Why the fuck would anyone worship a cosmic horror? Yeah, i know they're driven mad by dreams...

Religion and cults are like game shows.

>1. charismatic host
>2. simple answers to complex questions
>3.???
>4. fabulous prizes and/or apocalypse

The "cultist" is just someone who's seen beyond the veil of reality (or thinks they have).

For whatever unfathomable reason, calling forth things from beyond time and space just makes sense. Maybe they think they'll ascend to godhood, or have a special place in the new order of things. Maybe they think the only humane thing to do is grant a painless death to everyone they can, before the stars are right.

Maybe their grounding in the mundane world is so shaken that ending the world is just like pulling the plug on a game console.

Because they know something that you don't.

>Cthulu is just gonna destroy everything when he arrives
Imagine that for a second. Cthulu IS going to destroy everything. He IS. Not 'might' or 'could.' He simply will.

With that in mind, currying favour might help you pass from this world in peace, guarantee you a place of favour in any afterlife or might simply be the actual meaning of your existence.

A: There is no grand scheme of things. B: If there were a grand scheme of things, the fact – the fact – that we are not equipped to perceive it, either by natural or supernatural means, is a nightmarish obscenity. C: The very notion of a grand scheme of things is a nightmarish obscenity.

>Some assholes awoke him before the stars were right, he pokes his head out, a boat phases through him, and he's all "nah fuck it i'm goin back to bed". He wasn't seriously injured by it, merely annoyed.
That actually had me laughing. Heh.

It's because they are fucking insane.

I usually see it paired with "we are all gonna die someday to this thing, why fight it?"

Its the difference between a painful death and a painless one. They believe that all we know is but a fragile bubble that will pop. It is inevitable. Why fight that? Better to accelerate the process for the promise to be first in line for annihilation so one does not have to suffer a drawn out death.

Basically a human cult is ruled by a "mating pair" of alphas who spend most of their time stopping the other humans from boning and making sure the rest of them are sacrificed to their eldritch gods, and then make the rest of the cult raise any part human, part eldritch god, offspring as their own.

Some of the cults do grant power, or connections to powerful things. The Dunwich Horror, any of the dark occult magic of the Necronomicon, etc.

Who says the ground-level cultists know shit?
And given how the higher-ups of successful cults are in real life, I'd reckon they'd reckon they'd attract the attention of their deity and their blessing, given the arrogance and all.

Either that or the cult leaders don't know shit either, and think that Hastur's gonna spirit them all off to Niburu... I mean Carcosa

What's the deal with Hastur, The King in Yellow?
I haven't brushed up on my knowledge of these things recently, and Hastur is entity I've always felt a pull towards. So what is there to know of the God of Shepherds?
What benefits find themselves in the hands of his thralls?
What negative issues present themselves?

To be eaten first.

They want to put their dick into it.

Most religious eschatologies look pretty disturbing to those who don't buy into the supposed benevolence of the God/gods in question. I'm a Christfag myself, but even I'll admit that Christian eschatology would look pretty damn disturbing from the perspective of someone who wasn't on board with the idea that God is all-loving.

And that's basically where H.P. Lovecraft was at. He was an atheist who believed that if there was a God/gods, they probably wouldn't really be concerned with the well-being of mere mortals in the slightest. Cthulhu cults are basically a negative spin on eschatologically-inclined religion in general.

Yep, it's like when you wake up at 2am and get up to maybe poke around in the fridge, but you step on a d4 on your way there, and just decide fuck it, I'm going back to bed.
Poor Cthulhu just wants a late night snack and some douche jabs him with a boat while he's all groggy.

>The King in Yellow
If you are interested you should read some Chambers, The King in Yellow.

>I haven't brushed up on my knowledge of these things recently, and Hastur is entity I've always felt a pull towards.
Heh, why?

>So what is there to know of the God of Shepherds?
Who calls him that?

Af and Hemah are two Christian angels.
They are five-hundred parasangs in height, and "Forged of chains of black fire and red fire".
Samael, the "Venom of God", is fucking made of eyes and severs the souls of the dead from their bodies.
Christianity is Metal as fuck, Horrifyingly Eldritch, and Damn Awesome.

maybe some people just want it to all burn
maybe they want to try to gain a bit of favor and stay alive

Some folks just want to be on the winning team.

