#an inhabitant of carcosa

[juliamccartney]

i love how i'm reading & analysing the early carcosa/king in yellow stories right now, and the first stars i see when looking out the window are aldebaran and the hyades (next to jupiter) and i'm there like

yay!!!

blorbo from my short stories!!!!!

[joannabarnum]

"An Inhabitant of Carcosa" created for "Character in Context" at the A.R. Mitchell Museum in Trinidad, CO, June 7-July 27, opening reception Friday, June 7 from 5-8pm. The original watercolor, several smaller preliminary studies, and prints are available: https://www.joannabarnum.com/an-inhabitant-of-carcosa

[drowningparty]

“Over all the dismal landscape a canopy of low, lead-coloured clouds hung like a visible curse. In all this there was a menace and a portent—a hint of evil, an intimation of doom. Bird, beast, or insect there was none. The wind sighed in the bare branches of the dead trees and the grey grass bent to whisper its dread secret to the earth; but no other sound nor motion broke the awful repose of that dismal place.”

Ambrose Bierce, An Inhabitant of Carcosa.

[chronivore]

2020

[farou-i-rassgat]

Revelation of Hali

For there be diverse sorts of death -

Some wherein the body remaineth;

And in some it vanisheth quite away with the spirit.

This commonly occurreth only in solitude

(Such is God’s will)

And, none seeing the end, we say

The man is lost, or gone on a long journey -

Which indeed he hath; but sometimes

It hath happened in sight of many,

As abundant testimony showeth.

In one kind of death the spirit also dieth,

And this it hath been known to do

while yet the body was in vigor for many years.

Sometimes, as is veritably attested,

It dieth with the body,

But after a season is raised up again

In that place where the body did decay.

[kirnet]

Something happened here

[909th]

picked up a copy of we’ve had a hundred years of psychotherapy and the worlds getting worse by james hillman im veryyy excited to read it

[sharkestry]

Carcosa? The monstrous city at which unspeakable horrors are done in name of the great old one Hastur they call their leader? Great. How much is the average rent price?

The king of Carcosa will eventually consume and destroy the entire city with everyone in it when the time comes to increase his power? Well that's every politician ever for you, tell me something new.

The entire city is populated by a cult that worships the King and they often do unspeakable horrors in his name? Yes im aware with how political parties work

The nearby lake of Hali is said to be inhabited by a being of unspeakable power which sometimes comes into conflict with the spawn of Cthulhu at that lake? YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS PLACE EVEN HAS A NICE LAKE TO SIT NEXT TO!? And yes I am also aware about how tourists can be annoying sometimes.

Your spooky "Black stars on a bright sky" you keep mentioning imply there is little air pollution, since seeing a large amount of stars in a city is often wishful thinking. Housing crisis considered this place doesn't seem half bad

[kellyvela]

So, about Sansa's name origins, I mentioned the book "The Slayer of Souls" by Robert W. Chambers the other day.

This isn't something new, but I think we should talk more about it.

GRRM has paid tribute to Robert W. Chambers by naming some places and characters in ASOIAF:

[Source]

~~~

~~~

Carcosa is a fictional land that first appeared in Bierce's 1886 story "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" (included in this collection), and later is appeared Robert W. Chambers's The King in Yellow. It has since been usedby many other fantasy and horror writers and poets including H. P. Lovecraft, Joseph S. Pulver, John Scott Tynes, George R.R. Martin, and many more. Carcosa has even been used as a location in the HBO's True Detective and Netflix's The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. [Source]

~~~

But apart from Carcosa and the Yellow Emperor, maybe there's something else that GRRM took from Robert W. Chambers works to put it in ASOIAF.

Indeed, Robert W. Chambers's "The Slayer of Souls" has a chapter and a character called Sansa:

~~~

Robert W. Chambers's Sansa is not exactly similar to ASOIAF Sansa; in fact, I found the character close to Melisandre. But the thing is, that maybe, this character is the origin of ASOIAF Sansa's name.

And the title of book "The Slayer of Souls," reminds me of this:

I dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs. And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow. —A Storm of Swords - Arya VIII

There's something so satisfying in finding more Sansa & Slayer associations ❤️

[verrdette]

Verrdette's Lore of Lords/Reference hub (Carcosa AU)

|will be updated as I learn more|

Status: 8/21 I have learned the anatomical contents of each "bodily humour," these will be the source of each Lord's magic. Learned about the City of Carcosa and the King in Yellow. Rereading SCP 2264...

My Lords:

Albedo / Phlegmatic water 🜄 (praying mantis) phlegm

Nigredo / Melancholic earth 🜃 (locust) black bile

Citrinitas / Choleric fire 🜂 (giant hairy scorpion) yellow bile

Rubedo / Sanguine air 🜁 (dragonfly) blood

Long, long ago the four Lords lived in harmony, then everything changed when the Earth Lord attacked. For more lore of the Carcosa AU, read below

Disclaimer - you may use this lore yourself, just credit this post. None of this is canon to scp, just a fun little set of ideas in my brain. To make it simple, let's call it the Carcosa AU. Credits to Metaphysician for creating Alagadda! Alagadda (Human name: Carcosa) - An ancient city whisked away into a role of an interdimensional nexus, where its inhabitants are cursed to live and rot, but death is nonexistent.

