CAPÍTULO II DE LAS NOTIFICACIONES
SECCIÓN SEGUNDA DEL EMBARGO
Description: The seal is a bronze cylinder mounted
to rotate on a yellowed ivory handle; the outer surface of the cylinder shows Egyptian-looking fi gures with a few standing and several kneeling in lapis lazuli. In front of the supplicating fi gures stands the regal form of a woman with the head of a lion. This fi gure matches common depictions of the war goddess, Sekhmet, known for her ferocity and blood-thirst.
The seal has a surprising amount of heft for its size; the handle is similar in size to a modern screwdriver, while the seal itself is little larger than a fi lm canister in shape. Its weight, however, is disproportionately heavy, indicating that the bronze cylinder is likely solid.
Background: Cylindrical seals were once common in
ancient Egypt and the Near East. Their mundane use was to imprint wax used to seal a message or end offi cial letters and images. Most, however, were simple barrel shaped pieces of marble, stone or ivory, carved around the middle
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to allow their owners to roll them across wax or clay to mark it as being done by their hand. This seal was one of a small number mounted to an ivory handle, transform- ing the simple cylinder into an elegant tool. These were reportedly created only for the highest priests of Sekhmet and Egypt’s best doctors – occupations which sometimes overlapped. The greatest of them carried seals like these, bearing images of the lion-headed Sekhmet standing over and tending the ill and wounded, and used them in their craft. Before the seal acquired the mystic powers it has now, it had to be blessed by a priest of Sekhmet and touched to the blood and bile of those whom mundane medicine saved.
This cylindrical seal was discovered at the Karnak Temple in Egypt. Coincidence revealed some of its power when a shifted stone fell – it broke a worker’s leg and knocked over the woman holding the seal, where it rolled over the bloody wound and, miraculously, repaired it. The seal disappeared that night, despite it being under guard. It hasn’t been (of- fi cially) seen since.
Characters with high Craft ratings, especially those who focus on art, penmanship, or calligraphy, will recognize a cylindrical seal and be familiar with its use. Art Specialties in Academics also make this knowledge easier to dredge up. Those with a focus on Egypt will recognize the lion-headed representation of Sekhmet on the seal’s surface,
and those with knowledge of mythology and medi- cine may well know about the goddess’ purported healing skill. • British archae- ologist Arthur W e n d h a m r e c o r d e d a detailed ac- count of his viewing of a n E g y p - tian relief u n c o v e r e d in a dig that disappeared soon after its discovery and has never been seen again. His account mentions images of Egyptian men with hieroglyphic tattoos on their bodies oth- erwise unknown in Egyptian art. The description of those markings resembles the design on the seal.
• Modern rumors variously place a curiously engraved bronze-and-ivory roller-tool at Cromwell Hospital in London, with the Israel Defense Forces in the Western Asian Levant, with a sect of Kemetic Reconstructionists, neo-adherents of the ancient Egyptian religion and in the private collection of an aging British rock star.
Storytelling Hints: While simple mundane examples
of Egyptian seals are not unheard of in museum collections, these relics are both more complex and well crafted than those currently held in public displays. Egyptologists who have heard of these seals covet them for their own collections, even when all supernatural properties are left out of their descrip- tion. Those who are aware of the relic’s supernatural powers, however, would be hard pressed to allow this particular seal to languish in idleness behind glass in their own displays, let alone any others.
Despite its obvious benefi cial qualities, this relic is most interesting for the questions it raises about mankind’s ancient past. It would be a valuable part of any museum collection, but any truth it has to tell will not come from within a glass case. It is the relic’s mystical use that poses questions, and only through exploring its mystical properties can they be examined, let alone answered. Egyptian doctors and priests are thought to have commonly carried seals like these. Since this one can mystically heal people, is it possible that all of them could do so? Was the Egyptian culture strengthened by predictable and repeatable magic? Were super-
natural tools like these common, in medicine or elsewhere? And what does it say about that society if it fell despite these
supernatural advantages?
