Lore: Settite
This Lore represents knowledge of the social structure, traditions and myths of the Followers of Set. It also represents how well a character might be able to recognize the names of famous Setites and know the trends of the Clan within given regions.
Generally Possessed By: Setites, Serpents of Light
Potential Specializations: Archeology, Carribean Setite Practices, Daitya Lore, Damballian Setite Practices, Egyptology, Freemason Lore, Setite History, Setite Religion, Tlacique Lore
Sources Consulted for this List: Cairo by Night, Clanbook: Setites (2nd Ed), Clanbook: Followers of Set [WW2360], Libellus Sanguinis III: Wolves at the Door, Dark Ages: Players Guide to the Low Clans [WW20006]
Contents
Lore: Setite *
You know that the primary Setite Disciplines are Presence, Obfuscate, and Serpentis, and that Serpentis is unique to their Clan. (VtM [Rev]: 93)
You know that all Setites are extremely sensitive to bright lights, especially the light of the Sun (even more so than other Kindred). (VtM [Rev]: 93)
You are familiar with the standard, historically accepted myth of the God Set, in which Set, jealous of his brother Osiris, lures him into a richly decorated coffin and casts him into the Nile. After Osiris' magician wife and sister, Isis, revives him, Set again tries to thwart Osiris and his line by castrating Osiris and dismembering him. After this, Osiris is reassembled by Isis and embalmed by the jackal-headed God Anubis, and then takes his place as the ruler of the underworld. His son, the falcon-headed Horus, eventually defeats Set in battle, and rules the lands of the living. (CbSe [Rev]: 12)
You know that the Setites worship their Clan founder, Set, as a God, and that they do not believe in the traditional Noddist stories of Caine or the traditional Egyptian fables regarding Set and Osiris. You have heard it claimed that the Clan believes that Set, after his battles with Osiris and Horus, descended into the underworld where he came upon a great revelation which gave him considerable power, and that it was Set who later created the twelve other Clans of vampires. (CbSe [Rev]: 12-14)
You know that Setites claim that their religion promotes freedom from enslavement to dogma and conventional morality. (CbSe [Rev]: 39-40)
You know that many Setites follow the Path of Typhoon, a Path of Enlightenment which emphasizes revelry in universal corruption and adheres to the orthodox teachings of the Setite religion. (LotN [Rev]: 79; CbSe [Rev]: 40-44; VtM [Rev]: 294-295)
You know that Setites are notorious for dealing in all manner illicit trade including drugs, prostitution, and all manner of Black markets. They also have a predisposition to forming mortal blood cults.
You know that Setites have their roots and major holdings in Egypt, although you have heard that a heretical splinter group is rather popular in the Caribbean. (CbSe [Rev]: 48-50)
You know that Set is a God of storms, chaos and darkness, and that he is associated with beer, lettuce and wild boars. You know that he is commonly depicted as having red hair and that he is associated with the constellation of the Big Dipper. (CbSe [Rev]: 66)
Lore: Setite **
You have the tradition legend of Set as told by his followers. In it, Set is cursed by Atum-Ra to forever live in darkness after his defeat by Osiris and Horus. Fearing the sun, Set descended into Du'at wherein he consumed the heart of the serpent Apep and took his power. It was then looking at Nun, the waters of primeval darkness, that Set realized that the Ra had not, in fact, created the world as a thing lesser than himself, but had merely shaped the same substance from which he, himself, was created. Set concluded that all souls differed only in size, but not in kind, and that all beings could someday achieve the same power of the Gods. You know that these "Gods" (Isis, Osiris, Horus and Set's one-time consort Nephythys) are commonly referred to as the Aeons (as well as Atun-Ra, who is also sometimes known as the Demiurge), and that the Setites seek in all ways combat them, as these deities wish to keep their mortal underlings entrapped in the illusion that they must, by nature, be subservient to the Gods. (CbSe [Rev]: 14, 35-39)
You have heard that, according to Theophidian doctrine, what other Cainites claim as the city of Enoch was, in fact, the city of Annu, which was ruled over by Ra. You further know that Setites claim that Set was not Embraced, but rather that he came to know death by drinking of the waters of Du'at, and that he used his wisdom to create twelve disciples like him, only to have them betray him to Ra. It is said that Set then cursed each of them for their renegade ways, and that this is said among Setites to be the true origin of the thirteen Clans. (CbSe [Rev]: 13-14)
