What could I say of humans?

I suppose I should start by saying that they are quite the curious species, prone to a level of inquisition and deduction that seems at often times unnecessary to a Thulu such as I. Though I suppose that is due to the fact that humans do not possess the same... skills as those of my species. No other species does really, save the Nereids, but one could really consider their gifts as different as they are similar to ours. But, back to the humans. I am not entire sure where their propensity to ask questions of just about anything that strikes their mood comes from, but at times I cannot help but feel a sense of envy whenever I catch that spark of excitement behind their eyes, when I feel the gears moving inside their heads.

Perhaps I should elaborate on that particular statement before we continue. We Thulus are a highly cerebral and interconnected species of creatures, capable of a mental communication far faster and more efficient than anything the other species can at this time can emulate. Normally I would say that this is a relative boon to our species, and it generally is, but such abilities tend to grow tiresome when combined with our own longevity, as we Thulus tend to be relatively tired of each other after a millennia spent together. This has led us to live relatively solitary lives away from fellow members of our species, though we maintain enough connectivity throughout the Poros systems to keep our position of power relatively secure. Our lives are normally spent as merchants traveling through the galaxy, though a number of us have set up shop on a number of planets, much to the delight of some galactic powers, and to the chagrin of others. We pay it no mind, for due to either a case of hubris on our part or a simple biological truth, there is a relatively few number of species that would even think to challenge us in the first place. You see, as I mentioned before, our mental connectedness to one another does not necessarily stay exclusive to just fellow Thulus, but extends its reach into the consciousness of other species.

Simply put, we read minds, though the actual execution of such methods are far more nuanced than that. We do not just read minds, but are capable of... suggesting a number of ideas to the minds we choose to delve into. This is of course common knowledge, leading to a number of defenses developed on the part of other species, but the more adept of us are capable to slipping past these defences without our quarry necessarily noticing. Still, while we may be powerful, we are very much cautious of exuding too much influence over the galaxy. Direct conflict with any galactic power would result in needless losses, and a drastic reduction in our market size. The phrase "there is a tentacle lurking in every shadow" is not without merit, however, though I pride myself on not being privy to such matters... to the extent that my colleagues are, of course. But enough about my species, we are talking about humans, are we not?

Our first contact with the humans is a story not many would suspect. It occurred far before the humans had even taken their first steps outside their planet, on their very home of Earth. The exact date would be May 23, 1904, where due to a miscalculation of our initial testing of the Space Displacement Drive, or if you wish to use the human vernacular, the Punch drive, caused one of our test pilots to warp directly into the Providence River in the middle of the city of Providence, Rhode Island. Thankfully, the pilot survived the excursion, but upon entry he caused quite the disturbance to the underwater environment of the river. It was night time, meaning the amount of people who could have seen it at that time would have been minimal, but there was one human who witnessed the event. A young boy by the name of Howard.

I would like to say that our test pilot kept themselves hidden, but Ghatanota was always the adventurous sort, and approached the boy from the depths of the river. I imagine, at least from what I can surmise from human thought process, that young Howard must have been equal parts terrified and fascinated to see such a large creature to emerge from the depths. Perhaps more terrified, for he fled from my son as soon as he saw him break the surface. Ghatanota could not return to us for some time, for his drive was damaged after the initial testing. Easily reparable, mind you, but you can imagine how difficult it is to scavenge materials from the murky depths of a river whilst thousands of humans are lurking by. He was not alone, however, for Howard eventually returned to the river, his curiosity eventually overcoming his fear. Biologically, that was probably a foolish decision, but I suppose there should be some lenience given to a thirteen year-old, in human standards of course.

I do not know what possessed my son to speak to the boy at that time, but I can only guess that the boy's own inquisitive nature has resonated with the Thulu's own. His own isolation must have played a part as well, because even though he likes to describe his time on Earth as a pleasant reprieve from our constant thoughts, he was certainly in a more chatty mood upon his return. So, while Ghatanota gather materials at night, he spoke with Howard during the day. The process took far longer than he thought, for humans proved rather hard to manipulate through our usual methods of suggestion. Normally, it is not hard to manipu... coerce someone into doing what you want to do. A small suggestion here, an elevated level of importance of a particular thought or idea there, and soon the people we speak to become far more... agreeable to our terms. Now, while it is certainly not a rare occurrence to run into the particularly resistant member in any species, humans on average possess far more resistance to these subtle methods. Tenacity appears to be hardcoded into human DNA itself, and from what we can derive from examining their thought processes, they tend to be as much creatures of habit as much as they are to enacting great change. Their disposition towards habitual behavior, however, is in this case a boon to their mental defenses.

