Table of Contents

The Spell of Life is the purview of those dedicated to Set’s ancient enemy, Osiris. While Witches of Echidna are unable to replicate the powers of the Spell, they long ago forged the first steps on a Path of Akhu; named The Revelations of Duat. After teaching Orthodox Setites from Saqqara to Luxor in the precepts, the Gorgons abruptly abandoned Egypt and retreated to Greece. The reasons behind their departure have fallen into apocrypha, if ever they were known.

Shortly after the Gorgons departed Egypt, Cappadocians in the cult of Lazarus arrived to seek sanctuary with sym - pathetic Setites. The Setites — novitiates in the promising Revelations of Duat — turned to Lazarus’ get for further tutelage. The result is a Path of Setite Sorcery tainted with the gifts of Necromancy, often shared between Setites and Cappadocians willing to devote themselves to the study of death and — at the very least — lip service to Anubis or Hades.

Sorcerers with Sight of the Jackal immediately identify ghosts who resist the call of Duat, spying free dead as they ride living vessels or hide in objects and structures. The sorcerer’s eyes gain a translucent grey film until the duration of the power concludes. Additional successes allow greater perception of the strength, shape, and history of the ghost. The power lasts for the remainder of the scene. Ghosts become aware of the sorcerer on a botch, and depending on their tem - perament they may attack the vampire. Sight of the Jackal does not allow sorcerers to communicate with the dead. To judge the dead, Anubis must weigh virtues and sins. The Setite practicing Weigh the Virtues is able to identify any morally compelling deeds performed by a once-living being, whether they’re using this power on a ghost, a corpse, or a vampire. Knowledge of these deeds is key to practicing the further powers on this Path, as Imbue with the Grace of Anubis is predicated on understanding the deceased’s crimes. For each success, a different deed — from saving a child from a crocodile’s jaws to murdering a rival over a lover — appears to the sorcerer in vivid detail. On a botch, this power reveals one of the sorcerer’s sins to his most trusted companions. Unthinking, unemotional, unyielding sentries are the best guards a Prince could want, but to create them 63 The Secrets of Setite Sorcery a sorcerer requires a dead body and a dispossessed spirit. Pharaoh’s Sentry creates an emotionless automaton who forever serves the sorcerer’s edict, acting as a warrior and vigilant guard with no moral qualms against killing, or fear of dying in service. When a sorcerer practices Pharaoh’s Sentry on a corpse dead for a single night in a place a ghost haunts, a fragment of the ghost’s soul moves to the corpse and causes its reanimation. The sorcerer must have used Weigh the Virtues previously to identify a spiritual hook with which to snare the spirit. Each success allows the power to be used on a corpse dead for an additional night.

The sorcerer’s edict must be a single sentence, i.e. “You must guard this tomb from all intruders but me,” or “You must follow this man to his house, and kill him inside.” Ambiguity leads to grave mistakes. In the previous examples, “You must guard this tomb from all intruders,” would lead to even the sorcerer being attacked should he attempt to enter the tomb; and “You must follow this man to his house and kill him,” may lead to the victim’s murder at a premature point, rather than inside the hoped-for building.

The animated corpse remains active permanently without succumbing to decomposition.

A botch on attempting the Pharaoh’s Sentry causes the corpse to rise and mindlessly attack its summoner until destroyed.

An unthinking guardian is a potent defender for havens and temples, but sometimes a sorcerer requires Anubis to return more than a flicker of life. By the jackal god’s grace, a sorcerer taps into the good deed or sin identified through Weigh the Virtues, and imbues the corpse animated through Pharaoh’s Sentry with a compulsion based on that deed. The animated corpse is still victim to the one-line edict, but now harbors emotions and inclinations based on the harvested spirit’s former deeds and will act on them when not specifically directed to do otherwise. These inclinations always manifest themselves violently.

The utility of this power comes through the chaos it causes. A sorcerer who sends a horde of corpses possessed by violent emotion into a town, knows the domain will come apart at the seams.

A sentry with basic memory of its defining deeds will act impulsively in ways similar to its former life; i.e. a former murderer who cut the throats of merchants will always slay any traders it meets with attacks to the neck, while a priest who assisted the poor will target the homes of the wealthy, burning them down and massacring the inhabitants. A single success plants the memory of one deed in the mind of the sentry, with each additional success giving the sorcerer the option to place another.

The spirit from which the deed is drawn for the creation of this powered sentry is aware of its virtues or sins being drained, but without the sorcerer’s aid cannot recover the piece it loses to this power. The sorcerer must spend a blood point to return the deed to the spirit from which it originated, at which point it becomes an unthinking sentry retaining the same statistics, but none of the freedom of thought.

The sentry attacks its master on a botched roll.

In Setite apocrypha, it is said Set’s favored servants were the immortal entities known as Bane Mummies. Set and his childer attempted a version of Osiris’ Spell of Life in attempts to create their own eternal servants, but the Spell went horribly wrong. Where Osiris’ children were given eternal life, purity, and wisdom; Set’s immortal servants were possessed only of impurities, regurgitated by the demon Ammut, and reborn as Bane Mummies. Set’s frustration was destructive. He blamed his childer, and destroyed every Setite of the Fourth Generation unlucky enough to be in his presence. Eventually, Set devoted adoration to the Bane Mummies, but ever resented the failures of his childer in their creation. Bane Mummies still exist, but the secret of their conception is something guarded within the temple sanctums of the Hierophants. Few wish to anger Set in such an egregious way as to create new Bane Mummies.

The Witches of Echidna — certain of an impending doom — are not so apprehensive. Their studies reveal a different route to empowering their servants, and in concordance with Lazarus’ Cappadocians bequeath this research to the Egyptian Setites. With the Sorcery of Life, a form of Proto-Bane Mummy is twisted into life. The practitioners risk their founder’s displeasure creating of these servants, but measure the gamble as one worth taking.

The sorcerer must have taken steps necessary to Imbue with the Grace of Anubis, and hold in their thrall an animated corpse bearing the fire of emotion-fueled deeds. Each success converts to points the sorcerer can assign to the sentry’s Attributes or Disciplines. Any Disciplines granted to the sentry must be from those the sorcerer holds. The Proto-Bane Mummy is still subject to the sorcerer’s whims, but will attempt intricate tasks if its Intelligence is increased to allow understanding of complicated commands.

As with Imbue with the Grace of Anubis, the spirit harvested for the creation of this Proto-Bane Mummy is aware of its virtues or sins being stolen. The sorcerer must spend a blood point to return the deed, at which point the corpse becomes an unthinking sentry retaining the same statistics, but none of the freedom of thought or capability to use Disciplines.