Gods of the Ancient K'hyurbhis (1)

A couple of random drawings I did on a Papa John's napkin while at work earlier today.  I realized while I was there that though I had *described* Yikimahn before, I'd never actually *drawn* him... so I gave it a try.

Both of these guys are fairly recent creations--Yikimahn in early 2014, Gatadz in maybe 2010-2011.

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Yikimahn, in case you didn't know (and you probably didn't), was one of the gods that the now-defunct religion of the K'hyurbhis used to believe in.  He was either the creator of the K'hyurbhis (and all other round-bodied species on Nummorro, or possibly on other planets too) or their direct ancestor, depending on who you ask.  The most common version of the story is that Yikimahn created a single egg which contained the first K'hyurbhis (exactly how many were inside was not specified, but presumably more than one or the species wouldn't have lasted long.)  Versions of the story that have him as literal ancestor say that he laid the egg (...despite being male... but hey, mythological figures have done weirder stuff than that before!), while those who see him as creator only say that he just kind of... put the egg together from stuff, somehow.

The Hamhu tribe of K'hyurbhis, who still practice a (heavily modified) version of the ancient K'hyurbhi religion, have a very different version of the story.  They add in a nameless and rarely-mentioned mother goddess (pictured below Yikimahn, and appropriately enough not labeled with any name) and Yikimahn just gets her pregnant rather than having any more direct role than that in making the egg.  The Hamhu also draw Yikimahn as being more K'hyurbhi-like (removing the claws on his hand and making his hands more flipper-shaped, without fingers), and believe that the other round-bodied species were the result of these first-generation K'hyurbhis being punished by one god or another for various things, the punishment being mutating away from their original K'hyurbhi form.

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And on the right is Gatadz, the god of death and cold weather.  He is usually depicted as a skeletal Numnum, and his name still lives on in the name of one of Nummorro's months (Gatadzkan)... which, appropriately enough, is one of the coldest months of the year throughout most of Nummorro.  His role was basically to watch over the souls of the dead, who end up in a place called Lahnan (or the "cave of the dead") which is basically an endless series of underground tunnels with cold winds always blowing and ice all over the place.  Evil people ended up stuck in the ice forever, to what extent depending on just *how* evil, while everyone else was free to wander around and do whatever they wanted; all but a few lucky individuals (who got to go live with one of the other gods instead) ended up in Lahnan, so despite not being the most pleasant place it wasn't really a "Hell" so much as a non-segregated "afterlife."  Likewise, Gatadz wasn't seen as "the bad guy," he's just doing his job.

The Hamhu version, however... turns him into the bad guy.  Because the Hamhu are deranged racists who believe that Numnums must be pure evil just because they occasionally eat young K'hyurbhis, their version of Gatadz is not only the god of death and cold but the god of Numnums; the Hamhu believe that just like how Yikimahn created the K'hyurbhis, Gatadz was responsible for creating the Numnums.  Some of the more extreme Hamhu even go so far as to say that Numnums are actually demons meant to kill as many K'hyurbhis as possible and drag them down to Lahnan (which, in Hamhu belief, is the place where only bad people and those unfortunate enough to be killed in a "dishonorable" way--such as being eaten by a Numnum--will end up.)