Azathoth

AZATHOTH (also AZAZOTH or AZAG-THOTH). Outer God also known as the Primal Chaos and the Daemon Sultan. Azathoth normally is a shapeless chaotic mass, but has been known to take on other forms when he has been summoned. Azathoth sits in his court at the center of Ultimate Chaos (others say the center of the universe, or even caverns beneath the earth), mindlessly bubbling and blaspheming as he presides over the dance of the Other Gods. A veil of colors seals off the rest of the universe from the court of Azathoth where conventional laws of space and time break down. Azathoth may only leave his throne if summoned through incantation or through one of the special portals located in the temples of the insects from Shaggai. Legend has it that Azathoth gave birth to the universe, and will destroy it in the end. Some modern thinkers have equated Azathoth with the Big Bang; this corresponds with the Greek and Norse creation myths, which hold that the universe was created out of primal chaos. He may also be a personification of radioactivity; in fact, the formula in De Vermis Mysteriis for calling Azathoth requires a large quantity of fissionable material. Azathoth has also been given credit for the Tunguska explosion of 1908, though most scientists credit this destructive event to an asteroid impact. Some scholars have drawn parallels between Azathoth and the Gnostic Achamoth, the mother of the Demiurge who created the universe, or the Egyptian cult of Aten the sun-disk. Overall, however, worship of Azathoth in his normal guise seem rare. The only true earthly cult was that of the Gnophkehs, but isolated madmen have served him more recently. Azathoth also has a large following among the shan, whose temples hold an image of his avatar XadaHgla. The rites the shan perform for Azathoth are wholly abominable. The utterance of Azathoth's name gives one great power over beings from outside, and his unknown secret name gives even more influence and may permanently damage one who hears it. This respect has its limits, though, and not even the Necronomicon contains Azathoth's secret name. Some assert that the Daemon Sultan was not always an Idiot Chaos; instead, he lost his intellect and body in a great intercosmic battle, in which he may have been thrust entirely outside this dimension. This interpretation is only found within a few works, though. Azathoth has also been said to be merely the puppet of something infinitely more horrible. See Azathi; Azathoth and Other Horrors; Book of Azathoth; Cxaxukluth; elemental theory; Gnophkehs; Great Old Ones; Grey Rite of Azathoth; Hounds of Tindalos; Kuranes; L'gy'hx; Massa di Requiem per Shuggay; Nameless Mist; Nyarlathotep (Dark Destroyer); Other Gods; Outer Gods; Shaggai; shan; shantaks; Shub-Niggurath; S'ngac; Sothoth; Stygia, Thyoph; Tond; Tulzscha; Ubbo-Sathla; Vach-Viraj; Xada-Hgla; Yog-Sothoth; Yoth; Zylac. (Strange Eons, Bloch; "The Insects from Shaggai", Campbell; "The Mine on Yuggoth", Campbell; "The Nameless Tower", Glasby; "Mandelbrot Moldrot", Gresh; Spawn of Azathoth, Herber; "Hydra", Kuttner; "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture", Laird; "Azathoth", Lovecraft (O); The Burrowers Beneath,, Lumley; Elysia, Lumley; "The Last Night of Earth", Myers; Call of Cthulhu, Petersen and Willis; The Philosopher's Stone, Wilson.)