by Evan Richard Franke (26 Feb 93)
This creative effort was inspired by White Wolf's brilliant supplement World of Darkness: Mummy, as if you couldn't guess. I am indebted to them for inspiration and the original creativity behind the Gothic Punk universe. While I was thinking all of this through and making it all I was encouraged, questioned, aided and tolerated by various members of the list including Richard Scott, Philippe Duchon, Ophelie, Sam, Thanatos, Dave Kennard, phil, Jonathan, Spike, and CE. I would like to especially thank Dave Oakes (whose name I can usually spell) who peppered me with questions after every post, who encouraged me, and without whom I would not have finished this. So, with that preamble let me open the way to a new perspective on Kay Pacha, the middle world and earthly realm.
Mummies, the very word conjures visions of ancient Egypt, of pharaohs and priests lying in their ancient tombs, and some few, guided by the ancient gods, who walk the earth today on their secret missions in the never ending war against Apophis, demon serpent of the underworld. There are other truths to the word, mummy, however, and paths more hidden from our consciousness and the games of Jyhad and Masquerade. There are mummies more ancient than those of Egypt.
On the western coast of South America a fisherfolk without pottery or metals began to develop elaborate funerary customs including the mummification of their dead at around 5000 B.C. We now know them as the Chinchoros people, but their true name is lost to memory as no written records appear in South America until the Spanish Conquest. As with most small groups, they probably called themselves "the people." These first Chinchoros mummies, those who have not become part of the eternal cycle of rebirth to the earthly realm, are now found from the port city of Ilo in southern Peru south to the area around San Pedro de Atacama in the North of Chile. These folk, for their most elaborate mummies, disarticulated the bodies, cleaned the bones of much of the soft tissue and built frames of cane and coverings of painted clay to preserve the body in tact. The crucial parts saved were the bones and the hair, integrated now in the mummy. This differs from the concerns of the Egyptians, and points to a divergent tradition of magic.
The concern for the people of the Andes is not the body as the repository for the soul, a shell that must be maintained, but rather, that certain parts of the body, the bones, the hair, especially the skull, are crucial markers, beacons for the return of the spirit. Magic may clothe the bones with flesh again, but without something to lead the spirit back, the connection between "the people" and the ancestors is lost. The concern for maintaining concrete ties between the living and the dead clearly emerged at this juncture, not only with the Chinchoros, but also farther to the north with the people of La Paloma by 4000 B.C. (near modern day Lima, Peru) who salted their dead to preserve them. These beginnings heralded an ongoing tradition of physical links between the living and dead, for ever afterwards there was always somewhere in the Andes, if not everywhere at all times, where the people preserved their dead, and spoke to them in times of need, and in some few communities, they expected their dead to come back to them, to lead them again through crisis.
Developing an Andean Mummy character, whether as a player character or an antagonist presents problems for most of us, because unlike Egypt, the Andes have made little impression on our collective consciousness. For Egypt we have had movies, television specials, hugely popular museum exhibitions, novels, comic books, and the Steve Martin song "King Tut." Almost nothing comparable prepares us to play a character from the Andes, someone quite removed from our familiar western traditions. If this "supplement" is to be finished, I cannot prepare you to take on this challenge adequately. I will give a bibliography for future investigation, and I will give you a ground zero. In the end it is up to you how far you go to clothe the bones I give you with flesh.
The culture of the Andes extends from highland Colombia and Ecuador through the coastal and highland regions of Peru, the highlands of Bolivia, Northwest Argentina, and the highlands and coast of the northern half of Chile. There is both amazing diversity and unity throughout this region and the cultures of these countries remain alive and developing, rediscovering and reinventing themselves. Today much of the culture has a facade of European Christianity, under which native structures still live.
