Akhu Clarifications

[Ascanio Giovanni]

AKHU, THE DIVINE IMAGE

As the power of Akhu is drawn entirely from the Western Lands, all uses of Akhu require a Blasphemy Shrine to function, and the first ritual every Setite learns is the level 1 ritual "Opening the Gate" which creates such a shrine. If the shrine is disturbed or destroyed, not only does the Setite suffer the dramatic consequences outlined in the ritual, but they also lose all further access to their magic until a new one can be made. Because of this special relationship within Akhu, paths that also appear in Thaumaturgy under a different name follow the same casting rules as the rest of Akhu rather than those found in Thaumaturgy, and do not require the expenditure of a blood point unless otherwise noted, per the rule on page 24 of Blood Sacrifice.

The Primary Paths for Setites differ by Caste.

Citizen Setite: The False Heart (Path of Corruption) or Imminence of Set
Warrior Setite: Valor of Sutekh (Path of Mars) or Imminence of Set
Lector-Priest Setite: Divine Hand or Imminence of Set

[Ascanio Giovanni]

DIVINE HAND

This path has no range requirement, or more precisely, ignores distance.

Divine Hand uses an Intelligence + Occult roll, difficulty of the Path Level + 3 and takes 5 minutes to cast, and requires a successful Perception + Crafts roll. 5 or more successes on the Crafts roll gives -1 difficulty to the power's effect.

All effects happen within 24 hours of the 5 minute casting, often through circumstance, but they will happen anyway somehow if circumstances can't be arranged by serendipity. If the caster has line of sight with the target, the 5 minute casting time is negated and the effects happen instantaneously. This sight must be actual vision, not a camera or reproduction.

Any mention of delivering health levels of damage in the various powers also includes the ability to repair that much damage to the object.

Divine Hand 1: Hand of Ptah

The Feat of Strength value of Strength 3 is 250 pounds of force, or a something like a wooden door.

Divine Hand 2: Hand of Khnum

Ghouls and other partially supernatural creatures are susceptible to this power.

The damage from this effect is soakable normally if the victim is capable of soaking Lethal damage, such as a ghoul.

The Feat of Strength value of Strength 6 is 800 pounds of force, or something like a motorcycle.

For the Hold effect mentioned in this power, it is 2 strength per success rolled on the activation, and this lasts for 5 minutes or until the target can score enough successes on a Strength + Brawl check to escape. This is usable in levels of the power as well. Each level has a more powerful version of this effect, increasing the effective Strength by 1 per success.

Divine Hand 3: Hand of Anubis

The damage from this effect is soakable normally if the victim is capable of soaking Lethal damage.

The Feat of Strength value of Strength 9 is 1,200 pounds of force, or something like a cement wall.


Divine Hand 4: Hand of Thoth

Besides manifested in this world, this power can reach into the Penumbra and the Shadowlands, but not the Umbra, Underworld, or Tempest, or any other realm than those two.

The damage from this effect is soakable normally if the victim is capable of soaking Lethal damage.

The Feat of Strength value of Strength 12 is 3,000 pounds of force, or something like a metal lamp post.


Divine Hand 5: Hand of Heka

The doll substitutes for location only for Disciplines or magic effects, but not other requirements a discipline might have, such as hearing the target's voice, although the doll can "look at" or "see" the user of the power for those powers which need it, such as in the example using Entrancement or powers that require only eye contact to function.

The Feat of Strength value of Strength 15 is 6,000 pounds of force, or enough force to throw a truck.

[Ascanio Giovanni]

Path of Duat

Any attempt to attack engage in violent physical activity or use any other path or ritual power ends the Path of Duat powers with enough time for the victim to attempt to Dodge, etc. This does not necessarily apply to other effects that are passive or ongoing in nature such as Presence powers, Eyes of the Serpent, etc.

The powers of this path are considered "mind affecting powers" for those effects which give resistance or immunity to such effects.

The Sokar talisman is essential to activate the powers but isn't entirely necessary to show the target. The powers work just fine without seeing the caster in any way, just at +1 difficulty.

Technically the caster need not be holding the talisman to "catch their attention" with it. The target can be holding it, looking at it, or even someone else can be holding it. It can dangling on a hook, or any other method. They do, however, have to have some attention drawn to it in some way, Just seeing a character who is wearing it isn't enough.

The powers of this path all require the priest to concentrate on the target. The Concentration merit allows the character to take other actions while maintaining the effects of this power.


Path of Duat 1: A Sending of Serpents

This power does not cause damage in any way but is rather frightening and moreover, confusing. Three successes on a Courage check at a difficulty equal to the successes scored is required to contain all reaction to the vision of snakes should the victim wish to do so.

Path of Duat 2: Darkness of Duat

All normal penalties for being Blind apply here, and all normal methods that overcome Blindness apply as well, such as Blindfighting.

Path of Duat 3: Suffocation of the Tomb

A mortal can survive suffocation for one minute per dot of Stamina they possess.

Path of Duat 4: The Narrow House

To clarify, this power does work on both Wraiths and other corporeal creatures, but not Sebau , Banes or Spirits.

Path of Duat 5: Consignment to Duat

The split action penalty for staying alive no longer applies because we use updated Split Action rules. Instead add +2 difficulty to all actions while attempting to survive this power.