You know that Theophidians often ascribe attributes of other Egyptian deities (Thoth, Khunum, Seker, etc..) to Set as his own. (CbSe [Rev]: 40)
You know that the Noddist tradition of Cainites claims that Set and Osiris were simple mortal tribesmen in Egypt, and that Set wished to stop their father, Ra, from bringing law to society and hence binding people by it. In some legends Set apparently even tried to bargain with Ra and Osiris, asking that they leave the lands of Upper Egypt to him and his people, that they might be free from law, but they refused. (CbSe [Rev]: 12-13, LS3: 82-83)
You've heard that some claim that Osiris continued his life as a Cainite, and that his progeny formed a secret religious order who attempted to keep the vampiric Beast at bay through ritual and meditative prayer. While you have heard that the Followers of Set have had various skirmishes with these "Children of Osiris," you know little about the group save that it once existed, and that nothing has been heard regarding it in recent nights. (CbSe [Rev]: 13)
You know that the history of Egypt is fraught with conflicts for the Followers of Set (sometimes historically referred to as the Children of Rebellion or the Mesu Bedshet), you are aware that the Setites often did not control the reigning mortal governments of Egypt. You know that major eras of Setite influence within the region are said to include the reign of the Pharaoh Seth-Peribsen (2nd Dynasty), the reign of Acthoes II (9th Dynasty) the foreign Hyskos rule (15th-17th Dynasties), the reign of Ramses II (19th Dynasty), and the Argead and Ptolemiac Dyansties (beginning with the occupation of Alexander the Great). (CbSe [Rev]: 14-18)
You've heard that it was during the Roman occupation of Egypt that Theophidian teachings began to spread to other cultures of the Empire, and that it was in this era that Setites first began to Embrace non-Egyptian childer. (CbSe [Rev]: 18-19)>
You have heard of the once great Temple of Set in the ancient city of Tanis, and know that it is where the body of Set was once purported to lie. You have heard that it was eventually destroyed by earthquakes in 543 CE, during the time of the Late Roman Empire. You have also heard that it was around this time that Set ceased his contact with the rest of the Clan. (CbSe [Rev]: 19-20)
You know that the Egyptian Setites' suffered tremendously at the hands of the Marmeluke Sultan Baybars al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari during his reign over Cairo from 1260 CE to 1277 CE. You hear that he is purported to have enacted a purge on all Cainites in the region, resulting in a large portion of elder Setites actually leaving Egypt in exile in what was later recorded as the Proclamation of Red Tears. You are aware that it was during Baybar's reign that the legendary temple of Ombros, which was once the central temple of Setitism, was sacked and destroyed. (CbSe [Rev]: 24-25)
You know that the Setites were given a formal invitation to join the Camarilla at it's inception, but that they declined. (CbSe [Rev]: 27-28)
You have heard that all Setites do not necessarily worship Set, but that many adopt the worship of similar deities within their own religious tradition. You know that many of the Setites of sub-Saharan Africa worship the snake god Damballah, and that Europe has had a long standing cult since classical antiquity known as the Cult of Typhoon Trismegistis, which worships the Greek Titan Typhoon in the guise of the Gods Bacchus, Mars and Pluto. (CbSe [Rev]: 19, 26, 33-34, 46)
You know that there are some Setite Bloodlines (specifically the Daitya in India and the Tlacique in Meso-America) which seem to be descended from the Setites, but who appear to have evolved independently in other parts of the world, and who follow religious traditions totally separate from their parent Clan. (CbSe [Rev]: 33-34, 50-53)
You know of the Hierophants or Eternals, the oldest of the Followers of Set, who are said to have known the God personally. You know that they are currently considered the rulers of the Clan, and that their number is said to be seven. You know that they seldom engage themselves in any but the most serious of Clan affairs these nights. (CbSe [Rev]: 20, LS3: 95-96)
