The Twelfth (and Final) Weird Thing: The Amarna Campaign

 The Twelfth Weird Thing: The Ancient Amarna Campaign

 Presented as it stands, a campaign idea I had for a GURPS Egypt campaign I have never quite managed to foster to reality....

Set ancient Egypt around 1350-1340 BC. It’s going to involve a particularly weird and unpleasant period in Egyptian history during the reign of Akhenaten and the dynamic relationship between Egypt, Amurru, Syria, Hattusa, Punt and Nubia during that period. There’s some really interesting and weird stuff that happened around this time, with lots of holes in the record but enough to know what happened if not always why. This will be a “mostly historical” account but with a horror-themed take on the Egyptian pantheon and a dose of necromancy mixed in. The PCs will be delegates of one of the key “allies” of the time, probably Amurru, though one of them will be a Hittite spy as well. This gives them local prominence for the Mediterranean without being overly familiar with Egyptian customs…they will have to navigate the rivalries and particulars of Egyptian noble life during a turbulent period while representing the self-interest if their own noble ruler, King Aziru, whom they have come to find and possibly liberate from his semi-imprisonment by Akhenaten.

Key Figures:

Akhenaten: the ruler of Egypt, high priest of a new being or philosophical concept he calls the Aten. He is married to Nefertiti and has six daughters. His mystical power is impressive and he is believe to be able to transform into a sphinx, as well as have potent heka (magic, specifically necromancy). His is at once revered and feared by his people in this time. He dwells in the recently constructed city of Akhetaten.

Aziru: ruler of Amurru, a Canaanite city. His conquering of the city of Zemar led to his exile and semi-imprisonment in Egypt after the betrayal of the King of Gubla (Byblos), Rid-Hadda, into the hands of Siduna.

Zimredda of Siduna, the king of Siduna who claimed victory in the capture and possible murder of deposed king Rid-Hadda.

The Habiru, an army of rebels and raiders joined in common cause on the borders of Syria and beyond to stand against the noble lesser kings who serve the Pharaoh.

Shardana: the mercenaries from the sea, prominent sea people who ravage the coast during this time with their ongoing attacks.

Ili-Rapih: ruler of Gubla once his brother Rid-Hadda is killed in Siduna.

Zemar (Sumur): trade city conquered by Aziru.

Gods:

Amurru: gods of Amurru include Hadad (Canaanite storm god) and Asherah (Ba’alat Gublu, fertility goddess)

Egypt: At this time Aten is the only recognized deity/concept, but there are still cults hidden away in worship to the many Egyptian deities which noble and commoner alike is loathe to neglect just becaue the Pharaoh has decreed it.

Languages:

Khemit (Egypt), Akkadian (most of northern Canaan and Syria), Hatti (Hittite), Cushite (Nubia), Puntish (Punt). Others: Alashiya

Locations:

Alashiya: ruled by King Kushmeshusha and his daughter princess Hatbi, an island kingdom which pays copious amounts of copper to Egypt as tribute, but is fiercely xenophobic in many other regards. The city is built along a mountain slope. Recently a plague descended upon the land, driven by the “Hand of Nergal.”

Plot Ideas:

Hand of Nergal:

Akkadian god of death, war and destruction, Nergal is the supposed cause of the plague which begins in the north and spreads from Alashiya to Egypt and throughout Canaan to Hatti. Those who are killed by the plague are known to rise again as the undead. In Egypt the cults of Anubis, Set and Isis suspect that the plague is beset upon humankind for their abandonment of the old gods and grow suspicious that it is the fault of Akhenaten himself.

Nergals’ touch to the north seems to lead to demonic possession of the corpses, and it is believed the Seven Gods or Demons called the Ilu Sebettu are the drivers behind this undead plague. Nergal and the Seven rule with their councilor Isum from Emeslam, a dark kingdom in the realm of the gods, each one personifying a weapon of death. Beside him resides Ereshkigal, his wife of the underworld.

All of Nergal’s plague comes from the ancient ruined city of Kutha, from which his dark servants ride forth to spread the plague.

A talisman of his first wife, Las, is believed to provide blindness to the undead, who cannot sense one so armed with such a talisman.

The Usurpation of Akhenaten:

Akhenaten’s rule is sound until his final year, following the great convocation of his servants throughout the kingdom and the principalities of Egypt. When this happens, the plague comes to Akhetaten and the Pharaoh’s daughters begin to die. As they revive into undead the quiescent Egyptians who remember the old gods can stand it no more and repent, seeking to bring down the Pharaoh in civil war. Ultimately Nefertiti will repent worship of Aten when her husband falls and take the mantle of rulership briefly before her son Tutankhamen rises to power. Only when Akhenaten is dead and Tutankhamen is sworn into the rule of Pharaoh does the plague leave Egypt.

Special Twists: it becomes clear that Akhenaten is sick and transformed by undeath or possession. His heka makes him more susceptible. The PCs are tasked with seeking out the ancient Temple of Set near the Necropolis of Naqada. There the PCs must find a way to put him down, beseeching the dark god with such a task.

Communing with Set (after a brutal trial to prove worthiness of some sort) reveals that the right eye of Akhenaten is his weakness, and once plucked from it’s socket must be returned to the temple as an offering in exchange for such knowledge. The eye is symbolic of Ra’s eye of the sun, and Set wants it. Once it is retrieved, they must travel eastward into the barren wastes and deliver it to an ancient Sphinx.