[Ascanio Giovanni]

Rituals

Milk of Set
•Once you know even one of these rituals, you are assumed to know the practice of Setite Alchemy. This knowledge allows the Priest to create new Milk of Set rituals without a teacher or going through the full ritual creation system. He may create new Milk of Set rituals once per week. The mechanics of such rituals are still subject to Storyteller discretion before entering play.

Opening the Gate
•This is a level 1 ritual, not 2.
•This ritual is required to use any power of Akhu outside of the Web of Faith. Should your Blasphemy Shrine be destroyed, you lose all access to Akhu (with the exception of this ritual) until such time as another can be prepared. All effects with durations continue to work for their full duration.
•This ritual does not require the Shrine be anywhere physically near the Priest to function and most Setites tend to send them back to Memphis.
•Creating a Blasphemy Shrine is an Intelligence + Thanatology roll at difficulty 10. This can benefit from Leadership. Successes determine the level of the Mummy. This ritual takes a full night. Thanatology is a full Knowledge, not a secondary, and cannot be used untrained.

Prepare Canopic Jars
•For a Kindred subject, a point of their vitae will substitute for any jar. Otherwise, a sample of blood from a mortal that the target fed on will substitute for the North and South Jars. A stake that has previously pierced the target's heart can substitute for the East jar. The blood of a mortal that matches the target's normal feeding practices can substitute for the West jar.
•The scale of the interference can extend to any reasonable circumstance that could mundanely have occurred within the scene.

Dismemberment of Osiris
•If this ritual targets any group represented on someone's sheet, that person will lose all dots within a month as the organization completely collapses.
•The exact effects of this ritual are left to ST discretion, but some drastic calamity should befall the organization within one month. If say the Prince of a city is targeted, his city might fall under Justicarate Ordeal, suffer a massive Masquerade breach, or fall to Sabbat attack.
•If a lieutenant is targeted with this ritual, only those aspects of the organization under his purview are affected, though they receive the full effect. Thus it is possible to target a single Sabbat pack by sacrificing its Ductus without capturing the Regent of the Sabbat.
•There is no known way to prevent the effects of this ritual once it has begun. No matter the actions taken by players, the collapse is inevitable, even incorporating the players' own actions into the disaster.

Dismembering the God
•This ritual requires that the Priest touch the victim with their genitals.

Typhon's Brew
•This is a Milk of Set ritual.
•Since a blood point is assumed to be a pint of blood, this octuples the blood put in for the purpose of feeding ghouls.

Inscribe the Book of Set
•This ritual costs a blood point's worth of ink per application.

Seal the Gates of Blood
•Each amulet successfully deployed reduces the Priest's blood debt by one.
•These amulets, if captured by another Sorcerer count as a sympathetic focus to the Priest.
•For every 10 amulets currently in circulation, the difficulty of an investigation check to find one is reduced by 1, when searching the appropriate area.

Opening the Mouth
•This ritual does not actually summon the wraith to possess their former body. Rather it contacts the remnants of memory in the corpse. Although the deceased retains a shadow of their personality, it is not actually them. As such the corpse is immune to Dominate, Presence or any other emotional or mind-affecting discipline.
•The deceased will not be cooperative if the subject would not have cooperated in life.
•The Storyteller will keep track of the time allotted by this ritual, including any time taken to think of questions taken during the allotted minute.

Dreams of Duat
•The difficulty of this roll is the victim's current Willpower.
•Casting this ritual on a victim twice in one night has no additional effect.
•This ritual can be cast nightly, thus preventing the victim from regaining any Willpower throughout the week.
•Bathing the doll is part of the ritual and must be performed by the Priest.

Linked Soul Elixir
•This is considered a Milk of Set ritual.
•Obfuscate is considered a mind-controlling discipline for this effect.
•Any use of Linked Soul Elixir applies to the effect, even if the same Priest did not make all doses.
•There must be at least two individuals within line of sight of each other for the vulnerability to mind-affecting powers to apply.
•All users of Linked Soul Elixir can communicate telepathically while in line of sight. All users share their thoughts as per a 3 success use of Telepathy. All uses of this other than communication are done on request of the user.
•All users of Linked Soul Elixir innately know the Abilities (not Disciplines or supernatural traits) of every other Linked Soul Elixir drinker in line of sight.
•Each dose of Linked Soul Elixir takes one pint of Typhon's Brew, which is boiled down to a small flask during the ritual.

Scorpion Sending
•To successfully resist the poison, the victim must score more successes than the Priest scored on the ritual roll on a Stamina + Fortitude check at difficulty 6. Fortitude may be called upon with the normal blood expenditure for automatic successes in this roll.
•Willpower may be spent on the resistance roll.
•Multiple doses of scorpions affecting the same victim do not stack, only increasing the likelihood they will be stung.
•To sting a victim, the scorpion need not roll to hit or damage if it can approach unseen. If approaching seen, the Scorpion is considered to have Dexterity 3 and no abilities and must roll to hit, but not to damage. Clothing or armor does not prevent the poison from affecting its victim.

