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Chaosium Digest Volume 25 Number 05
Chaosium Digest Volume 25, Number 5
Date: Sunday, April 12, 1998
Number: 4 of 4
Contents:
Gathering Darkness, Part Two (Evan Franke) CTHULHU NOW
--------------------
From: Evan Franke <erf98@uclink4.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Gathering Darkness: A Keynote Address, Part Two
System: Call of Cthulhu
[continued from V25.4]
EUROPE
This continent is a paradox. Attached to Asia and across the middle
sea from Africa, it can be seen as the lesser of three sister
continents. Humans came later to Europe, as did social and technical
advances diffused from parts of Africa and Asia where they were
independently developed. Still Europe is a cradle for many great
traditions, and proved even better as a crucible for refining foreign
elements brought by trade, conquest, and invasion. For in the end,
through barbaric periods and dark ages, Europe holds the foundations
for the modern world. For better or worst, the dominant forms of
economy, urbanization, and modern technology in the world flowed from
this continent with its successive world empire builders.
While in the past there have been brighter spots on the globe, and in
the future the world may see a swing in the influence of human ideas,
the present still belongs to realities dreamed and refined in Europe.
Human Geography
Europe as a continent demonstrates an incredibly diverse human
geography, inserted into a varied and yet tiny landscape. Here there
are elements that resonate strongly and clearly with what we see as
the modern world. London, Paris, and Vienna, Berlin, these are modern
cities, with modern culture, enriched by the presence of ancient
foundations and landscapes with long memories. At some basic level the
essence of the modern Western world exists in Europe.
This is just a superficial reading, however. Europe is a small scale
continent in terms of area, but in terms of complexity and diversity
of language, culture, and societies, Europe is a rich and
unhomogenized collection of very old societies. In the last centuries,
much of that diversity has been masked or suppressed by the emergence
of the nation-state (a European original), which emphasized
territorial integrity, a single national language, and a centralized
capital which held predominance as a cultural and social showpiece.
We understand Europe mainly through the image presented through the
centers of the powerful nation states, England, France, Germany,
Austria, Italy, and perhaps Spain and Poland. There are, however, so
many more facets to European society: different ethnic groups,
traditions, and dialects spread between grand cities and tiny farming
villages put there through historical accident or design. Yet, from
outside we see these tiny villages and forgotten enclaves fleetingly,
or as quaint sideshows. However, these are as much a defining part of
European reality as London, Paris, or Berlin. Witness the way reality
is bending in the 1990's around the ethnic and religious fragmentation
of former nation states like Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, shattering
the illusion of the unitary state.
Mythography
Each foundation laid in Europe seems to rest upon something just a
little older. Though much of what built Europe were ideas from Asia
and Africa, Europe sustained quite a few innovations of its own, and
successfully integrated new concepts to build societies with enduring
cultures. One can find incredibly sustained traditions in building
sites, libraries, and in ancient family lines. In Europe, the weight
of history and tradition are heavy and memories are long. This means
that Mythos influence not only is entrenched, but has probably been
maintained in any given instance (a building site, a burial ground, a
family line, a sacred shrine) for many centuries. Not only that, but
this weight of history has frequently cloaked forbidden things in
accepted tradition and respectability.
However, the fortunate reality of Europe is that with such enduring
institutions, there are frequently enduring records. Literacy was
imported to Europe, but once there, was always maintained, sometimes
widely, sometimes by a tiny elite, but there are records,
observations, chronicles and commentaries which date very, very far
back. The matter is one of finding such things, and that is not
easy. It is not just that certain forces may not want one to make
discoveries, but also that vast libraries and archives are maintained
by all to frequently tight fisted governments, private organizations,
or scholarly institutions, which, while never having been able to
catalog the material themselves, will not easily let others have
access.
A final consideration of leads to and influence by the Mythos in
Europe is the scope of the European empires. Spain, France, the
Netherlands, Portugal, and England, just for starters, all had
incredible influence throughout the world with empires of trade and
conquest, and they all brought many things home: objects, people,
written records. All of these spoils of empire had an impact on Europe
at one time, and many residues of that impact, whether material or
conceptual, are still to be found buried in the culture of Europe.
