Iod

[HK Hunt (online text)]: An entity which mankind worshiped eons ago as Iod, the Hunter of Souls. He was one of the oldest gods, and he had come to Earth in pre-human eons when the old gods soared between the stars, and earth was a stopping place for incredible voyagers. The Greeks knew him as Torphonios; the Etruscans made nameless sacrifices diurnally to Vediovis, the Dweller beyond Phlegethon. The Egyptian name for him meant the Dimension Prowler.

This ancient god did not dwell on Earth. De Vermis Mysteriis spoke of Iod as the Shining Pursuer, who hunted souls through other dimensions of space. Iod extracts the vital forces of being, leaving only consciousness. The brain lives, but the body dies. (Interestingly, Ghatanothoa has a similar effect on its victims.)

But if an adept took the necessary precautions, he could safely summon Iod, and the god would serve him in certain curious but desirable ways. By diligent searching through certain half-fabulous cryptograms—the monstrous Ishakshar and the fabled Elder Key—Will Benson was able to piece together the incantation which would summon the god to Earth.

No man could say what shape Iod would assume; he did not always retain the same form. And for a human being to see the shape of Iod, unprotected by the necessary precautions, meant swift and certain doom. When Iod appeared to Alvin Doyle, it was not a homogeneous entity, but it partook of incongruous elements. Mineral and crystal formations sent their glow through scaly, semitransparent flesh, and the whole was bathed in a viscid, crawling light that pulsed. A thin slime dripped from membranous flesh; and plant-like appendages writhed in the air, making little sucking noises. A great faceted eye watched emotionlessly with the cold stare of the Midgard serpent. From a puckered orifice on the wrinkled lower surface of the creature there issued a shrill, high-pitched whistling. When Iod approached its victim, a rope-like tentacle uncoiled and darted out like a snake for the victim's forehead, then drained the life in one hideous tide of pain.

The first human race dwelt in primal Mu, and worshipped strange, forgotten gods, including Iod the Shining Hunter. [HK Invaders (online text)]

In the cavern beneath Castle Kralitz, Franz, 21st Baron Kralitz learned of the unbelievable manner in which Iod, the Source, is worshipped beyond the outer galaxies. [HK Kralitz (online text)]

Aka: Dimension Prowler; Dweller beyond Phlegethon; Hunter of Souls; Shining Pursuer; Torphonios; Vediovis.

See also: Book of Iod.

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