Cthulhu Mythos

**The** **Cthulhu Mythos** is a mythology based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. It has the more narrow sense of only including stories made by him directly, and the wider sense of including fanfiction. The name *Cthulhu* derives from the central creature in Lovecraft's seminal short story, "The Call of Cthulhu", first published in the pulp magazine *Weird Tales* in 1926.

In his essay "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", Robert M. Price
 described two stages in the development of the Cthulhu Mythos. Price
called the first stage the "**Cthulhu Mythos proper**." This stage was
formulated during Lovecraft's lifetime and was subject to his guidance.
The second stage was guided by August Derleth who, in addition to
publishing Lovecraft's stories after his death, attempted to categorize
and expand the Mythos under the belief that lovecraft did not intend for these stories to be limited to his own writing.

Some of the beings from the cthulhu mythos will show up alongside other demons and gods in-game being treated as if they were just another god or being in that world, and their religions were just another religion. Most notably, Nyarlathotep is a villain in the early persona games, and a few beings like cthulhu show up as demons in some games, most notably SMTII, where some are seen riding the meggido ark. There are also some things that call lovecraftian type themes of cosmic indifference to mind, such as the star beings in devil survivor 2.

## General info

An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of
mankind in the face of the cosmic horrors that apparently exist in the
universe. Lovecraft made frequent references to the "Great Old Ones", a loose pantheon of ancient, powerful deities from space who once ruled the Earth and have since fallen into a deathlike sleep. While these monstrous deities have been present in almost all of Lovecraft's published work (his second short story Dagon is considered the start of the mythos), the first story to really expand the pantheon of Great Old Ones and its themes is The Call of Cthulhu, which was published in 1928.

Lovecraft broke with other pulp writers of the time by having his main
characters' minds deteriorate when afforded a glimpse of what exists
outside their perceived reality. He emphasized the point by stating in
the opening sentence of the story that "The most merciful thing in the
world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its
contents."

Writer Dirk W. Mosig notes that Lovecraft embraced the philosophy of *cosmic indifference*.
 Lovecraft believed in a purposeless, mechanical, and uncaring universe.
 Human beings, with their limited faculties, can never fully understand
this universe, and if they become aware enough even of how much they cannot, the cognitive dissonance caused by this revelation leads to insanity, in his view. This was not only an anti religious view, but often anti science as well, considering that anything that puts humanity too close to this truth puts them at risk for a mental breakdown. Within the stories, the incomprehensible, cosmic forces of his tales have as little regard for humanity as humans have for insects, and often human survival thus far has only been due to simply being so small scale that these things do not notice them. As such, while the stories are not literal, the fact that they were used as a mythical depiction of a worldview gives some context for treating them similarly to other mythologies.

While later writers would try to spin there as being a struggle against these gods at times, maybe in the form of good or evil or at least something slightly better for humans versus less, lovecraft's stories themselves had no tone of this. Fighting back against these beings was not possible, and all one could hope to do is be ignored by them as long as possible / hope not to unseal the ones who would have to be unsealed to enter the world.

One obvious depiction of cosmic indifference in the games is shown in record breaker, with the septentriones who its depicted as unclear if they even have something analogous to our minds, and later the triangulum, who are shown as indifferent, being willing to wipe out humanity in favor of a goal that seems entirely abstract to humans. Unlike lovecraftian depictions, these are depicted as something however that it is possible to stand up against.

As far as why some lovecraftian beings are shown in the meggido ark in SMTII, this may have to do with a few things. Note how in devil survivor 2 the septentriones and triangulum are considered orderly beings, albeit an order that is alien and doesn't particularly care about humanity. So atlus seems to depict cosmic universal concepts of order as related to order more than chaos. And while the beings in lovecraft's stories generally act chaotic, from a cosmic angle one can interpret them as representing a type of higher cosmic order. In context though, what they represent is cosmic indifference. Unlike in-game chaos, these functions are not depicted as something individual humans can get in on, but something irrevocably far bigger than humanity, and which makes humans seem small in comparison. Which seems closer to how atlus depicts the cosmic aspect of order than it does how it depicts chaos.

This cosmic indifference being lumped in with the beings on the meggido ark seems to have a few aspects. First, as a criticism of classical theism, and its focus on god which it is presenting as self depreciating to humanity. In-game, Law itself is willing to sacrifice people for the greater good, which
atlus thinks is alien and surreal, being about large scale indifference to the individual in favor of larger focuses. But more importantly, yhvh himself when corrupt doesn't seem to care about people as individuals, just them being
worshipers. Which is a shared aspect with the normal law focus, albeit one depicted as more corrupt. And atlus seems to be presenting believing in this type of god as a self depreciating
view for people to have, since it revolves around the insignificance of individuals in the face of larger things.

