The Followers of Set as an enemy faction in Werewolf

[voidshaper]

She can despoil the earth and darken the sky.

The great thing about this archetype is that it is pretty universal; almost every culture has some kind of famine and drought god or demon, so there is plenty of folklore to draw on.

I like complementing the Hekau with Fomor powers. That makes a lot of sense, even outside the WtA context.

Egyptian mythology is the treasure trove of stories!

Oh yes, the whole family relationship between Set, Nephthys, Isis, and Osiris becomes a lot of fun if you throw in WtA lore. The Bubasti claim Isis as their Kinfolk, so if you take that for true, you have two changing breeds in there.

Good call on the greco-egyptian syncretism. Looking at the myth with fusion/aspect gods (like Hermanubis) could be useful to place the Bane Mummies into the ptolemaic context.

In lore Wepwawet still does his guide job in the Umbra as far as I know.

[Asmodai]

...Egyptian mythology is the treasure trove of stories!

Indeed, I've really been enjoying this thread and am loving the stuff boiling up to the surface, from the mythology or the forumites

[Black Fox]

The great thing about this archetype is that it is pretty universal; almost every culture has some kind of famine and drought god or demon, so there is plenty of folklore to draw on.

It's a very strong archetype and certainly makes this Bane Mummy terrifying. The abilities may not be that useful in combat, but not all powers and attributes should be combat based. Instead, it can be a good reason why the Garou pack of PCs (or whoever) must go out and defeat the Bane Mummy. You can be some isolated kinfolk community in rural Canada or whatever, and if this Bane Mummy arrives it can ruin the entire community's self-sufficient agriculture and livestock. Drive them into starvation or bankruptcy depending on the era. The households will have to break up and find jobs elsewhere. That's great incentive to go out and figure out the reason why and try to stop it. If you are doing vampire, maybe you make the effects more widespread and it's interpreted as a sign of Gehenna.

And if you do want to boost the combat potential, you can increase some physical stats and throw in some random combat powers.

I've already gotten some ideas on the cult / retainers associated with this, but will refrain until I get to the post about brainstorming cult ideas.

I like complementing the Hekau with Fomor powers. That makes a lot of sense, even outside the WtA context.

That Bane Mummies are fomori and have fomori powers has been canon since 2e. Both Mummy 2e and Freak Legion mention these are both fomori and mummies. It's just that Bane Mummies are one one of those neglected aspects of the setting so it is easy to overlook. There's also the fact that Mummies were either their own book, or so associated with the Followers of Set that it seems more like an aspect of vampire. But I think they make really good antagonists for Garou, and it was one of the things that prompted me to begin thinking about the greater "community" around Set and how it can be its own enemy faction. Before that I always fell into the trap of viewing the Setites as just another group of vampires instead of utilizing all the tools we've been given about them.

Adding fomori powers to Bane Mummies makes a lot of sense given the lore of their creation, and selecting certain powers allows for a lot of customization. The relatively narrow power set of mummies can lead to characters not really distinguished from one another in terms of powers/mechanics. But the fomori powers can do that. And it is very easy to come up with your own fomori power and add it so the Bane Mummies can do whatever the ST wants them to do.

[Bluecho]

One bit of imagery for Bane Mummies I've had connects them to Duat, the dark river that the unpreserved dead are consigned to. Blood Sacrifice used a bit of that as part of a sorcery Path.

I'm imagining a Bane Mummy's bandages soaked with the murky black waters of Duat, in which they are consigned when not inhabiting their body. Leaving oily footprints where they walk, and causing water in their presence to stagnate. Becoming a breeding ground for insects and waterborne illness.

If threatened, they can cause this dark water to bubble up from the ground, walls, or ceilings. Quickly filling a whole room with the waters of Duat, which in addition to being cold and dark are also filled with unseen horrors. Any creature that doesn't (or can't) drown may be attacked by the things in the murk.

[Black Fox]

For some reason people's posts are being held up on this thread. I know several people have already mentioned that, and it just happened to one my posts too. I wonder if there is some combination of words that is auto-flagging the posts for approval, or if there is another reason. It's just weird to have so many issues on one thread.

[Black Fox]

I am now going to talk about the physical presence of the Bane Mummies, particularly in terms of evocative descriptions and sensations to evoke horror. This is the kind of flair that great villains need. And the limited number of Bane Mummies in the setting requires they be great villains. I can’t do a better job than Bluecho has done in some of his previous posts on this thread:

Bane Mummies are corrupt immortals inundated with unclean spirits, wielding the darkest magics of antiquity, that are so terrible and potent that even an Antedeluvian couldn't control them. They're a blight on the world, their very existence a transgression, and the only solace to be had is they're blessedly few in number.

