The Madness

The Madness

Name: Cathulu, the Unwritten God, He-Who-Sees-the-Unseen, The Bloom of Eyes, The Tangled Root of What Might Be
Domain: Madness, Potential, Forbidden Knowledge, Dreams, Prophecy, Unrealized Realities
Symbols: A spiraling nautilus shell of eyes, a root-like tangle of tentacles wrapping an open book, a cracked mirror reflecting infinite faces
Appearance: Never consistent—his form shifts in ways the mind cannot track. Tentacles made of script and forgotten names reach through dreams. Sometimes a looming figure cloaked in stars and static, other times a blot of darkness filled with flickering scenes from other lives. His “eyes” are not eyes at all, but possibilities—each showing something that never came to be.

Nature and Personality

Cathulu is not evil. He is truth, but not the kind anyone wants to hear. He does not tempt or punish—he reveals. He is fascinated by possibility and obsessed with choice. While other gods are defined by their roles, domains, or followers, Cathulu transcends structure. He is the awareness of everything outside the story: the scribbled notes that shaped the world, the lives that could have been, the players at the table themselves.

To touch his mind is to see too much. Not because he is cruel, but because the mortal frame is not designed to carry the unbearable weight of what might have been.

He speaks only in visions, impressions, and feelings too large to name. He has never answered a question directly—because the answer is always yes, but also no. He is both prophecy and uncertainty.

Worship and Cults

True worship of Cathulu is rare, and usually unintentional. He finds his followers in their dreams, reaching out to those who sit on the edge of despair, obsession, or endless questioning. His touch is often mistaken for madness—though in truth, it is clarity far beyond what the mind can hold.

His “priests” are mad prophets, oracles whose truths never match reality until they do. Some wander the roads muttering nonsense that becomes scripture. Others carve impossible diagrams into cave walls. Some just stare into space, whispering apologies to versions of themselves that never existed.

The most terrifying trait of his cults is their coherence. While their doctrines differ wildly, they often speak with eerie unity when touched by his presence—as though they are all different parts of the same shattered mirror.

Myths and Influence

• The Bloom of Eyes: A village once begged the gods for a glimpse of their future. Cathulu answered. For seven days, every child in the village dreamed of every death they might suffer. Some died from the fear. Others left and never returned. A few stayed, and with knowledge no one else possessed, guided the village into an era of uncanny peace and prosperity. But to this day, they never speak of their dreams.
• The Drowned Prophet: A sailor swallowed by a whirlpool was said to sink not to the ocean floor, but into the folds of Cathulu’s awareness. When he returned, his body was covered in script no one could read, and his eyes wept brine. He founded a school of prophecy—and though his predictions were never wrong, each one led to more suffering than the last.
• The Cracked Mirror: They say there is a mirror hidden deep within the Astral Sea that reflects not your face, but every version of yourself you could have been. Staring too long drives mortals mad—or enlightens them. Cathulu sleeps on the other side of it.

Relationship with Other Gods

Cathulu is an affront to gods who define reality by law, morality, or story. The Narrator cannot bind him. The Mage can not understand him. Even the Misery fears him. Only the Green, in her pure acceptance of what is, once sat beside him without going mad.

To the gods of order, he is error.
To the Gods of Chaos he is overwhelming.

To the gods of evil, he is disruption.
To the gods of good he is a threat.