The Cthulhu Mythos was first revealed in a group of related stories by the American writer H.P. Lovecraft. Beginning with "The Call of Cthulhu" in Weird Tales, Lovecraft began referring in his horror stories to a pantheon of beings known as the Old Ones, who had descended to earth from the stars in pre-human times. First worshipped by the non-human races of the planet, the Old Ones were later banished or locked away by the elder gods. The elder gods do not enter into the stories much, and their identity is a mystery. They left the Old Ones weakened, but not destroyed. When man appeared, he found traces of the older civilizations and remnants of the pre-human races. Religions grew up around the Old Ones and legends of thier imminent return to power--especially around Cthulhu. Bits of the old lore were discovered and transcribed into books, extremely dangerous books.
Cults of men, and particularly of non-human creatures, keep alive the worship of the Great Old Ones and anxiously await their return to power. Various evil magic-users and priests, desirous of superhuman powers, experiment with some of the forbidden books (such as the Necronomicon) and occasionally unleash some horror on themselves or thier surroundings.
See also Far Realm.
SourceDeities & Demigods, 1st edition
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