Cabiri

A Dynasty of philosophers and scholars according to many Immortals, the Cabiri straddled the fence on many issues. Not part of the Shemsu-Heru, they battled Apophis in their own ways until their destruction following the Sixth Maelstrom.

History
The Cabiri are the lesser stepchildren of the Spell of Life, created from the secret writings of a young Ishmaelite named Cabirus. This renegade left the lands of Khem and travelled to Greece sometime in the sixth century BC where he traded a written copy of the Spell of Life to a mortal Mage. The Mage made copies and the Spell was distributed and used to create new Immortals separate from the Wat Hor and the war with Sutekh.

These Cabiri, as they were named by the Shemsu-Heru, were still being created up to the 15th century AD (when Horus believed he destroyed the last copy of the writings), and it appears there have been others created since then (Proving Horus wrong). Most Cabiri are of Southern European or Northern African nationalities, and their society owes its traditions to the classical world of Greece and Rome and the Mystery Cults of the Mediterranean, to the echoes of Ancient Egypt rather than to its direct influence. In fact it is often the philosophy of the Orphic cults and the classical societies that defines the Cabiri from the general Ishmaelites, where the latter are distinctive because of their individuality, the Cabiri soon came together for safety in numbers. As an outsider one could say that the Cabiri are a cult of the Ishmaelite Dynasty, turncoats from a distinct location (usually) who chose the trapping of a society and a shared philosophy rather than the diversity and solo road of the other Ishmaelites.

The first Immortal created from the secret writings of Cabirus, known simply by the honorific ‘Orpheus’, was created somewhere on the Aegean coast in the Hellenistic kingdom of Thrace. From here the Society spread slowly along the shores of the Mediterranean and into the rest of Europe. Its core tenets were guarded carefully and each new immortal had to decipher the clues of the mysteries for him or herself. Although the magic that created the Cabiri was clearly the same Spell of Life that created the Shemsu-Heru and Ishmaelites, the teachings and trappings of that Society did not travel with it. Early Cabiri had to forge their own path through the Underworld and find their own answers to the gift and plagues of immortality and cyclic resurrection, based on the Mysteries of their mortal lands. They were aided greatly by the society of the dead in the Dark Kingdom of Iron, a hierarchy with which they shared philosophy and culture.

When the Sixth Maelstrom destroyed a great part of the Underworld, most of the Cabiri died and were claimed by Oblivion. The few that survived allied themself with Osiris and became Amenti.

Culture
Most Cabiri-to-be were found through the various and widespread mystery cults, which were fascinated with the mysteries of life and death; thus they tend to have more philosophical and esoteric inclinations. It taught its secrets through the legends and plays of the Eleusinian and Orphic cults and found its moral compass in the same philosophies of intellectual spirituality. The Cabiri today are perhaps the only surviving repositories of the Mysteries as earlier Orphic literature survives only in Papyrus fragments or in the quotations of other works.

The philosophies of the Mystery religions are well-guarded secrets unknown to those outside of each various cult or circle of believers. Though they share some of their ways with other Cabiri, even members of the other dynasties, they still retain certain variations of the Orphikos bios, or "Orphic way of life". While all cells believe in the first tenet; dedication to the mysteries and the arts, they hold differing views on the other common practices such as vegetarianism, abstention from Sex, the prohibition against eating eggs and beans. The only requirements for membership in the Eleusinian Mysteries were a lack of "blood guilt", meaning having never committed murder, and not being a "barbarian" (unable to speak Greek). Men, women and even slaves were allowed initiation. Some abstain from having sex altogether while others take the story of Orpheus to mean they should seek true love or remain loyal to one through any circumstances. Eventually most Cabiri come to see the story as a metaphor for the relationship between the worlds of the living and the dead. As they progress through the mysteries they come to see much of the classical myths as lessons couched in euphemism and metaphor. Everything from the birth of Venus to the labours of Hercules is part of what the Dynasty refers to as the riddle of the Sphinx – the quest to understand the nature of man and of mortality. That riddle, the final mystery, is at the heart of the Cabiri Dynasty. Whether through debate, experimentation or the pursuit of rare knowledge, they have grown to see the seeking of answers as what sets them above the other Immortals. Many believe that the Dynasty is destined to discover some great secret which will allow all Immortals to defeat Apophis once and for all.