Yhvh here then would represent the lack of humans being treated
individually valuable in systems where what matters is god, as well
as the realization that one needs an alternate form of value that
empowers humanity (Or if they are meant to be associated with law in
general, the idea that utilitarianism does not treat individuals as
significant). Yhvh is depicted as something that can't foster in
humanity a concept of individual value, since it places the value
somewhere distant. Humans by defeating this are rejecting this
perspective, and arguing for their own significance, which is by
extension similar to rejecting the view proposed by lovecraft.

Its
ironically depicting the theistic view and the view of cosmic
indifference as two sides of the same coin. The death of god normally
seems like a loss of value because you were taught to place the value
far away from yourself. But you are also meant to overcome the idea
that the death of god means loss of meaning, and so to "defeat"
these cosmic representations of lack of value also. In neutral, it
ends with hiroko saying that there is no one to cling to anymore, but
that you have eachother. So there is realization of a level of cosmic
indifference, but rather than accepting it, rejecting it in favor of
believing your own lives give themselves value. So it can also represent cosmic indifference in general, and as such the lack of an ability to find meaning by trying to find it somewhere external to humanity. Lovecraft of course wasn't depicting this cosmic indifference as something you can defeat, but that is also what is being rejected. In addition it may reference the purported impossibility of understanding god often professed by Christianity. An element of moving beyond the bounds of human comprehension.

Interestingly, in SMTII, satan and the Lovecraftian beings seem to be depicted as a continuous aesthetic. Satan of course being based on the art of h r giger, which ties to the underlying meaninglessness of biological reality underneath the human constructs. Which while not identical to the meaning of lovecraftian stories, is similar in tone to them in the sense of an underlying emptiness relating to human endeavor.

The idea of previous intelligent species of mortal beings living on earth and dying out is also a lovecraftian idea that is referenced in raidou, and maybe also be a big inspiration for strange journey. Where in strange journey they talk about previous cycles of the schwarzwelt wiping out the previous races.

**The Necronomicon** is a fictional grimoire (tome of magic). It was first mentioned in the short story *The Hound* written by H. P. Lovecraft,
 but its exact origin is the subject of debate. The book subsequently
also appeared in stories of Lovecraft's followers. The Necronomicon has
since gained a cult following and various fake "replicas" of the book
are circulating.

In the context of Lovecraft's works, the Necronomicon is a tome
detailing the truth behind the various ancient cosmic beings that have
inhabited Earth and continue to influence humans for their own ends.
Written in the 8th century by the "mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, it both
functions as a means of imparting the forbidden knowledge of the ancient
 ones, and a source of danger as those who read it risk going mad from
its knowledge. It shows up as futaba's persona in persona 5.

**Kadath** is an ancient city and the home of the dream-gods of Earth, otherwise known as the "Great Ones". Kadath's precise location in the universe is uncertain; there is even confusion over whether it exists in the dream-world or the waking world. However, in Lovecrafts' *At the Mountains of Madness*, it is hinted that the mountain ranges beyond the Antarctic plateau of Leng may hide the location of Kadath. But in *The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath*, Randolph Carter finds the unknown city far of north from the Leng and Inquanok.

In persona 2, there is a place called the kadath mandala which is seen as a deep level of reality, tied to the collective unconscious. This term being used in reference to the preference of Nyarlathotep, as well as in reference to it potentially existing in the dream world. Being here equated to the unconsicous.

## Types of beings

In addition to the beings listed, note that there are other lesser beings of various natures that do not have a specific classification. Of the entries listed here, the much more relevant are the first two

**Outer gods** are the beings of the highest level of power in the mythos. They function on a cosmic scale, and are able to go anywhere, having near unlimited influence relative to humanity. Humans are safe from them only because their scale is for the most part too large to even bother considering humanity.

**The Great Old Ones** are powerful, ancient creatures worshipped by deranged human cults.
 Many of them are made of an unearthly material with properties unlike
normal matter. A Great Old One's influence is often limited to the planet where it dwells. If it is based on a planet outside the solar system, it can only extend its influence to Earth when the star of its planetary system is in the night sky. In such cases, the help of cultists performing various rituals may be required. As such, while humans cannot fight back against them directly in much of a meaningful sense, they can at times undo the situation which allows some of them to influence earth.

Old ones, while also showing up as a demon, is also a term for a previous species of mortal entities that lives on earth which show up as a major aspect of the raidou games. Note that lovecraft also highlights the idea of different species living on earth before humans, and the idea that different ones will after humans as well.

**The Great Ones** are the so-called "gods" of the Dreamlands,
 but they are not as powerful as the Great Old Ones and are not even as
intelligent as most humans. However, they are protected by the Outer
Gods, especially Nyarlathotep. The Dream Cycle is a series of short stories that concern themselves with the "Dreamlands", a vast, alternate dimension that can only be entered via dreams.

