Sandy petersens cthulhu mythos (1) 200

VII Cults
Tcho-Tcho Society
The Tcho-Tcho are organized into tribes. All TchoTcho in a given area belong to the same tribe, and
each tribe controls an area that might be as large as
a province or as small as a single valley. These tribes
are often separated by a considerable distance, though
they do send messengers back and forth to maintain
communication. The Tcho-Tcho view all their separate
tribes in the world as part of the same group, and their
people are interchangeable between tribes.
Tcho-Tcho do not mix well with other peoples and
they rarely live among them. Some large cities have
Tcho-Tcho “ghettos,” which are notoriously dangerous.
The alien nature of the Tcho-Tcho mind inverts
expectations of their power structure. Their leaders are
not the most ambitious and selfish among them (as is
often the case among other sentient beings), but instead
are the most single-minded, dedicated, and unselfish of
the Tcho-Tcho. Leaders live to serve the tribe and the
Great Old Ones (not necessarily in that order). The
leaders are “touched” by the Great Old Ones and Outer
Gods and behave accordingly. Tcho-Tcho leaders,
though granted amazing powers by biomagical science
and the entities the Tcho-Tcho serve, often burn out
quickly and live short lives, after which another leader
must be selected.
In addition, the Tcho-Tcho can use their biomagical
power to enhance their leaders. For example, if they
have a need for keen calculation, they may modify
their chosen leader’s brain size to swell massively.
This would cause the leader’s brain to protrude, at the

expense all other limbs, necessitating that the leader
be kept in a tub (or on a throne). Or they may select
a Tcho-Tcho to be modified to become astonishingly
sexually attractive, intended to be used in seduction of
a rival civilization’s leaders.

The Tcho-Tcho Okkator
(Assassin-Enforcer)
The fact that Tcho-Tcho don’t engage in warfare
doesn’t mean they are incapable of fighting. Quite the
reverse, in fact: they have a whole system of unique
martial arts. Certain members of the tribe are selected,
and trained to be their enforcers, called the Okkator
(this word is both plural and singular).
Tcho-Tcho biomagic and alchemy enable truly
terrifying modification of the Okkator. They can grow
venomous fangs or extra limbs, or develop the ability to
spit acidic webs out of their mouths.
The basic Tcho-Tcho “martial art” is primarily based
on assassination rather than face-to-face fighting. They
are trained to hide for hours motionlessly, only to burst
into explosive action when the time is right. They are
extraordinarily silent and skilled at climbing and other
athletic feats.
A few of the Okkator are modified so that sharp
bones protrude from their joints, giving them natural
weapons they may enhance. Their joints can all
dislocate, enabling them to make amazing surprise
attacks (kicking someone by moving their leg up over
their shoulder, for instance). Naturally, the assassins

feel pain when dislocation occurs, but their training
and concentration allow them to overcome this. Such
Okkator usually stay inside the tribal lands rather than
hiring their services out, as the exposed bone spurs
cannot easily be concealed.
All Okkator have a technique of inserting small,
razor sharp blades under their skin, then letting their
flesh heal over the wounds. Thus, when captured, they
always have a hidden knife available somewhere on
their body. All that is required is to open the wound
and slide out the weapon, which is primarily used

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