Tulzscha

the Green Flame, the Emerald Lord, Tulacha,the Verdant Dancer

### Associations

Cold flames, contrasting sensations, death, decay, ghouls, green, the passion of knowledge, possession, subterranean spaces

### Common Blessings

**Flaming Truth:** grants the ability to detect lies and mistruths at the cost of 5 magic points; the target must be spoken to in person, and they cannot tell a lie (all questions must be answered truthfully).**Possessing Fire:** creates a green flame that can be directed to an individual, with the flame wrapping around that person and holding them fast. The power costs 3 magic points, lasts for 1d6+1 rounds, and can only be broken or negated by magical means.

**Knowledge of Corruption:** by eating the flesh of a deceased person the cultist gains some of the dead person’s memories (such as their name, key information, spells known); for some, the ability extends to eating a portion of the flesh of a living person, granting similar knowledge. In this manner, can the cultist learn spells and useful information.

> It burst from the ground, a noxious blaze of green flame and light. The air crackled with energy as the thing billowed upward, expanding and contracting at times as like the breath of an unseen demon. Casting no shadows and releasing no heat, just an icy cold, this unearthly fire kissed the ground and the walls of the cave, leaving stone discolored and stained with a patina of green-blue. The hell-smell of sulfur caught in our throats, while our eyes could not turn away from the deadly flames.
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An unusual entity seemingly composed of living flame that burns a green-blue color. Accounts record it manifesting as a column of flame, rising upward from the ground some 30 feet (9m), or as a ball of flame, perhaps 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 m) in diameter. It is feasible to assume it may replicate other forms, such as multiple burning spheres or roughly humanoid, although we have no clear evidence of this.

The *Necronomicon* makes mention of a Green Flame (which most assume to be Tulzscha) that dances around sleeping Azathoth. Perhaps its fantastical trails of flame combine with the Music of the Spheres, weaving the elements together to produce the enchantment designed to stop Azathoth from waking? The tome makes no reference to any connection between Tulzscha and other apparent living-flame entities, such as Cthugha and Aphoom Zhah, and with no other relevant lore, any linkage between such beings must be purely speculation at this time.

*Star Messages* (Boston, 1878) by Clarence Fosters includes a section that many scholars attribute to the author’s firsthand experience of an encounter with Tulzscha. While the text is vague on this point, a careful reading would suggest that Fosters participated in a ritual to summon this Outer God, which he describes as “drawing down the Emerald One to bathe in its light of knowledge.” Fosters remarks that the “Emerald One” touch was icy cold and carried the pall of death, and goes on to say that some “were embraced and became possessed by the flame,” causing the author and one other to rapidly depart in fear for their lives. “Gone was any notion of flaming passion and instead all that remained was the lingering breath of corruption,” he concludes. From what can be pieced together, Tulzscha seems to feed upon or be invigorated by death and decay. What strange energies it derives from manifesting among the dead is uncertain.

Given its role within the Court of Azathoth, one assumes this entity cannot take leave for any considerable length of time; thus, its time spent away from the Court are limited and uncommon. This would appear to chime true, as accounts of its visitations on this planet are rare, although in recent years this may be changing. Allegedly, it was summoned to the Eastern seaboard of North America in the early part of this decade, possibly in a small and out of the way port named Kingsport. While the information is fragmentary, it is suggested that during the manifestation Tulzscha took possession of a number of humans (said to have “burned out their eyes”), whom then departed and disappeared without a trace. If true, questions must be asked. Where did these splinters of Tulzscha go? What purpose were they tasked with? The answers may be forthcoming in time but are not likely to warm the heart nor ease the mind.

## Cult

Organized human cults dedicated to Tulzscha are rare, with a few groups working secretly to perform ceremonies and summons in the hope of gaining blessings and knowledge. We see this quest for magical lore replicated by a handful of sorcerers working in isolation, who endeavor to divine wisdom and power through contact with this Outer God. Seemingly, most of these cults and practitioners gather in subterranean chambers, with some of the more long-lived and organized groups constructing temples underground, sometimes within mausolea or beneath graveyards, which are believed to provide the ideal space for contacting Tulzscha. Some ghouls pay respect to this Outer God, making offerings at key times, which appear to mirror human worship, with rites held on the summer and winter solstices, and also during equinoxes.

While many believe the Kingsport cult to have died out after its recent ritual, the reports of more recent gatherings suggest this is either false or misinformation passed out by the cult to obfuscate their presence. Other groups are believed to be located in Italy, France, Russia, and Iraq, although all of these appear to work independently of one another.

## Encounters

Encounters with Tulzscha are rare and most likely to come via its cultists or in the shape of those possessed by a portion of the Outer God. Of those possessed, the scope of their activities is wide, with numerous possibilities: connecting disparate cults, infecting communities into mass worship of Tulzscha, possessing others to grow an army, and so on.

Perhaps these splinters of the Outer God are simply waiting for the stars to come right but must seek new hosts as their current body disintegrates and rots to nothingness. Lone wizards and witches may have idols or paraphernalia linked to Tulzscha, and seek to obtain tomes and lore concerning the entity. Ghouls worshipping Tulzscha may be at odds with others of their kind, causing their actions to spill over and be noticed by the human world.

Called to our world, it assumes a gaseous form, penetrates the planet to the core, then erupts from below as a pillar of flame. It cannot move from where it emerges.

## Aura

Most times, any encounters are liable to be connected to places of death and decay. Tulzscha’s flames are cold, causing the temperature to drop and breath to fog. The pervading atmosphere is clammy despite the cold, a strange mix of contrasting sensations (being hot while cold, and so on) that instinctively trigger a sense of primal fear. To behold this Outer God is to at first feel wonder and be captivated, and then to feel revulsion rising in one’s gut at the alienness of this being so different to human understanding.