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[Black Fox]

I think people have actually contributed more than that, but those are seven solid concepts culled from various contributions. You have a way with words, but I think they do credit to what many of us want the Bane Mummies to be like. I do like that these concepts are very distinct from each other. Much better than just have Bane Mummies be variants of the canonical Amam.

I'm still working on detailing some ideas for cults. Some correspond to what you've compiled, but others do not. I think that's fine. Having many concepts just means people can pick the ones that speak most...

[Black Fox]

It sounds like the problem is how V5 is shoehorning the Nagaraja into something they were never intended to be.

Originally the Nagaraja was a special bloodline created by Mages when humans were in control of the True Black Hand (Tal'mahe'Ra). These mages, who were from a magical tradition that would eventually become the Euthanatos, were interested in the secrets of death and the afterlife. The Nagaraja were important sorcerers for the True Black Hand, and were mainly responsible for helping the sect to maintain Enoch, the lost first city that now existed only as ruins in the Underworld...

[Black Fox]

Because this Bane Mummy prefers to work through others and not put himself into danger, he has minimized the drainage of his Ba and the time he must spend in the Underworld. He is very successful at accruing Ba and coming back to the land of the living. His cult around him know that the “god” requires periodic slumber and rest, but will always come back (perhaps they occur in a natural cycle like when “the stars are right.”) I’d make sure the Bane Mummy had Memory 5 and the Background Journal 5. Having his Appearance be zero is fine, but he likely needs a high amount of Charisma and...

[Black Fox]

Now I’ll go in a completely different direction from my ideas on the cult around Amam. In one of my earlier ideas, I speculated on a Bane Mummy that acted in a mastermind/plotter type role. I also talked about a cult not controlled by vampires that was heavily influenced by the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh in the Call of Cthulhu RPG. I am combining these two together.

We know that Set ruled Egypt at one point before the early dynastic period that saw Narmer/Menes unite Lower and Upper Egypt. This era was probably between the time when Set defeated Osiris and the mummy Horus...

[Black Fox]

I think they mainly do the same kind of things that regular mummies do. The Ba of a Bane Mummy should still be doing stuff in the underworld (Tempest, Far Shores, the Isles of the Tempests, Labyrinth, but not the Shadowlands obviously.) They should have a similar "safe refuge" like Amenti serves for the regular mummies, and I would place them somewhere "near" the Labyrinth.

I doubt they interact much with Stygia or other Dark Kingdoms except when they can do something that furthers their Ba accrual there. They might intrigue a bit with Spectre politics, but...

[Black Fox]

Now that I reread the Gift in W20, I find it more confusing. The Gift talks about controlling a volume of "element", but then complicates it by talking about an Elemental Spirit being there and the effects lasting until it leaves or is destroyed. So it makes it sound like maybe you are controlling an Elemental. The wording in Revised is different, but substantially the same.

The Gift's description in WtA 2e also mentions an Elemental spirit actually being present, but the Gift's mechanics seem clearer. In the description it mentions the Garou can cause the elements to...

[Black Fox]

For my chronicles I categorically reject the idea that is not always a good thing to destroy the vampire. Destroying the vampire is ALWAYS the morally good thing to do. It is NEVER an evil thing. You are eliminating an unholy abomination that should never have existed. I understand that many other players do not want that to be the basis for their own chronicles.

The person has already been murdered. The vampire sire murdered that person. The thing that remains may have the remnant of the mind of the person she was, but she is not that person. You are only the destroying the...

[Black Fox]

My understanding is that people can fuel the mummy's Ka by things they do in the real world. But Ba accrual is limited to things its form in the Underworld does for itself. But I am no expert on Mummy and might have neglected or forgotten some rule that allows this.

Mummy 2e does a very good job of tying Mummy into the actual setting of the underworld and providing a real basis for game mechanics that were obviously lacking when Mummy 1e came out, and it only had the Vampire rules to go by....

[Black Fox]

The Bane Mummy is suppose to manifest in Malfeas as opposed to the Underworld, but it is entirely possible that a portion of Malfeas essentially abuts (spiritually) the Labyrinth of Oblivion so the point is moot. That's where they were originally sent during Set's corrupted rite. That's how I would handle it.

In terms of collecting Ba, it should be along the same way as Mummies do. That tends to be more narrative than mechanical. I don't think the exact way it can accrue Ba matters from an ST perspective. What matters is the general time it should take before the Bane Mummy can...

