Hymn of The Great Architect of Mu'at
The Song of the Great Architect of Mu'at is a manuscript that is considered sacred unto the followers of the Metdjen, the original religion of the Khemian peoples. Upon this scroll is detailed an accounting of the creation of the world, the birth of the Khemian gods, whom they name the Nather, and the peopling of Tel by the various races.
Considered particularly holy by the Keb, it is part of a larger collection of works that forms the corpus of the sacred texts of the Metdjen, known as the Orthodoxia Kemicae in our common tongue.
Hymn of The Great Architect of Mu'at
Hymn to Kham, the Great Architect, He Who Spaketh the World into Being
Hail unto You, O Kham, Master of Mu’at!
Hail unto You, O Prime Craftsman, who raised the firmament and set the pillars of the world!
Hail unto You, He who holdeth the Chisel of Memory and striketh the Hammer of Eternity!
I stand before You, O Great Builder, with bowed head and reverent voice.
I am the servant of Your measure, the keeper of Your laws.
I call upon You, O Kham the Ever-Crafting, O Lord of the Sacred Square!
Grant that I may know the hidden designs of the cosmos,
That I may walk the path of Mu’at and never stray into the abyss of Yasofet!
Book One: The War of the Serpents and the Ordering of Creation
Before time was counted, before sky and stone were sundered,
There was only the churning void, the blackness of unmeasured waters.
Lo! In the abyss did two mighty Serpents wage their endless war:
Tihamat, Queen of Yasofet, She of the Countless Limbs, whose coils encompassed all.
She who devoureth form, She who maketh all things naught.
From Her loins poured forth the Spawn of Unmaking, the Children of Yasofet,
They who have no shape, nor purpose, nor end to their hunger.
They who slither in the abyss of Nanun, seeking ever to unravel the work of the Nather.
Against Her stood Pa’akhemu, Serpent of Mu’at, King of the True Path!
Golden were His scales, shining with the light of Order!
By His coils was the world divided from the endless sea!
By His breath was the blackness pierced, and light was kindled!
They contended beyond reckoning, in the age before ages,
But the void was filled only with their struggle, and no form could take root.
Thus did Kham, the Unshaken, arise from the First Mound, Kebub!
Thus did He take up His chisel and hammer, and He spaketh:
"By My will, I divide the formless! By My word, I bind the abyss!
With My first strike, I raise the vault of heaven!
With My second strike, I lay the foundation of the earth!
With My third strike, I set the stars to their courses!"
And so was Mu’at born from struggle,
And so was the black water driven back,
And so did the Great Serpent Pa’akhemu bind Tihamat in chains!
Deep in Nanun did He cast Her down,
And Her Children wailed and gnashed their fangs,
And their cries are yet heard in the howling winds,
And their grief is yet seen in the rising tide.
"By My hand, Mu’at is made firm! By My hand, the abyss is sealed!"
Thus was the first land, Kebub, made strong.
Thus was the world measured and weighed,
That all things might know their place in the Great Design.
Book Two: The Shaping of the Peoples and Their Divine Purpose
Lo, when the world was made firm,
When the heavens were lifted, when the mountains were raised,
Then did Kham call forth those who would dwell within it,
That they might labor in His name and uphold the Sacred Order!
First did He mold the Keb, the Children of the First Land,
He gave them strong hands and wise minds,
That they might carve stone and forge metal,
That they might build as He had built, and know the joy of craft!
"Hold fast to the measure, O Children of Keb! Stray not from the path of labor!"
Then did He form the Romai, the People of Law and Speech,
To them He granted tongues of wisdom and minds of balance,
That they might rule the cities, that they might bring justice and order!
"Speak with truth, O Romai! Let thy words be pillars upon which the world doth rest!"
Then did He shape the Rusati, whose eyes burn with the light of the heavens,
Graceful are they, and wise, and filled with beauty!
To them was given long life, that they might ever seek wisdom!
"See with clarity, O Rusati! Let not the veil of ignorance dim thy sight!"
Then did He fashion the Oubasti, the silent hunters of the desert,
With keen eyes and swift feet, unseen as shadow!
To them He gave the knowledge of the wild places,
That they might walk the hidden paths and watch over the land!
"Tread with care, O Oubasti! Let thy steps never falter, let thy hands strike true!"
Last did He summon the Kheru, the winged watchers of the sky!
They who soar above the world, keepers of the horizon!
To them He granted the gift of guardianship,
That they might see all things and know all that is hidden!
"Look down upon the world, O Kheru! Let no shadow escape thy gaze!"
Thus did Kham set each in their place,
Thus did He give to each their charge,
Thus was the world made complete in the harmony of Mu’at!