NORTH AMERICA
This continent consists of three substantial nations: Canada, the
United States, and Mexico. Though their history is intimately related,
there have been at times, no three stranger bedfellows. The overlay of
three nation-states onto the continent, however, fools many people
into missing the incredible mix of cultures, histories, and societies
ranged across North America, some of which have readily ignored the
artificial boundaries maintained by countries. There are millions of
stories to be found in North America for this has been a continent
where worlds have collided again and again.
Human Geography
The physical geography of North America is as complex as any on the
planet. North America extends from the tropics in southern Mexico to
the frozen ice of the Arctic Circle, and in between there are generous
swaths of deserts, prairie, forests, and agricultural landscapes, as
well as great lakes, rivers, mountains and valleys. The human
influence on the land has been pervasive, and North America houses
some of the greatest urban populations in the world. Yet there are
still broad open spaces, remote natural settings and empty lands to
contrast with the vast built environments of New York, Los Angeles, or
Mexico City.
The debate of when humankind first entered North America rages on, but
a safe bet seems about 35,000 years ago. These peoples came as hunters
across the Bering Strait in several waves of immigration. Every
habitable environment was eventually filled with people, and many
different ways of life became established, from settled
agriculturalists, who eventually supported dense urban societies, to
scattered hunter-gatherers, who moved in a yearly round, eternally
moving with the cycle of the seasons. These peoples altered the
landscape of North America, some in subtle ways, others through
massive transformations. Most of these alterations harmonized well
with the land, though some resulted in catastrophes like agricultural
collapse. The people lived as people around the globe have always
lived, mostly in fellowship, sometimes in intense conflict.
With the coming of the imperial European powers, conflict intensified
and life changed forever. In Mexico the high cultures of the Aztecs
and the Maya were crushed and absorbed into the Spanish Empire.
England and France played one native people off against the other,
though the English were more apt to deport or destroy whole
peoples. Eventually, through conquest, and especially through the
spread of disease (much unintentional, some very intentional) the
native peoples lost the bulk of their populations, and the land became
"virtually uninhabited." Those that were left were pushed aside,
exterminated, or absorbed, and the colonizers and conquerors defined
the modern reality of the nations of North America.
Everywhere on this continent can now be seen the influence of colonial
society, of pioneers, of people forced into slavery, and a continuing
stream of immigrants, refugees, and exiles. The already complex human
landscape of Native America has been scrambled and overlain with an
additionally complex set of ideas and objects brought from every
corner of the globe. If Europe was able to absorb and refine ideas
with which she ruled the world, then North America has gone even
farther with the concept. But not without great pain, for the nations
of North America are nations made tumultuous through their diversity,
held together by vision and promise, torn apart through betrayal and
hypocrisy. Every kind of a ideal and horrific human landscape can be
found in North America, it is a continent that has it all.
Mythography
Much like Australia, the original inhabitants of North America,
however diverse, had a certain underlying collective unconscious, a
link from the past, defining the present and guiding them into the
future. Even more so than in Australia, however, these unifying ties
were disrupted by the colonialist invaders. The colonial powers
brought their own baggage, the old ways from Europe, some of which
could blend surprisingly with native beliefs, others which we totally
foreign concepts. The conversion of the character of North America
from a land laden with meaning grown out of itself, to a land with
meanings imposed from the outside, has been continually complicated
with the vast array of new meanings imported by immigrants, willing
and unwilling. Many Asians and Africans came to North America much
against their will and yet they contributed to the mythic landscape,
and many more people voluntarily came from Europe, Asia and Africa to
escape their old realities and to transform into a new people. These
peoples have created new cities, new technologies and many new
religions.
For the Mythos this has meant many things. The ways that native
peoples coped with the Mythos, after long trial and error, have been
suppressed or lost in many cases. Despair and greed has turned many
towards the Mythos. However, the diversity of relations to the Mythos
has complicated Mythos designs since differing sinister traditions
have worked against each other as much as they have worked against the
Humanity. Also the diversity of peoples in North America has allowed
for many traditional ways of opposing the Mythos to bring their best
ideas together and form even stronger shields against the horror of
Mythos entities.
