Heyyy everyone! Here's a special treat for you. I spent a few days of my "break" on this -- I figured that, since the first deity appearance in TCotC is just a few pages away (looking at you, Set), this would be an essential resource moving forward. As of now, this tree shows every Egyptian deity that will be featured in The Chronicles of the Crisis media -- for now. I might make additions to the tree later, but this is going to be our cast of deities for the story.
Let's talk a little about what all these relations mean!
Hathor and Sekhmet are a bit of a special case with their whole "Aspect" situation. In TCotC lore, Sekhmet was created by Ra and Ma'at as one of the first deities in the Duat (along with her siblings Sobek, Thoth, Shu, and Tefnut); Hathor and Sekhmet are aspects of each other, meaning they are two separate deities with their own personalities... But they share a single physical body. Hathor was created by accident in an attempt to make Sekhmet calmer/tamer after she became exceptionally violent and destructive (she's called the Lady of Slaughter, after all) some time after Osiris' death. Essentially, Sekhmet was supposed to become more passive and less... Murder-y, but the end result was the formation of a new god entirely. Hathor is technically much younger than Sekhmet and was kind of like a teenager at the time of her "birth" -- this technically makes Hathor part of Generation 4, even if Sekhmet was around much earlier than that. To reiterate, the two of them are completely different people trying to control the same body. They kind of view each other like sisters and can have mental conversations with one another; usually, only one of them can remain in control of their shared physical body at one given point, and they shapeshift between their two distinct forms whenever they "switch out." This leads to all kinds of confusion and mishaps, of course. The two of them are able to create a "shared state" if they can cooperate enough, though this is a rare occurrence; in this instance, Hathor and Sekhmet take on the form of a domestic cat goddess... Bastet! "Bastet" is the midway point between Sekhmet's leonine power and ferocity and Hathor's grace and beauty; this form represents the harmonious balance between their two extremes, and can only be achieved when the two of them are also in balance.
Characters marked with the "incorporeal" red aura are not deceased -- they're gods, they cannot die. Instead, these are gods that have spent up the majority of their magical energy/life force on their elements and cannot currently maintain a physical form; Nut, for instance, is supposed to be the personification of the sky. She is busy being the sky and cannot maintain her physical form because of that. The same can be said of her consort, Geb, who is busy being the literal Earth. Ma'at is a bit of a special case, as she can maintain a slight physical form; however, this physical form is the Feather of Ma'at, not her humanoid shape. Ma'at is the personification of truth, order, and justice in the universe; she is literally woven into the fabric of the universe and, along with Ra, is one of the most powerful beings in the entire TCotC canon. So, she gets to have some kind of physical presence with relative ease, but cannot so easily return to her humanoid form.
The little "hearts" over each relationship tie should be self explanatory, but I'll blurb about them here if you're interested. Ra and Ma'at created the Duat and, supposedly, the universe together; they're older than dirt and are kind of like the "grandpa and grandma" of the Duat. They weren't officially married, but they loved one another deeply. Shu and Tefnut were some of the first deities they created, and those two would eventually marry and have their own children. Geb and Nut weren't allowed to be with one another, but they fell in love and ended up producing "The Big Four" -- Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Set. Nut wished she could care for her children, but could not maintain a corporeal form long enough to do so; Geb, meanwhile, became bitter and angry at his children, as he blamed them for being unable to be with his beloved Nut. Ra had to step in and raise the four, as neither the children's parents nor grandparents could care for them. Eventually, Isis and Osiris married and became the king and queen of the Duat; Nephthys and Set, meanwhile, married soon after. Osiris, as one of many fertility gods, has many children; Set, as god of the desert, is actually infertile, and is unable to father any children -- much to him and Nephthys' dismay. Isis gave birth to Horus after Osiris' death (during the short time he was resurrected), and during that same span of time, Nephthys tricked Osiris into thinking that she was Isis so that she could finally have a child of her own (Anubis). Set was, understandably, very angry when he found out about Nephthys' actions, and Nephthys -- fearing that Set would be just like their own father, Geb, and take his anger out on Anubis -- decided to give up Anubis. Anubis was adopted by Isis, and he and Horus were raised alongside one another as full brothers. Set was indeed still very angry, and was disgusted that Nephthys thought he would harm a child; the two of them divorced after Nephthys continued to side with Isis during the conflict that arose after Osiris' death. During this period, Set had several flings with other deities (such as Anat and Astarte... Mostly Astarte on that front), but the longest-lasting and most intriguing of those relationships was with Horus of all people. They started out as bitter enemies and rivals, but their "rivalry" evolved over time into an odd sort of "frenemies" situation... Annnnd, you know, there was also that infamous episode of the two laying together, to which Isis threw a fit and started the whole "tainted lettuce" situation. Horus and Set's relationship with one another still remains ambiguous and uncertain to this day -- they're just as likely to be at each other's throats as they are to have a beer with or flirt with one another. Of course, after the contest for the crown came to an end, Set was faced with disgrace and was exiled into the outskirts of the Duat; it was at this time that Nephthys, feeling remorseful for her past actions, decided to return to her ex-husband to try and rebuild the relationship they'd once had. By the time the plot of TCotC begins, Set and Nephthys have remarried and have indeed rebuilt some of what they lost -- they're happy together, though they both realize that there's still something... Missing in their relationship. This will be explored in the story of TCotC!