The principles which structure their universe can be summed up (in highly simplified form) as 2, 3 and 4. These numeric principles have terms attached to them, terms usually used to defined people and space. Though there were many languages throughout the Andes, and there are still quite a few native tongues alive, the terms best known are those used by the Inka, the last great power in the Andes. Their language Quechua was the imperial standard (like Latin for the Roman Empire) and Quechua terms will be standard in the following text (because it is what I know). The first term deals with basic duality, male/female, up/down, right/left. Hanan embodied the principles of upper, right, and maleness, while Hurin was lower, left, and femaleness. For defining the principle of three for population and spatial divisions on earth the upper term was Collana, the middle term Payan, and the lower term was Collao. However for us, the importance of three is in reference to the three realms of the universe, the upper world (and celestial realm) of Hanan Pacha, the middle world (and our earthly realm) Kay Pacha, and the underworld Hurin Pacha. The principle of four divided both people and the entire world, for the land of the Inkas was the Land of Four Quarters, Tawantinsuyu, which was composed of Chinchaysuyu (North?), Cuntisuyu (West?), Antisuyu (East?), and Collasuyu (South?). The numbers game, two transformed to three, within a vision of four gets very complex and few people can fully comprehend it let alone explain its operation in Andean life. This should be enough to get you started (or utterly confused).
Time for the Andean people's is cyclic. There are eternal cycles of Chaos and Cosmos. Now is a time of Chaos for them, for the Cosmos was shattered when the Spanish destroyed the Inka Empire. Mummies have their own cycle, which each one create and recreates for herself. Chaos is the time of searching and traveling through the realms as a spirit, and the Cosmos is restored when they again incarnate on Kay Pacha, to attempt to shield their people from Chaos, or to help them maintain the Cosmos. Some mummies have lost their people, however, and must find them, or another, or find a new purpose to justify their eternal cycle.
Identify Concept: During what period were you born and where, who were your people, and what are you doing now in the modern world?
Choose Career Path: Were you a ruler, a specialist, or a shaman?
Choose Nature and Demeanor
Prioritize your three categories:
Primary 7, Secondary 5, Tertiary 3
Prioritize your three categories:
Primary: 20, Secondary 15, Tertiary 10
Choose Realm Powers (3 divided between Kay Pacha and Hanan Pacha
plus an automatic 5 in Hurin Pacha)
Choose Career Path Disciplines (5)
Choose Background Traits: May be limited by Chronicle Concept (6)
Choose Virtues: All virtues start at zero, not at one (ergo an
Andean Mummy may start out with a zero in one virtue) Distribute
10 among Conscience, Self-Control, and Courage.
Record base Willpower=Courage
Record base Humanity=Conscience + Self Control
Record Base Llapa=total in Hanan Pacha+Kay Pacha+Hurin Pacha
Spend 30 Freebie points
This may be the most challenging part of creating an Andean Mummy character. Why do you even exist? There are several archetypical examples I can give, but further research and imagination is also required. Easiest to play is a Mummy whose community is no longer in existence. The original purpose of the Mummy then, is lost. She no longer guards or advises her people, so she must have a new purpose, perhaps vengeance against the Europeans or against ancient enemies, perhaps to bring harmony to the strife filled Latin American countries which now occupy her home region. Perhaps the Mummy is looking for descendants of people she once knew, to help them. Next, there could be some Mummies still tied to traditional communities, still serving their people. These Mummies would have few incentives to leave their secluded surroundings, but perhaps to serve the needs of the pueblo, or for the greater good of the universe, the Mummy must venture out and use her powers in the World of Darkness. Finally, there are the Naqaq, black sorcerers and headhunters, who, if they ever served a community now only serve darker powers and their own evil interests. These Mummies usually have little Humanity and glorify in their attachment to the darker side of the Underworld. They have lost their balance in the universe.
So, perhaps you may encounter a Mummy in a remote Andean pueblo, or perhaps find one working to save the Amazon Rain forest along side Nature Conservancy people; you might even find one at the head of a powerful drug cartel. The possibilities are limited only by imagination.
There are three archetypical kinds of people who come back from the underworld as Andean Mummies Rulers, Specialists, and Shamans. Each type has a specific set of experiences and powers inherent in the Path. The exact operation of each power will be explained in a later section.
The Path of Rulership
The rulers of andean peoples were chiefs (Kuraka, Mallku), kings,
emperors (e.g. Sapa Inka), generals, and war leaders (Sinchi).
Their function was to organize the natural and supernatural
universe in order to allow their people to prosper, grow strong
and live in peace, internally and externally. In return for
their leadership, rulers received goods and services, as well as
worship and devotion (ideally) from their subjects.
There are three disciplines in this path:
The Path of Specialization
There were two chief kinds of specialists in Andean society,
state ritual specialists (or priests) and craftsmen. There are
many similarities and links between these functions, and indeed
some craftsmen appear to have had religious affiliation or
function, and priest have shown dominion over certain crafts.
