Pnakotic Manuscripts

Pnakotic Manuscripts
Also known as	Pnakotic Fragments Etheldreda (EXP: Demonbane)
Author	The Great Race of Yith
Country	Yith
Translation(s)	HPL: English, Unknown Author, 15th Century ("The Horror in the Museum") EXP: Pnakotica, Greek (“The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana")
Genre(s)	Occult
Media Type	Manuscripts gathered into Books
Real World Information
First appearance	HPL: "Polaris"
Appearances	HPL: "The Other Gods" The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath The Whisperer in Darkness At the Mountains of Madness "The Horror in the Museum" "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" "Out of the Aeons" The Shadow Out of Time "The Haunter of the Dark" "The Diary of Alonzo Typer" AWD: "The Return of Hastur" "The Whippoorwills in the Hills" "The Seal of R'lyeh" EXP: "The Acolyte of the Flame"
Created by	H. P. Lovecraft

The Pnakotic Manuscripts (or Pnakotic Fragments) is a grimoire from the Cthulhu Mythos. It was originally created by the Great Race of Yith and kept in their library-city of Pnakotus before being moved to frozen Lomar and the Dreamlands.

Contents

The ~1,011 (MXI) Pnakotic Fragments make up several books that include:

• The "pre-Pleistocene" records of the Great Race, they were later added to by the prehuman worshippers of Tsathoggua (the Voormis) and then by the Pnakotic Brotherhood, right up to the flight from Lomar, when copies were carried into the Dreamland, among other places. Each generation of the Brothers added to the text.
• The eighth fragment deals with Rhan-Tegoth. (HPL: "The Horror in the Museum") In the 15th Century the one public translation (into English) was made by an unknown author. This "pirate" version is known only as five bound manuscripts held by major libraries in Europe and America.
• The story of Sansu who climbed the mountain Hatheg-Kla when the world was young but found nothing (HPL: "The Other Gods").
• An Untranslatable section containing the symbol found carved atop Hatheg-Kla after the disappearance of Barzai the Wise (HPL: "The Other Gods").

In Other Works

• The Doctor Who novel Millennial Rites features a copy of the Pnakotic Manuscripts in the collection of the Library of St John the Beheaded.
• The Pnakotic Manuscripts appears in the Demonbane visual novels and anime, taking the form of a human girl named Etheldreda. She is the grimoire of Master Therion, who uses her to pilot Liber Legis. When the Black Lodge was unable to obtain Al Azif for the C Project, Etheldreda was used as a substitute during their ritual to summon Cthulhu. Shortly afterwards, both Master Therion and Etheldreda were seemingly killed by the Anticross. However, they eventually return in the final battle where they reveal that the true intentions of the C Project was to sacrifice Cthulhu, in order to summon Yog-Sothoth and open a portal for the Outer Gods to consume all reality. Master Therion and Etheldreda are ultimately defeated by Daijūji Kurou with the Shining Trapezohedron attack.

Behind the Mythos

The Pnakotic Manuscripts was the first fictional grimoire created by H. P. Lovecraft, even before mentions of the Necronomicon. It was extensively expanded upon by Lin Carter, who wrote a couple of "chapters" from the work; Chaosium has also added data.

Gallery

Etheldreda (Demonbane)