Sandpit

From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Ancient Egyptian legend speaks of a forgotten Pharoah, his name lost to the annals of time. A man blessed with the gifts of the ancient gods themselves. Capable of miracles the like of which the world had never seen before nor since his time. This forgotten Phraroah is reported to have vanished thousands of years ago in the sandpits of Saqqara, never to be seen or heard from again.

In the 1940s, treasure hunter and adventurer Emlyn Engel decided to uncover the whereabouts of the forgotten Pharoah, setting out on a decade-long pilgrimage, scouring the sandpits of Saqqara for any sign of the legend. What Emelyn found was beyond the scope of anything he could have possibly imagined. Emylyn found a sandpit surrounded by many magical runes of warding. While the wards were many thousands of years old, the power contained within them was still very potent. It took the aged adventurer months before he was able to break through them. During this time, he called upon the aid of Dream Doctor, The Midnight Squad, and even The Imperial in cracking the ancient defences.

After months of arduos experimentation, Emlyn finally breached the walls of the ancient sandpit, only to discover a makeshift tomb. Located at the centre of the tomb was a solid gold sarcophagus surrounded by an ethereal glowing energy. He did not know it at the time, but Emlyn Engel had just discovered the forgotten Pharaoh. As he removed the lid of the ancient sarcophagus, Emlyn was bewildered to discover that the creature (for no other word could adequately describe the decayed demagogue) was still alive!

Many years later, the source of the forgotten Pharoah's immortality, as well as his unparalleled powers of healing, were attributed to the strange, glowing, magical energy that surrounded his tomb. The discovery of the Pharoah, as well as the source of his legendary powers, was a momentous one. But it was not without tragedy. For the Pharoah had been driven mad by years of solitute within the tomb. He did not remember his name, his powers, nor whether the tomb had been a creation of his own...or of someone else's.

Taking the amnesiastic pharoah under his wing, Emlyn Engel returned to Paragon City. Adopting the name of his former home, the Pharoah began to call himself "Sandpit", and it was not long before the newspapers began to follow suit. As his exploration of Paragon City became a regular part of his everyday existence, Sandpit found himself becoming the sidekick to Emlyn Engel, who was himself a hero of the city of no small repute. Together they fought against many magical foes such as The Envoy of Shadows, Baron Zoria, The Cult of the Shaper, and the original Phanto.

Over the course of the decades that followed, Sandpit's powers would grow under Emlyn's tutelage until he had become an extremely powerful empath. Despite this, his offensive powers were severely limited. While he had the ability to summon and control sand, his destructive powers of earth control were nothing like legend had once claimed. Paragon City was not known for it's rolling tundra, so while Sandpit may have possessed great powers on his home continent, in Paragon City he did not.

In 2010, Sandpit joined the Old Guard as a teacher in their Steel Canyon Academy. This decision was spurred by the sorcerous superhero The Phantom Visage. He believed Sandpit's superior powers of empathy and long experienced lifespan would be an asset to the students. In addition to this, The Phantom Visage also believed that the otherworldly energy located within Sandpit's tomb was the key to unlocking the long-forgotten egyptian magic of Nectanebo. Something that the sorcerer had been chasing all of his life.

In mid 2011, Sandpit was one of the few heroes to survive Baron Blitzman's assault on the Old Guard Academy. That there were any survivors at all was thanks in no small part to Sandpit's own powers of healing. While he was able to save many heroes' lives, including the aged hero Springfist, from certain death, Sandpit still blamed himself for every single casualty. The Pharoah has not been seen since. Many believe he has retreated back home, to Saqqara, to the sandpit from which he was reborn.

Sandpit did emerge one, final, time on November 30th, 2012. He was one of the many magical heroes who died helping The Phantom Visage banish Rularuu back to the Shadow Shard, in an event that has become known as "The Battle for the Multiverse".