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Nephythys

Realmspace Spelljammer

Overview Despite her marriage to Set, Nephthys hates the god of evil even more passionately than even Osiris does. She was wounded deeply by Osiris's death, and her grief is the embodiment of all mortal mourning.

Overview

Despite her marriage to Set, Nephthys hates the god of evil even more passionately than even Osiris does. She was wounded deeply by Osiris's death, and her grief is the embodiment of all mortal mourning. Because she helped her sister Isis resurrect her husband, Nephthys often acts as keeper of the dead. Where Osiris guards the ba and the ka (twin spiritual components of a mortals soul), Nephthys guards the corporeal body, and accompanying wealth, buried in tombs. Anyone violating a burial chamber invites her wrath.

Nephythys is a somewhat greedy deity who takes an interest in the accumulation of wealth by her followers. As such, she tends to favor those of her followers who are well off. Her temperament is mercurial, and she can be very haughty and somewhat vain. She focuses on wealth and status more than charity and good works, but the truly selfish among her followers often find the capricious hand of fate turned against them.

Description

Nephthys appears as a tall, graceful, dignified dark-haired and dark-skinned woman dressed in royal garb. Her green eyes sparkle with highlights of gold, and golden ornaments are woven through her hair. She projects an aura of trustworthiness and is normally nurturing and protective in demeanor, but her wrath is fierce and unstoppable when she is angered. She also appears as a human woman with large wings.

Holy symbol

Nephthys's symbols include horns around a lunar disk, or a golden offering bowl surmounted by an ankh, or a lunar disk behind an ankh.

Favored weapon

Nephthys does not commonly use a weapon in combat, but when avenging the deaths of her followers she has been known to wield a variety of weapons, usually those favored by her deceased followers. Nephthys is enveloped in a divine aura that stuns lesser creatures with awe, and can kill with a glance as she projects twin death rays from her eyes at will. Her priests can select either a light or heavy mace as their favored weapon, while in Realmspace, her priesthood have selected the whip as their favored weapon.

Realm

World Tree cosmology

In the World Tree cosmology of Realmspace, Nephthys resides within her planar realm, known as Amun-thys, which is located on the outer plane of Heliopolis, which she shares with other deities of the Mulhorandi pantheon, including Anhur, Geb, Hathor, Horus-Re, Isis, Osiris, Thoth, Sebek, and Set. Heliopolis is an arid land divided by a life-giving river which flows through the barren desert, turning the land lush and green. This river, known as the River Isis, flows with holy water, and is the source of all life within this plane. Near its banks, the land is covered with thick grass, and is dotted with fig and palm trees. Farther from the river, the constant glare of the sun bleaches the earth bare, and desert winds grind stone into sand. Amun-thys lies within this fertile valley, but is hardly cultivated. The tombs of the dead and temples outnumber the homes and fields of the living, and are rumoured to conceal great riches.

Great Wheel cosmology

In the Great Wheel cosmology, Nephthys resides within her planar realm, known as Amun-thys, which is located in the midst of the fine desert sands and raging sandstorms of Mithardir (also known as Pelion), the third layer of the Olympian Glades of Arborea. Amun-thys is little more than sand dunes, with scattered tombs, temples and necropoli. In the center of the desert lies Nephthys's great palace of dun-colored stone, and the small city of Scarab. Nearby, the desert is littered with the enormous corpses of numerous titans. Some say they journey specially to Pelion to die.

Pharaonic cosmology

In the Pharaonic cosmology, Nephthys resides within the Offering Fields, which are located within the outer plane of Tuat, the Pharaonic underworld. Beyond and beneath the great Mountains of the West, where the sun sets every night, lie the fair Offering Fields (Seket Hetep) where the souls of the righteous receive peace and prosperity as their eternal reward. Seven great gates provide access to the Seven Halls: enormous caverns large enough to contain numerous cities, prosperous farms and great estates; the reward of the righteous dead. Deeper beneath the Mountains, beyond the Seven Halls, lie the Pillars of the West; twenty-one enormous pillars, each guarding the entrance to a vast cavern, containing further idyllic towns and great plantations. Beyond the Pillars of the West lie the Fourteen States, a barrier zone between the Offering Fields and the realm of Osiris; full of lava flows and mud pits, and inhabited by demons who, despite their fearsome appearance, are all loyal servants and guardians of the Pharaonic gods. Beyond the Fourteen States lies Fair Ament, a broad, fertile valley on the far side of the Mountains of the West. Here live the most important of the Pharaonic deities, including Anubis, Hathor, Isis, Nephthys, Osiris and Thoth.

Worship

Nephthys has few priests of her own, and is usually worshipped as part of the Pharaonic pantheon. Those priests who serve her directly are expected to participate in funerals, raising their voices in loud and dramatic mourning. Those who worship Nephthys are expected to accumulate great volumes of wealth, but not to put the accumulation of money before their devotion to their goddess. Priests of Nephthys are expected to protect tombs and the remains of the dead, and to smite those who dare rob the dead or desecrate their places of eternal rest.

In Spelljammer

Nephthys is a member of the Mulhorandi pantheon and is considered a native deity of Realmspace.

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