Am Ra Aned of the Qishemi

The Rekiret believe that, when they die, their souls are guided by Meskett, the Sun-Bearer to Sutu, the Warm Salt Marshes. This peaceful land can only be reached once the dead have traveled trough the entrance of their tomb into the afterlife. From there, Meskett sails them to the trials of their soul. It is said Meskett's vessel bears many strange statues of other peoples blessed by Am's brilliance. 

From there, they will alight upon the shores of Sutu, where the soul of the dead will be placed before Aakhu, the Fire-Bringer who takes up his tools of the forge and draws forth the soul of the dead into his forge where he tests its purity against that of Dama. Should they be found equally pure or more, they are allowed to continue.

If they are allowed to continue, they enter Sutu and live in peace until Am's final passage across the sky where he will remake the world and birth the Rekiret anew from their canopic tombs. If they are not found worthy, they are cast out into Thetis by Utcha-t, the Hull-Bringer, the Sea of Nothing, where their soul is unmade.

Those that spurn Am or worship Espet are believed to descend into the dark side of the moon when they die. This realm, known as Thetis, is haunted by the lingering, incomplete souls of evil Rekiret. Their Shuyet peeled away from them and turned into a monster that stalks and abuses those trapped in Thetis.

Ahk of a Rekiret

The Rekriet believe that Am fashioned the world from a piece of his own soul (Ahk) and magic, thus so too, are all things comprised of magic and the power of Am. That being said, the Rekiret believe the soul is a combination of various "domains" of magic and thus an amalgam of all that makes the world. These soul fragments can be used to assume fair forms in Sutu and allow the Rekiret to help those in the Mortal Realms if they choose to.

• Khet: The physical body and the Ahk's default state.
• Sah: The spiritual body, in this form the Ahk can speak to the living in their dreams
• Ren: Name, identity. The form and capabilities of this fragment depend on the statue the deceased's name has been carved into.
• Ba: Personality. This form appears as a bird with the Rekiret's head upon it and is a separate entity, but bound to its master.
• Ka: Essence, life. The only part of the Ahk that does not reach Sutu as it animates the living body only.
• Ib: The heart, wherein all the facets of the soul are contained and exists in its canopic jar and in Sutu, connecting the Ahk to both realms.
• Shuyet: The shadow. Rekiret assume the shadow to be an integral part of the Ahk as it is always present. By this means, they can view the living world during the day as their shadow.
• Sekhem: Power. Only Rekiret priests know the qualities of this fragment.

Am is credit with sending his Sun People to aid the Rekiret and lift them up from baser beasts. As such he's seen as lord of civilization and the Rekiret deeply revere him for this. His light casts back evil shadows and his eternal vigilance over his people only wanes with the ascension of Espet in the skies. 

Rekiret pray to Am for anything from protection against disease to victory in battle. His priests and priestesses are divinatory masters and ardent users of magic that heavily incorporate light.

Edicts - Worship Him in All Things

Domains - Civilization and Sun

Symbol - A golden wheel with many hands reaching down from it.

Antithesis - Worshipping the moon, shunning sunlight.

Sacred Instrument - Khopesh (Hooked Swords)

The Sun Person known as Aakhu was attributed with bringing not only the gift of fire to the Rekiret, but teaching them how to harness it. As such, Aakhu demonstrated to the Rekiret how to fashion bronze into tools and weapons making her the patron goddess of blacksmiths, jewelers and miners. While Aakhu showed them how to use fire to forge the most practical metals, it was in the strange yellow metal known as Unknown that was her passion. Forging this gorgeous metal into the finest treasures.

Because of her gifts in metallurgy, Aakhu is capable of seeking out any impurities in the most pure of materials. Thus, she judges the dead.

Edicts - Always apply yourself fully to your profession.

Domains - Crafting and Elemental (Fire).

Symbol - A golden flame over an anvil.

Antithesis - Being habitually lazy, despoiling or destroying objects made of Dama.

Sacred Instrument - Warhammer.

Aathen was said to arrive on Trynnalta bearing with her a Dama disc that contained all of the words the Rekiret would need to construct the language of Sesh. With this, the Rekiret could not only communicate, but they could store information and accelerate the learning and advancement of their culture. These same words could be empowered, she taught the Rekiret, to impose ones' will over reality using magic.