> Heh, why.
I honestly don't know. I just feel an attachment similar to having a favorite character, but I know much less about him compaired to others found in the mythos.

> Who calls him that.
Ambrose Bierce refers to him as a God of Shepherds in "Haita the Shepherd", Written in 1893. I think that was his first mention, actually.

Make Arkham Great Again!

FWIW, those specific examples are from apocrypha and folklore rather than "official" Christianity.

But yes, there is plenty of eldritch and metal shit in Christianity, even if you restrict yourself to official canon.

>I honestly don't know. I just feel an attachment similar to having a favorite character, but I know much less about him compaired to others found in the mythos.
Well, from what I know he is mentioned in "The Whisperer of Darkness" and that is pretty much it, if you are simply looking at Lovecraft.

>Ambrose Bierce refers to him as a God of Shepherds in "Haita the Shepherd", Written in 1893. I think that was his first mention, actually.
You are probably correct. I thought Chambers "King in Yellow" was the first though?

It's the only way to acquire the most narly of lemons.

> You are probably correct. I thought Chambers "King in Yellow" was the first though?
I'm not sure on this, but I thank you for your input, Friend.
These things really are interesting, aren't they?

>I'm not sure on this, but I thank you for your input, Friend.
>These things really are interesting, aren't they?
They are indeed. Especially when I all of a sudden get confused.
From what I know "The King in Yellow" is a book of short stories written by Chambers. As for Bierce, how is he involved? Did he inspire Chambers? Or is Chambers/(and) Lovecraft writing about the same being mentioned in "Haita the Shepherd", which I have never read?

In HPL there were two possible answers for this questions. Cultists couldn't always be put squarely in one of these categories but I think the cover most of their motivations.

1) Wizards or worse, hungry for power. Your usual Veeky Forums shit, really. An example could be Wilbur Whatley and his grandpa: they didn't want the world to end, they wanted the powers that Yog-Sothoth and Wilbur's brother could bestow on them.
Actually I think most "power-mad" wizards in HPL aren't that mad. Maybe Robert Suydam was, but who really knows.
Which makes them even more dangerous, doesn't it?

>I dare to say in some cases the pact was perfectly rational while not that attractive to nomale human beings: see Innsmouth's denizens.

2) Case 2. The orgiastic rites in Louisiana in Call of Cthulhu.
Those guys did it because, well, because YOLO. If you're mad enough to care about only orgies and violence, why not worship the guy who'll get you in the final and best party?
In the meantime you get to have not-too-shabby parties and maybe some friends with magic.

>actually, sociopathy aside, it does sound a little too much rational, doesn't it?

Upon looking somewhat further into this, it does indeed appear the Bierce wrote of it first.
However, it is entirely possible that it was merely as a passing name to pray to, so there was not much in the way of description. However, the Mythos covers a great many works so it stands to reason that the name was built upon throughout the years.

>not having the Encyclopedia Cthulhiana to take your basic informations from

Really user, do you even unspeakable library of forbidden lore?

>In Bierce's "Haita the Sheperd", Hastur is the benevolent god of sheperds. Chambers later appropiated Hastur and used the term as both a person and a place in his own stories. Derleth took Haster from Chamber's fiction and referred to it as a Great Old One. The title "Him Who Is Not To Be Named" does appear in Derleth, but the idea of people being destroyed merely for speaking his name appears first in the Deities and Demigods Cyclopedia, and later in Call of Cthulhu [the RPG]."

Why is /pol/ worshiping Kek right now?

These discussions are certainly helping to answer my initial questions. You guys sure are great.

No prob.

I find interesting how those guys copied things like that from each other without much ado. If I took the Seven from GRRM, hell, even in a fantasy RPG campaign the players would be pissed off.

>actually it's nightime here but I can't fucking sleep. If some user has questions that can be answered with that book, feel free to ask.

To be eaten first of course!

That's an Elder Thing not a Cosmic Horror.

