A pool of gray stinking foulness, quivering and swelling in disjointed rhythm, and at its edges was a tide of obscene offal. Bubbles formed, creating and releasing its abominable spawn, which were immediately consumed back into the mass, although some managed to escape the unquiet pool onto the surrounding ground of the grotto to join its siblings in their devotion to their awful parent.

Other names: the Great Source, the Great Mind Below, Mother of All, the Unclean One.

Abhoth appears to be imprisoned in the gray-litten cavern of Y’quaa, a black grotto, possibly within the subterranean realm of N’kai; said to be an underground world beneath North America but which may expand across the world. Some scholars believe Abhoth originally came from a place known as U’quol, although whether this is a planet or other dimension is pure speculation, while another strand of thought connects to Ubbo-Sathla, with that entity said to have spawned Abhoth. Many believe that Abhoth has some form of connection to Tsathoggua, but whether the relationship is familiar or antagonistic is uncertain. Obscene monsters constantly form in the gray mass and crawl away from their parent. Abhoth creates pseudopods and limbs at will, using these to grasp countless numbers of its offspring so it may devour them, returning these twisted and unwholesome births back into its primal mass; of course, some manage to avoid being eaten and manage to escape. Many such surviving creatures (see Abhoth, Spawn of) remain close by to tend to their parent, while others escape into the labyrinth of caverns and tunnels to lurk and hunt. A few, eventually make their way to the surface world to worry humanity.

Cult

Abhoth has no organized human worshipers, although individuals who have learned of it or been touched by its psychic power may become obsessed with the entity. Some may recruit a few weak-willed people, while most obsessives are solitary in their devotions. Some are compelled to gorge themselves on food, rapidly gaining weight and becoming morbidly or super obese, and in some way trying to embody or invoke Abhoth. Distorted and fragmentary telepathic contact with Abhoth may cause a creative spurt in some humans, much like the dream contact of Great Cthulhu, causing them to fashion “art” from clay, paint, or even extreme body modification. A few may feel the compulsion to locate and then find Abhoth so they can “join” with their god. It is uncertain whether any who find Abhoth survive the encounter. Outside of humanity, certain underground horrors may worship it, alongside Abhoth’s own spawn.

Possible Blessings

• Artistic Obsession: creation of art in single or varied forms, each attempting to realize the deity’s form or message.
• Manipulation of Life: granted some small portion of Abhoth, a cultist may use it to give strange life to a creation of clay, wood, metal, and so on, creating a homunculus-like creature to serve.

Encounters

Those who come upon Abhoth (bubbling uncleanly in its pool of filth), may find the entity puts forth a probing hand or member to feel over the intruder(s)—the created limb then drops off and crawls away. Depending on their intentions, Abhoth may treat with them (perhaps granting information or a boon) or, more likely, eat them. Certain rituals, honoring Abhoth and including some form of gift, are said to appease the entity, and may temporarily hold it back from attacking and consuming those in its presence.

Some suggest that Abhoth can, if it chooses, see through the eyes of its spawn. Thus, those of its children who escape into the wider world may serve to inform Abhoth, inspiring it to action of some kind. While it feeds itself upon its own offspring, it may desire different sustenance from time to time, and seeing a “meal” of interest through one of its spawn could cause Abhoth to direct its spawn to acquire the meal. As to what might constitute a meal is anyone’s guess—alien relics, artifacts, gems, particular learned humans, and so on. Presumably, consuming such things grants Abhoth some form of insight or power.

Aura

A sense of grime, filth, and foreboding comes to mind in the presence of Abhoth and its spawn. A feeling that “things” are crawling over one’s skin, and a general nausea that threatens vomiting. One feels unclean and somehow tainted.

Abhoth, the source of uncleanness

Sanity Loss: 1D6/2D10 Sanity points.

Magic

• POW: 250
• Magic Points: 50
• Spells: none.

Powers

Duplication: may grant a small portion of its body mass to someone, which can then be grown into a spawn of Abhoth.

Telepathy: able to communicate with its own spawn over any distance, and also with humans. For those humans nearby, the messages are clear and unambiguous, though often primal in their intensity; while for the rest of humanity, who live far above Abhoth’s grotto, such messages are vague, dreamlike, and more like an inaudible whisper. If nearby, humans may be coerced into performing Abhoth’s will if they fail an Extreme POW roll; while those far away will only be affected if failing a Regular POW roll and, in this case, the coercion is unclear and those affected just feel a “pull” or “yearning” to go somewhere or do something (they will not go against their own interests though).

Behold the white flame! Not heat shall you feel as it glows with a cold intensity. Look on this wall of white fire and feel the frost upon your flesh! Bathe in its glory and kneel before it! Now, move your hands toward it and allow the quivering flames to touch you, for only in your total devotion shall you come to know Aphoom Zhah!

Other names: Arcturus, the Frozen One, the Icy Gray Flame.

