Lore:Ruptga

Tall Papa, and his children: Hunding, Leki, and Ansei.

"Pretty soon the spirits on the skin-ball started to die, because they were very far from the real world of Satakal. And they found that it was too far to jump into the Far Shores now. The spirits that were left pleaded with Tall Papa to take them back. But grim Ruptga would not, and he told the spirits that they must learn new ways to follow the stars to the Far Shores now. If they could not, then they must live on through their children, which was not the same as before. Sep, however, needed more punishment, and so Tall Papa squashed the Snake with a big stick." — Satakal the Worldskin

Ruptga, more commonly Tall Papa, is the chief deity of the Yokudan and Redguard pantheon. He was the first god to figure out how to survive the Hunger of Satakal.

Mythology

Tall Papa's Lamp

According to the Yokudan creation myth, "Satakal the Worldskin", all things originated from Satak, the First Serpent on whose scales all worlds to come rested. Compelled by its Hungry Stomach, Akel, which stirred in response to the desire of the worlds to be saved as there was no space for things to exist, Satak started a neverending cycle of devouring itself and shedding its skin to be reborn and begin anew, becoming Satakal. When things from within the devoured worlds realized the truth of the cycle they began to take names and so the first spirits came to be. These spirits sought to escape Satakal's neverending hunger and found a way to slide between its Worldskins by moving at strange angles in a process called the Walkabout, and through it was born a sanctuary from the cycle called the Far Shores. One of these spirits, Ruptga, sired many children and was so tall he placed the stars in the sky to help other spirits escape as well. The mortal world was formed when Sep, created by Ruptga out of previous Worldskins to be his helper, convinced some of the other spirits to stop performing the Walkabout, as they could escape the cycle by inhabiting a new world made of balled up Worldskins instead. This, however, was a trick, as Sep, having been created out of Satakal's skin, carried much of Satakal's hunger, and wished to devour the spirits who followed him. Too far from the Far Shores to jump back, and too far from the real world of Satakal to survive, the deceived spirits began to die but were survived by the children they'd made. Though he refused to help the spirits deceived by Sep, Ruptga punished the Second Serpent for his trickery, squashing his head with his staff until he died and his hunger fell out. All that was left of Sep was his Hunger, which took the form of a hungry void that chases and tries to devour the stars.

Some sources claim that before deceiving the spirits, Sep stole one of the stars Ruptga was using to form the Great Map, and put it in his pocket. When Sep was killed, the same star fell out of his mouth in the form of a pearl. The pearl fell to the land and was covered by sand, and so came to belong to Zeht, the Yokudan god of farms and agriculture. This Pearl is claimed to be the "Way and the Guide", the "light to the Far Shores and back again". When it is at last discovered again, water will flow over all the previous Worldskins, and the time of Sep's Hunger will be over, the Hungry Stomach of Satakal at last sated. It is also said that the Hunger is what answers the call of the worlds to save them, and that the only real world is that of Satakal, as the stars cannot be devoured.

Redguard myth holds that Leki was Ruptga's goddess daughter, and Morwha was his favored wife. After the creation of the world, his son Zeht renounced him, which is why he makes it so hard to grow food. One elven scholar wrote that he was the most popular god of the Redguard tradition, along with his children Leki, Hunding, and Ansei.

Worship

Ruptga is often associated with the color purple, the color used for Ruptga prayer beads. Star motifs are an integral part of depictions of Ruptga, as Ruptga without stars is like Akatosh without a Dragon.

Known Expressions

• By Tall Papa's breeches
• By Tall Papa's scratchy beard
• By Tall Papa's starry breeches
• By Ruptga's blade
• By Ruptga's beard

Notes

• The myth of the spirits deceived by Sep being afflicted with death but being survived by the children they'd made bears some similarities to the Altmer creation myth. According to this myth, those spirits which stayed after Magnus and his followers departed to keep working on the new world so it wouldn't die, "had to make children just to last". Mortals are thus believed to be the relatively feeble descendants of the Aedra (or "ancestors") diminished from the might and stature of their progenitors over the generations. In Altmer myth Auri-El begs Anu to take them back after the deception, but Anu refuses. In Yokudan myth, the spirits ask Ruptga to take them back, but Ruptga refuses. A similar narrative of the creator spirits dying as a result of creation also exists in Aldmer belief as explained by the Psijic Order. The Aedra themselves are said to be subject to death per the contract of creation, and are sometimes called the "dead gods", the "mortal gods" or "ghosts", and Mundus is said to be their "cemetery". Given the parallels, these myths might be accounts of similar events from different cultural perspectives.

See Also

• Blessed, Blessed Satakalaam by The Unveiled Azadiyeh, Songbird of Satakalaam — An ode to the Yokudan pantheon
• The Monomyth — A theological book containing the common creation myths
• Varieties of Faith... by Brother Mikhael Karkuxor of the Imperial College — An expansive list of the pantheons and associated divine spirits of Tamriel's dominant cultures