Cabiri

The Cabiri (singular Cabirus) are a Dynasty of Egyptian Mummies that originated not in Egypt but in Greece. They're Immortals but have little to no connection to the struggle between Apophis and the Ma'at. As of the Sixth Great Maelstrom and the creation of the Amenti with Osiris' new Spell of Life, they're on the brink of extinction.

History[]

Long after the Spell of Life was created and Horus and his followers waged their war against Sutekh and his minions, some of the Shemsu-Heru grew tired of their seemingly futile war and became Ishmaelites, who wanted to be independent from Horus and his war. During the following years, one of them taught a gifted mage named Cabirus the principles of the Spell of Life. Cabirus used this to create his own Spell of Life and created his own immortals who know nothing of Osiris and Ma'at — much to the horror of the Shemsu-Heru. They destroyed the scripts of Cabirus and as a result, only a handful of European mummies existed.

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 their 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 myths of their mortal lands, as they were banned from the Dark Kingdom of Sand. They were aided greatly by the Dark Kingdom of Iron, a hierarchy with which they shared philosophy and 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.

They managed to survive the centuries to come, practicing the same rites and Hekau as their Egyptian brethren, fighting against the minions of Apophis, but also against the oppressiveness of the Shemsu-Heru.

After the Sixth Maelstrom hit the Underworld, many Cabiri perished or became Amenti. A few managed to survive and hide away, but these are few and scattered and constantly hunted by the Hand of Thoth.

Affiliations[]

Many occult groups, like the Orphic Circle, the Benandanti or the Arcanum, have Cabiri within their ranks, who hide from their brethren and expand their occult knowledge in order to further their own agendas. The Cabiri understand the necessity of the struggle against Apophis, but see the Shemsu-Heru as a bunch of self-righteous crusaders who were blind in their obedience to dead gods. They preferred to fight in their own way.

Terminology[]

As they do not originate in Egypt, the Cabiri do not use the cultural trappings of the Shemsu-Heru to describe their immortality^[1]. The ka of the Soul was referred to as the Eidolon, the image of the immortal soul that was projected into the Skinlands. The ba was the Psyche, often depicted winged as well. Hekau was referred to as Theourgia, which manipulates Pneuma (Sekhem), the animating spirit of the Cosmos itself. The central Shadow Realm of their kind was called Hades, after the mythical greek underworld. It was shredded in the wake of the Sixth Maelstrom.