Updated: 13 May 1999

The Noble Followers of Set

                    Few Clans are seen as corrupt as the Clan of Set. The Sabbat even decided to destroy them whenever possible. The Camarilla, through, is still blind at the corruption the Setite can create around them, and generally see them as dangerous but useful pawns, as are the Assamite.

When the Camarilla formed, the new Camarilla Kindred were not too sad to hear few of the Setite answer the call. One of them was Theti-Sheri. She had arrived in Paris with the Ventrue Alexandre and she was already known as a Kindred who loved pleasure before anything else. Her first victory was when she agreed to help remove the Lupine threat from Paris in exchange of a title of Primogen.

Some among Alexandre's closest advisors (among them Saviarre) thought Alexandre was mad to accept this. Others thought Theti-Sheri was even more by claiming such stupidity. Her knowledge of Thaumaturgy was outstanding for one not of the Clan Tremere, and effectively, she succeeded, with time and work (and sacrifices, but no one knows or even wants to know) to corrupt slowly the capital of France and its surroundings. The Lupines started to fight each others as the woods receded, instead of uniting to fight the human threat, and even the Gangrel knew infighting. The two comunity knew, then, a decrease of their numbers, as well as their sanity unknown before. The corruption was subtle, and with the help of others Setites, and carefully laid intrigues, she succeeded to advance in her goal.

When Beatrix took the Prince's crown, Theti and the Clan took a more active part within the Kindred Harpy whose power was growing fast. Even through her Torpor, the Clan's power and influence grew, slowly, or course, but steadily. Anyway, Theti-Sheri showed she was a strong supporter of the Camarilla, and of the Toreador way of life, as she even supported the Prince when he enforced the Toreador Hegemony and the creation of the Masques. And part of the Toreador could not help but love the beautiful Setite Methuselah.

And as she contracted the Treaty that authorized the Toreador to come to Setite-controlled Egypt unharmed, she became the Setite Ambassador, and as such, the Duchesse of the Setite.

Since then, around Theti-Sheri was formed a little setite cotterie of strong Camarilla supporters, and bons vivants who find similar tastes among some of the Toreador (most of them Beautés Poseurs), and others Clans, like the Ventrue or the Malkavians. Their loyalty to the Camarilla is sometimes doubted upon, but no proof was found about it. To the ones who claim Theti was corrupting the Camarilla Elder with her salon games, the others claim that they know how to live their unlife as untertainingly as possible, and that they don't need the advice of fearful Kindred afraid of their shadows.

Theti-Sheri knows better...

Destiny

                    One by one, each Setite will be touched by Set's mind. As the Dark God seems to stir in his torporous sleep, the Setite will become nervous as the prophecy of the return of Set seems to fullfill itself. While the Typhonist will start a campaign of religious convertion to the Dark God, through Blood Cults and corruption, the Courtisanes will try to convert more openly Kindred into the worship of the Dark God, with promises of enlightment and protection from the other Antediluvians, as well as the new Avaris Utopia, in which the millenary civilization of Egypt will be reborn, where Kindred will be as Gods until the ends of Time. While the Assamite hate the Setite with passion, their tries to destroy them will meet with a serious opposition: Using their Prestations and influence within the parisian society, the Setite will ask for Bodyguards, but not Assamite Bodyguard: The mysterious Setites following the Path of the Warrior will prove more than a match for the Assamite Diabolists.

The rumours of a Typhonist developping powers akin to Faith will increase the fervor of the Clan even more! The survivors among the Veilleurs, as well as the Kindred believing in the judeo-christian mythology will be greatly affected by the apparition of this ''Dark Faith''.

Organization

                    Because of the dichotomy of the Clan in Paris, there is two kind of meeting. The first is open to anyone, and takes place in the Temple of Paris. While there is each night a short ceremony given by Theti-Sheri (similar to the rituals of ancient Egypt) where anyone of the Faith (that is, with either the Path of Ecstasy, or the Path of Typhon), each New Moon (or lunar/solar eclipse), a great ceremony is held. In this Roman/Egyptian mixed style underground structure, faithfull Kindred, ghouls and even some chosen mortals pray to the Dark God. Usually, their ways hare attuned to their Path of Illumination, that is the Path of Ecstasy. At the end of the formal praying, the reunion becomes more like what someone would call a vampire orgy, were blood flows freely, objects of art are criticized and love affair start and end with passion that would surprise an Elysium Elder. Some Kindred have noted the half the prayers name the godess Hathor, which is assimilated, here, as the concubine of Set.

The second reunion takes place in the secret Temple under the Temple. There, the Typhonist are masters, and along the prayers to the Dark God they called Sutekh (instead of the Set used in the fist ceremony), Apep is often prayed, too. Only typhonists, or Setite Ecstasists are allowed to come here. This secret ceremony is given at random times, the High Priest chosing it with his own astrological calculations.

Les Courtisans

                    Led by their red haired passionate maiden, the Courtisans live their lives as do the Poseurs Toreadors and the others Harpies of the Cour. They are seen as Hedonists but lovers of Art, Bon Vivants, but of so good company. No real soirée is a success without one of them, as they take the time to cultivate their Esprit to impress others. Strangely, they are the enemies of no one, but the ones who shun the said soirées: The Brujah (with St Just as the most fanatic among them), the Nosferatu, who believe (rightly) that the prejudice they are victims is caused, at least in part, by these monsters in gorgeous appearance, and most of them the Gangrel, who are starting to recover from their losses under the leadership of the pure Lady Diane (In facts, the parisian Setites and Gangrel are mortal enemies...).