Severing Sand
•The thrown sand is symbolic and does not actually need to hit the target to have effect. The power comes from the invocation to the appropriate god and takes a mental action, of which throwing the sand is a part.
•If used on a vampire in Astral form or one who has been Soul Stolen, this ritual returns them to their body, though of course you must be aware of their presence to use this ritual.
•If used on a corporeal creature currently in a plane they are not native to, they cannot return to the material plane until the following night.
•Werewolves and Changelings, as dual natured beings are not affected as alien to this world, even if targeted while in another realm. They are affected as any other incorporeal being. Demons are immune to this power and affected as corporeal beings only if targeted when possessing a human.

Summon Sebau
•A Sebau, or Demon of Duat is a Bane Spirit.
•The power of the Bane summoned depends on the successes of the Priest. The Bane has an Essence score of 4x the successes gained on this ritual. The specific allocations are made by the Storyteller, although the Priest may attempt to summon the kind of Bane he wishes by electing to create specific models.
•The Priest must decide before casting the ritual how many successes he wants to set as a goal. If he gains equal or more successes, he summons the desired level of Sebau. If he gets only one success less than his goal, the ritual fails and nothing appears. If he gets at least 2 successes less than his goal, the desired Sebau appears, and is treated as if he had botched the ritual.
•After the Sebau completes its task or when dawn comes, whichever is first, the Sebau returns to Duat.
•Any task directed at a specific individual, not just combat, requires that individual's True Name or a piece of their body, unless the Priest directs the Sebau to a target in their line of sight and can thus clearly indicate identity.
•The Sebau will not perform any tasks that are innately self-destructive or against their primal nature.

Warding Cippus
•This ritual roll must be made as the sun is rising, thus capping the ritual roll at the Priest's Path Rating.
•Note that you must spend the permanent willpower to attempt the ritual, and it is lost even if the ritual fails.
•As Setites take an extra level of aggravated damage from sunlight, this ritual usually inflicts 2 levels of unsoakable aggravated damage to Setites.
•This ritual affects wraiths and Umbral spirits equally.

Hybrid Mummy
•Once sunlight has touched the Hybrid Mummy, the process of its decay is irreversible, the Mummy crumbling to dust over the next week as the Mummy loses a permanent Health Level each day at dawn.
•The Hybrid Mummy loses all Arcanoi and/or Charms that the possessing entity had. However this blasphemous mockery of the Spell of Life has turned them into something approaching a true Mummy, a Shemsu-Setekh or Soldier of Set and it may purchase Hekau as though a true Mummy.

[Skir]

NEW SETITE SORCERY (AKHU)


Words of Ill Omen: Level 1

The Egyptians believed there was a great deal of power in writing. This ritual imbues any piece of writing with a hidden curse that will affect the first person to read it.

System: The Lector Priest must take a pen with no ink, and write out a curse in hieroglyphics on a papyrus scroll. He then spends a Willpower point to seal the effect and may thereafter write anything he wishes over the curse. The magic will affect the next person to read the scroll, whoever that might be. For one month after reading the cursed scroll, the victim will be considered one success down on all rolls. All failures while under this effect are treated as botches. This will manifest as bad luck, and mundane unfortunate circumstances getting in his way.

A perceptive individual may notice the indents caused by the writing of the hidden curse. Anyone closely inspecting the papyrus may make a Perception + Alertness roll at difficulty 9 to spot the hidden writing (1 success will show something there, while 3 successes will reveal that it is hidden writing of some kind, and 5 successes will reveal the contents). Of course if they are examining the Papyrus that closely, it is already too late to stop the curse.




Canopic Preservation: Level 2

The Egyptians were masters of preservation of the dead. Their funerary practices were designed to ensure that the corpse never decayed or rotted away. Taking this principle, Setite Priests have taken this ability to allow them to preserve blood and body samples, even of other kindred as a great deal of Akhu relies on body samples that will decay otherwise.

System: The Priest must prepare a proper canopic jar to store the desired blood or body part in. This process takes a full 6 hours as the jar must be perfectly prepared according to the precepts as described in the Book of Going Forth by Night. At the conclusion of the ritual, the blood or body part must be placed in the jar and the jar must be sealed with beeswax. Thereafter the blood or body part will remain perfectly preserved unless the jar is opened. If the seal is ever broken, the ritual must be cast again to keep the contents from decaying.

Create Mastaba: Level 2

This ritual consecrates a building as belonging to the dead. The location becomes firmly tied to its twin in the Shadowlands and the Shroud ceases to exist inside that building.

System: Stepping inside the Mastaba is the same as entering the Shadowlands. Wraiths inside the Mastaba can be seen and heard without effort by everyone in the Mastaba and vice-versa. The living and dead must still exert themselves to affect one another as usual. This effect extends to sight and sound, so powers based entirely on sight or sound function as they would on a mortal or vampire in the Shadowlands or on a wraith manifested in the Skinlands. A wraith, for example could be easily affected by Dominate, while a vampire would just as easily be subject to Keening.


Cure the Spirit’s Malady: Level 2

As any con man or corrupter will tell you, the most important thing to do is to give the target what they want. What people usually want most is to cure their ailments. This ritual allows the Priest to cure nearly any mundane disease by banishing the spirit that is causing it. Of course a wise Follower of Set would never perform such a service without knowing what he is getting out of the deal.

