Followers of Set
Encyclopedia
The Followers of Set or Setites are a clan
of vampires
(also known as the "Snake Clan" or the "Serpents") from White Wolf Game Studio
's book
s and role-playing game
s set in the Old World of Darkness
(Vampire: The Dark Ages
and Vampire: The Masquerade
).
The mythic-historical origins of the Followers of Set are in ancient Egypt
, as they claim to be descended from the dark god
Set (who is also identified
with Typhon
) rather than Caine, the father of all vampires. The Setites see themselves as having a divine mandate to revive their Antediluvian, Set, in order to create an era of "paradise" for vampires and they are willing to work towards this goal in any way possible without drawing attention to themselves. Due to this connection to Set, all Setites see things a little differently than other vampires. Therefore, unlike most vampires in the modern setting, the Setites are associated with neither the Camarilla nor the Sabbat. The Followers of Set are generally found near Cairo
, in sub-Saharan
Africa
, India
, and the Caribbean
though they travel worldwide in their search for knowledge to help them find and revive Set.
The Setites are known as keepers of secrets
, particularly those of a thaumaturgical nature. Indeed, the Followers of Set tend to know anything anyone needs to know or can find it for them - for a price. Many vampires warn each other never to trust a Setite, as Followers of Set do not follow the Path of Humanity like most other vampires. Instead they have their own Path of Enlightenment, known as the Path of Typhon, which exalts, amongst other things, the corruption of others. Many who are snared by the Followers of Set do not realize the danger until it's too late and are either forced to become followers of Set themselves or become dangerously indebted to them. Many Setites also practice a form of Setite Sorcery called Akhu.
In Clanbook: Followers of Set, it is revealed that the Setites orchestrated the Inquisition
and undermined the Anarch Revolt so that European vampires and humans would remain fragmented and fighting among themselves, and thus neutralized as a threat to the Followers of Set and their fatherland
. These two conflicts were turning points in the fictional history of the World of Darkness
.
According to Setite lore, Set was cast from his family to become a vampire by the sun god Ra
for his hand in killing the fertility god Osiris
and Ra's hate is what causes the sunlight to burn Set and all his children more than all other Kindred. The Children of Osiris
are a clan of humanitarian vampires who are relentlessly opposed to the Followers of Set because of the eternal rivalry between their respective patriarchs.
In Gehenna
, the final Vampire: The Masquerade sourcebook, it is revealed, that if and when Followers of Set try to perform the Great Ritual at Ombos necessary to open a gate to Duat
, the Egyptian realm of dead, so that Set can incarnate himself and live again; it is predestined
that Set will instead impose on all Setites a powerful compulsion to join him in the Duat by committing mass suicide
. The predominant Judeo-Christian
myth established for the world of Vampire made the end of the Setites not only inevitable but the ultimate example of poetic justice
.
The Serpents of the Light is an independent and proudly heretical sect of the Followers of Set. Its pride lies within its adopted independence from the Setites; the Serpents have no affiliation with their parent clan. While many Setite trace their history to ancient Egypt, the Serpents claim they originated in the West Indies.
The Serpents of the Light came into being when the Sabbat moved into Haiti in the 1960s. Before then, the group that became the Serpents may have been a rogue cult of Setites, studying voodoun and how its mysticism could be used to its undead advantage. Until the 1970s, the Sabbat was too disorganized to pay much attention to the Caribbean, despite some degree of presence there Sabbat activity simply lay dormant. In fact, the Sword of Caine had no idea that this lost tribe of Setites even existed in Haiti. Once the sect became aware of the cult, however, the Sabbat recognized the ruthless strength in the group and gave protection to it in its infancy. It is possible that the first Serpents were younger Setites, who agreed with the political philosophy of the Sabbat.. When the news of the Sabbats discovery reached the Setites ears, their elders forbade their childers interaction with the Sword of Caine. Citing the Sabbats intent to destroy the godking, they sent emissaries to Haiti who insisted that the cult disassociate itself from the Sabbat.