These few new hopes notwithstanding, what has been lost still cannot
be replaced entirely with what has been gained, and some of the
creatures of the Mythos have learned that alloying traditions can work
strongly in their favor as well. Added to this is the immensity of
urban technological society on the continent. High technology is still
relatively new to humankind, and it has turned more and more towards
the Mythos as an ally rather than served as a defense for modern
Humanity. The human heart of darkness lurks everywhere in the
urbanized landscape of North America, and the Mythos feeds well of
it. Further, and of great concern, the involvement of technology in
our everyday life advances faster than most humans comprehend its
impact, and as North America hurtles into its future we must be wary
of what ghosts lurk in our machines.
PACIFIC ISLANDS
The vast Pacific Ocean is peppered with a variety of Islands, most of
which constitute Polynesia. While widely separated, the Islands held
within the vast triangle formed between Easter Island, New Zealand,
and Hawaii were settled by a single population which, in a vast and
long term migration, slowly but resolutely navigated from island to
island, creating unique expressions of an underlying common culture.
Human Geography
There are all variety of paradises balanced against truly challenging
landscapes within Polynesia. Polynesia began to be settled some 3,500
years ago, but that colonization was not complete until just 1,000
years ago with the settlement of New Zealand. Few ties between islands
were ever maintained until European explorers rediscovered the links
between these scattered islands. They, of course, divided up Polynesia
into spheres of influence, portioning out islands to different
imperialist governments, and now the islands of Polynesia pertain to
or are administered by European founded states.
Mythography
Polynesia has an extraordinary mythology based on concepts of the
sacred, royalty, sacrifice, and usurpation. The rulers have often been
seen as a separate ethnic group or race from the ruled. Polynesian
culture is, of course, intimately linked to the sea. There are
fascinating ruins, remains and mysteries, all apparently man-made,
throughout this Pacific region. The amount of Mythos penetration into
Polynesia may be great, but, the Polynesians may also have developed,
out of necessity, some of the most active and effective defenses
against the watery menaces of Cthulhu's kin. While Harold Hadley
Copeland's pioneering studies from the early part of this century
(e.g. "Polynesian Mythology, with a Note on the Cthulhu Legend-Cycle")
opened the scholarship on the interaction of the Mythos and these
islands, little research has followed and we have only begun to learn
from the history and cultures of the region.
SOUTH and CENTRAL AMERICA
Linked by shared historical experiences and culture, these regions
have all to frequently been subjected to offhand generalizations
obscuring the large and small regional differences which makes this
continental area a place of magic and mystery. These lands house the
largest zones of tropical biodiversity in the world and contain vast
mountainous regions where humans created unique and enduring ways of
life. This is also a region of continuing human conflict and
emblematic examples of human cruelty.
Once these areas were the chessboard upon which the struggle of the
superpowers played out in the western hemisphere. Now it is an area of
uncertain future, with possibilities for economic renewal and utter
social disintegration. These are lands of contrasts, of places more
European than Europe, of people steadfastly true to their indigenous
heritage, of vastly rich and incredibly poor, of virgin forest and
stifling urbanism. There are mysteries here, and the map to both
heaven and hell drawn out of the human heart.
Human Geography
Central America sits firmly in the tropics and has colorful locales
that belie the difficulty of every day life for the majority of its
inhabitants.
South America seems dominated by both the Amazon rain forest and the
Andes mountain range, but also has vast deserts, coastal oases, vast
pampas (plains), frigid fjords, and coniferous forests. All of these
environments were inhabited by well adapted native peoples who had
begun to fill these spaces between 20,000 and 14,000 years ago. There
were agriculturalists, hunter gatherers, and pastoralists, many
interdependent on one another.
