Ghorl Nigral

Title: Ghörl Nigral, AKA The Book of Night, The Hidden Legacy of Ancient Leng

Origin: The Ghorl Nigral was invented by Lovecraft correspondent Willis Conover in one of his letters to H.P. Lovecraft, with additional detail supplied by Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard; Secret Mysteries of Asia, with a Commentary on the Ghorl Nigral is a creation of Lin Carter.

Description

"…Indeed, a glance at the hieroglyphs by any reader of von Junzt’s horrible Nameless Cults would have established a linkage of unmistakable significance.... At this period, however, the readers of that monstrous blasphemy were exceedingly few; copies having been incredibly scarce in the interval between the suppression of the original Dusseldorf edition (1839) and of the Bridewell translation (1845) and the publication of the expurgated reprint by the Golden Goblin Press in 1909."
– H.P. Lovecraft, "Out of the Aeons"

Perhaps one of the oldest surviving books on earth, exceedingly rare and regarded as a figment of fable or legend by those who know it only by rumor or allusion; the Ghorl Nigral, with a reputation as "the most awful book ever written" and "the oldest book on Earth", was by some accounts dictated by Nyarlathotep to Zakuba, an inhuman ("pig-snouted and clawed") High Priest of Yaddith of the Five Moons, for the purpose of enlightening the Dholes; Zakuba fled instead with it to ancient earthly Mu, sharing its knowledge with the priests of that doomed continent.

The book would find its way into the hands of a terrible and ancient cult, the Monks of Yahlgan, who preserved it in a secret occult library in Yian-Ho in the mountains of darkest Asia for aeons. Herrmann Mulder would come into contact with it there after insinuating himself into the cult as the first European member; Mulder would learn the tome's Naacal language from the monks, and then steal the tome, fleeing with it from its Asian library first to Prussia with the monks giving chase close behind him until their pursuit abruptly ended (allegedly following a human sacrifice and terrible spell performed by Mulder), and then to Arkham after word reached Mulder that the monks had at last found his trail again in Germany.

It would be in Germany in the early- to mid-1800s, that the text appears to have served among the source material for Cultes des Goules and Unaussprechlichen Kulten, whose authors came into contact with it via the tome's translator, Herrmann Mulder after they successfully convinced Mulder to share its content with them through flattery and, apparently, through the use of magick to persuade the translator to reveal its secrets. Mulder would produce an English translation before D'Erlette and/or Von Juntz stole the original tome from Mulder in the confusion of his flight from Germany.

Mulder's descendants would produce a few heavily expurgated editions of the text in the years after Mulder's mysterious death, mainly to fill the demands for information on Eastern Mysticism that developed through the Spiritualism era of late 1800s into the Theosophy era of the early 20th Century. Notable among these would be an expurgated edition, and a Commentary by Gottfried Mulder, who wrote his book with content remembered from his brief glances at his father's tome recalled through self-hypnosis, before his arrest and confinement until death in a madhouse in Metzengerstein.

Ghorl Nigral, Original (prehistoric)

Language: Naacal

Physical Description: Perhaps the oldest extant text on the planet, exceedingly rare and regarded as fable or legend; is pages are leaves of unidentifiable, well-nigh indestructible pliant metal, its covers are plates of an equally unknown greenish mineral.

General Content: Contains Thurian Age historical and geographical knowledge, and advanced and perhaps alien scientific, mechanical, and surgical information, with references to Leng, Mu, Lemuria, Atlantis, the Tcho-Tchos, Lemurians, and Ghouls.

Number of known copies (if rare): exceedingly rare, perhaps unique

Last known location of surviving copies (if rare): One copy, said to have been once held in a secret library by the Monks of Yahlgan, and stolen by translator Herrmann Mulder, is known to have been in the possession of Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Junzt and Comte d'Erlette for a short time, under the close watchful eye of Mulder; this book accompanied Mulder to Arkham and has since vanished, and may be in the hands of Ghouls.

Mythos Content

Spells: may contain spells relating to shape-shifting, transformations of flesh, etc.

• Sanity Loss: Heavy
• Mythos Knowledge: Moderate
• Occult Knowledge: Minimal

Ghorl Nigral, Dusseldorf Edition (1839)

Language: German

Physical Description: A grease-proof parcel of five old books in German.

General Content: Contains Thurian Age historical and geographical knowledge, and advanced and perhaps alien scientific, mechanical, and surgical information, with references to Leng, Mu, Lemuria, Atlantis, the Tcho-Tchos, Lemurians, and Ghouls.

Number of known copies (if rare): unique

Last known location of surviving copies (if rare): One copy, which accompanied its translator Mulder to Arkham, where Mulder had it translated into English and republished; this edition has since vanished, and may be in the hands of Ghouls.

