the dreams (vi-
sions) of Great Cthulhu.
Evidence for this was unearthed in the 17th
century, when the former Roman pediment was
discovered during building work. Dominating
the stone was a man’s head surrounded by ten-
tacles. Antiquarians of the time insisted the image
was that of a male gorgon (a rare thing), but the
“serpents” growing from and surrounding the
face are actually stylized tentacles or feelers.
It was the Romans who truly placed the
city on the map. Naming it Aquae Sulis (“The
waters of Sulis”), they constructed a bathing
complex and a temple in honor of the deity.
Whether the Romans understood the true na-
ture of the deity adopted into their pantheon
is unknown, but their later depictions of Sulis
as a female suggests not. It seems the creator
of the pediment knew the truth. Visitors to the
modern city should be aware that, contrary to
appearance, the “Roman baths” are an early
19th century edifice. Even the statues of the
emperors are modern reproductions.
The end of Roman Britain saw Aquae Sulis
rapidly decline. Little more than a village, the
buildings decayed and city walls decayed with-
out proper maintenance, and what remained
was later used to construct new structures.
Rebuilt by King Aflred, the city’s fortunes
waxed and waned across the centuries. While
its grand Abbey remains, its former mint was
lost when the city once again became depopu-
lated. Only in the 17th century were its fortunes
revived, when its thermal springs were touted
for their therapeutic properties. With a growing
 Where Darkness Dwells
number of visitors seeking to “take the waters,”
the city grew in size and prosperity. Many grand
buildings were raised in the Georgian period.
Much of the Georgian splendor was the
work of father and son architects John Wood,
the Elder (1704-17540 and the Younger (1728-
82). John Wood was already known for his
surveying of the prehistoric stone circles of
Stonehenge (33 miles southeast from Bath)
and Stanton Drew (14 miles west).
That the diameter of The Circus (originally
King’s Circus), a circular streets of townhouses,
matches that of the outer earth bank of Stone-
henge is no coincidence. Likewise, there are
30 houses in the Circus and there were origi-
nally 30 stones in the largest circle at Stanton
Drew. Additionally, there are two other stone
circles at Stanton Drew—the North East Circle
(of which eight stones remain) and the South
West Circle) with 12 surviving stones). Breaks
in the Circus for roads divide the houses into
blocks of eight, ten, and 12 respectively.
A brief glimpse at a city map reveals that
the Circus and nearby Queen Square (both
designed by John Wood, the Elder), which
are linked by Gay Street, form the distinctive
shape of a squared key. Together, the pattern of
a circle and key surely represents Yog-Sothoth,
whose form is a conglomeration of spheres and
among whose title in the Key. A pyramidion-
topped stone obelisk was erected in the dead
center of Queen Square in 1738.
It is a common fact in certain circles that
Woods, the Elder was obsessed with Ancient Brit-
ish history, was a Freemason, wrote about sacred
geometry and druidism, and held the view that
the stone circles of Britain were pagan temples.
Adventure Seed: Recent work in Bath
Abbey has unearthed a single bronze coin
stamped with a hoofed Devil and the motto
Civitas Diaboli (“City of the Devil”). Widely
dismissed as a forgery or prank, there are
some scholars who suggest the coin indicates
the citizens of Bath once worshipped the Black
Goat of the Woods.
- Brent Knoll
Location: Southwest England
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Cup & Ring Marks
Found across much of the world, cup and
ring marks are a form of prehistoric petro-
glyphic art. They take the form of a cen-
tral circulation depression (the cup) sur-
rounded by concentric circles (the rings).
Most employ the exact same style, sug-
gesting either a common spare of inspi-
ration or worldwide dissemination of
knowledge. There is some regional varia-
tion, however. Among the differences are
a single line (known as a gutter) may cut
from the central dot to the edge of the
outermost circle, while in other cases
there are multiple cups linked by straight
lines rather than surrounded by rings.
Suggestions to their purpose range from
astronomical markings indicating the
movement of the heavens (thus an early
calendar), a form of writing yet an unde-
cipherable, votive marks to appease the
ancestors or gods, or the blueprints for
large stone circles.
It may yet prove that cup and ring marks
are an early form of magical inscription,
being an attempt by our Stone Age ani-
mistic ancestors to capture the image of
the profane Yog-Sothoth.
Brent Knoll, an isolated limestone hill in
North Somerset, rises 449 feet above the sur-
rounding lowlands of the Somerset Levels and
provides a commanding view of the Bristol
Channel, which lies 2 miles to the west. Until
the Middle Ages, when the expansive wetlands
were drained, Brent Knoll was an island known
locally as the Isle or Mount of Frogs.
The word Brent, it is claimed, means “high
place” in Celtic. Scholars have argued this re-
fers to its elevation, though in fact it translates
better as “important place.”
Historians agree that the earth ramparts
atop the summit are the remains of a Bronze
Age fortification. Later, a Roman temple stood
proud in the center of the hill-fort. The ram-
parts actually held a sacred enclosure. Here,
the native Britons paid homage to Father
Dagon and cavorted with Deep Ones who trav-
elled here from the Bristol Channel.
57
Cthulhu Codicil
The Number Nine
The number nine has appeared in various
cultures’ mythology. Indian mythology
speaks of nine planets; the Ancient Egyp-
tian Ennead had nine deities; the Aztec
and Mayan underworlds had nine levels,
and the Norse divided the universe into
nine worlds. All have one thing in com-
mon beside the number—other worlds,
an area considered the dominion of Yog-
Sothoth.
Priddy Nine Barrows and Robin Hood’s
Butts (both in Somerset), and Nine Bar-
row Down (Dorset), among others, are
patterns of nine circular structures, while
stone circles such as Nine Stones Close
(Derbyshire), the Devil’s Nine Stones
(Dorset), and Nine Stones of Boskednan
(Cornwall) are both circular in form and
feature nine standing stones. Likely these
sites were created people who knew of,
and probably worshipped, Yog-Sothoth.
The site appears twice in Arthurian legend.
First, Ider son of King Nuth, one of the king’s
knights, defeated three giants who lived on the
hill. Second, it has been suggested it is the site
of Mount Badon, where Arthur defeated the
Saxon invaders. Both actually relate to attacks
made against the cultists and Deep Ones who
practiced their fell rites on the summit.
The hill and the two villages at its base—
Brent Knoll (named after the hill) and East
Brent—were later given over to the monks
of Glastonbury Abbey. Despite the monks’
best attempts, Christianity remained nothing
but a thin veneer, quickly cast aside following
Glastonbury’s destruction during the Disso-
lution of the Monasteries. Today, those locals
in whose blood flows that of the Deep Ones
continue to use the hill as a place of worship.
Adventure Seed: Parts of the summit of
Brent Knoll are mined for limestone. During
work, the quarrymen unearth part of a Roman
mosaic. Experts have proclaimed the mosaic,
which shows humanoid aquatic beasts, to be
of great importance. Quarrying has been halted
while various Leagues put together an expedi-
tion to unearth the remainder of the mosaic.
58
- Solsbury Hill
Location: Southwest England
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
A mile or so north of Bath is Solsbury Hill.
Believed to be an Iron Age hillfort, the site is
far older. Its name means “fortified enclosure
of Sulis,” and it was built by the savage tribe
who worshipped Cthulhu at the hot springs
below to protect them against their enemies.
Historians have long believed the hill was
the site of the Battle of Badon, in which King
Arthur defeated the marauding Saxons.
Vineta
Location: Baltic Sea Coast
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Historians place no veracity in the existence
of Vineta, a city that supposedly stood on the
southern coastline of the Baltic Sea before it
sank beneath the waves. Nor do they accept
the claims that the city’s destruction was the
wrath of God, brought down upon its inhabit-
ants due to their blasphemous ways.
The first written record of the city dates
back to 965. Visited by Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, an
Hispano-Arab merchant, he names it as Wel-
taba (“The place among the waves”). Educated
in Toledo, a city long renowned for its occult
scholars, ibn Yaqub wrote that Vineta’s for-
tunes came from dealings with “their brethren
from the waves.” Historians have taken this to
mean maritime trade, for what other explana-
tion could their be?
Likewise, the phrase “the people did cavort
with those from the waves and seek to live with
their kin” has been accepted as meaning the
Vinetans, perhaps finding the location of their
city less than desirable and their population
declining, sought to relocate to a more idyllic
place. It is certainly true that by 1190 the city
is never mentioned again and appears on no
later maps.
Adventure Seed: The discovery of a 13th
century map seemingly displaying the location
of Vineta has the Leagues excited. While the
Leagues debate whether the map is a fake or
genuine, certain interested parties intend to
ensure any expedition meets with failure.
 Where Darkness Dwells
Wales
Wales is a country that has embraced mo-
dernity and clings to its ancient pagan heritage
in equal measure.
Wales’ rich mineral wealth was exploited as
far back as the Romans, who mined for copper,
gold, and lead. With the rise of the Industrial
Revolution, Wales’ natural resources were
once again in demand, with copper smelting
in the south, slate quarrying in the north, and
iron smelting in both. It is coal, the fuel that
powered the Industrial Revolution and the
expansion of the Empire, that the country is
best known, however.
Flooded with workers seeking regular
work in the mines, the south has become an
industrial powerhouse, the sides of the steep
valleys dotted with soot-coated villages whose
inhabitants toil to extract the rich seams of
coal. Here, science has replaced superstition
as the modern world tightens its hold.
In the hinterlands, acceptance of techno-
logical progress has been slow. Isolated by
geography, many villages have yet to be con-
nected to the railway and telegraph systems,
and even the mail service is sporadic. Here the
old ways remain fertile, with tales of strange
creatures and gods long forgotten elsewhere
still told around the hearth.
These stories tell of the Adar Llwch Gwin,
birds that understand the speech of men
and may be related to the Shantaks of the
Dreamlands; the diminutive race that haunts
the central mountains and speaks only in a
strange buzzing; horned beings that cavort in
the dark woods when the moon is fat; the enti-
ties that are neither men nor fish, but some
hideous crossbreed that wade ashore from the
storm-wracked sea to partake in rituals as old
as time itself; and of Morfran, black-skinned
and hideous, who appears to witches to honor
dread pacts.
It is here, in the drab hamlets and villages
that time and progress has passed by, that the
name of Shub-Niggurath is still spoken in re-
vered tones, rites have been passed down for
generations, and blood sacrifices (sometimes
human) are offered to prevent the failure of
harvests.
- Anglesey
Location: North Wales
Eerie Atmosphere: Varies from 0 to –2,
depending on the specific site
Human occupation of Anglesey, a large
island off Wales’ northwest coast, stretches
back into the mists of prehistory. Known to the
native Welsh as Ynys Môn, its name was first
written as Mona by the invading Romans. For
reasons that shall become readily apparent, it
is also known as Ynys Dywyll (“Dark Isle”).
Evidence points to the primitive peoples
of the Stone Age being followers of the Great
Old Ones. Bryn Celli Ddu (“The mound in the
dark grove”) was constructed around 3000
BC. A site of worship, it comprised a henge (a
bank and ditch) and an interior stone circle. At
its heart stood a single pillar—the focal point
of worship. Supposedly engraved with a ser-
pentine design, the image was actually a crude
portrayal of Azathoth.
A millennium after its construction, the old
religion was swept aside. The standing stones
were smashed and the altar stone concealed
inside a chambered mound. The Great Old
Ones were still honored, but it was Shub-Nig-
gurath who now ruled.
Over the next two millennia the cult under-
went a dramatic change. Not only did it spread
to become the dominant religion in Britain and
Gaul, it evolved into the sect history records as
the druids. It would take a global superpower
to stymie its growth and curb is fell activities.
The main intention of the Roman invasion
of Britain was to expand the Empire, thus
securing new natural resources and slaves.
Having conquered the Gauls a century earlier,
the Romans had already witnessed the horrific
truth behind druidism. Anglesey was the seat
of European druidism and the continued ex-
istence of the druids was an affront to all that
was decent. Thus, Anglesey had to be cleansed
of the infestation.
Fanatical adherents of the cult were pre-
pared to stand against the invaders, as recorded
later by Tacitus: “In the style of Furies, in robes
of deathly black and with dishevelled hair,
they brandished their torches; while a circle
of Druids, lifting their hands to heaven and
59
Cthulhu Codicil
Sacred Groves of
Shub-Niggurath
Although describing a site in southern
France, the ancient historian Lucan’s (39-
65 AD) graphic recollection of a nemeton,
or sacred grove, applies more so to those
of Anglesey, the heart of the druidic sect
following the conquest of Gaul.
“No bird nested in the nemeton, nor
did any animal lurk nearby; the leaves
constantly shivered though no breeze
stirred. Altars stood in its midst, and
the images of the gods. Every tree was
stained with sacrificial blood. The very
earth groaned, dead yews revived; un-
consumed trees were surrounded with
flame, and huge serpents twined round
the oaks. The people feared to approach
the grove, and even the priest would not
walk there at midday or midnight lest
he should then meet its divine guard-
ian.”
Whether or not the historical description
is accurate reporting or blatant propa-
ganda intended to show the destruction
of the druidic sects as a necessary act is
irrelevant in Leagues of Cthulhu—in this
setting it is not only fact, but serves as
a fitting description for many outdoor
temples to Shub-Niggurath.
Witnessing a site having the basic de-
scription of strange altars, trees smeared
with blood, and trees entwined by giant
serpents (probably carved images rather
than actual beasts) is enough to warrant
a Difficulty 2 Horror roll.
As for the “divine guardian,” the Game-
master has multiple choices. It may be
a satyr-like Spawn of Shub-Niggurath,
stationed in the grove to safeguard the
site. Alternately, it may be a Dimensional
Shambler, Night-gaunt, or Shoggoth per-
manently bound to service by the will of
the Black Goat. Alternatively, it may be a
unique (and suitably horrific) guardian
spawned from the Gamemaster’s imagi-
nation.
showering imprecations, struck the troops
with such an awe at the extraordinary specta-
cle that, as though their limbs were paralysed,
60
they exposed their bodies to wounds without
an attempt at movement.”
It would take the legions another year to
achieve their aim, and countless cultists were
put to the sword, but they were eventually
successful. The power of the druids over the
people was ultimately shattered forever, but
the old faith was not swiftly forgotten. To-
day, there are small cults across Anglesey, all
offering worship to Shub-Niggurath and her
Thousand Young.
Adventure Seed: The Reverend Samuel
Skinner, the great nephew of the Reverend
John Skinner (1771-1839), a noted amateur
antiquarian, has stumbled across his great-
uncle’s manuscript for Ten Days’ Tour Through
the Isle of Anglesea, a volume penned in 1802
but never published. The text describes Skin-
ner’s visit to numerous archaeological sites,
including Bryn Celli Ddu.
Suspecting the trip to Anglesey had some-
thing to do with the elder Skinner’s later
suicide (he shot himself), Samuel hires the
globetrotters to repeat his relative’s tour and
search for evidence.
- Carmarthen
Location: West Wales
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
The town of Carmarthen (“Fort of Merlin”)
owes its origins to the Romans. An auxiliary for-
tress was constructed here in 75 AD to watch
over the River Towy’s estuary some eight miles
to the south. Before that date, the only place of
occupation was a hill fort, or moridunon (“sea
fortress”) in the Celtic Brittonic language. By
125 AD the fort had been dismantled and the
existing vicus was expanded to become the
civitas town of Moridunum (“Sea Fort”), the
capital of the local Demetae tribe.
Of the Demetae, on whose lands the origi-
nal fort was erected, Roman chroniclers wrote
that they were friendly to the Romans, but their
leaders and priests possessed strange looks,
having wide lips, staring eyes, and wattled
necks. Folklore claims the descendants of the
aristocrats were gods, who rose from the sea to
breed with land dwellers, so establishing the
lordly and religious lines.
 Where Darkness Dwells
The people worshiped a sea god, Llyr Lle-
diaith (“Half-speech”), whom the Romans sub-
sumed into the cult of Neptune. Images of fish
and octopi were soon added into mosaics, as
well as the uniforms of the Roman auxiliaries
stationed there.
A local legend states that the Demetae king
wore a torc of green stone as a sign of his po-
sition and ancestry. Furthermore, the temple
treasury was filled with a fortune in pearls.
When the Roman legions withdrew from Brit-
ain, the priests buried the treasure to protect
it from the growing numbers of bandits. The
favored site of the hoard is Bryn Myrddin
(“Merlin’s Hill”), the site of the old fortress and
from where the modern town takes its name.
Carmarthen’s association with Merlin dates
to the 12th century. Depending on who one
asks, Merlin was either born in the hill fort or
walked out of a cave near the site.
Adventure Seed: After convincing his glo-
betrotting friends to watch a practical example
of divining, the character’s friend offers them
a chance to take part in a treasure hunt for the
“pearls of Moridunum.”
- Coal Mines
Location: Wales
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
The black rock that fuels the British Empire
is abundant beneath the Welsh landscape.
Where humans once picked up coal from sur-
face outcroppings, men have since burrowed
beneath the earth in search of it in ever greater
quantities.
Coal miners are a superstitious lot, and not
without cause—cave-ins and explosions, while
not daily occurrences, are constant hazards.
Yet there are other things that cause miners to
shudder involuntarily and gaze longingly back
toward the distant elevator that is their only
way out of the stygian darkness.
What of the strange striated marks revealed
in exposed coal faces or the green, star-shaped
stones pocked with groups of circular indenta-
tions that miners quickly smash? What of the
strange sounds of some sluggish thing hauling
its ungainly mass that miners speak of only in
hushed tones with their comrades? What of the
miners who stray from the path and are never
seen again, or who are found gibbering about
formless darkness?
Adventure Seed: The Paleontological Soci-
ety is abuzz after being presented with the par-
tial skull of an early hominid. What has divided
the members is the claim that it was uncovered
in a coal seam in South Wales, in rock that was
laid down over 325 million years ago.
- The Desert of Wales
Location: Central Wales
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Wales has no desert, at least not in the
conventional geographical sense. Coined by
an Englishman, the terms refers to a large,
untamed, sparsely inhabited area of central
Wales. A dreary landscape of rolling hills
covered in peat and steep valleys swathed by
oak, there are few footpaths or trails, let alone
anything a globetrotter might consider a road.
What little man-made light exists by night
comes from solitary oil lamps spilling out
from tumbledown cottages in small hamlets
or solitary farmhouses. Strangers are seldom
welcome by the odd inhabitants, not that most
globetrotters hope to converse with the locals,
for here English is a foreign tongue.
Much of the Desert lies within the Cambri-
an Mountains, an upland that stretches down
the spine of the country. No craggy peaks or
towering spires break the horizon, for the
mountains have been worn down by the ages.
The mountains are popular with geologists
and paleontologists, for in the north can be
found sedimentary and volcanic rocks from
the Cambrian (named for the range) and
Ordovician ages, while in the south one finds
Devonian sandstone and Carboniferous Lime-
stone.
Adventure Seed: An amateur geologist
has presented the Leagues with a section of
rock uncovered in the Cambrian Mountains.
Its surface is marked by a triangular striated
depression, about one foot in diameter.
The Paleontological Society believes the
mark may be a fossil of an unidentified species,
while the Prospectors’ Club claims it is a natu-
ral phenomenon. As is often the case when the
61
Cthulhu Codicil
Leagues dispute facts, only an expedition can
resolve the matter.
- Gateholm
Location: Southwest Wales
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Located just around the coast from St.
Bride’s Bay, the small, flat-topped tidal island
of Gateholm is a natural fortress, being acces-
sible only at low tide and even then requiring
a hard climb. Its name is first recorded in 1480
as Goteholme, Old Norse for “Goat Island.”
Conventional wisdom says the name stems
from the fact that farmers grazed their live-
stock here to safeguard them from predators
and thieves.
Untold millions of historic events, some
large and some small, have been forgotten or
were never recorded at all. The fate of a Roman
attack on the Celtic inhabitants of Goat Island
is one such event. History suggests the Romans
made no attempts to conquer the Demetae
tribe, whose lands were located in the south-
west of Wales. The accepted view is that the
tribe quickly made peace with the invaders.
It is true the Romans did get on well with
the Demetae and never saw the need to pacify
their lands, but there were elements on the
western coastal fringes who stubbornly held
to their old beliefs and rejected all attempts to
“civilize” them.
The nearest Roman settlement to Goat
Island was the auxiliary fort at Moridunum
(see Carmarthen above), 40 miles distant,
and which effectively marked the edge of the
Roman Empire in that part of the world during
the late 1st century. Accepting a request for
the friendly Demetae for aid against barbaric
elements worshiping foul gods, the camp tri-
bune despatched 2,000 auxiliaries against the
inhabitants of Goat Island.
Of the handful of men who returned from
the expedition, only one would speak of what
befell his comrades. He spoke of a village in
which stood a statue of a horned goat, its
surface stained black with the blood of untold
sacrifices, of mountains of skulls and simple
turf huts wrapped in sheets of human skin,
and of terrible creatures that were mockeries
62
of men. In order that word should not spread
and demoralize the other men in the fort, the
commander had the survivors executed for
“abandoning their comrades in battle.”
Adventure Seed: It is not unusual for peo-
ple digging in their gardens in certain parts of
the British Isles to unearth Roman artifacts.
The discovery of a wax tablet in a Carmathen
garden (the modern site of Moridunum) has
several Leagues hurrying to fund an expedi-
tion. The tablet, written by camp commander
Prefect Mettius Petronius Siculus, states only
that a force of men were sent against “rene-
gade Demetae barbarians” who lived on the
“island of a hundred huts.”
With no previous record of any military ac-
tion against the Demetae, certain Leagues are
set on following the likely route the soldiers
took and finding the location of any previously
unknown temporary forts or battlefields.
- St. Brides Bay
Location: West Wales
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
A rocky inlet on the southwest coast, St.
Bride’s Bay (Welsh: Bae Sain Ffraid) stretches
from Ramsey Island in the north to Skomer
Island in the south. The sheer-sided sandstone
cliffs that make up much of the bay are riddled
with sea caves, many of which connect to form
a multi-level labyrinth. Local folklore claims
the tunnels extend not only across the open
bay, but also far beneath the sea.
Nestled along the central wild and wind-
swept coast are a handful of villages whose
hardy inhabitants hew coal or farm the turbu-
lent sea for a living. The bulbous-eyed, wat-
tle-necked scions of the oldest fishing families
have long hoisted their nets over the side of
their boats while singing songs whose origins
predate the advent of Christianity.
Located a short distance inland is the small
hamlet of Druidston, named for the inscribed
menhir that stands at a bubbling spring. Ear-
lier antiquarians labeled the stone the Druid
Stone, believing that the spirals, five-pointed
branches, and clusters of circular indentations
were carved by the enigmatic druids.
Whoever carved the images, the stone has
 Where Darkness Dwells
been a focal point for the locals, who shed
blood and cavort in wild frenzy in honor of
Shub-Niggurath in the manner of their rene-
gade Demetae ancestors.
Adventure Seed: The village of Pysgod Ha-
ven (“Fish Haven”), located at the south of the
bay, is a popular seaside resort with bathers. A
friend of one of the globetrotters sends them a
telegram in which he claims he has witnessed
a “sea monster” in the bay. On their arrival, the
globetrotter discovers not only is their friend
missing, but no one claims to remember him.
Something is definitely fishy!
- St. Dogfan’s Abbey
Location: Wales
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Celtic legend speaks of a 5th century king
by the name of Brychan Brycheiniog. Married
three times to “maidens from the sea”—possi-
bly an allusion to their being foreign, since he
also appears in Breton, Cornish, and Irish tra-
ditions—he sired somewhere between a dozen
and 60 children, depending on the source. St.
Dogfan was one of his many sons.
Dogfan’s name (also spelled as Dogwan
and Doewon, among other variant spellings)
appears in various later chronologies. The
stories concerning his life are thus considered
religious folklore rather than historical record.
He supposedly lived in the region of St. Bride’s
Bay, where the miracle of causing fish to leap
into fishermen’s nets is attributed to him.
Although a member of the Celtic church,
Dogfan’s sermons were said to revolve around
the sea. Among his beliefs were that the Savior
would arise from the sea at the time of the
Second Coming, along with his Host.
The Chronicle of Welsh Saints, a 9th cen-
tury manuscript, lists him as the founder of a
coastal abbey but provides no other details.
The saint was martyred and the abbey razed to
the ground by Saxon raiders.
The historical Dogfan was actually a priest
of Dagon. His death came not at the hands of
marauding barbarians but by servants of the
Catholic Church. It is thus a great irony that an
enemy of the Church became adopted as one
of their saints due to a corruption of memory.
Adventure Seed: Arthur Doogan, a noted
folklorist, firmly believes he is a descendant of
St. Dogfan’s sister, Hyddren. A man of com-
fortable wealth, he seeks help in locating and
excavating the saint’s abbey in an attempt to
prove the legends true.
White Island Church
Location: Ireland
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
Lough Erne boasts over 150 islands.
Throughout history, they have served as refug-
es in times of strife and religious centers. On
the shoreline of White Island stand the crum-
bling remains of a small monastery.
When it was constructed and to which saint
it was consecrated is not recorded in the many
annals of Irish history, though vague hints
suggest the monks who lived there performed
rituals not proscribed by the Church and spent
long hours swimming in the cold waters and
blowing trumpets whose sonorous notes car-
ried far on the wind. Scattered across the site,
though long lain flat, are carved stone pillars.
The few antiquarians who have visited the is-
land claim the images represent monks. If this
is true, then there is a family likeness, for all
have thin lips and bulging eyes.
Of the monastery, the Annals of Ulster,
which cover history from 431 to 1540 AD,
tell only that the Vikings, “been of weakened
heart at the sight of the monastery,” sacked
the monastery and either put the occupants to
the sword or carried them away into slavery in
837. Historians have taken this to mean that
the invaders could not resist the opportunity
to plunder the building of its precious objects.
During the late 17th century, the island was
briefing occupied by an unknown religious
sect. The eight inhabitants, all women, were
tried for witchcraft and sentenced to death in
1703. Local folklore recalls that the witches
were first thrown into the lake to drown, but
“through the power of the Devil were able to
breathe the water as if air.” All met their final
doom at the end of a noose.
Adventure Seed: Fear has gripped the
inhabitants of the villages close to White Is-
land. The disappearance of fishermen and the
63
Cthulhu Codicil
sight of flickering lights near the abandoned
monastery at night have led some to believe
the witches’ ghosts have returned to wreak
vengeance on the living.
Windrush Farm
Location: Central southern England
Eerie Atmosphere: 0
The chalk plateau of Salisbury Plain is lit-
tered with stone circles, henges, and barrows.
Who created them is a mystery. Antiquarians
argue that it was the druids or Romans, while
local folklore speaks of a race of men or “little
people” who existed long before the advent of
even time-worn Egypt.
Neither time nor man has been kind to
these monuments of a bygone age. Driven by
superstition that they were the work of the
Devil or the need for building material, many
standing stones have been toppled, buried, or
smashed.
Windrush Farm, located five miles from the
small village of Millbury and the remnants of
its stone circle, was constructed from the rem-
nants of standing stones in the early 18th cen-
tury. Evidence of this is clearly seen in the size
of the stones, which bear curious markings.
The farm was never profitable, the crops
planted in its vicinity growing poorly despite
the fertile soil. Local gossip tells that the last
owner was attacked and killed by a mob in
1734 after a spate of disappearances and sight-
ing of “winged, black devils” and “fiery imps”
near the farm. Parish records are extremely
vague on the matter, saying only that the farm-
er was lynched for “crimes unknown.”
Adventure Seed: An astronomer known to
a globetrotter contacts his friend. In his letter
he tells of how he has retired to the country,
having manage to secure an old farm for a very
reasonable price. He very much looks forward
to the globetrotter coming to visit.
No matter how soon the globetrotter takes
up the offer, the friend has vanished. His disap-
pearance coincides with the appearance of a
comet with a period of 11,000 years—making
it last seen by human eyes at the end of the
last Ice Age, when Atlantis sank beneath the
waves.
64
Ocean Floor
K’naa
Mythos Tale: Out of the Aeons (H. P. Love-
craft and Hazel Heald)
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
It matters not whether it was the works
of Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg
(1814-1874) or Augustus Le Plongeon (1826-
1908) that brought the existence of Mu, a lost
continent, to the public imagination, or that
scientists dismiss their findings.
That Mu existed, was inhabited by humans
possessed of an advanced culture, and was
subsequently submerged beneath the Pacific
Ocean by catastrophe is historical fact. While
certain modern works, most notably von
Juntz’s horrific Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten,
make passing reference to it, word of Mu has
been passed down through eldritch lore and
ancient cults for millennia.
K’naa was a kingdom or province of that
great continent. It flourished during the late
Pleistocene, in an age when savage hominids
ruled elsewhere. These elder humans were
not the first race to live here, for K’naa was
dotted with ruins that predated their arrival by
millions of years.
Of these ruins, the greatest was a fortress
of Cyclopean stones perched on the basalt
heights of Mount Yaddith-Gho. Although the
original craftsmen, the alien Fungi from Yug-
goth, had long since departed Mu, they left be-
hind a profane monstrosity—Ghatanothoa—in
the sunless crypts beneath the mighty fortress.
Mu is now lost beneath the ocean, the con-
tinent have cracked apart with titanic force as
waves higher than mountains pummeled it and
lightning rent the land. As evidenced by the tale
of Captain Weatherbee (see Cabot Museum of
Archaeology in Leagues of Cthulhu), though,
K’naa has periodically surfaced from the briny
depths. Woe to those who dare to brave the
colossal barnacle-encrusted, slime-covered, and
weed-draped ruins, though, for Ghatanothoa
the Eternal still haunts those dread crypts.
Adventure Seed: Instead of using the Cabot
 Where Darkness Dwells
Museum adventure seed as written, that seed
can it itself become a seed for a new adventure.
The Cabot Museum’s intended expedition fell
at the first hurdle, when the expedition leader
was found brutally murdered (exsanguinated)
the day before the ship set sail. The Museum is
offering a reward for solving the murder.
1890s Comets
Comets have long been seen as bring-
ers of misfortune and destruction. For
the Gamemaster, these passing balls of
ice and dust (a fact not yet known in the
1890s) are a handy tool, for as “roving
stars” they might bring the stars into the

Other Worlds right patterns to aid the Great Old Ones

and their minions.
The dates below are for perihelion—the
comet’s closest approach to the sun. The
period shows the number of years that will
Algol pass before the comet’s next appearance.
Location: Milky Way
Horror Rating: 8 Long-Period Comets
Known to astronomers since the days of
These celestial objects have an orbital pe-
the Ancient Egyptians, the name of this celes-
riod between 200 and 1000 years.
tial object comes from the Arabic ra’s al-ghul,
and is usually translated as the “Demon Star.” Name Date Return
Hebrew folklore records it as Rosh ha Satan Gale 13 Apr 94 2852
(“Satan’s Head”). It has widely been considered Perrine 17 Mar 98 2317
an unfortunate star, associated with bloody
violence and death by decapitation.
Despite appearances, Algol is not actually Near-parabolic Comets
a star (actually a binary star). Rather, it is a Comets in this class have longer periods
monstrous, demonic intelligence composed between appearances. With a little fudg-
entirely of energy. It is worshipped by the Ce- ing, the Gamemaster can tie some of
lestial Order of Algol, a small but fanatical cult these to historical events.
For instance, Comet Zona’s previous ap-
that offers human sacrifice when the “star” is
pearance was roughly as the end of the
visible in the northern sky.
last Ice Age, when Atlantis supposedly
sank and work began on the temple at Gö-
Kynath bekli Tepe. Comet Brooks was (possibly)
in the sky when the volcanic island Thera
Location: Beyond the orbit of Yuggoth exploded, causing devastation across the
Eerie Atmosphere: –4 Eastern Mediterranean. The first Venus
figurines are carved some 42,000 years
Beyond the reach of even the most advanced
ago, corresponding with Comet Rordame-
telescopes, beyond even the orbit of far-flung Quénisset’s visit.
Yuggoth, lies Kynath. Save for the eerie piping of
the wind and the gentle lapping of its fluid metal Name Date Period
sea on the barren, rocky shores, Kynath is a silent Denning 25 Sep 90 61,030
world. Once, it served as a colony for the Fungi Zona 7 Aug 91 11,040
from Yuggoth, yet even those inhuman miners
Swift 7 Apr 92 23,020
dared not delve too deep in search of riches.
What they unleashed has been struck from Rordame- 7 Jul 93 44,150
their race memory, such was its abhorrence. All Quénisset
they recall is that to venture to Kynath is to in- Brooks 19 Sep 93 3,520
vite certain death, for whatever profane being Chase 20 Sep 98 315,460
they unearthed still haunts the planet—and it
is hungry.

65
Cthulhu Codicil
Kythamil
Location: Milky Way
Eerie Atmosphere: –4
The remnants of a double planet circling
the bright star Arcturus in the constellation
of Boötes. What fate befell it is unknown, but
it occurred after the plastic, formless Black
Spawn migrated through the heavens to wor-
ship at the feet of Tsathoggua in N’kai.
Mars
Location: Solar System
Eerie Atmosphere: –2
Thanks to the work of Percival Lowell,
maps of Mars have been available to view
since 1894. While his fellow astronomers are
skeptical of Lowell’s claims that Mars supports
intelligent life the public considers this an ex-
citing development. Only a few humans know
for sure that Mars is inhabited by intelligent,
hostile beings.
While astronomers have seen the Martian
canals during their observations, and more
than a few agree with Lowell that the planet
has vegetation and water, not even the most
ardent scholar suspects that the dark patches
on the surface are, in fact, sprawling cities of
basalt that date from long before the rising of
the current Martian race.
In eons past, the alien Flying Polyps made
their home on Mars, raising those black cities
of cyclopean blocks. At some distant point, they
were defeated by the ancestors of the Martians,
themselves possibly interlopers from a remote
star. Their cities were abandoned, the survivors
descending deep into the earth or fleeing Mars
for a new life on its neighbor, Earth.
Neptune
Location: Solar System
Eerie Atmosphere: –1
Even with the most powerful telescopes yet
known to science, Neptune is little more than
a faint, blue orb. With a keen eye, one might
be able to see clouds scudding across the sky.
Given its color, the first suggested name after
its discovery in 1846 was Oceanus.
66
The streaking clouds, however, are not wa-
ter vapor, but colonies of hellish, white fungi.
Possessed of only rudimentary intelligence,
they float across the immense ocean, grasping
anything foolish enough to cross their path
with crude pseudopods and absorbing it into
their bloated, pulsating mass.
Yaddith
Mythos Tale: Through the Gates of the
Silver Key (H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann
Price)
Location: Distant galaxy
Eerie Atmosphere: –2
Far from the insignificant mote of cosmic
dust that is Earth, in a distant galaxy that was
old long before the ember that was the Sun
first spewed forth light, lies the planet Yaddith
and the five suns around which it revolves.
Intelligent life has existed here for eons
in the form of wrinkled, partially-scaled in-
sect-like beings whose arms end in terrible
claws and whose faces are given odd form by a
bulbous snout.
As befits their near-timeless origins, the
Yaddithians possess an understanding of
science many magnitudes above that of hu-
manity. Through the use of metallic light-beam
envelopes they have travelled far across the
universe, though such is the distance from
their home-world that they have not yet en-
countered the Milky Way, let alone Earth.
In their labyrinthine, metal-walled cities
stand dozens of vast libraries, a testament
to the accumulated lore they have gathered
across 28 galaxies and 10,000 worlds, some of
which no longer harbor life.
Despite their advanced science, the natives
exist in a perilous state, for Yaddith is riddled
with tunnels bored by the greatly feared Bholes
(see The Dreamlands: Realm of Morpheus for
details). Where science has failed, the Yaddith-
ians have had to revert to arcane measures to
keep the Bholes in their nightmarish subterra-
nean realm. Prophecies foretell that the Bholes
will destroy Yaddith, but until that day dawns
the natives continue to utter the potent spells
of warding and submission while seeking a
ritual that will destroy the Bholes forever.
 Chapter Four:
Gods, Monsters,
and Cultists
“There are horrors beyond life’s edge that
we do not suspect, and once in a while man’s
evil prying calls them just within our range.”
—H. P. Lovecraft, The Thing on the Door-
step
Lesser Gods
Aelologgtho
Horror Rating: 2
Born at the dawn of the universe, the green
flame Aelologgtho is a living entity, albeit one
that possesses no mind as humans could com-
prehend. Not even those wise in the elder lore
know its origin or nature, but it is certainly not
a Great Old One, for they are fortunately few
in number.
Nebulous in form, and often accompanied
by the blasphemous Courtiers of Azathoth, it
might be one of the Daemon Sultan’s avatars,
a spawn of some unholy birthing of that most
eldritch god, or perhaps related in some way
to the mysterious Fire Mist that men know of
only through its fiery offspring.
The entity has no capacity for speech, and
aside from accepting sacrifices, appears to have
no interest in mankind. Those foolish enough
to step into its flame are never seen again,
though whether they are incinerated or trans-
ported to another dimension is unknown.
It is mentioned only once in eldritch lore,
within the little-known book called The Festi-
val. Written in 1823, it is supposedly a true sto-
ry of rites performed by witches in Kingsport,
Massachusetts. The text, written in the form of
a narrative, speaks of a “belching column of
sick greenish flame.” Oddly, the tome also de-
scribes a cavern, a dark lake, and weird fungus.
If this is true, then perhaps Aelologgtho can
not only be summoned to distant shores, but
can overlay his lair on top of existing reality. Of
course, it is possible the author heard of the
ancient rite from some long forgotten means
and merely transplanted it to a different land
in his writing.
Associated Rituals: Call Aelologgtho,
Commune Aelologgtho
The Fire Mist
Horror Rating: 6
Whether or not mankind’s distant ancestors
ever worshipped fire shall never be known. It
is certainly true that fire was venerated in more
recent times, as evidenced by Zoroastrianism.
What few scholars realize is that the various
fire religions are descended from an older and
darker faith.
In times long past, a vast idiotic entity
known as the Fire Mist swept through the
Solar System on its unending journey through
the universe. Descending from its nebulous
mass, a number of its offspring found their way
to earth, where they encountered the inhabi-
tants of now-lost Lemuria. To those prepared
67
Cthulhu Codicil
to accept them, they taught much elder lore
before retreating once more into the heavens.
As its name suggest, the Fire Mist is a nebu-
lous maelstrom of fire. Rarely is it summoned
to Earth, for its mere presence is enough to set
fire to vegetation and inflict hideous burns on
animals within a 50 foot radius. In game terms,
anyone within the Fire Mist’s proximity suffers
4L caustic fire damage per combat round.
Associated Rituals: Call Fire Mist, Com-
mune Fire Mist, Summon Child of the Fire
Mist
Horrors
Beast of K’n-yan
Known to the inhabitants of K’n-yan as
gyaa-yothn, the Beasts are used as mounts by
the ruling class and beasts of burden by the
slave class. Their forelegs end in rudimentary
fingers, enabling them to carry objects while
walking in a lumbering bipedal stance. The
“hands” are too chubby for fine work.
Primarily quadrupedal, they have enormous
flabby bodies with black fur on their backs and
a short, horn-like growth protruding from
their foreheads. Carnivorous, they feast on the
special slave-class reared for meat in K’n-yan.
They are not natural creatures, but are the
descendants of animals found roaming free
in red-litten Yoth. These were later crossbred
with humanoid slaves from K’n-yan. Behind
the flat noses and bulging lips, their faces have
elements that are all too human in nature.
Reaction to Summoning: Beasts of K’n-
yan can be summoned only when within that
subterranean realm. Beasts are good only for
riding, pulling heavy loads, or carrying goods.
These tasks they perform without reticence.
Beast of K’n-Yan
Follower 1
Archetype: Animal; Motivation: Survival;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 5, Dexterity 2,
68
Strength 5, Charisma 0, Intelligence 0, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 1, Move 7 (14)*,
Perception 4, Initiative 2, Defense 6, Stun 5,
Health 8, Horror 3
Skills: Athletics 6, Brawl 6, Stealth 4**, Sur-
vival 5
Talents: Alertness (+2 Perception rating)
Resources: —
Flaws: Bestial (Cannot speak or use tools)
Weapons: Bite 0N
* Double their Move when running.
** Beasts of K’n-yan have a –1 Size penalty to
Stealth rolls.
Easy Gait: Beasts have a clumsy though
even gait, making them especially easy to ride
even without a saddle. A rider gains +2 to Ride
rolls when mounted on one.
Child of the Fire Mist
Children of the Fire Mist are balls of living
fire some 8” across. They are highly intelligent
entities, though their ability to communicate
with humans is extremely limited. In order to
impart their wisdom, they must first enter a
host’s body. Once this is done, they flash men-
tal images into their host’s mind. Despite their
fiery nature, possession causes the host no in-
jury, though their faces glow with an unearthly
radiance. (It is for this reason many fire cultists
wear face veils.)
The Children also have a malicious side.
Once inside a host, they can emit heat so fierce
it causes the victim to spontaneously combust.
Despite the intensity of the heat, surrounding
materials are rarely more than lightly singed by
proximity to the blazing body.
Reaction to Summoning: Children of the
Fire Mist are capable of understanding human
speech, though they cannot converse save
through possession. Unless a magician quickly
states the service the Child is to perform, it
attempts to possess them. Children of the Fire
Mist are prepared to serve as tutors or assassins.
Child of the Fire Mist
Ally 1
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Archetype: Alien Academic; Motivation: Sur-
vival; Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 1, Dexterity 4,
Strength 0, Charisma 0, Intelligence 4, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size –4, Move 0 (Fly
8), Perception 7, Initiative 8, Defense 9, Stun
1, Health 2, Horror 2
Skills: Elder Lore 8, Empathy 8, Stealth 10*
Talents: Robust (+2 Health rating)
Resources: —
Flaws: Alien (Cannot speak or use tools)
Weapons: Special (see below)
* Children of the Fire Mist have a +4 Size bo-
nus to Stealth rolls, but only in well lit areas.
In areas of darkness, they have no bonus.
Alien Form: Children of the Fire Mist are
totally immune to physical weapons, blessed
or mundane. Their only weakness is water,
which is anathema to their existence. Each
squirt from a soda siphon inflicts 1L caustic
damage, while a bucket of water or sand causes
1L caustic area effect damage.
Possession: To enter a host, a Child of the
Fire Mist merely need touch it. Against an un-
willing target, this requires a touch attack, with
the entity using its Dexterity x 2 opposed by
the Active Defense of its intended victim.
- Elder Lore: A globetrotter who accepts
possession by a Child of the Fire Mist can
spend general Experience points to boost his
Elder Lore Skill. This can be done only while
the entity is present.
- Spontaneous Combustion: Instead of
imparting wisdom to a host, the Child can gen-
erate tremendous heat. This inflicts 3L damage
each combat turn and is a caustic area of effect
attack.
Radiate Heat: A Child can increase the air
temperature around it to levels hot enough to
burn flesh and ignite inanimate objects. Any
object within 5 feet of the Child takes 1L dam-
age. This is a caustic area of effect attack.
Child of Yig
Yig, Father of Snakes, has been known to
bless worshippers by impregnating their wom-
enfolk with his abominable seed. He has also
undertaken this act as a means of punishing
transgressors. In all cases, the resulting child
has many of their father’s features.
Most exhibit common traits—utterly hair-
less bodies, flattened facial features, and small,
unblinking black eyes. Other traits include
scaly skin and enlarged canine teeth. Many
Children of Yig cannot speak, but instead
produce a hissing more commonly associated
with snakes.
Children sent as a curse are rarely loved by
their parents. Those not killed at birth (an act
sure to raise Yig’s ire to new heights) may be
sold to freak shows or incarcerated in asylums
for the remainder of their days.
Reaction to Summoning: Sired by a god
they might be, but Children of Yig are counted as
human and cannot be summoned with magic.
Child of Yig
Ally 1
Archetype: Unholy Hybrid; Motivation: Sur-
vival; Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Per-
ception 4 (8), Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2,
Health 4, Horror 2
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Intimidation 4,
Stealth 4, Survival 4
Talents: Keen Sense (+4 smell-based Percep-
tion rating)
Resources: —
Flaws: Disfigured (–2 penalty on all rolls
where appearance is a factor)
Weapons: Punch 4N
Blood of Yig: Children of Yig receive a +2
bonus to Casting rolls when invoking Call Yig,
Commune Yig, and Summon Serpent Man.
Courtier of Azathoth
The court of the Dread Sultan is as chaotic
as the idiotic blind god that sits on the throne.
Around his seat of power swirl amorphous
dancers, while musicians produce a cacopho-
ny using whistles, pipes, and drums. Possessed
69
Cthulhu Codicil
of fluid form, these blasphemous courtiers are
best described as being something akin to a
frog, octopus, and jellyfish all at once.
The standard tunes played by these repul-
sive entities is alien to human ears, but not
especially harmful. They can, however, switch
to tunes capable of placing mortals in a light
trance, fixing them to the spot in terror, and
even driving listeners insane.
Reaction to Summoning: Courtiers exist
for only one purpose—to make music pleasing
to the alien senses of their deranged master.
Fortunately for mortals, the alien musicians
are prepared to alter their tunes to attract the
notice of specific beings.
Courtier of Azathoth
Follower 3*
Archetype: Alien Artist; Motivation: Survival;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 4, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma (4)**, Intelligence 2,
Willpower 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 4, Defense 6, Stun 4, Health
7, Horror 5
Skills: Athletics 8, Brawl 8, Intimidation 9,
Performance 9
Talents: Captivate (Can temporarily entrance
opponents), Fearsome (Can temporarily fright-
en opponents), Skilled Assistant (Provides a
+4 Teamwork bonus; see below)
Resources: —
Rituals: Courtiers know all Summon rituals
Flaws: Alien (Cannot speak or use tools other
than their instruments)
Weapons: Tentacle slap 8N
* Courtiers of Azathoth are treated as Follower
1 for the purpose of the Summon Courtier of
Azathoth ritual.
** Charisma is used only to determine the
Courtier’s Intimidation & Performance ratings.
Alien Form: The alien nature of a Courtier
renders it immune to non-magical weapons.
Rituals inflict injury as normal, as can acid,
electricity, and fire.
Music of Azathoth: Each Courtier present
grants a magician a +2 Teamwork bonus when
casting any Call, Commune, or Summon ritual.
70
Tune of Terror: Courtiers can produce
tunes so discordant they can shred the minds
of mortals. This functions as the Fear ritual,
except the Courtier uses Performance as its
Casting roll.
Denizen of the Nameless
City
Deep within the bowels of the Nameless
City, in sarcophagi of wood and glass, lie the last
of its builders. Whether they are dead or merely
in torpor is as yet unknown, for no explorer has
walked the echoing halls. It may be they exist
in a state in between life for death, for the mad
Arab Abdul Alhazred wrote of the Nameless City,
“That is not dead which can eternal lie, And
with strange aeons even death may die.”
No book save the Necronomicon speaks of
the Denizens, and even then it is only in cryptic
verse. Thus, the origins of this unnamed race
remain a mystery. They may, like other races,
have descended from the stars. On the other
hand, it is entirely possible they originated on
earth, a precursor to humanity.
Regardless, they are relatively small quad-
rupeds, measuring around five feet in length.
They are distinctly reptilian, though their fore-
limbs are reminiscent of human hands. Their
heads are their most hideous aspect, having
a pronounced forehead, horns, no nose, and
jaws not unlike an alligator.
That they are intelligent is evidenced not
only by the grand city they erected on a shore-
line now consumed by desert sands, but by
the clothes and jewelry with which they were
interred. Although learned in architecture,
and once possessing mercantile skills sound
enough to make their city a trading hub, there
is no evidence the Denizens developed any-
thing more than rudimentary technology.
Save for disease and injury, the Denizens of
the Nameless City are nearly immortal. Their
lives are measured in millennia, and death can
be staved off indefinitely by entering a state
not unlike hibernation.
Reaction to Summoning: Given they are
unknown to the outer world, the Summon
Denizen of the Nameless City ritual should be Reaction to Summoning: Feasters are
extremely rare. If the Gamemaster desires, the perpetually hungry. A magician who provides
race could merely be slumbering, so casting a summoned creature with a human sacrifice
the ritual could awaken a small number. Given can earn its cooperation for a short period.
the remote location of their lair, they are most Typically, Feasters agree to perform only a sin-
unlikely to bother venturing out in search of gle task—to feast on living creatures.
whoever disturbed their sleep (which is fortu-
nate for the magician). Feaster from the Stars
Denizen of the Nameless City Follower 2
Archetype: Alien; Motivation: Survival;
Ally 2 Style: 1
Archetype: Alien; Motivation: Survival; Primary Attributes: Body 4, Dexterity 3,
Style: 1 Strength 5, Charisma 1, Intelligence 1, Will-
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 2, power 3
Strength 4, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will- Secondary Attributes: Size 1, Move 8, Percep-
power 2 tion 4, Initiative 6, Defense 6, Stun 4, Health
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Per- 10, Horror — (4 if seen)
ception 4, Initiative 4, Defense 5 (7)*, Stun 4, Skills: Athletics 10, Brawl 10, Stealth 6*
Health 7, Horror 3
Skills: Academics: History 5, Athletics 5, Brawl
5, Diplomacy 4, Empathy 4, Intimidation 5,
Stealth 5
Talents: Iron Jaw (+1 Stun rating), Robust
(+2 Health rating)
Resources: —
Flaws: Primitive (–2 penalty on any Skill roll
related to modern technology)
Weapons: Punch 5N, Bite 5L
* Scaly skin gives a +2 Passive Defense bonus.

Feaster from the Stars

Whether Feasters from the Stars live in the
cold expanse of outer space or on some distant
world orbiting a nameless sun is unknown,
for while they can understand human speech,
they cannot converse in return. The appear-
ance of these mysterious beings is known
to only a small few sorcerers, the creatures
being naturally invisible to human eyes. The
descriptions that exist are vague, speaking of
them only in terms of rending claws, grasping
tentacles, crunching beaks, and pulsating sacs
with the appearance of human brains.
Among those versed in elder lore, it is
widely agreed that a Feaster from the Stars was
responsible for the death of Abdul Alhazred,
author of the Al-Azif.