The crafts practiced in particular in the Andes included copper
and bronze work, pottery making, weaving, masonry, stone carving,
mural painting, and lapidary work (with shell, lapis lazuli,
etc.).
There are three Disciplines for this Path:
The Path of Shamanism
The Shaman was the first person of importance in Andean society.
The Shaman first interceded with spirits and learned to care for
"the people." Only later, after people began to elaborate
societies, to differentiate one group from another were the paths
of Rulership and Specialization discovered. The Shaman was
first, and the Shaman has been the last, for their are still some
living Shamans in the Andes, while the other Paths are lost, in
the possession of the ever returning Mummies.
There are three Disciplines for this Path:
Detailed information is available in the Magic Section
Allies, Contacts, Fame, Influence, Retainers, Status (all from V:tM); Supernatural (from WOD: Mummy).
Spirit Objects
This is a background particular to Andean Mummies. During
creation the Mummy must decide how many spirit objects she is
bound to. The greater the number to which the Mummy is bound and
has present the easier it is to reincarnate. Spirit Objects
measures the number of spirit objects tied to the Mummy which she
controls. If no levels of Spirit Objects is bought, then the
Mummy either has no idea where her objects are, or her objects
have been destroyed and she needs to get some more.
o You know where your objects are but do not control them
(they are in museums, private collections, buried and hopefully
no one will find them, etc.)
oo You control one of your objects.
ooo You control two of your objects.
oooo You control three of your objects.
ooooo You control all (four is the maximum) of your objects.
People who think they have got off easily by choosing to just have one object and buy two levels of Spirit Objects will soon regret that smugness when their object is stolen or destroyed....
Objects may be any sort of craft product from the Andes, ceramic vessels, gold masks, shell fishhooks, bronze war club heads, textiles, etc.
Realm Powers | 10 |
Career Path Disciplines | 7 (including Paths outside your Career) |
Attributes | 5 |
Abilities | 2 |
Secondary Abilities | 1 |
Virtues | 2 |
Llapa | 2 |
Backgrounds | 1 |
Willpower | 1 |
New Ability | 3 |
Llapa | Current Rating |
Willpower | Current Rating |
Virtue | Current Rating |
Ability | Current Rating x2 |
Attribute | Current Rating x4 |
Career Path Discipline | Current Rating x4 |
New Career Path Discipline | 7 |
Career Path Discipline from other path | Current Rating x6 |
Realm Power | Current Rating x7 New Realm Power 10 |
(Mummies have may have a maximum of 5 in Attributes)
Andean Magic is divided into two distinct types: the Realm Powers and the Career Path Disciplines. The two forms of magic are interdependent and bound up in the Mummy's life cycle. The disciplines are easiest to deal with first, but necessitate the concept of Llapa to be introduced first.
This word means "power," "energy," "spark," or "lightning" in Quechua and Llapa is the fuel for the Disciplines that the Andean Mummies used to enhance their power and hopefully to aid their peoples. The Starting Llapa of an Andean Mummy is 8 (Hanan+Hurin+Kay Pacha) plus any Llapa bought with Freebie points. There is no maximum to Llapa.
Llapa fuels the Career Path Disciplines in the following manner. When a Discipline is used the Mummy designates the level at which she wishes to use the power (maximum is her maximum level of course). Then the Mummy rolls the dice in her Discipline (1-5) against a 6. Each success costs one Llapa. If enough success to reach the desired level were rolled, the Mummy only pays for the needed successes. If there is a shortfall, however, the Mummy must either pay for the successes and let the power fail, or pay 3 Llapa to buy the additional "successes" to make up the difference. If a Botch is rolled, twice the designated number of successes in Llapa are lost. The power once invoked has a maximum duration of one scene.
Llapa returns at a rate of 50% per day. If under extreme stress (unable to take normal meals, sleep, in constant danger, etc.) only 25% will come back. Successfully achieving complete rest through meditation and/or retreat to a safe haven may increase the return of Llapa at the Storyteller's discretion.
There is a second form of Llapa, called Nawpa Llapa ("Extra (or gift) Energy"). This energy is gained from different realms by performing rituals in accordance with the structure of a particular realm. This energy does not regenerate, but is instead a "battery" of extra power for emergency use. The details of how to gain Nawpa Llapa are described below under the Realms. Because of their close ties to Hurin Pacha, these are the rituals most easily employed by most Andean Mummies.
