Myths and facts about Selenim

In this post I will present a Nephilim perspective on Selenim for roleplay purposes. This includes myths and facts in order of how likely Nephilim would know it. Many are copied from the French, but modified for the US version. As of the Great Awakening, the old barriers are breaking down. Due to PC exceptionalism, a typical party will consist of 2–3 Nephilim, 1–2 Selenim and 1–2 Ar-Kaïm, thus knowing better.

“The children of Lilith denied their blood. Cursed among the fallen angels. They were condemned to mourn death. That was when the curse of unlife began.” 
—The Book of Enoch L 1:13

General beliefs

Myth #1: The Selenim are degenerate beings, no better than the Devil’s Shabs.

Truth: The Selenim are just as diverse in their beliefs as the Nephilim. 

Myth #2: They are forever cut off from the Golden Path, and will never reach Agartha.

Truth: The Anamorphs believe they can reach a pseudo-Agartha they call "Apotheosis" by constructing their own Realm within the residual Black Moon fields.

Truth: Nephren-Ka’s Ebon Tablet mapped a Path to Agartha in which they reversed the Assuaging and sublimated the Selenim into beings of Solar-Ka.

Myth #3: They are very few, too few to be taken into consideration.

Truth: The Selenim transformation affects a significant number of Nephilim, mostly Onirim but by no means limited to them. There is about one Selenim for every eight Nephilim.

Truth: Since the Great Awakening began in the 19th century, many natural Selenim have been discovered. They were never Nephilim, but mortals who awoke from a nightmare one morning as Selenim. They are fewer than the ex-Nephilim, but their numbers are growing.

Myth #4: They no longer have any magic power, being cut off from the five great fields.

Truth: The Selenim developed three occult sciences of their own. These are Necromancy, Conjuration, and Anamorphosis.

Myth #5: They are just pitiful vampires who devote their short lives to drinking blood to sustain themselves.

Truth: The simulacrum of a Selenim no longer ages, it is immortal.

Truth: The Selenim are emotional vampires. By this technique, Assuaging, they siphon Solar-Ka and convert it into Black Moon-Ka (BMK). There are many different flavors: Religious, Existential, Painful, Phobic, Artistic, Hateful, Passionate, Lovers...

Uncommon lore

Myth #6: The Black Moon fields are unimportant, few and weak. It is dead and exists only as vestiges.

Truth: The Black Moon’s influence is weaker than the other magic fields but it is commonplace, concentrating in places of high living and residual Solar-Ka: populated areas, abattoirs, battlefields, cemeteries, etc. While different places are stronger or weaker than others, the Selenim may practice their occult sciences anywhere the fields are even minimally present.

Truth: Though the Black Moon Field lacks its own Ethers and Rays, the stars influence it indirectly via ricochet. The individual planets don't affect it on a day to day basis, but it derives less interference as the Moon waxes and wanes but more interference during days of syzygy (i.e. full and new moon, except during lunar eclipses). The astrology modifiers are weaker than those of the elemental fields, as there are no Enthronements of the Black Moon. 

Truth: Its residual fields ebb and flow like currents and tides due to the ricochet effect and the attraction of Solar-Ka. The Black Moon doesn't form Plexi due to the lack of Rays and thus cannot charge BMK. However, in Central America there are permanent pseudo-Plexi that grow increasingly concentrated as one approaches Chicxulub crater.

Myth #7: The Unnamed Arcanum is the Cult of the Devouring Messiah, the doomed worshipers of the Black Moon.

Truth: The Arcanum are the true followers of the Ebon Tablet, the Cult has lost their way like the Devil’s Shabs, and the scattered Xibalbans of Mexico hold their own traditions. They commonly operate at cross-purposes.

Truth: The Cult of the Devouring Messiah would be the strongest Selenim secret society (~50% of Western European Selenim), but like the Shabs they’re disorganized and split between Sabbats led by warring elders.

Truth: The Unnamed Arcanum has a questionable influence on the Selenim community (~20% of Western European Selenim and many sympathizers), but they’re the most ideologically and socially unified. They see themselves as matyred saviors for the cause of protecting the Nephilim from Orichalc.

Truth: The Arcanum is a officially a protectorate of the Cult, but in practice the Cult’s Sabbats are too busy infighting to present unified opposition against the Arcanum’s intrigues. The Cult's elders look down as them, but the younger acolytes are easily duped as pawns.

Myth #8: The Cult is a collection of monsters who only dream of sacrificing thousands of humans, preferably in gruesome fashion, on the altar of a mysterious deity: the Devouring Messiah.

Truth: The Cult is split among numerous Sabbats led by elders with their own dreams of blood-soaked power, much like the Shabs. While they preach that the Nephilim are traitors, that the mortals are livestock and pets, and yearn for the days of ancient Carthage, the younger recruits are more open-minded.

