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Chapter 6: TRACES OF THE DarAGKarIK
a desperate people longing for order. Adherents comply
with the messages shared widely throughout the region,
making the New Dune Wastelands a place of relative
calm amid roving chaos. One is more likely to find a helping hand here among her worshipers, the self-named
Kathurath, than anywhere else on blighted Khitus.
Rekak’s Agony
Many sages and chroniclers enshrine Rekak as the most
argumentative Daragkark of all. His fellow Dragon Kings
tolerated his presence in their Great Councils at first, even
as he disputed any achievements of his fellows. Despite his
obstinate nature, Rekak sought to keep despots from rule
and wars from disrupting burgeoning civilizations, like
most Daragkarik. He just spouted brazen criticisms and
imperious suggestions in a highly caustic manner. The
other Dragon Kings came to shun him, pushing him out
of the Daragkarik Councils and relegating him, as much as
possible, to the distant, least-populated areas of the world.
To their chagrin, Rekak was among the last to depart
Khitus. When only a handful of Dragon Kings remained
among the mortal populations, he seemed a forgotten
stepchild returned to prominence, and many turned to
his guidance. For a time, his bold advice served his followers, but eventually they fell from his attention due to
a lingering disease that plagued Rekak for more than a
quarter-century.
Nearly every Khitan witnessed his spectacular final
days and horrifying farewell. Rekak broke out in hideous, weeping sores and his joints and bones creaked
painfully. He moaned in terrible pain for months on
end, the wailing audible for miles around his mountain
fortress in the distant northlands. Racked by increasing
pain, he finally soared into the night sky, so high that
nearly everyone could watch as he burst into white-hot
pieces to scatter among the stars, his final death-shriek
so deafening that an entire generation suffered for it.
The First True Believers
A self-appointed high priest of Rekak appeared quickly
on the scene, a Trakeen with a limited clergy insisting
they witnessed the Dragon King’s anointing ceremony.
Bach-u-Tal claimed religious hegemony over all of the
departed Dragon King’s subject peoples, but was widely
ignored in his earliest days. So far as anyone alive then
was aware, Rekak had no truck with Bach-u-Tal during
his life. Many saw the high priest as a fraud. His strength
lay in his persistence. He and his disciples wandered
Khitus for decades, reiterating his connection with the
departed Dragon King-turned-god until his message
took hold by sheer repetition alone.
They firmly established the engine of a new religion—
Rekak worship—in those days. They demanded a singlemindedness of allegiance, a dogmatic adherence that flew
in the face of any Dragon King’s creed. Still, as Khitus became a more dangerous world, people seeking order found
comfort among these Trakeen. Bach-u-Tal eventually died,
and his youngest son Bach-a-Mal claimed the title of high
priest after a bitter and bloody interfamily struggle. Bacha-Mal later bestowed his title in a more orderly fashion to
his own youngest son. That son, Hach-a-Tal, is now an old,
childless man holed up in a dark dungeon beneath an abandoned desert fortress “for the protection of Rekak’s worship.”
Sharing His Pain
In today’s Rekak worship, true disciples, or Rekakik, must
feel pain as the Dragon King felt upon his departure from
this world. True believers burn themselves, cut their feet,
and cruelly twist their own bones and joints to make every
movement bring agony. “Any comfort shames the memory of
Rekak,” Trakeen teach, and “to be without pain is to be without
Rekak’s love.” There is some suspicion, especially among nonbelievers, that the Trakeen conveniently exempt themselves
from these “holy agonies.” Escapees from the often-isolated
sects insist the entire religion is a sham, and their numbers
have been dwindling steadily over the last few generations.
An unexpected event, however, has halted that decline and
leant new credence to the Cult of Rekak.
The writings of the original High Priest, Bach-u-Tal,
claimed that three events would seal his legitimacy as
Rekak’s chosen upon Khitus. None came to pass during his
lifetime, but all have happened within the last decade:
• A comet bisecting a triple-moon convergence occurred 20 years ago;
• A virgin priestess birthed twin Yenfansas eight
years ago, and these white-eyed children still live
with the current High Priest Hach-a-Tal also “for
their protection”; and
• A land storm unearthed Rekak’s lost fortress home
just five years ago, the locale from which Hach-aTal manages the entire cult.
The Trakeen have widely publicized these events and their
fulfillment of established prophecy, revitalizing the flagging
cult’s legitimacy and drawing many new followers.
Those who deem these events to have religious meaning
also insist Rekak will return to Khitus as the sole Daragkark
to watch over the entire world. In preparation, the clerics insist on renewed agonizing efforts, certain that only
through intense pain will they set up an effective beacon
for their god to follow on his return journey.
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