The splinter sect, out of habit, vampiric wile or otherwise, chose to ignore their elders, and they sought asylum in the ranks of the Sabbat. The rift grew nightly, until the Serpents of Light proclaimed total independence from the Followers of Set. This schism may have been achieved by experimenting with their ophidian Discipline and the local mysticism of the Caribbean. The modern Serpents recognize that they would have been crushed by the Setites if not for the Sabbats intervention, and they give their undivided loyalty to the Sabbat cause.
Because the Serpents chose to ally with the Sabbat, they have earned the enmity of the Followers of Set, and vice versa. Hatred between these two now-separate bloodlines runs deep, and the Setites consider the Serpents traitors to their clan. Indeed, the Serpents of the Light consider Followers of Set to be abominations intent on destroying the world via the resurrection of their undead vampire god. The two groups spare no effort in antagonizing each other, playing out a deadly holy war across the distance of continents. Serpents of the Light also oppose the other Antediluvians for similar reasons, citing a Haitian Voodoo prophecy similar to the Gehenna foretold in the Book of Nod. As Sabbat, their ideology fits perfectly.
Manipulation by seduction is the tool of choice for the Serpents of Light, who play a dangerous game of attack and counterattack against their Setite rivals with mortal pawns. Members of the bloodline wield the weapons of addiction and decay. They are expert at discovering a targets weakness, and using that tool be it drugs, sex, power or whatever to gain control of the target. They relish the opportunity to bring down a princes city from the inside out, like any dedicated Sabbat. A few Serpents set loose in a major metropolis can magnify the drug-trade substantially, entice many innocent victims into prostitution, and much more. They prefer to operate behind the scenes, extending their control through human and Cainite underlings, without becoming an obvious target themselves. Rooting out a Serpent of the Light from a city is much like peeling an onion you must slice away many layers before you get to the core. They maintain an attitude of fight fire with fire when it comes to foiling the plans of the Setites and, to a lesser degree, the Camarilla.
Elder Cobras instill a great loyalty in their childer from the night of their Embrace. The Serpents of the Light compare their struggle to split from the Followers of Set to the history of their West Indian roots. Much of their speech when conversing with each other occurs in Haitian patois and Voodoo references. While they take a sybaritic pleasure in the Jyhad between Sabbat and Camarilla and make superb espionage agents for the Sabbat, their loyalty remains with their patron cult above all. A Serpent of the Light serves the need of her particular chapter of the cult she belonged to before her Embrace above the needs of the Sabbat.
Wanga is the sorcery of the heretical Serpents of the Light, based on Haitian Voudon and other Afro-Caribbean folk magic. It is a form of Setite Sorcery.
and Benin
, with their founding temple in Oyo, the one-time capital of the old Yoruba
Kingdom.
, as they combine the aspects of both clan and caste
. The Daitya are a form of Brahmin
caste. Accordingly, they fill the role of priest-magicians that help the gods maintain cosmic and social order. The Daitya worship Shiva, and they also claim leadership of all vampires who worship Shiva as well. They tend to focus more on mental and social traits, as per their status of priest-magicians.
Sadhana is a form of blood sorcery based on traditional Hindu magic. It is practiced almost exclusively by the Brahmin caste in India, notably the Daitya and the Danava (a lineage of Ventrue). It is a form of Setite Sorcery.
Kindred who came to Mexico with the Conquistadors found that the cities of the New World—far larger and more prosperous then they'd expected from "barbarous heathens"--hosted an active population of native vampires. Some were Gangrel, some Nosferatu, but the most influential native bloodline was the Tlacique. The claimed descent from Tezcatlipoca, the Jaguar, god of night, mirrors, smoke and black magic. They ruled openly, in a fashion not seen since Carthage, in small family groups called cliques. The nahualli, Tlacique blood sorcerers, removed the hearts of sacrifices atop the great pyramids and drank of their blood. The Tlacique proclaimed themselves gods, and their people worship them.
