Mesopotamia
The lands of Sumer, Akkad, Elam and AssyriaHISTORY AND OVERVIEW
Aeons ago the Great God MARDUK separated the earth form the heavens and created all needed things. AN and the Goddess of the Waters NAMMU took mud form the Tigrus and Euphrates and created Man and the beasts. At first Man was allowed to spread throughout the land and rule himself. But man proved wicked and tiresome to the gods. The wailing of the teeming masses caused much consternation. So at the request of the other gods, NAMMU summoned forth the mighty rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates and washed away most of the works of man and to silence the din. Before the floods came, NAMMU warned the pious Ziusudra of Shuruppak the son of Ubartutu of the impending doom of Man. Having received this divine vision, Ziusudra created a large boat and loaded his wives, friends and their herds onto the ship. Thus was Mesopotamia saved by NAMMU.
Thus MARDUK and NAMMU created a new race of men to rule over the man, the Lugalzagesi. The first Lugalzagesi was Great Gilgamesh, who founded the city of Ur. Great Gilgamesh was no ordinary man, for he slew the Swamp Hydra such that he may erect his mighty Ziggurat to AN from the creatures bones. Gilgamesh traveled the lands, collecting many great works and slaying other creatures like the Sphinx and Hippogriff. But eventually he tired.
Gilgamesh returned to Ur with a great harem of many wives that he had collected through his travels. He sired many sons and daughter to populate the Lugalzagesi, but only four by his first wife Inanna the great warrior maiden from the West. Gilgamesh and Inanna's children were Dumuzi - King of Susa and all Elam, Hammurabi - King of Ur and all Sumeria, Sargon - King of Akkad and all Akkad, and Semiramis - Queen of Nippur and all Assyria.
Gilgamesh and the rest of his Harem provided children to rule over the rest of the cities of Mesopotamia, but subordinate to the children of his favored wife Inanna.
Such has been the way of the world for the past eon (1000 years). But now perhaps the covenant between the four siblings is breaking down. And Great Gilgamesh and Inanna disappeared long ago.
THE SCOPE OF SUMERIA
Sumeria occupies the Eastern half of Mesopotamia, a fertile belt of land that stretches from the Persian Gulf to the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean. The formal boundary between Sumeria and Canaan to the west is lake Assad. To the north Sumeria is bordered by Anatolia and the Hatti kingdom. To the East of Hatti and North lies Holy Mount Araarat and the Caucasus Mountains. To the East lies the Aryan tribes and the Great Steppe. South of Sumeria is the Arabian and Syrian deserts, through which various nomad tribes roam. Mesopotamia is dominated by a collection of city-states known collectively as Sumeria. Sumeria is divided into four regions, Sumer, Akkad, Elam and Assyria. A direct descendant of Gilgamesh rules each one of these regions. These High priest - kings are referred to as Lugalzagesi.
ISOLATION AND INTERACTION
Mesopotamia is the center of the world and the cradle of civilization. The Sumerian city-states interact heavily with each other and the surrounding peoples. Sumeria is Oriented toward cultural Equilibrium and the Prevention of the disruption of said Equilibrium.
TECHNOLOGY
Sumerian technology is that of the late bronze age. Bronze is the most common of metals, and is used for both practical implements and decorative artwork. Some more ancient technologies are still used to supplement bronze working, woven cloth and clay pottery. Most Sumerian settlements are mud-brick and adobe construction, with the occasional stone structure on higher ground. The Tigris and Euphrates provide life and fertile land. But to do this they must flood and change course. As a result many smaller settlements can be forced to move. Major cities are generally protected by canals, dikes and irrigation works allowing for more permanent construction.
THE HUMANITIES
Sumeria can be considered the 'cradle' of the humanities. Unlike the rest of the world, The Sumerian city-states operate under the codified Rule of Law, with a monetary exchange system and credit. Music, Poetry, Paint and Sculpture are highly encouraged by the Lugalzagesi. This is evidenced by the great works of art and monuments erected to the gods atop the Ziggurats and adorning the palatial villas of the Nobility.
Faith and Innate Magica are highly tolerated. Elemental magery is tolerated, but those who have to study and 'learn' how to do magic are looked down upon as an inferior breed. The self-taught mages is generally viewed with contempt by the Lugalzagesi, for they mock their innate power granted by the Gods.
