The Brotherhood of the Beast is an ancient cult that worships one of the Outer Gods known as Nyarlathotep in his aspect as The Beast, and they are one of the many antagonistic groups featured in the Cthulhu Mythos genre by author H. P. Lovecraft. They first appeared in The Fungi from Yuggoth/ Curse of Cthulhu/ Day of the Beast campaign supplements to Call of Cthulhu. The Brotherhood is dedicated to fulfilling the prophecies of its founder, Nephren-Ka, an Egyptian high priest of Nyarlathotep in the 14th Dynasty.
Description[]
The Brotherhood of the Beast is a secret society devoted to fulfilling the prophecy of Nephren-Ka. The Brotherhood was formed in the 12th century in Damascus by the undying leader of the Cthulhu cult; Lang Fu and the powerful sorcerer Baron Hauptman. After Edward Chandler's birth, they have focused on using the company New Worlds Incorporated (NWI) as a front for their attempts to cause political unrest. The Brotherhood manipulate many other smaller organizations to achieve their aims.
Practices[]
After Norphru Ka's death, his followers and children fled Egypt to escape the rage of the new pharaoh; Neferhotep and settled at the ruined city of Gharne in Central Africa. Over 2000 years later, the newly formed Brotherhood of the Beast took the descendants of the original followers from Gharne and brought them to Europe. The Brotherhood then let them intermarry with the native population, allways monitoring this matings in the hope that one day a suitable vessel for the spirit of Nophru Ka would be reborn.
Throughout the centuries two children have been born though both times the Brotherhood have been able to for fill there plans due to the unfortunate deaths of these children; one as a result of a war and one in an acidant with a summoned monster.
In 1892, Edward Chandler was born. A Brotherhood agent in America named Ambrose Cornwallis so identified Chandler as a potential vessel and reported it to Hauptman who confirmed their suspicions. When Chandler was 11 years old, Hauptman took him with him to Europe and tutored him in the magical arts required to bring about the "Day of the Beast". After his return to America, he began using the company he had inherited from his parents as a way of furthering the Brotherhood's aims.
Records[]
The complete genealogies of the followers of Norphru Ka are stored in a vault within Castle Hauptman, Romania. Friedrich von Junzt gives a description of the Brotherhood's activities and aims in Chapter Thirteen of his Unaussprechlichen Kulten. It may have been this activity that lead to Von Junzt's grisly death. Despite this apparent loss of secrecy the Brotherhood do not seem to concern themselves further with the Unaussprechlichen Kulten.
Members[]
There are ome of the more important and notable members of the Brotherhood of the Beast as follows:
- Nephren-Ka (also known as Nophru-Ka) - Egyptian high priest who is the founder and first leader of the Brotherhood of the Beast.
- Baron Hauptman: - co-founder of the Brotherhood and a powerful sorcerer.
- Lang Fu - Co-founder of the Brotherhood and the undying leader of the Cthulhu Cult.
- Edward Chandler: head of New Worlds Incorporated and the reincarnation of Nophru Ka.
- Doctor Ambrose Cornwallis: alchemist and member of the Brotherhood.