The Camarilla could have claimed a great ally, for the natives treated the Spaniards as honored guests, and the Tlacique were happy to negotiate with the foreign Kindred. And negotiate they did—until smallpox devastated their people and the Conquistadors plundered their cities and plunged their worshippers into near slavery. This was hardly the fault of the European Kindred; mortal greed, not Cainite influence, steered the course of the Spanish explorers. But the Tlacique, who ruled their own people, could not conceive that the Europeans did things differently. If the newcomers oppressed the natives, it must be so because the Camarilla Kindred wished it so.
The Tlacique learned that they could not confront the newcomers alone. They had learned, however, of another faction of Kindred, newly arrived from Europe, a sect that counted the Camarilla among its enemies. The Tlacique allied with the struggling Sabbat.
This alliance lasted only as long it took to drive the Camarilla from Mexico. The Tlacique soon realized that the Sabbat exalted violence. The Tlacique had innumerable bloody traditions and rituals, but the Black Hand was all form with no meaning; their enthusiasm for adopting the Tlacique's rites was rooted in sadism, not faith. Their erstwhile allies were more depraved and more dangerous than the Camarilla Kindred they'd driven from their lands.
The Tlacique battled the Sabbat in turn—and lost miserably. The Sabbat all but eliminated the outnumbered natives and diablerized their elders. The few surviving Tlacique scattered to distant communities. The Black Hand thought them dead and gone; the Camarilla forgot them in the face of Sabbat aggression. The Tlacique became an obscure legend in the lands they once ruled.
After four centuries of hiding, that "legend" is vengeful and hungry. Perhaps fewer than a few score Tlacique exist tonight, hidden throughout South and Central America and the southwestern US. Slowly, they reestablish lines of communication. For the first time, they work together as a unified bloodline. They seek the resting places of those slumbering elders the Sabbat missed in their purge. They launch guerrilla assaults on Sabbat enclaves, determined to take back their stolen homelands. The Sabbat is again at war—they just haven't yet figured out with whom.
The Tlacique practice a form of Thaumaturgy called Nahuallotl. Nahuallotl is a form of religious blood sorcery practiced by the Tlacique and almost completely unknown to the rest of vampiric society. It is based on offering sacrifices of blood and hearts to the Aztec gods, who must be given daily sacrifices in order to keep the sun alive and prevent the end of the world. It is a form of Setite Sorcery.
Additionally, their "Form of the Beast" from Protean (Protean lv. 4) is that of a jaguar.
, The House of the Eclipse in Cairo, The Red Temple of Thebes, The Garden of Asps in Memphis, The Crocodile Temple in the Faiyum, The Labyrinth of Bones beneath Tunis, The Descending Aerie near Tangier, and The Temple of Dogs in London.
, the Cohort of Wepwawet
is a cult of warrior Setites dedicated to defending Egypt from outside invasions. Strict fundamentalists, they seek to push other Setites back into Egyptian orthodoxy. They maintain many rivalries with the Sabbat, Ventrue and both Muslim and Christian witch-hunters.
that spread Typhonic doctrine into Greece and Rome. Different cults venerate Bacchus
, Mars
and Pluto
as different aspects of Typhon-Set. Initiates are gradually drawn into the inner mysteries, and eventual worship of Set himself. The Cult of Typhon Trismegistus is based in Naples
, Italy, where they still sponsor decadent gladiator
ial pit fights.
merchant Arnulf Jormungandrsson was Embraced in Alexandria. Upon his return to Oslo
, Jormungandrsson and his childer established a cult worshipping the Midgard serpent
. The Scandinavia
n Setites are patrons of traditional art and heavily involved in the luxury trade. Most outsiders mistake the cult for Toreador.
is a Cainite heretical
cult which renamed itself the Priory of the Black Magdalene in the 17th century. The Priory claims to guard the descendants of Christ and preserve the Jesus bloodline
through selective breeding
. They are said to have an underground cathedral below the French
city of Marseille
.
to Camarilla Kindred as a means of sexual equality and female empowerment. Their ultimate goal is to subvert the Camarilla from within.
Clan (World of Darkness)
In White Wolf Game Studio's role-playing games about vampires, a clan is a group of vampires joined by blood relations...
of vampires
Vampire (World of Darkness)
A vampires is a fictional creature in the role-playing games and books based on the World of Darkness setting by White Wolf Game Studio. The concept of a vampire in WoD takes many elements from the folklore surrounding traditional vampires in Western culture, and adds a number of specific features...
