Gyaa-yothn

Gyaa-yothn, may be described by deranged and confused observers as monstrous "Unicorns"; see also Gnophkeh and Gnoph-keh

Origin: (earliest known story/scenario the creature appears in, indicate whether this is uncertain)

Description

"...He could not refrain from crying out in terror at what he saw when he passed through the great vine-draped pylons and emerged upon the ancient road. He did not wonder that the curious Wichita had fled in panic, and had to close his eyes a moment to retain his sanity.... He merely hinted at the shocking morbidity of these great floundering white things, with black fur on their backs, a rudimentary horn in the centre of their foreheads, and an unmistakable trace of human or anthropoid blood in their flatnosed, bulging-lipped faces. They were, he declared later in his manuscript, the most terrible objective entities he ever saw in his life, either in K'n-yan or in the outer world. And the specific quality of their supreme terror was something apart from any easily recognisable or describable feature. The main trouble was that they were not wholly products of Nature.... The flesh they ate was not that of intelligent people of the master-race, but merely that of a special slave-class which had for the most part ceased to be thoroughly human, and which indeed was the principal meat stock of K'n-yan. They - or their principal ancestral element - had first been found in a wild state amidst the Cyclopean ruins of the deserted red-litten world of Yoth which lay below the blue-litten world of K'n-yan...."
— H.P. Lovecraft and Zelia Bishop, "The Mound (fiction)"

Gyaa-yothn began their existence as a quadrupedal and vaguely reptilian descendant of the proto-human Serpent People which had retreated to Yoth at an early period of Earth's prehistory and fallen into decadence. As Yoth fell under conquest of the People of K'n-yan, these reptilian creatures were subjected to biological engineering and interbreeding with "inferior" mammalian humanoid (K'n-yanian) stock to produce a sapient class of carnivorous beasts of burden, transportation, sport, and war.

In their modern form, the creatures are awkward, flabby, albino, ape-like quadrupeds of monstrous appearance and disposition, with paws resembling human hands and feet, monstrously humanoid/anthropoid faces, and a single short, rudimentary, reptilian horn projecting from low on the creature's forehead, leading to comparisons to repulsive and terrifying "unicorns".

The beasts serve the People of K'n-yan as transportation equivalent to surface world horses, guards and spies equivalent to surface guard and hunting dogs but capable of complex thought and speech, beasts of burden and slave labor equivalent of surface oxen, pets and messengers, and in unspeakable forms of spectator sport, entertainment, and pleasure in the monstrous rites and amphitheaters of K'n-yan.

Heresies and Controversies

• Note that the description of Gyaa-yothn vaguely resembles that of the allegedly bear-like unicorn Gnoph-keh, as well as the monstrously proto-humanoid Gnophkeh; one might suggest a correspondence of the three creatures as relatives, separated only by the degree of biological meddling by the People of K'n-yan ranging from the basic "inferior" humanoid stock (Gnophkeh), to the monstrously sub-human (Gnoph-keh).
• "The Mound" refers to a quadrupedal reptilian race dwelling in Yoth which had been interbred with various other races to create the Gyaa-yothn stock; these quadrupeds appear to be the descendants of Serpent People, and might also resemble the Reptile People of "The Nameless City".

Quotes

"They had frightful beasts with a faint strain of human blood, on which they rode, and which they employed for other purposes. The things, so people hinted, were carnivorous, and like their masters, preferred human flesh; so that although the Old Ones themselves did not breed, they had a sort of half-human slave-class which also served to nourish the human and animal population. This had been very oddly recruited, and was supplemented by a second slave-class of reanimated corpses. The Old Ones knew how to make a corpse into an automaton which would last almost indefinitely and perform any sort of work when directed by streams of thought...."
— H.P. Lovecraft and Zelia Bishop, "The Mound (fiction)"

"Formerly several races of them had inhabited the entire underground world, which stretched down to unfathomable abysses and which included besides the blue-litten region a red-litten region called Yoth, where relics of a still older and non-human race were found by archaeologists. In the course of time, however, the men of Tsath had conquered and enslaved the rest; interbreeding them with certain horned and four-footed animals of the red-litten region, whose semi-human leanings were very peculiar, and which, though containing a certain artificially created element, may have been in part the degenerate descendants of those peculiar entities who had left the relics.... This extensive slave-class was highly composite, being bred from ancient conquered enemies, from outer-world stragglers, from dead bodies curiously galvanised into effectiveness, and from the naturally inferior members of the ruling race of Tsath...."
— H.P. Lovecraft and Zelia Bishop, "The Mound (fiction)"

"...He could not refrain from crying out in terror at what he saw when he passed through the great vine-draped pylons and emerged upon the ancient road. He did not wonder that the curious Wichita had fled in panic, and had to close his eyes a moment to retain his sanity.... He merely hinted at the shocking morbidity of these great floundering white things, with black fur on their backs, a rudimentary horn in the centre of their foreheads, and an unmistakable trace of human or anthropoid blood in their flatnosed, bulging-lipped faces. They were, he declared later in his manuscript, the most terrible objective entities he ever saw in his life, either in K'n-yan or in the outer world. And the specific quality of their supreme terror was something apart from any easily recognisable or describable feature. The main trouble was that they were not wholly products of Nature.... The flesh they ate was not that of intelligent people of the master-race, but merely that of a special slave-class which had for the most part ceased to be thoroughly human, and which indeed was the principal meat stock of K'n-yan. They - or their principal ancestral element - had first been found in a wild state amidst the Cyclopean ruins of the deserted red-litten world of Yoth which lay below the blue-litten world of K'n-yan...."
— H.P. Lovecraft and Zelia Bishop, "The Mound (fiction)"

Associated Mythos Elements

• race: People of K'n-yan
• race: Serpent People or perhaps Reptile People, inhabitants of Yoth which served as some of the breeding stock for Gyaa-yothn
• races: Gnophkeh and Gnoph-keh (see "heresies and controversies" above)
• location: Hollow Earth, in K'n-yan, Yoth, and elsewhere
• deity: Tsathoggua
• cult: Cult of Tsathoggua

References

• Fiction: "The Mound (fiction)" by H.P. Lovecraft and Zelia Bishop