Whispers of the Dead (Shub-Niggurath)

 

Shub-Niggurath by Albert Che

The Ritual 

The operator must enter the wilderness and make a blood sacrifice on an altar. Stereotypically, this occurs in a dark, dense forest. However, those with skill in Anthropology or Archeology (or a high Occult rating) know that lush islands, bogs, and even grasslands are suitable. The only thing that matters is that the operator must not be able to see the sprawl of civilization. As such, more modern versions of this ritual suggest that the operator walk until they can't see whatever vehicle they traveled in anymore.

The sacrifice must either be an animal with higher STR and CON scores than the operator or a conscious human. Conducting the ritual under a full moon confers a +20% bonus to the Ritual Activation roll. Performing the ritual during an equinox or solstice when the sun is at its zenith also grants a +20% bonus to the roll. If it fails, the operator may use the POW of a human sacrifice to force the ritual to succeed. However they must still pay the primary costs of the ritual themselves. This causes them to automatically fail the SAN test against violence for murder unless adapted to violence, in which case they roll SAN as if they weren't adapted. More lurid versions of the ritual require the operator to strip naked and bathe in the sacrifice's blood. However, every version includes some sort of song or chant that invokes one of the many names humanity has used to refer to Shub-Niggurath: the Magna Mater, Sheol Nugganoth, the Black Ram with a Thousand Ewes, Pan, Keeper of the Moon Lens, the Horn of Plenty, the Blessed Mother, etc.

Alternate Names: Call of the Wild, Embrace of the Mother, The Tree-Lord’s Wedding

SAN Loss Flavor

1-2 points: The operator's body is flooded with blood and hormones as they cry, drool, and sweat uncontrollably, others feel a tugging in their gut and their hair stand up on end.

3-4 points: Animals flock to the area, throwing themselves into a frenzy of sex and violence, everyone is gripped by a paradoxical combination of orgasmic joy and crippling nausea, the operator foams at the mouth.

5+ points: Whatever vegetation exists stirs and contorts itself into an imitation of one of the Great Old One's thousand young. It howls and screams, encouraging everyone to return to nature.

Boon

The black goat is a red god. She has no time for weakness. As one of her adopted children, the operator will survive, no matter what cost. They only fall unconscious at 0 HP and automatically succeed on the CONx5 roll to resist permanent injury. Instead of losing 0/1D6 SAN from violence when reduced to 2 HP or fewer, they lose 1D4 SAN from unnatural. If they are adapted to violence, they only lose 0/1D4 SAN from unnatural. The operator is also not stunned if a single attack inflicts half or more of their current HP. However, this does not make them immune to pain. They can still be stunned by flash-bangs, tasers, tear gas, etc. The operator can withstand incredible injuries but will feel everything. At the Handler's discretion, they can roll to recover from stuns with a +20% bonus.

Blessing

Whenever the operator gives into their animal nature (ie: goes temporarily insane), the Lord of the Woods grants them some of his strength. Operators can also intentionally induce temporary insanity to gain access to these unnatural powers. As usual, these last for as long as the Handler says or until the operator can successfully repress the insanity (AH, page 75). These intentional temporary insanities are from the unnatural and do not clear any checkmarks for adaptation.

Flee (Panicked Flight)

Any roll the operator makes to get away is at a +40% bonus. This could be a STR or Unarmed Combat test to escape a grapple, or one of the opposed tests to escape a pursuer in a chase. The latter doesn't apply to any rolls made to operate a vehicle. This Great Old One has no interest in or understanding of such machines. However, the operator can achieve improbable acts of athleticism and strength while temporarily insane. They can outrun a motorcycle, outswim a Deep One, scale a sheer cliff, or throw themselves over a fence twice their height.

The operator can induce this temporary insanity by spending 1 SAN or 1D4 WP. Abandoning one's allies or objective may cost SAN from helplessness later.

Struggle (Feral Strength)

The operator's unarmed attacks gain a Lethality rating equal to their STR score while their attacks with melee weapons always roll max damage. Seeing them rip bones and tear flesh with their bare hands costs either 0/1D6 SAN from violence or 0/1D4 from unnatural. As per the Agent's Handbook, this violent temporary insanity lasts until the operator is killed, knocked unconscious, or restrained. This can make them very dangerous to their teammates, especially if the Handler rules that the operator continues to fight after the threat has been eliminated.

There are two saving graces. First, the operator makes no attacks on the turn in which they try to repress their temporary insanity. Any Agent with HUMINT or Psychotherapy can spot this lapse of violence and rush in to restrain or sedate them. Second, if the operator turns on their allies, an Agent can try to roll Psychotherapy to talk them down while dodging their attacks. 

Inducing this temporary insanity costs 1D4 SAN from unnatural as the operator relinquishes control. If they're adapted to helplessness or violence, it only costs 1 SAN or 1D4 WP. If the operator is adapted to both sources of SAN loss, they only have to spend 0/1 SAN or 1 WP.

Submit (Thanatosis)

The operator collapses, apparently dead, rivaling any natural instance of tonic immobility. Only foreknowledge of this state or a critically successful skill test to examine their body can pierce this deception. Trained physicians and unnaturally perceptive creatures are fooled alike. The operator's skin is sweaty and leaks blood while a foul substance gurgles out of both ends of their digestive tract. Any unprotected breathers must make a CON test or be stunned and suffer a -20% penalty to all tests until the stench clears. Success halves the penalty. At Handler discretion, the operator may radiate an aura of death powerful enough to dissuade a ghoul from eating them or inflict these penalties on unnatural creatures. 

Submission only costs SAN from helplessness if it leaves them vulnerable in a dangerous situation. This could range from 0/1 to 0/1D6 SAN. If the operator just wants to make a scene in an otherwise safe environment, that might not cost any SAN at all.

Curse

Any skill or stat test to use modern technology, understand the world scientifically, or interact with the complexities of modern civilization automatically fails if the roll is higher than the operator's INTx5. Swinging a rifle like a club, applying pressure and bandages to a wound, and persuading someone to complete a simple task are all unaffected. However, tracking someone through an urban environment, convincing someone you have legal authority, and understanding visual communication more complex than a warning sign would. This has no effect on the Unnatural skill, nor the use of any skill without a roll, as described on page 28 of the Agent's Handbook.

The operator's mind also decays. Every time they cross a Breaking Point, they lose 1D4 INT to a minimum of 3. They may reduce the loss by projecting onto a Bond as if it was SAN loss.

Side Effects

• The operator develops a steadily increasing resistance to painkillers and sedatives.
  
• Vestigial atavisms return: coccyxes grow into tails, the pink blob in the corner of the eye becomes a nictitating membrane, nipples sprout along the milk line, ears wiggle and tilt to better capture sounds, skin ripples and twitches like a surprised cat or a horse ridding itself of insects, etc
  
• If the operator crosses a Breaking Point, their Disorder should be PTSD or OCD. The former represents their 'lizard brain' going into overdrive, while the latter manifests as compulsive animalistic or 'primitive' behaviors.
  
• Whenever the operator remains sedentary for an extended period of time, the surrounding flora grows faster. They may wake up to a circle of wildflowers and mushrooms (yes I know mushrooms technically aren't flora).
• If viewed through the Voorish Sign or similar, the operator appears drenched in blood, wreathed in vines, and crawling with various invertebrates and slime.
• Sexual intercourse with the operator always results in conception.
  

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

Special thanks to Marc di Lazzaro of Pretentious Games of Pretend and Tristyn of The Priestess of Spiders for their help in brainstorming.