D&D General An Alexandrian Pantheon for D&D

[Yaarel]

A number of cultures have a joyous afterlife in the "underworld", underground as a collective grave.

In a D&D context, to represent such cultures, there can be an "underworld" of the dead that is an upsidedown mirror image of the living world above.

This underworld includes both Fey regions that are a Positive lively version of the living world, and Shadow regions that are a Negative deathly version of the living world. Despite being separate D&D planes of existence, Fey-Shadow "Crossings" make these Fey and Shadow areas appear as if on the same map (which is an reversed left-to-right image of the setting map). Among the land of the living, places that are fertile correlate more strongly to the Fey underworld, and the places that are spooky more strongly to the Shadow underworld. There are Crossings respectively. In Egypt, the outer deserts away from the fertile Nile are the main regions of death.

Via Celestial-Fey Crossings, the Astral Celestial Good planes illuminate these Feywild areas as a lively Positive version of the mundane world. Via Fiend-Shadow Crossings, the Astral Fiend Evil planes bleaken these Shadowfell areas as a deathly Negative version of the mundane world.

Regarding the Alexandrian setting, the underworld places of afterlife delight translate as the D&D Feywild, while the underworld places of afterlife punishment as the D&D Shadowfell. The sundisk Osiris-Apis radiates Celestial healing across the areas of delight during the passage thru the underworld each night − which is daytime for the underworld.

In this way, with an underworld Fey, many Egyptian creature concepts would translate into D&D as Fey creature type. Some of the malevolent creatures may be Shadow. Probably the Book of the Dead can inspire various new Fey and Shadow creatures.

I have to remind myself of the details, but the Egyptian concept of a soul includes different parts that separate at death. To achieve an afterlife immortality is a perilous challenge that requires reuniting the different parts of ones own soul. For D&D, there can be parts of the soul that are Astral, Ethereal, and Material-Fey, but I need to doublecheck the details for how these would correlate.

 

[Yaarel]

I am riffing from a quick glance at Wikipedia. Scrutinize this if going for mythological accuracy, or play with it if doing fantasy art. Here I suggest a simplification to five soul-parts: Material-and-Fey, Shadow, Ethereal, and Astral. The Material body forms a living duplicate in the Feywild as a Fey body. This Fey body retains connectivity with the Material body.

The Egyptians believe the soul has different parts that separate at death. Surviving in the afterlife requires a process of reunifying the different parts of the soul. The complete soul that has fully reunited is immortal in the afterlife and is called the Akh.

Note the term for "life" is Ankh, both this life and the afterlife. For D&D this might be Positive energy generally.

Here are the Egyptesque parts of the soul.


≈ Material Soul
• Khet the "physical body" → Material Plane actual physical body, whose corpse must be preserved
• Ka the "double" → Material Plane, the bodily aura of the lifeforce (D&D ki)
• Ib the "heart", judged for actions when alive → Material Plane, desiring, paying attention, choosing

The physical body (Khet) is a part of the soul that must be preserved, such as by mummification, for the soul to maintain unification. Osiris represents the best (and most expensive kind of) mummification, for the highest quality of afterlife. But there were also lesser and cheaper ways of preserving a corpse. → For D&D, this Material Soul is the physical body and its dead corpse.

The "lifeforce" (Ka) is the difference between a living body and a dead body. The body dies when the lifeforce leaves. → It relates to the bodily aura. All "living" creatures have this aspect of the soul.

The "heart" (Ib) paying attention, willing, desiring, is essential to surviving in the afterlife. The choices that the heart makes during life faces judgment in the afterlife. Relatedly, the physical heart of the body is carefully preserved during the mummification process. This part of the soul is "weighed" during judgement, and must be lighter than the Feather of Maat. If wrongdoings are heavier, the heart was eaten by the monster Ammit and the rest of the soul parts become restless.

The "lifeforce" (Ka) and "heart" (Ib) ideally reunite with the Fey duplicate body (Sah), and Material body (Khet) maintains connectivity with it.


≈ Fey Soul
• Sah the "spiritual body" → physical body that forms in the Feywild, when the Material corpse is ritually awakened and passes the judgments of the guardians in the Fey underworld
• Akh the "effectiveness" (after all of the separate parts of the soul fully reunite in the afterlife, the complete soul is called the Akh and is immortal. The reunification is a process of judgments and challenges announced by the guardians in the underworld. → immortality, afterlife as an Archfey.

If the preservation and ritual awakening of a corpse is successful, and the soul proves worthy, then a "spiritual body" (Sah) as a duplicate of the physical body forms in the afterlife. There are still more challenges to undertake before full reunification. → For D&D this is a duplicate physical body that forms in the Fey underworld, but maintains connectivity with the corpse in the Material Plane.


≈ Shadow Soul
• Shut the "shadow" (literal shadow, residual haunting shades, amulets) → lingering Shadowfell presence

The "shadow" (Shut) is the literal shadow, understood as a lingering personal presence. But it is also an influence, extending thru statues and amulets. → This Shadow soul is a lingering presence and influence connecting the Shadowfell as a kind of personal Shadow crossing. This is the aspect of a corpse that necromancers manipulate. This is a Ghost in the sense of a shadow of ones former self. Ideally it rests in the Shadowfell while retaining connectivity with the rest of the soul parts.


≈ Ethereal Soul
• Ba the "personality" (unique presence of an individual body or object) → Material Plane animistic soul

The "personality" (Ba) is the uniqueness of an individual, the personal presence and spiritual influence. It is the animistic soul. Significant inanimate objects and features of nature also have the personality (Ba). It is the influential presence of the physical body or object. → This relates to the animistic souls of Primal entities. It is ones personal spirit, the spirit of an artist, ones personal identity, that the body emanates (as well as other significant objects). Both the Material body and the Fey body emanate this personality spiritual influence across the Border Ethereal. This Ethereal part of the soul can grow, evolve, and change, and can connect to the Astral soul.


≈ Astral Soul
• Ren the "name" → Astral Plane, thought construct and overlapping Ethereal and Material/Fey
• Sekhem the "power" (obscure: probably the divine lifeforce in the afterlife, both as an influence and as a place where the gods reside) → Celestial/Fey influence of a Celestial dominion and-or a Fey domain of delight.

The "name" (Ren) is the essence of a person. → For D&D this is an Astral construct made out of linguistic thought stuff. This is the part of the soul that can exist in Astral Plane and its alignment planes. Placing a name on a statue or object allows this Astral self to manifest thru it. Oppositely, obliterating a name can disconnect the object and even magically hinder the soul reunification.