Egyptian Villians

[RevHooligan]

One of my PCs is an Indiana Jones meets Thor style multiform with an Egyptian theme. He left me his hunteds to do as "mystery villians", yet I can't get a handle on them. I was thinking of an ancient warrior clan type dealie thingamabob guy and maybe a hawkheaded living statue type guy and... well, I'm sucking bilge water on these. Any ideas?

P.S. The campaign is set in 2053 and I have a brief background of supers <a href="http://bivtech.diaryland.com">here</a href>.

[lemming]

Originally posted by RevHooligan
One of my PCs is an Indiana Jones meets Thor style multiform with an Egyptian theme. He left me his hunteds to do as "mystery villians", yet I can't get a handle on them. I was thinking of an ancient warrior clan type dealie thingamabob guy and maybe a hawkheaded living statue type guy and... well, I'm sucking bilge water on these. Any ideas?

Well, Set is the designated god of evil. Look up some info on him via the web. Evil priests and would probably work well. Perhaps your hero is imbued with the power of Horus? Horus and Set didn't like each other at all. Hope this late night ramble helps. :p

[Brick]

Some suggestions...
First, take Anubis from KQC. Also, there is Ra from the old adventure book "Pyramids In The Sky".
Both are good villains with a detailed background and statistics.
If you want to do a little work yourself, here are my own and very vague suggestions...
Cheops, a villain with the power to transform his body into solid stone.
The Pharaoh - first mutant of the world, megalomaniac conqueror with mega-villain level powers (whatever you choose, got killed by traitors in his own court and got mummified. Mummy is discovered and studied by archealogists, treated with X-Rays etc.
Mutant cells react, Pharaoh awakens in a new world.
The Duat - organized crime syndicate in Egypt, kind of an Egyptian Mafia. The name "Duat" is the Egyptian Underworld.
A cult of Seth-worshippers (Egyptian god of storms and general nastiness...).
Sandstorm, master of the wind.
Okay, that's it. Anything there for you?

[Crimson Arrow]

Well, there are a few of the other posters who are pretty up on Egyptology and I am just going from memory, but here are some ideas:-

1. Children of the Pyramids/Beastmen. Basically just men with the heads of animals and birds, but there are quite a lot of them. If you make them warriors, they might be able to give your character a tough time. There's something like this in "Call of Cthulhu", or more precisely one of the supplements.

2. Evil High Priest. He might be a mummy or he might have one as his slave. Not all mummies are swathed in bandages and some might even appear entirely human. The high priest should have creepy powers involving summoning flesh-eating scarabs, packs of jackals, undead crocodiles etc. as well as your more standard comic book magic. For feel, though, necromancy would work well too. I suggest seeing the most recent version of "The Mummy" for some ideas (though I could not work out why an Egyptian was able to invoke the curses which afflicted his race). Other versions, such as those produced by Universal and by Hammer could also yield some good ideas. Often there is some character manipulating or controlling the mummy. Sorry to use such blasphemy, but D&D (especially Ravenloft stuff) has lots of information on Necromancy and mummies (I think they call them "Ancient Dead" in the Ravenloft setting).

3. Set, Seth or Sutekh (same guy, different names). I think he was jackal-headed and was very evil, murdering Osiris and cutting the body into pieces. Your villain need not be the actual god, perhaps just an avatar. Maybe there's a mask which transforms the wearer into a servant of evil. Perhaps it was discovered by your character's rival and has subsumed his personality.

4. The Devourer. A mythical beast containing the worst elements of a crocodile, lion and hippopotamus (IIRC). It waited while people were judged as to whether or not they had led worthy lives and ate those who failed the test. It could be a great "beast" villain, just like comic-book gods often face.

That's all I've got for now.

[Siberian Tiger]

Just an idea but you might wish to read some recent issues of JSA (Justice Society of America), produced by DC Comics for those not in the know.

The team has travelled back to Ancient Egypt on a couple of ocassions as a number of their team members (Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Black Adam) have links to Ancient Egypt. They clashed with DC bad guy Vandal Savage and the Egyptian version of DC hero Metamorpho.

You could also check out early issues of Marvel's New Warriors series from the early 1990s. I think issue 11-13 saw them in an alternate reality where the Egyptian empire never ended.

