In an ancient country the inhabitants called the Land of Reeds and Lotuses, @Ankhtepot served three generations of pharaohs as high priest. When the second pharaoh died, her unworthy son ascended to the throne. The new pharaoh quickly became unpopular among the people and priests. Seeking a remedy for this, Ankhtepot came to believe that the gods wanted another to take the pharaoh's place, one with knowledge of rule and the deities' blessing.

On the day of the ritual that would consecrate the pharaoh's connection with the gods, @Ankhtepot rallied his loyal priests and murdered their liege. He had misjudged the peoples' loyalty, though, and they rose up and executed the traitorous priests.

Moreover, @Ankhtepot had misjudged the will of his gods. As he stood before them in death, the immortals forsook him, cursing him and denying him entry to the afterlife. Instead, they returned him to the world, but stripped away a piece of his soul, his ka—the vital essence that inspires all living beings.

@Ankhtepot reawakened, trapped and paralyzed within his corpse as he was mummified along with his treacherous followers. The murderous priest felt the pain of every cut and every organ removed as if he were alive. Then, within an unmarked crypt, he suffered and starved for what felt like an eternity.

Untold years passed, but on the day the last memory of @Ankhtepot's name faded from his homeland, a voice intruded on the priest's prison, asking if he still felt he was worthy to rule. Through the ages, Ankhtepot's arrogance hadn't waned, and he answered with certainty. Granted new freedom by the Dark Powers, Ankhtepot emerged from his crypt into the domain of @Har'Akir.

In this new land, @Ankhtepot found a pious people devoted to the same gods he once served. Immediately he set to wiping out that religion, replacing it with new gods of his own imagining, false divinities for whom he alone spoke. Using blasphemous rites, Ankhtepot resurrected the @Priests once buried alongside him as powerful mummies, replacing their heads with those of beasts holy to his new faith. These Children of Ankhtepot served him as they did in life, and together the dead conquered the souls of @Har'Akir.

The ages have marched ever on. @Ankhtepot has known treachery and conquest. He has known divinity and rule. But now he knows only boredom and despair. His sole remaining desire is to recover his lost ka, which he knows remains somewhere in @Har'Akir. With it, he hopes to become mortal again, die, and face his original gods' judgment once more. Whether this means peace or oblivion is meaningless to him. Ankhtepot seeks only an end.

Ankhtepot's Powers and Dominion

A fantastically ancient @Undead, @Ankhtepot has statistics similar to a @Mummy Lord. In combat he uses the @Ankhtepot monster stat block. Beyond this, he rules as pharaoh, national leader, and voice of the gods. None in @Har'Akir, among the living or the dead, denies his will, but the Darklord's wishes are few. He cares only for order and to find his lost ka.

Children of Ankhtepot. The Darklord is served by many of the same priests who died alongside him in ages past. He resurrected these @Mummys and @Mummy Lords with the heads of animals, painting them as spirits and harbingers of his fictitious gods of @Har'Akir. As @Ankhtepot has grown bored with mortal concerns, the Children of Ankhtepot have pursued their own vices. Many dream and despair in their crypts. Others foment small cults of their own. And still others seek to undermine the pharaoh and claim his position—including the treacherous @Mummy Lord @Senmet.

The Gods' Law. Although @Ankhtepot cares nothing for fragile, short-lived mortals, he has a tyrant's obsession with order and knows the living might be useful in finding his lost ka. To that end, he relies on his priests to maintain peace in @Har'Akir and provide for the people. Should the populace grow discontent, Ankhtepot expects the @Priests to deal with discord swiftly. If they can't, he sends his @Mummy servants to indiscriminately quell any uprising. Examples of such massacres fill Har'Akir's history, but they are known only to the domain's priests.

Pharaoh's Priests. The @Priests of @Har'Akir's gods work @Ankhtepot's will. Most priests believe themselves to be devout servants of the gods, having no idea that their deities are false. They keep alert for strangers and omens, reporting them to their superiors and, ultimately, High Priestess @Isu Rehkotep. The high priestess dutifully watches for signs of a mysterious treasure her pharaoh seeks and orders any strangers in Har'Akir brought to her at the @Temple of Ese, but she also relishes her influence and decadent lifestyle. She dreads the day Ankhtepot blames her for not finding what he desires, though she has no idea she's searching for the Darklord's ka.

