Basic Information
The Cthulhu Mythos, while wholly fictional, grew much like a real mythology - various writers and storytellers used its various entities in different guises and in different ways, often being inspired by apparently totally unrelated stories and phenomena (in this, the Cthulhu Mythos has more than a few similarities to the Arcana Wiki itself). In this, it is similar to more traditional mythologies, where people often looked at stories of foreign gods and viewed them through their own perspectives and stories - see Interpretatio Graeca for a good example of this.
Interpretation Cthulhiana then is the attempt to view traditional mythologies and folklore through the lens of the Cthulhu Mythos. Such an attempt makes only sense within the context of the Mythos universe - after all, many mythologies got their start when early humans attempted the strange and alien processes around them - weather, thunder, terrain, as well as more abstract cosmic forces of Good, Evil, Chaos and so forth. And if such people came into contact with the beings of the Mythos - which strange and alien entities, or even cosmic forces of their own - it would be reasonable to expect them to enter the mythologies of these people - though often in disguise, and in confusion with existing stories about their gods. Thus, in the Mythos universe it should not be possible to cleanly separate the Cthulhu Mythos from traditional, "human" mythologies, and the boundaries between the two are fluent.
This section attempts to find these connection. It departs from the usual structure of Arcana Wiki entries - there is no clear separation between "Basic Information" and "Game and Story Use", as this separation would be nearly meaningless. Contributors are strongly encouraged to find their own connections between the Cthulhu Mythos and real world stories, and simply add them to the list.
The various entities of the Cthulhu Mythos are presented in bulleted lists. Entities from real world mythologies should be added as higher-order bullet items (and it is entirely possible and appropriate that a particular Cthulhu Mythos entity has several possible interpretations), together with a short explanation:
In case that the real world equivalent is part of a particular mythology (see the List of Mythologies for examples), add that mythology in front of the name of the entity:
- Yog-Sothoth
- Greek Mythology: Hecate - she is associated with borders and doorways (gates?), and her presence is heralded by the barking of dogs - and the dogs went wild in "The Dunwich Horror" when the sons of Yog-Sothoth got near them!
Note: If you have the time, please also fill out entries for all entities you add to the list…
Due to size, this section is divided further into two sub-pages:
- Interpretatio Cthulhiana - Deities - lists the greater, powerful entities of the Cthulhu Mythos
- Interpretatio Cthulhiana - Creatures - lists the more common "races" and lesser entities