Summary
Twin gods in
Uatkara's pantheon, both of whom have defining relationships with the
nuhara. To understand this, one must look toward Kalarahdar, the Ever-Devouring Serpent. A size variable being depending on which story, Kalarahdar exists to consume all the precious things that survive within the deserts. Sandstone scales enshroud his jade-like flesh, opal eyes gleaming with a supernatural light that is colder and harsher than
Akenra's.
His hunger is so vast he even reaches toward the skies, swallowing clouds and goddesses, who all suffer in passage through his thirteen stomachs. When there is nothing left to take, his other head spits them out into the Underworld, mere husks of what they used to be. It is him to whom sandstorms and great tempests are owned by, and their passing each marks Kalarahdar's ravenous hunting.
Long ago, when the
nebusah met the nuhara, they were utterly dismayed to know such an evil being existed. Indeed, some blamed them and called them his vile offspring, for who else would bare the body of the serpent? The nuhara did not tolerate this, and so their fourteen mightiest warriors were called from all across
Sa-kemet. Standing before Kalarahdar's greatest storm, they dived into the raging winds and scale-sundering sands, meeting the serpent head-on.
Alas, for all their valor they were yet mortal, and one-by-one they were consumed. Their battle did not end there, however, as each warrior fought within Kalarahdar's stomachs. Of the fourteen, thirteen perished in his digestive tract, the last burdened to carry their souls through the stomachs and out the other end of Kalarahdar's second head.
It would come to be that, together, all fourteen warriors emerged as a wholly new being, stripped of their mortality by Kalarahdar. Thus birthed Abasahdar, the Ever-Protecting Serpent, his fourteen heads fearsome in their fiery eyes and white-marbled scales. While ever smaller than Kalarahdar, Abasahdar sufficed with cunning and tactics, surmounting the primal fury the Ever-Devouring Serpent embodied. Ending the greatest of storms that since plagued Sa-Kemet, Abasahdar prowls the sands, protecting that which Kalarahdar seeks to consume.
Although locked in this eternal duel, Abasahdar's fourteen heads allow him to see and be in many places at once. Thus, he suffices as a protector god for those traveling across the deserts. It is believed that finding a white serpent in the sands--a very
rare sight--is an omen of Abasahdar, and one should follow to find safety.
To an extent, this has made the color white rather sacred among nuhara in Sa-kemet, and the color is universally considered one of safety, peace, or guardianship. That it is also an effective color for resisting solar heat from
Akenra is a funny, if contentious matter some philosophers mull over on the occasion.
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