The Temakh is the magical essence of the Shan'iatu and is the seat of their magic and identity.
In contrast to a soul, a temakh has no internal Pillars and thus should not be able fashion the Will. This is intentional by their creators, the Judges of Duat, who formed the Temakh without these traits to create better servants who were unable to disobey them. A Temakh does not generate Sekhem and therefore should be barred from entering Duat. The Shan'iatu tried to defy this by various means, with no substantial success.
The Deceived[]
The Arisen of the Akhem-Urtu Guild (known as the Deceived) have been fused with the Temakh of their prospective Shan'iatu since the ancient betrayal during the Rite of Return.
The seven temakhs are entities of a sort, existing both outside and within their servants, similar to the Geists of a Sin-Eater. They are not spirits nor gods nor ghosts, but discorporate and chthonic presences that find collective embodiment in those deathless souls still bound to them. They serve a similar aspect that Decree serves for the Arisen sworn to the Judges.
The temakh in one of the Deceived is but a fragment of one incomprehensible, complex intelligence that were the Shan'iatu. Every temakh exhibits different virtues and is in turn influenced by the Arisen that it is connected to, but all express the same mandate of the original being they once were. The Temakh communicates in omens and cryptic dream symbols and rewards its Arisen in form of Sekhem if it manages to act upon them.
Each temakh can only interact with the world through the mummies sworn to it. Without them, it is not known what fate they would have. A Deceived that manages to achieve the Ascent (the equivalent to Apotheosis) is instead connected to Fate.
Etymology[]
The word "Temakh" is derived from "t’m" - "completion" - and "akh" - "magical one". Temakh could be translated as “one completed by magic”.
References[]
- MTC: Book of the Deceived, p. 32, 35, 44, 116
- MTC: Dreams of Avarice, p. 12, 14, 50