You know that Theophidians hope to bring both mortals and Kindred to abandon shame, fear, needfulness, morality and other fetters created by the Aeons, such as that all beings may realize their true potential beyond the material world in which they are bound. You know that Setites, to this end, often attempt to cater to the desires of potential initiates to such an extent that they learn to let go of normal delineations of good and evil. (CbSe [Rev]: 39)
You know that there are a diversity of opinions as to what the ultimate goal of Setite Theology is, and that philosophy range from the idea that once enlightened, the followers of Set shall rise up to become Gods in their own right to the belief that reality and the Aeons will be transcended once an adherent denies them power. You know that some radical members of the Clan posit that the world that the Demiurge created must be destroyed for Set's vision to realize itself, and that they look to what other Cainites might deem Gehenna with rapt anticipation. (CbSe [Rev]: 39)
You have heard of and can recite the Nine Revelations of the Void, which all initiates into Setitism are generally supposed to undergo. These include revelations of Ecstasy, Terror, Wrath, Desire, Satiety, Despair, Ignorance, Chaos and Blood. (CbSe [Rev]: 48-63-64)
You have heard of the Serpents of the Light, a group of Setite-descended Kindred who ally themselves with the Sabbat and who seek to topple their Antediluvian someday. You know that they are considered Heretics and traitors by the general Clan. (CbSe [Rev]: 48-50)
You know that in addition to the Path of Typhoon, many Setites adhere to the Path of Sutekh, a similar Path which further emphasizes the push toward enlightenment and the transcendence of desire. (CbSe [Rev]: 41-42)
You have heard of the Cohort of Wepwawet, a Setite fundamentalist group who seeks to homogenize Setite doctrine and which does missionary work with non-Egyptian Setite groups. You know that it is from this group that the so called "Warrior Setites" trained in the art of Potence descend. (CbSe [Rev]: 34, 45)
You have heard of the Cult of Taweret, a Setite group focusing on Tawaret's aspects of fertility, childbirth and black magic, and you know that they have developed a derivative Path from the Path of Sutekh known as the Path of Ecstasy, which emphasizes ecstatic experience as key to enlightenment. (CbSe [Rev]: 45-46)
You know about the high Setite holy days, which include the Anniversary of the Death of Osiris (November 19) and the Setite Holy Week (July 31 - August 4), which contains the birthdays of the Egyptian Aeons (Ra, Osiris, Isis, Horus and Nephthys) and remembers when the world was in peril. (CbSe [Rev]: 43)
You are aware that the true pronunciation of the ancient Egyptian language (which eludes modern researchers, given the pictographic nature of its script) is said to have been passed down in secrecy by the followers of Set. (CbSe [Rev]: 12)
You have at least heard, in passing, of Legendary Setites, such as: Wepwawet, Tawaret and Sobek (the childer of Set himself) and Kemintiri, the infamous assassin of Camarilla Ventrue Justicar Michaelis. (CbSe [Rev]: 96-97)
Lore: Setite ***
You have heard tales of the First Age, in which the Aeons walked among mortal men, and have heard all manner of stories relating as to why this is no longer so. Theories range from mankind becoming so dulled with subservience that they could no longer communicate with their Gods on a one-to-one basis to the Aeons fleeing to become incorporeal spirits, perhaps in fear of the newly enlightened Set. You have heard legends say that the free will of men with regards to the Gods may, in fact have been a mistake by the Demiurge, and that Atun-Ra never intended to breathe so much life into his creations that they could someday oppose him. (CbN [Rev]: 39)
You know that the Osirians apparently could claim control of Egypt during the 12th and 13th Dynasties (beginning with Amenemhat I), the reign of Ahmose I, and the famous Amarna period under Akehnaten (in which the Ra, the sun, came to be worshipped alone, apart from other Gods). You have heard, furthermore, that the Setites in Egypt acted directly to dismantle Akehnaten's reign, and that they may have gone so far to Embrace his wife Nefertiti.(CbSe [Rev]: 15-18)
You have heard rumors that the Hyskos rule of Egypt was not entirely pro-Setite, and are aware of connections that are sometimes drawn between the Hyskos and the Lasombra's claim to rule over the "sea people." (CbN: 24-32 ???)
