Updated: 08 January 1999

                    One of the first tries to simulate Magick through the power of Vampiric Vitae, the Hekau Thaumaturgy, also known as the Senef Hekau (Blood Magic/Power), was developped by a True Mage of the First Dynasty, Meryt-Neith.

But her experience was spawned by the Magick and the Paradigm of Ancient Egypt, not the hermetic Magic that would inspire Thaumaturgy developped by the Tremere, and thus, the Hekau Thaumaturgy works in a very different way.

First, there is no Thaumaturgical Path: Meryt-Neith actually failed to merge similar Rituals in the same Path, thus inabling lower casting costs and times. Instead, every Hekau aspect is a Path. Where the Thaumaturgical Paths are powers similar to Disciplines, and where Thaumaturgy is the overall knowledge limiting the Paths and Rituals, each Hekau Ritual belongs to a Hekau Path. Where the Thaumaturgical Paths are limited to 5, Hekau Paths have no such limits.

Hekau Thaumaturgy System

                    First, the would-be Kindred magician must learn Senef Hekau (Blood Magic), to ''translate'' the normal Sekhem Hekau in Vitae Hekau. The cost for learning Senef Hekau is the normal cost for a Kindred Discipline. Senef Hekau does not permit any use of Ritual. It is only the higher limit to any Hekau Path rating, and Senef Hekau must be ''started'' before any use of Hekau Rituals.

Then, and only then, the magician can learn Hekau Paths, up to the rating of Senef Hekau. The only powers that gives each Hekau's paths are the powers to use Rituals associated with this Path. The Magician must roll the corresponding Path's roll and succeed against the difficulty given in the Ritual's description.

Of course, the magician can only use Path Rituals whose level is equal or lesser than her Path rating (which is, too, limited by the Senef Hekau rating).

Each Hekau Path has its own way of functionning, like time of incantation, components, etc. This information is given in each Path description.

Instead of Sekhem, Vitae (called Neter Senef, of Divine Blood) is used to power the Rituals. This gives an edge to Kindred, as their Blood permits them to have rating over 5 (by the Generation System).

Each Hekau's Path is considered as a Clan Discipline, i.e. the cost to learn one is 10XPs for the first level, and then 5 per levels. But alone, these Paths are meaningless: One must learn Rituals, too, whose cost is its level squared (A level 3 Ritual would cost 9XPs while a level 9 would cost 81 XPs). No need to say that learning this kind of Thaumaturgy is difficult (it is one of the multiple reasons Tremere's Thaumaturgy is more effective). In the other hand Creating a New Path is made per Caitiff Rules (See the Caitiff Rules in the Vampire: The Masquerade Chapter), and Creating a new Ritual is twice the cost of learning one (So, a Level 3 Ritual would cost 18XPs instead of 9, and a Level 9 would cost 162XPs instead of 81!).

To use a Ritual, a magician must first spend one Blood Point to power the Senef Hekau for the Scene, or 3 to power the Senef Hekau for 24 hours. Note that when Senef Hekau is active, the Kindred have an Aura similar to a magician, combining both the Mage and the Vampire's aura.

The Ritual's condition must be meet, and unless particular description, needs a combination of fast gestures and a few occult old-egyptian slyllabes. All the time, the Kindred spend the Blood Points needed (equal to the Sekhem cost) in the Ritual Description, and then roll the corresponding Hekau against the difficulty given in the Ritual description. One success is enough to succeed, even if more can increase the effectiveness (see each Ritual Description).

A failure causes no problem, even if the Blood Points are lost. A Botch means the Ritual escapes the magician control and probably affect him in a very bad way.

Note that it is possible, if the spell is successful, to spending additionnal Blood Points (1 success per Blood Point, max additionnal Successes equal to actual Generation maximum to Traits), to increase even more the effectiveness.

Note, too, that the magician need not to spend all the Blood Points needed at once: But he must continue his incantations until all the Blood Points are fulfilled (unless the Path description tells otherwise), which means that even some simple Rituals duration can span multiple Turns for weak Generation Kindred magicians.

The Difficulty is variable for some spells. Should it go beyond nine, then it is nine, but each point beyond is another success needed to power the Ritual. These additional successes can be bought with Vitae of Sekhem, through (see after).

All the Paths, but the Ren-Hekau Path, can be learned (the magic is the same and fully compatible: Senef Hekau permit the production of Sekhem through burning of Vitae). The Ren Hekau Path was researched without success: Kindred have no power over the True Names (which is the Mummy's Domain), in the same way they have no power over True Magick (which is Mage's Domain).

The Hekau Paths can be usable by Mummies, as it is the same Magick (i.e. system) that power them. So Kindred magician can teach a Path or Ritual to a Mummy, and learn the same from her. The only differences are that the Kindred must Learn Senef Hekau where the Mummy doesn't need too, and that powerful Generation Kindred can reach higher mastery on Paths and Rituals than Mummies (because of their potent Vitae). In the other side, no spell affecting a Kindred Ka or Ba is effective... Now, the Khaibit is another story. Hedge Mages (Also called Sorcerers) can't use these Paths, as they have no Sekhem to spend. Should they find a way...

System Summary

• The Kindred must use one Blood Point to power Senef Hekau (Which permits uses of Hekau Paths for all the Scene: Using 3 permits the use for 24 Hours).
• The Kindred must then use the number of Blood Points to reach the cost asked by the Ritual.
• The Kindred must roll the corresponding Path against the Difficulty of the Ritual (max 9).
• If at least one success is achieved, the Kindred can use Blood Points to have additionnal successes (Max 5).
• If the number of final successes is enough, the Ritual is successful.
• For cross-over problems, compare the level of the Path of the Hekau Ritual (and NOT the Hekau Ritual: Remember the roll is tied directly to the Path!) to the level of the power used (Level of the Discipline, level of the Greatest Sphere used, level of the Thaumaturgical Ritual, Rank of the Garou, etc.).

Notes for the Veilleurs and for the Knights of Hecate

                    The Veilleurs are only taught the Path of Veille and the Path or Necromancy. Veille is not taught to the Knights of Hecate.

Path of Alchemy (21 October 1998)

                    Explained fully in Mummy Second Edition, p85. You will find there the description of the Path, as well as regular Rituals, and here in this page new Rituals.

                    System:
Alchemy takes time, even if it is not shown enough in Mummy. Otherwise, there is no change. The Kindred must use at least 5 Blood Points to power its Hekau for 24 hours to use Alchemy, through. Using Alchemy to temporarily raise Attributes gives the same advantages to Kindred than to Mummies (See Mummy p83). Note that the overall augmentation of Attributes can go beyond 8 (because of the Kindred unique limitation above 5), but is limited to 3 points, no matter the number of potions or amulets used.

Note that Kindred (and Kindred only) can use the Path of Alchemy with Blood Rituals that needs Kindred Vitae, to reproduce some Rituals and Path Levels of the Blood Thaumaturgy of the Tremere.

Path of Amulets (?? ?? 1998)

                    Explained fully in Mummy Second Edition, p90. You will find there the description of the Path, as well as regular Rituals, and here in this page new Rituals.

                    System: ?.
Amulets takes time: The Kindred will probably have to use the 5 Blood Points per night to power Senef Hekau until the enchantment is complete. Then, she must pour the needed Blood until the cost is reached. Using Amulets to temporarily raise Attributes gives the same advantages to Kindred than to Mummies (See Mummy p83). Note that the overall augmentation of Attributes can go beyond 8 (because of the Kindred unique limitation above 5), but is limited to 3 points, no matter the number of potions or amulets used.

Path of Celestial Magic (22 February 1998)

                    Explained fully in Mummy Second Edition, p93. You will find there the description of the Path, as well as regular Rituals, and here in this page new Rituals. Soon it was demonstrated that this Path could be used to create high-scale rituals that could litteraly shake the earth. It is believed High-Rituals from this Hekau Path were used against the Minoean civilization in the Kindred War against the Baali.

