Zushakon

2008-06-21T11:10:47Z

Willpell:

Zul-che-quon or Zushakon is a [[Great Old One]] featured in "[[The Bells of Horror]]" by Henry Kuttner. He is not described directly in the book, but is said to abide in a perpetual darkness, which he brings with him wherever he goes. Not only does an area where Zul-che-quon is soon to manifest grow unnaturally dark, but persons in the area develop a sense of intense itching and burning in their eyes, which grows so severe that they may claw their eyes out to put a stop to it. He is also said to be accompanied by a sound of rushing wings. A monastery in Mexico contains bells which are said to summon Zul-che-quon when it is rung.

Elder God (Cthulhu mythos)

2008-06-21T10:56:59Z

Willpell:

The Elder Gods are immortal entities in the Cthulhu Mythos. They are generally distinguished from the [[Outer Gods]] or [[Great Old Ones]] by being less unbearable to behold (some choose to appear as humanlike figures, though their majesty is still awe-inspiring and humbling to mere mortals), and by being less generally inimical to humanity. Some Elder Gods are known to help human beings who have dabbled in the Mythos return to relative safety (though never to an untroubled psyche); it would however be a mistake to assume they are inevitably benevolent. At best, they are still vastly superior to humans and have minds and motivations beyond human understanding; their seeming friendliness may well be coincidental, or due to reasons humans cannot fathom.

The only Elder God described explicitly by [[Lovecraft]] himself was [[Nodens]], "hoary and terrible lord of the primeval [[Abyss]]". This title implies that Lovecraft didn't consider Nodens any friend of humanity; however, later writers including the authors of the [[Call of Cthulhu]] roleplaying game have assumed him to be uninterested in attacking humans and portrayed him as occasionally aiding travelers stranded in alien dimensions to return to Earth or escape marauding monsters.

[[August Derleth]]'s version of the Mythos, being inspired by Christianity and intended to reflect a belief that good can triumph over evil (sharply at odds with Lovecraft's view that the cosmos was too inherently perilous for humans to ever consider themselves safe), used the Elder Gods as his forces of good, manifest primarily through the [[Elder Sign]]s which can keep the Mythos's forces at bay. It is possible that he intended [[Cthugha]] to be an Elder God, as the protagonist of "[[The Dweller in Darkness]]" summons Cthugha to dispatch a manifestation of [[Nyarlathotep]]; however it is more likely that this was due to Derleth's other controversial view of the Great Old Ones, that they were [[elemental]] creatures and could be set against each other due to their polarity. Later writers have invariably described Cthugha as a Great Old One.

[[Brian Lumley]]'s Mythos writings resemble Derleth's in their use of benevolent Elder Gods; his flagship character [[Titus Crow]] makes contact with an Elder God called [[Kthanid]] and is tasked with opposing Cthulhu. Kthanid is Cthulhu's "brother" (whether in the conventional human definition or a more arcane sense) and appears exactly the same as Cthulhu save for having humanlike eyes and a benevolent persona.

Only a few other Elder Gods have been described, notably [[Henry Kuttner]]'s [[Vorvadoss]], a being who appears as a vague, nonhumanlike face behind a wall of fire, and displays a temper only barely less malevolent than that of many Great Old Ones.

[YSDC] Into The Deep - User contributions [en]

Zushakon

Elder God (Cthulhu mythos)