Matet or Semktet, the name depending upon whether it was day or night, was a unique mystical ship[4][5][note 1] and according to some a demiplane.[3] It was owned by the Pharaonic[5][6] and Mulhorandi solar deity Ra[7] and later his son Horus-Re.[2][4]
Description[]
During daylight hours this ship had the form of a tremendous galley of war and was known by the moniker of Matet. During the night, the ship would transform into a barge,[5][7] sometimes said to be a funerary barge,[8][9] and took on the moniker of Semktet.[5][7]
The ship was notably crafted from part of a sun (though not “the sun” of Realmspace).[5][9]
Powers[]
This ship was capable of sailing or floating through the sky,[4] Wildspace,[7] and even the Astral Plane.[3] The ship was also said to be incapable of being affected by magic,[5] but in reality it radiated an anti-magic shell that prevented anyone but its owner from casting spells,[9] and due to its solar nature was surrounded by an aura of flames[5][9] that would harm any being who touched the ship without its owner's permission.[9]
Other abilities of the ship that could be activated at the command of its owner included being able to go invisible, assume a wraithform, or plane shift. And thrice per day, its owner could command the ship to fire a devastating bolt of solar fire.[9]
Location[]
In both the Great Wheel[6][8] and World Tree cosmologies,[2] this ship was said to be found on Heliopolis. There its owner, whether Ra or Horus-Re, would ride it daily across the sky and with it carry the scorching sun that brought light to the plane.[2][6][8] In the Great Wheel conception of Heliopolis, during the night Semktet was said to briefly provide light to Memphiria, the divine domain of Osiris.[8]
Prior to coming to Realmspace, the avatar of Ra would often manifest alongside this ship.[9] And following the Time of Troubles, Horus-Re would often manifest the ship on Toril alongside his avatar.[4]
Inhabitants[]
Besides either of the ship's divine owners, this solar barge was inhabited and manned by a number of their proxies.[3]
History[]
In ancient times, the great serpent Apep would regularly assail Mantet[3][6] on behalf of the god Set,[3] in an effort to destroy the sunlight it carried and plunge the Pharaonic pantheon into chaos.[6]
On the world of Toril, in the year −4366 DR,[10] the mages of a nation on the continent of Faerûn known as the Imaskar Empire sought to replenish their population after a devastating plague known as the Silent Death. To this end they opened two great gates to another world,[10][11] using what they called the Bukhara Spires,[12] and kidnapped numerous humans from two lands in two different periods of time. One of these lands was a desert, given life by the seasonal flooding of a great river, whose people worshiped the Pharaonic pantheon.[11] The kidnapped humans would pray hard to the Pharaonic deities for salvation, but it was no use, as the divine scorning wizards of Imaskar had closed all their gates and put up wards to prevent their prayers from being heard.[13][10]
The Overgod of Realmspace, Lord Ao, heard the prayers of these people and they contacted Ptah, an ancient deity of Wildspace with ties to the Pharaonic pantheon. At Lord Ao's request, Ptah returned to the home world of these people and informed the rest of his pantheon how they could circumvent the divine ward of the Imaskari, thus allowing them to come to the aid of their enslaved worshipers. Most of the Pharaonic deities went on to create powerful avatars known as manifestations (with Ra naming his Re)[7] and traveled as them upon Matet through Wildspace under the shining guidance of Ptah’s Beacon of Light.[1][7] Eventually, they reached the crystal sphere of Realmspace and its world of Toril, where Matet made landing upon the highest peaks of the Teyla Shan, a mountain range on the northeastern edge of the Imaskari Empire. There it landed close to the Galley of the Gods, a ship that the avatars of the later Untheric pantheon likewise used to access Realmspace.[7]
In the 11th century DR, in a major battle that was part of a larger conflict in the Old Empires region known as the Orcgate Wars, Re died from injuries he received from the orc deity Gruumsh. Re transferred his divine power to his son Horus, who was from then on known as Horus-Re[1] and inherited his father's ship.[4]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ The sourcebook Legends & Lore and Planescape sources instead refer to the ship's two forms as "Manjet" and "Mesketet", which are the names traditionally used for the boat in real life.
External Links[]
Solar barque article at Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd (1996). Volo's Guide to All Things Magical. (TSR, Inc), pp. 95–96. ISBN 0-7869-0446-1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Richard Baker, James Wyatt (March 2004). Player's Guide to Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 157. ISBN 0-7869-3134-5.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Skip Williams, Rich Redman, James Wyatt (April 2002). Deities and Demigods. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 136–138. ISBN 0-7869-2654-6.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Eric L. Boyd (September 1997). Powers & Pantheons. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 111. ISBN 978-0786906574.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 James Ward, Robert J. Kuntz (August 1980). Deities & Demigods. Edited by Lawrence Schick. (TSR, Inc.), p. 44. ISBN 0-935696-22-9.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Colin McComb (October 1996). On Hallowed Ground. Edited by Ray Vallese. (TSR, Inc.), p. 86. ISBN 0-7869-0430-5.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Eric L. Boyd (September 1997). Powers & Pantheons. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 94. ISBN 978-0786906574.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Colin McComb (February 1995). “Arcadia”. In Michele Carter ed. Planes of Law (TSR, Inc), p. 19. ISBN 0786900938.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 James M. Ward and Troy Denning (August 1990). Legends & Lore (2nd edition). (TSR, Inc), p. 92. ISBN 978-0880388443.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 26. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Eric L. Boyd (September 1997). Powers & Pantheons. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 2, 94. ISBN 978-0786906574.
- ↑ Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 18. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 61. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.