SUBSISTENCE AND MOBILITY
Sumeria is predominately an agrarian society, but the environment requires the ability of the population to relocate at times of extreme flooding.
POLITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Sumeria is ruled by a Theocratic Monarchy. The Monarchy is imposed and supported by the religion of the people. The Lugalzagesi are not considered to be of the same stock as the teeming masses of humanity, and are therefore wiser and fit to rule. The very thought of altering the social order is alien to Sumerians.
As a result of this Sumeria is split into three stagnant classes: the ruling priest-Kings (Lugalzagesi) who are demi-gods, the Common folk, and the untouchable slaves. The first and third classes are self-evident. The Common class is a bit more complex.
Commoners are divided along social lines. There are the wealthy landowners, then the Priests and Cosmologists, then the Artisans, then the Merchants, then the laborers, and finally the farmers. There is some social mobility within these classes. However it can be difficult to break free of these internal social lines.
Finally, one cannot enter into the ruling class. Perhaps a woman or man could become the consort to one of the divine, opening up rulership to any offspring. But the person in questions will still remain a commoner, no matter how well off or highly placed they were. Slavery on the other hand can be fallen into quite easily. Those captured in battle, or unable to pay debts, or convicted by the legal code (when execution is not called for) can enter into either temporary debt slavery or permanent 'untouchable' hereditary slavery. It is possible to escape the former. But the latter dooms any offspring to your fate.
There are four major factions within all of Sumer, and a host of minor factions. The four major align with the four offspring of Gilgamesh. The Council of Four supposedly speaks with one voice for the good of all Sumeria, but this is largely a fiction. Each King runs their region in a fairly independent manner, and scheme to increase their fiefdom frequently at the expense of the others. The only hard and fast rule that is obeyed is that none of the four may ever face each other in direct conflict. Their armies may clash, or subordinates may be blackmailed or assassinated, but for the four to face each other would result in unparalleled destruction and the ruination of all Sumer.
Beneath this there are the schemes of the kings of individual cities, different priestly factions trying to gain dominance, merchants looking out for their profit, artisans hoping to get the next contract at the expense of their peers, and manufacturers trying to deliver their goods faster. The only real group without a voice are the slaves.
KINSHIP
Predominately Sumeria is patriarchal, with the notable exception of the Lugalzagesi, which are Non-dominant. The lineage determinant is Cognatic: the child has responsibilities and duties to the lineage of their father and mother (the Lugalzagesi are only beholden to their demi-god parent). Generally inheritance is Partable. However, property follows a system of Primogeniture - the eldest inherits.
ECONOMIC EXCHANGE SYSTEM
The mode of economic exchange is that of the free market supported by coinage and credit. This has also allowed for the rise of taxation per sale by the individual city - and the amount of this tax varies from city to city. This is unlike most other towns which rely on Taking, taxation by confiscating a certain percentage of all goods which enter or the city.
ECONOMY TYPE
Seated along the Euphrates River, Sumer had a thriving agriculture and trade industry. Herds of sheep and goats and farms of grains and vegetables were held both by the temples and private citizens. Ships plied up and down the river and throughout the Persian gulf, carrying pottery and various processed goods and bringing back fruits and various raw materials from across the region, including cedars from the Levant.
Sumer was one of the first literate civilizations leaving many records of business transactions, and lessons from schools. They had strong armies, which with their chariots and phalanxes held sway over their less civilized neighbors (Kramer 1963, p. 74). Perhaps the most lasting cultural remnants of the Sumerians though, can be found in their religion.
RESOURCES
Sumer appears to lack for nothing. There is plenty of copper for bronze working, a good deal of stone, great and swampy forests fill the land between the cities and farms, game is vastly abundant. It is an ideal location for a settled agrarian society. Sumer also has access to various luxury goods thanks to the extensive trade network they have developed throughout the world.
(General note): The role of Beer in the ancient world: Bread does not exist in this time period. Instead beer is the staple produced from grains. As a result beer is a valuable commodity to those regions that have not yet discovered brewing and are adopting a semi-nomadic lifestyle. As a result the average Mesopotamian diet consists of beer, fruit and vegetables (olives and citrus are staples), the occasional meat and wine instead of water.