As for why I didn't include more gods, I just cannot fathom having more characters than this; I've said this before in several places, but I'll say it again here just so we're clear: I want to preserve as much of the actual mythology and lore as I can for these deities, but there comes a point where -- for the sake of my own sanity and the storylines I want to create -- that I need to take artistic liberties. As someone studying Classical Archaeology for my undergrad (and who would very much like to become a legitimate Egyptologist one day), I can safely say that this family tree and my depiction of the Egyptian deities is in no way a 100% accurate depiction of the entire scope or complexity of the ancient Egyptian religion. The ancient Egyptian gods went through so many different "versions" and changes throughout the several thousands of years that the ancient Egyptian civilization was around -- I had to make decisions on what versions of the myths I wanted to follow when designing the lore for The Chronicles of the Crisis. There are also literally hundreds of different deities in the pantheon that were worshipped at different times and places throughout Egyptian history, and there was no plausible way I could design and flesh out hundreds of characters; furthermore, many of these deities share attributes/traits/etc. that can make the whole thing even more confusing.
Let me give you an example: take the sun god, Ra. While Ra might be one of the most recognizable Egyptian deities in modern culture, there were actually multiple sun deities throughout Egyptian history. Ra himself was just one of three aspects of the sun deity -- according to the myth, the sun god was Khepri (a scarab beetle-headed man or a literal scarab rolling the sun like a ball of dung) at sunrise, Ra (the eagle/hawk/falcon headed version of the god) in the afternoon, and Atum (a humanoid deity said to be the father of Shu and Tefnut) in the evening/at sunset. Ra was also said to take the form of a great cat to battle Apep (the serpent that embodied primordial chaos and destruction), could take the form of a bennu bird (a phoenix-like bird), a heron, a ram, a bull... You get the idea -- lots of different animals. There's a lot going on mythology-wise and iconography-wise with these gods. My story already has so many characters to work with as it is -- I don't need dozens of different narratives bouncing around when TCotC has a complex enough plot. So, I condensed things down into the deities seen here to try and make things as concise and consistent as possible! I'm very sorry if I didn't include your favorite god/goddess.
Oh! And before I go, here are a couple disclaimers just in case:
1) Incest is not okay, and I am not condoning it with my artwork or this family tree! These characters are magical beings who don't obey the laws of physics and probably don't have "DNA" in the way we would understand it, so their kids aren't going to be messed up/inbred/etc. from their nonsensical unions. That is not how it works in the real world! Please don't have relations with your brother/sister/uncle/aunt/etc. just because these guys did it.
2) I am not a follower of the ancient Egyptian religion (I believe the correct term for a modern-day follower would be a "Kemetic Revivalist?" I apologize if that's incorrect. I do know that "Kemet" was the actual term that the Egyptians themselves actually called the land of Egypt, so it would make sense.). If you are a follower of this religion, you are most certainly welcome here and I would love to hear your thoughts on my portrayal of the gods; with that being said, though, I am not trying to offend anyone with these characters. At the end of the day, these characters are just INSPIRED by Egyptian mythology. I have no intention of misrepresenting your religion, and if you feel like I have, then I sincerely apologize.
With all that out of the way, I hope you guys like how it turned out! I'm personally very happy with it. Let me know your thoughts below if you have any!
