Professional Documents
Culture Documents
- A.
The Wall
167
A.,
We want her account of Egypt and the Gulf circa 4,000 B.C. If shes not deceiving you
re: her familiarity, shell know exactly what were looking for.
Respond soonest.
Mr. Wodehouse,
the center of an empire with no name. This
Menat says that the region (the known world, in fact, at that time) was
Delta; a sort of proto-Cairo, by the sound
empire ruled under the sign of a scorpion from a great capitol city in the Nile
der for the true original. The city once had a
of it. She says mummies call it Irem, but that its a convenient placehol
record of the empire to which it played host.
name, but she says that it was erased from history, along with every graven
She kept using that word: erased.
the Priests of Duat. In her own words,
This empire was the dream of a cult of wealthy men who called themselves
Shaniatu; I asked her if she knows what
she sees them as necromancers. These men are known to mummies as the
every mummy in existence traces its origins
meaning the term holds, but she said she doesnt. What she does know is that
A.
The subject has satisfied our skepticism, but not our interests. Do NOT allow her to meditate.
Get back in there, and ask her about the catalyst and the price. These are the things we need to know.
Do NOT address her as Menat. Do not address her at all. She speaks, you notate.
Respond soonest.
168
Mr. Wodehouse,
As instructed, we resumed our debrief of the subject. She seems weaker, now, less confident, as though she
were being deprived of food and water (she is not) or suffering some internal malady. I offered her the services of
my medic, but she has thus far refused (and with a gracious smile). The subject responds to your queries regarding
catalysts and prices with the following account:
By the pinnacle of empires ascent, the necromancers art had plateaued. The six great guilds, each formed of seven
influential guildhouses, had grown into the envy of the inhabited world. But all the gold in the empire couldnt fill the
void gaping in the necromancers dark hearts; all the wondrous relics they could create wouldnt be enough to push their
art to the like of the gods. And thats why they searched for a game changer. Thats when they sought a catalyst.
The accounts differ as to the form and character of this catalyst, this magical skeleton key she says they needed;
the necromancers themselves were cagey with information, of course, but she says that they went hunting for
something deep in the western Sahara and that whatever they found was important enough to leave a garrison
there and return for more Priests and supplies. She says she heard one version that spoke of their quarry as a
seamless block of black stone, and another account that says it was the body of a dead god, but she believes it was a
place of power.
Like an oasis? I asked.
Like a mouth, she said, a mouth dug deep in the sand, its lips open to the sky, with a gullet of sweet Sekhem
and the holiest of stomachs in wait below.
Her words.
Whatever it was they found buried in the deep desert, they used its power to fuel the two greatest spells the mortal world had
ever seen. The first was their precious rite of return, now a reality. Each guildmaster-priest called on his newly advanced
desert magic to perform the rite on every servant he thought suitable to the task, resulting in the creation of hundreds of
mummies loyal to each guild, and within their numbers, each member forcibly loyal to his or her individual creator. The second
spell was also, as it turns out, part of the price you were talking about. She says:
The gods of this scorpion empire were mighty largely because they had no true names over which others could gain power; e.g.,
they called the Nameless Lion Re in sacred texts, but that is only the name that the Great Lion wants them to call It. The
name is what is granted at a things birth, and what is ultimately taken away when a thing is put to rest. To be nameless is to
be eternal, so to be on equal footing with their gods, the Priests of Duat had to possess the same power. But the price of these
two great will-workingsto cheat death and to be namelesswas an offering of comparable sacrifice and an offering of comparable
betrayal. The Shaniatu sacrificed thousands during the rite that swallowed Irem and delivered it whole unto Duat.
Sir, you need to know that at this point, she is visibly in distress. Pale-faced, with clammy hands and a sickly look to
her. If I didnt know better, I would say shes aged since we first brought her inby as much as 10 years. And the fact that
shes been divulging copious amounts of information about these Arisen to us effectively reveals her to be antagonistic to
them. If youll forgive my ignorance, doesnt all of that suggest that she might make a potential ally? Sir?