Motives obscure and alien, primordial and terrible. Where if the PCs ever wind up in the same room, the simple presence of a Bane Mummy should radiate a palpable aura of dread and ill luck. Possessed of powers that violate natural laws.

terrors that have bedeviled the world for millennia.

This is certainly the kind of thing that I want Bane Mummies in my chronicles to inspire in the minds of the PCs and NPCs. The few canonical depictions of them fail to achieve that kind of menace and terror. Instead the Bane Mummies tend to just be very ugly creatures that would terrify mortals, but not pose much threat or cause unease to vampire or werewolf PCs. So we have our work cut out for us here.

In Mummy 1e, the most we were given that Bane Mummies had zeroes in all Social attributes (Charisma, Manipulation, Appearance), and that all Bane Mummies had “grossly distorted physical bodies”. In mummy 2e this was revised to ” some [Bane Mummies] are physically deformed, even monstrously so; others appear somewhat human at first, their true deformity entirely spiritual.” Instead of a blanket rule of zero in Social attributes, Mummy 2e seemed to defer to the use of fomori Taints as described in Freak Legion. Six of those Taints were shown in the sourcebook, and Amam the Devourer was given the taints of Ugly as Sin and Special Diet (spoiled milk). I lean towards the approach in Mummy 2e because it gives me more flexibility in designing each of the Bane Mummies.

Some of the taints I think are especially relevant include:

• Addiction
• Atrophy (likely explains the standard zero to all Social rolls)
• Derangement
• Limited Mobility (emulates the classic mummy limo shuffling)
• Second Head
• Special Diet
• Ugly as Sin (standard for many Bane Mummies)

However, I don’t want to limit myself to just the existing fomori taints. Again the posts of Bluecho has given some outstanding descriptions that can be used. Some of this could be matched to the existing Taints, but others would need to be invented. Here’s a catalog of them so far. I’ll be stealing this for my own chronicles. I hope Bluecho will provide more as he has a knack for them, and of course I want others to chime in too. There have been some great suggestions on this thread so far.

• a shriveled cadaver bound in wrappings writ with curses
• Flames and electric lights guttering and dying in their presence.
• Hexes radiating from them passively by proximity, much less at their touch
• bandages soaked with the murky black waters of Duat, in which they are consigned when not inhabiting their body. Leaving oily footprints where they walk, and causing water in their presence to stagnate. Becoming a breeding ground for insects and waterborne illness

Besides fomori Taints, I think another good source of inspiration are with various Supernatural Flaws found in various sourcebooks. The details of Flaws like Touch of Frost, Cursed, supernatural weaknesses or vulnerabilities (running water, repulsed by garlic), Cast No Reflection, Cold Breeze, Beacon of the Unholy, Lord of the Flies, etc. are great things to incorporate in their description.

Lastly, I’ll include some descriptions of the only two Bane Mummies I’ve found (Amam in the two Mummy sourcebooks and Saatet-ta in Berlin By Night)

• body is that of a powerful muscular man, except for his jaws. His jaws and teeth are malformed abd preposteriously massive and can detach and extend like a snake’s so that he can swallow things his own size
• even when his jaw is undilated, his skin is sallow and pockmarked
• reeks of spoiled milk

• appear scorched in the way that long-term exposure to the sun burns a vampire
• skin is blackened and cracked like a dried lake bed
• hair a sparse tangle of steeler gray
• eyes burn with feverish light

Neither of these are a bad start, but I think this is the kind of easy lifting you do at the start. They just lack the flair that Bluecho provided. I think one key is to remember to go beyond the obvious senses of sight and sound. Go to smell, taste, touch, and more obscure senses. Maybe the PCs suddenly notice a metallic taste as they enter the room with the Bane Mummy in it. Or they develop a sense of vertigo as it approaches. Maybe the smell of burning hair fills their nostrils. Even the old standby of their flesh being covered by goose pimples and thei hair standing on end.

The other thing to consider are descriptions that are not directly associated with the Bane Mummy, but indirect associations. Maybe there are strange incenses, spices, and oils used in the tomb where it lies so there is always a presence of cinammon or frankincense or opium. Maybe the cult around the mummy bathes him in rosewater or uses honey to sooth its suppurating wounds. Maybe animals become very docile in their presence, licking their palms and mewling.

The important thing is we want to keep these flair descriptions unique to each Bane Mummy. We want to minimize any duplication if possible. There’s no problem in having many or even all Bane Mummies grotesque and ugly, but they should be grotesque and ugly in different ways.

