Blog Post for Monday 7/8 - Mummies

[John Dunn]

Good morning, folks,

With an upcoming extended weekend (at least in the US), I thought I'd throw
this out there for folks to review before next Monday's posting. Comments
and feedback are very much appreciated as always.

Thanks!

-John

Mummies - Risen from their Tombs

The horrors of the Mummy Witchbreed originate with a foolish mistake made at
the time of the initial Grand Coven invasion. As the Outlands began to fall
before the Witches' armies, the other naitons were scarcely aware of the
dangers. For them, their daily routines were untouched by the political
instabilities in far off lands. Consequently, the inhabitants of Hyphrates
continued to scheme against one another, in hopes of gaining ever greater
control over the fertile land. It was part of this scheming that led to the
creation of these Accursed‹and proved an early turning point in the war.
Centuries before the invasion, Hyphrates was a lush grassland‹which is the
reason the initial colonists chose to settle the location. Irresponsible
magical excesses, poor agricultural practices, and a number of hideous
insect plagues eventually transformed the once fertile land into the largely
barren desert that now characterizes the nation. However, the full extend of
that change was dramatically accelerated during the early days of the
Invasion.
This was when a lesser bureaucrat thought he was using a long-lost ritual to
summon the Witch known as the Djinn. Legends indicate that the bureaucrat
sought to return Hyphrates to the state of glory it had known in the
centuries past. As the nation had become increasingly dependent upon
imported goods from Morden's other nations that glory had long lain dormant.
When the bureaucrat wished for the Djinn‹whom he thought ostensibly under
his control through the ritual‹to restore that ancient majesty, the Witch
chose to carefully interpret that exact wording.
Fully exploiting her powers, as fueled by the permissions granted through
the wish, the Djinn chose to restore the majesty of the ancient Hyphrates
nation. However, she did so in such a way that they became tools for her
use. Ruins of forgotten cities and lost temples emerged from beneath the
nation's deserts. The mummified remains of the ancient Hyphrates residents
lived anew. Rather than resurrecting the nation and its inhabitants, she
restored them to a hideous unlife. While they retained their memories and
much of their personalities, the vast majority of these undead were
completely under the sway of the Djinn.
The exception to this control was the mummified remains of whose burial had
incorporated a particular style of cartouche. When the power of the wish
rolled through Hyphrates, these ancient symbols magically reconfigured into
Witchmarks. The mummies who bore them were restored to a state of unlife,
but with a degree of freedom of thought and personality. Initially, they
still had little choice but to obey the Witch's direction, but after the
time of her defeat this became far less of an issue. In fact, when the Fey
vanquished the Djinn during the Betrayal, all of the members of this
Witchbreed gained the ability to act of their own volition.
The only weakness of these undead is the fact that they must take their
daily rest within the confines of their ancient sarcophagus. Consequently,
the vast majority of Mummies have taken a novel approach to solving this
weakness. Rather than having to stay near their tomb and its structure, the
mummies have taken to wearing much of their sarcophagus. By constructing
joints and straps into its very nature, the statue and coffin-like affair
becomes a veritable suit of armor that protects their bandage-enshrouded
corpse.
With their minds restored, the Mummies have taken on a variety of different
approaches to their new incarnations‹and seeming immortality. Some have
chosen to view this new chance as an opportunity to make up for past since.
It is these who have most frequently joined the Order of the Penitent and
joined the fight to overthrow the remaining forces of the Witches. Others
believe that this is their due, as they had believed that they were gods in
life. It is Mummies of this faction, most of whom have given their
allegiance to the false Pharoah Memmon, who now rule over the Memmon-Aswar
portion of Hyphrates. Those who fight against the Witches have been forcibly
banished from this land, and are sentenced to dismemberment should they
return.

[Patrick Dennis]

That's awesome, I like how you played out the curse. Who doesn't love a twisted wish! Also, were you planning on mentioning the curse's transfer or was that going to come out later?

---

From: John Dunn <john...@meliorvia.com>
To: "accursed-wo...@googlegroups.com" <accursed-wo...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 3, 2013 7:56 AM
Subject: Blog Post for Monday 7/8 - Mummies

[John Dunn]

Thanks, Patrick,

I can’t take credit for the twisted wish idea - -that’s all Ross’s brilliance. The curse transfer is something that I plan to present in the latter section. I couldn’t fit it into the allotted word count for the blog post. Thanks for the reminder, though!

-John

[dar...@darrellhardy.com]

Looks pretty good. Might want to do a last-minute spell-check (I see
"naiton" where there should be a "nation"; there might be others) but the
text holds together pretty well.

- Darrell

[John Dunn]

Gah! Thanks, Darrell. There were others, too. Sorry 'bout that. That's what
I get for cutting and pasting too hurriedly.

-John


On 7/3/13 1:53 PM, "dar...@darrellhardy.com" <dar...@darrellhardy.com>
wrote:

>> creation of these Accursed‹and proved an early turning point in the war.
>> Centuries before the invasion, Hyphrates was a lush grassland‹which is

>> the
>> reason the initial colonists chose to settle the location. Irresponsible
>> magical excesses, poor agricultural practices, and a number of hideous
>> insect plagues eventually transformed the once fertile land into the
>> largely
>> barren desert that now characterizes the nation. However, the full extend
>> of
>> that change was dramatically accelerated during the early days of the
>> Invasion.
>> This was when a lesser bureaucrat thought he was using a long-lost ritual
>> to
>> summon the Witch known as the Djinn. Legends indicate that the bureaucrat
>> sought to return Hyphrates to the state of glory it had known in the
>> centuries past. As the nation had become increasingly dependent upon
>> imported goods from Morden's other nations that glory had long lain
>> dormant.

>> When the bureaucrat wished for the Djinn‹whom he thought ostensibly
>> under
>> his control through the ritual‹to restore that ancient majesty, the

>> approaches to their new incarnations‹and seeming immortality. Some have