元素 Elements
为便于参考，以下的存在和地点被统称为哈斯塔神话。在《克苏鲁的呼唤》中，这些内容都涵括在克苏鲁神话范围内。单独命名仅仅是为了方便；这两个神话系统绝没有竞争性或排他性。一切都是一体存在的。
但书中说…… But the Book Says…
这一章对哈斯塔、黄衣之王和其他哈斯塔神话的描述与《克苏鲁的呼唤》规则书和大多数《克苏鲁的呼唤》拓展有着明显的不同，它借鉴了笔者九年来编写和完善的素材，这是一个比异教徒出版社都要更早的作品。早在1990年，我们的杂志《不可名状的誓言》第一期就刊登了一篇关于这些素材的重要文章（《哈利湖之路》），由此笔者确定了应当如何使用这些素材（实际上，该文章的部分内容已纳入本章）。之后，在一部将付印刷的1930s背景的战役中使用了这些素材；它也同样用在了两篇短篇小说（收于由异教徒出版社的姐妹出版商阿米蒂奇屋推出的限量小书中）《布罗达尔宾》和《安布罗斯》，这两篇与即将出版的第三篇《绍斯特里斯》都属于同一个更大的故事。哈斯塔的异象及与之相关的一切在某种程度上已经得到了另外三位作家确证，或至少是无意中认同了。大约十年前，在这些素材被构思出来的时候，他们的故事还没有发表，或者不为作者所知：卡尔·爱德华·瓦格纳的短篇小说《夜梦之河》、克雷格·安东尼的《场景：一个房间》和艾伦·摩尔的《庭院》。第一篇在混沌社的文集《哈斯特循环》中重印，第二篇首刊于混沌社的文集《克苏鲁的后嗣》，第三篇首刊于在创意出版社的《星辰的智慧》。当然，这个神话的最初创造者罗伯特·钱伯斯也不应该被忽视。混沌社即将出版的《罗伯特·W·钱伯斯的怪异小说》将收录他的优秀作品，在此将这本书强烈推荐给好奇的读者们。一些研究哈斯塔概念的方法，如奥古斯特·德雷斯的方法，已经被忽略和抛弃了。那些寻求与出版的《克苏鲁的呼唤》材料一致的人可以自由地继续设想哈斯塔是一个巨大的触手般的怪物；我们鼓励其他人打开思路，进入一种新的理解形式。
劇透 - :
This chapter presents a markedly different approach to Hastur, the King in Yellow, and the rest of the Hastur Mythos than that found in the Call of Cthulhu rulebook or in most Call of Cthulhu supplements. It draws on material written and developed over a period of nine years by the author, a body of work that predates Pagan Publishing itself. The first issue of our magazine, The Unspeakable Oath, featured a major article on this material back in 1990 which established the author's perspective on and approach to the material. (Portions of that article are incorporated into this chapter, in fact.) Since then, it has been developed in a 1930s campaign that should eventually see print, but also in a pair of short stories published in limited-edition chapbooks by Pagan's sister imprint, Armitage House: Broadalbin and Ambrose, both part of a larger cycle of stories to be continued in a third chapbook, Sosostris, sometime in the near future, and others beyond. This vision of Hastur and all that is associated with it has to some extent been validated or at least unwittingly shared by three other writers, whose stories were unpublished or unknown to the author at the time of this material's conception almost a decade ago: Karl Edward Wagner, in his short story "The River of Night's Dreaming," Craig Anthony's "Scene: A Room," and Alan Moore's "The Courtyard." The first has been reprinted in Chaosium's anthology The Hastur Cycle, the second debuted in the anthology Cthulhu's Heirs, also from Chaosium, and the third debuted in The Starry Wisdom from Creation Press. Of course, the original creator of this mythology, Robert W. Chambers, should not be overlooked. His excellent stories appear in Chaosium's forthcoming The Weird Fiction of Robert W. Chambers, a volume highly recommended to the curious reader. Some approaches to the conception of Hastur, such as those of August Derleth, have been ignored and discarded. Those seeking consistency with published Call of Cthulhu materials are free to continue conceiving of Hastur is a big tentacular glob of a monster; others are encouraged to open their minds and enter a new form of understanding.
哈斯塔 Hastur
哈斯塔——在《克苏鲁的呼唤》中被归类为旧日支配者——本身没有人格，也不是任何具有感知能力的个体。相反，哈斯塔是熵/无序的力量：它是破坏秩序的宇宙法则。这种对秩序的破坏会发生在每一个层面，小到原子，大到宇宙，哈斯塔的神力影响着整个现实世界，从催发邪教崇拜这个所谓的“神”，到破坏人类对现实的基础感知。在本书中没有给出哈斯塔的游戏数据，实际上人们也无法见到它，因为它并没有真正的形象，但是凭人类大脑是可以理解它的。它是一种宇宙的原始力量，只有在人类造成混乱时才会显露出个体角色——破坏给予其形态，暴力给予其名字，尖叫给予其声音。无论有多少人崇拜它、赋予它人格与智慧（许多人这样做），它都不比地心引力更像是神。然而，通过想象一个属性与熵原理/无序法则同步的“神”，人类就有可能以一种直接的方式与这一法则交融，这种方式助长了一种比大多数人所具有的更为强大的理解——即使是疯狂的。
劇透 - :
Hastur-classified in Call of Cthulhu as a Great Old One-has no personality per se, and is not a sentient individual of any sort. Rather, Hastur is the force of entropy: it is the cosmic principle which destroys order. Because this destruction of order happens at every level from the atomic to the cosmic, the "deity" of Hastur has influence at all levels of reality. This influence can range from inspiring cults to worship this so-called deity to undermining humanity's perception of reality on a fundamental plane. There are no game stats for Hastur provided in this book, and in fact no way to meet it as it has no true personage; but it can be understood, as far as our human brains can tolerate. It is a primal force of the universe, which assumes an individual role only in response to the entropy caused by human beings-our destruction gives it form, our violence gives it a name, our screams give it a voice. It is no more a deity than gravity is, no matter how many people worship it and ascribe it a personality and an intelligence (many do). However, by envisioning a "deity" with properties that are in sync with the principle of entropy, it is possible for humans to commune with this principle in a direct way that fosters a greater-if insane-understanding than that possessed by most people.
