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Empire of Dust are the remains of the Ahmunite empire, revived from the dead

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The Northern Lands think the Ophidian obsession with mastery over death is odd, but there is a historic darker, more sinister place who's history is almost forgotten, who people thought was destroyed. Beyond the kingdom of Ophidia, beyond the Cracked Lands, beyond the horizon to the south, the once great empire of Ahmun.

In the Time of Light the Ahmunites flourished and prospered, and important cog in the southern regions, till the corruption of a warped idea set in. Revering the dead and existence after death, it became fashionable for the noble classes to dabble in the art of necromancy, raising their most loyal warriors to serve again, under a rite known as Purification.The Ahmunite empire continued to consume itself, with the living seeking refuge in Northern regions, settling in Hokh-man. The Princes who led the exodus were hailed as saviours and God Kings of the people.

The young realm of the now Ophidia, was short of man power, and the God Kings decreed to use necromancy again so they could grow, but with a stark difference, the raising of the undead was for altruistic not selfish reasons. Strict laws were established to control the learning and practice of the once dark art.

The new nation soon became the masters of undeath, the God Kings seeing the madness that had befallen south to Ahmun, the spread from the south need to stop. Using the most trusted and powerful magi, the God Kings summoned spiteful and powerful demonic djinn's.

Together they unleashed a biblical plague upon Ahmunite, sandstorms and insects, reducing the Ahmun to stripped bone and driving them back into the wastes of the their broken crumbling cities, then scoured from the face of the world.

The Ophidians had condemned an entire civilisation to an eternal torment of undeath, stripped bare for all to see as a terrible reminder to those who seek to abuse power and believe they can master both life and death. What was once a prosperous, sprawling empire of merchants, art, learning and science is now a shattered, bitter, hateful and smouldering lesson against hubris and conceit.

After centuries, the Ahmunites started looking again beyond their realm, the reasons why are lost and confused, be it too many of their gold and precious stones have been stolen by tomb robbers, or some fool inadvertently unlocked a hidden chamber unleashing the curse, or Akshun’arha, Carrion-Goddess messengers awoke the Ahmunites

Kings on gleaming chariots burst from the dunes, Long silent high priests began their great incantations reanimating the skeleton legions, mummified ancient warlords cracked and creaked with the return of their lost souls. Rising out of the sands came the skeletal giants and revenants. Bodies of gold, bronze and silver encased the trapped djinn

Every living thing within a hundred leagues was scoured, poisoned, slain; cured to join the ranks of the dead. Zhar-Teph looked upon this great work, and saw that it was good. The first to feel the new-found power of the Ahmunites were the nosey Twilight kin, drawn to power to investigate with the hopes of stealing the source of the magic.

Forcing them ever onwards were swarms of scorpions and huge sand worms, till they reached a long-abandoned Ahmunite outpost, Sekhaat. There was to be no respite, the statues themselves cut a cruel path through the elves with weapons of stone and sand polished gold. The elves fled, running away, not realising they were being herded till they glimpsed the vast necropolis-city of Nehkesharr, thousands upon thousands of sun bleached skeletal warriors turned.

Only a single, emaciated and raving, pale skin blistered and burnt by the desert sun, elf made it back to the Mouth of Leith. Still to this day, that lone elf’s raving testimony remains the only first-hand account of the full power of Zhar-Teph’s legions. The threat of the Ahmunites reaches out into the sea, Ghost ships haunt the Straits of Madness, menacing the Salamander navy. The Ahmunite only recently have managed to raise a great armada of warships, thwarted by the Trident Realm releasing a great kraken.

It is only now that the true ambition of the high priests is known, vast necropolises cities that can now supply a seemingly endless supply of undead. The world of the living will end, starting with the treacherous Ophidians, and a new empire will rise.

Nehkesharr

The great city of Nehkesharr grew under the toil of legions of undead slaves, till its power and size rivalled all, becoming a necropolis-city where the dead outnumber the living. The once-fertile land, was raped clean of its resources till it was a dry, arid black-hearted land. Purification spread with families ripped apart and parents doomed into eternal undead slavery. Each night the Kings and princes of Ahmun turned their undead armies against each other over petty squabbles.

Army List

Retired Units

Formations

The Empire of Dust's Armada

The Empire of Dust Armada

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