Sarkomand is a fictional city in H.P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle

Dream Cycle

The Dream Cycle refers to a series of stories by author H. P. Lovecraft. These stories concern themselves with "The Dreamlands": a vast, alternate dimension that can be entered via dreams.-Geography:The Dreamlands is apparently divided into four regions:...

 stories, first mentioned in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It was completed in 1927 and was unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that comprise his Dream Cycle and the longest to feature protagonist Randolph Carter, and can thus be considered a culminating...

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A ruined city on the northern shore of the Cerenerian Sea

Cerenerian Sea

The Cerenerian Sea is a fictional place in H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle stories. It is mentioned in Lovecraft's short story "Celephaïs" and his novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.The Cerenerian Sea is a great, sky-blue ocean in the Dreamlands...

 in the Dreamlands, it is described as being inhabited by the Men of Leng

Men of Leng

The Men of Leng are a fictional race in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. They are the primitive, satyr-like inhabitants of the Plateau of Leng in the Dreamlands. They call Leng Y'Pawfrm e'din Leng. They are mentioned throughout Lovecraft's Dream Cycle, especially in the novella The Dream-Quest of...

 and was supposedly the capital of this race's realm in the distant past before they were conquered by the moon-beast

Moon-beast

A moon-beast is a creature in H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. They are “great greyish-white slippery things which could expand and contract at will, and whose principal shape — though it often changed — was that of a sort of toad without any eyes, but with a curious vibrating mass of...

s. The most prominent feature of Sarkomand is the Winged Lions guarding the trapdoor beneath which a spiral staircase descends into the Dark Abyss of the Dreamlands' underworld

Underworld (Dreamlands)

The underworld is a fictional location in the Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft. It is described in detail in Lovecraft's novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath ....

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The city's name is similar to that of Samarkand

Samarkand

Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...

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Stories and references

• H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
  The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
  The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It was completed in 1927 and was unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that comprise his Dream Cycle and the longest to feature protagonist Randolph Carter, and can thus be considered a culminating...
  
  (1926)

• Lin Carter
  Lin Carter
  Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
  
  , "The Strange Doom of Enos Harker" (Fragment) in Crypt of Cthulhu
  Crypt of Cthulhu
  Crypt of Cthulhu was a fanzine devoted to the writings of H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. It was published as part of the Esoteric Order of Dagon mailing lists for a short time, and was formally established in 1981 by Robert M...
  
  , No. 69, Yuletide 1989