Occultists and scholars, as much out of necessity as anything, the Cabiri are survivors. They hold the mysteries of Egypt as vital to their path, but no more so than the secrets of Atlantis and Ultima Thule, of Mu and Shamballa. Like the Mages who inherited the Egyptian paradigm, the Cabiri follow a Hermetic model. They are hoarders of esoteric knowledge, willing to share and quick to prove the adage that knowledge is power. A Cabiri can match an immortal Shemsu-Heru twice his age when the need arises, having learned secrets from a wider world and perfected the arts of self-sufficiency through lifetimes of hardship. In the Underworld they are even more formidable, having access to an army of Wraiths and the strings to some of the Stygian legions if need be. In fact the Cabiri have forged a number of associations with allies and dupes on both sides of the Shroud. Cabiri Immortals have a great degree of influence over the Arcanum and the Benandanti, and routinely employ Risen in their schemes. It is not unheard of for a Cabiri Immortal to step in to the role of the Sapienza (mentor) for young Benandanti, especially if the former tutor dies or is otherwise unable to complete the role. All of this pales in comparison however, when seen against the Cabiri domination and manipulation of the Orphic Circle. Female Immortals have influenced and directed the Dikeia for millennia, while the ruling council of the Orgiophantes is just as much a tool of the Cabiri.

At the very core of the Cabiri Dynasty are the Mystery religions; the Orphic and Eleusinian Mysteries which claim that while the Gnostics hoped to acquire knowledge through divine revelation, they already possessed it, locked within their allegories and myth cycles. These Mysteries taught that soul and body are united by a compact unequally binding on either; the soul is divine, immortal and aspires to freedom, while the body holds it in fetters as a prisoner. They claim that death dissolves this compact, but that the uninitiated are quickly re-imprisoned in a new body: for the wheel of birth revolves inexorably. Thus the soul continues its journey, alternating between a separate unrestrained existence and fresh reincarnation, as the companion of many bodies of men and animals. For the Undying this process is halted and they are given complete control over their own incarceration. They have countless lifetimes of continuing searching to purify themselves and to seek their final destiny, an ascension to Godhood for some, or simply a transcendence to eternal existence as a spiritual entity without the purgatory of the Wraith’s existence.

Organisation
The Cabiri appear, from casual observation, to lack organization, seeming to be little more than a lineage of mummies with a common origin with little other affiliation or loyalty. The truth is that the Cabiri maintain the trappings of the Mystery religions and as such any structure and dogma remains secretive and obscured. In accordance with the mysteries, much of their development and journey is taken alone, with challenges overcome by the individual and her own abilities and charms - an approach learned from the Ishmaelites and assuring an amenable relationship with the turncoats on both sides of the shroud. Though this does not mean that the Cabiri lack fraternity or culture, or that they will not work in unison when the need arises, the Dynasty does not commit such things to record. Not everything in life can be recorded in scrolls or carved into stone, some things simply need to be experienced and passed on through the plays and rituals of the mysteries themselves.

As for numbers and spread, while the Shemsu-Heru believe there are no more than a dozen Cabiri and the Cabiri themselves would rather it stayed that way, the truth is however that there are probably as many bastards as there are Shemsu-Heru creeping around the two worlds and staying under the radar. No mean feat considering the dedication of Horus’ fanatics, hoodwinking them isn’t always an easy task. With only a limited organisation and network, beyond the shared mythology of the sacred mysteries, the Cabiri suffer greatly from the plague of amnesia. Much of their workings and information is preserved by secretive cults or hidden between the lines of the Mysteries and it may have to be rediscovered again and again by members in each regeneration.