Teppic is the heir to the ancient kingdom of Djelibeybi - the Discworld's Egypt - who has spent the last few years training as an assassin in Ankh-Morpork. When his father dies, Teppic returns home to find a kingdom so obsessed with tradition and pyramid-building that it has forgotten how to do anything else. The pyramids are accumulating so much time that reality itself is buckling. A satire of tradition, priesthood, and the dead hand of the past.