                    System:
Each Ritual takes a number of hours equal to its difficulty rating to cast.

Path of Glyphs (08 January 1999)

                    The Egyptian used Hieroglyphs to protect their tombs and beloved ones. This Path permit the use of the Protective Magic of Writting.

                    System:
This Path create liquid Sekhem that must be used in the ink used to colorize the carved writting.

Path of Lightning (21 February 1998)

                    Developped in honor to Set, first permited the manipulation and control of electrical energy, coming from the storms, symbol of Set.

Path of Necromancy (9 May 1998)

                    Explained fully in Mummy Second Edition, p96. You will find there the description of the Path, as well as regular Rituals, and here in this page new Rituals. Meryt-Neith's first aim was the discovery of the Ritual of Rebirth, but records tell her success were pale in front of the True Ritual. Nevertheless, the powers created under the influence of this Path are still outstanding. One of those Rituals is the exact copy of the Thaumaturgical Ritual found in the Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand and permit the passage to the Shadowlands.

Path of Stone Shaping (10 February 1998)

                    Sechat, one of Meryt-Neith's incarnation, was the Chronicler Godess, as well as the Architect of Holy Temples. In truth, this Path was created in the Pyramid Ages of Ancient Egypt, when it was decided she couldn't wait (or trust) mortals to create her own Havens and Temples.

Path of Ushabti (?? ?? 1998)

                    Explained fully in Mummy Second Edition, p103. You will find there the description of the Path, as well as regular Rituals, and here in this page new Rituals.

                    System: ?.
Senef Hekau is used to feed the Ushabti from afar. The Kindred simply burn Vitae, and the Ushabti is mystically fed in Sekhem.

Path of Veille (9 May 1998)

                    This is the latest of the Paths: Created in Paris in inspiration of a Corax Abomination. Only Veilleurs are known to master it. Still, some Rituals date from before the creation of this Path.

Path of ??? (?? ?? 1998)

                    Text

                    System: ?.
Text

Hekau Thaumaturgy VS Thaumaturgy

                    Some asked me why I didn't use the normal Thaumaturgy System, and used the Hekau system instead. True, it would have been simplier to create 5 Level Paths and add Rituals. You wouldn't have to learn this new system.

Still, the Thaumaturgy was created by using the local (in the time sense) Hedge Magic Rules. By reading World of Darkness: Sorcerer, we discover that Hedge Magic is made of Paths from 1 to 5, with Rituals (the potential level 6 is akin to Awakening to True Magick). The only difference with Thaumaturgy is that Thaumaturgy is a ''non-active'' Discipline, enabling the use of the Paths and the Rituals (In the Vampire: The Dark Ages system).

So I felt that a Kindred Thaumaturgy created from an Hedge Magic system should follow the same rules. There should be Paths/Rituals, and a Central Path limiting the others. So I added the Senef Hekau Path. As the Tremere lost their True Magick upon becoming Vampire, I thought the Hekau Thaumaturgy should lack an essential Path, and I choose the Ren Hekau (thus limiting it to Mummies).

Some would argue the Tremere achieved a better control, by merging Thaumaturgy with the first Path (in the Vampire: The Masquerade Revised Edition). I decided the Tremere were a powerful conclave of sorcerers. Meryt-Neith was alone, with few Childer to help her in her research. So she couldn't reach the same completeness. And the Hekau Thaumaturgy costs more in experience to learn than the normal Thaumaturgy. There is only one advantage: The Path of Celestial Magic which enable the Kindred Magician to affect colossal events with relatively low-level powers (at a great cost, of course...)

And of course, the levels of the Rituals (and so, the Paths) are only limited by Generation...

Raoul ''Violence'' Borges

If you want to know more about Hekau Magic, the basic information, as well as most Hekau Rituals can be found in World of Darkness: Mummy, 2nd Edition.

All the Rituals and Paths not included in World of Darkness: Mummy, 2nd Edition, as well as the Senef Hekau system were created by Raoul ''Violence'' Borges.