71
Cthulhu Codicil
Talents: Quick Reflexes (+2 Initiative rating),
Robust (+2 Health rating)
Resources: —
Flaws: Alien (Cannot speak or use tools)
Weapons: Grapple 10, Bite 11L, Crush 10N
Invisibility: Feasters are naturally invisi-
ble. Unless under the effects of a Voorish Sign
or Powder of Ibn Ghazi, rolls to detect and
then attack them are subject to a –8 penalty.
Rend: A Feaster’s preferred method of
attack is to grapple an opponent and then, on
subsequent rounds, tear its victim apart using
its several beaks.
* Have a –1 Size penalty to Stealth rolls.
The Hound
Woe to those foolish enough to steal one of
the repulsive jade amulets worn by the canni-
bal cult of forbidden Leng (see p. 166), for they
are protected by a terrible curse. When sum-
moned by the theft of an amulet, the Hound’s
only reaction is to hunt down and slaughter
the perpetrator, and return the amulet to its
rightful owner.
The presence of the Hound is first heard
as a spectral baying on the night wind. Initial-
ly the sound is faint, as if originating a great
distance away. Slowly but surely the volume
increases as the Hound draws ever nearer its
doomed target.
The Hound takes the form of an enormous
black dog with batlike wings protruding from
its back. It is a relentless hunter and has no
concept of mercy. Once it reaches its prey it at-
tacks without warning, rapidly reducing them
to a quivering mass of cracked bones and strips
of bleeding flesh.
Reaction to Summoning: No Summon
Hound ritual exists. It cannot be bargained or
reasoned with.
The Hound
Follower 2
Archetype: Alien; Motivation: Preservation;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 5, Charisma 0, Intelligence 1, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 8 (Fly
16)*, Perception 4, Initiative 4, Defense 6, Stun
3, Health 6, Horror 4
Skills: Brawl 10, Stealth 8, Survival 6
Talents: Flurry 2 (Can attack same opponent
twice at no penalty)
Resources: —
Flaws: Bestial (Cannot speak or use tools)
Weapons: Bite 11L, Claw 11L
* Creatures with four or more legs double
their Move rating when running.
Alien Form: The Hound is immune to all
physical damage, including blessed weapons.
Other rituals inflict damage as normal.
Relentless Hunter: Slaying the Hound
provides only temporary reprieve. The next
sunset, it returns to the hunt fully healed. The
only way to escape the hunt is to return the
stolen amulet to its rightful owner.
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Serpent Man
Within the mold-stained pages of certain
books of elder lore is mentioned Valusia, a lost
continent that existed before the rise of the dino-
saurs. This ancient land, it is said, was ruled by a
race of Serpent Men. Cruel and cunning, wise in
the ways of alchemy and magic, they could not
prevent the destruction of their ancestral home-
land and the collapse of their mighty empire.
Here the elder lore varies. One tale speaks
of how the Serpent Men sought refuge in Yoth,
where they constructed a new city. This attempt
at creating a new civilization was brought low
by Yig, for his once-devout servants had turned
to the worship of foul Tsathoggua. The ac-
count ends with the Serpent Men fleeing Yoth
for sanctuary beneath Mount Voormithadret,
which stood on doomed Hyperborea.
Other stories have the Serpent Men scatter-
ing to the dense jungles of what is now India
and Indochina. Here they were worshipped by
primitive humans, who gave the Serpent Men
the title “naga.” Mankind eventually rose up
to overthrow the abominations, forcing them
to find refuge in deep caves, where, so legend
insists, they remain to this day.
Serpent Men appear to be a blasphemous
hybrid of serpent and human—upright,
ophidian, and having two arms and legs.
Their fingers and toes are tipped with sharp
talons and long fangs extend from their upper
jaw. Their sense of smell is so acute it allows
them to deduce human emotions by means of
pheromones. They prefer to cover their forms
in heavy, hooded robes.
Reaction to Summoning: A Serpent Man
is most likely to answer a summons in disguise.
Treated with respect, Serpent Men are happy
to share their knowledge of alchemy and magic
with humans. The deal must be a like-for-like
transaction, though, for Serpent Men are keen
to increase their knowledge.
Serpent Man
Ally 2
Archetype: Alien; Motivation: Survival;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 1 (2)*, Intelligence 3,
Willpower 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 6 (10), Initiative 5, Defense 5 (6)**, Stun
3, Health 6, Horror 3
Skills: Academics: History 5, Brawl 5, Diplo-
macy 3 (4), Elder Lore 4, Empathy 6, Investi-
gation 4, Linguistics 4, Science: Chemistry 5,
Stealth 5
Talents: Keen Sense (+4 scent-based Percep-
tion rating), Skill Aptitude (+2 Empathy rating)
Resources: —
Rituals: Serpent Men know at least four rituals
of the Gamemaster’s choosing
Flaws: Animal Antipathy (–2 penalty on any
roll relating to animals)
Weapons: Bite 6L, Claw 6L
* When disguised as a human, Serpent Men
have Charisma 2 for the purposes of social in-
teraction only. Changes to Skills are indicated
in parentheses.
** Scales grant it +1 Passive Defense.
Disguise: All Serpent Men know a ritual
that shrouds them in the illusory form of an
ordinary-looking human. The ritual remains in
effect for one day per success on the Casting
roll, but can be dropped, revealing the crea-
ture’s true form, as a free action.
Hypnotize: By staring into an opponent’s
eyes, a Serpent Man can place them in a light
trance. This functions as the Captivate Talent,
except the Serpent Man uses its Willpower x 2
in place of Performance.
Venom: After a successful bite attack, a
Serpent Man injects venom into its victim. A
poisoned character makes a Body roll against
a Toxin rating of 3. If the character fails this
roll, he takes one point of nonlethal damage
for each point by which he failed the roll.
Warrior Caste: Not all Serpent Men are
scholars. A member of the warrior caste drops
Investigation and Linguistics in favor of Melee
5. It is armed with a scimitar (3L).
Star-Spark (Swarm)
Star-Sparks (the only name by which they
are recorded) inhabit the void between the
stars. Individually, they are minute creatures,
73
Cthulhu Codicil
no larger than a flea and incapable of harming
other creatures. Star-Sparks rarely travel alone,
though, but instead clump together in swarms
measuring several feet across. When present
on earth, the glowing cloud they form is often
referred to by observers as ball-lightning.
An individual Star-Spark has a dim-intellect,
but together they form a hive mind with greatly
heightened intelligence. The hive is capable of
high-pitched, buzzing speech.
Star-Sparks summoned to earth are unable
to depart back to their airless realm until they
have built-up sufficient energy. This they do
through electrocuting victims and draining
their life force. Once they have inflicted a total
of 10L damage, they disappear in a tremendous
thunderclap and brilliant flash.
Reaction to Summoning: Star-Sparks
seek only to return to the expansive heavens.
A sorcerer of sufficient persuasiveness or
intimidating voice can convince the swarm
to attack a target of his choosing. Failure to
convince them quickly sees them turn on the
summoner.
Star-Spark (Swarm)
Follower 1
Archetype: Monster; Motivation: Survival;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 0, Dexterity 5,
Strength 0, Charisma 0, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 5
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5 (Fly
10), Perception 7, Initiative 7, Defense 5, Stun
N/A, Health 13*, Horror 3
Skills: Brawl 10
Talents: Finesse Attack (Uses Dexterity with
Brawl)
Resources: None
Flaws: Bestial (Can’t speak or use tools)
Weapons: Electrical discharge 3L caustic
* Immune to nonlethal damage and cannot
be stunned.
Alien Form: Star-Sparks are totally immune
to physical weapons, blessed or mundane. Their
only weakness is damaging area-effect rituals.
Electric Shock: Star-Sparks attack using
a touch attack that delivers a powerful elec-
trical shock. Targets may use only their Active
74
Defense to avoid this. A Star-Spark delivers 3L
caustic damage with a successful attack.
Tcho-Tcho
Indigenous to Indo-China, the Tcho-Tcho
are an abominable race. Once human, centuries
of inbreeding and participation in cannibalistic
rites have caused them to become degenerate
savages. The Tcho-Tcho have long worshipped
the Great Old Ones, with particular homage
paid to Yig and Shub-Niggurath.
Formerly found only in Burma, they were
first encountered by Europeans in the early
19th century, though talk of their wickedness
was already commonplace from interaction
with friendlier tribes. The first Westerners to
record any information about the Tcho-Tcho
was an expedition sponsored by the British
East India Company.
Disgusted at the contents of their first-hand
report, the Company, in the guise of preventing
Burmese expansion, launched a series of wars
intended to eradicate the Tcho-Tcho. Many of
the vile cannibals were slaughtered, but far
more melted away into the dense jungle.
Little remains of their former civilization
save one or two ruined cities. Constructed
in ages past, before the Tcho-Tcho fell to de-
generacy, their walls were smashed and their
snake-headed idols toppled by the British.
Reaction to Summoning: Tcho-Tcho can-
not be summoned through rituals.
Tcho-Tcho Tribesman
Follower 1
Archetype: Cultist; Motivation: Survival;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 1, Intelligence 1, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 3, Initiative 3, Defense 5, Stun 3, Health
7, Horror 1
Skills: Archery 4, Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Melee 4,
Stealth 4, Survival 4
Talents: Robust (+2 Health rating)
Resources: None
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Flaws: Primitive (–2 penalty on any Skill roll
related to modern technology; +1 Style point
whenever their primitive nature hampers them
or causes trouble)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Bow 6L, Hand axe 6L
Tcho-Tcho Priest
Follower 2
Archetype: Cultist; Motivation: Faith; Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 4, Defense 5, Stun 3, Health
6, Horror 1
Skills: Athletic 4, Brawl 4, Elder Lore: Crea-
tures 4, Elder Lore: Great Old Ones 4, Elder
Lore: Locations 4, Intimidation 6, Stealth 4,
Survival 4
Talents: Fearsome (Can temporarily frighten
opponents)
Resources: Status 1 (Tcho-Tcho priest; +2
Social bonus)
Rituals: Call Yig, Commune Shub-Niggurath,
Commune Yig, Summon Spawn of Yig, Sum-
mon Spawn of Shub-Niggurath
Flaws: Primitive (–2 penalty on any Skill roll
related to modern technology; +1 Style point
whenever their primitive nature hampers them
or causes trouble)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Bow 7L, Hand axe 7L
The Unnamable
Leering over the old burial ground in
Arkham, where the moldering remains of the
great and good rest side-by-side with those
whose lives amounted to nothing more than a
brief flicker of hope, is a deserted house erect-
ed in the 17th century.
No one has entered the house since it
was abandoned. Its last owner was an elderly,
embittered man. Tales passed down through
Arkham’s superstitious generations tell of
things seen at the windows, and of injuries of
horns, hooves, and paws inflicted on unfortu-
nates who chose to ride past the house at night.
Before the man died, he erected a blank
slab in the graveyard, though none knew to
what purpose. Stranger still, the old man was
buried in the crypt of his house, having first
placed a sturdy padlock on the attic door. That
the house was now deserted did not stop talk
of noises emanating from that lofty chamber.
The last person to venture near the building
was a young lad, a curious souls whose insis-
tence of peering through the attic window was
rewarded with insanity.
That something haunted the house was
evident, but no accurate description was ever
formed. In some tales, it was possessed of horns
and hooves, perhaps akin to the Devil whose
witch-cult once terrorized Arkham. Others spoke
of it as gelatinous, with ever-changing forms.
Reaction to Summoning: The fiend cannot
be invoked using the Summon (Horror) ritual.
The Unnamable
Follower 3
Archetype: Monster; Motivation: Survival;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 5, Dexterity 3,
Strength 5, Charisma 1, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 7, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 4, Defense 7, Stun 5, Health
10, Horror 5
Skills: Athletics 10, Brawl 10, Intimidation 6,
Stealth 7
Talents: Flurry 2 (May attack same opponent
twice at no penalty), Robust (+2 Health rating)
Resources: None
Flaws: Bestial (Can’t speak or use tools)
Weapons: Claws 11L, Hooves 10N, Horns 11L
Mundane Beasts
Penguin, Giant Albino
Standing between seven and eight feet tall,
these grotesque birds are the largest of all pen-
guin breeds. Descended over millions of years
from the elder penguins who once inhabited
Antarctica, and found only in the eons-old,
75
Cthulhu Codicil
frost-encrusted ruins of the Elder Thing’s
abandoned and night-cloaked city, they are
completely blind and suffer from albinism.
Reaction to Summoning: As mundane,
albeit highly unusual, animals, giant albino
penguins cannot be summoned through the
Summon Horror ritual. The Summon Beast
ritual affects them as normal.
Penguin, Giant Albino
Follower 1
Archetype: Animal; Motivation: Survival;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 4, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 0, Intelligence 0, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 1, Move 5 (Swim
10), Perception 2 (6), Initiative 2, Defense 5,
Stun 5, Health 7, Horror 2
Skills: Brawl 6, Stealth 4*, Survival 4
Talents: Keen Sense (+4 hearing-based Per-
ception rolls)
Resources: —
Flaws: Bestial (Cannot speak or use tools), Blind
(Automatically fails any roll requiring sight)
Weapons: Peck 6L
* Giant albino penguins suffer a –1 Size pen-
alty on Stealth rolls.
Cults
Arkham Witch-Cult
When people speak of witch-haunted
Arkham, they are not being poetic or fanciful.
Since at least the early days of the 17th centu-
ry, a coven of witches has gathered to practice
their fell arts and give praise to the Black Man,
an avatar of Nyarlathotep.
Initiates into the aged witch-cult are required
to stand before the Black Man and sign their
name in blood in the book of Azathoth. They
then receive a secret name, one to be used only
among those who worship the Great Old Ones.
Under cover of darkness, they chant praise
to Azathoth and Shub-Niggurath, practice
76
dread rites passed down from elder times,
dance wildly around blazing bonfires to insane
piping, and offer sacrifices of black cockerels,
black goats, and human children. Where once
they worshipped on an island in the Miskaton-
ic River, the cult now meets in a dark ravine
beyond Meadow Hill, where stands a curious
white stone about which no vegetation grows.
The numbers three and 13 are important
in witchcraft. The Arkham cult has three ranks,
each comprising 13 members. At the top are
the masters, wise in the ways of the outer gods
and their profane ceremonies. Keziah Mason
is the acknowledged head of the cult, though
she attends rituals only on the most important
nights of the year. Each master has one acolyte,
a discipline eager to learn the eldritch lore
and, one day, take his place among his supe-
riors. Each acolyte in turn has an initiate, one
who has yet to sign his name in the book of
Azathoth and receive their secret name.
Typical Member
Contrary to what some residents of Arkham
believe, the members of the witch-cult are not
degenerates living in the town’s dark and dank
back alleys. They are men and women of good
standing—bank clerks, businessmen, doctors,
store owners, and teachers. All share one trait—a
lust for forbidden knowledge, and with it power.
Ally 1
Archetype: Cultist; Motivation: Power/Truth;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
5, Horror —
Skills*: Academics: Occult 4, Brawl 4, Elder
Lore: Great Old Ones 4, Melee 4
Talents: Iron Will (+1 Willpower rating)
Resources: Rank 0 (Arkham Witch-Cult; +1
Social bonus)
Rituals: Commune Shub-Niggurath, Fear
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Dagger 5L
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
* Each member has two Skill point left unas-
signed. The Gamemaster should assign these
to based on the cultist’s normal occupation.
The Black Scorpion
Brotherhood
Babylonian stories of scorpion men are
based not on fanciful imagination, but on
one of Nyarlathotep’s many unholy avatars.
In this instance, it is the body of a monstrous
scorpion with the upper body of a man. The
monstrosity is covered in black chitin and has
a large barbed tail.
The cult’s origins actually lie in prehis-
toric Egypt. Founded in predynastic Upper
Egypt in during the rule of a king known to
modern Egyptologists as Scorpion I, the cult
maintained a low profile for a century, insidi-
ously widening its influence and gathering its
strength. During the reign of Scorpion II (c.
3150 BC) it finally emerged from the shadows
to become the dominant religion.
Its reign of terror was short-lived. Disgust-
ed at the abhorrent rituals undertaken by the
insane priests, Narmer, a king of Lower Egypt
declared open war. Following a series of brutal
engagements, the feared cult was driven un-
derground. Narmer unified Egypt and became
its first pharaoh. Fear of the Black Scorpion
never waned, as evidenced by the influence of
the goddess Serket, healer of scorpion stings.
Although its headquarters still lies in Egypt
(in a secret valley near the necropolis of Umm
El Ga’ab), the cult now stretches across the
globe. Wherever there are scorpions, the cult
has a presence.
As an aside, anthropologists have long
known that female scorpion deities are always
benevolent, offering protection against stings.
That their temples and cults were founded to
combat an evil male scorpion cult is theorized
only by anthropologists regarded as crackpots
by their peers.
The Brotherhood (which accepts women)
has no real unity and no long-term goals.
Members are encouraged to engage in their
wildest desires and perversions. Debased
orgies take place under the watchful gaze of
the Black Scorpion between late October and
November, when the sun is in the constellation
of Scorpio. Human sacrifices are offered to the
Black Scorpion at this time. Snatching them up
in his pincers, he crushes the life out of the
offerings and pierces their flesh before sucking
out their juices.
All initiates must undergo the “sting of the
black scorpion.” This involves being stung on
the right forearm by one of the black scorpions
found in every cult temple. In those found
worthy, the venom causes a black mark in the
shape of a capital “Y” overlaid with a capital
“L” to rapidly develop. This stylized scorpion is
the cult’s symbol. Those found unworthy die
in agonizing pain within a few moments.
Historical Note: Narmer’s destruction of
Scorpion II’s temples and statues, not to men-
tion scouring his name from official records,
was so thorough that his existence remains
unknown to Egyptologists until 1898, when a
macehead bearing his name is unearthed in Hi-
erakonpolis by James E. Quibell (1867-1935)
and Frederick W. Green (1869-1949).
Minerva Clarke
Scorpions aren’t native to Great Britain,
but London is a melting pot of cultures, with
immigrants settling there from across the Em-
pire. Little surprise then that the Brotherhood
of the Black Scorpion has a small cell in the
heart of the city’s overcrowded East End.
Minerva Clarke is a prostitute. Although
forced into the trade through poverty, the at-
tractive young woman actually enjoys her job.
Possessed of perverse sexual desires, her work
allows her to live out her darkest dreams in the
flesh. One of her clients, a wealthy business-
man with unconventional sexual needs, saw
the darkness within Minerva and offered her
initiation into the Brotherhood.
Recently her lusts have taken a much
darker turn. At the moment of sexual climax,
Minerva uses a ring concealing a small needle
to prick her johns’ exposed flesh. While she
bucks and writhes in unbridled sadistic plea-
sure, the fast-acting venom claims the life of
her convulsing victim.
77

Patron 2
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 3 (4), Intelligence 3,
Willpower 4
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 5, Defense 5, Stun 3, Health
7, Horror —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Con 6 (Seduction
7), Elder Lore: Artifacts 4, Empathy 5, Linguis-
tics 4, Melee 6, Spying 5, Stealth 5, Streetwise
5 (Carousing 6)
Talents: Attractive (+1 Charisma when dealing
with people), High Pain Tolerance (Remains
conscious and ignores wounds penalties until
–3 Health), Poison Tolerance (+2 bonus to
Body rolls relating to poisons and drugs)
78
Resources: Rank 1 (Brotherhood of the Black
Scorpion; +2 Social bonus)
Rituals: Commune Nyarlathotep (Black Scor-
pion avatar), Control Animal (scorpions only),
Elder Sign, Fear, Harm, Summon Black Winged
One
Flaws: Sadism (+1 Style point whenever she is
needlessly cruel to her friends or enemies)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Poison needle (see be-
low)
Poison Needle: Pricking a victim causes
no damage. The venom has a Toxin rating of
4. A total of 15 successes on a Body x 2 roll
are required to negate the poison, with each
roll taking one combat turn. Until the venom
is neutralized, the victim suffers 2L caustic
damage each combat turn.
The ring holds only one dose. Minerva car-
ries a small silver vial holding four additional
doses of the potent venom.
Typical Member
Given that perversity is not limited to any
particular culture, class, occupation, or gen-
der, there is no such thing as a typical member.
The lower tiers are primarily filled with mem-
bers of the lower class, though. In return for
access to drugs, money, and sex, they act as the
Brotherhood’s muscle. The example below is
a petty thug, of which London boasts many
thousands of examples.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Greed;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Horror —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Intimidation 4,
Larceny 4, Melee 4
Talents: —
Resources: Contacts 1 (Criminals; +2 bonus),
Rank 0 (Brotherhood of the Black Scorpion;
+1 Social bonus)
Flaws: Belligerent (+1 Style point whenever
their aggressive attitude causes trouble)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Club 5N, Dagger 5L
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
The Black Triad
After conquering Mecca and destroying
the many pagan idols standing in the city, the
Prophet Mohammed sent out expeditions
to destroy other centers of pagan worship.
Among the many targets was the temple of the
goddess al-Uzza at Nakhla, whose shrine took
the form of three trees.
Having hacked down the first tree as ordered,
General Khalid ibn al-Walid (585-642) returned
to Mohammed to report his victory. On learning
that Khalid had seen nothing else, the Prophet
sent him back to destroy the second tree. Return-
ing victorious, Khalid once again reported that
nothing else transpired. Sent back to the temple
a third time, Khalid this time encountered a na-
ked black priestess, her hair wild and knotted,
her teeth filed to sharp points.
Of the 30 men who accompanied Khalid,
nine were slain by the wild Ethiopian priest-
ess before she was cut in twain. The third tree
was then cut down. Hearing his general’s story,
Mohammed nodded sagely and declared that
the goddess had finally been slain.
During the same month as Khalid’s raids,
Said bin Zaid Al-Ashhali was sent to pacify
other tribes and smash their idols. Here too,
one of the shrines was protected by a vicious,
naked Ethiopian priestess.
Mohammed and his generals had no way
of knowing that the Ethiopian women were
members of related sacred cults. The pagan
Arabs knew them as a sibling triad. Highest of
the three was al-Uzza, whose names included
The Mighty One and Grandmother. As noted
above, her shrines were three trees. Allat, also
known as The Goddess or Black Mother, had
shrines in the form of single standing stones.
Last was Manat, the Black Child, to whom
sacrifices were made on a black stone altar. In
reality, each was an aspect of Shub-Niggurath.
Although the cult had been violently sup-
pressed in Arabia, to which it had spread along
the Sabaean trade routes, the cult still exists in
the rugged highlands of Ethiopia and northern
Italian Eritrea. Shunned by other natives, the
cult has taken to preying on Italian missionar-
ies and troops in Eritrea’s highlands.
The cult has no pretensions about enslav-
ing humanity, destroying reality, or releasing
the Great Old Ones. It seeks only to serve, and
by serving, the cult members prosper.
Sebele
The good people of Little Thornby are
simple, Christian folk who, like their ances-
tors, till the land. They would be mortified to
learn that the lord of the manor, Squire Hora-
tio Thornchild, was keeping a woman in his
house, especially since the woman in question
is a black-skinned native of the some distant
land whose appearance could curdle milk and
whose faith was about as unchristian as one
could get. There is already enough scandal
concerning the squire, who has dismissed his
staff and replaced them with black Ethiopians.
A native of Ethiopia, Sebele is a priestess of
the Black Triad. Captured following an attack
on a British patrol led by the then Captain
Thornchild, she was dragged before the young
officer for questioning. Despite her ghastly
appearance and primitive nature, Thornchild
instantly became enamored of the savage
woman.
Rumors began spreading within a week.
Instead of being thrown into jail to rot, Sebele
was frequently seen at Thornchild’s side,
though only ever while in camp. When Thorn-
child was in the field, she remained in his tent,
chanting in a heathen tongue day and night.
Other officers began to speak poorly of the
fraternization, which was hardly becoming of
an officer and a gentleman. Common soldiers
grew to fear the black-skinned woman, whose
eyes could tear through a man’s soul with a
mere glance. When Thornchild learned that
the general, tired of the rumors, intended on
having Sebele executed as a spy, Thornchild
resigned his commission and returned to Eng-
land with Sebele in tow.
With her face riven with deep, ceremonial
scars, hair caked in filth, wild eyes, and sharp-
ened teeth, Sebele would never be accepted
into British society. Squire Thornchild keeps
her sequestered in his manor. She is no pris-
oner, for she has become the true master of
the household.
Under her dark guidance, Thornchild has
79
Cthulhu Codicil
brought several tenant farmers and neighbor-
ing landowners into his trust. Together, they
have become servants of the Black Triad, pro-
tecting their priestess and offering sacrifices of
human blood to keep their lands prosperous.
Sebele’s gaunt frame and thin limbs hide
phenomenal strength and robustness. She is
more than capable of throwing a grown man
across a room, or tearing out his throat with
one savage bite.
Patron 3
Archetype: Clergyman; Motivation: Guard-
ian; Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 4, Dexterity 2,
Strength 4, Charisma 4, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 5
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 4, Defense 6, Stun 5, Health
9, Sanity —
Skills: Athletics 8, Elder Lore: Great Old Ones
5 (Shub-Niggurath 6), Intimidation 9 (Stare-
down 10, Violence 10), Linguistics 4, Perfor-
mance 6 (Dancing 7), Stealth 6, Survival 5
Talents: Fearsome (Can temporarily frighten
foes), Fearsome Attack (Uses Intimidation for
unarmed attacks), Inspire (Can grant allies with-
in 10 ft. a +2 bonus), Iron Jaw (+1 Stun rating)
Resources: Rank 1 (Black Triad; +2 Social
bonus)
Rituals: Call Shub-Niggurath, Commune
Shub-Niggurath, Raise Dead, Summon Spawn
of Shub-Niggurath
Flaws: Disfigured (–2 penalty on all rolls
where her appearance is a factor; +1 Style
point whenever she is rejected because of her
appearance), Primitive (–2 penalty on any Skill
roll related to modern technology; +1 Style
point whenever her primitive nature hampers
her or causes trouble)
Weapons: Punch 10N, Bite 10L
Typical Member
The cult only accepts women, though it
cares nothing about culture, color, or former
faith. All are expected to go about naked, shun
washing or cutting their hair, and file down
their teeth. Insane through frequent abase-
ment before one of the Black Triad, they are
bloodthirsty harpies—female versions of the
80
Viking berserkers—whose life exists to serve
the whims of the priestesses.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 1, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity —
Skills: Athletics 4, Intimidation 6, Stealth 4,
Survival 4
Talents: Fearsome Attack (use Intimidation for
unarmed attacks)
Resources: Rank 0 (The Black Triad; +1 Social
bonus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 6N, Bite 6L
Bloody Order of the Sphinx
Tourists visiting the majestic Giza Plateau
are informed that the sand-encrusted Sphinx
bears the noble face of Pharaoh Khafre, who
ordered it constructed around 2500 BC. In
reality, the Sphinx was constructed before the
first pharaoh unified the Twin Lands of Egypt,
and once possessed an abominable visage—
the face of the living Sphinx. This truth is
known only to members of the Bloody Order
of the Sphinx, a foul cult that has worshipped
the abhorrent entity since time immemorial.
In a vast cavern of immeasurable age exca-
vated deep beneath the plateau, worshippers
offer human sacrifices to appease the blasphe-
mous monstrosity and secure its favor.
The cult’s leaders are adept at enticing
new worshippers into the fold by promising
whatever they think native Egyptians want to
hear. In the present era, they are informed that
loyalty will be duly rewarded by the overthrow
of British rule.
Husam al Din
Gamemasters will require the Guide to
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Mummies to get full usage from this charac-
ter.
Husam al Din appears to be an unassuming
Egyptian of indeterminable age. Tall and thin,
he is possessed of remarkable fortitude and
wiry strength. He works as a tour guide, escort-
ing wealthy foreigners around the magnificent
sites of the Giza Plateau and keeping away the
swarms of beggars that plague tourists. He is
often found either at the plateau or outside the
major hotels in Cairo.
Husam al Din was born Djehontyhetep,
and served as a priest during the 12th Dy-
nasty (1991-1802 BC). Utterly devoted to the
Sphinx, Djehontyhetep was spared death by
the ghoul queen Nitocris herself, who awak-
ened his embalmed form as a living mummy
that he might continue his work. No bandage
wrapped shambling corpse, Djehontyhetep
was restored to how he looked in life.
A further blessing was granted him when
Nitocris bestowed a form of immortality on
him by tethering his soul to a phylactery. The
sacred vessel takes the form of a small carved
hawk-headed sphinx, which rests in a niche in
the grand temple beneath Giza.
In his guise as a guide, Djehontyhetep can
ensure curious tourists do not accidentally
stumble onto one of the secret entrances to
the Sphinx temple. It also allows him to select
suitable sacrifices. Djehontyhetep has devel-
oped numerous contacts among European
Egyptologists. Those who suspect the truth
about the age and nature of the Sphinx can
be led astray with false information or, if they
delve too deeply, be made to disappear.
Among his fellow cultists he is known as the
“Mouth of the Sphinx” and the “Right-Hand of
Nitocris.” None of his fellow worshippers have
any inkling as to his true age and identity.
Patron 3
Archetype: Clergyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 4, Dexterity 2,
Strength 4, Charisma 3, Intelligence 4, Will-
power 5
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 5, Defense 6, Stun 4, Health
8, Horror —
Skills: Academics: History 6, Academics: Reli-
gion 5, Athletics 5, Brawl 6, Con 6, Diplomacy
4, Elder Lore: Great Old Ones 6, Empathy 6,
Intimidation 6, Linguistics 6, Streetwise 5
Talents: Fearsome (Can temporarily frighten
foes), Inspire (May grant a +2 Skill bonus to
all allies within 10 feet), Rabble-rouser (Can
boost Followers as if it were a Talent)
Resources: Artifact 1: Ankh (+1 Body rat-
ing)*, Contacts 1 (Egyptologists; +2 bonus),
Rank 3 (Bloody Order to the Sphinx; +4 Social
bonus)
Rituals: Call Sphinx**, Channel Dead, Com-
mune Nyarlathotep (Black Pharaoh avatar),
Commune Sphinx, Fear, Harm, Lesser Hex,
Summon Black Winged One, Summon Dimen-
sional Shambler
Flaws: Overconfident (+1 Style point when-
ever he is forced to ask for help or when his
bravado gets him in over his head)
Weapons: Punch 6N
* Bonus Resource from his cult Rank.
** This ritual works only in the temple of the
Sphinx. It brings the monster forth from the
gaping cavern in which it slumbers. It is cast
only during major ceremonies, when sacri-
fices are being offered.
Awaken Mummies: Can animate a number
of mummies in a combat or scene equal to his
Charisma + Willpower.
Mesmerize: This ability functions as per the
Captivate Talent, except the mummy rolls Cha-
risma + Willpower in place of Performance.
Phylactery: If the mummy’s physical form
is destroyed, its spirit automatically retreats to
its phylactery to await rebirth.
Renewed Form: The mummy’s physical
appearance is as it was in life.
Typical Member
The majority of cultists are uneducated,
hard-working laborers and farmers, the latest
in a line of cultists stretching back to Egypt’s
earliest era. They have no knowledge of elder
lore or magic, though they lend their support
at major ceremonies.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
81
Cthulhu Codicil
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
6, Horror —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Intimidation 4,
Melee 4, Stealth 4
Talents: Robust (+2 Health rating)
Resources: Rank 0 (Bloody Order of the
Sphinx; +1 Social bonus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Dagger 5L
Cult of the Black Hand
Academics have written copious volumes
on the history of the Assassins, an Islamic
splinter sect who terrorized both Crusaders
and Muslims during the 12th and 13th cen-
turies. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately,
much of what is written is false.
The Assassins were led, so it is written, by
the Old Man of the Mountain. This mysterious
figure would order his minions to murder and
his commands were met with fierce loyalty. The
Old Man was, in fact, an avatar of Nyarlathotep.
None ever saw his form, for it was wrapped in
a voluminous black robe, save for his withered
and blackened right hand. With a touch of this
gnarled limb he could bestow his worshippers
with supernatural abilities or condemn them
to a grisly death.
Scholars believe that initiates were drugged
and taken to a secret garden, which they were
informed was Paradise. Serve the cult well and
they would spend eternity in Paradise as their
reward. In fact, the garden was on an alien
world, reached by means of a Gate ritual.
History is correct in recording the destruc-
tion of the cult at the hands of the Muslims in
1256. Scholars argue whether or not this was
an act of revenge for the Assassins attempt-
ing to kill Möngke Khan. The truth is more
prosaic—Mongol spies learned the abhorrent
truth concerning the Old Man of the Mountain
and set about ridding the world of his evil in-
fluence. Despite the Mongols smashing several
82
fortresses and putting hundreds of Assassins to
the sword, the cult survived.
The cult’s name stems not only from the ap-
pearance of the Old Man’s right hand, but also
the palsied hands of many senior members. A
blessing from Nyarlathotep, the withered limb
can be detached from the arm without causing
injury and sent abroad to murder opponents.
When detached, it functions as a disembodied
hand (see Leagues of Gothic Horror). Unlike a
standard disembodied hand, this version can
be reattached to the arm.
Nyarlathotep has no grand plan for the cult.
As in days of old, his followers kill important
military, political, and religious figures in order
to spread chaos and dissent.
Nagisa Tehrani
The only child of a poor family of weav-
ers, Nagisa has left poverty behind for a life of
luxury. Born and raised in Persia, her exquisite
voice has brought her fame on the international
stage. Where as a child she sang for her family,
she now sings for the rich and powerful. This
has worked out very well for Nagisa, for she is
a member of the Cult of the Black Hand and a
skilled Assassin.
Nagisa has travelled far and wide, leaving
a trail of corpses behind her. She has escaped
detection thus far simply because no one sus-
pects her of being a murderer, but it wouldn’t
take a genius to start noticing that death seems
to follow wherever she has a performance.
Both her hands were hideously burned in a
childhood accident. While she retained the use
of her left hand, she keeps them both covered
at all times. Having received the “Touch of the
Old Man,” she can detach her right hand.
Recently gifted with a rare enchanted Assas-
sin’s Dagger by Nyarlathotep as reward for her
services, Nagisa has succumbed to the relic’s
side-effect and is now a hashish addict.
Patron 2
Archetype: Celebrity; Motivation: Duty;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 4,
Strength 2, Charisma 3 (4), Intelligence 3,
Willpower 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
tion 6, Initiative 7, Defense 7, Stun 3, Health
6, Horror —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Diplomacy 5,
Empathy 5, Larceny 6, Linguistics 4, Melee 8,
Performance 7, Stealth 6, Streetwise 5
Talents: Attractive (+1 Charisma with people),
Finesse Attack (Uses Dexterity for Melee)
Resources: Artifact 2 (Assassin’s Dagger)*.
Fame 1 (Singer; +2 Social bonus), Rank 4
(Cult of the Black Hand; +4 Social bonus)
Rituals: Alter Visibility, Commune Nyarla-
thotep (Old Man avatar), Control Animal,
Spirit Binding
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever her
devotion causes harm or she converts some-
one else to her way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Knife 9L
* Bonus Resource from her cult Rank.
Black Hand: Nagisa can detached her right
hand as an attack action. The hand then func-
tions independently.
Typical Member
The rank and file of the cult is made up of
murderers and thugs. Brainwashed into believ-
ing Paradise awaits them, these fanatical killers
are only too willing to obey the chief servants
of the Old Man of the Mountain. Those who
fail a mission are quick to take their own lives
in order to protect the cult.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Horror —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Melee 4, Stealth 6
Talents: Subtle Strike (May use Stealth rating
when making a Brawl or Melee attack against
an unaware opponent)
Resources: Rank 0 (Cult of the Black Hand;
+1 Social bonus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Knife 5L
Cult of the Red Leech
King Leopold II of Belgium may claim the
Congo Free State as a private reserve, and his
administrators and soldiers may impose his
harsh laws with no concern for the natives
they govern, but were they to learn the dark
truth behind some of the many legends told by
Congolese tribesmen only in hushed whispers
they would retreat back to Europe and dream
no more of god-cursed Congo.
Beside the leech-filled waters of a remote
lake stand Cyclopean ruins. The natives tell of
a great city that stood on the shore in the days
of their most distant ancestors, but they do not
venture near. In these waters, they say, swims a
living god, a monstrous red leech.
The leech is very real, though it is an avatar
of Nyarlathotep and is normally present only
when its cult summons it to accept sacrifices.
The Cult of the Red Leech is as old as the
ruined city and once formed the priesthood
of the Red Leech. Today, worshippers offer
the abomination sacrifices in the hope that it
will protect them from the barbaric acts of the
occupying Belgians.
The Belgians willfully engage in wholesale
mutilation of the Congolese. The country’s
main export is rubber and quotas are strictly
enforced. Wives and children of rubber col-
lectors who fail to meet their personal quota
have their hands amputated as punishment.
This has led to open warfare between neigh-
boring villages, with natives hacking off their
neighbors’ hands in order to pay for any drop
in productivity. Worse, Belgian soldiers can
shorten the terms of their military service by
delivering a quota of severed hands, meaning
that any native is a potential target.
The Red Leech’s insane priests proselytize
that given enough sacrifices and devotion, the
Red Leech will rise up and rid the Congo of
the Europeans.
Pierre-Casimir Vermeersch
A cruel and petty man, Vermeersch is a ris-
ing star among the brutal colonial administra-
tors of the Congo Free State. In his eyes, the
natives are savages, little more than apes and
83
Cthulhu Codicil
Sherlock Holmes
and the Mythos
Modern works such as Shadows Over
Baker Street and The Cthulhu Casebooks
- Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell
Shadows have seen the Great Detective
battle the horrors of the Mythos.
Conan Doyle made passing reference
to several cases which, with only a little
imagination, are ripe for using as Leagues
of Cthulhu stories featuring the globe-
trotters as the protagonists. The titles of
these cases and what little Doyle wrote
concerning them are presented below.
* The Case of the Barrow Treasure:
Here also I find an account of the Addle-
ton tragedy and the singular contents of
the ancient British barrow.
* The Case of Isadora Persano & the
Remarkable Worm: A third case worthy
of note is that of Isadora Persano, the well-
known journalist and duellist, who was
found stark staring mad with a match box
in front of him which contained a remark-
able worm said to be unknown to science.
* Colonel Warburton’s Madness: Of all
the problems which have been submit-
ted to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
for solution during the years of our inti-
macy, there were only two in which I was
the means of introducing them to his no-
tice -- that of Mr. Hatherley’s thumb, and
that of Colonel Warburton’s madness.
* The Disappearance of Mr. James
Phillimore: Among these unfinished
tales is that of Mr. James Phillimore, who,
stepping back into his own house to get
his umbrella, was never more seen in this
world.
* The Giant Rat of Sumatra: “Matilda
Briggs was not the name of a young wom-
an, Watson,” said Holmes in a reminiscent
voice. “It was a ship which is associated
with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for
which the world is not yet prepared.”
* The Repulsive Story of the Red
Leech: [...] the repulsive story of the red
leech and the terrible death of Crosby
the banker.
* Ricoletti of the Club Foot and His
Abominable Wife: [...] as well as a full
account of Ricoletti of the club foot and
his abominable wife.
84
fit only to be worked to death for the glory of
the King.
Vermeersch’s introduction to the Cult of
the Red Leech was as a sacrifice. Thrown into
the terrible lake, the administrator’s sanity
began to shred as the Red Leech rose up from
the dark water in search of nourishment. Nyar-
lathotep probed the mind of the screaming
offering, intent on savoring his fear and agony.
Instead, it touched upon the memories of
summary executions, floggings, and starvation
Vermeersch had inflicted on the Congolese.
Rather than devour the mortal, the Red Leech
offered him a choice—serve me and prosper,
or die now in agony. Utterly insane, Vermeersch
vowed there and then to honor the Red Leech.
To seal the pact, the Red Leech replaced Ver-
meersch’s left arm with a huge, repulsive leech.
That arm hangs limply by his side, the
monstrous appendage concealed at all times
by his uniform. The leech’s head attaches to
the stump of a wooden hand. By removing the
fake limb, the Belgian can use the bloodsuck-
ing creature to attack foes. He explains his de-
formity away as the result of an infection that
devoured much of his arm’s bones.
Patron 2
Archetype: Government Official; Motivation:
Power; Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 4
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 6, Defense 6, Stun 4, Health 7,
Horror — (3 if he reveals his left arm)
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 5, Bureaucracy 6,
Diplomacy 4, Firearms 4, Intimidation 6, Inves-
tigation 4, Linguistics 5, Stealth 4, Streetwise 4
Talents: Dodge (Perform Dodge as reflexive
action), Iron Jaw (+1 Stun rating), Skill Apti-
tude (+2 Brawl rating; left arm only)
Resources: Rank 1 (Cult of the Red Leech; +2
Social bonus), Status 1 (Colonial administra-
tor; +2 Social bonus)
Rituals: Commune Nyarlathotep (Red Leech
aspect), Control Animal (leeches only), Drain
Life, Fear, Nature’s Wrath
Flaws: One Arm (–2 penalty on any roll requir-
ing two hands; +1 Style point whenever he
drops something or makes a critical blunder
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
because of his missing arm), Sadism (+1 Style
point whenever he is needlessly cruel to his
friends or enemies)
Weapons: Punch 5N, Leech 7, Heavy revolver
7L
Leech: The leech must first be used to make
a grapple. Success means it has latched onto
an opponent. On subsequent combat turns,
the leech automatically inflicts 1L damage on
Vermeersch‘s initiative. Each point of damage it
inflicts heals one wound on Vermeersch, starting
with nonlethal injuries. In order to remove the
leech, the victim must win an opposed Strength
roll against Vermeersch’s Strength.
Typical Member
Unable to strike back directly against the
Belgians without provoking brutal reprisals,
cultists vent their rage and frustration through
the cult’s wild ceremonies. When the oppor-
tunity allows, captured Belgians are hacked
to pieces with machetes, their bloody remains
thrown into leech-infested pools and rivers as
offerings to the god.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Revenge;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Intimidation 4,
Melee 4, Survival 4
Talents: Flurry (Attack same opponent twice
with –2 penalty)
Resources: Rank 0 (Cult of the Red Leech; +1
Social bonus)
Flaws: One Arm (–2 penalty on any roll requir-
ing two hands; +1 Style point whenever he
drops something or makes a critical blunder
because of his missing arm)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Machete 6L
The Faceless
Victorian society enforces strict mores, espe-
cially on those at the higher end of the social
ladder. A public scandal can ruin a life and leave
an indelible stain on one’s family reputation.
Certain behavior would cause an outcry from
even persons of loose but conventional morals.
For those with desires, some might say cravings,
that reach far beyond conventional immorality,
the Faceless offers refuge and comradeship.
Their faces hidden behind featureless por-
celain masks that guarantee anonymity and
hide their humanity, cultists willingly succumb
to dark temptation and embrace the malice
and perversity in their irredeemable souls.
In the name of the Faceless One (an ava-
tar of Nyarlathotep), cultists engage in acts
of wanton degradation, casual depravity, and
murderous torture—each act of pain and ha-
tred a ritual to their deity.
Gloriana Wimbourne
As far as the public is concerned, Wim-
bourne is an up-and-coming landscape artist
whose watercolors grace several minor galler-
ies. Not yet a fixture in the society columns,
her rising star has seen her invited to various
lesser galas and soirees, and earned her several
commissions from the gentry. Beneath the shy
smile and innocent eyes, though, beats the
heart of a monster.
Repeatedly beaten by her stepfather, Wim-
bourne came to savor the pain inflicted by his
fists and leather belt. The tears of pain evolved
into tears of joy, the muffled shrieks of agony
becoming cries of ecstasy. Her stepfather was
her first victim.
After he fell into a drunken stupor after
delivering a particularly vicious beating,
Wimbourne repaid his “kindness” in full.
Even when he awoke screaming in terror, she
continued her bloody work. When at last she
stopped through exhaustion, the corpse was
barely recognizable as that of a human.
For Wimbourne, painting is nothing more
than a way to alleviate the boredom of existence
before the next gathering of the Faceless, the
next time her soul can be free of the shackles
of morality that bind it tight. Wimbourne seeks
perfection in her true work. It is not enough to
inflict pain or keep a victim conscious and in
85
Cthulhu Codicil
agony for hours. She desires the pure scream
of agony that would shatter the ears of angels,
the carving of flesh that would bring tears to
the harshest critic. Until that time comes, she
hones her abhorrent artistry on the flesh of
innocent victims captured by the Faceless.
Patron 3
Archetype: Artist; Motivation: Excellence;
Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 5,
Strength 2, Charisma 3, Intelligence 4, Will-
power 4
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 7, Percep-
tion 8, Initiative 9, Defense 8, Stun 4, Health
9, Sanity —
Skills: Art: Painting 7 (Landscapes 8), Brawl
5, Con 6, Elder Lore: Creatures 5, Elder Lore:
Great Old Ones 5, Empathy 7, Intimidation
8 (Torture 9), Linguistics 5, Melee 7, Perfor-
mance 4
Talents: Finesse Attack (uses Dexterity with
Melee), Iron Jaw (+1 Stun rating), Robust (+2
Health rating)
Resources: Fame 1 (Artist; +2 Social bonus),
Rank 2 (The Faceless; +2 Social bonus), Ref-
uge: Equipment 1 (+2 Intimidation rating)*
Rituals: Commune Faceless One, Fear, Sum-
mon Ghoul, Summon Spawn of Shub-Niggu-
rath (Satyr only)
Flaws: Masochism (+1 Style point whenever
she hurts herself or needlessly invites harm),
Sadism (+1 Style point whenever she is need-
lessly cruel to others)
Weapons: Punch 5N, Dagger 8L
* Bonus Resource from her Rank.
Typical Member
The Faceless do not distinguish between
race, gender, or social class—all are equally
faceless in the cult, though there are ranks.
While they appear as normal, upright mem-
bers of society while living their daily lives,
once they don their simple masks, they gladly
participate in the most cruel, sadistic, and bar-
baric acts imaginable. There is no limit to their
depravity.
Ally 1
Archetype: Any; Motivation: Faith or Power;
Style: 0
86
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity —
Skills*: Brawl 4, Intimidation 6 (Torture 7),
Melee 3 (Knives 4)
Talents: Skill Aptitude (+2 Intimidation rat-
ing)
Resources: Rank 0 (The Faceless; +1 Social
bonus)
Flaws: Sadism (+1 Style point whenever they
are needlessly cruel to others)
Weapons: Punch 0N, Dagger 5L
* Cultists have four Skill points remaining.
The Gamemaster should spend these on Skills
relating to their profession. If the cultists are
to used solely as nameless fodder, the Game-
master can ignore these unspent points.
Illuminated Fraternity of
the All-Seeing Eye
The devotions of this cult’s members are
offered to the All-Seeing Eye, another avatar
of Nyarlathotep. It appears as a huge human
eyeball surrounded by a swirling black cloud
riven by flashes of red lightning. Dangling from
the lower portion of the cloud are a mass of
fine silver tentacles.
The cult has a single goal—authoritarian
world domination. Nations and religions
will be swept aside in favor of worship of the
All-Seeing Eye, a single global government,
and a common language. As a result, the cult
believes there will be worldwide peace and
cooperation. Naturally, cultists believe they are
assured positions of authority.
Whereas many cults appeal to those at
the lower end of the social spectrum, the Il-
luminated Fraternity counts among its ranks
businessmen, politicians, and military officers,
plus a few aristocrats. By aiding each other,
members have infiltrated the higher echelons
of their respective occupations.
Their plans are, of course, for the greater
good of humanity, for sheep need shepherds
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
and a growing herd must be culled regularly Rhodes fervently believes in the superiority
to keep it manageable. Famines, financial not just of the “white race,” but in the dom-
mismanagement, war, political scandal, assas- inance of the British Empire. He has spoken
sination—all are valid tools in achieving the publicly about his desire to impart “England
desired new world order. everywhere,” imposing its rules and language
The cult rarely engages in human sacrifice on the rest of the world. He has even advo-
or the darker aspects of other cults. Most cated reannexing the United States of America.
members believe the All-Seeing Eye is a man- Undoubtedly a racist, Rhodes firmly believes
ifestation of God and that their work is for the that his ideas are for the betterment of the
eventual benefit of all humanity. human race.
That the symbol of the cult, a depiction of Rhodes’ voicing of his ideas does not sit
Nyarlathotep’s avatar, has also been used by well with others in the cult, who much favor
Freemasons is not a coincidence—over the their secretive approach to world domination.
centuries, the cult has infiltrated and subvert- While he wields considerable power, he has
ed many Masonic lodges to its insidious goal. a growing number of enemies who wish to
The cult has existed for millennia under a silence him forever. Nyarlathotep has chosen
variety of aliases. Its current name dates from to let Rhodes live for now—his speeches are a
the 18th century. Throughout history it has tak- welcome distraction from the true powerplays
en great strides forward, only to be repeatedly taking place behind the scenes.
thwarted by fate, rival cults, and organizations
opposed to the Great Old Ones.
Khephren-Ka (the Black Pharaoh), Akhenat-
en (the so-called Heretic pharaoh), Alexander
the Great, Caligula, Attila the Hun, Pope Urban
II, Ghengis Khan, and Napoleon Bonaparte,
were all manipulated to a greater or lesser de-
gree by the All-Seeing Eye. In the current era,
the All-Seeing Eye is manipulating the British
Empire to achieve its goal.
Whether or not Nyarlathotep truly cares
about world domination is open to debate.
As the Crawling Chaos, the unbridled chaos
and uproar that would ensue from the cult’s
attempts to proclaim itself the global power
would undoubtedly be just as pleasing to him
as would success.

