Something to Think About...

The mind is a strange thing, as it is not a thing at all. What is the mind if not the fragile attempt of a clump of meat to interpret the vast and complex reality around us. A fragile attempt that when disturbed can shatter into madness. Yet what is madness if not a greater understanding of reality that we simply lack the ability and context to share? Madness can be used by an observer like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, slowly creating a patchwork of understanding of our universe. When reduced to our essence we are but a feeble conscious born from the carcasses of dead stars that the great scavengers of the cosmos had not yet picked clean, attempting to discern our place in the universe? We are stardust attempting to understand the stardust of what was, what is, and what will be.

Each individual is not born into the collective sum of human knowledge, which creates the tedious and often messy process of having to teach each individual human a bastardized summary of its entirety. We as humans have no standard knowledge base. Therefor disparities in the baseline of knowledge exist which hinder our ability to further our understanding; as much of our time is spent debating that which has been proven rather than attempting to peer beyond new veils of cosmic twilight to see what lurks behind.

We who are born from nothing are destined to become nothingness once more in an endless cycle driven by the will of the dreaming gods. We do everything in our power to understand the universe around us; however, to the great delight of the gods, our greatest barrier to understanding is ourselves. You see the gods had plotted many tricks, crafted many traps, and unleashed their mindless disciples into the cosmos, and yet fellow mankind is often the most difficult burden to overcome. Our only weapon against these foul gods understanding.

Slowly our knowledge does increase, but when a god become cognizant of this, they will do all in their power to hinder us. They cannot outright destroy us, as we are made of their stardust, yet they can drive us mad. They manifest aspects of themselves in our reality, warping our understanding of what we thought was real.

This can be seen even now as manifestations of the Great Devourer rake their vacuous mouths though the universe consuming all that happen to have the misfortune to exist in their path. All our feeble minds can comprehend are the maws of the cosmic Charybdis as they devour light and matter shattering our understanding of the physical laws of reality while their warped and bloated bodies lie just beyond the limit of comprehension.

But why do they seek so desperately to hinder us? That is simple, for as soon as we understand them, they cease to exist. Those that were false gods created by our lack of understanding simply fade from reality, however those that are true gods wake from their slumber. This is why they delight so in seeing us squabble trivialities amongst ourselves. We unknowingly gift them further aeons to hide behind.

However, the question remains: if the ageless gods wake from their dreaming, if they cease to exist in our reality, what of us? Are we so foolish as to presume that it is our reality? That we do not simply exist as manifestations to be toyed with in moments of lucidity? This is what we must know, but when we know will it be too late?

Author's Note:

I feel like I should start by clarifying I am not a crazy person. Just in case. This story will be acting as an introduction to the setting of a future Call of Cthulhu RPG I'll be running for some friends. Although I am a scientist who studies the effects anthropogenic activity has on the environment, so perhaps I am crazy after all...

As I find myself delving deeper and deeper into Table Top Role Playing Games (TTRPGs), I find myself enjoying creating suspenseful scenarios that create a fear of the unknown or a fear of what's to come. My inspirations for this setting were obviously taken primarily from Lovecraft and a more cosmic horror setting as Cthulhu type RPGs typically are. However I also love taking inspiration from other classic horror authors such as Mary Shelly, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Bram Stoker.

I believe in the future I may simply use this account to write out my ideas for TTRPGs and horror short stories. I hope you enjoy.

- L.S.