Ankhwugaht

Ankhwugaht was the divine domain of the Pharaonic and Mulhorandi deity of evil, Set.

"What's a desert doing in the land of snow and ice?"

- Berthran Varin, a clueless sage, upon finding Ankhwugaht

Cosmology
Under the Great Wheel cosmology, this divine domain was within the Nine Hells of Baator on the layer of Stygia, situated upon one of the layer's many islands of land.

Under the World Tree cosmology, Ankhwugaht was said to be part of Heliopolis, a neutral plane that was shared by all members of the Mulhorandi pantheon.

Planar Traits
In both cosmologies, Ankhwugaht empowered and extended all spells from the school of necromancy. Though in the Great Wheel cosmology, this would only occur if the spells were being used for evil purposes.

Geography
In both cosmologies, Ankhwugaht was a vast burning desert with harsh winds and poisonous sand. In the Great Wheel cosmology, it was noted as having a hot climate atypical of Stygia. The land was dry and barely fertile, dotted with palm trees and rivers ran through it.

In the World Tree cosmology, Ankhwugaht was singled out as the harshest part of Heliopolis and the only divine domain that was devoid of the sunlight provided by Matet, leaving it in a perpetual state of night. In the Great Wheel cosmology, the realm was instead in a perpetual state of sooty black dusk. Depending upon the time of day, streaks of bloody red and orange changed position around the spire of the realm's central pyramid. At noon these colors were at their brightest, while at midnight they became invisible.

Flora & Fauna
In the Great Wheel cosmology this domain was home to evil creatures of the desert and animals such as crocodiles, hyenas, scorpions, and all kinds of serpents. These animals all had a greater than normal intelligence and could innately detect good in other creatures at will. Unless one was accompanied by a priest or proxy of Set, these beasts would attack any good-aligned creature they detected and signal to others of their kind that Ankhwugaht had an intruder. In terms of flora, the fields of this realm produced an intoxicating flower known as desert's night. This flower sold for the exorbitant price of a 1,000 gold pieces, for it was the only known remedy for restoring memories lost to the River Styx.

In the World Tree cosmology, the wildlife in this domain included fiendish monstrous scorpions, fire snakes, howlers, and nishruu.

Notable Locations

 * Khas-tep and Tukhamen: The sole two settlements of Ankhwugaht in the Great Wheel cosmology. Both had a population of 20,000 and a small pyramid at their center. Petitioners, priests, and proxies went to these pyramids each day to worship Set and draw power from him. These pyramids was also where justice, harsh and swift but to the letter, was administered.
 * Pyramid of Set: In both cosmologies, the center of Ankhwugaht held a massive black pyramid, that reached to the highest point in the sky and whose shadow seemed to be cast all across the land. No matter where one stood in Ankhwugaht, it was visible, and directions in the domain were even told in relation to it&mdash;"toward the dark" meant moving closer to it, while "into the shadow" meant moving away from it. Within a room at the base of this pyramid lived Set himself, who could see through the pyramid's walls at everything in his domain, even the interiors of structures.
 * In the Great Wheel cosmology, Ankhwugaht was said to be littered in obelisks and pyramids. Beneath and inside of these structures were series of catacombs and passageways, crowded with all manner of statues and sarcophagi. Carved upon these items were with hieroglyphics and symbols that celebrated death conquering life and Set being a master over all other gods.

Inhabitants
In the World Tree cosmology, the petitoners of Ankhwugaht were said to be solely of Mulhorandi origin. The domain was also inhabited by divine minions and a diverse array of creatures, such as marrash, night hags, and yeth hounds.

In the Great Wheel cosmology, the petitioners of Ankhwugaht were untrustworthy individuals who maintained a strange sense of honor that prevented them from going back on their sworn word. The petioners took on a variety of forms depending upon the will of Set and the judgement of his lich-like chancellors. These included crocodiles, hyenas, scorpions, and most commonly humans with brown skin. These human Petitioners lived and worked in the fields, tilled the soil, and built fences to protect against the wildlife.

Newly arrived petitioners found the most wanting by Set's chancellors were transformed into a dull-eyed mummy slave. The most elite of them lived as skilled artisans, craftsmen, and functionaries. The rest were set to work altering, constructing, and polishing the vast structures that dotted the plane. Sometimes groups of them were bound to the service of high-ranking devils in return for Set receiving goods, favors, or magic. In addition, both these mummies and liches sometimes traveled out of Ankhwugaht and to the Stygian city of Tantlin to engage in commerce.

All petitioners, even the mummified ones, had the potential to one day be promoted by Set into one of his divine minions or even a proxy, though few ever achieved the latter. Set delighted in tormenting his petitioners with this, which spurred them to undercut their neighbors and work harder.

According to some, any visitor that was recognized as being alive would be swarmed by the inhabitants of Ankhwugaht.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Dead Gods
 * Card Games
 * Blood Wars