Horustep III

Horustep III was the sixteenth pharaoh of Mulhorand, the nation's pharaoh as of the Present Age, and the first mortal among that nation's long line of god-kings.

Description
Like all incarnations of Horus-Re, Horustep III had facial features that were suggestive of a hawk.

Personality
In comparison to the former pharaohs of Mulhorand, Horustep III was known to be rather demanding, domineering, and determined to exercise his power far more decisively.

Abilities
Like incarnations, Horustep III had innate abilities far above that of the average human. Following the Time of Troubles, he lost most of these abilities. However, he gained the ability to summon an avatar of Horus-Re, since the deity maintained a connection with him.

History
Horustep III was born in the year, though some sources claimed it was instead 1345 DR. Since a young age, he was best friends with his bodyguard Brathes.

He ascended to the throne of Mulhorand in the summer of 1357 DR at the age of 11, after the assassination of his father, Akonhorus II. Over time Anhur, the Mulhorandi god of war, would press the pharaoh to take on a more active role in the world. And his worshiper Brathes actively worked towards sealing the distance between the pharaoh and the Church of Anhur.

During the Time of Troubles, Horustep III was one of many mortal incarnations of Horus-Re that fell into a coma, as the god was attempting to regain some of his powers by absorbing the divine fragments held by their bodies. When the Time of Troubles ended, Ao dispersed the Imaskari planar barrier that had for millennia been separating the Mulhorandi gods' manifestations from their divine essence in the Outer Planes. As this reunion occurred, Horustep III and other incarnations awoke from their comas, no longer incarnations but mere mortals of divine lineage. It was not long before Horustep III became aware of his situation, but would speak of it to no one.

Horustep III would go on to appoint a new vizier, Kalarzim, to help him in exercising influence over the daily rule of his people. He also became more paranoid, fearful that others may have discovered that he was no longer a lesser avatar of Horus-Re, including enemies within his own church just waiting to strike at him any moment. In an effort to try and maintain the impression that he was divine, Horustep III would frequently summon Horus-Re's avatar, having it inhabit his body.

Following the Untheric god-king Gilgeam's death at the hands of Tiamat, Horustep III realized that without the manifestation's presence the border treaty between the god-kings of Mulhorand and Unther was null. Thus he chose to cease the opportunity and approved a Mulhorandi invasion of Unther, with an army lead by the priesthood of Anhur and aided by the mercenary company Gold Swords. Alongside this campaign to retake Unther, Horustep III strove to reorient the Horus-Rethan clergy away from political infighting and towards greater religious fervor.

Horustep III's campaign would eventually culminate in Mulhorand occupying nearly half of Unther by 1372 DR, forcing neighboring nations to treat them with greater care. And by 1373 DR, his forces had conquered all but the city of Messemprar. Also under his reign there was active trading between the people of Mulhorand and Thay, despite him disapproving of it.

As he grew older the pharaoh was increasingly influenced by the foreign mercenaries that worked for him, particularly Kendera Steeldice, who he became infatuated with. This lead Horustep III to enact changes in Mulhorand's laws by 1372 DR that enforced equality among the sexes, such as allowing women in the same professions as men in order to solve the nation's then-shortage of workers, a change that was suggested by Kendera. Following that he began to consider restructuring Mulhorand's inheritance laws to be more equitable.

Horustep III's reign came to an end around the, when the Spellplague caused widespread devastation in Mulhorand by altering the landscape.