Stranger Aeons

This is the home of my fictional creation 'The Yellow Cross' a secret government agency whose sole purpose is to thwart incursions caused by the cursed play 'The King in Yellow' originally created by author Robert W Chambers.

Information on the Yellow Cross, its agents and its enemys, as well as a list of stories, follows.

In 1895 a collection of ten short stories by author Robert W. Chambers was published. This book 'The King in Yellow' featured amongst other tales four interconnected stories: 'The Yellow Sign', 'The Repairer of Reputations', 'The Mask' and 'In The Court of The Dragon.'

These tales are linked together by three main plot devices:

A mysterious and cursed play in book form, banned since its release, called 'The King in Yellow.'

A supernatural entity mentioned in the play also called 'The King in Yellow.'

A mysterious symbol called 'The Yellow Sign' which is connected with the play and the King in Yellow.

Those that read the play often end up insane or possessed by evil. It's reading often culminating in the unwitting reader, their mind blasted by the horrible tale the play reveals, haunted and hunted to death by the play's monstrous avatars. Those that find the Yellow Sign suffer just as terribly as those that read the play.

Over the decades since Chambers collection first appeared, many other authors, myself included, have written stories featuring his creations adding to the rich canon of King in Yellow tales. More details about the creations I've added to the King in Yellow Mythos can be found below.

The Yellow Cross agency came into existence near the end of World War II due to intelligence gained in regards to some of the Nazi's more 'esoteric' investigations towards winning the war. Desiring to use the play to destroy the allies with madness and destruction, the Nazi's were thwarted in their attempts by the then fledgling Yellow Cross agency.

A division of the Secret Intelligence Service, the Yellow Cross (nicknamed 'the Cross' by its agents), exists wholly to hinder the King in Yellow play from falling into the hands of the British public and to snuff out any alien or supernatural dangers invoked by its use. The agents of the Yellow Cross, whose ranks consist of ex-police officers, reformed criminals and operatives drawn from all parts of the Intelligence community, mercilessly hunt down and destroy everything connected with the play.

With country-wide intelligence units and full support from its own military branch, the agents of the Yellow Cross are willing to fight to the death to thwart the evils the play invokes.

What the agents of the Yellow Cross know about the play is little, considering its mere perusal can drive the reader insane. What is known is that it is a play in two acts, featuring amongst others, a selection of characters named Cassilda, Camilla, Thale, The Phantom of Truth and of course, The King in Yellow. The play itself takes place within a sinister city on a strange alien world, in the castle of the Royal family where a masked ball is about to be held. Where the first act of the play is a quite simple, beautiful tale, all hell breaks loose in the second act when a mysterious stranger reveals the mask he is wearing is really his true face, revealing himself to be the Phantom of Truth.

Whatever words the play contains, they are enough to drive any reader to madness, its awesome effects being capable of bending and warping reality into a realm that conforms with that of the city described in the play.

The scientists of the Yellow Cross believe that the actual plot of the play isn't important, but that its groupings of words and syllables somehow unlock a gate within the human psyche which causes the still untracked powers of the mind to psychically contact and summon the King  in Yellow from whichever part of space or dimension he resides in. What the King truly wants with the human race, or who wrote the play and whether  they knew what its reading would unleash, is unknown. The fact that nothing good comes from opening a portal to the King and his world means those of the Yellow Cross are certain that the play was only written for the detriment of mankind.

Note: There are many more agents within the Yellow Cross, this being a list of the agents that have appeared in the tales so far. Including the major field agents listed below, there is an Intelligence, Scientific and Military Division.

Agent Allen: One of the youngest and most senior persons within the agency, Allen is a tough-headed individual hardened by many encounters with the King in Yellow play.

Agent Ashton: An ex-policeman whose first encounter with the play almost got him killed, beneath his slovenly exterior lies one of the bravest and toughest agents the agency has within its ranks.

Agent Rhodes: The agency's director, he still prefers being called 'agent' due to his constant need to investigate first hand the horrors of the play. Neither a desk man or a bureaucrat, he rose high in the ranks of the SIS before joining the Yellow Cross.

Agent Barnett: A man with a dubious past which includes arson and skills in lock-picking, Barnett's ability to locate copies of the play are almost uncanny in their extent.

Agent Belknap: An ex-forensic scientist, Belknap belies her small frame with an uncompromising attitude and powerful spirit that makes her the agency's chief interrogator.

Agent Grandin: A former field agent, Grandin disappeared from the face of the earth in a shroud of mystery.

Agent Phillips: A brilliant and intelligent agent, Phillips was recruited by Rhodes due to his unparalleled investigate skills and insights into the minds of criminals. A former scenes of crime officer, his skills in forensic investigation make him one of the most skilled agents the agency has ever had. His only flaw is that he feels a great deal of empathy for those that have been damaged by the play.

Agent St Clair: Another ex-police officer and one of the agency's few female members, her exposure to the evils and tragedies the play has inflicted have made her a highly efficient field agent.

Jasmine Grey: An agent of the 'Special Incursions Division,' an offshoot of the Special Intelligence Service dealing with invasions and breaches from other worlds and dimensions, she holds more secrets up her sleeve than her allies in the Yellow Cross suspect.

The King in Yellow: An otherworldly creature than may be an alien lifeform or even a god, the King in Yellow manifests himself whenever someone is unfortunate enough to read the play. His face a pallid mask of evil and his robes a mass a yellow tatters, his appearance means nothing less than insanity and impending doom for the human race.

Rebecca Thale: Rebecca Thale led a perfectly normal life until she accidentally came across the play. From that moment onwards she was haunted by the King and soon turned to murder in her worship of his terrible form. Beautiful and deadly, Thale is a constant thorn in the side of the agents of the Yellow Cross.

Rupert Grandin: Grandin used to be an agent of the Yellow Cross until for some reason he one day decided to read the play. At that moment he disappeared from the face of the earth, but his evil machinations have a long reach. Possessed by the power of the King, Grandin has long since turned to evil and begun his own demented mission to destroy the Yellow Cross.

Limited Edition: The first Yellow Cross story, featuring agents Allen and Ashton and their encounter with an unearthly creature summoned by the play.

Beyond The Pale: The story of Rebecca Thale, a woman corrupted and haunted by the King in Yellow after reading a fragment from the play.

The Patchwork Men: When the Cross discovers Thale's crimes, agents Ashton and Phillips are sent to capture her before she can kill more innocents.

Claws That Pierce The Amber Veil: Thale, on the run from the police and the Cross, finds herself fighting for her life in a predicament far worse than she could ever have imagined.

Moths to a Pallid Flame: Upon the discovery of a Rebecca Thale style crime in East Texas, agent Phillips is sent to investigate a possible King in Yellow incursion.

The Siren: A sequel to The Patchwork Men, continuing the two agents search for Thale. Their only leads being Phillips' nightmares and the sinister trail Rupert Grandin has left for them.

Carcosapunk: Hounded by gangsters, a low level drug dealer tries to prove he's innocent of a crime he supposedly committed while wearing a strange pallid mask.

Carcosa Unbound: This tale ties the events from the end of 'The Siren' with those of 'Carcosapunk.' Taking place in the near future, the events of this tale have grave repercussions on the agents of the Yellow Cross.

The 7th Day The Yellow God Rests: Featuring agents Barnett and St Clair, this story details the agents quest to discover the source of a King in Yellow outbreak.

The Yellow Cross logo is adapted from the painting Gold Cross by Gabrielle Evans. Used with the artist's kind permission.