(also known as the "Snake Clan" or the "Serpents") from White Wolf Game Studio
White Wolf, Inc.
White Wolf Publishing is an American gaming and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant and White Wolf Magazine, and was initially led by Mark Rein·Hagen of the former and Steve and Stewart Wieck of the latter. Since White Wolf Publishing, Inc. merged with...
's book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s and role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s set in the Old World of Darkness
World of Darkness
"World of Darkness" is the name given to three related but distinct fictional universes created as settings for supernatural horror themed role-playing games. It is also the name of roleplaying games in the second and third settings...
(Vampire: The Dark Ages
Vampire: The Dark Ages
Vampire: The Dark Ages is a role-playing game originally published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1996. Later, in 2002, the gameline was replaced by Dark Ages: Vampire...
and Vampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game. Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, it was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern gothic-punk world....
).
The mythic-historical origins of the Followers of Set are in ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, as they claim to be descended from the dark god
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
Set (who is also identified
Interpretatio graeca
Interpretatio graeca is a Latin term for the common tendency of ancient Greek writers to equate foreign divinities to members of their own pantheon. Herodotus, for example, refers to the ancient Egyptian gods Amon, Osiris and Ptah as "Zeus", "Dionysus" and "Hephaestus", respectively.-Roman...
with Typhon
Typhon
Typhon , also Typhoeus , Typhaon or Typhos was the last son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus, and the most deadly monster of Greek mythology. He was known as the "Father of all monsters"; his wife Echidna was likewise the "Mother of All Monsters."Typhon was described in pseudo-Apollodorus,...
) rather than Caine, the father of all vampires. The Setites see themselves as having a divine mandate to revive their Antediluvian, Set, in order to create an era of "paradise" for vampires and they are willing to work towards this goal in any way possible without drawing attention to themselves. Due to this connection to Set, all Setites see things a little differently than other vampires. Therefore, unlike most vampires in the modern setting, the Setites are associated with neither the Camarilla nor the Sabbat. The Followers of Set are generally found near Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, in sub-Saharan
Sahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
though they travel worldwide in their search for knowledge to help them find and revive Set.
The Setites are known as keepers of secrets
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
, particularly those of a thaumaturgical nature. Indeed, the Followers of Set tend to know anything anyone needs to know or can find it for them - for a price. Many vampires warn each other never to trust a Setite, as Followers of Set do not follow the Path of Humanity like most other vampires. Instead they have their own Path of Enlightenment, known as the Path of Typhon, which exalts, amongst other things, the corruption of others. Many who are snared by the Followers of Set do not realize the danger until it's too late and are either forced to become followers of Set themselves or become dangerously indebted to them. Many Setites also practice a form of Setite Sorcery called Akhu.
In Clanbook: Followers of Set, it is revealed that the Setites orchestrated the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
and undermined the Anarch Revolt so that European vampires and humans would remain fragmented and fighting among themselves, and thus neutralized as a threat to the Followers of Set and their fatherland
Fatherland
Fatherland is the nation of one's "fathers", "forefathers" or "patriarchs". It can be viewed as a nationalist concept, insofar as it relates to nations...
. These two conflicts were turning points in the fictional history of the World of Darkness
World of Darkness
"World of Darkness" is the name given to three related but distinct fictional universes created as settings for supernatural horror themed role-playing games. It is also the name of roleplaying games in the second and third settings...
.
According to Setite lore, Set was cast from his family to become a vampire by the sun god Ra
Ra
Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
for his hand in killing the fertility god Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
and Ra's hate is what causes the sunlight to burn Set and all his children more than all other Kindred. The Children of Osiris
Children of Osiris
The Children of Osiris are a fictional group of vampires in White Wolf Game Studio's Vampire: The Masquerade.The Children of Osiris are the closest the game has to a "good guy" vampire bloodline...
are a clan of humanitarian vampires who are relentlessly opposed to the Followers of Set because of the eternal rivalry between their respective patriarchs.
