Sanctum_Priest said:
It's good to see an Elder seal up close, but I'd like to know what the details represent. Any ideas/knowledge out there?
Here's some additional information on the Elder Seal from some different sources:
Excerpt from the Elder Seal entry from Donald Tyson's
The 13 Gates of the Necronomicon:
"A symbol or glyph that according to the
Necronomicon is engraved on stones of the lost city of the Elder Race on the high plateau of Antarctica, and also on stones of the city on the sunken island of R'lyeh where Cthulhu and his spawn lie dreaming. It is not called the Elder Seal in the
Necronomicon, but is referred to as "their seal" - the seal of the invisible Old Ones."
Excerpt from the chapter "The Great Seal of the Old Ones, Known as the Elder Seal" from Donald Tyson's
Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred:
"It has been called by some the Elder Seal, but by others the Great Seal of the Old Ones. Soul travelers who journey to R'lyeh may see it upon the closed gate of Cthulu's house, where he lies within his tomb dreaming. Its form may more readily be depicted than described, but it is somewhat like a branch and somewhat like the pattern in a proof of geometry, having angles and circles set in a precise relationship.
Know you that Yog-Sothoth is the gate and the key, but the Elder Seal is the lock. Created by the Elder Things in the war with Cthulhu and his spawn countless ages prior to the making of man, it has the power to prevent the passage of the Old Ones or their children when placed upon any threshold."
..and finally, the excerpt from H.P. Lovecraft's
The Dunwich Horror:
"The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but
between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. .........
....... The ice desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones whereon Their seal is engraven, but who hath seen the deep frozen city or the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles?"
A powerful charm indeed. On the Elder Seal, as depicted in the card art, we see a tree-like shape. At the base of the shape, a symbol...at summit of the shape, another symbol and at the end of the five branches between the base and summit, we symbols. All totaled, we have seven symbols in this design and they seem very purposeful.
Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Yig, Cthulhu, Dagon
If you're going to seek the assistance of dark cosmic inter-dimensional forces to expand your own knowledge, you'd better have some protection handy. The last thing you want is to call upon the power of one of these horrors and not be able to send it back.
The gathering of skills and tools in preparation is key for any great undertaking both in this world and in others.