**The Elder Gods** oppose both the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones although they were not created by lovecraft himself for his own stories, but came up with later on. Many
consider them to be non-Lovecraftian, because they seem to introduce a *good versus evil* dichotomy into the cosmic indifference of Lovecraft's fiction.
 However, others argue that these beings have no more concern for human
notions of morality than the beings they oppose, and that humanity and
the human world are beneath their regard.

## Specific beings

**Azathoth**, sometimes called "**The Blind Idiot God**", the "**Nuclear Chaos**" and the "**Daemon Sultan**", is an Outer God, being the original being in reality. Azathoth is seen as all-powerful and the creator of all of existence, though it now exists in rest. All of reality is a random fluctuation created randomly by its throes in its mindless movements. However, Azathoth, whilst he is asleep, is not all-knowing
(being a "Blind Idiot God") and is completely mindless.

Although this latter part came from later writers rather than lovecraft himself, it is said to be stuck in an endless slumber and is served upon by
countless lesser deities that play a maddening tune on innumerable drums
 and flutes to keep Azathoth from awakening, because if it woke up even for a second, the shock would fundamentally destroy everything within reality as it moves. As well as its innumerable drummers Azathoth is tended upon by
horrendous dancers and is said to float in the very centre of the
universe in the centre of chaos itself (and hence "nuclear" may actually
 refer to its dwelling at the nucleus of the universe), no mortal has
yet entered this realm and survived

Azathoth's precise appearance is only hinted at throughout the Mythos,
and indeed may be unknowable by mortal beings. It is described as
occupying a position outside of the universe, where it is attended by a
cohort of alien servants who continually bathe it with the sounds of
pipes and drums. Though it is the ruler and creator of all existence, it
 is described as "a blind idiot god," oblivious to the universe and the
beings within it.

Azathoth is technically "God," despite not being aware. He cannot be destroyed as
 the concept of destruction is merely part of his dream, and he exists beyond
the concept of speed, strength, mortals and the Outer Gods
 as they are all merely part of his dream. Despite being mindless,
Azathoth does have a will of his own and commands his messanger and
avatar, Nyarlathotep.

While its first appearance in the games is in giten as a vile race being, its more relevant appearance is in p5r, as the original persona of maruki, the new end boss. Its appearance has a few likely reasons. One major one being that it matches the presence of nyarlathotep as a persona villain. But it also parallels the gnostic idea of an ignorant creator. But this later develops into adam kadmon as maruki evolves his persona. Interestingly, azathoth and adam kadmon (who is a form of yhvh) being together relates back to smtii, where lovecraftian beings feature prominently alongside angels in the final path to yhvh. In one of the bad endings of royal where you don't make a choice in time, azathoth is used to turn you oblivious to the world and into someone who just sleeps and rests. Which may be in reference to the idea of it as asleep.

**The** **Nameless Mist** is an Outer God. It is the progenitor of several other cosmic entities, including the Outer God Yog-Sothoth. It is older than everything except Azathoth (its creator) and **the Unnamed Darkness (its sibling**). What became of them is unknown, since time as it stands holds yog-sothoth which came from them as the strongest being.

**Yog-Sothoth** is the most powerful of the outer gods, not counting azathoth who has no consciousness. It is the largest and most intelligent - dwarfing Cthulhu in
 the same scale that Cthulhu dwarfs humanity. Yog-Sothoth is the
embodiment of all of time and space across an essentially infinite
number of space-time continuums, for all intents and purpose, he is
connected to the multiverse. He is the grandfather of Cthulhu. Yog-Sothoth is not only an essentially all-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful being, but he also, like the fellow Outer God Nyarlathotep, has displayed to possess numerous avatars, such as the Lurker at the Threshold, and has served as the Godly father of Wilbur Whateley, The Dunwich Horror and the spouse of Shub-Niggurath.

Yog-Sothoth is a limitless cosmic horror that is connected with all of
space and time yet is locked away from mainstream reality - the
monstrous deity sees all and knows all and can impart knowledge to
anyone foolish enough to seek its favor, which often required human
sacrifice or worse and would ultimately bring calamity and ruin to the
would-be-follower. Like many Lovecraftian deities Yog-Sothoth has a number of avatars and even followers (such as the Chorazos Cult).

Like many Lovecraftian gods, Yog-Sothoth is thoroughly indescribable and
 unconcievable, way beyond human comprehension, and those in his
presence can only perceive an approximation. He was described in many
different ways throughout the various stories of the mythos, by various
authors. However, there seems to be a common agreement that Yog-Sothoth
visually manifests as a mass of glowing orbs that continuously merge,
regrow and break apart, with eyes or tendrils in some versions. In *At the Mountains of Madness*, he is portrayed as a huge mass of yellow tendrils and in *Beyond the Gates of the Silver Key*, he is shown as a large creature with eyes and tendrils.

