Taking the ancient near east as inspiration, I've been germinating an idea of a bronze age world circa 2000 BC, maybe pushing as late as 1200 BC.
civilization, such as it is, is centered on a few Riverside or Coastal cities, barely connected by waterborne trade, with unknown and unknowable wilderness in between. Ghosts of failed cities populate the land from the empires that came before, and collapsed.
Each region is dominated by a single race, though small tribes of everything can be found in any state, dating from times when the region was conquered by only one or two empires and communication was easy.
Humans are centered in the rich land between the Rivers: Mesopotamia. Babylon. The city of Babylon is the capital of the human world and its learning, such as it is, even after its Empire fell 5 generations ago (about 120-150 years ago). Some of the afterglow is still there in the city.
southward, in the marshy lands where the two rivers create a delta, merging together in one swampy land, is the Sumerian domain of the Halflings. halflings also master the riverine trade up both rivers right into the mountains to the north.
Egypt, a land of mysteries and magic, including the collapsed Old Kingdom which once ruled much of the entire region 1000 years ago, is the land of the Eladrin. The Feywild is a jungle land, an echo of the former Saharan Jungle that existed over 10,000 years ago, when the Eladrin were truly at their peak of power, before the kinswars that forever separated them from the Elves, and before any other races were in the area.
In the forests of southeastern Asia Minor stretching south into Lebanon and east to the lands of the rivers are the forest domains of the Hittite Elves
Between Babylon, the Hittites and Egypt lies Canaan, heavily populated by Half Elves. Many coastal cities thrive on wheat and olives and oranges.
North of the forests, where the Rivers meet their sources in the Zagros mountains, lies the mountain fastnesses of the Dwarves. The Zagros mountains stretch southeastward to the great sea, staying eastward of the great rivers. This land of plateaus and mountain passes are the domain of the Medean Tieflings, who once ruled this place with a great empire that contested with the Great Eladrin and Dragonborn Empires a thousand years before.
Rumors say that beneath the mountainsis a vast underground world exists with its own nations of Kobolds, evil Elves, and other, lesser known creatures. (basically the Underdark under the Zagros mountains and the Caucasses mountain ranges). The mountains to the north of the Dwarves are home to giants, ettercaps, and other fierce creatures
The vast deserts to the southwest of the rivers were once home to the Mighty dragonborn empire. Now ruled by Djinn and Efreet, most Genasi come from its depths (The Arabian Desert, stretching into the Negev).
Dragonborn still have a few cities on the shores of the lands south and east of the Halflings' domain (basically the persian gulf coast, and the land the Babylonians called Edam, a little pocket between the Tigris and the mountains), but have long fallen from their great empire.
In the middle of all of this is the newest Empire to have formed, united together under a fell banner, Orcs, goblins, Hobgoblins, and other monstrous creatures have combined to form Assyria, feared by all and threatening to conquer a new Empire to take over all the land.
lands more distant than these (say Greece & Crete, India, Nubia, north africa beyond Egypt, and China) are Terra Incognita...too far away for any news to exist of them beyond maybe a rumored name.
Generally its a time between empires. Assyria has such a VERY nasty reputation that it's an easy target as 'the Big Bad' -- none of the surviving writings ever say anything good about them. Assyria is an organized Evil empire, while everything else is squabbling city states. Assyria is also what probably brought down the previous (human) Empire, explaining why monsters are so thick between cities. That failed to hold together after the death of the war leader about 80 years ago, leading to the current state of affairs. A NEW War leader has begun to reunite the monstrous tribes however\
Because of the previous empires, while some areas are dominated by specific races, members of any race can be found in any area. The ancient empires (Eladrin, Dragonborn, and Tiefling) usually mentioned in the Player Handbook would not have existed in teh real world, but fit with the 'multiple fallen empires' feel that D&D wants to go for, so I placed them as having contested with earch other from say 4000-3000 BCE. Thoughts and Ideas towards this?
this is a rough draft right now
I would include that the Phoenecian navigators have an accurate map (maybe jealously-guarded personal prize possession) of the whole Mediterannean. In bits and pieces; you have to talk to a hundred navigators to get the whole picture. A few - plot device - know of places like the Red Sea, Spain / France coasts, Sahara coast along Atlantic, Persian Gulf, coast of Pakistan to the Indus R, Ukraine / Crimea. Other navigators have Atlantis, Lemuria, Hyperborea, or Ultima Thule on their map. This knowledge is not shared with foreigners or competitors without VERY GOOD reason.
