Set

Overview

Set is a cold and calculating deity, and is the jealous personification of evil. He is always looking for ways to recruit new followers and to disrupt the churches of apposing faiths. Despite his loathsome nature, Set ensures that he meets the needs of his followers, and does not willingly betray or abandon them, as he finds it more practical in retaining their loyalty. Set can be quite gracious and charming when he needs to, but ultimately he revels in evil, and makes no excuses for his cruelty or depravity. He never laughs except when relishing the pain of another, and his laughter is said to resemble the creatures' final death scream. Despite his seemingly caring actions, Set considers mortals as nothing more than tools to be used and discarded as needed.

Description

Set appears as a muscular man with finely scaled skin and a jackals' head. He commonly wears a white, gray or black kalasiris (a type of linen kilt or skirt), a broad gem-encrusted gold pectoral collar, and large elaborate golden bracers on his arms and legs, often decorated with serpentine designs. Although Set has a hideous presence, and always speaks with a subtle snarl or hiss, he is insidiously persuasive.

Alternatively, Set appears as a powerful man with a long forked tail and a bestial head resembling that of a donkey, with a curved snout and upright, square-tipped ears. He also sometimes appears in animal form, either as a hunting dog (resembling a greyhound or saluki), a hippopotamus, or a wild boar.

Abilities

Set has a powerful bite which is laced with a virulent poison, which can kill an opponent instantly if Set manages to wound them. Set's skin is also coated with this poison, and any who touch him may suffer the same effects. At will, Set can create a dose of this poison, and may use it to coat his spear.

At will, Set can charm anyone who meets his gaze, instantly changing their alignment to lawful evil, and transforming them into a loyal minion.

Set can create darkness whenever he desires.

Holy symbol

Set's symbol is a coiled cobra.

Favored weapon

Set wields a huge, jet-black spear known as the Spear of Darkness.

Realm

World Tree cosmology

In the World Tree cosmology of Realmspace, Set resides within his planar realm, known as Ankhwugaht, which is located on the outer plane of Heliopolis, which he shares with other deities of the Mulhorandi pantheon, including Anhur, Geb, Hathor, Horus-Re, Isis, Nephthys, Osiris, Thoth, and Sebek.

Great Wheel cosmology

In the Great Wheel cosmology, Set resides within his planar realm, known as Ankhwugaht, which is located in the midst of the snow and ice of Stygia, the fifth of the Nine Hells of Baator. Ankhwugaht is a cold, dark desert, where howling winds blow across its poisonous sands. Serpents hiss in the endless night, and monstrous scorpions devour any who dare trespass here. In the center of the realm is an enormous black pyramid which rises high above the sands, seemingly scraping the blood-streaked midnight sky.

Pharaonic cosmology

In the Pharaonic cosmology, Set resides within a realm, known as the Twelve Hours of Night, which is located within the outer plane of Tuat. The Twelve Hours of Night are a torturous series of caverns deep beneath the Offering Fields, stretching from the Mountains of the West to Mount Manu on the far western edge of Tuat. The Solar Barge of Re-Horakhty (Horus-Re) enters the Twelve Hours of Night through a gaping chasm at the base of Mount Manu and journeys east through the Twelve Hours before reemerging in the prime material and traversing the sky.

Worship

Priests of Set are duty-bound to destroy the churches of Horus-Re and Osiris, to spread the cult of Set, and to aid their deity in becoming the God-King of his pantheon, and to this end are to sacrifice both wealth and sentient beings to him. Initiates are taught that the ends justify the means, and that life is a struggle to be won by the powerful and the ruthless. Loyalty to one's comrades is admirable as long as it advances the cause of Set, and in the end, when Set ascends to his rightful place upon the throne, those who have served him well will be justly rewarded.

Priests of Set often oversee the activities of thieves, assassins, and other evil beings. It is not uncommon for an order of assassins to be headed by a priest of Set. Such individuals are not permitted to betray members of their order and must always work to promote “the brotherhood of evil.”

In Spelljammer

Set is considered a native deity of Realmspace, where he is a member of the Mulhorandi pantheon. He also manifests as the Varan deity Seltaine within the Astromundi Cluster.