Old Snakey
drustan on March 24, 2008
One of the Clans in the Vampire RPG was based on snake/serpent imagery (The Followers of Set, or Setites, if memory serves). This was all the pretty standard snakes=evil kind of the thing (the snake in the Garden of Eden, etc.). This made the Setites a particularly evil Clan. I thought, there's a whole raftload of positive snake imagery in mythology. The snake on the egyptian crown was a symbol of wisdom. It shows up as the double spiral in Kundalini and the chakras. The same double helix appears as a symbol of healing on Hermes staff, the caduceus (which is still used by the medical profession today). It's a symbol of rebirth in many pagan religions.
Anyway, I gave this way too much thought and developed a subset of the Setite Clan, with different disciplines and whatnot. Never got around to actually playing one.
Sylvyr Elf at 7:22PM, April 15, 2008
It's kind of interesting, although creepy at first glance. I like it. During the Hebrew exodus, snakes were used as a religious symbol, to heal the bites of plague snakes. (I think it was plague snakes) Just another reference where snakes are not evil.