Researching Nyogtha
H1zadkiel
I am researching Nyogtha, the Thing that Should Not Be for my scenario @
Gen Con next year. This will be set in the 1740's, in the White Wolf
Vampire system. Other than the original works of Kuttner and the CofC base
Gamebook 5th Ed., where do I find more information other than fragmentary
references to this most reclusive of Great Old Ones?
Fred Pyter
H1Za...@aol.com
bill walsh
In article <52s5vt$g...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, h1za...@aol.com
(H1zadkiel) wrote:
Well, the Encyclopedia Cthulhiana says:
NYOGTHA (also THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE).
Great Old One who dwells beneath the earth, or possibly within a dark
world circling Arcturus. He can only manifest himself through certain
openings to the upper world. Such openings have been found in
Massachusetts, Romania, New Zealand, and the Plateau of Leng, but they
undoubtedly exist in other places as yet undiscovered.
Nyogtha is not thought to have an active cult, though solitary sorcerers
have invoked him to gain personal power. He has been connected with at
least one of the witches executed in the Salem witch trials, and there
have been other instances scattered worldwide. Nyogtha is also known to
be served by some cults associated with ghouls.
One theory about Nyogtha suggests that he has some link with the Elder
Things. It is said that Nyogtha appealed to these aliens to aid his
growth, and the Elder Things agreed, hoping to control him. However, as
they feared, Nyogtha began to break away from their control. In response,
they constructed a huge magical shield which kept him imprisoned in a
cavern on his native New Zealand, unable to reach his full maturity. This
theory does not explain how Nyogtha has manifested himself elsewhere in
the world.
No matter what his nature, Nyogtha is relatively easy to drive off. Use
of an ankh, the Vach-Viraj Incantation, or the Tikkoun elixir will cause
him to return to the caverns from whence [sic] he came.
See ankh, _Black God of Madness_, elemental throy, Naggoob, Tikkoun
Elixir, Ubbo-Sathla, Vach-Viraj Incantation. ("Zoth-Ommog," Carter; "The
Stairs in the Crypt," Carter and Smith; "Castle Dark," Herber (CoC); "The
Salem Horror," Kuttner; _The Thing at the Threshold_, McConnell (C).)
bill walsh
ott...@xnet.com
KAYVEN
>I am researching Nyogtha, the Thing that Should Not Be for my scenario @
>Gen Con next year. This will be set in the 1740's, in the White Wolf
>Vampire system. Other than the original works of Kuttner and the CofC
base
>Gamebook 5th Ed., where do I find more information other than fragmentary
>references to this most reclusive of Great Old Ones?
Nyogtha can be found in the following scenarios:
The Fungi From Yuggoth - by Keith Herber (very little info)
The Lurker in the Crypt - by Kurt Miller in Fatal Experiments (very
interesting)
The Thing At The Threshhold - by Paul McConnell and Neal Sutton (very
informitive)
In terms of Nyogtha's history, Nyogtha is placed on a lightless world
near Arcturus (Zoth-Ommog), in caverns under New Zealand (Chaosium's THE
THING AT THE THRESHOLD) and in the lowermost cavern of Y'qaa. Y'qaa is a
place where the barriers between worlds is weak and lies thousands of
miles under the earth's curst. Could Y'qaa have caverns that reach up to
New Zealand, and could the dimensions in Y'qaa where Nyogtha dwells be
concurrent with that lightless planet around Arcturus? Maybe. Here is an
idea: In THING, we are told that Nyogtha needed the help of the Elder
Things because he was so weak. There is never an explanation of why he
was so weak, but it might be because Nyogtha had used much of his energy
in traveling the dimensional highway from his prison on Arcturus to
Earth's Y'qaa. He just had enough energy to squirm his way up to the
surface, coming out in New Zealand. He used telepathy to call for help
and the Elder Things came. They agreed to help for his assistance in
their wars. Nyogtha agreed, with no real plans to keep that promise. The
Elder Things built a safe place for Nyogtha to rest in. However, it was
also a prison, since the Elder Things knew what kind of people the Great
Old Ones were. So when it became apparent that Nyogtha was lying, they
kept that prison in place. Nyogtha, therefore, is perhaps one of the
weakest of the Great Old Ones. Still powerful enough to lay a city to
waste, but not as powerful as he potentially is. Thus most of the
motivation behind Nyogtha is the gaining of power and strength. A motive
that is evident in The Lurker in the Crypt as well as The Thing on the
Threshold.
Some stories with Nyogtha:
Brennan, Joseph - The Seventh Incantation
Carter, Lin - Zoth-Ommog & The Stairs in the Crypt (this last one links
Nyogtha with the ghouls)
Interestingly, Nyogtha might be the only Great Old One *not*
name-dropped by August Derleth. :)
On another side note, the passage in the Necronomicon (in The Salem
Horror) which mentions Nyogtha was actually included by Olaus Wormius and
is not part of the Necronomicon's text prior to 1228. It is possible that
Nyogtha's worship was at it's height in the 1100s. Especially given the
Necronomicon quote's mention of Nyogtha being used against Genghis Khan
(1167-1227) and his army.
I hope some of that helps.
Steven Harris
John D. Ford
In article <5317ga$e...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, kay...@aol.com (KAYVEN) wrote:
{SNIP}
>Some stories with Nyogtha:
>Brennan, Joseph - The Seventh Incantation
>Carter, Lin - Zoth-Ommog & The Stairs in the Crypt (this last one links
>Nyogtha with the ghouls)
What exactly is Nyogtha's link with the ghouls? Not to request the posting of
the whole story but, you know, in general. (My players are running into a
bit of Nyogtha cultists in the current campaign, and also ghouls, so I'd like
to know exactly what relations are and stuff.)
