Rashma Hal’Hotem

Rashma Hal’Hotem (rash-ma hal-HO-tem) - Rashma, daughter of Hotem

A Rhagepe who speaks for the Goddess of Death. Belongs to the tribe Gopema.

Life Before the Series
As a child she witnessed a Rhagepe perform the Cloak Ceremony, whereby the woman used her Ancestral Cloak in a spell to commune directly with the gods. The Gogepe view their cloaks as their souls, and Rashma was moved that someone would make such a sacrifice to help their tribe. She vowed to have no children and to one day become a Rhagepe and perform the ceremony herself.

Because she had silver eyes and was able to receive visions from an early age, Rashma was very young when she took the position as Speaker for Death among the Rhagepe of her tribe.This, along with he fact that her cloak has the second most bones of all the Rhagepe (Karesha Hal'Harag having the most), has made her the most respected Speaker for the Goddess of Death.

As the eldest among the Gopema Rhagepe (including Rekra and Akrape), she is the de facto leader. She trains them, as well as the young girls who are currently working to one day become a Rhagepe.

Orope
Performs the Calendar Ceremony which predicts that as well as famine and civil discord, a horrible flood will plague the world for the next twelve years. After the ceremony she helps select the three messengers chosen to speak for the gods and go to the three great empires. She bequeaths her necklace to Tersh Hal'Reekrah. About two months after the ceremony, when she returns to the Hatmahe Sea with her tribe, she has a terrible vision of old crones (who look like Rhagepe, but are undoubtedly representatives of the Goddesses of Life, Death, and Rebirth) presiding over the death of five newborns.

She is awoken by an earthquake. The earthquake causes a massive tsunami, which kills her and the Gopema tribe.

Physical Description
As a Rhagepe she has silver eyes. She is an older woman who wears "a necklace made from the skulls of lizards, and vulture feathers tied into her hair."