Whispers of the Dead (Cthulhu)

 

cthulhu C by Francois Launet

The Ritual 

It can be performed anywhere. The operator only needs a special drink, chalk, some of their own blood, and time. The drink must be prepared before the chalk is even touched. There is no one specific recipe, it just has to be thick, foul, and psychoactive; for example: a mixture of honey, vinegar, coffee, and nutmeg spiced rum. The operator then uses the chalk to draw a complicated diagram of squares, circles, and lines. Once they begin, they cannot step outside the allotted area. It usually takes up 5 or 10 square meters, though operators skilled in Art or Science (Mathematics) can make do with smaller diagrams. Those with high ratings in both skills can get it down to a single square meter. 

Once the diagram is drawn, the operator must anoint each of the four cardinal directions with their own blood. Painting these spirals may cost 1 HP (especially for larger diagrams) unless the operator has the Surgery skill or succeeds on a First Aid test. Next, the operator raises the psychoactive drink into the air as high as they can and chants a prayer to Cthulhu.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

After swallowing the drink in one gulp, the operator rolls against their Ritual Activation rating. Cthulhu-related paraphernalia grants a +10% bonus to the activation roll, +20% if they're the genuine article. If the roll fails, the operator only achieves the mere human pronunciation of the words. If they succeed, everyone who hears them loses 0/1 SAN from unnatural as impossible sounds emerge from the operator's mouth. Any Agent with Unnatural 10% and knowledge of Cthulhu and his cults (or just Unnatural 20%) knows the phrase's meaning: "in his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." The dream-call of Cthulhu blasts through the operator's head. Their eyes roll back, they seize and drool, and then go eerily calm. For the next few hours, Cthulhu's 'voice' will echo at the edges of their hearing. If the ritual is performed in an interior space, the angles may briefly bend.

Alternate Names: "calculate when the stars will be right," Listen to the Sunken Muse, sparagmos

SAN Loss Flavor

1-2 points: When you first take a step, the world swims. You feel old and cold.

3-4 points: You plunge deep into the earth to find a watery abyss. There's a brief moment of panic as you struggle against miles of suffocating slime and muck before you snap back.

5+ points: Shout, kill, and revel. Your mind is filled with visions of the old ones rising. You can only vaguely remember what you did when you recover, but in the context of an alien landscape.

Boon

Cthulhu's dream-call drowns out all other alien intrusions onto the operator's mind. They are immune to the mind-altering effects of hypergeometry and unnatural creatures. The droning rumblings usually fade into the background but rise in volume the stronger the compulsion. Additionally, the operator can either choose their response (flee, struggle, or submit) when suffering temporary insanity or control their character's actions as long as they fit within the limits of the response. Observers with HUMINT can notice the operator responds differently to shock and stress than normal people. With Psychotherapy, it's clear that they're still under its influence, the physiological effects are just dampened and there's none of the typical dissociation.

Blessing

The operator is ready for the return of the Great Old Ones. All penalties from a god's Aura of Power (or similar), including the number of turns spent goggling in terror, are halved. For example, if the operator was in the presence of Cthulhu, they would only take a -20% penalty to all skill and stat tests and would only be paralyzed by its psychic presence for a maximum of 6 rounds. As per the Handler's Guide (page 236), Cthulhu's presence imposes a -40% penalty on all tests except SAN and those that fail the SAN roll for encountering him cannot act for 1D10+2 turns. Additionally, whenever the operator goes temporarily insane, they gain 1D6 WP from the exhilarating rush and an equal number of points in Unnatural as they learn new ways to shout, kill, and revel. This happens even for mundane SAN loss, as every crack of madness brings them closer to the truth of the universe.

Curse

The operator has horrible dreams of the slumbering titan of the deep. If they have at least 1 WP when they try to go to sleep, they must succeed on a SAN roll in order to regain WP from rest. At 0 WP, the operator has a brief respite, regaining 1D6 WP from pure oblivion. Unlike Sleep Disorder, this ailment can't be cured by mundane Psychotherapy. If the operator already suffers from Sleep Disorder, a night's rest only restores 1D4 WP instead of 1D6.

Side Effects

• The operator is prone to inappropriate outbursts and disturbed sleep. Their next Disorders are most likely Intermittent Explosive Disorder or Sleep Disorder. These may even replace any existing Disorders the operator already has.
• They have intrusive thoughts about attacking and undermining authority, whether individuals or institutions.
• Unless they make a conscious effort to exclude it, all arts and crafts created by the operator bear the influence of Cthulhu.
• They instinctively recognize others who have performed this or similar rites. Cthulhu's dream unites all kinds into a single tribe. 
  
• When viewed through the Voorish Sign or similar, the operator's head appears like a thousand squirming tentacles, struggling to escape through a vortex in reality.
  

If you're confused as to what this is about, check out this post.