Effects
G i f t o f Vi t a l - ity/Protection Charm (Disease) (•••, ••): The cylindricalseal of Sekhmet re- pairs lethal wounds without a scratch and heals diseases. Healing a wound requires the seal to be inked in blood from the wound and then rolled over the injury; the injury seals perfectly under its touch and leaves only a rust-red marking of the image on the seal. Curing disease acts as a Protection Charm but eliminates an existing disease rather than preventing a patient from acquiring it. Using the Protection Charm power requires the patient to cough up bile or mucus onto the et w og w e h arc Ar h e d d a f h g y p lie r e th ar ter ry er ga t o th on nk cr es We in s it esp age o f ctio se he c Sek eth ut eal ng es th ed e w led e in nder nly ima ase ut e rat m ac owe cus recognize the lion-headed representationg p them could do so? Was the Egyptian culture s
on the seal’s surface, with knowledge gy and medi- well know goddess’ healing chae- rthur a m d a ac- his of p - p p p p p p ef e d hat red r its y and r been in. His mentions of Egyptian h hieroglyphic n their bodies oth-
known in Egyptian art. ription of those markings
the design on the seal.
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by predictable and repeatable magic? natural tools like these common, or elsewhere? And what does that society if it fell d
supernatural advanta
Effects
G i f t ity/Protec (Disea ••): Th seal of pairs le withou and he Healin require be inke from the then roll injury; the perfectly un and leaves on marking of the i seal. Curing disea Protection Charm b an existing disease r preventing a patient from Using the Protection Charm po the patient to cough up bile or muc74
chapter two-a million little things
recognize two plays, Love’s Labours Won and Cardenio, as the only true lost works of the Bard (and nothing survives of those plays but the names and references to them as Shakespeare’s work from independent sources).
But one other play that few scholars have even heard of came from the pen of William Shakespeare. Entitled The
Witches, it was performed once, and only once, in summer
of 1603, for a limited audience. (It would be fair, in fact, to call the performance a dress rehearsal). The play focused on the tragedy of three sisters, all devout, chaste and pure, who become enthralled with a character simply called “the Dark Man.” By the end of the play, every major character is not only dead but seen burning in Hell - except for the youngest sister, who takes her place as the Dark Man’s bride.
The play calls to mind the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone, but obviously introduces several Judeo-Chris- tian aspects as well. Why it was never performed for a public audience is a matter of speculation, but one reason might be that the subject matter was simply too troublesome. Given the sheer amount of rape, blood and murder that Shakespeare’s other plays contained, however, this theory is hard to support. Whatever the case, though, something prompted Shakespeare himself to forbid performance of the play and destroy the copies he had made, although certain aspects of the story wound up in his next tragedy, Macbeth (whether this similarity has anything to do with the long- standing theater superstition of not mentioning the name of “the Scottish Play” is unknown).
The other actors in the production, working from mem- ory, composed a copy of The Witches, possibly in an attempt to sell it to a competing theatrical company. They failed to do so, however, and the manuscript was lost for centuries.
The reason that Shakespeare forbade the further perfor- mance of The Witches was that while sitting in the audience watching the play, he saw Hell. At the end of the play, when the youngest sister (named Nell) joins her lover at center stage, the audience saw the fi res of Hell behind the Dark Man. The actors, facing forward, could not see it, but the rest of the audience (all friends of the cast or other people associated with the production) could. Shakespeare gathered them together after the production and made them swear that they would not reveal what they had seen, even to the actors. The assembled audience members, 26 in all, swore on their eternal souls, placing their hands on the manuscript, which the Bard then burned. They each slept fi tfully that night, but those few weak souls who tried to speak of what they had seen afterwards found they could not.
After the actors in the production assembled their makeshift copy, though, this prohibition (apparently for everyone present, but certainly for the actors) was lifted. As such, references to The Witches do occasion- ally show up in memoirs, other plays, and writings from the 17th century, but since anyone who knew about it was sworn to secrecy, it’s rarely mentioned in conjunction with Shakespeare. A dedicated scholar, though, might be able to dig deeply enough to uncover