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Spoiler Thread for Leaf 005
🕑 Added 2018-09-22 13:58:02 +0000 UTCHello cultists! Let's begin.
Page 9 begins with a lengthy chant to Tsathoggua, lifted directly from a letter written by Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith. The reference to “the stone desert of K’li-Phon-N’yah” is of course a lame pun as Smith lived in California. I do like the idea that Tsathoggua came to Earth before Cthulhu.
We then get an introduction of sorts to Azathoth, and also a teacher of Hazred’s named Ibn Schaccabac whom you might recall from The Festival. The name comes from Arabian Nights, but it was mistyped (either by HPL or a typesetter at Weird Tales) as Schaccabao and this name stuck (and confounded fans) for decades. Only recently has the true name been rediscovered. His vision of “Azathothe’s messenger” is inspired by a vision Edward Kelly had while communicating with Angels.
Speaking of Angels, Dee’s margin notes attempt to reconcile R’Lyehian with Enochian, with interesting results. I may do more of this in the future, but it is damned time consuming!
Page 10 continues what I would describe as Book of Revelation style visions of the eschaton. Hazred is confident that his Gods will reclaim the Earth, and with them certain other things, things that shall rise up as teeming hordes from the deep, or descend from the sky. Oh, and that Green Flame is totally a reference to The Festival as well.
Now we jump to page 39 where we see the Angles of the Nh-Hngr. This is a reference to the things young Whateley had to memorize from the Necronomicon (according to his journal in The Dunwich Horror). He wrote that he had to memorize all the Planes and Angles and Formulae between the Yr and the Nhhngr (I’ve adapted that last word a bit to suit my own tastes). So this is a sort of Primer for students before the book continues. Lovecraft loved science, and so trying to bring some of that in and harmonize it with the concepts available to a 7th century Arabian mystic, and the language available to a 16th century English translator has been quite a challenge. I have enlisted the help of Sam Yates as my science advisor, but any errors are entirely Dee’s (okay, okay, mine). The references in the margin notes are pulled from Lovecraft’s letters, which is a great resource for expanded terminology. What exactly this all means will be expanded upon as the book progresses, but these are foundational building blocks needed to begin to unlock the book’s potential.
Page 40 gives a good introduction to the potential significance of the previous diagram, as well as a warning to not trust the eye that hasn’t been properly trained by these lessons. The diagram below then immediately tests this warning, as we are shown something flat that appears to have depth.
The very last lines on the page are a blessing by Hazred, pulled again from a letter by Lovecraft. It felt like a perfect place for the author to make such a comment, as you have now passed the first test and are sufficiently prepared to begin the narrative proper.
The squiggles in the margin are from a pact with the devil and would be an addition by Sir Carter.
Comments
Christian Matzke
I think when we finish the first quire (12 pages) I will post a guide to make sure everyone has them in the right order.
I love it... I just hope I put it together right.. :-)
Christian Matzke
First, Conceptual Resonance Cascade is a beautiful string of words. Errors are also an opportunity for folks to make their own notations on the pages. It really helps add some history to the tome.
Mandy Reznor (She_It)
Luckily, an terminal section covering the errata that couldn't be corrected before printing was a thing in the old days, so little mistakes may just HELP verisimilitude, rather than hurt it. I rather like the association with the Yr-Nhhngr! Sam and I have been using the term Ghooric overlap (in reference to the Ghooric Zone) but for us, "Ghoor" was merely the Aklo term for the coordinate transforms of reality--we hadn't ascribed labels for individual transforms, so the Yr and Nhhngr make a good deal of sense. Oh, a question: has Sam discussed how awareness of other planes can take the form of a conceptual resonance cascade with you? It's interesting, and ties in with "From Beyond" quite well.
