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Introduction to Cults
Mythos cults typically center around the worship of
a particular Great Old One or Outer God. They seek
to please or at least placate this deity figure in order to
avoid its dreadful attention, earn some tiny fragment
of its vast power or knowledge, or nudge its terrible
influence toward a personally satisfying end, such as
destroying the cult’s enemies, real or perceived.
In general, Mythos cults are not concerned with
theology or esoterica, and the bulk of cultists are almost
entirely disinterested in spiritual matters. Instead, they
are materialistic, wholly focused on immediate or nearfuture rewards. No one expects an afterlife within
these cults—though immortality is certainly one of the
The things had filed ceremonious

rewards some cults crave, they do not look toward any

in one direction, the direction of the

kind of heaven.

noisome wind, where the light of their

The Mythos gives rise to hundreds of different

torches showed their bended heads—

cults, of which a selection is presented in this chapter.

or the bended heads of such as had

The list includes cults to several of the most imposing

heads. They were worshiping before

Mythos entities, but almost any important entity could

a great black fœtor-belching aperture

have a cult grow up around it. If your campaign features

which reached up almost out of sight…

Atlach-Nacha, feel free to adjust the details of one of

—”Imprisoned with the Pharaohs,”
H.P. Lovecraft

the included cults (such as replacing the goat themes of
the Cult of the Black Goat with spider themes).
Each cult entry offers a list of “gifts” associated with
the cult. These include character options for which the
cult trains its members, items the cult crafts, spells it
teaches, services it provides, and unusual and strange
benefits of association.

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