"When Holy Sayya, the infinite soul and eternal energy of all the universe, saw fit to establish a physical world, he split himself apart into the forces which affect the world, which he would use to create, shape, and direct the world.  Each of these forces, manifesting themselves as their distinct personalities saw fit, bound together and given energy by the bonds of Sayya, created the reality of Alatha.  Each manifests itself in a different plane which together constitute the world we see around us.  Shah, the aygeema of air, whipped itself into a frenzy and covered reality the quickest.  Khog, the aygeema of the ground, pulled into a tight rock upon which the rest of the aygeemya could stand.  Wee, the aygeema of water laid itself upon Khog, nestling into every deep nook and valley.  Voo, the aygeema of light shone variously across the expanses and from the depths of the waters, and drawing on the nutrients of the ground, Tehsh brought forth life, which then died and brought more life again in turn.  Zihth, the aygeema of fire, finding no niche left for itself to fill, chose to appear wherever it decided, frequently pushing out the other aygeemya and aiding Tehsh in bringing lives to their end."  

Excerpt from the Kushi Telioth, Most Holy of Scrolls, May It Ever Guide Us

The Kushi Telioth (Most Holy of Scrolls, May It Ever Guide Us) is as its name suggests, the most significant writing in Alathay theology.  It is a sacred story of the creation of the world, the rise of the Alathaya, and various morality tales, inspirational sayings, and histories.  When the Kushi Telioth is mentioned, it is always followed by the words "most holy of scrolls, may it ever guide us", although this is sometimes abbreviated as an acronym when written.  Notable personalities in the Kushi Telioth are the Aygeemya, including Sayya, the original eternal being who split into all the Aygeemya, Pina the curious, Gadweh the gardener, the Kushi'Aweh, who was the first Alathay to use the "magics" of the Aygeemya, Arenethka and the kings of the North, Dithet the dakthay of the Tannet Pearl, and more.

The version as it is currently held is said to be compiled by one of the followers of the Kushi'aweh, who identifies himself only briefly as "Dolith, former scribe in the high courts of Nekthet".  It details a broad overview of the interaction of the Aygeemya with the mortal world.*  Dolith wrote out selections of the life and teachings of the Kushi'aweh and combined them with some earlier writings and tales.

Issues raised by Remnant Contact  Due to the re-discovery of the existence of the Remnant race, several significant textual and theological issues have been raised.  The Remnant is now believed to be the source of much of the earliest stories within the Kushi Telioth, Most Holy of Scrolls, May It Ever Guide Us.  Extant Remnant texts are now noted that are quite close to many of the stories, and their translation from Hightongue has helped determine that many of the early characters in the scroll are in fact Remnant, not Alathay.  Pina the curious is thought to be the first Alathay mentioned, but the next is not until Gadweh.  The Kushi'aweh was almost certainly taught by Remnant as manuscripts and tomb paintings in Nekthet indicate contact.  It is unknown how much, if any, contact there was prior to this time.  The Remnant have been aware of the Alathaya since the prehistoric (in Alathay terms) era.  The Alathaya seem to have been nearly universally unaware of the Remnant with the exception of Kushi'aweh and a couple others, all of whom said nearly nothing about the elder race.  

The other issue raised is the lack of any specific mention of any other Aygeemya.  The Aygeemya of Ice, Time, and Space are, if anything, barely hinted at.  The Remnant are reticent to speak of it, but it seems these Aygeemya very specifically had their powers limited or held back significantly.  This is stated to have been for the good of the development of the Alathaya as a species.  The little information to be found on the matter indicates that this was a decision agreed upon by the then God-King of the Remnant and all of the Aygeemya themselves.  The Alathaya were seen as less able to cope with the fluctuations in energy levels than the more established Remnant, especially with changes of physical form, slips in time, and being partially cold blooded, spurts of ice energy.  The Kushi'aweh, looking forward to the time when his race could stand on its own, prophesied the opening of all the Eyes and the release of the full energies of all the Aygeemya into the world.

Notable Figures  in the Kushi Telioth, Most Holy of Scrolls, May It Ever Guide Us are

Pina the Curious:  The first Alathay to have "awareness".  He wanders the world, discovering "the way things are", and gives names to many of the things of the world.

