This article is a sequel to the post about the fearsome Outer God Azathoth.
Azathoth, the all-powerful Entity, known as the Demon Sultan, reigns supreme in the Center of the Universe, unable to act on its own. Deprived of a conscious mind, it is said that it has no trace of rational intelligence. The irony that the most powerful being in the universe is incapable of making decisions and exists by itself, is only a proof of the indifference that rules everything in the cosmos.
It is up to Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, to fulfill the pressing desires of Azathoth. Treated as the Mind and Soul of the Outer Gods, he is the Herald who coordinates all efforts to keep Azathoth satisfied, otherwise great repercussions could emerge. But even an almost infallible being like Nyarlathotep has an entourage of servants to help him in this arduous task.
Little is known about the creatures that serve Azathoth, and indeed, all the other mindless Deities. They are a unique breed of misshapen beings with batrachian traits that sometimes differ from each other in such a way they hardly appear to be of the same species. Still, there are sufficient elements indicating the Servitors of the Gods have a common origin. Unfortunately, this offspring is a great mystery, over which some scholars of the ancient myths tried to know about, but from which they have emerged only with more doubts.
Abdul Al-Hazred, the famous Mad Arab, briefly quotes the Servants in his Necronomicon, giving them a few words, perhaps considering them as despicable beings in the Cosmic Court, since in their eyes they are mere servants of the Primordial Chaos. . The Yemenite says in his blasphemous tone that the sultan possesses a vast array of repulsive beings, similar to squid or toads, but also with traces of hideous reptiles, who perform various menial functions, fulfilling the role of subalterns of the court. Alhazred states that the main function of these nameless servants is to blow their flutes and produce the malicious sound that echoes across the center of the universe as a kind of maddening lullaby. The Arab cannot explain what a song like that is - or purposely does not try to do it, just by stating that the sound is produced by similar wind instruments, but not quite like the flutes. The nature of this cosmic resonance is a matter of debate; would it really be something similar to the sounds we are accustomed to hear and produce or would it be something completely different?
Caius Faber, the translator of the insidious Book of Dzyan mentions in his version, entitled The Liber Ivonis, that this "Music of the Spheres" as he calls it, is like a monotonous sound produced by hundreds, perhaps thousands of flutes playing in unison, creating an intonation that can`t be understood as music, but an absurd cacophony of bizarre sounds. Faber states that this noise affects the human mind in such a way that a few seconds of exposure to this perverse aria, is enough to lead to unconsciousness, and perhaps to utter madness.
However, it was not a writer, nor an occultist, who attempted more ambitiously to explain the nature of the Servitor's music, but a very skilled musician. Benvenutto Chieti Brodighera, an obscure Italian maestro, who lived in the eighteenth century tried to translate the Music of the Spheres to an epic concert that he called Massa di Requiem per Shuggay. Considered as virtually impossible to reproduce in a reliable way, Brodighera created even musical instruments, capable of repeating the incoherent noises included in his opera. Considered as a madman, the musician never could present the spectacle in which worked for decades. Some theorists believe that if one day Massa di Requiem is performed correctly, Azathoth will be invoked to Earth through a dimensional portal. If this presumption is true, even the few surviving scores of the cursed opera pose a serious threat, especially since, according to rumors, some sheets with musical notation were auctioned at the famous Christies of London.
But let’s discuss the nature of the enigmatic Servitor of the Outer Gods. It is again up to Caius Faber to define the creatures as a race he believed to have been created, or at least compelled by Nyarlathotep to become subservient.
Faber supposes that the nameless Servitors would belong to an ancestral race, as old as the universe itself, coerced by the power of Crawling Chaos to serve for all eternity. From where Faber drew these notions is a mystery, but for a long time he proved himself to be one of the greatest experts in such creatures, of whom, the great truth is, little is known.
According to Faber, the Servitors of the Outer Gods would have received some kind of blessing from Nyarlathotep which made them extremely resistant to the unhealthy function of serving Azathoth. Where other beings would be easily pulverized by the radiation emanating from the Demon Sultan, the Servitors endure with unshakable resistance. Neither the extreme heat nor the cold seems to have any effect on them, which allows them to approach Azathoth and in the same way survive the frozen space vacuum. Perhaps this resistance is a gift from Nyarlathotep, but it is also possible that it is nothing more than a natural advantage of these strange beings. Be that as it may, the matter that makes up the bodies of the Servitor makes them immune to the vicissitudes of most forces of the universe. The Servitors can withstand colossal impacts, falls, shocks, and powerful discharges of energy, none of these seem to vilify their bodies. The spongy-flesh absorbs all these aggressions without showing signs of injury. Indeed, when invoked, some of these beings fall from the sky, colliding with the ground without being affected by the fall. In the same way, if summoned by the Court, they enter our reality with the body in such a high temperature that constitutes a danger to anyone close.
