Egyptian Gods

The Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, are primeval forces that were once worshiped by the Ancient Egyptians. The gods, are also created entities, like humans, but are more powerful.They serve as a bridge between the natural world and the human world. Over time, the Egyptians realized that the gods were not to be worshiped and although they still prayed to them and used their powers, magicians began to train to fight the gods when needed.



History
Known as the age of the gods, the story of the Egyptian gods is a long and complicated one. According to most versions, Ra was the first god to emerge from the eternal chaos, raising with him the first land mass from the ancient ocean and shining the light of the Sun across creation. This act gave way to the birth of other gods and living things, and Ra ruled as king of the gods. Trouble arose, however, when it was prophesized that Geb and Nut would have a child who would be the next king. Though the couple loved each other dearly and greatly desired children of their own, Ra out of fear decreed that Nut could never bear a child during any day of the year. Defying Ra, Nut devised a loophole, resulting in the creation of the Demon Days, and gave birth to Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, and Nephthys. For their disobedience, Nut and Geb were forced apart by Ra. At some point, these siblings were reborn into new hosts. In their new lives, Osiris and Isis marry one another and Set and Nephthys also marry. Horus became the unborn son of Isis and Osiris. At some point, Nephthys gives birth to a son by Set, Anubis. Claiming she does not want him to know his father, she asks Osiris to raise him.

At about this time, the chaotic being Apophis begins to attack Ra, who is god of the sun and therefore the source of the life and creation he so hates. The gods rushed to defend him and Bast became the Eye of Ra. Set becomes his loyal lieutenant. Their combined efforts repel Apophis' attacks, and Ra was able to continue his rule unharmed. Isis, however, desiring to see her husband become the king of gods, tricked Ra into telling her his secret name. Using this newfound power, she forced him to retreat to the heavens and Osiris took his place, thus fulfilling the ancient prophecy. This enrages Set, and out of jealousy he tricked Osiris on his birthday, trapping him in a golden sarcophagus. He also attempted to murder Isis and an unborn Horus, but was foiled by the intervention of his wife, Nephthys. Horus, once grown, later manages to avenge his father by defeating Set and taking back the throne of the gods. Osiris, though unable to return to the living world, was restored to authority as the Lord of the Dead.

As Egyptian dynasties past, the gods continued to host humans, particularly humans with the Blood of the Pharaohs, since they are very suitable to contain the essence of a god. On rare occasions, a god is able to become one with their host, essentialy becoming one being that has neither the god or the human in control, but rather a combination of the two. This is said to be extremly rare and only happened with mortals that had the blood of the pharaohs.

Around the time of the fall of Egypt, which was caused in part by Cleopatra's failed attempt to host Isis, magicians began to realize how dangerous the gods are and started an effort to hunt them down and banish them into the Duat under the direction of Chief Lector Iskandar and Thoth who became the only god welcomed by the House of Life. Only a few gods weren't banished: among these are Thoth, Anubis, Bes, Nut and Geb.

Following the Path of the Gods and using divine magic became forbidden for two thousand years, however Ruby Kane, one of the descendants of the pharaohs, who possesed the power of divination, forsaw the fall of Bast in her battle against Apophis and Apophis' escape and Chaos reigning. Knowing they needed the gods, Ruby secretly contacted Isis who had her free Bast from her prison to recover. Using Cleopatra's Needle, Ruby and her husband Julius (a descendant of another pharaoh) succeded in freeing Bast, but rejecting power from either Isis or Bast, Ruby sacrificed her life to seal the breach and prevent the escape of Apophis. Julius made a deal with Bast to take a cat named Muffin as a host to protect his daughter Sadie and continued the work of looking for a way to free the gods. Six years later he succeded in freeing Osiris from the Rosetta Stone with the intention of having Osiris take him as a host then die so Osiris could resume his place in the Duat and take the first steps to restoring Order. However, releasing Osiris also released Set, Horus, Isis and Nephthys who took Amos Kane, Julius' son Carter, Sadie and Zia Rashid as hosts respectivly and set off a chain reaction that released all of the other gods.

The release of the gods started a war with those who supported Set against those who supported Horus as Set tried to use the Demon Days to rise to power as king of the gods once again, using his red pyramid to increase his own power, draining the power of Osiris who he captured upon rising. With the help of Bast and a shabti of Zia Rashid, Sadie and Carter Kane battle Set and ultimatly manage to become one with the gods they are hosting to battle and banish him. Using his true name (gotten from Nephthys through Zia) they are able to bind him and destroy his pyramid, killing Julius and Osiris, but sending them to Osiris' rightful place in the Duat. As Sadie/Isis prepared to banish Set, she realized that all of this was a trick of Apophis who was manipulating Set by possesing his lieutenant Face of Horror so that he would destroy the North American continet and cause enough chaos for Apophis to escape and destroy the world. Sadie reveals the truth to Set and Carter kills Face of Horror, stopping Apophis' plans for now. Using the fact that they now have Set's secret name, the two are able to force him to return to the Duat until summoned and when he returns, fight on their side against Apophis. The two release their gods to return to the Duat where Horus takes up the throne again. Despite the anger of the House of Life, Sadie and Carter announce their intention to gather more descendants of the pharaohs and train them in the Path of the Gods which is the only chance of defeating Apophis.

