Introduction
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Introduction The City of a Thousand Minarets began as a source document I wrote for a video game company that was dabbling with the idea of a MMORPG set in a 1930s Pulp setting. The first environment they were going to roll out was their Pulp Cairo setting. So I set about collecting as much "stranger than fiction" details about the city, trying to demonstrate that historical Cairo was more exotic and beautiful than any Arabian Nights fantasy. Part of the project was to include a good deal of information about how Cairo has been portrayed in media so that level designers could weave their way between the expected Cairo of "orientalist" fantasy, and the surprising Cairo of real history. And of course, at the time I was already a huge Hollow Earth Expedition fan. Ever since Raiders of the Lost Ark came out, I had been looking for a role-playing game to recreate the heroic action of the Pulp Genre and always being disappointed. It wasn't until I read the Ubiquity System that I found the mechanics I'd always been looking for. Streamlined. Fast. Fun. The perfect system for punching Nazis off of zeppelins into dinosaurs! That was over a decade ago. The computer game company moved on to other projects and my document sat gathering dust until I picked up Black Campbell Entertainment's The Queen of the Orient and The Sublime Port. Then I realized that I had something to offer my fellow fans of Hollow Earth Expedition. I hope you all fall in love with Cairo as much as I have. Adam Scott Glancy Seattle, WA When Scott (other Scott, not me Scott) inquired if we’d be interested in this project, it was an immediate “yes” for me. It’s strange that Cairo wasn’t one of the places that I had looked at exploring for the Thrilling Action Stories series of materials we’ve been doing for Ubiquity and Fate; it’s a classic setting for pulp-style action. He shot me a précis of the material he had moldering from a cancelled project, and I was astounded by how close it was to a ready first draft. The research was excellent, the writing solidly good, and other than a few stylistic tweaks, it was nearly ready for prime-time. So we cut a deal for Black Campbell to do layout, art curation, and all the annoying bits and bobs that come with trying to publish good quality materials on a school teacher budget. And here it is… Hopefully, you will find this as useful a sourcebook as I already have. Scott Rhymer SampleAlbuquerque, NM file iii 1. The Conquerer City "Egypt is full of dreams, mysteries, memories." -Janet Erskine Stuart "[Egypt] has more wonders in it than any other country in the world and provides more works that defy description than any other place." -Herodotus It is an understatement to say that civilization Prehistoric Egypt (pre-3150 B.C.) in Egypt is old. Just how old being a matter of Stone age & invention of agriculture Ancient Egypt some debate. When Julius Caesar looked upon Early Dynastic Period (3150-2686 B.C.) the Pyramids at Giza, he was closer to our Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt Old Kingdom (2686-2181 B.C.) modern age than he was to the men who laid Golden Age of Pyramid construction the foundations of what are now the sole 1st through 6th Dynasties 1st Intermediate Period (2181-2055 B.C.) survivors of the “Seven Wonders of the Civil wars ending with dominance by Thebes Ancient World.” Egypt is what people like 7th and 8th Dynasties at Memphis 9th and 10th Dynasties at Heracleopolis Aristotle and Plato, in their time, thought of as Middle Kingdom (2055–1650 B.C.) ancient and mysterious. This section is meant Second Golden Age of Egypt 11th and 12th Dynasties to introduce Egypt before Cairo in the 2nd Intermediate Period (1650-1550 B.C.) broadest possible strokes. More detailed Invasion by Hyksos and Kush balkanizes Egypt 13th through 17th Dynasties only rule parts of Egypt information on the various Egyptian Dynasties 15th Dynasty is Hyksos Dynasty prior to the Medieval Islamic period can be New Kingdom (1550-1069 B.C.) Third Golden Age found in the later section on Egyptology 18th through 20th Dynasties. Ramses the Great. beginning on page 53. 3rd Intermediate Period (1069-664 B.C.) Political chaos following Bronze Age Collapse 21st through 26th Dynasties There are several broad truths about Egypt. 22nd and 23rd Dynasties ruled by Meshwesh immigrants from Libya. Religion was central to the life of all ancient 24th and 25th Dynasties ruled by Nubian invaders from Kush. Egyptians. The gods of Egypt, though many, 26th Dynasty ruled by client kings installed by Assyrian invaders. did not travel far beyond the Nile river, at least Late Period (664-332 B.C.) not in ancient times. They were never meant Egypt conquered and ruled by Persian Empire. 