Yog-Sothoth is one of, if not the, most powerful being in the *Cthulhu Mythos*​.
 Being the Outer God of time and space, Yog-Sothoth has control over all
 of space and time. Yog-Sothoth is itself all of the spacetime continuum
 and is omnipresent. Likely Yog-Sothoh's defining trait is his
omniscience; Yog-Sothoth sees all, knows all, and is all, and possesses
the vast sapience that not even its grandfather can lay claim to. Every
being that possesses intelligence is considered a mere facet of
Yog-Sothoth, from a mere human to the most complex Outer God. He has
also shown to be able to bestow this omniscience to those he deems
worthy, such as Randolph Carter. He is, by all technicalities,
indestructible and immortal for it is implied that nothing short of
Azathoth awakening could truly get rid of him. He exists outside of the
universe in an omnilock. The entity is so powerful that merely seeing it
 or learning too much about its existence would drive one insane and
create disaster. He is considered to be absolutely boundless from the
perspectives of almost all beings, but is in truth implicitly restricted
 by Azathoth. Regardless, Yog-Sothoth is considered to be of equal
importance to Azathoth as just as nothing can be created without
Azathoth, nothing can exist without Yog-Sothoth.

In persoa 2, Yog Sothoth appears as an optional boss in the Extra Dungeon.
 He is fought at the end of class 3-A in order to obtain the White
Butterfly. After being defeated, he starts appearing as a normal
encounter. Note tat just like many other godly beings in megaten, the in universe versions are nothing like the levels of power their myths imply.

**Nyarlathotep**, also known by many other names including the **Crawling Chaos**, is an evil Outer God. While almost all beings in the mythos are considered too alien to even make sense of, nyarlathotep is one of the few who actually has a mind capable of understanding and having spite for humans. While nowhere near as powerful as his creator Azathoth, nor the cosmic entity Yog-Sothoth, he remains to be an Outer God and as such Nyarlothotep is immortal and incredibly powerful while also being too highly complex to be understood.

He is seen as a shapeshifting agent of madness, chaos and ruin who serves the other Outer Gods, specifically his father, Azathoth,
 the Blind Idiot God, who he is subservient to, fulfilling his
wishes without question as his messenger and emissary. Note that since azathoth is considered mindless, what sense this even happens in is meant to be incomprehensible.

He often visits Earth and enjoys bringing madness and suffering to
inferior beings (humans are among them). It is said that he will bring
destruction to Earth and he spends his time manipulating and deceiving
humans for his own sadistic pleasure, and enjoys driving people insane more than merely killing them. Some suggest that he may be the one who will ultimately end the world.

Nyarlathotep is described as a master shapeshifter with over a thousand
forms, many of which are seen as monstrous and capable of driving
mortals insane - a trait common to Lovecraftian monsters, however unlike
 many of the other Outer Gods, he also frequently takes on a human form
as an enigmatic male fashioned on an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. He is able to manifest as a large number of avatars, some of which are even worshiped as their own being by people unaware that they are part of a greater being.

Nyarlathotep's first appearance is in the eponymous short story by
Lovecraft, in which he is described as a "tall, swarthy man" who
resembles an Egyptian Pharaoh. In this story he wanders the earth,
gathering legions of followers through his demonstrations of strange and
 seemingly magical instruments, the narrator of the story among them.
These followers lose awareness of the world around them, and through the
 narrator's increasingly unreliable accounts the reader gets a sense of
the world's utter collapse. The story ends with the narrator as part of
an army of servants for Nyarlathotep.

He is given a prominent plot role, known as The Crawling Chaos, as the counterbalance to Philemon in the *Persona* series.
 Unlike Philemon, Nyarlathotep is able to operate in the outside world
and take an active role. Throughout the series he employs the use of Shadow Selves of characters to accomplish his goals. Nyarlathotep is also capable of appearing as anyone he chooses. It is revealed in *Eternal Punishment* that he is represented by a **black butterfly**.

In the first persona, Nyarlathotep poses as the persona of Takahisa Kandori. After Kandori is defeated by the protagonist
 and his friends, Nyarlathotep forcibly enters Kandori's body and
transforms him into God Kandori, saying he will grant him the power he
seeks. Retroactively, Nyarlathotep has been mentioned to have engineered
 the whole incident with the intention of giving the humans a chance to
destroy all of reality, allowing him to win his bet with Philemon.

