The ANUBIS RESURRECTIONS

Inspired by the works of Roger Zelazny

The Old Realm: Cygnus & The Partitioning

In the final time of the Second Realm, the Godhead, known as Cygnus by most, made the decision to refract permanently into the component pieces that had made it. The reason for this was that Cygnus needed to preserve itself in small measure by injecting one of its constituent parts into the Third Realm. Cygnus returned to being the Phoenix and it was decided that Anhur would depart the Veightal and take himself to the Third Realm. This was a sad farewell but also a leave-taking of firmness in the knowledge that this would mean the Veightal would remain more than a memory to be lost in Time. Cygnus's decision to leave the Godhead was an important thing as it not only recreated the Phoenix but also brought new things into existence. Through its victories over other pantheons, Cygnus had gathered what it could of these other groups' potency. Such a great movement as Cygnus made in returning to its lesser form, must conserve the constituent power held within the movement’s source’s impetus. Much potency was made available in Cygnus diminishing itself. Important in this conservation was the creation of the Typhonic Lenses. Later some variations would occur and would become Lens Portals but at the initial point of creation, the Typhonic Lenses merely were taken up by the Phoenix.

The Spectrum Knife

Another creation of this singularity was the Spectrum Knife. The Phoenix had to use this if it were to splinter the Mule and his Power to the 'point of no return'. If the knife was employed masterfully, the Mule would be so fragmented that he could not pose a threat to creation. The Phoenix had good reason to decide on whom to entrust the Spectrum Knife. Arch-Fracturing into its component parts, the Phoenix stood among the stars once more as the Veightal, ultimate vanquisher of Pantheons. Discussions ensued. Set was the clear choice but the Veightal, in Thoth’s wisdom and with Set’s own guile, determined that the Mule would see this too obvious a choice. A simple approach would not work. The minor Gods were summoned to seek a subtle ending to the ancient enemy of Creation. Of those considered, Bes received much support as his was the Potency of Luck. He might find the means to win out over the Mule. Some were hesitant to trust in Luck for this most important of things. After much discussion a group of minor Gods was chosen to affect this mighty change. While the Veightal made apparent efforts to destroy the Mule involving a great and climactic battle, the small teaming of three would seek to dispatch the Enemy of Creation. Bes was joined by Bast and Anubis to destroy the Mule’s threat with the Spectrum Knife. Bes would bring Luck. Bast would bring Elusiveness and Perception. Anubis would bring his Judgement and Mercilessness. The Battle of Creation began. The Phoenix sought to confuse the Mule further by engaging in a mock battle for succession. Osiris and Horus threw their spite at each other, while Set played his usual antagonist’s role. Osiris took the Ra-Crown to himself. Horus rejected this and made as if to wrest it from his father, who was also his son. The Mule appeared to seize on these interactions to push his agenda forward. What wasn’t known was that he had already begun a great undertaking.

