Within the society of the Deep Ones, there exist certain rare sports or mutants called, by their piscine peers, the A'koz-Shattarhu, which roughly means "the favored of the God" or "the speakers of the God", or, most simply, "oracle". The Deep Ones enjoy an extremely close kinship with their race-god, Great Cthulhu, and display considerable sensitivity to his mental emanations. It would appear that those emanations sometimes exert a physical effect upon a developing Deep One foetus and lead to the birth of an A'koz-Shattarhu. 

Born to a Deep One parent, the oracle appears to mostly be a fairly normal Deep One, perhaps a trifle larger and more robust than his peers. However, the head of an oracle is that of Great Cthulhu or one of the Star Spawn: octopoid, a mass of feelers and barbels with naught else save for two staring, fishy eyes. In cases of a single Deep One parent, when a metamorphosis occurs later in life, oracles sometimes develop as well. As the Cthulhu-esque head of the oracle develops, this transformation becomes particularly horrifying.

A'koz-Shattarhu are extremely rare (although urban legend has it that one was captured during the joint Marine Corps/ U.S. Customs Service raid on Innsmouth, Massachusetts, in 1928, and has been held at an undisclosed site in the American west ever since), but they tend to rise to positions of authority within Deep One society due to their affinity for the Deep One race-god. The mental contact which the Deep Ones have with Great Cthulhu is stronger in the case of the oracles: they receive more such messages, and the messages they do get are clearer and more easily understood. Because of this closer contact with their god, whenever the Deep Ones get to plotting, oracles figure in the process. Also, because of their affinity for their god, oracles have psychic abilities, and can employ magics which have an affinity for their god more easily.

A'koz-Shattarhu are revered within Deep One society, but they are very much captives of their peers, who see the oracle as a literal pathway to the god. They are respected and well-treated captives, but captives nonetheless, who can count on always being surrounded by a retinue of especially devout Deep Ones that can be counted on to be hostile towards those who would menace the oracle. As if that weren't enough, crossing an oracle is usually seen as inviting the wrath of the Deep One rulers, Dagon and Hydra, and is scrupulously avoided for those reasons. Further, Deep Ones insist that oracles comport themselves in a manner befitting their closer ties to the god, and often find themselves the proud (?) owners of much Deep One jewelry and similar totems...which they usually have little say about wearing.


A'koz-Shattarhu, Deep One oracles of Great Cthulhu

Typical Hit Points:13-14

STRength 4d6 (16)
CONstitution 3d6 (10-11)
SIZe 3d6 + 6 (16-17)
INTelligence 2d6 + 6 (13)
POWer 3d6 (10-11)
DEXterity 3d6 (9-10)
Sanity Loss: 2/1d8

Armor Points: 2 points
Typical Damage Bonus: +1d4
Move: 8/10 swimming
Typical Magic Points: 11

Weapons: claw 25% db + 1d6
hunting spear 25% db + 1d6*
* Oracles can spend magic points to make their redoubtable tridents more destructive. One magic point spent ads one point of damage.

Spells: A'koz-Shattarhu always know spells, that being their role in Deep One society. From the following list of spells, an oracle will know a number equal to its POWer score divided by three: Alter Weather, Attract Fish, Auger, Bait Humans, Bind Enemy, Bind Soul, Bless Blade, Breath of the Deep, Charm Animal, Command Shark/ Porpoise, Create Mist of Releh, Dominate, Eibon's Wheel of Mist, Elder Sign, Grasp of Cthulhu, and Spectral Razor. A'koz-Shattarhu always know the spells pertaining to contacting Great Cthulhu.

Metaconcert: Because of their closer ties to Great Cthulhu and because of the focal role they play in Deep One religious life, oracles are subject to a phenomena called metaconcert. They never have just their own magic points to use casting spells or making their psychic powers work. The current magic points of any Deep One or human/ Deep One hybrid within a number of yards of the A'koz-Shattarhu equal to their combined size scores are added to the oracle's.

Psychic Powers: see pp. 223 to 225 of "Delta Green: Countdown" (Pagan Publishing, Seattle WA, 1999) for full details. A'koz-Shattarhu always have the psychic talents of clarvoyance, precognition, second sight, and telepathy. See metaconcert above for a special effect.


Credits: Morrigan