Originally, the word weqūf in kel-'Renīyah could be attributed to any person that tells lies or is deceptive. Since that time, its meaning has shifted such that it is occasionally used to refer to any being that has harmful intentions toward mortalkind.
More specifically, they are undead beings with corporeal bodies, animated by an energy known as ka kel-weqūf, which is characterized by its propensity to disturb and/or destroy ma'at. In this way they cause illness, destruction, death, and/or calamities among the Two Kingdoms.
Legends say that 'awqifah (the plural of weqūf) come from a region of the afterworld known as Minkhenmapu, vortex of isfeshin energy. Accordingly, 'awqifah souls are tattered and incomplete, lacking at least one of the souls described by the Prophet Bleghet (may his name shine like the sun).
'Awqifah are the risen corpses of heretical clerics who blasphemed and renounced their deities before meeting death. In unlife, they hate and seek to destroy those pious souls who keep their vows. Although easily mistaken for zombies or even skeletons, 'awqifah have a spark of intelligence that makes them cunning and deceptive foes. During daylight hours, a weqūf becomes shrouded in an illusion that causes it to appear as it did in life—at these times, a weqūf might seek to infiltrate society to dwell among those it hates. When night falls, it emerges to seek out its prey. Fortunately for the living, the typical weqūf has only fragments of intellect remaining, so it is usually not long before the undead creature makes an error of judgment or simply reveals itself for the monster it is.
'Awqifah entered the world as a consequence of the ancient war amongst the genies, the same battle which gave birth to the Teachings (may their truth ring forever across the dunes). The best known 'awqifah are the two who played a significant part in that war: Šeqeweqūf (also known as Cow Hide) and Khanil.
Most 'awqifah remember little of their former lives except for the blasphemies that led them to their cursed fates. They often find themselves drawn to the ruins of old temples, where they rage against or seek hopeless absolution from the deities who so afflicted them. 'Awqifah sometimes work in concert with other undead creatures that share the same area.
Many 'awqifah allow themselves to be manipulated by khulaq (the plural of khalqu, the kel-'Renīyah word for a sorcerer, wizard, or witch), who use them as a medium for obtaining power. The 'awqifah allow the khulaq to use them to cause the illness or death of certain chosen people. It is said that a khalqu will inherit a weqūf from an ancestor who was also a khalqu. However, in order to be able to use a weqūf, a khalqu must voluntarily become the servant of the weqūf.
In order to use a weqūf to make someone ill, many khulaq will seek to introduce a piece of the weqūf's body into the body of the victim, whether by getting them to eat some of the weqūf's decomposing body or by getting a small piece of a fingerbone splintered into their skin or sticking some of its hair upon them.
The 'awqifah also have the power to capture and enslave the pū of a recently deceased person (the part of the soul that is everything that makes a person unique) before it reunites with the ka (vital energy) to form the more mature alwe (the intellect as a living entity). A khalqu can also take advantage of this power by using a weqūf as a means for trapping a pū. Once it is trapped, a pū can also be used to hurt other people.
'Awqifah can also be controlled by the gods, Emanations, and Animals of Bleghetic cosmology, or at least these beings will allow the 'awqifah to harm someone if they have broken the rules the Prophet Bleghet (may his laugh lift my feet) laid down for dealing with the divine: behaving dishonorably, not performing the five daily prayers, mocking or disbelieving a priest, eating impure food, or acting against ma'at.
Inspirational Sources: The Mapuche people of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina.
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