- A.
No, squad leader, it does not. It makes her our competition. We hope thats clear. As such, her
discomfort is of little consequence to us and, therefore, of none to you. Get back in there, and ask her
how much these Arisen know of their own origins and condition. How deep does the rites patterning
overwrite their own memories and instincts? Also, what of this betrayal?
Respond soonest.
The Wall
169
Mr. Wodehouse,
condition and that this is
Menat said that the Arisen are largely ignorant of the deeper truths of their
names to their masters/creators, and
due to a combination of the rites magic, their willing surrender of their true
the sorts of things the human mind might
of course, to the simple passing of centuries. (She said wed be surprised at
purposes simply because their creators require the
forget after 6,000 years. I told her I wouldnt.) The Arisen toil at their
by delivering the power of relics to their hands.
Sekhem they harvest by fulfilling them, restoring the empires glory, and
out, or something. She said he could make
Then she said something about an exception; one Arisen whod figured it all
things pretty dangerous for us if his message were to spread and take root.
the other Shaniatu did to some of their
As to the offering of great betrayal, Menat said thats a reference to what
orators and poets, and it is they who spoke
own. The sixth guild was the host of Irems greatest artists and most inspiring
the grand plan itself, to erase the empire
out against either the usage of the desert artifact in the grand plan, or against
they would arrive in Duat with the rest.
and cross en masse into Duat. The masters of the sixth guild probably assumed
were strongest survived the betrayal.
Instead, they got truly erased, though Menat said that those whose wills
captive subject by her name. I assure you
Speaking of betrayal, you mightve noticed that I went back to calling your
I returned to my interrogation, I started by
this is not insubordination, sir, because she is no longer in my custody. When
asking her why she was telling us all this.
she asked if she might have a moment
Because I would like to die now. Thats what she said. Ten minutes later,
scream like his soul was on fire, so I keyed
alone with your specialist, Collins. Two minutes after that, I heard a man
of horror, right next to the subjects body or
back into the room. Collins was dead on the floor, his face a frozen rictus
what was left of it, anyway.
It had decomposed entirely.
to die anyway, why go through the trouble
I must say, Im at a loss as to what just happened here. If she just wanted
Whatever the case was, Im sure youll tell me
of killing Collins first? Or sit through what was obviously a painful process?
, as per standing orders. Will be out of contact
whatever you feel Im cleared to know out here. Sending along her remains
for a while thereafter. Sorry.
- A.
The Wall
Some attention was paid to the bifurcated nature of Mummy back in the games introduction, and here, at the start of
the Storytellers Handbook, that topic needs especial revisiting. Unlike some Storytelling games, this one has a backstory/
history that remains true regardless of what individual mummies think. This principle differencethis secret historymeans
that it becomes by default the Storytellers prerogative and responsibility to safeguard that truth in his game.
In the game world, this barrier between the reality and Arisen awareness thereof manifests in their inability to know
and/or remember anything thats ever happened to them in Duat (beyond their initial appearance before the Judges).
While cradled in the death-sleep, all they know or recall is the dusky repose of henet. During development, we likened
this phenomenon to the existence of a Chinese wall in the game, separating the realities of the characters pasts
from the lives they get to live in the present. Given exposure to contrary evidence, individual mummies can learn to find
the cracks and, in time, break down the wall themselves, but their default state of not only mind, but of being is not to
question. The power of the Shaniatus hold over them, through both the claiming of their servants true names and the
might of the spiritual programming of their Rite, is such that only Apotheosis offers hope of total reclamation of ones
name and soul.
On a practical level, what all this means is that unless you are a Storyteller, and really do intend to run Mummy at
some point, the following remains true for you: Youre reading the wrong chapter.
170
ANPU
The mythopoeic religious epics of the Nameless Empire
DEATH CYCLES
Anpu
171
172
APOTHEOSIS
The other sentient denizens of the World of Darkness
Apotheosis
173
174
THE HERETIC
SYSTEMS
Apotheosis
175