They are probably immortal, do not age or contract degenerative diseases. They also do not need to breathe, excrete or feed; basic functions to most living things. Faber insists that Nyarlathotep's gift made them immune to everything but the distance from their master. He suggests that such beings feed on the radioactive emanations of Azathoth, establishing with him a relationship of mutualism. They serve their lord and master, receiving as reward a sustenance that only he can provide. Whether this is true or not, no one knows. In the same way, those who accompany other Outer Gods also establish with them a symbiosis or parasitism from which they extract sustenance.
Though incredibly robust, the Servitors of the Outer Gods can be injured or even destroyed.
Magic imbued objects with enchanted abilities have an effect on these creatures and are capable of killing them. It is at the very least peculiar that no man-made weapon, even the most lethal, is capable of causing injury to the Servants, yet a simple but properly enchanted blade can cut through its skin and lacerate its spongy flesh with relative ease. Mystic dusts and symbols of power, such as the famous Elder Sign, can also injure this aberration causing caustic burns when in contact with it. Wizards and conjurers prepare a stock of such enchanted items when they need to deal with Servitors. The occultist John Dee invoked them using nothing less than 21 consecrated talismans with the Elder Signs. Notwithstanding their vulnerability to magic and charms, the Servitors have a remarkable regenerative ability that allows them to overcome damage suffered in a few minutes.
It`s also a mistake believe the Servitors are mentally inferior or inept beings. The Servitors are endowed with an intelligence that puts them in a level of equality with the human race. They are perfectly capable of negotiating, rationalizing, and fawning and serving other masters. Many of these creatures are adherents of the Occult Sciences and capable of organizing Cults for the worship of their Masters. One does not know of beings like these that own their own cults; however the possibility cannot be removed. Some Sects have Servitors of the Outer Gods as part of the congregation, valuable members who actively participate in Religious Rituals. They are still Temple Guardians, Treasure Guards containing Treasures or important achievers of mystical wonders once they know spells and charms. The Cthulhu Cult in Louisiana and the followers of Nephrem Ka in Ancient Egypt, for example, enlisted Servants in their ranks. Physically the Servitors of the Outer Gods are an abominable sight. Your body looks like a mass of skin and pustular flesh of greyish-green coloration, or copper color in some cases. This mass pulsates and moves constantly with dozens of long tentacles stretching and retreating at the same time. These tentacles are extremely sensitive and each is capable of performing simultaneous tactile functions. Besides being adept, they are very strong, and a tentacle is able to easily equate the physical strength of an adult man. When more than one tentacle grabs a prey, they are able to squeeze it hard enough to shatter it limb by limb. Servant casualties are often encountered with constricted bones, torn limbs and irreparably shattered parts of the body. The tentacles are also used in the important task of playing the "flutes" that these beings always carry with them.
Servants move rolling on the base of their own body in a motion that mimics a crawl. In doing so they leave a trail of muddy substance that facilitates its progression reducing friction with the soil. There are testimonies, however, of Servitors jumping great distances driven by their muscular tentacles. Nor is it strange that such beings are capable of taking flight, although this mode of movement is rarely seen.
Above the tentacles that focus on the back, the Servitors have a kind of thorax cast to a bulbous solid head. In this great head stand out three pairs of dull and possibly blind eyes and four atrial fossae which give them a very sharp hearing used as the main sensory medium. The mouth of these creatures is narrow and oval, fitting perfectly into the mouth of the flute that is blown. The power of this breath cannot be measured by any human standard; in terms of time a Servitor can perform the same music for days without needing to take any further breath. The Servitor's mouth is not used to speak, and although they may learn different languages they prefer to communicate through sounds produced by their flutes.
Flutes are an important part of the Servitor, and so far as they are known, they are never seen without bearing these formidable instruments. Made of an unknown and virtually indestructible metal alloy, the flutes cannot be damaged even by incantations that affect their wearers. Vital information about these objects is that they cannot be claimed as treasures by those who willfully remove them from a Servitor. In the rare cases where such a thing occurs, the bearers were found dead, victims of other Servitor who tracked them and reclaimed the artifact from the hands of the usurper. John Dee was supposed to survive this "visit," but he had to give up the Flute he had in his possession, knowing he would have no rest if he kept it with him.
The flutes were not meant to be blown by humans. Those who try to do so are unable to produce any sound. It is speculated that terrible curses and all manner of communicable disease fall upon those who attempt to blow these pestilential objects.
Servitors of the Outer Gods are unusual beings and difficult to describe in human terms. They are slaves to Azathoth, and that alone tells you enough about their nature. Those who dealt with such creatures, at least the wise, did so with extreme caution, and even they knew of the inherent risk.
The final word about these beings rests with Faber who in the invocation spell explains the following:
"Never turn your back on them, never trust them, never dare to think that you are in control when dealing with the Servitors of the Outer Gods, keep in mind what they are and what they stand for. Never assume the arrogance of believing that by submitting to these cosmic forces they will also submit to you. "
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário