Setite Sorcery

Level 1

• Genius Loci

The Sethites recognize that many locales bear the mark of Typhon Seth. They’re places of ill-omen: shorelines where ghost-villages appear by night, murder houses, graveyards and other places where the borders between the real world and the place of spirits and ghosts are thin. Using this ritual, a Sethite promotes chaos by increasing the supernatural ambience of a place. The Sethite leaves a tiny smear of Vitae somewhere on or near the location, for example on a rock, a piece of furniture or a wall. A room goes cold. If outside, it starts to drizzle filthy, foul-smelling rain. Witch-fire plays around the trees. Apparitions flicker in and out of vision in the corner of one’s eye. Rot and mold spontaneously appear. Urban decay appears briefly to accelerate. All Social dice pools are penalized by -1, apart from Intimidation, which instead gains a +1 bonus. This effect lasts for a scene.

Ritual Components: 1 point of Vitae

• Milk of Set

The Milk of Set is said to attract spirits of chaos and confusion. This Ritual concocts a salve from the Vitae of a Setite Vampire swprn to the Lord of Chaos offered in addition to the rituals basic cost, oil, animal- or sometimes human fat and certain herbs sympathetic to the desired effect. The Milk of Set is applied to an object that becomes cursed by it for a brief time. Each additional Vitae spent in addition to the one to activate the ritual produces one batch of salve of the desired effect. Any Vitae must be invested before the casting roll of the ritual is made. The ritual cannot create more batches of salve than successes were rolled, even if more Vitae was spent. The excess Vitae is lost. All batches made in one ritual casting must be of the same effect. Possible effects include: Altering a lock, so that it does not accept its regular key, or altering a computer so that it does not accept its regular password; Make an automaton refuse cash or credit cards; Corrode the Durability of an object by one point; Corrupt data recorded on any kind of media; Making a drug more addictive (-1 additional penalty when resisting addiction). All effects last until next sunrise.

Ritual Components: X points of Vitae, oil or fat, herbs

Level 2

• Amemet’s Pursuit

Amemet, a demon combining the attributes of hippopotamus, lion and crocodile, devoured the souls of the wicked; none could escape him. The Sethite who invokes Amemet takes on the role of patient pursuer. She lays a curse upon her victim, smearing blood on a small effigy. This done, whichever way the victim flees, he runs straight into the arms of the Sethite. He leaves a room, and finds himself running back in. He turns a corner, and the next thing he knows, he’s turned 180 degrees and he’s traveling right back down the street, right back to where the smiling vampire awaits. The activation roll for this ritual is contested by a reflexive roll of the target’s Wits + Composure + Blood Potency. If the caster rolls the most successes, the next time the victim tries to run away from her, he runs in her direction. She need not move, only wait for him to arrive. The power lasts for a scene.

Ritual Components: 1 point of Vitae, effigy

• Prepare Canopic Jars

The Setite takes bodily tissue or sympathetic replacements once in the possession of the desired victim and places them in four canopic jars used in ancient egyptian funeral practices. These jars correspond to the four cardinal directions. The south or north jar represent the stomach and guts of the target. Bits of a half-eaten meal may work as a substitude for original tissue. The east jar is meant for the targets heart and lungs. Heart pills or asthma inhalers, breath mints or a small measure of the targets blood work as acceptible substitutes. The western jar is reserved for the targets liver or gall bladder. Drugs or alcohol once in the posession of the target may be used as replacements. The setite then performs an inverted ritual designed to ensure speedy passage to the lands of the dead, cursing the fate of the target. Each success on the rituals casting roll imposes a -2 penalty one one specific instant or extended action roll of the target within the next 24 hours.

Ritual Components: 1 point of Vitae per jar, canopic jars, tissue samples or replacements

Level 3

• Defiling the Western Lands

This ritual prepares a mummified corpse in a way, that it becomes a focus for the setites dark magic. If the prerequisited corpse is not already mummified according to egyptian tradition it must undergo the procedure before the ritual can take place.

Ritual Components: 1 point of Vitae, canopic jars, mumified corpse

• The Hand of Seth

With this ritual, the Sethite can drive a possessing spirit out of a body. The body must be immobilized (held down, tied up or chained) within sight of the caster. The caster smears some of the mixed sacrificial blood and Vitae on the bare skin of the target while pronouncing a brief, formulaic imprecation to Typhon Seth. If the roll is successful, the possessing spirit must leave its host, and cannot attempt to possess its original victim or any other for a number of turns equal to the number of successes rolled. The ritual doesn’t damage a spirit, and can only be used on a spirit possessing a body.

Ritual Components: 1 point of Vitae, sacrificial blood

Level 4

• Blade of Tu’at

The Sethite smears a knife or sword (ritually, the Sethites favor the use of the bronze Khepesh, the dog-legged scimitar of Ancient Egypt) with the mixed blood of the sacrificial victim and his own Vitae. If the activation roll for this ritual is successful, the blade gains the power to cause aggravated damage to ghosts and spirits, whether in twilight or materialized. The weapon is no more effective than usual against anyone else. The effect of the ritual lasts until dawn, when the weapon rusts or rots away and can never be used again.

Ritual Components: 1 point of Vitae, sacrificial blood, knife or sword

• Dismembering Curse

Ritual Components: 1 point of Vitae, tissue samples, jackal or hyena-urin

• The Thrashing of Apep’s Coils

The Sethite must perform this ritual in the open air, throwing Vitae and sacrificial blood into the air and screaming for the coming of Apep, the Great Dead Serpent, Bringer of Discord. Success brings about sudden extreme weather conditions: lightning, freezing rain, hail or snow, howling winds and similar phenemona.

Ritual Components: 1 point of Vitae, sacrificial blood

Suggested Modifiers: Weather already poor (+1), weather exceptionally fine and warm (-2).

Level 5

• Dismemberment of Oxyrynchus

Ritual Components: 1 point of Vitae, corpse of leader of targeted organization, fish tank

• The Rite of Going Forth By Day

The vampire walks by night: that is the orderly way. And so, this is the most evil of rituals, for it violates the cosmic order, and needs a life to make it possible. Having slaughtered some conscious human victim, either unwilling or willing (or at any rate, brainwashed into being willing), the vampire cuts out the victim’s heart and eats it. Then she retires to her haven. She falls into a deep sleep. Come sunrise, she leaves her body, getting up and walking about in the broad daylight. Although insubstantial, she appears to be completely solid, and can interact with anyone she meets. She can’t make use of Disciplines, however, and can only touch the physical world for a few seconds (to rush a hand across a face, write a brief message on a piece of paper, open a door, or the like) if her player spends a point of Vitae and makes a successful roll of Presence + Occult. Even if the vampire is not a Hollow Mekhet, she has no reflection, no shadow, and does not appear on film, nor does she create an echo or register on any device that records or transmits sound. The vampire can see ghosts and spirits in this state, and can touch and even fight them, but is under a great deal of risk, since she can bring no weapons or equipment with her and cannot access her supernatural powers.

Ritual Components: 1 point of Vitae, heart of sacrificial victim