[Lorebane24]

That's kind of how I figured they'd explain it in-universe.  It's not that necessarily that we're just going to pretend they were always called "elder gods," but I could see them doing something along the lines of "They've had many names over the ages.  Authors and madmen have produced weird works when they act as their muse, but in the Sixth World, the phrase "elder god" already carries certain connotations, and as people slowly become more aware of them, this is the name that seems to be sticking."

[firebug]

Actually I think it's likely they'll go with the "HP Lovecraft was right all along and had magic during the 5th World".  They've expressed before that some minor supernatural stuff that happened during the 5th World was actually just people eking tiny magical potential out of the trace amounts of mana.  As well, Forbidden Arcana drops this little gem:

THE SEER
The seer is theorized to be the earliest manifestation of the rise of magic, with the exception of “spike babies.” It’s also one of the hardest to prove, as the people involved do not manifest magical talent. Seers, as a category, also include dreamwalkers—those that can astrally project.
Those who believe this theory have theorized that authors like H.P Lovecraft and L. Frank Baum were aspected magicians whose inspiration came from the astral planes.
• Cannot take any magical skill group.
• Astral Perception is a Complex Action instead of a Simple Action.
• Gains psychometry metamagic for free (p. 145, Street Grimoire).
• Gains sensing metamagic for free (p. 158, Street Grimoire).

So I'm expecting, if the Elder Gods and the Horrors are the same thing, that basically HP Lovecraft did witness the Horrors on some level during the 5th World, and was the one who dubbed them Elder Gods, as it is a fitting moniker.  So not "the Horrors slipped into the archetype", and not "well the Elder Gods are known by people, and the title works, so it just came together" but more "this is the name they were given by the first guy to discover them this cycle".

[Lorebane24]

That's more or less the angle I am currently running with as I planmy campaign, except I want to push the idea that Lovecraft was still just getting whispers and flashed, and everything was filtered through his glass-fragile Anglophile sensibilities.  Cthullu is bush league shit - he's a big guy with bat wings and an octopus head.  Lovecraft vaguely understood their power, but not their form, so his mythos is really just the tip of the iceberg.

[Crimsondude]

The Cthulhu mythos has been referenced in books for over 20 years in SR books because, well, it's pretty common IRL. In a way, it makes for a powerful  tool upon which malignant magical forces can exploit and imprint upon in order to shortcut their ways to acquiring more power.

what if a thing existed , but people perceived it to be something else and were confused? Would the people who believed in the thing, even if they got it wrong, be wrong? or would people who knew nothing of the thing be more right, not even knowing?


 - Man of Many Names

People who fear shadows see shadows when they feel fear. People who fear horrors see horrors when they feel fear. Who's to say horrors do not lurk in shadows? 


On another note,  I took the whole "Elder Gods" thing to be some force (we'll see which it turns out to be) playing on an existing mythos within the 6th world's psyche to attract followers. Essentially, the cthulhu mythos already exists, we want followers, let's use the existing paradigm instead of trying to introduce a new one and gain some followers/power. Alternately, a lot of the things in the cthulhu mythos are Babylonian (or similar) in origin, and could be pieces of an older understanding of certain big bads, but not as old or refined as the understanding that existed in the 4th world (some knowledge was lost between ED and Babylon, essentially).

I'm not saying this is correct (because I genuinely don't know), but it makes sense.

[Opti]

without putting a fine point on anything, here are a few considerations:

1. Catalyst absolutely CAN use the word horror to describe what we all know as Horrors. It was used in a previous book, and therefore is fair game.
2. Even though they CAN, it is very unlikely that people in the 6th world WOULD use that word. That is a 4th world term. The people who have encountered the horrors in the 6th world have already given them other names such as tzitzimine and terrors.
3. Elder Gods as of yet have not been encountered as such, and they might not even exist. If they DO exist, they may not be what the followers of the Elder Gods think they are.
4. If Horrors exist and were not well documented, it would be easy to imagine that those legends became or were folded into more modern mythos.
5. It can also be imagined that unreliable narrators are making educated but mistaken guesses.

[PiXeL01]

It would be awesome if the “old gang” got together and had a talk about “How accurate Lovecraft was in his predictions and how it must be suppressed” akin to the chatroom log in Aztlan Sourcebook ...

[Opti]

Funny enough, I had wanted to do something in that vein with Dark Terrors, but I had to pull out of the book due to family stuff.

[Longshot23]

It would be awesome if the “old gang” got together and had a talk about “How accurate Lovecraft was in his predictions and how it must be suppressed” akin to the chatroom log in Aztlan Sourcebook ...

Agreed . . . but who could fill The Big D-shaped hole . . . ?

[Senko]

I really need to pay more attention in my spare time I wasn't even aware the current plot had finished.

[Mirikon]

It would be awesome if the “old gang” got together and had a talk about “How accurate Lovecraft was in his predictions and how it must be suppressed” akin to the chatroom log in Aztlan Sourcebook ...

Agreed . . . but who could fill The Big D-shaped hole . . . ?

His brother.

[PiXeL01]

Schwarzkopf, the eternal scholar or maybe even Celedyr.

It could even be a great opportunity to bring back the Welsh great dragon to relevance.

[Marcus]

I do think there is a good list of candidates, to answer that question.

[Longshot23]

It would be awesome if the “old gang” got together and had a talk about “How accurate Lovecraft was in his predictions and how it must be suppressed” akin to the chatroom log in Aztlan Sourcebook ...

Agreed . . . but who could fill The Big D-shaped hole . . . ?

His brother.

Ghostwalker could, yes - but would he? Also, wouldn't it be a bit too soon for The Big G to interact with Laughing Man . . . ?

[Opti]

The Orange Queen has shown herself to be attentive and willing to help metahumanity with its woes, just like Big-D. She may or may not be as attuned to the dangers and knowledge, though.

[ChromeCoyote]

Arleesh is a decent candidate to become more talkative on the subject. The events of the civil war got her out of her own crusade and a bit more into the world.