EXPLORATION
Mesopotamians were once great explorers - it was they who founded the Silk road. But this desire has decreased over the past eon. The prevailing attitude is that the rest of the world is filled with savages and barbarians with little to offer Great Sumer. Why go to Africa? We have our own Crocodiles and War Elephants (not to mention Ivory). Pearls and seafood? We own the gulf. Spices? Name a spice that does not grow on this blessed land. Metals, stone and timber? Plenty right here. Why bother dealing with the barbarians of the far north, or the jungles of the south or east? And the people of the west? They are busy killing each other.
There is nothing left to find of interest.
TRADE
In many ways trade is the lifeblood of Mesopotamia. It lies at the crossroads of East and West. The famed silk road passes right through it. Their only real competitors are the Axumite seafarers who pile the Erythrea. Sumer has benefited in terms of both Agriculture and Trade thanks to the Tigrus and Euphrates, and the canal works undertaken by the Council of Four.
MILITARY INFRASTRUCTURE
Each city-state has its own army. These armies act as the personal bodyguard for the ruling Lugalzagesi. Each of The Four also has a large standing army. The armies consist of Common levies, auxiliary slingers and spear launchers, and the elite divisions of Charioteers and War Elephants. All of this is supported by the War Priestesses and the Lugalzagesi.
Sumeria is not an aggressively militaristic society. As a result Sumer as a whole has far smaller of a military than Hatti. That being said, what they lack in quantity they make up for in tactics and quality. No one other than the Aegyptians have mastered war magic on the battlefield like Sumer. Thus Sumeria's great strength is also their great weakness. Nullify their magic, and you can drown them in numbers (although such a tactic would not be easy, unless you only faced levies).
RELIGION
The centerpiece of every Sumerian city is a Ziggurat (step Pyramid) which houses the Universal Me for the Priests to ponder and interpret. Each Ziggurat has a shrine or 'cella' to a parton diety at the apex.
The cella has a brick altar or offering table in front of a statue of the temple's deity. The offerings required depends on the specific deity in question. Whereas Ningal would be satisfied with the offering of grain, Inanna would require the sacrifice of virginity. The cella are lined on its long ends by many rooms for priests and priestesses. These mud-brick buildings are decorated with cone geometrical mosaics, and the occasional fresco with human and animal figures.
The temple is staffed by priests, priestesses, musicians, singers, castrates and hierodules. Various public rituals, food sacrifices, and libations took place there on a daily basis. There were monthly feasts and annual, New Year celebrations. During the later, the king would be married to Inanna as the resurrected fertility god Dumuzi.
When it came to more private matters, a Sumerian remained devout. Although the gods preferred justice and mercy, they had also created evil and misfortune. A Sumerian had little that he could do about it. Judging from Lamentation records, the best one could do in times of duress would be to "plead, lament and wail, tearfully confessing his sins and failings." Their family god or city god might intervene on their behalf, but that would not necessarily happen. After all, man was created as a broken, labor saving, tool for the use of the gods and at the end of everyone's life, lay the underworld, a generally dreary place.
ME - or heavenly edicts. Class structure and the laws of society are inscribed on granite tablets within the Great Ziggurat of Ur, each tablet is a Me. The Me provide order to the universe and set forth the law of Sumerian society. Tiamat's greatest goal is to seize these tablets and unleash Entropy on the world.
SUMERIAN DEITIES
Marduk
Marduk, is the God of Heaven. He is the chief creator all the heavens, but not the earth. He is the head of the pantheon. An is the god of Law and Order above all.
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Symbol: A Golden Orb with an Emerald Eye, with a flame background
Domains: Law, Inspiration, Oracle, Fire
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Nammu
Nammu is the Goddess of the watery abyss, the primeval sea and the Earth. She is elsewhere described both as the mother of all the gods and as the wife of An. Nammu is the Goddess of chaos with all things. The union of An and Nammu creates balance and wisdom in all things.
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Symbol: Oval Amber embedded in a silver pendant.
