Harmonthis

**Harmonthis**, also known as the **Lock of the Underworld**, is one of the most powerful and sacred legendary swords. According to the story, it was crafted by the god Ptah and made from a perfect and impossible union between Nubian Gold and Istetian Steel, which makes it extremely lethal to all kinds of beings alike. The legend states that it was given by the god Montu to Sethy, the first Smai. Since then, it has remained both with House Zamonth as a family heirloom and with the Smaiu for its ability to host demons that dwell in the Duat.

Nathan Zamonth is its current wielder.

## History

### Sethian War and Creation

During the Sethian War, a conflict that began when Menes, Sekhemperamun I's successor, began to prosecute the Followers of Set, who religiously worshipped Chaos, led by his younger brother Sethy. At some point of the war Sethy gathered his forces in the city of Armant, and were later forced to seek refuge from the attacking royal troops in the cave systems underneath the city. There Sethy prayed to Montu, as a god of war and battle strategy, and also patron god of Armant, to aid him in battle. Montu took pity on him and, understanding Sethy was acting on Atum's decrees, gifted him the most sacred and powerful sword that could be, made by Ptah himself, god of craftmanship, so that the Smaiu could persist. The blade could only be made by a powerful being who could control metals, as, having opposite properties, Nubian Gold and Isfetian Steel repel each other. It's name derives from the name of the city of Armant, symbolizing the place where it was conceived and directly associating it with Montu.

### House Zamonth

After Sethy died and the Sethian War ended, the remaining Smaiu hid the sword amongst themselves. Centuries later it was granted to the members of House Zamonth as its keepers, and it would then become a family heirloom. Rightfully so, as the Zamonths became pariahs to society after the Roman Conquest, they were responsible for restarting the cult to Chaos.

At an unknown point in the 3700's and for an unknown reason, Harmonthis was in the hands of House Ankhaf. It was returned in 3913 by Neb Ibisen Ankhaf as an act of reconciliation between the Ankhafs and the Zamonths.

### Vision

In the year 3915, Mirage Zamonth founded the new and reformed Smaiu order and, through a vision, was told that Harmonthis was the key in providing Apophis with its Arising, but that it could only be used when the Second Phase of the Age of the Chosen Ones commenced, namely after the second decade of the 41th century.

### Ritual of Awakening

In 4020, the approximate date Mirage had foretold as the beginning of the Second Phase, the Khalemian Smaiu met for the first Ritual of Awakening, with Nathan Zamonth, Setepenmontu, as Harmonthis' wielder. The ritual consisted in stabbing the blade into the correctly inscribed False Door in order for it to host the energy of a "demon", a being that swelled in the Underworld. The demon was then transported to a human body, a Host, by stabbing them after. The first try was unsuccessful, as no demon answered the wielder's call. The Smaiu resorted to try again each four months, first with animal Hosts and then with humans.

The fifth attempt, in the first week of 4021, proved successful, beginning the Second Phase by bringing a demon into the Land of the Living.

## Trivia

* Even though Harmonthis, Montu's sacred sword, is an emblem of the Smaiu, the worshippers of Chaos, Montu is not a chaotic entity, but one that serves Ma'at. By giving it away and supporting Sethy, Montu shows that he understands that the Arising would come again as the end of times, as Atum the Creator ordained. Plus, Ma'at is regarded as an union of the good and the bad, and the Smaiu represented that needed bad to balance the good, just as Set himself was necessary.