Sandy petersens cthulhu mythos (1) 9

What is the Cthulhu Mythos?
The Old Ones were, the Old Ones

innovations was to create a sort of common mythology,

are, and the Old Ones shall be. …

which multiple authors would draw upon when writing

Man rules now where They ruled

horror tales. Most infamously, he created the fearful

once; They shall soon rule where

book the Necronomicon, which was mentioned by

man rules now. After summer is

dozens of other writers, giving it an aura of realism that

winter, and after winter summer.

is rare in fiction. The same is true for many of his other

They wait patient and potent, for

creations.

here shall They reign again.
—H. P. Lovecraft

In the 1920s and 1930s, an obscure American writer

Today, this framework he invented is usually
called the Cthulhu Mythos, named after one of his
most famous frights. And here we are today, steeping
ourselves again in its awesome and terrible secrets.

named H. P. Lovecraft penned a series of the most

The Cthulhu Mythos is based on the principle that

amazing horror tales ever written. He broached

humanity is not the center of the universe. The cosmos

topics never before conceived, devised a multitude of

is vast and filled with unthinkable forces, many not

terrifying entities, and invented a whole new approach

subject to our own natural laws. Some of these forces

to horror, changing the face of fantastic fiction forever.

are unthinkably powerful—best considered to be

Yet he did even more. He was active in the Amateur

like unto gods. These include Great Old Ones and

Press Association of his time, and corresponded heavily

Outer Gods such as Yog-Sothoth, Azathoth, Hastur,

with other authors, giving them advice and

and Cthulhu. Others are lesser beings, though still

mentoring them. One of his

fearsome and dangerously intelligent, such as the fungi
from Yuggoth, the deep ones, or the elder things. These
forces can manifest in the physical world as well, giving
supernatural potency to inanimate objects or even
concepts, such as geometry and mathematics.
The Mythos is nothing if not scientific, though
humanity does not and indeed cannot know everything.
The magic of the Mythos is all founded upon scientific
principles, discovered or undiscovered.
Come,

let

us

explore

Lovecraft’s

imagination together.
—Sandy Petersen

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