[death tribble]

There is also the option of doing a villain who ransacks the treasures of the ancient world and/or is a thief.
This person would not be an Egyptian but could be any nationality. They would however be wealthy.

[RevHooligan]

I knew I was asking the right bunch! Any ideas on who makes Egyptian themed miniatures?

[Space Cadet]

I suggest that you check out some of the stuff being current-
ly produced by Reaper Miniatures. They've got several figures
of the sort you're looking for, mostly villain types with at least
one hero figure. If there are any other places that produce
Egyptian-themed minis, I don't know who they are, but a Web
search for "Egyptian Miniatures" might turn up something.

BTW, the name of The Devourer is Sebek.

Space Cadet :cool:

[altamaros]

Originally posted by Space Cadet
BTW, the name of The Devourer is Sebek.


The name of the devourer is Ammit (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/ammit.html)

Sebek (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/s/sebek.html) is a crocodile god.

[Fry Daddy]

Also, go here:
www.pantheon.org\mythica.

It has so much information on myths and legens of around the world, you will be amazed.

I have a character in a new campaign that is an Irish druid, so I decided to throw some Celtic gods in the mix as villains. I found more than enough on that website.

[Fry Daddy]

I goofed the thread. Use this: www.pantheon.org

[Proemial]

Apepe, the serpent that sought to devour the sun, plunging the universe into eternal darkness.

[winterhawk]

Everyone's suggestions have been pretty good so far. One thing to remember is that the Egyptian Gods had many 'aspects', often emcompassing a 'good' and 'evil' side.
Sekhmet was the lion-headed Goddess of War, but was also known as Sekhmet the Destroyer, and was responsible for plagues and sickness.

Apep or Apophis was the giant serpent who attempted to devour Ra's sun barge each day as he piloted it across the sky.

[allen]

Originally posted by RevHooligan
I knew I was asking the right bunch! Any ideas on who makes Egyptian themed miniatures?

check out www.crocodilegames.com for minis...

[Lord Liaden]

If you'd be interested in expanding the possibilities in Middle Eastern themes to something later than Pharaonic Egypt, here are a few suggestions from past campaigns of mine:

The Hashishin, descendants of the ancient Islamic sect which wielded considerable political power through threats of violence (the source of the English word "assassin") until apparently destroyed by the Mongols. In my campaign the Hashishin merely went underground. In the modern age with its revival of Islamic fundamentalism, the Hashishin have begun to work more openly, combining ancient mystical stealth disciplines with a modern version of the eating of hashish for fanatical courage and strength which was the basis of their name; they now consume a synthetic drug which can actually enhance some physical abilities to superhuman levels.

If the PC advertises his connection to the pagan Egyptian gods, the Hashishin would likely consider this extreme heresy worthy of punishment.

Iblis, in Arab folklore the ruler of the djinn, sometimes reputed to be a fallen angel. Suleiman (King Solomon) was said to have bound djinn who rebelled against the will of Allah in bottles, urns and other such vessels. In my campaign Iblis was accidentally released and set out to destroy the institutions of the One God under whatever name in revenge for his imprisonment.

If your PC gained his powers through acquiring ancient artifacts or disturbing an ancient treasure or tomb, he might have accidentally released Iblis. He could see it as his responsibility to capture Iblis, or perhaps the great djinn might know that the hero holds the key to imprisoning him again and want to eliminate that possibility.

Obelisk, a giant automaton fashioned for Pharaoh by the legendary Greek artificer Daedalus, like the famous Talos which he crafted for Minos of Crete. Obelisk's activation in the modern world could be under circumstances similar to Iblis above. I mostly used this character as the basis of an old fashioned giant monster rampage. ;)

[GestaltBennie]

Alternatively, you can have as your villain someone named Achmed, a superhuman thief or psychotic from Egypt with absolutely no connection to ancient Egyptian mythology or Islamism whatsoever; he has powers, just like the villains do in the States.

Scott Bennie

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by GestaltBennie
Alternatively, you can have as your villain someone named Achmed, a superhuman thief or psychotic from Egypt with absolutely no connection to ancient Egyptian mythology or Islamism whatsoever; he has powers, just like the villains do in the States.

