FABULOUS CREATURE
"Especially was it unwise to rave of the living things that might haunt such a place;
of creatures half of the jungle and half of the impiously aged city—fabulous creatures
which even a Pliny might describe with scepticism;"
H.P. Lovecraft, Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
"westward from these [the Troglodytoi of the Red Sea coast of Africa]
there are some people without necks, having eyes in their shoulders."
Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia
"These beings, though they were bipeds, and were not quite so unheard-of
in their anatomic structure as the entity which Eibon had met by the
lake, were nevertheless sufficiently unusual; for their head and bodies
were apparently combined in one, and their ears, eyes, nostrils, mouths,
and certain other organs of doubtful use were all arranged in a
somewhat unconventional grouping on their chests and abdomens. They were
wholly naked, and were rather dark in color, with no trace of hair on
any part of their bodies."
"His knowledge of the customs, manners, ideas, and beliefs of the
Bhlemphroims soon became extensive; but he found it a source of
disillusionment as well as of illumination."
Clark Ashton Smith, The Door To Saturn
That's got to be the most biologically plausible-seeming Blemmye I've ever seen. Very awesome.
ReplyDelete<3 for blemmyes.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS GUYS!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat guy is pro x1,000,000,000,000
ReplyDeleteOh Michael, sorta bad news: I think that these books might had beaten you to make an encyclopedia :I :
http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac236/xRalphx_rpg/RPG%20Collection/Call%20of%20Cthulhu/5105-S-Petersen-Field-Guide-to-Cthu.jpg
http://lovecraftzine.com/2013/04/23/lovecraftian-bestiary/
Yeah I have that Petersen's field guide. It's really cool but not really an "encyclopedia".
ReplyDeleteNow that you said that, I am completely uberjealous because the available copies cost like $60. And to be honest, I like different depictions of any kind of great old one.
DeleteAnyways, Your artwork looks similar to the artwork in the field guide. Are you just revamping, or more appropriately, remaking them? Just a wonder.
I'll never forget as a child looking up "monster" in my grandmother's dictionary and the illustration was the famous renaissance woodcut of this very being, along with the creature who was a big foot with a head and arms growing from it.
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese too have a chest-face monster, the xing tian. The linked Chinese wiki has a few illustrations, but by far the most disturbing blemmye/xing tian I've seen is a gif screenshot from a Japanese TV program found here.
ReplyDelete"A Chinese Bestiary" (University of California Press, 2002) lists and illustrates 345 fabulous creatures and personages found in the "Shan Hai Jing". I'm sure a careful reader will find many similar creatures in Western folklore.
WOAH MW! that's some good monster research!
ReplyDeleteIf you can get your hands on that Chinese bestiary, it's well worth a look. It's quite pricey, but I'm sure you can find one in a nearby library. The Japanese as well have a rich tradition of beasts, from the folkloric yokai to modern movie kaiju. If I had a lot more play money I'd gladly add these (and other works) to my slowly-growing bestiary collection.
DeleteAnd speaking of which, thanks for the early send of the "Illustro Obscurum" vol. IV (2nd ed.). My friend will be delighted to receive this gift.
We have a similar creature in Bengali folklore as well.
ReplyDelete