All of these disciplines require the use of Llapa (or Nawpa Llapa) as outlined above. Once a Discipline has been invoked, whether successful or unsuccessful, it may not be used again for the duration of the scene. Even if a Discipline can be used to affect different Attributes or Abilities, only one Attribute or Ability may be affected by that Discipline during a single scene.
A Mummy with this Career Path has been a leader of her people in her first incarnation and has served in similar roles throughout her cyclic reincarnation.
This discipline allows the Mummy to enhance her Strength, Dexterity or Stamina by the number of success attained (i.e. 1- 5). The maximum increase is to 10. The exact effects of high attributes may be found in WOD: Mummy or may be invented by the Storyteller.
This Discipline allows the Mummy to enhance her Social Attributes as above.
With this Discipline the Mummy may enhance her Mental Attributes as above.
Mummies with this career path has been a craft and or religious specialist (i.e. priest) throughout their cycle.
Botches with the Craftsmanship power result in the destruction of the items being enchanted, or may result in a cursed item, or a loss in skill level. The expended Llapa is lost permanently to no or twisted effect. This is up to the Storyteller's discretion.
With this power the Mummy is able to discern truth and to enforce her will of justice (or injustice).
This is used to foretell one possible future and can be used to see alternate paths from the "most likely." Foretelling frequently employs the use of coca leaves tossed on the ground and "read", or patterns in smoke or in the way that liquids (water, corn beer, blood) flows down a surface to fully "see" the future. Hallucinogenic drugs or deprivation of food or sleep may also be required.
This is the earliest Career Path. Those with it have been spiritual leaders and healers throughout their cycle. In modern terms they are known as Curanderos (curers) or Brujos (witches, who can be "good" or "evil"). There may still be living people who practice this path in the Andes without so much connection to Hurin Pacha.
An important role of a Shaman is to oversee the fertility of individual humans and animals, and specific plots of land and crops. Though the powers of the Realm of Hurin Pacha maintain general community fertility (for crops, community members and their animals), sometimes specific magic is needed to remedy or to curse a certain problem individual.
This is a simple power. The number of successes garnered is the level of damage removed or the "level of disease" removed (diseases must be given a rating which must be matched or exceeded; e.g. common cold 1, AIDS 5). The damage cured may be aggravated, but this raises the difficulty by 2.
This is one of the most fundamental powers of Shamans. They are first and foremost both physical and psychological healers in their communities. Psychological healing comes through the use of their social attributes and abilities, but those with true mystic powers are able to effect physical cures through magic as per this Discipline.
The tradition of shapechanging is one long held in the Andean Tradition. Sometimes it denotes evil such as the Karkacha, a person transformed into a human headed llama at night because they have committed incest. Very often, however, it is used to travel, explore, and defend. Initially the forms known to the Shaman were only native to the Andean region, but after close to 500 years many imported animals have lent there forms to the Shaman as well.
Forms should be governed by the Shaman's background, and specific stories may be needed to gain additional forms. Animal forms not mentioned above may be possible depending on Troupe research and Storyteller discretion.
The Realm Powers are vague in definition and yet almost instinctive powers for the Andean Mummy. With these powers the Mummy may intercede with, compel and entreat cosmic powers. However, these Realms may make vague and irresistible demands on the Mummy as well. This has the effect of the Storyteller rolling the dice in the particular Realm's dice pool against a 6. Each success represents a Willpower Point the Mummy must expend not to do what the Cosmos thinks should be done (i.e. the Storyteller's whim or design). Because of the Mummy's intrinsic link to the Underworld, many are frequently consumed by the impulses of Hurin Pacha.
Hurin Pacha is the Andean Underworld. It is the place of waters, and touches the Earthly real at the site of deep waters (all the oceans lead to Hurin Pacha). In Hurin Pacha dwell the cthonic powers, from which comes the fertility of the earth, plagues and their cures, earthquakes, freshwater springs, and the release of water into the air for the rains and snows which keep Andean Agriculture going. Here also dwell the ancestors, those who can intercede for good, if treated with respect, or ill, if disrespected, with the powers of the underworld. Hurin Pacha is a realm of great good and great evil, intimately tied to the cycle of life and death on earth.