You are aware that during the Persian conquests of Egypt in the Late Period (525 BCE - 404 BCE), the region apparently endured control by Clan Assamite, and that the eventual coming of Alexander the Great was lauded by many as the will of Set to free them from the Assamite occupation. You have heard that many among the Followers of Set view Alexander as possessing the spark of divinity, and that some have gone so far as to call him the "Son of Set." (CbSe [Rev]: 16-17; CbN: 35; LS3: 86)
You've heard that some Setite elders disputed the spread of Setitism to non-Egyptians during the Roman Empire, but that it was rumored that Set himself spoke on the matter and cast his will with the lot of the young then neonates of the time who favored the expansion to other cultures. (CbSe [Rev]: 18-19)>
You know that Set reportedly disappeared from his resting place in Tanis sometime during the time of the early Roman Empire (a superstitious few claim that the time frame coincided with the crucifixion of Christ), and that for one week preceding his disappearance, he sent feverish visions to the elders of the Clan (Six of the Eternals apparently fell into a non-ending torpor during this time), which have since been interpreted as prophecy. You know that there are approximately three-hundred of these prophecies transcribed, and that they are closely guarded by the Clan. (CbSe [Rev]: 19-20, LS3: 87)
You've heard that the fall of Tanis was preceded by many ill omens and auspices, including the year of 539 CE, in which there was purportedly no summer, and an outbreak of the bubonic plague a year before the earthquakes began. (CbSe [Rev]: 19-20)
You know that before the disappearance of Set, the Clan had no hierarchy, and that there is some sentiment that the posts of the Hierophants are not in true accordance with Set's design. You know that some time in the Middle Ages, a counter-movement which protested the Hierophants emerged, known as the Decadents, and that they promoted a philosophy of wholesale corruption separate from the worship of any deity - oddly enough, you know that it is from this school of though that the modern Path of Typhoon emerged, and that many older forms of Setite worship differ in their basic philosophical outlook from modern practices. (CbSe [Rev]: 20; LS3: 96-97)
You are aware that Setites actively participated in both sides of the Crusades as spies, informants and financial backers, hopeful to profit from the deaths of faithful Christians and Muslims simultaneously. You have further heard tell that while the Followers of Set had no hand in the Children's Crusade of 1212 CE, eleven of the youths from that ill-fated expedition eventually recieved the Setite Embrace, after being sold as slaves or sacrifices to several of the Clan's temples. (CbSe [Rev]: 22-23)>
You have heard rumors linking Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II's dealings with Sultan Al-Kamil al-Malik al-Kamel Naser al-Din Abu al-Ma'ali Muhammed to have Jerusalem ceded during the Fifth Crusade to have been influenced by Setites in the region, and have heard some folk-tales regarding various sightings of Frederick after his alleged death in 1250 CE, which has been used to imply that he may have been a Setite Embrace. You further know that he was widely known for possessing distinctive red hair and green eyes "like those of a serpent." (CbSe [Rev]: 22-23)>
You know that the Sultan Baybars is commonly held by Setites to have been slain by the Assamite Vardar Vardarian in 1277 CE, and know that many Egyptian Setites hold Vardarian in great regard, and that it is technically held by the Hierophants that the entirety of the Followers of Set owe him a Life Boon. You know that the anniversary of Baybar's death on July 1st is a Setite holiday in many regions, and that there are tales of lector-priests who have acquired his body for the purposes of publicly tormenting his soul in yearly ritual ceremonies. (CbSe [Rev]: 25)
You've heard alternate stories regarding the Osirians, claiming that it was Horus who carried on his father's feud with Set, and that he did so through means of a strange ritual, now lost to history, which granted him an immortality different from that achieved by Set. (CbSe [Rev]: 13)
You've heard stange tales of the magician-priests in service to other Aeons besides Osiris and Horus, and have heard legends of them in pre-Dynastic Egypt, and how they sought to bind up the world in the web of Maat, or the great Order of things, which would allow them to entrap the hearts of mankind in eternal stasis, free from ambition, anger, or hope. (CbSe [Rev]: 14)
