Death comes on wings to he who enters the tomb of pharaoh.
- Marie Corelli
Walden
Awakenings
Thus far I have shown the reader the ancient dead in their various forms and guises, described their powers, and explained their weaknesses. But to fully understand the ancient dead (insofar as this feat is possible for a living mind), the reader must also consider the events that form the preamble for each mummy's return to the world of the living. I now cover the processes that enable mummies to walk the earth. I also give consideration to the mentality of the ancient dead; one must understand one's foe to defeat it.
Creating a Mummy
In Chapter Two, I briefly explained that the creation of an ancient dead being requires a preserved body and some reason for the departed spirit to return to that body. The first step, preserving the body, is not always sinister or evil. Embalming the dead, while not practiced everywhere, is an essential part of solemn and respectable funerary rituals in many lands. I have already warned the reader of the perils of interfering with such rituals. Still, the following particulars might prove to be useful in some circumstances.
The first step in preparing a body for proper (that is, ceremonial) disposal usually involves evisceration and drying. This can take anywhere from 1 to 80 days. The residents of Har'Akir, for example, use an elaborate process that involves drying the body in a bed of natron (a naturally occurring salt) for 40 days. The internal organs are not discarded, but placed in sealed vessels called Canopic jars. Curiously, the Har'Akiri place the heart back after mummification - they consider it
essential that this organ remain with the body. The body is then washed out, stuffed with various aromatic herbs, and carefully wrapped in linen bandages.
In other lands the ritual is considerably different and might involve baking the body, cremating it so that only the bones remain to be interred, or coating the body with waxes and resins.
Once a body is embalmed, a period of mourning and farewell usually follows;
this can last up to a month (the Har'Akiri mourn for 30 days), sometimes longer. The mourning culminates in the interment of the corpse, often with a large assortment of grave goods, which are intended to provide the deceased with all necessities during the afterlife. My next chapter examines these goods in detail.
It is at this stage that the true creation of an ancient dead begins. Powerful spells or alterations to the standard rituals serve to bind a spirit within its body, or to call it back from whatever afterlife to which it has gone. The conversion of a preserved body to an undead mummy usually is fairly rapid, regardless of the mourning period (usually no more than a few days). However, the resulting mummy often lies in "slumber" until wakened by an outside force.
In all my dealings with truly powerful mummies (creatures of at least the fourth rank), each deceased was given full funerary rites, totaling 70 days or more, and interred in a resplendent tomb. My investigations in the land of Har'Akir revealed that the tomb of Anhktepot has in excess of 80,000 square feet of floor space, including a complete temple to a deity of the underworld and no less than thirty subsidiary tombs for the pharaoh's family, servants, and advisors. Most of the tomb is carved from solid rock, and the structure is filled with monumental statuary ranging from 1 foot high to titanic figures many feet tall. The tomb's ultimate cost is incalculable by any standards.
Lesser mummies, by contrast, might not receive any funerary rites at all. This is obviously the case with naturally mummified ancient dead and with most that were created by other mummies. In the latter case, a victim generally is subjected to a ritual that is similar to the local burial rites, but bent entirely toward creating an undead creature.
Triggers
The ancient dead, being fully corporeal, are permanent residents in the physical world. Nevertheless, they are prone to long periods of slumber. I suspect that this interval of sleep is similar to vampiric hibernation, in that the undead creature's mind enters a dreamlike state. Unlike vampiric hibernation, a mummy suffers no ill effects from its slumber, can rouse itself at any time, and can immediately use its powers.
A circumstance that rouses a mummy from slumber is a trigger. It is similar in most respects to a ghostly trigger. I have identified three types of triggers: time, action, and event. It is possible, even typical, for a single mummy to have several triggers to awaken it.
Time
A mummy with a time trigger rises on a regular schedule. How long it slumbers between awakenings depends on its origins. A guardian mummy might bestir itself every day and patrol an area for a few hours. The so-called Sage of Levkarest appears once a decade;
presumably, it is curious to see what the living are doing. Given the political intrigues and torrid affairs in Borca, I'm sure the sage has much to discover.
