Updated: 3 January 1999
Prelude
Jean François couldn't believe his chance. For some obscure reason, the Lady of Shadows, also known as the Methuselah Meryt-Neith had decided to tell them about the True Ancient Egypt.
Around him were Criaâr, the Corax-Vampire. Alexis was behind, near one of the shelves. Not far, a man who could have been 30 years old, if no for the eyes that bellied thousand years of unlife. Alexis had called him Paercebal, and the two seemed, if not to know personnaly each other, at least to know they were on the same side.
Meryt-Neith was looking the Seine from the window, perhaps remembering the Nile... She turned abruptly.
''Nebneferptah's activity is increasing. The Tremere and the Followers of Set are searching for its lair for their own dark purposes.
She was wearing her black cloack, her hood removed so everyone would see her emotionless face. She was beautiful, but not as beautiful as most Toreador of Paris. Still, there was something that couldn't help but fascinate and frighten in the same time.
''We are fighting a war that should have been concluded nealry 1500 years ago. A war started even before my Embrace. We are fighting a battle of one of the greatests Jyhad, involding one Antediluvian and an old creature I will call a Mummy. But first, you must understand those you believe are your enemies since the dawn of history... You must understand if the first half is all hearsay, or indirect information I discovered over the ages, the second half was lived by me, and suffer no hint of doubt.''
Set was exiled from Ra's court because of his passion: Ra had destroyed Osiris and Set's parents, Geb and Nut, but decided to keep his grand-sons. If Osiris contemplated a way to remove his father by intrigue, avoiding bloodshed if it could be possible, Set's fiery nature asked for a direct confrontation. While still young, Set was a very capable warrior, and his passion made him even more dangerous. But Ra was a mage, and his mastery of reality had no equal. Set lost, and Ra exiled him in the desert, hoping the sun that was his symbol would kill his great-grand-son slowly. But Set's passion kept him alive long enough...
Set was supposed to be Embraced by one of the Second Generation. He never talked about the identity of his Sire, but it is commonly believed Zillah is Set's Sire. Anyway, he never spent much time around his Blood Brothers and Sisters. He was a warrior, and honed his skills, hoping one day to come back to Egypt, and destroy his unkind great-grand-father.
He came back to Egypt... To learn Osiris was now a Vampire, too.
History does not tell who is the Sire of Osiris, but his interests for the necromancy would have attracted Ashur, also known as the Cappadocius. Or perhaps it was one of the Second Generation, who saw the potential of the Two-Lands... Set was coldly greeted by Osiris, who had taken his own sister as his wife, a magician called Isis. Ra was dead. While at first, the two wanted peace, the coldness of Osiris and the passion of Set started the war. The tales about Set and Osiris'coffin are well known...
Set and Osiris met once more. Unlike what Horus would like us to believe, the two brother met in peace, and Set killed his own brother because Osiris asked him to do it, arguing that they would share the Two-Lands: Osiris would protect the Land of the Dead, and Set the Land of the Living. The pact was sealed by each Vampire mixing their blood in a magical jar.
Set was to begin a quest for Maat, and was, by the pact, forbidden to Embrace Childer. Only by giving the Vitae of the Jar, could a new Vampire be born. While they would be Set's Childer, the Blood of Osiris would also make them Osiris' own Childer. They were to found Bloodline who would guide Egypt. Set also invited the unwilling Horus, the wercats and werejackals, the mages to join him in his quest for Maat.
After some time, Horus, Osiris'son, even accepted peace. It is known now that he needed time for his own cabal of Mages, known as the Cult of Isis, to find the chosen who would become immortal Mummies and join him in his fight against the Antediluvian...
Ancient Egypt was, then, ruled by Gods. Among them were the Childer of Set. When Set decided to search for Balance, he Embraced mortals, with the Mixed Vitae, each with a quality that would draw knowledge and philosophy to the Gods.