You have heard that Setite influence was instrumental to the fall of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade, and have heard tell of the Children of Judas, a heretical Satanist splinter group of the Decadent movement that was active in the region at the time, led by a follower of Set known as Khay'tall, who had been invited to the city by its ruler, the Toreador Michael, sometime during the fifth century. You know that the group was eventually purged. (CbSe [Rev]: 21-22)
You know that the Setites received their invitation to join the Camarilla, as they had covertly aided the Camarilla's founding elders throughout the First Anarch Revolt once the Assamites were seen to have joined the oppositon, and that Setite spies assisted in the location of Alamut whilst Setite lector-priests may have, in fact, aided the Tremere in the perfection of the curse which was laid upon the assassins. You are aware that this information is not known to the general Camarilla, although you have heard that some Setite elders still feel that the Inner Council owes the followers of Setite a collective Life Boon as a result - much as the Followers of Set owe one to Vardar Vardarian. (CbSe [Rev]: 27-29)
You are aware that the famous Italian libertine, occultist and adventurer Alessandro di Cagliostro (originally Giuseppe Balsamo) was Embraced as a Setite. Cagliostro is particularly noteworthy in that he founded a Masonic Order, known as the Egyptian Rite in 1784 CE, which paved the way for the heavy Setite influence in Freemasonry which persists to this day. (CbSe [Rev]: 30-31)
You have heard of the now defunct Setite branch of the Cainite Heresy, the Church of the Black Magdelene. You know that this group claimed that Jesus had taught Mary Magdelene how he had taken away original sin through his ministry, and that any act performed out of love was holy, no matter how traditionally "sinful." You know that these Setites also believed that Christ and Magdelene had had children, who eventually became entwined with the Merovingian kings in France. You have further heard of the Path of Serpentis, a Path of Enlightenment which was practiced by the Magdelenites and which hearlds back to the teachings of a late Roman Gnostic Setite mystery cult known as the Ophites, who emphasized the role of the serpent in Eden as man's enlightener in bold defiance of the wicked God of the Old Testament. (CbSe [Rev]: 19, 26-27)
You have a rough idea of the functioning and hierarchy of the Serpents of the Light. You know that the antitribu Clan as a whole is led by four Cainites known as the empereurs, and that below that the Clan is organized into cells known as shanpwel, each led by a president. You know that the group's name comes from the Milky Way, which is said to be a great shining snake encircling the universe. (CbSe [Rev]: 50)
You are aware that pressure from agressive missionaries in the Cohort of Wepwawet in the 70s and 80s is what has led to current strained relations with Damballian African Setites and the eventual ceding of the Serpents of the Light to the Sabbat. (CbSe [Rev]: 34)
You know that the Daitya in India (who probably seperated Egyptian Setites at the time of Alexander's Conquest) are a group of Brahmin Setites who identify with the legendary cosmic demons of Hindu myth, and who seek to bring about the apocalyptic purification of the world by Shiva. To do this they seek to cause as many individuals as possible to sin against their station, that the created impurity must eventually be cleansed. You know that they are led by the enigmatic elder Sundervere. (CbSe [Rev]: 33, 50-51)
You know that the Tlacique of Mesoamerica claim descendence from the dark God Tezcatlipoca, and that they ruled the mortal civilizations of the continent as Gods, demanding prayer and blood sacrifice. While the conquistadors eventually wiped out the majority of their numbers along with the native people, a few still exist today and many speculate that they are an offshoot of the Setites, given their vulnerability to light, although their use of the Discipline Protean rather than Serpentis makes some wonder. (CbSe [Rev]: 51-53)
You have heard that there are a handful of Scandanavian Setites (often mistaken for Toreador) who paid homage to the Midgard Serpent and were are heavily involved in the luxury trade. (CbSe [Rev]: 45)
You have heard of the Sisterhood of Sekhemet, a Setite-created feminist cult that encompasses a wide spectrum of Clans, but has in the process distanced itself from original Setite doctrine a bit. (CbSe [Rev]: 46)
You know most of the major temples of the Setites by name, although you do not necessarily know much more. You are familiar with the House of the Eclipse beneath Cairo, the Red Temple of Thebes, the Garden of Asps in Mephis, the Crocodile Temple in the Faiyum, the Labyrinth on Bones in Tunis, the Descending Aerie in Tangier and the Temple of Dogs in the British Isles. (CbSe [Rev]: 17-18, 47)
You have heard that Rasputin was a Setite, although this is disputed by other Clans.
