Akatu

The skeletal ram

## **History**

When Darengan bit into the apple containing the gods, Akatu was injured. After her birth, she took the form of a ram and never said a word again. Quietly stalking the edges of the universe, she studied the cosmos and always sought to find a greater purpose to existence. Some say she knows the meaning of life, but has kept it secret to protect the mortal world.

When the other gods were busy having a feast to honour Alnasia, Akatu did not attend. Several Demons attacked Akatu, trying to avenge their father's death. Although her magic is the most powerful of the gods, she allowed them to cut her neck.

Her body then grew larger and larger. Her bones shattered and made mountains, her blood spilled into the oceans and made water, and her stomach rotted and became the soil. Then her her sprouted into the first grass, her muscles morphed into all the animals, and her tendons contracted to form all the precious metals of Altus.

In memory of the dead god, her siblings named the world "Deep Wound", "Altus." But Akatu was not gone - her spirit was so powerful that it formed into a skeletal ram that ascended to the Starlands. She turned it into a dark place shrouded by a veil of night. From there, Akatu wanders as a skeletal ram, shepherding the souls of the dead as they become stars and join her once more.

## **Teachings**

There is no good, and there is no evil, there is just the endless cycle of life and death. Life springs up in the most difficult of places and dies in the most tragic of ways, and yet the cycle continues towards infinity.

Treat all animal life as sacred, and do not destroy it uselessly. If a life can be ended on the hunt, it shall be taken. If a life can be saved, it should not be, for the cycle of death will find a way to take another in its place. In the end, fate decides who lives and dies, not mortals.

The exploitation of life or death for selfish or unnatural reasons – such as necromancy or wasteful killing – will incur the wrath of Akatu. Although Akatu is dead, she will still descend from the Starlands to stalk those she has deemed due to die before their time. To see a spectral ram means death has descended upon the land.

The rot of a body is not unsanitary or unhealthy. A body rots as it is drawn into the heavens by Akatu where their soul will soon live as a star and shine each night.

All life contains the magic of Akatu and may be called upon in a time of righteousness to prevent the exploitation of Akatus' children, the defilement of the cycle, or tampering with fate.

## Worship

### Prayers

**Thanks:** “The cycle is kind.”

**I need blessings:** “Fate be kind to me.”

**Before killing:** “I take your child, mother, for it is their time to die. The cycle continues, and one day I will visit you in the deep.”

**For a funeral:** “The wheel spins incessantly, and draws the children of the gods up to the ram god once more.”

**For a birth:** “The wheel spins incessantly, and places a child of the gods upon the body of the ram god once more.”

### Rituals

**Before Killing:** Before hunting, battle, or executing others, a follower of Akatu must spend time meditating to become connected the the spirits they wish to send to meet Akatu. It is in this time that fate may give them an indication as to what to do.

**For a Death:** The dead must be buried so that they can rot. To burn a body will scatter their spirit across the earth, and will make it more difficult for Akatu to claim their spirit.

**For a Punishment:** Those who have died and deserve punishment are mummified and trapped within tombs to prevent their decay. This will prevent them from ever journeying to visit Akatu in the Starlands.

**Starlands Visit:** A special ceremony on the 30th of Akaken involves barricading doors and windows. Clerics will also anoint and bless people from spirits of the dead who will rise on the following night, the winter solstice, to take revenge against those who wronged them.

**Blood Festival:** To remember the loss of Alnasia, the titan-mother, the 1st and 2nd of Akaken are days where people mourn those who have departed them and visit the graves of their family.

**Disease:** Some diseases are caused by Akatu, and are sent to bring those she needs to her side. Others are caused by evil spirits, trying to suck the victim's soul away. Treat diseases when you can but keep a window open so that Akatu may find and take their soul should they die.

### Behaviour

**Dress:** Bones should be worn by clerics of Akatu, and nobody else.

**The Deep:** The Deep is a terrible place. It was the place where Akatu was cut which led to her death, and now remains tainted. Demons fill it, and it is a gateway into the Void.

**Sparing Life:** Akatu knows when it is time to claim a life, and no mortal should stay their hand because they think they know better.

**Stars:** The stars in the sky are the souls of billions who once lived on Akatu's body. The brightest are often the most powerful, but even those which are dark can influence the world. Movements of the stars predict cycles of magical power in the world, and gaining contact with the stars has led many to great discoveries - and others to madness.