Nameless Cults

Nameless Cults / Unaussprechlichen Kulten
Name	Unaussprechlichen Kulten Nameless Cults
Aliases	Black Book (Düsseldorf edition), Unausprechlichen Kulten (typo)
Owners
Current Owner(s)	Henry Gordon, (possibly destroyed), John Stark, Myrna Lukaikas
Previous Owner(s)	Uncle Jedediah, , Herr Tussmann
Physical Characteristics
Type	Magical Book
Origin
Origin	Magical
Reality	Earth-616
Lead Designer	Von Junzt
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas, Frank Brunner, P. Craig Russell
First	Chamber of Chills #3 (December, 1972)
First	Chamber of Chills #3 (December, 1972)

History

Origin

Unausprechlichen Kulten, also known as the Nameless Cults was written by Von Junzt, a German eccentric.

The Düsseldorf edition, which became extremely rare, was known as the "Black Book" (because of its dark content), That name was also possibly used loosely to designate Nameless Cults.

Modern Age

The book was mostly unknown to the profanes, though some had rather detailed information on it anyway.

Despite its rarity, multiple copies of the book have surfaced during the Modern Age:

• During his studies with the Ancient One, Doctor Strange learned of Von Junzt's Nameless Cults, though it is unknown at what extent and if the Ancient One possessed a copy.
• Mr. Costigan read in the Black Book about the Black Stone of Stregoicavar, mentioning it as having been once the object of worship of an ancient fertility cult. How Costigan came across a copy is unrevealed. As Costigan mentioned the volume as "Black Book", it could indicate that he had access to a Düsseldorf edition (or the "black book" name could have been used loosely).
• Jedediah, living in Witch House in Penmallow, in Cornwall, England, possessed a copy of "Nameless Cults" within his massive collection of knowledge of the occult arts, older wisdoms, magic, and necromancy. His nephew Henry Gordon inherited of it. The copy was presumably lost when Witch House was destroyed by Doctor Strange.
• Herr Tussmann used his English copy of "Nameless Cults" to find the pre-columbian Temple of the Toad in Central America, built by a different race. There, he found the toad-shaped jewel, a key that he used to open the tomb, thus awakening the Toad God, which stalked him back home to retrieve the jewel. The fate of this copy remains unrevealed.
• John Stark possessed a copy of the extremely rare Düsseldorf edition of the book, called the Black Book.
• Myrna Lukaikas seemingly possessed a copy of Nameless Cults (the spine of the book, incomplete, was "Unnass... Ku..."), as well as a book by or about Von Junzt, as part of her collection on occult matters.

Content

The book was known as the Black Book due to its dark contents. It included:

• information on "cosmic obsenity that slumbers", and of cults and lost races that await to end that slumber, such as:
  • Shuma-Gorath and the Old Ones,
  • the Black Stone near Stregoicavar in the mountains of Hungary, (including its physical description and claims of a vast age) object of worship of an ancient fertility cult, and of a "toad-like entity", which could be either or both the Monster of the Monoliths, and the Toad God.
• a warning of waking "sleeping things", such as:
  • the Toad God of the pre-columbian Temple of the Toad in Central America (built by a different race), of the toad-shaped jewel in it.
    "The temple's god is the temple's treasure",
• a chapter on the summoning of daemons out of the Void,
• the tale of the sinking of Kalumesh, a land accursed by the Elder Ones representing good because its people worshipped the demon-god Dagoth, himself a servant of Shuma-Gorath,

Notes

• Unaussprechlichen Kulten is a fictional book created by Robert E. Howard in "The Black Stone" (November, 1931), adapted in Savage Sword of Conan #74 (March, 1982).
  • The book was originally called "Nameless Cults" by Howard, but was given his German title (to fit with its German author) by H.P. Lovecraft, who asked for August Derleth for a translation.
  • Howard was credited as "featuring concepts created by" for the mention of the item in "The Spawn of Sligguth!" (Marvel Premiere #4; September, 1972).

Trivia

• The German name of the book has been consistently misspelled from "Unaussprechlichen Kulten" in the original sources into "Nameless Cults", in its first mention in Marvel Premiere #4 (September, 1972), then in the "Tomes" section of the appendix of Mystic Arcana: The Book of Marvel Magic #1 (June, 2007) and in the associated unabridged listing of magic items at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe. The correct German spelling is however used on the "Nameless Cults" page at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe and in Strange Academy #11's Character Spotlight Variant cover (June, 2021) by Arthur Adams depicted the book with the correct spelling.

See Also

• 3 appearance(s) of Nameless Cults
• 1 minor appearance(s) of Nameless Cults
• 2 mention(s) of Nameless Cults
• 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Nameless Cults
• 4 image(s) of Nameless Cults

Links and References

• Nameless Cults on Wikipedia.org
• Nameless Cults at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe and Nameless Cults, Tomes of Eldritch Knowledge at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Unaussprechlichen Kulten at the H.P. Lovecraft Wiki