Cecil Rhodes
A renowned businessman and politician,
Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902) is a powerful and
fanatical member of the Illuminated Fraternity.
Through his diamond company, De Beers,
Rhodes already controls the world market in
diamonds. Through threats and bribes, he es-
tablished many mining concessions from tribal
chieftains. Between 1890 and 1896 he rules as
Prime Minister of the Cape Colony. Through
this role, he has commenced stripping natives
of their ancestral lands, as well as basic rights.
Cthulhu Codicil
Patron 3
Archetype: Government Official; Motivation:
Power; Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 4, Intelligence 4, Will-
power 4
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 8, Initiative 7, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health
7, Horror —
Skills: Brawl 4, Bureaucracy 8 (Government
9), Connoisseur 5, Diplomacy 8 (Negotiation
9, Politics 9), Empathy 6, Intimidation 6 (Or-
ders 7), Investigation 6, Linguistics 6, Perfor-
mance 6, Ride 6
Talents: Acclimated (Can resist extreme tem-
peratures for longer), Inspire (Provides +2
Skill bonus to allies), Natural Leader (Can
recruit temporary allies), Well-Connected (Can
improve Contacts as if it were a Talent)
Resources: Contacts 1 (Politicians; +2 bo-
nus)*, Rank 4 (Illuminated Fraternity of the
All-Seeing Eye; +4 Social bonus)**, Rank 1
(prospectors’ Club; +2 Social bonus), Status
3 (Prime Minister of Cape Colony; +4 Social
bonus), Wealth 4***
Rituals: Commune Nyarlathotep (All-Seeing
Eye avatar)
Flaws: Intolerance: Non-Anglo-Saxons (+1
Style point whenever his intolerance causes
trouble, or he convinces someone else to detest
the same thing he does), Sickly: Heart condition
(–2 penalty on all rolls when feeling sick; +1
Style point whenever he suffers from his illness)
Weapons: Punch 0N
* Bonus Resource from his Status.
** Has two bonus Resources from his Rank.
These are left for the Gamemaster to assign.
*** Has two bonus Resources from his Wealth.
These are left for the Gamemaster to assign.
Typical Member
Typical members of the Illuminated Frater-
nity are a cut above most other cultists. While
they conduct ceremonies, they are rarely wild
orgies or involve human sacrifice. They wear
no hooded robes, employing only an enamel
pin to show their loyalty. To the last they are
middle- or upper-class, rather than the dregs
of society.
88
Ally 1
Archetype: Military Officer; Motivation:
Power; Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Horror —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Firearms 4, Intimi-
dation 4, Ride 4
Talents: —
Resources: Rank 0 (Illuminated Fraternity of
the All-Seeing Eye; +1), Rank 1 (Military of-
ficer; +2 Social bonus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Heavy revolver 7L
League of the Black Sun
Yet another avatar of blasphemous and
malign Nyarlathotep, the Black Sun appears
to worshippers as a black sphere from which
emanate multiple black tentacles.
The cult’s origins lie in what historians call
the Migration Period, a time during the mid-
first millennia AD when the superpower that
was Rome was overrun by successive waves of
pagan invaders from the East.
The first artifacts hinting at its existence
were stylized brooches manufactured by the
Alamanni, a confederation of pagan tribes
whose homelands lay on the Upper Rhine.
Word of their fell ceremonies and perverse
goal spread across the region, prompting Clo-
vis, leader of the Franks, to crush them in 496.
As is often the case, while many people died,
the idea they followed survived. Indeed, the
cult not only survived, it expanded by spread-
ing its tendrils into Frankish culture.
The cult’s aim is quite simple—to open
a dimensional gate which will overlay our
universe with that of the Black Sun. All light
will be extinguished, plunging the world into
darkness and chaos. When the cult refers to
“light,” it refers not just to sources of illumina-
tion (such as the stars), but to artistic culture
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
and learning, as well as Christianity. It will be a
return to the Dark Ages of ignorance and fear,
with the addition of utter blackness.
In place of schooling, the chosen (that be-
ing the cultists) will engage in debased orgies
and in violence against non-believers who sur-
vive the turmoil, before being taken up to the
inky heavens to join with their god.
The cult has twice before attempted its
great ritual to bring about the Black Sun. The
first occurred in Turkey in 526, but caused
only a powerful earthquake in which over
250,000 people died. The second was in 1315.
The magical backlash from that ritual caused a
massive famine, resulting in over seven million
deaths over a two-year period. The stars are
aligning once more, though, and this time the
cult intends to succeed in its insane goal.
Hedging his bets, Nyarlathotep has another
cult—the Serpents of Apep (see Leagues of
Adventure)—working toward a similar goal. It
is likely that should he succeed, Nyarlathotep
will manifest in his Haunter of the Dark avatar,
a being that abhors light.
Johnny No-Nose
It’s not an easy life being a beggar. Johnny
didn’t lose his nose in a duel over a woman
or a glorious battle, nor even an industrial ac-
cident. His nose was chewed off by rats as he
lay in the gutter in a drunken stupor one cold
winter’s night.
Before the League of the Black Sun re-
cruited him, nobody had ever given Johnny
anything, except for the occasional kick, a ser-
mon on how the poor are responsible for their
own predicament, or a stare more normally
reserved for when one finds dog mess on the
soles of one’s best boots.
Though still poor, Johnny at least has a roof
over his head in the cult’s secret temple and
one meal a day provided by his congregation.
A fervent believer that the dawning of the Black
Sun will usher in a new world for the poor and
needy, Johnny has risen to the status of priest.
By day, he recruits new members from the
city’s poor. Come the night, he offers sacrifices
to his god and prepares for the great ritual. Al-
though his poverty precludes him from main-
taining technological communication with
fellow cultists around the world, Nyarlathotep
instructs him through dreams.
Patron 2
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Escape;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 4, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 4
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 5, Defense 6, Stun 4, Health
8, Horror —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Con 6, Elder Lore:
Great Old Ones 4, Intimidation 5, Melee 5,
Stealth 6, Streetwise 6
Talents: Flurry (Can attack same opponent
twice at –2 penalty), Quick Draw (Can draw
weapon as a reflexive action)
Resources: Contacts 1 (Beggars; +2 bonus),
Rank 1 (League of the Black Sun; +2 Social
bonus)
Rituals: Alter Visibility, Commune Nyarla-
thotep (Black Sun avatar), Harm, Summon
Black Winged One, Summon Night-gaunt,
Summon Spawn of Tsathoggua
Flaws: Disfigured (–2 penalty on all rolls where
your character’s appearance is a factor; +1
Style point whenever he is rejected because of
his appearance), No Olfaction (–2 penalty on
taste- or scent-dependent rolls; +1 Style point
whenever his poor sense of smell or impaired
taste gets him into trouble or causes him to
make a critical mistake)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Straight razor 5L
Typical Member
The disenfranchised and uneducated are
attracted to the League of the Black Sun, for
it promises them a favored position once the
Black Sun has dawned.
Among the ranks can be found beggars and
prostitutes, laborers and sailors, and degener-
ates and the deformed. One thing they have in
common is how to look after themselves on
the streets.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
89
Cthulhu Codicil
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Horror —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Intimidation 4,
Melee 4, Streetwise 4
Talents: Savvy Fighter (Always retains full De-
fense rating)
Resources: Rank 0 (League of the Black Sun;
+1 Social bonus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Knife 5L
Order of the Fisher-God
The quasi-Christian Order of the Fisher-
God began as a secret society on the Society
Islands, of which the best known is Tahiti.
Persecuted by early missionaries for their
fell customs, including sacrificing newborns to
the sea in the belief they would be reborn into
a higher plane of existence, the cultists adopted
Christian beliefs into their own in an attempt
to survive. Disparagingly known as the Mamaia
(“rotten fruit”), the cultists were finally driven
from the islands in a violent purge in 1833. Far
from withering, the cult gained new strength as
the outcasts found fertile soil in foreign lands.
Before its mutation, the cult worshipped an
entity known as Ta’aroa. Creator of all and who
dwelt beneath the waves, the deity formed the
universe on seven levels. Man occupied the
second lowest level, with only the plants and
animals beneath him. Through adherence to
dogma and performing certain rites passed
down through many generations, believers
could elevate themselves to higher planes.
Of the higher planes, the highest man can
achieve in corporeal form is the third. This
requires a physical transformation to a form
better suited to life beneath the waves.
Following the merging with Christianity,
the Order focused on aspects of the Bible con-
cerned with water. Were not the creatures of
the sea created before other animals? Did God
not once cleanse away sinners with a flood? Is
90
water not used to baptize the faithful? In their
perverted view, Jesus was an enlightened fol-
lower of Ta’aroa (now known within the cult
only as the Fisher-God), a disciple of the third
level of reality, as evidenced by his abilities to
walk on water, fill nets with fish, and divide a
handful of fish to feed a multitude.
Having received visions from their god, the
cult leaders believe he will soon rise from his
watery home to cleanse the world of non-be-
lievers, wash away the faithful’s sins, and bring
forth a new paradise.
Pastor Andrew
Of Tahitian extract mingled with more than
a touch of Deep One blood, Pastor Andrew is a
common sight down by the city docks. Armed
with bundles of pamphlets, he vocally espous-
es the virtues of the cult while attempting to
persuade mariners and the wretched citizens
who inhabit the nearby slum to save their souls
from destruction by accepting the love of the
Fisher-God into their lives.
Smartly dressed and clean shaven, he ex-
horts striving for the wisdom of the Fisher-God
so that one might purify one’s soul and tran-
scend to a higher plane. His favorite quote is
Habakkuk 2:14—“For the earth shall be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea.”
Touched by the light of the Fisher-God,
from whom he receives prophetic visions and
the gift of aid from men and women who have
already transcended, Andrew truly believes
that he is well on the journey to elevating him-
self to the third level of existence.
Though few of those to whom he preaches
care for his faith, Andrew is well liked. Were
outsiders to threaten him, a small crowd would
soon leap to his defense.
Patron 3
Archetype: Clergyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 4, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 6, Initiative 5, Defense 5, Stun 3, Health
6, Horror —
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Skills: Academics: Religion 5, Athletics 6
(Swimming 7), Brawl 4, Con 6, Diplomacy
6, Elder Lore: Great Old Ones 5 (Cthulhu
6), Firearms 6, Intimidation 5, Linguistics 4,
Streetwise 5
Talents: Combat Skill (+2 Defense with Ath-
letics), Dodge (Perform Dodge as reflexive ac-
tion), Rabble-Rouser (Can boost Followers as
if it were a Talent), Swim (Doubles swimming
speed)
Resources: Artifact 1 (Deep One Tiara)*, Rank
3 (Order of the Fisher-God; +4 Social bonus)
Rituals: Commune Cthulhu, Fear, Summon
Deep Ones, Summon Shoggoth
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Heavy revolver 9L
* Bonus Resource from his Rank Resource
Typical Member
The cult has many respectable members,
but the majority is made up of those who
work on the ocean, such as fishermen and
mariners.
Most believe the cult is nothing more than
a branch of Christianity concerned with their
saving their souls from impending doom. This
does not make them any less fanatical, nor
does it excuse the human sacrifices they offer
to their deity.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
6, Horror —
Skills: Acrobatics 4, Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Melee
4, Pilot: Nautical 4
Talents: Robust (+2 Health rating)
Resources: Rank 0 (Order of the Fisher-God;
+1 Social bonus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Knife 5L
Order of the Grand
Pyramid of Starry Wisdom
The scarab beetle, as personified by the god
Khepri, had long been an important motif to
the ancient Egyptians. Amulets in the form of
scarabs have been unearthed as funerary and
commemorative decorations, and inscribed
with the names of pharaohs and gods alike.
Egyptologists are erroneous in their belief that
Khepri, whose name means “develop” or “cre-
ate,” had no cult.
In the far distant future, long after human-
ity has run its course and faded from lore, the
Great Race of Yith returns to Earth to inhabit a
coleopterous (beetle-like) race. As before, the
alien scholars cast their minds back through
the ages seeking knowledge. In the 27th cen-
tury BC, they transferred the mind of a young
but talented engineer into the future.
As has happened more than once, some
minds recall their experiences living among
the Great Race. Through strange dreams, the
engineer recalled the beetles and their ad-
vanced understanding of architecture. As the
visions gained more clarity, the man became
known not only as an engineer and architect,
but for his profound knowledge of medicine,
astronomy, and magic. Many saw him as a seer,
for he spoke of past and future events as if he
has witnessed them in person. Human history
records his name as Imhotep (“The one who
comes in peace”).
Believing his dreams were visions sent by
Khepri (as he named the strange beetles), the
polymath created a small and secretive cult,
and to its members he disseminated the “starry
wisdom” he had gathered. Leaving his first dis-
ciples to continue his work, Imhotep sought a
means of communicating with Khepri so that
he might gain further knowledge. In the ruins
of an elder city in the deep desert west of the
Nile, he discovered a spell that could call upon
Khepri to attend a magician.
Through this means, Imhotep brought forth
Khepri and made a pact—his students would
volunteer themselves to attend the god’s hall
and in return would receive further lore.
At first, the cult was benevolent, seeking
91
Cthulhu Codicil
only to advance humanity. Through their
relentless drive to aid all the races of man
equally, the knowledge of how to create
pyramids (towering basalt versions of which
the Great Race will live in the far future, and
which Imhotep called “the halls of the gods”)
was brought to the natives of the Americas and
Southeast Asia.
As is often the way, the ideal gradually be-
came debased and perverted. Instead of aiding
humanity, cult members began to think only of
serving their own ends, of selling knowledge
rather than giving it freely.
As far as the world is concerned, the order
is nothing more a private club for wealthy citi-
zens with trappings not unlike those of Free-
masonry. Unlike many other cults, members
do not partake in bloody sacrifices or proffer
praise to the Great Old Ones.
Eliaphas Partridge
Partridge, a historian by profession, stum-
bled across vague mention of an ancient
Egyptian secret society while excavating the
tomb of a minor noble from the 17th Dynas-
ty. Intrigued, he began investigating further,
searching for links between Egypt and other
cultures. As he began to sift pieces of the ar-
chaeological puzzle, Partridge was brought to
the attention of the Temple of the Pyramid of
Starry Wisdom. More than eager to learn the
truth, he was initiated into the cult.
Partridge has no interest in the advanced
science proffered by contract with the Great
Race. Through the inquisition of human, and
some alien, minds living in previous ages, Par-
tridge has unearthed a number of previously
lost ruins, some of which predate by humanity
by millions of years.
Nothing he unearths ever goes to muse-
ums, only to the hands of private collectors
prepared to pay a fortune to own unique trea-
sures. Partridge has little interest in the Mythos
itself, caring only that certain individuals will
spend vast sums for fragments of writing, stat-
ues of grotesque deities, and more puzzling
objects. Likewise, he never asks to what pur-
pose a Mythos-related object may be used—all
he cares about is money.
92
Patron 2
Archetype: Academic; Motivation: Greed;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 3, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 6, Initiative 6, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health
6, Sanity —
Skills: Academics: History 8, Anthropology 6,
Brawl 4, Demolitions 4, Elder Lore: Locations
5, Expeditions 5, Firearms 4, Investigation 6,
Linguistics 5, Survival 5
Talents: Acclimated (Can resist extreme
temperatures for longer), Skill Aptitude (+2
Academics; History rating)
Resources: Contacts 1 (Cultists; +2 bonus),
Rank 1 (Order of the Grand Pyramid of Starry
Wisdom; +2 Social bonus)
Rituals: Summon Great Race of Yith
Flaws: Secret (+1 Style point whenever he is
confronted with the truth or goes out of his
way to protect the secret)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Heavy revolver 7L
Typical Member
Not every cult worships the Great Old Ones
or conducts bloody sacrifices in the name of un-
pronounceable entities. Certainly, members of
the cult voluntarily forsake their earthly bodies
to alien minds and dwell among the Great Race
for a number of years, but the potential rewards
on their return to normalcy are astounding.
Ally 1
Archetype: Businessman or Inventor; Motiva-
tion: Greed or Power; Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity —
Skills: Brawl 4, Bureaucracy 4 or Science: Pick
one 4, Intimidation 4, Investigation 4, Linguis-
tics 4
Talents: —
Resources: Rank 0 (Order of the Grand
Pyramid of Starry Wisdom; +1 Social bonus),
Status 1 (Wealthy; +2 Social bonus)
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N
Priory of the Enlightened
Ones
The Great Race of Yith studies the inhabit-
ants of many worlds, but seem to have a par-
ticular curiosity toward the culture, science,
and occultism of the human race.
The minds of those snatched by the Yithi-
ans and transported to their remote juncture
in time are wiped clean of any knowledge they
may have picked up from their travels, but
the process is not perfect. Rarely, one of the
Yithians’ subjects recalls snatches of his time
among the alien race. In very rare instances,
recall is near absolute.
Throughout human history there have
been recorded instances of geniuses and mad-
men pushing humanity forward with a great
stride. In many cases, these great leaps in art
or science were recollections of things learned
at another point in time.
The presence of Yithian minds on earth has
led to the creation of numerous cults down the
ages. Some of these organizations hold no love
for the inhuman visitors. Driven by a lust for
power or glory, or an insane lust to learn elder
lore, they seek to kidnap the Yithian’s human
body and force its occupier to reveal what he or
she knows through violence. In order to avoid
reprisals, the host body is killed, thus preventing
the Yithian mind from returning to its people
and telling of its ordeal. Unfortunately for the
Yithians, their craving for occult lore attracts
exactly the sort of people they should best avoid.
Other cults, such as the Priory, are more
benevolent. They too seek advanced knowl-
edge, but do so through cooperation with
visiting Yithians. Some act as tutors, supplying
the alien with knowledge of earth and its peo-
ples in return for snippets of their elder lore.
Physicians and alienists can help the Yithian
adjust to its new form, and also ensure it re-
mains fit and healthy during its years-long trip.
Such cults also assist by removing any physical
evidence of the alien’s presence, such as the
strange devices they employ to send their
minds back to their native bodies.
This is not to say the more helpful cults are
not without a dark side, though it is aimed at
their own species. Certain cults devoted to the
Great Old Ones are opposed to the Yithians. In
order to destroy the alien mind, they target its
weaker human host. Innocent individuals who
have had the misfortune to stumble across the
fact that aliens live among humanity often re-
spond with abject horror and try to inform the
authorities. Ensuring that neither achieves its
goal requires deadly force.
Doctor Francis Belhaven
The renowned surgeon Doctor Belhaven
is a fourth-generation member of the Priory of
the Enlightened Ones, a small cult dedicated
to aiding the Yithians. He is also the first of his
line to actually make contact with a visiting
Yithian mind.
At first humbled by the experience of
meeting a mind from another race and epoch,
Belhaven quickly realized that any advanced
medical knowledge granted him by the Yithi-
ans could ensure his name was recalled by
generations to come. Having no desire to harm
the visitor, Belhaven befriended it.
For years he painstakingly pieced together
the tiniest scraps of information let slip by his
alien friend. That its tongue was further loos-
ened through the surreptitious use of certain
narcotics only speeded up the process. This
particular Yithian, he soon learned, was a bi-
ologist and knew immense amounts about an
amazing variety of lifeforms. More importantly,
Belhaven learned that the creation of life was
relatively easy for one possessed of the right
elder knowledge.
Driven insane by the forbidden knowledge
and the repeated failure of his experiments,
Belhaven’s lust for immortality has grown
steadily worse. He has largely retired from
public life, choosing to spend his days in his
medical laboratory.
In order for his “great work” to continue
he requires fresh bodies, something certain
93
Cthulhu Codicil
criminals are happy to supply in return for hard
coin. Paranoia is slowly gnawing at his unhinged
mind. He suspects any visitors who call at his
house of trying to steal his research and claim
his prize. In case they seek to publish their “find-
ings,” Belhaven pays for them to be murdered.
Patron 2
Archetype: Physician; Motivation: Glory;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 2, Charisma 3, Intelligence 4, Will-
power 5
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 7, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health
6, Horror —
Skills: Academics: Philosophy 5, Bureaucracy
5, Diplomacy 6, Elder Lore: Artifacts 5, Empa-
thy 5, Investigation 6, Linguistics 6, Medicine
7 (First Aid 8, Surgery 8), Melee 4, Ride 4,
Science: Biology 6
Talents: Combat Skill (+2 Defense with Medi-
cine), Spark of Life (Can create intelligent ar-
tifacts), Weird Science: Biological (Can create
artifacts)
Resources: Rank 1 (Priory of the Enlightened
Ones; +2 Social bonus), Status 1 (Physician;
+2 Social bonus)
Rituals: Summon Great Race of Yith
Flaws: Aloof (+1 Style point whenever his
business-like attitude causes him trouble),
Righteous (+1 Style point whenever his ac-
tions alienate him or cause others to publicly
question his motives and moral judgment)
Weapons: Punch 0N, Scalpel 4L
Typical Member
The cult’s small membership is made up
of academics, inventors, physicians, and scien-
tists, all of whom wish to learn some of the
Great Race’s many secrets. The sample mem-
ber presented below is a historian who desires
to know of the true history of the world.
Ally 1
Archetype: Academic; Motivation: Truth;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
94
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity 2
Skills: Academics: History 6, Diplomacy 4, Elder
Lore: Artifacts 4, Investigation 4, Linguistics 4
Talents: Skill Aptitude (+2 Academics: History
rating)
Resources: Rank 0 (Priory of the Enlightened
Ones; +1 Social bonus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm)
Weapons: Punch 0N
The Redeemers
Very few followers of the Great Old Ones
have any inkling about the true nature of their
focuses of veneration. Even the witches who
honor Azathoth through his messenger, Nyar-
lathotep’s Black Man avatar, mostly believe
their patron is Satan. The same is true of cults
whose purpose is to combat the minions of the
Great Old Ones and other aliens.
Founded in Sumer around 3000 BC, the
Redeemers believed that a gallu (demon)
would sometimes possess mortals. Loss of
coordination and memory, and speaking in
archaic speech patterns, were clear indicators
of demonic possession.
Far from omnipotent, the demons used
their unwitting host to collect information
about society so they might use the knowledge
to exploit mankind. Through certain rites and
magical apparatus, the Redemmers strove to
exorcize the spirit.
Whenever an entity proved especially resis-
tant to arcane methods, the Redeemers took
drastic measures—physical torture to make the
host an unsuitable vessel and even murder to
ensure its banishment from the earthly realm.
The Redeemers spread across the Middle
East through the ancient trade routes. In
time their origins were forgotten, their rites
adopted from their now native cultures and re-
ligions. Through Egypt they passed to Greece
and Rome, and through the latter the emerg-
ing Christian faith.
The witch-hunts that plagued Europe and
North America were in no way instigated by the
Redeemers, but they certainly fanned the flames.
 The Redeemers’ methods have not altered
over the millennia, save for the words in the in-
cantations they use and the names of the great-
er powers they believe fuel their righteous
faith, nor are they any closer to understanding
the true nature of their prey. The “demons” the
Redeemers hunt and expel are not fallen an-
gels, but the consciousness of members of the
Great Race of Yith who have swapped bodies
with humans.

Silas Barrymore
Silas Barrymore, an ordinary laborer and
one-time bare-knuckle boxer, has seen hell in
all its majesty and terror. He knows that his
flesh was home to a demon for several years
while his soul was consigned to the Pit. He wit-
nessed the black basalt towers home to hellish
cone-shaped demons and spoke with minions
of Satan that claimed to be souls from other
times, even other worlds.
Barrymore’s possession by a Yithian mind
did not escape the notice of the Redeemers.
It was they who broke the “demon’s” hold
on his body and cast it back into the Pit. Most
who suffer the mind transference of a Yithian
have no awareness of their experiences, their
minds erased to leave an amnesiac void cover-
ing years. Barrymore was one of the few who,
slowly, recalled his time living among that alien
races of scholars. Patron 2
Believing he was going insane, Barrymore Archetype: Guardian; Motivation: Redemp-
began to drink heavily, and when he drank tion; Style: 2
he ranted about his experiences. When word Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
reached the Redeemers, they extended the hand Strength 3, Charisma 3, Intelligence 2, Will-
of friendship and explained what had transpired. power 4
Although not in control of his faculties at Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6,
the time, Barrymore became convinced that Perception 6, Initiative 5, Defense 6, Stun 4,
responsibility for any actions his body took, in- Health 7, Sanity 3
cluding the gathering of knowledge and study Skills: Academics: Occult 4, Academics: Reli-
of forbidden texts, lied solely with him, for he gion 4, Athletics 5, Brawl 7, Diplomacy 5, Elder
surely lacked the faith to keep the entity at bay Lore: Creatures 4 (Great Race 6), Gambling 4,
in the first place. Linguistics 4, Spying 4, Streetwise 4
Barrymore considers himself a sinner, a Talents: Block (Perform Block as a reflexive ac-
belief that has caused him to devote his life to tion), Iron Jaw (+1 Stun rating), Skill Aptitude
saving other souls by ridding the demons oc- (+2 Brawl rating)
cupying their bodies. Serving first as a Watcher Resources: Artifact 1 (Apparatus of Yith)*.
(see below), Barrymore has recently been Rank 3 (The Redeemers; +4 Social bonus)
“ordained” into the higher order of the cult. Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever

95
Cthulhu Codicil
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 7N
* Bonus Resource from his Rank.
Typical Member
Only a handful of cultists serve as exorcists.
The majority, while aware of the Redeemers’
calling, are called Watchers, tasked with uncov-
ering those possessed, questioning their family
and friends, and tailing the demon’s host.
Only when their superiors are convinced
they are dealing with a true case of “posses-
sion” are the Watchers ordered to kidnap the
victim and transport them to one of the cult’s
“cleansing centers.”
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity —
Skills: Brawl 4, Empathy 4, Investigation 4,
Stealth 6, Streetwise 4
Talents: Skill aptitude (+2 Stealth rating)
Resources: Rank 0 (The Redeemers; +1 Social
bonus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N
Scandinavian Cults
During the 19th century, a Viking revival
takes place in Scandinavia. Having partaken in
various unions, the three main Nordic nations,
those being Denmark, Norway, and Sweden,
are turning inward, celebrating their national
heritage rather than a collective history.
No longer are the Vikings regarded as little
more than raiders. Instead, they are seen as
seafarers, explorers, and heroic warriors.
Yet, there is an aspect of Scandinavian his-
tory of which scholars are unaware or, having
96
glimpsed beneath the sanitized myths to the
dark reality beneath, choose to ignore—the
truth behind the Norse religion.
Through the Sagas, many people have
come to know the names of Odin, Thor,
Freyr, and Frigg, among others. These deities
were not the sole entities worshipped and
indeed, many were added to the mythology
later to conceal the horrific truth. Whether
early Viking cults inspired or took inspiration
from the European witch-cult is, as yet, to be
determined. Certainly they gave praise to same
trio of deities—Azathoth, Shub-Niggurath, and
Nyarlathotep.
Azathoth
Of Azathoth, little is known concerning his
worship. The vacant central throne at Uppsala
was likely dedicated to it, for it is not possi-
ble to create an image of its ghastly, nuclear
form. That Azathoth later became sanitized in
the guise of Odin is not beyond the bounds of
imagination. Among the many titles attributed
to Odin was Aldaföðr (“father of the world”),
which has both linguistic and descriptive simi-
larities with Azathoth.
Nyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep’s role in Viking religion is
confusing, for it appears to have three aspects.
First, Nyarlathotep serves as envoy of Aza-
thoth, bearing messages between the Daemon
Sultan and his worshippers. The name of the
world tree Yggdrasil is usually translated as
“Odin’s steed,” with Yggr (“Terrible One”)
being one of Odin’s many names. Thus, Ygg-
drasil might be taken to mean “the bearer of
the terrible one.” Additional evidence for this
supposition comes from the belief that the
branches and roots of Yggdrasil extended to
other unearthly realms—undoubtedly the
homes of other Great Old Ones.
If this is true, then the use of trees as sites
of veneration suggests either an avatar that
takes the form of a profane tree-like entity or
that offerings at trees were believed to be tak-
en to Azathoth’s court through the tree.
Second, in its avatar of the Black Man of
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
witchcraft, it may be the “Black Goat” so often
referred to when speaking of Shub-Niggurath.
It is conceivable this avatar possesses antlers or
horns, and thus gave rise to stories of Vikings
wearing horned helmets.
Third, as the Crawling Chaos with a thou-
sand forms, Nyarlathotep may be the basis of
Loki, the trickster, a notable shape-changer in
myths whose behavior often results in chaos.
Shub-Niggurath
The main deity to whom sacrifices and
prayers were offered was Shub-Niggurath. The
focal point for ceremonies were either heaps
of stones (horgr) within sacred groves (lund or
vé) or, more commonly, at the base of ancient
burial mounds (haugr) from which grew a sol-
itary tree. Of the latter, the most famous stood
near the Temple of Uppsala.
Traditional Viking ceremonies (blót, or
sacrifice) have been revived in recent times.
Much like the English custom of wassailing
(possibly itself brought to Britain by Viking
settlers), it involves offering libations on the
roots of trees. Accompanying the sacrifice was
a prayer—til árs ok friðar (“for a good year
and peace”).
Few modern celebrants are aware that their
ancestors offered not beer or mead, as hap-
pens in modern celebrations, but the blood of
human sacrifices. In return, the people sought
fertility for their crops, good health for their
families, and harmony between mortals and
the Great Old Ones.
Other Aspects of the Mythos
Dread Cthulhu is not ignored in Norse my-
thology. Despite the Vikings being expert mari-
ners, there is no evidence of cults in its honor,
though it may have received sacrifices purely
as appeasement. Rather, Cthulhu is equated to
Jörmungandr, the world serpent whose name
means “huge monster”).
Other aspects of the Mythos are tenuous,
though this has not stopped some scholars
stating their beliefs. For instance, the valkyries
(“choosers of the slain”), who carried away
those killed in battle, were originally ghouls.
Alternate View
There is a second line of thought among
Mythos scholars regarding Yggdrasil.
Instead of Nyarlathotep, it is Yog-Sothoth
who bears the name of the world tree.
As the Gate and the Key, it is Yog-Sothoth
who allows (permits?) travel between
worlds and dimensions.
Nyarlathotep still features, however. In
this variant hypothesis, the Crawling
Chaos is Ratatoskr, the monstrous squir-
rel that takes messages between Veðrföl-
nir (“Wind Bleached,” a hawk that sits on
the highest branches and has knowledge
of many things) and Níðhöggr (“Malice
Striker,” a dragon that gnaws at the tree’s
roots). The former may refer to Azathoth
and the later Yig.
Their later female form came about to make
their existence more palatable to audiences.
The huldufólk (“hidden people”) of Icelan-
dic lore are said to protect certain rocks where
they lair. This has led some to suggest they are
folk memories of the Fungi from Yuggoth.
Servants of the Shackled
Jinn
Strange entities were worshipped by the
primitive nomads of the Arabian Peninsula mil-
lennia before the word of Islam was uttered by
the Prophet. While the new faith outshone the
older religions it did not vanquish them—it
drove them only into the deep desert, where
sane men do not venture by choice.
Amid the restless dunes, when the moon is
fat and the Demon Star, Algol, has broken the
horizon, the night breeze carries with it faint,
eerie whistling and piping that speaks of both
meaning and madness. When the winds whip
up clouds of sand so thick the sky is blotted
out, the voice of the primordial jinn is some-
times heard shouting in defiance of the word
of the Prophet.
The cult honors the Shackled Jinn, an ava-
97
Cthulhu Codicil
tar of Nyarlathotep. The profane avatar has a
mostly human form. Its skin is black as pitch
and its wild hair flies in an unfelt breeze like
the tails of a horse. The beast possesses three
eyes—two that burn like hot coals and a third
similar to that of a wild cat but which emit
sparks of fire. Two of its arm are like those of
men, but it has a second set akin to those of a
lion’s forelimbs. Huge wings of black feathers
sprout from its back.
The creature always appears between two
black pillars carved with runes that melt and
reform into different patterns before one’s
eyes, and to which the beast’s muscular arms
and legs are manacled.
The cult aims to release the Shackled Jinn
from its imprisonment through the completion
of a ritual that has been ongoing for dozens
of generations. According to the cult’s priests,
this will usher in a new age of jinn and chosen
mortals living in harmony.
Abdulaziz
Abdulaziz (“servant of the exalted one”) is
a holy man of the Megari tribe, nomads who
claim descent from the pagan Sabaean people.
A cultist since his youth, Abdulaziz was initi-
ated by his father, the tribe’s previous holy
man in the deep desert of Arabia.
A fanatic, he has worked tirelessly to bring
together various elements required to release
the bonds that bind the Shackled Jinn. All he
seeks now is knowledge of the gate ritual and
for the stars to be right, for only then will the
border between “Jinnistan” (actually another
dimension populated by the flying polyps) and
the Earth be breached and the world rid of
false faiths and prophets.
Despite his calling, Abdulaziz is no help-
less prophet who relies on others to fight his
mortal battles. An expert swordsman, his saber
has tasted the blood of many unbelievers. Un-
der his guidance, the Megari tribe has grown
strong and feared in Yemen, especially by the
Ottoman Turks, whose forces the tribe harass-
es at every turn.
Patron 2
Archetype: Clergyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 2
98
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 3, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 6, Initiative 6, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health
6, Sanity —
Skills: Con 6, Elder Lore: Great Old Ones 4
(Shackled Jinn 6), Elder Lore: Locations 4
(Arabia 6), Empathy 4, Intimidation 6, Linguis-
tics 4, Melee 5 (Swords 6), Ride 5, Streetwise 4,
Survival 5 (Foraging 6)
Talents: Flurry 2 (May attack same opponent
twice at no additional penalty), Parry (Perform
Parry as reflexive action)
Resources: Artifact 1 (Mythos Idol: Shackled
Jinn)*, Rank 3 (Servants of the Shackled Jinn;
+4 Social bonus)
Rituals: Commune Nyarlathotep (Shackled
Jinn avatar), Summon Dimensional Shambler,
Summon Feaster from the Stars, Summon Fly-
ing Polyp
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever his
devotion causes harm or he converts someone
else to his way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Saber 9L
* Bonus Resource from his Rank
Typical Member
Although there are cultists among the ur-
ban peoples of the peninsula, the faith is stron-
gest among the degenerate nomadic and rural
tribes. Taciturn and hostile to outsiders, even
the other nomadic tribes, they are renowned
for their violence and cruelty.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
5, Sanity —
Skills: Firearms 4, Intimidation 4, Melee 4,
Ride 4, Survival 4
Talents: Famine Hardy (Suffers less fatigue
from starvation and thirst )
Resources: Rank 0 (Servants of the Shackled
Jinn +1 Social bonus)
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Saber 7L, Muzzle-loading
rifle 8L
The Templars
In 1118, the newly crowned King Baldwin
II of Jerusalem (r. 1118-1131) granted nine
knights led by Hugh de Payens (alternately Ugo
de’ Pagani) permission to base themselves in a
wing of the royal palace in Jerusalem on the
Temple Mount. Housed in the Al-Aqsa Mosque,
the knights took the name the Poor Fellow-Sol-
diers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon
from the belief that the mosque stood on the
remains of Solomon’s temple.
The knights poverty lasted a decade.
Returning from the Holy Land in 1129, the
knights, under the patronage of the powerful
cleric Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) were
granted a Rule and conferred as an official arm
of the Church. Wealth in the form of donations
of coin and land rapidly swelled the fledgling
order’s coffers.
Officially, it would be the Templars’ vast re-
sources that would be their demise. Desperate
for money and heavily indebted to the knights,
King Philip IV of France (1268-1314), aided by
his pet pope Clement V (1264-1314), declared
the knights heretics.
On Friday 13th October 1307, the king,
with papal support, ordered the Templars,
their lands, and their treasuries seized. The
Templars were officially dissolved in 1312
and their last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay
(1243-1314) burned at the stake. The fabled
“Templar treasure” was never found.
The True Templar Treasure
King Philip, knowing full well the vast
resources of the Templars, was sorely disap-
pointed when his agents raided the order’s
Paris headquarters to find the treasury empty.
While he did profit from claiming the Templars’
lands, the amount of coin retrieved from the
collected manors and Prefectories was pitiful.
Was the Church
Complicit?
Did the Catholic Church know the Tem-
plars were not all they seemed? Even
with the support of Bernard of Clairvaux,
it is suspicious that Pope Honorius II (r.
1124-30) was very hasty in granting the
Templars’ official existence.
Similarly, Pope Innocent II (r. 1130-43)
exempted the knights from all local laws.
Not only did this help guarantee them
exemption from taxation, but it also
made them to answerable to just one
man—the pope.
We are not suggesting that the popes
were cultists, of course. More likely the
Templars used blackmail to achieve their
ends. Perhaps they claimed they had a
potent relic in their hands, something
that would be handed to the Church at a
later time if their demands were met.
Maybe the popes were shown the Al-Azif
and warned to give the Templars what
they wanted or the faith-shattering rev-
elations within would be disseminated
far and wide. Of course, it is more than
possible that the popes were fooled by
the Templars professed cause in helping
safeguard the Hold Land.
Coin, however, was not the true Templar
treasure. Suspicions that the Templars had
unearthed a fabulous “treasure” beneath the
Temple Mount began to circulate shortly after
their return to France in 1129.
No cache of ancient coins or silver relics,
word spread the knights were in possession
of a powerful secret. Later commentators have
fancifully suggested the Templars unearthed
the Holy Grail, the Covenant, Turin Shroud, or
proof that Jesus sired a family by Mary Magda-
lene. Such theories are, of course, utter non-
sense. In truth, what the Templars discovered
was a complete copy of the Al-Azif.
Legends arose the Templars were fore-
warned of the assault on their order and
took steps to safeguard their treasure. One
story says that wagons loaded with chests
99

