The Bent Pyramid
The Bent Pyramid rises like a fractured thought from the burning sands of Har’Akir’s northern desert, a monolithic enigma half-swallowed by time and mystery. Unlike the harmonious symmetry of the great tombs in the Sun’s Throne Mountains, this structure defies architectural expectation: its lower half thrusts sharply from the desert floor at a severe angle, but midway to its apex, the sides shift abruptly inward, forming a gentler slope to the summit. This unnatural transition gives the pyramid its name—and an uneasy reputation among the people of Har’Akir.
The Bent Pyramid stands not just as a monument to ambition, but as a fractured reflection of a soul unwilling to follow the proper path to the afterlife. Those who enter it risk more than death—they risk becoming part of the pyramid’s ever-shifting design.
Architecture
The pyramid’s strange shape has inspired countless stories, most of which agree on one thing: something changed during its construction.
- The lower half is massive, cut from dark limestone, with precise joins and sharp lines that suggest a bold, commanding vision.
- The upper portion, by contrast, is smoother, made from lighter sandstone, and less uniform—almost as if its builders abandoned their original plan, or were interrupted.
- Local legends whisper that the structure’s design changed when its occupant refused to die, or worse, refused to remain dead.
History
No official records name the pyramid’s builder or inhabitant. The priesthood of Har’Akir avoids the site entirely, and Shroud Wardens will not speak of it. Still, rumors persist:
- The tomb was meant for a high priest of Ousa who defied the gods by sealing a fragment of his soul inside the pyramid, causing the collapse of divine favor and the alteration of the pyramid’s form.
- Others claim the builder was a demon-disguised-as-king, whose pyramid was reshaped by divine intervention, bent to prevent a perfect conduit for evil between this world and the afterlife.
- During the rare sandstorms that rake the north, a high-pitched ringing sound is said to rise from the pyramid’s apex—like a scream held within its stones.
Tourism
Few dare enter the Bent Pyramid, and fewer return. Those who do speak of a tomb unlike any other:
- The passages within mirror the outer shape, creating a sensation of disorientation as gravity seems to shift from chamber to chamber.
- Hieroglyphs scrawled over older inscriptions suggest a struggle for control over the tomb—perhaps between rival factions, or between a priest and his own reflection.
- A chamber called the Chamber of the Second Ascension lies at the inner junction where the pyramid changes angle. Within it, walls of polished obsidian reflect not the viewer, but images of what they might become if they surrendered to the tomb’s whispered promises.
Supernatural Phenomena
- The air near the pyramid is still and eerily cold, even beneath the blazing sun.
- At night, glimmering blue lights are seen climbing the angled face, vanishing before reaching the summit.
- The pyramid’s shadow never falls the same way twice, and always seems to avoid the exact direction of true north.
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