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[voidshaper]

While I agree with that assessment, I think it's more important to figure out how to get the GW on the course OP and the player want the chronicle to go from here on out. From their posts, it looks like the plan is to get the character back into a new group as a mole.

My impulse as ST would be to have the Bane deal with the Pack Totem and accumulate further debt from the character, creating quid-pro-quo situations that push the character further down the spiral- possibly literally. If the Bane is a smart one, it has figured out the reason for the character's betrayal and will take...

[voidshaper]

Hm, how about the pack totem? Betrayal is one thing, but if the Garou actively renounced their totem and declared for the Wyrm, this might have an impact on their renown and rank. Especially in their interactions with formerly aligned spirits.

In general though, I agree that traitors can uphold their status as long as they are not found out. Ana Mizuki asks the relevant questions, imo....

[voidshaper]

Well, I feel very silly now. Sorry, I was writing under false assumptions and have some reading to do.

I wonder if I accidentally jumped to Sorcerer Enchanting or something. Anyways, disregard my ramblings.

[voidshaper]

Personally I think a trinket needs to at least pass as plausible in function to an average bystander to get the paradox-free pass. The M20 hoodie passes because it's at least possible that it has some layers of kevlar. I'd argue a simple ring that deals aggravated damage would not, but if you translate 'aggravated damage' as simply 'magic damage', maybe it does (aggravated bashing damage? Anyways, I think it's not a good example item made by the book).

The whole deal of a Trinket to be one is that it's an object of mundane function whose effect has been enhanced through Sphere magick,...

[voidshaper]

Well, the biggest advantage imo is avoidance of paradox. A trinket is using a conceivable 'disguise' for an effect whereas buffing your pattern directly might be considered vulgar. As per your example, trinket brass knuckles might carry less risk of paradox in dealing aggravated damage than bare knuckles, especially if the wielder doesn't have the physique to back it up.

What Astromancer mentioned is the difference between direct vs indirect effects. You could manipulate your pattern directly to become more attractive, or you could create trinket clothing to appear more attractive...

[voidshaper]

To put it bluntly and in a way most STs wouldn't like it to hear being phrased, with a Ghoul retainer and your pet ghost, you get to fill out three sheets worth of dots instead of one. This allows you to focus the traits you prefer on your character while keeping auxiliary abilities on your allies. I feel too out of my depth with V5 to get into specifics, so I will leave that to others. But I think the tracking work would be a good candidate to put on a retainer, since they can be active during days. A ghoul also brings a dot of Potence to the table.

I'm guessing there isn't too much...

[voidshaper]

If you want to make the search for identity part of the character, a somewhat incoherent Discipline spread and Jack of all Trades / Master of None status isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'd say lean into it- and do some outsourcing. I'm not well versed in V5 rules, but by my understanding Necromancy has been folded into Oblivion. Using Wraiths can be incredibly versatile, especially for an investigator type. You could employ Wraiths for stealth and scouting, while complementing it with a greater focus on 'direct action' for your character. Retainers might be another option to fill in mechanical...

[voidshaper]

A good time to take the cult westwards would have been the Egyptomania that followed the Napoleonic invasion during the 1920s. Many of the 19th century secret societies went public during that time, so one of the branches could be a popular Egyptian flavored 'club' type society like the Golden Dawn, O.T.O., or A∴A∴, which are useful to capture dilettantes with too much money and time, as well as the occasional awakened individual. As mundane as it is, legal fronts are also really useful for money laundering.

The first thing that came to mind was actually the.. uh, "revised"...

[voidshaper]

Tangential but topical, an exceptionally well-preserved Book of the Dead has recently been discovered in Saqqara. It's gorgeous.

[voidshaper]

This is correct, I was taking a shortcut here because I think strengthening the Ka will arguably lead to a faster accrual of Ba. The actual mechanic is more similar to Renown, imo.
I was pretty liberal with my application of Wraith mechanics to Mummies which is perhaps a mistake, as they function somewhat differently. They don't have Pathos or Angst, and it's unclear whether they have Fetters. They do have a Shadow, though.


I just skipped through the 2e book again, and the only thing I found about Bane Mummies in the underworld is that they don't retain their Taints....

