Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh

* Take over all of Tristania and use it as a staging ground for the awakening of the Outer Gods.

### Known Members

* Audrey Penhew the Dark Sorcerer
* The Brotherhood cultists who operates in the darkest corners of the Earth

### Allies

Cthulhu
Hastur
Azathoth

### Debut

WPSA: The Familiar of Zero: Knight of the Two Moons

The **Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh** is another ancient fanatic cult that serves Nyarlathotep in his aspect as the Black Pharaoh, and they are one of the many antagonistic groups featured in the Cthulhu Mythos by the late legendary horror author H.P. Lovecraft. Its leadership is primarily of Egyptian descent, though in modern times it has become more inclusive of other nationalities.

The Brotherhood themselves has connections to the Church of Starry Wisdom, the Cult of the Bloody Tongue, and the Brotherhood of the Beast. It includes a subgroup known as the **Children of the Sphinx** that specializes in embalming mummies with the heads of animals.

Far more subtle than the Cult of the Bloody Tongue, these masters of dark sorcery attack by calling down ancient Plagues of Egypt upon their foes. These ten forbidden spells can blot out the sun, rain fire, turn rivers to blood or even summon the Angel of Death itself. The Brotherhood, acting through the once noble Penhew foundation, also has an interest in ancient relics they can use to increase their power. As a result their agents are often found in the darkest corners of the earth.

Just as the Bloody Tongue has M'weru, the Brotherhood has Aubrey Penhew, a corrupt Egyptologist. While the Mystery is structured similarly to M'weru's (and the matching mysteries for the leaders of Children of the Bat and the Order of the Bloated Woman), each leader is a very different combatant. Penhew is a dark sorcerer, capable of cursing any who challenge him. Evading this curse will require you to find ancient Pharaonic magic, and even then only a magically gifted investigator will dare to face him.

Another of the Brotherhood's four Mysteries involves unravelling the secrets of the Carlyle expedition. The investigators will have to follow the trail from city to city, tracking down leads on each of the principals. When their researches are complete they will have to follow in the doomed expedition's footsteps, to the secret chamber of Nyarlathotep inside the Bent Pyramid. Here the expedition was corrupted, and here the investigators will finally learn the truth.

They are one of the antagonistic groups in the Lovecraft Effect Arc in the World Protection Security Agency stories.

## History

Originally made up of Egyptian servants, almost equally depraved Hindus, Arabs and whites now form part of it; the sect is small, and the hierarchy is still largely Egyptian. The name of the sect comes from a form of Nyarlathotep who in dynastic Egypt was said to be a dark or invisible master who, like the night, was both everywhere and nowhere.

The Brotherhood serves the Penhew Foundation here; Sir Aubrey Penhew accompanied the Carlyle Expedition. The sect uses various venues outside London to carry out its rituals, and two important leaders reside in the capital: Edward Cavigan, the director of the Foundation, and Tewfik al-Sayed, who runs a small spice shop not far from Soho. They are both smart, dangerous, and absolutely insane. The sect's characteristic ritual weapon is a short staff with a spike; As payment for certain crimes, the sectarian is allowed to try to break the victim's bones with the stick before stabbing him in the heart. They never leave identifying runes on victims, and it is very rare for them to use weapons later. The Brotherhood does not accept women in its ranks. Relatively recently, a New York artist belonging to the sect has sculpted an ankh (or tapered cross) with the top broken or bent, which may perhaps indicate that the Cult of the Bloody Tongue and the Brotherhood tend to converge.

## Members

### Egypt

* **Omar Shakti**: chief priest of the sect, wealthy cotton farmer and landowner, who owns a large estate in the Fayum.

### London

* **Edward Gavigan**: prestigious 55-year-old British Egyptologist, current director of the Penhew Foundation and high priest of the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh in London.
* **Tewfik al-Sayed**: owner of a spice shop in London and a member of the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh in the city. Associated with Edward Gavigan, about once a month he visits the Misr House, in Essex, owned by Gavigan, in the company of a couple of dozen men. He also has a means of killing someone from a distance, if he gets his/her blood, known as the Mirror of Gaal.