27th Dynasty considered Persians Kings to be Pharoahs in to be universal. Modern pagans, like the Order absentia. of the Golden Dawn in the 19th Century, or 28th through 30th Dynasties were Kings who rebelled against th Persia. Alister Crowley in the 20 , often adopted the 31st Dynasty followed the Persian re-conquest of Egypt. styles and forms of ancient Egyptian religion, Greco-Roman Egypt (332–30 B.C.) Argead and Ptolemaic dynasties if only to establish a kind of pedigree. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt. The Argead Dynasty only covered Alexander the Great's rule, Following Alexander's death his general Ptolemy seized Egypt The religious was also tied to the political in Ptolemaic Dynasty was the longest single dynasty in Egyptian Egypt. The Egyptian god-kings, or pharaohs, history. Roman and Byzantine Egypt (30BC-641 A.D.) were a creation of the state to ensure loyalty to Conquered by Augustus Caesar and ruled as an Imperial a divinely inspired rule, but they did not raise Province. Became a province in Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire after Samplemuch religious interest beyond the borders fall of Western Roman Empire to barbarianfile invasions. they controlled. Nevertheless, the monuments Sasanian Egypt (619-629 A.D.) they left behind speak to the importance they Temporary occupation by pagan Sassanid Persia Empire placed on using one's lifetime to prepare for during war with Christian Byzantine Empire. Medieval Egypt the eternity of the afterlife. It is sometimes Rashidun Egypt (641-661 A.D.) speculated that the Egyptian cultural emphasis Conquest of Egypt by Islamic Arab forces. Egypt was part of the First Five successive Caliphs following on preparing for an eternal afterlife made them the death of the Prophet Mohammed. The murder of Caliph ready converts to Christianity. Certainly the Ali in 661 was the fracture point for the creation of the Sunni- Shia split in Islam. Egyptians were among the most devout Umayyad Egypt (661-750 A.D.) adherents of this new Christian monotheism. Egypt was part of the first Sunni Caliphate. Most inhabitants of Egypt were still Christians at this time. When Islam arrived in the 7th Century CE, the Abbasid Egypt (750-935 A.D.) Egyptians were again among the most fervent Egypt was part of the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate, based in Baghdad. adherents to the new faith. The return to a The Abbasid's created the non-Arab slave soldiers, the combined civil and religious authority under Mamluks. Following the destruction of Bagdad by the Mongols in 1258 CE, the Mamluks considered their Islam certainly harkened back to the combined succeeding dynasties to be a continuation of the Abbasid civil and religious authority of the Pharoahs. Caliphate. Tulunid dynasty (868-905 A.D.) Turkic Mamluk dynasty ruled in the Abbasid's name. For the vast majority of its history, Egypt has Ikhshidid dynasty (935-969 A.D.) Egyptian Mamluk dynasty ruled in the Abbasid's name. also been fabulously wealthy. Prior to the Fatimid dynasty ( 969–1171 A.D.) Industrial Revolution, the wealth of nations A caliphate centered in Egypt, ruled by a Shia upper-class. Cairo founded in 969 CE to celebrate the Fatimid conquest was based on agriculture, making Egypt an of Egypt. economic powerhouse thanks to the fertility of Ayyubid dynasty (1171-1250 A.D.) Saladin, a Kurdish warlord, conquered Egypt. Saladin ousted the Nile. Seasonal flooding of the Nile, Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Sunni Islam strengthened its controlled by irrigations systems, meant Egypt hold on Egypt. Ayyubids controlled large areas of Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia. could produce two harvests a year and could The Ayyubids expelled from Egypt the Christian armies of the single-handedly feed the entire Mediterranean 5th Crusade (sometimes called the Damettian Crusade) in 1221 CE. world. The Caesars fed the million citizens of The Ayyubids were under rising pressure from Mongol the city of Rome only with the bounty of invasions of the Middle East throughout the 1240s. Mamluk Sultanate (1250-1517 A.D.) Egypt's agricultural output. The possession of Mamluks returned to overthrow the Ayyubid Dynasty. Egypt was the economic engine that allowed Mamluk armies prevented the Mongol invasion of Egypt and preside over the zenith of the Islamic Golden Age. the Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Empire to Early modern Egypt outlast the collapse of the Western Rome Ottoman Rule of Egypt (1517-1867 A.D.) Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt and Syria. Empire by several centuries. Egypt ruled an Eyalet, or province, of the Ottoman Empire. French occupation (1798-1801 AD) Napoleon Bonaparte's attempt to conquer Egypt. Well into the modern age, Egypt remained an Muhammad Ali dynasty (1805-1853 AD) agricultural gold mine of the medieval world.