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The establishment of the Ilkhanate has actually been beneficial to Kemet, as trade from Europe with the Orient has mostly shifted in the direction of Kemet and the Red Sea basin. This has meant also, that Kemet was receiving more income, allowing to build a larger army. The army of Kemet is much more diverse than the realm itself, and an important component of the Kemetic army are Arabs recruited in Hejaz, which remains a tributary state of Kemet, as well as the Nabatean kingdom. These two Arab realms provide substantial reservoirs of excellent cavalry. Another source of formidable desert warriors were the Oobja, known also as the Beja or the Blemmyes, living on the African coast of the Red S. The Beja were a Cushitic people, now fully Christianized and living within the borders of the authority of the King of Kemet.
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Beja warriors, equipped with characteristic circular shields, are employed by Kemet as light infantry
After the weakening of the Rhomaic Empire at Kelezene (1), and having lost much of Anatolia, Boutros the Builder, King of Kemet has decided that time has come seize the city of Alexandria, or as it ought to be called, Rakote. For over two centuries, Alexandria had been an autonomous city-state, being tributary of Kemet. The city had been namely home to a large Greek community, known as the Alexandrian Greeks. It had been hinted that should the Copts seek outright annexation of Alexandria, the Rhomaic Empire would step in. Now, with the Rhomaic Empire having to deal with the loss of Anatolia, Boutros the Builder sets on a campaign to end with the independence of this city-state. While the existing alliance with Lebanon was still valid, it appeared the Lebanese would not send their men overseas. This assumption proved to be correct, and as the Kemetic troops besieged Rakote, it was evident that the city founded by the great Macedonian conqueror was left alone. After three weeks of siege, the commander and the mayor offered surrender and Boutros enters the city at the head of his troops.

The city of Rakote, while being a great commercial centre and hub for the trade in Mediterranean is however not chosen as the new capital of Kemet. Amongst the reasons are its predominantly Greek population and Hellenistic roots, as well as its historical development, for the city had been long separated from the rest of Kemet. However, Alexandria becomes the new seat of the Coptic Pope, at least on paper, and the Greek Patriarch is by official royal decree expelled from the city, as there shall be one Patriarch in Alexandria – the Coptic one. A Greek bishop, however is permitted to reside in the city with the title “Bishop of the Greeks in Brucheum and Canopus”, with Brucheum being the name of the old Hellenistic neighbourhood of Alexandria, while Canopus was a Greek town found a few miles east of Alexandria itself.

The royal court of Kemet move however to the eastern edge of the Delta, to the city of Tamiat (2), located an analogous position to Alexandria – also located at the estuary of the Nile river, but on the eastern end of the Delta, much closer to the trade route crossing the Sinai to the Red Sea. This choice emphasizes the importance of the Spice Road linking the Mediterranean and Red Sea basins.
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The Sinai Peninsula is largely a desert landscape
However, with the fall of Jerusalem to the Ilkhanate, Kemet has lost a precious buffer state and faces the Ilkhanate alone. While an alliance with Jerusalem had been contemplated, the king dismissed it out of ideological reasons. After all, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established in the wars of the Holy Sepulchre as a fiercely Chalcedonian state. However, with the Ilkhanate controlling the Levant as far south as Gaza, Kemet feels threatened and rightfully so. The sole barrier between the Levant and the Nile Valley is the Sinai Peninsula – a wedge-shaped piece of arid desert, the inhospitality of which may be Kemet´s only shield to the invasions of the Naimans? Or perhaps not. Boutros the Builder, named so for his seizure of Rakote, is not going to leave anything to chance. The entire peninsula is garrisoned by the best and toughest of Arab skirmishers, prepared to ambush any attacking force out of nowhere and then perishing in the desert again. They are prepared to cut down any supply lines of the enemy, in order to make attrition in the Sinai as large as it possibly can become.

Even after marching across the desert, an invading army is going to have to face a major obstacle – the 130 km long stretch between the Mediterranean and the Red Seat at its narrowest is going to be defended by a massive wall, comparable to that of Hadrian running across Britain, to keep all invaders coming from Asia at bay.

The construction of this ambitious project is to begin at the Mediterranean shore and finish at the town of Suez. Labour shall be provided by slaves bought at Aden from merchants selling them from the Kinari Coast.
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A political map of Kemet and its neighbours
To the south of Kemet lie the two Nubian kingdoms – Makuria and Alodia. In the mid-thirteenth century, Makuria and Alodia are united under the crown of the latter. The royal line in Makuria has failed to produce a male heir, and the dynastic union, enabling the two culturally very close realms face common threats is heavy. Makuria had been facing prolonged periods of drought, while Alodia had been dealing with the threat coming from the Shilluk. The combined armies of Makuria and Alodia manage to defeat the Shilluk and retake the area that had been previously part of Alodia. The Shilluk themselves had been joined by other Nilotic groups coming from the marshes in the south, chiefly the Nuer and the Berta. Their continued raids have devastated much of Alodia´ s southern borderlands, but ultimately they have been thrown back into the marshy swamp.
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Religion in the Nile Basin
Regarding the western region of Darfur, the interactions with the Nile Valley are now more intensive as they had been, and the region shows a gradual conversion to Christianity, and the new religion is making further inroads into the society, as more warriors and village chieftains become baptized.

This brings us back to the Coptic Orthodox Church, the dominating jurisdiction among the Miaphysite communion. Originally, the Miaphysite family of churches had split from the Chalcedonian communion following a dispute over Christological questions. In the meantime, it had established a parallel church organization in the Afro-Asiatic provinces of the Rhomaic Empire – Egypt and Syria. Their faith later spread to their immediate neighbours: Armenians and Arabs by the Syrians and Nubians by the Copts. By the thirteenth century, the Syriac Orthodox are substantially weakened, and the Armenian and Himyarite Churches are the most serious competitors.

Previously, Axum was on a good road in achieving autocephaly, being the dominant power in the Horn of Africa region. By the year 1300, Ethiopia was one among many competitors for dominance in the region. One may object, that nominating capable bishops in a territory spanning from Berbera on the Red Sea to Tajuwa in the Darfur to the Nile Delta from one centre may not be the most efficient way. But that was not the goal. It was more a way of extending Kemetic influence further into much of north-eastern Africa. The previously stressed principle of establishing national churches was now reduced to theory, and the Coptic Church now exerts canonical control over the Nile Basin​