The Fractal Siphons

The Mule, Master of Mentality, had managed to learn some of the Pantheonicks’ secret knowledge. The gods had held the ability to multiply themselves in an act known as Temporal Fugue. This was Typhon’s great gift to the Pantheonicks. The Mule subverted this Power of Time for his own needs. Fugue was impossible for any but the gods to safely endure. Even the Mule feared he would be destroyed by attempting it. Taking the High Principle at its simplest, he devised an engine that could shift the danger of Oblivion’s call, while creating a reflected example of an original mortal’s spirit. This ‘Postponment Engine’ became the basis for many experiments of the Mule. Lives were shattered by his mistakes. Lives were shattered by his triumphs. For this reason the Shattered of the Mule became his chief support going forward, a new force in the Second Realm. They had little time to make their presence felt.. The Veightal was on the hunt. The Engines of the Mule
As was part of his make up, the Mule's madness routinely swept him away. It was during such an episode that he had the Postponement Engines act in concert creating what the Mule named the Opus Engine. This was a malfunctional but greatly overpowered version of his more sane design. The Mule had managed to salvage the destroyed Pantheonicks' fugue potency and used these energies in its design. In his more maddened state, the Mule claimed that he was composing a symphony that would be heard beyond the realm. The Veightal had little interest in the Third Realm. It was a much younger and empty place to them. They saw no real purpose in the Mule's ambition and put it down to a madman's obsession. The Mule continued his work unopposed. When he returned to his usual mind he saw that what he had conceived could be put to purposeful use. He could reverse tune the Opus Engine to find an individual's harmonic signature, that he found of interest. By incubating the potency he had stolen within the multiversal planes from the dead gods, he found a ready source of spiritual energy. Now he needed only to collect this energy and combine it with the spiritual signatures he had obtained from the Opus Engine. The Mule devised his new Siphon Extractors for this purpose. In their extractions of the spiritual forms of the targeted individuals was created new copies of those people. These copies he called Siphons. The Mule managed his greatest desire when he was able to use his engines and extractors in combined effort to fracture and create one of the minor Gods, Bast. The Mule had long hoped to take her for his queen. He had this shattered Bast available to him when the team with the Spectrum Knife appeared to destroy him. The Mule employed the Bast siphon to confuse the intended plot and in the result was Bes's death. Bast was just able to kill her siphon duplicate but at great cost and personal injury. She retreated with her grievous wounds to her personal plane, where she was never heard from again. The Mule told Anubis of his plan to populate the New Realm with the siphons he created and that he would go there once he had destroyed the Second Realm and the Powers that lived there. Anubis used the threat of the Spectrum Knife to escape the Mule, who could see the danger that the weapon posed to him. It was through this quick thinking that Anubis survived to return to the Veightal with the knowledge of what had gone wrong. Realising the Mule's new potential to damage many of the realm, the Veightal decided that they needed to attempt to head off the siphon threat. Lord Anhur had no knowledge of this new threat as it had been born after his departure. Destroying the Mule would end the threat but it was wise to assume that the Mule might escape their intentions. The Veightal calculated that with the combined growing energies of Osiris and Horus they could still form the Phoenix potency minus one of their number. Osiris and Horus were forced to remain to make this possible. Set was considered too valuable for his perspective views of the realm to part with. Thoth, Seker and Amon all had too great a purpose to be removed. Isis could not bring herself to leave the others. Ptah stood apart as he always did and none were sure that they wished him to leave. Anubis felt his part in the failure to destroy the Mule most deeply. He asked if he could be the one to sacrifice. This would work as Anubis had long been considered almost one of them and if not for the old doubts created by his failed attempt at fugue that had resulted in, Anibus the Traitor, he might have been part of the Veightal long before. The Veightal saw Anubis as their brother as he was taking this burden from them. They all bowed to him and told him to prepare to be sent to the 'after-realm'. They used the Spectrum Knife to slay Anubis and cut his body into nine pieces. This was called, the Partitioning. Each of the pieces was prepared by the pharaoh-priests for its great journey. Placed in the sacred sarcophagus-ships, the pieces were launched into Shadow. The Mule's Shattered were vigilant for stratagems of the Veightal but the importance of this was missed as the vessels appeared to be empty. So the Partitioning was successful and nine portions of Anubis crossed through Shadow, from the Old Realm into the New Realm. In the New Realm the Partitioning needs to be reversed if Anubis is to be made whole and bring word of the Siphons and a greater threat they may pose, to Anhur

Spread

In the New Realm the pieces of the Partitioning came to the mainstay worlds in separate times and locations. At present, there are some pieces of the Partitioning that have been seen: 01 -- Name - Canark / Affiliation - Spectral Array; Black; Elemental Potency / Current Location - Zom-Rahn 02 -- Name - Ahn-Oeubhis / Affiliation - Spectral Array; Bronze Unknown Potency / Current Location - Miranse 03 -- Name - Shadrak / Affiliation / Current Location - Axildusk 04 -- Name - Blackjack / Affiliation - Unknown / Current Location - Warren 05 -- Name - The Jack Knife / Affiliation - The Avenue / Current Location - Canticle 06 -- Name - The Jawed Lored / Affiliation - Unknown / Current Location - Tebbaren 07 -- Name - Bis Jackhammer / Affiliation - Deathwing Flighters / Current Location - Arcithian Empire 08 -- Name - Ubishaman / Affiliation - Deso Stockade / Current Location - Chenaga 09 -- Name - Sandoval / Affiliation - Hamnansass Riverboat / Current Location - Tebarren

The Partitioning