Lore:Akha

Akha is a Khajiiti deity mentioned in some Pre-ri'Datta traditions, who was also known as the First Cat, the Pathfinder, and the One Unmourned. Early in his existence, Akha explored the heavens and his trails became the Many Paths, forming myriad kingdoms. As he was also the favored son of Ahnurr, he followed his father's advice to find love and mated across the corners of the world with beings from distant lands, including the Winged Serpent of the East, the Dune Queen of the West, and the Mother Mammoth of the North, resulting in numerous wayward children. However, he vanished after heading south and was never seen again.

In the place of Akha, Alkosh appeared, and warned of the things Akha had made along the Many Paths. Taking over the role and crown of the First Cat, and inheriting rule over the myriad kingdoms of Akha along the Many Paths, Alkosh ruled over the children of Akha, but he was soon overthrown and his body scattered on the West Wind. It was Khenarthi who flew along the Many Paths and put Alkosh back together, and now they both "safeguard the Many Paths from the "wayward children of Akha" for "they are both terrible and kind".

Among the offspring of Akha, Alkhan is the most well-known. As the immortal firstborn son of Akha, he yearns for his princely crown, born of a demon of fire and shadow.

In another text relating to Boethra's role during the Middle Dawn, Ahka is mentioned as the being who exiled her to the Many Paths. However, due to the Marukhati Selective's actions, reality was described as being rewritten; "[...] yet these new words said that Akha was never there, nor was Alkosh, nor Alkhan, nor any Children of Akha, nor any of the lands that he seeded and brought unto his kingdom. And in this chaos Boethra began to wonder if she was the Daughter of Blades at all, or if it had all been one long dream of someone she never knew." The story then goes to say Boethra draws her Hidden Sword and fights against the Dragon Break.

In writings after the Rid-Thar-ri'Datta religous reforms were established, Akha is no longer mentioned, along with Alkhan and his other children. Alkosh is still part of the pantheon, and has been given the title and role as the First Cat.

NotesEdit

• 1.

  The Wandering Spirits recounts the tale of Akha, who fathered offspring with the Winged Serpent, Mother Mammoth, and Dune Queen. Upon Akha's vanishing in the South, Alkosh "was granted rule over the myriad kingdoms of Akha along the Many Paths", and would watch over Akha's children. However, they rebelled against Alkosh, only for Khenarthi to restore him afterward. Together, they now oversee them. The term "wayward children of Alkosh" was used by Clan Mother Tadali, a leader of a temple dedicated to Khenarthi, to describe dragons. Moreover, the dragon Nahfahlaar referred to Alkosh as his father.

• 2.	Alkosh is also given the sobriquet "First Cat".

• 3.	In the Dunmeri myth From Exile to Exodus, there is mention of Azura's spell, the song, which includes the name of Akha among others: "UR DRA AMATHRA! FU ROZ ISA MAL AKHA."

• 4.

  The Nine Coruscations, a religious text of Ayleid origins describes linear time being layered upon infinite possibility in connection to what happened to Aka in the south, how he learned why his insanity is all that is and could be, and by that lesson Ada-Mantia was established as a stable spire fixed by a stone of nothing-possible. This account might be a description of the disappearance of Akha in the south and the return of Alkosh in his place from a different cultural perspective.