Most were of royal blood, or at least, from the administration of Egypt. A young woman with magickal abilities, Meryt-Neith, was to bring magic to the Clan, in the form of Senef Hekau, also called Hekau Thaumaturgy. Khentamentiu and the ones who would become the Children of Osiris, were to cooperate with the other Childer of Set to bring personnal discipline, and created the Discipline known as Maat, who would be called later Bardo (See The Hunters Hunted, p52).
But for all their philsophic and ascetic tries, Set's Bloodline aquired a Clan Weakness that put them appart from the mortals of Egypt, who learnt to recognise their gods with such feelings. Their own internal discipline combined with their knowledge of Bardo, Hekau Thaumaturgy and Presence removed them from the humans they protected.
Unknown to them, this would remove one of their possible exit from the latent corruption that was birthing in the Antediluvian's heart.
The apparent alliance lasted more than one thousand years. Lupines who would become later the Silent Striders, as well as the Bastet, lived in apparent peace with the Childer of Set, a convenant of Mages (very similar to the today's Celestial Choir), and Kindred from other Clans who had been invited to share Set and Osiris' vision of Maat.
The invasion of the Hyksos (secretly controlled by the Baali) ended this. The Childer of Set, researching their own Disciplines and philosophy, had removed themselves from the day-to-day control of Egypt. And Montou's departure to the lands beyond the northern sea (Europe) let his Childe Amon in the control of Free Egypt. When Amon succeeded in removing the last Hyksos from the Two-Lands, the Baali threat had become visible to all Kindred.
Saulot, the Founder of the Clan Salubri, met with Set. While the two were searching for the peace of mind, they diverged in their philosophy: Saulot, inspired by eastern lore, searched for a Acceptance of the Beast. A state he called Golconda. Set, in his arrogance, wanted nothing more that taming the Beast, as explained by the philosophy of the Discipline Maat: After all, Saulot was still searching for Golconda, while Set's own peace of soul had been found in the Discipline of Maat.
Meryt-Neith, now known as Sechat, along with her Childer, went to the Minoean isles, and joined Saulot's Childer. While the Salubri warriors fought the Baali with unknown ferocity and their Valeren Discipline, Sechat searched for the exact Ritual that would end Shaitan's rule over the island. It was said Shaitan tried to murder the undead sorceress. Many of her magician Childer, as well as the Salubri warrior defending them and the Basthemet who joinded her, were killed. But eventually, the Ritual was completed. A cataclysm of unknown proportion shook the very foundations of earth, and what is known as the Santorini volcano erupted, lava flowing through the underground maze of the Baali.
This event didn't let Egypt untouched. the Baali had defiled Set's temple as well as Set's personnal fame in the city of Avaris. And once more, Set's passion lead him into a Frenzy. A Frenzy that made him Diablerize the lone Baali Elder.
Entering once more in Torpor, he awakened to see his Influence over Egypt having been severly disminished. Horus and Amon were fighting each other for the control of Egypt. In the same time the Lupine were growing nervous because of some corrupted influence they were feeling ''in the air''...
But the first blood was drawn by the Followers of Aton. The Mages believed they could guide the whole population of Egypt into a new state of existence. Their power was great, and the Kindred as well as the Lupines suffered greatly from their Faith. When Set awakened, he Embraced another Childer, called Kemintiri, in a desesperate try to learn the Rite of Rebirth from her. His a fit of passion, he even Ghouled the beautiful wife of Akhenaton, Nefertiti, who, for the love of her God, poisonned her husband, the leader of the Followers of Aton.
The Followers of Aton were soon hunted down as betrayers, and this fight weakened all Supernatural Races of Egypt. but even then Set's passion shone like a light in the darkness, little was known where it would lead him eventually. The Dynasty of the Rameside was chosen. Ramses I, then Seti, and then Ramses II became great kings, and once more, Egypt was great. Ramses II was even elected to become Set's new Childer. Waiting for the wakening of the Antediluvian, he became the Ghoul of Amon.
But the seeds of darkness were already growing. Nefertiti intrigued, and jealous from Ramses' successes, looked upon true immortality, and soon, she pactized with the Darkness. With Apep, the creature of Corruption the Lupines call the Wyrm.
