Questions on The Ankh and Immortality

[Vicious Love]

Bah, I still wouldn't forge the thing for more than ten gems. One can only muster so many hordes of maenads, thralls, and fortune-generated militia. Under most circumstances, skeleton spamming accomplishes everything Life After Death does, at no gem cost.
The Life After Death aspect of the D9 blessing is just barely worthwhile for initial expansion against low-level indies. Honestly, even if you recruit the max 10 sacred troops per turn(Until a second fort is built), the effect verges on negligible(Though the hefty fear factor is obviously useful).

Maybe if the thing functioned as one or more doses of Elixir of Life(As suggested above), or cast Twiceborn or Phoenix Pyre, or even Ritual of Rebirth(Making it the only means of mummifying a being not in the Hall of Heroes. No pretenders, though), it'd be worth the full cost.

[Lingchih]

And never equip it on your Pretender. I had a perfectly nice Father of Serpents that is now a rather ugly Souless Warrior.