Ultimate Spoiler Thread: The Second Quire (Patreon)

Hello cultists!

Here is the long-awaited behind the scenes guide for the entirety of the Second Quire (pages 49-96), moving chronologically through the book. This may be the format moving forward, as jumping back and forth on each set of Leaves (as I used to do) is pretty confusing.

So we find a maimed Abdel alone in the desert, but not for long as he is soon joined by one of the youth from the stone tower. He names him Aayiz which literally means "replacement" in Arabic; a bit of a peek at how Abdel views others.

Aayiz then performs a series of hand gestures. The source for this is the reference in Dreamqest where some villagers make the Elder Sign with their hands (similar gestures are mentioned in The Haunter of the Dark as well). So this was my attempt to join the "branch" Elder Sign with a hand gesture.

The creature that attacks them is not well defined, and this is entirely on purpose. There needs to still be a element of wonder at work here. We are then introduced to our first Serpent Man, going by the name Glykonos. Glykon the snake god has a colorful history (and the patronage of Alan Moore), so I thought it would be a fitting mantle for this Serpent to assume.

Glykonos sends them out in search of a Yithian fugitive in human form, a woman Abdel names Houda ("right guidance on the path"). On this page is a margin note from John Dee, this is actually based on a quote from Lovecraft:  

 “Only a cynic can create horror--for behind every  masterpiece of the sort must reside a driving demonic force that  despises the human race and its illusions, and longs to pull them to  pieces and mock them.”  

The three settle in together and we get a taste of reality as Aayiz the mute and Abdel the maimed have to beg for food. This sort of detail is important for me as there is so much fantastical content in this book that where possible I want the actual day-to-day concerns of staying alive to be addressed. When Abdel grows impatient and asks Houda to show him something of the Mystery she draws on her Yithian knowledge and points them in the right direction. Now when she mentons "weed-grown Johanneth-Leigh" I am referencing  Y'ha-nthlei from Shadow Over Innsmouth. If you hadn't noticed, I enjoy playing around with how these names would be transcribed.  Those blood markings Houda placed on Abdel and Aayiz have a hidden source too, as "to laugh" is an Arbaic euphemism for menstruation. 

Further Arabic euphamisms ("A cloud hanging over a house" and a "soft footed" woman) bring us to the brothel, and the Shambles beneath. A Shambles is an archaic term for a slaughterhouse. What we get next is probably the most eclectic combination of elements to date, as the ensuing scene references both Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" (1832), and Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974). That movie by the way owes a great deal to Lovecraft's The Picture in the House.

Just as Abdel is fainting an event happens that saves them from the "maggotty horde". It involves Aayiz, and I promise it will be explained in due course. As Abdel regains consciousness he makes a commitment to his compatriots and references a dragon blood tree. This is a real plant, I promise I didn't make it up!

The passage about the Tomb Herd is from a story by Ramsey Campbell called "The Church in the High Streets", used here with his kind permission.

At last we reach the subterranean lair of the Cult of Thog. Thog is a Robert E. Howard creation (from the story "The Slithering Shadows"), but as it is a frog-like deity I have arrogantly decided to combine it with the unnamed frog-like deity in his tale "The Black Stone", and thus we have priests wearing wolf heads and brandishing whips.

They push further on, and at last discover the secret hidden cavity beneath the caverns of the Thog Cult. There is a reference to Abdel's "dormant, rudimentary senses" starting into vitality. This is lifted directly from the ending of The Shadow Out of Time. The description of the battle between the Elder Things and the Spawn of Cthulhu is inspired by At the Mountains of Madness, and while the Star-Spawn succeeded in driving the Elder Things off the land and back into the sea, there must have been casualties on both sides. This then is the remains of one such casualty.  The term "Sigil-Priest of the Black Gods of R'Lyeh" is my own creation, but in 'The Worms of the Earth" by Robert E. Howard Bran Mak Morn swears by the Black Gods of R'Lyeh.

The R'Lyehan ululation that Abdel speaks ("YUG N'GHA K'YUN BTH GTH R'LYEH...") is from a letter to Clark Ashton Smith by Lovecraft, and was his enthusiastic response to reading Smith's "The Tale of Satampra Zieros". I am always looking for this throw-away bits of Lovecraftian world-building.

Abdel standing in the body cavity left by a long-dead member of the race of Cthulhu actually came to me in a dream, so I was very happy to put it in the book. Less happy is Abdel as he and his compatriots are dragged out and beaten by the Thoggic cult. Lucky for him, Ibn Schacabac arrives. Schacabac is a name Lovecraft lifted from The Arabian Night's Entertainments. Houda and Aayiz will be saved, and Abdel is condemned to face the Kabus, or nightmare creature.