Her first work was to betray the others Childer of Set: Ramses was moved far from any Kindred and he died from the lack of Kindred Vitae. The first Kindred to die was Meryt-Neith, apparently killed by Nefertiti herself. Others followed, like the Basthemet Founder, Bastet, Diablerized. Whole Bloodlines, who had shared Set's vision of Maat were destroyed in Egypt. Set awakened to see rebellion at his step, and he believed the sweet words of Nefertiti. Khentameniu was hunted, but apparently, he had time enough to flee with the survivors of his Bloodline. The Followers of Set still believe to have destroyed all of them, as they have for the Basthemet and the other Childer of Set. Thus the Children of Osiris reached Asia and continued their philosophical enlightment.
While Set hunted the shadows of his own fears, the Two-Land's greatness started to dwindle. The final days of Egypt had come: Horus, with an army and lybian invaders, entered Egypt with his full army of Mummies and the help of the surviving Silent Striders. Set disappeared along with Nefertiti and Neferu, when all his loyal Childer were finally destroyed.
But they came back. Hissing in the shadows like the Serpent that had corrupted them. Their new Discipline, completed with their new powers of Corruption, were more than enough to challenge once more Horus. Set, Nefertiti and Neferu then Embraced mortal followers, and thus were born the Followers of Set, corrupters from the ashes of the first Childer of Set, once among the greatests philosophers and magicians.
Hekau Thaumaturgy never was known to the new Followers. Set must have decided it was too powerful to teach it to them, and none of the Followers succeeded in tricking a Hekau-Nebet to teach them the Magic of the Blood. With Sechat dead, with Khentameniou's bloodline destroyed, the new Followers had new weapons that would never threaten the Antediluvian, and still be formidable tools in the Jyhad Set had finally decided against the whole world for ''destroying'' his dream. Serpentis and Corruption...
''The name, Childer of Set, was badly chosen by a Brujah historian who discovered the identity of some of the Founders, and wrongly attributed Set as their common Sire. We were... We are the Gods of Egypt, mortal bodies made immortal, inhabited by a fraction of the Immortal Souls of Gods...''
''Set failed because his passion was too much for the rigor of the discipline needed to control the Beast. Set is now corrupted...''
She turned to the Kindred behind her, her emotionless eyes shining in remembrance.
''Strange, isn't it? Set corrupted. Saulot's first Childe, Shaitan, corruped. Set's first Bloodline destroyed. Replaced by the corrupted Followers of Set... Saulot destroyed, along with his own bloodline, the Salubri. Replaced by the Tremere... Cappadocius, Kindred of Faith, destroyed, along with his Bloodline, the Cappadocians. Replaced by the Giovanni...''
She walked to them, and sat on the sofa.
''Perhaps there is a greater Jyhad than the one opposing now the Antediluvian. Perhaps the battle that we will have to enter is more important than we thought. Nebneferptah was powerful but now, his power seems beyond imagination. And the Tremere, the Giovanni and the Setites are interested in him... Are the Kindred comdemned to accept the corruption that spread in their Blood, or can they change destiny, and avoid the doom foretold by the Lupine Lore?''
Alexis walked to sit in front of her. His expression was thoughtful, but it was easy, for once, to see the fear in his eyes. Few here had imagined to whole Jyhad they were entering into.
''We are losing.'' He said. ''It seems we have no hope anymore. The Tremere, the Setites and the Giovanni are already too much powerful to be stopped. And we are alone. Even if we could avoid every other Kindred's intrigues, it would be difficult--''.
''You are not alone anymore: My Knights are gathering. Strangely, the Felys, the legacy of the Basthemet Bloodline, are gathering, too. I've seen the hand of Montu in some events in Paris. Francesca is, I believe, searching for what she believes wrongly to be her Blood Brother, Amon. The Children of Osiris are already there, building Temples where they can remain pure. And more important, the Lupines and Gangrel are preparing, too, for the final assault...''
Chapter 1: History & Mythos
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