[Black Fox]

What you are technically doing with the Gift is contacting an Elemental, and the Elemental grants you the power to control the volume of its "element". So you can control it just like an Elemental would (presumably just by thinking like you do when you move your own body). That gives a lot of leeway for that scene. The volume of element moves however makes sense to you even if that movement seems to violate physics. I wouldn't say the controller could "throw" fire at someone, but the huge inferno of fire would move towards the person and deal whatever damage makes sense....

[Black Fox]

It is not the more ethical choice. Directly preying on Humanity is the more evil option. It is a direct violation of the person, and it directly harms them. I also reject the idea that blood dolls, herds, etc. actually "consent" in any meaningful fashion. The nature of the Kiss affects the mental and emotional state of the person. It is like saying a drug addict consents. Ultimately you are a prey animal being eaten by a supernatural predator. Anyone agreeing to such a thing is not showing compos mentis.

Even from a utilitarian perspective, there are big holes in...

[Black Fox]

I'm glad to see we're still getting examples of Bane Mummies. The more they are, the more people may be inspired for their own chronicles.



That is definitely in line with various Fomori Taints like Addiction, Severe Allergy, Special Diet, and Mental Devolution/Physical Wasting. It definitely fits the theme, just with more focused flavor text.

I may not use it for every Bane Mummy, but it could probably fit for several concepts.



Completely agree....

[Black Fox]

In practice I found most gaming groups use them only as mechanical benefits. Players tend to forget the totem is there. However, as ST I try to run them as a spirit NPC that is available for them to interact. Then it becomes an issue of where "physically" in the Penumbra the totem is at - most players tend to assume the pack totem will always be at the place where they decide to enter the Penumbra. They forget it is not a disembodied spirit, but has an actual form in the Umbra that moves. So players usually need some time to adjust to the idea of the spirit being an NPC.
...

[Black Fox]

The STs definitely need to keep in mind is the actual use of the Bane Mummies (or whatever else exists) in a chronicle as something the PCs can interact with. Not just as some element that only encounters the NPCs. From that perspective, the ST likely wants to keep using any Bane Mummy as an ongoing antagonist in their chronicle, not something to be used once and then discarded. I think that would be a waste. A grand villain like a Bane Mummy needs to be built up in multiple encounters. While a Bane Mummy will always come back after being killed, realistically that would be the end of the...

[Black Fox]

Now that we have some solid concepts behind some of the Bane Mummies, we can begin thinking about the kinds of cults that go with them. I use the term “cult”, but these could be any number of servants, retainers, worshippers, allies, masters, lovers, slaves, pets, or other attendants. And these could be mortals, ghouls, vampires, fomori, banes, ushabti, sorcerers, or whatever else. And how they are organized can be very different - actual cults, secret societies, esoteric fraternities, ancient legacies passed down from generation to generation. In fact, we want very different kinds of “cults”...

[Black Fox]

I think that's the picture that details the Children of Apophis section where the book talks about the different factions of mummies (Cabiri, Ishmaelites, Sehmsu-heru). Something like that could easily be tied into Bluecho post describing a Bane Mummy with soaked bandages, its footprints leaving oily footprints, and causing fresh water to go stagnant. A corrupted water theme.

Maybe it is a Bane Mummy who dwells in the muck of the swamps of the Nile delta of Lower Egypt. I believe mummies are essentially "alive" and therefore need to breathe air, but we can easily give...

[Black Fox]

My take is that all these evil groups metaphysically serve the same Master regardless if you call it Satan, the Wyrm, Oblivion, or whatever. What is important is how they see themselves. Do they see themselves as distinct and comprising a different group than the others, people who have deeper insight, secret knowledge, and mastery of lore superior to the others which proves they are right and the others wrong? If so, they are a different group even if you can argue philosophically they are on the same team ultimately.

All of these groups relax back in the shadows and laugh and...

[Black Fox]

I agree that it is important that the Setites themselves follow the Antedeluvian. He's a high priest of the Wyrm, but anything he's set up, organized, or taught is all to make sure his goals are done and he remains in charge. It's the big reason he never used the corrupted Spell of Life again once he realized the Bane Mummies were not taking orders from him.

But as part of this greater faction I am calling the "Followers of Apophis", I think there are a variety of smaller blocs that are no controlled by the Setites and do their own thing, even if they are often allied, aligned,...

[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....

[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...