Deathless and Nameless (Mummy: the Curse Quest)

In the beginning, the Shan'iatu came to the children of the Black Land. By their spells, their wisdom and their lashes, the children of clay were educated, and the pillars of the first empire raised. Armies marched in gleaming bronze to bring slaves and servants to the altars, the temples and the houses of the great. Pharaoh was enshrined as the living Azar, and sent to join his greater self in Duat when his time was done. An empire of blood, of bronze, of sorcery, of necromancy.

Irem of the Pillars.

The sands have swallowed the dust of Irem, and even its memory has been devoured. But still its children walk the world, Deathless.

You are such a one. You die, live and die again, memory of the ages waxing and waning with the years. You are an un-living demigod, dust and necromancy wound about a soul unbreakable by the greatest torments of the hereafter.

Your soul imperishable, your un-life sustained by the living blaze of cosmic life-essence moulded by the Rite of Return, you are…

[] Arisen. No king or high-priest, you were prepared, killed and mummified, your remains wound about with the most potent spells, and your soul offered as an eternal servant to the Judges of Duat. You were tested, again and again, until all but one pillar of your soul was broken - but that pillar shone forth with your Decree. You have walked the ages since as a member of an ancient Guild. You gather mystic Relics to feed your distant master, and plan and politic with your fellow immortals.

Perhaps you seek to revive an Irem in the modern world. Perhaps eternal service is its own reward. Perhaps you wish to re-enact the joys of living existence in the snips of cosmic time you are allotted. Perhaps you even seek that most heretical end of Apotheosis; freedom from the Judges, and freedom to never die.

Whatever the case, the space between your deaths is to you a dreamless void; all memory of Duat removed every time you return to the living world. Some say the existence of the Arisen in Duat is a paradisiacal reward for their service. Some say it is a torturous eternity, necessary to maintain the Pillars of the Arisen soul. None know for certain.

Article:

You will be one of the Arisen, an immortal mummy who rises from death according to the call of their cult, the whims of the Judge who is their master, the violation of their tomb or, once every 1460 years, in response to the rising of the star Sothis.

You will choose a Decree, one part of your five-fold soul upon which your being rests, and be a member of one of five Guilds of ancient Irem, with magic appropriate to their practices.

Pick this option if you want the quest to focus more on the movements of immortal powers, tracking down mystical but cursed relics, and dealing with the politics of the Deathless.

[] Deceived. You were prepared and interred as the Arisen, but your Shan'iatu masters never relinquished you to the service of the Judges. You are a member of the Sixth Guild, the Lost Guild: The Restless Stars of the Akhem-Urtu. When the seven Shan'iatu leaders of your guild betrayed (or were betrayed by) the others of their kind, they were shattered and broken on the eve of the Rite of Return, and their shards fled to anchor themselves to their last remaining mortal tethers: the Deceived. Since your first arising you have served the Temakh-spirit which clings to your soul, the insane wraith of a primordial artist.

The Temakh seek vicious revenge upon the remnants of loathed Irem, and use their Deceived to carry out this millennia-long vendetta. To this end, they wield the dread magics of Nomenclature, commanding the world by its true names and claiming immaterial words of power as their sacred Vessels. Not idly are the Akhem-Urtu called the Restless Stars; though their guild was one of artists, performers, philosophers and ritualists, they are the closest of all the Deathless to the flow of cosmic Fate, and the stars which show its progress.

Even compared to the Arisen, the Deceived are strange. Where the Arisen obey distant Judges, the Deceived suffer the shrieking spirit of their Temakh half-mingled with their own thoughts, and the stretches between their resurrections is not the respite of Duat, but a nightmare chase through Twilight as the monstrous Temakh attempts to drag them back to service. Their true forms are twisted by the inhuman spirits of the Temakh, and their magics call upon principles and powers alien to the world itself. So secretive are they, and their powers of concealment so great, that most amongst the Arisen believe they were destroyed utterly. In fact, the endurance of the Deceived is even greater than the Arisen: though the mummies of the five Guilds can resurrect through many means it is possible - though difficult - to end them. The Deceived are simply eternal. Perhaps, ages hence, one of the Akhem-Urtu will watch the red and bloating corpse of the sun from some distant star, their feet awash in the dust of an unknown world.

Article:

You will be one of the Deceived, a twisted, eternal mummy-creature serving one of seven Temakh, the fractured spirit of one of the Shan'iatu. You arise according to similar criteria to the Arisen, save that your Temakh causes your rising, rather than a Judge.