Manipulation of the consciousness is by no means an easy feat, but manipulation of the subconscious is another thing entirely. Though the humans themselves most likely do not realize it, much of how they act is largely determined by their own subconscious functions. The tone with which they speak, the meaning they place in seemingly worthless objects, trauma, endearment, even posture, every seemingly innocuous aspect of a being's behavior has an underlying component of subconscious influence beneath them. This is true for all species, but for humans the effect is noticeable larger than any we have encountered before. Let us say that the average sentient species in the galaxy possess a 70/30 distribution of conscious behavior over unconscious behavior. For humans, that distribution is 50/50. Because of this, subconscious influence is weaved into every aspect of a human's actions, making influencing these behaviors far more difficult than any other species on average. It is due to this reason that humans have generated a reputation of tenacity among the other galactic powers, a reputation that is not given lightly, since, as I mentioned before, we Thulu's find it a more difficult, but not impossible, task to influence the mind of a human.

Such was the case for Ghatanota when he arrived on Earth. Rather than... suggesting to the populace to leave the required materials near his location like he would have normally done, he had to resort to either gathering the materials himself or focusing on a single human to do his work for him. It was a highly inefficient process, and it was because of this that he did not return to us for months. This gave our test pilot much time to discuss things with Howard, who more than lived up to the reputation of human curiosity.

There was no one specific things that Howard focused on in his questions, and instead the young boy wanted to know practically everything there was to know about our species. It was quite flattering, at least according to Ghatanota, and he did his best to tell Howard of our people. He explained our method of communication, which back then consisted of delivering messages directly into the minds of the individuals we spoke to. Since these messages were configured to fit the mind of the person we spoke to, it would be understood in their own language. Of course, this was eventually determined to be too intrusive for most species, since hearing voices in your head tended to make the subject feel more like they were descending into madness rather than eliciting a normal dialogue. Fortunately for Ghatanota, Howard seemed to have little problem with this method of communication, or hid his opinions of it deep in his mind. Beyond communication, however, Howard also asked us of our culture, of our people and our traditions.

It was a difficult question for Ghatanota to fully answer, since even with our mental connectedness with one another, there was so few of us in number that our dynamics were more similar to a group of friends rather than an entire civilization. Friends that are often tired of each other's presences, but friends nonetheless. If there was any culture that was related to us, it would have to belong to the Ivallu, beings who lived deep in the depths of our ocean planet and took, early on, to looking upon we Thulu's as sorts of divine deities. I cannot say that we rejected such perceptions, as having a willing species who possessed a much smaller stature and willingness to accept our mental machinations made them a highly utilitarian sort. When Ghatanota explained this to Howard, the boy likened our symbiotic relationship with the Ivallu to slavery. Ghatanota tried to explain otherwise, but Howard did not seem to budge on this subject. That said, it should be said that the Ivallu have garnered some more independence since this exchange. A normal development as technology has progressed throughout the years. Our relationship with them remains strong, and many of us maintain a majority Ivallu crew amongst our ships, as they remain the species most... malleable to our needs.

Beyond our relationship with the Ivallu, Howard asked our test pilot of the rest of us. Ghatanota explained to the boy that the Thulu possess two "selves". Our physical selves, something we all share in common, are most similar to the cephalopods found in Earth's oceans, albeit with a few variations. However, where we Thulus truly differ from one another in in our mental selves. Howards was confused by this, which is understandable for one first encountering us, but as Ghatanota elaborated he slowly began to understand. Ghatanota explained to the boy that our more... cerebral selves are most similar to the concept of mental projections. Whenever we unleashed the full extent of our abilities, the manifestation of this psychic power replaces the representations of ourselves in the physical world. For example, Ghatanota's mental self, when fully unleashed, represents a mass of tentacles and gaping maws. It is a terrifying form to be honest, but appropriate for an explorer such as he. Though I will say that my son could have used a bit more... finesse when manifesting his form. Ghatanota did not stop with his own mental self, however, and described a number of other forms to the boy.

He first talked of his siblings, Ygotha and Zothom, who took forms quite different from his own. Ygotha had taken to the Ivallu at a young age, and as such took a form quite similar to their own; that of a humanoid frog to put it into the simplest terms. Though he chose to have only one eye in such a form, for reasons I cannot fathom. Zothom, however, chose a mental representation that was a hybrid of a number of species he saw throughout his years. He kept the tentacles of his physical form, but attached them to a large set of fins and a reptilian head. My son did not stop there, however, and spoke of my grandfather, Yosogoth, whom took upon the visage of a mass of eyes and tentacles. He even mentioned my own form, perhaps the one that is most similar to our physical selves. I have never been one for frills, so a more humanoid form, tall and imposing, was enough for one such as I, and it has served me well throughout the years. There are also those of us that have kept their forms hidden from even us, most notably our species progenitor, Azathoth, who has gone into complete isolation from us.

