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So...this symbol. What does it really mean in the Golarion-verse? What are its origins? And what kind of cosmic weight might it really have?
Starting with the (recently exploded all over the boards after a certain product description!) notion of (pulp) Earth being part of the same multiverse as Golarion, looking at the ankh's roots in ancient Egypt paints it as a symbol for life. Or the concept of eternal life. Or the Nile and its role in propogating life. I'm going to leave the exact declarations of fact there to the actual historians.
On the fictional side of things, we have:
Those are all that come to mind at the moment.
So taking all of that together, what might the true/original meaning of the ankh be in this setting? Keeping in mind that some folks using it may have appropriated it and are applying different meanings to it(as opposed to Shamira possibly knowing it and purposefully perverting it), does it still suggest just the Life angle or possibly something else? Maybe something closer to the concept of Ma'at? Something along the lines of "The Proper Life" or "The Good Way" or such. (which puts the Silver Crusade back on target)
What ancient symbology might the ankh have originated from? Celestial origins, given Sarenrae's usage? Or did she adopt the symbol from elsewhere?(or did she have it assigned to her by worshippers?)
Just tracking the usage and causation leads to a lot of ideas... Did Earth's Egypt pull the ankh from the same source Sarenrae did? Did Sarenrae adopt a symbol of ancient Osirion instead? Is the symbol older than Sarenrae herself, possibly going back to Ihys again?
And if the symbol is that ancient, what kind of cosmic oomph could it have? Especially in a setting with heavy duty magic based on runes and glyphs!
Is it a heavily Good aligned symbol? Sarenrae and Shamira's usage certainly seems to spin it that way. Lawful? Any Osirion/Egypt connections make it feel that way, and Shamira's inversion might count there too. But then there's Sarenrae and her roots. Chaotic? Just some "maybes" derived from Sarenrae's origins with Ihys, and that's a big "maybe".
Does it primarily represent Life? Eternal life? Purity of the soul? Balance of the cosmos?
So many possibilities...
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Well... the ankh does appear as a hieroglyphic in Osirian (Osirion, Land of Pharaohs) - last row of pictures, but unlike the Egyptian example, this one (described simply as "ankh") has bent, wing-like arms.
The bent, wing-like arms, interestingly, are straight on the Sarenrae example, which suggests they are not angelic wings.
A similar symbol is shown to mean "woman." The icon is facing forward, rather than to one side as in Egyptian examples; The feeling I get is that this symbol may represent a woman with a serpent-like lower body, as with a Lillend. The lillend, despite being a non-Egyptian concept, seems eminently suitable to Osirion, and could symbolise life in as much as the Azata type are healers.
In the real world, the ankh may be the sun sitting on the djed pillar (a phallic-tree symbol of Osiris); or it may be the strap of a sandle (also, apparently, pronounced "ankh"; or according to Budge, it is the knot of Isis, a symbol of magic and possibly menstrual blood).
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The hieroglyphics are on p.15.
The loop of the ankh could be a halo, as well. However, the spayed 'foot' of the ankh there is also somewhat reminiscent of the sword blade that forms the lower part of Sarenrae's symbol. Of course Sarenrae is NG and could have lillend followers.
Wadjet, the Osirian goddess of snakes, is also the river (and hence life - in a desert) goddess, and has winged children. I think it probable that lillends might be associated with her. She could be seen, as well, as a substitute for Isis.
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I just realised that the Osirian ankh could also represent a Lamia Matriarch. Lamias do have an association with Egypt - through Greek myth, as Lamia is said to be the daughter of Libya, the nymph of the desert west of the Nile.
Now... Lamia Matriarchs aren't exactly paragons of life, fertility, and holiness, however. But they once were oracles and prophets, and associated with truth, before they were cursed by Pharasma. The curse seems to have given them their serpentine aspect, but perhaps the legend is mistaken. Snakes have been associated with prophecy for a long time - viz. the Pytho of Delphi.
PS. I did write stuff for Osirion in Lost Kingdoms, but the above is my own speculation.
I wrote half of the Osirion supplement, and I think the above was really awesome speculation. :)