Carcosa

Along the shore the cloud waves break,

The twin suns sink behind the lake,

The shadows lengthen

In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,

And strange moons circle through the skies,

But stranger still is

Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,

Where flap the tatters of the King,

Must die unheard in

Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead,

Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed

Shall dry and die in

Lost Carcosa.

—"Cassilda's Song" in The King in Yellow Act 1, Scene 2

Carcosa is an extraterrestrial city located next to the foggy Hali Lake and the city of Alar. In turn, these places are located on a planet of the Hyades, near Aldebaran. Black stars rise in its firmament in what appears to be a binary solar system.

History

The city of Carcosa has its origin in the story An inhabitant of Carcosa by Ambrose Bierce, published on December 25, 1886 in the San Francisco Newsletter. In turn, the writer Robert William Chambers took the name of Carcosa for his compilation of short stories "The King of Yellow". In some of which there is talk of a play that bears the same name. In this play you see more loans from "A Dweller of Carcosa" and other plays by Ambrose Bierce, such as "Haîta the Shepherd", naming Hali and Hastur (more as a place than as an entity). So was the way he came to Lovecraft, using these concepts in his work The Whisperer in Darkness.
The Yellow Sign is believed to have been created in Carcosa in the works of August Derleth, being Hastur's abode, and frequently confusing dimensions with Earth, dragging humans into this act. According to the writer James Blish, this is so because Hastur created Carcosa as a place for his exile, not being able to reign in Aldebaran.

Natural Resources

After the ruin of Carcosa, the Byakhees made their nests in the city. Tentative creatures, similar to cephalopods, live in nearby lake areas and mainly in Lake Hali.

Type

Capital

Location under

Hyades

Owner/Ruler

Hastur, the Unspeakable

Characters in Location

• Hastur, the Unspeakable