In Gehenna
Gehenna (World of Darkness)
In the role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade by White Wolf, Inc., Gehenna is the vampires' prophesied armageddon.Gehenna is the time when the Antediluvians will rise to consume the blood of all the younger vampires and construct a city in which they will rule for one thousand years...
, the final Vampire: The Masquerade sourcebook, it is revealed, that if and when Followers of Set try to perform the Great Ritual at Ombos necessary to open a gate to Duat
Duat
In Egyptian mythology, Duat is the underworld. The Duat is a vast area under the Earth, connected with Nun, the waters of the primordial abyss. The Duat is the realm of the god Osiris and the residence of other gods and supernatural beings...
, the Egyptian realm of dead, so that Set can incarnate himself and live again; it is predestined
Predestination
Predestination, in theology is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others...
that Set will instead impose on all Setites a powerful compulsion to join him in the Duat by committing mass suicide
Mass suicide
- Examples :Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious or cultic settings. Defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Suicide pacts are a form of mass suicide unconnected to cults or war that are sometimes planned or carried out by small groups of frustrated people...
. The predominant Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...
myth established for the world of Vampire made the end of the Setites not only inevitable but the ultimate example of poetic justice
Poetic justice
Poetic justice is a literary device in which virtue is ultimately rewarded or vice punished, often in modern literature by an ironic twist of fate intimately related to the character's own conduct.- Origin of the term :...
.
| Clan | Progenitor | Parent Clan | Faction | Disciplines | Nicknames | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Followers of Set | Sutekh | None | Independent | Obfuscate, Presence, Serpentis | Serpents, Sand-Snakes | Extremely susceptible to sunlight (double damage). Subtract one from all dice pools while in bright light (spotlights, strobes, etc.). |
Serpents of the Light
The Serpents of the Light is an independent and proudly heretical sect of the Followers of Set. Its pride lies within its adopted independence from the Setites; the Serpents have no affiliation with their parent clan. While many Setite trace their history to ancient Egypt, the Serpents claim they originated in the West Indies.
The Serpents of the Light came into being when the Sabbat moved into Haiti in the 1960s. Before then, the group that became the Serpents may have been a rogue cult of Setites, studying voodoun and how its mysticism could be used to its undead advantage. Until the 1970s, the Sabbat was too disorganized to pay much attention to the Caribbean, despite some degree of presence there Sabbat activity simply lay dormant. In fact, the Sword of Caine had no idea that this lost tribe of Setites even existed in Haiti. Once the sect became aware of the cult, however, the Sabbat recognized the ruthless strength in the group and gave protection to it in its infancy. It is possible that the first Serpents were younger Setites, who agreed with the political philosophy of the Sabbat.. When the news of the Sabbats discovery reached the Setites ears, their elders forbade their childers interaction with the Sword of Caine. Citing the Sabbats intent to destroy the godking, they sent emissaries to Haiti who insisted that the cult disassociate itself from the Sabbat.
The splinter sect, out of habit, vampiric wile or otherwise, chose to ignore their elders, and they sought asylum in the ranks of the Sabbat. The rift grew nightly, until the Serpents of Light proclaimed total independence from the Followers of Set. This schism may have been achieved by experimenting with their ophidian Discipline and the local mysticism of the Caribbean. The modern Serpents recognize that they would have been crushed by the Setites if not for the Sabbats intervention, and they give their undivided loyalty to the Sabbat cause.
Because the Serpents chose to ally with the Sabbat, they have earned the enmity of the Followers of Set, and vice versa. Hatred between these two now-separate bloodlines runs deep, and the Setites consider the Serpents traitors to their clan. Indeed, the Serpents of the Light consider Followers of Set to be abominations intent on destroying the world via the resurrection of their undead vampire god. The two groups spare no effort in antagonizing each other, playing out a deadly holy war across the distance of continents. Serpents of the Light also oppose the other Antediluvians for similar reasons, citing a Haitian Voodoo prophecy similar to the Gehenna foretold in the Book of Nod. As Sabbat, their ideology fits perfectly.