Gadweh:  Many years ago, Gadweh was greatly favored by Tehsh and was given a wish.  Gadweh requested that in her gardens, any who came would find what they desired most.  The wish was granted and Gadweh's gardens began to grow miraculous plants and many came to see them.  Word began to spread of the strange effects of the garden, and because of their twisted desires, some of the granted wishes had terrible consequences.  Also, many began to kill each other to get into the garden first.  In fear of the things Gadweh was seeing, she left the city and hid in caves near the edge of the world, where she only grows a small semblance of what her great gardens were.

Dithet:  Dithet is a side story within Gadweh's and is one of the cautionary tales.  He comes to her garden and asks for the most beautiful object in all the seas (a phrase meaning the whole world) to give to his beloved.  His is given a large and flawless blue pearl, whose luster and beauty so captured his heart that he spent all his years staring into the pearl and never again gave any thought to his beloved.

 Arenethka was the first king of Nekthet to embrace the ideas of the Kushi'Aweh.  He was the idealistic young heir to the throne when he journeyed with Aweh and his wool-robed followers north in a campaign against marauding tribes.  Their tremendous powers greatly impressed Arenethka and upon his assumption of the throne, the teachings of the Kushi'Aweh  became the dominant cultural touchstone.  The ideas spread to other cities and the mystical world was opened to the Alathaya.  Aside from the writings of the Kushi'Telioth (most holy of scrolls, may it ever guide us), and the bark flag, the writing, engraving, and painting inside the tomb is the only information on the Kushi'Aweh.  Identified only here are inscriptions claiming that the Kushi'Aweh learned to tap into the mystical world not from aygeemya as many now assume but from the creatures identifying themselves as "The Remnant".  The appear in a few wall paintings and posess flat faces with no features other than eyes.  The difference between the realistic painting of Alathaya and the cartoonish depiction of Remnant indicate that the painters had not actually seen Remnant.  The Kushi'Aweh seems to have made contact with them in travels across the deserts to the north.  Most interesting perhaps is a reperesentation of eleven aygeemya in front of a larger aygeema.  The larger one was created with an odd material and can only be seen in reflections on larantha.

Good and evil  The Aygeemya themselves are seen as forces at work in the world and are not linked with earlier development in ethics and morality.  Nevertheless as higher powers they are inherently linked with it as time progresses.  They are very much interested in the progression of the Alathaya in appropriate use and development of their powers and occasionally meet out justice.  The Meeari Tribunal makes use of this as it asks them to ultimately judge in the case of high crimes.  However, the powers of the Aygeemya are not limited in those who seem to use them for "evil" and the energies in their natural forms or manifested as elementals often bring about the direct harm of many Alathaya.

"Evil cannot ever be destroyed, but it can be redeemed."  The phrase occurs early on in morality studies and founds the framework for much of the orthodox understanding of evil.  It is sometime coupled with the later saying that "the forces of injustice must be stood up to." 

Each Aygeema is associated with a specific virtue to be cultivated in the life of an Alathaya.  In the same way that each Aygeemya was a part of the whole reality, so too should the cultivation of each virtue bring about a whole person. 

Virtues Of The Aygeemya

The Afterlife  Those who have died describe their continued awareness and personality following the death of their body.  They seem to go into one of a number of elemental realms, usually corresponding to the Aygeema they have associated themselves with.  The realm is thought to be the true dwelling of all of that specific energy and it is from here each Aygeemya, as the personal manifestation of that energy, appears.  Perception and memory of physical life and afterlife (or elemental life, metalife, or isolife depending on one's philosophy) seem incompatible.  Due to this, resurrected individuals only faintly remember the afterlife and the longer one is dead, the fuzzier life before death becomes.  People brought back to life after being dead for many years appear physically the same but remember very little of their previous life.  The dead most often have their bodies cremated or destroyed in some other manner, while the soulstone is imbedded in a stone or plaster slab.  Offerings, remembrances, candles, and the like are set in front of the tarsi, especally on the Dying Day (see Holidays, under Culture).

Avatars  Avatars

* In fact, the term alathaya is derived from the first reference to the people of the world.  The phrase uses an archaic form of Elothonikha and the actual term is "neshi a'lathalaia"  meaning "the watched over or cared for" although the root latheb has come to mean love, leading some to see the term meaning "beloved ones".  They use this term to refer to all people, although with the re-discovery of the Remnant race, the term Alathaya has also come to refer to the race and thus their lands as Alatha.