![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Mummies & Deities & Worldbuilding
Jun. 19th, 2023 04:41 pmRath - Wadjet
Ja-Kal - Horus
Armon - Khnum
Nefer - Bastet
Scarab - Khepri, but he sort of hacked his way into it
"With the strength of Ra!"
Died in 1525 BC, awoke in the 1990s about 3,520 years later. Scarab actually awoke in the 20s, around 3,450 years later, but they all round it to "thirty-five hundred years" or even, in some cases, "three thousand years."
---
After failing to save Rapses in time, Rapses's ba (his personality) could not be reunited with his ka (vital essence) to form the Akh (intellect/"magically effective one"). This meant that his ba would continue on and be reincarnated (gaining a new ka) rather than passing into the afterlife.
As a punishment (though it was framed as giving them another chance, and therefore an honor as well as their duty), the Pharaoh had Rapses's four guardians ritually sacrificed to their gods and mummified to continue being Rapses's guardians in his next earthly life.
---
The four guardians' ba are tied to Presley's ka, which is what allows them to continue living though they have no ka of their own. However, this means that when Presley dies, his guardians will die as well.
Does Scarab want Presley's ib (heart) to trick Anubis? Or does he want Presley's ka, which is special because he is of the pharaohs' bloodline, so it is a stronger life force than any other (also why he's able to support five ba simultaneously)?
---
It's been ~3500 years. If the guardians' ba can no longer easily be reunited with their ka (as their ka left their bodies upon their death), it's very possible that their spirits will not become Akh and move safely into the afterlife. They would need to either find their ka somehow (if they still exist) or be reincarnated themselves to have a chance at that.
--
The ritual that made them into Rapses's eternal (or, well, "eternal") guardians empowered them through their amulets, but also by sacrificing an animal sacred to their patron deities alongside them (in identical ways); this encouraged the deities to bless them with power, a piece of themselves in the form of a corresponding animal spirit which became a sort of second shut (shadow) for them. This shut is also what kept their ba in their mortal bodies until they could join with Presley's ka.
--
More vocab:
• Sah - Mummy, but also the spiritual body that one uses in the afterlife, so...
• Khet - The physical body that one uses in life, so strictly speaking, the guardians are still using their khet, as well as their sah.
• Ren - Name, identity. A part of the soul, therefore magic and used in magic.
Ja-Kal - Horus
Armon - Khnum
Nefer - Bastet
Scarab - Khepri, but he sort of hacked his way into it
"With the strength of Ra!"
Died in 1525 BC, awoke in the 1990s about 3,520 years later. Scarab actually awoke in the 20s, around 3,450 years later, but they all round it to "thirty-five hundred years" or even, in some cases, "three thousand years."
---
After failing to save Rapses in time, Rapses's ba (his personality) could not be reunited with his ka (vital essence) to form the Akh (intellect/"magically effective one"). This meant that his ba would continue on and be reincarnated (gaining a new ka) rather than passing into the afterlife.
As a punishment (though it was framed as giving them another chance, and therefore an honor as well as their duty), the Pharaoh had Rapses's four guardians ritually sacrificed to their gods and mummified to continue being Rapses's guardians in his next earthly life.
---
The four guardians' ba are tied to Presley's ka, which is what allows them to continue living though they have no ka of their own. However, this means that when Presley dies, his guardians will die as well.
Does Scarab want Presley's ib (heart) to trick Anubis? Or does he want Presley's ka, which is special because he is of the pharaohs' bloodline, so it is a stronger life force than any other (also why he's able to support five ba simultaneously)?
---
It's been ~3500 years. If the guardians' ba can no longer easily be reunited with their ka (as their ka left their bodies upon their death), it's very possible that their spirits will not become Akh and move safely into the afterlife. They would need to either find their ka somehow (if they still exist) or be reincarnated themselves to have a chance at that.
--
The ritual that made them into Rapses's eternal (or, well, "eternal") guardians empowered them through their amulets, but also by sacrificing an animal sacred to their patron deities alongside them (in identical ways); this encouraged the deities to bless them with power, a piece of themselves in the form of a corresponding animal spirit which became a sort of second shut (shadow) for them. This shut is also what kept their ba in their mortal bodies until they could join with Presley's ka.
--
More vocab:
• Sah - Mummy, but also the spiritual body that one uses in the afterlife, so...
• Khet - The physical body that one uses in life, so strictly speaking, the guardians are still using their khet, as well as their sah.
• Ren - Name, identity. A part of the soul, therefore magic and used in magic.