Also what about followers of Nyarlathotep, he's pretty fucking groovy. He's humanlike and just in general wants to troll people for shits and giggles.

It's an odd synergistic relationship to be sure.
It's quite amazing, all things considered, that its all worked out to form a single "canon".

"The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom. Meanwhile the cult, by appropriate rites, must keep alive the memory of those ancient ways and shadow forth the prophecy of their return."

Its similar to a Slaaneshi cult. Pain, pleasure, death and freedom all mixing together. This is why only mad men worship the old ones.

Also their is the nihilistic view. Cthulhu's return is inevitable. He will destroy us all. This current reality is a pretty lie we humans tell each other.

Its not so much thinking you will be saved. Its obsessing over how there is no safety so might as well get it over with.

Also I find it rude to call an Elder Thing a cosmic horror. They were Men!

If you know that cosmic horrors exist and that there is nothing that humans can do to stop then you might as well call Yog-Sothoth for some favors

t. Nyarlathotep

Some are victims of true cultists too. Look at the Arkham Horror. Old man Whateley knew full well what was going on but it seemed like Lavinia didn't understand the full scope of her actions.

because it's working

... I miss /ysg/

Yeah, nice try Nyarly we know you shitpost on Veeky Forums.

The truth about the truth.

Doesn't really matter if they're not invincible, compared to them, humans are so insignificant that even the least powerful of the Great Old Ones could lay waste to the entire civilization

True.
The difference, I suppose, is that in the far-future our technology could conceivably oppose one, whereas the other is a truly unreachable existence.

The Eldar Things were able to hold back the Star Spawn through the use of radiation weaponry but were eventually defeated by the Mi'Go. If any race of non-godlike beings could defeat any of the Old Gods it would be them.

He has a tendency to drive acolytes mad, but can actually be invoked to drive off other nasties. The King in Yellow cares for His court.

Ib shall rise again!

Such is the boon granted by the advancement of technology.

Really? Thank you for that information. This does sound like a better deal than most.

#justiceforIb
#fishylivesmatter

The dunwich horror mostly offered albinos and even then the albinos had steal a copy of the necronomicon from miskatonic U to do anything notable.

Beirce's "hastur" was a very different thing from Chamber's King in Yellow - Lovecraft mentioned one and the other, and then darleth or the other guy decided they were the same thing.

Bierce also came up with the place name of "Ancient and Forgotten Carcosa":
en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Inhabitant_of_Carcosa

Well, everyone who reads his book dies in terror, so just avoid reading the damnable thing and you should be okay. I'd supplement the Pnakotic Manuscript.

Well, Eldar Things were millions, if not billions of years ahead of the game compared to humans and the Mi'Go are an extra-dimensional being with a multiverse spanning empire.

They still ain't got shit on Yog-Sothoth though

Really? Thank you for this information, friend.

Yog-Sothoth is the composition of every genius and mage in all realities. No one outside of Azathoth has shit on Him.

Greater beings than most have sympathized with Humanity before. We're just big enough to garner pity, but small enough to avoid most attention.
If, and although this is unlikely it is possible, we manage to survive indefinitely then we will advance to such a place.
It is almost assuredly not going to happen, but it is possible nonetheless. It will have had happened in some reality, after all.

Nigga that ain't a cosmic horror, that's an Elder Thing and they're bros for humanity.

Old Ones also had interstellar empire, and there's a still inhabited city of the damn things living the extra-dimensional reimannian space visited in "Dreams From the Witchhouse" (a lovecraft story that lovecraft hadn't really finished, Derleth apparently sent it to be published after Lovecraft sent it to him to read over in a letter, which I only mention because that story also raised the classic question: What does Nyarlethothep need with a baby?) so clearly the old ones also had interdimensional empires going on, and it was mostly just the earth civilisation that died off and lost their tech base over the eons.

The cults exist because the cult's leaders and recruiters lie to the cultists to get them in, and within a few months to years they're too mindfucked or indoctrinated to see anything else.

