Editing Prince Apophas (section)

==History==
In life, he was a jealous prince in the city of Numas, and he desperately wanted the throne. He was so desperate that one night, he slit the throats of HIS ENTIRE FAMILY while they slept and proclaimed himself king the following morning. But this wasn't the beginning of a glorious new era for Apophas. Far from it. You see, regicide is generally considered to be the worst possible crime in Nehekharan culture - and he didn't have the preplanning, power or fear factor to get away with it like [[Nagash]] did. So because Apophas had effectively committed this crime several times over and got caught, a much worse fate was in store for him.

He was buried alive in a coffin full of flesh-eating beetles ala that one scene in The Mummy, and when they opened up the sarcophagus, all that was left was a skull picked clean of flesh. Before his bones were thrown into the desert to be eaten by the vultures, they inscribed a magical hieroglyph onto his skull, which tied his soul to the skull and cursed it forever. Upon entering the underworld, Usirian, the Nehekharan God of the Dead, was due to torment him for all eternity for his crime. But thankfully for Apophas, because he was of noble birth, he was able to bargain with the god. In return for not being tortured, Apophas would scour the earth for a soul equal to his that would take his place. Usirian agreed, and Apophas became the Cursed Scarab Lord.

When returning to the world, [[Worm That Walks|Apophas' form is a self-replenishing swarm of beetles]] with his skull on top of them, a desert revenant rather than a reanimated corpse. Wielding the same blade he slew his family with, that still drips with their blood, Apophas sought to slay the perfect soul with this weapon, hoping to earn his freedom. While a ferocious force on the field of battle, his goal always remains paramount. Once Apophas slew a prospective target, he'd bind their spirit in a mystical soul-cage before returning to the depths of the Underworld. Here the soul is placed on a pair of scales and compared with Apophas' own cursed spirit. So far, he has never found a match.

Little did Apophas know this was a doomed endeavor. No two souls ever have equal value. [[Grimdark|Therefore, he is doomed to spend the rest of eternity hunting souls for Usirian and doesn't even know it]].