Your defining Pillar will be Ren, and your Guild will be the Restless Stars. Instead of a Decree, you will instead choose one of the Temakh to serve, each associated with a particular art, and practice their particular sub-division of the primordial Nomenclature.

Pick this option if you want the Quest to focus more on the eldritch secrets of lost magic and the Shan'iatu, deception and espionage against the Arisen, and the inscrutable movements of Fate and its secret stars.

The scent of dust and anise fills your mind as you feel the first ignition of power. You are rising, rising towards the living world. As the golden light fills your mind, memory fades. You retain little, but that little is precious. You know that you are…

[] Mighty. Whatever may face you, your body has not failed you, and will not. Immortal, imperishable, and fuelled by the life of centuries, no mortal man can match you in strength.

[] Silver-Tongued. One alone may be overcome, but yours is the privilege of kings and princes to bend the will of others. Where one fails or may be unsuited, a hundred may succeed.

[] Genius. All the power in the world is useless unless applied. You have the perception and wit to understand the world, and the will to make use of it.

Nothing else remains for now as you rise like a shining fish through dark water, towards the living world, but it will return.

You may be nameless, but you are Deathless also.

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When voting, pick either Arisen or Deceived, and up to two of Mighty, Silver-Tongued and Genius.

These represent your character's general focus when it comes to Attributes and Skills, and their problem-solving approach more generally. Whichever option gets the most votes will be the character's primary focus, while the second-most will be a secondary focus.

For example, a character with 10 votes for Mighty, 8 for Genius and 4 for Silver-Tongued might be an unexpectedly-smart warrior, or an architect-labourer. The exact traits of your mummy will be refined in future updates.

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Author's Notes: So, welcome to a new Quest! This one is based on the Chronicles of Darkness Mummy: the Curse gameline. You'll be an immortal, necromantic demigod running a cult in the modern day, chasing down violators of your tomb, serving the will of inscrutable gods, scrambling to rebuild your ever-fading memory and, perhaps, seeking true freedom from the leash of your masters.

As Mummy is one of the less-known gamelines for CofD, I'm going to give a few core themes of them here:

1. Mummies are immortal: They are extremely difficult to put down, and even if you can kill their body (probably with the help of fire), there's every chance they'll resurrect, either using organs removed and hidden in canopic jars, or reincarnating into a mortal into whom they have invested a fraction of their soul. On a longer scale, though they die and rise again, jumping through history, the fact remains that any given mummy is, in a sense, older than recorded history.
2. Mummies are powerful: When a mummy rises from death, they do so at the peak of their power - in game terms, Sekhem 10. They are unliving demigods, dust and soul bound by necromancy to a nearly-unfathomable degree of might. A mummy can, at character creation, create city-wide earthquakes, or call down a rain of meteors with certain Utterances. It's not hyperbolic to compere their grand power to strategic weaponry, and on a more personal scale they can be amongst the most terrifying entities in the World of Darkness, ignoring cosmic beings.
3. Mummies are on a timer: This power doesn't last, however. From the moment a mummy begins a new Descent, their power begins to wane. This slows down the less power the mummy retains, but the fall from the very heights of mystic might to being merely dangerous can be quite fast. If a mummy wishes to take advantage of their greatest power, they must do so quickly - and in doing so, often inadvertently create problems for themselves further down the line. Sekhem can be regained by destroying Vessels and consuming their power, but this act has consequences - and Vessels are hardly commonplace.
4. Mummies are both servant and master: Mummies serve their masters, whether those masters be Judge or Temakh. Pleasing them extends the time the Deathless can remain in the living world, while angering them shortens their leash. By the same token, though, the mummy stands as a kind of prophet to their cult: A demigod that can be called on in times of trouble, and acts as a conduit to the world of the divine. Punishment and reward are theirs to give - and theirs to suffer.
5. Mummies forget: The Rite of Return is corrosive to Memory, and to personal identity. Its creators did not want to make independent immortals: they wanted immortal slaves to serve their will. With each death, memory is lost. It can be regained, but the process is long and slow. When their power is at their greatest, a mummy's memories are difficult to access, lost in the whirl and blaze of Sekhem. When that power ebbs they become more themselves, but the labour of discovering their own past takes time and effort - and even for immortals, time is always running out.

Next update will involve picking your Decree and Guild (if you choose Arisen) or your Temakh (if you choose Deceived), along with getting a first look at some of your powers and choosing how to distribute your Pillar dots (the components of your soul, corresponding to what kinds of powers you're best at).

