Bennu is a Silent Strider. In late 1998, Bennu becomes the first of her tribe to contact ancestors since the Diaspora.[1]
Overview[]
Though barely 18, the young Philodox Bennu bears a weighty responsibility, for she embodies the hopes of Striders everywhere. Indeed, the word "Bennu" is Ancient Egyptian for "hope," and the mere mention of her name is often enough to lift the worst Harano from the old, tired wolves loitering around the caern fires.
Few of the cynical Strider elders suspected that the fragile, wide-eyed girl brought before them would survive her Rite of Passage, much less come to occupy a place of honor at their moots. However, during the climax of her rite - a pitched battle with a Setite coterie - Bennu shocked her packmates by crying out in Ancient Egyptian, intoning a chant that sent the eldest Setite priestess howling back into the darkness of her temple. Continuing to chant, Bennu led the pack into the ranks of the now-demoralized Setites, slaying them all.
Bennu, it turned out, had channeled the spirit of the great Shu Horus himself - a miracle among the Striders, whose lack of ability to contact their ancestors had plagued them since the onset of their diaspora. Amazed Strider Theurges determined that Bennu alone among the tribe had the power to invoke Strider Past Lives. Why she, of all Striders, had escaped the Great Set's curse was unknown, nor did the tribe leaders care - here was a living link to their past and a possibility to claim their future.
Now Bennu possesses a station far outweighing her tender years and unworldliness. She has made her share of enemies in the process - jealous pack rivals would relish her fall almost as much as the tribe's enemies would. In particular, Sarrasine and Ghede, two powerful Setites, have vowed her destruction. Still, she is guarded night and day by a cadre of vigilant Ahroun, who would willingly give their lives and souls for what Bennu represents - the possibility, for the first time in millennia, that the Silent Striders can reclaim their sundered heritage and finally find a place to rest.
References[]
- ↑ WTA: Tribebook: Silent Striders, p. 29-30
- WTA: Silent Striders Tribebook, p. 67
- WTA: Litany of the Tribes Volume 3, p. SS: 67
- WTA: Rage Across Egypt, p. 119
- WTA: Book of Auspices
- WTA: Apocalypse