Rahaba

Rahaba is the goddess of hospitality and the protector of travelers, pilgrims and nomads. Rahaba, Lady of the Open Tent, is the soul of the Southrun peoples hearths and the guardian of all who live between milestones: travelers, pilgrims, and the nomad clans. Her image is broad-shouldered and smiling, shawled against weather, one hand at the belly—promise of provision—and the other ready to offer sustenance and rest.

Her rites are simple and binding. Bread and salt given in her name create guest-right until dawn; water poured at the threshold makes quarrel drown before it enters. Inns keep a blue cloth—Rahaba’s Veil—hung over the door: any who stand beneath it are under her protection, creditor and constable alike. Caravans knot a crimson thread around the lead camel’s bell—Rahaba’s Knot—to ward off treachery within the company.

Her devotees are hosts, midwives, way-wardens, and innkeepers. They keep the Three Lights: a door-lamp for the stranger, a hearth-ember for the hungry, and a way-lantern set high to guide the late. Offerings are cups, shawls, and walking sticks left in common racks for those who have none. To break guest-right is to invite the Haboob.

On her feast of First Water, wells are garlanded and debts are settled with shared soup. The Church of Westrun has tried to honor her as a Worthy of Mercy: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and making every threshold a sanctuary.