The Idol of Tsathoggua

“You shall know Tsathoggua by his great girth and his batlike furriness and the look of a sleepy black toad which he has eternally. He will rise not from his place, even in the ravening of hunger, but will wait in divine slothfulness for the sacrifice.”

—Clark Ashton Smith, "The Seven Geases” 

“…There are openings which human beings know nothing of — some of them are in these very Vermont hills — and great worlds of unknown life down there; blue-litten K’n-yan, red-litten Yoth, and black, lightless N'kai. It’s from N’kai that frightful Tsathoggua came — you know, the amorphous, toad-like god-creature…”

- H.P. Lovecraft, “The Whisperer in Darkness.”

Recovered on the famed Miskatonic University Commoriom Expedition of 1941, this strange black idol depicts the Old One Tsathoggua, the Sleeper of N’kai. According to Miskatonic expedition logs the corroded idol was discovered inside an obelisk-shaped mausoleum in the ruins of what was once the ancient city of Commoriom. It is made from an unknown onyx-like mineral found only in that region of the world. While severely corroded upon closer inspection one can see remnants of its once shiny dark black exterior.

Earlier accounts by Satampra Zeiros, published in 1931, confirm the connection between the city of Commoriom and the worshiping of the bloated god Tsathoggua:

“I had never seen an image of Tsathoggua before, but I recognized him without difficulty from the descriptions I had heard. He was very squat and pot-bellied, his head was more like that of a monstrous toad than a deity, and his whole body was covered with an imitation of short fur, giving somehow a vague suggestion of both the bat and the sloth. His sleepy lids were half-lowered over his globular eyes… In truth… I did not wonder at the cessation of his worship, which could only have appealed to very brutal and aboriginal men at any time.”

Over the course of the Miskatonic University Commoriom Expedition a total of 10 idols of Tsathoggua were collected. They are similar in features to published accounts of the idol encountered by the ancient Cimmerian Conan, although of a much smaller size. They are considered extremely dangerous and thusly kept in deep freeze storage at 10 different (and undisclosed) Miskatonic storage locations across North America. According to Miskatonic staff reports, when placed in close proximity to one another the idols of Tsathoggua begin to emit a foul and potentially hazardous odor. Additional incidents of strange behavior include: reports of a strange dog-like growling emanating from the idols, claims to have witnessed the idol blink, and an infamous account, recorded after the death of a staff member at Miskatonic, tells of a strange black fluid found near the idols that moved with an almost conscience deliberateness. The fluid - presumed to have originated from within the idol, or perhaps be the liquid form of the mineral the idol is made of - was described in detail as “a sort of viscous and semi-liquescent substance, quite opaque and of a sooty color,” and bears near-identical resemblance to the substance encountered by Satampra Zeiros in his published account.

Due to the hazards of their storage, and the requirement that they be kept separate and at sub-zero temperatures at all times, Miskatonic scholars rarely consult the idols of Tsathoggua. Little is known about them beyond their above description. Any additional information concerning their origins are welcome.

It is strongly recommended that no collector acquire more than one Tsathoggua idol at any given time.

The Idol of Tsathoggua stands an immense 8 inches tall X 4 inches wide X 4.5 inches deep

Made from Super Sculpey and hand painted with acrylics.

PRIVATE COLLECTION
USA