If anyone has any questions, I'm more than happy to ramble about Mummy.

As always seems to be the case, thanks go to @BungieONI , who's collabing with me on this Quest, and pushed me over the edge into actually posting it.

Guild: Maa-Kep
Decree: Usheb
Sekhem: 9 (Descent Roll per day)
Memory: 3
Pillars:

• Ba: 1/1
• Ka: --/--
• Ren (Defining): 5/5
• Sheut: 3/3
• Ab: --/--

Nature: Noble - A noble mummy encourages themselves and others to do the right thing, even when it is difficult.

Regain a single point of Willpower when you go out of your way to take a moral or ethical action, instead of an easier alternative.

Regain all Willpower when you convince an enemy to take a more moral or ethical course of action, even if that course of action does not align with your goals.

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Scar: Vindictive - A vindictive mummy has been made vengeful and in some ways petty by their long enslavement, exacting vengeance upon those who fall within her power.

Regain a single point of Willpower when you exact disproportionate vengeance for a slight or difficulty.

Regain all Willpower when you harm yourself, alienate allies, or put your goals in serious jeopardy by chasing vengeance or reprisal.

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Purpose: Recover the Keystone.
Aspirations:

• Long-Term: "Fulfil my Purpose."
• Short-Term: "Head to the area of my Tomb and scout the surrounding area."
• Short-Term: "Talk with the mortals Gracie knows, determine if any can be recruited."

Advantages

Defence: 6 (Lower of Wits or Dexterity + Athletics)
Health: 7/7 (Size + Stamina)
Willpower: 4/4 (Resolve + Composure)
Initiative: 4. (Dexterity + Composure)
Size: 5 (Normal human)
Speed: 10 (Species Factor 5 + Strength + Dexterity)

Beats: 3/5, 0 Experience
Reminisce Beats: 1/5, 0 Reminisce Experience

Attributes

Presence •••
Manipulation ••••
Composure ••

Strength •••
Dexterity ••
Stamina ••

Intelligence ••
Wits ••
Resolve ••

Skills

Social
Animal Ken 1
Empathy 4 (Establish Rapport)
Expression 2
Intimidation 4
Persuasion 5 (Tempting Offers)
Socialize 4
Streetwise 3
Subterfuge 5

Physical
Athletics 4
Brawl 2
Drive
Firearms
Larceny 3
Stealth 3
Survival 1
Weaponry 4

Mental
Academics
Computer
Craft 3
Investigation 1
Medicine
Occult 3 (Twilight)
Politics 3
Science

Merits

Physical
Mental

• Library (•, Craft)
  • Effect: Your character has access to a plethora of information about a given topic. When purchasing this Merit, choose a Mental Skill. The Library covers that purview. On any extended roll involving the Skill in question, add the dots in this Merit. You can purchase this Merit multiple times to reflect different Skills.

Social

• Contacts (••, Aldeburgh Book Club, Aldeburgh Town Council)
  • Effect: Contacts provide your character with information. Each instance of this Merit represents a sphere or organization with which the character can garner information. Contacts do not provide services, only information. This may be face-to-face, via email, by telephone, or even through a séance.
    
    Garnering information via Contacts requires a Manipulation + Social Skill roll, depending on the method the character uses, and the relationship between the characters. The Storyteller should give a bonus or penalty, dependent on how relevant the information is to that particular Contact, whether accessing the information is dangerous, and if the character has maintained good relations or done favors for the Contact. These modifiers should range from −3 to +3 in most cases. If successful, the Contact provides the information.
    
    You may purchase this Merit multiple times to reflect different sources.
• Safe Place (•, Gracie's House)
  • Effect: Your character has somewhere besides her tomb she can go where she can feel secure. While she may have enemies that could attack her there, she's prepared and has the upper hand. The dot rating reflects the security of the place. Equipment represents the actual location, the luxury, and the size. A one-dot Safe Place could simply be out of sight, out of mind, or feature minor security systems. A five-dot could have a security crew, infrared scanners at every entrance, or trained dogs. Each place can be an apartment, a mansion, or a hidey-hole.
    
    A Safe Place gives all owners an Initiative bonus equal to the total Merit dots while inside.
    
    Any efforts to breach the Safe Place suffer a penalty equal to the Merit dots invested. If the character desires, the Safe Place includes traps that cause intruders lethal damage equal to the Merit dots, or bashing damage equal to twice the Merit's dots. The traps may be avoided with a Dexterity + Larceny roll, penalized by the Safe Place rating.
    
