Gods of Irkalla

Pantheon of Irkalla

   The oldest religion of the world, indeed the only religion which all recognize and from which all iterations derive, is that of the ancient Irkallan gods, worshipped first in Narzham. Narzham is a powerful, expansive realm as such goes in Irkalla. They are the first humans, so the myths say, and claimto be directly descended from the Anunnaki (the first gods). Each city of the Narzham is given a grand temple, usually a pyramid or ziggurat, dedicated to a key patron deity from the many gods they worship. The capitol city of Narzham holds Enki as its patron, but the Emperor Serigas considers Marduk the patron of the Empire.

(Edit: sorry for the background/font error. Not sure why that was happening when NONE of the other copy/pastes from Word carried any weirdness over!!!! Hotfix to make it readable in...)

The Pantheon of Narzham is summarized as follows:

Anu, The god of Heaven

Enlil, The god of the air (from Lil = Air) and storms. He was usually portrayed in human form but also appears as a snake to the humans eyes. (Jupiter)

Enki, The god of water and the fertile earth, (Mercury)

Ea, the god of magic, wisdom and intelligence

Ninhursag, The mother-goddess representing the earth

Ashur, god of the sky

Kishar, the goddess of the earth

Ninlil: goddess of air (possibly the south wind) and wife of Enlil

Inanna, The goddess of love and war (Venus)

Marduk, originally Ea's son and god of light, also now god of kings. (Jupiter)

Sin, god of the moon

Shamash, God of the sun - the god of justice as well

Ninurta, god of agriculture and crafters (Saturn)

Ereshkigal, goddess of the underworld, Mistress of Irkalla

Gugalanna, The wild bull of heaven, hsuband to Ereshkigal

Nergal, The lord of death and son of Enlil and Ninlil (Mars)

Isimud, the two-faced androgynous steward of Enki

Tiamat, the destroyer goddess, mother of monsters, and the goddess from whose body sprang the earth of creation and the salt seas.

Ninshabur, patron of the evening and lady in waiting to Inanna

Apsu, the counterpart to Tiamat, goddess of the fresh water bodies and spirit of creation

Nammu, the formless abyss of creation

   Narzhamite cosmology is complicated. The short version of creation involves the appearance of two powerful beings, Tiamat and Apsu, were created from the formless abyss of Nammu, the goddess of chaos and creation. In turn, the world was created from their bodies, and they spawned the Lahamus and Lahmu, who then gave birth to Ashur and Kishar, who in turn birthed Anu and Ninirsag. These were the first Anunaki.

   The stories of the gods go on, with protracted tales of their conflicts between one another. The belief of most Narzhamites is that these tales are happening, right now, in the spirit world of the gods. Indeed, some priests feel that the gods are cursed to relive their lives over and over, in one form or another, giving birth, making love and war, and conspiring against and with one another endlessly.

   There are moments where it is believed that the mortal world and the spirit world are inextricably linked. There is the tale of Tiamat’s wrath and betrayal, for example, in which she takes Kingu as her consort, and then tries to destroy the world in her anger. The younger gods go against her and Apsu, and in trying to stop the young gods they are instead slain by Marduk, who then uses their bodies to recreate the creation which they had unwrought.

   Other myths tell of the creation of humankind. The younger Igigi gods (called the Watching Gods) go on strike, refusing the work of keeping creation working and the Gods consulted Enki for a solution. He suggested humankind be made from clay, mixed with the blood of the captured God Kingu, son and consort of Tiamat. Most Irkallans take this fable to refer to the time before man descended to Irkalla to escape destruction.