The Andes mountains and the Peruvian coast proved areas which spawned
notable high cultures: urban centered theocracies and empires which
collected and spread symbols and ideas which became almost universal
throughout South America. Central America and northern South America
received influence from the high cultures in Mexico and Peru, but most
of their societies remained independent and unaligned until the
arrival of the Spanish. Groups that lived in the vast rain forests
remained largely uncontacted, even through much of the Spanish and
Portuguese conquests. These peoples were largely able to escape the
impact of invaders whether they be imperial conquerors of from Inka or
the Spanish Crown, until the modern era.
The policies of the colonial powers have played an enormous role in
creating the societies of these regions. Most models of organization
came from the Iberian Peninsula, which created a very stratified
society based on a combination of class and ethnicity, with the higher
classes living in the cities, the highest class, of European stock, in
the centralized capital, and the lowest classes belonging to the
indigenous ethnic groups predominantly living impoverished rural or
urban existences. Between the European transplants and the oppressed
indigenous populace is the vast bulk of middle and lower classes of
mixed ethnicity, the mestizos.
In general the countries are run by an elite from the capital,
supported by enormous and corrupt branches of state bureaucracies and
the military. Law is applied unevenly, and money and connections are
what get one by. Introduced into this for the modern world is the vast
scourge of the drug trade, largely based on cocaine. Coca, which is
grown throughout the tropical Andean region, is a plant with many
medicinal and ritual uses throughout the region, but once chemically
processed, it becomes a potent, addictive, destructive, and lucrative
drug. The money generated in most countries by the drug trade rivals
that of most of their other exports.
Money buys prestige and power, and the influence wielded by leading
drug traders rivals the governments in many countries. Military
officials are generally pleased to look the other way if they can have
money and arms to fight revolutionaries, and government officials pad
their income and often fill Swiss bank accounts, while some terrorists
add to their ideological cannon a sustaining interest in the drug
trade. With all of the other problems of poverty, class and ethnic
oppression, corruption, and militarism, drugs add a deadly factor into
the culture and politics of the region.
Mythography
There were many diverse facets to the mythic unconscious of this
region. In Central and South America, the organized cults and
spiritual practices were largely destroyed, but the native folk
religions combined with Catholicism to form new indigenous belief
systems, superficially European, but intrinsically native. Spirit
beliefs and Shamanism still exist throughout South America, especially
in the Amazon.
In the High Culture centers throughout South America, such as Cuzco,
Moche, Chan Chan, and Tiwanaku, there may have been influence from the
powers of the Mythos, but this is a largely untested hypothesis.
Certainly South and Central America present resources which beings of
the Mythos may desire, such as the rare genetic combinations from the
diverse biology, mineral wealth, and human resources. How native
peoples have dealt with the Mythos and how they may have been
influenced or resisted that influence still requires research.
Certainly all of the urban, impoverished landscape is a hotbed for
Mythos activity, as is the drug trade. Violence, suffering and
destruction are rife throughout the region, and the negative energy is
consequently palpable throughout much of the territory. There are many
undiscovered places on this continent, there is a feeling of secrets
still, in the mountain peaks, in the deep jungle, buried in the
deserts. Whether these secrets are human, pre-human or
extraterrestrial, has yet to be seen.
CONCLUSION
Early students of the Mythos tended to believe that civilized
Europeans were the least influenced by the Mythos, while non-western
cultures, with different moral ideals and values, must be the most
Mythos influenced. Now, after decades of historical and
anthropological research, we find that Western civilization may simply
be the least aware of Mythos influence, while traditional non-western
cultures are much more aware of the Mythos, and the majority take
measures to shield themselves from it.
The landscape of the human heart is reflected in the way that Humanity
has shaped its environment. From this brief survey, we can see that
the dangers to our world and our species flow most directly from
ourselves. Surely the Mythos has had a hand in crafting our doom, but
our own participation must be our first concern. Humanity dwells far
too often in its heart of darkness, but I believe that with study and
perseverance a light of hope may lead us out of darkness long enough
to give hope to our children and their children. With knowledge and
courage, we can hold back the tide of darkness a little longer by
defeating our first and worst enemy: ourselves.
--