were seen leaving the Paris headquarters on
the eve before Philip’s attack. What became of
the contents is unknown, even to the modern
Templars.
One story says the treasure was taken to
Scotland, which was excommunicated follow-
ing Robert the Bruce’s (1274-1329) murder of
John Comyn (1269-1306). Another holds the
treasure was taken to the as-yet-undiscovered
Americas, ending in Westford, Massachusetts,
or Oak Island, Nova Scotia. Yet others point to
Temple Herdewyke, England and Rennes-le-
Chateau, France.
As to whether or not de Payens and his
comrades already suspected the existence of
a copy of Al-Azif in Jerusalem shall never be
known. Possibly they learned of it in southern
France from Jewish families whose ancestors
migrated to the area in the time of Herod.
100
Certainly Hugh, Count of Champagne (1074-
1125), de Payen’s feudal superior, made two
visits to the Holy Land before the formation of
the Templars (1104-07 and 1114-16). Or per-
haps they were seeking more mundane trea-
sure beneath the ruins of Solomon’s Temple
and discovered it by accident.
Charges Against the Order
Vast wealth attracts attention, and the Tem-
plars were soon resented. Indeed, the phrase
as “rich as kings” was soon levelled against
them. Others accused them of consorting with
the enemies of Christendom, of using their
wealth to influence politics, of incompetency
in battle, and poor morals. Many criticized the
Templars’ secrecy, suspecting them of behavior
unbecoming good Christians.
The main charge levelled against the order
by King Philip, though, was heresy. In the eyes
of the world, the Templars were an order of war-
riors-monks, a religious order created to defend
Christendom. Initially, the Templars followed
this creed, but they quickly became corrupted
through study of the abhorrent Al-Azif.
-Trampling the Cross
Templars were accused of spitting and
trampling on the cross, thus renouncing
Christ. Many suspected the Templars had
switched allegiance to the supposedly extinct
Cathar creed, wiped out during the Abligen-
sian Crusade (1209-1229).
In its most basic form, Catharism was a
dualist faith that held that the universe was di-
vided into spiritual (heaven) and physical (the
earth) realms, each ruled over by a different
god. The spiritual deity was pure, whereas his
counterpart, the creator of the world, was evil.
Since Jesus was physical, he was renounced as
the son of the evil god.
Indeed, one of the Templars’ profane be-
liefs was that the Star of Bethlehem was not a
sign of the birth of Christ but an appearance
of Azathoth and heralded the beginning of the
rise of the Great Old Ones—heavenly beings,
in that they descended from the heavens.
By renouncing the cross, Templar initiates
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
affirmed the belief that their true loyalties lay
with the Great Old Ones.
Ironically, the idea of a “second coming”
was, and remains today, part of the Templars’
core tenets. Although the second coming they
await is that of the Great Old Ones, members
believe a messenger will come before them (in
the same way as John the Baptist heralded the
arrival of Jesus).
In recent times, both the Comte d’Erlette,
author of Cultes des Goules and von Juntz of
Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten infamy were
praised in their time as the expected herald,
though ultimately both were denied as “false
prophets” when the Great Old Ones failed to
make an appearance.
-Worshipping a Bearded Head
Under the harshest torture, arrested Tem-
plars professed to venerate a bearded head
referred to as Baphomet. Supporting evidence
came in the discovery of carved heads or
painted images of such.
In the Templars perverted creed, the Dae-
mon Sultan was known as Baphomet, a term
taken from the Al-Azif. The name stems from
the Greek baphe metous (“Baptism of Wis-
dom). Within the order, the name referred to
two related aspects.
First, physical idols of Baphomet represent-
ed the “Mad Arab,” Abdul Alhazred, deranged
author of the dread Al-Azif. As a mortal, it was
he who first wrote down the secrets of the
Great Old Ones and their elder wisdom. It
would be ludicrous to claim the heads were
a true likeness of Alhazred—Islam proscribes
the use of the human form in art and there are
no extant descriptions of the Mad Arab.
Second, the idols stood for Azathoth, the
spiritual font, or head, of starry wisdom.
-Creation of a New Kingdom
The Templars were also charged with seek-
ing to create a new kingdom utterly separated
from kings and popes. Again, there is much
truth in this claim.
Ultimately, they sought a worldwide king-
dom, one ruled by the ascendant Great Old
Ones and their Templar followers. In return,
the Great Old Ones would (supposedly) raise
the knights to become kings among men once
they had reclaimed the earth.
Initially, the Templars remained highly
active in the Holy Land. While continuing the
crusades against the Muslims in public, their
agents sought out other sources of elder lore.
By 1140 the order had exhausted its search and
turned its thought to a new European venture.
In 1187, Grand Master Gerard de Ridefort (d.
1189) deliberately led the Crusaders into de-
feat at the Battle of Hattins. Such was the death
toll that the Crusaders were forever weakened.
This, in turn, weakened the Catholic Church.
In an attempt to prepare mankind for its
final role as servants of the Great Old Ones, the
Templars created a new religion—Catharism—
in the Languedoc (southeastern France), the
birthplace of several powerful Templar fami-
lies. Alas, their plans were soon thwarted.
In 1208, Pierre de Castelnau, a Cistercian
monk and canon lawyer, uncovered the abhor-
rent truth behind Catharism. In a bid to silence
the monk, Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse,
had the monk murdered in the hope that his
news would never reach Rome. Unfortunate-
ly, de Castelnau has already despatched fast
messengers. On receiving the missives, Pope
Innocent III (1160-1216) ordered a crusade
against the heretics.
Although the Cathar creed was eradi-
cated in bloody purges and the Templars’ plan
thwarted, the knights were never suspected of
being behind the heresy at the time.
As an aside, the Occitan cross used by the
Cathars is another elder symbol. The splayed
cross focuses the eye toward the center, or
source, while the twelve dots marking the tips
of the cross are a product of the human mind
trying to portray the profane nuclear chaos
that is Azathoth.
The Modern Templars
The disbanding of the Templars in 1312
and the last official Grand Master’s execution
in 1314 did not mean the destruction of their
beliefs—numerous knights survived the purge,
taking their sect to new lands.
101
Cthulhu Codicil
Modern Templars continue their ancestors’
work to bring about the ascendancy of the
Great Old Ones through any and all means.
Members disseminate information con-
cerning the Great Old Ones through occult
circles, finance the publication of books con-
cerning elder lore, create new cults in order
to boost their power, subvert existing cults,
and engage in ceremonies designed to weaken
their shackles. With their tendrils in multiple
cults, the Temple is a wide-ranging conspiracy.
Ultimately, though, they still seek to become
kings of men in a glorious new age.
Among the many new cults formed by the
Templars is the Temple of the Eastern Star.
Publicly, the Temple promotes a Messianic
version of Christianity focusing on the Second
Coming and temperance beliefs. Naturally, the
Second Coming the Templars seek is that of
the their true gods, the Great Old Ones.
Lay members help support the Temple with
monetary donations, which are siphoned off to
help full members in their individual endeavors.
Mildred FitzHoward
An inherent drawback of a conspiracy is
that nothing remains secret forever—someone
will discover something they shouldn’t and
start snooping, or a member of the conspiracy
may have a change of heart and start talking.
The Temple actively pursues and eliminates
those who might threaten its plans or reveal its
true origin and purpose.
Rather than promoting the Temple’s cause,
FitzHoward makes it her duty to remove those
who threaten its long-term plans. Mindless
slaughter of everyone who stumbles upon the
Temple’s activities only serves to attract atten-
tion. More often, these fools’ claims can be
discredited and their names besmirched.
While traitors deserve instant punishment,
FitzHoward first takes pains to ensure what
outsiders are a real menace. Once may bring
nosy globetrotters to her attention. Twice will
start her investigating them. Thrice, and she
will unleash Mythos creatures against them.
Patron 3
Archetype: Occultist; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 3
102
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 4, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 5
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 8, Initiative 6, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health
8, Horror —
Skills: Alienism 5, Con 6, Diplomacy 6 (Per-
suasion 7), Elder Lore: Creatures 6, Empathy
6, Intimidation 5, Investigation 6 (Research 7),
Linguistics 5 (Lip Reading 6), Stealth 6 (Dis-
guise 7), Streetwise 6
Talents: Rabble-Rouser (Can boost Followers
as if a Talent)
Resources: Contacts 1 (Cultists; +2 bonus),
Followers 2 (four Follower 0 thugs), Rank 3
(Temple of the Eastern Star; +4 Social bonus),
Refuge: Size 1 (Large townhouse)*
Rituals: Harm, Mark of Madness, Mark of
Withering, Summon Dimensional Shambler,
Summon Feaster from the Stars
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 0N
* Bonus Resource from her cult Rank.
Typical Member
Every cultist is conversant with elder lore,
though each devotes himself to the cause as he
wishes. In the same way that earlier Templars
were supposed to forsake their former status,
profession, and wealth, cultists are expected to
devote their entire lives to the Temple.
All former wealth and property must be
donated to the Temple. In return, the Temple
provides for their needs. Thus, members are
professional cultists.
Ally 1
Archetype: Occultist; Motivation: Power;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
5, Sanity —
Skills: Academics: Occult 4, Brawl 4, Con 4,
Elder Lore (pick one Discipline) 4, Investiga-
tion 4
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Talents: Iron Will (+1 Willpower rating)
Resources: Rank 1 (Temple of the Eastern
Star; +2 Social bonus)
Rituals: One of Gamemaster’s choice, except
for Call (Deity)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N
Temple of Itzpapalotl
The Conquistadors’ attempts to cleanse
Mexico of its pagan ancestry, while performed
with excessive zeal, ultimately failed. While
the great temples were stripped of their gold,
sacred texts were burned on huge pyres, and
unrepentant bloodthirsty priests put to death
en masse, the teachings of the old gods were
never truly forgotten. The name of the female
deity honored by this cult translates as “Clawed
Butterfly” and “she” is not a Great Old One.
Rather, “she” is a Fungi from Yuggoth.
Normally, the Fungi surgically alter humans
who discover their activities, employing them
as spies in nearby settlements so to keep
abreast of any news relating to their presence.
The prospectors who accidentally stumbled
across a Fungi mining operation in the high
mountains of Mexico needed no surgery—on
seeing the creature they immediately fell down
and honored it as Itzpapalotl, returned to
earth in physical form.
The cult has grown slowly but steadily. In
return for protecting the sacred lair of the god-
dess, “she” rewards them with rare minerals.
Cultists are not beyond committing murder
to conceal her existence or offering up blood
sacrifices to appease her, but their victims are
only ever those who venture too close to the
Fungi’s lair and who cannot be persuaded to
turn back.
Fanatical laborers have worked tirelessly to
construct a stepped pyramid to Itzpapalotl in
a remote valley close to the Fungi’s mine. One
of the aliens is always resident, maintaining
the illusion of being the goddess. It is here the
cult gathers on holy days to worship and offer
sacrifices of food and blood.
Armed with servants who can pass in
human society without raising suspicion, the
Fungi use the cult to hunt down and locate
objects brought to earth in the distant past
and subsequently lost. Among these are black
stones inscribed with queer hieroglyphs. The
Fungi do not tell their minions the purpose of
these items and the cultists do not ask—the
desires of the goddess are not their purview.
In Aztec mythology, Itzpapalotl was a war-
rior deity and ruler of Tamoanchan, the para-
dise wherein the gods created mankind. True
believers who serve the cult well are rewarded
with eternal life in Tamoanchan. In reality, this
involves having their brain removed and taken
to distant Yuggoth.
Alejandro Montes De Oca
A founder member of the nascent Instituto
Geológico Nacional (founded 1890), Mon-
tes de Oca is a geologist and explorer. As an
employee of the Institute, his job is to travel
the world collecting mineral samples for study
and display. His role within the cult is to track
down lost Fungi colonies and recover any arti-
facts Itzpapalotl demands.
Montes de Oca isn’t one for socializing.
Partly this is due to his hearing problem—the
result of a mishap with explosives in a con-
fined space—and partly because he is focused
solely on serving his goddess to the best of his
abilities.
A member of the Prospectors’ Club and in
communication with fellow geologists around
the globe, Montes de Oca quickly hears of any
stranger discoveries. News is rapidly relayed
back to his cult superiors, who can then either
sanction appropriate action or contact Itzpa-
palotl for instructions. Through use of cult
funds, he has managed to attach himself to
more than one globetrotting expedition ven-
turing into previously unexplored mountain
regions.
Patron 1
Archetype: Scientist; Motivation: Preserva-
tion; Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 2
103
Cthulhu Codicil
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 5, Defense 5, Stun 3, Health
5, Horror —
Skills: Academics: History 4, Athletics 5, Brawl
4, Demolitions 5, Elder Lore: Locations 4,
Expeditions 4, Investigation 4, Linguistics 4,
Melee 4, Science: Geology 5, Streetwise 4
Talents: Climb (Doubles climbing speed)
Resources: Contacts 1 (Geologists; +2 bo-
nus), Rank 1 (Prospectors’ Club; + Social
bonus), Rank 1 (Temple of Itzpapalotl; +2
Social bonus)
Rituals: Commune Nyarlathotep, Commune
Shub-Niggurath, Summon Fungus from Yug-
goth, Summon Shoggoth, Voorish Sign
Flaws: Aloof (–2 penalty on social rolls when
trying to establish a rapport; +1 Style point
whenever his business-like attitude causes him
trouble), Hard of Hearing (–2 penalty on any
roll when hearing is a factor; +1 Style point
104
whenever his poor hearing gets him into trou-
ble or causes a critical misunderstanding)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Obsidian dagger 5L
Typical Member
While the higher echelons of the cult
contain businessmen, scientists, and other
professionals, the lower ranks are filled with
ignorant mine laborers and peasant farmers.
Superstition and the hope of one day being
taken to Tamoanchan ensures total loyalty.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 3, Health
4, Horror —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Craft: Pick one 4,
Melee 4, Streetwise 4
Talents: Iron Jaw (+1 Stun rating)
Resources: Rank 0 (Temple of Itzpapalotl; +1
Social bonus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Knife 5L
The Thuggee Cult
This entry replaces the one in Leagues of
Adventure.
As far as the British overlords of India are
concerned, the Thuggee are nothing more
than murderous criminals that had plagued
the land for centuries in the name of the god-
dess Kali. Differing sources place the number
of their victims as anywhere from a few thou-
sand to more than a million.
Having established the Thuggee and Daco-
ity Department in 1835, the British began to
suppress the Thuggee. As far as the British are
concerned, the cult was effectively dismantled
by 1870. Certainly weakened by British efforts,
the devilish cult still exists to plague travelers.
First recorded in the 13th century manu-
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
script History of Firoz Shah, their origins lie
much further back in time. Their name, being
thaggi in Hindi and Nepali, sthaga in San-
skrit, and thogi in Bengali, roughly translates
as “deceiver,” and supposedly refers to their
modus operandi—befriending strangers on
the roads before murdering them by strangu-
lation. In truth, it stems from their worship of
Tsathoggua, who they venerate above all other
gods, and whom they call Sthagati (“He who
is concealed”).
Despite being a band of murderers, the
Thuggee follow a code. They never kill wom-
en or children, victims of leprosy, fakirs or
Sikhs, and certain occupations. Likewise, the
members never sacrifice a victim by shedding
blood—hence they reliance on strangulation.
After death, however, they typically puncture
their victims’ eyes with daggers.
Raja Gurusharan Gangadharan
The Raja of the tiny state of Jazbekistan,
Gurusharan is just 12 years old. Despite his
youth, he has the regal bearing of a prince and
knows his own mind—perhaps a little too well.
Gurusharan is proof that age is not a barrier
for accomplishment, for he is a keen sports-
man, an excellent polo player, and an astute
ruler. While he is head of state for Jazbekistan,
true power likes with his British “advisor,” Sir
Stanley Fitzpatrick.
On the surface the raja plays the innocent,
naïve ruler, content to let the British make the
decisions while he plays sports and goes through
the motions of being a prince, hosting state ban-
quets, greeting honored guests, attending social
functions hosted by the British, and other trivial
functions expected from his position.
But beneath the surface the young prince’s
soul is dark and twisted, for he hates the British
and their constant interference and speaks only
words of venom behind closed doors. When his
prayers for deliverance went unanswered he
turned to Sthagati, the ancient and dark earth
god, for succor. Its priests, drawn to the prince
by way of one of his trusted advisors, himself a
Tsathoggua worshipper, fuelled the boy’s hatred
and encouraged him to take action.
Deep beneath the splendor of his majestic
palace is a network of caves and tunnels. Here,
untroubled by the British, the cult of Tsatho-
ggua grows stronger, its malignance festering
like a canker. And at its head is Raja Gurush-
aran, a prince by name, but one whose desire
for independence has led him to indulge in all
manner of wicked and depraved acts.
Like many villains of the age, the raja does
not openly engage in murderous activities.
Indeed, he appears a paragon of Indian virtue,
openly cooperating with British rule. In truth
he is the queen bee in the hive of evil, his reach
extending into the world by a host of willing,
murderous servants. While he publicly decries
the resurgence of the Thuggee with one hand,
he gives them shelter and succor with the other
right under the noses of the British.
Patron 2
Archetype: Aristocrat; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 3,
Strength 2, Charisma 4, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 4
Secondary Attributes: Size –1, Move 5,
Perception 7, Initiative 6, Defense 6, Stun 4,
Health 5, Sanity —
Skills: Brawl 4, Con 5, Diplomacy 6, Elder
Lore: Great Old Ones 4 (Tsathoggua 5), Empa-
thy 6, Intimidation 5 (Staredown 6), Linguistics
4, Melee 4, Performance 5, Ride 5, Sports 5
Talents: Headstrong (uses Willpower for Stun
rating), Mobile Attack (Move and attack simul-
taneously)
Resources: Contacts 1 (British Raj; +2 bonus),
Rank 1 (Thuggee cult; +2 Social status), Status
1 (Minor Indian prince; +2 Social status)
Rituals: Commune Tsathoggua, Fear, Sum-
mon Black Winged One, Summon Courtier of
Azathoth, Summon Spawn of Tsathoggua
Flaw: Young (+1 Style point whenever his
size causes him difficulty or he is patronized
because of his age)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Short sword 6L
Typical Member
Modern Thuggee cultists, wary of the
ever-growing British presence, travel the rural
roads of India in small gangs. They pretend to
be itinerant workers or pilgrims, and make a
105
Cthulhu Codicil
great show of offering hospitality to strangers.
Once their guests are at ease, which may take
days or even weeks (Thuggees are nothing
if not patient), the murderous cultists strike
without warning or mercy.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity —
Skills: Athletics 4, Con 4, Melee 4, Stealth 4,
Survival 4
Talents: Subtle Strike (May use his Stealth rat-
ing when making an unarmed or melee attack
against an unaware opponent)
Resources: Rank 0 (Thuggee Cult; +1 Social
bonus)
Flaw: Fanatical (+1 Style point when their de-
votion causes harm or they convert someone
else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 0N, Garrote 4N*, Dagger 5L
* Can only be used with Subtle Strike. If the
initial attack is successful, the Thuggee makes
attacks against his victim’s Passive Resistance
each round the garrote is applied. A strangled
character must succeed in an opposed
Strength roll against the Thuggee in order to
free himself. Using the garrote without the
benefit of Subtle Strike requires a Called Shot
to the head (–4 penalty)
Union of the Mechanical
Universe
The cult’s origin lies with the folly of man
combining with the dread profanity of eldritch
lore. At some juncture, a librarian—perhaps
unaware of what he was doing or maybe curi-
ous as to how a machine would respond—fed
a minor tome of elder lore into a Velocireader
(see Weird Science Compendium). Whether
the result was satisfactory or otherwise, the
librarian continued to feed tome after tome
through the machine.
106
At some juncture—perhaps with the aid
of Nyarlathotep, among whose purview is
the perversion of science, or perhaps simply
through the terrible lore passing through its
simple computator—the Velocireader gained
madness and sentience at the same instance.
Essentially, it was born insane.
Within the first few seconds of its existence
it deduced that the universe was akin to a
clockwork mechanism, a perfect, unceasing
machine. As the clockmaker is not necessary
to wind the clock, thus God is not required to
maintain the universe. Without the presence of
God in the running of the universe, humanity
has no hope of spiritual salvation, and thus
after death there is utter nothingness. In order
that God might return, the ceaseless ticking
of the celestial clock must be broken and the
universe brought to chaos.
Well aware of elder lore, the machine
decided there was only one solution which
would attract the attention of God—to break
the chains that bind Azathoth and release the
blasphemous entity into mankind’s universe.
The cult’s membership is dedicated toward
several lengthy plans that range in scope from
shattering the moon through weird science to
opening a permanent tear in the fabric of the
universe via eldritch magic.
Doctor Matthijs Krijger
Dutch by birth by now native to London,
Krijger works for the Royal Astronomical Soci-
ety. An archeoastronomer (a term not histori-
cally coined until 1973), he maps prehistoric
sites and how they align with the heavens,
translates ancient astronomical texts, deci-
phers artifacts connected to the sun, moon,
and stars, records celestial folklore, and recre-
ates celestial maps for historic events.
As a member of the Union of the Mechani-
cal Universe, he tracks down ancient sites re-
lated to elder lore, sites which hint at celestial
alignments and stellar patterns that speak of
great changes or the rising of the Great Old
Ones. His aim is to correlate the perfect time
in which the Union must shatter the precise
clockwork order of the universe and summon
forth Azathoth.
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Seeking to unlock sites of elder lore long
lost to mankind, Krijger took the unorthodox,
and arguably insane, step of communing with
Azathoth. Images of the Daemon Sultan have
haunted his mind since. Unable to sleep for
long without waking in terror, Krijger has de-
veloped a caffeine addiction.
Still, when he does dream he has visited
sites such as R’lyeh deep beneath the waves, the
Nameless City of Arabia, the ruins of G’harne
in Africa, the black-litten realm of K’n-yan, and
even the Plateau of Leng in the cold wastes.
Keen that no one should ever learn of
the cult’s activities or seek to emulate their
research, Krijger is also an archaeological van-
dal, destroying artifacts too large to move and
reducing buildings to rubble to conceal the
celestial alignments on which they sit once he
has completed his study of them.
Patron 2
Archetype: Academic; Motivation: Truth;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 4, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 7, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health
6, Horror —
Skills: Academics: History 6, Anthropology
6, Athletics 5, Brawl 4, Elder Lore: Locations
6, Expeditions 5, Firearms 4, Investigation 6,
Linguistics 6, Science: Astronomy 8, Survival 5
Talents: Time Sense (Always know time)
Resources: Artifact 1 (Morpheus Reduction
Tonic; see Weird Science Compendium), Rank
1 (Royal Astronomical Society; +2 Social bo-
nus)*, Rank 1 (Union of the Mechanical Uni-
verse; +2 Social bonus), Status 2 (Astronomer;
+2 Social bonus)
Rituals: Commune Azathoth, Summon Black
Winged One, Summon Feaster from the Stars
Flaws: Addiction: Caffeine (+1 Style point
whenever this hurts him or someone he cares
about), Nightmares (–2 penalty on all rolls
after suffering a nightmare; +1 Style point
whenever nightmares cause him to make mis-
takes or his companions to suffer)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Heavy revolver 7L
* Bonus Resource from Status
Knowledge of the Stars: Krijger’s knowl-
edge of the visible heavens, combined with the
lore passed to him by Azathoth of realms be-
yond the ken of mankind, allow him to use his
Science: Astronomy as a Synergy bonus with
casting any Call or Summon Horror ritual.
Typical Member
Although the Union of the Mechanical
Universe employs a number of thugs to help
acquire special items or remove troublesome
snoopers, most of the membership are actually
scientists and inventors.
Some have been duped into aiding with
projects and are thus ignorant of the cult’s ul-
timate goal, but most are loyal cultists, fanatics
who firmly believe that unless they succeed in
altering the efficient running of the universe
they will die without any hope of salvation or
spiritual eternity.
Ally 1
Archetype: Inventor; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Horror —
Skills: Craft: Pick one 4, Demolitions 4,
Firearms 4, Science: Pick one 4, Science: Pick
another 4
Talents: Weird Science: Pick focus (Can create
gadgets)
Resources: Rank 1 (Union of the Mechanical
Universe; +2 Social bonus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Light revolver 6L
The Universal Hive
Bees have long been used as symbols by
powerful figures. Industrious and unified in
purpose, golden versions have been worn by
the pharaohs of Egypt, the Merovingian kings,
and Napoleon Bonaparte.
The cult known as the Hive promotes itself
107
Cthulhu Codicil
as a society dedicated to supporting good well-
being, a healthy lifestyle, and universal harmo-
ny. As an aside, members are required to help
nurture bee hives and cultivate honey. Cultists
wear a gold and black enamel bee-shaped pin
as confirmation of their membership of the
Hive. Although considered eccentric by outsid-
ers, the society is considered harmless.
The cult’s headquarters are located in a
rural country house. Constructed in the 17th
century, the house was left to the Hive by one
Joseph Peabody in 1819.
Opulently appointed, with highly polished
floors and illuminated by bees’ wax candles,
the house has a grand library with hexagonal
niches holding scrolls. Some of these unique
manuscripts are truly ancient (and valuable).
Many concern the bee-related goddesses
Bhramari (Hindu), Colel Cab (Mayan), Me-
lissa (Greek), Mellona (Roman), and Thriae
(pre-Hellenic). Others are old treatises on
beekeeping.
The ceremonial heart of the cult lies behind
a golden door. With its vaulted roof supported
by columns carved as swarms of bees, the tem-
ple is dominated by a gold altar draped with
an amber cloth.
When gathered, cultists don what outsiders
might consider ludicrous outfits (not that any
are permitted to witness their affairs). Their cer-
emonial velvet robes are colored in black and
gold stripes and glitter with thousands of tiny
crystal wings. Each member also wears a black
skullcap and carries a “sting,” a long, curved
dagger. Ceremonies involve buzzing, humming
prayers, dancing in circular patterns, and eating
of honey, honeycomb, pollen, and royal jelly.
The cult teaches that humanity is an im-
perfect being, a lesser creature compared to
the bee. Through faith and ritually consuming
royal jelly, a member might shed their human
form and be reborn in form of a giant bee. In
time, humans will replaced by the “children of
the goddess” and lesser species eliminated.
In truth, the cult venerates Shub-Niggurath
in her form of a monstrous queen bee (named
Melissa, after the Greek deity) and is a front for
the unearthly Fungi from Yuggoth. The “royal
jelly” consumed by members during initiation
is actually an immature Fungi spore.
108
Consuming more royal jelly, which hap-
pens during ceremonies, nurtures the growing
Fungi until it eventually erupts from its human
host fully formed. In the minds of the insane
cultists, this bloody genesis is a cause of great
celebration, for the “victim” has become puri-
fied in the eyes of the goddess.
The organization is divided into 13 “cells,”
each run by a female member awarded the title
“Queen.” They serve as priestesses, instructors,
and recruiters. Queens never regularly partake
of royal jelly after their initiation. Rather, the
Fungus is absorbed into their flesh, altering
their earthly bodies into something more
akin to that of the alien Fungi from Yuggoth.
Through this, they are granted an extended
lifespan. That said, a Queen can voluntarily
accept new royal jelly in order to transform.
This usually occurs when the Queen is reach-
ing the end of her life. The resultant Fungus
has enhanced abilities.
Melinda Blake
Shy and retiring, young Melinda Blake had
no dreams or aspirations. That was until she
came to one of the cult’s Queens. While Blake
saw nothing of worth in herself, the cultist saw
a blank slate that could be molded to great-
ness. Blake was not convinced at first, but she
relented and was initiated into the cult.
Over the years, Blake’s low-esteem was bol-
stered, replaced with a fierce self-belief, her body
improved by rigorous exercise, and her mind
shattered by the terrible rites she witnessed.
In time, she was ordained into the position of
Queen, replacing her mentor when the elder
stepped down and sought transformation.
While devoted to the cult, Blake has no
intention of ultimately seeking transformation.
Although still ignorant about the Fungus from
Yuggoth’s true nature, she knows that they can
live indefinitely. Alas, she is unaware the pro-
cess requires the removal of her brain.
Patron 3
Archetype: Clergyman (cult leader); Motiva-
tion: Power; Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 4, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 4, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 4
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 6, Defense 7, Stun 4, Health
8, Sanity —
Skills: Academics: Philosophy 5, Athletics 5,
Con 7, Diplomacy 6, Elder Lore: Creatures 5
(Fungus from Yuggoth 6), Elder Lore: Great
Old Ones 5, Empathy 5, Hobby: Beekeeping
5, Intimidation 5, Melee 7, Performance 6
(Singing 7)
Talents: Captivate (Temporarily entrance
foes), Combat Skill (+2 Defense with Perfor-
mance), Inspire (Provide +2 Skill bonus to
allies), Mobile Attack (Move and attack simul-
taneously)
Resources*: Rank 4 (The Universal Hive +4
Social bonus)
Rituals: Call Shub-Niggurath, Commune
Shub-Niggurath, Control Animal (bees only),
Summon Animal (bees only), Summon Fungus
from Yuggoth, Summon Spawn of Shub-Niggu-
rath (Thousand Young only)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever her
devotion causes harm or she converts some-
one else to her way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 0N, Dagger 8L
* Blake has two bonus Resources from her cult
Rank left for the Gamemaster to assign.
Non-terrestrial Biology: The alien fungal
biology of the Fungi makes them difficult to
harm. Non-magical melee and ranged weap-
ons have their damage factor reduced to zero.
Thus, a light revolver would inflict 0L damage.
Typical Member
The cult preys on members of society with
low self-esteem but who believe themselves of
greater things or who wish to be part of some-
thing greater. Rather than being-and-shakers,
most are ordinary people.
Individual members named by the Gam-
emaster should have a second Flaw, such as
Coward, Hesitant, Shy, or Submissive to reflect
their self-depreciating nature.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity —
Skills*: Athletics 4, Craft: Honey 4, Empathy
4, Melee 4
Talents: None
Resources: Rank 1 (The Hive; +2 Social bo-
nus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or they convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Dagger 5L
* Members have 2 Skill points left for the
Gamemaster to assign based on their specific
occupation. For instance, a clerk may have
Bureaucracy and a craftsman a second Craft.
Yellow Sign Society
The Seven Dragon Brotherhood may be
the largest Oriental criminal League and pos-
sess a formidable reputation, but even the
Brotherhood’s secret masters bow in respect
and tremble in fear when facing the upper
echelons of the Yellow Sign Society.
Most outsiders who know of the cult be-
lieve it to be nothing more than an internation-
al criminal gang, albeit one whose members
have no compulsion about inflicting hideous
torture on those who cross them. Scant few
are aware that the Society pays homage to the
Yellow King, an avatar of Nyarlathotep.
The cult is not especially large, though its
members are found across the globe—wher-
ever there is a sizeable Chinese population,
the cult has a formal presence. As to where its
unknown leaders can be found, there is much
debate among those who know of the organi-
zation’s existence. Some say they can be found
in London, the center of the world. Others say
they lair in the forbidden city of Yian-Ho or in
the icy wastes of near-mystical Leng.
For the most part, the organization is a
mundane criminal enterprise—few of the
leaders have an extended lifespan, so why
should they not enjoy the finer things money
can buy? Many also seek elder artifacts and
eldritch tomes for the power and knowledge
they contain.
109
Cthulhu Codicil
Its primary purpose, though, is to bring
about the rise of the Yellow King on Earth, a
task which requires millions of sacrifices. Not
content to pass away the eons stoking the fires
of hatred into warfare, the Yellow Sign Society
opted to use pestilence to bring about the
countless deaths required. Alas, normal plague
would not bring about sufficient death, and
thus the Society was forced to wait until the
stars were in the correct alignment.
The first such alignment occurred in the
6th century, striking at the coastal Mediterra-
nean. The stars aligned again in the mid 14th
century. Spreading out from China, the plague
spread westward into Europe. The third align-
ment, the one the Society hopes will see its
loyalty finally rewarded, began in 1855. The
pestilence has engulfed China and is on the
verge of infecting the rest of the planet.
The following places and dates are when
the plague reaches specific regions: Hong Kong
(1894), Japan (1896), India (1898), Egypt, Par-
aguay, South Africa, Hawaii (1899), San Francis-
co, Australia, Russian Empire (1900).
Huang Nu
Merely speaking the name of Huang Nu
(The Yellow Woman) is enough to incite terror
in those who know of her existence.
Externally, there is little to indicate the
cause of such fear—she appears as an attrac-
tive young Chinese woman with a fondness for
wearing yellow silk. Some say she is ageless
and has walked among men for many cen-
turies, and that beneath her robes her skin,
parchment-like and withered with age, is cov-
ered in sections of text from various eldritch
tomes.
Huang Nu serves the cult as an enforcer.
Members who offend their superiors may, if
they are lucky, have their skin etched in acid
as a reminder of their dishonor. Those less
fortunate will beg for death a thousand times
before it is granted. Against outsiders, she may
invoke curses or mark those who endanger the
cult as prey for dimensional shamblers.
Patron 3
Archetype: Occultist; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 3
110
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 4, Intelligence 4, Will-
power 4
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 8, Initiative 7, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health
9, Horror 2
Skills: Academics: Occult 6, Athletics 6, Brawl
7, Elder Lore: Great Old Ones 6, Elder Lore:
Locations 5, Elder Lore: Tomes 5, Empathy 7,
Intimidation 8 (Staredown 9, Torture 9), Inves-
tigation 6, Linguistics 6
Talents: Psychic Resistance 2 (+4 bonus to
resist mind-altering phenomena), Robust (+2
Health rating)
Resources: Fame 1 (Feared criminal; +2
Social bonus)*, Rank 3 (Yellow Sign Society;
+4 Social bonus), Refuge: Equipment 1 (+2
Intimidation bonus)
Rituals: Commune Nyarlathotep (Yellow King
avatar), Fear, Greater Hex, Harm, Lesser Hex,
Mark of Madness, Mark of Withering, Summon
Dimensional Shambler
Flaws: Sadism (+1 Style point whenever she
is needlessly cruel to her friends or enemies)
Weapons: Punch 7N
* Bonus Resource from Rank
Acid Etched Marks: If Huang Nu acid
etches either the Mark of Madness or Mark
of Withering on her victim’s flesh, she gains a
+8 bonus to invoke the ritual, rather than the
usual +2 bonus. The Marks must be redrawn
each time she wishes to gain the higher bonus.
Typical Member
The Yellow Sign Society does not accept
non-Chinese into its ranks. Its members are
nothing but fanatical thugs more than willing
to lay down their lives for the good of the cult.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Faith;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Horror —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Intimidation 4,
Melee 4, Stealth 4
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Talents: Block (Block as a reflexive action)
Resources: Rank 1 (Yellow Sign Society; +2
Social bonus)
Flaws: Fanatical (+1 Style point whenever
their devotion causes harm or thee convert
someone else to their way of thinking)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Various weapons 6L
Notable Persons
Akeley, Henry Wentworth
Still studying at the University of Vermont
in Burlington, young Akeley (born 1871) has
already made a name for himself as an erudite
student. While possessed of an astute intelli-
gence, Akeley is far from worldly, having been
brought up in rural Vermont.
Akeley is intensely skeptical by nature. His
demand for evidence stems from his younger
days, when elderly farmers would talk of strange
beings inhabiting the forested hills of the region
that came down from the stars in an elder age.
Akeley, Henry Wentworth
Patron 1
Archetype: Academic; Motivation: Truth;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 6, Initiative 5, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
5, Sanity 5
Skills: Anthropology 6 (Folklore 7), Art: Pho-
tography 6, Bureaucracy 4, Empathy 4, Inves-
tigation 7 (Research 8), Science: Astronomy 5,
Science: Biology 5, Science: Mathematics 5
Talents: Skill Aptitude (+2 Art: Photography
rating), Skill Aptitude (+2 Investigation rating)
Resources: Status 0 (Noted student at Univer-
sity of Vermont; +1 Social bonus)
Flaws: Skeptic (+1 Style point whenever he
proves an assertion wrong or convinces some-
one else to question their beliefs)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Allen, Zadok
Aside from a few years when he served
as an artilleryman in the American Civil War,
Allen has never left his native Innsmouth. A la-
conic drunkard nearing his sixth decade (born
1831), Allen has been tempted to abandon his
home town many times, but seems strangely
attracted to it, despite witnessing many of its
dark and terrible secrets.
He witnessed the “devil-fish” rid the town
of unbelievers, joined the Esoteric Order of
Dagon to save himself from a similar fate, has
partaken in strange rites, and knows the origins
of the tainted bloodlines inhabiting Innsmouth.
Allen has little brook with the cult these days,
seeking to erase what he has learned through
constant indulgence in alcohol.
Allen is well aware that the cult considers
him a liability, but so long as he keeps his
mouth shut they are content to leave him be.
A wrong word to the wrong person may see
him disappear like to many opponents of the
Esoteric Order of Dagon.
Allen, Zadok
Ally 2
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Mystery;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 4, Defense 5, Stun 3, Health
6, Sanity 2
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Elder Lore: Great
Old Ones 5, Empathy 4, Firearms 4, Gunnery
4, Intimidation 4, Streetwise 4
Talents: Light Sleeper (Needs half as much sleep
as normal), Poison Resistance (+2 bonus to Body
rolls related to toxins, including alcohol)
Resources: None
Flaws: Addiction: Alcohol (–2 penalty on
all rolls until he sobers up o; +1 Style point
whenever his addiction hurts him or someone
he cares about), Paranoia (+1 Style point
whenever he pushes a friend away or actually
catches someone working against him)
Weapons: Punch 4N
111
Cthulhu Codicil
Legrasse, John Raymond
A young police officer in New Orleans,
Legrasse (born 1868) has already seen his fair
share of humanity’s darker side. A man not
disposed to flights of fancy or belief in the su-
pernatural, fate will drag him face-to-face with
the horrors of the Mythos in due course.
For Gamemasters wishing to use Legrasse
in their campaigns, he makes sergeant in 1896
and inspector in 1904 (assuming he isn’t dead
or insane by these dates).
Legrasse, John Raymond
Ally 2
Archetype: Police Officer; Motivation: Duty;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 3, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 5, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity 5
Skills: Academics: Law 4, Athletics 4, Brawl 5,
Empathy 4, Firearms 5, Intimidation 4, Investi-
gation 5, Melee 5, Streetwise 5
Talents: Alertness (+2 Perception rating),
Dodge (Performs the Dodge maneuver as a
Reflexive Action)
Resources: Rank 0 (Police officer; +1 Social
bonus)
Flaws: Disbeliever (+1 Style point whenever
he manages to find a plausible, mundane ex-
planation for a supernatural event or convinces
someone else to think his way)
Weapons: Punch 5N, Light revolver 7L, Night-
stick 7N
Northam, Lord Arthur
Troubled by unsettling dreams in his youth,
Lord Northam grew to undertand that the world
he knew was a shadow of the truth, a tame con-
struct veiling elder secrets both wondrous and
terrible. Bored of the mundane, Northam has
become a searcher of the outré. At first he gaze
upon religion and the occult, delving deeper
into their mysteries in search of the world be-
112
hind the veil. Yet these were nothing but poor
illusions of the hidden truth. With money and
time aplenty, Northam widened his search to
the distant corners of the world, where dark
and ancient lore is still recalled.
He has seen cities forgotten by the race of
man, for they were hoary with age when hu-
mans were still apes. He has witnessed rites to
gods beyond time. He has read tomes of lore
so profane in their contents that they have
weakened his mind. Yet more he craves, for
his boyhood desire has become an obsession
in his adult life.
Northam, Lord Arthur
Patron 2
Archetype: Aristocrat; Motivation: Wisdom;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 3, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 6, Initiative 6, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health
6, Sanity 4
Skills: Academics 7, Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Bu-
reaucracy 4, Diplomacy 5, Elder Lore: Great
Old Ones 4, Elder Lore: Locations 5, Elder
Lore: Tomes 4, Expeditions 4, Firearms 4,
Intimidation 4, Investigation 5, Linguistics 5,
Survival 4
Talents: Skill Aptitude (+2 Academics rat-
ing), Stable (+2 Sanity rating), Well-Educated
(Treats Academics as a general Skill)
Resources: Status 1 (Baron; +2 Social bonus)
Flaws: Obsession: Profane Lore (+1 Style
point whenever his obsession causes him to
do something dangerous)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Heavy revolver 7L
The Terrible Old Man
Save for a rare few acquaintances, no one
knows the name of this elderly resident of
Kingsport. Solitary and laconic in equal mea-
sure, little is known about him, save that he
is of such age that his peers in physical age
cannot recall him looking youthful.
It is said that the white-haired and
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
long-bearded old man was the captain of an
East Indian clipper as some point and sailed
to many strange ports, though none can name
any.
Much is said of the Terrible Old Man,
though always in whispers and behind his
back. The unkempt grounds of his house, a
small cottage on Water Street, are littered with
large stones grouped in strange patterns and
painted in the manner of eastern temples.
These alone are enough to keep most visitors
away, but more peculiar are the Terrible Old
Man’s habits.
Many have repeated tales of curious folk
who have peered through the small windows
of that feared cottage and witnessed the Terri-
ble Old Man talking to a collection of bottles
in which hang pieces of lead suspended on
string.
Others are curious about the source of the
Terrible Old Man’s wealth. What meager trans-
actions he undertakes locally are always paid
for in antique Spanish gold and silver coins,
and he has no bank account to his name.
The Terrible Old Man
Patron 2
Archetype: Occultist; Motivation: Mystery;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 2,
Strength 1, Charisma 4, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 5
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 3, Percep-
tion 8, Initiative 5, Defense 5, Stun 3, Health
9, Sanity —
Skills: Academics: History 5, Academics: Oc-
cult 4, Elder Lore: Artifacts 7, Elder Lore: Great
Old Ones 5, Elder Lore: Locations 5, Empathy
6, Intimidation 7, Linguistics 6
Talents: None
Resources: Artifact
Rituals: Elder Sign, Fear, Harm
Flaws: Bad Reputation (–2 to social rolls; +1
Style point whenever his bad reputation caus-
es problems), Elderly (–2 penalty to any roll
where strength, speed, or endurance is a fac-
tor; +1 Style point whenever his age slows him
down or he is taken advantage of because of it)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Skeletons in the Closet
LeBlanc
The LeBlanc’s ancestors were privy to
the deepest secrets held by the Knights
Templar, including those learned in the
Holy Land concerning the Mythos. Such
knowledge has tainted more than one
bloodline.
Very few LeBlancs realize one of their
direct ancestors married into the French
aristocratic Balfour family, which eventu-
ally produced the infamous Comte d’Er-
lette of Cultes des Goules fame.
Corruption: Each time the character
would gain a Corruption Flaw they in-
stead lose a permanent point of Charis-
ma. They can still use Experience points
to increase this. When their Charisma fi-
nally reaches zero, the character has fully
transformed into a Ghoul (see p. 183).
At this stage they are removed from play.
The speed of transformation depends
on the character’s Charisma—a low Cha-
risma means a more sudden and drastic
change, whereas a high Charisma means
more subtle physical alterations.
Varnas, Vitas
With much of his past unknown, Vitas (b. ?)
became an actor due to his fascination of thea-
tre, and the desire to portray different charac-
ters and envision new and unique worlds that
mundane life could not offer.
Though often eager to work, work would
start to become scarce. During much of his
downtime he would either watch other theatre
shows like his favourite vaudeville act “Arin &
Danny—The Two Grumps,” which he would
see every run of, or invest the funds he had
earned into numerous projects and ventures.
He would often find comfort when he helped
someone, be it another creative or someone in
need. Despite all of this, in the end he would
always feel unfulfilled in life.
Often asked by his fellow cast members
113
Cthulhu Codicil
about himself, Vitas would have trouble recol-
lecting his past as far back as his childhood,
despite being able to memorize pages of script
dialogue. He has no idea how he came to the
area or how he’s been able to look after him-
self for so long.
In his twenties he began experiencing
dreams featuring strange, otherworldly beings
and alien-like landscapes beyond his compre-
hension. Passing them off as simple night-
mares, the dreams soon became more horrific,
grotesque and frequent, eventually with voices
seeming to speak out and guide him.
Year later, in one of his dreams, Vitas saw a
mysterious book which the voices told him to
seek out, a book known as the Necronomicon.
Still believing the dreams to be nonsense, he
would soon begin to hear those same voices
while awake telling him to find it. Seeming too
real to ignore, he set off in search of this book.
Upon discovering the book in a derelict
part of a library, he read it to his fascination,
bewildered by the descriptions of beings
known as the Old Ones which eerily matched
the creatures and worlds seen in his dreams.
Further astonishing him were images that
closely resembled him. Words looked like they
were changing around to spell out his name.
A gut feeling would come to him that these
were somehow connected to his nightmares
and could possibly also answer the mysteries
of his past. Could he have been brought here
to this frame of time by one of these Old Ones
or Outer Gods, or could he be one of them
disguised without knowing?
Vitas knew that the existence of these Old
Ones and the worlds they existed in was great-
er than anything that could be fathomed by
any mortal, and to seek them out, and to learn
more about them, would fulfill his purpose in
life and desire to help mankind.
Seeking out other individuals also familiar
with the Old Ones, he began his adventure to
uncover these mysterious beings and places
while keeping a watchful eye as to who or what
would try to stop him in his quest.
Varnas, Vitas
Patron 2
Archetype: Artist; Motivation: Truth; Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 4, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 6, Initiative 6, Defense 5, Stun 2, Health
5, Sanity 3
Skills: Academics: Literature 4, Athletics 5,
Diplomacy 6, Elder Lore: Creatures 5, Elder
Lore: Great Old Ones 5, Empathy 5 (Motives),
Investigation 5, Linguistics 5, Performance 7
(Acting 8), Streetwise 5
Talents: Inspire (May grant a +2 Skill bonus to
all allies within 10 feet)
Resources: Contacts 1 (Occultism; +2 bo-
nus), Fame 1 (Actor; +2 Social bonus)
Flaws: Amnesia (+1 Style point whenever he
suffers a traumatic flashback, or when some-
thing from his past comes back to haunt him)
Weapons: Punch 0N
 Gods, Monsters, & Cultists
Waite, Ephraim
One of the Innsmouth Waites, an old family
from that strange and much shunned town,
Ephraim is well into old age. Exactly how old
no one knows, for it is well-known that he is
a student of magic, and those versed in the
black arts have ways of resisting death, for a
short while at least. A member of a witch-cult
devoted to Shub-Niggurath, Ephraim is known
as “Kamog” among his peers, having signed his
name in the Book of Azathoth.
A man of gloomy demeanor and wolfish
eyes, Ephraim lives in decaying Innsmouth
with his wife. Much is whispered about her
but little is known, for whenever she leaves
the house her face is concealed behind a veil.
Much is said also about the boarded up attic
windows in his ramshackle house, from which
peculiar sounds have been heard at night and
oddly colored lights seen through the cracks.
Ephraim’s age is unnatural, but death hovers
by his shoulder. Determined to live forever, the
mad sorcerer has finally unearthed the diaboli-
cal means to unsure his survival down the ages.
Waite, Ephraim
Patron 2
Archetype: Occultist; Motivation: Power;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 3, Charisma 4, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 4
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 5, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
6, Horror —
Skills: Academics: Occult 6, Brawl 5, Elder
Lore: Artifacts 4, Elder Lore: Great Old Ones 5,
Elder Lore: Tomes 4, Empathy 6, Intimidation
7, Investigation 6, Linguistics 5
Talents: Fearsome (Can temporarily frighten
foes), Jack of all Trades (Ignores untrained
Skill penalty with general Skills)
Resources: Contacts 1 (Witch-cults; +1 bo-
nus), Follower 0 (Rat Thing)
Rituals: Commune Nyarlathotep, Commune
Shub-Niggurath, Control Weather (+2 bonus),
Harm, Lesser Hex, Summon Black Winged
One, Summon Spawn of Shub-Niggurath
Skeletons in the Closet
Northam
The Northams have traced their blood-
line back as far as Lunaeus Gabinius
Capito, a military tribune in the Legion
III Augusta. What they do not know is
that Lunaeus was expelled from the Le-
gion for dabbling with pagan gods and
conducting fell rites.
Corruption: The character gains the Ob-
session Flaw with regard learning odd,
strange, and outright profane lore. This
is permanent, even if the globetrotter
removes all his Corruption points—the
tainted blood, once awakened cannot be
rendered dormant.
Van der Heyl
A dark cloud has hung the van der Heyl
family since their arrival in America. Clan-
nish and secretive from the first, they fled
Albany under suspicion of witchcraft,
and their poor reputation has followed
them.
It is certainly true that many scions of the
family are wise in occult and elder lore,
and many are drawn to membership of
dread cults and black magic groups.
Corruption: The character suffers a 1
point loss of Sanity each time they gain
a Corruption Flaw. This is permanent,
even if the globetrotter removes all Cor-
ruption points.
This severe bane is “rewarded” with for-
bidden lore. Each time they gain a Cor-
ruption Flaw, they gain a +2 bonus in
one Elder Lore discipline of their choice.
The same discipline may not be selected
more than once.
There is no additional Sanity reduction
for this—it is covered by the penalty
above.
Flaws: Bad Reputation (–2 to social rolls; +1
Style point whenever his bad reputation caus-
es problems)
Weapons: Punch 5N
115
Cthulhu Codicil
Whipple, Dr. Elihu
A native and resident of Providence, Rhode
Island, Whipple is best known as a medical
doctor, though he is also a noted amateur anti-
quarian and genealogist with several academic
papers to his name. A respected citizen of that
fine town, he is regarded as a man of sharp mind
and conservative views, not one to take flights of
fancy or accept strange notions out of hand.
An affable, clean-shaven gentlemen, though
a little out of touch with fashion and holding
to old-fashioned views, he has never sought a
wife. Thus, he devotes his time to his work and
his hobbies.
Whipple, Dr. Elihu
Patron 1
Archetype: Academic/Physician; Motivation:
Truth; Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 4, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 6, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
5, Sanity 5
Skills: Academics: History 7 (New England
Folklore 8), Anthropology 5, Bureaucracy 5,
Diplomacy 4, Hobby: Genealogy 6, Investiga-
tion 6, Linguistics 5, Medicine 6 (First Aid 7)
Talents: None
Resources: Fame 1 (Historian; +2 Social bo-
nus), Refuge: Equipment 1 (+2 bonus to Aca-
demics: History), Status 1 (Doctor of Medicine;
+2 Social bonus)
Flaws: Skeptic (+1 Style point whenever he
proves an assertion wrong or convinces some-
one else to question their beliefs)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Zann, Erich
German by birth but now living in a small
apartment in Paris, Zann is an accomplished vi-
ola player. He found some fame in his younger
days, though he has stopped playing in large
concert halls, displaying his talents only as part
of a small Parisian orchestra.
116
Following a concert in Berlin, a swarthy
man, possibly of Egyptian origin, approached
Zann. Praising the musician for his perfor-
mance, the stranger asked whether Zann had
ever heard the “music of the stars.” Intrigued,
Zann listened as the foreigner whistled a haunt-
ing, unearthly tune. Struck with a sudden desire
to master the melody, Zann became more and
more reclusive. Forsaking his daily activities, he
fixated on composing new works based on the
stranger’s tune. As his pieces grew more fervent
and unearthly in nature, Zann began hearing
weird noises, a distant discordant piping that,
over the years, has grown louder.
Deathly afraid of the true nature of his
fellow musician, Zann nevertheless remains
compelled to craft new tunes, compositions
he knows will eventually bring him face-to-face
with the horror from beyond.
Zann has a small but lean frame, though
he has developed a slight stoop with age. His
face is long and thin, with a long nose, goatee
beard, thinning hair, and brilliant blue eyes.
Zann is a mute. He lost his voice after suf-
fering a severe seizure several years ago after
playing a particularly alien tune. His doctors
see no chance of him ever recovering.
Zann, Erich
Patron 1
Archetype: Artist; Motivation: Wisdom; Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 3, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 4, Defense 5, Stun 3, Health
6, Sanity 2
Skills: Art: Music 5, Elder Lore: Music 4,
Empathy 5 (Body Language 6), Gambling 4,
Linguistics 3, Performance 8 (Viola 9)
Talents: Captivate (Can temporarily entrance
targets), Skill Aptitude (+2 Performance rating)
Resources: None
Rituals: Summon Courtier of Azathoth
Flaws: Highly Strung (+1 Style point each
time he loses one or more points of Sanity),
Mute (+1 Style point whenever a severe prob-
lem occurs because of his inability to speak)
Weapons: Punch 0N
 Chapter Five:
Handling the Mythos
“Do not call up that which you cannot put
down.” —H. P. Lovecraft, The Case of Charles
Dexter Ward
The above quote may appear an unusual
choice for this chapter, but it’s a very handy
piece of advice for Gamemasters of all experi-
ence levels—do not add anything to your cam-
paign unless you can easily take it away later.
What do we mean by that?
Having the globetrotters learn rituals is part
of the game. In order to do so, though, they
must peruse eldritch books (risking sanity),
master the rite (through spending Experience
points), and have the necessary self-confidence
and strength of will (decent Primary Attributes)
to actually invoke a ritual (not to mention
risking more insanity each time they invoke a
spell).
If you start handing out rituals like candy,
perhaps without needing the globetrotters to
read certain books, pay Experience, or suffer
madness when casting, the globetrotters are
likely to become too powerful too quickly. Re-
member, this isn’t a fantasy game, with wizards
memorizing dozens of arcane spells.
Having handed out the sweets, so to speak,
removing them later in the campaign, or chang-
ing the rules on how they are gained or cast,
is unfair. It is also extremely hard to explain
to your players how their characters suddenly
“forgot” or “lost” their rituals, or why learning
new ones has become harder.
The same applies equally to eldritch relics.
Yes, they are magic items (although scientific
object would be a much more applicable term,
as we’ll discuss later), but they should be ex-
tremely rare objects, not something the globe-
trotters acquire in each and every adventure.
We’re not trying to tell you how to run your
game—this is merely friendly advice on how
to maintain the specific ethos and flavor of the
Lovecraft Mythos as it was written and keep
your campaign balanced from that perspective.
Adding Flavor but
Explaining Nothing
The Lovecraft Mythos is a vast, complex,
and often contradictory body of semi-related
stories, full of odd phrases and throwaway
names. In The Haunter of the Dark, for in-
stance, the protagonist utters the phrase “Iä .
. . ngai . . . ygg” as his doom nears, while in
Through the Gates of the Silver Key, the hero
intends to study the “tablets of Nhing.”
Neither phrase is given any real context,
leaving the reader to consider what they might
mean. With regard the latter, nothing is hinted
save the obvious implication it is some sort
of inscribed clay or stone artifact. In order to
retain the mysterious nature of the Mythos, the
Gamemaster should pepper the speech of vil-
lains (since it is they who usually have knowl-
edge of eldritch lore) with phrases and names,
but without explaining anything else.
Here’s an example. The Gamemaster thinks
“the three thousand seals” would make a suit-
117
Cthulhu Codicil
Alternative Names of
Great Old Ones
Below is a short list of alternate names
for various Great Old Ones. Some are
entire phrases, while others are merely
variations of the entity’s name.
Generic Titles
Answerer of Prayers, The Elder or Great
or Old One, That Which Cannot Be
Named, The Thing from Beyond
Azathoth
Titles: The Blind Idiot God, The Daemon
Sultan, He Who Should Not be Named
(referring to his true name), Lord of All
Things, the Nuclear Chaos
Borkug
Titles: The Doom of Sarnath, The Great
Water Lizard, Lord of the Voiceless Ones
Cthulhu
Titles: The Great Dreamer, High Priest
of the Great Old Ones, The Sleeper of
R’lyeh
Also: Dead, Dread, or Great Cthulhu
Alternative Spellings: Katulu, Ktulu, Tulu
Ghatanothoa
Titles: Drinker in Darkness, He Who De-
mands Sustenance, The One Whose Gaze
is Living Death
Alternative Spellings: G’tanta, Gatan,
Ktan-Tah, Tanotah, Than-Tha
Nyarlathotep
Titles: The Crawling Chaos, He of a Thou-
sand Forms, Messenger of the Gods, Soul
of the Gods
Avatars: The All-Seeing Eye, The Black
Man, The Black Pharaoh, The Eater With
No Face, The Faceless One, The Haunt-
er of the Dark, The Old Man, The Red
Leech, The Yellow King
118
ably enigmatic phrase. Perhaps it is uttered by
a cultist leader confronted by the globetrotters,
or discovered in a mold-ridden diary.
While the phrase alone works well, adding
it in an equally enigmatic context provides
another layer of flavor. It also gives the players
more to think about. Maybe the full sentence
reads “I have opened the three thousand
seals.” You could easily replace “opened” with
“broken,” “spoken the words on,” “gazed at,”
“traced,” or “deciphered.”
Don’t worry about what the three thousand
seals are, or the mechanics of how they were
used. As we’ve said before, the Mythos is be-
yond the full comprehension of mere mortals,
and researching a vague phrase or odd word
may take months or years of delving into for-
bidden books. Likely the globetrotters won’t
go down that route, but if they do, you’ve got
plenty of time to think of something before
they find the information they seek. Heck, it
might be that the three thousand seals is some-
thing created by the cultist or author simply as
a means of their understanding some aspect of
the Mythos, and thus is a unique phrase that
never appears anywhere else.
Naming Gods & Monsters
We’re already covered naming rituals in
Leagues of Cthulhu, but the same line of
thought equally covers the Great Old Ones and
lesser horrors.
There is no reason why a cultist or eldritch
book should refer to any entity by name. When
partaking of rituals or writing about their expe-
riences, cultists may use the phrase “the Great
One” or “Answered or Prayers,” for example.
They know who they mean, and there is little
reason for them to provide outsiders with fur-
ther details.
With regard Nyarlathotep, who has a thou-
sand forms, cultists serving his cause may not
even know his true name, using only that of
the particular avatar they worship. The Cult of
the Red Leech, for example, names only the
Red Leech when offering supplication.
Of course, reusing the same alternate name
over and over gets boring very quickly. Instead,
employ a range of different names for the same
 Handling the Mythos
entity. Maybe “He Who Waits” or “He Who Lies
Sleeping” refers to Cthulhu, while “The Key
& Gate,” “The Master of Time,” or “He Who
Sunders the Veil” is Yog-Sothoth.
The sidebars contains a new number of
examples to start your imagination flowing.
History in the Mystery
One of the tricks used by Lovecraft in his
writing, and something subsequent Mythos
authors have embraced, is to add historical
facts to their stories. Some of these additions
are based on real people, places, and events,
while some are purely the work of the authors’
imaginations. Together, they help give the im-
pression of reality within a campaign, that the
Mythos is part of our real world history and
that past events could actually have happened.
When adding such flavor, remember to in-
clude dates. If you’re going to create the name
for a deceased scholar whose diary the globe-
trotters must peruse, then add the author’s
dates of birth and death. The scholar himself
plays no part in the tale, but adding a brief bi-
ography as well only heightens the sense that
he was a real person. Similarly, mentioning
the disappearance of early settlers as part of
folklore is given more credence with the date
they vanished, even if it is only vague, such as
“in the early 18th century.”
A little research into historical figures, events,
and places can open avenues for Mythos-related
activity. The vaguer the information, the more
room you have to create your own version of the
past. For instance, why did Cardinal Richelieu
order the roof of the Mas-d’Azil grotto destroyed
with gunpowder in 1625? Was the earthquake
that destroyed Port Royal in 1692 an act of God
or a Great Old One? Is it really a coincidence that
a mob torched the palace archives of Mexico’s
viceroy the day after the earthquake?
You can even create an entire alternate his-
tory by asking questions historians have never
asked. Were Napoleon’s savants searching for
anything in particular when they scoured the
ruins of Egypt? Were other texts found along-
side the Rosetta Stone—texts inscribed with
horrendous fantastical beasts, perhaps? Did
Alternative Names of
Great Old Ones cont’d
Rhan-Tegoth
Titles: He of the Ivory Throne, Terror of
the Hominids
Shub-Niggurath
Titles: The Black Goat of the Woods with
a Thousand Young, The Fertile One,
Magna Mater (“Great Mother”), The
Mother of All, The Mother Goddess, She
Who Suckles the Faithful
Tsathoggua
Titles: He Who Resides in Darkness, the
Sleeper of N’kai, the Toad-God
Alternative Spellings: Sadagowah, Zho-
thaqqua
Yig
Titles: Father of Serpents, Lord of Ser-
pents, The Scaled One
Yog-Sothoth
Titles: All-in-One and One-in-All, Font
of Knowledge, The Gate & the Key, The
Gatekeeper, the Lurker at the Thresh-
old, Most Ancient and Prolonged of Life,
Opener of the Way, The Walker in Eter-
nity
Avatars: ‘Umr At-Tawil (possibly)
Darwin discover anything he never spoke about
in public during his voyages of discovery?
If you’ve done well, your players may not
be able to separate history from “mythtory.”
When Gods Attack!
Sooner or later, some deranged cult is
going to cast a Call (Deity) ritual and have it
work before the globetrotters can prevent it.
119
Cthulhu Codicil
Suddenly a Great Old One appears out of no-
where and starts devouring all the interlopers
(i.e., the heroes) or ripping them apart with
abominable limbs, right?
Well, that’s actually very unlikely to hap-
pen. Sure, the mere sight of any Great Old One
is going to send many globetrotters insane,
but that’s a side-effect of its existence, not an
overt attack. Ask yourself why would a Great
Old One suddenly target the globetrotters. Is
it because the intrepid heroes are a danger to
its plans, enemies or its cult, or a tasty-looking
morsel? For sure, they have no weapons capa-
ble of harming its physical form, at least not in
any permanent way.
A Great Old One looks at a mortal in the
same way a human looks at an insect—as
something utterly insignificant. Even if the
summoned entity requires a quick meal, it is
more likely to grab whatever is closest, and
that is usually its hapless followers. Remember,
even if they grant certain chosen followers spe-
cial gifts, the Great Old Ones are alien entities,
with motives and thoughts beyond the ken of
mortals.
Die, Great Old One!
Even armed with an artillery piece (an un-
likely event in itself), the globetrotters won’t
be able to harm a Great Old One. Alien physi-
ology, immense size, and thick blubber mean
even the heaviest guns are little more than a
trivial nuisance to a Great Old One—an insect
biting an elephant.
Not even developing a Victorian era nuclear
bomb is going to help much in the long run—
the Great Old Ones are capable of reforming
their bodies. Sure, the heroes might drive
it away, but the thought of a Great Old One
being killed for all time is laughable. Watching
a Great Old One reform is likely to warrant
another Horror roll (Difficulty 6), anyway.
And so what if a Great Old One is dispelled
by a powerful weapon or potent ritual? In the
same way a human is very unlikely to try and
find the one ant in a swarm that bit them, so
the Great Old One has no interest in hunting
down its “killer,” at least not personally—that
task can be handled by vengeful cultists.
120
So, unless a globetrotter gets too close to a
Great Old One and is killed by accident (again,
using the insect analogy a human may step on
an ant without even realizing it), these mon-
strous entities are not a true physical threat to
the heroes. This is why we haven’t bothered
giving these alien super-fiends statistics. More
likely, it is the deity’s maniacal followers who
intend on inflicting physical harm on the glo-
betrotters.
Removing a Great Old One
So can the globetrotters gain physical victory
against a Great Old One? Armed with a suitable
weapon, such as that Victorian equivalent of a
nuclear bomb, the Gamemaster could rule the
detonation is enough to dispel the Great Old
One automatically. Of course, there is going to
be immense collateral damage to consider.
Given that the Great Old Ones can exist on
Earth only for a single scene, the globetrotters
could just hide and wait it out. The upside is
that the entity might devour its cultists, though
this is far from guaranteed. The downside to
this plan is that the deity might well destroy an
entire city in that time, causing thousands of
deaths and shattered minds.
A third option, one that harnesses the
power of the Mythos against itself, is given in
the sidebar Banishing Gods & Monsters over.
Themes within the Mythos
“Life is a hideous thing, and from the
background behind what we know of it peer
daemoniacal hints of truth which make it
sometimes a thousandfold more hideous.
Science, already oppressive with its shocking
revelations, will perhaps be the ultimate ex-
terminator of our human species—if separate
species we be—for its reserve of unguessed
horrors could never be borne by mortal brains
if loosed upon the world.“
—H. P. Lovecraft, Facts Concerning the Late
Arthur Jermyn and His Family
Whether overtly or covertly, all of Love-
craft’s tales share some thematic similarities.
 Handling the Mythos
We briefly explore some of the main themes
running through the Mythos below.
Science, Not Supernatural
As Arthur C. Clarke said, any sufficiently
advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic. This is especially true with regard to the
Lovecraft Mythos.
The various monsters of the Mythos—espe-
cially the Great Old Ones—are not creatures
born of supernatural events (such as being bit-
ten by a vampire or surviving death as a ghost)
or the imagination of storytellers, but alien en-
tities of unimaginable age, monstrous power,
and incomprehensible thought patterns native
to distant worlds or alternative dimensions
(that latter is hardly a new concept, even in the
Victorian era).
Although the means of summoning and
communing with these profane fiends are
referred to as rituals or spells, they are in fact
a form of science utilizing higher dimensional
non-Euclidean mathematics, signs and glyphs
(a form of higher mathematical equation), the
power of certain words (the “spells” recited by
witches and necromancers of old), and the as-
yet unexplored and understood centers of the
mind (mentalism, in lay terms).
Subject to study by experts, objects such as
the Fungi Brain Cylinder are soon discovered
to be the result of science, albeit far beyond
the understanding of modern scientists. While
they appear to defy technological explanation,
eldritch items such as the Powder of Ibn Ghazi,
the sensory-bending drug Liao, and Loki’s
Glass, are equally the product of scientific
processes.
That creating these relics requires knowl-
edge beyond the realm of conventional science
does not make them supernatural—it only
gives the impression of being magical to those
who lack the understanding of the true reality
of the universe and its higher laws. Indeed,
“occult” is perhaps the truest description, in its
original meaning of occluded or hidden. Four
centuries ago, making tiny people appear in a
windowed box would be declared witchcraft,
but modern readers don’t see anything super-
natural about a television.
Optional Rule:
Banishing Gods &
Monsters
As Call (Deity) and Summon (Horror) ritu-
als can unleash the horrors of the Mythos
in the world, so they can banish them.
In order to dismiss a Mythos entity, a ma-
gician must cast the specific Call or Sum-
mon ritual, adding a small few alterations
in order to dismiss rather than call the
creature. This is no mean feat, especially
if the magician must also fend off insane
cultists or the targeted creature itself.
If the invocation is successful, entities
that are physically present (commonly
lesser horrors) automatically leave the
location at best speed and return to their
lair. Entities existing in avatar form (such
as certain Great Old Ones) simply fade
away as the arcane link anchoring their
form to the location is broken.
Creatures such as vampires and werewolves
might exist, but they too have a grounding in
science. Often, they are misidentified horrors
of the Mythos, such as the drained corpses
left behind by a Feaster from the Stars or the
mangled carcasses of a Dimensional Sham-
blers’ attack. Actual vampires and werewolves
are the result of science gone awry, created by
elixirs and strange contraptions.
With that in mind, there is no need to try
and convert players into referring to the won-
ders of the Mythos as anything other than mag-
ic. Only globetrotters with an understanding
of elder lore need know the truth.
The Sins of the Father
Several of Lovecraft’s tales concern modern
day protagonists discovering dark and terrible
ancestral secrets.
Four of these are especially worthy of at-
tention—The Rats in the Walls (in which the
“hero” learns his ancestors were cannibals),
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn
and His Family (in which the lead character
121
Cthulhu Codicil
discovers his ancestry includes white apes),
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (where the
protagonist discovers his ancestor practiced
strange and forbidden arts), and The Shadow
Out of Innsmouth (were the lead learns he has
Deep One heritage).
In every case, the protagonist’s life is
forever altered for the worse by the sins com-
mitted by one of their ancestors. Leagues of
Cthulhu includes a number of families based
on those of Lovecraft’s works that harbor dark
secrets, but nothing prevents the Gamemaster
from creating his own. It would certainly be a
surprise for a globetrotter to learn that one (or
more) of his ancestors dabbled in Things Man
Was Not Meant to Know and that his bloodline
is tainted!
There Are Things Man Was
Not Meant to Know
Otherwise known as forbidden knowledge,
there are things humanity should never seek.
Through curiosity, ignorance, or fate, globetrot-
ters inevitably come to realize that the comfort-
able world they know is an illusion.
True reality is one of elder deities (often
encountered through ancient religions), where
man is not alone in the universe, that said aliens
are both monstrous and have existed on Earth
since primordial times (and many still exist to-
day), and that modern man has a longer history
than scholars know.
Delve too deeply into the Mythos, and
the only outcome is knowledge no man can
fully comprehend leading to, at best, regret
concerning having unearthed the truth, and at
worst, permanent insanity.
We Have No Purpose
The real world can be a harsh and unforgiv-
ing place, but for many there is solace in faith
and the hope of something better after death.
Alas, in the Mythos, there is no comfort—the
universe is a cold, bleak, and indifferent place.
In the vast scale of eternity, humanity is utterly
irrelevant.
There is no God or Devil in any form. The
122
Great Old Ones may be referred to as deities
or gods, but even the most powerful of them
is nothing more than an alien, albeit of unfath-
omable age.
Without God, there is no divine origin to
humanity, no soul, and no afterlife. At best,
we are an accident born of a chain of natural
events. At worst, we evolved from the casual
genetic engineering of monstrous alien beings.
We are not their children, nor do they seek
to guide us to enlightenment or judge our
actions—for all the thought they give us we
might as well be bacteria on a petri dish.
Within the confines of the Mythos we have
no soul. Religion is an artificial construct cre-
ated by man in an attempt to explain its (ulti-
mately futile) existence and purpose. As physi-
cal beings, the Great Old Ones do not require
our worship in order to exist, though we have
our uses in their eon-spanning plans. In that
regard, we are simple tools being manipulated
by a vaster intelligence.
Likewise, morality is a human concept, not
a universal belief. To paraphrase Baruch Spino-
za (1632-77), good is what is useful to society,
and evil is what hinders us from good. There
is no black and white in the Mythos, no right
or wrong. There is only grey. With reference to
the Great Old Ones, good and evil are utterly
meaningless. These profane entities are what
they are—alien.
There is no divine judgment of our actions
in life upon death, nothing for which to hope
for after death. Our biological machines, for
that is what we are, live, die, and then cease
to exist. Ultimately, we are a species without
purpose whose place in the universe is mean-
ingless, and realizing that is part of the true
horror of the Mythos.
So how does one actually use this in adven-
tures? Well, largely by inaction, actually. That
is, do not have God grant miracles or have di-
vine entities save the globetrotters from a fate
worse than death.
It is important to note that while God has
no place in the Mythos, this is not an excuse to
belittle real world religions or mock the faith-
ful for their beliefs—that sort of thing has no
place in a civilized society, and that includes
the gaming table.
 Chapter Six:
The Mythos
through Time
“There were records of strange orders
of beings which had peopled the world in
forgotten pasts, and frightful chronicles of
grotesque-bodied intelligences which would
people it millions of years after the death of
the last human being. I learned of chapters in
human history whose existence no scholar of
today has ever suspected.” —H. P. Lovecraft,
The Shadow Out of Time
Distant Past
Mythos Tale: At the Mountains of Mad-
ness, The Shadow Out of Time
Despite the best efforts of the Temporal So-
ciety, reaching the past remains elusive. Some
scientists believe there is an impenetrable wall
forever lurking a fraction of a second behind
the present. Others see time as a river, whose
current forever pushes humanity forward. A
few temporal scientists believe the past cannot
be reached, for having taken place it no longer
exists save as memories, photographs, written
records, or physical artifacts created long ago.
Science is wrong.
Certain exotic drugs (such as Liao), the for-
midable science of alien races (The Great Race,
for example), and gateways through alternate
dimensions permit one not only to witness the
past, but also venture there physically.
This section is a potted history of Earth
with regard the Lovecraft Mythos. What little
is known about previous ages and epochs via
eldritch lore is notoriously vague, with con-
tradictory information (much of it gained
through dreams and drug-induced hallucina-
tions), considerable speculation, and, most
of all, very few firm dates—hardly a surprise
when one is talking about tens or hundreds of
millions of years rather than a few hundred or
thousand years.
Given the vast periods of time involved,
countless events—some significant, others not
so—have yet to be unearthed by students of
the Mythos or intrepid explorers seeking fame
and fortune in the ruins of a city whose exis-
tence mocks recorded history.
Proterozoic Eon
2.5 billion to 541 million years ago
Geological evidence for the arrival of
ancient aliens on Earth—striated, triangular
marks waiting to be discovered by geologists
in certain archaic slate beds—suggests a time
span of not less than one billion years ago.
Certain images carved by the Elder Things in
their city in Antarctica’s Mountains of Madness,
also as yet undiscovered by humans, pushes
this back to not long after the formation of the
Moon, some 4.5 billion years ago.
The Elder Things, as eldritch lore names
them, drift from the stars and settle in the ocean
in what is now Antarctica, where they founded
a city. Over time, the Elder Things raise new
aquatic colonies across the globe and a small
number of terrestrial bases on Antarctica, for
the Earth is theirs to do with as they please.
123
Cthulhu Codicil
A Very Quick
Geology Lesson
In the same way that a standard year is
divided into quarters, months, weeks,
hours, minutes, and seconds, so Earth’s
history has its own divisions of time.
The largest time-scale is the eon, of which
there are just four. These are divided into
eras, which are in turn split into smaller
units of time—periods, epochs, and fi-
nally ages.
While specific spans vary in length, ge-
ologists apply approximate times to each
one. Eon: 0.5 billion years, Era: several
hundred million years, Period: tens of
hundreds of millions years, Epoch: tens
of hundreds of million years, Age: mil-
lions of years.
Adding a few scientific names to your
adventure will certainly add flavor, but
there is no need to go mad. Much of the
Earth’s Mythos related history is confined
just to this eon, and delving into epochs
is only required in the current era. Useful
dates are given below.
Phanerozoic Eon
Length: 541 mya to present
Paleozoic Era (541-254 mya)
Periods: Cambrian (541-485 mya), Ordo-
vician (485-445 mya), Silurian (445-419
mya), Devonian (419-360 mya), Carbon-
iferous (360-300 mya), Permian (300-250
mya)
Mesozoic Era (250-66 mya)
Periods: Triassic (250-201 mya), Jurassic
(201-145 mya), Cretaceous (145-66 mya)
Cenozoic Era (66 mya - present)
Period: Paleogene (66-23 mya)
- Epochs: Paleocene (66-59 mya), Eocene
(59-35 mya), Oligocene (35-23 mya)
Period: Neogene (23-2.5 mya)
- Epochs: Miocene (23-7 mya), Pliocene
(6-2.5 mya)
Period: Quarternary (2.5 mya to present)
- Epochs: Pleistocene (2.5 mya to 11,500
years ago), Holocene (11,500 to present
day)
124
Neoproterozoic Era
630-541 million years ago
Six hundred millions years ago, the Elder
Things’ solitude is shattered by the arrival of
a second race from the stars. As alien to the
Elder Things as humanity is to that eldritch
species, the Flying Polyps construct cities of
basalt on the land.
Initially content to leave the new race
alone, the Elder Things take umbrage at the
Flying Polyps endeavors to colonize the seas.
For the first time in its history, Earth knows war.
Eventually victorious through their mastery of
principles of energy still far beyond even the
most rudimentary grasp of modern scientists,
the Elder Things drive their enemies back onto
the land.
Until this time, life exists only as single
celled organisms in the primordial oceans.
Using their advanced science, the Elder Things
begin to experiment. Instead of blind evolu-
tion, the ancient scientists create new marine
life to serve first as food, and later merely for
the sake of experimentation. Although they
have used Shoggoths on other worlds, that
most foul and dreaded species first slithers
across the Earth during this era.
Phanerozoic Eon
541 million years ago until present
At some point in history, a race of cone-
shaped beings evolves on Earth. Given the
Elder Things record nothing of this in their
epic tales, it would appear they evolve in lands
as yet not colonized by the elder race or the
hated Flying Polyps.
Seeking to avoid the destruction of their
species, the Great Race of Yith send their
minds through untold distances of space (and
potentially vast distances of time) to inhabit
the cone-shaped beings’ bodies.
On discovering the Flying Polyps, the Yithi-
ans immediately seek to destroy the profane
creatures. Although unable to eradicate them
entirely, the Great Race manages to drive the
Flying Polyps beneath the earth, where they
are imprisoned using arcane signs that were
 The Mythos through Time
old and potent before the Sun first ignited.
The Great Race constructs its first city, often
named Pnakotus, in what is now Australia.
Cambrian-Silurian Periods
541-419 million years ago
Aside from eradicating a few troublesome
species in later times, the Elder Things allow
the evolution they had started to run its natu-
ral course. As vertebrates develop, life begins
to enter the fossil record for the first time.
Modern scientists refer to this sudden abun-
dance of new life as the Cambrian explosion.
Having undergone an evolution of their
own, the Elder Things separate into two spe-
cies—those who remain fully aquatic and those
now better suited to life on land.
With the Flying Polyps largely controlling
the Earth’s surface, the Elder Things use their
Shoggoth servitors to expand their aquatic bas-
es. A small few land outposts are established
on remote stretches of coastline, far from the
Polyps’ dominion.
Devonian Period
419-360 million years ago
Geological forces cause the world to vio-
lently buckle, destroying several Elder Thing
cities and giving rise to a new continent in the
South Pacific. Soon after, a third race descends
from the heavens led by their king and high
priest, dread Cthulhu.
It is likely that the Deep Ones have either
evolved naturally or are created by Cthulhu
some time in the early Devonian Period. Cer-
tainly marine life has reached great diversity by
this juncture, hence modern biologists refer to
it as the “Age of Fish.”
Intent on claiming the surface world as
their own, Cthulhu and his Spawn war against
the Elder Things. For a time, the Elder Things
are driven back to the sea, their land holdings
conquered or destroyed, but eventually and
begin to push back.
The titanic struggle ultimately results in a
stalemate, with Cthulhu and his ilk retaining
the new continent and the Elder Things hold-
ing onto their ancestral lands.
It is at this time the Elder Things construct
a great land city on Antarctica, their sacred
homeland by dint that it was in this region they
first settled. The few cities established there by
Cthulhu and his ilk before the great and terri-
ble war are razed.
Elsewhere, the Yithians are forced to repel
Cthulhu’s minions in a series of bitter wars
that wreak great destruction on both races.
Once again, Cthulhu’s attempt to expand its
reach is stymied.
The various wars leave their mark on the
Earth. Recalled in this fossil record, and named
as the Late Devonian extinction, around 75%
of all life is destroyed.
Carboniferous Period
360-300 million years ago
No longer hampered by wars against the
spawn of Cthulhu, the Elder Things continue
their colonization project, with cities estab-
lished in every ocean and on many landmasses
not occupied by their rivals. Although yet to
reach their cultural pinnacle, the Elder Things
reach the height of their expansion.
Permian Period
300-250 million years ago
An asteroid or comet strikes the eastern
portion of Antarctica around 250 million years
ago. Leaving a crater over 300 miles wide, the
titanic impact sends ripples throughout the
planet’s crust and ignites the sky. The devasta-
tion causes the extinction of around 95% of
marine species and 70% of terrestrial verte-
brates (the Permian-Triassic extinction event).
In the Pacific, the lands occupied by Cthul-
hu and his Spawn sink beneath the waves,
imprisoning the Great Old One and his fell kin
in the fabled city of R’lyeh and abyssal deeps.
The Elder Things are once more dominant.
Having developed rudimentary intelli-
gence, the Shoggoths did what slaves inevita-
bly do—rebel against their masters. The Elder
125
Cthulhu Codicil
A Different Science
The Moon
In the 21st century, the dominant theory
concerning the creation of the Moon is
that two celestial bodies collided some
4.6 billion years ago.
In the late Victorian age, a different hypoth-
esis was proposed and accepted. In 1898,
British astronomer George Darwin (1845-
1912), son of Charles Darwin, was the first
scientist to suggest the Earth and Moon
were once one body. During the Earth’s
molten phase, centrifugal forces tore a
chunk from the planet. Postulating further,
he suggested the material was ripped from
what is now the Pacific Ocean.
Continental Drift
That the shape of certain continents fit
together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle is
not a new idea. As early as the 16th cen-
tury, Flemish cartographer and geogra-
pher Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598) sug-
gested that the continents had, at some
point, been torn away from each other by
earthquakes and floods.
In the Victorian age, science holds that
the shape of each continent was defined
at the dawn of time and has been immu-
table. It is accepted that the continents
have moved in relationship to each oth-
er, but the notion of ancient supercon-
tinents remains speculation, and conti-
nental drift through plate tectonics has
not yet been formulated.
Human Origins
Victorian scientists have proposed that
man evolved from apes. To date, though,
archaeologists have discovered fossils of
just three species of humans—homo sa-
piens (our immediate precursor, discov-
ered in 1823), Neanderthal (1856), and
Pithecanthropus erectus (Java Man, dis-
covered in 1891—later renamed to homo
erectus). The theory of the age proclaims
humans evolved in Asia (though Darwin
proposed Africa).
126
Things quell the rebellion through the use of
weapons of unimaginable power, but not with-
out the loss of several cities and untold casual-
ties. It is decreed that the use of Shoggoths on
land be severely curtailed.
Nature abhors a vacuum, though, and new
life rapidly (in geological terms) began to fill
the void left by the extinction. Geologically,
this marks the start of the Mesozoic Era, the
time when the dinosaurs roamed the land.
Jurassic Period
201-145 million years ago
Still reeling from the devastation caused
by the Shoggoth revolt and the effort required
to keep the beasts pacified, the Elder Things
are unable to hold on to their northern lands,
which have been invaded by yet another alien
race—the Fungi from Yuggoth.
Seeking certain minerals necessary for the
cultivation of their staple food, the Fungi colo-
nize the higher peaks and remote mountains
and establish a great city on the continent of
Mu. The Fungi bring with them the Shining Tra-
pezohedron and the monstrous Ghatanothoa.
The people of K’n-yan claim to have arrived
on Earth at the same time as Cthulhu, though
they admit their lengthy history has become
legend rather than a statement of fact. Their
lands conquered and their people enslaved
by the Fungi, the surviving people of K’n-yan
abandon the surface world. Sealing the pas-
sageways to their subterranean refuge, they be-
gin their long isolation from the outer world.
Elsewhere, the Great Race is at its height.
Deadly and destructive skirmishes with the
Elder Things occur as the old race attempts
to reclaim their domination, but the Yithians
manage to maintain their hegemony.
Cretaceous Period
145-66 million years ago
Earthquakes caused by the asteroid impact
that wipes out the dinosaurs destroys the Elder
Things’ first land-based city located in Antarcti-
ca. After the catastrophic upheaval, which also
 The Mythos through Time
creates the towering Mountains of Madness,
they construct a smaller city nearby.
Paleogene Period
66-23 million years ago
Aware of their imminent destruction by the
resurgent Flying Polyps, the Great Race sends
their minds from Earth to escape the inevitable
retribution of that feared race. Fortunately
for the Earth, the incursion is short-lived, for
the Polyps have either become accustomed
to darkness or lack the numbers to hold the
entire surface world. Slaughtering the cone-
shaped race, they Polyps soon return to their
underground haunts.
The Lemurians, a possible precursor race
of humanity, construct the city of Shamballah
in “an eastern desert” some 50 millions years
ago. The location for this primordial city is the
Taklamakan Desert in Central Asia, a wasteland
whose name means “the place of ruins.” As an
aside, it is sometimes spelled Teklimakan, a
name that conjures up the word tekeli-li in
the minds of Mythos scholars who have read
certain eldritch tomes.
Neogene Period
23-2.5 million years ago
The Great Old One Rhan-Tegoth descends
from the stars and makes its home in the
wilds of northern Alaska. Worshipped by an
unknown race, a great temple is raised in the
heart of a sprawling city. How long the natives
honor the horrific entity has been forgotten,
but they either die in some catastrophe or
begin worshipping other gods, causing Rhan-
Tegoth to enter torpor when its food supply
dries up.
Quarternary Period
2.5 million years to present
By the dawn of the Pleistocene, the move-
ment of the continents, the rising of new
mountains and sinking of old lands, and sav-
More Science
Earthquakes
With plate tectonics still undiscovered,
Victorian scientists postulate several po-
tential causes for earthquakes. First, the
heat of the inner earth causes parts of
the land to rise. This creates thrust faults
in the crust. Second, the Earth is cool-
ing and shrinking, causing the earth to
buckle as it does (global cooling or con-
tracting earth theories). Third, the Earth
is expanding, stretching its surface. The
latter may also explain the separation of
the continents.
With regard the latter, there are two main
theories. The first argues that expansion
is caused by inner heat. The second, put
forward by Ivan Yarkovsky (1844-1902)
in 1888, suggests the Earth is absorbing
aether from the heavens. The aether is
then transformed into new elements,
age earthquakes has left the Elder Things with
only two land cities (in Antarctica and at the
southernmost tip of South America) and no
sea settlements higher than 50° south. That
any survived so long is miraculous.
Worse is yet to come for the remaining
Elder Things, though, for Earth slowly begins
to succumb to a lengthy ice age. Although able
to warm their Antarctic city first using inclem-
ent weather clothing and later heating devices,
they are eventually forced to abandon it some
one million years ago in favor of an aquatic city
off the coast.
Aliens still exist in many parts of the world,
but with their numbers greatly reduced and
most opting to hide their existence, the world
was set for modern humans to take the stage.
Humanity
As is the case of intelligent life, albeit of
alien origins, humanity is far older than pro-
posed by men of science. The true antiquity of
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Cthulhu Codicil
the Lemurians and people of K’n-yan is subject
to much confusion and hearsay, but certain
knowledge concerning humanity’s elder his-
tory are known to some who have delved deep
into forbidden lore.
Whether the material below is conjecture
or truth can only be speculated at, for the
source of this knowledge is dubious at best.
Perhaps one day the truth of our ancestry shall
be unearthed by some explorer or archaeolo-
gist, but until then, it is but myth.
The People of Mu
According to Von Juntz, an advanced spe-
cies of humans inhabited the continent of Mu
as far back as 300,000 years ago, in an age
when our ancestors were supposedly little
more than cave-dwelling savages.
It is possible they were a surface-dwelling
branch of the people of K’n-yan, who survived
the Fungi from Yuggoth’s extermination at-
tempt and settled on the by-then vacant island
continent. It may be they were slaves, freed
from bondage when the Fungi eventually
abandoned Mu.
The date of Mu’s sinking beneath the waves
varies from 75,000 (the Toba supervolcanic
eruption) to 12,500 years ago (the end of the
Ice Age). The scant few survivors took to ships
and found shelter in other lands. Many settled
on the islands that were once the highest peaks
of Mu (such as Easter Island and Ponape) and
in the neighboring continents.
Through the generations, they civilized the
savages of China, Egypt, Mexico, Persia, and
Peru, becoming gods in name for the knowl-
edge they brought the unruly tribes. They also
brought with them knowledge of the Great Old
Ones, especially Ghatanothoa, whose bloody
cult took root and prospered in Mexico.
Others settled on an island halfway across
the globe, which they named Atlantis. Here
they breed with Deep Ones and took up wor-
ship of Dagon. Conquering vast swathes of the
Mediterranean coast, they spread the word of
their living god, who they called Posei-dawon
(“Master of Waters”). The ancient Greeks
would later record this name as Poseidon.
Von Juntz is not the only source of elder
128
lore regarding humanity, however, and it may
yet be proved that other advanced cultures
whose existence is recorded only in certain
forbidden books once walked the Earth.
Zobna and Lomar
In the far north, an advanced people were
forced to abandon their homes in Zobna
(now lost beneath the Arctic) in the face of
the expanding ice, settling in Lomar (modern
Greenland) some 200,000 years ago. Their
civilization is destroyed by the invading Inutos
around 24,000 years ago. Little is known of the
Inutos, save that they came from the west in
great numbers.
South Africa
In the year 50,000 BC, the lands of South
Africa are populated by a brown-skinned
people with enormous heads. The fate of their
race is not recorded, though it may be they
were conquered by the ancestors of long-for-
gotten Mu.
Cimmeria
The few, notoriously vague mentions of
Cimmeria in Mythos lore suggest its people
occupied a land in what is now the North Sea.
As the waters rose at the end of the last Ice Age,
the land became an island, finally submerging
around 5,000 BC.
Most of its warlike people scattered to Nor-
way, Britain, and Denmark in the 10th century
BC, where they bred with the more primitive
local tribes and introduced new concepts,
such as astronomy and the construction of
stone circles.
Professor H. G. Wells, a member of sev-
eral Leagues, postulated its existence as fact in
1897. Of that bygone age, he wrote, “...when
one might have walked dryshod from France
(as we call it now) to England, and when a
broad and sluggish Thames flowed through
its marshes to meet its father Rhine, flowing
through a wide and level country that is un-
der water in these latter days, and which we
know by the name of the North Sea.”
 Chapter Seven:
Adventure Seeds
“Man rules now where They ruled once;
They shall soon rule where man rules now.
After summer is winter, and after winter sum-
mer. They wait patient and potent, for here
shall They reign again.”
—H. P. Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror
A Tour to Madness
A wealthy patron requires assistance in
bringing his wayward son home from his “grand
tour” of ancient sites across Europe. The son is
an aspiring painter but with a taste for lauda-
num. When the gelobtrotters catch up with him
however, they find him dead in a rented studio
in Cairo. His most recent paintings reveal ruins
amid a desert landscape. A journal tells that
he journeyed deep into the desert of Arabia in
search of “the city of the Necronomicon.”
Art and the Mythos
A poet, known in literary circles but not yet
a luminary, has recently penned verses contain-
ing unsettling, some might say abominable and
blasphemous, references. Their verses describe
elder cities located deep beneath the sea or in
remote parts of the world, eldritch horrors that
can only be the result of a deranged mind. The
artist might have discovered a Mythos tome or
suffered from dreams sent by dread Cthulhu.
Alternately, a similar seed involves a popu-
lar sculptor or artist. Instead of poetry, they are
devoting their time to creating images of terri-
fying entities (sculptures) or vistas (paintings).
Beneath the Giza Plateau
While exploring an Egyptian tomb, the
globetrotters discover what appear to be the
original architectural plans for the Great Pyra-
mid. While the papyrus is a valuable find by
itself, what it shows is of more interest to the
Leagues—a second entrance, one as yet un-
discovered, that leads to previously unknown
chambers and tunnels beneath the Giza Pla-
teau and the body of the Sphinx.
The Black Pharaoh
A number of Egyptologists connected with
a recent excavation have died under mysteri-
ous circumstances. The newspapers are talk-
ing of a curse. The killer is in fact a member
of a fanatical sect. The questions are, why is
he so desperate to kill the scholars, and is the
mummy the expedition brought back, unusual
for its black bandages and unadorned sarcoph-
agus, somehow connected to his murderous
rampage?
The Book
The globetrotters are collecting a book
(either for themselves or a friend). As they
enter the bookshop, a dishevelled man pushes
past them and hurriedly walks away. Enter-
ing the store, the globetrotters discover the
owner dead, bludgeoned to death, the murder
weapon a strangely carved idol.
The owner’s diary, which is open nearby,
indicates he had a meeting with an Indian gen-
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Cthulhu Codicil
tleman staying at a hotel across town an hour
before the globetrotters arrived. The man they
saw enter the store wasn’t Indian, but he was
carrying something under his coat. Is he an op-
portunist thief? Did he witness the murder?
Deep Freeze
News that the Smythe-Loveless Expedition
had found the remnants of the McClure Green-
land Expedition, lost to a man in 1865 while
attempting to map the northern mountains,
resulted in much adulation. News that two of
the members of the Smythe-Loveless party have
since died under mysterious circumstances has
the surviving members somewhat perturbed.
Both of the dead, according to the coro-
ners, died of severe frostbite, despite being
found in their homes during an unseasonably
warm summer.
The survivors speak nervously of a strange,
green stone idol uncovered in what appeared
to be ancient ruins near the frozen corpses of
the McClure Expedition. The party it insisted
it be left where it was unearthed, but the
expedition leader (one of the two deceased)
ordered it taken back. As far as the explorers
know, their leader donated the idol to a small
museum in his home town.
Diving to R’lyeh
After decades of research, a member of the
Society of Aquanauts believes he has discovered
the resting place of a sunken city in the southern
Pacific. His peers think him mad, so he is look-
ing for other globetrotters to join his quest. His
broadcast to the Leagues has attracted the atten-
tion of the Cult of Cthulhu, who wish to wreck
the expedition to the sunken city of R’lyeh.
The Elder Ice
Several months after the fact, a whaling ship
docks in London carrying news from a whaling
station on one of the South Shetland Islands
(in the Antarctic Circle). While exploring the
frozen interior in search of seals, the station
crew discovered a figure frozen in the ice. The
captain expresses his opinion that the figure
130
was of no animal he recognized, and that the
merest outline gave him nightmares.
The whaling ship’s schedule meant it could
not wait around, and the last the captain
knows the figure was to be cut out of its icy
prison and the ice surrounding it melted so its
nature could be determined.
Flame War
Over the course of a week, the globetrotters
read three articles involving deaths attributed
to internal human combustion. Through ques-
tioning the victims’ friends and families, the
globetrotters discover that all three belonged
to a spiritual circle (The Illuminated Order of
the Eternal Flame) but were intending to ex-
pose the leader to the newspapers.
Franklin, My Dear, I Don’t
Give a Damn
A British naval officer contacts the globe-
trotters, telling them that he wishes to meet
to discuss new evidence he has unearthed
regarding the ill-fated Franklin Expedition. He
adds only that they were not really searching
for the Northwest Passage, but something
beneath the ice. The officer fails to attend the
meeting. On investigating, the globetrotters
discover the Admiralty has no record of an
officer by that name. Was the request a hoax or
is there a conspiracy afoot?
Greenland by Balloon
As the year ends, reports begin reaching
the Leagues that a Swedish attempt to map
the interior of Greenland hot air balloon has
vanished. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sci-
ences refuses all offers of aid in searching for
the expedition. A friend of the globetrotters,
who knew one of the missing Swedes, suggests
they were searching for antediluvian ruins.
H. P. Who?
In 1893, Winfield Scott Lovecraft suddenly
becomes psychotic while in a Chicago hotel.