    Each instance of this Merit reflects a different place.
• Pusher (•)
  • Prerequisite: Persuasion ••
  • Effect: Your character tempts and bribes as second nature. Any time a mark in a Social interaction accepts his soft leverage, improve his Impression as if he'd satisfied her Vice as well as moving the Impression up on the chart as usual.
• Resources (••, Investments)
  • Effect: This Merit reflects your character's disposable income. She might live in an upscale condo, but if her income is tied up, she might have little money to throw around. Characters are assumed to have basic necessities without Resources.
    
    The dot rating determines the relative amount of disposable funding the character has available. One dot is a little spending money here and there. Two dots is a comfortable, middle-class wage. Three is a nicer, upper-middle-class life. Four is moderately wealthy. Five is filthy rich.
    
    Every item has an Availability rating (p. 190). Once per chapter, your character can procure an item at her Resources level or lower, without issue. Obtaining an item one Availability above her Resources reduces her effective Resources by one dot for a full month, since she has to rapidly liquidate funds. She can procure items two Availability below her Resources without limit (within reason). For example, a character with Resources •••• can procure as many Availability •• disposable cellphones as she needs.

Supernatural

• Relic (•••, Gledbreca)

Affinities:

Article:

Decree Affinity: Serpent's Tongue
Clever and sly, the Usheb's words move mountains.

• Anyone permanently sacrificing a significant memory may summon the Usheb from henet as if they were the mummy's cultist.
• When engaging in Social Maneuvering, if the Serpent's goal would be a breaking point for the character she is trying to influence, add one Door instead of two.
• When the Serpent improves a character's impression of her during Social Maneuvering, she gains the Informed Condition regarding that character.

Spoiler: Informed Condition

Informed
Your character has a breadth of research information based on the topic she investigated. When you make a roll relating to the topic, you may choose to resolve this Condition. If you resolve it and the roll fails, consider it to have a single success. If it succeeds, consider it an exceptional success.

Resolution: Your character uses her research to gain information; you resolve the Condition as described above.

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Guild Affinity: Affable Aid
Even if the amulet-maker asks no recompense, Fate recognizes a debt owed. The Maa-Kep sit as spiders in this subtle web, listening to the pluck of their threads, and tugging them in turn.

• The mummy adds +2 to Perception rolls, rolls to shadow others, or to seduce or persuade them into sharing information.
• Once the Maa-Kep has done something for another character that might evoke gratitude - regardless of the target's experienced emotions - all subsequent Persuasion, Socialize and Empathy rolls against that character benefit from 9-again until the end of the current Chapter or five days, whichever is shorter.
• The Maa-Kep may spend 1 Willpower to benefit from 8-again on all Empathy, Stealth and Subterfuge rolls against a single target. This benefit ends if the Maa-Kep attacks or otherwise indisputably betrays that target.

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Soul Affinity: Enlightened Senses
The mummy's senses extend beyond the mortal, revealing terror and beauty unseen by the living masses.

• The mummy adds her Ren rating to her Perception, Craft and Investigation rolls.
• The mummy's steady hands and keen eyes reduce range and concealment penalties when firing a weapon by her Ren.
• The mummy is never surprised by an ambush or surprise attack.
• The mummy can both perceive and physically interact with beings in the spiritual and ghostly frequencies of Twilight, and can harm them with her unarmed attacks.

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Soul Affinity: Godsight
The mummy's sight is attuned to the cosmic mysteries of the World of Darkness - often providing more questions than answers, true, but insight remains valuable.

• Upon seeing another being with a Supernatural Tolerance rating, the mummy can perceive the radiance of their soul, allowing her to judge their rough power in relation to her own. If the being is disguising its nature (e.g. a mummy in human form, a ghost using Mortal Mask, a werewolf in human form, a vampire using the Blush of Life), this requires a successful perception roll.
• By spending a Willpower point, the mummy truly opens her eyes to the mystical, suffering a -1 penalty to all perception rolls targeting mundane or physical things, but adding 2 to Clash of Wills dice pools to penetrate supernatural obfuscation, concealment, illusion, or misdirection for the scene.
  
  In this state, occult events and entities conflate her senses in distinctive patterns of synesthesia, showing her how observed magic works. These hallucinations grant reflexive perception checks using Wits + Occult to notice supernatural beings and phenomena, including ongoing effects of supernatural powers, and she may make an Intelligence + Occult + Ren roll as an Action to examine such effects. Apply a penalty of –1 for simple or common effects, –3 for most effects, and –5 for rare or complex effects. If successful, her player learns a basic synopsis of what she just witnessed. If the mummy successfully examines a magical Condition or Tilt, she learns its Resolution conditions as well.
  
