The Song of Yste is a book described as being of "pre-glacial" origin. A bloodline of occultists named the Dirkas - who claimed to be able to trace their ancestry to a similar time as the Song of Yste - translated it "from its legendary form into the three great languages of the dawn cultures, then into the Greek, Latin, Arabic and finally, Elizabethan English".
Known Contents[]
- The Song of Yste contains information and an anecdote on the Adumbrali, a dangerous and seemingly malevolent extra-dimensional species.
Quotes[]
| “ | “. . . And these be none other than the adumbrali, the living shadows, beings of incredible power and malignancy, which dwell without the veils of space and time such as we know it. Their sport it is to import into their realm the inhabitants of other dimensions, upon whom they practice horrid pranks and manifold illusions . . .” “. . . But more dreadful than these are the seekers which they send out into other worlds and dimensions, beings of incredible power which they themselves have created and guised in the form of those who dwell within whatever dimension, or upon whichever worlds where these seekers be sent . . .” “. . . These seekers can be detected only by the adept, to whose trained eyes their too-perfectness of form and movement, their strangeness, and aura of alienage and power is a sure sign. . . .” “. . . The sage, Jhalkanaan, tells of one of these seekers who deluded seven priests of Nyaghoggua into challenging it to a duel of the hypnotic arts. He further tells how two of these were trapped and delivered to the adumbrali, their bodies being returned when the shadow-things had done with them . . .” “. . . Most curious of all was the condition of the corpses, being entirely drained of all fluid, yet showing no trace of a wound, even the most slight. But the crowning horror was the eyes, which could not be closed, appearing to stare restlessly outward, beyond the observer, and the strangely-luminous markings on the dead flesh, curious designs which appeared to move and change form before the eyes of the beholder. . . .”'' |
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| ~ CIRCLE: "The Abyss" |
Behind the Mythos[]
The Song of Yste was created by Robert A. Lowndes for his short story "The Abyss" and later expanded upon by Lin Carter and Laurence J. Cornford. It was used again in "The Mantle of Graag" by Frederik Pohl, Dirk Wylie, and Lowndes himself.