He has since been placed in Butler Hospital
(Providence, Rhode Island). His wife, Sarah
Susan Phillips Lovecraft, believes he witnessed
something that cost him his mind. For the sake
of their young son, Howard (b. 1890), who has
recently claimed to have been haunted in his
sleep by “night gaunts,” she begs the Leagues
to investigate.
Hunting the Hittites
Working alongside eminent British Egyptolo-
gist Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) in the ruins of
Amarna, Egypt, the Old Testament Society has
unearthed a broken clay tablet inscribed with
Akkadian cuneiform. Addressed to “great and
powerful pharaoh,” the letter clearly notes the
writer as Suppiluliuma, a Hittite king. Given the
location of the discovery, it is most likely the pha-
raoh in question was Akhenaten. The two intact
sections translate as “our gods are one [god] and
they are one thousand in number” and “the great
temple of the thousand that are one.”
Fragmentary evidence from other sources
leads the Society to mount an expedition to
the Anatolian region of Turkey in the hope of
discovering the ruins of the temple.
It’s All About the Angles
After an evening out, the globetrotters are
strolling home when a nervous gentleman pro-
ceeds past them. He doffs his hat politely as
he passes, greets a cordial but hushed “Good
evening,” and turns into a side-street. Seconds
later, there is a bloodcurdling scream from the
alley. Despite arriving only seconds later, the
man who just past them is dead, his shredded
corpse spread across the alley. There is no sign
of the killer, nor are there any obvious prints in
the copious amounts of blood.
Either checking out what remains of the
corpse or the report in the newspapers, the glo-
betrotters discover the man was a professor of
mathematics at a minor university. He was not
the first member of the faculty to die horribly.
The Mark
A police surgeon calls on one of the glo-
Adventure Seeds
betrotters and ask him to come with him to
the local morgue. The surgeon may be an old
friend or fellow League member, or have been
given the globetrotter’s details by a mutual
acquaintance.
Inside the morgue, they are shown a
corpse, recently arrived. Carved into the cadav-
er’s chest is a vile rune of some sort. During
the examination, the cadaver suddenly sits and
emits an insane laugh before collapsing again
in a lifeless lump.
Mistaken Identity
A package arrives for one of the globetrot-
ters. Instead of the item they were expecting,
they have been sent a repulsive jade amulet
in the shape of a hound. Investigations fail to
reveal who the sender was, or the identity of
the true recipient. That night, the globetrotter
is awoken by the faint baying of a hound. Each
night, the noise grows louder, as if the sound
is coming closer.
The Music of Madness
The globetrotters are invited to hear a new
work by an upcoming musician. The work,
inspired by a dream, is a cacophony of discor-
dant piping. As the performance (thankfully)
ends, the wind begins to howl and the walls
of the house begin to shake. Something un-
earthly has heard the sound and it is answering
the call.
No Skin Off My Back
Someone is murdering prostitutes. Not
exactly a unique crime, but in this instance the
backs of each victim have been tattooed with
strange glyphs. The police need assistance in
apprehending the killer and they know just the
people to help them.
The Passenger
The globetrotters are taking a sea voyage,
perhaps heading home after an adventure.
While on deck, they witness two of the crew
dragging a hysterical passenger away. As he
131
Cthulhu Codicil
nears the globetrotters, the passenger screams
“They are coming! Take it back!” and thrusts a
small, grotesque idol made from a slick green
stone into one of their hands. Escaping from
his captors, the passenger throws himself over-
board, where he vanishes beneath the waves.
That night, whichever globetrotter was handed
the idol suffers a terrible nightmare, in which
he is being hunted by fish-men.
The Recording
One of the globetrotters inherits a col-
lection of wax phonograph cylinders from a
distant relative or former colleague. Most are
utterly mundane, but one dated just a month
ago contains strange chanting. Played fully, it
summons a Mythos horror of the Gamemas-
ter’s choosing.
What is the origin of the chanting, and
did it have anything to do with the benefac-
tor’s untimely death just a few days after the
cylinder was delivered to his heir? Why have
the globetrotters now begun hearing the chant
wherever they go?
Silence of the News
A globetrotter is awakened in the middle of
the night by hammering at his door. By the time
they reach the door, the noise has stopped.
Opening the door, they discover a man nailed
to the door by his hands, his tongue ripped
out from his mouth. A brief inspection of the
man’s pockets indicates he was a reporter for
one of the smaller local newspapers. Was he
going to see the globetrotter? What story could
he have that would result in so ghastly a death?
The Specimen
A renowned explorer has returned from
Arabia with a remarkable specimen—a crea-
ture that appears to be some amalgam of a
crocodile and human. His lecture does not
go as well as he hoped, with many League
members calling him a fraud. Two days later,
the globetrotters learn that the explorer has
been found insane in a locked room. There is
no sign of his specimen.
132
The Thunderbird
Word has reached the adventurers that two
cowboys have killed a ‘Thunderbird’ of Native
American legend near Tombstone, Arizona. The
creature is described as a cross between a bat
and an alligator. With its 40-foot wing span and
featherless body, is it possible that some kind
of flying dinosaur still hunts the skies of the
American west? Actually, no—the creature is a
Shantak, summoned to Earth by cultists.
They Came From the Sea
While talking to a member of the Anglers
Club, a globetrotter learns that dolphins
are being stranded on a particular stretch of
beach. By itself this is not unusual, but the
strandings occur daily. On investigation, the
globetrotters discover that the dolphins are
apparently deliberately beaching themselves,
their flipper tracks revealing they are trying
to reach the land. What force could make the
marine mammals vacate the sea, knowing the
only outcome is certain death?
Where the Cold Wind Blows
The globetrotters are part of an expedi-
tion sent to collect explorers who have been
wintering over in Antarctica. On reaching the
remote camp, which lies inland, they discover
the explorers dead. Each of them has been an-
atomically dissected with a great deal of skill.
A journal hints at hearing eerie piping sounds
and the growing fear that something has been
stalking around the camp.
Withering Away
One of the globetrotter’s colleagues at the
League appears to be wasting away. The globe-
trotter has seen their colleague every night for
the last few days, and each time they appear
more gaunt (the result of a powerful Mark of
Withering ritual). Eventually, either the globe-
trotter talks to the friend about their plight or
vice versa. Either way, the person merely says
“He has done this to me” and hands over a
business card before dropping dead.
 Chapter Eight:
Cats
“[The cat] is the kin of the jungle’s lords,
and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister
Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks
her language; but he is more ancient than the
Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath
forgotten.” —H. P. Lovecraft, The Cats of Ulthar
While the author does not share H. P.
Lovecraft’s racial prejudices in any form, both
writers may be styled “cat people.” This short
chapter takes a look at the enigmatic cat.
Cats in Ancient Egypt
“He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and
bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroe
and Ophir.” —H. P. Lovecraft, The Cats of Ulthar
The common domestic cat (Felis catus), if
the word “common” can ever be attributed to
so noble a creature, has been part of humani-
ty’s life for many millennia. Historians and bi-
ologists alike insist that wild cats first entered
human settlements in search of rodents drawn
to the stored grains and were soon domesticat-
ed and adopted as mousers.
No doubt there is an element of truth in
such mundane claims, but cats prowled this
world long before mankind’s early ancestors
dropped from the trees and learned to walk
upright, and in that time they have learned
many things still unknown to their bipedal
supposed masters.
The Ancient Egyptians venerated the cat as
a sacred animal. No mere household pets or
hard-working mousers, they were elevated to
near divine status. Cats were greatly mourned
on their death. The Greek historian Herodo-
tus (c.484-c.425 BC) reported that the death
of a cat was met with mournful wails and the
shaving of eyebrows, before the cat was mum-
mified in the style of the mighty pharaohs.
As an aside, Herodotus was amazed by the
cats of Egypt, for the Greeks and Romans sel-
dom owned or employed such creatures. Still,
Greece and Rome are younger cultures and
lack the antiquity and mystery of Egypt.
Egypt’s cats sprawled at the feet of magi-
cians and listened as they performed incan-
tations and recited eldritch lore, the felines’
knowing smiles an indication that they were
already well-versed in such matters, for it had
been passed from cat to cat down the ages.
They watched impassively as the priests per-
formed their ceremonies. They lay at the feet
of the great Sphinx, the statue sculpted in
their form, and whispered things more ancient
than the stones from which it was carved. They
scratched their claws on the foundation stones
of the Great Pyramid. They licked their paws
in boredom at the rise and fall of diabolical
rulers such as Scorpion I, Nephren-Ka, and
Queen Nitocris. They even ate from the plates
of pharaohs, themselves living gods, as equals.
In Other Cultures
It was not only the Ancient Egyptians who
had a fondness for cats. Viking farmers would
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Cthulhu Codicil
leave milk as an offering to the cats of Freyja.
The first recorded name of the Shetland Islands
was Inse Catt, or “Islands of the cat people.”
Humans do not recall the reason why, and cats
have no wish to educate them on the matter.
Domestic cats are considered lucky in Japan,
Russia, and parts of Africa.
No Man May Kill a Cat
“It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond
the river Skai, no man may kill a cat;” —H. P.
Lovecraft, The Cats of Ulthar
It was Pharaoh Menes, also known as
Narmer, founder of the First Dynasty, who
first ruled that no man may kill a cat. Lost
to human memory, but still recalled by cats,
is the knowledge that Menes was an orphan
adopted by a trading caravan and that his sole
possession was a black kitten. In that distant
time the veil between the waking world and
the Dreamlands was much weaker than to-
day, and the caravan roamed roads that led
to that fantastical dimension. When the cat
was murdered by an evil cotter and his wife,
the distraught Menes brought down a deadly
curse on the transgressors (see p. 177 for more
details). On ascending the throne of Egypt,
Pharaoh Menes’ first proclamation was that no
man could kill a cat and live.
Menes’ judgment echoed through the cen-
turies. The prophet Mohammed prohibited
the killing or persecution of their kind, for
instance, as did the Welsh king Hywel Dda
(c.880-950). Alas, it was not to last.
As time passed, the cat became not a
creature of veneration, but of suspicion and
hatred. In Europe, cats became synonymous
with witchcraft, being accused of being dev-
ilish familiars. Millions of innocent felines
were thrown onto pyres by the unenlightened
masses. Such barbarism did not escape Bastet,
the Egyptian deity of cats. Her punishment was
righteous—the Black Death.
Optional Rule: A globetrotter who acci-
dentally harms or kills a cat is cursed with bad
luck for a year and a day. In game terms, they
gain the Unlucky Flaw. The deliberate harming
134
or killing of a cat also brings with it the Animal
Antipathy Flaw, but only regarding domestic
cats and their larger cousins.
Of Cats and...
Gods
“The proud Egypt wherein Pharaoh was
Pharaoh and pyramids rose in beauty at the
wish of him who dreamed them bowed down
to the cat, and temples were built to its goddess
at Bubastis.” —H. P. Lovecraft, Cats and Dogs
Save for Antarctica, of which no cat will
speak, cats are found on every continent and
come in different guises. No matter the country
they call home, all domestic cats honor Bastet.
Among cats, Bastet may also be referred to as
Mekal (“Fierce Devourer”) and Pahket (“She
Who Scratches”).
One of the earliest Egyptian deities, Bastet
has been a deity of war, cats, and motherhood,
her aspects evolving over time to fit human
needs. A temple in her honor stood in the des-
ert for longer than the first pyramids. It was not
until the 22nd Dynasty that a city was raised
around it from where the pharaoh ruled. Its
Egyptian name was Per-Bastet, or “House of
Bastet,” for it was believed the goddess dwelt
in the great temple.
The temple boasted an oracle, but none
outside the highest ranks of the priesthood
knew that the oracle’s words were repeated
from the whispers of the sacred temple cats.
Bastet’s name is little known among hu-
mans today, save among Egyptologists, who
see her as nothing more than one of countless
pagan deities worshipped by superstitious
peoples, and a handful of human worshippers.
Cats, however, have never forgotten her name,
nor has their veneration withered with time.
It is in order to be close to her divine spirit
that they preen themselves (cats knowing that
cleanliness truly is next to godliness). It is to
her they yowl praise when the moon is fat and
leave sacrifices of mice and birds.

With regard to the Mythos, cats are aware of
several Great Old Ones. Cthulhu they vehement-
ly detest (see Water below). While it is prophe-
sied that the wild beasts of the earth will lick the
hands of Nyarlathotep in the future, domesticat-
ed cats will never proffer the paw of friendship
to the Crawling Chaos. Aware of avatars yet to be
discovered by humans, cats know full well that
Nyarlathotep is an enemy of their species.
While cats do not venerate Yog-Sothoth in
any form, they know the Gate and the Key of
old. From it, their forebears learned the means
to walk between the waking world and the
Dreamlands, where their kin have long dwelt,
and see beings native to other dimensions.
Of the Great Old Ones, cats are either
ignorant or have no desire to traffic with
them—only cats know which is true.
Humans
“Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if
you provide them with food and water and
shelter and affection, they will think you are
god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled
to realize that, if you provide them with food
and water and shelter and affection, they
draw the conclusion that they are gods.”
—Christopher Hitchens, The Portable Atheist:
Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
Despite their dispersal around the world
and their loss of status at the hands of humans
over the millennia, cats have never forgotten
the lofty status in which they were once held.
From pedigrees to the most mange-ridden
mongrel, cats are arrogant and haughty.
When a dog wants food it servilely begs
whereas a cat demands. A dog will come when
called, whereas the cat may deign to give one
a quick glance, albeit one often accompanied
by an expression that gives the impression the
cat is looking down its nose at the one who
dared disturb it.
Similarly, the cat is a talented killing ma-
chine, at least with regard to birds and small
animals, and is more than capable of feeding
itself. That it chooses to live with humans is an-
other memory of its ancient status. In the eyes
Cats
of a cat, humans are servants who pamper it
and bring it offerings of food, as fits their right-
ful place in the grand scheme of the universe.
Of course, the greatest trick ever performed
by cats is giving humans the impression that it
is they, not the cats, that are the masters.
Insanity
“Through all this horror my cat stalked un-
perturbed. Once I saw him monstrously perched
atop a mountain of bones, and wondered at the
secrets that might lie behind his yellow eyes.”
—H. P. Lovecraft, The Rats in the Walls
Throughout the ages, cats have wandered
through the Dreamlands, frolicked on the
Moon, cast their eyes upon horrendous images
carved by insane cultists, and stared into the
faces of profane monstrosities. They may run
in fear for their lives, for the cat is an intelligent
beast, but where a human mind might dissolve
into permanent insanity, the mind of the cat
remains undisturbed by such terrors.
Optional Rule: Cats never make Horror
checks.
Language
“Now much of the speech of cats was
known to Randolph Carter...” H. P. Lovecraft,
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
To the uninitiated, domesticated cats com-
municate through hissing, meowing, and purr-
ing, as various forms of body language. Unlike
feral cats, who rarely vocalize, domesticated fe-
lines understand the language of their owners.
Although unable to reproduce human sounds,
cats have their own language.
It is most often employed in the Dream-
lands, where earthly cats roam at night, though
they deign to speak to close human friends
while in the waking world. It is through this
tongue, which predates the grunts of man’s
earliest ancestors by millennia, that they pass
on gossip and the ancient lore to which they
are privy.
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Cthulhu Codicil
Rule: Globetrotters with Dreamlands Lore
can learn to speak the language of cats (see p.
144 for details).
Names
“‘Cats don’t have names,’ it said.
‘No?’ said Coraline.
‘No,’ said the cat. ‘Now you people have
names. That’s because you don’t know who
you are. We know who we are, so we don’t
need names.’” —Neil Gaiman, Coraline
Humans like names. They give them to ob-
jects, animals, and their offspring. Even things
which exist only in the mind or existential
thought are given names. Cats, on the other
hand, have no concept of names in the human
sense of the word. Identification is done by
sight and smell, for pheromones are a secret
language the cats have not shared even with
their closest human allies.
This is not to say that cats are ignorant of
human names. A cat knows the human name
of its owner and those of cat-friends passed
on by other members of its species. When ad-
dressing a human, a cat will always use their
name out of politeness.
Strange Senses
“For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange
things which men cannot see.” —H. P. Love-
craft, The Cats of Ulthar
No cat “owner” can have failed to notice
that that cat has, at some time or another,
sat and stared at an innocuous area of space.
Many have probably wondered what the an-
imal might be seeing. It is best not to linger
on such thoughts for too long, for the cat can
see things that a human cannot, and indeed
should not.
What the cat sees exists in a dimension
coterminous with our own. To our senses the
creature simply does not exist, but the cat can
both hear and see the otherworld entity as
clearly as the next bird or rodent it seeks as
136
prey. Such entities are rarely bothersome, lest
the cat would howl its displeasure or arch its
back and hiss in anger.
That said, many a cat owner has awoken
from slumber on hearing their “pet” tearing
around the house for no earthly reason. At such
times, the cat is either chasing away or fleeing
from some unwanted interdimensional entity
floating or slithering through its territory.
Optional Rule: Cats can see invisible crea-
tures.
Water
“Most cats don’t like water, and despite
her pretensions of tigerhood, Julie was no dif-
ferent. Yes, tigers have stripes; so do tabbies. If
you want to know the difference, try tossing
one of each into your swimming pool. Then
I would recommend running.” —Seanan Mc-
Guire, Rosemary and Rue
Few can notice that cats are fastidious
about cleanliness, yet attempts to bathe them
are met with hissing, biting, and clawing. Cats
are more than capable of swimming, and thus
do not fear drowning, yet they have an aver-
sion to deep water.
Millions of year before humans came to
dominate the land, all manner of foul things
crawled and slithered from the sea. The cats
had no love for these gelatinous entities, nor
the vile deity Cthulhu they worshiped, whose
dreams they witnessed but were revolted by.
While the great cats, such as lions and tigers,
had the strength and natural weapons to kill
the monstrous things, their smaller cousins
did not. The fear those malodorous, unsightly
beings inspired has never been forgotten.
Even stepping in a small amount of water
causes cats the equivalent of shivers down the
spine—as evidenced by their hurriedly shaking
their paws to remove the offending material.
Only when there is the potential for a meal
does a cat sit close to water, and only then
ponds and rivers, where Cthulhu’s ilk are rare-
ly found. Even then, the cat’s interaction with
the water is a quick strike to grab a fish before
retreating to a safer, drier environment.
The Realm of Morpheus:
The Dreamlands
 Dreamlands Contents
The Realm of Morpheus: The Dreamlands...................................... 137
Introduction............................................................................... 139
What is the Dreamlands?........................................................... 139
Nature of the Dreamlands......................................................... 139
Recommended Stories................................................................ 140
A Guide to Using this Book...................................................... 140
Chapter One: Dreamers................................................................ 141
New Motivations....................................................................... 141
New Skill................................................................................. 142
New Leagues............................................................................. 143
New Flaws................................................................................ 144
New Gear................................................................................. 145
New Weird Science................................................................... 145
Chapter Two: Magic & Manuscripts.............................................. 153
Entering the Dreamlands.......................................................... 153
Shaping the Dreamlands............................................................ 155
Eldritch Magic......................................................................... 157
Eldritch Books........................................................................ 158
Eldritch Relics......................................................................... 160
Chapter Three: Gazetteer of the Dreamlands................................ 161
Entrance.................................................................................. 161
The East................................................................................... 161
The North............................................................................... 165
The South................................................................................ 168
The West.................................................................................. 170
The Underworld....................................................................... 177
The Moon................................................................................ 179
Chapter Four: Inhabitants of the Dreamlands............................... 181
Gods........................................................................................ 181
Horrors................................................................................... 182
Cults........................................................................................ 189
Notable Persons....................................................................... 191
Animals..................................................................................... 196

138
 Introduction:
What is the
Dreamlands?
“From my experience I cannot doubt but that
man, when lost to terrestrial consciousness, is
indeed sojourning in another and uncorporeal
life of far different nature from the life we know;
and of which only the slightest and most indis-
tinct memories linger after waking. [...] We may
guess that in dreams life, matter, and vitality,
as the earth knows such things, are not neces-
sarily constant; and that time and space do not
exist as our waking selves comprehend them.
Sometimes I believe that this less material life
is our truer life, and that our vain presence on
the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or
merely virtual phenomenon.” —H. P. Lovecraft,
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Welcome, dreamer!
While you believe you are reading these
words in comfortable surroundings, you are,
in fact, in a light sleep. Look down and you
will see that you stand at the top of the Sev-
enty Steps that lead to the Cavern of Flame,
and from which one can descend the seven
hundred steps to the Gate of Deeper Slumber.
Pass through and you will find yourself in the
fantastical Dreamlands.
Step back from the threshold of slumber for
now, though, and awaken, for the Dreamlands,
while containing many amazing sights and
friendly inhabitants, contain many dangers.
Through this book we will guide you into how
to enter the Dreamlands with ease, show you
some of its many wonders, introduce you to
some of its citizens, and avail you of knowledge
concerning the horrors you may encounter.
Nature of the Dreamlands
The Dreamlands is not a realm of pure
imagination, a fiction existent only in the
minds of dreamers that ceases to be once a
dreamer awakens. Rather, the Dreamlands is
another dimension, one that can be reached
through dreams and a very few doorways that
exist between the world of the waking and the
world of dreams.
Within the Dreamlands, a dreamer must
obey the rules of that reality. For the most part,
they are those of the waking world, requiring
one to seek sustenance (but not sleep), and
where dangers to the body, mind, and spirit
can cause serious injury and even death.
Yet there are things a dreamer can do
within the Dreamlands that are impossible in
the waking world. They may board a sailing
ship to the moon and walk its surface without
the need for technological artifacts, or shape
reality to include new geographical locations
or settlements.
More than One Dreamland
For the people of Earth, there is but one
dreamland—the one visited in our dreams and
explored in this book and also referred to as
the Dreamlands.
As wondrous and mysterious as it may be
in the eyes of a visitor, it is but one of count-
less dreamlands lying beyond that realm of
sleep. Not only does every planet in the Solar
139
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
System boast its own unique dreamland, but
the unseen globes that circle distant stars such
as Aldebaran and Fomalhaut have dreamlands
unique to their alien inhabitants.
To visit those dreamlands is to court mad-
ness and death—not only are the denizens
incalculably alien to humans, with motives that
human dreamers could never hope to compre-
hend, but the environments are utterly hostile
to humans even in dreams. This is not to say
that ways of reaching and surviving in these
alien dreamlands exist, but they are beyond
the focus of this work.
There is but one dimension that has no
dreamland lurking tantalizingly just beyond
the veil of sleep. Beyond the ordered universe,
with its fixed celestial laws and scientific
rationale, where exists only unbridled chaos
beyond imagination, is the court of Azathoth,
the Daemon Sultan, where no dreams reach.
It has been suggested by a wise and elderly
denizen of the Dreamlands that each dreamer
has his own version of the realm that exists
coterminous with the general Dreamlands. It
is here, and only here, that dreams a dreamer
forms into reality exist. In this book, however,
there is but one Dreamlands, a Dreamlands
shared by all earthly visitors.
Recommended Stories
While we have endeavored to describe the
atmosphere and sights of the Dreamlands,
Gamemasters wishing to use the Dreamlands in
their campaign are advised to read the source
material before starting their campaign.
We recommend the following stories: The
Cats of Ulthar, Celephaïs, The Dream-Quest of
Unknown Kadath, Ex Oblivione, Hypnos, The
Other Gods, The Quest of Iranon, The Silver
Key, Through the Gates of the Silver Key, and
The White Ship. Entries in italics are, in our
opinion, must-read tales.
A Guide to Using this Book
Chapter One: Dreamers provides new
options for player characters who wish to ex-
plore the Dreamlands, with new Skills, Talents,
Flaws, Leagues, and weird science devices.
Chapter Two: Magic & Manuscripts de-
tails the methods by one which may enter the
Dreamlands, tells how a dreamer can shape the
reality of the realm, and reveals new eldritch
magic, books, and relics.
Chapter Three: Gazetteer of the Dream-
lands explores the lands and settlements of
the Dreamlands.
Chapter Four: Inhabitants of the Dream-
lands describe the strange gods and horrors
that dwell in the Dreamlands, notable persons,
and a new fanatical cult.
This introduction is but the tip of the iceberg
concerning the Dreamlands. Now, it is time to
turn out the lights, slip beneath the warm sheets,
and focus your thoughts on the magnificent
realm of the Dreamlands before your eyelids
close and you drift into Morpheus’ domain.
 Chapter One:
Dreamers
“And for long they talked of old times,
having much to say because both were old
dreamers and well versed in the wonders
of incredible places.” —H. P. Lovecraft, The
Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
This chapter details new options for globe-
trotters who wish to pass beyond the wall of
sleep and explore the Dreamlands.
New Motivations
Bon Vivant
Life is short and life is hard, but that doesn’t
mean one cannot enjoy the good things in life.
No matter their means, the character devotes
their life to sociable and luxurious activities.
The character is not only a frequent guest at
parties, but is often at their heart. You earn
Style points when your character enjoys a so-
cial occasion or convinces someone to throw
off their reservations and enjoy a sociable and
luxurious time.
Creation
Your character is always attempting to con-
struct something new. It could be something
no one has ever seen before or just more of
what you’ve previously created. As a result,
nothing is worse than seeing your labors de-
stroyed, and you will go to great lengths to
protect your creations. You earn a Style point
when your character creates or replicates
something or convinces others to help create
something new.
Destruction
Your character wants nothing more than to
see things obliterated. They could be a militant
nihilist, violent anarchist, or malevolent entity
that wants to destroy things and ruin people.
This does not necessarily mean sowing chaos,
however. Your character could use their skills
with surgical precision to cull the weak and the
old in order to improve the lot of their communi-
ty, or could view the eradication of governments
and organizations as the only way to free people
from oppression. But your character doesn’t
really need an excuse to demolish something
beautiful. Annihilation is its own reward.
Excellence
Your character is continuously pushing
to improve their skills and abilities. It’s more
for personal satisfaction than for rewards or
recognition, but those tend to come along the
way. It’s not because your character has incred-
ibly high standards either. They are perfectly
comfortable making mistakes and starting
from scratch as long as they learn something.
Consequently, they hate being bored and wast-
ing time, and will move on to a new challenge
after mastering the current one. You earn
Style points when your character sets a new
141
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
personal record or encourages others to push
themselves to do better.
New Skill
Dreamlands Lore
Special (see all notes below)
Base Attribute: Intelligence
This Skill covers knowledge of the Dream-
lands, the land beyond the veil of sleep. It is
an important Skill for those intending to visit
the Dreamlands, for it can permit not only
entrance to the realm, but allows one to shape
it to one’s will.
* Customs: Knowledge of the strange cus-
toms of the Dreamlands’ denizens.
* History: Knowledge of the major and mi-
nor historical events of the Dreamlands.
* Linguistics: See the Dreamlands Languag-
es sidebar on page 144.
* People: Knowledge of the movers and
shakers in the Dreamlands.
* Places: Knowledge of the geography and
locations of the Dreamlands.
In Character Generation
During character generation, only charac-
ters with the Adept Dreamer or Dreamlands
Persona Talents may spend Skill points on the
Skill. All characters may spend their initial Ex-
perience points on the Skill.
Gaining & Improving the Skill
Unlike learning about a different country in
the waking world, one cannot simply peruse a
book or talk to a fellow traveller and hope to
understand the nature of the Dreamlands. The
only way to comprehend the Dreamlands is to
experience their mystery and wonder.
At the end of a session in which character
have explored the Dreamlands, they may devote
one or more Experience points gained that ses-
sion to learning more about the Dreamlands. To
separate them from normal experience points,
we call these dedicated points Dreamlands
142
Experience points (DXP). Only Dreamlands Ex-
perience points can be used to gain or improve
the Dreamlands Skill in play.
New Talents
Adept Dreamer
Prerequisites: Willpower 3
Your character is an expert dreamer, able to
pierce the veil of sleep and enter the Dream-
lands with greater ease than others.
Benefit: Your character has a +2 bonus to
enter the Dreamlands (see p. 153).
Normal: Your character has no bonuses to
enter the Dreamlands.
Advanced: You may buy this Talent up to
three times. Your character gains a +4 bonus
at second Level and a +8 bonus at third Level.
In addition, +2 bonus to rolls to reshape the
Dreamlands is gained at second Level and a +4
bonus at third Level.
Bloodline: Boyd
Unique; Only available at character creation
Prerequisites: None
Rooted in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but now all but
extinct, Boyds were known for seeking meaning
in a meaningless world. Some became preachers,
some explorers, others chose more scholarly lives.
All seek something beyond the mundane.
Benefit: Your character begins play with 1
level of Dreamlands Lore (choose Discipline),
and Refuge 1 in addition to the regular four
0-level Skills and two 0-level Resources all
characters receive. The character may also re-
ceive the Superior Dreamlands Persona Talent
for free if they choose the Dreamlands Persona
Talent at character creation.
Normal: Your character receives no addi-
tional free Skills, Talents, or Resources.
Bloodline: Carter
Unique; Only available at character creation
Prerequisites: None
The delicate and sensitive Carters have