In the first persona 2 Both he and Philemon
 are acting on a bet to see if humanity will become enlightened or
ultimately destroy itself. Nyarlathotep decides to push things in his
favor by helping humanity end. He appears as Jun Kurosu's late father (Akinari Kashihara), and the Fuhrer, whom was supposedly revived by rumors. He serves as the game's final boss in the form of the **Great Father**, a fusion of the main cast's fathers. He fills a similar role in the sequel, however, following his second defeat, he was banished to parts unknown.
 He wasn't destroyed forever, though, because he is an undeniable,
indelible presence in Humanity's heart, and may still return.

Nyarlathotep is described as the destructive side of Humanity's
collective unconscious, and as such, the living embodiment of Mankind's
collective evil; every thought, action or feeling that derives in
experiencing the desire to bring harm to others or oneself in any form
fuels Nyarlathotep's existence. His reason for providing the human race
with the means to drive itself to destruction is given as a bet between
him and Philemon, who holds that they instead will ascend to a greater
destiny.

Note the similarities between the game character and the myths, working to manipulate people and being seen as behind the potential end of the world. Aside from persona he also shows up as a vile dark law race demon. He represents presumably a view resembling the lovecraftian one of the insignificance of humanity inasmuch as it is something that can be rejected by being stood up to

**Cthuhlu** is one of the great old ones. It is described as "A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like
head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body,
prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind."
 Cthulhu has been described in appearance as resembling an octopus, a
dragon and a human caricature, hundreds of meters tall, with webbed
human-looking arms and legs and a pair of rudimentary wings on its back.[9] Cthulhu's head is depicted as similar to the entirety of a gigantic octopus, with an unknown number of tentacles surrounding its supposed mouth.

Simply looking upon the creature drives the viewer insane, a trait shared by many of the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods.

Cthulhu, in the ″mythos″, was probably born on the planet Vhoorl in the
23rd nebula from Nug and Yeb. At some later point he travelled to the
green binary star system of Xoth, where he mated with Idh-yaa, and was
later worshipped by the shape-shifting starspawn. Idh-yaa later spawned
four children: Gthanothoa, Ythogtha, Zoth-ommog and Cthylla. Cthulhu and
 his family, as well as his starspawn, travelled to Earth where Cthulhu
mated with his sister Kassogtha, who spawned Nctosa and Nctolhu. Cthulhu
 and his spawn then built the great green stone city of R'lyeh on the great sunken continent of Mu, before it was destroyed by Ythogtha. Around this time a great war started between the Shoggoths, Elder Things, Great Race of Yith, Flying polyps, Mi-go and Cthulhu and his children and starspawn. At the end of the war, they all decided to share the Earth.

In the call of cthuhlu, The narrator, Francis Wayland Thurston, recounts his discovery of notes left behind by his grand-uncle, Brown University linguistic professor George Gammell Angell after his death in the winter of 1926–27. Among the notes is a small bas-relief
 sculpture of a scaly creature which yields "simultaneous pictures of an
 octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature." The sculptor, a Rhode Island art student named Henry Anthony Wilcox, based the work on delirious dreams of "great Cyclopean cities of titan blocks and sky-flung monoliths." Frequent references to Cthulhu and R'lyeh are found in Wilcox's papers. Angell also discovers reports of mass hysteria around the world.

More notes discuss a 1908 meeting of an archeological society in which New Orleans
 police official John Raymond Legrasse asks attendees to identify a
statuette of unidentifiable greenish-black stone resembling Wilcox's
sculpture. It is then revealed that the previous year, Legrasse and a
party of policemen found several women and children being used in a
ritual by an all-male cult.
 After killing five of the cultists and arresting 47 others, Legrasse
learns that they worship the "Great Old Ones" and await the return of a
monstrous being called Cthulhu.[2] The prisoners identify the statuette as "great Cthulhu." One of the academics present at the meeting, Princeton professor William Channing Webb, describes a group of "Esquimaux" with similar beliefs and fetishes.

Thurston discovers a 1925 article from an Australian newspaper which reports the discovery of a derelict ship, the *Emma*, of which second mate Gustaf Johansen is the sole survivor. Johansen reports that the *Emma* was attacked by a heavily armed yacht named the *Alert*. The crewmen of the *Emma* killed those aboard the *Alert*, but lost their own ship in the battle, commandeered the *Alert*, and discovered an uncharted island in the vicinity of co-ordinates of 47°9′S 126°43′W.
 With the exception of Johansen and another man, the remaining crew died
 on the island. Johansen does not reveal the manner of their death.

Upon traveling to Australia, Thurston views a statue retrieved from the *Alert* which is identical to the previous two. In Norway, he learns that Johansen died suddenly after an encounter with "two Lascar
 sailors". Johansen's widow provides Thurston with her late husband's
manuscript, wherein the uncharted island is described as being home to a
 "nightmare corpse-city" called R'lyeh. Johansen's crew struggled to
comprehend the non-Euclidean geometry of the city and accidentally release Cthulhu, resulting in their deaths. Johansen and one crew-mate flee aboard the *Alert* and are pursued by Cthulhu. Johansen rams the yacht into the creature's head, only for its injury to regenerate. The *Alert*
 escapes, but Johansen's crewmate dies. After finishing the manuscript,
Thurston realizes he is now a target of Cthulhu's worshippers.

