Cultes des Goules
The Cultes des Goules is the title of a fictional book created by Robert Bloch. Both H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth have claimed to have been the books creater.
Contents
Description
Cultes des Goules is a book of black magic written by Francois-Honore Balfour (Comte d'Erlette) in 1702. It was published in France (Paris?, 1703) and later denounced by the church, but also resulted in a crackdown by Paris magistrates on alleged practitioners of the cult in response to hysteria following the publication, with dozens of accused members hanged, and others fleeing Paris or committing themselves to obscure insane asylums and convents where they seem to have disappeared under suspicious circumstances.
Only a handful of copies of the book remain in existence. One of the known copies was kept for 91 years in an arcane library of the Church of Starry Wisdom in Providence, Rhode Island. After Robert Blake’s mysterious death in 1935, Doctor Dexter removed the grimoire and added it to his library.
Contents
Catalogs a large cult practicing necromancy, necrophagy, and necrophilia in France.
Original French Version
French, by François-Honore Balfour, Comte d’Erlette, 1702? Published in 1703 in France (Paris?), in a quarto edition. Only fourteen copies are known to exist, the most recent surfacing in Providence, RI, in 1906.
Expurged French Version
TO DO
Italian Translation
TO DO
Role Playing Game Stats
- Original French Version
- Sanity Loss 1D10/1D4; Cthulhu Mythos +12 Percent. Average 22 weeks to study and comprehend/ 48 hours to skim.
- Expurged French Version
- Sanity Loss 1D8/1D4; Cthulhu Mythos +10 Percent. Average 17 weeks to study and comprehend/ 34 hours to skim.
- Italian Translation
- Sanity Loss 1D8/1D4; Cthulhu Mythos +9 Percent. Average 15 weeks to study and comprehend/30 hours to skim.
Rumors and Speculation
- At least two parts of Cultes des Goules detail the Comte d'Erlette's controversial "Elemental Theory":
- One part describes a sort of "family tree" of the Great Old Ones and supernatural creatures categorized by the classical elements (water, fire, earth, wind) Comte d'Erlette believed they represent.
- One part describes the origin and history of the Ghouls, which Comte d'Erlette claimed were fallen "fire elementals" called djinn, banished by "Heaven" to Earth, where they exact vengeance upon Heaven by possessing and debasing human flesh.
