Sandy petersens cthulhu mythos (1) 202

VII Cults
Deep One Culture
The deep ones are an incredibly strange species.
Though they live undersea, they are capable
of operating on land. They are unusually
fecund and can interbreed with other species,
producing (eventually) more deep ones rather
than hybrids. They are able to grow (or shrink)
to different sizes, based on diet. They have
their own culture, ancient and independent,
yet integrally tied to and invested in humanity
and other mortal cultures.
The key to the deep ones' strange nature
is that they are an artificial species, created
by Great Cthulhu to interact with and
possibly supplant humanoids. Although
not an ancient race compared to many in
the Mythos, their culture is older than
those of most humanoids. Physically, they
are roughly similar to humanoids (in that
they are bilaterally symmetrical and have four limbs),
so that they can interact more effectively. They use
vocal sounds for speech.

Deep One Life Cycle

resemble

deep

ones. Psychic or emotional trauma or shock can

accelerate or stimulate the change.
The more different the mate is physically from the

The deep ones are able to reproduce with almost any

deep one (particularly in terms of bone structure), the

other species of appropriate size. Initially, the resulting

longer the metamorphosis takes. For example, a dolphin

young look like the non-deep one parent. Thus, if a

may take two or three times as long to complete the

deep one mates with a shark, the spawn looks like a

change as a human.

shark. If it mates with an elf, the spawn looks like a
baby elf.

Once the deep one change is complete, the entity
typically joins the rest of the deep ones beneath

Over time, as the spawn grows and matures,

the waves. Ideally, the deep ones are aware of their

eventually it will begin to make the transformation

spawn and keep in contact with them, even putting

into a deep one. In humanoid races, such as orcs,

together social constructs to educate and control such

humans, or dwarfs, this starts usually a decade or two

individuals (such as the Esoteric Order of Dagon).

after the person reaches physical maturity and takes a
significant amount of time to complete. In humans,
the hybrids would usually be in their 30s before the
metamorphosis begins, and in another decade they

Malformation and Error
The transformation process does not always go well.
Some hybrids never manage to complete the change

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