Leng

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The "cold desert plateau" of Leng is a place mentioned several times in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft gave different locations for it in different stories, according to some because it is on the borderlands of our reality and the Dreamlands.

The Plateau of Leng is first described in "The Hound" (1922) as being located in Central Asia, where it is inhabited by a corpse-eating cult as related in the dread Necronomicon. The Plateau of Tsang referenced by Lovecraft and other authors is probably a region of Leng.

In The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1927), the Plateau of Leng is located in the north of the Dreamlands, and inhabited by The High Priest Not To Be Described, who dwells alone in a prehistoric monastery. In Walter C. DeBill's short story "In 'Ygiroth", the deserted city of the title is located in the mountains surrounding Leng.

In At the Mountains of Madness (1931), an expedition from Miskatonic University explores a plateau in Antarctica, on which they discover an ancient and apparently-abandoned city built by the Elder Things. One member of the expedition, who has encountered references to the Plateau of Leng in ancient texts, forms the hypothesis that the plateau they are exploring is Leng.

It is interesting to note that in both The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and At the Mountains of Madness the walls of the buildings located atop Leng are covered with detailed frescos that are disturbing to read.

In Stephen King's novel Needful Things, some items are said to be fabricated in "the plains of Leng" - though no other explanations are given. The novel also contains other references to Lovecraft's work.

The word "leng" (冷) is also "cold" in Mandarin and Hokkien. It is unknown whether Lovecraft knew this when he chose the name for his plateau.