Manipulation by seduction is the tool of choice for the Serpents of Light, who play a dangerous game of attack and counterattack against their Setite rivals with mortal pawns. Members of the bloodline wield the weapons of addiction and decay. They are expert at discovering a targets weakness, and using that tool be it drugs, sex, power or whatever to gain control of the target. They relish the opportunity to bring down a princes city from the inside out, like any dedicated Sabbat. A few Serpents set loose in a major metropolis can magnify the drug-trade substantially, entice many innocent victims into prostitution, and much more. They prefer to operate behind the scenes, extending their control through human and Cainite underlings, without becoming an obvious target themselves. Rooting out a Serpent of the Light from a city is much like peeling an onion you must slice away many layers before you get to the core. They maintain an attitude of fight fire with fire when it comes to foiling the plans of the Setites and, to a lesser degree, the Camarilla.
Elder Cobras instill a great loyalty in their childer from the night of their Embrace. The Serpents of the Light compare their struggle to split from the Followers of Set to the history of their West Indian roots. Much of their speech when conversing with each other occurs in Haitian patois and Voodoo references. While they take a sybaritic pleasure in the Jyhad between Sabbat and Camarilla and make superb espionage agents for the Sabbat, their loyalty remains with their patron cult above all. A Serpent of the Light serves the need of her particular chapter of the cult she belonged to before her Embrace above the needs of the Sabbat.
Wanga is the sorcery of the heretical Serpents of the Light, based on Haitian Voudon and other Afro-Caribbean folk magic. It is a form of Setite Sorcery.
| Bloodline | Founder | Parent Clan | Faction | Disciplines | Nicknames | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serpents of the Light (Setite antitribu) | Haitian Setites | Followers of Set | Sabbat | Obfuscate, Presence, Serpentis | Cobras | Extremely susceptible to sunlight (double damage). Subtract one from all dice pools while in bright light (spotlights, strobes, etc.). |
Children of Damballah
A West African offshoot of the main clan, the Damballans are centered in the area of NigeriaNigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
and Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
, with their founding temple in Oyo, the one-time capital of the old Yoruba
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
Kingdom.
| Legacy | Parent Clan | Disciplines | Nicknames | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Children of Damballah | Followers of Set | Obfuscate, Presence, Serpentis | Vipers | Extremely susceptible to sunlight (double damage). Subtract one from all dice pools while in bright light (spotlights, strobes, etc.). |
Daitya
The Daitya name themselves after the Indian demons of the same name. They are one of the most prevalent and powerful groups of vampires in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, as they combine the aspects of both clan and caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
. The Daitya are a form of Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
caste. Accordingly, they fill the role of priest-magicians that help the gods maintain cosmic and social order. The Daitya worship Shiva, and they also claim leadership of all vampires who worship Shiva as well. They tend to focus more on mental and social traits, as per their status of priest-magicians.
Sadhana is a form of blood sorcery based on traditional Hindu magic. It is practiced almost exclusively by the Brahmin caste in India, notably the Daitya and the Danava (a lineage of Ventrue). It is a form of Setite Sorcery.
| Bloodline | Founder | Parent Clan | Faction | Disciplines | Nicknames | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daitya | Indian Setites | Followers of Set | Independent, (Enemies of the Kuei-jin) | Obfuscate, Presence, Serpentis | None | Extremely susceptible to sunlight (double damage). Subtract one from all dice pools while in bright light (spotlights, strobes, etc.). |
Tlacique
An extinct bloodline in all eyes but their own, the Tlacique played only a small part in Kindred history. Although the others clans have all but forgotten them, the children of Tezcatlipoca have not forgotten those who invaded their home—and they've certainly never forgiven them.Kindred who came to Mexico with the Conquistadors found that the cities of the New World—far larger and more prosperous then they'd expected from "barbarous heathens"--hosted an active population of native vampires. Some were Gangrel, some Nosferatu, but the most influential native bloodline was the Tlacique. The claimed descent from Tezcatlipoca, the Jaguar, god of night, mirrors, smoke and black magic. They ruled openly, in a fashion not seen since Carthage, in small family groups called cliques. The nahualli, Tlacique blood sorcerers, removed the hearts of sacrifices atop the great pyramids and drank of their blood. The Tlacique proclaimed themselves gods, and their people worship them.