And for those Bane Mummies who may not be physically deformed at all, they will need non-physical taints, effects, etc. that convey their horror and power. We want to minimize “spiritual deformities” that can’t be immediately noticed. Even if in disguise and somehow undercover or interacting with mortals, there should be some kind of telltale sign - like bad luck happening to people soon afterwards. Or a distaste for any kind of religious music (church bells, chanting, liturgical songs, etc.).

[Black Fox]

Sobek, the Crocodile God (who above all else, was an aggressive and animalistic deity who lives up to the vicious reputation of his patron animal; some of his common epithets portray this nature succinctly, the most notable of which being: "he who loves robbery", "he who eats while he also mates", and "pointed of teeth". with a minor patron deity streak) and the Crocodile demon-deity, Maga (from one of the foreign goddesses Anat and Astarte).were the sons of Sutekh/Set

When I get to the post on the cults around the Bane Mummies, one thing I am going to mention besides the human cultists are things like crocodile fomori since that should be a thing that the Setites and associated cults have. So I'm really happy you brought this up.

Since the Setites seem to have been originally envisioned as the big cross-splat enemy faction, it makes sense to include as much of the unique Malfean mythology and concepts for them. They shouldn't be just vampires. They should have access to unique kinds of fomori only they know how to create. They should have unique types of Banes that attend the cults and temples. Certain Setite vampires and mortals should have special demonic investments (based on Malfean precepts associated with the Wyrm, not actual real world mythology).

The Followers of Set have a ridiculous number of enemies. Horus mummies, Silent Striders tribe of Garou, Children of Osiris, the Cult of Isis, and then all the generic members of the vampires (in both sects), the Garou Nation as a whole, etc. By themselves, they should be a hard target and very dangerous. I want to imagine the Serpents of the Light telling their new Sabbat allies how much of a threat the Setites are. The Bishops nod their head and mumble some platitudes about all the Antedeluvians needing to be destroyed, and the Serpents don't understand why the Sabbat aren't taking their stories seriously.

This is something that really becomes lost when the Setites are reduced to just being one clan among many in Vampire. I understand that for people who just want to play Vampire and not deal with any of this cross-splat stuff, this just gets in their way of a purist Vampire game that is only about vampires. And there is nothing wrong with that. For many chronicles that would just be an annoying distraction hijacking the game from its main themes. But there is also this much greater potential for the Setites to be this really big group of antagonists for other games. That's why I decided to post it here in Werewolf and not the Vampire thread.

[Bluecho]

I originally developed some ideas for Bane Mummies to be adapted to D&D, as a kind of monster even "regular" mummies feared.

One idea was something inspired by a boss from Bravely Default 2, called "Night's Nexus". (I only ever saw still images of his model in boss fights. I first looked up who the original character was for this post. I just saw two stills and was inspired). Basically, a mummy in black bandages, whose arms are bound, with only a shriveled mouth exposed. Swathed in shadows.

My idea was that of a major antagonist who was bound to its bandages, but whose control over darkness was so total, it could move around by teleporting through a shadow realm. A realm in which it also imprisoned scores of regular mummies. Enslaving them and using their arms to do its bidding. It would just open shadowy tears in reality, from which scores of mummified hands would erupt. Up to and including the mummified hands of a giant.

Where did it get a giant mummy and how did it enslave it? Never explained, not important. If it's ever in real danger, or just to prove a point, two enormous hands would appear to grab an entire person, flick things across the room, or clasp protectively over the mummy like a shield.

For D&D, that kind of thing is unusual, but not outside the realm of possibility. Bosses can just kind of do these things.

For World of Darkness, it might seem a bit fantastical. For one thing, where those giant hands came from becomes slightly more pertinent. Though the PCs don't necessarily need to learn what that is, and they won't encounter a Bane Mummy for a while in-game in any event. Plus, it's not like WoD is unfamiliar with characters teleporting through darkness or sending grabby hands from the shadows to strangle people. That's a normal Saturday night for the Lasombra. But something of this level of power should be the floor for Bane Mummies.

Moreover, the use of actual shriveled mummy hands, rather than limbs made of shadow, adds a layer of creepiness and horror to the situation. Players are left to wonder: Are these extensions of the Bane Mummy? Or are they something else entirely? For Mummy characters, especially, it's full of existential dread: how many of their compatriots have disappeared into the all-consuming abyss this THING seems to command? And for how long have they been enslaved? Are they even sane anymore?