Aathen was a lover of stories and creativities, as such artists like bards and storytellers favor her patronage as its said the Aathen will sometimes send down inspiration to those who she favors in the golden rays of Am's light. A common custom is to sunbathe near music halls and theatres in hopes of receiving such inspiration.

Edicts - Turn your tasks into art.

Domains - Knowledge and Magic

Symbol - A golden disc with an ankh emblazoned on it.

Antithesis - Hiding the truth. Destroying knowledge.

Behut-ti is said to arrived on Trynnalta bearing a scarab shell full of grains and seeds. With this in hand, he began to teach the Rekiret how to seed the soil, churn it with ploughs and bring forth a bounty to feed themselves even in times of lean hunting. Once they had mastered this, he began showing them how to tame beasts and use them for food and work.

While Behut-ti professed that the Rekiret were chosen and so had dominion over the beasts of the mortal realm, he was staunchly against their abuse. In some settlements that heavily rely on beasts of burden and livestock, its forbidden to make sacrifices of them for fear of angering the Seed-Bringer.

Edicts - Harm no domestic beasts and shepherd the land.

Domains - Agriculture

Symbol - A scarab or woven basket.

Antithesis - Refusing hospitality to guests. Abusing animals.

Weapon - Shields

Maa-at went to work as soon as he touched ground in Trynnalta, according to Rekiret legends. With tool and with stone he began to construct homes and cities in anticipation of the species the Sun People would ascend into sapience. With examples readily available, tools neatly fashioned and a divine teacher it was not long before the Rekiret had mastered building elaborate and immense stone structures. In some cases, Rekiret engineering is advanced beyond any other culture.

Maa-at is also the protector of the doors and walls of tombs, where as Meskett protects the interior and its occupants. Damaging a tomb and its entryways is considered heresy.

Edicts - Respect tombs and homes as they are sacred.

Domains - Crafting (Architecture) and Elemental (Stone).

Symbol - Hammer and Chisel.

Antithesis - Damaging tomb walls and doors.

Weapon - Maul

Meskett spent the smallest amount of time on Trynnalta. According to the Rekiret, this is because Meskett was responsible for piloting Am's death ship behind the horizon every night and so could not stay more than a few hours. Meskett taught the Rekiret the funerary customs they abide by even in the modern era. 

The processes is exacting. The body has its organs removed and placed in canopic jars of clay, the lids of which are formed in the image of the highest priest of Am during that time. The corpse is then embalmed and mummified in the high mountains or searing desert sands before being interred in the local necropolis.  Assumedly this was done so that when Am descends for the last time, Meskett can collect the souls of the old Rekiret and use the jars as vessels for the new.

Edicts - Make all good effort to entomb the dead. Leave no honored corpse to the elements.

Domain - Death.

Symbol - A barge, or scarab, carrying the sun.

Antithesis - Despoiling grave sites.

Weapon - Trident

Rekiret spawn new generations via live birth. This is a less safer method of birth than many other species utilize, such as egg-laying, the process is far from perfect as is the nature of mortals. To this end, it was said that Nubit came to Trynnalta to make safe the children of their student species and to help them bring forth larger families. Supposedly, this moved the Rekriet away from egg-laying, somehow.

Nubit is a kind goddess who was said to tend to her children's children with deep empathy and extreme patience. However, both this traits could be suspended when she was angered by those who would seek to harm children. Many a tale of Nubit's anger ends with the offender bearing life-destroying curses until they eventually succumb to the weight of their own sins.

Edicts - Mercy to the deserving and weak.

Domains - Life and Love.

Symbol - A sun hatching from an egg.

Antithesis - Harming or abusing children.

Weapon - None.

While their ancestral species had latent psionic skills, it wasn't until Pehreri came to Trynnalta that the full potential of their species was unlocked. For it was this goddess who activated the nascent minds of the Rekiret and the began to teach them how to harness this power. The priests and priestesses of the Am Ra Aned owe their deep wisdom and skill at divination to Pehreri as well. Her tutelage allowed them to read the paths of the sun and glean portents from birds, smoke and even the written word.