[voidshaper]

Because it seemed fun to do, I wrote out the resurrection ritual - or rather, sequence of rites and rituals. I tried to make it so they can provide plot hooks and include components that could act as MacGuffins.

So, a (Bane) Mummy is dead. What can a cult do to hurry the resurrection along?

1. Preserve the body
2. Protect and empower the spirit
3. Aid the spirit in its journey through the underworld
4. Help the spirit find and enter its body at the end of the journey


The physical administration is the continuous process of preserving...

[voidshaper]

I've been wondering about this lately. Magick tends to come in two flavors:

1) The agent and power source is the caster - formalized casting is a Ritual. The Ritual itself is just an aid for the caster to channel the power, and by itself doesn't do anything.

2) The agent and power source is an invoked entity - formalized casting is a Rite. As opposed to Rituals, a Rite is a series of actions to get the called upon entity to do something, and performing a Rite is theoretically open to non-casters.

True Faith seems to fall between the two. You can have Faith...

[voidshaper]

I really like the idea of introducing a Bane Mummy via a cult that tries to bring them back from the dead. If I were to construct a ritual for this (you gotta have a grand ritual for this) within canon, there are a few things that we can use; using traditional funerary implements, the items themself work as very cool plot devices if you combine them with game canon:

- a shadow-box, which holds the sheut of the mummy, something that could tie into the Wraith Shadow concept. Maybe for Amenti or Shemsu-Heru this serves as an anchor for the mummy's Shadow when they travel through the...

[voidshaper]

Soaking effect dice would seem like the intuitive thing to do, but I noticed this tends to really prolong battles and becomes a point of discussion when the effects of the power are less quantifiable; it's easy for damage dice on a fireball but less clear cut for a spell that - for example - compels a target into an action. Switching between all-or-nothing and soaks in these situations is a pain. Countermagick can also be extremely frustrating for players when NPCs use it. If you ever played Magic the Gathering against a blue counter deck you know.

The all-or-nothing approach has...

[voidshaper]

Dipping into what happens under the 'infernalism' umbrella can be a bit of a can of worms, and hugely depends on to what degree you're willing to cross-connect Apophis with things like the Wyrm, Oblivion, Neverborn, the Abyss, the other Abysses, Demons, the other Demons, the deep Umbra and whatnot.
For example, the Baali are traditionally enemies of the Setites, but may serve Apophis just the same. Or maybe their Children are something else, and they are just going into the same direction. The same is true for Abyss Mystics, Nephandi, Nagaraja, Religious cults, BSDs, or anything else that...

[voidshaper]

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...

[voidshaper]

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.



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...

[voidshaper]

After reading through Promethean, I've always thought that Mummy would make a good host system for a Frankenstein's Monster type sub-splat. Maybe Set got a little (more) experimental and one of the Bane Mummies is actually a jigsaw of multiple souls and bodies (Kharebutu would become a little more interesting). I feel there are so few of the Bane Mummies that each one could benefit from something more unique than just a sobriquet or personality quirk.

Edit:
Slightly tacky idea for Hemhemti: was a talented singer and supposed to be a courtier/seneschal/propagandist for Set....

[voidshaper]

I had a similar idea and looked into that yesterday as a result of this thread. The reason given why this is not the best idea is that once the mummy dies after receiving the Spell of Life the Ba of the Garou fuses with the Gnosis and gets stuck in the Umbra. Or in other words, the spirt-bit of the shapeshifter gets fused with the wraith-bit of the mummy and is only accessible on the other side of the shroud. Worse, if the mummy steps sideways, the body is stuck there as well- due to how the soul mechanics work. This happened to Wepauwet, a Silent Strider-turned-Mummy.

Since the half-spirit...

[voidshaper]

Well, that's at least according to most Fera in W20 and before. Most prominently it's how the Ananasi see it, and they should know. No idea how W5 will handle that bit of Triat lore, or how the Glassie's switch from Cockroach to Spider will go down with Ananasa and her brood. I'm a bit afraid most non-Garou Fera will be reduced to a one-dimensional antagonist role, but on the other hand I'm really unsure how much of the 5th edition lore as a whole (regardless of splat) I'm going to use anyways....