Aridia

Once the powerful kingdom of a great desert pharaoh, the tiny country of Aridia is now a modest waypoint for explorers and adventurers traversing the desert. Consisting of a few scant towns and villages, Aridia suffered for many decades with a poor economy, upheld only by the archeological work done by Aridia's Ministry of Culture. Most of these archeological efforts were directed toward finding the legendary lost pyramid of King Utmost, the sole container of Aridia's once-rich culture. Through the efforts of archeologist Myra Foxworthy, the famous pyramid was discovered and Aridia's economy revitalized by a rampant increase in tourism.

	Myra Foxworthy: Aridia's state archeologist, museum curator, and Minister of Culture.

Points of Interest:

Casbah Cafe: One of Aridia's few eating establishments, the Casbah Cafe is a saloon-style restaurant offering decent food at reasonable rates. However, it's rather far away from the other important areas in town. To help promote tourism, each menu contains a condensed history of Aridia and of the lost pyramid.

Ministry of Culture: The headquarters of Aridia's archeological work, the Ministry of Culture finds and preserves relics from Aridia's past. State archeologist Myra Foxworthy currently serves as minister of culture.

Museum of Ancient History: Originally planned as a separate building, Aridia's state museum now resides within the great pyramid of King Utmost. Myra Foxworthy acts as curator.

One of the last and grandest remnants of Aridia's ancient past, the long-lost pyramid of King Utmost is considered Aridia's greatest archeological treasure, containing almost the entirety of Aridia's rich culture. For thousands of years, the great pyramid's location was an utter mystery. The only clue to its location lay in an ancient stone tablet engraved during King Utmost's reign, which provided the exact coordinates of the lost monument. As it turned out, the pyramid was located directly underneath Aridia's main airfield — buried upside-down in the sand!

THE TALE OF THE LOST PYRAMID

For all the folklore surrounding King Utmost's lost pyramid, very scant evidence existed in the official records of the pharaohs to confirm the monument's existence. Howbeit, the absence of a pyramid dedicated to one of Aridia's greatest rulers seemed highly conspicuous, especially in light of the prosperity and cultural advancement which graced Utmost's reign.

In reality, King Utmost had long ago ordered all records of the pyramid destroyed as part of a royal cover-up. One stone tablet escaped the pharaoh's purge, and centuries later led Myra Foxworthy to the lost pyramid and the story a forgotten table of hieroglyphics told.

At the height of his reign, King Utmost commanded his foreman to build a great pyramid in his honor. In a spectacular blunder, the foreman read the blueprints wrong, and constructed the entire building upside-down! King Utmost, deeply embarrassed by the mistake, pronounced a curse upon the foreman, transforming him into a mummy who would wander the pyramid and stop anyone who stumbled onto the secret. The curse would be broken only if the pyramid were turned right-side up, which essentially condemned the foreman to an eternity of restless solitude.

The foreman's fate sealed as tightly as the pyramid's entrance, King Utmost wiped all knowledge of the pyramid from the royal chronicles. Utmost, however, left much of his treasure and material wealth inside the underground storehouse, marking the lost pyramid as the great, undiscovered repository of Aridia's highest cultural period. The disintegration of the pharaonic dynasty thrust Aridia's people into poverty, but recent archeological interest in the area raised the locals' hopes that King Utmost's pyramid would be found.

Following the coordinates in the ancient stone tablet, Myra learned that the airport's main landing field was actually the top surface of the inverted pyramid! She also encountered the cursed mummy, and translated the ancient hieroglyphics outlining the pyramid's history. Unfortunately, Don Karnage had taken an interest in the lost pyramid as well, and he and his Air Pirates set to work to claim King Utmost's treasure as their own. Running cables from the pyramid to the Iron Vulture, the pirates actually lifted the entire structure free from the sand and tried to carry it away. Atoning for his past mistake, the mummy guardian freed the cables and the pyramid fell to a perfect landing on the site for the upcoming Museum of History — right-side up.

INSIDE THE GREAT PYRAMID

Thorough exploration of King Utmost's pyramid has proven the legends true — the pyramid is a trove of riches and knowledge from Aridia's ancient past. Preserved intact since its building (aside from the jarring impact of a several-hundred-foot drop), the great pyramid houses samples of art, sculpture, and architecture dating back thousands of years. The most fascinating thing of all is the unusual building approach the foreman took to accomodate a pyramid built upside-down: ancient statues are bolted to the floor (which used to be the ceiling), and room designs allow accessibility and make architectural sense regardless of the pyramid's orientation.

The main entrance leads to a maze of tunnels and passageways that run throughout the entire pyramid. Despite the absence of windows, the halls and chambers of the great pyramid seem to be lit by an unearthly light — although some rooms, such as the Chamber of Eternal Night, remain plunged in pitch black darkness. Ramps and ladders allow movement up and down the various levels of the pyramid, wherein lie the treasure rooms of King Utmost.

Ancient pyramids have a reputation for secret traps to discourage thieves and robbers. Thankfully, all the pitfalls and dropouts in King Utmost's tomb were put in the ceiling rather than the floor, rendering them useless now that the pyramid stands right-side up.

TOURISM & ARIDIA'S FUTURE

The discovery of King Utmost's long-lost pyramid has proven every bit the boon to Aridia's economy that Myra hoped it would be. As the new Museum of Ancient History, the pyramid draws scores of tourists per day to gaze upon the foreign wonders from centuries past. The once-fearsome mummy, his curse lifted, now lies in a state of repose in the main chamber where he serves as the museum's star attraction.

Besides taking in enough money to replace the airport runway and transform Aridia's quiet community into a boom town, the museum has also reawakened pride in the hearts of Aridia's people and given them hope for their country's future.