Truth: The Xibalbans of Mesoamerica ruled their Blood Dynasties for millennia, but they saw the Aztecs as their subjects and placed many restrictions and who to sacrifice and how to do so. They saw the indigenous Nephilim as their kindred and lived in symbiosis. 

Truth: The Unnamed Arcanum loves mortals and consider the dead their most trusted allies and confidants. The gruesome practices of the Cultes des Goules is abhorrent to them.

Myth #9: The Devouring Messiah is the Black Moon of the Saurians. The Selenim are the doomed worshippers of the Black Moon.

Truth: The Devouring Messiah is identified by many names: Baobhan, Ekimmu, Lilith, Quetzalcoatl… Lilith is one of the first Selenim, yet vanished since she ascended to divinity some time after the Fall of Tarshish twelve thousand years ago.

Truth: The Cult and the Xibalbans alike believe the Devouring Messiah will return, raise a new Black Moon and lead the Selenim to Agartha. They call this promised day "Ascension." Tezcatlipoca grew impatient and raised his own Black Crescent before Cortez’s allies brought it crashing down. The Cult's elders work towards raising their own by holding black masses where they channel BMK to their deity.

Truth: The Unnamed Arcanum holds that the Devouring Messiah was the first martyred savior and set the example for them to protect the Nephilim. As far as they're concerned, the Cult lost its way and the Xibalbans went mad with power. Though others wonder how much sway the doomed cults really hold over the Arcanum...

Truth: A rare few among the Selenim do make contact with the ghosts of the Saurians, either as a means to gain power for themselves or (less often) because they genuinely venerate these beings.

Myth #10: The Selenim’s Realms are hospices for Selenim at the end of their lives, a sort of private hunting reserve.

Truth: Constructing a Realm is the Third Circle of Anamorphosis. Realms act as bridges between the physical plane and the lower planes, allowing their Sovereigns to exert great control over both. 

Truth: After the Ebon Tablet was lost, many believed it was the Selenim’s counterpart to Agartha. The Anamorphs call it "Apotheosis", while knowledgeable (and critical) Nephilim call it "Assumption."

Truth: For a long time the Realm was the province of the eldest Selenim (over two a half thousand years of activity), but as of the Great Awakening even relatively young Selenim have established Realms of their own.

Secrets

Contamination is the donation (voluntary or not) of BMK to a mortal. It occurs accidentally as a result of overfilling BMK while Assuaging, but Necromancy allows this to be done deliberately. The third Circle of Conjuration allows this to be done to Nephilim, or even reversed to cleanse them!

Entropy is the natural phenomenon of BMK loss, and also the name given to Selenim degeneration. This suffering relegates Khaïba to the rank of tropical vacation, and is more akin to the persistent bite of Orichalc. It is an ever-present risk of Fumbling the occult sciences and there are even dangers of physical degeneration in this state.

The first and second Circles of Anamorphosis concern the Imago. The Imago is a sapient and voluntary construction of BMK. It forms a shadowy doppelgänger of the Anamorph that can be manifested in whole or in part not unlike a Metamorphosis. The third Circle concerns the construction of a Realm.

The Tenebrae is the vibration of the Black Moon fields and the voice of the dead mingles with it. It is the foundation of Necromancy and Conjuration. Sensing it is named Ka-audition, but listening too long risks the simulacrum believing itself dead and undergoing decomposition.

Conjuration is the occult science of summoning and controlling Entities from the Tenebrae. The first Circle generally calls goblins and imps that manipulate emotions, acquire knowledge or deal only a minimum of physical damage as a hindrance. The second Circle calls dangerous entities that can kill people, drive them to madness or destroy various types of Ka. The third Circle calls beings that are off the scale, and some may be the lingering ghosts of the Saurians...

Necromancy is the science of manipulating the links between BMK and Solar-Ka. The first Circle deals with speaking to and raising the dead. The second Circle deals with transgressing the boundaries between life and death in either direction. The third Circle exceeds the limitations of the previous, allowing the Necromancy to invoke those long dead and even apply their dark arts to the Immortals!

The Black Moon-Ka is parasitic and insidiously insinuates itself within the other magic fields. While it is most closely linked to the Moon-Ka, it is present within all the the magic fields. This is why the Selenim can still perceive the elemental Ka. Conjuration allows this link to be manipulated even further: some black summons resemble dark counterparts of the other elements and there are whispers of master conjurers mimicking elemental magic...

In ancient times, the Selenim invented Sarcophagi to protect themselves from Entropy. These esoteric constructions collected and concentrated BMK, allowing them to survive in the absence of mortal prey. The Stasis items invented by Hern were reverse-engineered from the Selenim's Sarcophagi. The Pyramids of Egypt were inferior recreations of the Sarcophagi, designed in part by the Pharaonic Selenim to fulfill their terms of the Pact with Menes.

There are many paths to Agartha available to the Immortals, Nephilim and Selenim alike. All one needs to do is quest for it...

Hope you enjoyed!

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