History

The Age Before Time

Each of the great nations tells a different story of the creation of the world. Indeed, among the Greeks and the Egyptians, you will hear a different creation myth depending on the day of the week or the city-state you visit. No matter where you go, though, the tales share some similarities. Out of the primal nothing, the earth and sky were separated, and the eldest of gods ruled a while alone. There were no men in those days; just the ancient forces of the universe, ruled over by deities now referred to, after the Greek style, as Titans.

The Age of Gold

In Egypt and Sumeria, great stone pyramids and ziggurats are raised to the glory of the gods. Their true purpose is unknown though it is said that the gods dwell within them. Some say of this time that there was no suffering or strife and that all men did what was right through inclination; others say that men of the Golden Age were surpassingly wicked, and did terrible deeds through lack of knowledge of right or wrong.

With the rise of the earliest civilized men, the age fades. The gods, for reasons unclear, retreat to their homes. They no longer walk openly among men or rule them; this marks the end of the Age of Gold.

The Age of Silver

A being from the realm of the gods descends to Earth and brings with him the secrets of fire, civilization and magic. The Egyptians call him Imhotep; the Persians call him Zoroaster or Othanes; and Carthaginians call him Maharbal; but it is by the Greek and Roman name of Prometheus that he is most commonly known. He writes thirty-three mysteries on the scraped skins of calves (or on palm leaves, or his own skin, or in three great books, or perhaps on the walls of his tomb), which can be performed by those who follow in his path.

The end of the Age of Silver is marked by the destruction of the island kingdom of Atlantis and its disappearance amidst a cataclysm of fire and smoke. Atlantis had embraced philosophy and become a powerful centre for philosophers from across the Mediterranean. Its last King, Minos, curses the gods as he dies. Many coastal cities are severely damaged by the shockwave of the island’s destruction and resulting deluge; this is often referred to as "The Great Flood".

The Age of Bronze

Over the preceding two hundred years the civilized world has split into five great power blocs: Phoenician Carthage, in Africa and Iberia; Republican Rome, in Gaul and Italia; the city-states of Greece, in Hellas, the Balkans and Asia Minor; Imperial Persia, in the Middle East; and Pharaonic Egypt, in Palestine and the Nile.

Alexander, King of Macedon, a small Greek city-state in northern Hellas, commences an unprecedented campaign of conquest, subduing all the lands from Greece to Persia in a series of lightning campaigns. He leads an army of prodigious size and starts gathering to him all of the surviving heroes of Greece - these, his Companions, he intends to use as his shock troops in the war for total domination. Along with his empire he spreads his New Philosophy - placing man as equal to the gods using stolen mysteries and emerging rational science.

Alexander musters all of the forces loyal to his New Philosophy on the fields before Babylon - he orders the temples of the gods thrown down in Persepolis and Babylon, but local unrest prevents much being done. Miracles and divine visitations are on the rise across the Mediterranean. The combined forces of those loyal to the gods under the generalship of the resurrected Darius descend from the Caucasus mountains and reconquer much of Persia before meeting the combined forces of the heroes on the field of Babylon.

Some say that Ares wounded Alexander fatally but didn’t kill him outright; according to the Persians, Darius’ command group intercepted Alexander’s retreat, and they clashed; according to the Egyptians, Alexander’s companion and general Ptolemy Soter saw the way the cards had fallen and stabbed his commander. In either case, Alexander is mortally wounded and is taken back to Babylon, where he dies of his injuries before he could name a successor to his empire.

The majority of the armed forces of Persia, Greece and Egypt are shattered by the battle. Alexander’s empire is carved into three by his three strongest generals, Seleukus (who takes Persia), Ptolemy Soter (who takes Egypt) and Arrhidaeus (who takes Greece). There are others, but they are minor figures, accepting satrapies in Persia. Over the coming months, Alexander’s generals and captains will be hunted down and sought out by the gods, and each of them one by one will be twisted into a ghastly, cursed horror.

The Age of Steel

Arrhidaeus dies screaming and cursed by the gods, and no clear successor can be chosen from among the Greek cities to lead them all - the title of Pantokrator goes vacant amidst squabbling claimants and minor officers from Alexander’s army, all of whom claim precedence over one another. Rome takes the opportunity of Greece’s perceived weakness and begins a bloody and eventually futile invasion of the Balkan Greek territories of Epirus. Spartan and Corinthian soldiers force the Romans back to their original borders amidst great loss of life. Carthage seeks to take advantage of Egypt’s perceived weakness and takes several desert outposts by force before a great sandstorm brings their advance to a halt, said to be a battle between Ba’al and Sutekh. Inevitably, Mars and Ares face one another on the field of battle. At Epidamnos both gods retire injured and for a second the world pauses; divine blood has been shed.

The gods decreed the Edict of the Annual: every year, the lost land of Atlantis would emerge from the mists of time, and the heroes of each culture would gather their warbands. They would come to Atlantis and there, in ritual Arena combat, border disputes, wars and invasions would be settled with minimal loss of life, for the entertainment and glory of the gods. Patron gods would send soldiers and priests on quests; philosophers would compete to control the flow of quintessential energies across the Mediterranean, and citizens and helots could come to watch the Arena battles, to trade, and to throw fruit at those who displease them. To administer the Annual, the long-dead citizens of Atlantis would be given a kind of life once more; and under their last King, King Minos, the drowned dead would attend to the needs of the festival as a reminder to all of the wrath of the gods when they are disobeyed.

In the five great powers, as the priests disseminated and divulged this information, the leaders watched warily. Then, close to midsummer, Atlantis emerged from the mists once more. Dead men, garlanded with seaweed and puffy like the drowned, arrived at each court with an invitation. "In sight of the gods, King Minos of Atlantis Invites you to the First Annual. Gather your Warbands and Make Ready to Defend your Territories!" Gates of Horn and Ivory spring up outside the cities of the five empires. Beyond the mists, Atlantis awaits...