Sandy petersens cthulhu mythos (1) 185

Cthulhu Cult
The sole purpose of a Cthulhu cult is reverence for—

once the entire community is composed of hybrids—a

and service to—Great Cthulhu and his siblings. Their

process that takes only a single generation—their deep

goal is to provide sacrifices for abyssal monsters,

one heritage ensures loyalty to the Great Old One’s

keep the cult secret by murdering nosy outsiders, and

goals.

ultimately to awaken Cthulhu when his time inevitably
comes.

and did not interact with the true primordial entities,

Cultists believe that after Cthulhu rises—when he

such as the yithians or elder things. They were created

will roam wild across the world—they will be free to

a few thousand years ago by the starspawn, Cthulhu's

consume, kill, and take pleasure as they please along

own race, who sought to form a species which could

with him. This is his promise. Naturally, his cult

communicate with, monitor, and if need be, wipe out

attracts the vilest of individuals.

humanity or the other surface folk. The deep ones

Cthulhu’s cult is almost exclusively coastal, or

possess the same physical realities as a normal species:

among those who live on ships. Those who are land-

bones, digestion, a need to breathe, and so forth.

locked cannot easily access the wealth that Cthulhu

Where they diverge is in their ability to cross-breed

offers, so typically they follow other Great Old Ones.

with other vertebrate species that should be completely

The cult of Cthulhu has three main categories of
members:

incompatible from an evolutionary perspective. The
deep ones are absolutely loyal to Cthulhu and work to

Humanoids: Normal humanoids who worship

advance his aims whenever possible.

Cthulhu form the vast bulk of the cult, seeking two

Cthulhu Cult Gifts

distinct rewards. First, they are promised that when
Cthulhu comes to clear the world, they will be free to
engage in indiscriminate violence, as described above.
Second, they gain deep-sea bounty and wealth via
contact with abyssal horrors. This wealth often takes
the form of valuable objects (statuettes or jewelry)
made of gold or silver that mysteriously appear in their
fishing nets.
Tainted Hybrids: If the deep ones are in an area,
they almost always organize as a cult of Dagon (a
subset of Cthulhu followers). Humans in such a cult
who interbreed with the deep ones produce hybrid
offspring who start out looking human but over the
years degenerate into the full deep one form. The
promise for the humans is that their children will be
immortal, while the promise for the hybrids is that
they will one day join deep one society. And of course,

178

Deep Ones: The deep ones are not an ancient species

‘‘ Abyssal Horrors: Starspawn recognize and work
with human cultists. Usually, the starspawn is
in charge, but occasionally Cthulhu sets things
up the other way around for unknown reasons.
‘‘ Blessed of Cthulhu: Certain special cultists are
given the mark of Cthulhu. This generally means
that part of the cultist’s body is transformed into
one or more worm-like tentacles. For instance,
a blessed one might have an eye replaced with a
tendril or their hand might become a cluster of
writhing worm-like protrusions. Other possibilities
include a circlet of tentacles on the chest or a
forest of them in place of hair. Typically, the
transformed part of the body—the mark—is
kept hidden by the cultist except during special
ceremonies. This transformation bestows no