The Everlasting Sands

Journey to the Golden Sands

The Kingdom of Kemet is ancient, among the oldest of Etharian states. It’s mythology and origins are surrounded in mystery, exacerbated by the fact that the Kemetian state archives are barred to the general public. Only the Pharaoh, of the reigning Cai Dynasty, has the authority to enter the most holy Great Library of Memphis. The Cai Dynasty is among the longest reigning Kemetian Dynasties, though it’s origins are wrought in shame. The first Pharaoh of Khufu was installed by the Kanadorikan Empire as a vehicle for their conquest, and to make integration of Kemet possible. The Cai were generally opulent, inept, and submissive towards the Kanadorikan occupiers throughout their history, while maintaining the illusion of Kemetian tradition. The Cai undid their predecessor’s proscription on foreign bankers, particularly Jews, and welcomed prominent into the court, as advisors, officials, and money lenders. This gave them high amounts of influence in the society, and weakened the power of the Pharaoh considerably, as they advocated for the collapse of the traditional centralised and powerful hierarchical state. Without the traditional centralised bureaucracy, local businessmen and merchants began to control vast swathes of territory and the economy through the replacement of the Pharaoh’s power. This was compounded by the Pharaoh Echnaton, who gave the order to privatise crown lands in favour of powerful merchants, weakening both himself, and any traditional Kemetian aristocracy. His decision would set the Cai on an irredeemable course towards constitutionalism, that would not fade, even in modern days. Then, the Pharaoh allowed the Jewish practice of circumcision to commence once again in a move towards tolerance, and to ingratiate himself with his money lenders. During the later stages of the Kanadorikan rule over Kemet, Pharaoh Ramses VIII tried to ‘modernize’ his territory. This involved destroying Kemetian culture and forcing his courtier to embrace western hairstyles, demanding that his people abandon the use of silk in their clothing. This last act alienated the dynasty’s primary support base, the peasantry, as they perceived the Pharaoh’s actions as a war on tradition. After the passage of the Imperial Federation Act, the Pharaoh lost even more political autonomy, reduced to a Kanadorikan public official, a constitutional monarch, powerless as he was forced to permit representation of his people in the Kanadorikan Imperial Parliament. The last significant resistance the Cai made towards the Kanadorikans was the initial refusal to adopt western map standards, which depicted to the world in the standard manner of Eyjan in the North. This was a Kemetian tradition to depict the map in a rotated manner so that the global south is shown in a northern position, to highlight the value of the Kemetian rivers. The Cai submitted on this issue, damaging their legitimacy beyond repair. Since this point, Kemet has been on the frontline of the Kanadorikan Afrikan colonisation scheme, though achieved independence violently at the end of the First World War, when the Kanadorikan Empire was unfortunately shattered. The Pharaoh declared the revival of Kemet, yet despite this, his power was overshadowed by the bureaucracy, who ran the nation according to their own desires, rather than the success of the nation. This weakened nationalist fervor, and made the weak Pharaoh Amenhotep IV a figure of ridicule, as the merchants gained more control over the economy and the political system. There were even rumours of an imminent democratisation, spearheaded by the merchant class. These rumours were unfounded, and the Dynasty survived through political maneuvering and mobilising of the traditional Kemetian peasants. Little politically has changed since the end of the Second World War, with Kemet playing only a tertiary role. In current times, the Cai Dynasty remains frail, on its last legs, as the merchant class asserts it’s dominance once more, the Pharaoh’s power wanes, and domestic opposition in the form of the Nile Workers Union. Despite their name, they are not comparable with other socialists, they are distinctly ethnonationalist, and militaristic. They wish to see Kemet rise in military strength, and political scientist Weitang Xu described them as ‘Red Jingoists’. Despite this, they are very open to interviews about their views, though that is a topic for another journal.