Closing the Borders. When @Ankhtepot wishes to close the borders of @Har'Akir, mighty sandstorms rise at the edges of the domain. Those who enter the storms are affected as detailed in the Featured Domains & The Mists lore article, but in addition, they take 2d6 slashing damage per round from the scouring sands.

Ankhtepot's Torment

The Dark Powers torment @Ankhtepot in one simple, all-encompassing way: they won't let him die. Existence is pain for the pharaoh. He vividly remembers every one of his crimes and understands that his ambitions have sustained his corporeal form for untold lifetimes. He seeks his ka and rebirth as a mortal not to prolong his existence, but so his life might finally end.

Roleplaying Ankhtepot

@Ankhtepot is seen only a few times a year, when his priests bring offerings to @Pharaoh's Rest and beseech him for the gods' empty blessings. Those who glimpse the pharaoh describe a withered corpse clad in black linen wrappings and gold adornments, with a voice like sand ground between clashing mountains. The only time he bothers with either the living or the dead is when they actively offend him (such as by trespassing upon his solitude at Pharaoh's Rest), when they bring him hope of finding his ever-elusive ka, or when disappointment kindles his rage.

Personality Trait. "The stirring of a song, the scent of bread, the cool rush of water over skin. I have forgotten it all."

Ideal. "I will regain my ka and stand before the gods renewed, before I face the final darkness."

Bond. "My final age will be peaceful, and my domain will know order."

Flaw. "I will cross any boundary, uncover any secret, shred any soul, if it gains me my death."

Adventures in Har'Akir

If terror is found in trap-laden tombs and ancient curses, @Har'Akir provides them in endless supply. The land's central plot—the search to find Pharaoh @Ankhtepot's ka—can lead adventurers to explore mysterious sites as they seek hiding places undisturbed for centuries. Consider running a tour of the domain's most intriguing locales, punctuated with treks across the brutal deserts—landscapes fraught with hazards such as extreme heat, quicksand, and sandstorms whipped up by strong winds. In the course of their adventures, characters can learn the truth of Ankhtepot's origins and Har'Akir's original gods. How they use these discoveries is up to them, but each discovery should bring the characters closer to sealing Ankhtepot's doom or their own. The Darklord's Soul lore article provides ideas for running adventures focused on Ankhtepot's obsession, while the following table provides examples for further adventures and plots, but the DM should come up with original ideas as well.

Har'Akir Adventures
d8 - Adventure
1 - The @Priests of Ese seek adventurers to retrieve someone they condemned from @The Labyrinth.
2 - The historian @Kharafek has excavated a canyon riddled with sealed tombs. She's paying laborers well but is also using them to bear the brunt of the curses the crypts conceal.
3 - The hermits settled in @River's Shelter accidentally revealed a crypt and released @Mummys that resent being disturbed.
4 - The pyramid of a former high @Priest has vanished. The priests of Neb seek help finding the monument before the pharaoh notices and is displeased.
5 - @Snefru, a priest of Oru, discovers that the @Bent Pyramid responds to song. She seeks aid to assemble a massive chorus to open a path inside.
6 - The revolutionary @Aliz is secretly a jackal-headed werewolf allied with the @Mummy Lord @Senmet. She seeks to find @Ankhtepot's ka to bring the pharaoh's rule to an end.
7 - Sute's Chosen seek help rescuing travelers missing in the @Breath of the Forgotten. The party must endure the gods' tests to save them from the storm.
8 - @Nephyr, a cat-headed Child of Ankhtepot, arrives in @Muhar. To motivate the living to find the pharaoh's lost treasure, each dawn she curses a number of innocents equal to the days she's spent in the city.

Gods of Har'Akir

@Har'Akir's people once worshiped the deities of the Egyptian pantheon—the same deities @Ankhtepot once served. But the spiteful Darklord scoured the old religions from his domain, replacing them with parodies that make him and his followers central to the land's faith. Over generations, these deities have become the gods of Har'Akir:

Anu, who judges the fate of the dead

Ese, who presides over life and the living

Neb, who guards the path of the dead

Oru, who orders the heavens and all beneath

Ousa, who controls death and the dead

Sek, who heals the sick and cultivates life

Sute, who sows despair and discord

The Dark Powers have granted a measure of power to @Ankhtepot's false gods. @Cleric (2014)s who worship one of @Har'Akir's gods or the pantheon as a whole receive power as if they worshiped a true deity that offers the death domain. Despite their distinct roles, traditions, and places within the lives of Har'Akir's people, these gods are all especially aloof, cryptic, morbid, and supportive of the pharaoh's rule.