The World: Amonkhet

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 marvelous 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 Ata Bolas— the malevolent dragon Planeswalker 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 Ata Bolas, who has seized control of the world, the gods, and the magic of the plane. Bolas chose this plane for their schemes because of the presence of a magical substance called lazotep, which interacts with the magic of necromancy in strange and powerful ways. Conveniently, they also found here a pious, structured civilization that they could easily subvert to their own purposes. Making themself the God-Pharaoh, they brought the gods themselves under their control, and eliminated anyone who tried to stand against them. Then they 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. They have selected five aspects of character that they desires most in their 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 their 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 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 Ata 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

The inhabitants of Amonkhet, mortal and divine alike, believe that the God-Pharaoh left the five gods as stewards of the populace when they departed to prepare the afterlife. While they are gone, the God-Pharaoh expects the people to devote their lives to proving they are worthy of this great reward. Since the afterlife will be perfect, the people who enter it must also be perfect.

The gods are custodians of the path to the afterlife, established by the God-Pharaoh to purify and perfect the people who follow that path and undergo its trials. Each god oversees one of five trials, instructing the initiates who prepare to face that trial by helping them cultivate one of the five aspects of mortal perfection.

Solidarity.

Oketra the True, the cat-headed god of solidarity, teaches that the worthy shall know and respect all others whom the God-Pharaoh deems as worthy. For in the afterlife, all will be together in purpose and in action.

Knowledge.

Kefnet the Mindful, the ibis-headed god of knowledge, teaches that the worthy shall cultivate a nimble mind—one capable of perceiving the wonders beyond imagining that await in the afterlife.

Strength.

Rhonas the Indomitable, the cobra-headed god of strength, teaches that the worthy shall hone a strong body that can endure throughout an endless life.

Ambition.

Bontu the Glorified, the crocodile-headed god of ambition, teaches that the worthy shall strive for greatness, as supremacy will be rewarded in the afterlife.

Zeal.

Hazoret the Fervent, the jackal-headed god of zeal, teaches that the worthy shall rush toward the afterlife with unhesitating fervor. Relentlessly, they will rise to overcome any obstacle in the way of earning a place at the God-Pharaoh’s side.

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.

Discovery of other Magicks

Ata Bola was one of the first in Amonkhet to discover the strange arcane ways that grant one power through death magic. Focusing study in gaining life from those that die, they became obsessed with gianing more power, for themself and their followers. When their mentor found a couple of items lost in the desert that weren't items from Amonkhet, alongside their mentor, they discovered how to utilize these items to travel to other planes--discovering Plane Shifting for the first time in this plane of existance.

In traveling the pair were exposed to all sorts of new and different powers, and Ata's mentor became weary and began to fear what this could mean for Amonkhet as a whole. Focused solely on the survival of their people, they failed to notice Ata's interest in the different feel of the arcane and the new types of arcane abilities and magicks in the world. Had they seen the ambition and the intent sooner, maybe they could have stopped Ata early on. But instead, after a fight, Ata left their mentor, the prior God-Pharoah stranded in one of the planes, returning to Amonkhet to build an arcane machine.

The Machine

The machine took many of the minds that Ata kept around them, that of their 5 stewards of Amonkeht whilst they were away, as well as a few of the Tome Keepers of the Deep Library from the outskirts of the city-proper. Over the course of 10 years it was built and now it is sitting waiting to be powered on.

One Shot Information:

WHO YOU ARE:

You are a member of a skilled contingent of the God-Pharoh's chosen few. Your small group has passed 4 of the 5 trials needed to ascend to godhood in the afterlife like the God-Pharoh by themself--meaning seperately and not as a group. You do not know the God-Pharoah personally, and have only seen them from afar, dealing with the 5 other demi-gods instead. You may not have passed the same trials, but all have one left all the same. You have been working on the same team for a while awaiting your final trial to be announced doing the work, and being hopeful to ascend soon. The afterlife is smiling upon you, you can feel it.

You have been summoned by the God-Pharoh themself and brought into a place you have never been before. A strange machine cut in many angles is unlike anything you have seen before, and sits on the far side of the room, strange glowing tentacles running out from it in various directions, and there is a spark of something.... different in this room. You are told that You are to protect this device while the others deal with other important matters elsewhere, and that you have been chosen due to being the most advanced in you trials out of all the other people in Amonkhet.

There is a rumor that there will be an attack on this device from the dissenters in the area, the Locusts, who are intent to try to stop the God-Pharoah at any cost. As such they are deemed kill on sight, and you are told to have no mercy against any enemy to the God-Pharoh's plan--the plan to complete your ascension, as you feel like it is implied that this is your last trial you must endure before you gain all the glory in your afterlife.

THE GOAL:

You must defend the machine in the largest horned pyramid in Amonkhet (you'd think they would have chosen a less obvious spot, but no. unfortuneately they did not). Frustrated that you can't just move it to a different location, you must make defend it where it is. Further mechanics for this will be explained at the game.

OPTIONS:

1. Make a level 13 character. (yes this is a high level, and I want you all to have fun with a high level character) -- If you would like help, contact me at least a week before the session.

2. You are allowed the races: Human (in D&D Player's Handbook), Aven, Khenra, Minotaur, or Naga (in the Players Handbook here under Playable Races->From Amonkhet).

3. You are able to take any of the classes specified in the D&D Player's Handbook, and are also welcome to multi-class if you would prefer.

4. You MUST take a background in Players Handbook->Backgrounds->Amonkhet. Keep in mind you are helping the God-Pharoh. (This does not mean you cannot secretly be an inside man and take the dissenter background, but be mindful that you are working with the God-Pharoah)

5. You are allowed to choose any magic items you would like up to 7 total.

6. You are a group of individuals charged with defending and protecting the machine and when the time comes turning it on, to gain the power for yourselves in the 'power surge'. (more details will be provided on day of the game)

As always. If you have any questions, let me know! I am excited to play!




[credit to mtg/D&D planeshift Amonkhet sourcebook for the setting stuff]