In persona 2, Cthulhu resides in the Tower of Will that exists in the Kadath
Mandala. Zula tells the story of Cthulhu as the master of oceans and the
 Mu continent and how even now he is sealed in the sunken city of the
Pacific Ocean, R'lyeh, but will not die. From the bottom of the deep
sea, he gives people bad dreams, devouring his followers' souls, waiting
 for the day he will once again take control of the world above the
ground and how that day will inevitably come. When the stars show the
right way once more, the old rulers will resurrect countless relatives,
regaining control over the universe.

The group's anger at Zula's words allow them to reject Cthulhu
and what he stands for, allowing them to defeat him in battle and gain
the Trapezohedron of Will.

For whatever reason, in shin megami tensei II, cthuhlu is vile race as a dark law entity. He is seen on the meggido ark alongside angels.

**Hastur**. While Hastur is best known as part of the Cthulhu Mythos, he was
originally created by Ambrose Bierce in the short story "Haita The
Shepherd". He later appeared in one work by HP Lovecraft, but is best
known for his role in August Derleth's stories. Hastur is the
half-brother of Cthulhu. He is also known in other names: The Feaster from Afar, a black, shriveled, flying monstrosity
with tentacles tipped with razor-sharp talons that can pierce a victim's
 skull and siphon out the brain. The King in Yellow. And He Who Is Not To Be Named as saying Hastur's name three times in a row (Hastur Hastur Hastur) is a process that brings the chanter death.

The King In Yellow is also the title of a book (and a book within
that book) where Hastur is mentioned. The name of his material card, as
well as how it must be acquired, are references to these last two names. It shows up as a persona in persona 2.

**Biyarky** are Servants of Hastur
 the unspeakable, they are a race of hybrid creatures made of ordinary
matter that live in interstellar space. A hybrid who is neither
completely crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor vampire bats,
nor decomposed human beings, they can neither be fully perceived nor
remembered by a sane person. They can travel through space and carry a
rider, but the rider must have something capable of protecting them from
 the cold and vacuum of space. They can be summoned to Earth to carry
out tasks or act as steeds.

Found in Bomb Shelter 4, a special conversation
 can happen between them and Hastur. The Golden Honey will be acquired,
which prevents random encounters for a while. While Estoma and Clean
Salt only eliminate encounters with enemies weaker than the party, the
Golden Honey prevents all encounters, even against enemies with levels
equal or higher than the party's.

In the new scenario for the PSP remake Tatsuya first encounters
these demons in the first part, having never seen demons like them
before. He realizes that they are servants of him and fights them.

**Umr At Tawil** Meaning "*The Most Ancient and Prolonged of Life*", it is also said as Tawil At-U'mr or Tawil-at'Umr. It is described as an avatar of Yog Sothoth
 in the story "Through the Gates of the Silver Key". He presides over
the timeless halls beyond the Gate of the Silver Key and the strange *Ancient Ones*
 that dwell there. He is described as the silhouette of a man behind a
strange, shimmering veil. He is one of very few benign Lovecraftian
Great Old Ones who does not cause insanity in those who view him. It shows up as a p2 boss.

**Elder things**. The term "Old One" is used to refer to a god or deity, and have been
used in fantasy horror and science fiction, quite commonly in H.P.
Lovecraft's fiction in various context. In game they show up as a dark chaos demon of foul race.

The pictured creature appears to be a member of the species which
 came to be known as the Elder Things, the term "Old One" being used for
 several different orders of creature by Lovecraft himself. The Elder
Things were introduced in the short story "At the Mountains of Madness,"
 were they are, indeed, referred to by the narrator as "the Old Ones."

In the Mythos canon, the Elder Things were the first extraterrestrial
species to come to the Earth, colonizing the planet about one billion
years ago. They stood roughly eight feet tall and had the appearance of a huge, oval-shaped barrel with starfish-like
 appendages at both ends. The top appendage was a head adorned with five
 eyes, five eating tubes, and a set of cilia for "seeing" without light.
 The bottom appendage was five-limbed and was used for walking and other
 forms of locomotion. The beings also had five leathery, fan-like
retractable wings and five sets of branching tentacles that sprouted
from their torsos. Both their tentacles and the slits housing their
folded wings were spaced at regular intervals about their bodies.

