Anubis
Anubis is the mysterious keeper of the dead, enforcer of natural order and sworn oaths, and a divine judge. His religion values honesty and doing a greater good, they chastise liars and excommunicate those who break their oaths. They are known to have skilled undead hunters among their numbers yet their clerics may also raise the dead when needed. Anubis is depicted as having a thin muscular body, black skin with no fur, solid red eyes, and a thin canine head like that of a Doberman that may appear skeletal. He is adorned only in scant clothes made of gold while his hands hold a shotel and scepter representing authority and punishment. His canine appearance has garnered him followers caninite and gnoll though he has no recorded relation to either. The faith of Anubis reached its height in ancient Dunevale and its predecessor, Shan Thmeek, where he was the sole deity of death and a major member of the pantheon. His influence grew greatly thanks to his prophet who orchestrated the uprising that created Dunevale, a favored story among his clerics.
Three years into the seven year drought the would-be-prophet Hanan went to the great temple in Phatimi to pray for relief for the land and there received a vision from Anubis. He declared that he created the drought because he was displeased with the pharos as he had gifted Jayendra the First the power of necromancy to avenge his people, protect them, and unite the old tribes together, but his descendants had stolen the magics away for themselves and used them frivolously raise the dead as slaves for their pleasure.
Hanan asked "then, my lord, why make the people suffer? Why not demand this of the pharaoh directly?"
Anubis, enraged, replied in a voice like thunder "I did thusly! I told the pharaoh to relinquish her throne or Thmeek would be plagued for the living as she plagued the dead and she denied me. I said unto her to inform her people of the plague and again she refused. So I said unto her son 'defy thy mother and know my mercy' and she slew her own kin and denied me thrice there. I told her she would know the err of her ways as it would not be divine punishment, but the will of her people that undid her. And so I sought prophets from the temples and gave unto them this vision and this message 'free the people of tyranny and I shall free you of the pharaoh's curse.' I did thusly six times at the six temples, at Akhenathen, at Cyra, at Hathur, at Jomana, at Mu'Izz, and in Sybodiah, and six times were my prophets slain by assassins of the pharaoh. So I say to thee, chosen one: run. Run and by night recruit the peoples to our cause, for a great rebellion is the only way to avail the people of their suffering."
Then, as Anubis said, assassins appeared in the shadows of the temple doorways and Heba Hanan ran to deliver their message to the people. As she ran the assassins whirled their blades at the messenger and severed the seventh finger of their ten. For four years they hid amongst the starving towns and cities and told the people of Anubis's message and recruited them to the cause. They were called Heba Hanan and Anubis gifted them with magic to create water for the drought and food for the famine and made it so this would only satiate those who believed. When the pharaoh's spies tried to break bread with them it would vanish in their jaws and when they tried to drink the water it would turn to sand in their mouths. In the fourth year the Civil War of Sands erupted across the southern Milika Desert which ended with the downfall of Pharaoh Hatshepsut, the unjust murder of her rebel daughter princess Khalida, and the death of Heba Hanan. Moustafa, general of the uprising army, announced himself as the prophet of Al-Shirak and declared himself the new just and absolute ruler of the desert by divine right.
True to his promise, Anubis removed the curse though the climate was irreparably altered by that point. After the war the power and duties of the temple and throne were separated by the new leadership and his succession of monarchs. Among the faithful spread the memory of Saint Heba Hanan and their martyrdom while the authorities clarified that they were two prophets working together and Hanan had died in the final battle. Anubis and Al-Shirak became the major deities of the newly formed nation of Dunevale though without beliefs enforced by law the old pantheon has waned with foreign influence. The Second Epoch gave rise to the elven queendom in the west and Nesidth's pantheon overshadowed most old ways. Worship of Anubis is rare outside the desert and many of his devotees are staunch followers of older beliefs.
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