The true servant of Sutekh is not bound by the so-called “inviolate” laws of the Aeons, nor of their tawdry prison-reality: as she comes to transgress & violate the merely-mortal limits of mind, flesh and soul imposed by the false gods of this world, she may similarly throw off the crude shackles of space and time, life and death … stepping across the night swift as whispered prayer.
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System: The lector-priest spends one point of blood and makes a Willpower roll (Difficulty 7).
If this roll is successful, the lector-priest selects one serpent she can see that she created via the Crown of Venom & CoilPath; she and her chosen serpent instantly trade places: the lector-priest now occupies the space her serpent occupied, while her serpent comes to occupy the space she vacated.
This exchange is grotesque in the extreme to witness: the lector-priest appears to swell, distort, and then explode, leaving only a thrashing, blood-slick serpent where she once stood. Similarly, her chosen serpent seems to wither and then tear open, birthing the lector-priest in a shower of gore.
The lector-priest must be affected by her own use of Wreathe the Flesh in Serpents of Ink & Shadow to use this ability.
The art of Serpentis is well-studied by the myriad enemies of Set’s undying faithful; its dread techniques – by which a Follower might metamorphose her pale flesh into a terrible, soul-devouring simulacrum of Apophis itself – are legendary in their majestic & obsidian potency.
Over the last seventy dark centuries, many ignorant, fortune-seeking fools have found themselves torn to wet ribbons of spattered crimson & drifting black ash by the fangs of those devoted to the mysteries of Sutekh’s will.
Yet there are other mystical traditions of the Snake Clan: when, in 1520 BCE, the God-King himself – already some three and a half millennia old – led his most-blessed worshipers to slaughter Nergal and all the whimpering brood of that false god at Knossos, in the culmination of the Second Baali War, the eruption of Thera was called-forth by incalculable blood-sorcery predating the late rise of the trembling Usurpers by more than two thousand years.
In truth, the secrets of Akhu run much deeper, and much darker, than any modern-era student of the occult could dare to suspect.
Brought to you absolutely free to enjoy, to test & to share – as always – by the fine folks of my Patreon.
Hugest of thanks to Dr. Joe Weinberg and to the The Broken Token for their invaluable editing-assistance and development during the creation of this fan-content.
All of the arts of the lector-priest are carefully hidden, of course, but the Path known as the Crown of Venom & Coil is perhaps the most protected of all: for it does not allow a practitioner to merely take on the twisting, poisonous shape of a beast pleasing to Set and thereby work the Red God’s will.
Instead, it allows a practitioner to become like Set himself: given command over all the serpents of the night, and the power to call-up a death-dealing ophidian plague with which to scour the cities of men as clean as deepest desert.
To Bear the Crown of Venom & Coil: A lector-priest who desires to call upon the power of this Path – locked-away, as it is, from use by all but the most devout of the Hierophantsand their favored students – must meet successively greater requirements as her mastery grows:
Level One: The supplicant must be instructed in the art by a mentor.
Level Two: If she does not yet walk a Path of Enlightenment, the supplicant must possess a Humanity of 4 or lower.
Level Four: The supplicant must diablerize at least one pretender to the majestic legacy of Sutekh: a non-Setite or apostate Setite known to practice Akhu, Serpentis or another mystical tradition exclusive to the Snake Clan.
Level Five: the supplicant must possess True Faith in the God of Storms and Violence and must furthermore actively seek-out & destroy any and all creatures who falsely claim the magic of Set.
LEVEL ONE – Wreathe the Flesh in Serpents of Ink & Shadow
By means of this art, the lector-priest gives limited life to the serpent-tattoos which encircle her long, pale limbs: lifting them from her own skin to dance about her in a cloak of terrible fangs … or sending them invisibly across the airy darkness to wrap a terrified victim in the shifting grandeur of Set’s favor.
System: The lector-priest spends a point of blood and makes a Willpower roll (Difficulty 4); success causes strange illusions of moving serpents to slither across the flesh of the lector-priest, moving as she desires and even rising up off of her skin to take terrible, half-substantial form.
This effect lasts for one scene and requires no active concentration.
Use of this ability is a very clear breach of the Masquerade and leaves no doubt in the mind of any witness that the lector-priest is blessed with dark supernatural gifts. Use of this ability causes all mundane and electronic recording equipment within line of sight of the lector-priest to glitch for the duration of this effect: a camera trained on the lector-priest when she invokes this ability records only eerie static.
While this effect lasts, the lector-priest gains an extra die in her Intimidation dice pools and adds one to the difficulties of all ranged weapon attacks against her. During this time, she may always use an effect identical to Feral Whispers (V20, pg. 129), although she may only affect snakes with this ability.
Alternatively, the lector-priest may cause these writhing serpents to “leap” from her own skin to the flesh of another creature she can see, afflicting the target with a cold, nauseating spiritual venom: an opponent suddenly covered in animate, poison-dripping snake tattoos subtracts a number of die from all her Stamina dice pools (including soak) equal to the lector-priest’s Akhu Trait. A creature targeted in this way makes a Willpower roll (Difficulty equal to the lector-priest’s Willpower): each success reduces the drain her Stamina dice pool by one, to a minimum of zero.
