The King in Yellow

The King in Yellow is an enigmatic entity. He is some-how associated with the rise of Hastur, and in fact many believe that the King is Hastur. Others believe that the King is an avatar of Hastur, or that he is a different form of the same being. This does not eliminate the possibility that the King and Hastur are united in soul, mind, and/or body in some unthinkable way too complex for humans to understand. Yet one more possibility to ponder is that the King in Yellow might in fact be Hastur at a different stage of his development—traveling elsewhere in time and space to foster his own creation and metamorphosis, like a sort of monstrous insect larva. Perhaps all of these things are true, or perhaps none are.
The King is approximately human-sized, though he always takes a form taller than the average. At times he seems to tower higher than humans, though this may be a side-effect of his interdimensional immanence. He is human in form and could even pass for human were it not for his costume: tattered robes, mostly yellow shreds of cloth, and always the Pallid Mask.
The King moves among humankind as if one of them, but his passing brings madness, beauty, love, and pain. Ultimately his presence destroys entire civilizations.

The King’s Voice

When the King in Yellow speaks, all are compelled to listen. He never lies–everything he says is precise, exact, intolerable truth. He can speak in glorious poetry, and often uses pithy statements. Sometimes his voice reveals paradoxical mysteries or truths about the inner self. While the revelations he brings are horrifying, they cannot be denied.
If the King asks a question of someone, his victim is compelled to answer truthfully to the King’s satisfaction. This is often done to expose an individual’s weakness or failings in front of his companions but is also useful to the King in determining what to do next.

The King’s Tatters

Those touched by the ribbons and dangling scraps of the King’s bandages are marked by the contact, spiritually rather than physically. They will dream of the King that night and every night. Their minds will dwell on his poisonous truths until the King returns to them one day to take them away beyond the waking world.

The Pallid Mask

The Pallid Mask may in fact be the king himself even though the rest of his form may be a human, vitalized and energized by the mask. In other words, when the Pallid Mask is placed on a person’s face, they become the King in Yellow in a real sense.
The true Pallid Mask has shed echoes of itself, and there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of lesser pallid masks in existence.

The Desecration

The King’s immediate goal is to harvest souls to bring about glorious destruction. He may use many means to accomplish this, but the end result is the same: cities in flames, people shrieking in terror or abasing themselves before the King in frantic pleas, the dead rising up, and the very air charged with malignant fumes.
The King’s footstep brings the dead to life. They can return as a wide variety of undead, from simple zombies or ghosts to more powerful creatures such as vampires. The King’s horde always accompanies him.

Awakening the King

The King in Yellow can be brought to a world in several ways. The most obvious is by the use (or misuse) of the Pallid Mask.

Through a Person

The King in Yellow can manifest by possessing or absorbing an individual. The King must choose an individual who has great emotional depth, supreme artistic talent, and who is also hopelessly insane, typically criminally so. This is a gradual process. First the mad artist starts seeing fragments of the King in their works: a tattered yellow ribbon pattern in the rug he is weaving; sentences in their novel or play that they know they did not write; or bright citrine clouds floating amidst the white in the canvas they are painting.
Eventually these manifestations become more and more overt until the King appears in full form, emerging from the artist’s canvas, and takes the artist by the hand. If the artist goes willingly, they blend together to become one new being, who is now wholly the King in Yellow.

Through Great Art

Art produced by a devotee of the King can sometimes bring about the King’s appearance, in a manner similar to appearing through a person. In this case, however, the King is made known to a large number of people at once, for example at a theatre where a variant of one of his plays is being performed, an art gallery featuring art he has influenced, or at the unveiling of a monument designed by a cultist. The work of art always incorporates the Yellow Sign in some way, either subtly or overtly. Everyone sees the horror and beauty of the art, and then they are aghast as the King manifests and steps out into the crowd.

Through Travel

The King in Yellow is able to move and can simply travel from one spot to another. For example, he could be awakened on one world, then fly to a second world on the back of a byakhee or other cosmic horror.

What You See

This tall humanoid’s face is hidden by a pale mask made of strips of peeled skin, and its body is loosely concealed by tattered yellow rags. Its very presence sets you off your ease.

Divine Domains

decadence, disorder, and nihilism

Divine Classification

Great Old One

Alignment

Chaotic Evil

Realm

Carcosa

Church/Cult

Cult of the Yellow Sign