Book Three: The Warnings to the Faithless and the Promise to the Righteous
Woe unto the faithless, ye who abandon the measure of Kham!
Dost ye not see the stars in their courses?
Dost ye not hear the whisper of Mu’at in the turning of the heavens?
Lo! The darkness of Yasofet creepeth upon thee, O Fools!
Lo! The chains of Tihamat grow weak when the law is cast aside!
Beware the unmakers! Beware the breakers of measure!
For when Mu’at faileth, the abyss shall rise again,
And the primordial waters of Nanun shall consume all things!
But unto the righteous, the keepers of the Great Design,
The builders, the craftsmen, the learned scribes,
They who toil with steady hand and keen mind,
To them is the promise of eternity!
"Hold fast to the chisel, the hammer, and the square!
Let your work be true, let your labor be just!
For in the final days, when the stars wane,
When the Great Builder returneth to inspect His work,
If the world be well made, then shall it stand forever!
But if it be weak, then shall it be cast back into the abyss!"
O faithful ones, call upon Kham!
Offer unto Him the works of thy hands,
Raise temples in His name, inscribe His wisdom upon stone!
So shall Mu’at endure, so shall the abyss be kept at bay!
So shall the world be made whole, forever and ever!
Hail unto You, O Kham, Lord of the Square and Compass!
Hail unto You, O Builder of Eternity!
Hail unto You, O Guardian of Mu’at!
May Your measure be kept forevermore!
Book Four: The Trials of the Flesh and the Ascension of the Worthy
Hail unto You, O Kham, He Who Tests the Foundation!
Hail unto You, O Weigher of Souls, who measureth the hearts of the builders!
Lo, when the world was shaped and set upon its firm foundation,
Kham did look upon His work and saw that it was good.
Yet He spaketh unto the Divine Assembly, saying:
"The foundation must be tested, lest it crumble!
The pillar must bear weight, lest it fall!
So too must the flesh be tried, that the spirit may be strengthened!"
Thus did Kham decree the Trials of the Flesh,
That the Children of Mu’at might be made worthy of eternity.
The First Trial: The Hammer of Labor
By His hand, Kham set toil upon the backs of the living,
That they might learn the joy of creation!Lo, the sweat of the brow is the mark of the worthy!
The calloused hand is the seal of the righteous!
But woe unto him who shuns labor,
Who lets his hands grow soft and idle!
For the House of Kham is not built by sloth,
And the lazy shall find no dwelling in eternity!
Thus it is spoken:
"Strike the stone, shape the wood, temper the metal!
Let thy labor be true, and thou shalt be counted among the faithful!"
The Second Trial: The Chisel of Memory
Then did Kham take up His chisel,
And with it He carved the first words of knowledge upon the stone.
To those who sought wisdom, He gave the gift of the written word,
That the lessons of Mu’at might never be forgotten.
Yet fools and blasphemers turned from the sacred texts,
Mocking the wisdom of the ancients,
Desiring only sloth and the whisperings of Yasofet.
Lo! The blind lead the blind into the abyss!
Thus it is spoken:
"Seek wisdom as the mason seeks the line!
Measure thy thoughts as the builder measures the stone!
For knowledge is the pillar of the spirit,
And without it, all shall crumble to dust!"
The Third Trial: The Square of Righteousness
Then did Kham take up His Square,
And with it He measured the hearts of men.
To those who walked in balance, He gave His blessing,
But to those who strayed, He sent trials and tribulations.
For justice is the mortar that binds the bricks of the world!
Righteousness is the scaffold upon which heaven is built!
Woe unto the deceiver, the thief, the betrayer!
Woe unto him who shuns truth and embraces falsehood!
For the untrue stone shall crack,
And the weak foundation shall fall into the void!
Thus it is spoken:
"Walk in righteousness, as a builder follows the sacred measure!
Let not thy foot stray from the path,
For the abyss yawns wide for the unbalanced!"
Thus were the Trials set forth,
That the worthy might be tempered as iron in the forge,
That they might ascend unto the House of Kham,
And dwell forever in the halls of the Divine Craftsman.
Hail unto You, O Kham, who testeth the souls of men!
Hail unto You, O Master of the Square and Chisel!
May we be found worthy in Thy sight!
Book Five: The Unmaking of the Unworthy and the Eternal Reward of the Faithful
Hail unto You, O Kham, Lord of the Final Judgment!
Hail unto You, O He Who Holds the Divine Plumb Line!
Lo, when a man’s days are spent,
When the breath of life departs from his lips,
Then does he stand before the Great Builder,
To be weighed, measured, and judged!