Look at things like Jonestown and the Heaven's Gate cults; real-life cults that all ended with a nasty bit of mass suicide over the belief that it was for the better. I imagine old god cults would be no different - to them, Cthulhu ending the world would be their Rapture, and they think they'd go to a special heaven for helping bring it about.

Maybe they think this is the last chance to evacuate planet Earth before it's recycled?

I just wanted an excuse to post the song honestly. Listen through to the end - they use a bit of the last recording of the Heaven's Gate cult before they killed themselves. It gives a weird bit of insight to what cults believe.

youtube.com/watch?v=0-zPWBu--Q4

I believe the Mi'Go wish to help us ascend to a higher level of existence. Sadly that higher level is putting our brains in jars so we can experience the universe

As much as we humans are bros for hamsters.

Keep us alive for being cute instead of eating us?

Even then there will always be a step higher.
With their help we will skyrocket upwards towards whatever limits there may be.
And then we will seek to grow even greater.

>Sadly that higher level is putting our brains in jars so we can experience the universe

...and?

and occasionally be shoved up their butts

They have issues with asking first and not replacing people so they can brain-jar more people.

That's what happened.

>It interested us to see in some of the very last and most decadent sculptures a shambling primitive mammal, used sometimes for food and sometimes as an amusing buffoon by the land dwellers, whose vaguely simian and human foreshadowings were unmistakable. In the building of land cities the huge stone blocks of the high towers were generally lifted by vast-winged pterodactyls of a species heretofore unknown to palaeontology.

(At The Mountains of Madness)

Well, no, they ate us too. Such is life!

Is that fruit-cancer?

probably just to make it stop

It explicitly says they ate a non-sentient predecessor to humanity.

You know who also eats primitive shambling foreshadowings of humanity? Mankind.

It's HPL. Probably anyone before Egypt looked "simian" enough.

Nyarly + Baby= Several Years of love and tender care as a father/mother till eventually the child understands the concepts of death and betrayal. You can guess what happens next.

... Gentle comforting?

So Usagi Drop was really about one of Nyarlathothep's masks raising a child?

No, literally a breed of lemons known as "Buddha's Hand" - they're a less widely cultivated type of lemon and so are being waifu'd heavily by hipster gourmands atm.

Everything is about Nyarlathotep if you try hard enough.

Even the Friend Zone?

He invented it, and then banged your mom in it.

>implying Nyarly doesn't assume a Mask as a hot chick or dude and friendzone people for fun

This... this makes me question the nature of my existence.
Was it after my birth? Is there a darkness beyond mortal kin and ken that resounds throughout the deepest bones of my soul?
Was I conceived through Cosmic Cucking?

Good, good. Embrace the despair of cuckery.

It's in my blood!? WHAT THE FUCK AM I!?

You are part of the Million Favoured Ones, you are like your old man. A total fucking douchebag.

I see. So m-my destiny is... something like this?
youtu.be/w0BxBsfzuJE

Nah, I'm pretty sure the putting our brains in jars so that we slowly go mad thing is like a psychic lava lamp. They sell 'em at Mi-go novelty shops. Look at the interesting patterns the brain makes in the ether as it slowly screams out in terror and loneliness!
Ooooooh!

Some people are easily impressed.

Because he'll kill you first, so you don't have to see everything you love erased.

I can totally buy this.

>tfw we're already in jars but our brains still haven't processed this fact

>Cthulu is just gonna destroy everything when he arrives?

This is a common misconception; Cthulhu will not "destroy the world". Here is a quote from a cult member:

>That cult would never die till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to revive His subjects and resume His rule of earth. The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom.

What's described here is not the extermination of humanity, but rather a global revolution in which the delusions of mankind will be swept aside in favor of the glorious truths revealed by Great Cthulhu. Cthulhu will rule the world and his followers will know "ecstasy and freedom". Following Cthulhu thus makes a great deal of sense, because he's going to wake up no matter what we do, so you might as well make the best of it by joining his team and getting in on that "ecstasy and freedom".

>Don't you want to be "free and wild"?
>Don't you want to be "revelling in joy"?
>Don't you want "ecstasy and freedom"?

Then join the Cult of Cthulhu today!