You are aware that the Setites have been credited with embracing such historical figures as: Giacomo Cassanova. You have also heard some rumors that Cleopatra and Ay (the Pharaoh following the short lived Tutankhamun's reign) were Setite ghouls, although few elders will substantiate it. (CbSe [Rev]: 16-18, 30; CbN: 31; GC3: 141)
You have at least heard, in passing, of famous Setites such as: Ghede and Ezuli, who were responsible for the spread of the cult to Haiti in the 18th century; and Hesha Ruhadze,a famous Setite scholar. (CbSe [Rev]: 98-99)
Lore: Setite ****
You have heard a few of the prophecies of Set, and know that some of them have supposedly been fulfilled. (LS3: 87)
You have heard that during the 1885 archeological expedition of W. M. Flinder Petrie in Tanis, it was found that the six sleeping Eternals had disspeared from their alleged resting place. (CbSe [Rev]: 32)
You have heard that the stories that hail Alexander the Great as the "Son of Set" may have some grain of deeper truth to them, and are aware that according to an ancient document known as the Testament of Seterperne that lector-priests amongst the Setites used their magic arts to shape Alexander in his mother's womb. You have further heard tales of a treaty between Alexander and the Persian Assamites writ in gold on a human skull, in which the Assamites that once held Egypt recognized Alexander as the King of Kings. (CbSe [Rev]: 17)
You've heard that the Setites did, in fact, make attempts on the life of St. Cyril, the man responsible for burning the Library of Alexandria, but that they were apparently repulsed by the legendary Sarmoung Brotherhood, which scholars hold to be an extention of the Cult of Aton that reigned in the time of Akehnaten, and that this same cult later manifested as the group known as the Nur al-Allah who operated under Sultan Baybars. You know that some hold that the Cult of Aton has manifested yet again in the modern era as the Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavara (the Illuminati) whom some Masonic Setites claim have gained spiritual control over the government of the United States of America. (CbSe [Rev]: 20, 24, 30-31)
You know a bit about the Children of Osiris and it's structure, and understand that they aren't a Clan so much as a religious order which draws from all Clans. You also know that their initiation ritual renders them infertile.
You've heard tell of the Reborn or the Shernau Heru, followers of the Aeon Horus whom have had Isis' magic ritual performed on them such as that their eternal bodies will never die. You have ocassionally heard of such creatures referred to derisively as "mummies," given that several of the components of the ritual of Eternal Life are said to resemmble the ancient Egyptian embalming process. (CbSe [Rev]: 14)
You have heard that while most of the Magdalenites were murdered in the Inquisition, several of them survived, and renamed themselves the Priory of the Black Magdalene in the seventeen century. You have heard that the Priory is still active in Marseilles, where it keeps a magnificent underground cathedral and claims to continue to protect the bloodline of Christ and to ensure its survival through selective breeding of mortals. (CbSe [Rev]: 27)
You have heard tell of a minute splinter of the Cult of Typhoon Trismegistis from tenth centuty Venice, known as the Flamens of Dis. You have heard that it may be linked to the ancestors of the not yet prominent Giovanni family. (CbSe [Rev]: 26)
You have heard some rumors regarding the various major temples and what they actually contain. You know that the House of the Eclipse apparently contains the world's most vast collection of Setite related artifacts and lore, and interestingly enough you have heard that the Labyrinth of Bones contains a staked collection of sleeping Brujah elders. (CbSe [Rev]: 47)
You know of the existence of the True Brujah, and that several of them are allied with the Setites in Egypt.
You've heard of some of the fairly obscure Setites of note, such as: Marriot d'Urban, a crusader who abandoned his faith upon the Embrace and has sense become one of the world's leading Kindred Egyptologists.
Lore: Setite *****
You know that the high temple at Ombos has been covertly rebuilt, and that some claim that Set sleeps there now. (CbSe [Rev]: 35)
You somehow have or have had access to the majority of the prophecies of Set and are familiar with how they might be interpreted. (LS3: 87)
With regards to the Children of Osiris you hear that they all miraculously turned into mortals again. You might be considering a "crisis of faith" about now.
You have some insight into the truth of who the Antediluvian really is and how he actually may seek to direct the Clan.
