Development Tease: The Deceived [Mummy: The Curse]

Mummy: The Curse, Open Development

Hello, mummy fans!

Sorry for as much radio silence as there’s been on my end, but I’m happy to report that Book of the Deceived is in layout in time for the Halloween season, and that’s appropriate since it contains some of the creepiest material you’re likely to see for the World of Darkness. The tone of the book and its protagonists, the mystery-shrouded members of the so-called Lost Guild, starts with the one element that sits at the core of all Deceived being…

The Temakh

Almost all supernatural character creation rules for the World of Darkness instruct players to construct a mortal character with mortal traits first, and then apply the appropriate template. In the case of the Deceived, one supernatural trait breaks this rule: the mummy’s accursed completing soul fragment, called the temakh.

The seven temakhs are entities of a sort, existing both outside and within their servants. Long ago, they counted themselves among the very Shan’iatu—the guildmasters of the Akhem-Urtu. Each presided over a specific form of artistic and cultural expression. Accordingly, they sought out followers who were adept at these same crafts, guiding and growing and molding that talent to serve their will. This means a Deceived’s temakh shaped her mortal traits almost as much as it continues to shape her supernatural ones.

The temakhs are eternal and human no longer. They are not spirits, nor gods, nor ghosts, but discorporate and chthonic presences that find collective embodiment in those deathless souls still bound to them. The mummies of each temakh are the flesh and hands by which their shared and scattered master grasps the living world. Without their mummies, who knows what the temakhs would be? Perhaps unmoored souls, screaming silently in the solitude of unending blackness and time; perhaps something darker still. Connected to their former guild underlings in this unique way, the temakhs might witness and shape the living world as even the Judges of Duat dare not.

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For the first time, we also have a sneak peek at some of the forthcoming new material! Click the following link to check out one of the temakh splats from Book of the Deceived. Feel free to spread the link around, as this early look is for everyone.

Senebti!

CAS

Temakh Splat: The Dream-Eater