Ptolemaic Egypt

## History and Current Events

### Origins

Ancient Egypt rose to power over two millennia ago, one of the first civilizations to see the Bronze Age. The ancient patriarchal god Osiris blessed the Egyptians with the Nile river valley, a green and luscious inheritance able to prevent the masses from famine. This allowed the ancient Egyptians to build vast monuments and necropolises, called pyramids, where they buried their cherished elite to await their resurrection. The Egyptian dynasties have gone through multitudes of pharaohs and technological innovation since then, outliving many of the other ancient river valley civilizations.

### Recent History

A century ago, the Persians (see Archaemenid Empire) to the north conquered the once proud Kingdom of Egypt using sheer numbers. They lived under Persian rule for 10 years before King Alexander the Great of Macedonia freed them from their grasp. Although liked by the Egyptian populace due to his respect for their culture and gods, Alexander still instated Macedonian Magistrates to help rule Egypt and moved the capitol to a city of his namesake, Alexandria. He began hoarding the large Egyptian treasury and sending it home to Greece. After Alexander's death in 323, Ptolemy I, one of his closest friends, assumed control of Egypt. In the years following, the chaotic conflict between the vying powers claiming to be Alexander's successor resulted in Ptolemy fending off several invasions. When the dust settled, the Ptolemaic dynasty had firmly grasped control of a newly Hellenistic Egypt.

In 221, the young, politically weak Ptolemy IV was inaugurated after the death of his father and the murder of his mother. He was perceived as gullible and easily manipulated by the powerful members of the priest class. A year ago, Ptolemy was forced to defend his holdings in Syria as the Seleucids sought to wrest full control of the region from their Hellenistic cousins. Rather than watch the Egyptians continue to struggle under an impotent ruler, the god Horus guided Ptolemy to a ritual ground, where he allowed Horus to take control of his body, granting him absolute power. The resulting battle was a complete victory for the Egyptians. Now, the Egyptians and Seleucids continue to struggle for the lands of Syria and Gaza, but Egypt now has the devastating solar powers of Horus. However, the trickster god Set has begun tampering with Horus' designs and even aiding the Seleucid invaders.

## Religion and Culture

### Religion

The Egyptian pantheon is one of the largest among the Hellenistic states. **Ra** is said to have created the universe and every living being, having also created the rest of the gods, the most prominent of whom were **Osiris:** god of fertility, agriculture, and the dead, and **Isis:** goddess of the sky, wisdom, and magic.

The god Osiris and his sister-wife Isis were the first to guide the Egyptian people from the deserts of the Sahara to the lush Nile river valley. There, they enjoyed a long and prosperous existence with Osiris providing gentle rain storms that propagated Egyptian crop and healthily born children. However, this millennia long prosperity was not to last. Osiris' brother Set, a malevolent god of deserts and chaos, plotted with the Archaemenid Empire to invade his people and assassinate Osiris. Osiris, an immortal, was not able to be killed easily - so Set instead cut his body into individual pieces and sent them to the far reaches of Egypt. Isis, now in hiding, enlisted the help of the already invading Macedonian ruler Alexander to help find and piece back together her husband-stepbro. (***The rest of this is canon, I literally can't make this shit up - NSFW***) Every part of Osiris was placed back together, except for his penis, which was thrown into the Nile and eaten by a catfish. Although Osiris was resurrected, he only lasted long enough to copulate with Isis before being vengefully slain once again by his brother Set. Isis gave birth to Horus shortly after, the god of the sun and moon. Isis instructs her son to defend Egypt against Set. After several conflicts resulting from Horus' attempt to cede the throne, Set seduces his nephew and has sex with him. Horus, knowing that Set's semen was poisonous, made Set pull out and caught the semen running from his thigh. He then conspired with his mother to lace a piece of lettuce with Set's seed which he ate. This proved to the council of gods that Horus had totally dunked on Set by detecting the semen inside him. The gods were unconvinced, however, so Horus challenged Set to a boat race. Horus cheated by changing the material of his boat and won, thus securing the throne of Egypt.

A century after the Macedonian invasion, a new god, **Serapis**, had emerged. In Egypt, he was immensely popular with the Ptolemy dynasty who were of Greek origin. Serapis is said to have previously been a minor Greek deity who immigrated to Egypt in search of a larger cult and higher status. Temples of Serapeum sprung up all along the Nile, his supporters enthralled by the god's charismatic speeches from the library in Alexandria. The god's intentions are not immediately recognizable. Cults of the fallen King Alexander worship in secret in Alexandria, though no evidence exists that Alexander ever achieved apotheosis. This has drawn several necromancers to the cults, hoping to amass a force large enough to invade Babylon, Alexander's resting site.

### Non-humans and deities

Humanoids common to Europe tend not to exist in Egypt aside from sightseeing and trade. Some of the more civilized desert spirits, such as Asherati, will occasionally trade in the larger cities. Egyptian deities, however, are known to materialize in the mortal realm much more often than their Greek or Celtic counterparts. **Anubis**, for example, is almost always on the ground performing funerary services or guarding tombs. It would not be uncommon to find a deity wandering among the crowd, only standing out due to their anamorphic heads. The Egyptian gods often have dominion over certain creatures or monsters, such as **Khepri's** giant scarabs.

Attacks on human settlements most frequently come from the wild Scorpion Men, who swarm from the desert to attack villagers in their homes.

## Government

Ptolemaic Egypt is a hereditary monarchy of pharaohs with a strong, elite priest caste acting as administrators. The Ptolemy family, being Macedonian, have to appease both their Egyptian subjects and Greek trading partners to maintain power. Ptolemy relies on its priests and regional temples to collect revenue from their subjects. The popularity of Serapis has certainly made life easier for the royal family, who may otherwise have been dealing with an utterly rebellious population of native Egyptians. The Ptolemaic dynasty currently rules from Alexandria.