想象一个基于万有引力定律的神，被描述为生活在地球的中心，不断地将所有造物拉向自己；虽然这完全是虚构的，但这个概念确实与万有引力的物理性质有很强的关系，因此崇拜这样的神明的人可能对万有引力定律及其对人类生活的影响有强烈的本能的理解。同样，那些崇拜所知为“哈斯塔”的概念的人已经在其中看到了与无序状态明显相关的某些性质，因此他们可以理解基本的无序力量及其在我们生活中所扮演的角色，而这是我们其他人所不知道的。
简而言之，哈斯塔可以被描述为一种能支配隐秘的毁灭的力量。它不从外部摧毁事物，而是从内部分解。它的力量极其微妙，实际上，哈斯塔的主要运作领域是人类的思想：构成我们人格的思想和化学物质的多重精妙之处就是哈斯塔发挥作用的领域。尽管哈斯塔影响力的细节可能作用于大脑的分子水平，但明显的结果是疯狂的、毁灭性的倾向——通常本质上是自我毁灭。哈斯塔影响力的载体具有一种疯狂的传染性，可以通过言语与印刷品轻易地传播。这种燃烧在疯狂中的无序狂热打破了人类对现实的感知，确切地说，影响了他们周围的每一个原子。移动的建筑，变化的画作，闪烁的灯光，异变的雕像，但这些只存在于被哈斯塔接触过的人的面前。在他们周围，秩序是小丑，混乱为国王。
劇透 - :
In brief, Hastur can be described as a force that has influence over the realm of insidious destruction. It breaks things down not from without, but from within. Its force is sublimely subtle. In practice, Hastur's primary area of operation is the human mind: the manifold subtleties of thoughts and chemicals that comprise our personalities are the fields in which Hastur is at play. Although the particulars of Hastur's influence may function on the level of molecules in the brain, the noticeable result is insane, destructive tendencies-often self-destructive in nature. The vector of Hastur's influence is an infective madness that can be passed as easily through speech as through the printed page. The entropic fever that burns in this madness breaks down humans' perceptions of reality and, in fact, affects the very atoms of reality around them. Buildings shift, paintings change, lights flicker, statues mutate, but only in the presence of those Hastur has touched. Around them, order is the jester and chaos the King.
这个实体是哈斯塔的一种奇异的显形，黄衣之王是一个邪恶的神或化身，沉默寡言，为堕落与忧郁所吸引——换言之，为人类社会的无序所吸引。王神秘无比，祂或许掌控着可怖的外星城市卡尔克萨，那是绝望和妄想的化身（也是人类日常经验的层面上的无序要素）。黄衣之王很可能曾经是一个普通人，对无序的理解接近了宇宙水平，因此获得了某种形式的对无序的免疫；他获得了特殊的力量与理解，远离了现实的残余，从而成为了黄衣之王。另一种可能是，黄衣之王是由哈斯塔的追随者的信仰与决心而生的。关于黄衣之王的阐述有很多，真相却极少。祂也许仅有感知——作为化身存在即是祂所需做的一切，人格只是推测，并且无关紧要。
卡尔克萨 Carcosa
卡尔克萨由黄衣之王统治（至少名义上如此），是一座奇异的鬼城。这座阴森的盛宴之城会被其他城市的罪恶与忧郁招引，继而吞噬它们。在这里，现实并不遵照人类熟悉的感知方式而运作。鹅卵石街道变为泥土路，建筑的高度、装饰与风格在眨眼间变换，这座城市的外观像是维多利亚或爱德华时代的，不过其他文化和时代的影响也分散在各处。你很少会遇见其他人，但你会感到周围熙来攘往，这是个可怖的超自然的地方。卡尔克萨位于某个外星世界或维度上，在那里，黑星在凄灰的天空中燃烧，卡尔克萨坐落哈利湖岸，每隔一段时间，哈利湖就水会完全变成迷雾，这段时间被称作哈斯塔的梦期。一座宫殿与卡尔克萨隔湖相望，它宏伟得不可思议，甚至高过悬于永恒昏暗暮色中的双月。
真理幻影 The Phantom of Truth
这个怪异的存在身着长袍，戴一副并非面具的面具，来到将被卡尔克萨吞噬的城市，幻影根据它在城市的经历来决定城市是否会被吞噬——城市是否具有适当的忧郁与绝望（即熵/无序状态）？每次在城市里，幻影都会附身于某个人身上，以其身体为容器。