Mortals, ghouls, and other living creatures reduced to zero Stamina by this obscene curse begin to asphyxiate and hyperventilate, dying an ugly and undignified death over the next several minutes: those killed show signs, postmortem, of exposure to thousands of different snake venoms.
Only one target or subject may be affected by this power at any given time: either the lector-priest or a single victim.
The unnatural appearance of this power proves extremely disconcerting to mortals and animals (and, at the Storyteller’s discretion, Kindred who have never witnessed it before). Whenever this power is invoked within a mortal’s vicinity, that individual must make a Courage roll (difficulty 8) or suffer a one-die penalty to all dice pools for the remainder of the scene due to overwhelming fear of the coiling, unnatural serpents.
LEVEL TWO – Depthless Pit of Holy Vipers
By use of this strange and terrifying technique, the lector-priest transmutes the very ground beneath an opponent’s feat into a writing mass of serpents, which immediately envelop the hapless victim: dragging her down into the darkness, enclosing her in a thrashing whirlpool of scales, fangs and unblinking eyes.
System: The lector-priest spends a blood point and makes a Willpower roll (Difficulty 6); the number of successes scored by the lector-priest on the roll is the number of successes the victim must score on a Strength roll (difficulty 8; Potence can add to this roll) to break free of the pit.
Each subsequent round, on her turn, the victim may attempt a new Strength check at the same Difficulty to escape the pit; if she fails to meet or exceed the required number of successes, she suffers one Health Level of Lethal damage as her flesh is torn apart by countless fangs. Mortals submerged in a pit are also subject to poison, dealing an additional Health Level of Bashing damage each turn. This damage may be soaked as normal.
A lector-priest may choose not deal damage to a creature submerged in a pit she has created, if she so desires; at will, she may cease or resume the dealing of damage. In this way, the pit may be used – in a pinch – by the lector-priest to evade incoming fire.
A subject may be only held in a single pit at a time, although the caster is free to invoke multiple uses of this power – over the course of multiple rounds – targeting separate victims, and may dispel any number of pits at will.
A serpent-pit created in this way reverts back to unblemished earth or flooring when its victim escapes, at the end of the scene, when the victim trapped within dies, or when the pit leaves line-of-sight to its creator, whichever comes first. A creature who dies within the pit is entombed when the pit closes.
By the blackest of blessings, the lector-priest transmutes the soul-thick water of her victim’s life-force into a thrashing mass of razor-sharp fangs, foaming venom and squirming serpentine flesh: her victim’s skin bulges and tears as snakes spill forth from his wounds, his mouth, and the ruptured sockets of his eyes.
System: The lector-priest chooses one target she can see. She may, if she chooses, first touch her intended victim directly or grasp an object spiritually connected to her victim – such as a scrap of her victim’s hair or clothing, a measure of her victim’s blood, or a living creature with a deep emotional bond to her victim, for example – to establish resonance.
This ability normally has a range of only one yard. If the target of the effect is not within range after successes are counted (see below), the magic fails.
The lector-priest then spends a blood point and makes a Willpower roll (Difficulty 6; Difficulty 7 if the lector-priest does not have resonance with her target); each success does one of the following:
adds 10 yards to her range
converts one of the victim’s Blood Points into a living serpent, trapped within the victim’s body
One success kills a mortal within a few minutes as the serpent inside him fights its way out, usually exiting his body through the mouth.
Vampires who lose Blood Points to this power also suffer dice pool penalties as if they had received an equivalent number of health levels of injury. This penalty lasts until all serpents have been removed from the victim’s body.
Serpents trapped within the victim’s body attempt to exit as swiftly as possible, dealing one level of Lethal damage apiece as they tear out of the victim’s flesh (this damage may be soaked as normal), with one serpent – on average – exiting the victim each round.
Serpents created in this way crumble into ash one round after leaving the body of their victim or when their victim leaves line-of-sight to their creator, whichever comes first.
LEVEL FOUR – Call Up the Writhing Hydra
Without a word, vast and deadly serpents emerge into the world of flesh from impossible angles to serve the will of their crimson god.
System: The lector-priest spends a blood point and makes a Willpower roll (Difficulty 7); each success enables the creation of a single vast serpent.
The lector-priest loses one point of blood for each serpent created in this way; this is not considered an expenditure of blood for purposes of generational blood expenditure limits.
Each serpent is six feet (two meters) long and possesses Strength and Dexterity ratings equal to the invoking vampire’s Akhu Trait; note that the lector-priest’s Potence and Celerity dots are added to these Strength and Dexterity ratings, respectively. If the lector-priest chooses, she may spend a blood point to increase the Strength or Dexterity of a single serpent she controls by one.
Each serpent has four health levels, is affected by fire and sunlight as if it were a Follower of Set, and soaks bashing and lethal damage using the lector-priest’s Stamina + Fortitude. Serpents called-forth in this way cannot soak aggravated damage.
