Windwalker Cult
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Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos - Pathfinder
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Those who worship Ithaqua the Windwalker know that their ultimate fate is likely to become a wendigo—a cannibalistic monster that moves with the wind. The Windwalker attracts mostly wild folk, trappers, or other explorers who dwell in the polar regions and form unsophisticated but brutal and murderous cults. In a very real sense, worship of the Windwalker is not a choice, but a logical consequence of his followers’ increasing blood lust and ferocity.

Typically, such a cult cannot coexist with an agrarian civilization, though raiders or nomads sworn to the Windwalker often maintain a high standard of living parasitically by preying on others. They pillage and loot more stable cities or lands, taking what they will and destroying the rest.

When the Windwalker’s cult reaches a certain critical mass, it begins to spread as a plague, and waves of frantic cultists hurl themselves against entire nation-states, destroying them, and moving on as their thirst for plunder and destruction requires.

The Windwalker cult starts out small and grows through three stages until it reaches a bloody crescendo of cannibalistic carnage.

The Loneliest Cultist

In the beginning, Ithaqua is merely a horrendous monster. He preys on individuals, driving them mad until they begin to eat the flesh of their own kind and one day turn into wendigos. Over time these cannibalistic criminals may grow to sufficient numbers to reach the next level of the Windwalker cult. During this period, the Windwalker primarily acts as the source of some particularly dangerous wilderness predators. He is not determined to craft a cult but merely to give rise to as many wendigos as possible, sowing the seeds of madness and destruction.

The Robber Band

Eventually, enough would-be wendigos and their allies create an organization of criminals to prey on others. At first, they may only strike at outlying homes or small groups of wanderers, then eventually escalate their campaign to attacking small settlements. They may participate in piracy.

At this point, Windwalker cultists often come in contact with a gnoph-keh, and some of their number are well on the path toward becoming wendigos. All are inspired by Ithaqua’s personality and look forward to his increasingly common visits to the mortal realm. By this time, they can present as organized opponents to a whole band of adventurers. They may even have a home base from which to operate.

The Ice Crusades

As multiple rapacious bands join together and Ithaqua’s influence spreads, eventually whole tribes may fall under his sway, and in the end, Ithaqua’s awful army goes on the march. The winter winds howl and the snow blasts as the Great Old One and his minions descend upon the rest of the world in the fury of total war. Heedless of the outcome, they throw themselves with unholy abandon at the forces of rationality, civilization, and learning, desiring only to rend and devour flesh.

Windwalker Cult Gifts

  • The Lesser Transformation: The cultist begins the process of becoming a wendigo. Killing and eating more victims allows for the completion of the transformation.
  • The Greater Transformation: Rare and difficult, this gift begins the process of turning a wendigo into a windwalker wendigo. This process is harder than the transformation into a wendigo, but the end result is far more terrifying.
  • True Ferox: The Windwalker's cultist becomes savage and deadly, toughening skin into natural armor, fingernails into claws, and teeth into fangs. The cultist gains the advanced creature simple template and 2 claws and a bite attack.
  • Cannibalistic Healing: Eating dead humanoids heals a cultist more quickly. Cultists often gain the combat feast rage power (see Mythos Feats).
  • Howling Wind: Cultists of the Windwalker favor the terrifying howl barbarian rage power.
  • Frozen Flesh: Cultists of the Windwalker never suffer harm from exposure or harm from cold weather.
  • Treasures: Cultists often have access to disks of the Hyades and mist projectors taken from mi-go.
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