With Apophis rising, Sadie and Carter work to find and bring back Ra, learning to channel their gods power through divine magic without having to have the gods inside them. One of their initates is Walt Stone who is a descendant of another pharaoh and cursed to die at a young age as a result. With the help of Anubis (who Sadie falls in love with as well as with Walt) and Bes the Kanes track down Ra in the House of Rest in the Duat and manage to wake him up, allowing him to return to his throne though he remains senile. This angers Horus who is kicked off the throne as a result. The group also rescues the real Zia Rashid who rejects Nephthys who leaves her. Apophis rises, but Michel Desjardins manages to banish him for a time again with an execration spell, but dies in the process, buying Carter and Sadie more time to train people in the Path of the Gods. However, during the attempt to rescue Ra, Bes loses his ren and basicaly becomes mindless as a result and is relegated to the House of Rest as a result.

With Apophis rising again shortly and with all the copies of the Book of Overcoming Apophis destroyed, the House of Life begins to look for a new way to stop the Chaos Serpent and after meeting with Anubis (who is banned from seeing her again for getting to close to her without a mortal form), Sadie Kane comes up with a plan to finally destroy Apophis by destroying his sheut (shadow) with an execration spell. In order to do so, the ghost of evil magician Setne is called upon to help find the sheut and capture it then use a special spell to destroy it. While Carter, Setne and Zia set off to do that, Walt and Sadie set off to restore Bes' ren using his sheut. After confronting the goddess Neith, they succed in finding the sheut and discover that restoring it is much more simple than Setne lead them to believe: they simply need to bind it to a shabti and then recite a reverse execration spell and capturing Apophis' sheut will be as simple once its found. Bes is restored to normal, but the effort takes the last of Walt's energy and he dies. However, as planned between them, Anubis is on hand when Walt dies and takes him as a host, restoring Walt to life. Walt/Anubis sends Sadie to Carter and Zia to help them. The two, despite repeated betrayals by Setne, are able to reach Apophis' sheut, thanks partialy to Zia channeling Ra's power as his chosen host and protected from the Sea of Chaos by the amulet he gave her contaning the remaning power of Khepri. Sadie rescues the two and capture Apophis' sheut, but an army of demons nearly overwhelms them until an army of senile gods led by Bes and Tawaret arrive to help. With the sheut, the group boards Ra's boat where he takes Zia as a host and is reborn, reganing his sanity. Apophis rises, using two magicians working for him named Sarah Jacobi and Kwai to destroy the House of Life. Carter (once again hosting Horus), Sadie (once again hosting Isis), Amos Kane (once again hosting Set but this time in control) and Walt who has combined with Anubis join the battle and defeat the rebel magicians, killing Jacobi and Kwai. Carter takes his rightful place as pharaoh, aided by Ra's crook and flail given to him by the god and leads the magicians into battle, with even the rebels joining him after Apophis' influence upon their leaders is revealed. Carter also calls upon the gods as pharaoh as well under Ra's direction. All gods, including those who were once his enemy, respond to his call and join battle with Apophis. Apophis swallows Ra, but Carter and Sadie, with both their power and Horus and Isis', cast a execration spell on Apophis' sheut while the other gods distract him, destroying the sheut and Apophis and ending all the Chaos and strife his influence caused in the world. Destroying Apophis releases Ra whole and alive.

After the destruction of Apophis, Ra decides to have the gods exile themselves from Earth for a time though they still play their various roles in the world. Horus and Carter officaly become pharahos of the magicians and the gods respectivly, with Horus apparently even ripping off Carter's acceptance speech for his own. However, despite the leaving of the gods, one is allowed to remain on Earth: Anubis who remains in Walt. The two become one being like the pharoahs of old when they were god-kings so Anubis is allowed to stay. This has benefits for both: it allows them both to be with Sadie Kane at the same time who they both love, it allows Walt to live as without Anubis he will die of his curse and it allows Anubis to experience mortal life for the first time as he has never had a human host before, never having needed one. It also allows both Anubis and Walt to experience the joys of life as both were denied that before due to their godhood and the curse hanging over their heads respectivly before.