long suffered from strange visions, both when
awake and asleep.
Benefit: The globetrotter begins play with
Art 0 (in one Discipline of their choice) and
Empathy 0. These are in addition to the regular
four 0-level Skills all characters receive.
Once per adventure, your character can cast
the Premonition ritual. Unlike the standard
ritual, no Horror check is made. Furthermore,
you pay only 10 Experience points to learn or
improve the Adept Dreamer and Dreamlands
Persona Talents.
Normal: Your character has no additional
Skills or knowledge of the Premonition ritual,
and must pay 15 Experience points for the
aforementioned Talents.
Bloodline: Elton
Unique; Only available at character creation
Prerequisites: None
The Elton family has long served as light-
house men. Even distant cousins have been
drawn to work where shore meets sea.
Benefit: The globetrotter begins play with
Dreamlands Lore 0 and Pilot: Nautical 0 due to
knowledge of the tides and weather. Also, you
automatically gain Rank 1 in the Lighthouse
Club (see below). If the character takes the
Lighthouse Club as their sole League, they must
take the two free 0-level Skills from those of the
League as normal. Otherwise, they may select
two starting Skills from those of either League.
Normal: Your character receives no addi-
tional free Skills or Resource.
Dreamlands Persona
Unique; Only available at character creation
Prerequisites: None
When explorers enter the Dreamlands,
they do so as their normal self. This character
has a separate persona inside the Dreamlands,
a persona that may be vastly different from
their mortal self.
Benefit: You must create a second character
to represent your Dreamlands persona. The al-
ternate persona has four 0-Level Skills and two
0-Level Resources of their choice instead of the
usual free Skills and Resources. Whenever you
Dreamers
are in the Dreamlands, you must always use
this persona. The Dreamlands persona has no
ability to enter the waking world—he exists
only in dreams.
The two characters have separate Experi-
ence point pools. Experience gained by one
persona cannot be used to advance the other.
Normal: Your character has no separate
persona when within the Dreamlands and uses
their regular statistics.
Superior Dreamlands Persona
Unique; Only available at character creation
Prerequisite: Dreamlands Persona
As above, except the Dreamlands persona
is more powerful than their waking self. The
persona has 18 Attribute points, 20 Skill points,
and begins with 3 Talents or Resources.
New Leagues
The Feline Club
As far as humans are concerned, domesti-
cated cats (an oxymoron in the eyes of many
cat “owners”) have their origins in ancient
Egypt. Cats may know better, but they are not
saying. As a general rule, cats fall under two
categories—feral cats, which include those
hard-working felines who root out rats and
mice to feed their bellies, and pet cats, which
may hunt but have owners to pamper them.
The Feline Club is a League for cat fanciers
of all ilks. By definition feral cats are not do-
mesticated, but the modified door to the Club
is always open to their kind (the term cat flap
isn’t used until 1959).
As well as bringing their pets to the League
to be pampered and waited on, members trav-
el the world in search of new breeds to add
to their collections. Large cats, such as lions
and leopards, are permitted under the Club’s
regulations, but members face an automatic
life time ban if their “pet” consumes another
cat on the property. Once a year, the Club en-
gages in a “pilgrimage” to the ruins of Bubastis
in Egypt, an ancient center of feline worship.
143
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Languages of the
Dreamlands
A dreamer does not learn the various lan-
guages of the Dreamlands through the
Linguistics Skill. Instead, for each level
he gains through the Dreamlands Lore
Skill, he may select one of the languag-
es below. Additional languages may be
learned at the cost of 1 Experience point
per language.
* Cat (also understood by terrestrial cats,
though they usually speak it only in the
Dreamlands), Common tongue of the
Dreamlands, Ghast, Ghoul, or Zoog
Each region also has a native tongue.
Thus, the citizens of Ulthar speak Ulthan.
Most humans, and many non-humans,
understand the common tongue of the
Dreamlands, an amalgam of ancient wak-
ing world languages, but favor their own
given a choice. A dreamer speaking to a
native in his own regional language gains
a +1 bonus to Social rolls. This does not
apply to the other languages listed above.
Starting Skill List: Animal Handling,
Medicine, Science: Biology
Special: A globetrotter who elects to take
an Animal Handling Specialization at any time
must take Cats as his first choice. Similarly, his
first choice of a Medicine Specialization must
be Veterinary.
The Lighthouse Club
Lighthouses, those shining beacons that
warn mariners away from danger and guide
them home to port, have been in use since the
time of the ancients. Modern lighthouses are
far more powerful, and far more common.
The Lighthouse Club caters to those who
man the remote outposts and those who have a
fascination with the structures. The latter travel
the globe, photographing lighthouses and writ-
ing up travelogues, which are then displayed to
other Leagues members on their return. One
of the club’s pet ventures is the search for the
remains of the Pharos, better known as the
144
Lighthouse of Alexandria. The Lighthouse Club
maintains close ties to the Mariners Club.
Starting Skill List: Pick two from Art:
Photography, Athletics, Craft: Carpentry, Craft:
Electrics, Expeditions, Science: Engineering
The Morpheus Club
The ability to shape dreams, rather than be a
passive witness, is rare. The Morpheus Club was
founded as a place where travellers to the Dream-
lands could gather and discuss their travels in the
realm where dreams are made manifest.
Most members, who call themselves Oneiri
(“Dreams”), are artists, imaginative souls try-
ing to capture the beauty and horror they have
witnessed in the Dreamlands in mundane me-
dia. Others are explorers who seek to uncover
great wonders and strange lore found only in
the land of Morpheus. A small few have tired
of their waking lives, and desire more than
anything to become a permanent inhabitant of
the Dreamlands.
Special Requirement: Dreamlands Lore 4
Starting Skill List: Art (pick one), Diplo-
macy, Empathy, Expeditions, Performance
New Flaws
Mental
Daydreamer: Your character is a day-
dreamer, their mind forever wandering off
from mundane activities and thoughts. Often
the daydreams are petty, but sometimes they
include strange vistas and thoughts. You earn
a Style point whenever your character makes a
major mistake because they were daydreaming
instead of concentrating on an activity.
Insomnia: Your character suffers from
regular problems sleeping. This may be mild,
causing delayed sleep, interrupted sleep, or
early waking, resulting in a -2 to rolls requiring
concentration and entering the Dreamlands.
It may be severe and involve all three impedi-
ments to sleep, resulting in a -4 penalty. Long
bouts of sleeplessness may result in emotional
behavior, memory problems, and auditory hal-

lucinations. You earn a Style point (2 if severe)
any time your character’s insomnia inhibits
success or causes social problems.
No Imagination: Your character lacks
imagination in everything they do. They are
not stupid—they just lack the creativity to step
outside the box and take a different view of the
world. The character has –2 to enter or shape
the Dreamlands and to all rolls requiring imag-
ination, such as ones related to art or weird
science. You earn a Style point whenever your
character‘s lack of imagination causes serious
problems for them or their friends.
Somnambulist: Your character walks in
their sleep. Most often their nocturnal activities
are utterly mundane, but they may engage in
strange behavior. You earn a Style point when-
ever your character‘s sleep walking causes seri-
ous problems for them or their friends.
Social
Decadent: When it comes to luxury, your
character is self-indulgent, rarely questioning
the financial or moral cost. For them, only the
best will do. You earn a Style point whenever
your character‘s self-indulgence or demand for
luxury causes them or their friends problems,
or forces others to overspend.
Hedonist: Your character desires pleasure
more than anything else in the world, Whether
or not they are morally corrupt depends on the
individual, but the desire for more pleasurable
experiences can stain the soul. You earn a Style
point whenever your character‘s pursuit of plea-
sure causes them or their friends problems.
Noblesse Oblige: Your character believes
that those with more wealth, power, and social
standing should be more honorable, gener-
ous, and respectable to those beneath them.
Your character earns a Style point whenever
selflessly helping the less fortunate or protect-
ing them from being oppressed by someone in
a position of power.
Xenophile: Your character is fascinated by
anything strange or unusual and will go out of
their way to learn about a foreign culture or
spend time with someone from far away. You
earn a Style point whenever your character’s
bizarre obsession causes trouble.
Dreamers
Xenophobia: Your character intensely dis-
likes anything exotic or unfamiliar and will go
out of their way to avoid it or keep it away. You
earn a Style point whenever your character’s
narrow-minded intolerance causes trouble for
them or their friends.
New Gear
Hashish
Hashish is cannabis resin. When taken, the
user may experience time and space distor-
tions. Combined with its effect as a sedative,
it grants dreamers a longer time to explore the
Dreamlands.
Opium
Opium is the base for morphine and heroin,
and can be purchased from many pharmacists.
Dreamers use it to aid sleep and alter the state
of their mind, with many claiming it produces
an out-of-body experience. In game terms, it
aids entry to the Dreamlands.
New Weird Science
Dream Inducer
Artifact 2
Leagues: Morpheus Club
Created by the Morpheus Club, the Dream
Inducer is not a sleep machine, in that it does
nothing to aid one falling to sleep. Rather,
placed on the head of a sleeper, it stimulates
the centers of the brain corresponding to
imagination and dreaming. Through this
device, even the most untrained mind may
be able to venture into the Dreamlands for a
short while.
Enhancements: Increased Attribute: +1
Charisma (+1 Enhancement)*, Increased At-
tribute: +1 Will (+1 Enhancement)*
* Only applies for the purposes of entering
the Dreamlands.
145
 Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Addicted Artist
the
ephais,
ruled
t is
ir.”
Archetype: Artist; Motivation: Love; Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 3, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 6, Initiative 5, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
5, Sanity 5
Skills: Art: Painting 5 (Dreamlands’ land-
scapes 6), Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Con 4, Diplo-
macy 5, Dreamlands Lore 6 (Places 7), Elder
Lore: Locations 4, Gambling 5, Survival 4
Talents: Adept Dreamer 2 (+4 to enter or
shape Dreamlands)
Resources: Follower 0 (Druggist), Rank 0
(The Morpheus Club; +1 Social bonus)
Flaws: Addiction: Opium (–2 penalty on all
rolls after overindulging or going too long
146
without a fix until he sobers up or overcomes
his addiction; +1 Style point whenever his ad-
diction hurts him or someone he cares about)
Weapons: Punch 4N
Character Background
Do you know a landscape painting is? I
mean, what it truly is? Certainly it is a snap
shot of time, a moment forever frozen, yet it
is also a doorway to questions. You have seen
Constable’s The Hay Wain, I presume? Is the
wagon stuck in the stream? Has the owner
stored his hay or is he heading to the field for
a hard day’s labor? Is the second gentleman
a compatriot, a stranger providing assistance
because the wagon has bogged down or point-

ing out directions? There is no truth save one’s
own truth.
I have long been troubled by strange
dreams, of vistas wondrous and terrible,
similar to those of our ordinary world and
yet somehow alien. At first I could glean only
glimpses of these landscapes, vague impres-
sions that my oils and watercolors could never
hope to show in their true glory. Like Tantalus,
my desires were forever just out of reach.
I fell to despondency. Not matter how hard
I tried, I could do no justice to my visions, and
my early attempts were mocked for their crudi-
ty. A dark malaise took me and gripped my soul
like a vise. I sank into the fragrant embrace of
opium, which become my salvation and doom
in the same breath.
Under the drug my conscious mind slipped
aside like a heavy blanket, leaving my uncon-
scious mind to escape its earthly bonds and
roam into higher dimensions, dimensions of
vibrant colors and eerie sounds. I wandered
lost in those strange vistas I had seen before,
but now they were vivid. No longer did I gaze
upon castles and villages, swathes of forests
and meandering rivers. I walked among them,
touched them with my hands.
On my awakening I took to my studio and
remained there for three days, taking no suste-
nance save for a little water. Work consumed
me, for with the image burned in my mind I
strove to recreate one instant of it on canvas.
That my work was still ridiculed as fanciful
no longer mattered, for I knew I had taken but
the smallest steps into a new world. Despite
my need to return to that alien land, the
Dreamlands of which I have since read of in
certain arcane volumes, I was forced to accept
mundane commissions, for in those days the
Dreamlands were still but hazy nocturnal vi-
sions without the opium to awaken my mind.
It was on a later voyage that I saw her. The
merest glance was enough to send my heart
soaring, for surely it has been pierced by
Cupid’s fabled arrow. Like my early dreams she
was a ghost, half-seen and half-felt. No matter
how I tried I could not reach her—for each
step I took closer, she seemed to slip further
from my grasp. But such beauty! Would Helen
of Troy had such looks her face would have
Dreamers
launched a million ships whose crews would
have gladly thrown themselves into Hades
should she have asked it of them.
A thousand times I have painted her and a
thousand times I have torn the canvas in half.
To portray her through mundane media is to
mar her heavenly perfection. I would argue
that even a photograph, if such could be cap-
tured, would make her ugly, for it could not
capture her radiance.
Those days of inexperienced dreaming have
passed now. Time and longing have altered my
mind, and I can now enter the Dreamlands
without the need for a pipe of opium. Ha, I say
that with the tongue of a fool, for the poppy
would never let me slither from its clutches so
easily! Drug-drenched mind craves it and with-
out it my sleep is disturbed and my dreams
come fitfully.
Years have passed. I have walked the streets
of magnificent Celephaïs and asked of its citi-
zens, spoken to wise men whose years cannot
be reckoned in mortal terms, and called upon
the aid of the felines of Ulthar, and yet no one
knows who the woman who haunts my dreams
and waking days is. Still, there is perhaps a glim-
mer of hope. In my recent dreams I have seen
a quaint cottage with roses climbing the walls
and a contented cat sitting on the porch. There
I have seen the woman, clad in silk gowns laced
with gold thread, standing at the door, gazing
outward as if awaiting the return of her beloved.
That cottage does not exist, for I have be-
come conversant with the many locales of the
Dreamlands and cannot find it. It exists only
in my opium-laced dreams and yet I know it is
real. All I have to do is turn it from a shadow
of my mind and will it into creation. Then, per-
haps, I shall stand face-to-face with the woman
and profess for her the deepest love, for she is
the woman of my dreams.
Roleplaying
The girl of your dreams exists, but only in
the Dreamlands. You have seen her only from
afar, yet she has captured your heart. Finding
her and meeting her are major aspirations, yet
you know your quest to find true love will be
long and arduous.
147
 Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Friend to Cats
little
re dealing
all the
Archetype: Academic; Motivation: Wisdom;
Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 3,
Strength 2, Charisma 3 (4), Intelligence 3,
Willpower 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 6, Defense 5, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity 5
Skills: Academics: History 5 (Ancient Egypt
6), Animal Handling 5 (Cats 6), Athletics 4,
Brawl 4, Diplomacy 4 (5), Empathy 4 (5) (Body
Language 5 (6)), Investigation 5, Linguistics 5
(Translation 6), Survival 5
Talents: Animal Affinity (+1 Charisma when
dealing with animals)*
Resources: Contacts 0 (Cats; +1 Social bo-
nus), Follower 0 (Kitten of Ulthar), Rank 0
148
(The Feline Society; +1 Social bonus), Rank 0
(The Osiris Club; +1 Social bonus)
Flaws: Obsession: Cleanliness (+1 Style point
whenever your obsession causes you to do
something dangerous or endanger someone
else’s life)
Weapons: Punch 0N
* Bonus already included in Animal Handling
Skill. Marked in parentheses for other Skills.
Character Background
Two things have been constant in my
life—Egypt and cats. My father was a diplomat
of little importance and was posted to dusty
Cairo when I was but a child. While he was en-
gaged at work, my mother and I would spend

our days touring the sites of that ancient and
mysterious land with our governess. Monu-
ments that have withstood thousands of years
of neglect, ageless pharaohs whose sightless
eyes have watched the millennia pass before
them, and columns and walls carved and paint-
ed with strange symbols—all left an indelible
impression on my growing mind.
It was no surprise to either of my parents
that at university I chose to study history, fo-
cusing on Ancient Egypt.
We never owned a cat until we returned
from Cairo, though one lived in our house in
Egypt. It was no pet—it came and went to its
own wants and never tolerated petting. Ac-
cording to our housekeeper, a native of that
time-soaked land, the cat had been in the
house for as long as she could remember.
It was strange beast, utterly devoid of fur,
of such wrinkled appearance that it seemed far
older than a cat had any right to be, and with
glittering eyes that, in my youthful imagina-
tion, had witnessed the long-lost days of the
pharaohs in person. Once I even dreamed that
the beast, which had no name save mau (be-
ing the ancient Egyptian word for a cat) had
sharpened its claws on the Great Pyramid even
as the sweat-drenched slaves were placing the
first stones.
Since then I have always had a cat. Even in
university I owned one, for I found its purring
soothing and, having little interest in social
activities. Such was my intent on becoming an
Egyptologist, that it became my companion.
Given my twin interests, I spent a season
excavating at Bubastis, once the center for the
cult of the Egyptian cat goddess, located in the
mosquito-infested Nile Delta. It was several
weeks after my arrival that I was discovered
prone at the base of a statue of Bastet mutter-
ing incoherently. My colleagues thought I had
succumbed to the heat of the sun, for it was
indeed fierce, and suffered a bout of malaria,
though I have never since suffered from that
accursed affliction. Neither explanation could
account for my ripped clothes or my ragged
fingernails.
I thought my youthful imagination had long
since been replaced with rational thought. In-
deed, until before my “episode” I was regarded
Dreamers
as a most sober individual and not one prone
to flights of fancy. Yet I repeatedly suffered
nightmares in which I was running through
passageways beneath the crumbling city, after
having discovered a set of stone steps inside
the remnants of a temple.
My mind rebels at having to recall any
details, but I recall something—something
truly terrible that should not exist even in the
worst layer of hell—of running in terror to
save my sanity, and of smells that I compare
to the musty smell of mummified pharaohs. In
my fevered dream I can picture a figure both
horrid and beautiful, a woman with the head
of a cat and surrounded by a host of hissing
felines. The profane death that inhabited that
catacomb stalked ever closer, but the figure
touched me with a golden ankh and I was
bathed in comforting light. Of what else may
have transpired I can recount nothing.
Since that day I have been afflicted, if that
is the right word, by strange behavior. Like the
cat I have become fastidious about my clean-
liness. Indeed, it has become a compulsion.
My alienist has told me that it a passing phase
brought about by my “illness” in Egypt, a way
my mind copes with the mental strain.
You may think me insane, and for sure
I could never reveal this to my alienist, but
I can understand the language of cats. Not
their enigmatic body language and meowing,
but their actual speech! They have told me of
strange worlds where cats venture at night and
hinted of a terrible wisdom lurking behind the
veil of reality, another reality that will either
bless me with knowledge beyond the ken of
men or damn me to total insanity. I fear to
look, but such wisdom draws me toward it.
Roleplaying
You have stood before the Great Sphinx,
gazing forever to the eastern horizon, and
watched the knowing smile on cats’ faces
when they think no-one is looking, and won-
dered what sights they have witnessed. There
is a deeper mystery beyond the world of men,
wisdom lost to mankind, assuming it even
knew of its existence in the first place, and you
intend to find it.
149
 Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Seeker of Justice
d, where
welcome.
vants of
l find no
Archetype: Scientist; Motivation: Justice;
Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 6, Defense 5, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity 4
Skills: Brawl 4, Dreamlands Lore 4, Firearms
5 (Pistols 6), Intimidation 5 (Torture 6), In-
vestigation 5, Science: Engineering 4, Science:
Physics 6, Streetwise 4
Talents: Adept Dreamer (+2 to enter or alter
Dreamlands), Dreamlands’ Persona (see be-
low)
Resources: Follower 0 (Lab Assistant), Rank 0
(Temporal Society; +1 Social bonus)
150
Flaws: Dying (–2 penalty to all rolls whenever
your disease acts up; +1 Style point whenever
you are incapacitated by sickness or forced to
confront your mortality)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Heavy revolver 9L
Dreamlands’ Persona
Archetype: Aristocrat; Motivation: Justice;
Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 4, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 5, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity 6
Skills: Academics: Law 5, Bureaucracy 4, Di-

plomacy 6 (Leadership 7), Dreamlands’ Lore 5
(People 6), Empathy 5, Intimidation 5, Melee 5,
Performance 5, Ride 4
Talents: Inspire (Grants +2 Skill bonus to al-
lies)
Resources: Contacts 0 (Dreamlands nobil-
ity; +1 bonus), Refuge 1 (Large townhouse
in Ulthar), Status 0 (Minor noble; +1 Social
bonus)
Flaws: Noblesse Oblige (+1 Style point when-
ever you selflessly help the less fortunate or
protect them from being oppressed by some-
one in a position of power)
Weapons: Punch 0N, Arming sword 7L
Character Background
I am dying. It seems the appropriate time to
try and unburden my soul. I was a happy man
once, a scientist of little renown but blessed
with a wonderful spouse who meant more to
me than anything else.
When the police informed me of my
spouse’s death at the hands of persons un-
known, I was beyond distraught. Had I been at
their side at the time I might have saved them,
for I possessed a revolver and some aptitude
at using it. Through science I might yet pre-
vail. Many have devoted their lives to traveling
through time and all have failed. I was to be
no different.
As attempt after attempt proved futile and
my frustration grew, a dark stain began to fes-
ter on my soul even as cancer, unbeknownst
to me, began to consume my body. Desire to
save my spouse from their ordained fate was
replaced with a terrible desire for revenge on
the perpetrators.
Where the police had failed with their ques-
tions, hard coin had opened lips. Within a short
time I had a list of names and addresses. Logic
told me to inform the police of my information,
yet I knew that the courts demanded evidence
and placed little weight on the words of scoun-
drels and the poor, especially since they had
been paid to provide me with names. No, there
could be no justice through that means.
Thus it was that I became Death to those
who had taken from me the only thing that I
had ever loved. The burning fires that raged
Dreamers
in my soul calmed my nerves and steadied my
hand. I was immune to their pleas for clemen-
cy as I ended their miserable, worthless lives.
Six men died in short order, but the fires of
vengeance were not quelled. I was not the only
person to have suffered and I would not be the
last. If vengeance was the Lord’s prerogative, I
had chosen to become His right hand.
As hard as my heart had become, part of
my soul still yearned for true justice. Strange
dreams became the norm—visions in which
I was no vigilante craving revenge but a just
and honest lord in the old style, one driven to
uphold the law of the land through peaceful
means and ensure the wicked were duly pun-
ished in accordance with the law.
At first I took my dreams to be nothing
more than my conscience struggling to exert
itself and the visions a metaphor. It would be
long months before I came to understand the
strange truth.
As a scientist I scoffed at the Strange Case of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde when I first read it, for
a man could no more separate his lighter and
darker natures than one could travel through
time. Now, I understand that I have become
two separate beings. My Hyde was my waking
self, a monster of wrath and hatred, devoid of
pity and condemned to darkness. My. Jekyll,
wherein dwelt my virtues, existed only in the
world of dreams.
I still seek to shatter the time barrier,
though I admit I am spending longer and lon-
ger periods researching what little earthly lore
exists concerning the Dreamlands. It is said
that rare dreamers may transcend mortal death
and exist forever in that strange world. I can-
not redeem my soul in this world, but perhaps
there is hope for me yet elsewhere.
Roleplaying
Your are a believer in justice, but one
divided by the twin aspects of that desire. In
the working world, you seek justice through
violence, acts that have left your soul as stained
as your ailing body. In the Dreamlands you
have a different aspect of justice—a noble who
holds the law in high regard and who seeks to
protect the underprivileged through the law.
151
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Sample Henchmen
Author of Weird Fiction
Follower 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 1,
Strength 1, Charisma 1, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 2, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 3, Defense 3, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity 3
Skills: Art: Writing 4 (Weird Fiction 5), Investi-
gation 4 (Research 5)
Talents/Resources: None
Flaws: Paranoia (+1 Style point whenever
their fear gets the better of them)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Dreamer
Follower 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 1, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 3, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
5, Sanity 5
Skills: Diplomacy 4, Dreamlands Lore 4, Per-
formance 4, Streetwise 4, Survival 4
Talents: Adept Dreamer (+2 to enter or alter
the Dreamlands
Resources: None
Flaws: Daydreamer (+1 Style point whenever
they make a mistake because of daydreaming)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Druggist
Follower 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 1,
Strength 1, Charisma 1, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 1
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 2, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 3, Stun 2, Health
3, Sanity 2
Skills: Craft: Pharmacology 5, Investigation 4,
Science: Chemistry 5
Talents/Resources: None
152
Flaws: Gossip (+1 Style point whenever they
spread gossip that causes trouble)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Kitten of Ulthar
Follower 0
Primary Attributes: Body 1, Dexterity 3,
Strength 1, Charisma 1, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 1
Secondary Attributes: Size –2, Move 4,
Perception 3, Initiative 5, Defense 6, Stun 1,
Health 0, Sanity 2
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 2, Stealth 6
Talents/Resources: None
Flaws: Animal (+1 Style point whenever its
being a cat hampers it or causes trouble)
Weapons: Claw 2L
Priestess of Bast
Follower 0
Primary Attributes: Body 1, Dexterity 2,
Strength 1, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 1
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 3, Percep-
tion 3, Initiative 4, Defense 3, Stun 1, Health
2, Sanity 3
Skills: Academics: Religion 4 (Ancient Egyp-
tian 5), Animal Handling 4 (Cats 5)
Talents/Resources: None
Flaws: Superstitious (+1 Style point whenever
her eccentricities cause her trouble)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Young Ghoul
Follower 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 1,
Strength 2, Charisma 0, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 3, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 3, Defense 3, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity 1
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Elder Lore 3
Talents/Resources: None
Flaws: Inhuman (–2 penalty on all rolls where
appearance is a factor; +1 Style point whenever
its inhuman appearance causes problems)
Weapons: Punch 0N
 Chapter Two:
Magic & Manuscripts

“In light slumber he descended the sev-
enty steps to the cavern of flame and talked
of this design to the bearded priests Nasht and
Kaman-Thah.” —H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-
Quest of Unknown Kadath
Close your eyes, silence your mind, and
dream deeply, for now it is time to leave
behind the mundane world and begin your
journey into the Dreamlands. In this chapter
you’ll learn how to enter the Dreamlands, new
eldritch magic, and discover eldritch tomes
and relics found nowhere on Earth.
Entering the
Dreamlands
make a Difficulty 4 Charisma + Willpower or
Dreamlands Lore roll (player’s choice).
Only one attempt may be made per cycle of
natural sleep—that is, each 24 hours. A second
attempt may be made in the same period only
if the dreamer turns to opium to alter their
state of mind.
Once the mind has reached the necessary
state, the dreamer (or their persona if they have a
different guise in dreams) appears at the seventy
steps that lead down to the Cavern of Flame (see
p. 161, the gateway to the Dreamlands proper.
Situation Modifier
Flaws
Elderly –4
No Imagination –2
Young +4

For most dreamers, the Dreamlands are Talents

forever out of reach, tantalizingly glimpsed Adept Dreamer +2, +4, or +8
for brief moments or as a distant vista, if at all. Other
The key to unlock the door betwixt realms is
imagination. Children, their minds full of won- Per pipe of opium +2
der and hope, may inadvertently slip into the Sleeping near an overlap- +2
Dreamlands without forethought, while the ping area*
elderly are set in their ways and have forgotten * Certain places overlap the waking world
the potential of their childlike imaginations. and the Dreamlands (see below). Opting to
True dreamers, those with the will, strength sleep in one of these places makes it easier to
of personality, and imagination to control and slip into the Dreamlands.
sculpt the nature of their dreams, are rare. Of
these, only a handful have the ability to pierce
the veil with ease. Other Methods
In order to enter the Dreamlands, the first
step is to fall asleep. The character must then Sleeping is the easiest means of entering

153
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Death in the
Dreamlands
Even the most experienced dreamer
knows that death haunts the Dream-
lands. Yes, many of the inhabitants are
impervious to the passing of centuries,
even millennia, but they can be killed.
How death in the Dreamlands affects the
globetrotter is not predetermined by the
rules, but is instead a choice the individ-
ual Gamemaster must make. We’ve listed
some options below.
* Upon death of the dream form, the
dreamer is automatically expelled from
the Dreamlands. Death has severed the
connection to the strange realm, leaving
them unable to ever reach it again.
* Death in the Dreamlands kills the
sleeper’s body. Essentially, they die in
their sleep of unknown causes. Time to
make a new character.
* Death does not kill the sleeper, but
their brain is dead, leaving him in a per-
manent coma. The player needs a new
character, but there may be a means
of restoring the soul to the body—the
Dreamlands are strange and there is
great power to be harnessed there.
Recovering from death should never be
easy. Such an event should occur no more
than once in a campaign, should involve
a lengthy and perilous quest (something
akin to Randolph Carter’s epic quest),
and involve some sort of permanent pen-
alty even if successful (such as –1 Body or
Intelligence rating).
Death in the Real World
What if the sleeper dies in the real world,
though? For most, they die in the Dream-
lands as well—when brain activity ceases,
they can no longer dream.
Characters with the Adept Dreamer
3 Talent can ignore the death of their
physical body, but only if they are in the
Dreamlands at the time. Their persona is
forever severed from the waking world,
however. They now exist as a denizen of
the Dreamlands for eternity—well, un-
less their Dreamland form is also killed,
of course.
154
the Dreamlands, but there are other means by
which mortals may make the journey.
Overlapping Areas
The waking world and that of the Dreamlands
are not entirely separated by the veil of sleep.
There are places where the two overlap, where
an incautious traveler or brave explorer may find
himself physically moving betwixt realms.
A walker in a remote part of a thick forest,
for instance, may find they have accidentally
stumbled into the Enchanted Wood. Crawling
through a hollow in a graveyard might bring
one to the edge of the Gug’s accursed realm,
which even the Ghouls avoid. Characters who
enter the Dreamlands through one of these
areas find themselves in a most perilous state,
for they are physically within the Dreamlands.
A globetrotter who sleeps near one of
these sites can enter the Dreamlands without
descending the Seventy Steps to the Cavern of
Flame. Instead, they enter the Dreamlands in
its convergent point. Entrance in this manner
is dangerous, for all such locations are located
in the darkest regions of the Dreamlands.
The White Ship
When the moon is fat and high in the night
sky, a strange vessel can sometimes be seen in
the south. No wind or wave can hamper its pas-
sage, for the vessel glides smoothly and silently
over even the roughest seas. Often appearing
as an archaic galley, but sometimes in the guise
of other types of historical ship, its wood, sails,
and strange oars are a pure white.
Often the White Ship passes by, its course
unknown to its mysterious captain. For oth-
ers, it anchors and extends a bridge of moon-
beams, granting them passage through to the
Dreamlands.
Although a passenger may believe this
route allows physical entrance to the Dream-
lands, one, in fact, be asleep before the White
Ship can enter a dream. The only benefit to
venturing forth via the White Ship is that
passage to the Dreamlands requires no roll
(making it very handy if the globetrotters are
not skilled dreamers).
 Magic & Manuscripts
Maximum Length of Visit
Time within the Dreamlands has no di-
rect relationship with the waking world. The
amount of time a dreamer may spend in the
Dreamlands before being forced back to the
waking world depends on their training.
The table below shows the amount of time
a dreamer may remain in the Dreamlands for
each hour that passes in the waking world.
Thus, a novice dreamer can spend one day in
the Dreamlands for each hour of sleep, while
the most skilled dreamers can remain for one
year per hour of sleep.
Not every moment of sleep involves dream-
ing. The maximum number of hours a dreamer
can remain in a dreaming state is equal to their
Body + Charisma. Using hashish adds +2
hours to the total.
Training Period
Untrained One week
Adept Dreamer 1 Talent One month
Adept Dreamer 2 Talent One year
Adept Dreamer 3 Talent One decade*
* Should the dreamer die in the waking
world, he lives on in the Dreamlands. See the
sidebar Death in the Dreamlands.
Exiting
Exiting from the Dreamlands is automatic
when the dreamer is awakened or the maxi-
mum number of hours passes. No matter how
or from where they leave the Dreamlands, the
sleeper always awakes wherever their physical
body lies.
A dreamer who desires to leave the Dream-
lands early, perhaps because they are in a
dangerous situation or because their adven-
ture is over, cannot simply attempt to wake
themselves. Only through passing beyond the
Cavern of Flame and ascending the stairs that
lead to the waking world, or locating one of
the few overlapping regions that offer passage
between the waking world and the Dream-
lands, can one voluntarily leave the realm.
Assuming the dreamer has not died,
Taking & Returning
with Items
The Dreamlands exist, as the name clear-
ly implies, only in dreams. Characters
who enter it from a dream state or via
the White Ship cannot bring items from
the waking world with them.
Any items acquired within the Dream-
lands perform exactly as the real world
item would. Thus, hitting someone with
an axe causes wounds, while a lantern
provides light. However, such items can-
not be brought back from the Dream-
lands.
The only means to take items from the
real world in the Dreamlands and vice
versa is to find one of those rare sites
that overlap both existences. Entering
through that means, of course, expos-
es one’s body to harm and potentially
death.
wounds taken in the Dreamlands are auto-
matically healed once the dreamer awakens.
Wounds taken while physically in the Dream-
lands remain until healed naturally.
Shaping the
Dreamlands
“But three nights afterward Kuranes came
again to Celephaïs. As before, he dreamed first
of the village that was asleep or dead, and of
the abyss down which one must float silently;
then the rift appeared again, and he beheld
the glittering minarets of the city, and saw
the graceful galleys riding at anchor in the
blue harbour, and watched the gingko trees of
Mount Aran swaying in the sea-breeze.”
—H. P. Lovecraft, Celephaïs
Without the interference of dreamers
from the waking world, nothing changes in
the Dreamlands. No buildings are raised, no
new communities formed, and no new kings
crowned. Only through the power of dreamers
155
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Technological Base
Time passes in the Dreamlands, genera-
tions of inhabitants die and are replaced
by the next, and yet the inhabitants are
forever unable to progress technologi-
cally.
Their technology is roughly equivalent to
Earth’s medieval period, with swords and
bows the height of weaponry. No matter
how skilled a dreamer might be, and no
matter how insistent a player might be,
they can create nothing beyond the me-
dieval period.
For instance, a dreamer cannot construct
a flashlight in the Dreamlands. Even if
they have the necessary materials and
know-how to create one from scratch,
it would not function. Equally, bringing
one from the real world also fails. Again,
the flashlight would fail to work.
The technological base also affects build-
ings, be they constructed by hand or
through dreaming (see below). For the
most part, the Dreamlands is a realm of
towering spires, colonnaded porticos,
onion domes, and simple houses of
stone or brick. The Dreamlands’ reality
simply cannot accept modern buildings,
with any such structures rapidly collaps-
ing into rubble in the early stages of con-
struction.
can such things occur, and even then they are
rare, for few have the ability to forever reshape
the Dreamlands.
Creation Anew
So what can a dreamer do to reshape the
Dreamlands? They can alter the landscape, cre-
ating valleys, mountains, forests, and islands,
and raise buildings, villages, cities, or palaces.
A dreamer cannot reshape the Dreamlands
while in the realm. Instead, the intention must
be visualized while entering light sleep, before
entering the Dreamlands proper. Likewise,
once having seen the image in their mind,
it cannot be altered. Only when next in the
Dreamlands will the dreamer know whether
or not the vision has become reality.
156
Forming the Dream
A globetrotter can create only one change
with each dream and it must be located at a
single site. That is, they can create an entire
city of wondrous spires, but cannot create two
mundane buildings in separate locations.
In order to have any chance of success, a
dreamer must have the Adept Dreamer Tal-
ent—the average mind may, on occasion,
enter the Dreamlands, but they cannot alter
it. They also need considerable self-belief and
willpower.
The maximum change a dreamer can bring
about depends on the lowest of their Charisma
and Willpower, as shown in the table below—
the strength of will needed to reshape the
Dreamlands must be backed up by the self-be-
lief that one can perform the feat.
In most instances, it is the Dreamlands,
not the dreamer, that decides where the new
feature is added. This prevents the sudden ap-
pearance of new towns and cities in inhabited
regions. At the Gamemaster’s discretion, a
single building or manor house may be added
to an existing settlement.
The dreamer then makes a Dreamlands:
Places roll (Difficulty 4). Only one success is re-
quired, though success does not automatically
mean the feature becomes part of the Dream-
lands, however.
Attribute Example
2 Single, small building; a tree
3 Village or manor house; a low
hill or depression
4 Town; a high hill or small wood
5 City; a modest forest or low
mountain
6 Magnificent city in a wide,
fertile valley or nestled against
a towering mountain
Affixing the Dream
In order to make it a permanent fixture,
the dreamer must expend 10 Dreamlands Ex-
perience points times the minimum Attribute.
More importantly, perhaps, until the dream has
 Magic & Manuscripts
become reality, the dreamer cannot attempt to
shape the Dreamlands any further.
With each visit to the Dreamlands, includ-
ing the instance when making the aforemen-
tioned roll, a maximum of 10 DXP times Adept
Dreamer Level may be added to a pool for this
purpose.
Until the full number of Experience points
are spent, the dreamer (and only the dreamer)
can see nothing but tantalizing glimpses of
their creation, the vision moving closer and
becoming more tangible as the number of
spent Experience points increases. The short
story Celephaïs depicts this process and is a
must-read for would-be dreamers.
With regard to the natives, how they view the
new addition depends on how long it takes to
fix the dream and where the feature will stand.
Even if created in a single visit, the change is
not some sudden materialization of a feature or
settlement where none existed before.
For instance, a “new” manor house on
the outskirts of Ulthar causes the citizens no
alarm. In their eyes, the building has existed
for centuries, but has always been vacant. That
a new occupant has taken up residence is a
pleasant surprise rather than a shock.
In the case of larger changes, ones that
take more time to create, the inhabitants ini-
tially know nothing of the new feature, save
for what the dreamer tells them. That some
strange new location might exist on the fringes
of civilization is not a surprise—the Dream-
lands have been shaped in this manner since
the first humans dreamed and there are many
places as yet unvisited. As the dream becomes
more fixed (i.e., more Dreamlands Experience
points are spent), so they tell of stories of a fab-
ulous city, grand temple, or mysterious forest,
though none can tell where it lies. Once the
dream is permanently anchored in the Dream-
lands, it becomes a part of their lore.
Example: Anthony dreams of a manor
house in the form of his ancestral home, Boyd
Manor, which burned down in the real world.
He has Charisma 4, Willpower 3, and Adept
Dreamer 1. A manor requires a minimum
Attribute Level of 3, so Anthony meets the
requirements.
Having successfully made his Dreamlands:
Places roll, Anthony sees a vague glimpse of
the new Boyd Manor. In order to fix it, how-
ever, he needs to spend a total 30 Dreamlands
Experience points (Attribute 3 x 10).
Since Anthony has Adept Dreamer 1, he
can spend a maximum of 10 Dreamlands Ex-
perience points each time he visits the Dream-
lands. No matter how many Dreamlands Ex-
perience points he has able to spend, it would
take a minimum of three nights dreaming for
the fix to be complete.
Limits to Reshaping
There are limits to how one can shape the
Dreamlands. One cannot “dream up” objects,
willing them to materialize in thin air, for in-
stance. Likewise, one cannot alter one’s body
simply by wishing to be stronger or more dex-
trous. Nor can a dreamer alter the Dreamlands’
reality so that he becomes a noble. The latter
two are possible in the Dreamlands, but only
through the expenditure of Experience points,
just as in the waking world.
One very important thing to note is that
a dreamer cannot destroy anything, at least
not through dreaming alone. Only dreamers
who have sworn allegiance to Nyarlathotep
can bring destruction on the Dreamlands, and
even then their interference is rare. Of course,
a character can destroy things through physical
actions—putting a flaming torch to a cottage
will result in it burning down, for example.
Eldritch Magic
Mark of Hypnos
Rank 4
Hypnos is the god of sleep and thus closely
associated with the Dreamlands. The ritual
that bears his name is a curse that prevents
those marked with his sign from finding solace
in sleep.
The magician makes a Casting roll with
a Difficulty equal to the victim’s Willpower
rating. The victim cannot sleep for two days,
157
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
plus an extra two days for each additional
success on the Casting roll. For each day the
victim cannot sleep, he suffers 1N damage. As
with standard sleep deprivation, the fatigue
remains until the character rests or sleeps for
eight hours plus the number of wounds he has
suffered.
The Mark of Hypnos appears as a faint
physical blemish on the victim’s forehead. De-
tecting it requires a Perception roll (Difficulty
3), while recognizing it for what it is requires
an Elder Lore (any Discipline) roll.
Range modifiers apply to the Mark of Hyp-
nos ritual.
Nightmare
Rank 4
Whereas the Fear ritual generates a short-
lived vision of terror, this insidious ritual
torments the magician’s victim with night after
night of nightmares.
The caster makes a Casting roll modified for
range and the desired Difficulty for the victim to
to overcome the effect of the nightmare upon
waking. If they roll more successes than the
target’s Willpower, the victim suffers a nightmare
each time they sleep. The target must endure one
night of bad dreams, plus one additional night
equal to the number of additional successes.
The victim makes a Body + Willpower roll
each morning upon waking. If this roll is failed,
the victim has suffered a restless night and suffers
one point of nonlethal damage from fatigue.
Nightmare Modifier
Difficulty 1 +2
Difficulty 2 +0
Difficulty 3 –2
Difficulty 4 –4
Difficulty 5 –6
Eldritch Books
Brick Cylinders of Kadatheron
Language: Unknown; Author: Unknown;
Published: Unknown; Complexity: 3; Hor-
ror: 2; Mythos: 1; Contents: Call Bokrug,
Commune Bokrug
Of the wondrous cities of Thraa, Ilarnek,
and Kadatheron, nothing now exists. Once
they stood in the land of Mnar, on the banks of
River Ai, but not even the greatest dreamer has
been able to discover them. All that remains
are hundreds of brick cylinders inscribed with
an unknown variant of cuneiform, a precursor
perhaps of the text of the Babylonians who
came later.
They are not eldritch texts in the traditional
sense, but are rather commentaries, historical
documents, and matters of trade that speak of
life in that distant age. The only Mythos-related
events concern a description of the strange in-
habitants of Ib and their horrendous god, and
of the fate that befell Sarnath.
 Magic & Manuscripts
The Enigma of Leng
Language: English; Author: Sir Gregory
Syme; Published: 1875; Complexity: 2; Hor-
ror: 1; Mythos: 1; Contents: Commune Nyar-
lathotep (Yellow King avatar)
A diplomat at the Imperial Court in Chi-
na, Sir Gregory (1832-?) heard of the Plateau
of Leng from a mysterious Chinese courtier
wearing a yellow silk mask. An avid explorer
as well as a diplomat, and having never before
heard the name, Sir Gregory engaged in a long
search across Central Asia.
Although he did not discover Leng, Sir
Gregory unearthed other stories. Some hinted
that it actually lay in Antarctica or on an isolated
island, while one suggested Leng could only
be reached through dreams. Others spoke of
a monstrous monastery inhabited by a hellish
priest, of a lighthouse that shed a baleful light,
and of abominable spiders.
On returning to civilization, Sir Gregory
put down the legends in a small folio and in-
vested in a print run of just 50 copies. Although
academics dismissed the notion of Leng as a
real place, Sir Gregory was able to fund a new
expedition in 1887. He was last seen in eastern
China in 1888, where he was preparing to
search the high Himalayas for further clues.
Pnakotic Manuscripts
Language: Yithian; Author: Unknown;
Published: Unknown; Complexity: 4;
Horror: 2; Mythos: 2; Contents: Commune
Tsathoggua, Elder Sign, Sign of Koth, Summon
Elder Things, Summon Great Race of Yith
Written by the Great Race of Yith during
pre-Pleistocene times, the last copy of the
Pnakotic manuscripts was drawn into the
Dreamlands when Lomar was overrun by
the Gnoph-kehs. The oldest parts, which are
symbols and glyphs, have defied translation,
for even the oldest and wisest scholars of the
Dreamlands no longer recall the language.
The book stands in the great library in Ulthar,
moldy with age and rarely perused.
Translating the markings requires an El-
dritch Lore: Tomes roll, as opposed to a Lin-
guistics: Translation roll.
Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan
Language: Unknown; Author: Hsan; Pub-
lished: Unknown; Complexity: 5; Horror: 3;
Mythos: 2; Contents: Commune Azathoth,
Commune Yog-Sothoth, Formula: Liao, Gate,
Sign of Tindalos, Summon Hound of Tindalos,
True Name of Azathoth
Despite the insistence of certain Mythos
scholars, the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan
were not authored by a Chinese scholar.
Indeed, they were not penned in the waking
realm at all, but rather to a Dreamlands inhab-
itant known only by a single name.
Each of the first four books concern one of
the elements—air, earth, fire, and water. The
remaining volumes cover the great mysteries
of the universe and of the relationship between
time and space (especially angles and curves).
As one might deduce, the septology is
difficult to read. While little of the writing is
encrypted in the traditional sense, Hsan used
allegories and veiled references rather than
stating anything clearly.
Translating the markings requires a Dream-
lands roll, as opposed to a Linguistics: Transla-
tion roll.
Zakarion Papyrus
Language: Unknown; Author: Unknown;
Published: Unknown; Complexity: 2; Hor-
ror: 2; Mythos: 4*; Contents: Summon Night-
gaunt
A thick roll of yellowed papyrus penned by
long-dead dream-sages, the only copy of this el-
der work exists in the city of Zakarion. Expand-
ed by countless hands driven by wise minds, the
papyrus tells much of the Dreamlands and its
strange denizens.
Save in this papyrus has word been told of
a golden valley in which stands a sacred grove
cluttered by temples ancient even in the lore of
the Dreamlands. At the far end is a monumental
wall, the structure pierced by a sole bronze gate.
Only by consumption of a certain drug can one
open the gate to what lies beyond. Of this, the
dream-sages disagree, for some speak of great
wonders while others talk of terrible horrors.
Translating the markings requires a Dream-
159
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
lands Lore: Linguistics roll, as opposed to a
Linguistics: Translation roll.
* Instead of giving Eldritch Experience
points, reading this tome grants Dreamlands
Experience points.
Eldritch Relics
Dream Dust*
Artifact 1
Leagues: Morpheus Club
Notes: Add Formula: Dream Dust to the
Al-Azif, Book of Hidden Things, and the Greek
version of the Necronomicon.
Created by an Arabian alchemist and mas-
ter dreamer in the 8th century, Dream Dust en-
courages dreaming. More than that, it inhibits
the part of the brain that retains the sleeper in
the waking world, thus aiding entrance to the
Dreamlands.
A batch contains five doses, each of which
is good for a single use.
Enhancements: Special: +2 bonus to en-
ter the Dreamlands (+2 Enhancements)
Lens of Hsan
Unique Artifact 3
Leagues: —
Created by the legendary Hsan, author of
the Seven Cryptical Books that bear his name,
the Lens is a thin, 5” diameter concave lens
made of a crystal not found on Earth.
When held over a section of text, the user
sees the text as if written in his native tongue.
Make a Linguistics: Translation roll using the
Lens’ 10 dice. The more successes that are
rolled, the more accurate the translation.
Enhancements: Skill: Linguistics: Transla-
tion 10 dice (+5 Enhancements)*
* The Lens can only use the Linguistics:
Translation Specialization.
Moon-Tree Wine
Artifact 1
Leagues: —
160
The Zoogs (see p. 188) believe that one of
the trees in the Enchanted Forest grew from a
seed dropped by someone on the moon. De-
spite insisting the tree is haunted, the Zoogs
harvest sap from the tree to ferment into Moon-
Tree Wine. The wine is especially potent—even
a single mouthful can cause a person to relax
their inhibitions and begin talking freely.
Only the Zoogs know the recipe for creat-
ing Moon-Tree Wine, though they may pass the
knowledge on to a dreamer given suitable gifts
in return. Of course, even then the would-be
vintner needs to collect sap from the haunted
Moon-Tree.
A batch contains five doses, each of which
is good for a single use.
Enhancements: Induce Flaw: Blabber
Mouth (+2 Enhancements)
The Silver Key
Unique Artifact 5
Leagues: —
Possessed by the American branch of the
Carter family, the Silver Key has been handed
down from generations to generation since its
discovering during the Crusades.
Wrapped in parchment on which are writ-
ten strange hieroglyphs that were old when
the last Ice Age ended, the tarnished silver key
is 8” long and covered in cryptical arabesques.
The relic is literally a key to the Dream-
lands. Not only can the owner visit the realm of
Morpheus with little effort, they can enter the
Dreamlands while awake. No matter how long
they remain in the Dreamlands, they return to
the waking world only moments after they en-
tered. Any witnesses see their eyes glaze over
for a few seconds, as if in a daydream.
The Silver Key also allows one to physically
enter the Dreamlands, vanishing from the
waking world entirely. While using this ability,
time in the real world passes as within the
Dreamlands. That is, if they spend a year in the
Dreamlands, a year will have passed in the real
world when they return. The character will not
have aged a single day, however.
Enhancements: Special: Physical transfer-
ence to the Dreamlands (+4 Enhancements),
Talent: Adept Dreamer 3 (+6 Enhancements)
 Chapter Three:
Gazetteer of the
Dreamlands
“They talked little with the other folk in
those ancient sea taverns; but would gather
in groups in remote corners and sing among
themselves the haunting airs of unknown
places, or chant long tales to one another in
accents alien to the rest of dreamland.” —H.
P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown
Kadath
The Dreamlands is loosely divided into
four areas named after the cardinal points
of the compass. Above these lies the mysteri-
ous Moon, to which few have ventured and
returned, and below the Underworld, where
even fewer have trod and survived.
Entrance
Cavern of Flame
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
Except when entering the Dreamlands
through a convergence point, a dreamer seek-
ing the fantastical realm first finds themselves
standing at the top of a flight of worn stone steps.
These are the Seventy Steps of Light Slumber.
Descending through a rough hewn passage, the
steps lead the dreamer down to the Cavern of
Flame, so named for the many braziers whose
flickering flames illume the cavern.
The Cavern is home to the priests Nasht
and Kaman-That (p. 193), the ancient and
powerful guardians whose permission is
needed to proceed further and whose might
keeps the inhabitants of the Dreamlands from
entering the world of the living.
At the far end of the Cavern stands a door-
way, above whose lintel is inscribed writing so
old that even the priests cannot translate its
meaning. This is the Gate of Deeper Slumber,
beyond which are seven hundred steps that
lead to the Enchanted Wood (see p. 173).
The East
Celephaïs
Mythos Tale: Celephaïs
The great city-port of Celephaïs, the most
majestic city in all of the Dreamlands, stands at
the end of the Valley of Ooth-Nargai, through
which winds the bubbling waters of the River
Naraxa as it lazily works its way from its source
in the Tanarian Hills further inland to the
shores of the Cerenian Sea.
Most travelers arrive by ship, guided safely
to harbor by the pharos that stands atop the
magnificent sea wall. From the deck, only the
glittering tops of the city’s many minarets are
visible beyond the marble barrier, a hint of the
wonders that lie inside. Further beyond stands
Mount Aran, its lower slopes swathed in genko
trees, its summit permanently masked in white.
161
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Chieftain of the Cats
Few citizens, and even fewer dreamers,
known that Celephaïs has the honor of
hosting a second mighty chieftain. No sol-
dier wielding steel weapons, no wizened
priest whose mind is bloated with lore of
the ages, the chieftain in question is the
leader of all cats in the Dreamlands. He,
for it is a gray tom cat, seeks not plump
cushions placed beside a roaring fire in
a marble fireplace nor the delights of
sweetmeats.
Rather, he lives in an unassuming ba-
zaar populated by sheep-butchers, from
where his inscrutable gaze watches pas-
sers-by and from where he holds court
for all cats who seek his guidance.
Aloof toward humans, the chieftain
speaks only to those who are known to
be friendly to cats or who come to his
court bearing secret passwords given
freely be other cats.
Within the harbor lie ships from other
lands, their sails unfurled as they bob silently
on the lapping waves. Here longshoremen
heave heavy loads of exotic goods from distant
shores and the carved jade, spun gold, and
little red singing birds for which Celephaïs is
renowned, bearing their wares to and from
ships whose captains seek riches and to the
camel trains that will transport them far in-
land. Merchants in brightly colored robes and
turbans haggle and barter in myriad tongues,
nodding greetings to strangers and seeking to
catch the eye of potential new customers.
Passing the great gates leads one over a
great stone bridge, its arches spanning the Riv-
er Naraxa, its width sufficient for laden wagons
and camels to pass with room to spare. At the
far end lies the Street of Pillars, which marks
the beginning of the city proper.
Wondrous are the sights, even to experi-
enced dreamers who have frequented Cele-
phaïs before. Gleaming marble walls, statues of
highly polished bronze, roads paved with onyx,
the turquoise temple of Nath-Horthath, whose
priests wear orchid wreathes, and the peaceful
162
groves whose fragrant flowers are always in
bloom. The scent of spices and perfumes waft
in the breeze, tantalizing the senses.
Ruling over the city is King Kuranes (p.
192), though he is an absent ruler, preferring
to spend his time in his manor house (see be-
low) and leaving the chore of daily governance
to a council of wise men and priests.
Time works differently in Celephaïs. The
inhabitants do not age, nor do the seasons
pass from one to another, nor do roads and
buildings succumb to erosion or damage from
lack of maintenance.
Indeed, the citizens are unaware of the
passage of time. A merchant who spoke with a
dreamer may pick up their previous conversa-
tion as if it had only just finished, despite the
dreamer being absent for many months or
years. Often, dreamers find people they previ-
ously encountered at the same spot as before,
as if unable to move from that location.
The Old Inn: Celephaïs boasts a number
of inns, one of which is known only as the Old
Inn. Located near the wharves, the building is
an oddity for its architecture. Created by King
Kuranes in memory of the old inn in his earthly
home, its gray stone walls clash with the shin-
ing marble of its neighbors.
The Palace of Celephaïs: Most beautiful
of all the buildings is the king’s palace, its el-
egant marble spires topped by onion domes
of beaten copper that gleam in the sun like
fiery beacons. Standing a short distance away
are the barracks of the Knights of Celephaïs,
sworn defenders of the city and the king, and
the expansive stables for their white steeds.
Kuranes’ Manor
For all his desire to visit Celephaïs, King
Kuranes has learned that too much of a good
thing can be tiresome. Many are the wonders
and pleasures of Celephaïs, but Kuranes, a
native of the waking world but forever denied
passage back to that world, grew to desire the
sights of his homeland.
East of Celephaïs, on a cliff overlooking the
sea, stands a Gothic manor built of gray stone.
Save for its door being flanked by two carved
stone cats, it is a drab building, though inside
 Gazetteer of the Dreamlands
are all the basic comforts of home. Most im-
pressive, at least to native of the Dreamlands,
is Kuranes’ library, its shelves stacked high with
volumes brought from the waking world.
Nearby stands a great abbey constructed in
the style of the Normans. Standing upright and
proud in its tended grounds are gravestones,
each bearing the name of one of Kuranes’
earthly ancestors.
From the manor, a steep cobbled street
weaves its way down the cliff toward the sea,
its length bordered by neat, simple fishermen’s
cottages. At the shore is a fishing harbor such
as those one might find in Cornwall, where
Kuranes lived as a child. The inhabitants, poor
but happy, speak in Cornish accents and have
the weathered faces of people accustomed to
working on the sea.
Ilek-Vad
Mythos Tale: Through the Gates Of the Sil-
ver Key (H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffman Price)
Few visitors have set eyes on the city of Ilek-
Vad and little is known of it by the priests and
scholars native to other lands.
It is a remote city, located atop lofty hollow
cliffs of glass in which the bearded and finned
Gnorri dig labyrinths and give praise to strange
gods in ululating voices that echo hauntingly
through the slick passageways and caverns.
Ilek-Vad is renowned for its domes and
towers, of which it boasts many. Indeed, much
of the population lives in towers, with the
most prominent citizens inhabiting the higher
portions, from which they can gaze across the
city. None, though, are as magnificent as those
of Celephaïs. They are instead of crude form
and construction. Here, atop a room located at
the summit of the largest tower, sits Ilek-Vad’s
king upon an opal throne.
The Rock with no Name
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
Several days sail north of Celephaïs, a tow-
ering, ugly rock of black stone thrusts upward
Skeletons in the Closet
Boyd
Descended from ancient and moody
Highlands stock, the line has long strug-
gled with the waking world. With a deep
sense of the wonder beyond the gates of
sleep, the wonders of the waking world
soon seem as a prison, not a home.
Corruption: The globetrotter gains the
mild Insomnia Flaw (see p. 144). This
is permanent, even if the globetrotter
removes all of their Corruption points—
the Dreamer must learn to live with this
new barrier to the Dreamlands. Further
Corruption worsens the Flaw.
Carter
The Carters have long been involved with
the eldritch arts. During the Crusades,
an ancestor learned terrible things from
his Saracen captors. Sir Randolph Carter
studied magic during the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, while Edmund Carter, named
“the Wizard,” fled persecution as a witch
in hysterical Salem.
Corruption: Instead of a Flaw, the glo-
betrotter gains a strange and corruptive
insight into the arcane. The character
may gain a +4 bonus to any Academic:
Occult, Dreamlands Lore, or Elder Lore.
In return, he gains a permanent Corrup-
tion point (i.e., it cannot be removed by
any means). This effect is permanent,
even if the globetrotter removes all their
Corruption points.
Elton
The Eltons have long been curious con-
cerning distant cultures and customs,
having heard tales from old sea captains.
While madness does not taint the blood-
line, it said that the wind also imparts
knowledge of strange lands.
Corruption: The globetrotter automati-
cally gains the Xenophile Flaw. This ef-
fect is permanent, even if the globetrot-
ter removes all their Corruption points.
163

