Inhabitant of the Nameless City

The inhabitants of the Nameless City are a fictional species created by H. P. Lovecraft for his short story "The Nameless City". In The Keeper's Companion, they are referred to as the Reptile People, a race of quadrupedal reptiles with scaly skin and horns.
In the story, a man finds and ventures into the titular Nameless City, which he believes he is the only human to ever enter. He enters several deteriorated temples before discovering that the largest temple, located far to the south from all the others, has a large corridor that leads extremely far underground. after climbing down for a length of time that he describes as nearly eternal, he encounters a tomb full of caskets containing reptilian creatures. These creatures documented their existence in murals which are shown on the wall of the tomb where the bodies are preserved underground. (: "The Nameless City")
==Depiction==
The only available information about the Inhabitants of the Nameless City is taken from images in vast murals found throughout the immeasurably deep cavern beneath the temple where "The Nameless City" takes place in the Nameless City. These murals are displayed above the preserved bodies of the Inhabitants which are kept in casket-like structures lining the narrow passage underground. The paintings can be found through the entire length of an incredibly long hall where the bodies of the creatures are stored. The paintings show the Nameless City when it was prosperous and when it was beginning to decline.
Physically, the inhabitants of the Nameless City are crawling creatures which resemble reptilian seals or crocodiles, albeit with horns on their heads and dexterous digits. They evolved before mankind and built their city over 10 million years ago. The fact that natural deaths are never recorded in their great mural -- which otherwise depicts every aspect of their lives, including death caused by disease or violence -- suggests that these creatures might be biologically immortal and thus never die of old age. (: "The Nameless City")
Early in their history, these creatures were originally aquatic and followers of Cthulhu. (: "The Keeper of the Key")
==Culture==
The Inhabitants of the Nameless City are shown to be very cultured beings capable of forming a civilization with distinct societal ranks, the result of which was the prevalence of a city with wealth comparable to Egypt and Chaldaea. The preservation of dead society members shows a sophistication of intelligence and the ability to uphold a race of emotionally perceptive beings with ideals and morals.
The murals show that the Inhabitants of the Nameless City were able to cultivate the land on which they lived. They were also able to use their natural resources to fashion products for general use. This is made clear by the caskets of the dead Inhabitants, which are described as being made of wood and glass. These beings also clothed themselves, and therefore contained the physical and mental capacity needed to design and create such apparel.
The Inhabitants of the Nameless City also performed religious rituals that involved sacrifice of either living or nonliving offerings. In the above-ground section of the Nameless City, there are temples which contain small, low altars that are scaled down to sizes appropriate for use by the Inhabitants, which are "the size of small men". When in these temples, the main character exploring and excavating has to kneel in order to make safe passage through the structures.
Towards the very end of the enormous mural below ground, there is a depiction of a man being torn limb from limb from several Inhabitants of the Nameless City. It is unclear if this was supposed to be a ritual sacrifice or an act of war. In the original story, it is never stated what god it was that the Inhabitants worshiped. In "The Keeper of the Key", by August Derleth, it is specified that they worshiped Cthulhu. Conversely, in The Keeper's Companion, by Chaosium, they lived at the same time as the Serpent Folk and were worshipers of Yig.
The Inhabitants of the Nameless City had a written language that is present in the tomb murals. However, the Inhabitants present in the story never speak, they only growl and roar in the wind at the very finale of "The Nameless City".
==Conflict==
The mural beneath the temple in the Nameless City shows that the Inhabitants of the Nameless City would at times wage war, though this is apparent only through the depiction of the burial of dead soldiers. It is unclear whether these conflicts were civil wars, or if the Inhabitants of the Nameless City fought against other races. It is also never stated whether it was war, or the natural deterioration of the civilization that caused the Inhabitants to flee underground and build the mass tombs.
==Current Status==
Several Inhabitants of the Nameless City are still alive deep below ground. They exist in a section of the muralled tomb which lies behind a large brass door. This section of the tomb is not described in great detail, because it is filled with a blinding white light. At the very end of "The Nameless City", several Inhabitants of the Nameless City can be seen charging towards the main character from the lighted section of the tomb.
The Inhabitants of the Nameless City fled far underground after the fall of their civilisation. The fall of this civilisation is never directly stated.
In The Mound, by H. P. Lovecraft, an unnamed species of sapient quadrupedal reptiles inhabited the subterranean realm of Yoth. After the collapse of their civilisation, their descendants were hybridized with a mammalian race (possibly the Gyaa-Hua from "Bothon") to give rise to the degenerated Gyaa-yothn. It's not known whether these Yothic reptiles were related to, or even the same species as the inhabitants of the Nameless City.
In Brian Lumley's novel The Return of the Deep Ones, it is revealed that the inhabitants of the Nameless City are related to the Deep Ones, representing a more reptilian offshoot of their evolutionary tree.
==Gallery==
26-nameless city inhabitant.jpg|Illustrated by Michael Bukowski
InhabitantsOfTheNamelessCity.jpg|Illustrated by Gou Tanabe (H. P. Lovecraft's The Hound and Other Stories)
Category:Species Originating From Lovecraft Circle Works
Category:Sapient Species
Category:Earth-Native Species