Medjai
From Rickipedia: The Mummy Wiki
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| Medjai | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Founder |
Pharaoh Seti I's bodyguards |
| Notable members |
Ardeth Bay |
| Locations | |
| Other information | |
| Behind the scenes | |
| First appearance | |
| Latest appearance | |
- "We are part of an ancient secret society. For over three thousand years we have guarded the City of the Dead. We are sworn at manhood to do any and all in our part to stop the High Priest Imhotep from being reborn into this world."
- ―Terence Bey explaining the Medjai's goals.[src]
The Medjai were a group of warriors devoted to preventing the rise of evil on the Earth, more specifically, the resurrection of the High Priest Imhotep.
[edit] History
The Medjai were formerly the Pharaoh's bodyguards in ancient times, whose duties shifted in direction once a number of them had apprehended the High Priest Imhotep when he was trying to perform a sacrilegious act of using the Book of the Dead to revive his lover, the assassin of Pharaoh Seti I, Anck-Su-Namun.
During the Holy Crusades of Europe, some of the Knights Templar that had served in the wars learned of the Scorpion King's existence, turned to watching over the Oasis of Ahm Shere, and recorded their existence in the form of bas-reliefs on the walls of the golden pyramid within the Oasis, depicting instructions on how to slay the Scorpion King by using a golden staff known as the Scepter of Osiris. The Knights had become known by the Medjai as warriors of God and protectors of mankind.
Since at least the fifteenth century A.D, the Medjai had not been recorded to have existed by the rest of the world and were presumed to have, as an order, died out. After the passing of thousands of years, however, the Medjai still existed as a secret society with their descendants continuing the old vow to keep Imhotep from awakening. The Medjai had kept watch over the City of the Dead, Hamunaptra, where the treacherous Imhotep had been entombed for thousands of years, and one day had witnessed a battle between a horde of Tuaregs and a garrison of the French Foreign Legion. The Tuaregs had won, leaving one man, Rick O'Connell, alive to wander the deserts aimlessly. The Medjai warriors watched far off as the man ambled into the desert, the warriors' leader Ardeth Bay deciding to leave O'Connell to die in the desert.
Three years after the French Foreign Legion had battled the Tuaregs in the desert, the Medjai had been informed by a contact in Cairo named Terence Bey that a woman named Evelyn Carnahan, along with her brother Jonathan, had found the key of Hamunaptra that was used to seal the High Priest Imhotep's coffin three millennia back. As their guide was the survivor of the battle in Hamunaptra, the Medjai knew that the guide would be aware of how to reach the ruins. Several Medjai warriors were dispatched on the river Nile by canoe; among the Medjai was one warrior known as Hook that had a hook-shaped blade where his right hand was. The Medjai silently boarded the riverboat that carried the seekers of Hamunaptra and struck first the cabin of Evelyn Carnahan. Hook, along with the other Medjai, was shot dead, failing to retrieve the map to Hamunaptra and the key.
The Medjai had been surreptitiously tracking the expedition led by Rick O'Connell as Ardeth Bay noted that O'Connell was strong to return to the deserts after they had almost killed him before. The next day, the expeditions reached the ruins and Ardeth Bay led a group of Medjai to invade the camp, slaughtering several diggers before being bested in battle by the expeditionaries. Ardeth declared that the Medjai would not kill any others but that the expeditionaries must all leave Hamunaptra or die within one day.
None of the treasure seekers had left the ruins, however, and Evelyn Carnahan had unknowingly brought the cursed mummy Imhotep to life, bringing down the plagues attached to his resurrection as she did. The Medjai had caught up to the expeditionaries, outnumbering them, and informed the treasure seekers that they had brought back an ancient evil that could not be killed by any mortal weapons. The Medjai had also recovered one treasure seeker, Burns, who had been mauled by the mummy after it took Burns' eyes and tongue, before the mummy could fully kill Burns. With that, the Medjai ordered the groups to leave the ruins before the mummy could destroy them all.
[edit] Appearance and Traits
- "If I were to say to you that, "I am a stranger traveling from the East, seeking that which is lost"...
Then I would reply that, "I am a stranger traveling from the West, it is I whom you seek." ." - ―Ardeth Bay and Rick O'Connell reciting a Medjai saying.[src]
The Medjai warriors had been unheard of for many centuries, even past the fifteenth, and had operated in total secrecy. While one Medjai organisation existed, twelve tribes of Medjai appeared on a large scale, being numerous enough to compose an army. Medjai warriors could also be women, as revealed when the young woman warrior Yanit, and their training began at an early age, as the warriors were taken to a compound in the desert.
Many Medjai warriors were given facial tattoos of Arabic words placed on their cheeks, and wore long black robes with grey sashes, bandoliers, turbans and scarves. All Medjai were able to fight with blades as well as firearms, and were skilled in one-on-one combat; the warriors often rode horses through the deserts and took their foes by surprise whenever able to do so.
