An Epistle upon the Cult of Set

(Seth, Setekh, Setesh, Seti, Sutekh, Setech, Sutech)

The Stygian god of chaos who embodies the principle of hostility if not of outright evil. He is associated with the serpent kindred (Ophidians, Yuan-ti) and is the adversary of the god Osiris. Seth is usually depicted in human form with a head of indeterminate origin, though said to resemble that of an aardvark. He has a curved snout, erect square-tipped ears and a long tail. Sometimes he is represented in entirely animal form with a body similar to that of a greyhound or a serpent. He is said to be the son either of Nut and Geb or of Nut and Ra, and the brother of Isis, Osiris and Nephthys. Nephthys is sometimes given as his consort, although he is more commonly associated with the foreign Kwelorian goddesses Ashena and Anara. Despite his reputation, he had an important sanctuary at Ourobos in Upper Stygia, his reputed birthplace, and his cult was also prominent in the northeastern region of the Parax delta and the western mountains.

For a time during the third millennium BE, Seth replaced Horus as the tutelary deity of the Stygians. However, the story of Seth's murder of Osiris and subsequent dominations of the northern kingdoms gained currency and Horus was restored to his original status in Stygia.

It was after Set's abilities and shrines had waned that our Lord Epimetreus was able to overcome the influences north of the inland sea. After Our Lord Epimetreus was able to reconcile the tribes to overthrow the local satrapies under Set his sway was even then more weakened. Various sources then place Set upon this Earth as he was finally brought under the Great Hunt and eventually run to ground near the city of the dead of Abadoth.

The war with Epimetreus lasted eighty years, during which Seth tore out the left eye of his adversary and Epimetreus tore out Seth's foreleg and testicles. Epimetreus eventually emerged victorious, or was deemed the victor by a council of the gods. Horus thus became the rightful deity of the kingdoms of both Upper and Lower Stygia. Seth was forced to return the eye of Epimetreus and was himself either killed or, in some versions, banished to another plane or world. He also surrendered all of his dominions in the north to Mithras.

In some versions of this Seth then went to live with the Stygian sun god Re, where he became the voice of the thunder. In the Book of the Dead Seth was referred to as the "Lord of the Southern Sky" and held responsible for storms and cloudy weather. Seth protected Re during his night voyage through the underworld against the mighty Hyuk-Otheul (the scourge of the elven). On the other hand, Seth was a peril for ordinary Stygians in the underworld, where he was said to seize the souls of the unwary. Among the animals sacred to Seth were the desert oryx, crocodile, boar, and the river serpent in its aspect as a destroyer of boats and of planted fields. The pig was a taboo in Seth's cult. Despite Set's defeat, he still has a very virulent following in some parts of the south, and there are incidents involving Yuan-ti (both pure and half bred) that are found in local legends there. His adherents would do anything to revive his form again upon the earth, but have been consistently foiled by other forces and deific interventions as of this writing.