Careless

[Note: Critical Cthulhu is reflective look upon our favorite hobby, with an eye toward global scale topics and trends that have manifested in one way or another since before the beginning of Yog-Sothoh.com. I by no means claim what I write to be authoritative, rather the opinion of someone who has watched recurrence of these issues from time to time.

Warning: The following is full of over-the-top tongue in cheek sarcasm. You have been warned.]

"I am not a Derlethian."

Its a phrase one often sees on Lovecraftian websites, from those focused on the fiction to the various different type of games inspired by Mythos fiction.

"I am Not a Derlethian."

Rolls of the tongue doesn't it? In affirming that one is not a Derlethian, one is of course trying to state that he or she is against certain decisions Derleth made in his fiction while attempting to carry on the business of Mythos fiction.

Switch to an accusatory tone and it makes a handy Rhetorical device, much like declaring a politician is "acting like Hitler." All one really needs to do to knock out a person's individual ideas about Mythos fiction/CoC in an open forum is get the "audience" to identify that person's views as being of Derleth's ilk. Then sit back and watch the fireworks as the poor soul screams at the top of his/her lungs "I am Not a Derlethian.....!!!!"


Well, i am emphatically not a Derlethian...but i do use some of his ideas. The Byakhee for instance. Frankly i think we all have at one point in time and may not even realize it.

But, i have to question now, why is it even necessary for me to add that first part, you know the "I am emphatically not a Derlethian."

If i am not a Derlethian, and you gentle reader are not a Derlethian, may i ask as was asked of Senator McCarthy "So where are the Derlethians?"

Does WinstonP have keep a secret list of Derlethians? Is there a reservation or ghetto of Derlethians i can visit?

Do they all collect themselves on Yad-Thaddag.com and play "Howl of Hastur," a game of Manichean struggle between the Forces of Light and the Forces of Darkness with a Titus Crow boxed set slated to come out next from Orderium? And of course castigating those who dare call themselves "Lovecraftian?"


Or perhaps in my naivety the Derlethians are already here, a phantom menace....waiting in the shadows, greeting each other with secret signs and handshakes, making small print runs of the "Trail of Cthulhu" before the authorities seize them and publicly burn them. For of course such a blasphemous tome is a threat not only to the proper Sanity-Blasting knowledge of the Mythos. And if its like a domino effect - first it will be your Call of Cthulhu, then they'll take your job, your wife/husband/Deep-One hybrid mate, trample your beliefs, and essentially utterly and irrevocably destroy your very way of life.

Ahh, those Derlethians....Cthulhu fhtagn! May Great Cthulhu devour them.


But, like Lovecraft's protagonists searching after forbidden knowledge, i confess i am a bit curious. With so many people declaring themselves as "Not being Derlethian," almost as if by ritual or a formality, I would find it rather refreshing to actually See a Derlethian....


...that is if they exist at all.....