The Tale of the Black Death - A prophecy foretold by Alagaddans, often in jest and mockery at death. There are two versions of the prophecy, one false and the other true: The tale depicts the god of Death vanquished by the ascension of the Hanged King and the City of Alagadda. With the philosopher's goblet, Death cannot take them.

(the rest is WIP) The Court - The Hanged King - The Ambassador - (will be researching the King in Yellow) The Four Lords of Alagadda - (trying to figure out how to organize their lore in tumblr) Death - The Black Lord -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you wish to have the text icons for alchemy use this site.

For a more general understanding of these four temperaments (without the mess of Wikipedia), refer to this small document.

p.s. to this document, I am Melancholic/Phlegmatic. How silly. Have a go if you wish.

I am currently studying this book - The Hermetic Museum: Alchemy & Mysticism by Alexander Roob - It's a collection of significant works concerning Opus Magnum. Beware: the information is as shallow as Rubedo, so if you're looking for long alchemy procedures, it's best to search it on your own if you are short on cash. Even then, I still highly recommend it. It's a great historical read.

[gorgonfuckerdotnet]

Ayyy carcosa, feel free to ignore if this is too personal for the two of them but do your NHP partners have a sort of "avatar" for themselves?

Like for example a fellow lancer of mine has an enlightenment-class who represents herself holographically with a mature (dare I say MILFy if I'm being honest) but with a head composed of innumerable inky tendrils with eyes on em.

Ty!

// Oh hey, not an anon // No not too personal // My specific instance of SCYLLA prefers simply being the Gorgon she inhabits // Sierra does like to use her subaltern for day-to-day stuff // But the hologram is what she uses in my HUD // Older holograms seem to be common, especially with the SIDEWALK variants, but Sierra likes to look like a very pretty woman // I'm not biased you're biased.

[juliamccartney]

currently waiting for the tram, looking up into the void i spot aldebaran and the hyades!!!! blorbos from my short stories!!!!!! <3

[superchat]

there was one persons interpretation of what this visualization is and it hit me so hard i think about it a lot

spoilers under the cut. ill be brief (if i can help it) and keep it pretty cut and dry without much flowery imagery (if i can help it) but whoever reads it can take the pieces and put them together and fill the gaps in with humanity

the various paintings of "isle of the dead" flash through elster

ALSO though the isle of life. (important)

a word that is IN the game is "carcosa" but the word is redacted in every mention of it. users only found it due to datamining.

"carcosa" is a term used in the "king in yellow", and a short story "an inhabitant of carcosa" which was inspired by a poem called "carcassonne". in the short story, there is an ancient, abandoned and ruined city called carcosa and the person wandering it is dead who used to live there. they forgot they were dead and forgot what the city was. until they see their own tombstone and then they remember. the story brings out themes of unfamiliarity, longing, contemplations of death, home

there was a promise made. (did elster make a promise? was it a promise they made to each other? either way.) elster at this moment remembers the promise.

the isle of the dead can very easily be interpreted to be "carcosa". a longing for death, to move on. to be at peace.

elster is bringing that to ariane. bringing her carcosa, her promise. there are several moments that present elster as the ferryman who carries souls from life to death. elster is bringing death to ariane (as was their promise?)

but there can be more to it than that. elster herself, is arianes carcosa. someone dear to her, someone special and someone who is home for her. elster is making her way back to ariane so they can be together (as was their promise?) remember, the isle of life painting ALSO flashes in elster,

maybe their promise was that they would never leave eachothers side. or that they would die together, or that ariane wouldnt suffer. or maybe that neither would suffer. maybe it was a promise to take care of eachother and be there to finish things for the other when time came. or that no matter how bad things got, theyd be with eachother.

but i absolutely LOVE the dynamic as framing elster as the harbinger of death for ariane but also as a harbinger of peace and comfort for ariane. she wants to die, but. she wants elster too. if she could live in peace and comfort with elster. i dont think shed want to die. but she cannot live in peace or comfort. in every sense, elster is her carcosa, and in that moment, elster remembers.

[joannabarnum]

A mood study I did before “An Inhabitant of Carcosa,” to work out the vibes and colors I wanted. Available.

[uss-edsall]

I have really enjoyed Signalis from a viewpoint of considering its origins and its makers. It is very clearly East Germany in Space. Well, East Germany in Space with a smattering of Chinese and other Asian influences.

The tech is very Soviet retro-futurism. The architecture of their society, from what we get to see, felt very Eastern Bloc brutalist. That's even without addressing the fact the flag is just the East German flag with some changes to it.

The makers of the game are very much German, and know their history, know their references. One of the planets is even named after a leftist paramilitary organisation from the Weimar Republic days.

Aside from the blatant The King in Yellow references (you literally pick it up to get to the game beginning in earnest) I can sense some relation to An Inhabitant of Carcosa. The painting that keeps showing up is the real life Isle of the Dead painting. I'm sure there's others, I just don't know them.

It's been fascinating to consider it from an outside perspective considering what exactly the creators were looking at for inspiration, or decided to reference in the creation of the game.

I am probably not finishing the game for its subject matter is hitting too close to home - but it's definitely a thought provoking game, and I have liked the aesthetics. (I especially like the Penrose's design)

[angel-advise]

(talking to the pink-haired girl at an emo show) you know "an inhabitant of carcosa"? that was me