Appearance
Gods may take on a multitude of appearances. When manifesting in the Duat or using combat magic, they often appear as animal-headed humans. They may also take on the appearance of a human at any time and while fully possessing a host, they may trade their host's appearance for a more preferred one. Gods may also take on the appearance of their favored animal and may shapeshift freely between different forms. Gods also possess the ability to use a glamor and change their appearance.

A god's divine form, which appears in the Duat, is too intense for a mortal and will literally burn them up.

Powers
Gods have greatly varied powers that are often specific to their domains, although they may occasionally overlap with similar gods.

Shared powers include immortality, a great deal of magical power, senses and reflexes above that of a mortal, and some amount of shapeshifting.

They may also increase the stored energy of whoever they host.

Gods may at sometime, be immune or resistant to effects of certain Divine Words. Example of this is when Sadie Kane used the Ha-di spell on Sekhmet which did not affect the goddess at all.

Gods of magic, either with the total possession of their host or in the "perfect union" state with them, has the ability to create portals even on the Demon Days, especially when they are on their own. Ptah, a god of creation has a similar ability in that he can open portals in places where curses prevent that and Bes can't.

The gods, while or after hosting a magician, may leave some of their traces, including their personal habits and their imprint on their host's magic based on its color. For example Sadie Kane's glyphs are golden due to the goddess who hosted her, Isis while Amos Kane was red because of Set's possession. These traces may also allow former hosts to control animals that come under the god's authority. For example, Carter Kane was able to control the griffin Freak due to it recignizing him as a former host of Horus who it served.

Gods, can remain as an echo inside the mind of their previous host, allowing them access to places to wherein they are locked against but their host is not as demonstrated by Horus in his conversation with Carter Kane inside the Hall of Ages in The Throne of Fire.

Gods may hasten the development of the abilities of whoever they host.

Gods are almost omnipresent. Their prescence can be anywhere at once. Even though they banished into the Duat, they are aware, conscious, and knowing of what is happening to the mortal world as demonstrated by Bast, Isis and the others. Take Bast for an example. It was said that all that time, she was bound to Apophis in the abyss, but she states in The Red Pyramid that she protected the children of the Pharaohs.

Gods can posses multiple beings or locations at once with just parts of the ba. Set possesed both the Red Pyramid and Amos Kane, Bast possesed both Muffin while in the Duat and another cat in Egypt to communicate with Sadie Kane and Walt Stone.

Gods can posses beings even from their prisons. Apophis possesed Face of Horror from his weakened prison with just a sliver of his ba to manipulate Set. He was also able to posses several minions during The Throne of Fire before he escaped including a bau.

Limitations

 * Gods must take a host to appear in the mortal world for any significant length of time. Without a host, they will quickly fall back into the Duat; exceptions to this rule are Nut, Geb, Anubis and apparently Bes.
 * Most gods are unable and become weak whenever crossing a moving body of water, (ex. a river) because of the tugging force of nature. Exceptions to this rule include Nephthys and Sobek, river gods themselves.
 * Gods, at times, are limited outside their territory as said by Anubis in The Throne of Fire.
 * Gods also have a rule, of which they are not to so often directly interfere with magicians and mortals, in exception if they have a host. For example, unless they have a human host, they may not have romantic relationships with mortals. With a host its okay.
 * Gods can be banished back deep into the Duat either by being killed, which is possible, or by ensnaring them through very powerful and effective magical items such as the Seven Ribbons of Hathor. A magician can also banish them through certain spells that require their secret name for or through execration. However, they will eventually return as killing them just kills their mortal body and drains their power.
 * Gods can remain locked and imprisoned in the Duat despite regaining their strength.
 * Gods, once banished deep into the Duat through death, may take years, decades or hundreds, to resurface the mortal world until they are strong enough to return. However, this can apparently be speeded up by other gods as Bast was said to not be able to return for centuries after dying but returns within several weeks as part of a gift from the gods.
 * Gods have a great tendency to fall into patterns, repeating the actions and conflicts of their ancient selves. In order to break these cycles, they must have a human's creativity, often leading them to possess a human host.
 * Gods can actually be destroyed if a magician casts an execration spell on their sheut. According to Carter Kane, this is because if a person casts no shadow at all, their existance is meaningless. Destroying a sheut cuts all ties to the mortal world that being has as well as the fact that the sheut is an important part of the soul. This is used to destroy Apophis, though it takes the combined power of Carter and Sadie Kane as well as Horus and Isis to do without Carter and Sadie being destroyed in the process. Gods keep knowledge of this secret so it can't be used against them as a magician threatening to execrate their sheut is effective blackmail against them.

Trivia

 * Amos mentioned that Manhattan has their own gods. Probably referring to the Greek Gods from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus series also made by Rick Riordan.