In the veiled underbelly of human society, scattered across the globe like malignant growths, thrive the cults devoted to the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods. These secret societies—composed of degenerate humans, hybrids, and worse—worship entities whose very names erode sanity. They perform rites in hidden places, awaiting the stars' alignment to usher in apocalypse. This cheat sheet catalogs the most common cults, their patron entities, rituals, and known whereabouts, serving as a grim reference for those who hunt the shadows. Tread carefully: knowledge of these groups often draws their attention.
Patron: Great Cthulhu (a colossal, octopus-headed priest of the Outer Gods, dreaming in the sunken city of R'lyeh, whose awakening heralds global cataclysm).
Practices: Dream-induced prophecies, human sacrifices drowned in ritual pools, chants of "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" ("In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming"). Members often bear tattoos of tentacled symbols.
Whereabouts: Worldwide but decentralized—strongholds in Pacific islands (e.g., Ponape), Arabian deserts, rural China, Greenland Inuit communities, and Louisiana bayous. Scattered cells in major cities like London, San Francisco, and Providence. No unified hierarchy; influenced telepathically by Cthulhu's dreams.
Patron: Father Dagon and Mother Hydra (gigantic Deep Ones serving Cthulhu), with ties to the star-spawn.
Practices: Interbreeding with Deep Ones to produce hybrids (human-fish offspring exhibiting the "Innsmouth Look"—bulging eyes, scaly skin, webbed extremities—eventually transforming fully into immortal sea-dwellers). Rituals involve tidal sacrifices and oaths of eternal service for gold artifacts.
Whereabouts: Primarily Innsmouth, Massachusetts (a decaying coastal town with boarded churches converted to temples; raided by federal agents in 1928 but remnants persist underground). Similar pacts reported in Pacific atolls and Cornish fishing villages.
Patron: Yog-Sothoth (the all-in-one-and-one-in-all, gatekeeper of dimensions and time, often invoked for forbidden knowledge or summoning outsiders).
Practices: Bloodline breeding to create gateways (e.g., human-elder unions producing invisible or monstrous spawn), hilltop rituals with standing stones, and spells to open portals. Degenerate families maintain ancient grimoires.
Whereabouts: Rural Dunwich, Massachusetts (isolated hill country with ruined farms and sentinel stones; devastated by the 1928 Horror but secretive survivors linger). Isolated pockets in Appalachian hollows and English moors.
Patron: Shub-Niggurath (the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, fecund Outer God of perverse fertility and mindless proliferation).
Practices: Frenzied forest orgies, sacrifices to spawn Dark Young (tree-like, tentacled horrors), and offerings of livestock or humans to invoke teeming spawn. Cultists seek vitality through her "dark milk."
Whereabouts: Deep woodlands worldwide—New England forests (near Arkham and Dunwich), Romanian Carpathians, Haitian jungles, and Asian bamboo groves. Often nomadic or hidden in rural communes masquerading as pagan revivals.
Patron: Nyarlathotep in his Dark Pharaoh avatar (the Crawling Chaos, trickster messenger of the Outer Gods, who delights in deception and madness).
Practices: Charismatic rallies with bizarre inventions or prophecies, blood rites in pyramids, and pacts promising power (invariably betrayed). Members don Egyptian regalia and spread discord.
Whereabouts: Ancient Egypt's remnants (hidden beneath Cairo or in desert ruins), modern revivals in urban centers like New York or London. Transient leaders appear as cult figures or politicians inciting unrest.
Patron: Hastur the Unspeakable (an enigmatic Outer God linked to entropy and decadence, associated with the Yellow Sign and the play The King in Yellow).
Practices: Distribution of the forbidden play (reading it induces obsession and madness), artistic rituals evoking Carcosa (a doomed alien city), and wearing pallid masks. Exposure to the Yellow Sign drives victims to suicide or servitude.
Whereabouts: Bohemian artistic circles in Paris, New York, and San Francisco; rumored lakeside enclaves near the lost city of Carcosa (possibly in the Hyades star cluster, manifested on Earth). Loose, intellectual networks rather than organized temples.
Mi-Go Worshippers: Brain-harvesting sects in Vermont hills and Himalayan peaks, serving the fungi from Yuggoth (crustacean aliens mining rare minerals).
Serpent People Remnants: Ancient reptilian shapeshifters in subterranean lairs beneath Oklahoma or Central America, revering Yig (Father of Serpents).
Ghoul Packs: Not true cults but scavenging humanoids in graveyards (e.g., Boston cemeteries), sometimes allying with human necromancers.
These cults operate in secrecy, infiltrating society as innocuous churches, lodges, or families. Their members range from fanatical humans to grotesque hybrids, united by the promise of power in a coming age of chaos. Investigators confronting them risk madness, mutation, or worse—for the stars draw ever nearer, and the Old Ones' faithful prepare.