At the moment, the FAQ and the Miscellany have merged. Whether or not that's a good thing has yet to be decided.

The Miscellaneous part of the Miscellany currently houses a number of pictures, all created by artists with too much time on their hands and little remaining sanity.

The first offering is this rather unpleasant and distasteful desktop, salvaged from the ruins of Leng and brought, via many regretably deceased owners, to you. The archeaologist who first uncovered this artifact was none other than our very own Snut Watts, though he soon lost touch with it when a stampede of shoggoths digested his atms, legs and left nostril.

CUWoCS Desktop (1024 x 768, JPEG)

We're also proud to present this collection of posters by Edith The Hutt, an interstellar tyrant and amateur photographer. The link should take you to a sub page where the posters can be enjoyed at your leisure.

Despite this page being brand new, and the site thus far having spent no time at all being accessed by people other than myself, there are in fact some frequently asked questions. The first four questions have been asked of me, repeatedly in fact. The latter two haven't, yet, because my general response to anyone I meet in person expressing even the vaguest interest is to thrust a copy of "At The Mountains Of Madness" at them. Or tell them to buy it. Go, buy it.

Who is Cthulhu?

Cthulhu is one of the Great Old Ones, beings of power and wisdom beyond the wit of man, who inhabited this planet before the coming of our race. They ruled in might and tyranny until the stars changed, and they were forced to leave the world in one way or another. As the Mad Arab wrote:

They could plunge from world to world through the sky;
but when the stars were wrong, They could not live.

It is written that Great Cthulhu did not leave the earth, but retreated into his city of R'lyeh, where he lies still, waiting for the time when the stars are right and he can once again assume his rightful dominion o'er the Earth.

So what exactly happens when the stars are right?

Well, in a nutshell ... quite a lot. As the alignment approaches, the sensitive and mad will be sent dreams and visions by Great Cthulhu as he slowly wakens, shattering their minds with visions of awful grandeur and unimaginable horror. They will be the first sign. The Cults of Cthulhu will gain in stature, and his name will lie on the lips of all. The sunken city of R'lyeh will rise, amidst storm and havoc, and the gates of the city will open. After that though, it's more or less a case of Cthulhu eating 1d10 people per round until the earth is bare and devoid of their presence

So you worship Satan then?

No. As the name of our organisation suggests, we worship Great Cthulhu. Great Cthulhu is in no way related to the popular messianic death cult of the day. He is a being of power, majesty and unfathomable age. He's not a rejected rebel with a big mouth and no sense of subtlety.

So why do you worship him?

People come to Great Cthulhu for many reasons. Some believe that he whispers into their minds, promising power and knowledge, and a place at his right hand when he returns to us. Others, recognising the sham that is human civilisation hope to prepare the way for him to wipe the planet clean. Still others seek respite from their own pain, and subsume themselves in his service, destroying others that they might in turn be destroyed themselves.

Other religions make vague promises about being one with their god after death, and gaining life eternal. We alone know that we will be granted a terrible and violent death, ending our pain and, as we are digested, becoming one with Cthulhu in the only way that matters.

What does Great Cthulhu look like?

The Master whose works have passed down to us the vast majority of our collected knowledge of the Great One once described a statue of Great Cthulhu as:

"It represented 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. This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence, and squatted evilly on a rectangular block or pedestal covered with undecipherable characters. The tips of the wings touched the back edge of the block, the seat occupied the centre, whilst the long, curved claws of the doubled-up, crouching hind legs gripped the front edge and extended a quarter of the way down towards the bottom of the pedestal. The cephalopod head was bent forward, so that the ends of the facial feelers brushed the backs of huge fore-paws which clasped the croucher's elevated knees. The aspect of the whole was abnormally lifelike, and the more subtly fearful because its source was so totally unknown. Its vast, awesome, and incalculable age was unmistakable; yet not one link did it show with any known type of art belonging to civilization's youth - or indeed to any other time."
-- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

For those of you ill-satisfied by a mere description of a devotional idol, and brave enough to face the consequences your foolhardy recklessness, a variety of images of Cthulhu are available on the Internet. Indeed, a minor icon of Great Cthulhu can be seen gracing the top left of this very page. A larger semblance of his Greatness may be found here.

Where can I find out more about His Slimy Greatness?

There are a great many resources available to those who seek Cthulhu. The best place to start is, of course, the University of Arkham and their marvellous library. One should be aware, however, that the Librarian is a suspicious and cantankerous old soul. You are therefore advised to fabricate good and unassuming reasons to gain access to what he quaintly refers to as "Forbidden Books", and to leave your goats at home.

Lovecraft's works are, of course, the canonical sources of information. Whilst they are one removed as it were from the tomes they make reference to, they are nonetheless significantly easier to read (unless one is fluent in Latin, Greek, Egyptian, Arabic, Aramaic and Elder Pictograms) and more available. You should be able to find them in any good bookshop. Alas, due to the popular misconceptions and ignorance of the public, they will be found stocked under Horror, and not Religion or Reference as would be more apt.

Other authors whose works have included notable writings on the Mythos have included August Derleth, Brian Lumley and Frank Belknap Long.