The Blood Red Tyrant

This was an idea I had that was inspired by "The King in Yellow," which was also listed as an influence on the Cthulu mythos. I know both of these are actually in the Public Domain, but "King in Yellow" (IMHO) didn't live up to the premise, and I feel like Cthulu has gathered way too much baggage over the years. But if anyone wants to add a touch of weird to their stories, I offer "The Blood Red Tyrant" as an Open Source concept.

In the late 1800s, the members of an artistic colony all were inspired to create works based around a strange concept that seemed to come to them from a series of dreams: The Blood Red Tyrant. After creating them, the artists all went on an insane rampage and murdered numerous people in the nearby town. They were finally stopped and hanged for their crimes, and investigators discovered the bizarre works the artists had created: a book of poetry (The Blood Red Tyrant); a statue resembling an oddly proportioned humanoid, in a long robe and with a head resembling a squid stretched over a human skull (Tyrant in the Crimson Mask); a painting (Supplicants to the Red Tyrant); and a symphony (Bacchanal at the Scarlet Castle). Many of those who dealt with the artwork also began to descend into insanity, so the town folk returned the works to the artist colony and burned the place to the ground. However, the "art" seems to have somehow survived, and have been reported to appear off and on throughout history, always bringing death and madness before disappearing again. Victims have reported seeing horrific beings (including the Tyrant himself), visiting horrific locations (such as The Scarlet Castle, The Bloody Galleon, or the Lost City of Rojandra), and learning of the impending fall of man at the hands of the Tyrant and his followers. Nobody has ever been able to prove if these visions are real experiences or hallucinations; there has been evidence on both sides of the equation.

Some theorize that The Blood Red Tyrant is a forgotten deity or extraterrestrial or extradimensional being that plans to conquer our world and uses these works as a conduit to Earth. Some claim that they are magical items bearing a strong curse that brings ruin to anyone they come in contact with. Others feel that the works are so disturbing that they simply cause madness in anyone who studies them. And some thing the whole thing is just a combination of urban myth and mass hysteria. But nobody who has ever encountered the works surrounding The Blood Red Tyrant falls into that last category. They know better...