You are probably going to have to give everybody Linguist as a free feat, unless you want a bunch of stay-at-home campaigns.
Some other Ideas I'm working on for this world:
the Three earlier Empires (The Medes -- who were Humans at the time, Dragonborn, and Eladrin) fought a massive magical war between them that brought all of them down. In this War the Medean Pact with demonic power brought on the Godswar, which shattered the landscape. Becoming Tieflings was the curse on the Medes for their responsibility in all but destroying the world. The Godswar ended with the outright death of many gods: When a swarm of demons slay your fertility goddess, it wrecks the crops leading to famine and starvation, and officially ended with the plunging of Tiamat into the dark sea to the North, now known as the Death Sea, or Black Sea. Tiamat was probably slain by the Human hero Gilgamesh, which spared his people (the peoples between the rivers) from the curse that fell on the shattered Medes after the war (Becoming Tieflinfgs). Her falling into the sea created a massive flood that lasted for many days throughout the known world that swept the final armies away and left the land broken.
The Eladrin Empire was changed into a massive desert when the war nearly severed their connection to the Feywild, and their empire shrank to the Egyptibn "Old Kingdom" clustered around the River Nile. The plains of the Dragon Empire were converted to a desert as well, from the sheer force of magical power unleashed in the final battle between the Gods and the Demons and the Primordials in the middle of the empire.
Because of the Godswar, the Gods no longer manifest directly, having avatars at best.
these events should happen between 4000 and 3000 BC, with the game set between 2000 and 1800 BC. (with differing numbers of course)
A probably campaign arc: Help clear monsters out from a trade route between two cities. expanding by early paragon to finding and defeating the Assyrian Leader. the from there going to challenge the God(s) trying to take over the world in the wake of the rest of the god's refusal to manifest in the world again.
a collectiuon of barely connected city-states, who rule only the territory with in a day or a day-and-a-night of its city walls, with the rest of the world untamed wilderness. a Perfect 4E setting. But also the real world of the near east from 4000B.C. to 600 BC.
Taking the ancient near east as inspiration, I've been germinating an idea of a bronze age world circa 2000 BC, maybe pushing as late as 1200 BC.
civilization, such as it is, is centered on a few Riverside or Coastal cities, barely connected by waterborne trade, with unknown and unknowable wilderness in between. Ghosts of failed cities populate the land from the empires that came before, and collapsed.
Each region is dominated by a single race, though small tribes of everything can be found in any state, dating from times when the region was conquered by only one or two empires and communication was easy.
Humans are centered in the rich land between the Rivers: Mesopotamia. Babylon. The city of Babylon is the capital of the human world and its learning, such as it is, even after its Empire fell 5 generations ago (about 120-150 years ago). Some of the afterglow is still there in the city.
southward, in the marshy lands where the two rivers create a delta, merging together in one swampy land, is the Sumerian domain of the Halflings. halflings also master the riverine trade up both rivers right into the mountains to the north.
Egypt, a land of mysteries and magic, including the collapsed Old Kingdom which once ruled much of the entire region 1000 years ago, is the land of the Eladrin. The Feywild is a jungle land, an echo of the former Saharan Jungle that existed over 10,000 years ago, when the Eladrin were truly at their peak of power, before the kinswars that forever separated them from the Elves, and before any other races were in the area.
In the forests of southeastern Asia Minor stretching south into Lebanon and east to the lands of the rivers are the forest domains of the Hittite Elves
Between Babylon, the Hittites and Egypt lies Canaan, heavily populated by Half Elves. Many coastal cities thrive on wheat and olives and oranges.
North of the forests, where the Rivers meet their sources in the Zagros mountains, lies the mountain fastnesses of the Dwarves. The Zagros mountains stretch southeastward to the great sea, staying eastward of the great rivers. This land of plateaus and mountain passes are the domain of the Medean Tieflings, who once ruled this place with a great empire that contested with the Great Eladrin and Dragonborn Empires a thousand years before.
