Rhan-Tegoth

An alien being that came from Yuggoth, where the cities are under the warm deep sea. It came to Earth and lived in an Arctic city three million years ago, before Lomar and before humanity, when the climate was warm. The ruins are in Alaska, up the Noatak river from Fort Morton. Rhan-Tegoth was resting dormant there on a carved ivory throne until George Rogers and Orabona brought it to London.

Rhan-Tegoth is of great size, fully ten feet high even when crouching. It has six sinuous limbs ending in black paws with crab-like claws, and a round head with three eyes, and foot-long proboscis. Its body is almost entirely covered with a dense growth of slender tentacles, each ending in an asp-like mouth. The longest tentacles are on the head and below the proboscis, where they are marked with spiral stripes. It is amphibious, with a system of gills on its head. Rogers kept it in a tank of liquid. It made a baying or trumpeting noise, and had a horrible smell.

Rhan-Tegoth featured in certain obscure legends that Rogers had studied. Rogers awakened it with rites and blood sacrifices, including a dog. Rhan-Tegoth's victims are crushed and flattened, seared as if with acid, and covered with innumerable circular wounds. Rogers regarded it a god, with himself to be the first priest of its latter-day hierarchy. Rogers expected that it would grant him power in exchange for his sacrifices. Rogers was also afraid that Rhan-Tegoth would die if he did not continue to feed it, and believed that if it dies, the Old Ones can never come back. It is not clear which "Old Ones" are referred to here. However, the grouping may include Cthulhu and Shub-Niggurath, who were mentioned in Roger's rantings.

Rogers believed that Rhan-Tegoth could not be affected by human protections such as pistols. However, after Rogers' death, Orabona somehow killed or otherwise neutralized Rhan-Tegoth. Orabona put the creature on display as a supposed waxwork. However, the authorities considered it too shocking and forced Orabona to stop displaying it. [HPL Museum (online text)]

According to Winfield Phillips, Rhan-Tegoth is also known as that "hairy thing," Gnoph-Hek [AWD Lurker]. However, Phillips probably misunderstood a reference to the hairy cannibal Gnophkehs, who also lived in the far north and may have been contemporary with Rhan-Tegoth.

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