Followers of Set

The mythic-historical origins of the Followers of Set are in ancient Egypt, as they claim to be descended from the dark god Set (who is also identified with Typhon) rather than Caine, the father of all vampires. The Setites see themselves as having a divine mandate to revive their Antediluvian, Set, in order to create an era of "paradise" for vampires and they are willing to work towards this goal in any way possible without drawing attention to themselves. Due to this connection to Set, all Setites see things a little differently than other vampires. Therefore, unlike most vampires in the modern setting, the Setites are associated with neither the Camarilla nor the Sabbat. The Followers of Set are generally found near Cairo, in sub-Saharan Africa, India, and the Caribbean though they travel worldwide in their search for knowledge to help them find and revive Set.
The Setites are known as keepers of secrets, particularly those of a thaumaturgical nature. Indeed, the Followers of Set tend to know anything anyone needs to know or can find it for them - for a price. Many vampires warn each other never to trust a Setite, as Followers of Set do not follow the Path of Humanity like most other vampires. Instead they have their own Path of Enlightenment, known as the Path of Typhon, which exalts, amongst other things, the corruption of others. Many who are snared by the Followers of Set do not realize the danger until it's too late and are either forced to become followers of Set themselves or become dangerously indebted to them. Many Setites also practice a form of Setite Sorcery called Akhu.
In Clanbook: Followers of Set, it is revealed that the Setites orchestrated the Inquisition and undermined the Anarch Revolt so that European vampires and humans would remain fragmented and fighting among themselves, and thus neutralized as a threat to the Followers of Set and their fatherland. These two conflicts were turning points in the fictional history of the World of Darkness.
According to Setite lore, Set was cast from his family to become a vampire by the sun god Ra for his hand in killing the fertility god Osiris and Ra's hate is what causes the sunlight to burn Set and all his children more than all other Kindred. The Children of Osiris are a clan of humanitarian vampires who are relentlessly opposed to the Followers of Set because of the eternal rivalry between their respective patriarchs.
In Gehenna, the final Vampire: The Masquerade sourcebook, it is revealed, that if and when Followers of Set try to perform the Great Ritual at Ombos necessary to open a gate to Duat, the Egyptian realm of dead, so that Set can incarnate himself and live again; it is predestined that Set will instead impose on all Setites a powerful compulsion to join him in the Duat by committing mass suicide. The predominant Judeo-Christian myth established for the world of Vampire made the end of the Setites not only inevitable but the ultimate example of poetic justice.

Clan	Progenitor	Parent Clan	Faction	Disciplines	Nicknames	Weakness
Followers of Set	Sutekh	None	Independent	Obfuscate, Presence, Serpentis	Serpents, Sand-Snakes	Extremely susceptible to sunlight (double damage). Subtract one from all dice pools while in bright light (spotlights, strobes, etc.).

Minor bloodlines

Serpents of the Light

The Serpents of the Light is an independent and proudly heretical sect of the Followers of Set. Its pride lies within its adopted independence from the Setites; the Serpents have no affiliation with their parent clan. While many Setite trace their history to ancient Egypt, the Serpents claim they originated in the West Indies.

The Serpents of the Light came into being when the Sabbat moved into Haiti in the 1960s. Before then, the group that became the Serpents may have been a rogue cult of Setites, studying voodoun and how its mysticism could be used to its undead advantage. Until the 1970s, the Sabbat was too disorganized to pay much attention to the Caribbean, despite some degree of presence there Sabbat activity simply lay dormant. In fact, the Sword of Caine had no idea that this lost tribe of Setites even existed in Haiti. Once the sect became aware of the cult, however, the Sabbat recognized the ruthless strength in the group and gave protection to it in its infancy. It is possible that the first Serpents were younger Setites, who agreed with the political philosophy of the Sabbat.. When the news of the Sabbats discovery reached the Setites ears, their elders forbade their childers interaction with the Sword of Caine. Citing the Sabbats intent to destroy the godking, they sent emissaries to Haiti who insisted that the cult disassociate itself from the Sabbat.

The splinter sect, out of habit, vampiric wile or otherwise, chose to ignore their elders, and they sought asylum in the ranks of the Sabbat. The rift grew nightly, until the Serpents of Light proclaimed total independence from the Followers of Set. This schism may have been achieved by experimenting with their ophidian Discipline and the local mysticism of the Caribbean. The modern Serpents recognize that they would have been crushed by the Setites if not for the Sabbats intervention, and they give their undivided loyalty to the Sabbat cause.