The Camarilla could have claimed a great ally, for the natives treated the Spaniards as honored guests, and the Tlacique were happy to negotiate with the foreign Kindred. And negotiate they did—until smallpox devastated their people and the Conquistadors plundered their cities and plunged their worshippers into near slavery. This was hardly the fault of the European Kindred; mortal greed, not Cainite influence, steered the course of the Spanish explorers. But the Tlacique, who ruled their own people, could not conceive that the Europeans did things differently. If the newcomers oppressed the natives, it must be so because the Camarilla Kindred wished it so.
The Tlacique learned that they could not confront the newcomers alone. They had learned, however, of another faction of Kindred, newly arrived from Europe, a sect that counted the Camarilla among its enemies. The Tlacique allied with the struggling Sabbat.
This alliance lasted only as long it took to drive the Camarilla from Mexico. The Tlacique soon realized that the Sabbat exalted violence. The Tlacique had innumerable bloody traditions and rituals, but the Black Hand was all form with no meaning; their enthusiasm for adopting the Tlacique's rites was rooted in sadism, not faith. Their erstwhile allies were more depraved and more dangerous than the Camarilla Kindred they'd driven from their lands.
The Tlacique battled the Sabbat in turn—and lost miserably. The Sabbat all but eliminated the outnumbered natives and diablerized their elders. The few surviving Tlacique scattered to distant communities. The Black Hand thought them dead and gone; the Camarilla forgot them in the face of Sabbat aggression. The Tlacique became an obscure legend in the lands they once ruled.
After four centuries of hiding, that "legend" is vengeful and hungry. Perhaps fewer than a few score Tlacique exist tonight, hidden throughout South and Central America and the southwestern US. Slowly, they reestablish lines of communication. For the first time, they work together as a unified bloodline. They seek the resting places of those slumbering elders the Sabbat missed in their purge. They launch guerrilla assaults on Sabbat enclaves, determined to take back their stolen homelands. The Sabbat is again at war—they just haven't yet figured out with whom.
The Tlacique practice a form of Thaumaturgy called Nahuallotl. Nahuallotl is a form of religious blood sorcery practiced by the Tlacique and almost completely unknown to the rest of vampiric society. It is based on offering sacrifices of blood and hearts to the Aztec gods, who must be given daily sacrifices in order to keep the sun alive and prevent the end of the world. It is a form of Setite Sorcery.
Additionally, their "Form of the Beast" from Protean (Protean lv. 4) is that of a jaguar.
| Bloodline | Founder | Parent Clan | Faction | Disciplines | Nicknames | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tlacique | Tezcatlipoca | Followers of Set | Independent | Obfuscate, Presence, Protean | None (everyone else thinks they are extinct) | Extremely susceptible to sunlight (double damage). Subtract one from all dice pools while in bright light (spotlights, strobes, etc.). |
Cults
Numerous Setite cults and temples are spread throughout the World of Darkness. Other notable Setite temples include The Founding Temple at Kom OmboTemple of Kom Ombo
The Temple of Kom Ombo is an unusual double temple built during the Ptolemaic dynasty in the Egyptian town of Kom Ombo. Some additions to it were later made during the Roman period. The building is unique because its 'double' design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms...
, The House of the Eclipse in Cairo, The Red Temple of Thebes, The Garden of Asps in Memphis, The Crocodile Temple in the Faiyum, The Labyrinth of Bones beneath Tunis, The Descending Aerie near Tangier, and The Temple of Dogs in London.
Cohort of Wepwawet
Based out of Abu SimbelAbu Simbel
Abu Simbel temples refers to two massive rock temples in Abu Simbel in Nubia, southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 230 km southwest of Aswan...
, the Cohort of Wepwawet
Wepwawet
In late Egyptian mythology, Wepwawet was originally a war deity, whose cult centre was Asyut in Upper Egypt . His name means, opener of the ways...
is a cult of warrior Setites dedicated to defending Egypt from outside invasions. Strict fundamentalists, they seek to push other Setites back into Egyptian orthodoxy. They maintain many rivalries with the Sabbat, Ventrue and both Muslim and Christian witch-hunters.