  For example, upon encountering a vampire, a mummy might smell the strong scent of blood, hear distant screams and intuit that her quarry is a bloodthirsty undead monster. If the vampire later used a power to exert superhuman strength, the mummy would get a chance to spot the power use (and her player would learn the basic mechanics of what the power does).

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Utterances:

Article:

Dreams of Dead Gods
Unleashing the timeless power which sleeps within her, the mummy afflicts her targets with dreams and visions of majesty and terror.

• Tier 1 (Ba 1, Curse)
  Cause Fate-chosen mortals to dream of your will, suffering penalties to anything but what works towards your intentions, but blessings on those which advance your intent. With Ba 1, mortals suffering these dreams gain additional blessings when pursuing your will.
  
  
• Tier 2 (Ka 2, Curse, Potency 2)
  Choose a character you have interacted with in the last week and curse them to dream of you in terrifying splendor or awe-inspiring majesty, either charming them or making them terrified of you. With Ka 2, this influence persists in a lesser form even if the primary terror or charm is ended.
  
  
• Tier 3 (Ab 4, Subtle)
  Impose upon those who can see or hear the mummy a vision of awe and terror, either causing them to break and become unable to do anything but the most basic actions, become overcome with love towards the mummy, or become utterly awestruck towards her. With Ab 4, this becomes an aura which persists for the scene.

Spoiler: Full Mechanics

Tier 1 (Ba 1, Curse)
The timeless power of the Judges of Death slumbers within the Arisen, awaiting only the taste of sweet Sekhem to awaken. With this Utterance, the mummy awakens that same divinity in others. The mummy doesn't choose who is affected by this power. They need only define a specific task they need completed and unleash the Utterance; Fate chooses the afflicted. If the task as defined is impossible to complete, the mummy is refunded the cost.

Afflicted dreamers suffer the Dead Dreamer Condition. Each time they slumber, they are plagued by nightmares of Duat and the horrifying futures awaiting them: scorpions scrabbling at their souls, loved ones embracing others and forgetting them, crying out in agony as their futures are torn asunder in smoke and shadow. These visions haunt them even during waking hours, pushing them to fulfill the task set before them or perish in torment.

The duration lasts until every dreamer resolves the Condition. If unleashed during a death cycle or in henet, the mummy pays the cost immediately upon arising. When unleashed as a death curse, the mummy bestows the task directly upon their killer.

Ba: With a Ba Pillar rating of 1 or higher, those afflicted by the mummy with the Dead Dreamer Condition gain two additional Blessed Actions per chapter.

Spoiler: Dead Dreamer (Persistent)

Your character is preoccupied with horrifying and prophetic dreams of dust and death, rendering them unable to focus on new situations. These dreams guide you toward a specific task, unveiling aspects of your future. Thrice per chapter, you may declare a single mundane roll to be a Blessed* Action. However, all actions not spent pursuing the task become Blighted** Actions. Each time you take the Blessed Action offered by these dreams, you may ask the Storyteller one question about the future, which must be answered truthfully.

Possible Sources: Dreams of Dead Gods, Unease Sybaris.

Resolution: The character succeeds or definitively fails at Fate's commandment, or becomes unable to fulfill it and thus an invalid target for this Condition. A subject can suffer this Condition from multiple mummies; pity the poor, mad dreamer.

Beat: The character fails to fulfill another obligation due to pursuing her prophetic dream.

*Roll twice, use the higher result.
**Roll twice, use the lower result.

Tier 2 (Ka 2, Curse, Potency 2)
Terror pervades the dreams of death, but romance does as well. The mummy unleashes this Utterance upon any character, mundane or supernatural, they have interacted with in the past week, filling the target's slumber with images of the mummy cloaked in dread or splendour.

Dice Roll: Manipulation + Ka + Sekhem vs. Resolve + Supernatural Tolerance
Action: Instant
Duration: Until the Condition triggers or the end of the story

Roll Results
Success: The mummy may inflict the Charmed or Frightened Condition upon the target, triggered when they next behold the mummy's visage, be it a static or electronic image or in the divine flesh. If using social maneuvering, this removes one Door.

Exceptional Success: The mummy's power leaves a lasting impression on the target, removing one additional Door on social maneuvering.

Failure: The dreams of the target remain undisturbed.

Dramatic Failure: The mummy becomes obsessed with the target and gains the Obsession Condition.

