ThreeA - Adventure Kartel : KA Mumb.

Your life happening again, without your ba being kept away from your divine corpse, with your ba being together with the akh ... You shall emerge each day and return each evening. A lamp will be lit for you in the night until the sunlight shines forth on your breast. You shall be told: "Welcome, welcome, into this your house of the living!" - Description on the tomb of Paheri, translated by James P. Allen.

The steam powered mumb. 5000 years in the making.

A (mis) interpretation:

Unit type: Steam powered embalmed corpse.

Model type: Mūmiya (مومياء)

Designation: KA Mumb - Lot No. 249.

Affiliation: The Sydow Famiglia / The Cult of Osiris.

Power plant: Kebechet - ultra compact steam engine.

Abilities: Semi-immortality/de-accelerated aging; defunct physiology; solar energy absorption; enhanced strength; hibernation; pain suppression; sand manipulation; insect manipulation; tektakinesis.

Std. armaments: None.

1989. Bleak Mission has succeed in locating the Tomb of Imhotep, at Saqqara in The Republic of Middle East but not before battling the tomb guardians, both dead and alive. Imhotep was an Egyptian polymath, who served under the Third Dynasty king Djoser in the 27th Century BC as chancellor to the pharaoh and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis and historically considered by some to be the earliest and greatest known architect and engineer and physician in early history. Bleak's mission (pun intended) is to obtain an ancient papyrus scrolls, Book of Coming Forth by Day, which contain instructions to resurrect embalmed corpse. Both the tomb and its eternal sleeper inside, and the scrolls are Fed-Ex to Baron Seth von Sydow and the Governor General of pre-destruction Andria keeps them in his Black Library, later forgotten.

2001. The dhampir Governor decides to use the instructions and methods stated in the papyrus scrolls to re-animate the New Luxor embalmed corpses in order to reinforce the defence of New Andria against the Zombs Horde in the Z War and later, the Zombots in the Robot Islands War. Unfortunately, several important sections are missing from the scrolls, which Bleak has intentionally taken. The spells of Ib (heart), Sheut (shadow), Ren (name) are present but the Ba (personality) and Ka (spirit) are absent. Without the spells of the two elements, the Akh or entity, could not be formed nor summoned. This means the 5000 years old embalmed corpses could not be brought to life. This results in the Baron reverting to alternative means to fill in the gaps. After numerous attempts, including prayers and offerings, the KA Mumbs are born, with Ka being the vital essence, that which distinguishes the difference between a living and a dead person. The KA Mumbs are not ideally perfect as the Akh has not manifested and recalled back from the Realm of Osiris. But the Baron deems the KA Mumbs satisfactory enough to carry out their primary functions of countering the Zombs and Zombots assaults. On a hindsight, Seth has done the right thing, for if the Akh were to manifest and taken forms within the Mumbs, he could not have controlled them as easy as now. They would have their own thoughts, intellect equal to their previous lives, corrupted by ambitions and rebellious. Through ingenuity, the Baron designs and attaches an ultra compact steam engine which is plugged into each of these KA Mumbs. The steam turbine extracts thermal energy from the pressurized steam, and through its rotary motion, drives a separate electrical generator to animate the Mumbs. The Baron name these steam engines as Kebechet, in honour of the goddess of embalming liquid.

The KA Mumbs are devoid of any of their former lives' personality due to the absence of the Ba. Few possesses slight intelligence with rudimentary skills of speech. Some are complete, mindless automatons and could only carry out their tasks with certain spells. Yet, they are formidable and relentless in combat, marching forwards like perfect foot soldiers, never taking a step backward. The KA Mumbs would never question the Baron, whom holds the spell of mastery over them, and obeys all his orders perfectly.

Fuelled by their ability to absorb solar radiation energy, KA Mumbs would become exceptionally strong, with enhanced endurance and durability in increasing exponential rate based on the time they are exposed in the sun. They are independent of oxygen requirement, immune to all forms of disease, self-sustenance and incapable of feeling pain. Their mummified skins serve as a form of dermal protection. They carry a mutated form of the black mold, Aspergillus niger on their bodies, and when inhale in large amount, it could destroy living lungs, as well as causing ear infections, leading to hearing loss, severe ear canal and tympanic membrane damages. They exhibits ability to summon great numbers of scarab beetles which would strip away the diseased flesh of a Zomb, leaving it to nothing. The KA Mumbs also possesses tektakinesis, shooting out their linen wrappings at their enemies, choking, strangling and crushing them to death. They could summon elemental power in the form of bring forth massive sand storms to overwhelm their enemies of greater numbers.  

The KA Mumbs gradually becomes weak as nightfall, making them sluggish and physically vulnerable. They are children of the sun, and are required to return to sleep in their sarcophagi to rejuvenate. Otherwise, they would reach a physical state where their shrivelled bodies would become extremely fragile, become immobilise, and when struck, the Mumbs would instantaneously disintegrate and crumble into dusts like made of sands. Some KA Mumbs are reported to self-combust, due to overheating. They are also susceptible to flames as a result of their embalming process which involve mixture of highly flammable substances. Certain spells of undoing could reduce them to no more than a pile of rags and bones. As such, the Baron put in protective charms, spells, and written glyphs onto the linen of the various KA Mumbs.

The Baron, regardless, is fond of them, whether as a means to his end or to gain the favour of Osiris. Combine with the ANKOUs robot protectors of New Andria, the Mumbs could more than match the Plague Lord, Zomb MD's own horde of Zombs.

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The KA Mumb was offered last year as blind single colour-ways, which means you won't know what colour would get till you get it, as well as a complete all four colour-ways pack. These include white, yellow, red, and green. The secret drop of the day is a camo version. I passed the Mumbs, as my mind isn't into to, only to my occasional regret for not obtaining it. I finally made up my mind and pull the trigger on the secondary market for one, at a curiously very reasonable price, for the yellow version one. Fully wrapped in Band Aid, with a steam / boiler pack attach to its back and hoses, it is a special figure seeing it in hand. I know nuts about the Adventure Kartel universe, with the exception of the one sheet comic and poster which comes with almost every 3A figures, so I have to resort to gleaming various infos about mummy, Egyptian deities and Boris Karloff. As well as thermo dynamics. I just love the cycle of liking a 3A fig, then go on to check on the stuffs all over the net, perhaps gaining some half baked general knowledge in the process. With a twist from my imagination of course.