Serpents created by use of this ability may bite and constrict foes: both attacks inflict (Strength +1) lethal damage per turn. Breaking the grasp of a constricting serpent requires the victim to win a resisted Strength roll against the serpent (Difficulty 6 for each).
The lector-priest controls serpents she creates in this way purely by mental action, and commanding them does not require complete concentration; if the lector-priest is not incapacitated or in torpor, she may control her serpents while carrying out other actions.
Serpents created in this way crumble into ash at the end of the scene or when they leave line-of-sight to their creator, whichever comes first.
By twist of vitae, dark prayer and obscene desire – in worshipful reflection of Set’s own blessing of undeath upon his adoring Childer – the lector-priest may call into the world a beautiful, living receptacle for her own occult will.
System: The lector-priest spends 3 blood points, then reduces her permanent Blood Pool by three (but see below), then makes a Willpower roll (Difficulty 8).
One success is required to create either a single constrictor snake or a single poisonous snake (V20, pg 390); this serpent is a ghoul created by the lector-priest with a Blood Pool of 3, and it gains all the appropriate benefits (V20, pg. 388 and 497) of that condition. This serpent immediately emerges from the lector-priest’s mouth, from her wounds, from the folds of her cloak, from the twisting depths of her shadow, or from any other place directly adjacent to the lector-priest; it may immediately act.
A creature created in this way crumbles to ash, blood, shadow, and wisps of ceremonial incense-smoke when destroyed or dismissed by its creator. A lector-priest may always dismiss a serpent she has created in this way back into nothingness at any time even if unconscious or in torpor. A lector-priest may possess any number of serpents created in this way, but she may not reduce her permanent Blood Pool below five.
When a serpent created in this way is destroyed or dismissed, its lector-priest creator immediately increases her permanent Blood Pool by three.
Creatures created in this way obey their progenitor lector-priest to the best of their – admittedly limited – ability, otherwise behaving like any serpent born of living flesh.
In addition, the lector-priest may always use an effect identical to Subsume the Spirit (V20, pg. 131) upon any serpent she has created via use of this Path. She may expend a point of Willpower to use this ability over any distance, without making direct eye-contact with her created serpent.
NPCs of the Crown of Venom & Coil
—Cecil Savage is a Caitiff ordained into the Followers of Set as a true believer, a fervent disciple walking the Path of the Warrior. He has a natural gift for Akhu, combining his talent at the Valor of Sutekh (Path of Mars) with a smattering of low-level Disciplines picked up during his time in the Anarch Free States. Over the last few decades he’s found work as a double agent on several occasions: acting as a seemingly-mindless bully-boy to a variety of arrogant Sheriffs while quietly expanding the influence of his ophidian masters in the long shadows of their rotting Camarilla cities.
—Ra-et Amduat is an elder Setitie Sorceress who maintains a number of occult temples throughout Europe and the United States, establishing new power-bases from her stronghold in Las Vegas whenever her auguries show her that the Red God’s war upon the Aeons might find a fertile new battlefront. Her experiments into the deeper mysteries of Akhu are expensive, costing her dark oceans of freshly-spilled blood: for this reason, she maintains a vast web of loyal ghouls, sycophants and novice mystical practitioners.
—Mr. Habushu is a former Serpent of the Light who long-ago abandoned the Sword of Caine to serve his God more directly. He now works for the Clan & Faith as an active Sabbat-hunter, investigating uses of blood sorcery among that sect and – in many cases – cleaning up the legacy of the Tremere Antitribu and diablerizing the occasional Infernalist as he does so. An ally of opportunity to any number of Josian devil-hunters and Sabbat Inquisitors alike, the affable and charming Mr. Habushu keeps a cabal of Yakuza ghouls on-hand to quickly and quietly eliminate any threats to his sleeping master.
—Winter Bellamira is an Elder ex-Assamite Baali entirely devoted to the Path of Screams, a creature of night & horror who walks the coldest, most desolate places of the world with a jagged song in her heart, a smile upon her ruby lips, and blood dripping from her delicate fingers. Amongst her ten-thousand sins, she takes great pleasure in torturing, shattering and re-embracing (V20: Lore of the Bloodlines, pg. 17) weak-willed members of the hated Followers of Set into her own dark religion. Those ex-Typhonists corrupted into mindless slaves of the Aeons by her gentle ministrations are utterly lost: anathema worthy only of swift destruction at the hands of Set’s faithful.
—Ms. Candlebriar andOberisuku are a mutually blood-bound Tremere & Gargoyle pair, chasing after occult secrets and operating independent of any formal Chantry. The two are dangerously obsessed with unlocking the root powers of Akhu, which they suspect to be a predecessor to Koldunic Sorcery; their methods are extreme even by the standards of other Warlocks, combining Auspex & Dominate “psychic surgeries” performed on staked victims with more mundane techniques of kidnapping, brainwashing and blood-experimentation.