Of course, this was all merely explanation on Ghatanota's part, for to show Howard our actual mental selves would have subjected the boy to a mental strain that would be near impossible to bear. The effects differed among us, of course, but if I were to be specific to Ghatanota himself, sight of his mental projection would result in instant rigamortis, yet keep the victim's brain functioning. You can understand that the initial shock of this occurring creates a large enough trauma that the subject usually descends into madness. If not, the rigamortis is permanent, meaning that the subject will be able to think, but not move, which will eventually cause the deterioration of the mind. As I have mentioned, however, this effect is singular to Ghatanota himself, but generally sight of our mental selves results in the victim's descent into madness, though that was in the past. With the advent of more advance technologies, most species have been able to protect themselves from such shocks. Though we do not display our mental selves as frequently as we once did, as doing so would more than likely result in our current clientele adopting more... cautious approaches to us.

Back then, however, the result of such actions would prove fatal to even the humans, and given how fond Ghatanota was of the boy, he refused Howard's request to show him such a form. Their time was already coming to a close regardless, as Ghatanota repaired his Space Displacement Drive and was set to jump back to our home planet of Yuggoth, but there was a disagreement in how we Thulu's should have handled the situation with Howard. You see, Ghatanota's journey to Earth is perhaps the first case of outside contact with another species, so there was no way of telling of what the young boy would do with the information that my son had given him at the time. Though this general knowledge of my kind is commonplace among the galaxy today, in the past we Thulus were very secretive of our abilities. Having that sort of leverage goes a long way in negotiations, and to be honest it is much easier to... influence people if they to know nothing about our abilities. That is what made the situation with Howard quite complicated. There was very little malic detected in the boy according to Ghatanota, yet his observations of the other humans told him that there was a chance, albeit very small, that the boy could end up being a threat if he grew to be someone who possessed a large amount of influence.

In hindsight, it would have been wise to keep the boy untouched, as it would have allowed my kind to keep a foothold within human society, and would have possibly given us a little more leverage in our current business dealing today. We could not have subju... worked with them the way that we do the Ivallu, but such a relationship would have been beneficial to us in the long wrong. This makes what we did with Howard all the more regrettable. Ghatanota was against the idea, but we decided that it was for the best that we wipe the boy's memory of his interactions with my son. However, since Ghatanota refused to perform the deed himself, my daughter Cytha decided to take it upon herself to perform the task. However, since this was the first time she experienced the mind of a human her touch was less than... subtle on the young boy's mind. For the longest time we thought Howard's mind to be broken, that we essentially reduced him into a catatonic state for the longest time. We decided to withhold this information from Ghatanota, but when he eventually found out he set off for Earth once again.

When he arrived, however, he found that not only had the boy lived, but that he remembered much of what my son told him. There were some differences, most notably the spelling of our names, but Howard instead translated much of what was told to him in the form of fiction stories. Again, most likely due to Cytha's own mistakes in handling the memory wiping process, much of the information that Howard wrote down was, for the most part, altered in some way to reconcile the knowledge he already possessed to fit his own world view. There was much truth to Howard's writings, but also much... creative license with the knowledge he had. Unfortunately we were unable to fix these mistakes in Howard's writings, as he passed by the time Ghatanota returned to Earth. However, to remedy this, my son started to interact with others, subtly and out of the way this time, to add onto the works that Howard produced. He never told us why he did so, but eventually Howard's works were expanded upon, refined, until they reached an almost completely accurate account of my species. Of course, the humans that received this information always translated it into works of fiction, and not all works were consisted with one another, but I must say I was impressed by their work. Though I was uncertain if I should have taken their malicious god-like depictions of us as flattery or an indication of how they would treat us upon meeting them in the vastness of space.

Ghatanota left Earth before he could see the results of his machinations, and we did not see them for three more centuries. However, the memory of Howard never left us, but while some of us remembered the boy fondly, I looked upon him with a note of caution. If a mere boy could somehow withstand a direct encounter with not only my son, but also my daughter, who displayed to the boy far more psychic power than most living beings can take, and still retain his sanity and retain the information that he had been given, what did that mean for the rest of the humans? There were still millions, perhaps billions, that did not know of us by the time they met us among the stars, but the information that Howard, and those that built upon his writings, gave humanity settled humanity's perceptions of space to accept the otherworldly, making their technical first contact with us quite... interesting.

Our first official meeting with the humans, according to their history, was in the depths of the Poros systems, where a human by the name of Steven Henry was undergoing he called his journey across the Eternal Spiral. When he met us he was alone, flying in a small frigate-class ship more suited for exploration than any sort of defense, and was easily dwarfed by the size of our own ships, built around us like a suit of armor. When he encountered us, however, the first reaction he had wasn't one of fear, but instead laughter, and a question that told us everything we needed to know.

"So Lovecraft was right all along?"