It's a Bane Mummy of such malign power and intent, the act of walking and interacting with the world around it are both impossible (it is bound in a way other Bane Mummies aren't) and beneath it. Instead, it consigns other immortals to its own private hell, so it can puppet their remains for its own purposes. It's very "life"style is a crime disqualifying it from existence, before it even engages in its evil plans.

[Black Fox]

There's a fine edge where the game slips from supernatural gothic horror to outright fantasy. Every gaming group will define that border differently.

I do think the idea of a basically immobile mummy controlling and acting out in the darkness using darkness itself as a weapon is evocative. In terms of fomori powers I would use Shadowplay, a shadow themed version of Ectoplasmic Extrusion (to go from an Arms of the Abyss style power), a version of Homogeneity themed to falling into the Abyss and being consumed, Darksight, Tar Skin, and restricted versions of Regeneration and Umbral Passage that required darkness to work. Hekau paths would be Necromancy and Celestial. Necromancy because the Underworld is themed with darkness, and Celestial to allow him to safeguard his tomb without the need to be physically active. Possibly Ushabti although it might require the Bane Mummy to be too active. And probably Arcane as a Background.

His "cult" might be more active in the Underworld (wraith territory) than in the world of the living. Or have the cult be limited to Spectres as Nephwrack cults rather than vampires or humans, as well as certain terrible Banes that bedevil the living. Maybe the Banes manifest and craft the Ushabti for him. He might have a power that makes it more active in the Umbra, which is OK. Visiting people in dreams, sending avatars of itself in the Penumbra, harassing Moon Paths during the New Moon, projecting through other places could still make it an active menace even if it isn't in the real world. If there are human cultists, they might be more like people trying to propriate and satiate the Bane Mummy so it does not become active.

The hard part with this kind of Bane Mummy is figuring out ways it can interact with the typical PCs. What does it do that would cause a coterie of vampires or werewolves to have conflict with it? How exactly do the Setites find it useful? How does he fulfill the will of Apophis upon the world? Or does he just wallow in some tomb somewhere waiting for some fool to enter it? I'm not familiar with the computer game to know how it answers these, and how well it can apply to the WoD.

I'm not sure if I will use it myself, but I do think there is potential.

Even though what you wrote has no direct tie, for some reason I am thinking of this. Strange how the mind can make certain connections. Is this actually relevant? I have no idea!

[Black Fox]

I'm now beginning to think Mumm-Ra should be the basis of one of the Bane Mummies in some way. You could do the warrior form as a variant of Bestial Mutation.

I had not honestly remembered this before. But if you want a really over-the-top villain that crosses over into dark fantasy, it's a good archetype. Maybe a bit too gonzo for me, but it has a certain appeal.

[Asmodai]

I'm honestly surprised we didn't get to Mumm-Ra the ever-living earlier! The second clip from the new show had an interesting visual with his bandages unwrapping and fighting for him, tossing people around and immobiliising them. This could work.

Also om the topic of visuals in the 2nd Mummy book there is an amazing illustration of what I've always believed to be a Bane Mummy whose bandages are hiding that most of its body are leeches. That's a striking image and could be built into a whole pattern of imagery based on slime, inkyblackness, circular suckers and bloodsucking.

[MyWifeIsScary]

Is making a bane mummy necessarily a 10th level ritual the likes of which only Set or other godlike beings can use? Maybe Set made THE legendary bane mummies but perhaps the method is only 7th or 8th level and elders/methuselah can try their hands at making them too. Alternatively there might be more accessible (still very hard) methods to create bane-mummy-like substitutes. Like looking across many books there's certainly room for some really advanced formori. Maybe we could even move into the territory of mockery breeds.

[AnubisXy]

Is making a bane mummy necessarily a 10th level ritual the likes of which only Set or other godlike beings can use? Maybe Set made THE legendary bane mummies but perhaps the method is only 7th or 8th level and elders/methuselah can try their hands at making them too. Alternatively there might be more accessible (still very hard) methods to create bane-mummy-like substitutes. Like looking across many books there's certainly room for some really advanced formori. Maybe we could even move into the territory of mockery breeds.

Bane Mummies can create lesser Bane Mummies called Asekh-sen, so it seems reasonable that Setites other than Set could create something similar. That said, I suspect that the corrupted Spell of Life is the Setite Clan's biggest and most well kept secret, and only a relative handful of the oldest and most respected members of the Clan would have access to it. Though in V5, with the way the Setite Clan split in two, who knows if the Spell of Life has spread to the vampires in the Ministry or not, and how it might be spread or used from there.