Rumors say that beneath the mountainsis a vast underground world exists with its own nations of Kobolds, evil Elves, and other, lesser known creatures. (basically the Underdark under the Zagros mountains and the Caucasses mountain ranges). The mountains to the north of the Dwarves are home to giants, ettercaps, and other fierce creatures
The vast deserts to the southwest of the rivers were once home to the Mighty dragonborn empire. Now ruled by Djinn and Efreet, most Genasi come from its depths (The Arabian Desert, stretching into the Negev).
Dragonborn still have a few cities on the shores of the lands south and east of the Halflings' domain (basically the persian gulf coast, and the land the Babylonians called Edam, a little pocket between the Tigris and the mountains), but have long fallen from their great empire.
In the middle of all of this is the newest Empire to have formed, united together under a fell banner, Orcs, goblins, Hobgoblins, and other monstrous creatures have combined to form Assyria, feared by all and threatening to conquer a new Empire to take over all the land.
lands more distant than these (say Greece & Crete, India, Nubia, north africa beyond Egypt, and China) are Terra Incognita...too far away for any news to exist of them beyond maybe a rumored name.
Generally its a time between empires. Assyria has such a VERY nasty reputation that it's an easy target as 'the Big Bad' -- none of the surviving writings ever say anything good about them. Assyria is an organized Evil empire, while everything else is squabbling city states. Assyria is also what probably brought down the previous (human) Empire, explaining why monsters are so thick between cities. That failed to hold together after the death of the war leader about 80 years ago, leading to the current state of affairs. A NEW War leader has begun to reunite the monstrous tribes however\
Because of the previous empires, while some areas are dominated by specific races, members of any race can be found in any area. The ancient empires (Eladrin, Dragonborn, and Tiefling) usually mentioned in the Player Handbook would not have existed in teh real world, but fit with the 'multiple fallen empires' feel that D&D wants to go for, so I placed them as having contested with earch other from say 4000-3000 BCE. Thoughts and Ideas towards this?
From my readings of ancient Mesopotamian history, and really for ancient history for many centuries to come, much of it can be viewed (to an extent) of the struggle between the nomadic pastorliasts, the people who lived on the back of horses or camels and didn't stay in one location, and those who were urban agriculturalists, those who lived in cities and farmed and stayed put, building permanent structures. That might be a major theme in the campaign, perhaps some gods or some races haven't accepted the notion that farming and cities is the way to go and the future of such living is still in doubt.
Several once bustling and major Mesopotamian cities are now just forlorn ruins in the desert as the rivers can change course. Perhaps in this setting a deity or a powerful priest-king or wizard can cause a city to die out by altering the course of rivers. There is a river priestes btw in the Sandstorm supplement, it would seem to me to be a great fit for your setting.
I like the idea of goblinoids forming Assyria, as some historians have seen the Assyrians as great empire builders but not ones who cared a lot about the regions they conquered, being almost thug-like (but using religion to justify their actions). It is believed by many that they were a key player in beginning the end for Egyptian civilization as well as allowing the Greek city-states to eclipse the Phoenicians.
I would embrace the monsters of the setting, stay away from ones that are not a fit for the legends of the time. Sphinxes would be great for instance. The marrut of the Sandstorm book. The sirrush if you can get stats for that. Including Greek mythos which is a bit richer in monsters but still have a good ancient feel for a setting I would include medusa, harpies (and sirens, make two varieties, one vile to look upon, one beautiful and maybe not always evil), gorgons, hydras, minotaurs, unicorns, pegasi, perytons, centaurs, satyrs, dryads, nereids, oreads, hags, leucrotta, chimera, scylla (from the Stormwrack supplement), and maybe the catoblepas (though that is Roman). Might want to experiment with the Monster of Legend template, make for instance THE Minotaur.
I wouldn't use a lot of undead despite your fallen empires feel with city-states having come and gone (a major feature of Mesopotamian history as one dynasty was replaced by another and then replaced by a different city-state all together), none of these ancient cultures were especially big on undead. Ghosts, shades, wraith is about as far a I would go. Maybe skeletons though that is more from the movies than from actual myth.
Magic might be interesting. The Mespotamians didn't use paper, they used clay tablets or cylinders made of various stones. The Egyptians used papyrus later on, they might have a real advantage with spell books. Prieslty magic should dominate, whether thanks to the living gods of Egypt or the priest-kings of Mespotoamia. Other cultures, a Greek or Phoenican type, might start experimenting with wizardly magic, getting away from being quite so dominated by their deities (though still being quite religious).