System: The ritual requires a small statue of the God Khonsu, the Smiter of Evil Spirits to be enchanted. The Priest takes a hair from the target and wraps it around the statue’s wrist as he entreats with Khonsu to visit the target and banish the spirits that plague him. The statue must then be placed next to the head of the target when next they sleep. That night (or day if they are nocturnal), the dreams of the target will be filled with strange visions, as if a battle is going on in his head. When he wakes, he will not regain Willpower for this night and will be groggy and confused (-1 die to all dice pools) for the remainder of the day. However the disease will be completely cured, though any maladies already suffered from the disease will still remain. If this ritual is used on someone who is healthy, the side effects still persist. They will not be able to regain Willpower, though in perfect health otherwise.

Some particularly vicious and deadly diseases may take longer than a single night to cure. In this case, the statue must remain by the sleeping target for multiple consecutive nights to fully banish the disease. Each day upon waking, the target will suffer the same effects of the statue and be unable to regain Willpower. The necessary durations are left up to Storyteller discretion but a good benchmark is that a minor disease such as a cold or ache should be cured in a single night, a moderate disease such as a bad case of flu or pneumonia may take a week, while a major disease such as cancer or muscular dystrophy may take a month or more. A Setite trying to cure a victim of AIDS reported back to the temple in Memphis that it took 3 full months of this treatment before the disease was finally banished.


Tomb Curse: Level 2

This ritual lays a curse of death on any intruders into the structure it is cast upon. Anyone, human, animal or vampire who enters the cursed area without the Priest's knowledge and permission or direction is subject to the curse.

System: The curse depends on deadly bad luck to threaten the life of any intruders. WIthin two weeks of breaching the cursed area, the intruder suffers a grave setback. A mortal might discover they have cancer in an incurably advanced stage, a vampire might be blamed for breaking the masquerade or incur an unintended scandal. This ritual takes 10 minutes to cast, lasts for 24 hours and can only be performed in the presence of someone who is the sole resident of the target structure. If an individual enters with the resident's knowledge and consent, the ritual ends.


Craft Effigy: Level 3

The Egyptian funeral practices often involved crafting representations or effigies of people and objects and burying them with the deceased. The belief was that these objects would become real in the afterlife, able to be used by the deceased. The Followers of Set have taken this principle and made a more practical use for it. This ritual allows the Lector Priest to craft an effigy of an object, and cause it to become real at a later date.

System: The Lector Priest must craft a miniature model of an inanimate object of his choosing from river clay, mixing his own blood into the clay as the effigy is being sculpted (this costs a blood point). He must then fire it in a kiln fueled with straw and charcoal. Once the effigy is complete, the Lector Priest must carefully etch his own Cartouche denoting his name into the effigy, binding the finished piece to himself.

Once this ritual is complete, at any later time, the Lector Priest may speak an invocation to cause the effigy to grow to full size and functionality, exact in every way to the real object. This ritual cannot create any item more complex than a rope and pulley system. The item will be of the same quality as the effigy (successes and grade of item will be the same as determined by the crafting system) and should the Lector Priest wish to craft anything of superior quality, the specific features must be dictated at the time the effigy is being sculpted. The effigy can be no smaller than 1/16 scale to the represented item. Should the effigy be broken or destroyed before the magic is triggered, the magic is lost and the effigy is nothing more than clay. Should the item be destroyed after the magic has been triggered, the pieces will revert to their original size and clay composition, all magic lost.


Garb of the Dead: Level 3

This ritual, traditionally performed before a journey to Duat, allows the Priest some protection from the dangers found in the Underworld. The Priest takes the soul of a mummified person and wraps it around himself as a shield.

System: This ritual requires that the Priest mummify someone alive. This process takes a full 10 days to achieve, though the Priest need not perform the entire process himself. The victim must be restrained and properly prepared in the manner described in the Book of Going Forth by Night, requiring a successful Intelligence + Thanatology roll at difficulty 9. Once the mummy is properly prepared, the Priest must seal him in a sarcophagus with a swarm of scarab beetles who have been allowed to feed from a point of his blood. Over the next day, the ghouled beetles will slowly consume the victim alive. To complete the ritual, the Priest must eat all of the beetles, transferring the essence of the dead victim to himself. This ritual ensures that the victim will become a wraith, but twists and consumes the wraith's essence into a shield for the Priest.

Once the ritual is complete, for the next 24 hours, the Priest gains the Corpus of the wraith he has just made. New wraiths all have a Corpus of 10. These will act as extra health levels while the Priest is in the Underworld. If damaged, any damage taken will affect the Corpus before the Priest's own health levels. Corpus gained in this manner may not be healed in any way. The bonus Corpus has no effect while in the material world.

Priests who wear stolen plasm as their ghostly garments tend to take on a larger, more fearsome appearance as the plasm responds, as it does for a true wraith, to the self-image of the wearer and how they see themselves in their heart.

Turning the Gaze of Horus: Level 3

The blazing eye of Horus can find the servants of Set wherever they hide. Knowing this, the Followers of Set do not try to hold off his gaze, but seek to deceive him into accepting their camouflage of minor intentions. Let those with material power dismiss the Followers of Set as harmlessly petty.

