The Antecedent

The Antecedent
"We call upon the Antecedent, who WIP, who WIP, who WIP."
Origin	God-from-Stone
Names	The Rag-picker
Aspects
Date of arrival	The first being in existence.
Owner(s)	Viktor

The Zabbaleen are the Hour of cycles of nature, created by Viktor.

Description

They collect unwanted trinkets and those things that many consider garbage, and then recycle them and re-purpose, trying to repair the world. They offer revenge to things that have been replaced or made obsolete, reforging them until they can overcome what has replaced them. They have lots of Names, some they collected from the lost Hours, and some of them have been discarded by their Hours. They collect other Hours' forms that they no longer use, too. The lost and abandoned things always eventually end up in their domain, the City of Dust, sooner or later, with help or by chance, fished out of the waters of the River of the Rocks, or from the shifting sands around the City. The Chiffonnier accepts everyone and everything. Very rarely, and quite incomprehensibly to the Zabbaleen themselves, there are those who leave them. Such lost ones are welcome to return, and would only require a little bit of tinkering to be fixed. Otherwise, the Bone-Grubber searches for those with fiery fervour and tries bringing them back; clearly, the reshaping process was faulty, and they need fixing again.

History

An Egypt-like country was destroyed by a rival empire, based on Venice, some time around the Industrial Revolution. The Zabbaleen arose from the wishes of the people to fix what was broken, from their need for a new purpose. In fact, the Scarabeus has always existed within The Antecedent, whose blazing rotation was halted by the Rag-picker, which caused it to hatch, birthing the Zabbaleen and shattering the aspect of Wheel into precursors of Forge, Moth, Grail, Heart, and Winter. The Hour salvaged the big part of an entire History to make a new one, where the country has never been defeated, and prospered. Their work was almost done when the Histories started clashing and dividing: from three, six; from six, twelve; from twelve, one. The Zabbaleen's History was once again bashed to pieces and dispersed, but with that calamity came all the other Histories, with their people, things and places that were now lost and without purpose. Thus, the Zabbaleen expanded their goals. The City of Dust, it seems, is all that is left from the Zabbaleen's History, apart from an odd artifact here and there. Everything else was reforged beyond recognition.

The Collision didn't change them that much, apparently; one might say it empowered them, but they had nothing to do with causing the cataclysm. In fact, the Glory being damaged almost spoiled their grand plan: to ascend higher, to become of Light, and to merge with the Sun above the House.

They are different, now, though; they found themselves unable to let go of who they are, and thus they prolong their Great Work, introducing small, almost insignificant flaws into their every creation, so that they never run out of things to tinker with. And once they do, their time will come, and they will be mummified in their Ziggurat (with the help of their new Name, the Mantle, who was once known as the Hour called the Embrace), becoming the dormant Hour called the Abeyant for a short while. Then, the Ziggurat will finally reverse into its proper position and lift them up towards the Glory. In their wake, they will leave multiple heirs, including The Glorious Child (who will inherit the Sun), The Promised Mooon (who will inherit the Moon and the tide), The Rag-picker (who will inherit the recycling, repurposing, and the lost things), the Obelisk of The Stone Meridian (who will inherit time and pearl), and The Embrace (who will inherit the Dead).

Appearance

The Zabbaleen have many forms, some of which they have re-purposed to fit their needs once they received them from other Hours or beings. Their main form, however, is an amalgamation of things the Zabbaleen are working on, things they have gathered recently, their own Names and Long, and whatnot. It is covered by fabric, with many limbs poking out from beneath, and it might associate someone with a scarab beetle, which is another one of the Chiffonnier's symbols. They can send the Names and Long out to gather things, or serve as envoys, etc. Another symbol are the raccoons, and some speculate that they were created by the Zabbaleen for some strange goal.

Principles

1. Forge, for the treasures of the earth, and their revelation and transformation in fire; for forging and reforging, remaking and repurposing; for their ingenuity and industriousness; for their ambition and vision.
2. Moth, for their inner change and yearning for perfection and ascension; for nature; for shedding unnecessary things and skins.
3. Edge, for their strong leadership, for offering new purpose, second chances and revenge, for their determination and their struggle to achieve their goals.