Nergal

In 854 BC, the Assyrians exterminated the Hebrews and Phoenicians. They went on to ravage the Levant, pillage Greek cities in the Aegean, and prevented the rise of Persia. Consequently monotheism, literacy, and any number of other advances never caught on.
The Assyrian Empire set a very bloody standard for every empire to follow. Now, in 1678, nearly every local culture practices human sacrifice, paper and alphabetic writing disappeared from history, and the world is slowly descending into an anomalous Ice Age that's hinted to be the result of the icy gates of hell creaking open due to the widespread uses of dark sorceries.
It's bad enough that Infinity has decided to throw secrecy to the wind; to quote the book, "frankly, the Patrol would like to cause as much cultural contamination here as possible." As an example of this, Infinity has an operation going on in the South Africa of Nergal, where they pose as gods and wizards who rule over the local Zulus, and occasionally lead them in slave liberation raids against the other nations of Nergal.
== Ashlars and Artifacts ==
From Collegio Januari:
* The Ark of the Covenant (important due to being one of the few monotheist artifacts left)
* The Spear of Nergal (?)
* The signet ring of King Sennacherib X (?)
== Notes ==
According to an article in the now-missing Pyramid #2 (Transmission 200, Part I), the "Sphinxes" created Reality Nergal during a battle in 854 BC that split the timeline. They are "truly alien natives of a shadow or mirror realm of the Earth, a major satrapyA province or area of land, term used for ancient Persia (roughly modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern Egypt) of which is known as India Ultraterrestria by MI-?character used in this phrase does not appear in PDF. The Sphinxes seek to flip the two Earths' polarity and make their realm dominant.
== Trivia ==
* Despite the timeline being called Nergal (the Mesopotamian/Babylonian death-god) and the text of the setting being remarkably Conan-esque, there's no mention of the undead, let alone undead armies...
* This setting seems to be a sort of myth parallel that brings the legends of Howard's Hyperborea to the breadth of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
** Black Shadows (GURPS Conan) attack with a fierce cold and are summoned by a talisman called the Hand of Nergal. Perhaps a massive amount of ice magic is what's cooling this Earth into an ice age...
** Some overlap here with Holy Swords and Dark Sorcery
==References==
*GURPS Infinite Worlds p.137-138
Category:Infinite Worlds
Category:Quantum 5
Category:Normal Mana