Let's talk a little about what all these relations mean!
Hathor and Sekhmet are a bit of a special case with their whole "Aspect" situation. In TCotC lore, Sekhmet was created by Ra and Ma'at as one of the first deities in the Duat (along with her siblings Sobek, Thoth, Shu, and Tefnut); Hathor and Sekhmet are aspects of each other, meaning they are two separate deities with their own personalities... But they share a single physical body. Hathor was created by accident in an attempt to make Sekhmet calmer/tamer after she became exceptionally violent and destructive (she's called the Lady of Slaughter, after all) some time after Osiris' death. Essentially, Sekhmet was supposed to become more passive and less... Murder-y, but the end result was the formation of a new god entirely. Hathor is technically much younger than Sekhmet and was kind of like a teenager at the time of her "birth" -- this technically makes Hathor part of Generation 4, even if Sekhmet was around much earlier than that. To reiterate, the two of them are completely different people trying to control the same body. They kind of view each other like sisters and can have mental conversations with one another; usually, only one of them can remain in control of their shared physical body at one given point, and they shapeshift between their two distinct forms whenever they "switch out." This leads to all kinds of confusion and mishaps, of course. The two of them are able to create a "shared state" if they can cooperate enough, though this is a rare occurrence; in this instance, Hathor and Sekhmet take on the form of a domestic cat goddess... Bastet! "Bastet" is the midway point between Sekhmet's leonine power and ferocity and Hathor's grace and beauty; this form represents the harmonious balance between their two extremes, and can only be achieved when the two of them are also in balance.
Characters marked with the "incorporeal" red aura are not deceased -- they're gods, they cannot die. Instead, these are gods that have spent up the majority of their magical energy/life force on their elements and cannot currently maintain a physical form; Nut, for instance, is supposed to be the personification of the sky. She is busy being the sky and cannot maintain her physical form because of that. The same can be said of her consort, Geb, who is busy being the literal Earth. Ma'at is a bit of a special case, as she can maintain a slight physical form; however, this physical form is the Feather of Ma'at, not her humanoid shape. Ma'at is the personification of truth, order, and justice in the universe; she is literally woven into the fabric of the universe and, along with Ra, is one of the most powerful beings in the entire TCotC canon. So, she gets to have some kind of physical presence with relative ease, but cannot so easily return to her humanoid form.
The little "hearts" over each relationship tie should be self explanatory, but I'll blurb about them here if you're interested. Ra and Ma'at created the Duat and, supposedly, the universe together; they're older than dirt and are kind of like the "grandpa and grandma" of the Duat. They weren't officially married, but they loved one another deeply. Shu and Tefnut were some of the first deities they created, and those two would eventually marry and have their own children. Geb and Nut weren't allowed to be with one another, but they fell in love and ended up producing "The Big Four" -- Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Set. Nut wished she could care for her children, but could not maintain a corporeal form long enough to do so; Geb, meanwhile, became bitter and angry at his children, as he blamed them for being unable to be with his beloved Nut. Ra had to step in and raise the four, as neither the children's parents nor grandparents could care for them. Eventually, Isis and Osiris married and became the king and queen of the Duat; Nephthys and Set, meanwhile, married soon after. Osiris, as one of many fertility gods, has many children; Set, as god of the desert, is actually infertile, and is unable to father any children -- much to him and Nephthys' dismay. Isis gave birth to Horus after Osiris' death (during the short time he was resurrected), and during that same span of time, Nephthys tricked Osiris into thinking that she was Isis so that she could finally have a child of her own (Anubis). Set was, understandably, very angry when he found out about Nephthys' actions, and Nephthys -- fearing that Set would be just like their own father, Geb, and take his anger out on Anubis -- decided to give up Anubis. Anubis was adopted by Isis, and he and Horus were raised alongside one another as full brothers. Set was indeed still very angry, and was disgusted that Nephthys thought he would harm a child; the two of them divorced after Nephthys continued to side with Isis during the conflict that arose after Osiris' death. During this period, Set had several flings with other deities (such as Anat and Astarte... Mostly Astarte on that front), but the longest-lasting and most intriguing of those relationships was with Horus of all people. They started out as bitter enemies and rivals, but their "rivalry" evolved over time into an odd sort of "frenemies" situation... Annnnd, you know, there was also that infamous episode of the two laying together, to which Isis threw a fit and started the whole "tainted lettuce" situation. Horus and Set's relationship with one another still remains ambiguous and uncertain to this day -- they're just as likely to be at each other's throats as they are to have a beer with or flirt with one another. Of course, after the contest for the crown came to an end, Set was faced with disgrace and was exiled into the outskirts of the Duat; it was at this time that Nephthys, feeling remorseful for her past actions, decided to return to her ex-husband to try and rebuild the relationship they'd once had. By the time the plot of TCotC begins, Set and Nephthys have remarried and have indeed rebuilt some of what they lost -- they're happy together, though they both realize that there's still something... Missing in their relationship. This will be explored in the story of TCotC!