The terrestrial realm is the one in which we live, one were spirits, however, also inhabit everything, and can be consulted and entreated, and occasionally commanded for aid. This power works mostly on the natural environment, and its products (cut stone is okay, concrete is difficult and plastic beyond the scope of the power, for example).
The Celestial Realm, like Hurin Pacha, is also a place of great good and great evil for the Andeans. From it comes light, and wisdom, but also destruction and terror. Lightning and thunder can enlighten, and put someone on the shamanic path, but they can also kill. Hail and freezing rain destroys crops, wind and fire can be foes as well as friends.
Each Realm has a certain set of rituals through which an Andean Mummy may gain Nawpa Llapa. Each ritual has in common that the Mummy rolls the number of dice in the particular Realm Power against a 6. Each success translates into a number of Nawpa Llapa gained. A botch indicates that the Ritual has drained any Nawpa Llapa the Mummy might have had.
The rituals of the Underworld involve both sacrifice and torture of living creatures. These rituals normally take place at the time when the sun passes through its Nadir or Zenith. Blood sacrifice was very important to the Andeans and in extreme cases human sacrifice and torture of war captives and criminals was practiced. Because Mummies are so tied to the Underworld they are tempted to risk their Humanity in these rituals more frequently and with greater benefit. Such are the dangers of Hurin Pacha. All Mummies participate in some sacrifice, but only those who have lost much of their Humanity revel in the torture and sacrifice of innocents.
Gain is according to the following formula:
Small Animal sacrifice (typically guinea pigs): 1 (number of
successes dose not affect the amount).
Large Animal Sacrifice: 1 per success
Human Sacrifice (enemy, criminal): 2 per success
Torture of human victim before sacrifice: +1 per success
Human Sacrifice (innocent; usually voluntary in the past, and
traditionally not involving torture. Death by strangulation or
suffocation after drugging was common): 3 per success.
Evil Mummies, those who have turned from the civilized community of the Andes will kill unwilling innocents, and use torture. Other Mummies may torture and kill their enemies, it is an old and established practice. They have mostly stopped sacrificing innocents, for the ideology is no longer in place for volunteers. Beyond Nawpa Llapa gain, an innocent sacrifice also becomes a special intercessionary for a community to the Underworld. A Mummy might also seek one out later and bring them back to be a Mummy in their own right.
These rituals have to do with fertility and sexuality. They typically take place after the time of the Hanan Pacha rituals (after the period of abstinence, see below). The rituals before the season of planting are reenactments of how a culture hero or god planted his seed in mother earth, or in another goddess or female culture hero to begin the agricultural cycle or bind communities in a compact and cycle of fertility. In order to benefit from this ritual the Mummy must impersonate one of the characters in the myth and her partner must also masquerade as the other character willingly, and with at least some knowledge of what is happening. A male and female Mummy may perform the ritual together and both will gain benefit. The gain is one Nawpa Llapa per success rolled against the normal difficulty with the Mummy's Kay Pacha dice. The difficulty is lowered to 5 if the participants are married and the difficulty is 4 if this act of lovemaking consummates their relationship.
The ritual which occurs during the growing season is one that expresses an inversion of order, and which expresses, rather than "planting," a sustaining of energy, expressed as sexuality. In this case, then, the sex is not that which leads to impregnation and children, but rather is any variety or form of non- reproductive sex (not counting contraceptives). This includes oral, anal, and manual sex with a partner of the opposite sex, or the same sex, without the mythical masquerade. The participants must be willing. For heterosexual sex (only partial inversion) the roll and difficulty are normal. For homosexual sex (maximum inversion) the difficulty is lowered to 5. In general, the coastal peoples of the Andes were said to engage more in homosexuality while the highlanders denied any such practices to the Spanish. This dichotomy was probably not absolute.
Both of these rituals may be performed only at their appointed times once per year.