Juliette; 7th Generation.
Samson; 6th Generation.
Sven; 6th Generation.
Theti-Sheri; 5th Generation.

The Typhonists

                    Few Typhonists live in Paris, and each lives without having been first Presented to Villon. They keep their presence discreet, and pray each night for Set's awakening. Their action in the city is nonexistant, as they were ordered to let Theti-Sheri do her business.

So they keep the Temple standing, and keep praying. A few, through, does not accept this, and work in secret to speed the corruption of the french capital.

Dimitri; 10th Generation.
Sophie; 9th Generation.
Sutekhem; 7th Generation.
?; ?th Generation.

About Set and other Egyptian Gods

                    Some among the Kindred dismiss Set as one of the Antediluvians, looking at the fearfull and faithfull Setites with a blasé contempt. After all, most Antediluvian were ''gods'' in their own city. But some among the most clever of Inconnu wonder at the differences between Egypt and the others, ephemerous lands of Mesopotamia. Egypt was said to be three thousand years old when the romans finally took over the country, and rumours even spoke of a more Ancient Egypt, where gods (and not one god) walked on earth and ruled the Two-Lands.

The Setite have no respect for Caine and the biblical version of the creation of the world. They fear more their own Gods than the whole Antediluvian, and this is enough to make others wonder. fragments of the Cycle of Lillith speak of Jehovah, but also of Ra and Ptah... Could the Egyptian pantheon have been more than mere superstition?

About Serpentis & Corruption (Author's note)

                    Have you ever wondered how a Discipline could start in a Protean-like fashion, and then change suddenly its direction and become a Discipline of Corruption?

WW authors' advice when creating Higher-levels powers is to take in account the character's background and principles, and to never forget the philosophy of the Discipline.

Serpentis' first levels have nothing to do about the corruption, but some obscure liaison with Apep, who could be well the ''Wyrm'' of the Garou, and to the judeo-christian serpent of Eden...

In fact, the serpent was common in Egypt, and it was not known as the ''Corrupter'': The Serpent was the animal-symbol of the Delta (Lower Egypt), the land of... Osiris, while the vulture was the symbol of Higher-Egypt, the land of Set. In the other hand, the Louvre's museum has one great archeological piece called the stone of the Serpent-King, who could be well the first Pharao to have united Egypt around -3000 or -3500. He came from the South, from the land of Set (another version is that the Serpent King was the third or fourth Pharao of the First Dynasty)...

Another fact is that the Egypt of the Pharao was not a corrupted land (find a land that will keep its culture and art for 3 thousand years!), but a very enlightened and powerful one. (Forget the biblical reference: How the people of the Jealous God could really judge fairly a set of principles that weren't given by their own master?). Set's fame started to dwindle just after the Hyksos invasion (-1570) as he had been mistaken as Baal. But while in the Ramses' years (-1200), Set was known to protect Pharao side by side with Horus!

It's important to remark, too, that the Path of Corruption is given as a free Path to the Setite, in the Clanbook: Setite!

In the other hand, Laurent, co-author of Paris, la nuit..., reminded me about the ''Seth'' of the Conan stories... And what if the Followers of Set have been inspired by stories about how a brawny adventurer followed by a herd of lustful gorgeous women attacked ridiculous magicians and serpent-like priests? Brrrr! To tell the truth, I've never been a fan of Conan, whatever the media, and still, I must tell Laurent's remark seems to be correct: WW's Setites were inspired by Conan! Aaargh!

All this facts led me to think that Serpentis' uses have been mistaken. An option is to give as a bonus Clan Discipline a Discipline of ''Corruption'' whose first 5 levels are the levels of the Thaumaturgical Path of Corruption, and whose higher levels are those ''corrupting'' powers attributed (by misunderstanding) to Serpentis. Serpentis would keep the powers not about corruption, and all would be better-looking, no?

But this would change greatly from WW standards, and so, be cause of misunderstanding. The more correct solution is to admit that there was a proto-serpent-Discipline, (that was called Sofis in our Chronicles). Then after the corruption by the Wyrm, Sofis meddled somehow with what is known by the Tremere as the Path of Corruption into the Discipline Serpentis, enabling the Setites to learn both Discipline and Path, and to meddle them at high (6+) levels.

This idea was explored in the Uræus: Gods of Egypt Chronicle: Set was the younger of the Antediluvian, and his own Childer were divided in several Bloodlines. When Ramses II was ruling Egypt, the forces of Apep, the Corrupter, succeeded in destroying the peace between the several supernatural species of Egypt. With Maat abandonned, some Childer of Set intrigued to destroy all the Bloodlines. Set himself diablerized Wadjet, Founder of the Sof-sen Bloodline. When finally Set, hunted down by Horus forces, and alone with but a handful of followers, fled before the lybian forces and the Shemsu-Heru, he achieved total corruption, and his new Bloodline, the Clan of the Followers of Set, was born, centered around a variant of the Sofis Discipline, which became Serpentis.

1999's Note: It seems that our ideas was confirmed by White Wolf authors, who now want to give Serpentis a more serpent-like look... Les grand esprits se rencontrent as it is commonly said in France....

For more information about the history of Ancient Egypt, and of the first childer of Set, please read the Uræus: Gods of Egypt Chronicle and the Clanbook: Childer of Set.

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