Ayers' Research Notes

Ayers’ research appears to be primarily concerned with Gol-Goroth (a.k.a. the Fisher from Outside) and the Liar from Beyond. The earliest notes seem to indicate that these are one and the same, but later notes seem to evolve an understanding of duality in their nature – possibly indicating that Gol-Goroth is in some way the “herald” or “harbinger” of the Liar.

Echavarria’s Betrayal: In notes dated late 1922, Ayers has a bleak “Eureka!” moment and starts ranting at length in one of his journals about “Echavarria’s grand betrayal.” He describes the cult as a “sham of lies.” The general thrust seems to be a conclusion (or revelation) that none of Echavarria’s rites have anything to do with Gol-Goroth at all. “Let the Forgotten God remain forgotten! Echavarria has shamed the true glory of the Liar from Beyond by cloaking it in the false shroud of the Batrachian One!”

Within a few weeks, however, Ayers’s anger at Echavarria appears to have been forgotten. “Ramon has revealed a great truth to me.” Apparently by piercing the “veil” of Echavarria’s lies, Ayers has proven himself “worthy of the Liar” and has been ushered into the “inner circle of Its worship.” This appears to be a confirmation that Echavarria’s worship was never aimed at Gol-Goroth and that the Forgotten God’s name was used only to mask the true nature of whatever entity bears the title of the Liar From Beyond.

Correspondence with Bartolo Acuna: Ayers’ continued obsession with finding “the truth of the Liar” is given some additional context through the fragmentary remains of his correspondence with Bartolo Acuna, a professor and archaeologist from the Università degli Studi di Roma in Rome. Almost the entirety of this correspondence and much of its associated material is absent, but there are some scraps and notes representative of the research that Ayers was apparently doing in response to the correspondence and which hints at the broad outlines of what the correspondence concerned.

In short: Bartolo Acuna had done some fresh work translating some rare book of lore, discovering that previous translations had been plagued with serious errors. New scholarship allowed him to discover an ancient site of worship for a deity worshiped through rituals of violence and a strict social hierarchy. Four things of note can be discerned from the material which remains:

• The site was located at Dallol in Ethiopia
• Ramon Echavarria has a book in his possession which Ayers was able to use either to confirm or to supplement Acuna’s discoveries.
• Ayers recognized broad similarities between the rites performed by Echavarria and his followers and the rites described by Acuna.
• Ayers was planning an expedition to the site.