System: Plucking out his own eye (requiring the expenditure of a Willpower point and a successful Dexterity + Medicine check to avoid excessive damage to the delicate organ), the lector-priest fashions it into a pendant to protect him from unexpected observation. First, he steeps the eye in a mixture of vitae, vinegar, and his preferred embalming fluid. Next, he coats the eye in clay and carves it with the likeness of the god Thoth before firing it. Finally, he mounts it on a cord and hangs it in the sunlight for a full day. Once complete, the amulet alerts the wearer to scrutiny (and the lector-priest can regrow his eye). In the case of scrying magic (Scry, Pool of Secrets and Seeing with the Sky’s Eye), this alert comes in the form of a sudden, intense scent of dessication and embalming fluid. The amulet gives the alert at the onset of the scryer’s activation ritual, providing the lector-priest a few minutes to hide the bodies, as it were. After the initial alarm, the pendant begins to twist gently on its cord, continuing until the lector-priest is no longer under magical scrutiny and can return to his nefarious activities.

The wearer may also smash the pendant to completely nullify the attempted scry. Though useful if the lector-priest cannot tear himself away from the incriminating action he is involved in, it does leave him vulnerable to further attempts from the same or different sources.

The lector-priest may create amulets enchanted with Turning the Gaze of Horus for others. This requires the lector-priest to remove the eye of the client (requiring the client to spend a Willpower point to avoid squirming and damaging the eye) and perform the same steps, using the clients vitae instead of his own. Each amulet is specific to the wearer whose eye it contains and will function for no one else.

Reflections of Duat: Level 3

This ritual allows the Priest to ensure he has the tools he needs when he journeys into the Underworld. By placing an item in a previously created Mastaba, he ensures that as long as the item remains in its ritualized place, it will exist as a relic in the Shadowlands.

System: The Priest must have a previously created Mastaba to use this ritual. The item in question must be wrapped in bandages as though being mummified and placed on an altar within the Mastaba while a ritual chant intoning the passage through the Underworld is made. As long as the item is not taken from the altar in the Mastaba, the reflection of that item will carry through to the Shadowlands and become a true relic that can be picked up and used by any wraith or physical person traversing the Underworld. If the actual item is ever moved from the altar, the relic will immediately vanish from the Underworld.


Deceiving the Gaze of Horus: Level 4

This ritual creates an amulet similar to that created by Turning the Gaze of Horus, save that it gives an extra level of protection. The Priest who creates this amulet may imbue in it an illusory scene that any who attempt to scry on the individual will see.

System: The Priest makes an amulet in the same manner as for Turning the Gaze of Horus. He then inscribes in tiny hieroglyphics a description of a scene of this choice on the amulet. Any time the wearer of the amulet is scryed upon, he may elect to call upon the power of the amulet to show the viewer the illusory scene instead of the present one. This is often an alternative to the necessity to smash the amulet and necessitate the creation of an all new one. Once the amulet is created, anyone who can read and write hieroglyphics can inscribe a new illusory scene into the amulet, replacing the old one matching whatever description he wishes. The process of scribing a new scene takes a minimum of one hour. This amulet otherwise functions identically to the one created by Turning the Gaze of Horus.


Eternal Curse: Level 4

This ritual functions much like Tomb Curse, save that the duration is permanent and the curse tends to manifest in more extreme ways.

System: This ritual takes a full month, beginning and ending at the New Moon, requiring weekly rites to be performed. After the curse is enacted, the duration lasts indefinitely until such time as another individual is granted permission to enter the cursed area.

The effects of the curse are likewise more lasting. While a mortal will still likely die of the curse, a vampire so afflicted will continue to suffer misfortune after misfortune of the same scale as inflicted by Tomb Curse, no less than once per month. The curse is only lifted if the Priest who cast the curse grants his absolution and forgiveness to the accursed individual, or if he himself is killed. Needless to say, the Setites take great care not to mention the second condition.

Just as with Tomb Curse, this ritual must be cast in the presence of the sole resident of the structure to be enchanted.


Journey to Duat: Level 4

This ritual allows the Setite Priest to journey fully into the Underworld and interact with the dead. Seen as a sacred journey by many Priests, most of those who take this journey travel in hopes of finding Set.

System: The Priest must ritually prepare himself for travel to the Underworld. While within a previously created Mastaba, he must mummify himself. This requires the assistance of at least one other individual, usually a ghoul. The process takes a full 6 hours after which the Priest may stand and exit the Mastaba, now on the other side of the Shroud.

Once the ritual is complete, the Priest is now physically in the Shadowlands and may interact with all things as though under the effects of the Necromancy power Ex Nihilo. He is not a wraith and is not treated as a wraith for any purposes other than being affected by Ghost Wards on the material plane. As he is not composed of Corpus, he is not subject to the Rule of Ouch, taking full damage from anything he may encounter on his journey.

If he desires, the Priest may journey deeper into the Underworld, leaving the Shadowlands behind. This is extremely dangerous as he risks dangers both from wraiths and from the ever-present threat of the Maelstrom. The Priest gains no special ability to travel quickly while within the Underworld and will arrive across the shroud wherever he was in the physical world.

The only way for a Setite to return to the material world again is to physically journey back to a Mastaba (not necessarily the one he left from) and unwrap the bandages, undoing the effect within the Mastaba, then exit normally. Should he be killed while in the Underworld, his body will simply be lost in the Underworld.

Stealing the Scarab’s Protection: Level 4

Scarabs were used in Egyptian funeral practices as a protective amulet against the perils of the Underworld. As undead creatures, vampires are denied this protection as they are not of the Underworld and have yet to truly enter Anubis’ realm. This ritual allows the Follower of Set to steal a protective scarab and transfer its protective magic to himself.

