I find design choices for some cards quite counter-intuitive and weird. Are all/majority of cards in CoC derived from literature or is it more prevalent the choices are made either creatively for new expansions and/or to balance out abilities of different factions?

Examples:

Agoraphobia can struck a willpowered character

Panic can struck any unspeakable horror, plus, can the Syndicate really unleash the creature in the picture?

Specimen Bags is a Syndicate card?

Cafeteria Lady can exhaust the Cthulhu (!)

I guess not everything has to make complete sense in a LCG or CCG but I'd like to learn more about the background of individual factions if possible.

charmer said:

you obviously don't remember how horrible the cafeteria ladies could be. i can easily see even the great cthulhu being ground down to that grey gruel they serve by their nastiness.

charmer said:

Was your school cafeteria lady really a lady? I'm not sure I can say with any certainty what that thing was piling goop onto our lunch trays in first grade. It definitely had a terror icon for that mole, and probably an arcane or two just to know how to operate the industrial-sized dishwasher that took up half the kitchen.

Besides, who knows what horrors lie below bubbling vats of... cream corn and sloppy joes. Dun-dun-duuuun!

Well, unless the Cthulhu is standing in the line to get his helping of the cafeteria horror, I don't --

So you guys think all the staff of the Miskatonic University lunches off campus?

charmer said:

I would eat Cthulhu in the lunchroom; due to ill-preparedness, it'd basically be insane sushi. Ià! Ià!

This is one of my fav flavour cards. I just love everything about this card.. this crazy drawing of the thing reaching for you and the 5 terror icons... so like your being touched on the shoulder you look around and see this muther ******!! lol.. awesome... I just think this card is pure gold for a great mix or art, faction theme, card function ... everything.. this card is just the flavour of teh spice melange