Thus did Kham decree, from the first sunrise to the last:
"The unworthy shall be torn asunder,
But the worthy shall dwell in My halls forever!"
The Punishment of the Faithless
Then shall the unworthy be cast down!
Then shall they be hurled into the abyss of Yasofet,
Where the dark waters of Nanun shall consume them!
Lo, the opponents of Mu’at shall cry out!
The idle hands, the deceivers, the breakers of the law—
They shall wail and gnash their teeth!
But none shall hear them, save the Serpent Tihamat,
Who shall wrap them in Her coils and devour them whole!
Thus it is spoken:
"Beware, O Fool! Beware, O Sluggard!
For thy works shall be judged,
And if they be found weak,
Then shall thy name be erased from the Roll of Eternity!"
The Reward of the Righteous
But lo! The faithful, the true-hearted,
The craftsmen of virtue, the builders of righteousness—
They shall ascend unto the Celestial Tower!
There shall Kham place His hand upon their heads, saying:
"Well done, O Worker of Mu’at!
Thy labor is finished, thy measure is true!
Enter now into My House,
And dwell forever in the light of My wisdom!"
There shall they drink from the Wells of Everlasting Life,
There shall they build with golden tools,
Raising wonders that shall never fall,
In a kingdom that is measured by Mu’at,
Where no vapour of Yasofet shall ever reach!
Hail unto You, O Kham, the Eternal Craftsman!
Hail unto You, O Maker of the Great Design!
May we be counted among the worthy!
May our labor be pleasing in Your sight!
May we stand firm against the darkness,
Until the final stone is set,
And the work of eternity is made complete!
Thus concludes the final judgment of souls,
Wherein the righteous find their place among the stars,
And the faithless are unmade into the void.
Hail unto You, O Kham, forever and ever!
Book Six: The Sacred Geometry
...
Book Seven: The Celestial Assembly and the Unseen War
Hail unto You, O Kham, He Who Measures the World!
Hail unto You, O Builder of the Great Temple,
Who stands among the Nather,
Who knows the hidden ways of heaven and earth!
Lo, from the first dawn, when the world was set in motion,
Did Kham stand among the Divine Assembly,
A father to the Nather, a maker who made makers.
Thus did He walk beside Ri-Akh, the Lord of the Sun,
Thus did He know the beauty of Rusat, the Lady of Magic,
Thus did He speak wisdom with Kheru, the Falcon-Eyed,
Thus did He hunt with Oubast, the Shadow Stalker,
And thus did He stand in sorrow with Apop, the Fallen Shepherd.
...
Kham and Apop: The Fallen Shepherd
Then did Kham see his child,
Apop, the Dog-Headed One,
Once a god of the living,
Now a god of the dead.
For his followers, the Apopu,
Had turned from the gods,
Had made dark pacts,
Had sought power in the shadows.
And when the demons came,
Apop could not save them.
And in his sorrow, he cast them down,
And with his own hands, crying tears of blood,
He struck their names from the Roll of Eternity.
Then Kham spoke unto Apop, saying:
"O Guardian of the Dead,
Do not grieve for the lost!
Do not weep for the unfaithful!
For there are still those who walk the path!
There are still those who labor in righteousness!"
And Apop answered:
"Then I shall guard them!
I shall stand on the banks of Sokhet Yaru,
That no demon may take them!
That the faithful may rest in peace!"
Thus did Apop become the Keeper of the Faithful Dead,
Thus did he stand in silent watch,
That the defiled might not enter,
That the pure might be at peace.
Thus do the wise call upon Apop,
At the passing of the righteous,
That they may sleep undisturbed,
That they may dwell in eternity!
The Unseen War and the Oath of the Faithful
Yet know this, O Children of Mu’at!
The war is not ended!
The darkness yet stirs!
The enemies of the Nather still whisper in the shadows!
Thus did Kham swear his oath:
"I shall build against the darkness!
I shall raise the walls that cannot fall!
I shall set the stones that shall never be broken!"
And thus did the faithful swear in return:
"We shall stand with Kham!
We shall labor with our hands!
We shall measure with our hearts!
And we shall not falter!"
Invocation to the Nather
Hail unto You, O Kham, Master of the Measure!
Hail unto You, O Ri-Akh, Bringer of Light!
Hail unto You, O Rusat, Weaver of Beauty!
Hail unto You, O Oubast, Guardian of the Threshold!
Hail unto You, O Kheru, Falcon of the Heavens!
Hail unto You, O Apop, Watcher of the Dead!
May we build in righteousness!
May we stand against the darkness!
May our works be strong,
And our faith be unshaken!
So it is spoken!
So it shall be!
