Records: the Western Middle East

## **A Rebirth**

The Mamluk Sultanate had been subject to the Burning Frogs of Cairo, the precipitous drop in new slaves to refresh the warrior class, occasional bouts of plague, the "soft" loss of the Sinai and the Levant beyond, and the invasion of orks in Cairo and all the way down the Nile River Valley. The Burji Dynasty was over practically before it began, dissolving as meaningful leadership when the Kingdoms of Zion and Israel were announced in the Burji Court (September, 1381).

The previous aristocracy, of which the Mamluks had been the combat slaves, had been predominatly Arabic. The Mamluks made the military middle class, and rested comfortably above the lower slave class – most of whom were locals. In Egypt, that meant mostly ethnic Egyptians, while in the Hejaz, it was a bit more mixed but predominantly ethnic Arabs.

When the sultanate dissolved, the Mamluks as an organized class dissolved with it – fading into the locals (where they could). Building on the imported slave classes of Cuman-Kipchak and Turkic mamluks, the most recent iteration before the fall had focused on Circassians – who now had a predominantly free homeland under the aegis of the CMC. Combined with the anti-slavery (of *any* kind) interpretations of the new mystically-empowered Sufis, the foundation of the Mamluks had dissolved in the flow of the Nile.

The death of the Mamluk Sultanate left two major rump states in its wake and allowed the western Middle East an unexpected rebirth.

### **The Rise of New Old Egypt**

The Burning Frogs of Cairo, like the name implied, were limited to Cairo. This was significant as Giza, the site of the already-ancient pyramids, was just a few miles away. Giza had become a local base of operations after Cairo had been evacuated, and continued to be a local strong point even as the Sultanate had rebased in coastal Alexandria.

In Egypt, after the Circassians stepped back, there was the rise of a new local-heritage faction. This profoundly secular administration forbid the integration of church and state, but both Jesuit-Christian and Sufi-Islam are also welcome in the area. Both accept the invitation, with the Jesuits taking a coptic flavor (who were a significant minority in the area, with the percentage rapidly growing).

The local leader pronounced himself Pharaoh, rather than Sultan (an Islamic sovereign) or King (with its western overtones). The new polity claimed its 10,000-year old history with the proper title of *The Great House of Egypt* – itself a throwback to how the pharaohs referred to Egypt itself. In a land where there was still a significant Muslim population, and they weren't sure where the lines for heresy and apostasy were anymore, this walked a careful line of neutrality and helped keep the peace.

The language of the court adopted the liturgical language of the Coptic church, which itself was the most recent stage of the ancient Egyptian language. When the local scholars began linguistic work on modernizing the language, it was a head-snap attention-getter to the RANP.

Likewise, the locals mounted an impressive offensive to retake Cairo, the traditional capital city, from the now-entrenced orks. Very isolated, very quiet, and very discreet, it had the flavor of SA special operations – but the SA not only had nothing to do with it, but the locals insisted on privacy during their military operation.

Either way, even in the wake of the existential chaos of the *Altercation of the Angels*, Egypt was having it's own accelerated rennaissance.

### **The Holy Land of *The Barrier***

The Arabian tribes of the eastern Najd had their own mix of politics and survival in an extremely harsh and unforgiving desert. That was one of the reasons areas like the Hejaz had been under the control of Egyptian-based polities for so long: *they had the resources to do it*. As the Mamluk Sultanate collapsed, the lands of the Hejaz became a self-contained, self-governed area.

Much of this newfound local empowerment came from the natural (or supernatural) power now exercised by miracle-wielding Sufi mystics. Those same Sufis had lent their own interpretation of Islam, which had become the predominant denomination promoted by Mekkah and Medina. Already, on the wave of healing, Sufi-style Islam experienced a resurgence in local areas.

The *Caliphate of the Hejaz* was an evolution of the Sharifs of Mecca and now exercised direct control over the unified western coast of Arabia. This included the Tabouk region to the north (abutting Zion), the area around Medina, the support province around Makkah, and the al-Bahah region all the way south to what was now appeared to be returning to the "Sabaean Kingdom" (what would've been called Yemen and what may have once been called "Sheba").

Beyond the Hejaz, and especially to the reaches of the distant east, Islam itself was collapsing after the "Murder of the Saints." Compounded by the *Altercation of the Angels*, which recognized the archangel Michael, former Muslim centers were finding themselves in a major wave of secularization.

The Hejaz had one subtle advantage: *allies in Zion*. The predominantly Jesuit *un*-kingdom had an extensive population of psi-enabled Jesuits, both healing and... *more creative*. Many of these Jesuits were also in the RANP and were part of the growing science of archaeology in the area. While studying history was always a good thing, there was almost an open secret that they were studying the origins of the angels and all things holy on earth, be they Abrahamic or anything else.

This meant a great deal of travel from Zion to the Hejaz, and in turn, a great deal of Sufi support for the Jesuits in Zion – *and Israel*.

### **Politics in the Immediate East**

The tribes of the Najd and beyond, toward the Persian Gulf, appreciated the mystical healing power of the Sufis, but themselves had a kind of pragmatism borne of living in profoundly hostile environments. They were quite happy to adopt the less restrictive Sufi interpretations – and gain favor with the healers – but they still carried undertones of their ancient Arabian culture. That meant a natural interest in this new arcane capacity.

There was a very small but definite trickle of arcane culture into the Arabian tribes, starting with *Glow Stones* and now moving into *Rods of Water* and beyond.