As for why I didn't include more gods, I just cannot fathom having more characters than this; I've said this before in several places, but I'll say it again here just so we're clear: I want to preserve as much of the actual mythology and lore as I can for these deities, but there comes a point where -- for the sake of my own sanity and the storylines I want to create -- that I need to take artistic liberties. As someone studying Classical Archaeology for my undergrad (and who would very much like to become a legitimate Egyptologist one day), I can safely say that this family tree and my depiction of the Egyptian deities is in no way a 100% accurate depiction of the entire scope or complexity of the ancient Egyptian religion. The ancient Egyptian gods went through so many different "versions" and changes throughout the several thousands of years that the ancient Egyptian civilization was around -- I had to make decisions on what versions of the myths I wanted to follow when designing the lore for The Chronicles of the Crisis. There are also literally hundreds of different deities in the pantheon that were worshipped at different times and places throughout Egyptian history, and there was no plausible way I could design and flesh out hundreds of characters; furthermore, many of these deities share attributes/traits/etc. that can make the whole thing even more confusing.
Let me give you an example: take the sun god, Ra. While Ra might be one of the most recognizable Egyptian deities in modern culture, there were actually multiple sun deities throughout Egyptian history. Ra himself was just one of three aspects of the sun deity -- according to the myth, the sun god was Khepri (a scarab beetle-headed man or a literal scarab rolling the sun like a ball of dung) at sunrise, Ra (the eagle/hawk/falcon headed version of the god) in the afternoon, and Atum (a humanoid deity said to be the father of Shu and Tefnut) in the evening/at sunset. Ra was also said to take the form of a great cat to battle Apep (the serpent that embodied primordial chaos and destruction), could take the form of a bennu bird (a phoenix-like bird), a heron, a ram, a bull... You get the idea -- lots of different animals. There's a lot going on mythology-wise and iconography-wise with these gods. My story already has so many characters to work with as it is -- I don't need dozens of different narratives bouncing around when TCotC has a complex enough plot. So, I condensed things down into the deities seen here to try and make things as concise and consistent as possible! I'm very sorry if I didn't include your favorite god/goddess.
Oh! And before I go, here are a couple disclaimers just in case:
1) Incest is not okay, and I am not condoning it with my artwork or this family tree! These characters are magical beings who don't obey the laws of physics and probably don't have "DNA" in the way we would understand it, so their kids aren't going to be messed up/inbred/etc. from their nonsensical unions. That is not how it works in the real world! Please don't have relations with your brother/sister/uncle/aunt/etc. just because these guys did it.
2) I am not a follower of the ancient Egyptian religion (I believe the correct term for a modern-day follower would be a "Kemetic Revivalist?" I apologize if that's incorrect. I do know that "Kemet" was the actual term that the Egyptians themselves actually called the land of Egypt, so it would make sense.). If you are a follower of this religion, you are most certainly welcome here and I would love to hear your thoughts on my portrayal of the gods; with that being said, though, I am not trying to offend anyone with these characters. At the end of the day, these characters are just INSPIRED by Egyptian mythology. I have no intention of misrepresenting your religion, and if you feel like I have, then I sincerely apologize.
With all that out of the way, I hope you guys like how it turned out! I'm personally very happy with it. Let me know your thoughts below if you have any!
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 4980 x 3453px
Listed in Folders
I like this tree lines. I enjoying your comics so far and keep it up <3
Thank you so much for the feedback, it's greatly appreciated!! I'm so excited to get this ball rolling, it's going to be so much fun.
Okay, now I get how Osiris deserved it. But frankly, Nephthys deserved it more...I think. Also, what's this about tainted lettuce?