Ka: With a Ka Pillar rating of 2 or higher, as soon as the target resolves the Charmed or Frightened Conditions, they receive the Swooned or Shaken Conditions respectively.

Tier 3 (Ab 4, Subtle)
Speaking words of love, of hate, and of majesty, the mummy unleashing this Tier may completely command the emotions of any who behold her, bending them in service to herself. All within the sight of her eyes and the sound of her voice are affected. Even the protection of soundproof walls or averted eyes is not enough; their souls resonate with her majesty. The player chooses one of three effects for the Arisen's overwhelming aura of dread majesty, affecting all mortal characters beholding her as follows, though she may choose to exempt her cultists:

Ruin: Victims gain the Broken Condition.

Love: Victims gain the Swooned Condition toward the Arisen.

Grandeur: Victims gain the Awestruck Condition toward the Arisen.

Ab: With an Ab Pillar rating of 4 or higher, the aura lingers for the entire scene and affects anyone beholding the Arisen throughout that time, rather than only affecting those beholding the Arisen in the moment the Utterance is unleashed.

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Secrets Ripped From Skies
The mummy calls out to the stars, and receives both secrets and blazing wrath in return.

Tier 1: Ba • (Subtle); Tier 2: Sheut ••• (Curse); Tier 3: Ren •••••

• Tier 1 (Ba 1, Subtle)
  By gazing at the night sky, become perfectly aware of your position in relation to any chosen landmarks, and immune to surprise or ambushes. With Ba 1, you may also ask a limited number of questions about past events in your location, particularly with regards to spent Willpower, Exceptional Successes or characters following Virtues or Vices.
  
  
• Tier 2 (Sheut 3, Curse)
  Retroactively direct a meteor towards a chosen location within one mile, dealing significant damage and creating an inferno in the aftermath. With Sheut 3, you may cause the meteor to break up in the upper atmosphere while its ghost continues on to strike only in Twilight.
  
  
• Tier 3 (Ren 5)
  Glean secrets regarding the past, present or future from the night sky, though often veiled in cryptic symbolism. The stars will not reveal the mummy's history, nor cosmological mysteries such as truths about the Judges, ancient Irem or the nameless gods. With Ren 5, this also provides further insights which can be defined at a point in the future. However, if the mummy unleashes the second Tier in the same scene as she used the Third, she may call down a rain of meteors over an area of Sekhem miles. She and those near her are protected, but otherwise the stars fall as Fate wills.

Spoiler: Full Mechanics

Tier 1 (Ba 1, Subtle)
Gazing up at the night sky (defined as from dusk until dawn), the mummy's whisper reveals the space relative to himself using whatever means of reference he prefers — be it the distance from the nearest landmark in cubits and palms, or relating a position near a café the mummy supped at three nights ago. Until dawn, while under the open night sky, the mummy gains perfect awareness of his immediate surroundings, and cannot be surprised or ambushed.

Ba: With a Ba Pillar rating of 1 or higher, the mummy also glimpses recent events in the heavens, relating to spiritual mettle displayed in the past of the location and scene around the character. The player asks the Storyteller a number of questions equal to the mummy's Ba. Answers should include imagery conjured in starlit phantoms visible to the mummy. This tier only offers immediate scenes of violence or spiritual fortitude. The mummy receives the answers as a flash of insight and spatial memory.

Sample Questions

• Who in the area received an exceptional success?
• Who in the area spent Willpower?
• Who fulfilled their Virtue or Vice here?

The mummy learns the circumstances of each question (i.e. the exceptional success in the scene was on a Persuasion roll by a prominent local gangster negotiating a new criminal deal at gunpoint), but may only inquire about events taking place under the open sky within the last lunar month. Multiple answers to a single question, such as spending Willpower, yield a composite rendition of memory derived from the scene most relevant to the current story that occurred in the prior lunar month.

Tier 2 (Sheut 3, Curse)
The mummy's words of power echo throughout her entire existence, from the end of all things to the beginning of the cosmos. Sekhem stretches across time, not space — the primal energy of creation, ineffably linked with the earliest epochs. As eons pass, the mummy's word continues to resound, ensuring matter and energy coalesce into an iron-hard expression of the Arisen's power, falling ever toward the Earth. The mummy need only look to the skies to sight the heralding blaze of her auspicious wrath.