Scott Bennie

To quote from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead:
"Pragmatism? Is that the best you can do?" ;)

(You're right, of course, but how else can we show off our erudition?)

[RevHooligan]

OK, you guys rock. Here's what I'm going with:

After repeated viewings of The Mummy (and after watching Laurence of Arabia to cleanse my video palate) I'm going with a Magi ripoff cult of pre-Islamic Egypto-ninjoids. These guys are trying to recover the amulet that give SuperIndy his powers. They believe that with its power, they can restore the rule of the Pharoahs, blah blah blah. I'm thinking of martial artist agents and three or four 350 pt SuperPreIslamicEgyptoNinjoids(tm), possibly with them cool beastheads that look so nice this time of year.

Now, they need a name. Old Egypt Gansta Stylee.

I'm also using Sandstorm cuz it's cool. He may not even be Egyptian.

Oh, and Ammit the Devourer? To good of a name NOT to use. As long as the PCs don't do a Rocky Horror parody song called Damnit Ammit.:D

[Lord Liaden]

"SuperPreIslamicEgyptoNinjoids(tm)"? Rev, you should be writing for Rifts. And I mean that in a good way. ;)

So, you want a name for a mystically powered group of agent/ assassin/ warriors working to restore their Big Nasty Boss. Presumably something historical and indigenous, with connotations of tough, stealthy and lethal? My first thought would be, "the Scorpion Guard". I'll give it some more thought though, and see what I can come up with.

[Evil Toki]

I like the term Duat... consider it yoinked... :)

[winterhawk]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
"SuperPreIslamicEgyptoNinjoids(tm)"? Rev, you should be writing for Rifts. And I mean that in a good way. ;)

My first thought would be, "the Scorpion Guard". I'll give it some more thought though, and see what I can come up with.

Scorpions were actually considered protective in Egypt and were worn as amulets like scarabs. Crocodiles, hippos and serpents were considered allies of Set, but also had positive aspects. Let me hit my references as well and see what I can come up with.

[RevHooligan]

The idea of these guys is that they believe they are the good guys. I like a name with positive connotations because if you were convinced you were doing right you wouldn't call yourself Lord Evilo of the Hell Brigade. I think Gold Scorpion or some such name will work. Thanks, my homies.

[Static UK]

Originally posted by RevHooligan
Any ideas on who makes Egyptian themed miniatures?

You could look up some of the Mage Knight: Dungeons, Pyramid expansion for some Egyptian figures, however, only the unique 'mage spawn' figures are really suitable, and being that they are unique ranked kinda puts their price up!

[Haerandir]

Originally posted by RevHooligan
I knew I was asking the right bunch! Any ideas on who makes Egyptian themed miniatures?

GW has a line of Egyptian Undead themed miniatures for their Warhammer Fantasy Battles game. Take a look here:

http://www.gamesworkshop.com/warhammerworld/warhammer/khemri/khemri.htm

If you do a search on 'Tomb Kings' in their online store, you'll be able to see most of the miniatures they have available. The pictures don't show as much detail as I'd like, but if you have an FLGS that sells Warhammer figures, you could take a look at them there.

Of particular interest would be the Ushabti figures, which are big animal-headed guys. I believe they do a crocodile, a jackal, a bird and one other. Unfortunately, GW figures are not exactly cheap, so you probably won't be able to afford to use the Ushabti as hordes of nameless beastmen.

Also, their 'Necron' line for the Warhammer 40,000 game is a group of futuristic robots with an Egyptian undead theme, of all things.

[Vondy]

The Midrash suggests that the King of Nineveh from the book of Jonah was Pharoh from the book of Exodus. In my game I ran with this. He's the worlds first trillionaire (Ramses Abakar), is the head of the neo-cult of Set, and has lots of artifacts and super-mage powers, let alone corporate resources, paramilitary strike teams, cyborg super soldiers, and whatnot.

One of the spin off projects his illegal scientific project came up with and then got out of hand (their his enemies), and the children of Bast. Human-Hunting-Cat hybrids who worship their completely insane and still human creator as the cat goddess herself. She has a headdress with some cool abilities, the traditional eqyptian dress, and uses them as burglars to finance her operations against Ramses, who decided to scrub the project when it didn't get the results he wanted. Feline mutates, mmmm....