The technology that the Elder Things possessed was not described at
length, but was described as being extremely advanced, building cities on land and in the water. They are also
revealed in "At the Mountains of Madness" as being the creators of a servitor race, the shoggoths, who ultimately rebelled. The Elder Things are known to have warred against the star-spawn of Cthulhu, the Great Race of Yith, and the Mi-go. Despite these conflicts, it was the gradual cooling of the planet during the last ice age
 that spelled their doom. Retreating to their undersea cities deep in
the ocean, they would thereafter have no further dealings with the outer
 world. Their last surface city, located on a high plateau in the Antarctic, remains frozen in ice. The ruins of this city were discovered in 1931 by two members of an Antarctic expedition from Miskatonic University.

**Dagon** is a deity who presides over the Deep Ones, an amphibious humanoid race indigenous to Earth's oceans. He is first introduced in Lovecraft's short story "Dagon"*,* and is mentioned extensively throughout the mythos. Also known as **Father Dagon**, he is a Great Old One and the consort of Mother Hydra.

He is worshipped by the Esoteric Order of Dagon, a secret cult based in Innsmouth.

Dagon is an enormous specimen of **True Merrow** who has been mentioned in texts since ancient times. He is worshipped by a devout cult of humans and Merrow, who revere him as a deity. While apparently immortal, his longevity may be attributable to his fraternization with the Star Spawn,
 who sometimes select formidable specimens from a given species to
protect, nurture, and empower for reasons known only to them.

Lovecraft most likely based Dagon on the ancient Mesopotamian deity of
the same name, who was a god of fish, fishing and fertility. In-game dagon shows up as a tyrant race demon, but with an ambiguous appearance that is unclear whether it is meant to be the lovecraftian figure or the god. Though, since they are based on eachother, it may be meant to be a composite figure as often shows up in the games.

**Chandraputra** is the alias of the man known as Randolph Carter
 after his mind became trapped in an alien body. His full alias is
"Swami Chandraputra" and he appears in the Lovecraft stories "Out of the
 Aeons" & "Through the Gates of the Silver Key". In persona 2, Appearing in the final part of Tatsuya's Scenario, Chandraputra is a legendary Persona User
 who holds the Silver Key that allows passage through the Ultimate Gate
to the world of subconscious, Kadath Mandala. He asks the party to
retrieve a Trapezohedron that belonged to his apprentice Randolph Carter. He would get the aid of a Cat of Ulthar known as Lieutenant General Zula to act as their guide.

After The Faceless God
 loses against the party, he leaves behind the Trapezohedron that is
Randolph Carter's emotions. Chandraputra reveals to the party that he is
 in fact Randolph Carter, who had his emotions stolen by Nyarlathotep in
 the past because of the work Randolph did in mankind's collective
unconsciousness and the Kadath Mandala. Through sheer force of will he
has been able to take human form and with the return of his emotions he
can become a complete human again.

**Shoggoth** are creatures from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and appear as slime-like
 entities. They can take whatever form is necessary for their task and
have a myriad of eyes within them. They were created by the Elder Things
 to be beasts of burden billions of years ago but eventually turned
against their creators. They tend to serve human cultists or Great Old
Ones in the current era. They show up as blobs full of eyes in persona 2.

**Shub niggurath**, Also known as “The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young” and
 “The Black Ram of The Forest with a Thousand Ewes”, Shub-Niggurath is
the Great Old One/Outer God of Fertility in Lovecraft Lore. She appears
as an enormous cloudy mass which extrudes black tentacles,
slime-dripping mouths, and short, writhing goat legs. Small creatures
are spat forth, which are either reconsumed into her form or escape to
live their own lives elsewhere.

She is the most worshipped of all the Lovecraft deities, which include Druidic and Barbaric cults, *Hyberboreans*, and *Muvians*, along with non-humans like the *Mi-Go* and Nug-Soth. She can be summoned to any woodlands during a New Moon. She is believed to have mated with Hastur to produce the Ithaqua,
 Zhar, and Liogor. She may also have mated with Hastur to produce her
"Thousand Young" but could be produced via fission. She is also believed
 to have mated with Yog Sothoth. It is a boss in persona 2.

**Wilbur Whateley** is a major character in the short story "*The Dunwich Horror*" by Howard Phillip Lovecraft. In the story, he is apparently the son of Yog Sothoth and a human woman, Lavinia Whateley. His main purpose is to summon the Old Ones into the human world, but when trying to enter a library to steal the Necronomicon he meets his end killed by a guard dog. He is a boss in persona 2.

**Cthugha** is a fictional deity created by August Derleth. He resembles a
large fireball and is served by the Flame Creatures of Cthugha. He has
at least one son, Aphoom-Zhah, but it is rumored that the fire vampire
Fthaggua may be his son too.
In Derleth's version Cthugha is a Great Old One, an elemental spirit of
fire opposed to the Elder Gods. It shows up in giten as vile race.

