Aklo for Evil Fey and Cthulhu

[W E Ray]

About five or six years ago in the James Jacobs Thread I asked why he used Aklo, the language for Cthulhu and Hastur and Them, also for wicked Fey. He taught me that, in fact, Lovecraft imported the name, Aklo, from wicked Fey folklore for his Far Realm creations -- turns out Aklo was the language of the wicked Fey before Cthulhu and Hastur started using it. As always I thanked James very much and moved on.

Now, all these years later, I'm back.

Because I now need Campaign-usable, playable information. (Sometimes these 'Ask-James-Jacobs' questions are more theoretical, and it takes years before they show up in actual play at your game table.)

So here goes....
Did the wicked Fey in The First World abandon Sylvan when some of them brushed consciousness with Entities of The Great Old Ones? Perhaps Count Ranalc himself has his lost history tied with peeking into the Dark Tapestry and driven mad by the whispers of Aklo. And it was Count Ranalc who then introduced Aklo to the wicked Fey.

Or do the wicked Fey speak Aklo for some other reason?

Could it even be that The Great Old Ones have no native language at all and that when they first brushed their consciousness (if you could call it that) closer to The Prime Material, that it was The First World that they gazed upon. That the Outer Gods learned Aklo from the minds of wicked Fey and now, eons later, it is the only language they use when their insanity reaches closer to The Prime Material?

Anyway, all thoughts and ideas are most welcome and appreciated.

And BIG Thanks if Jacobs is able to find a few minutes to answer.

[Sibelius Eos Owm]

That's actually a really cool thought. It's rather implied that the old gods have existed in the place where the material plane is now since before there was a material plane, so it stands to a sort of reason that they were around to watch the First World grow, whether just out of synch with the future Material, or in its current place before being moved...

[keftiu]

Aklo as the primordial language of an older reality kicks ass. I like the idea that some truly ancient aberrations spoke it in a time when it was functionally Common.

[Perpdepog]

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

That's actually a really cool thought. It's rather implied that the old gods have existed in the place where the material plane is now since before there was a material plane, so it stands to a sort of reason that they were around to watch the First World grow, whether just out of synch with the future Material, or in its current place before being moved...

To build on this idea, who's to say that fey minds aren't just as open to the influence of the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods as anyone else? Perhaps there were ancient fey cults dedicated to them and with the First World being so much more chaotic and primordial their influence was allowed to remain, worming its way through fey society, over time becoming associated with wicked fey who are more likely to venerate or worship something as dark as Cthulhu or Hastur.

[James Jacobs]

Folks who are interested in where Aklo came from should check out "The White People" by Arthur Machen. It's in the public domain since the story's well over a hundred years old so it's easy to find online, but it's also a great story to read from a book while sitting in a big chair in front of a fireplace on a stormy night. As are most of Machen's stories.

[The Raven Black]

Great read. Quite captivating. Thanks a lot for that.

keftiu wrote:

Aklo as the primordial language of an older reality kicks ass. I like the idea that some truly ancient aberrations spoke it in a time when it was functionally Common.

I see Aklo as the language that came before there was the concept of language, or even of time, in the current reality.

So, a Common from the Old ones and Outer gods.

A language that was far more accessible when reality had not cristallized that much and the barriers protecting it from those outside were not so thick.

Something that the Aboleth and the Fey and all the really ancient creatures could study and learn and use.

I now feel we do not pay languages enough respect when playing the game.