Ultimately such lesser bane mummies would lack the absolute immortality possessed by the seven original Bane Mummies. Only a Bane Mummy created by an Antedluvian should have the "life beyond life" that's a hallmark to them. Maybe using some of the rules for Risen and then slapping Fomori powers on top might be a good place to start for these lesser Bane Mummies.

[voidshaper]

Is making a bane mummy necessarily a 10th level ritual the likes of which only Set or other godlike beings can use? Maybe Set made THE legendary bane mummies but perhaps the method is only 7th or 8th level and elders/methuselah can try their hands at making them too. Alternatively there might be more accessible (still very hard) methods to create bane-mummy-like substitutes. Like looking across many books there's certainly room for some really advanced formori. Maybe we could even move into the territory of mockery breeds.

Technically, the original versions of the Spell of Life do not even require a Vampire to execute them, and by extension Set's version might neither. There is little concrete information what the Ritual involves, and much less on how Set modified the spell. We know the untainted versions have been preserved by mortals, prominently the Cult of Isis, but also variants for the other mummies around the world within their respective cultures. They might at least necessitate Sorcerers or Mages to perform, otherwise mummy numbers would probably be greater.
But the existence of spell variants indicates that the spell itself is open to all kind of casters.I expect the original spell was inspired by the sepulchral rites detailed in the Book of the Dead, and then extrapolated on other cultures that practiced mummification.

This is one reason why I think that Frankenstein Monsters as artificial mummies are a good fit. If you want, it's similar to how the Technocracy can come to the same results as the Traditions or Crafts with a completely different paradigm.

Bane Mummies can create lesser Bane Mummies called Asekh-sen, so it seems reasonable that Setites other than Set could create something similar.

The Akhu path Revelations of Duat has the creation of a lesser Bane Mummy as a level 5 power. It's in Tome of Secrets, but I don't have that to review the details.

For the artificial mummies, there's Biothaumaturgic Experimentation as a blood sorcery. Seems to be mostly a Tal-Mahe-Ra thing, although I don't see a reason why this is a blood sorcery at all other than that it comes from a Vampire supplement.

Edit:
Thanks for the Mumm-Ra flashback. Oh boy, I completely forgot about that show.

[AnubisXy]

Since the Setites seem to have been originally envisioned as the big cross-splat enemy faction, it makes sense to include as much of the unique Malfean mythology and concepts for them. They shouldn't be just vampires. They should have access to unique kinds of fomori only they know how to create. They should have unique types of Banes that attend the cults and temples. Certain Setite vampires and mortals should have special demonic investments (based on Malfean precepts associated with the Wyrm, not actual real world mythology).

Heck, they're even the most necromantically aligned clan outside of the Cappadocians/Giovanni, with unique Rituals and thaumaturgy for binding and manipulating ghosts and corpses.

In my games, I have the Setites use fomori, ghosts, banes and such with relative frequency. Still, it's important to keep in mind that the Followers of Set are a religious cult and the first and foremost being they venerate is Set, not Apophis (the Wyrm). Setites who start getting too chummy with banes or start getting demonic investments or begin being viewed as more loyal to Apophis than Set are very likely to be declared a heretic, hunted down and killed by the others. For them, Set defeated Apophis and the Setites can command Apophis' minions. But serving Apophis is a big no-no. So that would explain why most Setites are just vampires. Further, many of them don't have extensive occult knowledge and can't carry out the magic and thaumaturgical rituals anyway. But any important Setite temple is going to have a vampire capable of sorcery, and they'll have bound spirits, monsters and ghosts. Larger temples could even have a coven of Setite sorcerers.

In V5 the Followers of Set recently split into two factions, a faction still loyal to Set and a new faction called the Ministry, which are groups of fragmented cults loyal to all sorts of gods or supernatural beings. It's likely that quite a few of these cults would be worshipping the Wyrm in one of its guises, and those cults could have all sorts of powers that would have gotten them branded as the worst sort of heretics in years past. The Ministry also seems to have ties to the Witches of Echidna, an old faction Setities (presumed extinct for their heresy to possibly not), and the Witches were fairly famous for their magical capabilities which were more extensive than the rest of the clan, and their penchant for creating all sorts of monsters. That would be a good source for fomori and such, and as hoarders of mystical knowledge had some access to the Spell of Life. They have the Revelations of Duat thaumaturgy path that lets them create proto-Bane Mummies.

So in the current setting, you'd likely see many of these Ministry cults going full on Wyrm servitors, and likewise the 7 Bane Mummies would probably be shifting their alliances over to this new faction of Setites, since they would no longer need to balance loyalty to the Wyrm against loyalty to Set.