Chaat

Chaat (alternate spellings: Cthaat, Cthäat, also called The Dark Water God)

Origin: "The Plague of St. James Infirmary", by Ken Asamatsu, 2005? (Evidently inspired by Derleth's elemental mythos.)

In the Mythos

""Gh'neri nryu, hyanste wg'neh, Chaat!" They chanted the spell of the water god. The ankh fell near the base of the infestation of heads.... The gigantic god formed from the water of Lake Michigan began to spread out its arms...."
— Ken Asamatsu, "The Plague of St. James Infirmary"

An amorphous, shape-shifting, manifestation in the form of dark, iridescent water ooze, Chaat may assume the watery shape of the caster when summoned or contacted, otherwise Chaat is formless. Chaat might temporarily wield extended cones of water to whip its victims from distance, but prefers to crush things caught in its mass by altering the density and pressure of the water it infests. While the Chaat Aquadingen bears its name in the title the book, there is only a brief discussion of the water god and in some versions of the book the mention of Chaat as a god is missing all together.

Heresies and Controversies

• Vague references to Chaat found in Cultes des Goules suggest that Chaat may be a powerful "water elemental". (August Derleth)
• Chaat is nothing more than the physical, material manifestation of Shadow, a being that itself has no self-awareness or understanding of who or what it is. (Apex Evolved)
• Chaat may be an avatar of, alternate name for, or member of the same alien race as Dagon and/or Cthulhu; the manifestation of Chaat known as "Dagon" only resembles a Deep One when summoned by Deep Ones.
• Chaat may be an especially large, ancient, cunning, and powerful protoplasmic ooze, worshipped as a god, and instinctively imitating the form of its summoner.

Cult

• Fellowship Within the Water, a support group for Children of Chaat who are transforming into water creatures and feel themselves drawn to "rejoin" Cthaat.
• Children of the Old Ones (cult), who have summoned, concentrated, and confined an avatar of Chaat within a temple of Cthulhu in Iraq for their own mad purposes.
• Esoteric Order of Dagon
• Cult of Cthulhu

Associated Mythos Elements

• Tomes:
  • Chaat Aquadingen
  • Ponape Scripture
• Servitors and Races:
  • Star-spawn
  • Deep Ones
  • Children of Chaat
• Great Old Ones and Deities:
  • Cthulhu
  • Zoth-Ommog
  • The "Drowners", Bugg-Shash and Yibb-Tstll
  • Dagon and Hydra
  • Idh-yaa

Stats

• Damage Bonus: +4D6
• Weapons: Enveloping Crush 100% 3D10+db; Water Whip 100% 1D10+db
• Armor: None. Not harmed by normal physical means.
• Spells: Contact and Summon/Dismiss spells (perhaps Child of Chaat, Deep One, Star-spawn, Shoggoth)
• Sanity Loss: To see Chaat in original form, 1/1D6

References

• Call of Cthulhu Scenario: "Dead Leaves Fall"
• Fiction: The interpretation of Chaat found in "Dead Leaves Fall" from Brian Lumley’s Chaat Aquadingen was from: "The Plague of St. James Infirmary", 2005 by Ken Asamatsu, in Night Voices, Night Journeys: Lairs of the Hidden Gods, volume one, published by Kurodahan Press.