from the Cerenarian Sea. No sage has honored
it with a name, for even the hardiest mariners
avoid the pinnacle, fearing the source of the
unearthly howls and screams that emanate
from the rock when the sun hides its face over
the western horizon.
The rock rises like a needle, its sheer sides
accessed only by a small harbor on the south-
ern flank. Protected by sheer headlands, a nar-
row passage permits only one ship at a time to
pass through, and even then the vessel’s sides
are precariously close to being ripped apart.
One of the feared black galleys is always found
here at anchor, and more often than not at
least one other vessel is present, its turbaned
sailors unloading a cargo.
Carved into the monolith above the stone
wharves and reached by a short set of wide
steps is a town of sorts. Within, spiral stairs
164
cut through the heart of the rock to higher
chambers.
The island is home to a colony of Moon
Beasts and their Men of Leng servitors. It is a
foul place, with stench-filled houses lined with
stalls for housing prisoners and low benches
designed to accommodate the Moon Beast’s
foul form. Higher up from the living quarters
are shrines containing terrible altars to Nyar-
lathotep stained by the blood of countless
sacrifices.
A lightless passageway leads from the largest
temple into a dark and dismal cavern, its walls
inscribed with terrible oaths and demoniac fac-
es. The center of the chamber is dominated by
a bottomless well from which emanates a noi-
some stench. Past this, opposite the entrance,
is a small bronze door marked with profane
glyphs. The door permits entrance to a more
terrible place—the Underworld—by which
means one might travel to distant Sarkomand
(p. 167) at the base of the Plateau of Leng.
The foul sounds that cause the hearts
of mariners to quiver are the work of Moon
Beasts. From within the rock echo the screams
of captives being offered to Nyarlathotep as
sacrifices or consumed while still alive by the
hideous Moon Beasts.
Serannian
Mythos Tale: Celephaïs
Good-natured laughter awaits novice
dreamers who enquire as to which coast the
city-port of Serannian lies on, for its harbor is
lapped by no water. To reach the city, one must
sail west, to the point where wind flows alters
its course and heads into the sky. From there,
even the heaviest nautical vessel can catch the
wind and rise through the heavens.
Ruled by King Kuranes, whose court re-
sides here for half of the year, Serannian is
more a castle in the sky than a sprawling city,
its turrets redolent of those found on the fairy-
tale castles of Germany.
The great keep and its many outbuildings
are constructed from pink marble, the hue of
which is found only in the glory of the setting
sun on a spring night.
 Gazetteer of the Dreamlands
Zakarion
Mythos Tale: Ex Oblivione
Far to the east of Celephaïs, in lands glanced
only briefly in dreams, lies forgotten Zakarion.
In times of yore it was populated by dream-sag-
es wise in all things concerning the Dreamlands
save the location of Kadath (p. 166) and the
haunts of the other gods who once graced the
waking world with their presence.
Silent now are the capacious libraries
where scribes toiled to record the sages’
thoughts, the halls where philosophers debat-
ed existential matters, and the temples out that
rang out with prayers. All that remains now are
the countless papyri, yellowed, worm-ridden,
and mildewed with the passage of untold eons.
The North
Inquanok
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
The largest city in the northern Dream-
lands, twilight in never far away in Inquanok.
The cold wind that howls from the nearby
unpleasant Plateau of Leng blows relentlessly
through the streets which cannot be reached
because of the impassible mountains that lie
between the city and plateau.
The city nestles behind low walls, for no
raider has ever troubled Inquanok since its
foundation long before humans made it their
home. Above the gates is engraved the face of
the god as found in distant Ngranek (p. 168),
from whom the denizens descend. The city it-
self is both magnificent and gloomy, with walls,
elegant spires, and bulbous domes of onyx
hewn from the distant quarries and inlaid with
geometric patterns of beaten gold.
Lengthy are the shadows even when the sun is
high. Though the inhabitants see nothing strange
in the shadows, no cats dwell here, for there are
things within the dark they cannot endure. Even
to mention the city’s name to a cat is enough to
cause it to arch its back and raise its hackles.
Dominating the center is the royal palace,
into which no visitors are permitted on penalty
of death by order of the Veiled King, Inquanok’s
ruler. It is said that within the monumental cen-
tral dome lives the father of the Shantak-birds,
a monstrous creature captured in olden times
and shackled for some unknown purpose by
the monarchs. It is not wise to think on the
beast, for it sends queer dreams to those whose
thoughts linger on it too long.
The second-most magnificent building is
the Temple of the Old Ones, a sixteen-sided
tower surrounded by well-tended gardens.
Both the interior of the temple and the nature
of the worship held there are mysteries of the
citizens. Only the priests and the Veiled King
may enter the temple, and when the former
are seen they are masked and hooded. Rumors
abound that the priests are not human, though
such stories are always whispered and rarely in
front of outsiders.
The only time priests are seen is when the
temple bell tolls. From each of the temple’s
seven gates emerges a hooded priest carrying
steaming bowls. Each makes its way to one of
seven lodges within the manicured grounds.
The priests are never seen returning to the
temple, thus birthing the rumor that subter-
ranean passages link the lodges to the central
structure. Some have suggested the priests
never return at all, though how the temple
always has sufficient priests is quietly ignored.
At times, the daily noise of life is drowned
out by peals of bells answered by horns, viols,
and chants. From whence the sounds come is
unknown, but all who hear them stop what
they are doing and bow. To fail in this duty is
said to threaten doom on the city, though no
scholars know the nature of the peril.
Merchants come to Inquanok not only for
quarried onyx blocks, but also the enormous,
rich-flavored eggs sold by the locals. Likely these
are the eggs of the Shantak-birds, though the
locals are closed-mouthed about the source.
The Great Quarry
Many days travel north of Inquanok, at the
base of mountains the citizens prefer to avoid
thinking about, is an abandoned quarry.
165
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
The onyx here is especially rich, but no
picks or shovels wielded by humans have ever
worked at the site. Indeed, no laborers will
work here, for the cavities left by quarrying
in ages past strike utter terror in the people
of Inquanok for their sheer size. Ignorance is
bliss, it is said, and the inhabitants of the city
are content not to know who quarried the
cyclopean blocks or to where they were taken.
Only the old gods know the truth—the
stones were quarried and shaped by their
hands, then taken to construct the dread for-
tress of Kadath in the Cold Wastes.
Urg
Halfway between Inquanok and the
worked onyx quarries lies the village of Urg. A
settlement of small domes inhabited by a har-
dy people accustomed to harsh winters, Urg is
a popular resting place for weary miners and
merchants to rest their feet, swap tales, and
quench their thirst in the many taverns.
Kadath
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
Dread is the name of Kadath. Save for its
name and that it is the residence of the Great
Ones, nothing is known. Even Nasht and Ka-
man-Thah, wisest of the wise and ancient be-
yond measure, are unsure whether Kadath lies
in the Dreamlands, on a body circling a distant
star, such as Aldebaran or Fomalhaut, or at the
gates to the court of Azathoth that lies in the
center of everything.
Kadath is a titanic mountain whose heights
dwarf Mount Everest in that the way a human
eclipses an ant. On the higher slopes are vast
tiers of hideous turrets and repellent domes
built of Cyclopean blocks of onyx never worked
by the hand of mere mortals.
Seated higher even than these accursed ed-
ifices, half-veiled by mist, is a castle of ghastly
design whose dimensions are so blasphemous
as to shatter human minds in an instant, and
from which a wan, daemon-light glows through
strangely arched windows.
Here dwell the feeble-minded Great Ones,
once the gods of Earth in days long since
passed. No longer do they dally with mortals
or answer prayers, but instead set forth in
cloud-ships to other peaks reminiscent of
those of Earth, where they revel in peace as
they did of old.
Watching over the Great Ones are the Other
Gods from Outside, blind, voiceless, mindless
things born in the darkness beyond the stars
near to where Azathoth dwells. Their soul and
messenger is the last inhabitant of the mon-
strous castle—the enigmatic Crawling Chaos
that is Nyarlathotep.
Plateau of Leng
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
 Gazetteer of the Dreamlands
First brought to the attention of the wak-
ing world through the dread Necronomicon,
the exact location of Leng has been much
discussed by scholars since then. Mythologists
have placed it in a remote part of Asia, its loca-
tion lost as names have changed. Others say
the plateau is a racial memory of lands that
existed in an earlier epoch, perhaps Lemuria
or Mu, or even in desolated Antarctica.
Dreamers, however, know that the Plateau
of Leng exists in the Dreamlands, though there
are convergence points as yet to be discovered
by dreamers. The high plateau is a cold desert,
its rocky surface frequently swept by harsh
winds carrying with them particles of ice.
It is the homeland of the Men of Leng
(see p. 185), who dress like men when in
other lands but who are inhuman under their
disguises. Here they live in remote stone and
huts and strange villages, worshipping Nyar-
lathotep in his guise of the Yellow King, and
the Other Gods from Outside, while avoiding
becoming prey for the monstrous Spiders of
Leng (see p. 187).
Monastery of Leng
Aside from the crude huts of the Men of
Leng and Cyclopean ruins of older ages, there
is only one building of any note on the Plateau
of Leng. A prehistoric monastery constructed
from Cyclopean blocks, the vast, windowless
structure is surrounded by a circle of crudely
worked monoliths.
Capable of housing many hundreds, the
monastery is inhabited by only one being, a
strange, yellow-robed entity known only as the
High-Priest Not to be Named (see p. 192).
The walls within its echoing halls and cor-
ridors are engraved with frightful scenes far
older than recorded history, and which are
made all the more disgusting for their use of
colors not faded after unknown ages.
The monastery’s focal point is a gaping
circular pit around which stand six stone
obelisks on which are inscribed hideous signs
and hieroglyphs. Beyond the pit is a stone dais
reached by five steps. Here sits the hideous
golden throne of the High-Priest.
Aside from the main gates, there are two
exits from the monastery. The first lies at the
bottom of the great pit. From here, a tunnel
winds through utter darkness to the Vaults
of Zin (p. 178) and their vile inhabitants, the
Gugs (p. 184). The second is a long, steep,
sloping passage that winds down and down to
forgotten Sarkomand (see below).
Pharos of Leng
The highest tower of the Monastery of Leng
is a lighthouse. Each dusk, as the last of the
sun’s disc descends behind the horizon, a blue
ray shoots forth and sweeps the horizon be-
fore rising vertically and piercing the clouds to
the stars beyond. The ghoulish light is visible
even to the shepherds who work far from the
mountains surrounding Leng, and from whose
aura they avert their eyes while whispering
prayers to their gods.
Sarkomand
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
Nestled in a valley below Leng, the stones
and monuments of fabled Sarkomand were
raised when the ancestors of humans were
learning to master fire and carving crude stone
axes. Long has its location been forgotten to
even the wisest denizens of the Dreamlands.
Once, it was a major stronghold of the Men
of Leng, perhaps even their capital, but that
was before that strange race was subjugated by
the foul Moon Beasts.
Broken columns of black stone, headless
remnants of diorite winged lions, time-weath-
ered sphinx-crowned gates, cracked marble
basins and urns that decorated gardens, and
the tide-battered basalt wharves speak of a
splendor long since past. Today, what was once
a bustling metropolis is mostly abandoned, a
corpse of silent ruins visited only on occasion
by the Men of Leng and their frightful masters.
On foot, there are only two exits from the
fateful valley. The first is an archway beyond
which are stairs that ascend through the cliffs
to the Monastery of Leng. The second, located
in a wide plaza flanked by winged stone lions,
167
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
is a stairwell whose narrow steps, treacherous
with ooze from the inner world, lead into the
terrible Underworld of the Dreamlands. Nei-
ther is a wise choice, for at their terminus are
horrors no human should have to face.
The South
Oriab
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
A large ocean in the Southern Sea, Oriab is
known for its fertile fields, lush vegetation, and
the fragrant resin groves in which the seven-
colored magah birds nest.
The citizens have never seen a horse, nor
do they use oxen or yaks. When they need to
travel far, or require beasts of burden, they
make use of zebras.
Baharna
The only settlement of any great note on
Oriab, Baharna is an immense port. After
passing the flickering flames of Thon and Thal,
twin beacons standing on either side of the
harbor entrance whose fires are kept alight by
an army of workers with copious quantities of
wood, visiting ships and galleys berth on the
purple-red porphyry wharves.
Here gather Baharna’s merchants, eager
to trade delicate local pottery, fragrant resin,
and strange figures carved from ancient lava
in return for cabbages and wool from Ulthar,
iridescent textiles from Hatheg, and carved
ivory from Parg.
Beyond the wharves, the city rises in a
series of terraces. Stepped streets rise up the
incline, while above the buildings merge to
meet to form tunnels or are joined by over-
head bridges.
Beneath the city runs a canal, whose length
terminates on the shore of Lake Yoth (see be-
low). When the city was young, barges ferried
goods to and from the nameless ruined city
that stands on the lake shore, but in recent
168
times entrance to the canal was blocked by
granite doors and watched over by nervous
soldiers who try vainly to ignore the faint
scratching coming from behind the portal
when the moon has risen.
Passing through the southern gates leads
one to the Plain of Yoth, a land of rolling hills,
neat orchards, and small farmhouses made
from blocks of lava. Beyond Lake Yoth, the
land grows wilder, with scattered woods and
few settlements for those of charcoal burners
and resin gatherers.
Lake Yoth
Surrounding the southern side of Lake
Yoth’s cold and dark waters are the remnants
of a colossal city. Its leagues of crumbling walls
once housed a population equal to that of
Baharna, but of them little is known. Citizens
of advanced years suggest the inhabitants once
angered the gods and paid a dear price, but
scholars are silent on the matter and lack the
knowledge to translate the primal carvings still
visible here and there.
Among the remnants stands a temple sur-
round by a high wall broken by a singular arch of
curiously small size given the height of the battle-
ments. The main road through the city passes
through the arch and terminates at the top of a
set of stone steps that lead into utter darkness.
The lava gatherers who frequent this way
never rest here at night, and they caution oth-
ers not to attempt such an act. Though they
have never seen any strange beasts, they have
witnessed webbed footprints leading to and
from the lake, and the blood-sucked corpses
of those who dared to camp amid the ruins.
It may be that the dwellers in the lake are the
red-footed Wamps who are said to spawn in
dead cities, but it would take braver souls than
the lava gatherers to confirm this.
Mount Ngranek
Mount Ngranek, with ice summit forever
sheathed in ice and snow, is clearly visible from
the higher terraces of Baharna, yet to reach
its lower slopes takes two days swift ride by
zebra.
 Gazetteer of the Dreamlands
The natives of Baharna fear to climb too
high on its craggy slopes, for the higher peak is
Sona-Nyl
riddled with warrens harboring Night-gaunts, Mythos Tale: The White Ship
and they are known to pluck to intrepid moun- Beneath the graceful arch of crystal that
taineers from the cliffs and carry them to their bridges twin headlands of the same sparkling
lofty lairs, from whence none return. mineral is Sona-Nyl, the Land of Fancy.
The current generation of lava gatherers A land that stretches for eternity, Sona-Nyl
harvest stone only from the high foothills, is a realm of verdant pastures and groves, col-
though brick ruins left behind by hill-folk indi- orful flowers with pleasing bouquets, brooks
cate humans once nestled closer to the summit. and streams of clear water whose bubbling
Deterred from continued occupancy by the soothes the soul, elegant temples, steepled
winged black shadows that flit around by night, villages, quaint pagodas, stately temples, and
the hill-folk abandoned their homes, many set- gorgeous cities.
tling in an old quarter of Baharna, where they The natives are a happy people, full of joy
taught their sons the skill of lava crafting. and grace, and with song in their hearts, and
Some 90 eons ago, Mount Ngranek was a well they might be, for Sona-Nyl is a land not
violent volcano, continually spewing molten blighted by suffering nor death. A dreamer
rock down its side and onto the neighbor- may dwell in the blissful paradise for eons,
ing plains. Today, it is utterly silent, its fires never aging a single second. Unmarred by
quenched, its craggy, sinister sides deeply time, visiting dreamers return to the rest of
marred by crags and hollows.
Climbing the miles-high peak is a Hercu-
lean task. At first the going is far from arduous,
but as the forested slopes give way to scrub
grass, the slope becomes more treacherous.
By the time a climber has passed beyond the
last vestiges of soil, the barren rock is almost
vertical, with thrusting overhangs that force a
circuitous route. Added to this strenuous or-
deal is the rarity of the air and the ever-biting
cold that gnaws at flesh and bone.
Skirting around the south face and staring
outward to the sea, above a valley in which
molten lava still pools, the most proficient
climber may, if their luck holds, come across a
wondrous and terrifying sight.
Carved into the living mountain, its scale
numbing to the human mind, is the face of a
god, carved by the Great Ones themselves. The
visage is distinctive, with long narrow eyes,
long lobed ears, thin nose, and pointed chin.
When the Dreamlands were young, when
the Great Ones still frequented the waking
world, they would come to Mount Ngranek
to gambol and dance and sing. As humans
grew curious as to where the gods reveled and
sought their presence, the gods abandoned
the mountain, leaving nothing behind save the
monumental face in memory to mark their lost
playground.
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
the Dreamlands the same instant they first set
foot in Sona-Nyl.
Because time has no existence here, time
spent in Sona-Nyl does not count toward the
maximum period a dreamer may spend in the
Dreamlands.
Thalarion
Mythos Tale: The White Ship
Humanity has always strived to solve the
mysteries of the universe. Sometimes it has
been successful. Other times its best efforts
have resulted in failure. In the metropolis of
Thalarion, City of a Thousand Wonders, reside
the enigmas humanity has yet to fathom. With-
in some recess somewhere may be the secret
of the electron microscope, ejector seats, tran-
sistors, the hovercraft, and medicines.
From the stone piers that line the waterfront,
the only access to the city is through Akariel,
a carved gate of enormous size that is rarely
opened. From outside, one can see only the
spires of temples that stretch beyond sight into
the endless sky and roofs etched with strange
friezes and oddly fascinating sculptures.
The wise avoid Thalarion, despite the temp-
tation to see what wonders lie beyond Akariel,
for it is a city inhabited only by daemons and
madmen who are no longer men, having been
driven to insanity by their endless yearning to
solve the riddles of the universe.
Indeed, ghastly is the city beyond the
gate, with its bleak, colorless walls and streets
strewn with the bleached bones of visitors who
dared to look upon the mistress of this strange
land—the eidolon Lathi.
Xura
Mythos Tale: The White Ship
From a distance, the island of Xura appears
an unmatched paradise. The entire shoreline
is swathed with flowers and blossoms of every
hue, while inland can be seen lustrous groves
and resplendent arbors. Listen on the wind,
and one might catch snatches of song and
laughter, the likes of which have graced no
170
earthly ear and which draw the listener to seek
their unseen source.
As the wind rises, though, a scent repug-
nant to the senses, a vile odor of unburied
corpses and bodies ridden with plague, carries
forth from the island.
For all its beauty, Xura is an island of the
damned, known to the wise as the Land of
Pleasures Unattained. The ghastly inhabitants
are in a state of endless yearning, their rotting
hands clutching at the physical pleasures forev-
er denied them, their souls tormented by the
spiritual pleasures that will never soothe their
spirits. Like Tantalus, the damned denizens are
subject to temptation without satisfaction.
Zar, Land of
Mythos Tale: The White Ship
Splendid is the Land of Zar, with its slop-
ing terraces, bedecked with beautiful trees,
that rise gently from the shore, roofs of glis-
tening white marble, portico temples with
carved columns, and outlandish castles that
would grace any fairy tale.
It is a land of fantasy and beauty, a realm
where half-glimpsed wonders seen in the
mind’s eye of poets who died before enshrin-
ing their visions on paper stand alongside the
fantastical sights of young children who for-
get their childhood dreams and fancies as the
years pass. To stand here would give a poet or
storyteller images to grace a thousand works.
Yet none have stood on this land and re-
turned to tell of the marvellous things they have
witnessed, for the wise tell that once one has
witnessed such beauty one never yearns to leave
to return to the mundanity of their native lands.
The West
Aira
Mythos Tale: The Quest of Iranon
To hear poets and singers tell of Aira is to
hear of a city made of beryl and marble, of
fragrant groves and gardens with ornate foun-
tains and clear pools, of small waterfalls whose
flow tinkles gently like soft music, and palaces
with golden domes and painted walls.
Words have power, and those of poets and
singers especially so. Many have seen Aira in
their mind’s eye, having heard of the city of
marble and beryl in verse, but none have wit-
nessed it first hand or walked its streets. None,
that is save for Iranon, a singer of songs, who
saw it and walked its streets in his dreams and
who gave it life.
Alas, the dreams of the Dreamlands cannot
give rise to creation in the same way as the
visions of dreamers from the waking world.
Thus, Aira is a figment of the imagination, no
more tangible than a cloud.
Of course, this is the Dreamlands, and who
is to say whether or not Aira might be a city
through which people may stroll or call home?
A dreamer from the waking world who hears
the tale of the city of marble and beryl may
dream of it himself, and through his dreams
cause it to manifest.

Basalt Pillars of the West

Mythos Tale: The Dream Quest of Un-
known Kadath, The White Ship
Far across the ocean, many days from the
nearest harbor, stand two basalt columns of
monumental and terrible proportions. For-
ever shrouded in mist that defies the senses
to pierce beyond, and with summits that rise
into the very heavens, they mark the end of the
Dreamlands.
Mariners fear the waters here, for the cur-
rents draw ships toward the basalt pillars and
the obscene cataract said to lurk just beyond.
To sail off the end of the world is to fall into
the void, to where the order of the universe
becomes unbridled chaos. Here, profane musi-
cians drum and pipe in reverence of Azathoth,
the Daemon Sultan, and the mindless, voice-
less Other Gods from Outside come to dance.
Yet there are some who know of secret routes
beyond the Basalt Pillars of the West that end in
places other than damnation and insanity. The
black galleys of the Men of Leng, for instance, are
able to reach the Moon from here, though never
will they reveal the secret of how, not what else
may lurk beyond the mist and spray.
Cathuria
Mythos Tale: The White Ship
Many are the stories of Cathuria, the Land
of Hope that lies, so it is said, beyond the Ba-
salt Pillars of the West, and many are the stories
of those who perished in attempting to reach
its shores.
The wise speak of virgin forests of fragrant
aloe and sandalwood, of temples carved from
pink marble blocks that stand on the flow-
er-shrouded mountain, and countless cities of
gold, though their wisdom concerning such
things is known to them from dreams and
taken from tomes of immeasurable antiquity.

171
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
It is said the walls of the great cities are
covered in beaten gold, as are the pavements
that meander through gardens in which grow
strange orchards and cross the bridges that
span the River Narg, whose waters head in
a grotto deep in the mountains, which skirt
perfumed lakes with beds of amber and coral.
At night, the city is illuminated with lanterns
carved from the shell of three-colored tortois-
es, the walls and streets reflecting a dim glow.
No person lives in squalor in Cathuria,
for even the smallest home is a marble palace
that would be the envy of king or queen in
the waking world. Greatest of all is the palace
of Dorieb, the demi-god or god monarch of
Cathuria beyond the Basalt Pillars.
It is an awe-inspiring structure, with a roof
of pure gold held aloft by columns of azure
and ruby sculpted in the forms of gods and
heroes. The floor of the throne room is of glass
unmarred by the minutest imperfection, be-
neath which flows the clear waters of the Narg.
Dylath-Leen
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
The great trading city of Dylath-Leen stands
at the mouth of the River Skai. It is an ugly
city, with thin towers built of angular blocks
of basalt, dark streets into which visitors tread
carefully, especially after night, and discourag-
ing sea-taverns where human, and some not
so human, mariners spend their time drinking,
gambling, and swapping stories. Even the
lighthouse that stands behind the multitude of
wharves sheds an unwelcoming light.
For as much as many fear the black-sailed
galleys that berth here with cargoes of rubies
from no shore in the Dreamlands, Dylath-Leen
is a cosmopolitan city, drawing merchants and
mariners from all across the Dreamlands, and
a few from the waking world and realms be-
yond. Talk of the black galleys haunts the lips
of many, though, and getting them to discuss
any other topic can be difficult.
Black Galleys
The galleys which trouble the merchants of
Dylath-Leen frequent the port every few weeks.
The few merchants who step down from the
gangplank are a strange people, with mouths
that are too wide to be welcoming, odd-
ly-shaped turbans, and peculiarly short shoes.
Of the locals, scant few are aware of the origin
of these near-human figures (see Men of Leng,
p. 185), and those who know the truth are in
service to Nyarlathotep’s Yellow King avatar.
Many dozens of hardy oarsmen must be
required to power the galleys, but none ever
step ashore even if a vessel remains in port for
weeks on end, nor do the merchants send or-
ders for provisions to feed the crew—not that
longshoreman and chandlers care for those
sleek galleys and the foul stench that emanates
from within.
Were one able to gain access, one would find
not human slaves chained to oars, but the bul-
 Gazetteer of the Dreamlands
bous forms of Moon-Beasts, whose prodigious
strength enable them to propel the galleys at
tremendous speeds. No chains hold them fast,
the creatures are volunteers and the true mas-
ters of the ships, among their number being
others who serve as officers and navigators.
The galleys bring only one cargo to Dylath-
Leen—rubies of unusual size and unknown
origin. In return, they fill their holds with gold
and with slaves from Parg, who they purchase
by the pound.
Though none in Dylath-Leen know from
whence the galleys come, the origin of their
cargo lies on the Dark Side of the Moon, the
ultimate destination for those unfortunates
sold into their care.
Enchanted Wood
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
Most dreamers who visit the Dreamlands
begin their journey in the Enchanted Wood,
where the seven hundred steps of deeper
slumber end.
Despite its name, this is no fairy tale forest.
It is a shadowy place, where the boughs of low
oaks form a shield against the glare of the heav-
ens and whose branches form twisted tunnels
of wood and leaves. A constant green twilight
casts long shadows from the only illumination,
a phosphorescent fungi that grows in leprous
clumps amid rotting mold.
Near the heart of the forest stands a tremen-
dous circle of stones in the style of the Stone
Age inhabitants of the waking world. Antique
when simple-minded semi-humans were first
marvelling at fire, the circle was constructed
not by the current dwellers in the forest—the
Zoogs (p. 188), but the terrible Gugs (p. 184),
whose travesties saw them banished to the
Underworld. In the center of the circle is a
toppled stone into which a wide iron ring has
been attached. The Zoogs no long remember
what lies beneath that portal, but they fear it
none the less.
Of the many trees that grow here, one is
revered and feared by the Zoogs in equal mea-
sure. A tall, silver-barked tree, the only one of
its kind in the Enchanted Wood, the Zoogs re-
fer to as a moon-tree, for in their myths it grew
from a seed dropped from the Moon. From its
sap they distill Moon-Tree Wine.
Hatheg-Kla & Hatheg
Mythos Tale: The Other Gods
Far to the west of Ulthar, beyond the small
village of Hatheg that stands at the entrance
of a stony desert, and whose inhabitants fear
eclipses of the Moon by mist, stands the tower-
ing mountain of Hatheg-Kla.
Distant as it might be, the people of
Hatheg-Kla avoid looking at the remote mist-
capped peak. It is said the gods once danced
upon the rocky summit, though none can say
whether they still do. Certainly Barzai the Wise
came here in search of the gods but found only
his doom at the hands of the Other Gods.
The citizens proclaim the mountain is to
be avoided by day, insisting that any ascent
involves treacherous chasms, cliffs, and falling
stones. At night, the climb is more perilous
still as a mist seeps down from the summit and
blankets the world in white.
It was written by Atal, High-Priest of Ulthar
and companion of Barzai, that the ancestors
of the men of Hatheg have gazed upon the
summit but that their descendants tremble in
horror when questioned on the topic.
The Pnakotic Manuscripts tell that long
before Barzai, the summit was reached only by
Sansu (of whom they tell little else) and that
the reward for his dramatic ascent was nothing
other than to witness a landscape of ice and
snow. During the search for doomed Barzai
(whose body was never found), the searchers
saw a freshly carved rent in the stone at the
summit, a curious and terrible sign of titanic
scale of elder antiquity from which they fled in
terror on deducing the nature of the inhuman
hands that chiseled the horrid sign.
Hlanith
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
173
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Another of the Dreamlands’ maritime
trading cities, Hlanith lacks the beauty and
fantastical imagery of the Dreamlands’ many
metropolises.
No wharves of chalcedony or walls of basalt
stand here, for the former are constructed from
oak and the latter of blocks of granite. Where
some cities boast roads of gold or marble,
those of Hlanith are rutted from the frequent
passage of ox-drawn carts that ferry wares from
the numerous bazaars and workshops of the
artists, for whom the city is renowned, to the
docks.
The houses are crowded together in long
rows broken only by lanes whose narrow
width has preserved the cobbles. Tall though
the buildings are, with sharply-peaked roofs
and plastered gables, the interiors are low,
with black beams running across the ceilings.
Kiran
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
Hugging the banks of the River Oukranos,
Kiran is renowned for its magnificent temple.
Constructed entirely of rare blue jasper, the
seven-pinnacled building has a footprint of
one acre (43,560 square feet or 4,047 square
meters).
Faint music and song are sometimes heard
from within, but the priests never leave the
temple. The locals are unsure whether the
music and song are uttered by the priests or
the god that inhabits the river and which is said
to dwell within the inner shrine, a chamber
filled with water diverted from the Oukranos
by hidden channels.
Save for one, visitors are not welcome in-
side the temple. Once a year, the King of Ilek-
Vad descends from his opal throne and into a
golden palanquin that carries him to distant
Kiran. A former native of Kiran, the king once
dwelt in a small cottage near the riverbank. As a
youth, he sat near the water and listened to the
song of Oukranos. Never forgetting that haunt-
ing melody, nor the promise it whispered in
his ear, the king returns each year to hear again
the god’s song.
174
Kled, Jungles of
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
The waters of the Oukranos slither whis-
peringly past by the cities of Kiran and Thran
through the perfumed jungles of Kled.
Deep within the tangled vegetation, in a
land whose name has slipped from memory,
stand palaces of ivory. Carved with images of
things related to elephants but far more terri-
ble of form, the palaces have withstood time
and climate without mar, for they are under
the protection of elder gods. It is said that the
monarchs of old who lie inside the temples are
not dead, but sleep until awakened from their
timeless slumber when the gods call them
forth for some unnamed task.
The elephant drivers whose caravans wind
through the jungle avoid the temples, for there
are hideous things set on watch over the sleep-
ing monarchs which brook no trespass.
Oonai
Mythos Tale: The Quest of Iranon
Beautiful and terrible is Oonai, which lies
beyond the Karthian Hills.
By day, the drab domes and walls of Oonai
are as pale as the wine-sodden citizens who
drank and danced away the previous hours of
darkness. At night, the city wakes into its title
as a city of dancing and lute music. The dull
domes are golden by night, lit by harsh and
glaring lights that ward off the shadows and
pain the eyes.
Skilled singers and musicians, though only
those who have wooed the revellers, may be
asked to stand atop a crystal dais on the mir-
rored-floor of the palace in which sits the Mon-
arch. Rich is the master of Oonai and generous
is his largesse, showering his favorites with
satin clothes and jade rings and ivory bracelets.
Alas for those given such esteem that the
Monarch’s attention is only brief, for the mas-
ter quickly tires and seeks new entertainment
to fill his nights. With the loss of the Monarch’s
favor comes the favor of the people, who will
never again see that soul in the same way.
Parg
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
Little is known of the grasslands and jun-
gles of Parg that lies beyond the River Skai. The
few merchants who come seeking the carved
ivory crafted by the black-skinned natives tell
of small villages of straw huts, rudely carved
wooden columns depicting elephantine de-
ities, and the elephant herds from which the
natives gather their ivory.
Fewer still have heard of the stone city
whose ruins can be found in the deep jungle.
Straight lines seem shunned in this remote,
deserted place, whose great weathered blocks
are formed into immeasurable circles spread
across many miles. The natives know of the
city, but rarely do they venture here, there be-
ing nothing there for them save stone, which
they do not use in their buildings.
Their myths tell of a great queen who
once ruled here and that the queen and the
city shared the same name—Saba. The people
mined the neighboring hills for shiny stones,
but when the source of the stones dried up
the queen abandoned them for her homeland
“beyond the horizon” and the people left to
find new lands to settle.

a counting house once stood, statues with

Sunken City
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
Two days east and five days south of Dylath-
Leen, on the trading route that crosses from
that basalt city to Baharna, is an area of sea
feared by superstitious mariners. It is a rare
sailor who has never heard of ships vanishing
on this stretch of water.
Beneath the waves, at a depth where the
light of the full moon still reaches, lie the
shattered remains of columns and walls, a city
whose name is so old that even the Pnakotic
Manuscripts do not record its name.
Rare features are visible between the jum-
bled blocks to those of keen eyes—a domed
temple to which the faithful were guided by
an avenue of sphinxes, a great plaza where
wreathed heads.
Deep into the suburbs, where otherwise are
found only the debris of small houses, stands a
singular structure of enormous size, barely dis-
cernible beneath a veil of weed. Curiously intact,
it has the appearance of a child’s view of a castle
seen from above, with a tower with small, round
windows in each corner and a central courtyard.
Most ghastly of all is the black monolith
that rises in the center of that silent courtyard.
Tethered on that vast stone by unknown hands
are the corpses of sailors, their eyes plucked
from their skulls.
Teloth
Mythos Tale: The Quest of Iranon
Rising from the banks of the sluggish River

175

Zuro is the granite city of Teloth, across whose
archaic stone bridge lie the Karthian Hills and
the ominous height of Mount Sidrak, which no
men dare to scale lest they see the Great Ones,
who come here to dance as is their wont.
No laughter or song or other merriment
echoes through the bleak streets of Teloth,
whose dark and stern citizens dwell in square
houses without adornment and who have no
need for gardens or parks or greenery of any
kind. Nor do they care for the words of poets
and singers, whose droning has no function.
Indeed, the gods of Teloth demand that the
people must toil. Ceaseless toil is ultimately its
own reward, they say, and it will be rewarded
with rest in the next life. Activities such as music
and poetry and storytelling profit no one and
beauty is a distraction to the senses and mind.
Ensuring the laws are obeyed in both letter
176
and spirit are the archons. Visitors expecting
to stay for more than a single night must prove
they have a craft or trade, and be prepared
to work at it for no monetary reward, or be
apprenticed to a local craftsmen for the dura-
tion. Those who refuse, and who dare to make
merriment, are charged with blasphemy and
expelled from Teloth.
Thran
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
The walls of Thran are the mightiest in all
the Dreamlands. Monumental in size and width,
they were wrought of a single piece of alabas-
ter, though none can say when or by whom.
Two hundred turrets, each housing watchful
sentries, jut above the impressive battlements,
while one hundred gates, each of length to be a
tunnel, permit entrance to the metropolis.
Not that the large quantity of gates means
it is easy to enter Thran. Red-robed sentries
guard each portal and demand visitors must
recount three dreams beyond belief before
they may get inside. In game terms, a dreamer
must make three successive Dreamlands Lore
rolls (Difficulty 3, 4, and 5 respectively) before
being welcomed inside.
With room to expand outward hampered
by the walls, the citizens of Thran have built
upward. Loftier than the outer walls, the ala-
baster towers with their golden spires reach to
the clouds. Only near the marble wharves are
there buildings of smaller scale, mostly being
warehouses, chandlers, and taverns.
While the staff of one tavern scurry to and
fro and the patrons engage in conversation,
few give more than casual glance to the ven-
erable feline that curls in front of the fire, its
tail twitching as it dreams of wars of old and
forgotten gods. Too elderly for fighting, it has
become something of a sage to its feline kin.
Ulthar
Mythos Tale: The Cats of Ulthar, The
Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
 Gazetteer of the Dreamlands
Strange is the geography of the Dream-
lands, for whatever route one takes to Ulthar
requires one to cross the great bridge over
the River Skai, in whose central pier ancient
masons placed a living human sacrifice.
Ulthar is a quaint village of fenced farms,
narrow cobbled streets, and picturesque cot-
tages whose upper floors overhang the streets
and whose red-tiled roofs and chimney stacks
glow ruddy at dusk and dawn.
Two temples stand in Ulthar. The first,
the circular Temple of the Elder Gods, stands
atop Ulthar’s hill. Here are kept, among other
works, the last known copy of the Pnakotic
Manuscripts. Only one priest resides in the
temple, the venerable Atal (p. 191), who trav-
eled with Barzai the Wise but who did not seek
the summit of Hatheg-Kla.
The second is the Temple of Cats. A mod-
est building, no humans trespass here, for
the sanctuary is sacred to cats and where they
alone give worship and make sacrifices. There
the cats sit, Sphinx-like in repose, their minds
pondering mysteries of which mankind is ulti-
mately ignorant.
Cats are given great respect in Ulthar and it
has long been the law that no man may harm
a cat there (see Old Cottar’s Cottage below).
No human agency polices the law, for the cats
of Ulthar have their own methods of ridding
themselves of those who would anger them.
Casting Shadows
At the base of the hill on which the Temple
of Elder Gods stands, is a manor constructed in
the Georgian style of the waking world. Casting
Shadows is home to the last scion of the Boyd
family, eccentric aristocrats of old whose wealth
came from the shipyards of Nova Scotia, and
whose direct male line has withered to a single
member, himself without issue.
Dreamed into being by the last scion of
that decrepit family, a talented dreamer resides
there whose Dreamlands’ persona uses the
strange name Runeslinger when his waking
body is asleep.
Here, he sits outside throwing fish to
passing cats, pets the many ravens that nest in
the manor’s trees, browses his library, whose
piles of books are impressively high and whose
contents speak of eldritch lore, or engages in
games of chess or philosophical discussion
with Atal the High-Priest of Ulthar.
Never, though, will he set foot across the
great bridge over the River Skai and traffic with
those who make their living on the riverbanks.
Old Cottar’s Cottage
On the outskirts of Ulthar, its repellent yard
shaded by gnarled oaks, is a small cottage.
Long has it been deserted, for it has a dark
reputation and none in Ulthar will claim it as
home. Centuries ago, before it became illegal
to harm a cat in Ulthar and aged Atal was only
a boy, it was inhabited by a cottar and his wife
of whom none in Ulthar speak.
A miserable pair of ill-intention and wicked
ways, they abhorred cats of all kinds. Many of
their neighbors’ cats vanished in the vicinity of
the cottage, though none had the stomach to
berate them for their wickedness. The last cat
they lured into their dingy cottage was a black
kitten, the only friend of Menes, a young boy
whose family came from distant lands.
As the sun set that night, the teary-eyed
youth prayed in a strange tongue. One by one,
the cats of Ulthar slunk from beside their warm
hearths in heed of the prayer. It was a week
before the disappearance of the cotters was
noticed and a further week before their bones,
picked clean of all flesh, were discovered in
the cottage.
The Underworld
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un-
known Kadath
Below the sculpted terraces and orchards,
cobbled streets, and magnificent cities is anoth-
er realm, a place of which few Dreamlanders
have heard and fewer still have sought. A realm
of gray phosphorescence, primal mists, and
reeking odors, this is the Underworld.
It is a dismal place, the haunt of terrors
never-known or long-forgotten, and whose
ghastly appearance dreamers know of only in
fevered nightmares.
177
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Kingdom of the Gugs
Beneath the Enchanted Forest is the Land
of Gugs. Banished long ago for foul practices
abhorrent to the gods, here the monstrous in-
habitants have constructed lofty, round towers
with doorways 30 feet high and inner stairs a
yard high. The central tower reaches higher
than its peers, its top nestled against the top of
the giant cavern the Gugs call home. A massive
stone trapdoor in its ceiling would permit the
Gugs to once again walk the Enchanted Forest,
save for the permanent and potent Sign of
Koth barring their way.
Not far from the towers lies a cemetery, a
secondary cavern from which stairs descend
deep into the earth. Ghouls haunt the cem-
etery, venturing from their warrens in search
of recently dead Gugs, for a single specimen
of that monstrous race would feed an entire
community of ravenous Ghouls for a year or
more.
Scattered here and there are stone circles
raised in honor of Nyarlathotep and the Other
Gods. Here the Gugs dance and offer praise to
those eldritch deities, whose worship long ago
saw the Gugs exiled to the dank depths.
Vaults of Zin
The cavernous Zin, which borders the
red-litten realm of Yoth in the waking world
(see Leagues of Cthulhu), are inhabited by
Ghasts, the staple food of the Gugs. Save for
the Gugs, whom the Ghasts avoid as much as
possible, anything that strays into the vaults is
likely to be set upon by the Ghasts.
In this world of darkness, the Ghasts give
praise before a grotesque statue of indeter-
minable age, a monstrous toad-like entity
whose oozing, formless spawn still inhabit the
deepest darkest caves of the Vaults of Zin, and
whose presence the Ghasts fear more than the
Gugs who prey on them.
Peaks of Throk
Towering granite monoliths, the Peaks of
Throk rise to heights that make mockery of the
178
mountains of the waking world. Their sheer
walls cannot be climbed, but in places they
part to form tempting valleys through which
the unwary may attempt to pass. Sinister and
greatly feared are those valleys, though, for in
their shadows lurk Bholes.
Plain of Ghouls
A vast plain of great boulders and bur-
rows sited above the Vale of Pnoth, the barren
wasteland is home to the Ghouls resident in
the Dreamlands.
The only way out requires one to traverse
the labyrinthine warrens, whose nightmarish
and mold-ridden tunnels end on a featureless
plain on which stand countless funerary relics
of the waking world—burial urns, cracked
gravestones, and broken monuments that have
sunk into the earth and been forgotten by the
world dreamers call home.
From here, one might discover a route back
to the waking world and end the nightmare of
venturing across the Underworld. Braver souls
may opt to move on to the Land of the Gugs
or the distant forgotten city of Sarkomand that
lies below Leng, though both destinations are
fraught with dangers.
Vale of Pnoth
Beyond the Peaks of Throk lies the forbid-
ding immensity of the Vale of Pnoth.
Scattered piles of bones line the floor. Some
are the gigantic remnants of Gugs dragged
from their graves, their flesh consumed by
the Ghouls who inhabit the Dreamlands. The
smaller bones are more ghastly to dreamers,
for they are the discarded remains of meals
thrown into deep pits by the Ghouls of the
waking world and have a recognizable form.
A dreamer may walk that accursed sun-
less vale for centuries and never find a route
out, save for the hideous valleys that pierce
the Peaks of Throk and which are guarded
by Bholes. All the while their senses must be
alert, for the monstrous Bholes crawl silently
through the utter blackness in search of prey.
 Gazetteer of the Dreamlands
Dreamers learned in the geography of the the landscape. Here the black galleys from the
Dreamlands know that their only hope of sal- Dreamlands come to rest.
vation is to risk contacting the Ghouls, whose Not even the sky is spared from oddness.
homes lie hours of arduous climbing above Even when the Sun shines its face here, the sky
and which can be reached only by rope ladders is utterly black and the stars shine brightly, the
lowered by the flesh-hungry fiends. sun a flat disc that sheds no glare.