As clay, both sun-dried and bricks that were baked, were important in Mesopotamia possibly make clay magic important. Clay golems would not be out of place, perhaps there could be variants (like there are variant war forged and homunculi in Eberron).
From my readings of ancient Mesopotamian history, and really for ancient history for many centuries to come, much of it can be viewed (to an extent) of the struggle between the nomadic pastorliasts, the people who lived on the back of horses or camels and didn't stay in one location, and those who were urban agriculturalists, those who lived in cities and farmed and stayed put, building permanent structures. That might be a major theme in the campaign, perhaps some gods or some races haven't accepted the notion that farming and cities is the way to go and the future of such living is still in doubt.
Several once bustling and major Mesopotamian cities are now just forlorn ruins in the desert as the rivers can change course. Perhaps in this setting a deity or a powerful priest-king or wizard can cause a city to die out by altering the course of rivers. There is a river priestes btw in the Sandstorm supplement, it would seem to me to be a great fit for your setting.
I like the idea of goblinoids forming Assyria, as some historians have seen the Assyrians as great empire builders but not ones who cared a lot about the regions they conquered, being almost thug-like (but using religion to justify their actions). It is believed by many that they were a key player in beginning the end for Egyptian civilization as well as allowing the Greek city-states to eclipse the Phoenicians.
I would embrace the monsters of the setting, stay away from ones that are not a fit for the legends of the time. Sphinxes would be great for instance. The marrut of the Sandstorm book. The sirrush if you can get stats for that. Including Greek mythos which is a bit richer in monsters but still have a good ancient feel for a setting I would include medusa, harpies (and sirens, make two varieties, one vile to look upon, one beautiful and maybe not always evil), gorgons, hydras, minotaurs, unicorns, pegasi, perytons, centaurs, satyrs, dryads, nereids, oreads, hags, leucrotta, chimera, scylla (from the Stormwrack supplement), and maybe the catoblepas (though that is Roman). Might want to experiment with the Monster of Legend template, make for instance THE Minotaur.
I wouldn't use a lot of undead despite your fallen empires feel with city-states having come and gone (a major feature of Mesopotamian history as one dynasty was replaced by another and then replaced by a different city-state all together), none of these ancient cultures were especially big on undead. Ghosts, shades, wraith is about as far a I would go. Maybe skeletons though that is more from the movies than from actual myth.
Magic might be interesting. The Mespotamians didn't use paper, they used clay tablets or cylinders made of various stones. The Egyptians used papyrus later on, they might have a real advantage with spell books. Prieslty magic should dominate, whether thanks to the living gods of Egypt or the priest-kings of Mespotoamia. Other cultures, a Greek or Phoenican type, might start experimenting with wizardly magic, getting away from being quite so dominated by their deities (though still being quite religious).
As clay, both sun-dried and bricks that were baked, were important in Mesopotamia possibly make clay magic important. Clay golems would not be out of place, perhaps there could be variants (like there are variant war forged and homunculi in Eberron).
the conflict between Urban and Pastoral is certainly there, but it is NOT linked to any particular race. There are human nomads with pastoral migration lifestyle, and Orcish cities (Ninevah, Ashur).
I've toyed with the Drow coming from Nubia orginally, but that may have Unfortunate Implications, as Nubia was regularly a vassal state of Egypt. Though having the Drow have good reason to revolt is at least interesting.
As for Magic: One important bit is that Writing is, in effect, Magic in and of itself. the Sumerian cuneiform writing and Heiroglyphics are not just for record keeping, but are the languages of magic. Magery isn't spoken, its always written Humans and Eladrin invented writing independently, and most people use the Human Cuneiform. "Most People" being about 3% of the entire population. If you want to know how to write and aren't an arcane caster (Wizard and Warlock. Clerics tend to be scribes and will also know how to read), you must spend a language to know how to read and write. On the note of clay and papyrus: the Warlock tradition will come from the Sumerian language, wizardy from Egypt. Wizards with a scrollbook of papyrii written in Heiroglyphs, Warlocks with rods or thick wands of clay or bronze with Cuneiform imprinted in its form.
I like the idea of a bronze age campaign, will continue to check back with this discussion.