The celestial realm requires personal sacrifice in the form of self-deprivation and purification. These rituals usually take place around the time of the equinoxes, though used of the second level of hanan Pacha might reveal an auspicious time outside of the equinoxes as well (at Storyteller's discretion this may apply to other rituals as well). The deprivations that must be suffered include abstinence from spices (particularly hot peppers), salt, and from sexual intercourse. Of further importance is purifying one's surroundings with fire (passing fire around and over, but NOT burning down) at the end of the ritual period. Also it improves results if one is away from other supernatural agents (ghouls, Kindred, Garou, Magi) and from diseased, sick, or deformed people. There presence (according to Andean cosmology) disrupt the pure energy needed for these rituals. This class of rituals is the most time consuming, taking a minimum of one week to perform. Any interruption destroys the ritual. Nawpa Llapa gains are as follows:
Per Week (maximum 4) spent in ritual observance: 2 per success
Each contact with 'impure" individual: -1
Surrounding is person's home: normal condition
Surrounding is in the wilderness or away from civilization:
ritual is worth only half as much Nawpa Llapa.
Purification even takes place in an entire community (village,
city neighborhood, etc.): Nawpa Llapa gain is doubled.
As one can see, this ritual is oriented towards purifying one's cultural surroundings and not for getting in touch with nature or escaping the "impurity" of civilization. For the Andeans, settlements were very important and the wilderness was the dangerous and "chaotic" area, as opposed to their own cultural "cosmos."
The Andean Mummy's cycle is similar in some ways to that of the Egyptian Mummy. However, the Andean body does not have a spiritual guardian like the Ka. There are multiple parts to the Andean Soul, but only that one concerned with spiritual magic concerns us, that which contains the Llapa. There are two ways for an Andean Mummy to "die": violent/accidental death (physical trauma, disease which is faster than the body can become immune, poison, etc.), or old age. Unlike the Egyptian Mummy, the Andean ages, albeit at a different rate from normal humans. The age at roughly one third the normal rate after reaching adulthood, and they suffer infirmities and difficulties as one might expect. At each reincarnation the Mummy returns to its "starting" age, the age at which it was buried the first time, be that child, adolescent, adult or ancient. Upon death, one way or another, the soul containing the Llapa is freed to roam the spirit world, and occasionally act through "sensatives" in the mundane world until the Mummy is able to reinhabit their body.
Initial "immortality" is gained under the following circumstances: when an individual dies if he or she is interred with the proper burial rites, and the proper burial furniture, some that has been prepared consciously or unconsciously, with the equivalent of Craftsmanship Level 1, and if the body is in some way preserved, through natural or purposeful mummification, then the soul may return. As the body and the place of resting are venerated, and food and object offerings are left, a bond is maintained between the Hurin Pacha and Kay Pacha. Eventually, either soon after death, or perhaps long afterwards, a Shaman, Mummy or other individuals with an Hurin Pacha score of 5 can visit the soul and lead it back from the Underworld. The Mummy now has Hurin Pacha at 5 and may try to reinhabit the body normally.
In order to reinhabit the body, the Mummy must focus using the appropriate objects buried with them and their body. There can be one to four objects bound to the body (each number having its own significance in the cosmic order of the Andes) and the more objects, the easier it is to focus energy into rebuilding the body. In order to rebuild and reinhabit the body the Mummy expends Llapa from his personal Llapa score However, this Llapa is lost permanently and the score must be rebuilt. Llapa may be gained on the spiritual plain just as Ba is for Egyptians, through quests, adventures and services performed for various spiritual beings.
The "formula" for rebirth is as follows: the Mummy must expend 1 Llapa for every level of damage the body suffered to die, or the level of damage or deterioration the corpse has suffered while the soul has been wandering. Thus a body that suffered two wounds beyond Incapacitated would require 9 Llapa to heal. however, the total expenditure, even to recreate an absent or burned body can never be more than 12 Llapa (5 over maximum wound levels, as per Egyptians). The Mummy must roll her Hurin Pacha dice (always 5) against the following difficulty formula:
Body and all Objects Present: 6 (base difficulty)
Each Object over 2 tied to the Mummy: -1
Each Spirit Object not present: +1
Body not present (ashes scattered to the wind, etc.): +3
Therefore, a Mummy with two spirit objects, whose body was burned and scattered to the winds, and whose soul can only find one of her spirit objects (Diff 6+1+3) must roll a 10 to be reborn. (Perhaps in a display case next to her object) as well as expending 12 Llapa permanently. Llapa may be expended over time to heal or recreate a body, but if a recreation is taking place next to an object out of context, it may draw attention ("Where did that dried up corpse come from?") If the Mummy rolls a botch in trying to reincarnate then the Llapa which was to be used is lost permanently to no effect.