Cult of Typhon Trismegistus
The Cult of Typhon Trismegistus is a series of mystery cultsGreco-Roman mysteries
Mystery religions, sacred Mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious cults of the Greco-Roman world, participation in which was reserved to initiates....
that spread Typhonic doctrine into Greece and Rome. Different cults venerate Bacchus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
, Mars
Mars (mythology)
Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...
and Pluto
Pluto (mythology)
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Pluto was a name for the ruler of the underworld; the god was also known as Hades, a name for the underworld itself...
as different aspects of Typhon-Set. Initiates are gradually drawn into the inner mysteries, and eventual worship of Set himself. The Cult of Typhon Trismegistus is based in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, Italy, where they still sponsor decadent gladiator
Gladiator
A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
ial pit fights.
Hall of Jormungandr
Founded in the 9th century after the NorseNorsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
merchant Arnulf Jormungandrsson was Embraced in Alexandria. Upon his return to Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Jormungandrsson and his childer established a cult worshipping the Midgard serpent
Jörmungandr
In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr , mostly known as Jormungand, orJörmungand , or Midgard Serpent , or World Serpent, is a sea serpent, and the middle child of the giantess Angrboða and the god Loki...
. The Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n Setites are patrons of traditional art and heavily involved in the luxury trade. Most outsiders mistake the cult for Toreador.
Priory of the Black Magdalene
The Church of the Black MagdaleneBlack Madonna
A Black Madonna or Black Virgin is a statue or painting of the Virgin Mary in which the Virgin Mary is black. The term was especially applied to those created in Europe in the medieval period or earlier...
is a Cainite heretical
Cainite Heresy
The Cainite Heresy is a fictional heretical cult, practised by some vampires and their human subjects in the setting of Vampire: The Dark Ages, a role-playing game by White Wolf Game Studio....
cult which renamed itself the Priory of the Black Magdalene in the 17th century. The Priory claims to guard the descendants of Christ and preserve the Jesus bloodline
Jesus bloodline
A Jesus bloodline is a hypothetical sequence of lineal descendants of the historical Jesus and Mary Magdalene, or some other woman, usually portrayed as his alleged wife or a hierodule...
through selective breeding
Selective breeding
Selective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Typically, strains that are selectively bred are domesticated, and the breeding is sometimes done by a professional breeder. Bred animals are known as breeds, while bred plants are known as varieties,...
. They are said to have an underground cathedral below the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
city of Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
.
Sisterhood of Sekhmet
The Sisterhood of Sekhmet grew out of the feminist movement in the 1960s. The Sisterhood promotes the warrior-goddess SekhmetSekhmet
In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet , was originally the warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing for Upper Egypt. She is depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians. It was said that her breath created the desert...
to Camarilla Kindred as a means of sexual equality and female empowerment. Their ultimate goal is to subvert the Camarilla from within.
Setites of Note
- Kemintiri, on the Camarilla's Most Wanted "Red List"
- Hesha Ruhadze, 8th Generation Typhonist
- Sundervere, The Devil Brahmin
- Arnulf Jormungandrsson
- SarrasineSarrasineSarrasine is a novella written by Honoré de Balzac. It was published in 1830 , and is part of his Comédie Humaine.-Commentary:...
, Prince of Sydney - Izzat al-Khunzir
- Erik Jannsen, Priest of Sutekh
- KahinaKahinaal-Kāhina was a 7th century female Berber religious and military leader, who led indigenous resistance to Arab expansion in Northwest Africa, the region then known as Numidia, known as the Maghreb today...
the Sorceress - Cagliostro the Grand CophtCoptThe Copts are the native Egyptian Christians , a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt....
- Ezekiel, Lord of Montreal (Serpent of Light)
External links
- The Followers of Set- a View from Without An In-character look at the Followers of Set as seen by most other vampire clans.
- The Followers of Set- A View from Within An In-Character look at how most Followers of Set see themselves.