My search hit a brick wall, I could not enter the archives, and I briefly considered returning to my homeland of Eyjan, the sun was doing great damage to my skin. I stayed in my rented home praying to the Mother of God for many nights, even years, trying to find the secrets of this mystical land. The greatest treasures were covered by thousands of years worth of sands, which gave me a sense of meaninglessness. I pushed on, visiting local villages, undisturbed for hundreds of years. These people, who laboured on a daily basis to get water in the desert, who toiled in the burning sun for their crops, held the secrets to my salvation. As I entered the deep south, where the deserts were reminiscent of other Afrikan states, I found what I was looking for. There was a small community, a cult, called the ‘Protectors of the Sarcophagus’, dedicated to the preservation of the secrets of Kemet. There, I met a woman, dressed in rags, who introduced herself as the matriarch and ‘Wife of the Pharaoh’. She spoke to me for almost an entire day, testing me on my knowledge and determination. She had an almost broken face, littered with wounds from the sand, dead skin, and only spoke a tribal variant of the Kemetian language. It was barely understandable, even to me, with decades of experience. I pressed on, and tried to integrate myself into this esoteric sect. Their beliefs were obscure, paying homage to the Pharaohs of the ancient times, before the Cai Dynasty. They would dance in great circles, chanting prayers of loyalty and penance of their sins in public. Their sins would be drowned in condemnation by their peers for hours. This mockery, insulting, or even threats, would end at precisely ten in the night, when the ‘accused’ would pray in silence to their dark God. Their God ‘Apophis’ would provide them with peace and solace. I participated in this ritual on three occasions, and it was humbling. Only after performing this ritual the third time, was I told the spiritual beliefs of the cult. They believe that only the God Apophis is worthy of their worship and devotion, in contrast with the maintain Kemetian religion that is polytheisitic, and worships many Gods. After I spent a total of two years with the cult, in communal belief and life, I was bestowed a gift, a ‘Kous’. This was a dusty card that depicted a long, golden snake. It’s fangs were black, and it’s eyes blood red, I looked in confusion at this ‘gift’, and she explained to me that this Kous was once owned by an ancient Pharaoh, and confers great power to the worthy through the use of dark spirits. After receiving this great gift, I was escorted to the Great Library of Astenos. This was an underground temple, designed and created by the Pharaoh Astenos, of the Eladistani Dynasty. Being left submerged by the sands over the generations, the texts inside were very well preserved, and defended from Kanadorikan explorers. It took a full three days to locate the Great Library, due to its location, and dangerous terrain. It gradually declined after the Eladistani period, until it became unusable in the 1700s. We reached the entrance of the Library, and pushed through walls of sand. We were greeted with lines and lines of Kemetian texts and hieroglyphs. They gave threats to trespassers and graverobbers, and praises to Astenos. The Library was full of traps, poison darts, spikes, false platforms, all meticulously designed in uncomfortable spots to make trespassing impossible. I would have died over and over again, had the cult not disengaged or dodged the traps, until we reached the most central location. In this room, it was pitch black. Using my torch, we found out that there were only wall decorations. This room was spacious, large, and well preserved, it must have been a gigantic coliseum, it’s true size boggled the mind. We could not see the top, flashing our torches upwards. Though from what we could tell, it was a dome-like structure, definitely constructed during the Eladistani Dynasty. The taints of Classical architecture betrayed this, and the entire structure was completely full of historical paintings, from the founding of Kemet, all the way till the ‘Collapse’. I wrote as much of the information that I could, and had the cult give historical context on each of the paintings. Kemetian paintings, unlike even the records of the later Pharaohs, were grandiose, even golden in some cases.

This was the last known passage of Arnbergur Isidorsson’s journal. He would go on to return to his homeland of Eyjan, and write a famous historical book, known as ‘The Tale of the Kous and Kemet’. This book is the most widely cited historical document on Kemetian culture and history, with extreme attention to detail paid to his passion projects. A year after completing his work, Isidorsson collapsed in his home, with no noticeable injuries, passing away, with the Kous in his hand, on May 7th, 1990. Authorities ruled out homicide and foul play almost immediately, due to the lack of injuries, and are currently treating his death as by natural causes, or a stroke.

The Last Day of the Cai
KEMET WROTE THIS

Never before had Shavi entered the parliament building with such dread. He had served as Minister of the Commons for 30 years as a member of The KWP for 50 years, yet not in all those years had he found himself taking up such a daunting task.

“Our dear Pharaoh? A traitor?”
Such an idea sounded preposterous when he said it to himself under his breath, yet how else could he explain what has befallen his party. How come every attempt to prosecute the Merchants Guild has ended up in failure, with transaction lists and other pieces of crucial Information going missing, with every investigator working on the case ending up dead in the following months? How come the KPP, despite doing so poorly in the polls, their liberal rhetoric always finds itself saturating every media outlet imaginable and always getting enough seats in the house of commons to get any bill off the ground, no matter how unpopular. How come key party members seemed to be dying every week since the KWP got majority in the house of commons, and under the most mysterious circumstances at that.

It was painfully obvious to him that the Pharaoh’s mind was weak to foreign gold, his idealism crushed by the power of the banks, his life is motivated by greed, rather than the voices of his Subjects, and that gold wants the KWP purged. Instead of going quietly into the night, Shava had decided to take a stand, to make this his final State of the Kingdom meeting, to name this fifth column in front of the whole nation, before the Pharaoh himself. A final act of defiance.

As Shavi made his way down the Halls of parliament, his hand began to quiver on his cane. The weight of the nation was on his shoulders, it was with him that the future of millions rested. This pressure was pounding down on him every night, but reached a climax when he entered the building, it was almost too much for the usually reserved and calculating Shavi. However a sense of calm came over him upon the sight of a friendly face, Lord Apocra, Head of the Absolutist party, Minister of the house of Lords, and the most loyal friend the man ever had.

