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We started a new MM group yesterday. Three of the PC's want to be Anubis worshipers, so I felt the need to flesh out the old Osirion faiths. I had to find a way to give the pantheon power without making them "different names for this lands manifestation of the gods known to all already," and wanted to keep the RAW in the Empty Graves section that outlines the pantheon by names/domains/etc.
This is not canon, it is my own take and how it will be gamed in OUR game:
In a cosmic scale, the various gods of the Osirion pantheon encourage their worshippers to maintain Ma'at within their society and their borders. Ma'at is the fixed, eternal balance of truth, justice and order in the universe. Ma'at existed since the creation of the world, and without it the world will lose its cohesion. Ma'at is constantly under threat from the forces of disorder, so all of society is required to maintain it.
The gods themselves ruled over ancient Osirion personally for many centuries until they moved on to guide Osirion from the afterlife. As other bordering lands became powerful in their own right, there were border battles and invasions. With these invasions of foreigners to Osirion, the worship of outsider gods were brought in, and the many of these invaders made it a point to topple statues, profane carved holy inscriptions, and wipe out any reference of the "old gods" to do away with the core Osirion identity. The power of these foreigners ebbed and flowed, rose and fell, until eventually a native Osiriani was able to secure rule again.
For 100 years now, an Osirion-born pharaoh has ruled the land. With his prominence, shrines and recollections of the old gods have emerged. Despite the efforts of three invading empires and 8,000 years of their efforts, the memory of the old gods has survived and been passed down. They are in an extreme minority, but they remain.
The old faith is a polytheistic system. Praying to one god exclusively in the old faith is completely unheard of, even if one is a priest/priestess of a specific god/goddess. There is no harm or jealousy to be found in the gods for a High Priest of Horus to give offerings and pray to Isis for the safe birth of his son, for example.
Re: What the Priest and Priestesses of Anubis believe:
Death is as important as life. The soul is actually not whole, it is of two parts. The Ka, which houses the vital spark that creates life itself, and the Ib, which is the seat of emotion, thought and will.
The life spark that makes up each persons Ka is eternal and ever recycled in new life. Upon death, the Ka of the deceased is immediately released and finds its way to Isis to be assigned another birth. There is no memory, no personality, no independent thought with the Ka, it is just a life spark.
The Ib is centered in the heart. Upon death, the manifestation of the being now deceased is brought before Anubis in the afterlife. Anubis removes and weighs the heart of the deceased in a balance. Only Anubis knows what this standard is, among the Anubis faithful, it is assumed it is weighed against Ma'at. If the deceased's Ib, the seat of emotion, thought and will passes his standard, the manifestation of the deceased passes on to a glorious afterlife. If the heart is found wanting, it is replaced in the being and the manifestation given over to the horrors inhabiting the afterlife for their amusement and sustenance. They suffer the Final Death.
Anubis teaches his followers that in addition to just living a life keeping Ma'at in balance, there are rituals that can be performed in life and after his or her death that can affect whether the Ib meets his standard. Preservation of the body through the mummification process is one such ritual. Additionally, the balance is affected by:
• Obedience without question to law as passed down from the Osirion Pharaoh.
• Preservation of the dignity of the dead.
• Punishment of defilers of the dead.
• Stewardship of Osirion and its natural bounty.
The ritual of removing the intestines and other body parts and placing them in canopic jars has no affect on the weight of the Ib. It is a precautionary ritual; the horrors of the afterlife enjoy nothing more than eating these body parts from the manifestation of the deceased while they can still suffer and feel the excruciating pain. Removing them ensures a quicker and less painful Final Death if for any reason the Ib is going to be found wanting.
The followers of Anubis will give no-cost mummification of any deceased Osiriani as an action of obedience to the tenets of their faith.
From the afterlife, Anubis watches over all Osirion, takes note of their worship, intentions, and the results of their efforts. Anubis has been taking exception for a long time his replacement in the Osiriani population with the outsider, Pharasma. Osiriani Ibs that come to him have been severely judged because of the long forgetfulness of the Osiriani people.
It is up to the faithful to take necessary actions to bring back to Osirion the obedience, worship, rites and rituals that will ensure a better judgment of the Ib of all Osiriani upon death.
Well done, I'm also running an MM game at the moment, and with your permission, would like to use this for reference when the old faiths come up, though I am still running Anubis as a servant of Pharasma personally.