The CthulhuVerse
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Cthulhu Awakens
Game Overview

What is Cthulhu?

1min

Pronounced "Kuh-thew-loo"

Cthulhu is a "fictional" cosmic entity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was first introduced in his short story "The Call of Cthulhu",[2] published by the American pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928. Considered a Great Old One within the pantheon of Lovecraftian cosmic entities, this creature has since been featured in numerous popular culture references. Lovecraft depicts it as a gigantic entity worshipped by cultists, in a shape like a green octopus, dragon, and a caricature of human form. Its name was given to the Lovecraft-inspired universe, the Cthulhu Mythos, where it exists with its fellow entities.

More on Cthulhu and the amazing mythos: https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Cthulhu

H.P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of weird, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. Lovecraft is best known for his creation of a body of work that became known as the Cthulhu Mythos. Today he is often referred to by his moniker "HP Lovecraft".The central theme of Lovecraft's corpus is cosmicism. Cosmicism is a literary philosophy that argues that humanity is an insignificant force in the universe. Despite appearing pessimistic, Lovecraft thought of himself being as being a cosmic indifferentist, which is expressed in his fiction. In it, human beings are often subject to powerful beings and other cosmic forces, but these forces are not so much malevolent as they are indifferent toward humanity. He believed in a meaningless, mechanical, and uncaring universe that human beings could never fully understand. There is no allowance for beliefs that could not be supported scientifically.[165] Lovecraft first articulated this philosophy in 1921, but he did not fully incorporate it into his fiction until five years later. "Dagon", "Beyond the Wall of Sleep", and "The Temple" contain early depictions of this concept, but the majority of his early tales do not analyze the concept. "Nyarlathotep" interprets the collapse of human civilization as being a corollary to the collapse of the universe. "The Call of Cthulhu" represents an intensification of this theme. In it, Lovecraft introduces the idea of alien influences on humanity, which would come to dominate all subsequent works.[166] In these works, Lovecraft expresses cosmicism through the usage of confirmation rather than revelation. Lovecraftian protagonists do not learn that they are insignificant. Instead, they already know it and have it confirmed to them through an event​As a writer he was brilliant but as a person many of his political and moral beliefs would be considered problematic by today's standards. We recognize the issues here and welcome discussions regarding making distinctions between an artist and their art.​

Updated 24 Apr 2023
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