Because the Serpents chose to ally with the Sabbat, they have earned the enmity of the Followers of Set, and vice versa. Hatred between these two now-separate bloodlines runs deep, and the Setites consider the Serpents traitors to their clan. Indeed, the Serpents of the Light consider Followers of Set to be abominations intent on destroying the world via the resurrection of their undead vampire god. The two groups spare no effort in antagonizing each other, playing out a deadly holy war across the distance of continents. Serpents of the Light also oppose the other Antediluvians for similar reasons, citing a Haitian Voodoo prophecy similar to the Gehenna foretold in the Book of Nod. As Sabbat, their ideology fits perfectly.

Manipulation by seduction is the tool of choice for the Serpents of Light, who play a dangerous game of attack and counterattack against their Setite rivals with mortal pawns. Members of the bloodline wield the weapons of addiction and decay. They are expert at discovering a targets weakness, and using that tool be it drugs, sex, power or whatever to gain control of the target. They relish the opportunity to bring down a princes city from the inside out, like any dedicated Sabbat. A few Serpents set loose in a major metropolis can magnify the drug-trade substantially, entice many innocent victims into prostitution, and much more. They prefer to operate behind the scenes, extending their control through human and Cainite underlings, without becoming an obvious target themselves. Rooting out a Serpent of the Light from a city is much like peeling an onion you must slice away many layers before you get to the core. They maintain an attitude of fight fire with fire when it comes to foiling the plans of the Setites and, to a lesser degree, the Camarilla.

Elder Cobras instill a great loyalty in their childer from the night of their Embrace. The Serpents of the Light compare their struggle to split from the Followers of Set to the history of their West Indian roots. Much of their speech when conversing with each other occurs in Haitian patois and Voodoo references. While they take a sybaritic pleasure in the Jyhad between Sabbat and Camarilla and make superb espionage agents for the Sabbat, their loyalty remains with their patron cult above all. A Serpent of the Light serves the need of her particular chapter of the cult she belonged to before her Embrace above the needs of the Sabbat.

Wanga is the sorcery of the heretical Serpents of the Light, based on Haitian Voudon and other Afro-Caribbean folk magic. It is a form of Setite Sorcery.

Bloodline	Founder	Parent Clan	Faction	Disciplines	Nicknames	Weakness
Serpents of the Light (Setiteantitribu)	Haitian Setites	Followers of Set	Sabbat	Obfuscate, Presence, Serpentis	Cobras	Extremely susceptible to sunlight (double damage). Subtract one from all dice pools while in bright light (spotlights, strobes, etc.).

Daitya

The Daitya name themselves after the Indian demons of the same name. They are one of the most prevalent and powerful groups of vampires in India, as they combine the aspects of both clan and caste. The Daitya are a form of Brahmin caste. Accordingly, they fill the role of priest-magicians that help the gods maintain cosmic and social order. The Daitya worship Shiva, and they also claim leadership of all vampires who worship Shiva as well. They tend to focus more on mental and social traits, as per their status of priest-magicians.

Sadhana is a form of blood sorcery based on traditional Hindu magic. It is practiced almost exclusively by the Brahmin caste in India, notably the Daitya and the Danava (a lineage of Ventrue). It is a form of Setite Sorcery.

Bloodline	Founder	Parent Clan	Faction	Disciplines	Nicknames	Weakness
Daitya	Indian Setites	Followers of Set	Independent, (Enemies of the Kuei-jin)	Obfuscate, Presence, Serpentis	None	Extremely susceptible to sunlight (double damage). Subtract one from all dice pools while in bright light (spotlights, strobes, etc.).

Tlacique

An extinct bloodline in all eyes but their own, the Tlacique played only a small part in Kindred history. Although the others clans have all but forgotten them, the children of Tezcatlipoca have not forgotten those who invaded their home—and they've certainly never forgiven them.

Kindred who came to Mexico with the Conquistadors found that the cities of the New World—far larger and more prosperous then they'd expected from "barbarous heathens"--hosted an active population of native vampires. Some were Gangrel, some Nosferatu, but the most influential native bloodline was the Tlacique. The claimed descent from Tezcatlipoca, the Jaguar, god of night, mirrors, smoke and black magic. They ruled openly, in a fashion not seen since Carthage, in small family groups called cliques. The nahualli, Tlacique blood sorcerers, removed the hearts of sacrifices atop the great pyramids and drank of their blood. The Tlacique proclaimed themselves gods, and their people worship them.

The Camarilla could have claimed a great ally, for the natives treated the Spaniards as honored guests, and the Tlacique were happy to negotiate with the foreign Kindred. And negotiate they did—until smallpox devastated their people and the Conquistadors plundered their cities and plunged their worshippers into near slavery. This was hardly the fault of the European Kindred; mortal greed, not Cainite influence, steered the course of the Spanish explorers. But the Tlacique, who ruled their own people, could not conceive that the Europeans did things differently. If the newcomers oppressed the natives, it must be so because the Camarilla Kindred wished it so.

The Tlacique learned that they could not confront the newcomers alone. They had learned, however, of another faction of Kindred, newly arrived from Europe, a sect that counted the Camarilla among its enemies. The Tlacique allied with the struggling Sabbat.

