1Phoenix1 drew his vision of how philomela would have looked like if she had been a "Byakhee" (Бьякхи) , the unpleasant beasts of burden imagined by Derleth August William in "The House on Curwen Street" in 1944 and first named in "The Watcher From the Sky" in 1945 though an (unconfirmed) first appearance might have been in 1923's "The Festival" by Lovecraft.

They were not named there and Derleth's story is the first time they received a name, though nobody confirmed they are the same creatures, the main differences being size and appearance, as Derleth's figures are huge and "mammalian" presenting membranous wings and fur, while Lovecraft's ones are a mixture of different kinds and also human-sized.

Lovecraft in "The Festival" wrote:[...]Out of the unimaginable blackness beyond the gangrenous glare of that cold flame, out of the tartarean leagues through which that oily river rolled uncanny, unheard, and unsuspected, there flopped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things that no sound eye could ever wholly grasp, or sound brain ever wholly remember. They were not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor vampire bats, nor decomposed human beings; but something I cannot and must not recall. They flopped limply along, half with their webbed feet and half with their membranous wings; and as they reached the throng of celebrants the cowled figures seized and mounted them, and rode off one by one along the reaches of that unlighted river, into pits and galleries of panic where poison springs feed frightful and undiscoverable cataracts.[...]

Derleth in "The House on Curwen Street" wrote:[...]Then he took me by the hand and stepped up to the sill of the tall, narrow window. I followed
him, and both of us stepped out into space. I felt something beneath us, and I saw that each of
us was riding a monstrous black-winged bat-like creature which travelled with the speed of
light. In a very little while we were set down in a country of great mountains
[...]
and the batwinged
interplanetary travellers, who are half-man, halfbeast, and serve Cthulhus half-brother,
Him Who Is Not To Be Named, Hastur the Unspeakable;
[...]
huge bat-winged creatures of the first dream. I
remember making an examination of them, but apart from the curiously repellant feeling as of
human flesh under my hands, and furred wings, I was not able to ascertain what these
creatures were like, but it now seemed to me that Professor Shrewsbury talked to them[...]

Derleth in "The Watcher From the Sky" wrote:[...]to blow upon a strange stone whistle, and also
to call forth into space certain words: "Id! Ia! Hastur; Hastur; cfayak vulgtmm, vugtlagln,
vulgtmm! Ai! Ai! Hastur!" Certain flying creatures—the Byakhee—would come out of space,
and I was to mount and take flight unafraid. But only if danger pressed close—for the danger
of the Deep Ones and all who are allied to them, insisted Phelan, is as great to the soul as to
the body.
[...]
There, silhouetted against the red-hued sky over Innsmouth, I saw a great flying thing, a great
bat-like bird that came sweeping down and was lost briefly in the darkness—the Byakhee!
Then it rose up again, and it was not alone—something more was there between its great
wings where it mounted swiftly out of sight.[...]

The Бьякхи are beings who were created by Hastur to be slaves, and he made them not only in such a way that they would instinctively follow the herd and be of just about the right amount of intelligence to be useful as subservient beings, but also with an extreme devotion to him, and, as a final nail, he made them so that they would be heartless and that everybody would find them "unpleasant".

So. Even if they were to rebel from the herd instinct, even if they were to rebel from the devotion, and even if they had the intelligence to think of a plan, even if they overcame their instinct towards cruelty, they would still have nobody willing to help them.

Man... that's a bit of overkill to ensure something will remain a slave.

Anyway.

Philomela in the main story is just a robot capable of acting for one whole minute every time somebody else spends an hour to wind her. And she is only ever able to defy her bleak destiny as a "pretty thing that is little more than a rich man's toy" when she gets ahold of magic, by mistake of somebody else.

I found the idea of comparing the two very fitting. What if she had been made "heartless" and also "unpleasant"?

In any case. I really love both the art style and this rendition of Philomela. It feels very appropriate.

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original design by:   Tegerio
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high detail redesign by:   Honovy
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