System: The Lector Priest must first acquire a scarab amulet that was used properly in an Egyptian funeral and mummification practice as detailed in the Book of Going Forth by Night. The Priest may steal a Scarab from an existing mummy, or make one himself as long as he performs the funeral rites properly, requiring 3 successes on an Intelligence + Thanatology roll at difficulty 8.

Once he has the Scarab, he must spill his own blood on the amulet, desecrating its connection with the intended beneficiary, and bronze it to seal the protections to himself. Thereafter, as long as the amulet is carried on his person, the Lector Priest is protected from all energies of the Afterlife. Any use of the Necromancy Discipline and all Wraith Arcanoi suffer a +3 difficulty modifier when used against him. This protection cannot pass to another, as the Scarab is now sealed to the Priest.

Sight of the Gods: Level 4

This is the progenitor of all true Scrying rituals. When looking at the limitations of the Tremere's Scry ritual, most Setites can't help but laugh at its inadequacies.

System: The Priest enchants a stone basin to carry the sight of the Gods. He must, over the course of a 10 full days representing an Egyptian week, spend no less than an hour in supplication to Set while praying at the bowl and adding a concoction made from Scorpion venom and hawk's eyes. Once the ritual is complete, the bowl is forever after a potent magical artifact. Any who fill the bowl with clear water and offer a prayer to Set will be able to use it as a Scrying pool, as though they had successfully cast the Thaumaturgy ritual Scry. For the purpose of this ritual, any part of the body of the person to by viewed is sufficient as well as a personal possession or their True Name.

Craft Living Effigy: Level 5

While Craft Effigy allows for items and other inanimate objects to be made via a miniature representation, this ritual takes the process further. With this ritual, the Lector Priest can craft effigies of living beings and cause them to come to life with a word, under his command.

System: This ritual functions like Craft Effigy, save that the Lector Priest must mix his own blood with the blood of the animal to be represented when crafting his model. When the Priest says the invocation, the model will immediately grow to full size and appear for all purposes to be an actual animal that the model represented. The Storyteller should use the statistics appropriate to an actual animal of the appropriate type when running this creature. This animal will serve the Lector Priest faithfully, obeying all commands it is given, though it retains only an animal’s level of intelligence with which to carry out these commands. The animal will continue to serve the Lector Priest for 10 days (the length of an Ancient Egyptian week). At sunrise on the 11th day, the animal will revert to its original form of clay, all magic inert. The ritual may not be cast a second time using a model that has already been used.

Should the Lector Priest wish to improve the base animal he is crafting, a better model allows him to do so. Superior models award modification points using the Vicissitude modification system. An Uncommon model awards 2 points, a Rare model yields 4, an Ultra Rare model gives 8 points, and a Masterpiece will give 16. An animal’s attributes may be reduced to give additional modification points as desired. All modification points must be allocated during the crafting of the Effigy. This ritual may be the origin of tales of fantastic animals such as the Typhonian Beast.

Under no circumstances can this ritual produce humans, or any supernatural creature. Animals created by this ritual are not real animals and have no blood that a vampire could drink. Similarly, they suffer no wound penalties until destroyed outright. As these are not real animals, the creatures created by this ritual are immune to all uses of the Animalism Discipline as well as any other effect that normally targets animals. Similarly as they have no real minds, they are unaffected by Obfuscate or any other mind affecting discipline. They are more like automatons than actual animals.

Craft Uas Staff: Level 5

This ritual allows the Priest to create an Uas, a staff of Divinity and Royalty. This requires a fresh tree branch, approximately 5 feet long with a forked bottom and 1.5 to 2 inches thick. The Priest then carves the angle that supports the animal head at the top. There are three types of Uas that each grant different benefits based on their focus, which reflects the most prominent aspect of the owner's soul.

System: This ritual may only be performed on the night of the new moon and takes an 8 hour ritual where the Priest must carve the Cartouche representing the owner's True Name into the Uas, just below the animal head. The owner must then paint in the Cartouche with his own vitae, and spend a permanent Willpower point to properly attune the Uas to them while the Priest offers prayers to Heka as the keeper of magic. Regardless of the specific type, all Uas staves share the following traits:



•Uas staves only grant their benefits only to the one Uas was created for. This is usually the Priest himself, although Uas may be crafted specifically for another individual, but only if that individual is truly faithful to Set and the Setite religion. Should a Priest attempt to craft an Uas for someone who is not truly dedicated to the Setite religion, the Uas immediately shatters and both the Priest and the person for whom he attempted to craft the Uas take 7 levels of unsoakable lethal damage. Should this damage send either into torpor, the soul of the torpored Cainite must undergo a Destruction Harrowing (see Wraith: The Oblivion) as it struggles to navigate its way back from the Underworld.
•Each individual may only have one Uas at a time. If he successfully creates a new one, the old one immediately and dramatically breaks with no harm done to the owner.
•If someone besides the owner deliberately breaks an Uas, the owner takes 7 levels of unsoakable lethal damage as part of his soul strains to pass on. If this damage drives the owner into torpor, his soul must undergo a Destruction Harrowing (see Wraith: The Oblivion) as it struggles to navigate its way back from the Underworld.
•An Uas staff has 4 Health levels and a hardness soak value of 3.




