Naktamun

Naktamun
Information
Plane	Amonkhet
Card art	art:"Naktamun"

Naktamun is once the central city of Amonkhet and home to its gods. It was ravaged after the Hour of Devastation, but its former inhabitants have rebuilt the city to some extent.

Description

Naktamun is located at the banks of the river Luxa and protected from the horrors of the surrounding deserts by the Hekma, a magical barrier maintained by the god Kefnet. During Nicol Bolas's initial attack on Amonkhet, Naktamun was the last city that stood against him and was to serve as the nucleus of the re-emerging civilization centered around him.

Officially, the city used to be ruled by the five gods, who acted as stewards of the God-Pharaoh. The living population was rigidly divided into three groups:

• Acolytes, children who were focused on honing their skills and prepared for the coming trials
• Viziers, servants of the gods who underwent the Glorified Death when they finished their service.
• Initiates, warriors organized in Crops that underwent the Trials of the Five Gods.

Mummified dead did most of the manual labor of the city, building monuments and harvesting foodstock.

History

After the Hour of Devastation had come, the city was destroyed by the Eternal army of Nicol Bolas, and most of its gods were slain. The survivors, led by Hazoret, fled the city whose ruins were reclaimed by the local fauna. After the Eternals were summoned to Ravnica for Bolas's invasion, Hazoret and the other survivors reclaimed the city, raised the Hekma, and began to rebuild.

Amonkhet was a target in New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse. Warned of the incoming invasion, the survivors of Amonkhet went into hiding, hoping to evade Phyrexian notice, but it turned out to be futile. To their surprise, when they arrived at Naktamun, they found the Scarab God and Locust God already there, engaged with the invaders. With the insect gods' undead hordes distracting the Phyrexians, Hazoret used her flaming spear to ignite the glistening oil within the Phyrexians' veins. As they writhed in agony, Djeru led a crop of elite fighters to dismember them, making sure they were out of the picture for good. In the aftermath, the inscrutable insect gods departed for the deep desert without a word.

With the Phyrexians defeated, the Amonkheti could declare victory. The Scarab God and Locust God retreated to the Broken Lands. Hazoret, alongside the living and loyal undead of Naktamun, chose not to pursue. Instead, she worked alongside the survivors in rebuilding the city. This was a colossal effort, one that employed both the living and the dead, and broadly fell into two major tasks: defending the city from the wandering, lost undead of the Broken Lands and beginning the great undertaking that was reconstruction. A hopeful sign followed the end of the invasion: the Luxa fouled for so long, began to flow clear.

Naktamun's undead faced a critical decision. The Phyrexian invasion saw the death of tens of thousands of Amonkheti. Newly risen under the Walking Curse, these fresh undead were not eager to submit to the old order of servile mummification. They recognized that their liberation was only possible at the beginning of reconstruction when the living needed them the most. As a group, the loyal undead in Naktamun approached the living defenders of the city with a plea and a promise: "Free us, and we will see Naktamun preserved." The living agreed, and together, the living and loyal undead came once more to the mutual defense of the city, holding back the tide of the wandering dead.

Naktamun started rebuilding from years of ruin, with both the living and the dead banding together to clear the streets, shore up the buildings that could be repaired, and remove structures that were too ruined to be salvageable. The core of the city was cleared, but the work continues in outlying districts.

In the aftermath of the Invasion, the former planeswalker Samut now serves as vizier of Naktamun. After the emergence of the Omenpaths, spices from Naktamun were being peddled in Thunder Junction.

Locations

• The Hekma, a magical water-made barrier that protects the city from the dangers of the deserts. Destroyed by the Locust God, resurrected by Hazoret and Sarkhan Vol, and destroyed once again in the Phyrexian invasion.
• The Children's Quarters
• Sef district
• Nitin district / Desert of the Indomitable
  • Rhonas's Monument
    • The Holding, a carefully curated wildlife preserve
• Desert of the Glorified
  • Bontu's Monument - A place both forbidden and forgotten to all, Samut discovered a glyph within it that she had not seen since her childhood; the symbol "Trespasser." At that moment, she realized the truth about Amonkhet and its perceived history: "The God-Pharaoh is the Great Trespasser." Samut realized the God-Pharaoh was not a savior, but the destroyer of the plane of Amonkhet. She realized he had altered the memory of the gods, and the history of the plane.
• Desert of the Fervent
  • Hazoret's Monument
    • The Proving Ground, the arena of Hazoret's Monument where the final trial, the Trial of Zeal, is held.
      • The Steps of Battle, the pathway the initiates take over the course of the trial.
• Desert of the Mindful
  • Kefnet's Monument
• Desert of the True
  • Oketra's Monument
• Throne of the God-Pharaoh
• The Obelisk Path
• The Gauntlet, the training grounds
• The Display of Doubt, where sarcophagi containing dissenters are presented
• The forgotten district.
• Gate to the Afterlife, a massive river gate on the Luxa near the end of the city through which the bodies of the worthy are shipped.

In-game references

Represented in:

• Naktamun

Associated cards:

• Samut, Vizier of Naktamun
• Temmet, Naktamun's Will
• Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun

Referred to:

• Cascading Cataracts (Dominaria United Commander)
• Censor
• Cruel Reality
• Dauntless Aven
• Desert Cerodon
• Discerning Peddler
• Dune Diviner
• Lurching Rotbeast
• Marauding Boneslasher
• Moaning Wall
• Pouncing Cheetah
• Quarry Hauler
• Ramunap Excavator
• River Serpent
• Tattered Mummy
• Tenacious Hunter
• Those Who Serve
• Time to Reflect

External links

• Plane Shift: Amonkhet