Who or What is Rayya?

Gameplay
1

I did not find an answer but I really really would like to know who Rayya is.
@sdee :slight_smile: or some other dev?
Could you enlight me(us) a little bit.
Please :merry:

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2

Well it could reference a shared ancestor such as Israel was the shared ancestor of the Jewish nation it could also be the deity of this faction or even one of their ancient kings

3

Rayya is the goddess monkey, ins’t it?

4

I’ve always read Rayya and Monkey as being the same deity, but I don’t think there’s any explicit link between the two. The closest I can think of is the Monkey’s Shrine description, where Monkey refers to the hearthlings as “my children”; but then we also have Spider so there’s plenty of room for multiple deities in the RC pantheon.

Alternatively, it could be done in the style of Ra, Zeus and other “multi-faceted” gods where each name refers to a specific facet – so Rayya would be the “leader” (probably matriarchal) figure, while Monkey is the wise and mischievous side, and Spider is another side of the same deity…

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5

What? Which Spider? :confused:

6

From the tooltip on the Weaver’s crafting benches. Two of them reference this mysterious Spider, although one of those references is apparently part of Rayya’s Rhyme:

“Patient Spider, weaver, writer. Pulls the threads of our fate tighter”

That’s what prompted me to think of Monkey and Spider as deities from Rayya’s story, although the shrines then got me thinking that Monkey and Rayya might be the same entity.

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7

:smile: good that I am not the only one who could need some enlightment hehehehe

Thanks @YetiChow I have missed that line too.

8

This spider thing I’m guessing is just an old joke, like a weaver specific deity.

Searching for spider, I found these texts:
Patient Spider, weaver, writer, draws the tapestry of fate tighter. --Rayya’s Rhyme

Spider smiles; all eight eyes glitter, ‘Something from nothing, some sweet and some bitter.’

In the beginning there was nothing, and then there was Spider.

All three are from weavers workbenches (workbench, spinning wheel and loom)

The reason I think this is from old joke/lore comes from this:
Hmm… if a spider is a weaver, is a weaver like a spider? Everyone shall sleep safe in my webs. …Was that too creepy?
Which is a log thought from promoting a weaver with the lovable_rogue trait, a system not in the game anymore (if ever). The texts from this system are still in there in the languages files.

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9

Hey y’all there is some very good detective work in this thread.

I will relate all the things i know that have been confirmed by the team about Rayya (which is unfortunately not much.)

First of all she is the matriarch of Rayya’s children as Cid is for the Ascendancy. Steph has referred to them as prophets in one stream. But most of the time they are mentioned it is in the context of “wise people who founded each faction” if I recall (this is going way back so it is not likely accurate) Rayya was a very kind woman who had deep spiritual connections. I also recall Tom mentioned very early on that the character traits of Cid, Rayya and (I forgot the Northern Alliance patriarch) are the character traits each faction possesses. There is also definitely religious significance behind them.

Hope this helps… You may want to ask the team in the streams i have gleaned a rib of lore from asking them straight out a stream.

That is all I know officially, in general the team shys away from questions regarding the religious aspect of the lore.

It’s not much, and there is still plenty of room for speculation and investigation.

Cheers
-Turtlesquish

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I just consider Monkey to be a sidekick or if we’re talking a pantheon type deal like a demi-god. Monkeys often represent a quick wit and can be mischievous. They’re also great gatherers. So I figure since Rayya is the Matron of crafters, Monkey is the gatherer/trader aspect.

While having some more detail will be great, I don’t really mind if they only give us the very basics and leave the rest for the player’s imagination. If we’re being left to our own devices about a religion for our hearthlings, then it could be up to us to write the stories ourselves. You could say every morning Monkey gathers all the dreams of Rayya’s Children. Rayya trades Monkey the Key to Success, which he proudly displays upon his tail, for them. She spends the day weaving those dreams into a tapestry. At night, she blankets the heavens with it so they’ll continue dreaming.

Someone else may build their own religion that considers Rayya the founder of that particular group of people, but holds no religious value. Maybe they worship a Froggy that blesses their hearthlings with new crops, recipes, and wondrous new creatures or the great Worldbuilder BrunoSupremo for his mastery of creation. Kinda gives the player something else to build… :merry:

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