There are three types of Uas, these being known as the Citizen's Staff, the Lector Priest's Staff, and the Warrior's Staff. The Priest makes the choice when he performs the ritual, although it should correspond to the primary aspect of the owner's soul.

When held by the owner, the Citizen's staff, grants two bonus dice on all Social rolls and all uses of the Presence discipline. The owner may also spend a Willpower point to mesmerize someone already under the effects of Awe, forcing them to make an opposed Willpower roll against the Citizen's Charisma + Leadership roll (difficulty 7 for both) to avoid carrying through on a single suggestion given by the Citizen that does not place the victim's life in immediate danger. A Citizen's Uas carries the head of a Cobra, who's eyes glow yellow when this second power is activated.

The Lector Priest's Staff gives the owner two bonus dice to all uses of Akhu. The Lector Priest may also spend a Willpower point to make a Willpower roll at difficulty 8 to ward off any Discipline or other magical effect that directly targets him, his successes reducing those scored by the assailant. The Lector Priest must be aware of the power targeting him in order to attempt to ward it off. This use does take an action, though it may be aborted to as a defensive action. A Lector Priest's Uas bears an Ibis Head, whose eyes glow green when this second power is activated.

The Warrior's staff gives two bonus dice on Brawl attack rolls made with the weapons provided by the Discipline of Serpentis, be they Asp's Tongue, Cobra's Fang, or Claws of the Typhonic Beast. The owner may also spend a Willpower point to cause the Warrior's staff to inflict Strength + 3 Aggravated damage for one full turn, successful or not. A Warrior's Uas bears the head of the Sha, or Typhonian Beast whose eyes glow red when this second power is activated.




Pilgrimage to Amenti: Level 5

This ritual, performed by a Priest in the Underworld, allows the Priest to travel instantly to Amenti, the Dark Kingdom of Sand. This is the reflection of Egypt in the Underworld. Priests traditionally use this ritual to allow for quick travel back to Egypt when they must return to the great temple at Memphis.

System: This ritual can only be performed by a Priest already in the Underworld. He must take with him into the underworld a sample of Nile River sand, made a relic through the use of Reflections of Duat. The relic sand must be spread in a circle around the Priest as he intones the story of the journey through the underworld.

If successful, the Priest is instantly transported to Amenti as though by the Wraith Arcanos Argos. From there he may travel back to the Shadowlands of Egypt and exit through one of the Mastabas that surround the Great Temple.

This ritual does not allow for a return trip. The Priest must find his way back on his own, though he usually returns mundanely in the material world.


Shared Heart: Level 5

This ritual allows the Priest to grant a great deal of protection against a specific individual who has given their heart to the Setites. Through this ritual, the subject is enchanted so that anything that happens to them will happen to the heart's donor as well.

System: This ritual requires the Priest take a heart that has been extracted via Heart of Darkness and insert it in place of the missing heart of another. This ritual, much like Heart of Darkness, can only be performed on the New Moon.

Once the Heart is in place, the subject and the owner of the heart used are inextricably linked. Any damage the subject takes will also be suffered by the heart's owner, as will any detrimental effects he suffers. Should the subject fall into torpor, so does the heart's owner. Should the subject die, so to will die the heart's owner. Any damage taken by the heart's owner cannot be healed until the damage to the subject is also healed, though the heart's owner will still need to heal himself normally.

The heart still belongs to the original owner and should the subject be staked, he will not suffer the effects. As per Heart of Darkness, the subject will suffer the usual effects of staking.

All of the downsides are one way - injuries or other maladies suffered by the owner of the heart do not affect the Setite who has their heart.

Once this ritual is enacted, the only way to remove the heart without killing both the subject and the heart's owner is by a subsequent use of Heart of Darkness.

[Skir]

Ushabti

The crafting success quality of the figurines themselves specifically isn't important to this path. Crafts is checked as part of the activation roll for the power.

When activated, the Ushabti expands instantly, but the activation anointment still takes a normal mental action by the sorcerer when the Ushabti is first activated.

If the sorcerer spends a willpower when creating the Ushabti, it can be activated with a magic word instead of a 1 round blood ceremony, and while this is ordinarily to allow a different specific person to activate the Ushabti, some sorcerers may find this useful for their own purposes so that they can activate more than one Ushabti at once with a magic word. Such Ushabti must simply be within earshot of the magic words.

The Perception + Alertness test to determine that an Ushabti is not real is the listed difficulty, but needs to score more successes than the Priest scored on his Intelligence + Crafts roll to activate the creature. The difficulty for 5 successes is 10.

Each Ushabti a sorcerer wishes to maintain past 1 month adds 1 to their Blood Debt on an ongoing basis, except those created with Gift of Khnum.

Ushabti that "die" from contact with the world eventually turn back to their original figurine size.

The limit on Physical Attributes is 10, while the limit on Mental and Social attributes is determined by the power used.

Ushabti degrade with contact to normal humans, but if they have contact with purely supernatural creatures like vampires, this effect does not occur.

Ushabti 5: Gift of Khnum

This power includes the ability to infuse the Ushabti created with this power with Wraiths and Spirits. The Wraith or Spirit needs to be willing.

It is not required to use a Spirit or Wraith in these bodies; if one isn't used, they function like a perfectly intelligent version of a normal Ushabti.

The sorcerer can spend any amount of extra Willpower (after the first 2) to add successes to this power for the purposes of making the Ushabti more lifelike.

