Nekheft
Nekheft is in the Eastern Desert, on the trade route from Nekheb on the Stygian River to Ipret-Isus on the Ruby Sea. The city has an important temple of Horus, who is sometimes said to be the consort of Nekhbet, the region’s preeminent goddess. The city is surrounded by a mudbrick wall some 38 feet thick that encompasses a space about three times the area currently occupied by its residents. This is the third wall built over the millennia the city has been in existence, and this one (set on a foundation of the previous walls) was intended to provide for plenty of growth. This has been quite convenient for caravans, as they are able to camp inside the wall without crowding any area of the city. As a result, Nekheft is a popular overnight stop, and the city’s people have developed additional services to gain as many coins as possible from travelers.
Near the edge of the city is an ancient structure built during an early dynasty, though its original purpose has been long forgotten. In form it could almost be a fortress, 30 feet tall and about 250 feet square, with thick mudbrick walls pierced by only a few scattered openings high in the walls. None recalls who might have been its original inhabitants, but today this is the home of a group of monks calling itself the Monastery of Nekheft. They dress in plain clothing and spend their time in scholarly pursuits, though they occasionally hire themselves out as scribes to earn money to support their organization. In fact, and unknown to the residents of Nekheft, this monastery is actually a group from the Church of Hafaz, a sect of the religion of Mah-Barek. Representing the purely intellectual side of that religion, these adherents are residing in Middle Khemit in an attempt to learn some of the esoteric secrets scattered about in various Khemitian temples, and to find any connections between those and the origins and powers of the world as taught by Mah-Barek. The church of Hafaz is nonviolent though quite secretive; as most of the monks are native Khemitites, there is little evidence that they are anything other than religious scholars devoted to a native god.
Comments