Pánfilo de Zamacona y Nuñez, often referred to simply as Zamacona, is a fictional character who appears in The Mound, a novella ghostwritten in 1929-30 by H. P. Lovecraft for Zealia Bishop. He is a Spanish adventurer who uncovered the hidden land of K'n-yan in 1541.
Biography[]
Born in Luarca, Spain, a quiet port on the Bay of Biscay, Zamacona was a wild young man, and at the age of 20 traveled to New Spain. Arriving in the Americas in 1532, he found himself surrounded by tales of adventure, and in 1540 he was picked to head north with Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's failed expedition to Cíbola. Eventually Zamacona was one of the few selected for a last-ditch attempt to discover something of worth. Though Coronado gave up at the Arkansas River in autumn 1541, Zamacona was still optimistic enough to believe the stories of Charging Buffalo, a native American who said he had navigated through a series of tunnels to a vast cavern that glowed with a strange blue light.
Enticed by promises of golden cities, he abandoned the camp under Charging Buffalo's guidance on 7 October 1541, and by October 13, the pair had found the tunnel's red sandstone entrance in a great ravine. Armed with a good stock of torches, Zamacona continued alone, agreeing to meet his fearful companion in a month's time. His progress took him past a series of carvings dedicated to Yig and Tulu, though his closest frame of reference came from the walls of Mexico. After three days' trek, the tunnel opened up into the blue-lit cave described by Charging Buffalo.
Roughly following a decaying highway, he stumbled upon a river with small deserted villages dotted along its bank, but also realises that he's being tracked. Reaching one of the abandoned settlements, he seals himself in to rest in a gold-lined temple with a dark metal statue of Tulu, which seemed to attract a talisman he found in the dirt. He was woken by his pursuers, a party of 20 K'n-yanians, and despite his knowledge of Wichita, Aztec, Spanish, French, Latin, Greek, Galician, Portuguese and Babel peasant patois, he was unable to communicate until they made psychic contact. They explained that they can't let him leave, and he rides with them to Tsath on a gyaa-yoth. His guide G'll-Hthaa-Ynn used the journey to catch Zamacona up on the history and culture of K'n-yan, indicating points of interest on the way.
In return for his knowledge of the outside world, he was offered an apartment in the city, unlimited access to the city's library, 10 slaves and a place in a high-class affection-group. Living in the lap of luxury for four years, Zamacona was able to explore the length and breadth of K’n-yan, from the plains of Nith to the ruins of Yoth. However, from the start, the subterranean society's lack of morality offended his strict Catholic sensibilities, and even in the relatively short time he was there, he realised that the was becoming increasingly depraved. Having failed to convince them to release him, his first escape attempt came in approximately 1543, but he was calmly turned back by waiting forces near the tunnel. It was at this point that he began documenting his experiences to keep his hopes of going home alive.
He began to worry about his continued usefulness, as well as developing a fascination with the mysterious N'kai. In what seemed like a stroke of luck, he discovered that T'la-yub, one of the women in his affection-group, was descended from an ancient family of gate-lords, and knew of an unguarded route to the surface. Gaining her trust, he formed a plan to load up his gyaa-yothn with gold and head out to Mexico, swapping out T'la-yub for a Spanish noble woman or an Indian Princess (with several Lovecraftian racial caveats). Despite making it into the tunnels, one of the pack animals bolts back to the city, alerting the authorities and leading to their capture.
Put to trial in the gold/copper palace, Zamacona is spared to preserve his remaining knowledge, but T'la-yub is sentenced to death in the arenas before being stationed as a y'm-bhi guard. Despite knowing that his next attempt will lead to the same grisly fate, he resolved to use what he'd learned about the art of dematerialisation to return to the surface. Remaining a faithful Catholic to the last, he prayed to the saints before making his last doomed escape attempt.
| “ | Es más tarde de lo que pensaba—tengo que marcharme (It is later than I thought; I must go.) | „ | |
| ~ HPL: The Mound, Zamacona's last recorded words |
Though his manuscript ended there his reanimated corpse was found in 1928 by an ethnologist searching the tunnels used during the T'la-yub escape. Despite lacking his head, arms and lower legs among other body parts there had still been enough to create a y'm-bhi from his remains. The K'n-yan had also enscribed a warning in broken Spanish on his chest:
| “ | Secuestrado a la voluntad de Xinaián en el cuerpo decapitado de Tlayúb (Seized by the will of K’n-yan in the headless body of T’la-yub) | „ | |
| ~ HPL: The Mound |
In the Arkham Horror Fiction universe, Zamacona became an undead minion of the K'n-yan and was sent to recover a stolen mummy. He was ultimately destroyed by Countess Alessandra Zorzi. (EXP: Wrath of N'Kai)