Setite Sorcery

Ask a Cainite Prince which clan she forbids from her domain, and expect one answer: the Followers of Set. It has been this way for millennia; so it is in these nights. Setites have many uses; they attempt to make friends, and adore forming alliances, but nobody wants to be on the losing end of a deal. When a vampire brokers with Setites, he must constantly question, “What does the Serpent gain, and what do I lose?”

Setite Sorcery — or Akhu, as it’s known to Egyptian Setites — bridged the divide between clans, for a time. As the Long Night wore on, Setites known as the Witches of Echidna offered their services in domains along the Mediterranean, from Iberia to Constantinople. This unique blood magic — predating the rise of the Tremere — increased the value of Setite presence, and encouraged Princes of all lines to provide Serpents sanctuary and a role in their courts. Come the War of Princes, Setites are commonly persona non grata. The Witches of Echidna fade from view. The abilities granted by Setite Sorcery are no longer offered to vampires of different clans. The Followers of Set appear to be consolidating their power, and this means restricting Setite Sorcery to Sutekh loyalists. Yet, the remnants of the Witches pursue a campaign of disseminating their knowledge before they meet annihilation.

There’s hope Setite Sorcery will persist, among the many intrepid Cainite mystery seekers, but evidence points towards the Egyptian Setites being advised by their Laibon brethren, who demand this blood magic remains confined. The Laibon Setites’ agenda is unknown, but the result is their drawing closer to the Sutekh temples in Egypt, offering and receiving counsel in turn, before heading south and practicing Setite Sorcery with renewed purpose and fire in their hearts. “Setite Sorcery” is a misnomer. Vampires descended from Followers of Set founded the Discipline, but the Witches hold little affinity for their storm god-worshiping siblings. Clans who know little of the Discipline imagine a form of blood magic dealing wholly in the corruption of innocents and enslavement of the clan’s foes, forcing them into the service of Set. The Discipline’s actual genesis, utility, and subsequent diffusion to Setite schismatics — called bloodlines, by the other clans — silences such gossip, but few dig deeply enough to discover the truth.

Akhu

Much remains hidden of the Witches’ knowledge. It’s said they possess a dozen of what the Tremere call “Paths,” and now more circulate, due to the Discipline’s spread. Setite Sorcery focuses on the many gods served by the Followers of Set, and the multitude of monsters believed to be a part of their line. Principally, each Path focuses on a different subversion of existing faith. Setites might use Sorcery to transfigure one’s body to become a godlike emulation of a deity, erode the belief of a rival religion, or steal from another belief system the miracles that make the faith so appealing. Witches of Echidna advise each cult in the basics of many Paths, and then leave their students with just enough materiel to begin crafting their own.

System:

Vampires studying Setite Sorcery commonly learn the Potestas Tempestatum (see V20 Dark Ages p. 298) as their initial Path, in emulation of Set’s role as god of storms. Their secondary Paths often come from one of the following, or altered versions of the magic wielded by the Tremere. Initiating their powers is identical to that of Thaumaturgy (see V20 Dark Ages p. 297) except that in the place of Occult, use Theology.

Rites of the Blood

There are many different types of Setite sorcery, from voudoun-like wanga to the Egyptian-based akhu.

The Serpents of the Light, and their parent Clan, the Followers of Set, have put a great deal of energy into the practice of magic, creating a number of radically different theosophies concerning conjuration and enchantment. The Serpents of the Light reject Theophidian (Set-based) doctrine in all forms. They accept Caine’s place as the first vampire, rather than adhering to their parent Clan’s beliefs that Set did not descend from the Dark Father. Serpents of the Light believe that through death, one can become a god. If they grow powerful enough, they believe, they can rise to seize rulership of the earth, and control of the spirit-world as well. When a group of militant Egyptian Setites (more than half of whom were Warrior Setites) tried to force New World serpents into accepting their Orthodoxy, they drove a great number of Afro-Caribbean Setites into the Sword of Caine. Because of this schism in doctrine (both magical and theosophical), the Serpents of the Light have a great bitterness toward the Followers of Set, and often seek their parent Clan’s destruction.

The sorcery of the Serpents of the Light requires many levels of initiation. A seeker passes through circles of mystery and learns more with each step along the path. The four Serpents of the Light who hold the highest initiation are called the empereurs, and these vampires are receptacles of a majority of Cobra wisdom and knowledge. Because of the nature of their initiatory tutelage, Cobras are even more jealous of their magical secrets than most other thaumaturges within the Sect, refusing to share knowledge of their ritual practices even with other Cobras – unless those adherents have passed the proper initiation rites.