Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan

Chinese, written by Hsan the Greater, c. 2nd century AD Seven scrolls, each on a different topic. An English translation, Seven Cryptical Books of Earth, is said to exist. The books discuss elements of the Mythos of particular importance or interest to those who live in the Middle Kingdom.

Earth: Contact Cthonian, Contact Zhar, Contact Lloigor
Sun: Elder Sign, Eye of Light and Darkness
Moon: Gate of Oneirology, Create Liao Drug
Fire: Shrivelling, Find Gate, Create Gate
Water: Contact Deep One, Summon/Bind Byakhee
Wood: Contact Mi-Go, Contact Ghoul, Resurrection
Void: Contact Hound of Tindalos, Contact Nyarlathotep

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Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan

These seven books contain 512 hexagrams, together with commentaries and instructions on using them for divination. The Chinese I Ching is a subset of the Hsan hexagrams. While traditional occultists believe that the Seven Cryptical Books are primarily a means of divining the ‘will of the gods’ by casting hexagrams and interpreting them according to the advice given in the Cryptical Books, an analysis of the hexagrams by Laundry computer scientists suggests that the original purpose of the hexagrams was a symbolic logic system – in effect, a computer language. Unfortunately, no complete copy of the Seven Books has ever been found, and the existing copies are all damaged or corrupt in some fashion, making a full reconstruction of the Hsan code impossible. Many commentaries suggest ‘correspondences’ and ‘flowing rivers’ between hexagrams, implying these are effectively code snippets that can be combined into larger incantations. More worryingly, the books also hint that some hexagrams or hexagram groups correspond to existing spirits or demons – the Seven Cryptical Books are not just a programming manual for reality, they also contain pre-existing bargains and treaties with powerful exonomic entities.
A sorcerer who masters the full hexagrammatic language of the Seven Cryptical Books may cast mental or traditional magic much faster than normal. A mental magic spell normally takes 10 times the listed casting time; with the Hsan code, it can be cast at the listed casting time, while traditional spells only take five times as long. However, the code of Hsan is limited to Level 4 spells.

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