Nemedia
Nemedia’s Ibis
Heretical Religion in Hyboria Ibis is a god forbidden in Stygia but exists in a strange relationship with Mitra in Nemedia. Their shared opposition to Set gives them a common cause but some of the priests of Mitra are suspicious of the Ibis worshippers, distrusting anything with such a close connection to the land of their enemies – and rightly so. A god of moonlight and knowledge, Ibis’s priests teach he was self-created. He is depicted either as an ibis-headed human or simply as an ibis. He always carries a pen and scrolls and is the recorder of all things. He invented alchemy and, until his banishment, was the scribe of Set. He created the law of the monster-kings and is said to have married truth, proclaiming the Giant-Kings and the things of old to be more powerful than the dusky-skinned usurpers of the Styx. When the Khari came to the lands of the Styx, they vanquished the Giant-Kings of old, horrible monsters with antiquated laws. These kings fled the lands of the Styx and founded Acheron. When they fled, they took Ibis with them, as well as Set. The Khari, however, to indicate a new order was coming, banished the old scribe and gave Set a new scribe, Djehuty (see page 82). Ibis, however, continued to serve Set in the pantheon of Acheron. Nemedia was once the heart of Acheron before it was conquered by the Hyborians. All things Acheronian were thrown down and the surviving Acheronian people fled into hills and valleys to hide in bleak villages and hamlets, shadows of their former selves. One of the Acheronian cults, the cult of Ibis, did not want to go into hiding and did not care to be hunted down, so the cult’s priests made a hard decision. Seeing the way the wind was blowing, the decision was to aid the Hyborians. Pretending to be opposed to Set, they helped the Hyborians hunt down and destroy every vestige of Acheron and the cult of Set they could find. The cult, its ranks substantially reduced from the wars, established itself firmly in Nemedia. A millennia and a half later, when the religion of Mitra swept through the Hyborian world, the cult of Ibis found itself untouched, an ally of sorts against evil and oppression. The Ibis cult survives to this day in Nemedia, the old heart of Acheron, in the city of Hanumar. Hanumar is the home of Kalanthes, the last Acheronian-style high priest alive today. Another cult of Ibis exists at the Oasis of Nafri. The high priestess of Ibis there is named Paniwi and was trained in Acheronian alchemy and magic by Kalanthes himself.
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Philosophy of Ibis’ Cult The Cult of Ibis teaches that men are little gods, that the spirit within transcends the flesh. The cult teaches that man is born in order to commune with nature but that the spirit is still god-like – but that men have forgotten how to touch their godlike natures. Alchemy and magic are part of a god’s power and knowledge is the ultimate power. With knowledge comes godhood. If he partakes of enough knowledge, a scholar becomes as the gods are. Although Ibis’s cult opposes the cult of Set to some degree, this is largely a façade. Ibis followers do not actively practice religious intolerance at all. Their own existence is too precarious to practice such a philosophy; Set’s cult, for example, is far larger and has far more resources than Ibis’s meagre cult and could destroy them if Set’s cult saw the need to do so. Still, the priests of Ibis and the priests of Set like to play deadly pranks on one another and oppose each other politically when able.
Sacramental and Mystical The cult of Ibis is a sacramental and mystical religion. It is sacramental to commoners and becomes mystical to the priests when they are initiated into the Inner Mysteries. The cult often becomes sorcerous when the priests learn the Inner Mysteries and terrors.
Veneration of Statues The priests of Ibis believe their god may, at any time, possess statues depicting him; they are receptacles for the god’s Ka (Charisma). The statues are often made in the nude and the priests clean them and clothe them in clean linen outfits and headdresses daily. Petitioners sometimes bring the statues offerings of food, wine, blood and mummified animals as sacrifices. Not venerating the gods’ statues is dishonourable and brings certain doom upon the heads of all involved. By performing these ceremonies, the priests show the people
