Knygathin Zhaum is a creature created by the late American author Clark Ashton Smith for his Hyperborean Cycle series of fantasy tales.
Description[]
| “ | He was naked to the waist, and wore the fulvous hide of some long-haired animal which hung in filthy tatters to his knees … His limbs, his body, his lineaments were outwardly formed like those of aboriginal man; and one might even have allowed for his utter hairlessness … the broad, formless mottling of his skin, like that of a huge boa … the unctuous, verminous ease, the undulant litheness and fluidity of his every movement, seeming to hint at an inner structure and vertebration that were less than human—or, one might almost have said, a sub-ophidian lack of all bony frame-work … He seemed to slither rather than walk; and the very fashion of his jointure, the placing of knees, hips, elbows and shoulders, appeared arbitrary and factitious. One felt that the outward semblance of humanity was a mere concession to anatomical convention; and that his corporeal formation might easily have assumed … the unheard-of outlines and concept-defying dimensions that prevail in trans-galactic worlds | „ | |
| ~ Clark Ashton Smith , "The Testament of Athammaus" |
This is how Zhaum is first described, but as it continues to be beheaded and resurrects itself, its appearance changes drastically. After the third beheading, it is described thus:
| “ | The head, in its third re-union with that detestable torso, had attached itself in a semi-flattened manner to the region of the lower chest and diaphragm; and during the process of this novel coalescence, one eye had slipped away from all relation with its fellow or the head and was now occupying the navel, just below the embossment of the chin … the arms had lengthened into tentacles, with fingers that were like knots of writhing vipers; and where the head would normally have been, the shoulders had reared themselves to a cone-shaped eminence that ended in a cup-like mouth … at each knee and hip, they had re-bifurcated into long, lithe proboscides that were lined with throated suckers | „ | |
| ~ Clark Ashton Smith , The Testament of Athammaus |
Additionally, the form which Zhaum takes to reunite his torso and severed head appears very similar to that of the Formless Spawn of Tsathoggua: Zhaum is a descendant of the Great Old One, and is the only living entity left in Commoriom at story’s conclusion. Later in the history of of the city, the thief Satampra Zeiros and his companion visit the long-abandoned metropolis and encounter a Formless Spawn, and as Zhaum reproduces by fission, there is perhaps a case to be made for Zhaum being the first of these creatures.
History[]
The child of Sfatlicllp and a Voormi, Knygathin Zhaum was a reaver and cannibal. Upon its capture by the constabulary of Commoriom, headsman Athammaus attempted to execute it by beheading, but because of its preternatural heritage, such attempts proved unsuccessful and only served to temporarily inconvenience the creature. As the folks of Commoriom realised that they stood no chance against this seemingly-unkillable entity, they left the fabulous city to its fate and re-established the capital at Uzuldaroum.
As a descendant of Cxaxukluth, Knygathin Zhaum reproduced by fission and thus created an Azathothian strain among the Hyperborean Voormi, with which it later repopulated Hyperborea after humankind deserted the capital city of Commoriom.
Gallery[]
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