Aphoom Zhah is a living white-gray flickering mass of flame, which gives off a sickly, cold, and unhealthy glow. According to the Pnakotic Manuscripts, the entity was responsible for the destruction of the ancient lands of Hyperborea, Lomar, and Zobna, possibly an act of gross consumption through which Aphoom Zhah realized sustenance or the unwitting summoning of the entity that allowed it to run amok. The truth is unknown and the historical record is fragmentary at best. What lore exists concerning Aphoom Zhah suggests that, at times, it has dwelt somewhere far beneath the ice of the North Pole, with some suggesting that this is a placement of imprisonment and that the god shall not be released until the stars are right, like so many of its brethren. Others conjecture that the deity’s true prison is elsewhere in the stars, with the wizard Ooal-Phikir naming Arcturus, the brightest star in the Boötes constellation, as the most likely candidate.

Some sources link another Great Old One, Rlim Shaikorth, with Aphoom Zhah, claiming that the Icy Gray Flame sent Rlim Shaikorth forth to destroy the forgotten land of Mhu Thulan. Of course, the most divisive topic concerning Aphoom Zhah is whether the entity shares a connection with Cthugha, another being seemingly composed of living flame. Given that both appear to exemplify the extremes of hot and cold, some state they are twin deities or somehow two parts of a larger single being. Other’s call into question such reasoning, citing that to view matters in such simplistic human-centered terms is reductive. Certainly, human scholars tend to use Earth- bound notions, which probably mask or obscure the cosmic truth as to the composition and dimensional realities of beings such as Great Old Ones. Until humanity is able to send a probe equipped with the right technology to investigate these “stars” the answers will remain unclear.

Cult

Aphoom Zhah has no organized human cult, although it was worshiped by the ancient voormis, and still today by the gnoph-keh. It is feasible, some humans might spy Arcturus through telescopes and in so doing catch a glimpse of the entity said to be within, providing them with strange insight that might compel or change them somehow. Perhaps a momentary visual connection is enough to allow Aphoom Zhah to “touch” that person’s mind and sow seeds of corruption, possibly establishing a longer connection enabling the deity to whisper cosmic truths. Such individuals are likely to undergo sudden personality changes, become “cold” to the rest of humanity, and may seek to “educate” others in matters of cosmic truth. Alternatively, those affected by Aphoom Zhah may despair, seeing the continuation of life upon Earth as pointless, driving them to seek a means to end all life on the planet—as, better to all die now than be consumed by the hungering void that will destroy everything humanity has accomplished.

Possible Blessings

• Strange Vision: seeing the world differently and opening the mind to cosmic knowledge (increase in Cthulhu Mythos points).
• Touch of Cold: able to freeze matter by touch or radiating a general cold, possibly meaning a greater susceptibility to fire and heat.

Encounters

Given it is a living, freezing cold flame, those in close proximity to Aphoom Zhah’s full majesty are liable to find the experience chilly, to say the least. With a temperature of absolute zero, those coming into physical contact will find their blood freezes while all of their bodily processes stop, resulting in instant death.

More likely, would be the summoning of a portion of the deity; thus, its physical being would be less harmful (to some degree). Perhaps a portion, something like a wall of cold flame or a sphere of cold, might be sent in respect of a summons, like a herald or a mouthpiece for the god. In this minor aspect, proximity may be tolerable. Apart from bodily concerns, the appearance of a portion of Aphoom Zhah will cause damage to building structures, rendering materials so cold as to weaken them permanently.

Aura

A coldness beyond mere chill that drives a stake through one’s heart or feels as though an icy hand has reached into the chest and clutched the heart, choking it of air. An otherworldliness that is hard to define except as a sense of strange wonder, which is both enticing and dangerous.

Aphoom Zhah, the icy gray flame

Sanity Loss: 1D4/1D10+2 Sanity points.

Magic

• POW: 240
• Magic Points: 48
• Spells: any as determined by the Keeper; suggest Alter Weather, Create Mist of R’lyeh (frosty variant), Dominate (extended range).

Powers

Shroud of Cold: emits a zone of bitter cold. Those within this alien coldness suffer one penalty die to all physical skills and actions based on DEX. In addition, call for a Hard CON: if failed, the person suffers 1D4+1 damage plus the temporary loss of 5 points of CON per round (CON lost is regained at 1 point per day thereafter); if successful, 1 damage per round is suffered. The radius of the Great Old One’s zone of cold is 1 mile per magic point it expends, and the effect lasts for 1 hour per magic point expended; Aphoom Zhah is always at the center of the coldness.

Normal physical objects coming into contact with Aphoom Zhah are frozen solid and will shatter unless carefully handled; this also affects structures and buildings. Forms of environmental protection may offer degrees of protection against the unnatural cold: a warm winter coat or the interior of a heated vehicle may negate or grant a bonus die versus these cold effects, while the interior of a warm building grants two bonus dice.

Mind Touch: at a cost of 5 magic points, Aphoom Zhah may touch the mind of an individual seeing the entity (most likely through a telescope). If the individual concerned fails a Hard POW roll, their mind becomes open to the connection and is affected, receiving 1D10 points of Cthulhu Mythos while suffering the loss of 1D10+2 Sanity points (no Sanity roll). Repeated contact (after the first, the connection is automatic) delivers additional Cthulhu Mythos points with commensurate Sanity loss (e.g. for every 1D10 skill gain, 1D10+2 Sanity is lost).