Goddess of hope and aspiration, Onkis is also known as the Singer-in-the-Dark, she who drives men to forever reach for more than they can hold.
Onkis is the Goddess of hope and aspiration. One of the so-called Compensatory Gods, who reward devotion in life with paradise in the afterlife, Onkis draws followers from all walks of life, though rarely in great numbers.
She is only mentioned twice in the Higarata, and in the (likely apocryphal) Parnishtas she is portrayed as a prophetess, not of the future, but of the motivations of Men. The so-called “shakers” belong to an extreme branch of the Cult, where the devotees ritually strive to be “possessed” by the Goddess. Her symbol is the Copper Tree (which also happens to be the device of the ancient Nonman Mansion of Siöl, though no link has been established).[1]
Onkis is also called the Singer-in-the-Dark.[2]
Her idol depicts the severed head of a beautiful woman upon a copper tree.[3]
In the Irreüma in Sumna, her idol is described as:
- “The idol worked in white marble, eyes closed with the sunken look of the dead. At first glance she appeared to be the severed head of a woman, beautiful yet vaguely common, mounted on a pole. Anything more than a glance, however, revealed the pole to be a miniature tree, like those cultivated by the ancient Norsirai, only worked in bronze. Branches poked through her parted lips and swept across her face—nature reborn through human lips. Other branches reached behind to break through her frozen hair.”[2]
The idol also has a small trough gouged in her pedestal for food offerings.[2]
References[]
- ↑ Encyclopedic Glossary, ‘Onkis’
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Darkness That Comes Before, Chapter 4
- ↑ The Thousandfold Thought, Chapter 10