Thread: Dimensions for Call of Cthulhu

Not sure how familiar people are with Buddhism and Hinduism and as Lovecraft himself got a lot of ideas from the latter - Yog-Sothoth, Azathoth and Nyarlathotep being three prime examples. Plus nowadays with a lot of information only being a click away I'd thought I would share this.

Buddhist cosmology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman

It would be quite easy to incorporate all of the above. Hope this helps anyone and gives you all lots of ideas.

I didn't see the Buddhist angle previously but I did run into a seemingly Lovecraftian influence in an unexpected place. I'd never read any of E.E. "Doc" Smith's pulp science fiction tales, so picked up Gray Lensman (1951, 4th in a series, only book by him my library had) and encountered this description of an alien boss who is apparently pulling the strings of a human bad guy from the previous novel:

"... there crouched or huddled or lay at ease a many-tentacled creature indescribable to man. It was not like an octopus. Though spiny, it did not resemble at all closely a sea-cucumber. Nor, although it was scaly and toothy and wingy, was it save in the vaguest possible way, similar to a lizard, a sea-serpant, or a vulture. Such a description by negatives is, of course, pitifully inadequate; but, unfortunately, it is the best that can be done."

Sounds an awful lot like Lovecraft's not-description of the creatures from The Festival. Like H.G. Wells' Martians, the creature above possesses a vast, emotionless intellect unsympathetic to man, although it doesn't mind using human stooges to work its will.

Another interesting thing about Gray Lensman is its Lensman Corps, a peacekeeping organization comprised of heroes of assorted galactic species (many/most not humanoid), each equipped with a ultra high-tech gadget that grants him/it vast powers. Now "Doc" Smith's novels didn't predate the original (magical) Green Lantern, but they did precede the Green Lantern Corps, which apparently was created by DC Comics around 1981. But Gray Lensman Kim Kinnison's companions are weirder and more alien than anything I've seen in the comics or in assorted animated series. Make your SAN roll, even if these are the good guys!

Also, the technology of the Galactic Patrol (of which the Lensmen are a part) puts both Star Trek's Starfleet and Star Wars' Imperial Navy to shame, even if we are talking massive tail-landing, finned rocket ships with no integrated circuitry (heavy on the bus bars and vacuum tubes) and no computers (that's what slide rules are for). The Navy never leaves its galaxy far, far away and even the latest Enterprise (whatever letter designation) struggles to break the galactic barrier. Meanwhile, Kinnison thinks nothing of zipping over to the next galaxy (and back) to pursue an investigation, his ships are protected by multiple layers of force fields, and each ship can unleash a light show of destructive energy that makes The Last Starfighter's Death Blossom attack look puny.