This alliance lasted only as long it took to drive the Camarilla from Mexico. The Tlacique soon realized that the Sabbat exalted violence. The Tlacique had innumerable bloody traditions and rituals, but the Black Hand was all form with no meaning; their enthusiasm for adopting the Tlacique's rites was rooted in sadism, not faith. Their erstwhile allies were more depraved and more dangerous than the Camarilla Kindred they'd driven from their lands.

The Tlacique battled the Sabbat in turn—and lost miserably. The Sabbat all but eliminated the outnumbered natives and diablerized their elders. The few surviving Tlacique scattered to distant communities. The Black Hand thought them dead and gone; the Camarilla forgot them in the face of Sabbat aggression. The Tlacique became an obscure legend in the lands they once ruled.

After four centuries of hiding, that "legend" is vengeful and hungry. Perhaps fewer than a few score Tlacique exist tonight, hidden throughout South and Central America and the southwestern US. Slowly, they reestablish lines of communication. For the first time, they work together as a unified bloodline. They seek the resting places of those slumbering elders the Sabbat missed in their purge. They launch guerrilla assaults on Sabbat enclaves, determined to take back their stolen homelands. The Sabbat is again at war—they just haven't yet figured out with whom.

The Tlacique practice a form of Thaumaturgy called Nahuallotl. Nahuallotl is a form of religious blood sorcery practiced by the Tlacique and almost completely unknown to the rest of vampiric society. It is based on offering sacrifices of blood and hearts to the Aztec gods, who must be given daily sacrifices in order to keep the sun alive and prevent the end of the world. It is a form of Setite Sorcery.

Additionally, their "Form of the Beast" from Protean (Protean lv. 4) is that of a jaguar.

Bloodline	Founder	Parent Clan	Faction	Disciplines	Nicknames	Weakness
Tlacique	Tezcatlipoca	Followers of Set	Independent	Obfuscate, Presence, Protean	None (everyone else thinks they are extinct)	Extremely susceptible to sunlight (double damage). Subtract one from all dice pools while in bright light (spotlights, strobes, etc.).

Cults

Numerous Setite cults and temples are spread throughout the World of Darkness. Other notable Setite temples include The Founding Temple at Kom Ombo, The House of the Eclipse in Cairo, The Red Temple of Thebes, The Garden of Asps in Memphis, The Crocodile Temple in the Faiyum, The Labyrinth of Bones beneath Tunis, The Descending Aerie near Tangier, and The Temple of Dogs in London.

Cohort of Wepwawet

Based out of Abu Simbel, the Cohort of Wepwawet is a cult of warrior Setites dedicated to defending Egypt from outside invasions. Strict fundamentalists, they seek to push other Setites back into Egyptian orthodoxy. They maintain many rivalries with the Sabbat, Ventrue and both Muslim and Christian witch-hunters.

Cult of Typhon Trismegistus

The Cult of Typhon Trismegistus is a series of mystery cults that spread Typhonic doctrine into Greece and Rome. Different cults venerate Bacchus, Mars and Pluto as different aspects of Typhon-Set. Initiates are gradually drawn into the inner mysteries, and eventual worship of Set himself. The Cult of Typhon Trismegistus is based in Naples, Italy, where they still sponsor decadent gladiatorial pit fights.

Hall of Jormungandr

Founded in the 9th century after the Norse merchant Arnulf Jormungandrsson was Embraced in Alexandria. Upon his return to Oslo, Jormungandrsson and his childer established a cult worshipping the Midgard serpent. The Scandinavian Setites are patrons of traditional art and heavily involved in the luxury trade. Most outsiders mistake the cult for Toreador.

Priory of the Black Magdalene

The Church of the Black Magdalene is a Cainite heretical cult which renamed itself the Priory of the Black Magdalene in the 17th century. The Priory claims to guard the descendants of Christ and preserve the Jesus bloodline through selective breeding. They are said to have an underground cathedral below the French city of Marseille.

Sisterhood of Sekhmet

The Sisterhood of Sekhmet grew out of the feminist movement in the 1960s. The Sisterhood promotes the warrior-goddess Sekhmet to Camarilla Kindred as a means of sexual equality and female empowerment. Their ultimate goal is to subvert the Camarilla from within.

Setites of Note

• Kemintiri, on the Camarilla's Most Wanted "Red List"
• Hesha Ruhadze, 8th Generation Typhonist
• Sundervere, The Devil Brahmin
• Arnulf Jormungandrsson
• Sarrasine, Prince of Sydney
• Izzat al-Khunzir
• Erik Jannsen, Priest of Sutekh
• Kahina the Sorceress
• Cagliostro the Grand Copht
• Ezekiel, Lord of Montreal (Serpent of Light)