Not Afraid (part 1)
The one you know as the Devourer wasn't always the Devourer. There was a time when her power over life and death was much more real, but at the same time, much more beneficial to everyone on the planet. There was a time when cats were not sacred to us because they protected us from her, but were sacred to us because they were sacred to her. One of her favorite forms when walking among us was that of a lioness, one of the same tribe of beasts as the lonely and terrible king of the Karamjan jungle across the sea, the Shaikahan. She was worshiped with the same devotion as her brother, Icthlarin, for they were the twin aspects of death, born of the marriage of the two aspects of life, Tumeken, our Sun, and Elidinis, our River.
In these days, only she walks among us, but there was a time when the other gods walked amongst us as well. It is a time we are blessed to remember, for the people of the Kharid have a long memory. We are cursed, too, for the people of the Kharid have a long memory. We remember the Age of War and its horror. As the horror erased many civilizations and snuffed out forms of life, beasts both terrible and wonderful to behold, the memory of how the world was faded. But here, it survived, as we have survived. Praise be to the gods of the Kharid, and yes, even to the Devourer. Though we turn from them again and again, they protect us, they are our constant help.
But before the gods were exiled by the Sleeping One, before they made war amongst us, the gods walked among us. The world was young then, and myriad and beautiful were the creatures and civilizations that had grown with it. The followers of the Sleeper may claim that he brought us to this world, but we know that Tumeken, Lord of Light, brought us to the Kharid. Here, we are safe from those that do not revere the sun. Icthlarin and his sister were young then, too. Even so, they were charged with the heavy responsibility of tending to the mysteries of death and rebirth. They both emulated their father, who sometimes went about the world in the shape of a falcon. So the siblings each picked animals that would eventually be associated with each, and both picked predators who weren't too proud to scavenge. She picked the lioness, and he picked the jackal. That is why Tumeken is portrayed as falcon headed, Icthlarin as jackal headed, and she as... Before she fell, she was portrayed as lion headed. But that wasn't enough for the two siblings, for they wanted to emulate their father in a much grander fashion. They wanted their own people.
The Devourer picked her own people out of the people of the Kharid. To her priests and priestesses she gave part of her power, and they used it to heal the sick and protect the people, the livestock, and the crops of the kingdom from disease. To her slayer masters, she gave the knowledge and skills to hunt the beasts of the forest and slay the monsters which threatened the people of the kingdom.
But Icthlarin looked beyond the kingdom, beyond the Kharid, beyond the world itself.