The mummy can only choose a known target he can perceive within one mile, and that target must be exposed to the open sky (i.e., objects inside buildings can't be targeted, though the building itself is fair game). A blazing meteorite falls upon the target in a streak of fire. This is a ranged attack with a pool of Sheut + Occult + Sekhem - Defence (if the target can apply Defence against ranged attacks), dealing lethal damage, with a Damage 2 rating. Range penalties do not apply; targets are either within range or not. Cover is calculated from above, rather than the barriers separating the mummy and target.

An Inferno Environmental Tilt with Bunsen burner intensity which lasts for the scene is created in an area around the target, with a radius of Sekhem metres. The target suffers the Knocked Down Tilt unless they can apply their Defence against ranged attacks, in which case they may roll Dexterity + Athletics - the Arisen's Sheut to avoid the Tilt.

Everyone else in the area of the Inferno Tilt must succeed on a roll of Dexterity + Athletics – the Arisen's Sheut or suffer the Knocked Down Tilt. The interiors of buildings struck gain the Collapsing Ceiling Environmental Tilt for the scene; structures of a Size equal to or less than the Arisen's Sheut × 10 likely collapse by the end of the scene.

Sheut: With a Sheut Pillar rating of 3 or higher, the mummy may fully shatter the meteorite within the upper atmosphere. Having persisted for millions of years in space,the meteorite's ghost remains quite powerful. The Twilight meteorite causes the same devastation and fire as its physical counterpart, but only to Amkhata and to ephemeral entities in Neter-Khertet.

Tier 3 (Ren 5)
Secrets eternal, kept by starlit sentinels, yield to the mummy's queries as Fate allows cosmic mysteries to unfold from ancient constellations. The mummy's player may ask questions of the Storyteller, relating to any topic within Fate's purview. The player asks one question per dot of Ren about the past, present, or future of the current story. Events relating to the Underworld, the Shadow, or realms other than the material or Neter-Khertet are not valid queries; nor are questions relating to the Judges, Anpu, the Shan'iatu, the Deceived, or other cosmological mysteries of mummies.

The Storyteller's answer should be communicated in metaphor and cryptic symbolism, flashes of starlight insight gleaned from constellations wrought by Fate. This Utterance offers answers to virtually any question the mummy may ask, moving her significantly towards her goals or providing a solution to her most pressing dilemma in the current story. It cannot answer questions about the Arisen's history or Memory, except where this would provide illuminating clarity to a particular aspect of the mummy's current problems — in which case it likely provides a maddeningly incomplete picture.

Ren: With a Ren Pillar rating of 5, the mummy also gains the Informed Condition about an unspecified topic with each unleashing. The Arisen may resolve the Condition in a flash of insight at any future point in the story as though they had thoroughly researched the topic.

If the mummy unleashes the second tier in the same scene he attempted to read the future in the stars, he may call down an Epic meteorite shower rather than a single meteorite. The sky darkens, illuminated only by the molten flames of thousands of fireballs crashing down from the heavens. The shower ravages everything within a radius of Sekhem miles around the mummy for a number of turns equal to his Sekhem rating.

The meteorites fall upon as many or as few targets as Fate decrees. While they avoid the fiery destruction and the Inferno Tilt does not affect the mummy or her Inheritors, other allies have no such protection unless they remain close by. Each potential target rolls a chance die each turn, a meteorite striking their location with a dramatic failure.

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Rebuke the Vizier
The Arisen are endowed with magical power which echoes down the ages, and with that weight may crush lesser mages' spells.

• Tier 1 (Ka 1, Potency 3)
  Create a golden, shimmering barrier over your skin which allows you to oppose any incoming magic with a Clash of Wills, benefiting from this Utterance's Potency, before any standard resistance to the power. With Ka 1, you may double your Ka for the purposes of Clashes of Wills, and permit beneficial magic to pass your barrier without opposition.
  
  
• Tier 2 (Ba 3, Potency 3)
  Choose a target you can perceive, and become aware of all magic or enchantments upon it. You may then choose one such effect to try and destroy with a Clash of Wills, benefiting from this Utterance's Potency. This can't remove fundamental abilities like a vampire's undead animation, but it can cancel ongoing effects, such a vampire's use of Potence. With Ba 3, you may sustain this gaze for up to Ba turns, choosing a new target each turn at your will. You also double your Ba for the purposes of the Clash of Wills this Tier creates.
  
  
• Tier 3 (Ren 5, Potency 3)
  Choose a target you can perceive and a power you have witnessed them use which isn't a fundamental ability. If you succeed in a contest against them, whenever they use that power in the same Chapter, regardless of whether you can perceive them, you are aware of it and can reflexively Clash Wills against them to oppose the power.
  
