Amonkhet

The World

Towering, gold-encrusted monuments break the unending monotony of a horizon formed of sun-blasted sand. Awe-inspiring, animal-headed gods walk among the people, offering them care and protection from the horrors of the desert. A wide, life-giving river offers its abundant bounty, providing for every physical need. Happy, hopeful people offer sacrifices in grand temples dedicated to their benevolent gods, addressing their spiritual needs. For they know that this life, as wonderful as it might be, is just the beginning—a prelude to the perfection that awaits them in the afterlife, promised to them by their God-Pharaoh.
Amonkhet is a plane of dichotomy. Beyond the lush river valley spreads endless scorching desert. Accursed, desiccated mummies roam that desert, while carefully embalmed mummies attend to the needs of the living in the glorious city-state. The people have everything they need. They are protected from the desert heat and wandering mummies by the magical barrier called the Hekma, and they spend their lives in focused training, honing body and mind to perfection. Yet they eagerly anticipate the time when they will be permitted to die in combat and leave this world behind.
On the surface, Amonkhet seems like a marvellous place to live. But something unsettling and nefarious lurks behind the grand facade. The wise and benevolent God-Pharaoh, said to be busy preparing the wondrous afterlife for the worthy, is actually Nicol Bolas—the malevolent dragon whose schemes reach far beyond this plane. And all the preparation and training, all the trials and contests, all the effort to be made worthy—all of this is meant to prepare the people of Amonkhet for transformation into an undead army under Bolas’s command.

Behind the Facade

Unknown to any of the plane’s inhabitants, the entire society of Amonkhet has been manipulated by Nicol Bolas, who has seized control of the world, the gods, and the magic of the plane. Bolas chose this plane for his schemes because of the presence of a magical substance called lazotep, which interacts with the magic of necromancy in strange and powerful ways. Conveniently, he also found here a pious, structured civilization that he could easily subvert to his own purposes. Making himself the God-Pharaoh, he brought the gods themselves under his control, and eliminated anyone who tried to stand against him. Then he transformed the world into a factory designed to produce a huge army of perfect undead soldiers—mummies embalmed in lazotep.
Adapting the peculiar magic of the plane, Bolas found a means to preserve the combat skills of the living after death. He has selected five aspects of character that he desires most in his undead soldiers, and has built the society of Amonkhet around a series of trials designed to hone and perfect those aspects of body and mind. Throughout their lives, the people of the plane believe they are drawing nearer to the promised afterlife—and at last they die in the final trial, a mass battle with no survivors. But rather than earning a place in the afterlife, they are instead embalmed in lazotep and stored in Bolas’s great necropolis, adding to the ranks of his undead army.

The Curse of Wandering

Part of the magic of Amonkhet that Bolas has been able to exploit is a necromantic phenomenon called the Curse of Wandering. This naturally occurring magic causes any being who dies on the plane to rise again after a short time, cursed with an insatiable hunger and an irresistible drive to attack the living. Desiccated mummies created by the Curse of Wandering fill the desert wasteland that dominates the plane, constantly threatening what little life remains. But the people of Amonkhet do not fear the threat of attack as much as they dread the knowledge that all who live will one day die and fall under the same curse. Death under the effect of the Curse of Wandering is a terrifying afterlife filled with endless suffering.
What God-Pharaoh Nicol Bolas offers to the people of Amonkhet is an alternative to an eternity of wandering: an afterlife of glorious delights. And all they need to do to attain this eternal bliss is prove that they are worthy. As such, the threat of the Curse of Wandering is a strong motivation for people to undergo the trials of devotion that the God-Pharaoh demands.

Putting Devotion to the Test

Initiates who pass one of the trials are awarded a cartouche—a magical emblem they will take with them to the afterlife. The trials culminate in the Trial of Zeal, which is a combat to the death. Dying in this final battle is proof of worthiness, with a glorified death earning the initiate a place in the afterlife. The bodies of the slain are loaded onto funerary barges and sent through the Gate to the Afterlife. But this is not an end. Rather, it marks the beginning of the most wondrous part of an initiate’s existence. Each looks forward to death in the final trial, hoping to find a glorious end at the hand of a close friend, so that together, they can live as Eternals in the afterlife with the God-Pharaoh. Forever.

Type

Dimensional plane

Location under

The Planar System

Included Organizations

• Gods of Amonkhet

Related Ethnicities

• Naktamunian