While Pehreri gave them this knowledge, she also attempted to instill in her followers the ethics of avoiding the mind-altering use of their psionic abilities. Ardent followers of Pehreri will refuse to tamper with the minds of others in any permanent way.

Edicts - Focus and discipline of the mind at all times.

Domains - Fortune

Symbol - A stylized eye looking upward.

Antithesis - Using magic of any kind to destroy or alter the minds of others.

Weapon - Scimitar

Utcha-t came to Trynnalta with only the inkling of the destiny they were to fulfill. It wasn't until the Rekiret first laid eyes on the vast oceans of the world that Utcha-t realized their purpose. Using their vast knowledge of the heavens, Utcha-t began to educated the Rekiret on how to ply the waves of their burgeoning world. It is from him that Rekiret learned to make their barges and vessels, it was from Utcha-t where they learned to chart the stars and make naval maps.

Utcha-t used the great beasts of the ocean to help move the tides, bring up treasures and to show the Rekiret how such vast things might move across the oceans' surfaces. Having been so helpful to the god, he declared them free of the Rekiret's dominion and it is considered a great act of heresy for them to be hunted.

Edicts - Preserve the waterways of the Rekiret.

Domains - Sea and Travel (Sea).

Symbol - Crossed oars behind a shark's jaws.

Antithesis - Hunting and killing large marine animals.

Weapon - Spear.

Am and his Sun People are directly attributed with making the Rekiret a sapient, fully civilized people. As such the entirety of Rekiret society gives thanks to them for this deed. The pantheon consists of Am, the Sun-God, and the eight Sun People that came to them. However, they fear Espet, the lunar goddess, and shun her light.

It is believed that Espet confronts their god Am in one of two ways; Open conflict during Sref Hrat when the sun is eclipsed. Throughout the intervening ten years, Espet attempts to seduce Am with her whiles and turn him against the mortal realms.

Cult of the Fallen Sun

There is a cult of exiles from the Am Ra Aned who believe that Espet has already succeeded in seducing the great god Am. For they hear them both whispering in the dark hours of the evening. Such adherents are routinely exiled or executed for their apostasy, however, some slip through the cracks. These evil priests of Am believe that mortals must be sacrificed in ritual flame to appease Am and keep him from ending the world. It helps they're allowed to use the remains for food and other dark practices.

Espetic Cult

There are parallels between Espet and Unknown of the Eldest. None are certain if this is a form of vilification of a Symeran deity and if so, why. Some speculate its to dehumanize the Symerans due to sporadic territory disputes. This is unlikely, some claim, as the Rekiret typically do not have need of expansionistic practices and tend to be insular communities even when sharing territories with others. Some posit that this incongruity is a misinterpretation of Galgodot the Constant Hunger and misattributed to Espet and Iuna.

While it is uncommon, some Rekiret may fall to Espet worship. In doing so they see her as a destroyer of the old and are at odds with the followers of Am who they feel continue to give praise to a god that has left them behind. As such, they seek to undermine and even destroy the Am Ra Aned priesthood by any means they can. These adherents seem to believe they will share a different fate from those who typically arrive in Thetis, upon their death.

Domains - Night and Destruction

Symbol - A snake wrapped around a crescent moon.

Antithesis - Allowing sun-worshippers to live and thrive.

Weapon - Matched Daggers.

The Rekiret typically do not write stories as the practice requires specialized skills in Rekiret society and so is saved for only truly important information. Writing a story on dead plant material like parchment, or on animal flesh like vellum, taints the story and kills the soul of the tale. It is forbidden from writing the stories of their gods on anything other than stone, which is eternal, or Dama which is sacred.

Records and other logistical documents may be written on parchment or papyrus scrolls, but is still usually only handled by Abehs or Viziers.

Rekiret to not adorn the outside of their structures often. Within, though, almost every ceiling is covered on pigments depicting the stories and cycles of the Am Ra Aned, what they did, who they taught and sometimes even how they died. Since Rekiret structures are also typically stone, the walls are often adorned with their petroglyphic language enhancing, elaborating or embellish the tales wrought almost life size across the ceilings.