To have an actual helpful part of this post, check out Dark Sun, which holds very closely to the setting your describing.
If you want to run a true Bronze Age setting, then keep in mind that magic will be very scarce. Rome hasn't risen yet, so there aren't any great fallen civilizations. Egypt is waning, and most of the Middle East consists of small cities and sheep herders. Law will be non-existent, and human sacrifice, murder, genocide will be very, very, common. As such, I like your current setting style better.:P
To have an actual helpful part of this post, check out Dark Sun, which holds very closely to the setting your describing.
With all due respect, I like Dark Sun, but that is utterly unlike a Mesopotamian or Bronze Age setting.
I don't think the poster meant there were lots of fallen civilizations but there were city-states that fell by the wayside. Mesopotamian history is filled with failed city-states and empires, as first there were Sumerians, then Akkadians, later came Babylonians, Assyrians, the Neo-Babyloninans, then the Persians and then the Greek. Of course there were other cultures nearby like the Elamites, the Lydians, the Hittites, the Phoenicians....lots of potential for ruins.
With all due respect, I like Dark Sun, but that is utterly unlike a Mesopotamian or Bronze Age setting.
I don't think the poster meant there were lots of fallen civilizations but there were city-states that fell by the wayside. Mesopotamian history is filled with failed city-states and empires, as first there were Sumerians, then Akkadians, later came Babylonians, Assyrians, the Neo-Babyloninans, then the Persians and then the Greek. Of course there were other cultures nearby like the Elamites, the Lydians, the Hittites, the Phoenicians....lots of potential for ruins.
what I chuckle at is the thought that there weren't any fallen civilizations before Rome
in any case, I'm looking for more input on the nature of Magic, especially the written idea, and ideas on how to map out the Godswar.
Also I need to fit in Gilgamesh somewhere.
A point on Africa, Europe, and such: at this point in time, these places (except maybe proto-cities on islands in the Aegean and maybe a few points on the Nile in Nubia), they are UNCIVILIZED in its most literal extent: No Cities. There are proto-cities in the Indus Valley in this time period, and actual cities in China on the Yangtze, but those are too far away to affect the main game world, centered on the Tigris and Euphrates
any comments? advice? suggestions? I'm hoping to flesh out a timeline, then flesh out a few possible starting places: Babylon, Ur, Ugarit, and Memphis, but I'm still open to suggestions
bump?
any comments? advice? suggestions? I'm hoping to flesh out a timeline, then flesh out a few possible starting places: Babylon, Ur, Ugarit, and Memphis, but I'm still open to suggestions
Wish I could help more. I read two books on Mesopotamian history this summer, The Sumerians and Ancient Iraq and I had wracked my brain trying to come up with something more to post.
With regards to magic, from what I could see these people, particulalry the Sumerians, believed more in priestly magic than anything. The Sumerians felt the connection between their ruler and the deities was very close, but as time went on and later cultures within Mesopotamia succeeded it, the connectoin seemed to me to not seem quite as intimate.
Later cultures like the Assyrians, despite being definitely not Sumerian did at least pay lip service if not outright worship the deities of the culture they just conquered.
I just didn't get any impression of any tradition of wizardly magic within these cultures. They did believe a lot in astrology so perhaps you could do something with that, maybe either make a wizard who uses the alignment of the stars or planes (Eberron has something like that) or make anyone who is an astrologer basically a wizard. They would be extraordinarly rare and probably serve the royal court, don't know how much running around they could do. Even the low level ones would be busy studying.
Maybe you could get around the problem with having mages and spellcasters from other cultures but I don't think anyone else except maybe the Phoenicians, if you have them, and the Egyptians might have wizards. The Egyptian wizards would serve the royal court (if they weren't royalty themselves) but again I think far and away priests would dominate in Egypt, in fact more so than in Mesopotamia.
The Phoenicians are a better bet I would think, they didn't seem quite a tied to a royal court, had more independent operators (they were of course very well known for going trading throughout the ancient world until the Assyrians pretty much wiped them out).
There was a D20 book a few years ago that had an Old Testament RPG setting, complete with Egyptian, Assyrian, Caananite, and yes Hebrew character classes, spells, and the like. I don't know who made it or what it was called but it might be something to look up.