Mythos Content

Spells: may contain spells relating to shape-shifting, transformations of flesh, etc.

• Sanity Loss: Heavy
• Mythos Knowledge: Moderate
• Occult Knowledge: Minimal

Ghorl Nigral, Bridewell Edition (1845)

Language: English

Physical Description: a set of five hastily- and crudely-published antique books in poorly-translated, rambling English

General Content: Contains Thurian Age historical and geographical knowledge, and advanced and perhaps alien scientific, mechanical, and surgical information, with references to Leng, Mu, Lemuria, Atlantis, the Tcho-Tchos, Lemurians, and Ghouls.

Number of known copies (if rare): A handful of copies were privately published, most have since been destroyed or have vanished.

Last known location of surviving copies (if rare): Occasional copies have surfaced in private hands and in occult libraries.

Mythos Content

Spells: may contain spells relating to shape-shifting, transformations of flesh, etc.

• Sanity Loss: Moderate
• Mythos Knowledge: Moderate
• Occult Knowledge: Minimal

Die Geheimnisse von Asien, mit Kommentar von Ghorl Nigral Ghorl Nigral (1847, Leipzig)

Language: German ("Secret Mysteries of Asia, with a Commentary on the Ghorl Nigral")

Physical Description: A semi-scholarly book on Asian mysticism by Hermann's son Gottfried Mulder, with an extended summary and commentary on the Ghorl Nigral.

General Content: Contains a great deal of conventional eastern mysticism, examined within the lens of its relationship, real and imagined, to the Ghorl Nigral as a theoretical source and influence over modern mysticism and mythology, including a summary of the Ghorl Nigral, and the author's commentary upon it.

Last known location of surviving copies (if rare): Copies routinely surface in private hands and in occult libraries.

Mythos Content

Spells: Contains no usable spells.

• Sanity Loss: Low
• Mythos Knowledge: Minimal
• Occult Knowledge: Low

Ghorl Nigral, Expurgated Golden Goblin Edition (1909)

Language: English

Physical Description: a single condensed volume in edited and improved English

General Content: Expurgated reprint; contains a condensed version of the original's Thurian Age historical and geographical knowledge, with emphasis on Leng, Mu, Lemuria, and Atlantis, and murky references to Lemurians and Tcho-Tchos.

Number of known copies (if rare): uncommon

Last known location of surviving copies (if rare): Will sometimes appear in the possession of private occultists and occult libraries.

Mythos Content

Spells: contains no working spells

• Sanity Loss: Low
• Mythos Knowledge: Low
• Occult Knowledge: Minimal

Secret Mysteries of Asia, with a Commentary on the Ghorl Nigral (1935 second edition)

Language: English

Physical Description: a semi-scholarly book on Asian mysticism, with an extended summary and commentary on the Ghorl Nigral.

General Content: Contains a great deal of conventional eastern mysticism, examined within the lens of its relationship, real and imagined, to the Ghorl Nigral as a theoretical source and influence over modern mysticism and mythology, including a summary of the Ghorl Nigral, and the author's commentary upon it.

Last known location of surviving copies (if rare): Occasional copies have surfaced in private hands and in occult libraries.

Mythos Content

Spells: Contains no usable spells.

• Sanity Loss: Low
• Mythos Knowledge: Minimal
• Occult Knowledge: Low

Quotes

• "Quote" - source

Appearances

• letters:
  • H.P. Lovecraft and Willis Conover, Lovecraft at Last
• essay:
  • Keith Taylor and Deuce Richardson, "Von Juntz and the Black Book"
• fiction:
  • H.P. Lovecraft, "Out of the Aeons"
  • Robert E. Howard, "The Black Hound of Death"
  • Robert E. Howard, "The Daughter of Erlik Khan"
  • Lin Carter, "The Thing in the Pit"
  • Lin Carter, "Zoth-Ommog"
  • Brian Lumley, "The Statement of One John Gibson"

Heresies and Controversies

• The original tome is cursed, having been repeatedly stolen since it was originally created on an alien world, with all of the thieves into whose hands it has fallen encountering tragedy and misfortune; it calls irresistibly to those who would steal it, driving them to risk their lives and commit terrible crimes as part of the theft and escape from pursuers. (fan theory)
• The tome is the source of many of the original shape-shifting spells known to the ancient priests of Lemuria, and preserved over the aeons in secrete Werewolf and Vampire cults. (fan theory)

Keeper Notes

• A keeper might optionally treat the original tome, and perhaps each one of its rarest, most accurate surviving translations, as a character in its own right - communicating psychically with those into whose hands it falls, driving them to commit horrible crimes in the name of obtaining and keeping their new-found treasure. Horror and misfortune should, in this case, follow in the wake of the tome, wherever it goes, with shadowy and deadly bands of jealous cultists in close pursuit of the prize which was stolen from them.