Andeans also suffer from amnesia as do Egyptian Mummies. Normal rebirth requires that for each Ability over the Mummy's Intelligence, the Mummy must make an Intelligence roll against a Difficulty of 6 or the Ability will be reduced by 1. Each success, however, on the Hurin Pacha roll to reincarnate, over one allows the Mummy to designate an Ability immune to the check.
Andeans may come back before their time, if the need is great. If the Mummy has worshipers, then they may implore her to come to their aid, to see them through a time of trial, either of physical, mental or spiritual danger. In order to do this the Mummy expends only a third of the Llapa normally required and rolls her Hurin Pacha dice to reincarnate. The worshipers or descendants must then provide ritually clean clothing, ritual foods (sacrificed llamas, guinea pigs, coca, hot peppers, potatoes, corn beer (chicha), and sweets), and perform ritual sexual acts for each day the Mummy is to be animated. These represent offering to Hanan, Hurin and Kay Pacha respectively. The Mummy may now be active, but will be a rasping dry husk, so that a "lich-like" warrior may be seen on the battle-field, or the Mummy may speak prophecy, or the "dead" may attend to the sick or infertile.
There is much more to be said about Andean culture, civilization and practices. I'll be glad to address questions on the net for as long as I am here, but I think this document as a whole is big enough. I would like to say here, thank you to everyone on the net, for this list has made it possible for me to put forward this creative effort. Also, I must thank White Wolf for creating this game and taking me places I had never gone before. I would like to finish with some references for future research and some name elements to help you begin to define your Andean Mummy!
Gods and Men of Huarochiri - Francisco de Avila
Mountain of the Condor - Joseph W. Bastien
The Incas - Pedro de Cieza de Leon
(Trans. Harriet de Onis)
Moche Art and Iconography - Christopher Donnan
Andean Cosmologies Through Time: Persistence and Emergence -
R. Dover (ed)
The Inka Road System - John Hyslop
Chan Chan: Andean Desert City - Michael Moseley
The Incas and their Ancestors - Michael E. Moseley
The Northern Dynasties: Kingship and Statecraft in Chimor -
Edited by Michael Moseley and Alana Cordy-Collins
The Handbook of South American Indians, Vol 2: The Andean
Civilizations - (edited by Julian H. Steward)
At the Crossroads of Earth and Sky: An Andean Cosmology -
Gary Urton
Where known I have included the translation and the origin
Quechua (Q), Muchic (the language of Chimor) (M) or Aymara (A),
of the word.
Ayar Cachi (q)
Ayar Manco (q)
Ayar Auqui (q)
Acocuyuch (m)
aqlla (q) chosen
Atawalpa (q)
amaru (q) serpent
Cajasimsim (m)
cari (a)
coya (q) queen
chasqui (q) messenger
Chumun-caur (m)
Fonga (m)
hatun (q) chief, high
inti (q) sun
kalasaya (a)
kimsa (a) three
kusi (a)
Llapchiluli (m)
lupaqa (a)
machu (q) old
mallku (a) condor, lord
mallqui (q) Mummy
mama (q) mama
Mama Ocllo (q)
Mama Wako (q)
Manco Qhapaq (q)
masca (viha) (q) curer
Mayki Yupanki (q)
Minchansaman (m)
nusta (q) princess
Naymlap (m)
Ninacola (m)
Ninagintue (m)
Nyancen-pinco (m)
Occhocalo (m)
Ollopcopoc
pacajes(a0
pacha (q) world, realm
Pachakuti (q) changes the world
paya (q) noblewoman
Pituzofi (m)
pukara (q) fortress
puma (q) puma
qhapaq (q) powerful, chief, rich
Qhapaq Yupanki (q)
Quisquis (q)
runa (q) person
sapa (q) great
sinchi (q) great warrior
soyac (q) priest, seer who sees the future in corn grains
Taycanamo (m)
thupa (q)
Thupa Inka Yupanqui
taqui (q) song, dance
topa (q) true
vila (a) blood
Warcri-caur (m)
waka (q) shrine, sacred object
waman (q) falcon
Waman-chumo (m?)
wanka (q) stone double of a person
Wascar (q)
wasi (q) place, house
wayna (q) young
Wayna Qhapaq (q)
yana (q) black, vassal
yupanqui (q)
Xam-muchec (m)
I would first just like to thank Spike and everyone else who liked this piece of work. Feedback and praise has made it worth all the time and effort. So, on to Spike's questions:
Virtues: Virtues start at Zero, basically because I felt the need to disconnect these Mummies from the main stream. THey have been around, probably for at least Five Hundred years and sometimes thousands of years. Their connection with Hurin Pacha can sap the VIrtue out of them if they are not careful and I thought it was intriguing to offer a character who may have gone to the Darker side of their nature. Certainly a Naqaq will have lost all her Conscience or Self Control. This set up could be seen as more conducive for making "bad guy" NPC's and if that's the was a Storyteller sees it they should use the normal Virtue Distribution from V:tM for their Troupe.