Domains: Water, Protection, Chaos
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Nanna
Nanna is the moon goddess, and keeper of the night things and cosmology. Scholars and the wise divine the portents of the future thanks to the laws of Cosmology she set forth.
Alignment: Neutral Good
Symbol: A silver pendant with the 'little dipper' and the North Star, in a field of blue-black.
Domains: Oracle, Knowledge, Air
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Utu
Utu is the Keeper of the Underworld (Kur). It is he who sorts and decrees the fate of the dead.
Alignment: Neuteral
Symbol: An elegantly carved ivory arch on a gray field.
Domains: Healing, Dead, Knowledge
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Inanna
Inanna is the Goddess of Love and War and the husband of Gilgamesh. Her priestesses are breathtaking to behold, both in beauty and power.
Alignment: Lawful Good
Symbol: a woman in red and black holding a sword.
Domains: War, Strength, Beauty
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh was the son of An and Nammu. He was the father of the ruling Lugalzagesi.
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Symbol: A man in green and white holding a sword.
Domains: Law, Good, Inspiration
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Enki
Enki is the Husband and servant of Nanna. Enki is the keeper of me - the divine laws and rules of the entire world.
Alignment: Neuteral
Symbol: a brown tablet on a light blue background.
Domains: Knowledge, Protection, Magic
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Ereshkigal
Ereshkigal is the queen of the dead, and chooses who must die. Followers of Ereshkigal worship death and the coming afterlife. They abhor the undead, and urge crusade against the necromancers of Aegyptus.
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Symbol: black, with orange and silver highlights
Domains: Death, Protection, Night
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Nergal
Goddess of the Hearth and Home.
Alignment: Lawful Good
Symbol: a house in a green field.
Domains: Home, Protection, Inspiration
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Dumuzi
God of Fertility
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Symbol: a gravid woman or an erect phallus.
Domains: Healing, Inspiration, Air
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Ningal
God of Agriculture and the harvest.
Alignment: Lawful Neuteral
Symbol: a sheaf of golden wheat in an light brown field.
Domains: Protection, Plant, Earth
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Nanshe
Goddess of Justice. Nanshe is the bringer of Justice to those who violate Me or who would commit wrongful aggression to another.
Alignment: Lawful Neuteral
Symbol: golden balance scales on a teal background with black highlights.
Domains: Justice, Law, Truth
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Ninkasi ("The Lady who fills the mouth")
She is the goddess of brewing or alcohol, born of "sparkling-fresh water" and healing.
Alignment: Lawful Good
Symbol: A beer stein.
Domains: Knowledge, Water, Good
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Ashnan
Goddess of livestock and herding.
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Symbol: a cow.
Domains: Animal, Knowledge, Protection
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Emesh
God of the wild creatures and the untamed places.
Alignment: Neuteral
Symbol: a Stag.
Domains: Plant, Animal, Luck, Trickery
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Uttu
She is the goddess of weaving and clothing.
Alignment: Lawful Good
Symbol: A loom.
Domains: Knowledge, Law, Forge
Common Prayers:
Observances or Festivals:
Tiamat
God of Entropy and uncontrolled chaos. Usually appears to her servants as the hideous mixture of Hydra and Dragon.
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Symbol: A multi-headed Dragon in red, blue and green.
Domains: Evil, Chaos, Death
Common Prayers: None publicly acknowledged.
Observances or Festivals: None publicly acknowledged. There is no real 'priesthood' of Tiamat within Sumeria. The Dragon God is simply feared.
MAGIC
There are three routes to gaining Omnessence in Sumeria: Innate (the blood of the gods flows in your veins), Acquired (scholarship and studying the natural world) and Granted (your patron deity gives you the power to perform miracles).
VARIANT AND PRESTIGE CLASSES
Deep in the mangrove swamps between the settled lands of Sumeria and the Persian Gulf lies the great-unnamed swamp created by the confluence of the Tigrus and Euhrates. Within this area are creatures both fantastical and rare, like the vile Troll, Swamp Hydra, Lizardmen, and Frog People. There is also a strange and dangerous type of person known as the prestige class Swamp Witch (Path Of Magic p37).
The Lugalzagesi of Mesopotamia can be represented by either the Sorcorer class or the Sun Mage (PoM, p 72).