I think by and large a setting like this would far and away just simply be fighters. If you include barbarian groups, sure, some barbarians, maybe rangers. Few if any thieves, rogues, what have you. Druids aren't a good fit. Priests, sure, but they would be afforded a great deal more respect than in a typical D&D setting.
I have the 2E book Creative Campaiging, and it has 3 pages on a Mesopotamia setting. Doesn't say a whole lot you probably don't already know, talking about city-states, mud brick construction, city rulers being god-kings, city gods, larger pantheons worshipped by all the city-states, Tiamat being the main evil deity, gods like Marduk fighting Tiamat, rivaly between city-states being one of the main sources of adventure, temples playing a big role in adventuring, priests holding a great deal of political and social power, and listing some of the monsters suitable for such a setting, such as cenaturs, chimera, leucrotta, nagas, and the like.
It also provides stats for Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
Earlier on in the book they provide info on a Bronze Age setting. Some suggestions:
-world dvidided into many small kingdoms and city-states, often suspicous of one another
-Gods are seen to walk the land along with legendary monsters and heroes.
-Gods seen to take active roles, sides in human conflicts
-Omens and prophecies carry much weight. Soothsayers and oracles highly respcted (this stayed true through Roman times).
-Small numbers of heroes could make big differences (look at the 300 at Thermopylae).
-Rangers do not exist.
-It takes longer to cast wizardly spells and spells above six do not exist.
-Clerics and druids very powerful but the gods are fickle and getting spells not guaranteed (nor their success when cast).
-No locks exist, so no lockpicking skills.
-Bards are very important.
-Barter is big but many of the city-states are developing currency.
Your suggestions may be leaning toward realism a little *too* much. I'm trying to throw a Dungeons & Dragons feel on it, so keep an eye towards that. Based on reality, but filtered through a D&D/Pulp lens
I worry I've neglected the Dwarves up in the Zagros and Tarsus mountains: anyone have suggestions for them?
I'm still working on a timeline, but here's a rough sketch of what I have so far, time is relative to the real world calander:
c. 100,000 BC: Orcs and goblinoids evolve in ice age conditions. They will be driven underground and into the wilderness by the agricultural races
c. 50,000 BC: the various other races are created: the Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Halflings, and Dragonborn arise through a combination of natural selection and intervention by early dieties whose names are lost.
c. 10,000 BC: Eladrin rule over all the near east and North Africa. Humans and Dragonborn invent agriculture in the shores of an ice age lake north of the mountains. Humans domesticate the cow and dog.
c. 9500 BC Eladrin and Elves domesticate their own breeds of wheat after copying the humans. Mice & Rats first appear.
c. 9400 Elves domesticate the cat.
c. 9000 BC: Dwarves first settle in the Zagros mountains. Halflings domesticate the Pig and the Chicken.
c. 8000 BC: Kinswar. Permanent sundering of Elves, Eladrin, and Drow. the Drow are the absolute losers of the war, and flee their homelands in what is later Nubia and Ethiopia to the Underdark in the mountains. Eladrin, the Elvish nobility, retreat into the feywild to contemplate what caused the society to fall apart. Dragonborn domesticate horses.
c. 7000 BC: nomadic tribes of Dragonborn settle in the grasslands of the Arabian peninsula, Dwarves domesticate the Goat and humans Sheep and donkeys. Dragonborn domesticate Oxen. Halflings shrink the horse to the pony. Jericho, oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, is founded as a village with 6 huts.
c. 6000 BC: Goblinoids and Giants settle in the Caucus mountains.
5540 BC: the Blue Lake is breached by the Mediterranean Sea. The rapidly rising waters of the lake north of the mountains sends humans and halflings in all directions. They settle heavily between the Tigris and Euphrates.
c. 5000 BC First city-like structures are beginning to form. Each is directly ruled by a physically manifesting god. Half elves begin to first start appearing in large numbers where elves, eladrin, and humans all meet.
c. 4300 Half elves are a majority in Canaan.
c. 4000 BC Humans invent writing in cuniform. Warlocks form pacts with godlings and elemental forces bound with the power of clay tablets and rods with Cuniform writings on them
3900 BC Eladrin nobility return from the Feywild, conquer the first empire, all of Egypt, Nubia, Canaan, Lebanon, and the Zagros mountains. They have discovered Wizardly Magic, written in heiroglyphics on papyrus, and it is the basis of their empire. Many individual cities, with growing City gods to protect them, pay bare fealty to the Eladrin, but maintain their independence.