We don't speak about the tainted lettuce, haha-- At least, not in sfw submissions~ And yeeahhh, that's a whole can of worms right there that we might get into as the story progresses ;)
I think this is fantastic. It's certainly one of the most clear expositions of the Duat and Ennead that I've ever seen. I had forgotten some of it, and confused some other bits, so thank you for creating something so clear.
It's my opinion that Set and Horus remain lovers. In a 'we're gods, so it's not gay' sense, or 'who cares if it's gay?' sense, or for whatever reason, or for no reason at all. I could see Set with a lot of other Gods, too. Not least because the desert is a strangely mutable and changeable place, much more so than the 'controlled', less plastic lands by the Nile. He just strikes me as a fellow who follows his instincts more willingly, for good and bad, including into bed with (or up against a pillar with, or in a papyrus shed with, ...) males and females. And I could see that being part of his agreement with Nephthys, as much as they are fundamentally devoted to one another.
I know it's not in the mythology, but I offer an idea. The desert is not totally without fertility. There are many oases, and if cultivated properly it can be made to bloom. Maybe there's a secret piece of Great Magic that could induce Set to be fertile, even if only briefly: when the moon is right, when Ra smiles and Sopdet shines... perhaps, perhaps...
Again, I love this. It's a beautiful thing. Thank you.
It's my opinion that Set and Horus remain lovers. In a 'we're gods, so it's not gay' sense, or 'who cares if it's gay?' sense, or for whatever reason, or for no reason at all. I could see Set with a lot of other Gods, too. Not least because the desert is a strangely mutable and changeable place, much more so than the 'controlled', less plastic lands by the Nile. He just strikes me as a fellow who follows his instincts more willingly, for good and bad, including into bed with (or up against a pillar with, or in a papyrus shed with, ...) males and females. And I could see that being part of his agreement with Nephthys, as much as they are fundamentally devoted to one another.
I know it's not in the mythology, but I offer an idea. The desert is not totally without fertility. There are many oases, and if cultivated properly it can be made to bloom. Maybe there's a secret piece of Great Magic that could induce Set to be fertile, even if only briefly: when the moon is right, when Ra smiles and Sopdet shines... perhaps, perhaps...
Again, I love this. It's a beautiful thing. Thank you.
I'm so glad you like it!! Thank you so much for the support and feedback.
And, weeeellll... Horus and Set still remain a very popular pairing on the TCotC Discord server, and there is definitely something going on there that'll get mentioned in the story!
And about the fertility thing -- Set won't have biological children in the narrative... Keyword: "biological" ;) This subject is so incredibly central to the plot that I can't say more about it, but I genuinely hope you'll enjoy!
And, weeeellll... Horus and Set still remain a very popular pairing on the TCotC Discord server, and there is definitely something going on there that'll get mentioned in the story!
And about the fertility thing -- Set won't have biological children in the narrative... Keyword: "biological" ;) This subject is so incredibly central to the plot that I can't say more about it, but I genuinely hope you'll enjoy!
There's a Discord server?!... *chuckles* Well, well. I'm afraid I'm quite quiet and easily overwhelmed, but maybe I'll jump on there one day.
I don't ask for spoilers. It was just a thought. Magic being what it is. It just seems like... Well. Set's had so much crap thrown his way, and given all he's done for Ra down the years... I'm a writer, too, as you know, and a dreamer, and you know what ideas can be like.
I don't ask for spoilers. It was just a thought. Magic being what it is. It just seems like... Well. Set's had so much crap thrown his way, and given all he's done for Ra down the years... I'm a writer, too, as you know, and a dreamer, and you know what ideas can be like.
Hehehe, yeah, I do! Again, thanks for the support, and I hope I'll continue to make content that you like ^^
Wow, nothing but Incest in this family tree.
Yeeahh, pretty much. Lots of ancient mythologies are like that -- ancient Greek genealogies of the gods have similar connections, too. I try to steer away from the "squick" as much as I can -- you know, sweeping it under the rug with a "they're otherworldly beings that are based in magic and don't really even have DNA," buuut... Yeah, it's still there. 😬
He’s one of the many deities that ended up on the cutting room floor, unfortunately! I merged a lot of his attributes with Thoth’s for the TCotC version of this pantheon.
Comments