Igharta

Igharta is a creature who appears in the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired Cthulhu Mythos.

Description
From the waist up, Igharta seems to be a regular human being, but his legs and hips are those of a goat, and are covered in a thick coat of brown fur. In place of sexual organs, he has only a fanged serpent.

The spawn of the Great Old One Shub-Niggurath and a mortal woman, he inherited his good looks from his human mother and his lustful temperament from the Goat with a Thousand Young.

History
According to the Book of Yug, long ago in the city of Ky-Arko, Narti, the beautiful priestess of Hastur the Unspeakable, caught the eye of Igharta. Vowing that he would have the woman, he waited until she was alone in the temple before sneaking in dressed as a devotee of the cult. Once there, he raped Nyarti then strangled her in an attempt to conceal his crime.

Upon their return to the temple, the other priestesses discovered the body and were distraught. In a supplication to their god for justice, they each cut off a finger from their right hand and cast it into the holy flames. Immediately Great Hastur appeared before them, and vowed that Igharta would pay for what he had done. Since he snuck into the temple like a serpent, said Hastur, Igharta would forever bear the mark of the serpent. The next morning, Igharta woke to find that Hastur had replaced his member with a fanged snake.

To this day, Igharta is said to wander the forests of the world, forcing himself upon any unwary women he encounters, the resultant offspring creating the race known to later peoples as the Satyrs.

Appearances

 * Igharta made his only appearance in the short story The Punishment of Igharta (1973), by Harry O. Morris.