The Idol of Foam

A gift from the god of sailors...

The Idol of Foam is a statue depicting a massive wave crashing against a cliff. The statue is carved from obsidian and has an unnatural transparency. Originally carved by a sculptor living in the Philippines, the statue's existence has been debated heavily by scholars in The Web. It is studied due to its strange power, and the legends of that power.
According to legend, the statue possessed strange transformative qualities. Should anyone gaze upon the statue and see a strange form in its semi-transparent wave, they have been chosen by an entity whose will flows from the idol. Being chosen means one will soon be reformed in the entity's image. The process is said to be excruciating, assuming you survive.

While there are many who have sought out the idol, there is no group who wants it more than The Order of The Black Sea. The order is one of the 12 Cults, and their increase in power over the last few decades has led to an unsettling realization...

"You were'nt there. This was something else. I've never seen anything like it. It wasn't natural... the eyes. It was the eyes that gave it away. Those were not the eyes of a beast. Those were the eyes of a man begging to be put out of his misery."

— Beatrice of The Black Betties

Urban Legends

The transformative qualities vary from story to story. Some say they encountered creatures still humanoid in appearance, but most are transformed into beasts that eliminate all human likeness. This has spawned a series of urban legends that surround the idol and the creatures it created. In recent years, The Troubleshooters routinely answer calls that seem to stem from the Idol's power.
These creatures are impossible. It's as if they are designed specifically to fit outside of our world's evolutionary timeline. To say they are designed is not beyond the realm of possibility. Whatever allows this transformation seems to construct these forms for very specific purposes. The only similarity between these legends is how each creature possess features often found in sea life. They are almost always blue or gray skinned, and the skin usually has a slimey or blubbery appearence.
The Ocean Centaur possesses 6 arms, two tendrils sprouting from its back, and massive bodies that sprint on four legs. The Black Star strides on 8 segmented legs connected by membranous tissue, allowing them to glide in the air and under water. When laying flat on the ground, it looks not unlike a sea star, if it were not for the human eye and mouth located at the center of the body.

history

According to what little records The Order of the Black Sea were willing to provide, The Alexandrian University pieced together a rough history of the idol. It begins with the sculptor in the Philippines, who was likely a prominent member of the earliest version of the cult.
The cult refused to expand from the island where it began for many years. Even the order admits it does not fully understand why or how the Cult expanded, but it found its way to Australia, Italy, and even as far as Hawaii. At this point all information on the idol disappears.
The idol appeared lost to time. It was either stolen, hidden, or both. This is likely the work of a rival cult, or possibly a group of independent good Samaritans who sought to rob the order of its power. All is not well, however. What many don't realize is the idol has already been reclaimed.

Rising Tides

The order spent many fortunes "donated" by its members to hold excavation, after excavation on islands all over the world. They did so with great secrecy, as this was before the Commonwealth had been established. Cults, at the time, had to move with even more discretion than they do now.
They discovered the idol in the last place they'd expect to find it. During an excavation in the foundation of the city of Venice, they discovered a black chest filled with many treasures the cult thought lost. Hidden under the sinking city, was the idol. The idol subsequently worked its transformative power on the divers who found it.

These men and women were transformed violently and without a moment's pause. The order now refers to them as The Drowned Saints. They rose from the waters with the chest. Their legs transformed into tentacles, and their faces were literally vacant, wiped clean of eyes, mouths, and noses. Their bodies were decorated with barnacles and coral, placed as if they were jewelry.