Arthropods

Something in the Egyptian sands or in its sunlight or in the dreams of its people — something permeates and grows its segmented creatures to unusual size. But how? The planet’s current oxygen concentration cannot support land invertebrates of such scale. Impossible bugs. And yet, we are so far beyond impossible, aren’t we, sweetling?

We see the scorpions. It is said that Isis, Great Goddess, Mistress of Magic, Speaker of Spells, had at her command seven great scorpions. They were named Tefen, Mesetetef, Petet, Tjetet, Matet, Mesetet and Befen. Those scorpions begot and begot more children, down through the centuries, their decedents lie hidden in the sands. Only now, without the Mother of Scorpions to command them, they have grown dangerous and unpredictable.

We see the locusts. A fable, sweetling, if you choose to believe. Once, long ago, a powerful Illuminati magician came to the land of Egypt to free his cabal from bondage to a powerfuly cruel Pharaoh. He called down ten plagues upon the land. He did this by binding ten powerful spirits to his cause. In time, this story was translated and altered, recorded into a quite famous book. If you choose to believe.

In time, most of the spirits summoned by that Illuminati magi dissipated back to the hellworlds whence they came. One, did not. Arbeh, the Locust. This malign creature possessed swarms of locusts and took great pleasure in stripping the land of food and flesh. Arbeh continued in this way for millennia, cycles of feasting and slumber. Now, in Dark Days, Arbeh is more awake than ever. Every swarm or giant insect is, in fact, animated by the same intelligence, like individual fingers on a hand.

We see the scarabs. The dung beetle was sacred in ancient Egypt. They swept the land clean of decaying matter and the Egyptians considered them a representation of the forces of renewal and rebirth. They wore scarab amulets to ward off evil and provide safe passage to the Afterlife. But what do we see now, sweetling? Scarabs of strange size and malignancy. They emerge from dark places. You will find their corpses scattered about the City of the Sun God. Examine one of each of the three coloured types, and you may open up new insights.

The Cult of Aten wanted their own species of scarab to accompany their Filth-ridden mummies through eternal life. They bred the beetles in the dark of their tombs and catacombs. They fed them on Filth-rot meat and dung. They placed their pale, writhing grubs into the bodies of the newly mummified. In the centuries to come, these foul scarabs bred and interbred. They knew no sunlight. They spent their first centuries living inside their mummy hosts, feeding on cursed flesh and soul. They grew in size and aggression. Something new hatched out of the shambling nurseries. These new scarabs live in the dark, but they grow curious and hungry and venture out. They do not last long. The sun breaks apart the foul energies that hold them together.