Mummies with time triggers are very difficult to combat. Their awakenings seldom leave clues about their origins, and they may return to slumber - and so seem to be defeated - after a fixed period or after completing some repetitive task. In many cases, the most expedient way to deal with such creatures is to help them complete their tasks! An ancient dead that slumbers through the centuries is not the most pressing threat. Of course, mere dormancy may not be the hunter's ultimate goal. When combating this type of mummy, it is therefore important to be certain one actually has slain it or laid it permanently to rest. Otherwise, it might have simply returned to a "sleep" from which it will emerge again when the time is right.
Action
This is the most common type of trigger. The mummy wakes immediately when some specified act takes place. An ancient dead often has an action trigger in addition to any other it might have. Typically, a mummy wakes when its tomb is opened, when its grave goods are disturbed, or when some other act of disrespect is committed. A created or servitor mummy may wake at some other creature's behest. An invoked mummy often wakes when a spell or ritual is performed. A naturally mummified ancient dead wakes when its body or equipment are disturbed.
Event
This trigger wakes the mummy when a specific phenomenon comes to pass. The occurrence can be mundane, such as the rising of the moon or a particular constellation, or esoteric, such as the reincarnation of one of the mummy's old enemies, a wild change in local politics, or a rare astronomical event. Event triggers are more difficult to identify than action triggers, because there may be no immediately obvious connection between the event and the mummy's reappearance.
Nevertheless, properly identifying an event trigger reveals quite a bit about a mummy, because the trigger might be symbolic of the creature's life or death. Further, cyclical event triggers such as astronomical events allow a hunter to anticipate where a mummy will be at certain times. They also make verifying a mummy's destruction a fairly simple matter.
Psychology
If any culture or people does not believe the dead should be separated from the living, I do not know of it. The living may respect or venerate the dead, but the act of interment irrevocably severs the deceased's last physical link with the mortal world. This link can never truly be reforged.
When the living intrude upon the dead, the infraction might go unnoticed. Grave robbers and their ilk should count themselves lucky if some curse or misfortune does not overtake them. When the dead are thrust back among the living, however, trauma is inevitable.
A mummy's "rebirth" might create such an intense mental shock that its original personality is obliterated. The mummy is not mindless, but it loses all its skills and memories. It is left with only a vague recollection of what it was like to be alive. It yearns for the earthly pleasures it has lost, and it bitterly resents living beings for the vitality they still possess.
When awakened, such mummies lash out at beings they encounter. Because they are bereft of higher reasoning, they are not inclined to brood or lay plans for the future, but they can be cunning in a fight, moving to their best advantage. They seldom leave their tombs except to pursue invaders or to recover stolen grave goods.
Mummies that retained their memories are more complex creatures. They fully recall their former lives and thus fully appreciate what they have lost. In addition, most retain their professional skills. They have the mental capacity to lay plans, ponder contingencies, and brood.
When awakened, these mummies first look to their own safety. They may leave their tombs and scout their surroundings, trying to anticipate how attackers might approach. If driven by sufficient motivation, they might wander the countryside. Such mummies may seek to complete or continue unfinished tasks. Other ancient dead go abroad simply to get a taste of life again,
however weak that taste may be. Mummies that have the ability to create undead or charm other creatures invariably seek to locate and enslave a cadre of servants, especially if they can do so without arousing undue suspicion.
Yet, for all its intellect, even the most powerful mummy is a lethargic creature. When one considers a mummy's state of being, this is unsurprising. Compared to a living being, a mummy is frozen in time. It never ages, tires, hungers, or sickens. Of all the sentient undead, a mummy is the most unfettered by external concerns.
For all its immortality, a vampire's fate is inexorably linked with the living by its need for sustenance. For all its power, a lich's thoughts are turned outward by an insatiable thirst for still more power, which eventually leads to demilichdom and a final exit from the mortal world.
For all its obsession with the world, a mummy is utterly divorced from it. A mummy's powers are fixed at the moment of its creation, so the creature has no goals or ambitions beyond protecting what it already has. No wonder, then, that a mummy slumbers.
It also is no wonder that a mummy is a tenacious foe once disturbed. Though it seldom has anything to gain, it usually has much to lose.