3800 BC. The Dragonborn form an alliance with the Great Dragons and primordal powers, unite their cities. Stopping the Eladrin empire's expansion while creating their own empire south of the two great rivers.
c. 3500 bc: copper and tinsmithing begins.
c. 3300 bc. Bronze is discovered independently in several areas
3100 BC. Medes, a group of humans in Persia, form a pact with sinister forces. With their increase in might, they drive back the dragon armies and start taking over the Riverine cities. The until-now independent cities find their protective godlings overrun by swarms of devils and demons. This sudden war became a pitched four-way battle between the Eladrins powerful fey magics, the dragonborn's elemental allies, the demonic forces of the Medes, and the City Gods. The Godswar devastates the countryside. Most of the city gods are slain. Those that survive extend their protection over other territories, gaining portfolios and power. Some Gods, especially of agriculture or fertility, are slain only to return from the power of belief in them
3000 BC: The Godswar ends with the devastation of Egypt and Arabia. from the direct clash of the most powerful gods and Primordals over their territory. the Medes, finally defeated with the overthrow of Bael Turoth, are cursed by the remaining gods as punishment for nearly destroying the world, creating the last major race, the Tieflings. Gods and Primordals agree that they will not directly manifest any more. Gods and Primordals vanish to outer planes, chosing occasional champions. With the Jungles of Egypt and the Plains of Arabia reduced to deserts by the war, both groups leave a power vacuum that will not be overcome. Dragonborn abandon the desert lands for a series of tiny cities along the persian gulf coast. Genasi take over the Arabian desert. The last act of the war floods the whole of mesopotamia and canaan for 7 straight days.
c. 3000-2000 BC With the major empires destroyed, each city becomes its own small nation, ruled by the Priest-Kings of the gods. Occassional leaders rise up who create small empires. Sargon, Sargon II, Akkad, and others, barbarian tribes occassionally get war fever and conquer a city or two, but few empires last.
2600 Bc: Eladrin organize their divided territory into the United Egypt, unifying the nile from the Delta to the first Cataract. they build the Three Great Pyramids
2500 BC: Sargon, a halfling, unites Sumeria under one rule.
c. 2400 Gilgamesh creates a short lived empire, as chosen of Inanna.
c. 2250 The evil goddess Tiamat breaks the rule of manifesting on the mortal plain. At the head of an army of monsters, she comes near to conquering the known world. The gods, however, appoint the Human Champion Marduk to oppose her. He successfully unites all the peoples into a single army that drives Tiamat's fell hordes back into the mountains. Marduk Hurls Tiamat into the Black Sea, destroying the small settlement of Troy in the battle. His united Babylon rules between the rivers for 250 years. Marduk himself ascends to Godhood. Along the way, the growing nations of the various peoples are shattered
2000 BC: a new warlord arises in Assyria and shatters the babylonian Empire. By 1970 BC, the warlord dies, and leaves the land overrun by his orcish armies.
1900 BC: game start time. a New assyrian king is on the rise and may yet create another regional empire
I'm picturing some Priest Kings as clerics, others as Paladins, and still others as Invokers. And a few might even be con men
Any things where you can suggest more details? Especially good ideas for starting sites: Jericho, Ur and Babylon might be the best choices. also a good layout of Assyria for bad guys
No interest at all? I thought a few people were following this.
No interest at all? I thought a few people were following this.
I am following it, I have replied at length with my suggestions relating to character classes, monsters, magic, etc. Still not sure what you want, I wrote things I thought helpful but you said it followed the historical example too closely...and then your timeline is a pretty good mirror (minus the monsters of course) of what really happened. Looks like you may know the overall history better than I do. It does seem like you are more concerned with the timeline particular to your world, something you will obviously know better than any of us.
Looks like you have plenty to work with, you have an area rich in cultures and maybe to my mind too many different monsters and races, IMHO like you are trying to shoehorn in too many different sentient races, but certainly not lacking for intrigue.
As far as a layout for Assyria that's up to you, I haven't seen your maps and I am not an expert on the layout of the real Assyria. Much like the other Mesopotamian civilizations it would include several large cities, some villages, irrigated farmland, one or two rivers, and desert. Probably mountains too.