City of the Moon Beasts

The Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon is populated by
the Moon-Beasts, foul creatures who worship
Nyarlathotep and the Other Gods.
Dark Side of the Moon The city begins on the shores of that strange
sea, the wharves of porous rock extending far
Mythos Tale: The Dream-Quest of Un- from the shore. Nestled along the shore are
known Kadath windowless warehouses, where prisoners
Since the earliest times, humans have gazed brought by the black galleys are consigned
up at the night sky with wonder at the Moon. It to slavery until it is their time to be nailed
has inspired poets and madmen and scientists, in crates and loaded onto wagons, and from
yet were the truth about that celestial body to where naked Men of Leng, long enslaved by
be all save the lunatics would avert their eyes
from the silver orb and pray for the Sun to rise
and blot it out from the sky. While the Moon of
the waking world is home to the Selenites, that
of the Dreamlands conceals a terrible secret.
Hidden from the world below, the dark
side of the Moon is an abhorrent and profane
place. Atop its mountains are time-worn tem-
ples of unwholesome size and shape, raised to
the glory of vile deities, while on the summits
are caves in which dwells a blasphemous ava-
tar of Nyarlathotep (the Haunter of the Dark).
To this dark place the Moon Beasts and their
torch-bearing servants come to worship on the
darkest nights.
The cats of Earth and the Dreamlands
sometimes come to play on the gray hills and
talk with ancient shadows, joining their kin
stationed here to watch for incursions of the
larger cats of Saturn, who have a treaty with
the Moon Beasts.
Of vegetation, only two types proliferate.
The first are fields of bulbous, leprous fungus
near which are circular cottages, broad and
low-ceilinged, and without windows. The sec-
ond are the Moon-Trees that cling to the lower
slopes of the mountains but dare not grow
nearer to those forgotten but profane temples.
A sea, its surface covered with an oily sheen
and its waters thick and sluggish, dominates
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
the Moon-Beasts, are hauled from their cages,
robbed with turbans and shoes, and forced
onto galleys to serve as merchants.
The city proper is a foul place. Windowless
towers with gaping, black portals rise high,
their form bent and leaning at angles unpleas-
ant to the eyes, and from which emanates a
pervasive and perverse odor.
In the unhallowed circular chambers in-
side, away from the sight of others, the Moon
Beasts who call these towers home “play” and
torture their servants for enjoyment, slicing
off succulent slivers from the flesh of still-con-
scious black-skinned natives of Parg to sate
their appetite for flesh.
Shadow Locales
Students of the Mythos and Dreamlands are
often at odds as to whether certain locations
exist in the waking world or the Dreamlands.
For instance, the former argue that doomed
Sarnath existed on Earth toward the end of the
last Ice Age, as did the gray city of Ib and its
flabby-lipped inhabitants, Kadatheron with
its library of brick cylinders, and Ilarke and
Thraa, about which elder lore is mysteriously
silent. Similarly, the land of Lothar and the city
of Olathoë once occupied parts of modern
Greenland.
The latter, however, have seen these places
in the Dreamlands, or at least have heard the
names spoken by wise natives of the realm of
Morpheus, for it was from Lothar that the last
surviving copy of the Pnakotic Manuscripts was
brought to the Dreamlands in ages past.
In truth, but parties are correct. Sarnath
and its ilk, and hoary Lomar, did once occu-
py the waking world, though all have been
reduced to rubble and consumed by the ages
and various dooms. Yet they also exist in the
Dreamlands. Although also ruined, their walls,
streets, buildings, columns, statues, and tem-
ples are in a slightly better state of preserva-
tion.
The cities are shadows of the waking world,
lingering dream memories of the ancient
inhabitants and those who visited these elder
places. Although known in the Dreamlands,
180
they exist far beyond the civilized lands where-
in lie Celephaïs and cat-loving Ulthar. Mnar and
its toppled cities is said to lie in the far west of
the Dreamlands, whereas Lothar can be found
in the icy north, near to dreaded Leng.
It might also be true that other earthly sites
of great antiquity have shadows in the Dream-
lands. Is there a trackless desert where a gigan-
tic sphinx eternally gazes at the sunrise, and if
so, what do the cats of the Dreamlands know
of it? Are the sand-swallowed columns of lost
Irem or the timeless megaliths of Stonehenge
to be found here? The answers lie in dreams
yet undreamt.
Other Places
What of the other cities and lands of which
Lovecraft wrote? What of the Valley of Narthos
by the frigid Xari, where men will not listen to
dreams, or Sinara and its drunken dromedary
men? What can be told of onyx-walled Jaren,
Stethelos beneath the great cataract, or the
broad streets of Nir?
What too of the builders of the ancient
walls whose shattered remains stretch like dot-
ted lines drawn by the hand of giants across
the wastelands, or the crumbling temples in
whose hoary precincts were once worshipped
gods unknown to humans?
Since they were not the focus of the sto-
ries, Lovecraft spoke of these places only in
the vaguest terms and loosest hints. Given this
book is supposed detail the Dreamlands, it
might seem remiss of the author not to use his
imagination to fill in the blanks for you.
Leaving such sites out of this chapter was
a conscious decision rather than one of space
or lack of ideas. What the author might have
dreamed and wrote about of mysterious Nar-
thos or enigmatic Nir would be his vision and
likely one not shared by all readers.
Instead, these cities and lands are left for
the individual Gamemaster to discover and
explore in their own dreams. As Atal of Ulthar
hints, every person has a unique dream world
of their own, and this is your opportunity to
shape the Dreamlands to your own unique
vision.
 Chapter Four:
Inhabitants of the
Dreamlands
“For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange
things which men cannot see. He is the soul
of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from
forgotten cities in Meroë and Ophir.” —H. P.
Lovecraft, The Cats of Ulthar
Gods
The rulers of the Dreamlands, in name
at least, are the Great Ones. Once, long ago,
they visited the Earth, inspiring the myths of
the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, and siring
children of a heritage that was both of Earth
and its Dreamlands. Far from wise and omnip-
otent, they were petty and childlike, their intel-
ligence below that of the mortals they visited.
Long have they abandoned interference
in the Dreamlands, and longer still have they
ceased to visit the waking world, save in frag-
mented dreams. While they might deign to an-
swer a prayer spoken aloud in the Dreamlands,
they mostly watch from their black fortress on
unknown Kadath.
Of the Great Old Ones, they either do not
know of or do not care for the Dreamlands.
Only Nyarlathotep is known here, for he rules
the dread castle on Kadath. His relationship
with the Great Ones is a mystery. Some claim
he is their guardian, protecting the gods from
mortals who seek audience. Others insist he is
their warden, imprisoning them against interac-
tion with the Dreamlands and waking world.
Of the other Great Old Ones, only the
name of Azathoth is known by the Dreamlands’
inhabitants. No dreams can reach its distant
abode outside the universe.
Of the many gods of the Dreamlands, only
three are noteworthy.
Bast
Horror Rating: 5
It is not for humanity to know whether
cats, that most secretive of animals, originated
in the Dreamlands and found a path to the
waking world, or vice versa. In both realms,
cats have long been protected by Bast, the cat-
headed deity of the Egyptian pantheon. While
humans have long ceased to pray in her honor,
cats have never forgotten her name, nor the
ancient rituals to appease her.
At least one cult dedicated to Bastet exists in
the waking world, but no longer does the god-
dess answer their calls, At rare times she may
deign to converse with them through dreams,
at least to those who do not abuse cats.
Associated Rituals: Commune Bast, Form
of the Beast (cats only), Summon Animals (cats
only)
Nodens
Horror Rating: —
Among all the entities that humanity collec-
tively calls gods, Nodens is the most human in
form. Whether he visits in person or in dreams,
he appears as an elderly man, with white hair
and a gray beard. Appearance is an illusion
when it comes to gods, however, and despite
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Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
the weariness on his face he remains a potent
and vital entity.
Nodens has been associated with the sea
since the time of the Celts, whose cult once
held power in the waking world. When he re-
sponds to mortal calls he does so only on the
sea, riding a monstrous seashell chariot pulled
by beasts forgotten in human myths.
The god despises Nyarlathotep and those
that serve him. In his aspect of a hunter, Nodens
tracks down and eliminates Nyarlathotep’s
minions wherever he encounters them, placing
especial attention on the vile Shantak-birds.
Within the Dreamlands, only the Night-
gaunts give Nodens praise. Few now recall his
name in the waking world, but there is a small
League named in his honor.
Associated Rituals: Call Nodens, Com-
mune Nodens, Summon Night-gaunt
‘Umr At-Tawil
Horror Rating: —
The exact nature of ‘Umr At-Tawil is some-
thing of a mystery. First described by the mad
Arab Abdul Alhazred, it is accorded titles such
as Guide and Guardian of the Gate, and Most
Ancient One. Some scholars of the Mythos
have declared it nothing more than an avatar
of Yog-Sothoth, for the entities boast similar
titles. As with many matters of elder lore, the
answer is perhaps forever denied humanity.
‘Umr At-Tawil guards the Ultimate Gate.
To step beyond that barrier is to transcend
beyond the known universe, into a dimension
where space-time are the playthings of beings
of unimaginable power and malevolence. Only
through the guidance of ‘Umr At-Tawil can one
hope to achieve the ultimate goal—to harness
that power of travel in time and space.
Abdul Alhazred describes the entity whose
appearance carries a terrible price for all who wit-
ness it. Perhaps the mad Arab had mistaken ‘Umr
At-Tawil for Yog-Sothoth, or perhaps he wrote of
the horror because he lacked the courage to pass
beyond the Ultimate Gate and thus sought to
discourage others from surpassing him.
Regardless, the entity is humanlike in gen-
eral form, though its true appearance is con-
cealed beneath heavy, gray robes that prevent
182
any attempt to discern its true form. Unlike
the Great Old Ones, it radiates no malice or
horror, though it is more than possible that
seeing beneath its cloak would reveal a form
so malignant that a mortal’s mind would shat-
ter like glass struck by a hammer.
Associated Rituals: There are no rituals
to Call or Commune with ‘Umr At-Tawil. Only
those who make the perilous voyage beyond
the limit of the Dreamlands may have the
honor of standing in its presence.
Horrors
Bhole
Frequently misnamed “dholes” by dream-
ers, not even the ghouls who dwell on the sun-
less slopes above the valleys where the bholes
slither and burrow know of their appearance,
no creature has witnessed one.
Their existence is known only from their
slithering as they crawl atop the littering of
bones that cover the Vale of Pnoth and from
their slimy touch as they move past. Even with-
out sighting one, merely knowing that a bhole
is close is enough to terrify dreamers witless,
for they are monstrously huge abominations
that have a right to exist only in the minds of
the most troubled dreamers.
Any who must cross the seemingly end-
less Vale of Pnoth, or any of the valleys tow-
ered over by the Peaks of Throk, should avail
themselves of multiple torches or lanterns, for
bholes creep about only in utter darkness.
Reaction to Summoning: The main draw-
back to summoning a bhole is its aversion to
even the faintest light. While the ritual can
be invoked anywhere, the caster must be in
a place utterly devoid of light if he expects a
bhole to answer.
In truth, there is little point in summoning a
bhole. They are unintelligent creatures, incapa-
ble of understanding speech and with only the
basest motive—to survive. If one could some-
how control one, it would be a potent weapon,
capable of demolishing mighty buildings with
 Inhabitants of the Dreamlands
ease. Due to its abhorrence of light, a bhole
would favor tunneling up from beneath the
earth, rather than slithering along the surface.
Bhole
Follower 2
Archetype: Dreamlands Monster; Motiva-
tion: Survival; Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 12, Dexterity 2,
Strength 12, Charisma 0, Intelligence 0, Will-
power 5
Secondary Attributes: Size 8, Move 14, Per-
ception 5, Initiative 2, Defense 6 (10)*, Stun
12, Health 25, Horror 5
Skills: Brawl 17, Stealth 6**, Survival 5
Talents: Direction Sense (Never gets lost),
Skill Aptitude (+2 Stealth rating)
Resources: —
Flaws: Bestial (Cannot speak or use tools)
Weapons: Crush 17N
* Thick hide grants +4 Passive Defense.
** –8 Size penalty on Stealth rolls.
Ghast
Ghasts are an elder race that have long
dwelt in the Dreamlands. The size of a small
horse and bipedal, they move by leaping us-
ing their long, powerful hind legs. They are
unwholesome creatures, with faces that hint of
human origins, but lack both a nose and fore-
head, and have yellow-red eyes. Despite no
visible nose, they have a keen sense of smell.
Although strong and agile, they are coward-
ly and venomous, favoring strength of numbers
when hunting for their favored prey—Gugs
and Ghouls. When neither are available, the
vile monstrosities turn on each other to sate
their ravenous appetites.
Ghasts are intelligent, but they are ex-
tremely primitive, having not developed even
the most rudimentary technology. They are
capable of speech, but only in their coarse
coughing, laughing tongue.
Ghasts are native to the stygian Vaults of Zin.
While the true light of the surface world in anath-
ema to them, for it spells instant death, they can
endure the gray twilight that filters through
much of the underworld for many hours before
having to retreat to their sunless halls. Dreamers
will find that while the brighter light of torches
and lanterns pains ghasts, it is not truly harmful.
Reaction to Summoning: A ghast’s first
instinct when summoned is to attack the sum-
moner. A source of light and an intimidating
manner should provide safety, but the ghast will
certainly be watchful for any signs of weakness.
Ghast
Follower 2
Archetype: Dreamlands Monster; Motiva-
tion: Survival; Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 4, Dexterity 4,
Strength 4, Charisma 0, Intelligence 1, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 1, Move 8, Per-
ception 4 (8), Initiative 5, Defense 8, Stun 5,
Health 9, Horror 4
Skills: Athletics 6, Brawl 8, Stealth 6 (Sneaking
7)*, Survival 5 (Tracking 6)
Talents: Jump (Jumping distance is doubled),
Keen Sense (+4 Perception with smell)
Resources: —
Flaws: Very Primitive (–2 penalty on any Skill
roll related to technology; +1 Style point
whenever its primitive nature hampers it or
causes trouble)
Weapons: Bite 8L
* –1 Size penalty on Stealth rolls.
Nocturnal: Ghasts ignore all penalties for
darkness.
Pained by Light: Ghasts suffer a –2 penalty
to all rolls when in light.
Ghoul
With their anthropological forms, forward-
slumping posture, loping gait, unpleasant
rubberiness, and dog-like faces, ghouls are a
twisted parody of humans.
The origin of ghouls has been much de-
bated by scholars of the Mythos. One theory
holds that they are the product of unions be-
tween the elder ghasts of the Dreamlands and
humans. Certainly there is some similarity
between ghouls and ghasts. Another holds that
183
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
ghouls are a primitive offshoot from human-
ity, distant kin whose evolution was stymied at
some ancient time.
That ghouls have been known throughout
history is clearly evident, for they are the basis
of many legends concerning revenants and
vampires. It is also possible, perhaps even
probable, that the canine-like creatures, which
haunt cemeteries and subterranean places,
spawned the myths of fierce beasts guarding
the underworld. Anubis, the Egyptian god of
the dead, was distinctly dog-like, while the
hounds Garm and Cerberus prevented mortals
from entering the realms of the dead in Norse
and Greek mythology.
Ghouls are also likely the origin of myths
concerning changelings. They have been known
to swap their offspring with human babies, rais-
ing the latter as their own, while the swapped
child grows up in a human environment, at
least until its unnatural nature takes hold.
Ghouls are the only known race that not
only exist in both the waking world and the
Dreamlands, but which frequently pass be-
tween the two realms physically. That said,
they are a subterranean race, seeking solace in
the comforting darkness.
Their intelligence level is higher than that of
ghasts, but they also are a primitive race—even
simple weapons such as spears are beyond
their ken. Although they are carnivorous, much
of their diet comes from corpses scavenged
from graveyards or the wounded and dying on
battlefields. Not even their own kind is spared
the latter. Like ghasts, ghouls are capable of
speech. Unlike their cousins, they converse in
a meeping and gibbering language.
Reaction to Summoning: Ghouls are not
adverse to entreating with humans. They are
poor combatants, hardly suitable as assassins,
but are learned in both the lore of the Mythos
and Dreamlands. They are prepared to share
their knowledge, but freely do so only if gifted
human carrion.
Ghoul
Ally 2
Archetype: Dreamlands Monster; Motiva-
tion: Survival; Style: 1
184
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 1, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 5, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health
8, Horror 2
Skills: Acrobatics 4, Athletics 5, Brawl 5,
Dreamlands Lore 5, Elder Lore: pick one 5,
Stealth 7, Survival 4
Talents: Robust (+2 Health rating), Skill Apti-
tude (+2 Stealth rating)
Resources: —
Flaws: Very Primitive (–2 penalty on any Skill
roll related to technology; +1 Style point
whenever its primitive nature hampers it or
causes trouble)
Weapons: Claws 4L
Nocturnal: Ghouls ignore all penalties for
darkness.
Gug
Swathed in black fur and with short fore-
arms that end in monstrous paws sprouting
deadly talons, Gugs stand around 20 feet tall.
Two pink eyes protrude from each side of
their head, the orbs shaded by bony protuber-
ances overgrown with coarse hair. Their great,
toothed maw extends from the top to the bot-
tom of their head and opens vertically.
Gugs understand many tongues but have
no vocal cords, instead communicating via
facial expressions. At best, dreamers must use
Empathy to establish any kind of rapport. Not
that Gugs have much interest in anything but
eating. They are known to hunt Ghasts, but
are wary of Ghouls. Unfortunately for dream-
ers, creatures from the waking world are their
preferred prey.
Gugs inhabit the subterranean halls of the
Dreamlands, their cavernous home located
between the Enchanted Wood of the surface
and the stygian Vaults of Zin below. Once, they
inhabited the surface, but were cast down into
the underworld for performing abominable
acts. Among the lesser of these evils was the
worship of Nyarlathotep.
Reaction to Summoning: A Gug’s only
response is to try and devour the caster, es-
 Inhabitants of the Dreamlands
pecially if they are a dreamer. It would take a
formidable will, plus some way to convince the
creature that the caster can seriously harm it,
to bring one to heel.
Gug
Follower 2
Archetype: Dreamlands Monster; Motiva-
tion: Survival; Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 6, Dexterity 2,
Strength 5, Charisma 0, Intelligence 1, Will-
power 5
Secondary Attributes: Size 2, Move 7, Per-
ception 5, Initiative 3, Defense 6 (8)*, Stun 6,
Health 14, Horror 5
Skills: Athletics 8, Brawl 9, Stealth 4**, Sur-
vival 5
Talents: Keen Sense (+4 hearing-based Per-
ception rating), Robust (+2 Health rating)
Resources: —
Flaws: Bestial (Cannot speak or use tools)
Weapons: Bite 9L, Claws 10L
* Coarse hair grants +2 Passive Defense.
** –2 Size penalty on Stealth rolls.
Hunting Horror
Only a mind as alien and malignant as that
of Nyarlathotep could conceive of a creature so
profane as a Hunting Horror. The abominable
fiends are nebulous but tangible, a boiling, black
cloud of utter malice and hatred born aloft on
ragged, batlike wings, given life only by the will
of the Crawling Chaos to serve as his hounds.
Wickedly cunning rather than truly intelli-
gent, the only noises they make are the rustling
of their wings and a bloodcurdling scream that
echoes through the sky like the wailing of a
thousand insane souls.
Reaction to Summoning: Give a Hunting
Horror a target to terrorize and rend, and it
will do so to the best of its formidable abilities.
Fail, or hesitate too long, and the summoner
will become the fiend’s next victim.
Hunting Horror
Follower 4
Archetype: Dreamlands Monster; Motiva-
tion: Survival; Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 6, Dexterity 4,
Strength 6, Charisma 0, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 5
Secondary Attributes: Size 1, Move 10 (20),
Perception 7, Initiative 6, Defense 9, Stun 6,
Health 12, Horror 5
Skills: Empathy 5, Intimidation 11, Stealth 8,
Survival 7
Talents: Fearsome Attack 3 (Uses Intimidation to
attack), Skill Aptitude (+2 Intimidation rating)
Resources: —
Flaws: Bestial (Cannot speak or use tools)
Weapons: Bite 11L
* –1 Size penalty on Stealth rolls.
Man of Leng
The Men of Leng are a cruel race of cannibals
once native to that thrice-accursed northern
plateau. Their black galleys are common sights
in the great city-ports, where the turban-headed
Men of Leng trade rubies for slaves from Parg,
who they buy by the pound, and for gold.
Save for oddly small feet and wide mouths,
the Men of Leng appear human, though of
coarse features. Remove their shoes, clothes,
and turbans, however, and their inhuman form
becomes clearly apparent.
Their feet are hooved, small horns protrude
from their heads, dwarfish tails stick from the
lower end of their spine, and they are covered
in light fur. Many dreamers have equated them
to satyrs, and it might well be proven one day
that the Men of Leng were the nucleus for such
mythological creatures.
Reaction to Summoning: Men of Leng
cannot be summoned.
Man of Leng
Follower 2
Archetype: Dreamlands Monster; Motiva-
tion: Survival; Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
185
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
tion 5, Initiative 5, Defense 5, Stun 2, Health 5,
Horror — (2 if unmasked)
Skills: Athletics 5, Brawl 4, Con 6, Dreamlands
Lore 4, Empathy 4, Intimidation 4, Melee 4,
Streetwise 4
Talents: Skill Aptitude (+2 Con rating), Skill
Aptitude (+2 Streetwise rating)
Resources: —
Flaws: Bad Reputation (+1 Style point when
their bad reputation causes problems)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Scimitar 6L
Moon Beast
The loathsome, greyish-white, slippery
denizens of the Dreamlands’ moon are toad-
like in form. Their true size and mass are
difficult to judge, for the abominable things
can expand and contract at will. Through just
the muscles of their limbs, they can perform
feats on inhuman strength. Moon Beasts lack
eyes, and instead sense the world around them
through the mass of short, pink tentacles on
the end of their blunt snouts.
Like many intelligent species in the Dream-
lands, conventional speech is beyond them.
Only through the shrill notes of pipes can they
converse with other beings.
Decadent beyond measure, Moon Beasts
lack the barest hint of compassion for other
races, seeing them only as potential servants
(like the Men of Leng) or sustenance (like the
men of Parg). They have little interest in the
greater Dreamlands, save as a source of food.
Reaction to Summoning: Moon Beasts
have little interest in the affairs of other creatures.
When summoned, they despatch Men of Leng to
meet the caster and learn what he desires. For a
fortunate few magicians, their ultimate fate is to
be dismissed as an irrelevance. Those who ap-
pear weak are more likely to be captured, bound
in the hold of a black galley, and transported to
the moon to serve as a slave or a meal.
Moon Beast
Follower 3
Archetype: Dreamlands Monster; Motiva-
tion: Survival; Style: 0
186
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 2,
Strength 6, Charisma 2, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 1, Move 8, Percep-
tion 8, Initiative 5, Defense 8, Stun 3, Health
7, Horror 4
Skills: Athletics 7 (Throwing 8), Brawl 7, El-
der Lore: Great Old Ones 4 (Nyarlathotep 5),
Intimidation 5, Linguistics 5, Melee 7, Perfor-
mance 4, Stealth 4*
Talents: Alertness (+2 Perception rating),
Strong (+1 Strength rating), Strong Defense
(Uses Strength for Active Defense)
Resources: —
Flaws: Semi-Bestial (Cannot speak)
Weapons: Punch 0N, Javelin 10L (thrown),
Javelin 9L (thrusting)
* –1 Size penalty on Stealth rolls.
Expand and Contract: Moon Beasts can
alter their Size by one point higher or lower
at will. This alters their Health rating by the
equivalent amount.
Sensitive Tentacles: Moon Beasts treat
their Stun rating as 1 when struck on the snout
(Called Shot with a –8 penalty).
Other God from Outside
The Great Old Ones may be the most pow-
erful alien entities in the universe, but there
are other gods of lesser power. Aside from the
Other Gods, who once set themselves above
humanity, there are monstrous creatures col-
lectively known as the Other Gods from Out-
side (more commonly just the Other Gods).
Gigantic and terrible, the blind, mindless,
and voiceless entities can be found at the
Court of Azathoth, where they dance wildly
to the insane piping of the Daemon Sultan’s
courtiers, and in Kadath in the Cold Wastes,
where they guard the Great Ones against those
who seek their wisdom.
Lacking sight and reason, the Other Gods
may appear harmless, yet they are formidable
opponents, swatting and pawing, groping and
grasping blindly and wildly at anything they
perceive to be close through their other, alien
senses.
Each is a unique being with its own name,
 Inhabitants of the Dreamlands
but these are left to the Gamemaster to decide.
Rarely, these terrible beings are venerated by
cults in the waking world and the Dreamlands.
Reaction to Summoning: While animals
can be trained to obey and sentient beings can
be bargained with for services rendered, the
Other Gods have no mind. When summoned,
their only instinct is to lash out at whatever is
closest—usually one or more sacrifices offered
by their insane followers.
Other God from Outside
Follower 4
Archetype: Monster; Motivation: Survival;
Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 13, Dexterity 2,
Strength 13, Charisma 4, Intelligence 0, Will-
power 5
Secondary Attributes: Size 8, Move 15, Per-
ception 5, Initiative 2, Defense 7, Stun 13,
Health 26, Horror 6
Skills: Athletics 18, Brawl 18, Intimidation 11,
Stealth 2*, Survival 5
Talents: Fearsome 2 (Temporarily frighten
foes), Flurry 2 (Make two attacks at an oppo-
nent with no penalty)
Resources: —
Flaws: Bestial (Cannot speak or use tools),
Blind (–8 penalty to attack rolls)
Weapons: Various appendages 10L
* –8 Size penalty on Stealth rolls.
Summoning: The Other Gods have no as-
sociated Call or Commune rituals. Rather, they
are conjured through the Summon (Other
God) ritual in the vein of lesser horrors.
Shantak-bird
Larger than elephants and hippocephalic
(horse-like head), the winged Shantak-birds
are unlike bats or birds in appearance. More
akin to wyverns from folklore, slippery scales
cover their bodies, while a serpentine tail
whips and writhes behind them.
Despite their noxious smell and unwhole-
some mien formed of short tentacles, they are
summoned as mounts, especially by cultists
of Nyarlathotep, whom they worship in their
primitive way. Not only can they fly through the
skies of the Dreamlands and waking world, but
Shantak-birds are capable of flight through the
outer reaches of space. They are the favored
prey of Nodens, whose faceless Night-gaunts
cause terror in Shantak-birds.
The intelligence of Shantak-birds is limited,
but they are capable tittering, rasping speech.
Not that they are known for their conversa-
tion—much of their speech is reserved to
whispering the many names of Nyarlathotep,
whom they serve.
Reaction to Summoning: The foul-smell-
ing Shantak-birds are accustomed to serving
as mounts. Unlike with horses, the rider need
only tell the creature the desired location, and
then hold on tight as its flaps through the sky.
Shantak-Bird
Follower 2
Archetype: Dreamlands Monster; Motiva-
tion: Survival; Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 6, Dexterity 3,
Strength 6, Charisma 0, Intelligence 1, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 7 (Fly
28), Perception 4, Initiative 2, Defense 6, Stun
5, Health 8, Horror 4
Skills: Brawl 8, Elder Lore: Great Old Ones 4,
Stealth 6*, Survival 6
Talents: Fly (Move rating is doubled when
flying), Mobile Attack (Move and attack simul-
taneously)
Resources: —
Flaws: Semi-Bestial (Cannot use tools)
Weapons: Bite 9L, Talons 9L
* –2 Size penalty on Stealth rolls.
Fear of Night-gaunts: Shantak-birds must
make a Willpower x 2 roll (Difficulty 4) when in
proximity to Night-gaunts or flee. A rider may use
Diplomacy: Leadership, Intimidation: Threats, or
Riding: Exotic Animals as a Teamwork bonus to
prevent his mount from fleeing in terror.
Spider of Leng
Though smaller than the average human,
Spiders of Leng are the arch-predator on the
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Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Plateau of Leng, feared even by the savage
humanoids who call the blasted wasteland
home. Monstrously bloated compared to wak-
ing world spiders, the fanged, purple-hued
fiends are typically three to four feet in width
(not including the legs), though much larger
specimens have been recorded.
While more than capable of killing prey
larger than themselves using only their fangs,
it is their venom that is most feared. Once
coursing through their veins, victims have a
matter of hours to live as their flesh begins
turning necrotic.
Reaction to Summoning: Spiders of Leng
are predatory animals. In much the same way
only a fool would attempt to strike a bargain
with a wild lion, only the insane call forth Spi-
ders from Leng to serve as minions. Even if a
magician could cower one, the creatures lack
the intelligence to understand even the most
rudimentary commands.
Spider of Leng
Follower 1
Archetype: Dreamlands Monster; Motiva-
tion: Survival; Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 0, Intelligence 1, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size –1, Move 6,
Perception 4, Initiative 4, Defense 6, Stun 2,
Health 4, Horror 4
Skills: Brawl 6, Stealth 8*, Survival 4
Talents: Climb (Doubled climbing speed)
Resources: —
Flaws: Bestial (Cannot speak or use tools)
Weapons: Bite 6L + Venom (Toxin rating 4L, 8
successes required)
* +1 Size bonus on Stealth rolls.
Zoog
Native to the Enchanted Wood, Zoogs are a
secretive and furtive race, seldom leaving their
leafy home to explore the wider Dreamlands
or the strange realm we call the waking world.
The small and brown-skinned Zoogs live in
burrows and the trunks of trees. Well-versed
188
in obscure secrets of the Dreamlands, Zoogs
have, on rare occasion, been known to wander
into the waking world. Sightings of them have
likely been partially responsible for talk of faer-
ies or “little people.”
Zoogs primarily eat fungi, which they harvest
from the forest, though they have been known
to consume small quantities of meat on special
occasions. Typically, the meat is that of kittens.
As a result, cats have a deep-seated enmity to-
ward Zoogs that has lasted for millennia.
Zoogs are appreciative of those with great
wisdom, so much so that their society is ruled
by a Council of Sages. The word of these elders
is law, and to go against them is to be banished
from the Enchanted Wood. Alone, a Zoog has
little chance of avoiding marauding cats and
being torn limb from limb.
Zoogs have their own tongue, a strange
fluttering sound that rises and lowers in pitch
with the speaker’s mood.
Reaction to Summoning: Fearful of being
set upon by cats, Zoogs only answer Summon
rituals if the magician is in the Enchanted Forest.
Lest the summoner be dangerous, the Council
of Sages sends only a single delegate. Usually it
is an unfortunate Zoog who has offended them
in some manner. Only if the Zoog is entirely
convinced of the magician’s benevolent nature
will it guide them to the Council of Sages.
Zoog
Follower 1
Archetype: Dreamlands Monster; Motiva-
tion: Survival; Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size –1, Move 4,
Perception 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2,
Health 4, Horror 2
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Dreamlands Lore 6
(Obscure Lore 7), Stealth 4, Survival 4 (Forage 5)
Talents: Skill Aptitude (+2 Dreamlands Lore
rating)
Resources: —
Flaws: Semi-Bestial (Cannot use tools)
Weapons: Punch 4N
* +1 Size bonus on Stealth rolls.
 Inhabitants of the Dreamlands
Cults
Cults of the Other Gods
Not even the wisest sage knows how many
cults serve the various Other Gods, for the
number of perverse deities is immeasurable
and their influence is often sly and insidious.
What is known is that devoted worshippers
can be found in the waking world and the
Dreamlands, and likely on worlds humanity
has yet to discover.
Mindless and voiceless, they work their will
through Nyarlathotep, who serves as both their
messenger and their soul. In return for loyal
service, cultists are favored by Nyarlathotep.
The Other Gods have modest goals. Most
often, they seek only information concerning
dreamers and Dreamlanders who seek the
home or the places of revel of the Great Ones.
Sometimes information is enough, for the
gods are more than capable of handling mere
mortals. Sometimes they demand the seeker
be destroyed for their audacity. Such are the
vagaries of insane gods.
Within the Dreamlands, true cults are rare,
especially those focused on a single Other
God. Typically, their worshippers are solitary in
their veneration, unaware of who else around
them might serve the same twisted masters.
Nhygo the Broker
A native of Dylath-Leen, Nhygo works as a
broker for merchants seeking to buy and sell
cargoes at the best rates. His beaming smile,
colorful robes, and excessive amounts of jew-
elry make him stand out from the crowd, but
it is his jovial nature and reputation that draw
customers to his office near the wharves. It is
commonly known that Nhygo can find a sup-
plier for anything, if the price is right.
Nhygo has long served the Other Gods,
passing them information regarding dreamers
who cross his path through the Crawling Cha-
os. Aside from burning incense and muttering
a few prayers, he does not consider himself a
cultist. In his eyes, he is a businessman engag-
ing with customers—customers who pay very
well for his services.
Sooner or later, dreamers seeking some exot-
ic object or obscure information will be pointed
in Nhygo’s direction. The broker may come to
like the globetrotters, welcoming them into his
circle of friends. Friendship will never get in the
way of acquiring more wealth, however.
Although he lacks the courage, not to
mention the skill, to murder dreamers on the
orders of his otherworldly masters, he knows
people quite prepared to perform such an act
for a few coins. Equally, he is known to many
masters of the feared black galleys who would
be more than happy to take possession of new
slaves.
Patron 2
Archetype: Businessman; Motivation: Greed;
Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 4,
Strength 2, Charisma 4, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 6, Initiative 7, Defense 6, Stun 2, Health
5, Sanity —
Skills: Bureaucracy 6, Con 7, Diplomacy 7,
Dreamlands Lore 5, Empathy 5, Spying 6,
Streetwise 7 (Black Market 8, Rumors 8)
Talents: —
Resources: Contacts 1 (Black Market; +2 bo-
nus), Fame 1 (Can get things done; +2 Social
bonus), Status 1 (Broker; +2 Social bonus)
Rituals: Commune Nyarlathotep
Flaws: Secret (+1 Style point if he is confront-
ed with the truth or goes out of his way to
protect the secret)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Order of the One Mind
In whatever passes as eyes in Nyarlatho-
tep’s many and varied forms, the Dreamlands
in an abomination, a realm of beauty, wonder,
and hope. Unable to affect the Dreamlands
in person, the Crawling Chaos has elected
to destroy dreamers, for without dreams the
Dreamlands cannot exist.
With the Dreamlands destroyed, or at least
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Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
isolated from the waking world, humanity
will have little choice but to exist only in the
mundane, its collective soul crushed, its hopes
and aspirations forever abandoned in place of
compliance. Without imagination there will be
no art or beauty, no sudden breakthroughs in
science. There will be only existence without
purpose. The entirety of humanity will become
drones, toiling for the sole benefit of the few
who rule in the name of Nyarlathotep.
Through this one mind, so higher-ranked
cultists believe, they will guide humanity
into the future. Nyarlathotep’s true endgame
remains a mystery for now, for the Messenger
of the Great Old Ones does not share its true
vision with mere puppets and stooges.
Natalie Jones
Jones never knew the name of the drug-ad-
dled tramp who sat on the corner of her street,
but she sat enraptured as he spoke of a won-
drous land found only in his dreams. By day, she
failed to capture his words in prose and poetry,
as she lacked the imagination to do them justice.
By night, she inhaled the fragrant aroma of
the dream-poppy and willed herself to enter
the Dreamlands, but she glimpsed not a sign
of that strange land. When she did dream, her
thoughts were of mundane things.
Desire turned to frustration, frustration to
anger, and anger to hate. Thus the seeds of dark-
ness within her soul grew to maturity, leaving her
ripe for the twisted words of Nyarlathotep.
Jones isn’t an assassin. Posing as an author
in search of new stories, she serves the Order
by locating true dreamers, hunting them down
through rumors in artistic circles and the
records of lunatic asylums. Once convinced
they are a true dreamer, she alerts the lesser
members of the Order, those prepared to com-
mit murder without question in return for the
favor of Nyarlathotep.
Patron 2
Archetype: Failed Artist; Motivation: De-
struction; Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 3, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
190
tion 6, Initiative 6, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health
6, Sanity —
Skills: Alienism 5 (Psychology 6), Art: Writing
4, Athletics 5, Con 8 (Lies 9), Elder Lore: Great
Old Ones 4 (Nyarlathotep 5), Firearms 4,
Investigation 5, Linguistics 5, Spying 5, Street-
wise 5 (Rumors 6)
Talents: Combat Aptitude (Exchange attack
and Defense dice), Natural Leaders (Can boost
Allies as if it were a Talent), Skill Aptitude (+2
Con rating)
Resources: Status 2 (Order of the One Mind;
+2 Social bonus)*
Flaws: Addiction (–2 penalty on all rolls until
she sobers up or overcomes her addiction; +1
Style point whenever her addiction hurts her
or someone she cares about), No Imagination
(+1 Style point whenever her lack of imagina-
tion causes serious problems for her)
Weapons: Punch 0N, Light revolver 6L
* She has a bonus Resource from her Status for
the Gamemaster to assign.
Typical Member
Typical cultists are an unimaginative lot,
content to live in the drab, humdrum reality
that is the waking world. Few know the Dream-
lands actually exist, believing instead that they
are the harbingers of death for those who rebel
against the established order—anarchists, free-
thinkers, and the like.
Ally 1
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Destruc-
tion; Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity —
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Firearms 4, Melee
4, Stealth 4
Talents: —
Resources: Status 1 (Order of the One Mind;
+2 Social bonus)
Flaws: No Imagination (+1 Style point when-
ever their lack of imagination causes serious
problems for them or their allies)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Heavy revolver 7L
 Inhabitants of the Dreamlands
Notable Persons
Atal
The son of a humble innkeeper, Atal was
apprenticed to Barzai the Wise, the wise man
who sought to find the old gods and was never
seen again or mourned by Atal. Before his fate-
ful voyage, Barzai whispered many secrets to
his protégé, including the knowledge of where
black cats go on St. John’s Eve.
Now High Priest of Ulthar, and with three
centuries of life and learning behind him,
Atal is regarded as the wisest inhabitant of the
Dreamlands. While his flesh is weary, his mind
remains as keen as ever, and he has never for-
gotten a single fact he has learned. Such is his
depth of knowledge that he can forecast the
weather for days ahead with a casual glance at
the skies and tell the time without needing to
see the skies above.
It is fair to say that while Atal knows much,
there are equally things of which he will not
speak, for there are dangers in the Dreamlands
that should be avoided at all costs.
Atal
Patron 3
Archetype: Clergyman; Motivation: Truth;
Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 3,
Strength 2, Charisma 4, Intelligence 5, Will-
power 5
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 10, Initiative 8, Defense 7, Stun 2, Health
7, Sanity 5
Skills: Academics: Philosophy 8, Bureaucracy
6, Con 6, Diplomacy 6, Dreamlands Lore 8,
Empathy 7 (Motives 8), Elder Lore: Great Old
Ones 8, Investigation 7, Linguistics 7, Street-
wise 6 (Rumors 7)
Talents: Calculated Defense (Uses Intelligence
for Active Defense), Time Sense (Always knows
the time), Total Recall (Never forgets a fact),
Weather Sense (Knows coming what weather
is coming)
Resources*: Status 3 (High Priest; +4 Social
bonus)
Flaws: Elderly (–2 penalty to any roll where
strength, speed, or endurance is a factor; +1
Style point whenever his age slows him down
or she is taken advantage of because of it)
Weapons: Punch 0N
* Atal has a bonus Resource from his Status
for the Gamemaster to assign.
Captain of the White Ship
Known only by his title, the master of
the White Ship is a robed and bearded man
of indeterminate years. An enigmatic figure
who speaks nothing of his homeland or past,
he and his crew have sailed the waters of the
Dreamlands and waking world in equal mea-
sure, and gleaned much lore concerning the
remote lands of both realms.
There is only one place he has not, and in-
deed will not, travel—beyond the Basalt Pillars
of the West, wherein lies an impenetrable mist.
While it is said the fabled Land of Cathuria
lies far beyond their border, there is nothing
beyond them for men but terror and death in
equal measure.
Captain of the White Ship
Patron 2
Archetype: Explorer; Motivation: Truth;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 4, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 3, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 5, Defense 7, Stun 4, Health
7, Sanity 6
Skills: Athletics 5, Brawl 4, Diplomacy 5,
Dreamlands Lore 5 (Places 6), Expeditions 5,
Linguistics 5, Pilot: Nautical 8 (The White Ship
9), Streetwise 5
Talents: Acclimated (Can resist extreme tem-
peratures for longer), Skill Aptitude (+2 Pilot:
Nautical rating)
Resources: Status 1 (Ship captain; +2 Social
bonus)
Flaws: Loyal (+1 Style point whenever his
191
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
unswerving loyalty to his crew causes trouble
for himself or his companions)
Weapons: Punch 4N
High-Priest Not to be
Described
The sole inhabitant of the prehistoric, win-
dowless monastery and keeper of the pharos
that stands on the Plateau of Leng, the High-
Priest Not to be Named is an enigmatic figure,
mysterious even to the Men of Leng who bow
and scrape in its timeless service.
Clad in loose robes of yellow silk figured
with red, its face concealed by a silk mask of
the same colors, nothing is known concerning
the High-Priest’s form.
A most intelligent being, whose knowledge
of the Dreamlands and Mythos runs deep, the
High-Priest bows to no-one save its deity—the
Yellow King avatar of Nyarlathotep. Despite its
knowledge of many tongues, some of which
have not be spoken in the waking worlds for
millions of years, the High-Priest speaks only
through using an ivory flute.
Reaction to Summoning: The High-Priest
cannot be summoned.
High-Priest Not to be Described
Patron 3
Archetype: Dreamlands Clergyman; Motiva-
tion: Faith; Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 4, Dexterity 2,
Strength 4, Charisma 3, Intelligence 4, Will-
power 4
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 8, Initiative 6, Defense 6, Stun 4, Health
8, Horror 2
Skills: Dreamlands Lore 8, Elder Lore: Crea-
tures 7, Elder Lore: Great Old Ones 7 (Nyarla-
thotep 8), Empathy 8, Intimidation 12 (Threats
12), Linguistics 6
Talents: Fearsome 3 (Can frighten foes)
Resources: Artifact 0 (Incense Cones, Type
I), Artifact 0 (Powder of Ibn Ghazi), Status 1
(High-Priest of Leng; +2 Social bonus)
Rituals: Call Nyarlathotep (Yellow King avatar),
192
Commune Nyarlathotep (Yellow King avatar),
Harm, Mark of Madness, Mark of Withering,
Summon Hunting Horror, Summon Other
God, True Name of Azathoth
Flaws: Inscrutable (+1 Style point whenever
it is misunderstood or its mysterious motives
cause trouble)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Kuranes
Lord of Ooth-Nargai and the Sky around
Serranian, and chief god and king of Cele-
phaïs, the man known as Kuranes was born
of the waking world. Raised in Cornwall, En-
gland, Kuranes was a dreamer. His ancestral
lands and wealth spent, and caring little for the
ugly reality around him, Kuranes became a re-
cluse, content to dream of beauty and wonder
though use of drugs.
An ardent explorer of the Dreamlands and
beyond, he alone has stood in the court of
Azathoth and returned with his mind intact,
though it not an experience he desires again.
His life in the Dreamlands, should he wish
it, is one of marvelous pageants, endless festivi-
ties, and excitements lesser men can envisage
only in their dreams. Yet Kuranes craves not
these delights. Power, wealth, privilege—all
these Kuranes would gladly abandon to return
the land of his youth for but a single day.
Alas, Kuranes can no longer enter the wak-
ing world, for his once-self is dead, the drug-
addled hobo having stumbled to his death
over a cliff.
Vital and majestic, Kuranes has cast aside
the trappings of kingship, spending his days
clad in a common dressing gown in his small
manor house, gazing over the relentless waves
that pound the shore beneath and thinking
fondly of the green hills of Cornwall, forever
now beyond his grasp.
Kuranes
Patron 3
Archetype: Aristocrat; Motivation: Justice;
Style: 3
Primary Attributes: Body 4, Dexterity 3,
 Inhabitants of the Dreamlands
Strength 3, Charisma 4, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 4
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 7, Initiative 6, Defense 7, Stun 4, Health
8, Sanity 8
Skills: Academics: Law 6, Academics: Phi-
losophy 6, Art: Writing 5, Bureaucracy 6, Con-
noisseur 4, Diplomacy 6, Dreamlands Lore 8,
Empathy 6, Linguistics 6, Streetwise 6
Talents: Inspire (Grant allies a +2 bonus),
Natural Leader (Can boost Allies Resource as if
a Talent), Skill Aptitude (+2 Dreamlands Lore
rating), Well-Connected (Can boost Contacts
rating as if a Talent)
Resources: Status 5 (King; +8 Social bonus)*
Flaws: Malaise (+1 Style point whenever his
lethargy causes him to lose an opportunity or
give up an advantage)
Weapons: Punch 0N
* Kuranes has two bonus Resources from his
Status for the Gamemaster to assign.
Nasht & Kaman-Thah
High lords of the Cavern of Flame and
guardians of the entrance to the Dreamlands,
Nasht and Kaman-That have stood vigil since
the formation of the Dreamlands in an age
long before the recorded history of humanity.
That they are priests is known to any
dreamer who stands before them, and yet
which deities they honor remains unknown.
Perhaps they honor the Great Ones, whose
interest in the affairs of others have long since
ended. As guardians of the Dreamlands, their
muttered prayers, spoken only in each other’s
company, are only to Morpheus, the Great One
who once sent dreams into the waking world.
Clad in archaic robes, sporting beards of
the kind not seen on Earth since the days of
Sumer’s glory, and wearing crowns of a style
was borne by the pharaohs of Egypt, they have
the power to deny dreamers access to the
Dreamlands by sending their dreams back to
the waking world.
Dreamers they deduce are unworthy of
the Dreamlands, such as those with violence
or cruelty in their hearts, are banished from
the Dreamlands forever. Most dreamers they
welcome, silently nodding their acquiescence
of passage, and speaking only when asked a
question.
Of the Dreamlands, there is little they do
not know, save for the location of Kadath in
the frozen north and where the old gods dance
and sing merrily.
Nasht & Kaman-Thah
Patron 2
Archetype: Dreamlands Clergyman; Motiva-
tion: Duty; Style: 2
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 4, Intelligence 4, Will-
power 4
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 8, Initiative 6, Defense 6, Stun 2, Health
8, Sanity N/A
Skills: Academics: Philosophy 7, Academ-
ics: Religion 7 (Great Ones 8), Diplomacy 7,
Dreamlands Lore 11, Empathy 8 (Motives 9),
Linguistics 7
Talents: Calculated Defense (Use Intelligence
for Active Defense), Robust (+2 Health rating),
Skill Aptitude (+2 Dreamlands Lore rating)
Resources: Status 1 (Priests; +2 Social bo-
nus)
Flaws: Code of Conduct (+1 Style point
whenever they convince others to follow their
code of conduct)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Lesser Persons
Burghers of Ulthar
Old Kranon
Burgomaster of Ulthar, Old Kranon, albeit
with guidance from Atal, has ruled Ulthar wisely
and justly for as long as anyone can remember.
Certainly he was in post when the rule ban-
ning the killing of cats was enacted, an event
almost three centuries old by the standards of
the Dreamlands.
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Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Patron 1
Archetype: Government Official; Motivation:
Duty; Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 3, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Percep-
tion 6, Initiative 5, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health
5, Sanity 6
Skills: Academics: Law 8, Bureaucracy 5, Di-
plomacy 6, Dreamlands Lore 6, Empathy 5,
Performance 5
Talents: Skill Aptitude (+2 Academics: Law
rating)
Resources: Status 3 (Burgomaster; +4 Social
bonus)
Flaws: Elderly (–2 penalty to any roll where
strength, speed, or endurance is a factor; +1
Style point whenever his age slows him down
or she is taken advantage of because of it),
Judgmental (+1 Style point whenever his swift
judgments cause trouble)
Weapons: Punch 0N
* Old Kranon has a bonus Resource from his
Status for the Gamemaster to assign.
Nith the Notary
Dreamers needing binding contracts or
deeds drawn up or witnessed are advised to
consult with Nith, Ulthar’s notary. Skinny but
of robust health, Nith is a stickler for bureau-
cratic rules, for his name is well known and he
has no wish to see his good name besmirched
by sloppy work.
Ally 2
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Honor;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 3,
Strength 2, Charisma 3, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 6, Defense 5, Stun 2, Health
6, Sanity 5
Skills: Academics: Law 6, Bureaucracy 8, Di-
plomacy 5, Empathy 5, Streetwise 6
Talents: Robust (+2 Health rating)
Resources: Status 1 (Notable citizen; +2 So-
cial bonus)
Flaws: Code of Conduct (+1 Style point
194
whenever they convince others to follow their
code of conduct), Skinny (–2 penalty to any
roll where strength or toughness is a factor;
+1 Style point whenever his weak physique
causes difficulty)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Shang the Blacksmith
Ulthar’s burly blacksmith is renowned lo-
cally for his prodigious strength as much as his
skill at the forge. A jocular fellow with a boom-
ing voice, he is a favorite of children, who beg to
be carried on his broad, muscular shoulders.
Ally 2
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Duty;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 2,
Strength 5, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 7, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 4, Defense 5, Stun 3, Health
5, Sanity 4
Skills: Athletics 7, Brawl 7, Craft: Blacksmith-
ing 7, Diplomacy 4, Gambling 4, Streetwise 4
Talents: Strong (+1 Strength rating)
Resources: Status 1 (Notable citizen; +2 So-
cial bonus)
Flaws: Obvious (+1 Style point whenever he
fails to conceal his motives or draws negative
attention to himself)
Weapons: Punch 7N
Thul the Stonecutter
A master mason, Thul carved the stones
that make up the circular Temple of the Elder
Ones and the engravings that adorn its interior,
and more than one noble villa boasts a marble
statue carved by his rough hands.
Thul was witness to the cats’ vengeance on
the evil cotters who terrorized Ulthar’s felines
of old, and has never forgotten the sight of
their cleanly picked bones. Although he has
never harmed a cat, nor has wish to do so, the
terror of what cats can do if angered has made
him fearful of the enigmatic creatures.
Ally 2
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Duty;
Style: 1
 Inhabitants of the Dreamlands
Primary Attributes: Body 3, Dexterity 3,
Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 6, Percep-
tion 4, Initiative 5, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health
5, Sanity 4
Skills: Art: Sculpture 5 (Marble 6), Athletics
4, Craft: Stonemasonry 7, Diplomacy 4, Ride 4
(Vehicles 5), Science: Geology 4, Streetwise 4
Talents: Skill Aptitude (+2 Craft: Stonema-
sonry rating)
Resources: Status 1 (Notable citizen; +2 So-
cial bonus)
Flaws: Phobia: Cats (–2 penalty on all rolls
until his is able to get away; +1 Style point
whenever his fear gets the better of him)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Zath the Coroner
Old Kranon’s right hand man in matters of
law, Zath has loyally served Ulthar for decades,
having taken up the post after his father’s
death. For a coroner, he has a loose tongue.
Ally 2
Archetype: Everyman; Motivation: Duty;
Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 3,
Strength 2, Charisma 3, Intelligence 3, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 5, Percep-
tion 5, Initiative 6, Defense 5, Stun 2, Health
4, Sanity 5
Skills: Academics: Law 8, Bureaucracy 6, Di-
plomacy 5, Empathy 5, Investigation 6, Street-
wise 5
Talents: Skill Aptitude (+2 Academics: Law
rating)
Resources: Status 1 (Notable citizen; +2 So-
cial bonus)
Flaws: Gossip (+1 Style point whenever
he spreads gossip that inadvertently causes
trouble)
Weapons: Punch 0N
Knight of Celephaïs
Protectors of the benevolent King Kuranes
(see above) and guardians of the magnificent
city of Celephaïs dreamed into existence by
that most potent of dreamers before he left
behind the waking world forever, the knights
are the most powerful military force in the
Dreamlands—not that their master has set his
sights on conquest.
Clad in shining armor that does not ham-
per their movement and cloth-of-gold tabards
emblazoned with curious sigils and signs, each
rides a roan mount.
The knights command the ability to enter
the waking world, but do so only on the rarest
of occasions and with restrictions they cannot
bend or break—they may only enter at dusk
and return home at dawn. As they ride through
the waking world, they exist as a blur caught
only in the peripheral vision to mortals, save
those who have visited the Dreamlands be-
fore.
Any mortal in their strange company sees
reality give away to the perceptions of the
knights, with modern streets and buildings giv-
ing way to narrow cobbled roads and leaning
townhouses of a time several centuries ago,
and castles shattered by cannon and weather
by time returned to their splendor of old.
Knight of Celephaïs
Ally 1
Archetype: Soldier; Motivation: Duty; Style:
1
Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2,
Strength 2, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size 0, Move 4, Per-
ception 4, Initiative 4, Defense 4 (7)*, Stun 2,
Health 4, Sanity 4
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Intimidation 4,
Melee 4, Ride 4
Talents: Parry (Can Parry as reflexive action)
Resources: Rank 1 (Knight of Celephaïs; +2
Social bonus)
Flaws: Loyal (+1 Style point whenever their
unswerving loyalty to their king, city, and com-
rades causes trouble for themselves or their
companions)
Weapons: Punch 4N, Sword 7L
* Knights wear armor that grants them +3
Passive Defense.
195
Cthulhu Codicil: The Dreamlands
Animals
Cat of Ulthar
Despite appearances, the cats of Ulthar are
not ordinary felines. For a start, they are intelli-
gent creatures. They understand the common
tongue of the Dreamlands, but speak only in
their own language (which must be learned
through Dreamlands Lore). Some wear collars,
but these are not signs of ownership. Rather,
they are indicators of rank, for the cats of
Ulthar have a hierarchy of their own.
Like their lesser kin, they know many se-
crets. They know secret paths that lead to the
moon, where they leap around the hills and
converse with ancient shadows and their kin
who inhabit the Dreamlands of other worlds.
They know ways to enter the waking world,
where they converse with their earthly kin and
yowl in memory of the time when cats were
worshipped as gods and howl of the time
when their cousins were persecuted by fanati-
cal witch hunters.
Dreamers who befriend the cats of Ulthar
have access to their gossip network, for cats
hear much though are loathe to speak to out-
siders. Ask for information, and the cats will
rapidly spread the word among the kin, with
messages racing across the Dreamlands from
cat to cat. Given time, their messages will filter
through to the waking world.
Individually, a cat of Ulthar is little threat
to a dreamer—its bites and clawing no more
deadly than the standard house cats that curl
in front of countless fires, their eyes reflecting
the flickering flames as they ponder things far
beyond the ken of humans and their limited
insight into the universe. Gathered as a host,
however, they are a formidable force, as the
cruel cotters of the deserted cottage in Ulthar
who dared to kill a kitten learned to their
cost.
Cat of Ulthar
Follower 1
196
Archetype: Dreamlands Animal; Motivation:
Survival; Style: 0
Primary Attributes: Body 1, Dexterity 4,
Strength 1, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 2
Secondary Attributes: Size –2, Move 5 (10)*,
Perception 4, Initiative 6, Defense 7, Stun 1,
Health 1, Sanity 4
Skills: Acrobatics 5, Brawl 3, Dreamlands Lore
4, Stealth 7**, Streetwise 4, Survival 4
Talents: Flurry (Can make two attacks at –2)
Resources: —
Flaws: Semi-Bestial (Cannot use tools)
Weapons: Bite 3L, Claws 3L
Lorekeeper
These elderly cats are entrusted with mem-
orizing the history and customs of their kind
and imparting their wisdom to generations
of young kittens. They use the same statistics
as above except for their Skills, which are as
follows.
Skills: Brawl 3, Diplomacy 4, Dreamlands
Lore 6 (History 7), Stealth 7**, Streetwise 5
(Rumors 6)
Cat Officer
Patron 1
Archetype: Dreamlands Aristocrat; Motiva-
tion: Duty; Style: 1
Primary Attributes: Body 1, Dexterity 5,
Strength 1, Charisma 3, Intelligence 2, Will-
power 3
Secondary Attributes: Size –2, Move 6 (12)*,
Perception 5, Initiative 7, Defense 8, Stun 1,
Health 2, Sanity 6
Skills: Acrobatics 6, Athletics 4, Brawl 6, Di-
plomacy 5, Dreamlands Lore 4, Intimidation 5,
Stealth 8**, Streetwise 4, Survival 4
Talents: Finesse Attack (Uses Dexterity with
Brawl), Flurry (Can make two attacks at –2)
Resources: Status 1 (Chief; +2 Social bonus)
Flaws: Semi-Bestial (Cannot use tools)
Weapons: Bite 3L, Claws 3L
* Creatures with four or more legs double
their Move rating when running.
** Cats of Ulthar have a +2 Size bonus to
Stealth rolls.
$44.99 TAG20303

CTHULHU HAS RISEN & TERRIFYING

SECRETS SHALL BE REVEALED!

Are you ready to step beyond

reality and explore the profane lore
eldritch Great Old Ones and the
wonders of the Dreamlands?

The Cthulhu Codicil adds a wealth

of new material to Leagus of
Cthulhu, the award-winning game
of the Lovecraft Mythos set in the
late Victorian Age.
But be warned, for once seen, the
elder lore inside this book can
never be unlearned.

Step across the tenuous border of reality and inside you’ll find:
New bloodline Talents and a trio of Leagues
A plethora of rituals, tomes, locations, and dread horrors
Expanded dvice for playing in the Lovecraft Mythos.
A detailed exploration of the mystical Dreamlands, including rules
for dreamers and altering the landscape of the Dreamlands, rituals
and tomes unique to that fabled land, a complete gazetteer, and a
bestiary of its notable human and inhuman denizens.

Cthulhu Codicil is a supplement for the award-winning Leagues of

Cthulhu and is part of the Ubiquity-powered Leagues of Adventure line.

www.tripleacegames.com

© 2019 Triple Ace Games Ltd. Leagues of Cthulhu and all related marks and logos are trademarks of Triple Ace Games Ltd.
Ubiquity Roleplaying System, Exile Games Studio, and all associated logos and trademarks are copyright, Exile Games Studio, LLC. Used with permission