demiurge1138
Inventor of Super-Toast
Actually, Hastur is much older than the Cthulhu Mythos. He was invented by Ambrose "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" Bierce. Originally, he was the entirely benign god of shepherds. A peaceful diety, who had nothing to do with dark cults or nightmare beings or anything like that.
Then Robert W. Chambers got hold of him.
According to Chambers' story "The Yellow Sign", Hastur was the god of an evil cult whose modus operandi was The Yellow Sign, a mysterious sigil that enthralled anyone who saw it and eventually consumed their lives. This was the Hastur whose name got dropped by Lovecraft and his disciples, such as Clark Ashton Smith.
According to Smith, Hastur lives on a planet orbiting Aldebaran, in the Palace of Haon-Dor in the City of Carcosa by Lake Hali. His form is that of a large man robed in yellow, with his face covered in veils, although it is said that his true form is that of a Cthulhoid cephalopod.
The legend that chanting Hastur's name was enough to attract his attention was the invention of August Derleth, a devout Lovecraft fan (and the first person to collect and publish his stories in anthologies) who also produced some pretty bad Mythos doggerel. Most of it had to do, sadly, with quantifying the Mythos as a normal religion would be, and, oddly, by elemental line. Hastur was a god of Air, if I recall correctly.
The connection Hastur has to DnD was in the old 1e Dieties and Demigods book, where the Lovecraft Mythos was among the copyright infringing pantheons. It was noted that, even by the rules that saying a greater power's name had a 1% chance of getting their attention, Hastur was very likely to come if called, especially in threes. And so, the Hastur! Hastur! Hastur! chant began.
I'm sorry if that was long winded, but, hey, at least it was informative.
Demiurge out.
Then Robert W. Chambers got hold of him.
According to Chambers' story "The Yellow Sign", Hastur was the god of an evil cult whose modus operandi was The Yellow Sign, a mysterious sigil that enthralled anyone who saw it and eventually consumed their lives. This was the Hastur whose name got dropped by Lovecraft and his disciples, such as Clark Ashton Smith.
According to Smith, Hastur lives on a planet orbiting Aldebaran, in the Palace of Haon-Dor in the City of Carcosa by Lake Hali. His form is that of a large man robed in yellow, with his face covered in veils, although it is said that his true form is that of a Cthulhoid cephalopod.
The legend that chanting Hastur's name was enough to attract his attention was the invention of August Derleth, a devout Lovecraft fan (and the first person to collect and publish his stories in anthologies) who also produced some pretty bad Mythos doggerel. Most of it had to do, sadly, with quantifying the Mythos as a normal religion would be, and, oddly, by elemental line. Hastur was a god of Air, if I recall correctly.
The connection Hastur has to DnD was in the old 1e Dieties and Demigods book, where the Lovecraft Mythos was among the copyright infringing pantheons. It was noted that, even by the rules that saying a greater power's name had a 1% chance of getting their attention, Hastur was very likely to come if called, especially in threes. And so, the Hastur! Hastur! Hastur! chant began.
I'm sorry if that was long winded, but, hey, at least it was informative.
Demiurge out.
