Undying Leaders
Details
Product Code: CHA0342
Publishing Year: 2007
Pages: 80
Cover Price: $15.00
Author(s): Jason Williams
Artist(s): Jason Williams (maps)
Setting(s): 1920s
Format: MULA Monograph
Released as PDF: Yes
Contents
The works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft contain several stories about old wizards who deal in forbidden knowledge and whom seek to either extend their lifespan, to regain their youth or obtain knowledge and skills to cheat death. Some also seek to increase their knowledge by bringing back others from the dead and forcing them to answer questions.
Traditionally this form of magic is referred to as necromancy and the Call of Cthulhu rules book and Dark Ages both contain spells that deal directly with this subject. This work provides examples and revelations of these wizards in the works of Lovecraft.
Note: although the description of this Monograph places emphasis on its inclusion of source material, this section of the book is actually relatively short -- it is more accurately described as a scenario book with one or two short source articles.
Scenarios: Suffer Not a Wizard to Live, The Undying Leaders of Tibet, Head for the Hills
Front Cover Text
Undying Leaders.
WIZARDS & THEIR ILK, DRAWN FROM THE WORKS OF LOVECRAFT
Front Cover Text
UNDYING LEADERS
Lovecraftian tales are filled with stories of ancient Wizards seeking forbidden knowledge -- extending their lifespans, ragaining (sic) lost youth, or cheating death. This form of magic is known as Necromancy, and this work exposes its practitioners.
Comments / Trivia
Credits for research materials:
Tibet village diagram is based on Pannangriang located at: 29'50'04.59 degrees N 91'05'23.41 E in Tibet 13 miles north of Lhasa
Name of the Tibet village Drakkum La is based on the name Latokka (Drakkar) from a Google Earth Community label at: 30'10'16.77 degrees N 90'37'32.64 E in Tibet
Family names in Vermont is (for the most part) from the 1850 Census for Grand Isle county.
New Heaven is a completely fictional village and is a pastiche of early 19th century communities involved in the lumber trade complete with seasonal workers.
Name Meanings
Lu Pan Tian
Lu = Country
Pan = Water that has rinsed the rice? (surname at one point of a noble family)
Tian = Man of the field
Wu Nu Hong
Wu =Men of Brotherly Love
Nu = To Praise
Hong = Gods of Water
Lobsang Norbu
Lobsang = Disciple
Norbu = Precious jewel or wealth
Jamyang Dolma
Jamyang = Gentle voice
Dolma = One who liberates others from suffering
Wongchuu
Wongchuu = Power holder
Pasang Nuru
Pasang = Beauty
Nuru = Jewel
Useful web sites
The Tibet & Himalayan Digital Library - http://www.thdl.org/
The Sherpa Friendship Association - http://www2.lucidcafe.com/Sherpa1/sfa/sFA_home.htm
The Old City of Lhasa - The 76 Houses http://www.asianart.com/lhasa_restoration/76houses/index.html
Diamond Way Buddhism - http://www.diamondway-buddhism.org/default.asp?col=01&t=dharmanames.htm
Economic History Services web site - http://eh.net/ (exchange rate information)
http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/list.htm (ship information)
Modern History Sourcebook - Asia since 1900 - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook52.html
Historic Asylums of America - http://www.rootsweb.com/~asylums/
Tibet Weather - http://www.chinahighlights.com/tibet/weather.htm
Suez Canal Transit - http://www.lethsuez.com/tg_history.htm
New England Antiquities Research Association - http://www.neara.org/
Sky Burial details came from the following sources:
http://www.tibet.ca/en/wtnarchive/1999/7/14_1.html
http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/TibPages/tib-burial.html
http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~pamlogan/skybury.htm
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/theme/fatal_attractions/fatal_sky.htm
Information about the Tibet surveyer Nain Singh was from Current Science Volume 77 Number 5 Sept. 1999
http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/
In the 3rd scenario the Hampton Court Hotel was an actual hotel chain from the 1926 ALA Green Book right down to its phone number on the Noyes business card. The building is still there and is known as the Brookline Properties. Four story brick building with crenelations on the edge of the roof.
http://www.rent.com/rentals/massachusetts/boston-and-vicinity/brookline/466218/
Commentary about the hotel and operation thereof especially how to fast talk a maid is based on my past experience working for a small regional chain in Atlantic Canada (Keddy's Motor Inns Ltd.) from 1982 to 1997.
Books I was reading while I was writing this material:
Joseph Campbell - Masks of God IV Creative Mythology
Carl Sagan - The Demon-Haunted World
Richard Kieckhefer - Magic in the Middle Ages
H.P. Lovecraft - Various
Ruth D. Whitehouse - The Facts on File Dictionary of Archaeology
David Ditchburn & Angus Mackay - Atlas of Medieval Europe
Paul Theroux - The Great Railway Bazaar
Samuel Adams Drake - Historic Mansions & Highways Around Boston
P.F. Collier & Sons 1921 New World Atlas
The following Chaosium/Armitage House publications:
The Yellow Sign and Other Stories
The Antarkos Cycle
Nameless Cults
The Book of Eibon
Delta Green - the Rules of Engagement
The Book of Dyzan
Tatters of the King - NOTE: I skimmed the book and noted some similarities to the route that I had plotted for the investigators to return the statuette in the second scenario in my submission. I had this information in my manuscript before having laid eyes on Tatters of the King (which I purchased at the recommendation from an email sent to me by Lynn Willis). My decision of which hotel to use in London and the route to India was based on my research using available travel guide information from that period. As soon as I noted the similarities I put Tatters of the King away and have not looked at it since. (I'm still not sure if that was the correct thing to do from a writing standpoint).
Links
Link to outside reviews
Spoilers - Keepers Eyes Only
Players should not read any further.
The first section of the monograph deals with wizards as depicted in the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
It speculates about how they would go about extending their lifespans and how they would likely operate.
Following is a list of section headers that appear in that section of the monograph.
-Spells that wizards would know
-Permanent insanities that would allow a wizard to still function
-Wizard survival in society
-Real world organizations that wizards can use as camouflage
-How a wizard begins their career
-Skills that wizards cultivate
-Locations of interest to wizards
-Servants of independent races
-How to work a connection to a mythos race into your campaign (and keep it believable)
-Grave robbers...wizards henchmen
-Followers of Cthulhu in China and Tibet
-Brothers of the Yellow Sign