  If this Tier is unleashed while the first is active, the golden barrier bursts, forcing any other characters who attempt to use active supernatural powers on anyone but themselves within a wide area around you must succeed on a Clash of Wills against you or fail for Ren + Sekhem turns. With Ren 5, this secondary nullification effect persists for the scene.

Spoiler: Full Mechanics

Tier 1 (Ka 1, Potency 3)
The power of the Deathless overwhelms lesser forces, allowing the mummy to ward against magic. When unleashing this tier, the Arisen creates a skin of Sekhem around their body for one scene, appearing as a shining, golden skin covering the mummy. Any magic or supernatural power targeting the shielded mummy or the area they occupy triggers a Clash of Wills between the mummy and the attacker, with success turning aside any magical effects. If the Deathless loses, they may then attempt to resist the power according to its standard procedure.

Ka: With a Ka Pillar of 1 or more, the Arisen doubles their Ka for the Clash of Wills, and may choose to permit beneficial magic to bypass its protection.

Tier 2 (Ba 3, Potency 3)
With this tier, the mummy's gaze instantly detects all enchantments currently affecting a target she perceives. With the mere passing of her gaze, the mummy may tear asunder one of those enchantments. The unleashing cannot remove fundamental abilities, such as a mage's ability to cast spells or the power animating a vampire, but may cancel the effects of a mage's protective wards or a vampire's heightened strength.

Doing so prompts a Clash of Wills between the Arisen and the source of the enchantment. Temporary effects are removed, but may be reapplied after Ba + Sekhem turns. Permanent or long-lasting effects are suppressed during this time, returning afterward.

Ba: With a Ba Pillar of 3 or more, the Arisen may maintain the gaze for a number of turns equal to their Ba, targeting one effect each turn if they choose. The mummy doubles their Ba rating for the Clash of Wills.

Tier 3 (Ren 4, Potency 3)
The mummy forbids a perceived target from using a power she has witnessed them use. The target resists the mummy's Ren + Sekhem roll with a roll of Resolve + Sekhem – the Arisen's Sekhem. If the victim fails, for the remainder of the chapter any activation of the chosen ability provokes a Clash of Wills with the mummy, even if the Arisen isn't present. This can't suppress innate capabilities, such as a werewolf's regeneration or shapeshifting, only supernatural powers such as one of the werewolf's Gift Facets.

When unleashed with the first tier active, her golden shell of Sekhem bursts, ending the first tier's effects and shrouding the area around her in a radiant glow that casts a shadow over other supernatural powers used within it. The area of effect has a radius of Ren × 10 yards and ignores physical barriers. This requires characters within the area to make a Clash of Wills to activate magic or supernatural powers targeting anyone except themselves for Ren + Sekhem turns. The Arisen can only use this aspect of the tier's power once per scene and is unaffected by it.

Ren: With a Ren Pillar of 5, the Arisen can use the second aspect of the tier freely throughout a scene, rather than only once.

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Reserved for cult sheet.

Vessels
Gledbreca (Amulet 3)

Durability 3, Size 2, Damage 2, Initiative -2, Structure 4

A hammer with a head of dark iron and a haft of black wood the length of your forearm, its touch sends a faintly feverish heat shivering into your hand. Faintly visible along the handle are swirling patterns of inlay, their lines worn down by long use.

Power: The hammer remembers the heat of its forging, ignoring 1 Durability or physical armor when making attacks, and substituting any need for heat or forging when working metal.

By spending a Pillar point or a point of Willpower as a Reflexive action, the user may intensify its heat for the scene, causing the air to shimmer about its head. Any damage dealt by the hammer in this state is considered to be fire damage, and any Craft rolls which take advantage of this heat (e.g. beating metal into shape) benefits from the 8-again quality.

Additionally, the hammer is unnaturally heavy unless the one picking it up has 7 Strength or greater, it is too heavy to use effectively. The hammer's owner ignores this, but can use the hammer to pin another character to the ground as a Reflexive action, so long as they are already on the ground; this imposes the Immobilised Tilt, and adds the owner's Sheut to the Durability penalty to escape. If the hammer is heated while immobilising a character, that character takes 2 fire damage per round at the end of their turn until they escape.

Curse: The hammer also remembers the bitterness and hate of its first master. For the remainder of a Chapter after using the hammer in any roll, or to pin another character, the owner may not improve her Impression towards others, nor have others Impression towards her improved. For the Arisen, this lasts only for a scene, and the Maa-Kep are immune entirely.

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Vestiges

Locations

Glossary

Reserved just in case.