saddle arabia [Lore] The Pharaoh's Vale

[Bellosh]

The Pharaoh's Vale - The Eternal Legacy of Saddle Arabia

 

Few travelers have ventured into the Pharaoh's Vale and not return awestruck. From ancient history to the present day, the Vale has served the role of the final resting place of Saddle Arabia’s most renowned leaders, heroes, and intellectuals. A genuine contender for status as a Wonder of the World, the entire necropolis exists as an everlasting testament to the achievements of the Saddle Arabian people.

 

The Pharaoh's Vale sits approximately halfway on the overland route between Manephis and Saddlelon, within the shadow of the Antlion Mountains. The vital waterway known as the Shatt al-Malik originates here, allowing life to flourish on the river’s shores in what would be an otherwise desolate region. The smaller gullies that dot the sides of the Vale meanwhile remain dry for most of the year, save for the occasional flash flood.

Originally, tradition held that each Saddle Arabian ruler (known in ancient times as a pharaoh) was entitled to be buried in the Pharaoh’s Vale. Yet as the people of the realm developed and refined the meritocratic principles that came to define Saddle Arabia, the enlightened citizenry began exercising the power to decide who earned the honor to be laid to rest in the Vale. Ergo, any Saddle Arabian citizen deemed to have made an immeasurably beneficial impact on society can have a tomb erected for them in the necropolis.

 

Notably, most tombs within the Pharaoh’s Vale are open to the public. Older pyramids reside on the valley floor or near the entrance to the Vale; statues and obelisks are also plentiful. As land started running out, laborers instead started burrowing into the rocky sides of the adjacent gullies. Aside from housing burial chambers, these sites typically put the belongings of the tomb occupant on display and dedicate wallspace for written engravings explaining the occupant’s great deeds in life. In many respects, Saddle Arabian tombs are museums in all but name. Guards and visitor accommodations are plentiful everywhere to maintain the necropolis’s viability as a national landmark.

 

There are some areas however that are closed to the general public. A number of the earlier burial sites are occupied by legendary beings, most notably genies. Except in the most dire of need, contact with these powerful yet mischievous genies is not advised. Other underground complexes were not built as tombs at all, but rather as proving grounds designed to test the mental acumen and inner fortitude of would-be Sultans. And while never officially verified by scientific experts, rumors attest to numerous tombs that remain hidden, protected by powerful curses and reanimated mummies. Should one of these hypothesized cursed tombs be unearthed, who knows what that could spell for the Pharaoh’s Vale?

~Beyond Equestria: A Traveler's Guide to Mysteries and Wonders of Maretonia, Saddle Arabia and More