The exact nature of the Kabus was hinted at back in the first Quire with a decorative finial on the Chapter 1 title page. I have reproduced it at the top of this post.

The scene that follows, with Abdel facing off against a malnourished (yet still dangerous) Gug, is heavily inspired by the death of Brett in Ridley Scott's classic ALIEN (1979). But where Brett dies at the hands of a Lovecraftian nightmare, Abdel survives. The way in which he survives owes a credit to two people: the father of my high school best friend who once told me "a man could best any dog in a fight, so long as he was willing to lose a hand", and patron Shoggoth Lord who described the goggling of rat's eyes on an episode of HPPodcraft. Together these elements combined to save Abdel (but not before dismembering his left hand).

A note about the word Gug. S.T. Joshi dismisses it as juvenile, but I take it to be a Ghoul word, as this is from whom Randolph Carter learns the term in Dreamquest. In a language that is meeped and glibbered, "Gug" seems quite at home.

We then meet Akili the Wicked, who will be Abdel's companion for the remainder of the Quire. He is an Ethiopian, which in Yemen would hardly be a surprise as the two nations are separated by only a small gap in the Gulf of Aden. Ethiopia actually invaded Yemen in the 6th century. To this I added details taken from the Lord Dunsany tale "Probable Adventure of the Three Literary Men", namely Mount Mluna and the Ethiopian Heth tribe.

We then begin Chapter 2 and learn that Akili believes himself to be a werewolf. While this does not turn out to be true (he is actually a Vormi), I took the opportunity to integrate some of Robert E. Howard's unique werewolf lore into the book, as it ties directly into a concept I will be expanding on much more as the book continues: the role of souls. 

Souls are a vital component of a great many tales by Lovecraft, and I will devote an entire post to the subject in the near future. The concept of humans as clay vessels who are able therefore to house an additional soul is a concept that draws from some specific Lovecraft tales (The Call of Cthulhu, Through the Gate of the Silver Key, The Strange High House in the Mist, etc.) and will be explained and elaborated on as the book progresses. I promise it will make sense in the Mythos.

The name of the boat Abdel and Akili travel on to Ethiopia is taken from one of Lovecraft's earliest stories "The Mystery of the Grave-Yard".

We now have a series of vignettes of gods worshiped by Akili and his people. Thog has been described above, but here Abdel conflates him with Tsathoggua. Is he right? Is he wrong? You may decide, but the second syllable certainly hints at a connection and they *are* both toad-like gods.

Kinn-Jaen, Yoth, and N'Kai are from The Mound.  The reference to  Nyarlathotep dwelling in the center of the earth is from The Rats in the Walls. 

Klolo The Spider God was inspired by Hlo-hlo from Dunsany's tale "The Distressing Tale of Thangobird the Jeweller", and Atlach-Nacha is from Clark Ashton Smith's story "The Seven Geases".

Yig the serpent god is from Lovecraft and Zellia Bishop's "The Curse of Yig".

When Abdel and Akili get to a market place Abdel has a chance encounter with an odd, legless figure. This is a reference to my favorite photo by Joel Peter Witkin, an image that inspired a memorable part of the film Jacob's Ladder.

The final section of the Second Quire chronicles their arrival in the hidden city of Telessar and an encounter with the Dread God Sebek. Portions of this were inspired by the novel "Of One Blood" (1902) by Pauline Hopkins, an African American author from my beloved Portland Maine. Her mention of a giant centuries-old crocodile in the hidden city sparked my imagination. Sebek entered the Cthulhu Mythos by way of Robert Bloch in stories such as "The Secret of Sebek" and "The Fane of the Black Pharaoh".

The bleeding knife that lets Abdel know Akili is in danger is drawn from the Arabian Night's Entertainment's "The Tale of the Envious Sisters", but also echoes the setup from the Statement of Randolph Carter with Abdel above (like Carter) and Akili below (like Warren).

The Second Quire ends with Akili returned, and his nature as a Voormi confirmed. The Voormis are the creation of Clark Ashton Smith and are described in "The Seven Geases" and others.

So there you have it. I am sure there are more tidbits I had meant to share, but this is certainly the majority of them. I hope this helps answers some of your questions but if not, please add them below! We are now halfway through Quire Three and heading toward even more Eldritch Discoveries.

Yr obt. servant,

Christian Matzke