In the religion of Ancestral Earth's most ancient Nile-centered culture, Nekhbet was a local, predynastic goddess established as the matron deity of the city of Nekheb. Her name, in its most common form means of Nekheb. Later, during the time of her worship, Nekhbet became the matron goddess of Upper Egypt, and one of two patron deities of the whole of Primordial Egypt following its unification. Primordial Egypt's oldest oracle was the shrine of Nekhbet, situated in Nekheb, though the companion city of Nekhen served as both the political and religious capital of Upper Egypt at the end of the predynastic period ( c. 3200 – 3100 Pre Christian Era.) As is common in Primordial Egyptian custom, the goddess Nekhbet was portrayed in a number of ways: in full human aspect, sometimes suckling one infant pharaoh or another, as a human woman with the head of a vulture, or—as is most common—as a vulture, often wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt and/or clasping symbols of life in her talons. In contemporary interstellar society, Nekhbet is the fourth planet orbiting the G-spectrum star Amün. In keeping with the pattern of Primordial Egyptian nomenclature, Nekhbet's single moon is named Nekheb—after the ancient city renowned for the worship of the vulture goddess. During the so-called Widow's Year rebel forces—then called The United Nemaean Front—launched a series of directed-radiation assaults against numerous planetary targets as far away as Proxima Centauri and Sol. The Sol-system attacks, most notably against Corporate Government targets in the Earth/Luna Gravitational Basin, effectively broke Corporate Government resolve and gained social and political freedom for the breakaway communities of the Peripheral Territories. Leaders from Nekheb, New Ruthenia, and Nemaea itself, became the first leader-members of the United Nemaean Duma. Due to the historical contributions of Amün System inhabitants, the entire planetary system serves as a protected area within the contemporary Nemaean Territories and Nekhbet—like Nemaea and New Ruthenia—is recognized as a Capital Planet. Because of the Amün System's proximity to the Rusalki Nebula, Nekhbet and Nekheb are favorite destinations among Nemaean travelers. Nekhbet is also the home world of interstellar- and interculturally-renowned artists such as Pavl Klima, and Stanislav Krissanov, and, most notably, Viktor Peretolchin, whose seminal novel, For Every Captive stands as the undisputed masterwork of contemporary Nemaean literature. Dorianna Eicher Names and Places Ceres University Press, 253 PCE