Vampires and the fall of Andean Civilizations: I personally do not have in my chronicles any European Vampires making it to South America before the 15th Century. Still, it would be intriguing to devise a scenario where refugees from Europe, Camarilla or Sabbat, or Vampires from before those organzations we formed, showing up to wreak havok on the inhabitants of the New World.
Shaman Path: In some sense, all Andean mummies have traditionally Shamanic kinds of spirit powers, but that is in the nature of how powerful people where thought to be connected to the spirit Realms in the Andes. The Career Path powers for Shamans reflect their community functions of maintaining health and fertility, and their reputed powers of shape-changing, which is a common theme in myths and folk tales.
Spirit objects: glad you like the system. Does anyone have a problem with it?
Career path powers and llapa use:
To clarify, when you roll insufficient successes with your career path dice
pool (say you want three and you roll one) then to make up the difference and
get the power to succeed you can spend 3 Llapa per success to make up the
difference (in the above example, you would "buy" two extra successes for a
cost of 6 Llapa).
Remember each success you apply, costs 1 Llapa (the above roll would cost 1
to fail, or 7 to succeed).
Andean Mummy life functions: these people have all normal human life functions (eat, sleep, deficate, procreate, etc.)
Llapa cost for Craftsmanship Levels 3-5: All Llapa costs are in PERMANENT Llapa. Remember more than one person can contribute to the creation. It is, however, expensive by any measure to create enchanted items.
Fertility level 4: yes, many story possibilities. This is drawn from the stories of spirits and supernatural creatures, as well as animals occaisionally, producing offspring with members of communities to form pacts, aliances, etc.
Using Realm Powers: Most of the effects described under the realm powers work automatically. However, I have found that certain situations may warrant rolls such as Attribute+Realm Power against target number, for example, to use a Fetish created by Craftsmanship, or to use a Garou fetish, I might have the Mummy roll Wits+Hanan Pacha to activate an item with a fire elemental in it. Realm Powers do NOT cost Llapa to use.
Level 4 Hurin Pacha:
The potential destruction or benefits using this power are indeed great, but
getting to use it is an adventure in itself.
The Mummy must travel to Hurin Pacha, and talk with the spirits he wishes
to employ. The Level gives one the knowledge of where to go and how to ask properly, but does not give one the powerto compel the effect. The earth
spirits must be propitiated properly to get the big earthquake, the guardians
at the gate of death must be dealt with properly to get them to release an
army of zombies to you etc. This is entirely under the Storyteller's
control. This makes it vague, as many of the realm powers are, but I don't
think it can be approached formulaicly.
Kay Pacha 4: the Llapa gained is added to the Nawpa Llapa (i.e. one use) score. The llapa is only gained until used. It cannot be spent on powers that call for permanent Llapa expenditure.
Hanan Pacha 5: Travel to the Celestial realm. Admittedly the vaguest of the vague inthe Realm Powers. It is not illogical, as all of the Hanan Pacha powers allow one to touch this realm in some way. Also, since Hanan Pacha touches Hurin Pacha were the Sky meets the Waters it is merely another doorway that opens to the spirit journey. The progression from reading the stars to travelling to a higher plain is not entirely intuitive but no less logical that the continuum from Auspex 1 to Auspex 5. As to what's there, I think that may demand another post of its own.
Aging rate: well, Andean Mummies needed to be different, and the cycle of things in the Andes is always dynamic, a progression, not just a matter of being alive with your Ba and deach without it. I picked the one third aging rate because of the importance of 3 as a number to organize things in the Andes.
Nawpa Llapa: this is one use and available for activationg Career Path disciplines only, not for expenditure in enchantment.
I think the adventure seed you suggest is great. Hope somebody uses it and tells us all about it.