“Well if it isn't the Mighty Revolutionary himself!”
Apocra beamed, approaching Shavi with a smile on his face, offering his hand out to him. Shavi grasped the man's hand firmly, and engaged in light humour.
“Offering your hand to a commoner? In public no less? When did the lords go Soft?”

“In 1714, when our illustrious Pharaoh accepted a crown from the dirt.”
Apocra exclaimed with fervent passion. Shavi chuckled “Well I can certainly say they didn't have the amount of unholy influence that they do now back when the Nyl mandate meant something…”.

Apocra's eyes then narrowed, and his voice began to lower, leaning in to whisper to me
“Yes… about them. I heard from the grapevine that you plan to resign in defiance during the State of the Kingdom meeting.”

Shavi’s eyes widened in shock, he wondered if he had been compromised by any of his supporters, or if he was being bugged.
“Where did you hear that from?”.
The lord laughed loudly before returning his gaze to the Commoner.
“I have eyes and ears everywhere I can put them, especially around you. I must say, you have far more nerve than I thought.”
Apocra relished the words, as if describing his own military successes, and Shavi felt a spike of anger growing within him, until he was able to control himself and respond.

“Well….It has to be done… I’m not going to let our lands fall to the hands of these Foreign Merchants…”
Apocra responded calmly, as if prepared for this interaction perfectly.

“I know but...are you sure you want to do this...to face the wrath of the gods? Is it truly the will of the gods to surrender our lands to Foreign devils? To the merchants of chaos? I will face whatever fate is given to me, but I cannot stay quiet while the barbarians sack our countryside.”
The silence was firm between the two men, until Apocra broke the tension

“You know...I can't name a single time in our nation's history where a Pharaoh has been accused of treason..”
The lord placed his hand on Shavis shoulder
“But if any Pharaoh would be worthy of such an accusation it would be Satius..”.

Shavi’s eyes widened in astonishment, agreeing with Apocra completely, they shared a smile.
“I'd never thought I'd see an Absolutist defy our Heavenly King.”

Apocra ceased smiling, and turned dead serious for a moment.
“Well I never thought I’d see our Pharaoh bend a knee to filthy merchants! First time for everything.”

Shavi then walked towards the door to the commons wing, grabbing its handle and looking back at him, he gave the lord a smile.
“It has been an honor….My lord.”
He said, opening the door and taking a seat with the rest of his party. It took quite some time before the rest of the parliament members arrived and were seated, shortly afterwards though Pharaoh Satius made his way into the Grand Assembly, taking his throne. Upon entry Shavi gripped his chest, feeling the immense pressure being exerted by the Pharaoh’s presence. As the formalities were underway eventually it was the house of commons turn to give their address. Shavi stood firmly, prepared to give his final speech for his kingdom. He felt winds of change and power flow through his body, he was prepared to accept any fate that the Pharaoh bestowed on him as an honour, so that the people of Kemet will be free.

“Great men of Parliament! A spectre is haunting Kemet! The Spectre of Capitalism! Our ancestors once made sure that Foreign Merchants would be run out of town by sunset, and now it's rare to even see a child of the Nyl own his home! Once our women were homebuilders and caretakers, now they slave away under men that don't even speak their language while their children sit in glorified daycares, eating up the rhetoric of Foreign Devils!”
The Pharaoh stared nonchalantly, resting his head on his hand, as he stared down at Shavi from his throne. He could not be distrurbed by such trivial and baseless accusations by a petty parliamarian. He shook his head in disapproval, though Shavi continued.

“It has been two hundred years since the Cai finalised the permanent lease on all our natural resources, and this injustice was allowed to continue unabated until the masses rose up in 2004, when hundreds of Kemetian heroes marched on the oil installations and brought an end to their tyranny. However, do the honourable members know what happened to said heroes?”
A long silence, with some murmurs overlaying them, overtook parliament. The hearts of all men in the chamber, besides the Pharaoh himself, were united behind Shavi’s passionate speech, which was no surprise, the KWP had long been the dominant political organisation in Kemet, but they were frustrated by their weak Cai masters. Shavi continued

“They were executed! But, my fellow countrymen, not by the Cai’s men, but by the hired thugs of the KPP! The mercantile class is directly opposed to the people of Kemet, their freedoms, their culture, and their traditions! You see, merchants have always tried to steal our country!”
The Pharaoh rose from his throne in anger. His eyes alight with rage, Shavi felt his heart tingle as his sovereign’s gaze fell upon him, and let out his last breath as the Pharaoh pointed directly at his head. He did not know how he would perish, but he would happily enter the afterlife to preserve the freedoms of Kemet.