Wraiths and Spirits in these bodies keep access to their Willpower, Abilities, Virtues, Arcanoi or Charms, otherwise they use starting Vampire stats.

These creatures are intelligent and sentient and can be Dominated, Obfuscated against, etc like any other character.

Only a character that has personally succeeded in a test to notice that the Ushabti is not real can explain to an Ushabti that it is in fact false, and cause it to die.

[Skir]

The Snake Inside

This path rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge to activate it, not Seduction.

The Snake Inside 1: First Taste

The difficulty of this power is the subject's current Willpower; any future attempt to resist the power uses the Setite's Permanent Willpower since the resistance is long term.

The victim of this power needs as many successes as the Setite scored with the power to resist the intrusive impulse of the addiction.

This power lasts indefinitely until the victim can achieve 5 successes to resist the effect (even if the Setite scored 5 or more successes on the activation)



The Snake Inside 2: Cross-Addiction

This power works on any character who either has the Addiction Flaw, a Compulsion derangement, or is under the effect of another power that causes addictions, such as those found within this Path.

The difficulty of this power is the subject's current Willpower.

The Setite may designate the new addiction when they use the power.

The Setite may spend the blood to extend the time period at any time they wish (not just during activation) and may do so more than once. They may also spend more than one blood point at a time in this way, such as spending 2 blood to triple the normal time.

The Snake Inside 3: The Jones

This power works on any character who either has the Addiction Flaw, a Compulsion derangement, or is under the effect of another power that causes addictions, such as those found within this Path.

This power removes the ability to spend Willpower to resist any addiction, and causes the character to ignore any risk of Path checks from Path or the Code of Honor merit. The target of this effect will act on their addiction immediately and without regard for any of those factors.


The Snake Inside 4: Fatal Compulsion

This power works on any character who either has the Addiction Flaw, a Compulsion derangement, or is under the effect of another power that causes addictions, such as those found within this Path.

Once the subject indulges their addiction one time, Fatal Compulsion ends completely unless recast again.

The Snake Inside 5: Temperance

This power works on any character who either has the Addiction Flaw, a Compulsion derangement, or is under the effect of another power that causes addictions, such as those found within this Path.

The difficulty of this power is the subject's current Willpower.

The time scale of this power has been adjusted for LARP play. Treat the 5 successes scored as 3 months instead of 1 year.

For the duration of this effect, the subject cannot recover Willpower from anything except fulfilling their Nature.

This power can also work on those who are under the effects of a blood bond, causing a great deal of friction between the bound their domitor as they still feel the need to serve them but get only disgust and pain out of doing so.

[Skir]

Path of the Dry Nile

All of the powers of this path require the faience, a blue pottery amulet to be given to the subject or left in their home, to work, and the powers work until the person discards it. It takes Followers of Set Lore 4 or more to know about the faience or this Path's dependence on it for outsiders or those without this Path.

Path of the Dry Nile 1: Beauty Fades

The difficulty against Crafted items is equal to the successes scored to create it. One success is enough to produce the effect for the scene.

This power does not work on people's physical Appearance score, but can work on a live performance such as singing.

Path of the Dry Nile 2: Trust Withers

The difficulty of this power is the subject's current Willpower.

A difficulty 10 Perception + Occult test is required to know that the feelings associated with this power are false. 3 successes on this check allow the target to begin making Willpower checks to overcome its effects. Without 3 successes on the Perception + Occult, the target may not resist.

The power begins as mild unease around the subject and advances to wild paranoia after the power matures fully (9- successes in weeks). The game effects of this are largely roleplay, but when the power fully matures, it costs one willpower per scene to tolerate the person's presence at all, even if there is no actual interaction between the two characters (for example, both are in the same room at a meeting).

Path of the Dry Nile 3: Love Dies

This power suppresses actual love, strong friendships, or familial love, but not blood bonds.

Record the Setite's temporary Willpower when used. The power's duration of this effect is this amount in months.

This power is largely dependent on roleplay, but as a guideline, the subject of the effect will no longer associate with the person, will not share a haven with the person, will not share resources with them or teach them powers or disciplines. Willpower cannot overcome this effect.

Path of the Dry Nile 4: Hope Dissolves

This power caps all dice pools to the target's Self Control or Instinct, spending 1 WP per action to regain access to her full dice pool.

This power makes a specific goal seem impossible to the user, but the depressive state is for all actions, not just ones associated with the goal.

The Duration of this effect is adjusted for LARP play. Treat 4 successes as 3 months and 5 successes as 6 months.

Path of the Dry Nile 5: Thrones Crumble

The Setite does not choose the authority figure that the person rejects; it is the most obvious authority figure that they encounter in their day to day life. The Ventrue Whip will almost certainly choose the Ventrue Primogen or Prince rather than the local police, for instance. The storyteller should decide the most appropriate subject for this rebellion if the player is unable to do so.

This power does not simply remove existing feelings of loyalty, it replaces them with active hate and rebellion. They will work against the figure actively, whether subtly or obviously, as befits their Nature, but they will act. It takes a Willpower per scene to actively work with or support the goals of the person they are rebelling against, or even not work against them, similar to the effects of the Vengeful flaw.

This power lasts indefinitely until the person can identify and remove the faience.

[Webmonkey]

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