Resheph
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Spoiler Warning: This article contains information normally only found in the course of advancing the main quest line. |
Resheph, the Above, Ghost-in-Cerulean, the Coiled Lamb of Baetyls, was the last of the Sultans of Qud. He abolished the Sultanate in order to lift the curse of the Gyre. Unlike the other 5 historic sultans, Resheph's history remains the same in all playthroughs. The Mechanimists revere him as a great healer and one of the Argent Fathers.
Depictions
Like all the historic Sultans, there are many shrines and engraved or painted items depicting pieces of his history. Additionally, the 
Six Day Stilt has a 
statue of Resheph: "Resheph, who's called 'the Above', lifts an enigmatic finger to heal the wounds of the sick."
Preachings
Praise Resheph, the Above, who purifies our mercury.
Annals
[History of Resheph]
$ One starry evening, a babe was found swaddled with its mouth full of circuits by a group of baetyls in Red Rock. They took him into their fold and fostered him, and he became known as Resheph, the Coiled Lamb of Baetyls.
$ While traveling alone through the Rust Wells, Resheph came across a trove of gleaming stars in a bottle. From that day forth, he always kept some stardust on his person.
$ While traveling near Bethesda Susa, Resheph lost control of his chariot and drove it off a cliff. Luckily, a local physician named Rebekah came to his rescue. Moved by her kindness, Resheph enrolled at a nearby hospice as her apprentice.
$ Acting against a prohibition on the practice of worshipping the stars, Resheph led an army to the gates of Omonporch. There he defeated his brothers in battle and liberated its citizens, and they crowned him the sultan of Qud.
$ In 99 BR, Resheph appointed Rebekah administrator of (Random Historic Site). She tendered alms for the sick in his name.
$ After conferring with mysterious strangers, Resheph convinced them to help him found a harborage for the purpose of receiving visitors from across the clustered cosmos. They named it Starfarer's Quay.
$ In 3 BR, the Gyre widened, and the first triad of plagues afflicted the land. The water was poisoned with salt, girshlings ravaged the fruit and wheat, and tongues rotted away in the mouths of kith and kin. Resheph walked below the chrome arches and healed the sick.
$ In 3 BR, Rebekah betrayed Resheph by stealing the Mark of Death from the gate to the Tomb of the Eaters. In punishment, Resheph excommunicated her from the sultanate.
$ In 2 BR, the Gyre widened, and the second triad of plagues afflicted the land. The legs of kith and kin annealed to iron, darkness bloomed from the earth, and the svardym blackened the sky. Resheph walked below the chrome arches and healed the sick.
$ At Starfarer's Quay, Resheph consulted with mysterious strangers and learned the secret of the Gyre. By cause of the misdeeds of the elder saads and sultans, star beings had levied a curse on Qud. Resheph vowed to make right from this wrong and redeem our doomed world.
$ In 1 BR, the Gyre widened, and the final plague afflicted the land. The Girsh Nephilim rose from their cradles on the Moon Stair and slouched toward Qud to eat its young. Resheph rose to meet them in battle and cast them back.
$ In 1 AR, Resheph closed the gates to the Tomb of the Eaters, abdicated the throne, and dissolved the sultanate in order to lift the curse of the Gyre.
$ In 2 AR, Rebekah died of glotrot, and on her deathbed Resheph forgave her and absolved her of sin. He allowed her to be buried in the village of Ezra, outside the gate to the Tomb of the Eaters and beneath the shadow of the Spindle.
$ In 3 AR, Resheph cleansed the marshlands of the plagues of the Gyre and taught Abram to sow watervine along its fertile tracks.
$ At twilight in the shadow of the Spindle, the people of Omonporch saw an image on the horizon that looked like a ghost bathed in cerulean. It was Resheph, and after he came and left Omonporch, the people built a monument to him, and thenceforth called him Ghost-in-Cerulean.
$ In 6 AR, Resheph, the Above, Ghost-in-Cerulean, the Coiled Lamb of Baetyls, died of natural causes. He was 216 years old.
Timeline
| 205 BR (0) | Resheph is born. | |
| 172 BR (33) | Resheph comes across bottled stars. | |
| 165 BR (44) | Resheph meets Rebekah. | |
| 139 BR (66) | Resheph becomes Sultan. | |
| 99 BR (107) | Resheph appoints Rebekah administrator. | |
| ••• | ||
| 8 BR (198) | Resheph founds Starfarer's Quay. | |
| 3 BR (203) | Resheph heals through the first plague brought by the widened Gyre. Rebekah betrays Resheph. | |
| 2 BR (204) | Resheph heals through the second plague brought by the widened Gyre. | |
| 1 BR (205) | Resheph learns the secret of the Gyre. The final plague is unleashed. | |
| 1 AR (206) | Resheph closes the gates of the Tomb of the Eaters and dissolves the sultanate. | |
| 2 AR (207) | Resheph forgives Rebekah on her deathbed. | |
| 3 AR (208) | Resheph cleanses the marshlands of plagues and teaches Abram how to grow watervine. | |
| 6 AR (211) | A statue is erected in Resheph's image. Resheph becomes known as Ghost-in-Cerulean. | |
| 11 AR (216) | Resheph dies at age 216. | |