Where Did All the Magical Statues Go?

Two great events destroyed many of the active statues, leaving only those locked in tombs and lost monuments intact. The first of these was the Roman invasion in 30 BC. The Romans knew they could banish these gods merely by smashing their statues, and so they destroyed as many as they could. Player characters menaced by a faerie god can similarly seek out and deface its image. The second occurred in 2 AD, when Christ and his family fled to Egypt to avoid the purge of Herod. Some writings say that when he entered the country, there was a great shaking of the earth, and all of the statues fell down and were destroyed. The veracity of these accounts is questionable, as some statues, like the Father of Dread, clearly survived. It may be that only those statues currently inhabited by faerie gods were destroyed.

Some of the statues may simply have been used up. Making statues move causes wear and defaces them, as they do not heal like living things. There was also a medi-

Certain types of ancient amulets are considered particularly promising by Hermetic researchers.

Ib Scarab

These amulets do not act at Touch range, despite being worn. The Ib Scarab was designed to allow the dead person to lie undetectably to the gods at the final judgment. From a mystical perspective, it replaces the heart, and so can create effects at Personal Range. If the Ib Scarab is lost, it acts as an Arcane Connection to the owner.

Seals With Royal Names

The name of a god, which includes dead pharaohs, is a sort of emanation of their power. This is why, after a palace coup, it was important to destroy all of the inscriptions of the name of the ousted rival. These royal names have a little Magic Resistance, perhaps as high as 5 points. Some people carry these royal names because they think curses may be deflected if they catch the name in their area of effect. The royal name grants the wearers no resistance, but may accidentally protect them while protecting itself.

Experienced folk magicians are aware of this, and so choose their curses carefully. A well-designed curse harms the wearer but not the seal. For example, a man cursed to die when his boat turns over may be protected by a royal name, since it resists being defaced by the water. The name will not, however, prevent the man being stung to death by a scorpion, or murdered by a street thug, because these do not damage the seal.

The term "cartouche" does not occur in Mythic Africa. It's French for "cartridge" and was given to the royal names by Napoleonic soldiers who thought the rings looked like their ammunition. To the Copts, the cartouche is a sort of shen, that is, a representation of a rope laid out to create a magical protective circle.

cal tradition that could pass injuries from a person to a holy statue. Once the statue was too damaged to continue to house the god, the presence was moved to a newer statue. After the kingdom fell and the methods of making new statues were lost, many of the old statues were destroyed by healers. Ruined statues which embodied faeries often contain vis.

One of the more unusual forms of Egyptian magic is the creation of temporary objects out of models of those objects. The Egyptians believed that when they died, the things that were, in model form, in their tombs would be available to them in the afterlife. Some of the more powerful magicians were able to perform the same trick in the mortal world. These grave goods still work, when found in tombs. A faerie enters the object, and aids the user in his adventure, thereby gaining vitality.

Troupes using Realms of Power: Faerie should design a faerie that has the enlarged form, and give it a shapeshifting power, allowing it to become a model. Groups using only the core rules should design a magic item with a shapeshifting effect.

The lectors usually behaved like faerie enchanters in 1220: they attempted to please, flatter and convince the faeries they were attempting to control. There was, however, an alternative version of the Enchantment Faerie Rite Method practiced by lectors on gods they did not serve, and by unscrupulous magicians outside the temples. The spell-caster threatened to destroy not only the faerie, but the entire world, unless given what was demanded. Most magicians who threatened the gods had a faerie ally, and a gateway to that creature's place in Arcadia, so that they could avoid reprisal if their spells failed spectacularly.

Egyptian stories cite rare examples where a magician of this sort went through with his threats. The Sun, for example, is said

The most common magicians were priests who served small, local spirits, and had a role similar to that now played in Christian Europe by the village witch or blacksmith. These priests were not necessarily Gifted, and had little power. This is the only form of Ancient Egyptian magic that still thrives in 1220, although it has changed name and form, and aligned itself with Islam. Faerie-aided Murabits may claim to venerate the bones of inspiring mortals, but they are really the servants of faeries with strong local stories.