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Carcosa is a fictional city at the heart of the Carcosa Mythos. Origins in fiction It was first mentioned in the Ambrose Bierce short story An Inhabitant of Carcosa (first published 1886). In Bierce's story, the ancient and mysterious city is barely described and is viewed only in hindsight (after its destruction) by a character who once lived there. The city was later used more extensively in Robert W. Chambers' book The King In Yellow, though still without greatly clarifying its exact nature. Chambers had read Bierce's work and also borrowed a few other names (including Hali and Hastur) from Bierce's stories. In Chambers' book, and within the apocryphal play (also titled The King In Yellow) mentioned several times within its stories, the city is a mysterious, ancient, and possibly cursed place. The most precise description of its location given is that it said to be located on the shores of Lake Hali in the Hyades star cluster. The descriptions given of it, however, make it clear that it is probably located on another planet, or possibly even in another universe, although real world locations have also been suggested. Lin Carter has used it as the name of a planet, the site of the Immemorial City. Its name may have originally been derived from the medieval city of Carcassonne in France. Description of Carcosa In The Repairer of Reputations, the following statements about Carcosa are made: there are black stars overhead; the "shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon"; it is lit by twin suns that sink "into the lake of Hali". In the Court of the Dragon mentions the black stars hanging in a bright sky, with the wet winds off the Lake of Hali chilling the narrator's face. In The Yellow Sign the cloud waves of The Lake of Hali are also mentioned. In Litany To Hastur, Lin Carter describes Carcosa as having black domes an
A winding path leads through ancient stone ruins under a luminous full moon. In the distance, a towering dark castle looms over a misty landscape, creating a mystical, eerie atmosphere.