[SNIP]
>
> I hope some of that helps.
>
>
>Steven Harris
That's all *very* informative. Could anyone out there provide a bit of
information about Y'------c? (Must'n't read his name, lads . . .) His
connection to Cthulhu or Daoloth? My players failed to stop Y'------c in his
host in a recent scenario from a Cthulhu Now scenario book (won't tell ya
which for spoiler, but ye'll know if you read it) and now Y'------c is
gallavanting across the U.S. seeking to fulfill "his own ends" which I have
interpreted so far as "get lots of followers, bend them to his will, and have
big murd'rin, orgy parties" until Y. has enough POW to summon a few Cthonians
from the fault line at San Madrid (Memphis) to cause a big quake and go
looking to free his "true form." I know he is supposed to be "sleeping behind
the wall" but is he like Cthulhu in that his imprisonment is a result of the
stars? Or like Nyogtha, in that his imprisonment is just miles 'n' miles of
earth? If the latter, I think he'd be happy to run around in the fresh air
for awhile. (Heh heh, Graceland watch out. . .)
J.D. Ford
Jeff Maziarz
>
> > I am researching Nyogtha, the Thing that Should Not Be for my scenario @
> > Gen Con next year. This will be set in the 1740's, in the White Wolf
> > Vampire system. Other than the original works of Kuttner and the CofC base
> > Gamebook 5th Ed., where do I find more information other than fragmentary
> > references to this most reclusive of Great Old Ones?
>
If we are quoting CoC books, _Fatal_Experiments_ has an adventure concerning Nyogtha. I have
included goodies between some dashed in rot13 (hahahaha!) for anyone not wishing to read about
it because they may go through the adventure. And, yes, there are ghoul references, if minor.
--
Va guvf nqiragher, n fbeprerff (qrnq naq fgvyy xvpxvat, V oryvrir)
vf gelvat gb oerrq n freingbe enpr sbe Albtgun. Hasbeghangryl, nyy gur
bsssfcevat ghea bhg fgrevyr ng orfg, fb fur vf fgvyy va gung "rkcrevzragny"
fgntr. Gur uhzna bssfcevat fgneg bss uhzna rabhtu; ohg, nf gurl tebj,
gurl qrirybcr fgenatr srngher, naq riraghnyyl (fbzr gvzr nsgre choregl)
orpbzr oynpx vpxl uhznabvqf jvgu ybgf bs gragnpyrf, vzzhar gb n ybg (yvxr
npvq naq fhpu). V guvax lbh pna svaq gur jevgr hcf sbe gurz va bar bs
gur ornfgl fhccyvzrag obbxf. V fnj bar gung unq ybgf bs zbafgref sebz
zbqhnyf gung unq gurfr thlf va vg.
Naljnl, bar bs gur fbeprerff'f znva rkcrevzragf jnf jvgu svefg pebff
oerrqvat uhzna naq tubhyf svefg, gura univat gur pebff oevat orne
Albtgun'f puvyq. Gurfr arj fcnja gbbx ybatre gb orpbzr ubeevoyr
vpxl guvatf, fb guvf vf gur jnl gur fbeprerff jnf/vf cebprrqvat.
(Fbhaqrq n yvggyr yvxr gur jubyr Qrrc Bar guvat gb zr.)
V guvax, sebz nyy guvf, gung tubhyf ner cebohoyl fbzr eryngvba
gb Albtgun; ohg, n irel qvfgnag bar. Creuncf orvat sryybj fhogreenva
pevggref urycf. Hasbeghagryl, V qba'g erzrzore jul n fgenvtug tubhy
vzcertangvba jnf jung fur jnagrq; ohg, V guvax vg jnf fb gung gur fcnja
jbhyq or, be ng yrnfg ybbx, uhzna va beqre gb orggre freir Albtgun.
--
Jeff Maziarz "Play with tigers, you get
jmaz...@internet.com covered in yellow hair."
B4/5 f- w g s+ kv r p - Duckman
briley
In article <52s5vt$g...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, h1za...@aol.com says...
>
> I am researching Nyogtha, the Thing that Should Not Be for my scenario
@
>Gen Con next year. This will be set in the 1740's, in the White Wolf
>Vampire system. Other than the original works of Kuttner and the CofC
base
>Gamebook 5th Ed., where do I find more information other than
fragmentary
>references to this most reclusive of Great Old Ones?
>
some don't accept the conclusions lying therein about Nyogtha.
The adventure "The Wail of the Witch" in The Curse of Cthulhu has
Nyogtha, but the adventure is basically a re-tread of Kuttner's tale.
The adventure "The Lurker in the Crypt" also has Nyogtha, along with
his Spawn. This appeared in Fatal Experiments.
That's all the game references I can think of. Book references
are harder to find. All that pops in my mind (besides Kuttner) is a
Lin Carter pastiche of CAS, but that's a poor source of information.
Christophe Thill
On 3 Oct 1996 16:25:46 -0400, kay...@aol.com (KAYVEN) wrote:
>Some stories with Nyogtha:
>Brennan, Joseph - The Seventh Incantation
>Carter, Lin - Zoth-Ommog & The Stairs in the Crypt (this last one links
>Nyogtha with the ghouls)
I seem to remember that he's also to be found in some of Lumley's
stories (hey, that's ONLY for the sake of completeness!)
> Interestingly, Nyogtha might be the only Great Old One *not*
>name-dropped by August Derleth. :)
Maybe he and Kuttner were not good friends..?
Christophe Thill - Paris, France
c_t...@worldnet.fr
ArKa/D/ia! Homepage: http://www.worldnet.fr/~c_thill/
HP Lovecraft page: http://www.worldnet.fr/~c_thill/hpl/