**Innsmouth** is very possibly based of the human-deep one hybrids that are present in the novella "*The Shadow over Innsmouth*", by H. P. Lovecraft. It shows up as an enemy in giten.

## Specific cults

A number of fictional cults appear in the Cthulhu Mythos,
 the loosely connected series of horror stories written by H.P Lovecraft
 and other writers inspired by his creations. Many of these cults serve
the Outer God Nyarlathotep, the *Crawling Chaos*, a protean creature that appears in myriad guises. Other cults are dedicated to the cause of the Great Old Ones, a group of powerful alien beings currently imprisoned or otherwise resting in deathlike sleep.

Note how just like the real religions that exist in our world existed in the past of the megaten universe, some of these potentially did as well. Since demons exist via observation, it is possible that the demons that show up in game did have worshipers at some point.

**The Black Brotherhood** is a group of international terrorists dedicated to hastening the return of the Great Old Ones.
 The Brotherhood is made up of people from all ethnicities and ways of
life, and, believing that the Old Ones will awaken soon, conduct covert
operations, such as attempted political assassinations. Few of its
members are taken alive for interrogation, however, as most die shortly
after carrying out their operations.

**The Brotherhood of the Beast** is a cult that worships Nyarlathotep in his aspect as *The Beast*. The Brotherhood is dedicated to fulfilling the prophecies of its founder, Nephren-Ka, an Egyptian high priest of Nyarlathotep in the 14th Dynasty.

**The Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh** serves Nyarlathotep in his aspect as the *Black Pharaoh*.
 Its leadership is primarily of Egyptian descent, though in modern times
 it has become more inclusive of other nationalities. The cult has
connections to the Church of Starry Wisdom, the Cult of the Bloody Tongue, and the Brotherhood of the Beast. It includes a subgroup known as the *Children of the Sphinx* that specializes in embalming mummies with the heads of animals.

**The Brothers of the Yellow Sign** (or *Cult of the Yellow Sign*) worship Hastur in his aspect as the *King in Yellow*. The cult is led by a group of human immortals from the technologically and physically advanced realm of K'n-yan (the cult probably originated in this subterranean land, though others trace it to the serpent people of Valusia).

**The Chesuncook Witch Coven**, or the **Cult of the Skull**, worships the Outer God Shub-Niggurath.
 They hold their ceremonies in the deep woods near the village of
Chesuncook, Maine. Their rites supposedly include entering a
subterranean cavern and descending six thousand steps to a pit filled
with hungry shoggoths.

**The Chorazos Cult** is a sect dedicated to the Outer God Yog-Sothoth. The cult was founded in the mountains of Romania in the late 16th century, but later moved to England and then Scotland. The cult developed an unwholesome reputation and was eventually disbanded by locals.[7] The cult returned in modern times, at least superficially based in the United States and attempting to awaken Yog-Sothoth.[8] Its name suggests an allusion to Choronzon.

***The Church of Starry Wisdom***, or **Starry Wisdom Cult**, is a cult that worships Nyarlathotep in his aspect as the Haunter of the Dark, as described in the story of the same name. The cult was founded in Providence, Rhode Island circa 1844 by the archaeologist and occultist Professor Enoch Bowen
 after he returned from Egypt having found the tomb of the unknown
pharaoh Nephren-Ka. The cult used an age-old sacred relic known as the Shining Trapezohedron to summon the Haunter of the Dark, who demanded outrageous sacrifices in return for limitless knowledge of the universe.

Although the cult was publicly denounced by the other local churches,
 it nonetheless grew to have a membership of around 200 members.
Mysterious disappearances in the area brought the cult under public
scrutiny. After run-ins with both local citizens and the municipal
government, the church closed and 181 people left Providence for unknown
 reasons. However, there is veiled evidence that they were dealt a more
summary kind of justice than banishment.(If merely banished, they would
have taken the Shining Trapezohedron with them.)

The church held an extensive library of occult literature. The majority of these books was removed by one Doctor Dexter after the church was raided following the mysterious death of Robert Blake.

Though the Providence sect was officially disbanded in 1877, the Church of Starry Wisdom has appeared in other places including Yorkshire, England (1880 to 1890), Chicago, Illinois (where it was known as the *Celestial Providence* sect, but was later disbanded by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871), Arkham, Massachusetts (during the 1920s), and more recently in San Francisco (though the group was reputedly destroyed by arson). A few contemporary sects may still exist in Canada. As recently as the 1970s the cult was present on Bioko (Fernando Po) in Equatorial Guinea.

**The Cult of the Bloody Tongue** is a cult in Kenya devoted to Nyarlathotep. The group has branches in other parts of the world, but the original sect is by far the most powerful.

**The Esoteric Order of Dagon** was the primary religion of the town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts in the early 20th century. Its members were dedicated to the worship of Father Dagon, Mother Hydra, and Cthulhu.